Background
James H. McClintock was born on February 23, 1864 in Sacramento, California. He was the son of John and Sarah Ann (Brittingham) McClintock.
journalist military teacher writer
James H. McClintock was born on February 23, 1864 in Sacramento, California. He was the son of John and Sarah Ann (Brittingham) McClintock.
James H. McClintock attended the public schools of San Francisco and Berkeley, and was graduated from the Territorial Normal School (later State Teacher's College) at Tempe, Ariz. , in 1887.
McClintock went to Phoenix in 1879 and engaged in newspaper work; later he was connected at various times with leading papers in Phoenix, Prescott, Globe, Tempe, and Tucson, and for many years he was editorial representative in Arizona of the Los Angeles Times. He did much free-lance and magazine writing also. In April 1898, when the call came for volunteers to fight the Spanish in Cuba, William O. O'Neill and McClintock immediately began enlisting a cavalry regiment in Arizona. A thousand men were soon enrolled, but only two troops, two hundred and ten men, were accepted and mustered in. These volunteers became a part of the 16t United States Volunteer Cavalry (known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders), with McClintock as one of the senior captains. He was seriously wounded on June 24, 1898, in the battle of Las Guasimas, and received the brevet of major for gallantry in action. He later became president of the Rough Riders' Association, and also its historian. In 1902 he was elected colonel of the 1st Arizona Infantry, and for eight years he commanded this regiment, much of the time acting also as adjutant-general of Arizona. He commanded the National Guard of Arizona in camps in Arizona and California during its first experience in field service.
Throughout his fifty-five years' residence in Arizona he engaged actively in politics. He helped to form the first Republican organization in Phoenix; served under three presidents consecutively as postmaster of Phoenix, from 1902 to 1914, and again held the same office, 1928-33; was chairman of the territorial Republican Central Committee; and from 1919 to 1923 was state historian of Arizona. He died in the hospital of the United States Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle, Cal. , and was buried in the military cemetery of that post with full military honors.
McClintock was a vigorous, handsome man of excellent proportions and good bearing a strong, fearless, high-minded citizen, an ardent patriot, and a leader in many worthy community causes. Although he was hardened to army life in camp and on the battlefield, he was yet devoted to the cultural life of his state particularly to its history and archeology. His history of Arizona in three volumes, Arizona Prehistoric Aboriginal Pioneer Modern, published in 1916, is his most lasting title to distinction. His Mormon Settlement in Arizona, published in 1921, the material for which was gathered while he was state historian, is also a permanent addition to the history of Arizona.
On June 15, 1900, McClintock was married to Dorothy G. Bacon, a graduate of Stanford University. No children were born to them.