General James Birdseye McPherson

James Birdseye McPherson was born in Hamer's Corners, now Clyde, on November 14, 1828. He left this house at age 13 to work in nearby Green Springs. He attended Norwalk Academy and West Point, where he graduated first in the class of 1853. Early in the Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant appointed him to command the Army of the Tennessee. He received the rank of Major General with the United States Volunteers in October 1862 and was promoted to Brigadier General in the Regular Army in August 1863. He was killed in action during the battle of Atlanta, Georgia, on July 22, 1864. He was the youngest and highest ranking Union officer killed in the Civil War and is buried in the local McPherson Cemetery.

Clyde, Ohio · United States