Hugh Judson Kilpatrick (January 14, 1836 – December 4, 1881) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, achieving the rank of brevet major general. He was later the United States Minister to Chile and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Nicknamed “Kilcavalry” (or “Kill-Cavalry”) for using tactics in battle that were considered as recklessly disregarding the lives of soldiers under his command, Kilpatrick was both praised for the victories he achieved, and despised by southerners whose homes and towns he devastated.
Summing up Judson Kilpatrick in 1864, Sherman said “I know that Kilpatrick is a hell of a damned fool, but I want just that sort of man to command my cavalry on this expedition.”[7]
Starting in May 1864, Kilpatrick rode in the Atlanta Campaign. On May 13, he was severely wounded in the thigh at the Battle of Resaca and his injuries kept him out of the field until late July. He had considerable success raiding behind Confederate lines, tearing up railroads, and at one point rode his division completely around the enemy positions in Atlanta. His division played a significant role in the Battle of Jonesborough on August 31, 1864.
Kilpatrick continued with Sherman through his March to the Sea to Savannah and north in the Carolinas Campaign. He delighted in destroying Southern property. On two occasions his coarse personal instincts betrayed him: Confederate cavalry under the command of Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton raided his camp while he was in bed with a young Southern woman he had met while going through Columbia, and, at the Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads, he was forced to flee for his life in his underclothes until his troops could reform. Kilpatrick accompanied Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman to the surrender negotiations held at Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina, on April 17, 1865.
Kilpatrick later commanded a division of the Cavalry Corps in the Military Division of the Mississippi from April to June 1865, and was promoted to major general of volunteers on June 18, 1865.
Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Judson_Kilpatrick.