American Civil War Union General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, Great-Grandfather of Gloria Vanderbilt

Hugh Judson Kilpatrick (1836-1881) Union Cavalry General during the Civil War whose reckless style earned him the sobriquet "Kill-cavalry." A West Point graduate, he was the first officer of the regular Army to be wounded in the war. He served in the Gettysburg campaign and on Sherman's march to the sea. After the war, he served as US Minister to Chile. (Photo Heritage Collector's Society)

Kilpatrick son of Colonel Simon Kilpatrick (1794-1860) and Julia Wickham (1799-1876) married Luisa Fernandez de Valdivieso (1847-1926) a wealthy Chilean woman, met and married Kilpatrick while he was serving as U.S. Minister to Chile (1865-1870). The couple had two daughters: Julia Mercedes Kilpatrick and Laura Isabel Dephine Kilpatrick (1869-1956), who married Harry Hays Morgan (1860-1933). Their daughter, Glorida Laura Mercedes Morgan (1904-1965), married Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (1880-1925), and was the mother of artist and designer Gloria Vanderbilt (1924-2019).

Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick of Co. H, 5th New York Infantry Regiment and 2nd New York Cavalry Regiment in uniform; Bogardus, photographer, N.Y. (Source: Library of Congress).

More at North Carolina History: Hugh Judson Kilpatrick (1836-1881) and the Carolinas Campaign