Jeremiah C . Sullivan Jeremiah Cutler Sullivan ( October 1 , 1830 – October 21 , 1890 ) was an Indiana lawyer , antebellum United States Navy officer , and a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He was among a handful of former Navy officers who later served as infantry generals during the war . Early life and career . Jeremiah C . Sullivan was born in Madison , Indiana . He was the son of Virginia - born attorney Jeremiah Sullivan , who served as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court and coined the name " Indianapolis " for the new state capital . He was the brother of Algernon Sydney Sullivan , New York attorney and founder of the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm . Sullivan was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , and graduated in 1848 . He was commissioned as a midshipman and spent the next six years primarily at sea , serving aboard four different vessels , including duty during the Mexican - American War . In April 1854 , he resigned from the Navy and returned home to Indiana , where he studied law , passed his bar exam , and opened a private practice . Civil War . Sullivan helped recruit and organize a three - months ' infantry regiment , the 6th Indiana Volunteers . He was elected as a captain and led his troops into combat at the Battle of Philippi in western Virginia . Following the expiration of his term of enlistment , Sullivan mustered out of the army . However , he soon received an appointment from Governor Oliver P . Morton as the colonel of the 13th Indiana , a three - years ' regiment . Sullivan returned to western Virginia in the army of George B . McClellan and fought at Rich Mountain and Cheat Mountain in the summer of 1861 . In the spring of 1862 , Sullivan commanded a brigade of infantry during the Valley Campaign and led it into action at the First Battle of Kernstown . He was commissioned as brigadier general to date from April 28 , 1862 . Later in the spring , he was transferred to the Western Theater and assigned command of a brigade in the Army of the Mississippi , serving under William S . Rosecrans . Sullivan again saw combat in the battles of Iuka and Corinth in Mississippi . In the autumn of that same year , Sullivan was given command of the District of Jackson , Tennessee , and its widely scattered garrisons of Union troops . There , his men were often pitted against the raiders of Confederate general Nathan B . Forrest . During the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign , Sullivan served on the field staff of Maj . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant as the acting inspector general for his army . Following the surrender of Vickburg on July 4 , Sullivan took the position of Chief of Staff for Maj . Gen . James B . McPherson . In September , he was reassigned to the Department of West Virginia to serve under his father - in - law , Maj . Gen . Benjamin F . Kelley . Given command of a division , Sullivan was tasked with protecting the vital Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Western Maryland . In mid - October 1863 , he led a column from Harpers Ferry that thwarted an attack on Charleston , West Virginia , by Confederates under John D . Imboden , driving the enemy up the valley . During the Valley Campaigns of 1864 , Sullivan drew the ire of his superior , David Hunter , for his lack of initiative and was replaced by Brig . Gen . George Crook on July 16 . Sullivan was never again given a significant command . He resigned from the army on May 11 , 1865 , and tellingly was not among the scores of Union generals who received brevet promotions to higher rank at the close of hostilities . Postbellum career . Sullivan moved to Oakland , Maryland , after the war , and then headed west to California in 1878 . Despite his previous training and experience as an attorney , he instead worked at a variety of menial clerical jobs in both states . Jeremiah C . Sullivan died in Oakland , California , in the fall of 1890 not long after his sixtieth birthday . He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland .