Charles Devens Charles Devens Jr . ( April 4 , 1820 – January 7 , 1891 ) was an American lawyer , jurist and statesman . He also served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Early life and career . Born in Charlestown , Massachusetts , Devens graduated from Boston Latin School and eventually Harvard College in 1838 , and from the Harvard Law School in 1840 . He was admitted to the bar in Franklin County , Massachusetts , where he practiced from 1841 to 1849 . In 1848 , he was a Whig member of the Massachusetts Senate . From 1849 to 1853 , Devens was United States Marshal for Massachusetts , in which capacity he was called upon in 1851 to remand the fugitive slave , Thomas Sims , to slavery . This he felt constrained to do , much against his personal desire ; subsequently , he attempted in vain to purchase Sims ' freedom , and many years later appointed him to a position in the United States Department of Justice in Washington , D . C . . Devens practiced law at Worcester , Massachusetts , from 1853 until 1861 . During much of this time , he also served as a general in the state militia . Civil War . When the war erupted , Devens was initially a major in the 3rd Battalion of Massachusetts Rifles . He was appointed as colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Infantry in July 1861 . He was wounded in action at the Battle of Ball ' s Bluff . Devens was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in April 1862 and assigned command of the 1st Brigade / 1st Division / IV Corps . He was again wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks in May . His brigade was not heavily involved in the Maryland Campaign . Shortly afterwards , it was reassigned to the VI Corps . Devens commanded the 2nd Brigade / 3rd Division / VI Corps during the Battle of Fredericksburg . Assigned command of the first division in the XI Corps , Devens was again wounded , this time at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 . Devens later distinguished himself at Battle of Cold Harbor , while commanding the 3rd Division / XVIII Corps in Ulysses S . Grant ' s Overland Campaign . During final stages of the Siege of Petersburg , he commanded the 3rd Division of the XXIV Corps . Devens ' s troops were the first to occupy Richmond after its fall in April 1865 . Postbellum . On January 13 , 1866 , President Andrew Johnson nominated Devens for the award of the honorary grade of brevet major general , United States Volunteers , to rank from April 3 , 1865 , for services during the Richmond campaign , and the U . S . Senate confirmed the award on March 12 , 1866 . Devens remained in the army for a year as commander of the military district of Charleston , South Carolina , before mustering out and returning home . He later served as the fifth Commander - in - Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic from 1873 – 75 . Devens was also a key figure in the investigation into the unlawful execution of Confederate veteran Calvin Crozier by soldiers of the 33rd Regiment , U . S . Colored Troops , at Newberry , SC in September 1865 following an altercation . Over Devens ' strong objections the officer who took responsibility for the lynching was exonerated and returned to duty . He was a judge of the Massachusetts superior court , from 1867 to 1873 , and was an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1873 to 1877 , and again from 1881 to 1891 . From 1877 to 1881 , he was Attorney General of the United States in the Cabinet of President Rutherford B . Hayes . Charles Devens died in Boston , Massachusetts , and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge , Massachusetts . Fort Devens in central Massachusetts , which opened in 1917 , was named after him , as was its successor , the Census - designated place Devens , Massachusetts . A statue of him stands outside the Worcester Court House .