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was with General Grant at Henry and Donelson, and afterwards was sent with me up the Tennessee River as a staff officer, to represent, first, General C. F. Smith, and later, General Grant, in the attempt to reach the Charleston Railroad at Burnsville, and then to assist at Pittsburg Landing, preliminary to the great campaign there to begin. There must be many people here, I know there is one, General R. P. Buckland, who remembers how intimate and friendly we were before the battle of Shiloh, as well as after it. McPherson always stayed at my camp and never failed to visit the Seventysecond Ohio belonging to my division, in which regiment he had many old neighbors and friends from this same town of Clyde. McPherson was still at that time technically an aide-de-camp of General Halleck, who remained at St. Louis, but he had wisely permitted this young, enterprising and gallant engineer officer to go ahead, as he always wanted to go, with the advance of the leading column. Separate and together we reconnoitered all the ground to the front for twelve miles to the right and left, and when the battle of Shiloh was in progress, Grant relied chiefly on McPherson for the topographical knowledge of the battle field and its surroundings. McPherson, however, was not content to remain in the capacity of a staff officer, but sought for command. To do acts and not merely to advise. His natural place was as a leader of men, the highest sphere in military life. This he attained at Corinth, and thenceforward as a Brigadier General and Major General at Corinth, Oxford, Vicksburg, Chattanooga and Atlanta, he performed deeds. which are fully recorded, and place his name honorably and worthily in the catalogue of the great Generals of the world. On this occasion it would not be proper for me to dilate on these themes, although it would be a labor of love. Events followed each other in such quick succession that at this distance of time all seem projected into one grand result, but the years 1863 and 1864 were big with events which will influence the destiny of America for centu. ries to come. Days were as months, and months as years of ordinary limit. McPherson, a youth, grew from a Lieutenant of engineers to be a corps com. mander, an army commander, promotion as rapid as ever marked the progress of the mighty men in the days of Napoleon, but, like a brilliant meteor, "Loved of the Gods," his young life went out before we had achieved the full measure of the work demanded of us by the times. All that was mortal of him lies buried here, within a few feet of where we stand, but the spirit, the genius, of the man survives, and millions will award him a full share of the fruits of a victory for which he gave his young life so nobly and so heroically. I, his companion, friend and senior, have been spared a few years, and could I recall him to life now I would not. He sleeps well. A nation has adopted him as one of her heroes, and long after we are gone, and it may be, forgotten, young men will gather about his equestrian statue in Washington, and this one at Clyde, Ohio, and say to themselves, “Behold the type of man who rescued us from anarchy; who died that freedom might become universal; that America might attain her true place in the gallery of nations, and whose virtues, heroism and self sacrifice we must imitate." The artist may model his form, the painter may reproduce his likeness, and the

historian narrate his deeds, but none save his comrades in battle can feel the full force of his living, genius and character. We must soon pass away and leave him alone in his glory, but before we go we should attempt to emphasize his fame, and I have sought elsewhere for words fitted to the subject, but cannot find anything more appropriate than what I myself wrote the day after his death, when the sounds of battle still thundered in my hearing, when my heart was torn for the loss of a comrade and friend, one whom I loved, in whose keeping had the fate of one of our best armies, and whose heart's blood still stained the hand with which I wrote. I therefore do beg to reproduce my own report of his death made after I had consigned him to the care of loving aides to be brought here to Clyde, Ohio, for interment.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,)
IN THE FIELD NEAR ATLANTA, GEORGIA, July 23, 1864.S

GENERAL L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General United States Army, Washington, D. C.: GENERAL: It is my painful duty to report that Brigadier General James B. McPherson, United States Army, Major General of volunteers and commander of the Army of the Tennessee, was killed by a shot from an ambuscade about noon of yesterday. At the time of this fatal shot he was on horseback, placing his troops in position near the city of Atlanta, and was passing a cross road from a moving column towards the flank of troops that had already been established on the line. He had quitted me but a few moments before, and was on his way to see in person to the execution of my orders. About the time of this sad event the enemy had rallied from his entrenchments of Atlanta, and, by a circuit, got the left and rear of this very line and had begun an attack which resulted in a serious battle, so that General McPherson fell in battle, booted and spurred, as the gallant and heroic gentleman should wish. Not his the loss, but the country's, and the army will mourn his death and cherish his memory as that of one who, though comparatively young, had risen by his merit and ability to the command of one of the best armies which the Nation had called into existence to vindicate her honor and integrity. History tells of but few who so blended the grace and gentleness of the friend with the dignity, courage, faith and manliness of the soldier. His public enemies, even the men who directed the fatal shot, never spoke or wrote of him without expressions of marked respect. Those whom he commanded loved him even to idolatry, and I, his associate and commander, fail in words adequate to express my opinion of his great worth. I feel assured that every patriot in America on hearing this sad news will feel a sense of personal loss, and 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 had been raised by designing and ambitious men. His body has been sent north in charge of Major Willard, Captains Steele and Gile, his personal staff. I am, with respect,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major General Commanding.

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In justice to our enemies, I now state that I was in error in using the word ambuscade." McPherson rode unceremoniously on the skirmish line of General Cleburne's division, which had not penetrated through the dense woods to a road, which up to that momer.t had been passed over back and forth all day by our men and by himself a short while before.

Seventeen years ago died this young hero, and about his grave has assembled this august audience, representatives of all parts of America, composed of men of the most exalted station. But we miss from our circle one who intended to be here, who had actually started on a tour designed to embrace his alma mater, his own home at Mentor, and this patriot hero's shrine at Clyde, but who now lies on a bed of pain and anguish, where for twenty days he has been almost within the portals of death. I mean of course our President, our comrade, General Garfield. Knowing from himself his purpose to assist on this occasion, and his love for the memory of McPherson, I addressed a note to Colonel Rockwell on Friday last, asking the privilege of standing by his bedside only for a moment, to bring direct to you even the shortest possible message of affection, and received the following answer :

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Į
WASHINGTON, July 16.5

DEAR GENERAL-It is the unanimous decision of the attending physicians that the President must not see any strange face for some time yet. I was permitted to deliver your message to which he replied briefly and substantially as follows: "God bless them all, ask General Sherman to say that in my every day of pain I have thought of them and the hope I had to have been with them. In my sufferings I feel that the dear old State is behind me." Of course his message is brief, but from his manner I know that his heart was full of feeling.

Very sincerely,

A. F. ROCKWELL.

TO GENERAL SHERMAN.

I will not mar the effect of this tribute of affection by a single word, and I am sure that from this shrine, made sacred by the ashes of McPherson, will arise this day a prayer that the majestic form of General Garfield, full of health, energy and life, may stand where we do now, and that his clarion voice will often again be heard to cheer in on the battle of life the hosts of young heroes who have drank inspiration at this pure fountain of patriotism.

A letter was read by the President of the day from General Garfield, dated Washington, June 28. It was in answer to a letter of invitation from the local committee, and in it the writer expressed a cordial sympathy with the movement of erecting the monument and the deepest admiration of McPherson as a man and a soldier. He also stated that it was his purpose to be pres ent at the unveiling at Clyde, and that he would attend if nothing especial or unlooked for occurred.

The President of the day then introduced Governor Foster, who com. menced by paying a glowing tribute to the great deeds and achievements of

the loved soldier. He desired to speak of him as he knew him in his early manhood. He first knew him at about 18. They were about the same age. He remembered the gentle character of "Jimmy," as they called him. He was a young man without an enemy. He saw him part from his mother when he went as a cadet to West Point. He watched him through his course and kept up his acquaintance with him until his death. He loved him as he had never loved another man. He knew him and met him in New York when he was on duty in New York. He never knew a man to speak ill of him; saw him on his last visit home and went with him to Cincinnati on his way to the front. He expressed a willingness to give his life for his country, if need be. The Governor had been glad to aid in the building of this memorial statue. There was also a beautiful equestrian statue to him in Washington; not only that, but a square dedicated to his memory at the National Capital, and to be known for all time as McPherson square. In conclusion he asked all who loved McPherson to remember that the cause he died for was right and the cause he fought against was wrong.

The chair announced that the men most active in procuring this statue were General Hickenlooper, of Cincinnati, and General Hazen and General Leggett.

The President then read messages of regret at their inability to be present, from Generals Logan and Hickenlooper.

The following telegram from General Hickenlooper was then read :

GENERAL WILLIAM E. STRONG,

Clyde, Ohio:

CINCINNATI, OHIO.

I have just returned from a three weeks' absence, and in consequence of unexpected delays, now find it impossible to join you or participate in tomorrow's exercises, which you know would be to me peculiarly interesting and affectingly tender, as it will be my second and last step in the successful accomplishment of the task of erecting an appropriate and suitable monument to perpetuate the memory of our loved and lamented commander and friend, which task has been but a labor of love, extended over the long period of sixteen years. I trust you will not forget to give due credit to General W. T. Clark, who first suggested the idea afterward so successfully carried out. A. HICKENLOOPER.

General W. B. Hazen was next introduced and spoke as follows:

COMRADES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :

We have come here to day to pay tribute to the memory of one of the nation's noblest men. Thirty years ago, when I entered West Point and was assigned to acompany, the orderly sergeant of that company strongly impressed me by the manliness of his bearing, the perfection of his figure, and the kindly, intellectual expression of his countenance. In response to my inquiry, I was told that he was Cadet McPherson, from Clyde, Ohio. I soon after learned that

Cadet McPherson was the best scholar in his class, and that he was the best representative of high moral character of the whole corps of cadets. And I well remember when our senior professor, Mahan, wishing to call attention to the growing habit of profanity, he addressed his communication to Cadet McPherson, as the one cadet whose influence for good would be greater than that of any other,

McPherson graduated in 1853, at the head of his class, and his career as an engineer officer of distinction, up to the breaking out of the war, is too well known to need mention here. At the first sound of war he was in his place, and I well remember his vigilance as a staff-officer as we went from Shiloh to Cornith and at the siege of that place.

There is no plainer page in history than that which records his most faithful and distinguished service, with high promotions which rapidly followed. There are many here who will never forget the ominous shifting of the noise of battle far to our left on that memorable 22d of July, seventeen years ago, and the sad tidings brought by swift messengers that "McPherson is killed." There were few dry eyes in that brave army. For the same qualities of head and heart that so strongly characterized the cadet grew with the years and made him the idol of the army.

In his death the country lost a man whose character was so complete, whose every attribute was so perfect that language fails to justly portray him. With a knightly presence he was gentle, courtly, just. With a kind word and winning smile for all, with a heart incapable of wrong, his sincere frankness of manner made friends of all he met.

It was my fortune to head the committee chosen by the army before it disbanded, to commemorate, in some visible and fitting way, this universal sentiment for this noble man, and we have come to-day to render the account of the trust reposed in us. "We builded better than we knew," and with the aid of a generous government have already given into its care at its capital a beautiful equestrian statue in bronze.

Ours is, and is to be the land of heroes, as Rome was, and the same beautitiful sentiment actuates us that has actuated all great peoples. When preeminently good men perform great national service, we not only gladly accord them a place amongst heroes while living, but when they die we commemorate their lives in imperishable brass.

And now, citizens of Northern Ohio, we commit to your care this monument in brass of your purest, best loved and noblest hero.

The President of the day then introduced General M. D. Leggett, of Cleveland, who spoke as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

I have very often heard the remark made by those who were not soldiers in the service, that the death of General McPherson was unnecessary—that he came to his death in consequence of unnecessary rashness-that he had placed himself in a position that was not a proper one for the commander of an army, and that in consequence of that rashness he met his death. No soldier that was

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