William Babcock Hazen William Babcock Hazen ( September 27 , 1830 – January 16 , 1887 ) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Indian Wars , as a Union general in the American Civil War , and as Chief Signal Officer of the U . S . Army . His most famous service was defending " Hell ' s Half Acre " at the Battle of Stones River in 1862 . Early life and military career . Hazen was born in West Hartford , Vermont , but moved to Ohio at the age of three . He spent his boyhood in the town of Hiram and formed a close personal friendship with future President James A . Garfield . He graduated from the United States Military Academy , in 1855 , and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th U . S . Infantry . Before the Civil War , he served primarily in the Pacific Northwest and Texas , where he was wounded severely on November 3 , 1859 , during a fight with the Comanches along the Llano River . He was absent on sick leave until 1861 . Civil War . Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter , he was promoted to captain of the 8th U . S . Infantry , and by October 29 , 1861 , he was Colonel of the 41st Ohio Infantry . Starting in January 1862 , he commanded a brigade in the Army of the Ohio , under Maj . Gen . Don Carlos Buell . His first major battle was Shiloh , where Buell ' s army arrived on the second day ( April 7 , 1862 ) , in time to counterattack the Confederate army for a Union victory . In the fall of 1862 , Hazen fought under Buell at Perryville . His brigade was reorganized into the XIV Corps ( later to be known as the Army of the Cumberland ) under Maj . Gen . William S . Rosecrans , and , in this organization , Hazen served in his most famous engagement , the Battle of Stones River , at Murfreesboro , Tennessee . On December 31 , 1862 , the Confederate forces under Gen . Braxton Bragg delivered a devastating assault that caught Rosecrans by surprise and drove his forces back three miles ( 5 km ) , leaving their backs to the Stones River . Hazen ' s brigade defended a small cedar forest known by the locals as " Round Forest " . Hazen and Brig . Gen . Charles Cruft were at a salient in the Union line , crushing of which would have given the Confederate a complete victory . Maj . Gens . George H . Thomas and Lovell H . Rousseau , Hazen ' s division commander , concentrated artillery to support them . Several Confederate attacks were beaten off . Their defense was so spirited against heavy odds that they arguably saved the Union line . The Round Forest is now known informally as " Hell ' s Half Acre " . Hazen was wounded in the shoulder during the fight and was promoted to brigadier general , effective November 29 , for his gallantry . Months after the battle , a monument was erected by veterans of the fight in a small Union cemetery at the site . This is considered to be the oldest monument erected on a Civil War battlefield . Hazen continued with the Army of the Cumberland through the successful Tullahoma Campaign , the serious Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga in XXI Corps , and the victorious Battle of Chattanooga in IV Corps . Hazen ' s brigade played a major role in the crossing at Brown ' s Ferry near Chattanooga that , together with the arrival of troops under Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker , opened the line of supply or " Cracker Line " to the Army of the Cumberland , penned into its defenses by the Confederates . . Hazen was promoted to brevet major in the regular army for Chickamauga and brevet lieutenant colonel for Chattanooga . He served under Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign , the March to the Sea , and the Carolinas Campaign , in the Army of the Cumberland and then in the Army of the Tennessee . He distinguished himself at the Battle of Pickett ' s Mill while still leading a brigade in IV Corps . His brigade had to attack without adequate support and suffered badly . Later , asked where his brigade was , Hazen replied , " Brigade , Hell , I have none . But what is left of it is over there in the woods . " Hazen was elevated to division command in XV Corps late in the Atlanta Campaign . During Sherman ' s March to the Sea , Hazen ' s division distinguished itself in the capture of Fort McAllister , Georgia , on December 13 , 1864 . This action opened communications between Sherman ' s army group and the United States Navy . He was promoted to brevet colonel in the regular army in September 1864 and to major general of volunteers on December 13 , 1864 . Very late in the war , he commanded the XV Corps of the Army of the Tennessee and was eventually promoted to brevet major general in the regular army , March 13 , 1865 . Postbellum career . As the U . S . Army was drawn down following the war , Hazen was redesignated as colonel of the 38th U . S . Infantry ( a Buffalo Soldier regiment , one of four such infantry regiments ) in July 1866 and transferred to the 6th U . S . Infantry in March 1869 . He served primarily on the Western frontier , including being stationed at Fort Buford in the Dakota Territory from 1872 to 1880 , but he also visited Europe as an observer during the Franco - Prussian War . One of Hazen ' s most important roles on the frontier was handling the negotiations that preceded the Battle of Washita River . Hazen offered testimony in one of the procurement corruption scandals that rocked the administration of President Ulysses S . Grant , which resulted in the resignation of Grant ' s Secretary of War , William W . Belknap . The Belknap scandal was tied to other disputes over promotions and squabbles over credit for victories in the Civil war . One of the squabbles pitted Hazen against Maj . Gen . David S . Stanley over the exact location of the monument at Stone ' s River . Stanley , who was fighting other generals over credit for the Union victory at the Second Battle of Franklin , argued that the monument was in the wrong place . Stanley was a friend of Belknap , which ties the controversies together . Hazen also engaged in controversy by criticizing George Armstrong Custer ' s book " Life on the Plains " in one of his own books . ( Custer had criticized Hazen ' s dealings with chief Black Kettle before Washita River . ) Hazen ' s relationships with Custer and with his superiors in the post - war army were such that the writer Ambrose Bierce called him " The best hated man I ever knew " . Hazen even managed to offend Lt . Gen . William T . Sherman , a former friend and an ally against Belknap . On December 15 , 1880 , President Rutherford B . Hayes promoted Hazen to brigadier general and appointed him Chief Signal Officer of the U . S . Army , a post he held until his death . His tenure was noted for focusing his department on basic research , rather than the practical matters that occupied his predecessor , Albert J . Myer . But he also continued to generate public controversy . One of the duties of the U . S . Army Signal Corps at the time was the management of the Weather Service and Hazen criticized the government ' s lack of response to the distress of the International Polar Year expedition to Fort Conger , Lady Franklin Bay ( on Ellesmere Island , Canada ) . The expedition , led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely , departed in the summer of 1881 , and in 1882 , a scheduled resupply effort failed , leaving the 25 men of the expedition without support to survive the winter about from the North Pole . In 1883 a rescue party commanded by Lt . Ernest A . Garlington also failed to the stranded party . By the time the rescue expedition of June 1884 reached Greely , only he and six of his command remained alive . Hazen publicly criticized Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln for his handling of the affair , citing his refusal to send further assistance after the failure of Garlington ' s rescue mission , until Greely ' s wife , Henrietta , forced Lincoln to act in response to outraged public opinion . Lincoln censured Hazen for his public criticisms and Hazen was court - martial ed in 1885 , resulting in a mild reprimand from President Chester A . Arthur . The newspapers , however , backed Hazen against Secretary Lincoln . Hazen married Mildred McLean , daughter of Washington McLean , the owner of " The Washington Post " . After his death , she married Admiral George Dewey on November 9 , 1899 . Hazen died in Washington , D . C . , having been taken ill after attending a reception held by President Grover Cleveland , and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . The " New York Times " , in its obituary , called Hazen " aggressive and disputatious " , traits that served him well on the battlefield but made him powerful enemies in peace time . Hazen , Nevada , and Hazen Bay in Alaska are named in his honor .