Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. He was born on a farm near Laurel in Monroe Township, Ohio. He attended public schools except for two years, when he attended a private academy. For one year, 1860 to 1861, he studied law. He taught school in Clermont County, Ohio, but quit when the Civil War began. He entered the United States Volunteers as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 83rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on June 28, 1862. On September 23, 1865, he was promoted to Colonel and commander of the 14th United States Colored Infantry. For meritorious service, he was brevetted a Brigadier General, United States Volunteers on March 13, 1865. He was mustered out March 26, 1866, but was brevetted Major, US Regular Army on March 1, 1867, for gallant and meritorious service in action at Decatur, Alabama. The next day, he was brevetted again, to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, for gallant and meritorious service in action at Nashville. He had plan to finish his study of law but was talked out of it by Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, who became a personal friend. General Grant told him to stay in the military, so he entered the Regular Army on May 11, 1866, as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 17th United States Infantry. He served in the West with distinction and was detailed in March 1877 for duty at the White House, where he served President Rutherford B. Hayes. Like General Grant before, President Hayes would become his personal friend. He would later count among his personal friends Presidents James A. Garfield, William McKinley and William Howard Taft. He achieved prominence during Ohio's growth in the late 1800s. Later in 1877, he was sent out West to be the secretary of the Sitting Bull Commission. He then returned back to Washington DC, to continue his service at the White House. He was with President James A Garfield at the waiting room of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad station in Washington when the President was shot by Charles Guiteau. He stayed with the President until his death at Elberon, New Jersey. He was appointed Adjutant General during the Spanish-American War, and therefore was responsible for ordering what the army needed. President William McKinley turned increasingly to him for advice and assistance, since the General in Chief of the Army, Nelson A. Miles and the Secretary of War, Russell A. Alger, clashed with each other. His calm, tact, physical endurance, and administrative efficiency held the military machine on course. After the end of May 1898, General Miles spent much of his time away from Washington, therefore, except for the actual direction of field operations, all the myriad details of army command fell upon him. Having lost confidence in both Alger and Miles, President McKinley began turning to him for military advice and assistance in implementing his policies. By late June he had made him his de facto Chief of Staff, leaving Miles Chief of Staff in name only. For his services to the country during the Spanish-American War, Congress conferred upon him on June 6, 1900, the rank of Major General. He commanded the Atlantic Division in 1904, and led army maneuvers that were conducted in September of that year. In the later part of 1904 he was sent to command the Philippine Division. In 1906 he commanded the Northern Division, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General on April 15th of that year. He would retire four months later on September 14th. He continued to live in Washington D.C. where he would later died.