Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. A pre-war firearms manufacturer, he was a member of the Massachusetts Militia, and was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 5th Massachusetts Militia regiment at the start of the Civil War. One month after the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the expansion of the Regular Army to coincide with his call for volunteer troops to fight the pending conflict. James D. Greene was commissioned as Lieutenant Colonel of one of those units, the 17th United States Regular Infantry, and actually took command of the unit in July 1861 (its colonel, Samuel Heintzleman, had been promoted to Brigadier General in the Volunteers). However, he was also placed in command of Fort Preble, Maine, and remained there when various elements of his regiment were sent southward. There they participated in the Battles of the Seven Days, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, all under the leadership of Major George A. Andrews. After the last battle, Lieutenant Colonel Greene swapped commands with Major Andrews, with Andres taking over command of Fort Preble, and Greene leading his unit for the first time in the war. In the July 1863, he led the seven present companies of the 17th Infantry into the fight in the Wheatfield on the 2nd Day of the Battle, where they lost 24 men killed and 125 wounded or missing (a marker for the regiment stand on the battlefield today, inscribed with Lieutenant Colonel Greene's name). He then led his troops in helping to squelch the July 1863 New York Draft Riots, and in the aborted Fall 1863 Mine Run Campaign before being promoted to Colonel, and given command of the 6th United States Regular Infantry (replacing Colonel E.A King, who was killed at the September 1863 Battle of Chickamauga). From that point on, however, the unit was assigned to various garrison duties in New York City until the end of the war in April 1865, with his commander being sent to Madison, Wisconsin at one point to be the acting Assistant Provost Marshal General. He was brevetted Brigadier General, US Regular Army on March 13, 865 for “gallant and meritorious services during the war”. From May 1865 until June 1867, when he resigned, Colonel Greene commanded his regiment as it was stationed in various parts of South Carolina, working in occupation duty for the District of Savannah. After his resignation from the Regular Army he resumed his firearms manufacturer career, and died in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1902.