Retiring and unostentatious. There was no strut about him. He was simple in his manners--quiet, unobtrusive ... His power was always in reserve ... and the deeper the peril, the more capable did he show himself. **Reverend W. H. Ryder of Chicago, 1866.
Although reeling in the saddle, and streaming with blood from a previous wound, (Ransom) performed prodigies of valor.
General John McClernand, his division commander at Shiloh. April 6, 1862.
Other men shine but Ransom blazes!
Judge T. Lyle Dickey of Ottawa, Illinois, former commander of the 4th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry. March 2, 1863.
Ransom shone, as usual, above all the others. There are none like him in this battle...always where the danger was greatest, always cool and confident.
Captain Cyrus Dickey, llth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, summer 1863 in the siege works at Vicksburg.
I saw Ransom during the assault of the 22nd of May 1863 ... I then marked him as of the kind of whom heroes are made.
Do you know that young man? ... That is General Ransom, rising man, rising man; one of the best officers in the service; been shot all to pieces, but it doesn't hurt him.
General William Tecumseh Sherman.
General Ransom was much beloved by all who knew him, and this army has lost one of its most useful officers and brightest ornaments...We will cherish his bright memory and strive to attain his irreproachable character.
General O. O. Howard. November 1, 1864 Field Order relating to Ransom's death.
That the General's death caused the utmost sorrow throughout the Army of the Tennessee, I need not say. Since the death of General McPherson, no man has so completely possessed the affections of the Army as did General Ransom.
Lt. Joseph D. Tredway, 23rd Wisconsin Infantry, aide-de-camp to General Ransom in an undated letter to the General's mother, Margaret Ransom of New York City.
