Byron M . Cutcheon Byron Mac Cutcheon ( May 11 , 1836 - April 12 , 1908 ) was an American Civil War officer , Medal of Honor recipient and politician from the U . S . state of Michigan . Early life . Cutcheon was born in Pembroke , New Hampshire May 11 , 1836 but his parents died and he became an orphan at a young age . He worked in a cotton mill in Pembroke to earn money so he could attend school and at the age of 13 , he began attending Pembroke Academy . At the age of 17 , he was a teacher in the same school but in 1855 , he moved to Ypsilanti , Michigan , continuing to study and teach . In 1857 , he was invited to take charge of Birmingham Academy in Oakland County as principal , though he intended only to remain long enough to secure means to further progress in his own education . The following spring , he entered the University of Michigan and in the fall of 1859 , he worked as principal of the Oak Grove Academy , in Lenawee County in order to support himself . As soon as he had acquired sufficient means , he again entered the university , and graduated in 1861 . Before graduating he had become the principal and was a professor of ancient languages , higher mathematics and mental and moral philosophy in the Ypsilanti High School , 1861 and 1862 . Civil War positions . He resigned his school post to enlist in the Union Army following the outbreak of the American Civil War and raised a company for the Twentieth Regiment , Michigan Infantry who mustered him into service as a Second Lieutenant . On July 29 , 1862 , he was made captain of his company and on October 14 , 1862 , he was made major of the Twentieth Regiment . On November 16 , 1863 , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel , and by order of the U . S . War Department , he was made colonel on November 21 , 1863 . He was transferred and made Colonel of the Twenty - seventh Michigan Infantry , November 12 , 1864 . He was mustered into the United States service as colonel , December 19 , 1864 , and was brevet ted colonel of U . S . Volunteers , August 18 , 1864 , for gallant services at the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House . During his service in the American Civil War he was in the battles of Fredericksburg , Virginia ; Horseshoe Bend , Kentucky ; the Siege of Vicksburg , Mississippi ; the Assault on Jackson , Mississippi ; the battles of Blue Springs , Tennessee ; London , Tennessee ; Campbell ' s Station , Tennessee ; the Siege of Knoxville , Tennessee ; the Assault on Fort Saunders , at Knoxville ; Thurley ' s Ford , Tennessee ; Strawberry Plains , Tennessee ; Chuckey Bend ; Wilderness ( for actions during which he would later be awarded the Medal of Honor ) ; Ny River ; Spottsylvania Court House ( in which he was wounded , while leading a charge of the Twentieth Michigan and Fifty - first Pennsylvania ) . He remained at the hospital about two months . For gallant conduct on this occasion he received a commission as brevet colonel . He was next in the Siege of Petersburg , July , 1864 , the Weldon Railroad , Reams Station , Virginia ; Poplar Spring Church , Virginia ; Boydton Plank Road , Hatcher ' s Run , and the siege of Petersburg , from November 1864 , to March 1865 . On October 16 , 1864 , he was assigned the command of the Second Brigade , Fifteenth Division Ninth Army Corps , and remained in command of that brigade until March 6 , 1865 , when he resigned on account of sickness in his family . He was brevetted brigadier general of U . S . Volunteers , March 13 , 1865 , for conspicuous gallantry on the field of battle . After the war . After the war he returned home and entered into the law office of his brother , Sullivan M . Cutcheon , in Ypsilanti . At the time , Sullivan was Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives and later became U . S . Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan . He entered the University of Michigan Law School in 1865 and graduated in March 1866 . He was admitted to practice in Washtenaw County in January 1866 . In the Spring of 1866 he was appointed the state agent of the Michigan Soldiers ' Monumental Association . When the association was inaugurated , in 1865 , addresses were made on that occasion by Gen . Cutcheon , Hon . Austin Blair , ( Michigan ' s war governor ) , Hon . Jacob M . Howard and Gen . O . B . Wilcox . In this work he traveled all over the state , making appeals to the people and securing their aid in this grand undertaking . In fall 1866 , he moved to Ionia to resume the practice of law . In July 1867 , he moved to Manistee . He was appointed a member of the State Board of Railroad Commissioners , 1867 - 1883 . In 1866 he was also appointed president of the Michigan Soldiers ' Home Commission , Governor Henry H . Crapo . He served as a Presidential elector from Michigan in 1868 , casting votes for the ticket of Ulysses S . Grant and Schuyler Colfax . He was elected to the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan in 1875 and served until 1883 . He was the city attorney of Manistee , 1870 – 1873 ; prosecuting attorney of Manistee County in 1873 and 1874 ; and postmaster of Manistee , 1877 - 1883 . In 1882 , Cutcheon was elected as a Republican from Michigan ' s 9th congressional district to the 49th Congress . He was re - elected to the three succeeding Congresses , serving from March 4 , 1883 to March 3 , 1891 . He served as chairman , Committee on Military Affairs in the 51st Congress . In 1890 , Cutcheon lost to Democrat Harrison H . Wheeler in the general election . Family and later life . Cutcheon was married at Dexter , June 22 , 1863 , to Miss Marie A . Warner , of Ann Arbor . They raised five children , four sons and one daughter , named , respectively , Frank Warner , Charles Tripp , Max Hart , Frederick Richard , and Marie Louise . Cutcheon was awarded a Medal of Honor on June 29 , 1891 , " for distinguished gallantry at the Battle of the Wilderness " , Virginia on May 7 , 1864 . He was appointed civilian member of the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications by U . S . President Benjamin Harrison in July 1891 and served until March 25 , 1895 . He was editorial writer for the " Detroit Daily Tribune " and the " Detroit Journal " , 1895 - 1897 . He resumed the practice of law in Grand Rapids and died in Ypsilanti , where he is interred in Highland Cemetery . His grave can be found in section 100 , lot 42 .