The Civil War provided many men with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to demonstrate a talent for organization, leadership and combat that otherwise might have lain dormant forever. Throughout four years of war, both sides encouraged and rewarded such individuals with promotions and acclaim. A few of these men, primarily army and corps commanders, achieved a place in the national consciousness that survives to the present day. Others, whose exploits temporarily made them household names, slowly faded from public awareness. Such a man was Francis Channing Barlow, known to his then as ‘the Boy General.’ Barlow served in all the major wartime operations in Virginia and experienced the war on all levels, from private to general. When he mustered out of the United States Army in 1865, he left behind a record of achievement and bravery on the regimental, brigade and divisional level that few other officers could match and none could exceed.

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The future general was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on October 19, 1834. His father, the Rev. David Hatch Barlow, was rector of the town’s First Unitarian Church. His mother, Almira Penniman, was a transplanted New Englander from Brookline, Mass. When he was 2 years old, Barlow’s parents returned to his mother’s hometown, where Francis was raised. He entered Harvard at age 17, graduated with honors and then moved back to New York, where he was admitted to the bar in 1858. The following year, he entered into a legal partnership with George Bliss, Jr., which lasted until the outbreak of the war in 1861.

Barlow’s nationalism, abolitionist sympathies and loathing of secession led him to resign his position with Bliss at the beginning of the war. His decision to enter the army was made just before his marriage to Arabella Wharton Griffith of Somerville, N.J. Barlow left his bride of one day to join his regiment on April 21 as it departed for duty in the defense of Washington. Although Arabella served as a nurse throughout the war and was often in the rear echelon of her husband’s units, the exigencies of war generally kept them apart.

Barlow’s first regiment, the 12th New York, was a three-month unit. Although he was offered a lieutenancy when he joined in April, Barlow declined the commission and began his career as a private. He later thought better of his decision — or of his own capabilities — and accepted the appointment. After the regiment disbanded, Barlow waited three months, then reenlisted as a lieutenant colonel in the 61st New York. He spent the winter with his regiment preparing for the spring campaigning season. The 61st New York was part of the Army of the Potomac, the massive military force that Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan brought to the York Peninsula of Virginia in an abortive attempt to take Richmond. Shortly before McClellan initiated his cautious advance on the Confederate capital, Barlow was promoted to full colonel.

The confidence that Barlow’s superiors had in him was amply justified during the Peninsula campaign, especially at the Battle of Fair Oaks (May 31-June 1, 1862). During the battle, the 61st New York lost 110 killed and wounded out of 432 men. It was there that Barlow’s drive, eye for terrain and zest for combat first marked him as a man to watch. As a leader he was aggressive — some would say almost ruthless — and he had already become known for wearing a cavalry saber as a sidearm. The sword seemed incongruous alongside Barlow’s slight frame and youthful face, but it reflected his military personality — bold, relentless and lethal. Barlow frequently used his saber to whack stragglers into action. Personally fearless, he had no hesitation about throwing himself into the maelstrom of battle, and he expected nothing less from his men.

Barlow was quick to assess leadership qualities in others, including his superiors. He experienced McClellan’s command style firsthand and found it wanting. Shortly after the Peninsula campaign ended, Barlow wrote to his mother: ‘It is considered generally that McClellan has been completely outwitted….I think the whole army feels that it was left to take care of itself and was saved only by its own brave fighting.’ Although many Federal soldiers never lost their affection for ‘Little Mac,’ Barlow was not one of them. He was particularly incensed by newspaper reporters’ attempts to maintain McClellan’s aura of an omnipotent field commander. ‘I think the officers and men are disgusted with attempts of the press to make him out a victorious hero,’ Barlow wrote his mother. ‘The stories of his being everywhere among the men in the fights are all untrue.’

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