James H. Wilson

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James H. Wilson as Major General in 1865.

James Harrison Wilson (born September 2, 1837 in Shawneetown , Illinois , † February 23, 1925 in Wilmington , Delaware ) was an American engineer and major general in the US Army . He took part in the American Civil War , the Spanish-American War and the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion .

youth

Wilson grew up on his father's farm. At the age of 17 he attended McKendree College in St. Clair County , Illinois for one year . On July 1, 1855, Wilson was appointed to the Military Academy at West Point , New York . He graduated as the sixth best of 41 cadets and was on 1 July 1860 as Brevet - lieutenant to the topography force the Army Corps of Engineers to Fort Vancouver , Oregon added.

Civil war

Topography Officer and Inspector General

As a first lieutenant , Wilson took part in the operation against Port Royal and the siege of Fort Pulaskis from September 1861 to March 1862 as the chief topographic officer of the Defense Area South. Because of his services during the siege of Fort Pulaski , he was promoted to Brevet Major on April 11, 1862 . During the Maryland campaign he was first senior topography officer of the Potomac Army and then adjutant to the Commander in Chief General George B. McClellan .

Wilson was transferred to the Tennessee Army as a lieutenant colonel as a senior topography officer in January 1863 and became its pioneer leader on March 3, 1863. During the two Vicksburg campaigns he was also Deputy Head of Internal Audit (Assistant Inspector General) and from December 1863 Major General Grant's adjutant. Wilson was promoted to Captain of the Regular Forces on May 7, 1863 , on October 30, 1863 to Brigadier General of the Volunteer Organization and on November 24, 1863 to Brevet Lieutenant Colonel for his services during the Battle of Chattanooga .

After Wilson pioneered the Knoxville Relief, he was transferred to Washington, DC in January 1864 and took over the Department of Cavalry in the War Department.

Cavalry commander

After only three months in office, Wilson was appointed Division Commander of a Cavalry Division in the Potomac Army by the Commander in Chief of the US Army Lieutenant General Grant because of his exceptional talent for organization and administration. He led this division during the overland campaign and in the Shenandoah campaign. During this time Wilson was promoted to Brevet Colonel of the regular Army on May 5, 1864 and on May 6, 1864 to Brevet Major General of the Volunteers. Wilson took command of the Cavalry Corps of Territorial Command Mississippi under Major General Sherman on October 9, 1864 . As the commanding general , Wilson built up the major units of the corps , trained them and led the corps until June 26, 1865.

Wilson led the Cavalry Corps in the Franklin-Nashville campaign in 1864 and played a significant role in the destruction of the Tennessee Confederate Army under Lieutenant General John Bell Hood . In the raid in Alabama and Georgia in March 1865, the corps smashed the Confederate cavalry corps under Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest , who was considered invincible, in the battle for Selma . Wilson then marched with the corps in the largest operation of the civil war carried out with independent cavalry units through the remnants of the Confederation and destroyed military and civil facilities, prohibiting looting and attempting to contain collateral damage. At the end of the war he had reached Macon , Georgia on April 20, 1865 . For his services at Nashville he was promoted to Brevet Brigadier General on March 13, 1865 and with effect from the same date for his success at Selma to Brevet Major General of the Army.

On May 10, his troops captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis while he was on the run near Irvinville, Georgia.

After the civil war

soldier

Wilson was promoted retrospectively to Major General of the Volunteers on June 21, 1865. During the year he married Ella Andrews, with whom he had three children. Until December 19, 1865, he administered the state of Georgia under the command of the Military Governor of Military District 3 - Major General John Pope . On January 8, 1866, Wilson was honorably discharged from the Army Volunteer Organization and transferred to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Commander in the newly established 35th US Infantry Regiment. However, he did not take up this post, but performed tasks in the Army Corps of Engineers. At his own request, Wilson resigned from active service on December 31, 1871.

civilian

Wilson worked on and was a board member of various railroad lines for the next 27 years. During this time he wrote his first books on "The Economy of China" and Brigadier General Andrew Jonathan Alexander. Wilson moved the center of his life to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1883.

soldier

When the United States began the Spanish-American War in 1898 , Wilson volunteered and was installed as Major General of the Volunteers in Cuba and Puerto Rico . When the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China in 1899 , he also led troops there and was promoted to Brigadier General of the US Army on February 11, 1901. Wilson ended his military career when he retired on March 2, 1901.

retirement

A year after his retirement, Wilson represented President Theodore Roosevelt at the coronation ceremonies of King Edward VII. In the years that followed, he wrote other books on civil war figures. In retirement, Wilson was promoted to Major General of the Army on March 4, 1915. Wilson died in Wilmington on February 23, 1925 and was buried in Old Swedes Churchyard. Only three of the Union's 583 generals survived - Nelson A. Miles , Adelbert Ames, and John R. Brooke .

Works

  • The Life of General US Grant, General of the Armies of the United States (co-authored with Charles A. Dana , 1868)
  • China: Travels and Investigations in the Middle Kingdom — a Study of its Civilization and Possibilities, with a Glance at Japan (1887)
  • Life and Services of Brevet Brigadier-General Andrew Jonathan Alexander, United States Army (1887)
  • Heroes of the Great Conflict: Life and Services of William Farrar Smith , Major General, United States Volunteers in the Civil War (1904)
  • The Life of Charles A. Dana (1907)
  • The Campaign of Chancellorsville (1911)
  • Under the Old Flag: Recollections of Military Operations in the War for the Union, the Spanish War, the Boxer Rebellion, etc. (1912)
  • The Life of John A. Rawlins: Lawyer, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff, Major General of Volunteers, and Secretary of War (1916)

literature

  • Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher . Civil War High Commands . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
  • Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7 .

Web links

Commons : James Harrison Wilson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Blue. Louisiana State University Press, 1992, accessed November 26, 2019 (Wilsons CV, p. 567).
  2. ^ A b c d e John H. and David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, 2001, accessed November 26, 2019 (Wilsons Lebensdaten p. 574).
  3. ↑ Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Blue. Louisiana State University Press, 1992, accessed November 26, 2019 (Wilsons CV, p. 568).
personal data
SURNAME Wilson, James H.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilson, James Harrison (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American engineer and major general
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Shawneetown , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1925
Place of death Wilmington , Delaware