John A. Logan

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John A. Logan
John Alexander Logan crop.jpg
United States Senator
from Illinois
In office
March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1877
Preceded by Richard Yates
Succeeded by David Davis
In office
March 4, 1879 – December 26, 1886
Preceded by Richard James Oglesby
Succeeded by Charles B. Farwell
Member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois's at-large congressional district
In office
March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1871
Preceded by Samuel W. Moulton
Succeeded by John Lourie Beveridge
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 9th district
In office
March 4, 1859 – April 2, 1862
Preceded by Samuel S. Marshall
Succeeded by William J. Allen
Illinois State Senator
In office
1853–54 and 1857
Personal details
Born John Alexander Logan
(1826-02-09)February 9, 1826
Murphysboro, Illinois, U.S.
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Nationality American
Political party Democratic, Republican
Alma mater Shiloh College
University of Louisville
Signature
Military service
Nickname(s) "Blackjack"
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch Seal of the United States Board of War.png U.S. Army (Union Army)
Years of service 1847–1848, 1861–1865
Rank Union army maj gen rank insignia.jpg Major General
Commands XV Corps
Battles/wars Mexican-American War
American Civil War

John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and political leader. He served in the Mexican-American War and was a General in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a State Senator, a Congressman, and a U.S. Senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States with James G. Blaine in the election of 1884. As the 3rd Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, he is regarded as the most important figure in the movement to recognize Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) as an official holiday.

His likeness appears on a statue at the center of Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.. He is also honored with a statue in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois. He is the honoree of Logan County, Kansas; Logan County, Oklahoma; Logan County, Colorado; Logan County, North Dakota; and Logan Square, Chicago, which is the neighborhood chosen to mark Illinois' centennial. Logan is one of only three people mentioned by name in the Illinois state song. Upon his death, he lay in state in the United States Capitol rotunda. He is the father of U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient John Alexander Logan, Jr. (1865–99).

Early life and political career

John A. Logan was born near what is now Murphysboro, Jackson County, Illinois.[1] He studied with his father, who was a physician, and with a private tutor, then studied for three years at Shiloh College. He enlisted in the 1st Illinois Infantry for the Mexican-American War, and received a commission as a second lieutenant and assignment as the regimental quartermaster.

After the war Logan studied law in the office of an uncle, graduated from the Law Department of the University of Louisville in 1851, and practiced law with success.

John A. Logan entered politics as a Douglas Democrat, was elected county clerk in 1849, served in the State House of Representatives from 1853 to 1854 and in 1857; and for a time, during the interval, was prosecuting attorney of the Third Judicial District of Illinois. In 1858 and 1860, he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1853, John A. Logan helped pass a law to prohibit all African Americans, including freedmen, from settling in the state.[citation needed]

Civil War

Logan at the Battle of Dallas, May 28, 1864
General John A. Logan in the staff of General William T. Sherman

Logan fought at Bull Run as an unattached volunteer to a Michigan regiment, and then returned to Washington, resigned his congressional seat, and entered the Union army as Colonel of the 31st Illinois Volunteers, which he organized. He was known by his soldiers with the nickname "Black Jack" because of his black eyes and hair and swarthy complexion, and was regarded as one of the most able officers to enter the army from civilian life. He served in the army of Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater and was present at the Battle of Belmont, where his horse was killed, and at Fort Donelson, where he was wounded. Soon after the victory at Donelson, he was promoted to brigadier general, as of March 21, 1862. Major John Hotaling served as his chief of staff. During the Siege of Corinth, Logan commanded first a brigade and then the 1st Division of the Army of the Tennessee. In the spring of 1863, he was promoted to major general to rank from November 29, 1862.

In Grant's Vicksburg Campaign, Logan commanded the 3rd Division of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps, which was the first to enter the city of Vicksburg in 1863, and after its capture, Logan served as its military governor. In November 1863 he succeeded William Tecumseh Sherman in command of the XV Corps; and after the death of McPherson he commanded the Army of the Tennessee at the Battle of Atlanta (July 22, 1864) until relieved by Oliver O. Howard. He returned to Illinois for the 1864 elections but rejoined the army afterward and commanded his XV corps in the Carolinas Campaign.

In December 1864, Grant became impatient with George H. Thomas's performance at Nashville and sent Logan to relieve him. Logan was stopped in Louisville when news came that Thomas had completely smashed John Bell Hood's Confederate army in the Battle of Nashville.

Logan had been disappointed when Howard was given permanent command of the Army of the Tennessee after McPherson's death, and Sherman arranged for Logan to command the army during the May 1865 Grand Review in Washington.

Post-war political career

Blaine/Logan campaign poster

After the war, Logan resumed his political career, now as a Republican, and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871, and of the United States Senate from 1871 until 1877 and again from 1879 until his death in 1886. His re-election bid in 1885 was contentious, and Logan only won after a Democratic representative died and was replaced with a Republican. After the war, Logan, who had always been a staunch partisan, was identified with the radical wing of the Republican Party. His forceful, passionate speaking, popular on the platform, was less effective in the halls of legislation. In 1868, he was one of the managers in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. One of Logan's leading issues in the Senate was his efforts to stop any action taken to overturn the conviction in the court-martial of Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter.

File:Logan family.jpg
Logan with his wife Mary Simmerson Cunningham Logan, son Manning Alexander Logan and daughter Mary Elizabeth "Dollie" Logan in about 1870

He was the second Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic from 1868 to 1871 and helped lead the call for creation of Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, as a national public holiday. His war record and his great personal following, especially among members of the Grand Army of the Republic, contributed to his nomination for Vice President in 1884 on the ticket with James G. Blaine, but they were not elected. For this campaign, he commissioned the painting of the Atlanta Cyclorama, which emphasized his heroism in the Battle of Atlanta.

Logan was also a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States - a military society which was composed of officers who had served in the Union armed forces during the American Civil War.

Logan showed signs of illness when the 49th United States Congress opened its first official session on December 7, 1886. By mid-December, Logan's arms swelled and his lower limbs were in pain. After several days of intense discomfort, the ailment subsided. He relapsed a few days later and eventually struggled to maintain consciousness. On December 24, Logan's doctor's conceded that the condition may be fatal. Around three o'clock in the afternoon on December 26, Logan died at his home in Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.[2] After his death, Logan's body lay in state in the United States Capitol. He was buried at United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery. Logan was the author of two books on the Civil War. In The Great Conspiracy: Its Origin and History (1886), he sought to demonstrate that secession and the Civil War were the result of a long-contemplated "conspiracy" to which various Southern politicians had been party since the Nullification Crisis; he also vindicated the pre-war political positions of Stephen A. Douglas and himself.[3] He also wrote The Volunteer Soldier of America (1887). His son, John Alexander Logan, Jr., was also an army officer and posthumously received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Philippine–American War. Another son, William B. Logan, participated in the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871.

Legacy

General John Logan Memorial statue in Grant Park, Chicago, IL

The State of Illinois commissioned an equestrian statue of the general that now stands in Chicago's Grant Park. Another equestrian statue stands in Logan Circle in Washington, D.C., which gives its name to the surrounding neighborhood. Logan Square and Logan Boulevard in Chicago are named after him, as well as Logan Avenue and the neighborhood of Logan Heights (aka Barrio Logan) in San Diego, and the community of Logan Township, New Jersey.[4] His hometown, Murphysboro, Illinois, is home to the General John A Logan Museum, as well as the General John A. Logan Elementary School; and, in nearby Carterville, Illinois, there is the John A. Logan College, a community college. Camp Logan, Illinois, an Illinois National Guard base and rifle range from 1892 to the early 1970s, was also named for him.[5]

Logan is one of only three individuals mentioned by name in the Illinois state song:

On the record of thy years,
Abraham Lincoln's name appears,
Grant and Logan, and our tears,
Illinois, Illinois,
Grant and Logan, and our tears,
Illinois.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. Jones (1967) p. 2
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. open access publication - free to read
  3. John A. Logan (1886). The Great Conspiracy: Its Origin and History.
  4. About Logan. Logan Township, New Jersey. Accessed August 22, 2007. "The town's name comes from Alexander "Black Jack" Logan, an American General and founder of Memorial Day."
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Illinois Official State Song, Illinois (state song)
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

External links


United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 9th congressional district

March 4, 1859 – April 2, 1862
Succeeded by
William J. Allen
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's at-large congressional district

March 4, 1867 – March 4, 1871
Succeeded by
John Lourie Beveridge
United States Senate
Preceded by U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Illinois
1871–1877
Served alongside: Lyman Trumbull, Richard J. Oglesby
Succeeded by
David Davis
Preceded by U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Illinois
1879–1886
Served alongside: David Davis, Shelby M. Cullom
Succeeded by
Charles B. Farwell
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican vice presidential nominee
1884
Succeeded by
Levi P. Morton
Honorary titles
Preceded by Persons who have lain in state or honor
in the United States Capitol rotunda

December 30–31, 1886
Succeeded by
William McKinley
Political offices
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic
1868–1871
Succeeded by
Ambrose Burnside