Truman Seymour Truman Seymour ( September 24 , 1824 – October 30 , 1891 ) was a career soldier and an accomplished painter . He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War , rising to the rank of major general . He was present at the Battle of Fort Sumter . He commanded the Union troops at the Battle of Olustee , the largest Civil War battle fought in Florida . Early life and career . Seymour was born in Burlington , Vermont . The son of a Methodist minister , he attended Norwich University , beginning in 1840 . After spending two years at Norwich , Seymour received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point . He graduated in 1846 , ranked nineteenth in a class of fifty - nine graduates . West Point ’ s Class of 1846 stands as one of the most illustrious in the academy ’ s storied history with George McClellan , Thomas J . “ Stonewall ” Jackson , Jesse Lee Reno , Darius Couch , George Stoneman , Sam Sturgis , David R . Jones , and George Pickett among its members . After graduating , Seymour was assigned to the 1st U . S . Artillery . He immediately began his military service in the Mexican - American War . During that war , he was brevetted captain for his performance in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco and was promoted to first lieutenant six days later . After returning to the United States following the war , he became an assistant professor of drawing at West Point from 1850 to 1853 and fought against the Seminoles in Florida from 1856 to 1858 . He was promoted to captain on November 22 , 1860 . Civil War . In the months that led up to the Civil War Seymour served under Col . John L . Gardner at Fort Moultrie getting it prepared for the imminent war . When the Civil War began in 1861 , Seymour participated in the defense against the Confederate assault on Fort Sumter , after which he received the brevet of major . Major Seymour commanded the 5th Regiment of Artillery and the U . S . Camp of Instruction at Harrisburg , Pennsylvania , from December 1861 to March 1862 . He was Chief of Artillery for General George A . McCall ' s division of Pennsylvania Reserves from March 6 , 1862 , until July 25 , 1862 . He became a brigadier general of volunteers on April 28 , 1862 . Seymour served in the Army of the Potomac ' s V Corps during the Peninsula Campaign of April – July 1862 . He commanded the left wing of the Reserves at Mechanicsville on June 26 , Gaines ' Mill on June 27 , Glendale on June 30 and led the division at Malvern Hill on July 1 after McCall was captured at the Battle of Glendale . After the Peninsula Campaign , the Pennsylvania Reserves joined the III Corps of the Army of Virginia , later I Corps in the Army of the Potomac . Seymour performed well at the battles of Second Bull Run , South Mountain , and Antietam in the latter half of 1862 , especially in his brigade ' s capture of Frosttown Gap , Maryland , on September 14 . Seymour took command of the Reserves after Brig . Gen . George G . Meade became acting corps commander . He received the brevet from the regular army of lieutenant colonel after South Mountain and that of colonel after Antietam . After November 18 , 1862 , General Seymour was sent to the Department of the South where he served as chief of staff to the commanding general from January 8 to April 23 , 1863 . He led a division on Folly Island , South Carolina , on July 4 , participated in the attack on Morris Island on July 10 , and commanded the unsuccessful attack on Fort Wagner on July 18 . Seymour gained notoriety for this controversial attack . He had placed the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , the black regiment about which the 1989 film " Glory " was made , in the vanguard of what most thought would be a feckless attack . He was also seriously wounded by grapeshot there and saw little field duty for the rest of 1863 . The Battle of Olustee . Maj . Gen . Quincy A . Gillmore , commanding general of the Department of the South , placed Seymour in charge of the newly created District of Florida . The division made an expedition to Florida in February 1864 , landing at and taking possession of Jacksonville . Subsequently , Gillmore returned to South Carolina and left Seymour in tactical command . On February 20 , Seymour ’ s force of about 5 , 500 men met a Confederate force of about 5 , 000 , commanded by Brigadier General Joseph Finegan . The battle took place near the town of Olustee , about 40 miles west of Jacksonville . The ensuing battle produced some of the heaviest losses , by percentage , of any major battle of the war . Although Seymour ’ s division inflicted nearly 1 , 000 casualties , it received nearly 2 , 000 in return . General Seymour ’ s force returned , defeated , to Jacksonville , where Union troops retained control until the war ended . The last year of the war . After Olustee , General Seymour retained command of the District of Florida until March 28 , 1864 . He then returned to Virginia and led Robert H . Milroy ' s former brigade as part of the Third Division of VI Corps in the Battle of the Wilderness that May . He was captured there in a flank attack by Brig . Gen . John B . Gordon , as was Brig . Gen . Alexander Shaler . After his exchange on August 9 , Seymour took command of the Third Division of VI Corps , after James B . Ricketts was wounded , in the last stages of the Shenandoah Valley and the final battles of Petersburg , the Sayler ' s Creek , and the Appomattox Campaign . He was present at General Robert E . Lee ' s surrender on April 9 , 1865 . After the capture of Petersburg , he received the brevet of major general of volunteers and the brevet of brigadier general of the United States Army , both to date from March 13 , 1865 . Postbellum career . After the war ended , Seymour stayed in the Army . He served again in the 5th Artillery , and later commanded forts in Florida , Fort Warren , Massachusetts ( 1869 – 70 ) , and Fort Preble , Maine ( 1870 – 75 ) . He retired from the army on November 1 , 1876 . He received the degree of A . M . from Williams College in 1865 . Seymour spent his retirement in Europe . He painted much in watercolor , and died while living in Florence , Italy . He was buried there in the Cimitero Evangelico degli Allori .