Solomon Meredith (May 29, 1810 – October 2, 1875) was an Indiana farmer, politician, and lawman who became a controversial Union Army general in the American Civil War.

Meredith represented Wayne County in the Indiana House until 1849, when newly elected Whig President Zachary Taylor appointed him U.S.

He served four years, then again won election to represent Wayne County in the Indiana house, this time as a member of the new Republican Party.

[8] When the Civil War erupted in early 1861, Meredith recruited hundreds of men from his county and organized them into a volunteer regiment of infantry.

Governor Oliver P. Morton appointed Meredith as the first colonel of the newly named 19th Indiana, despite his lack of previous military experience.

[9] Meredith and his Hoosiers fought their first engagement during the Northern Virginia Campaign at Brawner's Farm, where his horse was shot from under him, crushing him and breaking several ribs.

He then abruptly reported himself unfit for duty due to the lingering effects of his injuries at Brawner's Farm and fatigue resulting from to the long march up from Virginia.

[12] Regardless of the Antietam fiasco and Gibbon's disdain for him, Meredith had powerful political connections in the form of Indiana Governor Oliver Morton.

[13] In November, Meredith took the field wearing the stars of a brigadier general while John Gibbon fumed and cursed Hooker as a man who had sacrificed his principles for political gain.

[15] That changed in July, when the Iron Brigade suffered significant casualties during the first day's fighting at Gettysburg in Herbst's Woods and on Seminary Ridge.

Meredith performed administrative duty for the rest of the war, commanding garrisons protecting Union river ports along the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois, and Paducah, Kentucky.

[19] Openly feuding with his opponent, Meredith beat Julian unconscious with a whip, but used his political influence to have charges of assault and battery dropped.