SHEPHERD, Oliver Lathrop, soldier, born in Clifton Park, Saratoga County, New York, 15 August, 1815. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1840, and assigned brevet 2d lieutenant, 4th infantry, was promoted 2d lieutenant, 3d infantry, on 2 October, 1840, served in the Seminole war, and became 1st lieutenant in the 3d infantry, 3 November, 1845. In 1846 he was selected by General Zachary Taylor as commissary of the supply train in its march from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, and served in the war with Mexico, receiving the brevet of captain for gallant and meritorious conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, and that of major for Chapultepec. He was appointed captain on 1 December, 1847, served on the frontier, and commanded Fort Defiance, New Mexico, which he defended with three companies against a night attack of the Navajoe Indians, with about 2,500 braves, on 30 April, 1860, and was afterward stationed at Fort Hamilton, New York He then commanded a battalion of the 3d infantry in the defences of Washington, became lieutenant-colonel of the 18th infantry, 14 May, 1861, served in the Tennessee and Mississippi campaign in the Army of the Ohio, and was engaged in the pursuit of the Confederates to Baldwin, Mississippi, 30-31 May, 1862, receiving the brevet of colonel for service during the siege of Corinth, 17 May, 1862. He participated in General Don. Carlos Buell's movement through Alabama and Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky, in July and September, and also in General William S. Rosecrans's Tennessee campaign, serving with the Army of the Cumberland from November, 1862, till April, 1863, and commanding a brigade of regular troops from 31 December, 1862, till 3 January, 1863. He became colonel of the 15th infantry on 21 January, 1863, and was brevetted brigadier-general on 13 March, 1865, for service at Stone river. He became colonel of the 15th infantry on 21 January, 1863, and from 7 May, 1863, till 13 February, 1866, he was superintendent of the regimental recruiting service at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, and he afterward commanded the 15th regiment in Alabama during the reconstruction of that state in 1868, in which he performed an important part, and was also a commissioner of the Freedmen's bureau for Alabama. Consolidating the 15th and 35th infantries, he marched with them to New Mexico in 1869. He was retired from the army on 15 December, 1870.