 In recognition of his service, in 1867, he was nominated and confirmed for appointment as a brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865.He settled in New York, where he edited biographies and histories, was a public speaker, and served as president of the Society of American Authors and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.James Grant Wilson was born on April 28, 1832 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of the poet William Wilson and his second wife, Miss Jane Sibbald of Hawick.