Background
He was the son of Dr. Samuel George Morton [q. v. ] and Rebecca Grellet (Pearsall) Morton.
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James Morton
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Education
After attending the University of Pennsylvania four years, he entered West Point in 1847 and graduated on July 1, 1851, second in a class of forty-two.
Career
On July 1, 1856, he was promoted first lieutenant and on June 17 of the following year became assistant engineer in operations preliminary to the construction of Sandy Hook Fort (Fort Hancock), N. J. Following this assignment, from 1858 to 1859, he was lighthouse engineer of the third district (from Gooseberry Point, Massachussets, to Squam Inlet, N. J. ).
Next he was in charge of the Potomac Water Works (1859 - 60), then engineer in charge of the Chiriqui Expedition to Central America, and from 1860 to 1861 of the Washington Aqueduct.
Later that year he became superintending engineer of the construction of Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Fla. , and in 1862 was in charge of repairs at Fort Mifflin, Pa.
He participated in the Tennessee campaign and for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Stone River, Dec. 31, 1862-Jan.
Until June 1863 he was engaged in fortifying Nashville and Murfreesboro, Tenn.
He was superintending engineer of the defenses of Nashville, Murfreesboro, Clarksville, and Fort Donelson, Nov. 14, 1863, to Jan. 30, 1864, when he became assistant to the chief engineer at Washington, D. C. On May 18, 1864, he was appointed chief engineer of the IX Army Corps and participated during the Richmond campaign in the battles of North Anna, May 24, 1864; Totopotomoy, May 28-29, 1864; Bethesda Church, May 30, 1864; and the assault of Petersburg, Va. , June 17, 1864, where he was killed while leading the attack.
On the same day he was brevetted brigadier-general, United States Army, for gallant and meritorious service.
He lies buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.
He was the author of a Memoir on Fortification (1858); Memoir on the Dangers and Defences of New York City (1858); Memoir on American Fortification (1859).
These are analytical studies of European fortifications, and of American fortification as it should have been.
His Memoir of the Life and Services of Captain and Brevet Major John Sanders, of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army (1861) is an appreciation of the work of a great military engineer.
[G. W. Cullum, Biog.
Reg.
Officers and Grads.
U. S. Mil.
Acad.
(1891), vol.
II; War Dept. records; F. B. Heitman, Biog.
Reg.
and Dict.
U. S. Army (1903), vol.
I; Clarence Pearsall, Hist.
and Geneal.
of the Pearsall Family in England and America (1928), vol.
II. ]
