the Civil War erupted, Hurlbut joined the Union Army. He was commissioned as a brigadier general, U.S. Volunteers, on May 17, 1861, and a major general on September 17, 1862. He commanded the 4th Division, Army of the Tennessee at the Battle of Shiloh, and in the advance towards Corinth and the subsequent siege. He also led a division at the Battle of Hatchie's Bridge, taking command of the entire Union force after Gen Edward Ord was wounded. Hurlbut commanded XVI Corps from his headquarters at Memphis, Tennessee. Historian Bertram Korn has suggested that, during Hurlbut's garrison duty at Memphis, Tennessee, the brigadier general issued antisemitic orders confiscating Jewish property and preventing Jews from trading. Hurlbut led a corps under William T. Sherman in the 1864 Meridian expedition. He subsequently commanded the Department of the Gulf, succeeding Nathaniel P. Banks and serving in that capacity for the remainder of the war. Hurlbut was suspected of embezzlement during his term. General Edward R. S. Canby ordered a court-martial proceeding and the arrest of Hurlbut. However, he was allowed to resign in June 1865. Postwar years After mustering out of the Union Army on June 20, 1865, Hurlbut became one of the founding fathers of the Grand Army of the Republic. He served as commander-in-chief from 1866 to 1868. He was appointed Minister Resident to Colombia in 1869, where he served three years. In 1872, Hurlbut was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (R-Illinois). Re-elected for a second term in 1874, he was defeated in 1876. Hurlbut was appointed as ambassador to Peru in 1881. In that capacity he had a row with General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, U.S. minister to Chile during the War of the Pacific. Each man had become a partisan of the country to which he was assigned to represent Hurlbut continued to serve as U.S. ambassador to Peru until his death in Lima in 1882. His body was returned to Belvidere, Illinois for burial. Hurlbut and his wife are buried together in Belvidere Cemetery, Belvidere, Illinois. See also List of American Civil War generals (Union) William Henry Hurlbert Notes According to Donald T. Phillips, author of Lincoln on Leadership (1992), Hachette Book Group, N.Y., N.Y., Stephen A. Hurlbut was "one of his (Lincoln's) trusted colleagues." Lincoln sent him "on a fact-finding mission to Charleston .... to meet with the Confederate leaders, evaluate the situation (i.e., the crisis