John Logan | |
|---|---|
 Logan,c. 1880s | |
| United States Senator fromIllinois | |
| In office March 4, 1879 – December 26, 1886 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Oglesby |
| Succeeded by | Charles B. Farwell |
| In office March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1877 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Yates |
| Succeeded by | David Davis |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois'sat-large district | |
| In office March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1871 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel W. Moulton |
| Succeeded by | John Lourie Beveridge |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's9th district | |
| In office March 4, 1859 – April 2, 1862 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel S. Marshall |
| Succeeded by | William Allen |
| Member of theIllinois House of Representatives from the5th district | |
| In office January 5, 1857 – January 3, 1859 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas M. Sans |
| Succeeded by | James Hampton |
| In office January 3, 1853 – January 1, 1855 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas M. Sans |
| Succeeded by | Thomas M. Sans |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Alexander Logan (1826-02-09)February 9, 1826 Murphysboro, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 26, 1886(1886-12-26) (aged 60) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic (before 1866) Republican (1866–1886) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 (includingJohn Jr. andMary) |
| Education | Shiloh College University of Louisville (LLB) |
| Signature |  |
| Nickname | "Black Jack" |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1847–1848 (U.S. Army) 1861–1865 (Union Army) |
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands | XV Corps |
| Battles/wars | 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 Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in theMexican–American War and was ageneral in theUnion Army in theAmerican Civil War. He served the state ofIllinois as astate Representative, aU.S. Representative, and aU.S. Senator and was an unsuccessful candidate forVice President of the United States asJames G. Blaine's running mate in theelection of 1884. As the3rd Commander-in-Chief of theGrand Army of the Republic, he is regarded as the most important figure in the movement to recognizeMemorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) as an official holiday.
His likeness appears ona statue at the center ofLogan Circle, Washington, D.C. He is also honored witha statue inGrant Park in Chicago, Illinois. Memorial Park in Houston, Texas was formerly Camp Logan named after him. He is the honoree ofLogan County, Kansas;Logan County, Nebraska;Logan County, Oklahoma;Logan County, Colorado;Logan County, North Dakota; andLogan Square, Chicago, which is the neighborhood chosen tomark Illinois' centennial. Logan is one of only three people mentioned by name in theIllinois state song. Upon his death, helay in state in theUnited States Capitol rotunda. He is the father of U.S. Army officer andMedal of Honor recipientJohn Alexander Logan Jr. (1865–1899).
John A. Logan was born near what is nowMurphysboro,Illinois, the son of Dr. John Logan and Dr. Logan's second wife, Elizabeth (Jenkins) Logan.[1] He studied with his father and with a private tutor, then studied for three years atShiloh College. He enlisted in the 1st Illinois Infantry for theMexican–American War, and received a commission as asecond lieutenant and assignment as the regimental quartermaster.
After the war Loganstudied law in the office of his uncle,Alexander M. Jenkins, graduated from the Law Department of theUniversity of Louisville in 1851, and practiced law with success.[2]
John A. Logan enteredpolitics as aDouglas Democrat, was elected county clerk in 1849, served in theIllinois House of Representatives from 1853 to 1854 and in 1857; and for a time, during the interval, was prosecutingattorney of the Third Judicial District of Illinois. In 1858 and 1860, he was elected as a Democrat to theU.S. House of Representatives.[2] In 1853, John A. Logan helped pass a law which prohibited allAfrican Americans, includingfreedmen, from settling in the state.[3]
U.S. Representative Logan fought atBull Run as an unattached volunteer in aMichigan regiment, and then returned toWashington where, before he resigned his congressional seat on April 2, 1862, he entered the Union Army asColonel of the31st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which he organized.[4] He was known by his soldiers as "Black Jack"[5] 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 whenpolitical generals usually performed poorly in battle, Logan was an exception.
Before resigning his seat, Union Army Colonel Logan served in the army ofUlysses S. Grant in the Western Theater and was present at theBattle of Belmont on November 7, 1861, where his horse was killed, and atFort 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 tobrigadier general in the volunteers, as of March 21, 1862. MajorJohn Hotaling served as his chief of staff. To confuse matters, the 32nd Illinois was commanded at Shiloh by a different Colonel John Logan. During theSiege of Corinth, John A. Logan commanded first abrigade and then the 1stDivision of theArmy of the Tennessee.[6] In the spring of 1863, he was promoted tomajor general to rank from November 29, 1862.
In Grant'sVicksburg Campaign, Logan commanded the 3rd Division ofJames B. McPherson'sXVII Corps, which was the first to enter the city ofVicksburg in July 1863 after its capture. Logan then served as the city's military governor. In November 1863 he succeededWilliam Tecumseh Sherman in command of theXV Corps; and at theBattle of Atlanta (July 22, 1864), after the death of James B. McPherson during the day, he assumed command of theArmy of the Tennessee. He was relieved a short time afterward byOliver O. Howard. He returned to Illinois for the 1864 elections but rejoined the army afterward and commanded his XV corps in Sherman'sCarolinas Campaign.
In December 1864, Grant became impatient withGeorge H. Thomas's apparent unwillingness to attack immediately atNashville and sent Logan to relieve him. Logan was stopped inLouisville when news came that Thomas had completely smashedJohn Bell Hood'sConfederate army in theBattle 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.
After the war, Logan resumed his political career, now as aRepublican, and was a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871, and of theUnited 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 theRepublican Party. His forceful, passionate speaking, popular on the platform, was less effective in the halls of legislation. In 1868, he was one of theHouse managers in theimpeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson.[6] One of Logan's issues in the Senate was his efforts to stop any action taken to overturn theconviction in the court-martial of Maj. Gen.Fitz John Porter.
He was the secondCommander-in-Chief of theGrand Army of the Republic from 1868 to 1871 and helped lead the call for creation ofMemorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, as a national public holiday. His war record and his great personal following, especially among members of theGrand Army of the Republic, contributed to his nomination forVice President in 1884 on the Republican ticket withJames G. Blaine.[6] However, they were defeated by the Democratic ticket ofGrover Cleveland andThomas A. Hendricks.
Logan was deeply embittered by the loss. He believed that PresidentChester A. Arthur’s supporters were disloyal after Arthur lost the Republican nomination.[7] Logan obstructed Arthur’s nomination of journalistWilliam Eleroy Curtis to be Secretary of the Latin American Trade Commission, claiming that Curtis made “damaging disclosures… to the Democratic National Committee.”[8] Curtis threatened to mobilize his press resources against Logan's re-election bid.[8] The controversy eventually dissipated.[9][10] The1885 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 newspaperThe Sun reported that many major politicians were bribed byUnion 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 officialOakes Ames first offer, but a few months later Logan accepted Ames offer of 325 dollars. Logan was exonerated by the committee report.[11][12]
Logan showed signs of illness when the49th 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 inColumbia Heights,Washington, D.C.[13] After his death, Logan's bodylay in state in theUnited States Capitol.[14] He was temporarily interred in a vault atRock Creek Cemetery on December 31, 1886[15] until he could be reburied in a newly constructed mortuary chapel at theUnited States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington on December 26, 1888, the second anniversary of his death.[16]
Logan was the author of two books on the Civil War. InThe 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 theNullification Crisis; he also vindicated the pre-war political positions ofStephen A. Douglas and himself.[17] He also wroteThe Volunteer Soldier of America (1887). His son,John Alexander Logan Jr., was also an army officer and posthumously received theMedal of Honor for actions during thePhilippine–American War. His brother-in-law, Cyrus Thomas, participated in theHayden Geological Survey of 1871.
Logan was also a member of theMilitary 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 was related toCornelius 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.[18] Cornelius' sonCornelius Ambrose Logan, a physician and diplomat, wrote a memoir of John Logan which was included in hisThe Volunteer Soldier of America.
TheState of Illinois commissioned anequestrian statue of the general that now stands inChicago'sGrant Park. Another equestrian statue stands inLogan Circle inWashington, D.C., which gives its name to the surrounding neighborhood. At #4 Logan Circle, a former Logan residence, now called John Logan House, displays a variety of exterior and interior plaques to celebrate Logan's achievements as soldier and statesman.[19]
Logan Square, Chicago and Logan Boulevard in Chicago are named after him, as well as Logan Avenue and the neighborhood ofLogan Heights (aka Barrio Logan) inSan Diego, and the community ofLogan Township, New Jersey.[20] 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 nearbyCarterville, Illinois, there is theJohn A. Logan College, acommunity college.Camp Logan, Illinois, anIllinois National Guard base andrifle range from 1892 to the early 1970s, was also named for him.[21] John A. Logan Elementary School in Washington, DC is also named in his honor.
TheUnited States Army TransportLogan was named after him.
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.[22]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States Army Center of Military History.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Logan, John Alexander".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 866–867.
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Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Armed Services | ||
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| Military Affairs Committee (1816–1947) |  | |
| Naval Affairs Committee (1816–1947) | ||
| Armed Services Committee (1947–present) | ||
Chairs of theUnited States House Committee on Armed Services | ||
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| Naval Affairs Committee (1822–1947) | ||
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*Alternately namedNational Security in 104th and 105th Congresses. | ||
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