Brigadier General Thomas E. G. Ransom (USA)

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Brigadier General Thomas Edwin Greenfield Ransom (USA)

Thomas Edwin Greenfield Ransom was born in Norwich, Vermont on 29 November 1834. His father, Colonel Truman B. Ransom, was killed in action at the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War. Thomas entered Norwich University in 1848 graduating in 1851. He engaged in civil engineering and real estate speculation in Illinois. He was joined by his close friend and fellow Norwich University graduate, Grenville M. Dodge, who would later win fame as a Civil War general and the chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad.

In response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for troops in 1861, Ransom raised a body of soldiers that became Company E of the 11th Illinois Infantry. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the regiment 30 July and colonel on 15 February 1862. He was promoted to brigadier general on 9 November 1862 and took command of a brigade in Brig. Gen. John McArthur's Sixth Division of McPherson's XVII Corps.

Ransom was wounded four times: in a skirmish near Charleston, Missouri, on 20 August 1861; at Fort Donelson in February 1862; severely (in the head) during the Battle of Shiloh on 6 April 1862; and at the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads, Louisiana, on 4 April 1864. His wounds at the last engagement were so severe he was evacuated to Chicago for treatment.

He commanded divisions of the XIII, XVI, and XVII Corps. He led XVII Corps in the pursuit of a Confederate force through North Georgia in Alabama. Returning to Georgia in October, he was taken severely ill with dysentery but remained in command and on the field until too weak to go further. When told that he had but a few hours to live, he answered: "I am not afraid to die, I have met death too often to be afraid of it now."

He was awarded a brevet to major general on 1 September 1864. He died on 29 October in Rome, Georgia.