Civil War
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Gillem became a captain on May 14, 1861, initially serving under George H. Thomas. Gillem was chief quartermaster of the Army of the Ohio in the several Tennessee campaigns and was brevetted as a major for gallantry in the Battle of Mill Springs. He was appointed colonel of the 10th Tennessee Infantry in May 1862 and served for a time as the provost marshal of Nashville during the Federal occupation of the city.
From June 1, 1863, until the close of the war, with rank of brigadier general of volunteers, he was active in Tennessee, where he was adjutant general. He commanded the troops guarding the Nashville and Northwestern railroad from June 1863, until August 1864. In a campaign to protect the loyal mountaineers in eastern Tennessee, his troops surprised and killed Confederate General John H. Morgan in Greeneville, on September 4, 1864. Operating later in the year near Marion, Virginia, Gillem performed well in combat against the Confederates and was again recognized for bravery, being brevetted as a colonel in the Regular Army.
Gillem was vice-president of the convention (January 9, 1865) for the revision of the constitution of the State of Tennessee, and sat in the first Legislature elected thereafter. Afterwards, Gillem commanded the Union cavalry in east Tennessee, and participated in an expedition to North Carolina which resulted in the capture of Salisbury. For this action, he was brevetted as a major general in the volunteer army, his third such citation of the war.
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