Albion P . Howe Albion Parris Howe ( March 13 , 1818 – January 25 , 1897 ) was a Union Army general in the American Civil War . Howe ' s contentious relationships with superior officers in the Army of the Potomac eventually led to his being deprived of division command . Early life . Howe was born in Standish , Maine . He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1841 . After serving in the 4th U . S . Artillery for two years , he taught mathematics at the U . S . Military Academy for three years . Howe served in the Mexican War and was awarded a brevet promotion in 1847 to the rank of captain for gallantry during Winfield Scott ' s advance upon Mexico City , especially for his actions at the Battle of Contreras and the Battle of Churubusco . He was promoted to the rank of captain on March 2 , 1855 . Howe served under Robert E . Lee during the suppression of John Brown at Harpers Ferry . Civil War . At the beginning of the Civil War , Howe served under Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan in western Virginia . He took command of John J . Peck ' s 3rd Brigade , ( 55th New York , 62nd New York , and the 93rd , 98th , and 102nd Pennsylvania regiments ) Couch ' s 1st Division , Keyes ' s IV Corps during the Seven Days Battles , after Peck was promoted to command of Silas Casey ' s Division of the same corps . Howe received the brevet rank of major in the regular army for his role at the Battle of Malvern Hill . He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the volunteer service on June 11 , 1862 . In the subsequent campaigns of the Army of the Potomac , Howe fought in the Battle of South Mountain and was present at the Battle of Antietam . He was promoted to command 2nd division , VI Corps , leading it at the Battle of Fredericksburg . His division was heavily engaged at Fredericksburg and Salem Church during the Chancellorsville Campaign . Howe ' s division led a reconnaissance in the vicinity of Fredericksburg on June 3 , 1863 , as the Union high command tried to determine whether the Army of Northern Virginia was moving out of its positions to undertake an offensive . It was only minimally engaged in the campaign culminating in the Battle of Gettysburg . His division was the last to reach the battlefield and his two brigades were assigned to opposite ends of the Union line , leaving him effectively without a command . During the pursuit of Lee ' s retreating army , the 1st Vermont Brigade of Howe ' s division fought the Confederate rear guard near Funkstown , Maryland , on July 10 , 1863 . Howe continued in division command during the Bristoe Campaign and the Mine Run Campaign . Howe was removed from command by Maj . Gen . George G . Meade shortly thereafter . Howe ' s bad relationship with his corps commander , Maj . Gen . John Sedgwick , including support of Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker in the controversies that were spawned by the Union defeat at Chancellorsville , probably contributed to this removal . Meade , if he did not initiate Howe ' s removal , at least did not oppose it . Howe testified against Meade and Sedgwick before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War , claiming Sedgwick spoke to him about retreating to Westminster , Maryland . Sedgwick ' s testimony before the committee contradicted Howe ' s without naming him . The committee did not pursue this contradiction . What is clear is that Sedgwick sought the services of Brig . Gen . George W . Getty to replace Howe in command of the 2nd Division . After leaving the Army of the Potomac , Howe commanded the artillery depot in Washington , D . C . He was in the field briefly at Harpers Ferry , opposing the raid on Washington by Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early . Postbellum service . At the close of the war , Howe served in the honor guard that stood watch over the corpse of Abraham Lincoln , and soon afterward was appointed as a member of the military commission that tried the Lincoln conspirators . Howe did not make any public comments on the conviction or hanging of Mary E . Surratt , but was not among the five officers who petitioned President Andrew Johnson to commute her sentence to life in prison . Both assignments may indicate that the Radical Republican faction in the Congress found him useful and sympathetic . He also served in the Freedmen ' s Bureau in 1865 . Howe was mustered out of the volunteer service on July 15 , 1866 . Howe retired from the Army on June 30 , 1882 , at the rank of colonel . He was a veteran companion of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States . He died in Cambridge , Massachusetts , and is buried there in Mount Auburn Cemetery .