He was also a member of the Kansas Senate under the Topeka Constitution. In 1860, Deitzler was elected mayor of Lawrence, Kansas, and was also treasurer of the University of Kansas. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Deitzler raised the 1st Kansas Infantry and was appointed its colonel. He led his regiment in Missouri and commanded the 4th Brigade at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, where he was wounded. On April 4, 1863, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from November 29, 1862. President Abraham Lincoln nominated Deitzler for the promotion on March 4, 1863, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination on March 9, 1863. Deitzler commanded the 1st Brigade, 6th Division, XVII Corps, during the Vicksburg campaign. After the fall of Vicksburg his ill health, exacerbated by the hot southern climate and his inability to secure transfer to a different region, caused him to tender his resignation on August 12, 1863, which was accepted on August 27, 1863, allowing him to return to Kansas. In Kansas, Deitzler received a commission as major general of Kansas militia. During Confederate Major General Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition in 1864, Deitzler commanded 10,000 Kansas State Militia units in the Army of the Border. Deitzler's units were reluctant to fight in Missouri, therefore it was not until the Confederates reached the town of Westport, near the Kansas/Missouri state line, that Deitzler brought his troops into action. The additional troops proved decisive as the Confederates, then outnumbered more than 2 to 1, were defeated at the Battle of Westport. After the war, Deitzler promoted railroads and died in Tucson, Arizona. While in Southern Arizona in the spring of 1884, General Deitzler was thrown from a buggy and died from his injuries. Deitzler married Anna McNeil of Lexington, Missouri, in September, 1864. In 1872 the family moved to California. George Washington Deitzler and Anna McNeil Deitzler had two sons: Walter Henry Deitzler and George Jefferson Deitzler. Two of Walter Henry Deitzler's sons, Harry George "Dick" Deitzler and Arthur Deitzler spent the remainder of their lives in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Four of George Jefferson Deitzler's children also lived in Lebanon, Pennsylvania: Thomas E. Deitzler, Annie Deitzler, Mrs, Harry F. Speicher, and Mrs. James Haddow. George Washington Deitzler was the great grandson of John Jacob Ditzler, born approximately 1765. John Jacob Ditzler immigrated to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania from Germany with his brothers Thomas and