James Harrison Wilson - Shawneetown, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 42.814 W 088° 11.256
16S E 395325 N 4174699
"James Harrison Wilson (September 2, 1837 – February 23, 1925) was a United States Army topographic engineer and a Union Army Major General in the American Civil War. In the Maryland campaign, he served as an aide to McClellan." - Wikipedia
Waymark Code: WMKREA
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2014
Views: 1
County of memorial: Gallatin County
Location of memorial: Shawneetown Ave. (IL-13) & Lincoln Blvd., Shawneetown Mall, Shawneetown
Plaque erected by: Gallatin County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
Date plaque erected: 1973
Plaque text:
JAMES HARRISON WILSON James H. Wilson, American Army Officer, Engineer, and Author, was born in 1837 on his family's farm about a mile south of here. He attended Shawneetown schools, McKendree College, and the United States Military Academy. In the spring of 1864, during the Civil War, he commanded Sheridan's Third Cavalry Division. In the spring of 1865, as Brevet Major General, Chief of Cavalry, Military Division of the Mississippi, Wilson led a month-long mounted campaign through Alabama, capping his exploits by surmounting the fortifications at Selma. Detachments under his command captured Jefferson Davis. Wilson also served in the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion. He died in 1925.