Barlow, Francis Channing

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Barlow, Francis Channing

Francis Channing Barlow achieved prominence as a lawyer and a soldier. Barlow was born October 19, 1834, in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Harvard in 1855, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1858. From 1859 to 1861, and also in 1866, Barlow practiced law. At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, Barlow joined the Union Army and fought at various battles, including Fair Oaks, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Spottsylvania. He was wounded at Gettysburg in 1863 but returned to service, and by the end of the war he had earned the rank of major general.

After the Civil War Barlow became Secretary of State of New York, serving from 1865 to 1867, and 1869 to 1870. In 1869, he was U.S. marshal for the southern district of New York. He performed the duties of New York attorney general from 1871 to 1873, and was instrumental in the early proceedings concerning the prosecution of the Tweed Ring, a group of corrupt New York politicians.

Barlow returned to his law practice in 1874. In 1876, he participated in the investigation of the controversial Hayes-Tilden presidential election results. He died January 11, 1896, in New York City.


Tammany Hall.

References in periodicals archive ?
The Boy General: The Life and Careers of Francis Channing Barlow. By Richard K Welch.
Francis Channing Barlow, a lawyer by trade, was perhaps best known for his young appearance, which earned him the nickname "Boy General." Those familiar with Gettysburg Battlefield National Park probably know Barlow from the small rise on the battlefield named in his honor.
If nothing else, Welch proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Francis Channing Barlow was committed to fighting--and winning.
Francis Channing Barlow enlisted as a private, rose to command the 61st New York Infantry, and was later promoted to brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac.
This sense of separation from those of a different class led these young men to socialize nearly exclusively with those they called "gentlemen." As attrition destroyed the officers of the 2d Massachusetts, Gray found his friends there dispirited because "the newcomers are not generally men with whom they care to associate." Francis Channing Barlow, apart from his circle in a New York regiment, found it "tedious" to live so many months "with men who are so little companion for me as our officers are." He had no one in the regiment with whom he was intimate.