Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. An 1851 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, he would have a forty two year career in the United States Army. Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st United States Dragoons after graduating, he served on the western frontier, and taught cavalry tactics at West Point in the years before the start of the Civil War. In May 1861 he was promoted to Captain, and assigned as an Assistant Adjutant general of the staff of Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, serving in Department of Annapolis and the Department of the Shenandoah, Virginia. In July 1862 he was commissioned as a Colonel of Volunteers, and assigned to command the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry. He led his regiment in the Union operations to capture Charleston, South Carolina, and was action at the Battle of Secessionville, and on James Island and Hilton Head before the unit was assigned to serve with the Army of the Potomac. He participated in the September 1862 Battle of Antietam, Maryland, then resigned his Volunteer commission on October 1, 1862. He was promoted to Major in the Regular Army, and was appointed as an assistant in United States Adjutant General's office in Washington, DC, where he remained for the balance of the war. On March 13, 1865 he was brevetted Brigadier General, US Regular Army of “diligent, faithful, and meritorious services during the war”. In 1866 he married Adele Cutts Douglas, who was the widow of influential Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. He rose to Brigadier General and Adjutant General of the United States Army before he retired in 1893.
Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. An 1851 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, he would have a forty two year career in the United States Army. Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st United States Dragoons after graduating, he served on the western frontier, and taught cavalry tactics at West Point in the years before the start of the Civil War. In May 1861 he was promoted to Captain, and assigned as an Assistant Adjutant general of the staff of Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, serving in Department of Annapolis and the Department of the Shenandoah, Virginia. In July 1862 he was commissioned as a Colonel of Volunteers, and assigned to command the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry. He led his regiment in the Union operations to capture Charleston, South Carolina, and was action at the Battle of Secessionville, and on James Island and Hilton Head before the unit was assigned to serve with the Army of the Potomac. He participated in the September 1862 Battle of Antietam, Maryland, then resigned his Volunteer commission on October 1, 1862. He was promoted to Major in the Regular Army, and was appointed as an assistant in United States Adjutant General's office in Washington, DC, where he remained for the balance of the war. On March 13, 1865 he was brevetted Brigadier General, US Regular Army of “diligent, faithful, and meritorious services during the war”. In 1866 he married Adele Cutts Douglas, who was the widow of influential Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. He rose to Brigadier General and Adjutant General of the United States Army before he retired in 1893.
Bio by: Karen Mickel Bennett
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