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טיולי וושינגטון די.סי., roosevelt Boulevard, Falls Church, VA (2026)

08/19/2023

Let's wish a very Happy 100th Birthday to WWII vet Ernie Andries

07/22/2021

A few blocks from the White House, a bronze equestrian statue of General James B. McPherson stands proudly in the park bearing his name. McPherson graduated from West Point in 1853 and served with the Army Corps of Engineers on construction projects in places like New York Harbor and Alcatraz Island. When the Civil War began, McPherson ended up under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, and during the Vicksburg Campaign. By the spring of 1864, Grant was placed in charge over all Union Armies. As he rose through the ranks, so did the men he trusted as well.

In his strategy to end the war, Grant sent General William Tecumseh Sherman to lead his march through the South, with McPherson commanding the Army of the Tennessee under Sherman. On July 22, 1864, Sherman and McPherson were outside of Atlanta facing the Confederate army under McPherson’s former West Point classmate, John Bell Hood. As McPherson was riding down a wagon road toward Sherman's headquarters, he ran into a line of Confederate skirmishers. Attempting a quick escape, he was brought down by Confederate fire, the second highest ranking U.S. Army officer killed during the Civil War.

Grant and Sherman grieved the death of McPherson. In the decades following the war, several statues of U.S. generals were built throughout Washington, D.C, and McPherson's former troops made sure he was honored with one of them. Confederate cannons that were captured at the Battle of Atlanta were used in the casting of the memorial. Make sure to stop by on your next visit to our nation's capital.

Photo of the McPherson statue by National Park Service.