Treasured chest: Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson items, long kept at an Ohio farm, are part of new Atlanta Cyclorama exhibits

Chest and belt plate (Courtesy of Perry Adams Antiques)

The death of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, the only Union army commander to be killed in battle during the Civil War, wasn’t just a deep and sorrowful loss to his troops and commanders, Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman. His was a young life so full of promise – with many believing he might have helped to bind the country’s wounds once the conflict ended.

Maj. Gen. McPherson

That promise died on July 22, 1864, when McPherson, 35, was shot from his saddle by a Confederate infantryman during the Battle of Atlanta.

His remains were returned to his hometown of Clyde, Ohio, amid great national mourning that extended to the White House. Many foes in the Confederate army, including West Point classmate John Bell Hood, also expressed grief.

McPherson’s 87-year-old grandmother wrote to Gen. Grant: “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 half a 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.”

In addition to a grieving family and a fiancée, Emily Hoffman – who would never marry – McPherson left behind a number of personnel effects, including a travel (or campaign) chest, a captured Confederate canteen and the model 1851 belt plate he was said to be wearing on the day he died.

Now, nearly 155 years after those items made the sad journey to Ohio, they are back in Atlanta, exhibited with the newly restored Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama. The Atlanta History Center purchased the items late last year and the three artifacts are among the McPherson-associated artifacts on display in a gallery outside the painting rotunda.

New exhibit at the Atlanta History Center (Picket photo)

Gordon Jones, senior military historian at the history center, said McPherson was venerated across the country, including in Atlanta, where he led the Army of the Tennessee in battles that collectively spelled doom for the South’s military cause.

(Courtesy of Perry Adams Antiques)

“The first Civil War monument of any kind placed on an Atlanta battlefield was placed in his honor in 1877 by U.S. soldiers. That monument was adopted by the city of Atlanta to represent not only an iconic event, but also the unique wartime history of the city,” Jones told the Picket.

The monument to McPherson lies in the East Atlanta neighborhood, at the corner of McPherson and Monument avenues.

“Note Fort McPherson also named in his honor. Now you could say some of that was Southern bragging about killing the top U.S. general -- but a lot more of it was because of the story of his death, his friendship with Sherman, his fame and popularity, and the post-war desire in Atlanta for reconciliation between North and South.”

Exhibit includes bullet some say killed the general (Picket)

Final resting place for artifacts

The Atlanta History Center made the purchase through Perry Adams Antiques in Petersburg, Va., which detailed the fascinating postwar history of the trunk and other items on its website.

After McPherson’s death, the effects transferred to one of his brothers. Upon the latter’s death in 1877, the general’s nephew acquired them. But that man, in need of money, sold the items in 1924 to a family that lived outside Clyde. Perry Adams Antiques acquired the grouping when it attended the Ohio Civil War & Artillery Show and traveled to the family farm to view it.

“These effects are amongst the most important of Civil War artifacts we had the pleasure of offering,” the company said.

Co-owner Ben Greenbaum said the Atlanta History Center is the appropriate spot for the collection. Jones concurs: “McPherson' story almost certainly influenced the choice of this battle as the subject of a cyclorama, as opposed to all the others fought during the Atlanta Campaign.”

Detail of the Rebel canteen (Courtesy of Perry Adams Antiques)

Neither would disclose the sales price.

The small McPherson exhibit also includes the bullet that reputedly killed him and a post card with a photograph of the general, inset with a postwar scene of his death location. Those were already in the history center collection.

“We assume that McPherson had the trunk with him during the Atlanta Campaign; there is no provenance on the Confederate canteen, although it was not unusual for upper echelon officers to be presented with war souvenirs,” said Greenbaum.

Belt plate, canteen and campaign chest (Picket photo)

The trunk is similar to others in the history center’s holdings, down to the hardware and stencil lettering.

“It has obviously seen heavy use, has been repaired and has been in the family,” Jones said. “I don’t know for sure, but it probably (was) sent back to the family with his personal effects after he was killed.”

The cedar canteen, which has the original leather strap and roller buckle, features on one side the carved letters "McP.”

“That suggests to me that the general kept it as a souvenir much the same way a private soldier would,” Jones said. “On the other side of the canteen, someone has written ‘McPherson’ in pencil -- looks like a child's writing -- so I think that lettering was put there by a family member well after the war.”

Reverse side of the belt plate (Perry Adams Antiques)

Did bullet hit his belt plate?

One of the more curious items in the case is the belt plate (or buckle) that McPherson was wearing when he was killed, according to family tradition.

Slips of paper that came with the collection have handwritten notations indicating the triangular nick in the plate came from the fatal bullet.

It is known that McPherson was surprised to encounter Rebel troops as he rode to inspect the position of troops relatively early in the battle. He was said to have tipped his hat before swinging his horse around in order to make his escape.

Old note claims belt was hit by bullet (Perry Adams Antiques)

Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said McPherson was leaning forward on his horse when a Cpl. Robert Coleman of the 5^th Confederate (Cleburne’s Division) fired a single shot. The bullet went upward and hit McPherson’s lung and heart or aorta, exiting the chest.

A placard at the Atlanta History Center says the nick did not come from the bullet.

“It may have resulted from the impact of a rock or other object when McPherson’s body hit the ground.”

Other items in the collection

The general’s hat, some papers he was carrying in his pocket and watch were believed to have been taken by Confederates.

(Perry Adams Antiques)

The collection once included a frock coat, which was sold years ago to an Ohio antiques dealer. (Greenbaum says he has no idea what became of it.)

It also has a carte de visite signed by McPherson, his mother’s wedding band and an earring, along with several postwar items.

Regarding the image of McPherson (right), Jones said that while it is not currently on exhibit, it will be rotated with the post card. “That's so we can keep the exhibit fresh but also to limit prolonged light exposure on these paper items.”

The 1886 painting only a few yards from the McPherson depicts Federal soldiers rushing to plug a gap made during a brief Confederate breakthrough. An ambulance bearing McPherson’s body slowly makes its way to Sherman’s headquarters, where he had visited with his boss in the morning on the day of his last ride.

What the nation lost

McPherson remains an example of young talent that seems snuffed out to early.

“He benefited from being a protege of Halleck and Grant, which is not a bad thing, but his daily interactions with both made his talents more readily observable and more quickly rewarded then perhaps some others,” said Crawford.

(Courtesy of Perry Adams Antiques)

McPherson had performed well under Grant in the Fort Donelson, Shiloh and at Vicksburg, where he was a corps commander. By April 1864, he joined Sherman’s forces during the Atlanta Campaign. At Resaca he received some criticism for not making a vigorous attack on a smaller foe. Sherman said afterward, "Well, Mac, you've missed the chance of a lifetime." 

But he was a favorite of Sherman and Grant -- who called him one of the army's "ablest, purest and best generals" -- until the end.

Sherman cried upon hearing the news of his death. A letter he wrote to authorities about the loss included these lines:

“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 has been raised by designing and ambitious men.”

Cyclorama detail shows ambulance with body (Atlanta History Center)