1856, when he was appointed by President James Buchanan as the United States Consul to Marseilles. Two years later, he became the Minister to Portugal, which post he held until 1861, when he returned to the United States following the outbreak of the Civil War. Civil War Morgan, due to his previous military experience in two wars, was appointed as a brigadier general in the Union Army on November 21, 1861, reporting to Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell in the Western Theater. In March 1862, Morgan assumed command of the 7th Division of the Army of the Ohio and was ordered to southeastern Kentucky to drive the Confederates from the strategic Cumberland Gap and occupy it. Moving quickly, Morgan defeated Carter L. Stevenson's Confederates and chased off the defenders on June 18, 1862. He then successfully manned the gap with his four brigades of infantry, augmented by artillery placed on the heights. However, in September, he was forced to hastily retreat towards the Ohio River as Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky, cutting off his supply routes. Morgan conducted a masterful retreat in the face of the much superior enemy force, despite being harassed by constant attacks from Col. John H. Morgan's guerrillas. George Morgan's 8,000 men marched over 200 miles from Cumberland Gap in sixteen days to Greenup, Kentucky, arriving there on October 3 on their way to Camp Dennison in Ohio. In November, Morgan served with Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox in western Virginia (now West Virginia) in the Kanawha River Valley, defending Charleston. The following year, Morgan commanded the 3rd Division of the XIII Corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman during the Vicksburg Campaign. Sherman, however, was upset with Morgan's performance at the battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, when he failed to carry out orders for a planned attack. Morgan soon redeemed himself as he subsequently led the XIII Corps force that captured Fort Hindman in Arkansas. His health having deteriorated from the lengthy campaigning, and dissatisfied with the use of black troops, Morgan resigned his commission on June 8, 1863, and returned to Ohio and civilian life. Later life and political career While strongly in favor of maintaining the Union at any cost, Morgan was equally opposed to any governmental interference with the state institution of the South, slavery, and believed that the Federal government had no legal right to abolish the practice. Morgan campaigned in Ohio for