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J.H. McArthur

J.H. McArthur

Federal (USA)

Captain

Joseph Hunter McArthur

(1825 - 1902)

Home State: Missouri

Education: US Military Academy, West Point, NY, Class of 1849;Class Rank: 37th

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Cavalry

Unit: 5th United States Cavalry

Before Antietam

After graduating from West Point he was brevetted 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd United States Infantry on 1 July 1849. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 5th US Infantry on 12 August 1850 and had duty in California, Texas, and Missouri. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in the First US Cavalry on 3 March 1855 and was with them in Texas. He was promoted to Captain in the 2nd US Cavalry on 28 June 1860, transferred to the 5th US Cavalry on 3 August 1861, and then took a leave of absence to serve as Lieutenant Colonel of the 70th Pennsylvania Infantry from 5 September 1861 to 3 February 1862.

On the Campaign

He commanded the regiment in Maryland.

The rest of the War

He was promoted to Major in the 3rd US Cavalry on 25 September 1863 but retired from active service for disability on 2 November 1863. He was Commissary of Muster in the Department of the Northwest from June 63 to February 1866.

After the War

He was briefly on recruiting and court martial duty to November 1867, with no later service.

By 1870 and to at least 1900 he lived in Chicago, IL as a retired Army officer.

References & notes

His service from Heitman1 and Cullum;2 his Cullum #1443. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1870-1900. His gravesite is on Findagrave. The photo here from Thirty-Fourth Annual Reunion of the Association of the Graduates of the United States Military Academy of 10 June 1903.

He married Julia Woodworth (1829-1874) in July 1851 and they had 8 children. He married again, Francis L Covert (1838-), in December 1879.

LeROY WEDDING BELLS.
The Le Roy correspondent of the Rochester Express writes: On Wednesday evening the residence of the late Deacon Stephen COVERT, of Le Roy, was the scene of a brilliant wedding, at which time Miss Frances COVERT, one of the most respected and amiable of Le Roy ladies, was united in marriage to Major Joseph H. McARTHUR of the United States Army. Major McARTHUR is a graduate of West Point, and occupies a high social position in the city of Chicago. Their many friends wish them a happy and prosperous future.

-- the Batavia, NY Daily Morning News of 19 December 1879

Birth

02/15/1825; Ste. Genevieve, MO

Death

01/23/1902; Chicago, IL; burial in East Side Cemetery, Dodgeville, WI

Notes

1   Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, Vol. 1, pg. 652  [AotW citation 29518]

2   Cullum, George Washington, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy, 2nd Edition, 3 vols., New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1868-79, Vol. II, pp. 396-397  [AotW citation 29519]