Talk:James W. McMillan

Other interesting things?

According to his Obit in the NY Times, his grandfather ("Col. James McMillan") was a member of George Washington's staff. Also, he was responsible for capturing the USS Fox. While that would probably require further attribution, the fact that he was survived by his widow and three daughters probably doesn't need anything more. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 19:47, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Effective from previous year?

In the 2nd paragraph of the Civil War service section, it says that McMillan was promoted to brigadier general on April 4th, but that this promotion was made effective from November 29th of the previous year. This seems kind of confusing to me- his new rank was enforced retroactively? Or was it that he was carrying out the duties of a brigadier general as early as Nov. 29, but his rank was only officially confirmed on Apr. 4? I'll admit, I'm not extremely familiar with this period of military history, so the statement isn't very clear to me; for accessibility's sake, I hope it can be explained a bit. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 15:13, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

As I read it again it confused me a little too, and I wrote it! This wording was the style used in the source. McMillan was promoted on April 4, 1863, and backdated to November 29, 1862. It was common at that time in the U.S. Army (volunteer and regular services) to "reward" an officer with an earlier effective date when promoted, using the date when they were wounded or the date of a fight they performed quite well in, and the earlier date would come in to play as far as seniority and future promotions. I changed the article to November 29, 1862, only to be clear. Kresock (talk) 02:18, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Ahh. That makes sense. As long as the full explanation is documented here, though... maybe someone else from the CW project will come along and help explain it better. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 02:26, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

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