On January 30, 1862, Major General Henry W. Halleck, commanding the Department of Missouri, issued orders setting in motion the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. As every Civil War student knows, Halleck placed Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant in command of the expedition. This effort, supported by a naval force under Flag-Officer Andrew Foote, generated the first major victories for the Federals. Within weeks, the interior of Tennessee lay open to the Unionists.
Typical for Halleck, the order provided details of the selected troops, particulars of the enemy’s (suspected) disposition, and suggestions for movement. But there’s one sentence in that order which deserves note, as it marks the arrival of a new actor who would figure prominently as the war in the West progressed:
“Lieutenant-Colonel McPherson, U.S. Engineers, will immediately report to you, to act as chief engineer of the expedition.”
A 1853 graduate of West Point, McPherson attended alongside notable class-mates John B. Hood, Philip Sheridan, and John Schofield. After graduating at the top of his class, McPherson went on to teach at West Point for a while. The eve of war found him supervising construction of fortifications at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California. Transferred eastward, McPherson was assigned to Halleck’s staff in late 1861. When Grant needed an engineer for the expedition, Halleck forwarded McPherson.
It was a fortuitous assignment in many ways. After the fall of Fort Henry, McPherson mapped out the roads east to Fort Donelson, making several reconnaissances. At Fort Donelson, McPherson continued to provide able service. Later in the campaign, McPherson supervised placement of new siege lines on ground gained in the evening of February 15. On the following morning, Grant could press his famous ultimatum in part because of McPherson’s work. For this and later work on Grant’s staff, he received notice… and promotion.
McPherson was a star on the rise. By the end of the year he was a Major General in command of the Seventeenth Corps. He lead that Corps in the Vicksburg Campaign, showing great ability, particularly in the siege operations. By the spring of 1864, McPherson commanded the Army of the Tennessee, as General William T. Sherman prepared to drive on Atlanta. McPherson’s star had reached its zenith. McPherson would not complete that campaign. He was shot by Confederate skirmishers during the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864.
Of McPherson’s death, Sherman related,
History tells us of but few who so blended the grace and gentleness of the friend with dignity, courage, faith, and manliness of the soldier…. 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.
Privately to his wife he wrote, “I lost my right bower in McPherson.”
James Birdseye McPherson’s name is in the news today. More so because of the location his men, the veterans of the old Army of the Tennessee, chose to honor him. But 150 years ago today, he was a star on the rise.
