Civil War Union Brigadier General. He was born in Wood County, Virginia, (now West Virginia). He studied then practiced medicine in the section of his native state that in 1863 became part of West Virginia. Prominent in his community, he played a major role in recruiting a local regiment, the 10th West Virginia Infantry, late in 1861. He became its Lieutenant Colonel, rising to Colonel on May 20, 1862. His regiment participated in the unsuccessful pursuit of Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson during the latter's spring 1862 Valley Campaign. Early in 1863, the 10th West Virginia was returned to its home region, to become a part of Brigadier General William W. Averell's brigade of the VIII Corps. Through that year and well into 1864 the 10th saw frequent action in the West Virginia mountains, sometimes against Confederate Regulars, often against Southern partisans and bushwhackers. It fought skillfully enough to earn him temporary command of a brigade in March 1864. That August, following participation in a railroad-wrecking expedition under Averell, he led a division in the VIII Corps. Later he distinguished himself during Major General Philip H. Sheridan's operations in the Shenandoah, especially at Third Winchester and Cedar Creek. For the latter battle he was brevetted Brigadier General. In December his command was transferred to the Petersburg front and became the Independent Division of the XXIV Corps/Army of the James. When brevet Major General John W. Turner was assigned to lead the division, he attempted to resign his commission in protest but was persuaded to remain on duty as a Brigadier General of Volunteers. He led the 1st Brigade of Turner's "Wild Cat Division" in the final operations in Virginia, including the seizure of Fort Gregg, on April 2, 1865. A week later his troops helped curtail General Robert E. Lee's retreat toward Appomattox Court House. As a brevet Major General, he served on the postwar commission that tried those charged in Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Mustered out of the army in 1866, he spent 1 term in the West Virginia legislature. He then served as adjutant general of West Virginia from 1869 to 1870, and later served as a pension agent. He also wrote on medicine, the Lincoln murder conspiracy, and religion, praising Calvinism and condemning Roman Catholicism.