William Harrow William Harrow ( November 14 , 1822 – September 27 , 1872 ) was an Indiana lawyer and a controversial Union general in the American Civil War . Early life and career . Harrow was born in Winchester , Kentucky , and was educated in the common schools . He studied law and passed his bar exam in Lawrenceville , Illinois , where he established a practice . As an attorney on the Eighth Judicial Circuit , he was a frequent associate of Abraham Lincoln for several years before moving to Vincennes , Indiana . In the late 1850s , Harrow moved again , relocating his practice to Mount Vernon , Indiana . Harrow married Juliette James , of a pioneer family of Mount Vernon . Her father , Enoch R . James , owned the only private bank in Posey County , Indiana , for a number of years and was one of the wealthiest men in that county . The Harrows had a daughter , Esther . Harrow ' s law practice prospered and he became influential in his community . He was selected as the captain of a local militia company known as the " Knox County Invincibles , " a social group that was mostly ceremonial . Civil War . When the Civil War erupted , Indiana began organizing similar militia groups and integrating them with companies of new recruits into full regiment s . Despite his age ( approaching 40 ) , Harrow enlisted in the Union Army . Through his political connections , Harrow was named as major of the 14th Indiana Infantry , serving under the command of Col . Nathan Kimball . He served in what became West Virginia at the battles of Cheat Mountain and Greenbrier River in late 1861 , then participated in several fights against troops of Stonewall Jackson during the Valley Campaign as lieutenant colonel of the 14th . Following the Battle of Kernstown , where Harrow lost 54 men in action , he was promoted to full colonel . Harrow briefly resigned from the army in July 1862 after being accused of drunkenness at Kernstown , but was reinstated to command the next month . Serving in the Army of the Potomac at Antietam , Harrow ' s regiment attacked enemy positions along the Sunken Road , where half his men became casualties . Harrow ' s report praised all his men for their performance during four hours under heavy fire in the battle . As senior colonel in his brigade , Harrow later became its commander and led it through the Fredericksburg Campaign . In October 1862 , Kimball had sent a letter to President Lincoln personally requesting that Harrow be promoted to brigadier general . Lincoln signed the letter on October 16 and forwarded it to the War Department . However , no action was taken and Harrow remained a colonel through the balance of the winter . In April 1863 , Harrow was finally promoted to brigadier general and led the 1st Brigade , 2nd Division , II Corps , during the Gettysburg Campaign . On July 2 at the Battle of Gettysburg elements of his brigade were engaged against the attack of Maj . Gen . Richard H . Anderson on the Union lines . Most notably the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry distinguished itself in stalling a Confederate attack on an under - defended part of the Federal line . Harrow served as acting division commander while Brig . Gen . John Gibbon led the corps late in the day . Maj . Gen . Winfield S . Hancock at that time was in charge of the left flank of the army . Defending a portion of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge during the climatic fighting on July 3 , Harrow ' s men helped repel a part of Pickett ' s Charge . With the wounding of Gibbon , Harrow was elevated once more to command of the 2nd Division . The division had suffered over 1 , 600 casualties out of 3 , 773 men in a contest that Harrow reported had raged with " unparalleled ferocity . " Harrow ' s men captured four Confederate battle flags in their front . His own brigade suffered as many as 768 casualties . ( Harrow reported 722 losses . ) However , nagging questions persisted about Harrow ' s ability to work cooperatively with his superiors and his abilities to lead and inspire soldiers , as well as about his sobriety . In his official report on Gettysburg , John Gibbon , Harrow ' s superior , openly praised his other two division commanders , but , notably , did not mention Harrow in his litany of officers deserving recognition . Soon afterward , Harrow was relieved of command and never again served in the Army of the Potomac , but he was soon reinstated in field command by his old friend , President Abraham Lincoln . Harrow was reassigned to the Western Theater , where he participated in the Atlanta Campaign in command of the 4th Division of the XV Corps , a change regretted by those soldiers . His men initially resented him , as " Western officers and soldiers held a sort of prejudice against the Eastern army , " in which Harrow had most recently served . Compounding the problem , " General Harrow was far from possessing the necessary qualifications to induce men to obey him . . . " and instituted a series of strict and unusually harsh disciplinary measures . Nonetheless , Harrow ' s command fought well , especially at the Battle of Atlanta and the Battle of Ezra Church . After a reorganization in September 1864 , Harrow was left without an assignment for the duration of the war . Perhaps due to his ill temper and past reputation , a number of high ranking generals , including Oliver O . Howard , William T . Sherman , and Winfield S . Hancock , refused to accept him . One of his subordinates later remarked , " . . . while he may have possessed military knowledge , he never gave evidence of its possession during the Atlanta campaign . . . " Harrow formally resigned from the army in April 1865 . Postbellum career . Harrow returned to Mount Vernon and resumed his law practice . He also became active in local politics . In 1872 Harrow died in a train derailment accident at New Albany , Indiana . He was en route to Jeffersonville , where he had planned to make a speech supporting presidential candidate Horace Greeley . Harrow is buried in Bellfontaine Cemetery , Mount Vernon , Indiana .