John Alexander McClernand
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Image:John Alexander McClernand.jpg John Alexander McClernand (May 30 1812 – September 20 1900) was an American soldier and lawyer.
McClernand was born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. He was admitted to the bar in Shawneetown, Illinois, in 1832; in the same year served as a volunteer in the Blackhawk War, and in 1835 founded the Shawneetown Democrat, which he thereafter edited. As a Democrat he served in 1836 and in 1840-1843 in the Illinois House of Representatives, and in 1843-1851 and in 1859-1861 was a representative in Congress, where in his first term he vigorously opposed the Wilmot Proviso, but in his second term was a strong Unionist and introduced the resolution of the 15th of July 1861, pledging money and men to the national government.
He resigned from Congress, raised in Illinois the McClernand Brigade, and was commissioned (May 17, 1861) brigadier general of volunteers. He was second in command at the battle of Belmont (Missouri) in November 1861, and commanded the right wing at Fort Donelson. On the 21st of March he became a major general of volunteers. At Shiloh he commanded a division which was practically a reserve to Sherman's. In October 1862 Edwin Stanton, secretary of war, ordered him north to raise troops for the expedition against Vicksburg; and early in January 1864, at Milliken's Bend, McClernand, who had been placed in command of one of the four corps of Ulysses S. Grant's army, superseded Sherman as the leader of the force that was to move down the Mississippi. On the 11th of January he took Arkansas Post. On the 17th, Grant, after receiving the opinion of Admiral Andrew H. Foote and General Sherman that McClernand was unfit, united a part of his own troops with those of McClernand and assumed command in person, and three days later ordered McClernand back to Millikens Bend. During the rest of this Vicksburg campaign there was much friction between McClernand and his colleagues; he undoubtedly intrigued for the removal of Grant; it was Grant's opinion that at Champion Hill (May 16, 1863) he was dilatory; and because a congratulatory order to his corps was published in the press (contrary to an order of the department and another of Grant) he was relieved of his command on the 18th of June, and was replaced by General Edward O. C. Ord.
President Abraham Lincoln, who saw the importance of conciliating a leader of the Illinois War Democrats, restored him to his command in 1864, but McClernand resigned in November of that year. He was district judge of the Sangamon (Illinois) District in 1870-1873, and was president of the NationaI Democratic Convention in 1876. He died in Springfield, Illinois.
His son, Edward John McClernand, was notable in the Indian Wars and later in the Philippines.
This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.
