Raynors HCA 2018-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/21/2018
McCLERNAND, John (1812-1900) was an American lawyer and politician, and a Union general in the American Civil War. He was a prominent Democratic politician in Illinois and a member of the United States House of Representatives before the war. McClernand was firmly dedicated to the principles of Jacksonian democracy and supported the Compromise of 1850. McClernand was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers in 1861. His was a classic case of the politician-in-uniform coming into conflict with career Army officers, graduates of the United States Military Academy. He served as a subordinate commander under Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater, fighting in the battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh in 1861–62. A close friend and political ally of Abraham Lincoln, McClernand was given permission to recruit a force to conduct an operation against Vicksburg, Mississippi, which would rival the effort of Grant, his department commander. Grant was able to neutralize McClernand's independent effort after it conducted an expedition to win the Battle of Arkansas Post, and McClernand became the senior corps commander in Grant's army for the Vicksburg Campaign in 1863. During the Siege of Vicksburg, Grant relieved McClernand of his command by citing his intemperate and unauthorized communication with the press, finally putting an end to a rivalry that had caused Grant discomfort since the beginning of the war. McClernand left the Army in 1864 and served as a judge and a politician in the postbellum era. War-date Manuscript Letter Signed “John A. McClernand” as Major General Commanding, 2pp. quarto, Head Qrs. 13th Army Corps, Near Vicksburg, June 5, 1863, addressed to Governor Salomon of Wisconsin, and reads in part: “...I have the honor to inform you that there are four Regiments - the 11th, 23rd, 28th, and 29th Wisconsin Infantry, and the 1st Wisconsin Battery - in the 13th Army Corps, Dept of the Tenn. - under my command who crossed the Mississippi River with me ...and who took part in the battles of Thompson’s Hill on the 1st May - Champion Hills on the 16th, - Big Black Bridge on the 17th May, and at Vicksburg, beginning on the 19th May and continuing up to the present time. I am most happy, Sir, to congratulate you, and through you, your noble State, for the victories won by the common effort of her brave sons with those of sister States - and to bear testimony to the gallantry bravery and good conduct of her officers and men in all these bloody struggles...” More. Fine condition.
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