Thomas H . Neill Thomas Hewson Neill , a native of Pennsylvania , became a general in the American Civil War , serving in the Army of the Potomac in some of its most important campaigns . Birth and early years . Neill was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on April 9 , 1826 . Educated in local schools , he attended the University of Pennsylvania before transferring to the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York . He graduated 27th of a class numbering 38 members in 1847 . Neill served on the frontier , usually with the 5th U . S . Infantry , before the outbreak of the Civil War . He also taught briefly at West Point . At the outbreak of the war Neill was a captain , having reached that rank on April 1 , 1857 . Civil War . When the war began , Neill served on the staff of the Department of Annapolis and then on the staff of Gen George Cadwalader in the Department of Pennsylvania . Then he was made colonel of the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry , which he led in Darius Couch ’ s division of IV Corps Army of the Potomac in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles . Neill was injured in the ankle at the Battle of Malvern Hill . Neill next served under Couch in the Maryland Campaign . He became a brigade commander in the second division of BG Albion Howe in VI Corps at the Battle of Fredericksburg . Neill was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on April 15 , 1863 , his rank postdated to November 29 , 1862 . During the Chancellorsville Campaign , Neill brigade led the advance of Howe ’ s division at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg , also known as the Second Battle of Marye ' s Heights , when VI Corps , under MG John Sedgwick drove Jubal Early ’ s division away from the Heights . His brigade also fought in the Battle of Salem Church . Neill had his horse shot from under him in the fight for Scott ' s Ford , Sedgwick ' s means of escaping across the Rappahannock River from converging Confederate attacks . VI Corps served as the army ’ s reserve in the Battle of Gettysburg . By the end of the battle , Neill ’ s brigade was on the far right flank of the army ’ s infantry line , positioned on Wolf Hill . It engaged in skirmishing with the Confederates of Edward Johnson ' s division , which was engaged on Culp ' s Hill . Neill Avenue , on Wolf Hill , in the Gettysburg National Military Park is named for him . Neill led John Baillie McIntosh ' s cavalry brigade , his own brigade and some artillery in the pursuit of the Confederate army toward Fairfield Gap beginning on July 5 , 1863 . His report for Gettysburg emphasizes that part of the campaign . When VI Corps was reorganized in the winter of 1863 - 1864 , Neill retained his brigade ; but Howe was replaced by BG George Getty . Getty was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness , and Neill commanded his division for most of the Overland Campaign of Ulysses S . Grant . Getty returned early in the Siege of Petersburg , and Neill became a staff officer in XVIII Corps of the Army of the James . Then he served as inspector general on the staff of MG Philip Sheridan in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . There is no record of his service in the Civil War after December 1864 . He received brevet promotion as a major general of volunteers and brigadier of regulars for his war service on March 13 , 1865 . After the war , Neill reverted to regular service as a major in the infantry . ( He had been promoted to that rank on August 26 , 1863 . ) He became lieutenant colonel of the 1st U . S . Infantry on February 22 , 1869 . Neill became a cavalry commander , leading the 6th U . S . Cavalry beginning in 1879 , when he became a colonel . He also was commandant of cadets at West Point for four years . Neill served in Texas before retiring on disability in 1883 . Neill died in Philadelphia on March 12 , 1885 . He is buried at West Point .