After a siege of more than six weeks, the city of Vicksburg fell on the 4th of July 1863 to Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union forces. The honor of leading the victorious troops into the captured stronghold fell to General James B. McPherson’s 17th Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. As commander of the Union's occupation forces at Vicksburg, McPherson, on the 2nd of October 1863, authorized a medal to be awarded to officers and enlisted men of the 17th Corps who displayed “gallant and distinguished service in the field.” Sometimes called the “medal of gold,” it remains among the rarest of Civil War memorabilia.
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17th Corps Medal |
Exactly how many and to whom the medal (pictured above) was awarded is unknown. One who received it was Major L. S. Willard, McPherson’s senior aide-de-camp. He and others of McPherson’s staff accompanied his body to Clyde, Ohio after he was killed during the opening rounds of the Battle of Atlanta. Three weeks later, Willard wrote his friend and comrade Lt. Augustus. C. Blizzard, also a recipient of the medal.
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Lt. A.C. Blizzard Courtesy of Harry Blizzard |
On August 15th, Willard wrote from Peoria,
Illinois, “I am now at home waiting to see what will be done with me after
accompanying the remains of our beloved commander to their last resting
place…It was a very sad duty Capt. Gile, Steele, and myself had to perform. It
must have been a sad and lonely Head Qtrs. the night of the 22nd of
July with the tent of our beloved General vacant and vacant forever. That Army
felt that night as though a loss unrepairable had befallen them; to me the
thought was fearful it seemed as though with the death of the General the Army
of the Tennessee almost became extinct. His relatives in Ohio felt the loss as
only Mothers and Sisters can, everyone paid the greatest respect to the
remains.”
After leaving Clyde, Major Willard resigned his
commission at Cincinnati and left the military. He had been with the 17th
Corps since the Battle of Shiloh, Today, other war date letters written by
Willard are preserved and online at the Newberry Library in Chicago.
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| General McPherson's 17th Corps Army of the Tennessee Balfour House, Vicksburg (Lt. Blizzard standing at far right) Courtesy of the Old Courthouse Museum |
Lt. Blizzard was proud of his appointment to General McPherson's 17th Corps staff. Like Willard, he too resigned shortly after McPherson's death. He returned to Iowa where he lived a long and useful life before his death in Malcome, Iowa in 1909. His obituary mentions his being awarded "the "Medal of Gold" for gallant and distinguished service in the field. Engraved on same, Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hills, and Vicksburg July 4th, 1863"
