George B. Boomer

George Boardman Boomer
Born July 26, 1832(1832-07-26)
Sutton, Massachusetts
Died May 24, 1863(1863-05-24) (aged 30)
Hinds County, Mississippi
Place of burial Worcester, Massachusetts
Allegiance United States of America
Union
Service/branch United States Army
Union Army
Rank Colonel
Commands held 26th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars American Civil War

George Boardman Boomer (July 26, 1832 – May 22, 1863) was a Union Army colonel who served as a brigade commander between February 12, 1863 and May 22, 1863 during the American Civil War.[1] His principal service was during the heavy engagement of his brigade on May 16, 1863 at the Battle of Champion Hill during the Vicksburg campaign and in the second assault on Vicksburg on May 22, 1863.[2] Colonel Boomer was killed near the Railroad Redoubt on the second day of major assaults on the City of Vicksburg on May 22, 1863.[3]

Biography

Boomer was born in Sutton, Massachusetts on July 26, 1832. He attended Worcester Academy and graduated in 1847. Because of poor eyesight, Boomer did not go on to college. Instead, he joined his brother-in-law in building bridges across the Mississippi River.[4]

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he raised a company for the Union Army which became part of the 26th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment[5] and by 1863 was promoted to colonel. He distinguished himself at Vicksburg as brigade commander under Major General James B. McPherson.[6]

Death

While a source is cited in the footnote for the statement that Boomer was killed at the Battle of Champion Hill on May 24, 1863, Sifakis and Smith, both authoritative sources on the Vicksburg campaign, state he was killed in the second assault on Vicksburg on May 22, 1863[7] While some sources say he was brevetted to General, perhaps because he led a brigade for several months,[8][9] four authoritative sources on Union Army general officers, including brevet generals, make no mention of a promotion or award of brevet rank for Colonel Boomer.[10] His body was returned to Worcester, Massachusetts and thousands attended his funeral. He was buried in Rural Cemetery in Worcester[11] and the monument honoring him is a thirty-foot column with a large eagle at the top.[12] His bravery was written about at the time.[13]

A memoir of Colonel Boomer's life was published by his sister, Mary Amelia Boomer Stone, in 1864.[14]

American Civil War portal
United States Army portal

References

  1. ^ Sifakis, Stewart, Who Was Who in the Civil War, p. 62. Facts on File Publications, New York, 1988. ISBN 0-8160-1055-2
  2. ^ Smith, Timothy B., Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg, pp. 266-280. Savas Beatie, New York, NY, 2004 (Paperback, 2006). ISBN 1-932714-19-7
  3. ^ Sifakis, 1988, p. 62; Smith, 2006, p. 401.
  4. ^ Rails across the Mississippi: a history of the St. Louis bridge By Robert Wendell Jackson 2001 ISBN 0252074092
  5. ^ American Biographical Publishing Company, ed (2010). The Bench and Bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and Other Missouri Cities: Biographical Sketches. Nabu Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1145524422. 
  6. ^ Scherneckau, August (2007). Marching With the First Nebraska: A Civil War Diary. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0806138084. 
  7. ^ Sifakis, 1988, p. 62; Smith, 2006, p. 401. The other source that was cited is Indiana at Vicksburg. University of Michigan Library. 2009. p. 57. 
  8. ^ Death of George B. Boomer
  9. ^ "Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity". Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity 9: 160. 
  10. ^ Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3; Hunt, Roger D. and Brown, Jack R., Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue. Olde Soldier Books, Inc.,, Gaithersburg, MD, 1990. ISBN 1-56013-002-4; Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1964. ISBN 0-8071-0882-7; United States War Department, The Military Secretary's Office, Memorandum Relative to the General Officers in the Armies of the United States During the Civil War, 1861–1865, (Compiled from Official Records, almost certainly by General Marcus Wright.) 1906. http://www.archive.org/details/memorandumrelati05unit, retrieved August 5, 2010.
  11. ^ Oleson, Ellie. "Gun pioneer's tombstone fixed". Telegram & Gazette. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-233387366.html. Retrieved 15 September 2010. 
  12. ^ Rice, Franklin Pierce (2008). The Worcester Book: A Diary of Noteworthy Events. BiblioLife. p. 73. ISBN 978-0559590023. 
  13. ^ Ballard, Michael B. (2003). Vicksburg: The Campaign That Opened the Mississippi (Civil War America). University of North Carolina Press. p. 424. ISBN 978-0807828939. "In 1864, Elegy was published as a memorial to Union "general" George Boomer, who had been killed during the siege, and Grant's the Man by C.L. Abdill praised the "general's" heroics." 
  14. ^ Stone, Mary Amelia Boomer (2010). Memoir of George Boardman Boomer. General Books LLC. pp. 98. ISBN 978-1154781816.