Underwood was born in
Milford, Massachusetts, on May 19, 1828. He studied law at
Brown University, attended
Harvard Law School and spent a year in
Prussia. When the civil war began he practiced law in Boston. He was commissioned as Captain in the
2nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. In 1862 he joined the new
33rd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as a Major and served in that unit; eventually becoming its Colonel in April 1863. After the
Gettysburg campaign the
XI Corps, of which the regiment was part of, transferred to the west. On October 29, at the
Battle of Wauhatchie, Underwood was shot in the thigh and crippled for life. He still was promoted to Brigadier General in November. The wound healed slowly and when he returned to duty in 1865 he was medically unfit for field service, instead doing court-martial duty. In August 1865 he was
brevetted to Major General and mustered out of the
U.S. Volunteers. Returning to Boston; he served as surveyor of the port and practiced law again. Underwood died there on January 24, 1888. ==Works==