Sherman’s Sword is Sheathed - James B. McPherson (July 22, 1864)

          The spectacular rise of James Birdseye McPherson (1828-1864) was the result of both talent and sponsorship. Few generals in our history started out from such lowly or depressing origins or rose as high as quickly. Forgotten now, his spectacular rise to fame eclipsed even that of the ascent of cavalry hero George Armstrong Custer. The son of a mentally unstable and violent blacksmith, the young McPherson was forced to work when still a child. Fortune intervened in the form of a local shopkeeper who, taking a personal interest in his welfare employed and educated the boy. Providing both emotional and material support, this first sponsor arranged for an appointment to West Point in 1849. That confidence was well founded. Graduating first in a class that included many future prominent generals, McPherson was commissioned into the prestigious Engineer Corps, the career path for West Point’s top graduates.

            After service constructing harbor defenses in New York and at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, at the outbreak of war, another sponsor noticed the young officer. Western theater commander General Henry Wagner Halleck also an engineer and destined to be the Union’s general-in-chief, appointed McPherson as aide and soon after Ulysses Grant named made him chief engineer of his army. In that position, the brilliant officer played an important part in the early Western campaigns, including the battles for Forts Henry and Donaldson along the Tennessee River, Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth, Miss. Both Halleck and Grant, who agreed on little else, recommended McPherson’s advancement. He successively commanded a brigade, division, corps – which he led brilliantly during the Vicksburg Campaign – and his rise in rank from staff captain to Brigadier General in the Regular Army was unmatched by any other Union officer. By March 1864, the 35 years old had succeeded Sherman in command of the Army of the Tennessee and was marching towards Atlanta.

            During the height of the campaign, McPherson, who had become engaged to a Baltimore woman, requested a leave so he could marry. Sherman refused, claiming that McPherson was too important to spare, even for a few days. On July 22 the young commander was trying to get back to his headquarters when he rode into a clearing occupied by Confederate skirmishers from William Hardee’s Corps. They fired and McPherson toppled from his saddle dead. Sherman had lost one of his best field commanders, but the loss was personal as well. Regretting his decision to refuse the furlough, and feeling the loss as a personal blow, Sherman reportedly commented that had he lived McPherson would have surely risen to command the nation’s forces.

            Meanwhile, back in Baltimore, Emily Hoffman remained ignorant of the fate of her fiancé until her mother asked her to read the latest news reports. Gasping in shock and pain as she read the terrible news, Emily feinted and then retreated to her room where she remained for a year, completely shattered.

            James McPherson was the highest-ranking Union officer killed during the Civil War.