William Birney William Birney ( May 28 , 1819 – August 14 , 1907 ) was a professor , Union Army general during the American Civil War , attorney and author . An ardent abolitionist , he was noted for encouraging thousands of free black men to join the Union army . Birney was a son of prominent Southern abolitionist leader James G . Birney and the older brother of Civil War general David B . Birney . Another brother , James Birney , served as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan in 1860 . A cousin , Humphrey Marshall was a U . S . Congressman and a general in the Confederate States Army . Birth and early years . William Birney born on his father ' s plantation near Huntsville , Alabama . He grew up there and in Danville , Kentucky . Birney was educated at Yale University and served as a lawyer in Cincinnati , Ohio . He then lived for five years in Europe , primarily on the Continent and in England . For two years , he was a professor of English literature at the college in Bourges . He took an active part in the revolutionary movement in France in 1848 . He later wrote numerous articles for English and American newspapers . Returning to the United States in 1853 , Birney established a newspaper , the " Daily Register " , in Philadelphia . At the outbreak of the Civil War , Birney entered the Union Army in May 1861 as a captain in the 1st New Jersey Infantry and first saw combat in the First Battle of Bull Run . Promoted to major of the 4th New Jersey Infantry , he participated in the battles of Second Bull Run , Chantilly , Fredericksburg , and , as a colonel , the Chancellorsville . In 1863 – 64 , he was appointed as one of three superintendents in charge of enlisting colored troops into the Union army , and in that capacity organized seven regiments . He was named Colonel of the 22nd U . S . Colored Troops . On May 22 , 1863 , he was commissioned as a brigadier general and assigned to Maryland to recruit more black troops . In 1864 , he marched his regiments to fight in South Carolina as a part of the Department of the South . They fared poorly , but did much better work in campaigns in Florida , including the Battle of Olustee . Birney ' s brigade was transferred to Virginia and joined other black regiments to form the Third Division of the X Corps under the command of Maj . Gen . Benjamin F . Butler . They suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Chaffin ' s Farm , but were instrumental in several fights along the defenses of Richmond . In December 1864 , the X Corps black regiments were combined with those of the XVII Corps in the new all - black XXV Corps under Maj . Gen . Godfrey Weitzel . Birney ' s regiments became the 2nd Division of the XXV Corps , and participated in the last assaults during the Siege of Petersburg in early 1865 . Birney received the brevet rank of major general of volunteers in March 1865 , then led his troops in pursuit of Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign . Birney resigned from the army in August of that year . Birney resided in Florida for several years after the war before moving north in 1874 to establish a law practice in Washington , D . C . . He served as U . S . Attorney for the District of Columbia , and wrote profusely on the subjects of religion and history . He authored a biography of his father , " James G . Birney and His Times ; the Genesis of the Republican Party " , in 1890 . Birney died at his home in Forest Glen , Maryland , and was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown , Washington , D . C . .