Truman Seymour

After West Point he was assigned to the 1st US Artillery, and was in the war with Mexico (cited by brevets for Cerro Gordo, Contreras and Churubusco). He was promoted First Lieutenant on 26 August 1847, and in 1850-53 was assistant professor of drawing at West Point. He served against the Seminoles in Florida in 1856-58, was made Captain, 22 November 1860, and took part in the defense of Fort Sumter in 1861. He commanded the 5th Artillery and the United States camp of instruction at Harrisburg, PA, from December 1861 til March 1862, and was then Chief of Artillery of General George A. McCall's division till 28 April 1862, when he was commissioned Brigadier General of Volunteers.

He was in command of the Federal left wing at Mechanicsville, 26 June, and led a division at Malvern Hill on 1 July.

Commanded the First Brigade of the Third Division in Hooker's First (I) Corps and relieved Brigadier General Meade in command of the Division when Meade assumed command of the Corps from the wounded MGen Hooker on 17 September.

From November 1862 through April, 1863 he was chief of staff in the Department of the South. He led a division in the attack on Morris Island, SC (10 July 63), and commanded the unsuccessful assault on Fort Wagner on 18 July, where he was severely wounded. He returned to active service and led an expedition to Florida in February 1864, taking possession of Jacksonville on 7 February. He was also in command at Olustee on 18 February. He returned to Virginia in March 1864, led a brigade in the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and was taken prisoner in the battle of the Wilderness, 6 May 1864.

He was exchanged on 9 August, and led a division in the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond campaigns. He was at Appomattox for the Gen Lee's surrender.

He was mustered out of volunteer service on 24 August 1865, and became Major of the 5th US Artillery (13 August, 1866). He commanded forts in Florida, as well asFort Warren, Massachusetts (1869-70), and Fort Preble, Maine (1870-75). He retired from the Army 1 November 1876.

Source: Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889; and
Heitman, Francis Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, Washington, US Government Printing Office, 1903.

He apparently traveled and painted after his retirement (gallery site).

01/25/1824; Burlington, VT

10/30/1891; Florence, ITALY; burial in Cimitero Degli Allor(?), Florence, ITALY