American military officer; born near Leesburg, in Berkeley County, VA, on the 13th of June 1809; graduated at West Point in 1827; served as an infantry officer on the Western frontier from 1827 to 1833, taking part in the Black Hawk war in 1832, and being present at the battle of Bad Axe. He was transferred to the dragoons, and was on frontier service from 1833 to 1846, and saw active service in California, the Kansas border troubles and the Mormon disturbances. Secession had no charms for this loyal son of Virginia. In the Civil War he fought against many of his kinsmen, but always under a coat of Union blue. He saw service in the Virginia peninsula, at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Gaines’s Mill and Glendale; was in command at Baton Rouge, LA, and superintendent of recruiting from 1864 to 1866. Reconstruction days found him in command of the department of the Platte, whence, in 1867, he came East to command the Lake department. He became a brevet major-general in 1865, and retired from the army to practice law, October 29, 1873. His autobiographical Scenes and Adventures in the Army (1856) and The Conquest of New Mexico and California are his principal literary works. He died at Detroit, MI, on the 20th of March 1895.
