|
Major General James Birdseye McPherson was the highest ranking Union
officer to die in the Civil War, killed during the Union advance on
Atlanta. Trained as an engineer at West Point (Robert E. Lee was the
superintendent), he went on to build coast defenses on the Atlantic
and Pacific, and helped with flood control measures in the City of
Washington. He was in charge of the engineering efforts that helped
Grant capture Fort Henry and Fort Donaldson, and then was granted leave
to marry his sweetheart in Baltimore. Grant called him back before
he could marry, and gave him command of the Army of Tennessee, and
pointed him toward Atlanta. Grant and his fiancee mourned his death.
|
|
