Francis Channing Barlow, like most volunteers, had no previous military experience, but he also had little or no political influence at the time either. He enlisted as a private in the 12th New York and rose in stages through the officer ranks up to major-general.

After the war he practised law and was one of the founders of the American Bar Association. With the radicals in control of the Republican Party after the war, the party was notorious for corruption. Barlow appears to have been relatively "clean" (in comparison to others in the party) and as attorney general of New York was active in investigating and prosecuting political corruption.

Col. Theodore Lyman, aide-de-camp to General Meade, wrote that Barlow carried "a huge saber, which he says he likes, because when he hits a straggler he want to hurt him."