John C. Pemberton
Lieutenant General
August 10, 1814 – July 13, 1881
John Pemberton
Born a Union man in Philadelphia in August of 1814, John Clifford Pemberton would go on to be a quintessential but controversial player in Confederate leadership. A graduate of West Point in 1837 and a decorated leader in the Mexican War, Pemberton resigned his post in the United States Army in April of 1861. His new roots were in Norfolk, Virginia with his wife Martha Thompson, thus his devoted participation in the Confederate cause.
His early service in the confederacy was as a commander of the department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, where he jumped from Brigadier to Major general in the first year, and to lieutenant general ranking in October of 1862. At this point he was reassigned to Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana, which included Vicksburg. After conflicting orders caused continual defeats in the field, Pemberton and his army retreated back to Vicksburg to hold it at all costs. The city was starved out, and after 45 days, Pemberton surrendered 2,166 officers and 27,230 men, 172 cannon, and almost 60,000 muskets and rifles to Union General Grant.
No further orders were given commensurate to his rank after that point. He was reassigned to lieutenant colonel of artillery, in which capacity he served faithfully in Richmond, Virginia until the end of the war. He later returned to the North and died and was buried in Philadelphia in 1881.
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