John A. Logan

Logan worked between 1826 and 1886 across politician, military officer, lawyer and writer. This article rests on 18 published texts, 9 digitised documents and 48 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Logan studied at University of Louisville School of Law and Shiloh College. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are Washington, D.C. Positions recorded include United States representative and member of the State Senate of Illinois.

• Name — John A. Logan • Jr Sr — United States Senator • State — Illinois • Term Start — March 4, 1879 • Term End — December 26, 1886 • Predecessor — Richard Oglesby • Successor — Charles B. Farwell • Term Start1 — March 4, 1871 • Term End1 — March 3, 1877 • Predecessor1 — Richard Yates • Successor1 — David Davis • State2 — Illinois • District2 — at-large • Term Start2 — March 4, 1867 • Term End2 — March 3, 1871 • Predecessor2 — Samuel W. Moulton • Successor2 — John Lourie Beveridge • State3 — Illinois • Term Start3 — March 4, 1859 • Term End3 — April 2, 1862 • Predecessor3 — Samuel S. Marshall • Successor3 — William Allen • State House4 — Illinois • District4 — 5th • Term Start4 — January 5, 1857 • Term End4 — January 3, 1859 • Predecessor4 — Thomas M. Sans • Successor4 — James Hampton • Term Start5 — January 3, 1853 • Term End5 — January 1, 1855 • Predecessor5 — Thomas M. Sans • Successor5 — Thomas M. Sans • Birth Name — John Alexander Logan • Born — 9 February 1826 • Birthplace — Murphysboro, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 26 December 1886 • Place of death — Washington, D.C., U.S. • Resting Place — United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery • Party — Democratic (before 1866) Republican (1866–1886) • Children — 3 (including John Jr. and Mary) • Education — Shiloh College University of Louisville (LLB) • Nickname — "Black Jack" • Allegiance — United States • Branch — United States Army Union Army • Rank — Major General • Service Years — 1847–1848 (U.S. Army) 1861–1865 (Union Army) • Commands — * XV Corps (1863-1864) • Army of the Tennessee (July 22, 1864–July 27, 1864) • XV Corps (1864-1865) • Army of the Tennessee (May 19, 1865–August 1, 1865) • Battles — Mexican-American War American Civil War First Battle of Bull Run Battle of Belmont Battle of Fort Donelson Second Battle of Corinth Vicksburg Campaign Battle of Atlanta Battle of Jonesborough Battle of Bentonville

John A. Logan was born near what is now Murphysboro, Illinois, the son of Dr. John Logan and Dr. Logan's second wife, Elizabeth (Jenkins) Logan. He studied with his father 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 his uncle, Alexander M. Jenkins, 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 Illinois 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 which prohibited all African Americans, including freedmen, from settling in the state.

U.S. Representative Logan fought at Bull Run as an unattached volunteer in the 2nd Michigan Infantry Regiment, and then returned to Washington where, before he resigned his congressional seat on April 2, 1862, he entered the Union Army as Colonel of the 31st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which he organized. He was known by his soldiers as "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. In a time when political generals usually performed poorly in battle, Logan was an exception. Before resigning his seat, Union Army Colonel Logan served in the army of Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater and was present at the Battle of Belmont on November 7, 1861, where his horse was killed, and at Fort Donelson, where he was wounded on February 15, 1862. Soon after the victory at Donelson, he resigned his seat on April 2, 1862, and was promoted to brigadier general in the volunteers, as of March 21, 1862. Major John Hotaling served as his chief of staff. To confuse matters, the 32nd Illinois was commanded at Shiloh by a different Colonel John Logan. During the Siege of Corinth, John A. 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 July 1863 after its capture. Logan then served as the city's military governor. In November 1863 he succeeded William Tecumseh Sherman in command of the XV Corps; and at the Battle of Atlanta (July 22, 1864), after the death of James B. McPherson during the day, he assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee. He was relieved a short time afterward by Oliver O. Howard. He returned to Illinois for the 1864 elections but rejoined the army afterward and commanded his XV corps in Sherman's Carolinas campaign. In December 1864, Grant became impatient with George H. Thomas's apparent unwillingness to attack immediately 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 lead the army during the May 1865 Grand Review in Washington.

• Illustration — 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. 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 House managers in the impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson. One of Logan's 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. • Illustration — Logan with his wife Mary Simmerson Cunningham Logan, son Manning Alexander Logan and daughter Mary Elizabeth "Dollie" Logan in about 1870 He was the third 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 Republican ticket with James G. Blaine. However, they were defeated by the Democratic ticket of Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks. Logan was deeply embittered by the loss. He believed that President Chester A. Arthur’s supporters were disloyal after Arthur lost the Republican nomination. Logan obstructed Arthur’s nomination of journalist William Eleroy Curtis to be Secretary of the Latin American Trade Commission, claiming that Curtis made “damaging disclosures… to the Democratic National Committee.” Curtis threatened to mobilize his press resources against Logan's re-election bid. The controversy eventually dissipated. The 1885 US Senate election in Illinois was contentious, and Logan only won after a Democratic representative died and was replaced with a Republican.

In September 1872, the New York newspaper The Sun reported that many major politicians were bribed by Union Pacific Railroad, and Credit Mobilier. In response to this Congress created the Poland Committee to investigate these accusations. The committee found out that many senators including Logan were involved. In February 1873, the House was convinced that it should share this information with the Senate. The House said to the Senate that these politicians including Logan were possibly involved with the scandal. Logan explained that he rejected The Credit Mobilier official Oakes Ames first offer, but a few months later Logan accepted Ames offer of 325 dollars. Logan was exonerated by the committee report.

• Illustration — John A. Logan's funeral at Hutchinson's vault 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 doctors conceded that the condition might be fatal. Around three o'clock in the afternoon on December 26, Logan died at his home in Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C. After his death, Logan's body lay in state in the United States Capitol. He was temporarily interred in a vault at Rock Creek Cemetery on December 31, 1886 until he could be reburied in a newly constructed mortuary chapel at the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington on December 26, 1888, the second anniversary of his death.

Logan was related to Cornelius Ambrosius Logan (1806–1853), the Irish-American actor and playwright, possibly as a first cousin. John Logan adopted Cornelius' daughter Kate (1847–1872), probably in 1866. Cornelius' son Cornelius Ambrose Logan, a physician and diplomat, wrote a memoir of John Logan which was included in his The Volunteer Soldier of America.

Logan was born on 9 February 1826 in Murphysboro. Logan held the nationality of United States. Logan was educated at University of Louisville School of Law, which Logan left in 1851 and Shiloh College. Married to: Mary Simmerson Cunningham Logan. Recorded child: Mary Logan Tucker and John Alexander Logan Jr. Logan worked as politician, military officer, lawyer and writer. Logan worked in Washington, D.C. Logan worked in English. Logan died on 26 December 1886 in Washington, D.C. Logan is buried at Rock Creek 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. 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. His brother-in-law, Cyrus Thomas, participated in the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. Logan was also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and 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.

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