Education
When he was six years old the family moved to Lowell, Massachussets, where Joseph received a common-school education.
In 1843 he matriculated at Norwich (Vt. ) University and was a student there two years.
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Joseph Mower
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These brevet commissions were: major, May 9, 1862, for gallant and meritorious service at Farmington, Miss. ; lieutenant-colonel, Sept. 19, 1862, battle of Iuka, Miss. , where, though forced back, his regiment camped on the field and found no enemy in the morning; colonel, May 14, 1863, for gallant and meritorious service at the capture of Jackson, Miss. ; brigadier-general, Mar. 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious conduct at the capture of Fort de Russy, La. , a year previously, when he rode in on horseback ahead of his troops; major-general, Mar. 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious conduct at the passage of the Salkehatchie, Georgia.
At the capture of Corinth, Mo. , he discovered the dispositions of the Confederate General Lovell, and was wounded, captured, and recaptured in the course of the battle.
During May 1863, his regiment planted itself on the ramparts of Vicksburg and stayed until relieved by Sherman in person.
In spite of repeated efforts of Sherman, however, he was not made a major-general until Aug. 12, 1864, by which time Forrest's raids had ceased to be a danger.
Upon joining Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, November 1864, he was given a division, commanding it through the march to the sea, and subsequently serving in the Carolinas, where he was given command of the XX Corps.
Mustered out as a brevet major-general in February 1866, he was reappointed in the regular army as colonel, 39th Infantry, July 28, serving as such until his transfer, as colonel, to the 25th Infantry in March 1869.
[Data on Mower's early life are in the Norman Williams Public Library, Woodstock, Vt.
See also, W. L. Mower, Mower Family Hist. , A Geneal.
Record of the Me.
Branch (1923); G. M. Dodge and W. A. Ellis, Norwich Univ. 1819-1911 (1911), vol.
II; F. B. Heitman, Hist.
Reg.
and Dict.
U. S. Army (1903); War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army); Am.
Ann.
Cyc.
and Reg.
of Important Events of the Year 1870 (1871); Army and Navy Jour. , Jan. 15, 22, Mar. 26, 1870; tribute by Gen. Sherman in Vermont Standard (Woodstock), Jan. 20, 1870. ]
Religion
Following Vicksburg, Mower was a man marked for distinction, and was given many minor independent commands in Mississippi and northern Louisiana in preparation for his projected employment by Sherman against Forrest.
