Our Hearts Were Almost Rent Asunder: The Burial of General McPherson

    158 years ago today, Major General James Birdseye McPherson lost his life in the opening stages of the Battle of Atlanta. The 35-year-old native of Clyde, Ohio was then in command of the Army of the Tennessee and his death made him the highest ranking Federal officer killed during the Civil War. A widely beloved and respected figure within the army, the news of McPherson's death so impacted General Ulysses S. Grant, then fighting Robert E. Lee around Petersburg, Virginia, that Grant reportedly retired to his tent and sobbed like a child.  

General James B. McPherson's monument in McPherson Cemetery in Clyde is easily seen from busy U.S. 20 highway which runs along the southside of the cemetery. It is a striking monument and bears a remarkable resemblance to McPherson; he stands in dress uniform pointing to the west with his field glasses in hand. 


    McPherson's body was recovered on the afternoon of July 22, 1864 (see story here) and returned home to his family in Ohio accompanied by three members of his staff. The funeral occurred on July 29, 1864 and was a public event attended by hundreds of townspeople, local dignitaries, and dozens Civil War veterans including Franklin Sawyer of the 8th Ohio, Colonel John R. Bond of the 111th Ohio, and Colonel Henry Kingsbury of the 14th Ohio. "Among the relatives of General McPherson we noticed his aged grandmother who, at the age of 87, is able to the walk the considerable distance from the house to the place of the funeral thence to the place of internment," a newspaper reporter from the Toledo Blade observed.

     A company from the 13th U.S. Infantry escorted McPherson's casket and a funeral procession consisting of the 128th Ohio and the 24th Ohio Battery followed behind the hearse which traveled from McPherson's boyhood home to the nearby McPherson family orchard where the funeral ceremonies were held. The Reverend T.F. Hildreth of Tiffin gave the funeral sermon citing a verse from Matthew stating "render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things which are God's." Hildreth stated that "it is our duty to love our country, to render all honor to her and hold all that is ours ready for sacrifice in her defense. If we enjoy its benefits, we owe it upon the authority of God the most cheerful and implicit obedience."

The plaque upon General McPherson's monument describes his services during the Civil War, much of which was with his beloved Army of the Tennessee. McPherson early on became a member of General U.S. Grant's staff and saw service with him as early as Shiloh; the Ohioan served with Grant through Vicksburg and joined his fellow Buckeye William T. Sherman's army in time for the Atlanta campaign. McPherson rests today surrounded by dozens of the veterans of the 72nd Ohio, another Army of the Tennessee regiment that had its baptism of fire at Shiloh. General McPherson isn't the only noteworthy soldier buried at McPherson Cemetery Among them is Captain Charles McCleary of the 72nd Ohio who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions capturing a flag during the Battle of Nashville in December 1864. This small town cemetery also includes a veteran of the Revolutionary War, the grave of the first American killed in the Spanish American War, and the grave of a second Medal of Honor recipient, Rodger Young of the 37th Division who lost his life during WWII. 

      The pall bearers consisted of six U.S. Army officers, three serving in the Regular Army and three more serving in Federalized Ohio National Guard regiments then on duty at nearby Johnson's Island prisoner of war camp.  Once arriving at the grave, Reverend Wheeler of Sandusky conducted the burial service and following three volleys fired by the 128th Ohio, General McPherson was consigned to his native soil. 

     I visited General McPherson's gravesite today in Clyde, Ohio to pay my respects to this prominent Buckeye hero of the Civil War. However bucolic the scene may have been when General McPherson was interred in 1864, the scene today is overwhelmed by the constant traffic sounds on busy U.S. 20 on the south side of the cemetery. Diesel-powered pickups seemed to be the worst as they roared through town to the tune of "Save Your Horse, Ride a Cowboy" blaring at 120 decibels from one particularly obnoxious vehicle. The road noise was punctuated by the blaring train horns from an equally busy railroad track just a block or so away from the cemetery. It was decidedly not a place for quiet contemplation on a Friday afternoon, but the local historical society and the city are to be commended for the superb condition of the monument and the grounds. 

    As I stood at McPherson's grave, I pondered a bit on why he is remembered, or isn't. The fact was that I was the only one in the cemetery and I was there for more than an hour. The Ohio Historical Society has signs on both ends of U.S. 20 announcing that Clyde was McPherson's hometown, so it's no secret that he buried there. His monument can't be missed as it rests atop the highest ground in the cemetery and is easily visible from the road.  But 21st century life moves at its own breakneck pace, and perhaps pondering the significance of a life given more than 150 years ago in a war that a major portion of the U.S. population would just as soon forget ever happened seems quite "old-fashioned." I've been accused before of having an "old soul," so I guess I should just own it. 

    Without a doubt, James B. McPherson is a significant figure in the American Civil War. He was the highest ranking Union general killed in action during the war, so that fact alone gives him a certain notoriety. That he was a close friend of both Grant and Sherman, two titans in U.S. military history, ensures that he would get more than a passing glance from any student of the war. For us Ohioans, he is considered one of our noblest war heroes, a martyr in the cause of securing freedom. 

McPherson's monument is surrounded by four brass James' rifles, two of which were cast at Miles Greenwood's Eagle Foundry in Cincinnati in 1862. The other two pieces were cast by Ames of Boston, one in 1846 and the other in 1861. I found it rather fitting that the grave of Ohio's highest ranking casualty of the Civil War is "defended" by two cannons cast in his native state. 


    In 21st century terms, McPherson was a "good dude." He was hard-working, diligent, highly intelligent, possessing a gentle giving spirit, and had a deep sense of honor. He was an easy companion, a good conversationalist, rather shy and retiring, thoroughly devoted to duty. McPherson was popular with both his West Point comrades, and with his enlisted men who always remembered his kind disposition and gentle manner of command. This was certainly a rare achievement in a war marked by tensions and misunderstandings between West Pointers and the armies they led. His grandmother Lydia Slocum remembered that "in childhood, he was obedient and kind; in manhood, noble and persevering, looking to the wants of others."

    As I stood at his grave, I couldn't help but thinking about McPherson's sterling character, juxtaposed against the awfulness of his last moments upon earth. It was a hot July day, much like it was today at the cemetery. The thunder of guns and musketry were all around him as he galloped from one end of his line to another. The Federal army was driving on Atlanta and now that his old West Point comrade John Bell Hood was in command, McPherson expected matters to assume a more dangerous character.

    Despite this sense of increased danger, he had every reason to believe that the road he was on when he was shot was a safe one. Federal troops had just marched through the area unscathed a few minutes before. And McPherson wasn't alone; Andrew J. Thompson of the 4th Independent Company of Ohio Cavalry rode at his side while a detachment of Signal Corpsmen trailed not many yards behind. The General had just spoken with Captain John B. Raymond of General Mortimer Leggett's staff, and Raymond was galloping back to Leggett 50 yards ahead of him when McPherson and Thompson heard a roar of musketry, and saw Raymond's horse slump off the road and expire, throwing Captain Raymond into the brush.

    McPherson kept to the road which bent to the right, little knowing that an advancing of line of Confederates were approaching the road on his left. The grayclad skirmishers spied the two horsemen and yelled out for them to halt. McPherson, for the first time seeing the Confederates, tipped his hat "as politely as though saluting a lady" one Confederate noted, swung his horse around, dug in his spurs, and tried to gallop out of danger. He didn't make it far; a Rebel bullet fired at close range pierced his right lower back and passed upwards through his chest, exiting near his heart. McPherson tumbled off his horse and fell heavily into the road while his terrified horse galloped back to Union lines. (In a sad coda, the horse would subsequently be returned to McPherson's family in Ohio were several years later the horse would kick McPherson's brother in the head, ultimately killing him.)

This lonely stretch of jack-oak swamp has been identified as the location where General McPherson was shot down and died. The wagon wheel and cannon shells are likely props added to spice up what otherwise is an unspectacular bit of swamp. 


    Orderly Thompson had swung his horse with McPherson and was lying close to the horse's neck when he struck a tree branch and was thrown off, landing a few yards from his dying General. Thompson quickly gathered his wits and ran to his General's side imploring, "General, are you hurt?" McPherson's last words were "Oh orderly, I am," and soon McPherson turned himself over, straightened out, and began "quivering and trembling like an aspen. He was then in the death throes and never spoke afterwards," Thompson wrote. Within moments, James Birdseye McPherson's spirit flew, leaving chaos and confusion in its wake. Black Jack Logan would, in his finest hour of the war, take command of McPherson's army and lead them to a perilous if glorious victory, making this battle the pride of the Army of the Tennessee. But McPherson's demise would continue to have repercussions to the army's command structure for some time to come. 

Like McPherson's grave in Clyde, the marker in Atlanta indicating where McPherson fell is now surrounded by a busy residential neighborhood. (Photo by William Bechmann) 


    McPherson's death cast a pall upon this small northern Ohio farming community. Already the region had suffered the deaths of so many of its young men sent off to battle. Only a week before, news came of the death of Major Eugene Rawson of the 72nd Ohio, and he was only the latest in a long line of promising young men whose lives had been cut short by what one local resident acidly called "this planter's rebellion." 

    But the loss of McPherson struck his family the hardest. Three years before, McPherson stopped home for a short visit on the way to the western theater to join Grant. It was the last time the family ever saw their soldier boy. Three years later, his body lay in state in this same parlor where three years before his family wished him Godspeed. 

     Now 87-year-old Lydia Slocum tried to explain her grief to General U.S. Grant in an extraordinary letter. "When it was announced to us by telegraph that our loved one had fallen, our hearts were almost rent asunder, but when we heard the commander-in-chief could weep with us, too, we felt, sir, that you have been as a father to him and this whole nation is mourning his early death," she wrote. "His grave is on an eminence but a few rods from where the funeral services were attended and near the grave of his father. The grave, no doubt, will be marked so that passers-by will often pause to drop a tear over the dear departed."

    And so I did today, in honor of General McPherson, and in memory of the tears of his grandmother shed so long ago. I share below the letters that Lydia and General Grant exchanged in the aftermath of McPherson's demise. 


Major General James Birdseye McPherson of Clyde, Ohio


Clyde, Ohio

August 3, 1864

 To General Grant, dear sir,

          I hope you will pardon me for troubling you with the perusal of these few lines from the trembling hand of the aged grandma of our beloved General James B. McPherson who fell in battle. When it was announced at his funeral from the public print that when General Grant heard of his death, he went into his tent and wept like a child, my heart went out in thanks to you for the interest you manifested in him while he was with you. I have watched his progress from infancy up. In childhood, he was obedient and kind; in manhood, noble and persevering, looking to the wants of others. Since he entered the war, others can appreciate his worth more than I can.

          When it was announced to us by telegraph that our loved one had fallen, our hearts were almost rent asunder, but when we heard the commander-in-chief could weep with us, too, we felt, sir, that you have been as a father to him and this whole nation is mourning his early death.

Lydia Slocum (Courtesy of Gene Smith)


          I wish to inform you that his remains were conducted by a kind guard to the very parlor where he spent a cheerful evening in 1861 with his widowed mother, two brothers, only sister, and his aged grandma who is now trying to write. In the morning, he took his leave at 6 o’clock little dreaming he should fall by a ball from the enemy. His funeral services were attended in his mother’s orchard where his youthful feet had often pressed the soil to gather the falling fruit, and his remains are resting in the silent grave scarce a half mile from the place of his birth.

His grave is on an eminence but a few rods from where the funeral services were attended and near the grave of his father. The grave, no doubt, will be marked so that passers-by will often pause to drop a tear over the dear departed. And now, dear friend, a few lines from you would be gratefully received by the afflicted friends. I pray that the God of battles may be with you and go forth with your armies till rebellion shall cease, the Union be restored, and the old flag wave over our entire land.

With much respect, I remain your friend,

Lydia Slocum, aged 87 years and 4 months

 

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant

A week later, General Grant responded with a personal note from his headquarters at City Point, Virginia outside of Petersburg:

         

Headquarters, Armies of the United States

City Point, Virginia

August 10, 1864

Mrs. Lydia Slocum, my dear madam,

          Your very welcome letter of the 3rd instant has just reached me. I am glad to know the relations of the late lamented Major General McPherson are aware of the more than friendship existing between him and myself. A nation grieves at the loss of one so dear to our nation’s cause. It is a selfish grief because the nation had more to expect from him than from almost anyone now living. I join in this selfish grief, and add the grief of personal love for the departed. He formed for some time one of my military family. I knew him well. To know him was but to love him. It may be some consolation to you, his aged grandmother, to know that every officer and every soldier who served under your grandson felt the highest reverence for his zeal, his great almost unequaled ability, his amiability, and all the manly virtues that can adorn a commander. Your bereavement is great, but it cannot exceed mine.

Yours truly,

U.S. Grant, Lieutenant General

Another view of the McPherson marker in Atlanta courtesy of friend of the blog John Croland. 


 Source:

“The Late General McPherson,” Toledo Daily Commercial (Ohio), August 25, 1864, pg. 2

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more