Bristow's Progress

Benjamin H. Bristow, a Kentucky lawyer, volunteered for the US Army and served under Grant in 1862 at Donelson and Shiloh, where he was wounded. After recovering, he helped raise a new regiment, the 8th Kentucky Cavalry, which he led following the promotion of its colonel, James Shackleford, to brigadier general.
From at least July 2 through July 26, 1863, Col. Bristow's regiment, serving under Shackleford, was among those pursuing Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's cavalry in its "great raid" through Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia and Ohio, which ended in the defeat and capture of Confederate forces. Morgan himself was captured, although he escaped in November, and was killed in 1864.
Bristow left the Army in 1863 to serve in the Indiana Senate. He later became an important and constructive member of the Grant administration, although falling out with the president in 1876 and resigning his post.
Bristow is a character in The Last Circle of Ulysses Grant.