Civil War Union Brigadier General. He was a United States Army medical officer who became an outstanding Union Army combat commander. Appointed to the Army as an assistant surgeon after graduating from medical school in 1851, he was stationed at Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina when Confederate forces bombarded it on April 14, 1861, beginning the Civil War. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed to infantry command, with a commission as Major in the 13th United States Regular Infantry. During the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, he rose to brigade command and was promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers. His unit was decimated at the August 9, 1862 Battle of Cedar Mountain, and he was severely wounded commanding his division at the September 1862 Battle of Antietam, Maryland. Upon his return to action in May 1863, he was assigned to command a division in the Army of the Potomac made up of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps (V Corps, 3rd Division). At the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, he gained fame by skillfully directing the Pennsylvania Reserves on the second day of the engagement, where they repulsed the charging Confederates from the Little Round Top northern slope area and Plum Run area after the Southern Troops had defeated Union forces in the Wheatfield. General Crawford himself led one the charges made by elements of his division. His men occupied the blood-soaked Wheatfield after the Confederates retreated at the conclusion of the battle. He continued to lead his division throughout the rest of the war, and again won acclaim at the April 1865 Battle of Five Forks. He received brevets of Major General, USV and Major General, US Regular Army for his services, but was never commissioned Major General despite having led a division for over two years. Today, in the Gettysburg National Military Park, the road that runs through the Plum Run Valley to Devil's Den is named for him, along which a bronze statue in his likeness memorializes him.