Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow Monument

Dedicated: June 6, 1922.

Location: Located at Barlow Knoll at the loop of Howard Avenue.

Description: A standing portrait of General Barlow holding binoculars in his proper right hand and his hat in his proper left hand. The sculpture rest atop a tall square adorned with an inscription plaque on the front and a round plaque on the back depicting the XI Corps insignia. The memorial is installed in the vicinity where Barlow was assailed on his right flank and forced back to the Alms House from which he rallied his command, but was seriously wounded. The base was designed by Edward Pearce Casey and was fabricated by John Swenson Granite Company. Overall height is 18.7 foot. Located in vicinity where Brig. Gen. Barlow’s right flank was assailed and forced back to the Alms House.

National Park Service List of Classified Monuments Number: MN67.

Sculptor: Rhind, John Massey, 1860-1936, sculptor.



About Major General Francis Channing Barlow

Born in Brooklyn on October 19, 1834, Barlow studied law at Harvard, graduating first in his class. When the War began, Barlow enlisted as a private in the 12th New York. By the time of the Peninsula Campaign, he was the colonel of the 61st New York.

Barlow distinguished himself during the Seven Days and was wounded in the groin while assaulting the Bloody Lane at Antietam. He was subsequently promoted to brigadier general and although not fully recovered, returned to command a division in the XI Corps at Chancellorsville. His division – which thoroughly disliked him and considered him a tyrant – did not fight well there or at Gettysburg, and he was seriously wounded and left behind, only to be recovered when the Union retook Gettysburg after the battle ended.

Barlow commanded a division in the II Corps during Grant’s Overland Campaign and played a pivotal role in the Appomattox Campaign. After the War, he served as a United States Marshal and the New York Secretary of State and New York State Attorney General, prosecuting the Boss Tweed ring. He was a founder of the American Bar Association. 

Barlow died of Bright’s disease in New York City on January 11, 1896. He is buried in his mother’s hometown of Brookline, Massachusetts.