Alexander C. McClurg was an American bookseller, publisher, and Union soldier.
Background
McClurg was a first cousin of Joseph W. McClurg and the son of Alexander and Sarah (Trevor) McClurg. His paternal grandfather, Joseph, of Scotch-Irish descent, was involved in the Irish troubles of 1798 and fled to the United States, settling in Pittsburgh, whither his family followed him. Here he established what was probably the first iron foundry in that place, his son Alexander being associated with him in this and other business ventures. At the time of Alexander Caldwell's birth his parents were living in Philadelphia.
Education
McClurg received his early education at Pittsburgh. At seventeen, he entered Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, graduating from that institution four years later. Returning home, he entered the law office of Walter H. Lowrie, then chief justice of the Pennsylvania supreme court, but deserted the law after one year because of failing health and of declining interest in the legal profession.
Career
In 1859, McClurg went to Chicago and became a clerk in the house of S. C. Griggs & Company, then the largest bookstore in the West. At the commencement of the Civil War, he enlisted as a private in a company recruited in Chicago which, however, was disbanded because the state quota was full. In 1862, with two others, he organized the Crosby Guards, mustered into the service, August 27, 1862, as Company H of the 88th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. A few days later, much to his surprise, he was unanimously elected to the captaincy of his company, notwithstanding his complete inexperience and his small physical stature. At a second election, necessitated because of faulty procedure in the first, his selection was confirmed, again unanimously. His regiment received its baptism of fire at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862. McClurg's conduct in the field, and his marked executive ability, brought him to the notice of his corps commander, Gen. Alexander McDowell McCook, who, in May 1863, detailed him as acting assistant adjutant-general of the corps. In August 1864 he was assigned to General Baird's division as assistant adjutant-general and chief of staff.
Soon afterward, he was invited by General Sheridan, then commanding a division in the same corps, to join his staff, but declined. When Sheridan went to the Army of the Potomac he renewed the invitation but McClurg again declined it. He served through the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns with great distinction, being frequently mentioned in dispatches and winning recognition as one of the ablest staff officers in the western army. Gen. J. C. Davis recommended his promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel for especial gallantry at the battle of Jonesboro, and made him chief of his staff. Continuing in this position, he participated in the campaigns of Sherman's army from Atlanta to the sea, ending in the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19, 1865. His account of this engagement, in the Atlantic Monthly (September 1882), entitled "The Last Chance of the Confederacy, " is regarded as a notable military narrative. He was mustered out in Chicago, September 9, 1865, with the brevet rank of colonel, afterwards raised to brigadier-general, and despite the fact that Sherman, Thomas, and other officers urged him to enter the regular army, he returned to his former occupation in Chicago. In April 1866, he purchased an interest in the firm of South Carolina Griggs & Company. A disastrous fire, two years later, wiped out his capital, but the creditors were paid in full and the firm reestablished itself in a new location on State Street, where three important book-dealers occupied adjoining premises, locally known as Booksellers' Row.
Here the great fire of 1871, interrupted the thriving business. In the reorganization that followed, South Carolina. Griggs sold his interest to his partners and in 1886 McClurg became the principal owner. In 1880, the firm began publication of the Dial (Chicago). The Old English Book Department, a project originated by McClurg in 1877, developed into an important specialty, in part by reason of the interesting group of bibliophiles who foregathered there and whose lucubrations Eugene Field celebrated and imaginatively expanded as the proceedings of the "Saints and Sinners" corner in the "Sharps and Flats" of the Chicago Morning News. A third fire, in 1899, led the senior partner, long a confirmed invalid and frequently absent in search of health, to contemplate withdrawal from active business; but devotion to his firm, and a characteristic concern for the welfare of his large staff, prevailed over his inclination. His health continued to fail, however, and his death, of Bright's disease, occurred April 15, 1901, at St. Augustine, Florida.
Achievements
Personality
McClurg was a booklover and reader as well as a bookseller, and, withal, a lively hater of the cheap and trashy, both in the contents and the makeup of books. A fluent and entertaining writer, he contributed numerous addresses to the proceedings of the many organizations to which he belonged and several articles to the magazines. A portion of his manuscript memoirs, left uncompleted at his death, was published under the title, "The American Volunteer Soldier, " in Mabel McIlvane's Reminiscences of Chicago During the Civil War (1914). It presents a vivid account of his enlistment and early army experiences.
Connections
McClurg was married, April 17, 1877, to Eleanor, daughter of Judge Nelson Knox Wheeler of New York City. Two sons were born to them.