James B. McPherson

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 during 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 Clyde, Ohio. He attended Norwalk Academy in Norwalk, Ohio, and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1853, first in his class, which included Philip H. Sheridan, John M. Schofield, and John Bell Hood; Hood would oppose him later in the Western Theater. McPherson was directly appointed to the Corps of Engineers with the rank of brevet second lieutenant. For a year after his graduation, he was assistant instructor of practical engineering at the Military Academy, a position never before given to so young an officer.

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.

Civil War At the start of the American Civil War, McPherson requested a transfer from California back east. He departed the state on August 1, 1861, and arrived soon after in New York. He requested a position on the staff of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, one of the senior Western commanders. Promoted to captain on August 6, he was sent to St. Louis, Missouri, serving under Halleck. Halleck appointed him to command of the Department of the West in November, where he was chosen aide-de-camp to Halleck while also being promoted to lieutenant colonel.

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. During Grant's Vicksburg Campaign, McPherson formed the Army of the Tennessee's right flank during the advance. On May 12, 1863, he was attacked by John Gregg at the Battle of Raymond. Though McPherson heavily outnumbered Gregg's single brigade with his entire corps, the rebels mounted a strong defense. Once the federal numbers became telling, Gregg retreated to Jackson.

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.

On March 12, 1864, he was given command of the Army of the Tennessee, after its former commander, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, was promoted to command of all armies in the West. He then requested leave to go home and marry his fiancé Emily Hoffman in Baltimore, Maryland. His leave was initially granted, but quickly revoked by Sherman, who explained McPherson was needed for his upcoming Atlanta campaign.

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).

When Sherman received word of McPherson's death, he openly wept. He then penned a letter to Emily Hoffman in Baltimore, stating:

Hoffman never recovered from his death, living a quiet and lonely life until her death in 1891.

McPherson's adversary, John Bell Hood, wrote,

Legacy

Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia, area was named in Gen. McPherson's honor on February 20, 1866.

McPherson Square in Washington, D.C., and its Metro rail station are named in the general's honor. At the center of the square is a statue of McPherson on horseback.

McPherson County, Kansas, and the town of McPherson, Kansas, are named in his honor. McPherson Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota is also named for him. There is also an equestrian statue of him in the park across from the McPherson County Courthouse.

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 cemetery is located two miles (3 km) south of Interstate 80, near Exit 190.

A monument marking the death of McPherson was established at the location of his death in East Atlanta, at the intersection of McPherson Avenue and Monument Avenue. McPherson Avenue in Atlanta was named for him. The spot is marked by a Union cannon once placed at Glenwood Road and Flat Shoals Road to protect the flank of the front line and return fire against the defensive positions built by Lemuel P. Grant.

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).

The James B. McPherson Elementary School in the Ravenswood area of Chicago, Illinois, was named for McPherson.

In his home town of Clyde, Ohio, James B. McPherson Highway (US 20) was dedicated and named in his honor on August 9, 1941; the designation was extended across the state in 1973. 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.

In popular media

The alternate history novel Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory, by Newt Gingrich, and William R. Forstchen, includes McPherson as a major character.

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.

The 1939 film Union Pacific depicts a (fictional) steam locomotive named after McPherson.