Thomas E . G . Ransom Thomas Edwin Greenfield Ransom ( November 29 , 1834 – October 29 , 1864 ) was a surveyor , civil engineer , real estate speculator , and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Biography . Ransom was born in Norwich , Vermont , son of Colonel Truman B . Ransom , who was killed in action at the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican - American War , when the younger Ransom was only 14 years old . The father was remembered by a participant in that battle , Adjutant General Richard Coulter Drum of the Regular Army , as " by all odds the most brilliant man under fire I have ever seen . " His son , Thomas , entered Norwich University in 1848 , where he remained three years , then went to Illinois , where he engaged in civil engineering and real estate speculation . He initially lived with his uncle , George Gilson , then mayor of Peru , an Illinois River town in LaSalle County . Ransom was known as the " boy surveyor " of LaSalle County . During that period , 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 . As the Civil War began , Ransom was in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad , living in Fayette County . 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 , and was elected its captain on April 6 , 1861 , then major on June 4 . He was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the regiment July 30 , and colonel on February 15 , 1862 . He was commissioned brigadier general on November 9 , 1862 , and in January 1863 , took command of a brigade in Brigadier General John McArthur ' s Sixth Division of McPherson ' s XVII Corps . Ransom was wounded four times : in a skirmish near Charleston , Missouri , on August 20 , 1861 ; at the Fort Donelson in February 1862 ; severely ( in the head ) during the Battle of Shiloh on April 6 , 1862 ; and at the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads , Louisiana , on April 4 , 1864 . His wounds at the latter engagement were so severe that he was evacuated to Chicago for treatment . At various times , he commanded divisions of XIII , XVI and XVII Corps . He led XVII Corps in the pursuit of a Confederate force through North Georgia into 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 ( honorary promotion ) to major general on September 1 , 1864 and died in service a few weeks later . General Ransom is buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago . Ransom ' s memory was cherished by many prominent Union Generals including Grant and Sherman . Edward G . Longacre notes in his 2006 history , " General Ulysses S . Grant : The Soldier and the Man " , that the stoic Grant wept upon hearing of young Ransom ' s death . ( Page 252 ) Ransom ' s close friend , Grenville Dodge , recalled how , even years later , President Grant would frequently talk about young Ransom with great affection and respect . Sherman kept a photograph of General Ransom on the wall of his office 20 years after the war . After his death , the community of Ransom , Illinois , was named in his honor . Quotes about Thomas E . G . Ransom . GENERAL THOMAS E . G . RANSOM IN THE WORDS OF THOSE WHO KNEW HIM : 1 . " A rash , brave fellow . " Colonel W . H . L . Wallace , 11th Illinois Infantry . August 23 , 1861 at Bird ' s Point , Missouri . 2 . " Retiring and unostentatious . There was no strut about him . He was simple in his manners - - quiet , unobtrusive . . His power was always in reserve . . . and the deeper the peril , the more capable did he show himself . " Reverend W . H . Ryder of Chicago , 1866 . 3 . " Ordinarily , he is of a quiet , modest disposition ; but when in battle he becomes tiger like , fearing nothing and becoming terrible in action . " Freeport ( Illinois ) " Journal " . May 4 , 1864 . 4 . " Although reeling in the saddle , and streaming with blood from a previous wound , ( Ransom ) performed prodigies of valor . " General John McClernand , his division commander at Shiloh . April 6 , 1862 . 5 . " Other men shine but Ransom blazes ! " Judge T . Lyle Dickey of Ottawa , Illinois , former commander of the 4th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry . March 2 , 1863 . 6 . " Ransom shone , as usual , above all the others . There are none like him in this battle . . . always where the danger was greatest , always cool and confident . " Captain Cyrus Dickey , llth Illinois Volunteer Infantry , summer 1863 in the siege works at Vicksburg . 7 . A soldier with " a record never surpassed , and hardly equaled in the history of this or any other war . " Chicago Tribune . June 6 , 1863 . 8 . " I saw Ransom during the assault of the 22nd of May 1863 . . . I then marked him as of the kind of whom heroes are made . " General William Tecumseh Sherman . June 20 , 1884 . St . Louis . 9 . " He has always proved himself the best man I have ever had to send on expeditions . He is a live man and of good judgement . " General U . S . Grant . Official Records ( ORs ) . 10 . " Wounds are nothing new to this gallant officer , who bears ugly scars about his person , the tokens of Rebel attentions . " William Osman , editor of the Ottawa ( Illinois ) " Free Trader " . May 21 , 1864 . 11 . " His manners were gentlemanly and tempered with kindness , but he gave the idea of great decision of character . " General Oliver Otis Howard . Atlanta campaign . Summer of 1864 . 12 . " Do you know that young man ? " Sherman remarked to an aide during the Atlanta campaign . " That is General Ransom , rising man , rising man ; one of the best officers in the service ; been shot all to pieces , but it doesn ' t hurt him . " General William Tecumseh Sherman . 13 . " General Ransom was much beloved by all who knew him , and this army has lost one of its most useful officers and brightest ornaments . . . We will cherish his bright memory and strive to attain his irreproachable character . " General O . O . Howard . November 1 , 1864 Field Order relating to Ransom ' s death . 14 . " That the General ' s death caused the utmost sorrow throughout the Army of the Tennessee , I need not say . Since the death of General McPherson , no man has so completely possessed the affections of the Army as did General Ransom . " Lt . Joseph D . Tredway , 23rd Wisconsin Infantry , aide - de - camp to General Ransom in an undated letter to the General ' s mother , Margaret Ransom of New York City . Note : Quotations taken from " Hard Dying Men " by James Huffstodt . Heritage Books , Inc . , 1991 . W . T . Sherman , General W . T . " The Vermont Boy Who Volunteered in 1861 , Served Bravely , was Wounded Grievously , and Died for the Union , Eulogy of General T . E . G . Ransom given before Ransom Post No . 131 , Grand Army of the Republic ( GAR ) , St . Louis , Missouri , June 20 , 1884 , " Washington National Tribune , June 1884 .