James G . Blunt James Gillpatrick ( or Gilpatrick ) Blunt ( July 21 , 1826 – July 27 , 1881 ) was a physician and abolitionist who rose to Union major general during the American Civil War . Early life & career . Blunt was born in Trenton , Maine to John Blunt and Sally Gilpatrick Blunt Blunt lived and worked on his family farm until he was 14 . He may have spent some time at the Ellsworth Military Academy in Ellsworth , Maine . He became a sailor on a merchant vessel when he was 15 , and attained the rank of captain at 20 . In 1845 Blunt moved to Columbus , Ohio , where he enrolled in Starling Medical College . His maternal uncle , Dr . Rufus Gilpatrick , was one of the instructors . Graduating in February 1849 , Blunt moved to New Madison , Ohio and started a practice . On January 15 , 1850 he married Nancy G . Putman . Blunt practiced medicine and took an active role in county politics as a member of the Republican Party . Kansas career . In 1856 Blunt and his family relocated to Anderson County , Kansas , following his uncle who had moved there several years earlier . He soon became involved in the conflict before the Civil War known as Bleeding Kansas , when abolitionist and slavery forces battled to control the territory . During a confrontation with the pro - slavery territorial government in 1857 , Blunt joined a force including Jim Lane and abolitionist John Brown . Blunt was a key member of the Wyandotte constitutional convention that framed the Kansas state constitution in 1859 , and served as chair of the committee on militia . Civil War . At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 , Blunt was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 3nd Kansas Volunteer regiment , a part of James Lane ' s Kansas Brigade . In April 1862 , Blunt was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and given command of the Department and Army of Kansas . He ordered Colonel William Weer to lead the " Indian Expedition " in 1861 which succeeded in occupying Fort Gibson and arming three regiments of Native Americans . Blunt ' s forces were defeated in the First Battle of Newtonia , and the Army of Kansas was incorporated into the Army of the Frontier as the 1st Division . Blunt led his division of Cherokee and Kansas volunteers to victory at the Battle of Old Fort Wayne . In December 1862 , Blunt ' s division was joined by the 2nd Division under Francis J . Herron . The combined forces met Confederate s under Thomas C . Hindman at the Battle of Prairie Grove . While tactically a draw , the battle was a strategic victory for the Union . Blunt was appointed major general of volunteers on March 16 , 1863 . He was the only officer from Kansas to achieve that rank during the war . He established Fort Baxter ( also known as Fort Blair ) in May 1863 near Baxter Springs , Kansas . Blunt was appointed to command the District of the Frontier . He campaigned for control of the Indian Territory and won a victory at the Battle of Honey Springs , bringing much of the Indian Territory into Union control . In October 1863 , while moving his headquarters from Fort Scott to Fort Smith , Blunt and his detachment were attacked by a Confederate force under William C . Quantrill . At the Battle of Fort Blair Quantrill ' s Raiders routed and killed over 80 of Blunt ' s 100 escorts , including his adjutant Major Henry Curtis , son of Major General Samuel Curtis . These actions led to Blunt ' s removal from command of the District of the Frontier . In 1864 , Blunt was able to redeem himself . Confederate Maj . Gen . Sterling Price began an invasion of Missouri and Blunt took command of the 1st Division of Army of the Border . He and the cavalry under Alfred Pleasonton fought delaying actions until Samuel R . Curtis brought the full strength of the army together and inflicted a defeat on Price at the Battle of Westport . Blunt ' s division inflicted the final defeat to Price at the Second Battle of Newtonia . Blunt commanded the District of South Kansas when the war ended . Post - war life and death . After the war , Blunt settled with his family in Leavenworth , Kansas and resumed his medical practice ; he also was admitted to the Kansas bar as a lawyer . He moved to Washington , D . C . in 1869 where he practiced his new profession . Blunt ' s behaviour became erratic in 1879 when he was 53 , and he was committed to an asylum . He died two years later , with the cause of death given as " softening of the brain . " His body was returned to Leavenworth and is buried in the Mount Muncie Cemetery . In popular culture . James Blunt figures briefly in " Rifles for Watie " , a novel by Harold Keith about a young Union soldier from Kansas fighting the Civil War in Indian Territory and the surrounding states . It includes a description of the Battle of Prairie Grove .