William A . Pile William Anderson Pile ( February 11 , 1829July 7 , 1889 ) was a nineteenth - century politician and minister from Missouri , as well as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He was Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1869 to 1871 . William was one half Native American ( from his mother ) , most likely Choctaw . His father ' s name was Jacob Pile and his mother ' s name was Comfort Williams . Biography . Born near Indianapolis , Indiana , Pile completed preparatory studies , studied theology , became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a member of the Missouri conference . At the outbreak of the Civil War , he entered the Union Army as chaplain of the 1st Missouri Light Artillery Regiment in 1861 , serving under Colonel Clinton B . Fisk . He was made captain , Battery I , 1st Missouri Light Artillery , March 1 , 1862 and promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 33rd Missouri Infantry Regiment September 5 , 1862 , and colonel December 23 , 1862 , brigadier general of volunteers in 1863 , commanding Post of Port Hudson , District of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson , Department of the Gulf ( December 26 , 1864 - February 13 , 1865 ; and commanding 1st Brigade , 1st Division , United States Colored Troops , District of West Florida , Department of the Gulf ( February 19 - April 25 , 1865 , and brevet major general in 1865 . Three of the regiment ' s batteries were at Fort Donelson and apparently Pile was too . Made a battery commander , it is stated that he was at Shiloh ; however , the records indicate that it was under the command of Lieutenant Charles H . Thurber . He was , however , in the Corinth , Mississippi operations which followed . As an infantry commander he fought at Devall ' s Bluff and took part in the Yazoo River expedition . Named a brigadier general , he took up recruiting duties in St . Louis and was not particularly concerned to whom - loyal or secessionist - the slaves he inducted belonged . After serving in a post command , he led a black brigade at Mobile . For the attack on Fort Blakely he was brevetted major general and was mustered out on August 24 , 1865 . His later career included one term as a radical Republican congressman ; he was also territorial governor of New Mexico and a diplomat to Venezuela . Pile was elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1866 , serving from 1867 to 1869 , being unsuccessful for reelection in 1868 . There , he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department from 1867 to 1869 . Afterward , he was appointed Ambassador to Venezuela and Brazil by President Ulysses S . Grant in 1869 , but his nomination was withdrawn and was instead appointed Territorial Governor of New Mexico which he served as from 1869 to 1871 . Pile was again appointed Ambassador to Venezuela by President Grant in 1871 , which he served as until 1874 . He moved to Monrovia in 1886 , and purchased a 50 - acre property , where he grew wine grapes . The following year , he commissioned the renowned Northern California architects Samuel and Joseph Cather Newsom to design a house for him , the stately " Idlewild " house at 255 N . Mayflower Avenue . After serving for one year as mayor , he applied to be consul general in Melbourne , Australia , but contracted pneumonia that same year and died in Monrovia , California on July 7 , 1889 . He is buried , along with his son , William E . Pile , in Live Oak Cemetery , at 200 E . Duarte Road .