James M . Comly James Munroe Stuart Comly ( March 6 , 1832 – July 26 , 1887 ) was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War , as well as a journalist , attorney , newspaper editor and owner , historian and diplomat . He was instrumental in advancing the political career of his friend Rutherford B . Hayes , the 19th President of the United States . Early life and career . Comly was born on a farm near the small village of New Lexington , Ohio . He was descended from a family of Quakers who had moved to Perry County from Philadelphia and established a series of sawmills . When his father died when Comly was only ten years old , he moved to Columbus and worked in a printing shop as a messenger , before becoming an apprentice and journeyman printer . He studied law and served as the chief law clerk for the Ohio Secretary of State , which exposed him to politics . He began writing articles for newspapers and joined the fledgling Republican Party , supporting John C . Frémont for president in 1856 and Abraham Lincoln in 1860 . He was the editor of the leading Republican newspaper , the " Ohio State Journal " . Civil War . When hostilities broke out between the North and South , Comly enlisted in the Union Army in December 1861 , being appointed by Republican Governor William Dennison as major of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry , an appointment at first not popular with the men as several experienced captain s were passed over for the political appointee , Comly . The regiment was assigned to Raleigh , North Carolina , and Comly participated in several battles in the state . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel . When the commander of the regiment , Rutherford B . Hayes , was wounded at the Battle of South Mountain , Comly assumed command and led the 23rd OVI at Antietam and several subsequent campaigns in the IX Corps until Hayes recovered . In 1863 , Comly married Elizabeth Smith , the daughter of the Surgeon General of Ohio . In February 1864 , when Hayes was promoted to division command , Comly was named as his successor as colonel of the regiment , which he led for much of the remainder of the war until lingering effects from battlefield wounds forced him out of the field in early 1865 . He was brevetted Brigadier General , U . S . Volunteers . Postbellum . Following the war , Comly returned to his political newspaper and was editor and publisher of the " Ohio State Journal " , a powerful influence in helping his friend Hayes be elected Governor of Ohio . Comly guided the newspaper into statewide prominence ( it would last until 1985 as " The Columbus Citizen - Journal " ) . In April 1866 , Comly established a local baseball team in Columbus and became the sport ' s major promoter and advocate in the region . President Ulysses S . Grant appointed him as Postmaster of Columbus . When Hayes was elected president in 1876 , he rewarded Comly for his support by naming him the U . S . Minister to Hawaii , a post he held until 1882 . He served as a presidential elector in 1884 , supporting James G . Blaine . Comly moved to Toledo , Ohio , and became editor of the " Toledo Commercial " . In the last years of his life , Comly suffered much from his old Civil War wounds . He died in Toledo , Ohio at the age of 55 and was buried in Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus .