General James B. McPherson's 17th Corps Medal

After a siege of more than six weeks, the city of Vicksburg fell on the 4^th 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 17^th Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. As commander of the Union's occupation forces at Vicksburg, McPherson, on the 2^nd of October 1863, authorized a medal to be awarded to officers and enlisted men of the 17^th 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.

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. 

Lt. A.C. Blizzard
Courtesy of
Harry Blizzard

On August 15^th, 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 22^nd 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 17^th Corps since the Battle of Shiloh, Today, other war date letters written by Willard are preserved and online at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

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"