Duncan McArthur was an American congressman and governor of Ohio.
Background
Duncan McArthur was born on January 14, 1772 in Dutchess County, New York, and was the son of John and Margaret (Campbell) McArthur, natives of the Scotch Highlands. His mother died when he was very young, and in 1780 his father, who was poverty-stricken, moved to the neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Education
McArthur somehow learned to read and write, but his youth was spent in farming or as a driver of trans-Alleghany packtrains.
Career
In 1790 McArthur enrolled for service against the Indians and took part in Harmar's campaign and in other expeditions. During the winter of 1792-93 he was a salt-boiler at the licks near Maysville, Kentucky. In the spring he joined a surveying party under Nathaniel Massie, which penetrated the Scioto valley to the region of Chillicothe. When the Indians in the region became excited, he served two years observing their movements as a ranger. In March 1795, he was again associated with Massie and learned surveying. In 1805 he was elected to the state Senate, where he served eight consecutive terms, and in the session for 1809-10 he was the speaker. In 1806 he was elected a colonel of the militia. In February 1808 he became a major-general, and he held this rank in the spring of 1812, when the Ohio militia marched for Detroit. Upon the reorganization of the Ohio volunteers, he was elected colonel of one of the three militia regiments under Hull's command. He took a noteworthy part in the campaign. On arriving at Detroit he urged Hull to attack Malden immediately, led a raid that penetrated some thirty miles into Canada, and was acting as an escort for a supply train at the time of Hull's surrender, when his troops were included in the terms of Hull's capitulation. He was later a principal witness at Hull's court martial. He returned to Chillicothe from Detroit with reputation unimpaired and was elected to Congress in the autumn of 1812. He did not qualify, however, and on April 5, 1813, shortly after he had been informed of the exchange of the prisoners taken at Detroit, he resigned to undertake active service in the regular army, to which he had been appointed brigadier-general in March. His first activity was to raise volunteers for the assistance of Harrison, who was in danger from Proctor. He then undertook the defense of Fort Meigs. During the campaign that ended at the battle of the Thames he was stationed at Detroit. Following that battle he was placed in command of the troops at Sacketts Harbor on Lake Ontario.
On Harrison's resignation in May 1814, he succeeded to the command of the army in the Northwest. Save for one spectacular raid in Upper Canada, nothing important was achieved in his period of command. Following the war he served as a member of several commissions for treaty-making with the Indians. He was frequently a member of the state legislature, in the lower house for three sessions, 1815-16, 1817-18 when he was speaker, and 1826-27, and in the upper house for three sessions, 1821-22, 1822-23, and 1829-30. He made himself unpopular by supporting the United States Bank when it was bitterly attacked by the legislature in 1817. In 1822 he was elected to Congress, where he served inconspicuously. In 1830 he was elected governor by a narrow margin over Robert Lucas, a Jackson man. In 1832 he chose to run for Congress rather than for re-election as governor but was defeated by a single vote by William Allen, who later married his daughter, Effie. In 1830 he met with a serious accident from which he did not fully recover. He died at his home "Fruit Hill" near Chillicothe.
Achievements
Views
McArthur criticized Harrison because of his inactivity during the winter of 1814 and his correspondence with the Secretary of War and with General Cass has been severely criticized.
Personality
McArthur rapidly amassed property by shrewd buying and locating of Virginia land warrants that were issued to Revolutionary soldiers. Unquestionably he could drive a hard bargain, and his enemies charged that he was unscrupulous. His subsequent life was embittered by constant litigation over land titles. By 1804 he was considered the wealthiest land holder in the Scioto valley. In that year he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives.
Connections
In February 1796 McArthur married Nancy McDonald and settled with her on a farm near the recently founded village of Chillicothe.