{{Short description|American judge and soldier (1824–1899)}} {{Infobox military person |name= Manning Ferguson Force |birth_date= {{Birth date|1824|12|17}} |death_date= {{Death date and age|1899|5|8|1824|12|17}} |birth_place= [[Washington, D.C.]] |death_place= [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]] |burial_place= [[Spring Grove Cemetery]], Cincinnati, Ohio |burial_label= Place of burial |image= Gen. Manning F. Force (NARA).jpg |caption= BGEN Manning Ferguson Force c1864 |allegiance= [[United States of America]]<br/>[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] |branch= [[United States Army]]<br/>[[Union Army]] |service_years= 1861–1866 |rank= [[File:Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]]<br> [[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] |commands= {{Flagicon|Ohio}} [[20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] |unit= {{Flagicon|Ohio}} [[20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] |battles= [[American Civil War]] |awards= [[Medal of Honor]] |other_work= }}
'''Manning Ferguson Force''' (December 17, 1824 – May 8, 1899) was a lawyer, judge, and soldier from [[Ohio]]. He became known as the commander of the [[20th Ohio Infantry|20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry]] in the [[Union Army]] during the [[American Civil War]], and was a recipient of the Army [[Medal of Honor]] for gallantry in action. He was awarded this honor in 1892 for his heroism during the [[Battle of Atlanta]], on July 22, 1864. He was a justice of the Superior Court of Cincinnati.
==Early life and career== Manning F. Force was born in [[Washington, D.C.]], where his father, [[Peter Force]], was the [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.|mayor]]. He turned down an appointment to [[West Point]] and went on to attended [[Harvard College]] until 1845, and graduated from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1848. The following year, Force moved to [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], and began his law practice.<ref>[[#manning|Force, Manning, 2007 [1865] ]], p. 185</ref>
==Civil War== With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Force joined the Union forces as [[Major (United States)|major]] of the 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving in the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|Western Theater]] as part of General [[James B. McPherson]]'s [[XVII Corps (ACW)|17th Corps]].
Colonel Force's 20th Ohio bore the brunt of the [[Battle of Raymond]], [[Mississippi]], in the [[Vicksburg Campaign]]. Osborn Oldroyd related the number of casualties from the 20th Ohio to his commander:
<blockquote>I took the roll-book from the pocket of our dead sergeant and found that while we had gone in with thirty-two men, we came out with but sixteen— one-half of the brave little band, but a few hours before so full of hope and patriotism, either killed or wounded. Nearly all the survivors could show bullet marks in clothing or flesh, but no man left the field on account of wounds. When I told Colonel Force of our loss, I saw tears course down his cheeks, and so intent were his thoughts upon his fallen men that he failed to note the bursting of a shell above him, scattering the powder over his person, as he sat at the foot of a tree.<ref>Oldroyd, page X.</ref></blockquote>
Following the [[Siege of Vicksburg]], Force marched on to northern [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], where he fought in the [[Atlanta campaign]]. He was severely wounded in the face during the [[Battle of Atlanta]] and was disfigured for life. For his valor during the Atlanta Campaign, Force was promoted to [[Major general (United States)|major general]] of volunteers in March 1865. Following the Battle of Atlanta, he participated in [[Sherman's March to the Sea]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Force|first1=Manning F.|title=From Atlanta to Savannah: The Civil War Journal of Manning F. Force, November 15, 1864 – January 3, 1865|journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly|date=2007|volume=91|issue=2|pages=185–205|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=25565261&site=eds-live&scope=site|access-date=15 February 2018}}</ref>
The thirty-seven-year-old lawyer began the conflict as a major and ended as a brevetted major general. Sgt. Osborn Oldroyd noted his leadership when he wrote in his diary: As Colonel Force called us to 'Attention' this morning one of the boys remarked, 'I love that man more than ever.' Yes, we have good reason to be proud of our Colonel, for upon all occasions we are treated by him as volunteers enlisted in war from pure love of country. ... " In his memoirs printed after the war, Force stated:
<blockquote>When lying there (in the trenches outside Vicksburg) it sometimes occurred to me, what a transformation it was for these men, full of individuality and self-reliance, accustomed always to act upon their own will, to so completely subordinate their wills to the wills of other men ... Their practical sense had told them an army differs from a mob only in discipline, and discipline was necessary for self-preservation.<ref>Oldroyd, page Y.</ref></blockquote>
==Postbellum activities== After the war, Force returned to Cincinnati, where he became a justice of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. He also authored several law books and became a prominent writer as well as a lecturer. He was a companion of the Ohio Commandery of the [[Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States]].
In 1892, he received the [[Medal of Honor]].
Manning Force is buried in [[Spring Grove Cemetery]] in Cincinnati.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.springgrove.org/uploads/docs/CivilWarGenerals.pdf|title= Judge Civil War Generals|publisher= The Spring Grove Family|access-date= July 17, 2014|archive-date= May 29, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150529041922/http://www.springgrove.org/uploads/docs/CivilWarGenerals.pdf|url-status= dead}}</ref> His papers and documents are housed in the Manning Ferguson Force Collection of the [[Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center]].
===Medal of Honor citation=== Rank and organization: Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1864. Entered service at: Cincinnati, Ohio. Born: Washington, D.C. December 17, 1824. Date of issue: March 31, 1892.
'''Citation:'''
<blockquote>The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Brigadier General Manning Ferguson Force, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 22 July 1864, while serving with U.S. Volunteers, in action at Atlanta, Georgia. Brigadier General Force charged upon the enemy's works, and after their capture defended his position against assaults of the enemy until he was severely wounded.</blockquote> {{clear}}
<gallery> File:Force, Manning Ferguson c1865 public domain.jpg|Medal of Honor recipient Manning Ferguson Force, Brevet MGEN USV c1865 File:Manning Force.jpg|Manning Force, pen and ink from Osborn H. I. Oldroyd, ''A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg'', 1885 File:20-13-021-vicksburg.jpg|Bust by [[Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson|T.A.R. Kitson]] at [[Vicksburg National Military Park]] </gallery>
==See also== {{commons category}} {{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}} *[[List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F#F|List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F]] *[[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]]
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *Oldroyd, Osborn H. I., ''A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg'', 1885. * {{cite journal |last=Force |first=Manning Ferguson |date=Summer 2007 |title=From Atlanta to Savannah: The Civil War Journal of Manning F. Force, November 15,1864 – January 3, 1865 |journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly |publisher=Georgia Historical Society |volume=91 |issue=2 |jstor=40584997 |pages=185–205 |ref=manning}}
==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=26492| name=Manning Ferguson Force}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Manning Ferguson Force |birth=nil |death=nil}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Force, Manning}} [[Category:United States Army Medal of Honor recipients]] [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:People of Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War]] [[Category:People of Ohio in the American Civil War]] [[Category:American legal writers]] [[Category:Lawyers from Cincinnati]] [[Category:Ohio lawyers]] [[Category:Judges of the Superior Court of Cincinnati]] [[Category:Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery]] [[Category:1824 births]] [[Category:1899 deaths]] [[Category:American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor]] [[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]] [[Category:19th-century Ohio state court judges]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]