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O.B. Willcox
(1823 - 1907)
Home State: Michigan
Education: US Military Academy, West Point, NY, Class of 1847
Command Billet: Commanding Division
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 1st Division, 9th Corps
see his Battle Report
Before Antietam
After graduating from West Point in 1847 he served in the Mexican War, then in New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Florida. He resigned his commission in 1857 and was a lawyer.
In May 1861 he was appointed Colonel of the 1st Michigan Regiment and commanded the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division at First Bull Run in July 1861, where he "led repeated charges until wounded and taken prisoner." He was released in August 1862 and appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers (to rank from June 1861).
On the Campaign
He commanded the First Division of the Ninth Army Corps in Maryland.
The rest of the War
He was in command of the Ninth Corps at Fredericksburg, served in Kentucky, commanded the 3rd Division of the Ninth Corps at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, VA and led the 1st Division of the Corps at Petersburg.
After the War
He was briefly a lawyer, then continued in Regular Army service from 1866. He commanded the Department of Arizona, fought in the Apache Wars, and retired in 1887. He was later governor of the Washington's Soldiers' Home.
In March 1895 he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at First Bull Run.
References & notes
His service basics from Warner.1 His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from one of a pair of CDVs sold by Heritage Auctions in 2014.
Birth
04/16/1823; Detroit, MI
Death
05/10/1907; Coburg, Ontario, CANADA; burial in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
1 Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue, Lives of the Union Commanders, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, pp. 558-559 [AotW citation 32153]