Nathan Dudley Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley ( August 20 , 1825 – April 29 , 1910 ) was a soldier who served as a Colonel of Volunteers and sometimes as an acting Brigadier General of Volunteers for the Union Army during the American Civil War . Early military career . He led the 30th Massachusetts Volunteers and spent time as an aide to Nathaniel Prentice Banks , Major General of Volunteers and usually the commander of XIX Corp . At the beginning of the War he was serving as a regular army captain , commanding Company E of the 10th U . S . Infantry Regiment . On January 19 , 1865 , President Abraham Lincoln , nominated Dudley for the award of the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from the same date , January 19 , 1865 , and the U . S . Senate confirmed the award on February 14 , 1865 . After the War he reverted to his regular rank and transferred to the Third U . S . Cavalry . He eventually was promoted to Lt . Colonel of the Ninth Cavalry and finally to Colonel of the First U . S . Cavalry . He spent much of his career on the Indian frontier , and did much good service which has been somewhat overshadowed by his part in the Lincoln County War . He was well liked by his men , often not so well liked by his fellow officers . He was convicted at two Courts - Martial of offenses that could have ended his career , and Colonel Hatch of the Ninth Cavalry tried to get Dudley retired as being unfit for service due to alcohol . Dudley , however , had friends in high places . Lincoln County War . Dudley ' s part in the Lincoln County War of 1877 - 1879 is at best controversial and at worst despicable and incompetent . He was the commanding officer of the local Fort Stanton . Despite orders not to interfere in civilian matters , he did , nominally to protect civilians , but in fact , he seems to have favored the Murphy - Dolan faction throughout . Attempts to have him removed as commander went all the way to the Secretary of War , but were refused . Susan McSween , the wife of one of the key participants , Alexander McSween , had charges filed in 1879 against Dudley . Dudley was removed by General Hatch as commander on March 7 , 1879 , and a court of inquiry into his actions was commissioned . In July 1879 , the inquiry ruled that a court martial against Dudley was not justified , and Dudley was transferred to Fort Union . In November 1879 Dudley was also found not guilty in his trial for an arson , a crime committed during the Battle of Lincoln . Susan McSween ' s husband , Alexander , was shot and killed while unarmed , and in the presence of Col . Dudley , while McSween was fleeing the burning house . Subsequent career . Towards the end of his career , he assisted Colonel George Buell ' s expedition against the Apache chief Victorio , which indirectly led to Victorio ' s death at the hands of the Mexican army . In 1887 , as a colonel of the 1st Cavalry , he helped suppress the rebellion on the Crow reservation , during which the leader of a faction of the Crow , Sword Bearer , was killed . Promoted in 1904 , during his retirement , to regular army brigadier general , Dudley died in 1910 , aged 84 , and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery under an ornate tombstone of his own design . `