James H. Wilson

Wilson died in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1925, with only three Union Civil War generals living longer. He is buried in the Old Swedes Churchyard in Wilmington.

Wilson returned to the Army in 1898 for the Spanish–American War, and served as a major general of volunteers in Cuba and Puerto Rico. He also saw service in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1901 as brigadier-general. Retiring from the Army, in 1902 he represented President Theodore Roosevelt at the coronation of Edward VII of the United Kingdom.

After he left the Army, Wilson worked as a railroad construction engineer and executive. He moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1883. For the next 15 years he devoted his time to business, travel, and public affairs, and wrote on a number of subjects.

At the end of the war, Wilson reverted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was assigned to the newly created 35th U.S. Infantry, but his duty assignments continued to be in the Corps of Engineers until he resigned from the Army in December 1870.

As cavalry chief, he trained Sherman's cavalry (under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick) for the March to the Sea. Rather than accompanying Sherman, however, he and 17,000 troopers were attached to Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland for the Franklin-Nashville Campaign in November and December 1864. His repulse of a flanking attack by Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest was instrumental in saving the Union Army at the Battle of Franklin; Wilson was one of only a few Union officers to best the legendary Southern cavalryman. He was promoted to brevet brigadier general in the regular army for his service in the Battle of Nashville. He led the successful Wilson's Raid through Alabama and Georgia, defeating the smaller force of Forrest and capturing Selma, Alabama, along with four other fortified cities. In this campaign, he commanded the troops that burned most of the buildings of the University of Alabama. On Easter Day, 1865, his troops assaulted and captured the city of Columbus, Georgia. His men did enormous damage to the military infrastructure of the South, but they did it with a sense of discipline that usually prevented looting and other collateral damage to civilian property. He was promoted to brevet major general in the regular army for his performance at Selma and received his full promotion to major general on May 6, 1865. In central Georgia, the cavalrymen under Wilson's command captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Captain Henry Wirz, the commandant of Andersonville, as he fled through Georgia in May 1865. Wilson's administration of post-war Georgia was regarded, in some cases, as enlightened. In his History of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, the historian I.W. Avery remarks:

Returning to the Western Theater, Wilson became one of the few Union commanders to defeat Confederate cavalier Nathan Bedford Forrest in battle - at the Battle of Franklin in November 1864 and again during his raid through Alabama and Georgia in March and April 1865. Wilson ended the war with his men capturing both Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Andersonville Prison commandant Henry Wirz in May 1865. Upon his death in 1925, he was the fourth-to-last living Union Civil War general.

Wilson was transferred to the Western Theater and joined Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee as a lieutenant colonel and topographical engineer. During the Vicksburg Campaign, he was the inspector general of Grant's army. On October 30, 1863, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. He continued on staff duty during the Battle of Chattanooga and was chief engineer of the force sent to relieve Knoxville under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman.

After the start of the Civil War, Wilson received promotions to second and first lieutenant and became the topographical engineer for the Port Royal Expeditionary Force, from September 1861 to March 1862. As the topographical engineer for the Department of the South, he took part in the Battle of Fort Pulaski at the mouth of the Savannah River and received a brevet promotion to major in the regular army for his service. He transferred to the Army of the Potomac in April 1862 and served as its topographic engineer, but also as an aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. He served under McClellan during the Maryland Campaign and was present at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam.

Wilson was born in Shawneetown, Illinois. He attended McKendree College for a year and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1860, sixth in his class of 41, receiving a commission as a brevet second lieutenant in the Topographical Engineers. His initial assignment was assistant topographical engineer of the Department of Oregon at Fort Vancouver.

James H. Wilson was born on September 2, 1837 in Shawneetown, Illinois, USA.