William Harrow

He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Lawrenceville, Illinois and was an associate of Abraham Lincoln on the Eighth Judicial Circuit there. He moved to Vincennes, Indiana, and then to Mount Vernon, Indiana, in the late 1850s. In 1860 he was an attorney in Vincennes. When the Civil War broke out, Harrow became a captain of a militia unit, the Knox County Invincibles. He enrolled for Federal service on 22 May 1861 in Vincennes and mustered as Major of the 14th Indiana Infantry on 7 June.

He commanded the regiment at Kernstown, VA in March 1862 and later was accused of drunkenness there. He was promoted to Colonel on 26 April but resigned on 29 July. He was re-commissioned Colonel on 14 August.

He led the Regiment on the Campaign and in their attack on the Confederate position in the Sunken Road at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was promoted to Brigadier General in April 1863 (ranking from the previous November) and briefly commanded a division at Gettysburg. He was afterward relieved of his command, but President Lincoln revoked the order and Harrow was assigned to division command in the western theatre and took part in the Atlanta campaign. After a reorganization in September 1864, Harrow was left without an assignment and he resigned in April 1865.

He returned to Indiana, and by 1870 had resumed his law practice, at Mount Vernon, IN, and he took an interest in politics. On 27 September 1872 while campaigning for presidential candidate Horace Greeley, he was killed in a train wreck at New Albany, Indiana.

His service basics from Heitman1 and the Adjutant General.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860 & 1870. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture is from a photograph at the Library of Congress.

He married Juliette Randolph James (1834-1922) in June 1857 and they had 4 children.

11/14/1822; Winchester, KY

09/27/1872; New Albany, IN; burial in Bellefontaine Cemetery, Mount Vernon, IN