general two days after his death. Since he was unable to sign his new commission after his death, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton authorized an exception allowing the posthumous promotion to become official. Upon hearing of his death, General George Armstrong Custer wept and Sheridan remarked "I do not think there was a quality which I could have added to Lowell. He was the perfection of a man and a soldier." In October 1863, Lowell married businesswoman Josephine Shaw (1843—1905), a sister of his close friend and fellow Union Army casualty Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (1837—1863). Her home when she was married was on Staten Island, and she became deeply interested in the social problems of New York City. She was a member of the State Charities Aid Society, and from 1876 to 1889 was a member of the New York State Board of Charities, being the first woman appointed to that board. She founded the Charity Organization Society of New York City in 1882, and wrote Public Relief and Private Charity (1884) and Industrial Arbitration and Conciliation (1893). They had one daughter, Carlotta Russell Lowell (November 30, 1864 — September 19, 1924). Lowell's first biography was written in 1907 by Edward Waldo Emerson, son of Ralph Waldo Emerson. See also List of American Civil War generals (Union) List of Massachusetts generals in the American Civil War Massachusetts in the American Civil War References Further reading Bartol, C.A. The Purchase by Blood: A Tribute to Brig.-Gen. Charles Russell Lowell, Jr. Spoken in the West Church, Oct. 30, 1864. Boston: John Wilson and Son, 1864. Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, . Emerson, Edward Waldo. (ed.), Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell (Boston, 1907). Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, . External links 1835 births 1864 deaths Harvard College alumni People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War Businesspeople from Boston Union Army generals Foundrymen Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery 19th-century American businesspeople