William Terrill served as assistant inspector general in Washington, D.C., and then commanded a battery of artillery in the Army of the Ohio at the Battle of Shiloh. On September 9, 1862 he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and took command of the 33rd Brigade in the Army of the Ohio. Terrill was not popular with all of the men in his brigade due to his Virginia background and for being a strict disciplinarian. One soldier of the 105th Ohio wrote "He is a drunken old tyrant and deserves to be shot by his own men, and if it doesn't come to that, it will be because the oaths of hundreds of men in the 105th were good for nothing." However, fellow officers thought highly of Terrill.