General Francis Channing Barlow

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Grant had Lee pinned in on the north side of the James as well as the south. By reinforcing his troops on the north bank around an area called Deep Bottom, Grant hoped to make a breakthrough that would drive the defending Confederates farther back to their capital. The II Corps was once again chosen for the attack. Unfortunately, the element of surprise was lost through problems in ferrying troops across the river, and the attack could not be launched until 4 p.m. on August 14, with Barlow commanding both the 1st and 2nd divisions. Barlow stretched his forces to link up with Mott’s troops on his right, a move that kept the lines unbroken but also cost the attacking Federals the weight necessary to achieve a success, the attack quickly failed. More disconcerting was the performance of the troops. The loss of so many veteran soldiers and experienced officers was beginning to show in the decline of lan - and even competence — of the Army of the Potomac’s most renowned corps. What bad previously been some of the best fighting units in the Army were no longer performing at their former levels. The Irish Brigade, Barlow wrote, ‘behaved disgracefully and failed to attack, crowded into shelter of trees.’ Another old brigade ‘exhibited such signs of timidity and demoralization’ that Barlow gave up the attempt to use it.

While his leadership at Deep Bottom evinced his usual drive and commitment, Barlow’s health was shaky. His old wounds were giving him pain, and the loss of his wife further drained his spirits. For several days after the Deep Bottom fiasco, Barlow, in the words of Hancock’s adjutant, ‘had been more like a dead than living man.’ Finally, on August 18, Barlow handed over his division to Miles and went to a military hospital at City Point. Five days later, he returned to his division just as the corps set out to cut the Weldon & Petersburg Railroad at Ream’s Station. Barlow was simply too played out to shoulder the burden of command, however, and had to be relieved on a stretcher and taken back to headquarters.

In an attempt to, regain his health and to come to terms with his grief, Barlow took an extended trip to Europe. While abroad he kept in touch with Hancock, who wrote him an exultant letter after the II Corps carried the day against the Confederates at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run on October 27, 1864. In early November, Hancock wrote Barlow that he wanted him back with him when he was well. ‘You will have a magnificent division in the 2nd Corps should you prefer to remain with it,’ Hancock assured him. ‘It is over 7,000 men present for duty….Now our men as a mass are a little shaky for want of officers. But by Spring the Second Corps will be a power.’

But Barlow never served under General Hancock again. By the time he rejoined the II Corps on April 1, 1865, with the new rank of brevet major general, Hancock had left to take over the Veteran Volunteer Corps. Barlow was assigned command of the II Corps’ 2nd Division on April 6 and was in reserve at the Battle of Sayler’s Creek. Near Farmingville, he seized and held the only bridge to the north bank of the Appomattox. Lee had hoped to destroy the bridge in order to prevent Grant from using it to overtake Lee’s rapidly dwindling army. Lee’s failure to hold or destroy the bridge exposed is own men to attacks from the front and rear, resulting in his surrender. In recognition of this last act of military dispatch, Barlow was made full major general on May 25, and he assumed command of the II Corps during the remaining weeks of its existence.

Barlow later directed the energy and dedication he brought to his military career to public service. He was elected secretary of state for New York in November 1865. As a result, he declined a permanent position in the Regular Army and resigned from his rank as major general of volunteers on November 16. He reestablished his law partnership with George Bliss and opened law offices in New York City in 1866. The following year, Barlow remarried. His new bride was Ellen Shaw of Boston, sister of Colonel Robert Shaw, who had led the ill-fated assault of the 54th Massachusetts on Battery Wagner.

Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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