James Birdseye McPherson

Commanding the 17th Army Corps during the Vicksburg campaign.

Library of Congress

Born in Ohio in 1828, James Birdseye McPherson was destined for fame. McPherson, younger than most of his Civil War peers, was brash, inexperienced, and very popular. McPherson’s meteoric rise to command of the Army of the Tennessee would bring him fame, acclaim, and with the tip of his cap to a Confederate soldier, his ultimate demise.

After attending Norwalk Academy, in Norwalk, Ohio, McPherson entered West Point Military Academy. The youthful McPherson prospered in this academic setting and graduate first in the Class of 1853. Assigned the US Corps of Engineers, he remained as an instructor at West Point, a feat never achieved by an officer so young. McPherson’s engineering career involved harbor improvements in New York City and the Hudson River, the construction of Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island, and the construction of defensive works on Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay (the future location of the infamous prison).

When the Civil War began, McPherson was still in California but requested a transfer east and found himself on the staff of Major General Henry W. Halleck, in St. Louis, Missouri. McPherson was eventually assigned as the chief engineer in Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant’s army during the campaign against Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862. Following the Battle of Shiloh in April, McPherson was promoted to Brigadier General, then Major General the following October. Grant assigned McPherson command of the 17th Army Corps.

During the Vicksburg campaign, McPherson’s engineering talents were utilized in the abandoned Lake Providence canal. His corps crossed the Mississippi River on April 30th and fought at Port Gibson, then Raymond on May 12 (where McPherson’s inexperienced shone brightly), and in the desperate frontal assaults on May 22nd 1863. Reduced to digging approaches toward the Confederate defenses, McPherson’s line held the most well-known trench, “Logan’s Approach.” There on June 25th, a mine underneath a Confederate fortification was detonated and a desperate assault by McPherson’s forces was thwarted. After Vicksburg surrendered, McPherson’s corps occupied the city and organized the Confederate army's parole.

McPherson was promoted to command of the Army of the Tennessee after Major General William T. Sherman ascended to command of the Military Division of the Mississippi in May 1864. That month, Sherman began moving his armies south from Chattanooga to capture Atlanta, Georgia. On July 22nd 1864, as Sherman formulated his plans around Atlanta, the Confederates spearheaded a massive assault. McPherson was riding his horse toward his former command, the 17th Army Corps, when he stumbled on Confederate soldiers who ordered McPherson to halt. Wheeling his horse and grabbing his hat, McPherson attempted to make his escape, when the Confederates fired, killing the army commander. James Birdseye McPherson was second highest ranking Union officer killed during the Civil War.

There are two equestrian statues lacking among the hundreds of other Civil War officers memorialized at Vicksburg National Military Park: William Tecumseh Sherman and James Birdseye McPherson. Park staff, visitors and historians often wonder why these two important figures of the campaign for capturing the Hill City have been quietly left out of its commemoration. Only the future can tell whether McPherson’s visage is cast in bronze and immortalized in still life form on granite slab on the fields east of Vicksburg.

 

17th Army Corps Division Commanders