MACPHERSON, JAMES, it person who has obtained a remarkable notoriety in litera ture, was b. in 1738, at Ruffiven, in Inverness-shire. After finishing his studies at King's college, Aberdeen, he became a schoolmaster in his native village, published a poem entitled The highlander in 1758, contributed about the same time verses to the Scots ..111.aga zinc, and in the following year, having met with the rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk, and John Home, the author of Doug/a$, he showed them some fragments of Gaelic verse, of which he also gave them " translations." These " translations" (16 in number) appeared in 1760, and were so much relished, that the faculty of advocates in Edinburgh raised a subscription to enable Macpherson to make a tour through the Highlands for the purpose of collecting more of the same. 31acplierson was very zeal ous and successful in the " discovery," of literary treasures. TVhere he made his discov eries, however, no man knows. He found ancient MSS. in regions where no one before • had ,suspected their existence, and where no one since has been fortunate enough to obtain them. The result was the appearance at London, in 1762, of the so-called '' Poems of Ossian," under the title of Fingal, an. Epic Poem, in. Six Books; and in 1763, 7imora, an Epic Poem, in Eight Books. A storm of controyersy soon arose in.regard ito their genuineness, which has hardly yet subsided, but on the whole, we may safely say .the verdict is unfavorable to _Macpherson. See OSSIAN, POESS OF. These poems -were, however, the making of hini in a worldly point of view. He was appointed sur veyor-general of the Floridas (in 1764) with a salary for life, and aa.ent to the nabob of Arcot—a very lucrative oflice—in 1779; entered parliament in the following year aa member for Camelford, sat for ten years, and then retired to an estate which he had purchased in Inverness-shire, where lie died Feb. 17, 1796. His body was brought back to England, and was actually interred (at his own request and expense) in Westminster abbey. Macpherson wrote in thc latter half of his life a variety of historical compilao ,tious, pamphlets, etc., and translated Homer's Iliad into prose.
McPHERSON, JAMES BIRDSEYE, 1828-64; b. OhiO; graduated at West Point in 1853, and was appointed to the engineers. For a year after his graduation he gave instruction in engineerina- at the academy, and was next engaged as assistant engineer upon the defenses of thellarbor of New York, aud the improvement of Hudson river. In 1857 lie superintended the building of fort Delaware, and of the fortifications in the harbor of San Francisco. In 1861, having been made first lieut. three years previous, lie was assigned to duty at Boston, where he raised a force of engineers; and in Aug. of the same year he was promoted to a captaincy of engineers. The following Nov. he
was made assistant engineer of the department of the Missouri, with the rank of lieut.col. 3Iade chief engineer on the staff of gen. Grant, he took part in the capture of fort Don clson, Feb. 19, 1862, and in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 7. In May he was appointed hrig.gen. of volunteers, and col. in the regular army. Ile was with Halleck at the " siege of Corinth;" and when. after its capture by the federal forces, the confedefates -with a force of nearly 40,000 men, under Van Dorn and Price, attempted to retake it in Oct., 1862, McPherson succeeded in penetrating their lines and reinforcing Rose crans, who had fortified Corinth with additional defenses, and was holding it with 20,000 men. For his services at Corinth, McPherson was promoted maj.gen. of volunteers, Oct. .8, 1862. In December Ile WIIS put at the head of the 17th corps, and he had a most dis tinaanshed share in Grant's Mississippi campaign, which terminated in the surrender of Viarsburg. He led the advance up the left bank of the Big Black river, defeating the confederates at Raymond, May 12, 1863. The 17th corps was at the front of every movement in the campaign; it drove the confederates from their position at Port Gib son, after an all day's fight; it was engaged in almost continual skirmishes from the bayou Pierre to the Big Black river; it won the battle at Raymond without any aid from the rest of the army; and two days afterwards, with the help of Sherman's corps, which bad joined Grant early in the month, it won another battle at Jackson. MePher S01* corps was likewise conspicuous in the repulse of Pemberton at Champion hills, ALty 16, in the unsuccessful assault by the federal army before Vicksburg, May 22; and throughout the siege. After the capture of Vicksburg, McPherson was appointed a brig.gen. in the regular army, and commander of the district of Vicksburg. In Feb., 1864, he was next in command to Sherman in the latter's expedition to Meridian; apd Mar. 12 was made commander of the army and department of the Tennessee. In that com mand, lie kept up the reputation he had won in Mississippi, and rendered the most val uable services during Sherman's campaign in Georgia. The army of the Tennessee cngaged the confederates at Dallas, May 28, 1864; and June 27, McPherson and Thomas made an unsuccessful assault upon Johnston's position at Kenesaw mountain. Early in July, Johnston abandoned Kenesaw, and retreated in the direction of Atlanta, closely followed by the federal forces. The confederates now took the offensive, and made almost daily attacks upon the union artily; and in one of these, July 22,, 1864, McPher son was killed. Gen. Grant, in a letter recommending him for promotion, in 1863, praises bim as " one of the ablest engineers and most skillful generals."