Warren was born in Cold Spring, New York, and named for Gouverneur Kemble, a prominent local Congressman, diplomat, industrialist, and owner of the West Point Foundry.

He entered the United States Military Academy across the Hudson River from his hometown at age 16 and graduated second in his class of 44 cadets in 1850.

In the Antebellum South, he worked on the Mississippi River, participating in the Pacific Railroad Surveys of possible transcontinental railroad routes, and, in 1857, mapping the Western United States, extensively exploring the vast Nebraska Territory, including Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, part of Montana, and part of Wyoming.

Warren first explained the region's hydrology in 1868, attributing the gorge to a massive river that drained Lake Agassiz between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago.

[1][4][7] Warren and his regiment saw their first combat at the Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia on June 10, arguably the first major land engagement of the war.

[1][8] In the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Warren commanded his regiment at the Siege of Yorktown and also assisted the chief topographical engineer of the Army of the Potomac, Brig.

Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys, by leading reconnaissance missions and drawing detailed maps of appropriate routes for the army in its advance up the Virginia Peninsula.

He continued to lead the brigade at the Second Battle of Bull Run, suffering heavy casualties in a heroic stand against an overwhelming enemy assault,[9] and at Antietam, where the V Corps was in reserve and saw no combat.

[4] At the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, as Confederate General Robert E. Lee began his invasion of Pennsylvania, Warren advised Hooker on the routes the Army should take in pursuit.

[4] During these Virginia campaigns, Warren established a reputation for bringing his engineering traits of deliberation and caution to the role of an infantry corps commander.

He also won a limited success in the Battle of Peebles' Farm in September 1864, carrying a part of the Confederate lines protecting supplies moving to Petersburg on the Boydton Plank Road.

He would not only make preparations to meet the danger which might occur, but he would inform his commanding officer what others should do while he was executing his move.At the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865, Sheridan judged that the V Corps had moved too slowly into the attack and criticized Warren fiercely for not being at the front of his columns.

Meade told Warren that he had contemplated his relief for some time, but he relented and later recommended Grant reinstate him as the V Corps commander to ease tensions in the Army.

[1] Humiliated by Sheridan, Warren resigned his commission as major general of volunteers due to his disagreement with suppressing the meeting of the Mississippi legislature "by any means necessary" on May 27, 1865.

He served as an engineer for 17 years, building railroads with assignments along the Mississippi River, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1879.

General Winfield Hancock, his former fellow corps commander during the Overland Campaign, initially presided over the court of inquiry held on Governor's Island, New York.

It depicts Warren standing in uniform, with field binoculars on a granite pedestal made of stone quarried at Little Round Top.