Background
John McArthur was born on November 17, 1826 at Erskine, Scotland. He was the son of John and Isabella (Neilson) McArthur.
John McArthur was born on November 17, 1826 at Erskine, Scotland. He was the son of John and Isabella (Neilson) McArthur.
McArthur attended parish school and then entered the Presbyterian ministry. He preferred his father's smithy, however, and one year after his marriage, he emigrated to America, joining his brother-in-law, Carlile Mason, in Chicago.
After McArthur had gained a little capital by several years' work for a Chicago boiler-maker, he became Mason's partner (1854 - 58) in the ownership of the successful Excelsior Iron Works, "making steam boilers, engines, and iron work of every description. " From 1858 to 1861 McArthur conducted the business alone. During these years he rose from 3rd lieutenant to captain of the Chicago Highland Guards, and in May 1861 he was at Cairo, as colonel of the 12th Illinois Infantry. Drilling, Kentucky reconnaissances, and railway patrol filled the rest of the year, and by its close he commanded the 16t Brigade of the 2nd Division. From Fort Henry (February 1862) until the war ended, his troops were frequently on special duty. Grant found the tall, brawny, tight-lipped Scot both "zealous and efficient, " a plain man who won his superiors' confidence and his soldiers' love. "Meritorious service" at Donelson made him a brigadier-general, and at Shiloh, although wounded, he commanded his division after Gen. W. H. L. Wallace was killed. He effectively led the 6th Division, Army of the Tennessee, through the hard fighting around Corinth and Iuka.
In the Vicksburg campaign, under General McPherson, his men were often detached for emergency service to McClernand's, F. P. Blair's, or Sherman's command. Grant requested his promotion, but McArthur had no political influence at Washington and his advance to higher rank was retarded. From the early autumn of 1863 to August 1, 1864, he was post commander of Vicksburg. For two months thereafter he protected Sherman's line of communication about Marietta, Ga. , and was then ordered to Missouri to oppose General Price. In December, he was rushed to Nashville and here, on the 16th, his military career reached its climax. Not unwillingly yielding to his impatient troops, and with only the silent sanction of his superior, Major-General A. J. Smith, he charged the opposing heights, crushed Hood's left wing, and turned the battle of Nashville into a Confederate rout. On Thomas' recommendation, McArthur was brevetted major-general. Thereafter, until he was mustered out, August 24, 1865, he served under Major-General E. R. S. Canby in the Alabama campaign and was stationed at Selma during the summer.
For twenty years after the war, McArthur suffered a series of reverses. Efforts to revive his foundry business failed. The Chicago Fire darkened his term as commissioner of public works (1866 - 72), and while he was postmaster of Chicago (1873 - 77), $73, 000 of post-office funds disappeared in a bank crash. Bowing to a court decision, he used most of his fortune to make good this loss. Another of his ventures, the Chicago and Vert Island (Lake Superior) Stone Company, succumbed to two successive ship disasters in the early eighties. About 1885 he retired from business, but continued to take an active interest in the Presbyterian Church, the St. Andrew's Society, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Loyal Legion. He died of paralysis and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Chicago.
In 1848 McArthur was married to his neighbor, Christina Cuthbertson. He was the father of seven children.