James M . Tuttle James Madison Tuttle ( September 24 , 1823 – October 24 , 1892 ) was a soldier , businessman , and politician from the state of Iowa who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He commanded a brigade and then a division in the Army of the Tennessee in several campaigns in the Western Theater of operations . He led the first Union troops that entered the enemy - held Fort Donelson in 1862 , paving the way for the fort ' s subsequent surrender to Ulysses S . Grant and opening the Cumberland River as an avenue of invasion of the South . Early life and career . James M . Tuttle was born near Summerfield , Ohio , in rural Noble County ( then Monroe County ) to James and Esther ( Crow ) Tuttle . When he was ten years old , Tuttle ' s family moved to Indiana , where his father , a Maine - born farmer who kept migrating westward , finally settled in Fayette County . Young Tuttle was educated in the common schools of Ohio and Indiana . In the spring of 1846 the 23 - year - old Tuttle moved to Farmington , Iowa , where he engaged both in agricultural and mercantile pursuits . He briefly returned to Fayette County , Indiana , in the fall of 1847 , where he married Elizabeth Conner on September 22 . They established a household in Farmington . However , Elizabeth Tuttle died on their fourth wedding anniversary . On August 17 , 1853 , Tuttle married Ohio - born Laura M . Meek in Farmington ; they would have five children together . Tuttle entered local politics as a Democrat , and was elected in 1855 as the sheriff of Van Buren County , serving two years . In the autumn of 1857 , he was elected as the County Treasurer and Recorder , serving a pair of 2 - year terms . Civil War service . Following the outbreak of the war in April 1861 , Tuttle raised a company of volunteers and was elected as its captain . He and his men traveled to Keokuk , where they were assigned to the 2nd Iowa Infantry , the first three - years regiment organized in Iowa . The regiment soon elected Tuttle as its lieutenant colonel , and the regiment was mustered formally into Federal service on May 27 . The 2nd Iowa was assigned to duty under General Grant , who promoted Tuttle to colonel on September 6 of that year . At the February 1862 Battle of Fort Donelson in Tennessee , he led his regiment in a successful charge into the Confederate earthworks . Tuttle ' s men planted the first Union flag inside Fort Donelson . Despite a minor wound , Tuttle stayed in command throughout the assault . At the Battle of Shiloh in April , Tuttle commanded a brigade in Maj . Gen . W . H . L . Wallace ' s division , composed of the 2nd , 7th , 8th , 12th and 14th Iowa Infantry , as well as an artillery battery . After Wallace was mortally wounded and the other ranking officers also fell , Tuttle temporarily assumed command of the division and led the 2nd Division troops in fighting around the " Hornet ' s Nest , " where he barely escaped capture . In recognition for his gallantry in action at Fort Donelson and Shiloh , he was promoted to brigadier general on June 9 , 1862 . BG Thomas A . Davies took command of the division during the Siege of Corinth , and Tuttle returned to brigade command . During the fall and winter of 1862 , General Tuttle commanded the Union garrison at the vital supply town of Cairo , Illinois . In the spring of 1863 , he was assigned leadership of a division in Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman ' s XV Corps . On May 6 , 1863 , rowdies from Tuttle ' s division , headed toward Vicksburg , burned most of the mansions which fronted the oxbow lake , Lake St . Joseph near Newellton in Tensas Parish , Louisiana , including the most stately of the antebellum mansions in the area , Franklin Plantation , owned by the physician Allen T . Bowie . Tuttle went on to participate that summer in the Vicksburg Campaign and thereafter the capture of Jackson , Mississippi , where he again distinguished himself in action and parlayed his growing name recognition into a run for Governor of Iowa as a Democrat . However , in the autumn elections , Tuttle was soundly defeated by Republican William M . Stone , another veteran of Shiloh . In 1864 , while commanding the forces around Natchez , Mississippi , Tuttle ordered the Roman Catholic Bishop of Natchez , William Henry Elder , to have certain prayers for the President of the United States recited publicly in the churches of his diocese . Elder refused , and petitioned President Abraham Lincoln for relief from the order . Through the efforts of U . S . Senator Francis Kernan , Elder was granted the freedom to practice his religion without obeying Tuttle ' s directive . In September 1864 , Tuttle resigned his commission and returned to civilian life in Iowa . Postbellum career . After the war , Tuttle settled in Des Moines , Iowa , where he was engaged in various mining and manufacturing interests , including partnerships in mines in Colorado , Arizona , and New Mexico . Among his many business interestes was Tuttle Brothers , a pork packing operation he owned with his brother Martin . In 1866 he was the Democratic candidate for the U . S . Congress , but was beaten by former general Grenville M . Dodge in the general election . In 1871 he was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives and served one term . He served as the state commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for the Department of Iowa . In 1883 , Tuttle switched political parties and was easily elected to another term in the Iowa Legislature as a Republican . Three years later , he was named as the president of the board of directors for the Iowa Soldiers Home .