Pemberton, John Clifford

Pemberton, John Clifford,

1814–81, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Philadelphia. He served in the Seminole and Mexican wars and at various frontier posts. He resigned from the U.S. army in Apr., 1861, and in June became a Confederate brigadier general. Pemberton was made a lieutenant general in Oct., 1862, and was assigned to command the region about Vicksburg. However, he was defeated by Ulysses S. Grant in the Vicksburg campaignVicksburg campaign,
in the American Civil War, the fighting (Nov., 1862–July, 1863) for control of the Mississippi River. The Union wanted such control in order to split the Confederacy and to restore free commerce to the politically important Northwest.
..... Click the link for more information.  and surrendered on July 4, 1863. After his exchange he resigned his lieutenant generalcy (May, 1864) and served as a colonel of ordnance for the rest of the war.

Pemberton, John Clifford

(1814–81) soldier; born in Philadelphia. Although of Quaker ancestry, he served in the Seminole War, the Mexican War, and on the frontier. Married into a Virginia family, he entered the Confederate army after Fort Sumter. By October 1862 he was a lieutenant general and assigned responsibility for the defense of the Mississippi River stronghold of Vicksburg; besieged there by May 1863, he was outgeneraled by Ulysses S. Grant and surrendered on July 4 in one of the decisive Union victories of the Civil War. Because of his roots, Pemberton was criticized by some in the South as having betrayed the Confederacy. He resigned his general's commission and served as a colonel of ordnance for the rest of the war, after which he took up farming in Virginia, eventually returning to Philadelphia.