1837-1925
Army Major General (2 Star) James Harrison Wilson was born on this day in Shawneetown, Illinois. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1860...just one year before Civil War broke out in the U.S. His specialty was "topographical engineering," but his initial service in the Civil War was as an aide. He served under both Generals McClellan and Grant. He served throughout the conflict and saw heavy action in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. He was in command when his battalion of men captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the Swiss born Heinrich Wirz, commandant of the infamous prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. After leaving Army service in 1883, he worked as for a time as a construction engineer in the railroad field. He then moved to Wilmington, Delaware; where as a private citizen, he took up (amongst other endeavors) writing. He was persuaded to return to the Army in 1898 to service in the Spanish-American War and was later sent to China, where he served during the infamous Boxer Rebellion in 1901 as a brigadier-general, before retiring again from the service in early 1902. He represented then President Theodore Roosevelt and the country at the coronation of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. As far as film is concerned, it is his service in China that brings him to this blog. He is featured in the Amercian Mutoscope & Biograph documentary short The War in China (1901), which also features Maj. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee and Minister Edward H. Conger. Wilson passed away on the 23rd of February, 1925 in his adopted home town of Wilmington at the respectable age of 87. He was laid to rest at the Old Swedes Churchyard there. For more about his military life and for a really interesting list of his written works, please check out his Wikipedia page.
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| Appreciative of Find A Grave member Kimberly for the free photo use! |
