My Dear Colonel

 

Clinton Dugald MacDougall was born 14 Sept 1839 in Kintrye, Scotland. He enlisted on 16 September 1861 at Auburn, NY as a Captain. In 1861 he joined A Co. NY 75th Infantry.

The following year,upon joining the Field & Staff NY 111th Infantry he was promoted to Lt Colonel and promoted to full colonel in1863. Col. MacDougall commanded a regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg until he was wounded on 3 July 1863.

He was mustered out on 4 June 1865 at Alexandria, VA with the rank of Brig. General. He died in in Paris,France on 24 May 1914.

Sources: New York State Military Museum and Wikipedia

 

Francis Channing Barlow, “The Boy General” was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1834. He studied law at Harvard University,graduated first in his class,and was practicing law when the Civil War broke out in 1861.

In April 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 12th Regiment, New York State Militia, leaving behind his new bride, Arabella Wharton Griffith Barlow,after one day of marriage. Commissioned a first lieutenant in his first month of service by November he was a lieutenant colonel. In 1862 he was promoted to colonel.

At the Battle of Antietam,Barlow’s troops, in the thick of the combat,captured nearly 300 prisoners. He was wounded by an artillery shell in the face and by grapeshot in the groin. In his official report Brig. Gen.John C. Caldwell said of Barlow:

“Whatever praise is due to the most distinguished bravery, the utmost coolness and quickness of perception, the greatest promptitude and skill in handling troops under fire, is justly due to him. It is but simple justice to say that he has proved himself fully equal to every emergency, and I have no doubt that he would discharge the duties of a much higher command with honor to himself and benefit to the country.”

Two days after the battle,Barlow was promoted to Brigadier General. In July 1863,at the Battle of Gettysburg, he was severely wounded. An apocryphal account states Confederate Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon arranged a truce so that Barlow’s wife Arabella could tend to her husbands wounds. More likely, as the Confederates retreated from Gettysburg Barlow was recovered by Federal forces. He was hospitalized for a lengthy period,returning to duty in1864.

Barlow commanded troops at the Battle of the Wilderness, and at Spotsylvania Court House,where hand-to-hand fighting ensued for 21 hours,the longest hand-to-hand combat in the entire war.

In 1865 Barlow commanded troops at the Battle of Sayler’s Creek. He was appointed Major General of volunteers in May but the promotion was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate until February 23,1866,after Barlow had resigned from the army.

After the war Barlow held a variety of high political posts. As the New York State Attorney General he prosecuted the Boss Tweed ring,before he returned to his private law practice.

A founder of the American Bar Association,he was active in Republican politics and investigated the 1876 Hayes-Tilden presidential election,for irregularities.

Barlow was one of the few men who entered the Civil War as an enlisted man and earned the rank of general. He died of  a kidney disease in New York City on January 11,1896.

Source: Wikipedia