and put out the fire, and the second skirmish of the battle ensued. Union forces successfully crossed the upper level of the bridge and fought with the Confederates. The Confederate forces eventually retreated towards Appomattox Station, away from Farmville, where they hoped to find food and supplies. These actions by Barlow and his men potentially shortened the war by several days and put additional pressure on Gen. Robert E. Lee to surrender. Barlow was appointed major general of volunteers on May 26, 1865, to rank from May 25, 1865, but the promotion was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate until February 23, 1866, after the war was over and Barlow had resigned from the army. Barlow was one of only a few men who entered the Civil War as an enlisted man and ended as a general. Postbellum life Arabella Barlow served as an army nurse in the Peninsula, Antietam, and Gettysburg campaigns. Twice she cared for her wounded husband. She died of typhus on July 27, 1864, while Francis was battling in the Overland Campaign. George Templeton Strong described her as "certainly the most brilliant, cultivated, easy graceful, effective talker of womankind, and [she] has read, thought and observed much and well." After the war, he married Ellen Shaw, sister of Col. Robert Gould Shaw. Leaving the army on November 16, 1865, Barlow served as a United States Marshal and the New York Secretary of State and New York State Attorney General, prosecuting the Boss Tweed ring, before he returned to his law practice. As U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of New York, during May–July 1869 Barlow prosecuted Cuban independence rebels for violating the Neutrality Act and disbanded the filibuster expeditions on the Perit, Quaker City, and Whiting steamers. He was a founder of the American Bar Association. He was active in Republican politics and investigated the 1876 presidential election, the Hayes-Tilden election, for irregularities. Barlow died of Bright's disease in New York City on January 11, 1896. He was buried in Walnut Street Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts. In memoriam Barlow is featured in Winslow Homer's painting Prisoners from the Front, depicting a scene from a June 21, 1864, engagement at Petersburg, Virginia. See also List of American Civil War generals (Union) New York state election, 1865 Notes References Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. . Tagg,