Edward D . Muhlenberg Edward Duchman Muhlenberg ( May 15 , 1831 – March 10 , 1883 ) was an American civil engineer in the railroad industry and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He commanded an artillery brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg while only a lieutenant . He played an important role in the defense of Culp ' s Hill against attacking Confederates . Early life and career . Muhlenberg was born in Lancaster , Pennsylvania , to the prominent Muhlenberg family . He was an 1850 graduate of Yale University . He was engaged until September 1857 as a civil engineer on various railroads and canals in Pennsylvania . In September , 1857 , he sailed for Brazil in company with several other civil engineers and artisans to assist in the construction of the Dom Pedro Segundo Railroad , which ran westward from Rio de Janeiro . Civil War . Several months after outbreak of the Civil War , Muhlenberg returned to the United States and enlisted in the Union Army in Philadelphia . He became a second lieutenant in the 4th U . S . Artillery in October 1861 . He was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant on October 22 , 1861 . Muhlenberg served with Battery F of that regiment at the First Battle of Winchester , May 24 – 25 , 1862 . He commanded the battery at the Battle of Cedar Mountain . Muhlenberg retained command at the Battle of Antietam , where he served in the artillery of XII Corps under Capt . Clermont L . Best . After the death of Lt . Franklin B . Crosby , who was senior to him , Muhlenberg resumed command of the battery while serving with XII Corps . At the Battle of Chancellorsville , he commanded batteries attached to Brig . Gen . John W . Geary ' s division . They were deployed near Chancellorsville itself , protecting the left of XII Corps . At one point , Muhlenberg had 20 guns to direct . Later some of these guns were redeployed from this position to Best ' s concentration facing Confederate batteries at Hazel Grove . When Captain Best became inspector general of the corps on the staff of Maj . Gen . Henry W . Slocum , Muhlenberg assumed command of the artillery brigade . Although only a first lieutenant , he was senior to the commanders of the other batteries . ( Lt . Sylvanus T . Rugg commanded Battery F while Muhlenberg commanded the brigade . ) In the role of brigade commander , Muhlenberg served at the Battle of Gettysburg , especially in the defense of Culp ' s Hill . Slocum did , however , assign Claremont Best to oversee deployment of the corps ’ guns on the morning of July 3 , 1863 , when a counter attack was made on Confederate forces occupying part of the hill . Muhlenberg fought at the Battle of Missionary Ridge under Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker . He then became the adjutant general and quartermaster of the 4th U . S . Artillery on August 13 , 1864 , and stayed in the Regular Army following the end of the war in April 1865 . He resigned on May 8 , 1869 . Postbellum career . After his military service ended , Muhlenberg resumed his career as a civil engineer . He was employed on the Kansas and Pacific Railroad from September 1856 to September 1867 . He came East and was employed in the construction of the Reading and Wilmington Railroad until January 1870 . He served as the engineer of the 1871 Yellowstone survey . His appointment was blamed on Senator Simon Cameron , and he was faulted for having a drinking problem . From June 1871 until January 1872 , he surveyed the Texas and Pacific Railway from Fort Phantom Hill to Fort Bliss on the Rio Grande . When he died of Brights Disease in Lancaster , Pennsylvania , in March 1883 , Muhlenberg was described by a newspaper report as a retired major of artillery . Muhlenberg never married . He was a member of the German Baptist Brethren Church .