Daniel Ullman was born on April 28, 1810, in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated from Yale University in 1829 and earned a living as a lawyer in New York City. He supported the Whig Party, and when the party collapsed in the 1850s, he joined the nativist American Party. He ran for governor of New York in 1854 and secured 26 percent of the state’s votes.
He remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, and he became a colonel in the 78th New York Infantry. According to his service records, he was 6 feet tall, with black hair and brown eyes. Confederate forces captured him in the Battle of Cedar Mountain in August 1862, and he spent two months imprisoned at Libby Prison. He was promoted to brigadier general on January 29, 1863, and he helped organize African American regiments in Louisiana. He took part in the siege of Port Hudson, and he mustered out on August 24, 1865. He later received a brevet promotion to major general.
He returned to New York after the war, and he married Amelia Goodwin Berrian on August 19, 1865. They lived in Orangetown, New York, and Ullman retired sometime before 1880. He died in Nyack, New York, on September 20, 1892.
Image: Daniel Ullman (courtesy Wikicommons)