James B. McPherson
James B. McPherson | |
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | |
Commands held | XVII Corps Army of the Tennessee |
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James Birdseye McPherson (/məkˈfərsən/) (November 14, 1828 – July 22, 1864) was a career United States Army officer who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. McPherson was on the general staff of Henry Halleck and later of Ulysses S. Grant and was with Grant at the Battle of Shiloh. He was killed at the Battle of Atlanta, facing the army of his old West Point classmate John Bell Hood, who paid a warm tribute to his character. He was the second-highest-ranking Union officer killed in action during the war.
Early life and career
McPherson was born in
From 1854 to 1857, McPherson was the assistant engineer upon the defenses of the harbor of
In 1859, while in San Francisco, he met Emily Hoffman, a woman from a prominent merchant family in Baltimore who had come to California to help care for her sister's children. They soon became engaged and a wedding was planned, but ultimately put off by the onset of the Civil War.[6]
Civil War
At the start of the
McPherson's career began rising after this assignment. He was a lieutenant colonel and the Chief Engineer in Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army during the capture of forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862.[4]
During the days that led up to the Battle of Shiloh, McPherson accompanied Sherman questioning people in the area and learned that the Confederates were bringing large numbers of troops from every direction by train to Corinth, Mississippi, which was itself an important railroad junction.[7]
He was promoted to brigadier general on May 15 and served as military superintendent of the railroads in western Tennessee. On October 8 he was promoted to major general and was soon after given command of the XVII Corps in Grant's Army of the Tennessee.
In September 1862, McPherson assumed a position on the staff of General Grant. He briefly commanded an infantry brigade before being promoted to major general, rising to that position primarily due to the influence of Halleck and Grant. Immediately after the siege of Vicksburg in which McPherson commanded the center, on Grant's recommendation McPherson was confirmed a brigadier general in the regular army, dating from August 1, 1863. Soon after this promotion, McPherson led a column of infantry into Mississippi and repulsed the enemy at Canton.[4]
On March 12, 1864, he was given command of the Army of the Tennessee, after its former commander, Maj. Gen.
Sherman planned to have the bulk of his forces feint toward Dalton, Georgia, while McPherson would bear the brunt of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's attack, and attempt to trap them. However, the Confederate forces eventually escaped, and Sherman blamed McPherson (for being "slow"), although it was mainly faulty planning on Sherman's part that led to the escape.[citation needed] McPherson's troops followed the Confederates "vigorously", and were resupplied at Kingston, Georgia. The troops drew near Pumpkinvine Creek, where they attacked and drove the Confederates from Dallas, Georgia, even before Sherman's order to do so. Johnston and Sherman maneuvered against each other, until the Union tactical defeat at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. McPherson then tried a flanking maneuver at the Battle of Marietta, but that failed as well.
Aftermath and tributes
McPherson was the second-highest-ranking Union officer to be killed in action during the war (the highest ranking was John Sedgwick).[10]
When Sherman received word of McPherson's death, he openly wept. He then penned a letter to Emily Hoffman in Baltimore, stating:
My Dear Young Lady, A letter from your Mother to General Barry on my Staff reminds me that I owe you heartfelt sympathy and a sacred duty of recording the fame of one of our Country's brightest and most glorious Characters. I yield to none on Earth but yourself the right to excel me in lamentations for our Dead Hero. Why should death's darts reach the young and brilliant instead of older men who could better have been spared?[8]
Hoffman never recovered from his death, living a quiet and lonely life until her death in 1891.[6]
Sherman declared in his official report:
His public enemies, even the men who directed the fatal shot, never spoke or wrote of him without expressions of marked respect; those whom he commanded loved him even to idolatry; and I, his associate and commander, fail in words adequate to express my opinion of his great worth. I feel assured that every patriot in America, on hearing this sad news, will feel a sense of personal loss, and the country generally will realize that we have lost, not only an able military leader, but a man who, had he survived, was qualified to heal the national strife which has been raised by designing and ambitious men.[11]
McPherson's adversary, John Bell Hood, wrote,
I will record the death of my classmate and boyhood friend, General James B. McPherson, the announcement of which caused me sincere sorrow. Since we had graduated in 1853, and had each been ordered off on duty in different directions, it has not been our fortune to meet. Neither the years nor the difference of sentiment that had led us to range ourselves on opposite sides in the war had lessened my friendship; indeed the attachment formed in early youth was strengthened by my admiration and gratitude for his conduct toward our people in the vicinity of Vicksburg. His considerate and kind treatment of them stood in bright contrast to the course pursued by many Federal officers.[12]
Legacy
McPherson County, South Dakota, founded in 1873, and organized in 1885, was also named in his honor.
McPherson County, Nebraska, and Fort McPherson National Cemetery, located near Maxwell, Nebraska, were named in his honor, and the National Cemetery was established on March 3, 1873. This 20-acre (81,000 m2) cemetery is located two miles (3 km) south of Interstate 80, near Exit 190.[14]
A monument marking the death of McPherson was established at the location of his death in
A distinctive engraved portrait of McPherson appeared on U.S. paper money in 1890 and 1891. The bills are called "treasury notes" or "coin notes" and are widely collected today because of their fine, detailed engraving. The $2 McPherson "fancyback" note of 1890, with an estimated 600–900 in existence relative to the 4.9 million printed, ranks as number 15 in the "100 Greatest American Currency Notes" compiled by Bowers and Sundman (2006).[17]
The James B. McPherson Elementary School in the Ravenswood area of
In his home town of Clyde, Ohio, James B. McPherson Highway (US 20) was dedicated and named in his honor on August 9, 1941;[19] the designation was extended across the state in 1973.[20] The McPherson Middle School and McPherson Cemetery are named for him as well. The cemetery was named Evergreen Cemetery, but was renamed McPherson Cemetery on December 15, 1868. There is also a monument that was erected in his honor on July 22, 1881, at the McPherson Cemetery. President Rutherford B. Hayes gave the dedication speech during the ceremony for the monument. There were many US Civil War officers in attendance for the dedication of the monument, including General William Tecumseh Sherman.[19] His childhood home on E. Maple Street in Clyde, Ohio is now owned by the Clyde Heritage League and is a museum that can be toured.[21]
In popular media
The
In another alternate history, If the South Had Won the Civil War by MacKinlay Kantor – in which the war ended in 1863 with a decisive Confederate victory – McPherson survived to become President of the United States for two terms in the 1880s and strongly pursue a line of reconciliation with the Confederate States.
McPherson and his hat also feature prominently in the book Map of Thieves, by Michael Karpovage.
McPherson has been mentioned several times on the Drunken Peasants podcast by host TJ Kirk who has stated he is a relative of McPherson's. Unless he is a very distant relative then he is not related to McPherson. One of McPherson's brothers died without issue, the other had one son, who then died without issue. McPherson's sister Emeline had 3 children, with only her oldest daughter, Emma McPherson VanderCook, having living decedents today; none of whom are TJ Kirk. In 2023 Kirk stated that it was possible that the claims of his ancestry to McPherson were just "family bullshit."[citation needed]
The 1939 film Union Pacific depicts a (fictional) steam locomotive named after McPherson.
See also
Notes
- ^ Woodworth, p. 153.
- ^ Eicher, pp. 383–84.
- McDonough, 2016, p. 313
- ^ a b c d 1908, The Union army; a history of military affairs, Vol VIII, p. 171
- ^ Woodworth, p. 154.
- ^ a b c "Death of a Union General and His Love Story | RealClearHistory". July 18, 2014.
- ^ McDonough, 2016, p. 313
- ^ a b "Emily Hoffman". March 16, 2009.
- ^ 1908, The Union army; a history of military affairs, Vol VIII, p. 133
- ^ Woodworth, p. 167. Eicher, pp. 383–84, 477–78: John Sedgwick, a Union officer who was also killed in battle, was promoted to major general of volunteers on July 4, 1862, almost three months before McPherson, therefore technically had a higher rank. However, unlike McPherson, Sedgwick never commanded an army.
- ^ Reid, 1868, pp. 587–588
- ^ About North Georgia website
- ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 195.
- ^ "VA.gov | Veterans Affairs". National Cemetery Administration.
- ^ "Georgia's Virtual Vault". content.sos.state.ga.us. Archived from the original on August 10, 2011.
- ^ "East Atlanta Village | about". www.eastatlantavillage.net.
- ^ Bowers, Q.D., and D.M. Sundman, 100 Greatest American Currency Notes, Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2006.
- ^ School website Archived May 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b [Clyde Museum archive files][specify]
- ^ Ohio Rev. Code §5533.04. "General McPherson highway and Ohio Medal of Honor highway".
- ^ "Clyde Museum – McPherson House – Heritage Hall". Retrieved July 1, 2022.
References
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- McDonough, James Lee (2016). William Tecumseh Sherman, In the Service of my Country, A Life. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. ISBN 978-0-3932-4212-6.
- OCLC 5692693812.
- Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
- ISBN 0-7006-1127-4
- Memoirs of commanders and soldiers (1908). The Union army; a history of military affairs in the loyal states, 1861-65. Madison, Wis. Federal Publishing Company.
- Sherman, William Tecumseh (1890). Personal memoirs of Gen. W.T. Sherman Vol II. New York : Charles L. Webster & Co.
Internet sources
- Northern Georgia - James B. McPherson Archived September 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- James McPherson Biography
External links
- Pictures of U.S. Treasury Notes featuring James B. McPherson, provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
- Orders issued by General William T. Sherman to James B. McPherson[permanent dead link] on the day of McPherson's death, July 22, 1864. From the collection of the Georgia Archives.
- James Birdseye McPherson at Find a Grave
- Death of McPherson historical marker