Henry M . Cist Henry Martyn Cist ( February 20 , 1839 – December 16 , 1902 ) was an American soldier , lawyer , and author who became a brevet brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He is most noted for his classic and oft - referenced 1882 book " The Army of the Cumberland " . In addition , Cist led pioneering efforts to preserve and interpret the sites of the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga . Early life and career . Henry Cist was born in Cincinnati , Ohio , the younger of two sons of Philadelphia - born author Charles Cist and his wife Janet . His paternal grandfather , also named Charles Cist , was an immigrant from St . Petersburg , Russia , and a printer and publisher in Philadelphia . Cist graduated from Farmers College in 1858 , and then studied law . He passed his bar exam and became a practicing attorney . Civil War service . With the outbreak of the Civil War , Cist enlisted as a private in the three - month 6th Ohio Infantry . When his term of enlistment expired , he was promoted to second lieutenant in the 52nd Ohio Infantry . He later served as post adjutant of Camp Chase in Columbus , Ohio , after the prisoners of war captured at Fort Donelson were transported there following Ulysses S . Grant ' s victory in February 1862 . In April 1862 , Cist joined the 74th Ohio Infantry as a first lieutenant and became its regimental adjutant , serving under Colonel Granville Moody . He later served as the assistant adjutant general with the rank of captain on the staff of Major General William S . Rosecrans in the Army of the Cumberland . Later he was on the staff of Major General George H . Thomas . In the omnibus promotions issued by the War Department following the end of the Civil War , Cist received three brevet promotions dating from March 13 , 1865 , to the ranks of major , colonel , and brigadier general of U . S . Volunteers . At Gen . Thomas ' s request , he remained in the service after the close of hostilities to give the necessary orders and to arrange the details providing for the mustering out and disbanding of over 100 , 000 troops . Postbellum career . After mustering out of the army in January 1866 , Cist returned to Cincinnati , and established a successful legal practice in that city . He briefly entered politics and lost a hotly contested election for mayor of College Hill , Ohio , that required court action to declare a winner . In 1869 Cist was elected corresponding secretary of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland , to which office he was re - elected every year for some years afterward . He edited all but volumes ii and iii of " Reports of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland " ( Cincinnati , 17 vols . , 1868 – 85 ) . In 1882 , he wrote " The Army of the Cumberland " ( New York : Charles Scribner ' s Sons ) , which was considered one of the best first - person accounts of that army . He wrote one of the earliest biographies of Union leader " Pap " Thomas , " The Life of Gen . George H . Thomas " . He also wrote several magazine articles related to Cincinnati during wartime . Among his article titles were “ Cincinnati with the War Fever ” and “ The Romance of Shiloh . ” Cist turned his interest in history to working to have battlefield sites preserved . He served as director of the Chickamauga Memorial Association in 1889 , helping gain Congressional authorization in 1890 for the first military park , the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park . In 1892 Cist served as president of the Ohio Society , Sons of the American Revolution . It is a heritage organization devoted to celebrating the history of the US and especially the meaning of the American Revolution . After contracting pneumonia while touring Italy , Cist died at the age of 63 . He died at Rome , Italy . His body was returned to Ohio and buried in Cincinnati ' s Spring Grove Cemetery .