Joshua W . Sill Joshua Woodrow Sill ( December 6 , 1831 – December 31 , 1862 ) , was a career officer in the United States Army and brigadier general during the American Civil War . He was killed at the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee . Fort Sill , Oklahoma , was later named in his honor . Early life and background . Sill was born in Chillicothe , Ohio . His early education was obtained largely from his father , who was a lawyer . Sill was appointed in 1849 to the United States Military Academy . During his four years at West Point he ranked among the best scholars and graduated third in his class of 52 cadets . Upon graduation he was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in Ordnance and his first assignment was at the Watervliet Arsenal in Troy , New York . In 1855 he was assigned to West Point as an instructor . After two years there he was assigned to Pittsburgh Arsenal as an ordnance officer . In May 1858 , Sill was sent to Vancouver in Washington Territory to superintend the building of an arsenal . Difficulties with the British Government prevented the construction of this arsenal and he was reassigned to Watervleit Arsenal . A few months later he was ordered to Fort Leavenworth , but resigned his commission in January 1861 . He then taught mathematics and civil engineering in the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute . Civil War . Following the bombardment of Fort Sumter Sill resigned his teaching position and offered his services to the Governor of Ohio , who appointed him Assistant Adjutant General of the State in May 1861 . Here he was occupied in the organization of the Ohio forces . In August 1861 he was commissioned colonel of the 33rd Ohio Infantry and accompanied Brig . Gen . William " Bull " Nelson in the Eastern Kentucky expedition . He was then assigned as a brigade commander in Brig . Gen . Ormsby M . Mitchel ' s division of the Army of the Ohio . He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on July 16 , 1862 . Shortly thereafter , Sill was elevated to command of a division , though was soon reassigned to command a brigade in Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan ' s division of the now - named Army of the Cumberland . Sill took part in the bloodiest battle of the Civil War ( in terms of percentage of casualties on both sides ) , the Battle of Stones River , just outside of Murfreesboro , Tennessee . On the first day of battle , while leading his men forward , he was killed by rifle fire . On the eve of the battle , Sill had been in conference with his commander , General Sheridan . When the conference adjourned and the attendees began to disperse , Sill and Sheridan mistakenly put on each other ' s coats . Sill was thus wearing Sheridan ' s coat at the time he was killed . Death . Sill ' s body was found by Confederate troops , who buried it in a battlefield cemetery near the scene of his death . Sill was later interred at Grandview Cemetery , Chillicothe , Ross County , Ohio . An epitaph from one of Sill ' s officers stated that " No man in the entire army , I believe , was so much admired , respected , and beloved by inferiors as well as superiors in rank as was General Sill . " Fort Sill , Oklahoma . In 1869 , Sill ' s West Point classmate and division commander , General Philip H . Sheridan , officially established a military post in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma . Sheridan named the military post in memory of Sill . Fort Sill is the largest field artillery complex in the world .