US Army Brevet Major General, Governor of Mississippi, US Senator, and American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. He was issued the award on June 22, 1894 for his actions as a 1st lieutenant with the 5th Artillery, US Army, at the 1st Battle of Bull Run (or 1st Battle of Manassas), on July 21, 1861. The son of a sea captain, as a youth he sailed on clipper ships. In 1856 he entered the US Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated in 1861 with a commission as a 2nd lieutenant. He was assigned to the 5th US Artillery and sent to the battle lines in Virginia. At the 1st Battle of Bull Run (or 1st Battle of Manassas) he was badly wounded but his heroic actions, however, would eventually have him awarded the Medal of Honor. In 1862 he was commissioned as a Colonel of Volunteers and given command of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry and saw action at the Battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. In 1863, he was promoted to to the rank of brigadier general of US Volunteers, and commanding a brigade in the 11th Corps of Army of the Potomac, which he led at the Battle of Gettysburg (command of the 20th Maine was relinquished to the legendary lieutenant colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain). He was promoted again during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864, eventually attaining the brevet rank of major general, US Volunteers. Following the war, he served as the provincial Governor of Mississippi from 1868 until 1870. He had an outstanding war record for someone of his age, however, this would be tarnished after the war as he embarked on a "carpetbagging" political career. After Mississippi was readmitted to the Union in 1870, he served as its Republican US Senator until 1874 and as Republican Governor of Mississippi from 1874 until 1876, when he resigned to avoid impeachment. After leaving office, he relocated to Northfield, Minnesota, where he, along with his father and brother, operated a flour milling business. Le later moved to New York City, then Tewskbury, Massachusetts, where he again was involved in the flour milling trade. During the Spanish-American War, he served briefly as a brigadier general. The son-in-law of controversial American Civil War figure Major General Benjamin F. Butler, he died at age 97, the last surviving full rank general officer of either side of the American Civil War. In the 2003 film "Gods and Generals, he was portrayed by actor Matt Letscher. His Medal of Honor citation reads: "Remained upon the field in command of a section of Griffin's Battery, directing its fire after being severely wounded and refusing to leave the field until too weak to sit upon the caisson where he had been placed by men of his command."