Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General, US Senator. A prominent New Hampshire newspaperman, he served as the State's Adjutant General from 1856 to 1861. Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 7th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry in December 1861, he served continuously with the regiment in Florida and in South Carolina, where he took part in the ill-fated Union assault on Fort Wagner on Morris Island in July 1863, emerging from that battle in command of the 7th New Hampshire after its Colonel, Haldimand S. Putnam, was killed. Promoted to Colonel in November 1863, he led the unit in the 1864 Overland Campaign as part of the Army of the James, fighting in the initial operations against Petersburg, Virginia. In the Fall of 1864 he led the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XX Corps, and served in New York City, New York with the 7th New Hampshire during the 1864 Elections to prevent unrest. In the January 1865 combined Union Army and Naval assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, he led a brigade in General Alfred Terry's Provisional Corps. Initially detailed to hold the Union rear while the assault took place, he led his troops into the Fort when the first waves of Union troops' momentum bogged down. He finished out the war in brigade command in North Carolina, and was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers "for gallant services in the capture of Fort Fisher" (his brevet was backdated to January 15, 1865, the day of Fort Fisher's capitulation). Mustered out with his regiment in July 1865, he remained in North Carolina, settling in Wilmington, where he would live the balance of his life. He founded the "Wilmington Post", a decidedly Pro-Republican newspaper, and became mired in Reconstructionist politics. He was elected as a Republican Senator from North Carolina to the United States Senate, serving from 1868 to 1871. However, he was viewed by most of his constituents as a carpetbagger Northerner politician. After his death in Wilmington in 1881 he was first buried in Wilmington National Cemetery before being interred in his native New Hampshire.