In
the spring of 1864 McPherson sat for this oil portrait
done by a Southern artist in Huntsville, Alabama. In June,
just six weeks before his death, McPherson wrote his mother
from Marietta, Georgia, asking if the portrait had arrived
safely in Clyde, Ohio.
As
commander of the Army of the Tennessee, McPherson moved
his 30,000-man army east from Huntsville to Georgia where
he joined William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign:…have
been marching and fighting every day…Each day carries
me farther and farther from home; but I assure you, my
dearest mother, my love and affection for it increases.
When this war is over, I know I shall enjoy coming home,
and settling down in quiet for a short time, where I can
feel free from care and anxiety. You cannot realize the
strain on one's mind, to be placed in the position I now
occupy - never off duty, go to sleep with my clothes on,
awakened a dozen times during the night, horses saddled
and ready for any emergency…
