Major General John G. Parke (USV)

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Joined
Aug 27, 2016
Location
Hangzhou, China (Wisconsin, USA)
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Major General John Grubb Parke (USV)


John Grubb Parke was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania on 22 September 1827. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1849 and was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He determined the boundary lines between Iowa and the Little Colorado River, survey routes for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and was the chief surveyor of the party charged with the delineation of the boundary of the northwest United States and British North America.

At the start of the Civil War, Parke was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and commanded a brigade in the operations on the North Carolina coast in early 1862. He received a brevet promotion for the Battle of Fort Macon and was promoted to major general of volunteers on 18 July 1862. He served briefly as commander of 3rd Division, XI Corps, Army of the Potomac. He then served as chief of staff to Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside during the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg. He assumed command of the IX Corps and was sent to the Western Theater for the Vicksburg Campaign. He again served as Burnside’s chief of staff in the defense of Knoxville, Tennessee.

He continued serving as Burnside’s chief of staff during the Overland Campaign. After the Battle of the Crater, Burnside was relieved of command and Parke assumed command of the IX Corps. He led it at the battles of Globe Tavern, Peebles’ Farm, and Boydton Plank Road. While Army of the Potomac commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade was in a conference in 1865, Parke, being senior officer, was acting commander of the army during the Battle of Fort Stedman until Meade returned to the field.

After the Confederate surrender, Parke commanded IX Corps in the Department of Washington. Mustered out of volunteer service on 15 January 1866, Parke served as an engineer earning the rank of lieutenant colonel on 4 March 1879 and colonel on 17 March 1884. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 28 August 1887 to 24 June 1889. He retired from the Army on 2 July.

Parke died in Washington, D.C., on 16 December 1900.

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