Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. An 1846 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, he was first posted to the 3rd United States Infantry briefly until transferred in February 1847 to the 2nd United States Infantry. Sent to the United States Army operating in Mexico during the Mexican War, he participated in the Battles of Cerro Gordo and the capture of Mexico City by Major General Winfield Scott. After the end of that conflict he served in California until 1854, when he was sent East to Boston, Massachusetts for recruitment duty. A year later he returned to the Western Frontier, being promoted to Captain in 1855. He served out west until the beginning of the Civil War, when he was recalled east. He participated in the July 1861 First Battle of Bull Run, commanding a battalion of Regular infantry. On September 4, 1861 he was commissioned a Colonel of Volunteers, and assigned to command the 7th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. His volunteer service lasted two months, after which he resigned on November 12, 1861 to accept a promotion to Major in the Regular Army and an assignment as Assistant Inspector General of the Army of the Potomac. He would go on to serve in that capacity under Major Generals George B. McClellan, Ambrose E. Burnside, Joseph Hooker and George G. Meade. Late in the war he was sent to the Department of New Mexico, where he again served as Assistant Inspector General, and was performing that duty when the war ended. On March 13, 1865 he was brevetted Brigadier General, US Army for "meritorious and efficient services during the war". Post-war he would remain in the Inspector General Department, serving in Arizona, Missouri, and in the Division of the Atlantic under Major General Winfield S. Hancock. He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in 1867, Colonel in 1872, and Brigadier General in March 1885. In September 1885 he retired, having served thirty-nine years in the military.