Benjamin Henry Grierson

Background

Benjamin Henry Grierson was born on July 8, 1826 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Robert and Mary (Shepard) Grierson, natives of Dublin, Ireland.

Education

Grierson attended an academy at Youngstown, Ohio.

Career

Grierson taught music at Youngstown and at Jacksonville, and for five years was a merchant at Meredosia.

Enlisting in the army as a private in 1861, he was commissioned major in the 6th Illinois Cavalry and promoted to colonel. In the spring of 1862 he engaged in several small raids, routing a force of Confederates at Hernando, Mississippi. Returning to Gen. Sherman’s command he was employed in scouting for a few months, destroying rebel arms, camps, and supplies and pushing the Confederates out of Tennessee. The Cavalry being reorganized, Grierson was assigned to command the 1st Brigade, consisting of the 6th Illinois (his own), the 7th Illinois, and the 2nd Iowa Cavalry. By order of Gen. Grant he left La Grange, Tennessee, April 17, 1863, with about 1, 700 men and in sixteen days traversed six hundred miles of the enemy’s country in a succession of forced marches, fighting and destroying property. Ruining the Vicksburg & Meridian Railroad and the New Orleans & Jackson, and laying waste public property, he reached his goal, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, May 2. This raid was immensely helpful to Grant in the Vicksburg campaign, for it upset the enemy’s plans, drew forces from vulnerable points, and diverted attention from the main movement against Vicksburg.

President Lincoln recognized the service rendered in this campaign by promoting Grierson to major general of volunteers “for gallant and distinguished service in his great raid through the heart of the so-called Confederacy. ”

In 1864 Grierson made short raids in Tennessee and Mississippi in an attempt to distract Southern attention from the preparations for Sherman’s march. In May 1865 he was actively employed in the campaign against hostile Indians in the Western states and territories, and at various times he commanded the Department of Texas and Arizona and the District of New Mexico. In 1890 he received his appointment as brigadiergeneral of the regular army and in the same year he was retired.

He died at his summer home at Omena, Michigan.

Achievements

• Grierson is most noted for an 1863 expedition through Confederate-held territory that severed enemy communication lines between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Confederate commanders in the Eastern Theater. After the war he organized and led the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment from 1866 to 1890.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Grant said, “General Grierson was the first officer to set the example of what might be done in the interior of the enemy’s country without a base from which to draw supplies”.

Connections

He was twice married: on September 24, 1854, to Alice Kirk of Youngstown, Ohio, who died in 1888; and on July 28, 1897, to Lillian (Atwood) King of Jacksonville.

Father:

Robert Grierson

Mother:

Mary (Shepard) Grierson

Spouse:

Lillian (Atwood) King

Spouse:

Alice Kirk

References

• The Tide Shifts (Battles and Leaders of the Civil War) Vol.III
• Personal Memoirs (Penguin Classics)