Duncan McArthur

Sources vary as to McArthur's exact birthdate. It has been given as January 14, 1772,[https://books.google.com/books?id=hVSrJBQYAk8C&pg=PA455 The Encyclopedia of the War of 1812][https://books.google.com/books?id=Uu9FAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA821 Harper's Popular Cyclopædia of United States History] or June 14, 1772.[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000299 Congress BioGuide][https://books.google.com/books?id=uR8GBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 Messages and letters of William Henry Harrison] He was born to Scottish immigrants in Dutchess County in the Province of New York,{{cite web| url= http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_ohio/col2-content/main-content-list/title_mcarthur_duncan.html|title=Ohio Governor Duncan McArthur |publisher= National Governors Association |access-date=July 27, 2012}} McArthur grew up in western Pennsylvania and later moved to Kentucky, where he was employed as an Indian ranger.{{Ohio History Central|256|Duncan McArthur|accessdate=July 28, 2012}}

McArthur and his friend Alexander McGuffey volunteered in 1790 at Fort Pitt for expeditions against Native Americans during the Northwest Indian War,{{Cite book |last=Skrabec |first=Quentin R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6tNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=William McGuffey: Mentor to American Industry |date=2009 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-0-87586-726-7 |language=en|page=36}} serving as a scout under Generals Josiah Harmar and Anthony Wayne.{{cite book |last=Gilpin|first=Alec R.|title=The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest|location=East Lansing |publisher=Michigan State University Press |year=2012 |isbn=9781609173197 |page=31}} McArthur obtained a position with Nathaniel Massie in 1793, and worked with Massie on a surveying expedition in the Northwest Territory. In 1796, he worked with Massie to lay out the new town of Chillicothe, Ohio, which was to become the state capital in 1803. McArthur moved across the Ohio River in 1797 to Chillicothe, where he gained wealth by his land speculations in the Northwest Territory.

McArthur was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Ohio's 3rd congressional district while serving in the state militia during the War of 1812. He never qualified for office as he preferred to continue serving in the military.

He was appointed colonel of Ohio volunteers and was second-in-command to General William Hull at Fort Detroit. In July 1812, General William Hull was at Fort Detroit as the British fortified a defensive position across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario.{{cite book |last=Lossing |first=Benson John |author-link=Benson John Lossing |date=1869 |title=The Pictorial Field-book of the War of 1812 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itN2AAAAMAAJ |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Brothers |isbn=978-1-4047-5113-2 |page=285}} Hull decided to move the British to Fort Malden, further away from Detroit, so that he could seize the defenses in Windsor.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}} To implement his plan, Hull resorted to deception, which began when his troops collected all the boats and canoes they could find.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}} On 11 July 1812, Hull sent some boats down the river to Springwells, south of Detroit, in full view of the British.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}} At the same time, the American regiment commanded by Duncan McArthur marched from Detroit to Springwells, also observed by the British.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}}

With the British now anticipating an American crossing south of Detroit, a second American force moved north in the dark until they reached Bloody Run, a crossing point a mile and a half north of Fort Detroit and opposite the Ontario town of Sandwich.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}} Finding no activity at Springwells, the British believed the Americans had already crossed the river and marched on Fort Malden.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}} Assuming Fort Malden was vulnerable, the British troops in Sandwich marched south, and in the morning the Americans at Bloody Run crossed to Sandwich unopposed.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}} After landing in Sandwich, the Americans then marched from Sandwich to Windsor and seized the British defensive works.{{sfn|Lossing|1869|pages=261–262}}

It was July 13, 1812. The American militia and regulars were conducting paramilitary operations in their invasion of Canada. American intelligence claimed they found a group of enemy Indian fighters. American militia commander Duncan McArthur with one hundred American militiamen went in pursuit. The American militia chased the enemy fighters and fell upon their rear. The enemy Indian fighters dispersed into the woods and escaped. Duncan McArthur was about to return, when Captain Smith of the Detroit dragoons overtook him with orders to push forward into enemy territory to the settlements on the Thames in search of provisions. McArthur obeyed and penetrated as far as the Moravian towns, sixty miles from its mouth. There was a house McArthur encountered in his raid in Thames. The owner had fled, but the house was guarded by a file of British soldiers. The group of British soldiers were captured, disarmed, and paroled. McArthur and his militia raiding force seized the boats along the stream and loaded them with enemy supplies they commandeered. On July 17, 1812, McArthur and his militia raiding force returned to an American base camp with about 200 barrels of flour, 400 blankets, and a quite large quantity of military stores. These were chiefly public property, collected for the British troops at Malden and yet American commander Hull gave a receipt for the whole, public and private."PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OF THE WAR OF 1812" by Benson J. Lossing chapter 13."The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Volume 2" by William Stocking page. 995.

On July 19, 1812. American Colonel Duncan McArthur with a recon force combined with 150 Ohio infantry troops under Colonel Lewis Cass are near the bridge leading to Fort Malden. Two British artillery guns fire on the Americans and take out an American cannon. Cass and his fellow Americans capture two British troops after they cross the bridge. All the Americans withdraw with their prisoners safely."The War of 1812: A Complete Chronology with Biographies of 63 General Officers" by Bud Hannings Page.39.

He and Colonel Lewis Cass were not present at Detroit when Hull surrendered and were greatly angered to hear that Hull had included both of them in the capitulation. When a British officer notified him of the surrender, McArthur is said to have torn off his epaulettes and broke his sword in a fit of rage, although historians note similar stories were told about other officers as well.{{harvnb|Cramer|1937|p=134}} The British paroled him and McArthur returned to Ohio.

He was appointed a brigadier general in the U.S. Army. Shortly thereafter he was placed in charge of the Army of the Northwest following Harrison's resignation.{{harvnb|Cramer|1937|p=140}}

{{Main|Battle of Malcolm's Mills}}

Duncan McArthur conducted a cavalry raid deep into Thames Valley. Duncan's objective was to devastate the settlement's food supplies which was mainly flour. Duncan and 700 riflemen mounted on horses conducted their raid in October. Duncan and his mounted riflemen inflicted massive damage on infrastructure, burned many flour mills, surprised Canadian militia in separate engagements, and took provisions. McArthur's mounted riflemen raided multiple population centers. McArthur's raiders killed 18 Canadian militiamen, wounded 9 militiamen, and captured 126 Canadian militia soldiers. McArthur avoided contact with the main British army. After completing his raid, McArthur and his mounted riflemen withdrew back to American lines safely. The American raiders suffered only 1 killed and 6 wounded.Ernest A. Cruickshank, The County of Norfolk in the War of 1812, in Zaslow, p.236Ernest A. Cruickshank, The County of Norfolk in the War of 1812, in Zaslow, p.237Ernest A. Cruickshank, The County of Norfolk in the War of 1812, in Zaslow, p.238{{cite book|last1=Quisenberry|first1=Anderson Chenault|title=Kentucky in the War of 1812|date=1915|publisher=Kentucky State Historical Society|location=Kentucky|pages=111–120|edition=Genealogical Publishing Co. 1996|url=https://archive.org/details/KentuckyInTheWarOf1812?id=yUZ3FU2QMncC&lpg=PA112&ots=QgZdpeOoGj&dq=Dudley's%20Mounted%20Battalion&pg=PA110#v=twopage&q&f=true|access-date=22 June 2014}}

McArthur did not face much action any further, but he was engaged in negotiating treaties with the Indians. In 1817, he was one of two commissioners (along with Lewis Cass) who negotiated the Treaty of Fort Meigs, which was signed September 29 of that year with several Native American tribes.

McArthur served intermittently thereafter in the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio State Senate. He was elected and served a single term from 1823 to 1825 in the United States House of Representatives before winning election to the governorship in 1830. McArthur served a single term and did not seek re-election.

McArthur was buried in Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, US.{{cite web|url=http://www.graveaddiction.com/grandview.html|title=Grandview Cemetery|publisher=Grandview Cemetery|access-date=August 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118055749/http://www.graveaddiction.com/grandview.html|archive-date=November 18, 2012|url-status=dead}} The trust established in his will later became the subject of litigation that went before the U.S. Supreme Court in McArthur v. Scott.

The small village of McArthur, Ohio, the seat of Vinton County, is named for him.

McArthur founded the city of Greenfield, Ohio in 1799. Greenfield is located at N39 21.11958 W83 22.96284 (GPS coordinates), about 21 miles due west of Chillicothe. State Route 28, which runs between Greenfield and Chillicothe, in 1973 was named as General Duncan McArthur Highway per act of the 113th Ohio General Assembly.

{{reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_ohio/col2-content/main-content-list/title_mcarthur_duncan.html National Governors Association]
• {{Ohio History Central|256}}
• {{Cite journal

|last=Cramer

|first=C. H.

|title=Duncan McArthur: The Military Phase

|url=http://publications.ohiohistory.org/ohstemplate.cfm?action=detail&Page=0046128.html&StartPage=128&EndPage=147&volume=46

|volume=46

|issue=2

|date=April 1937

|journal=Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

|publisher=Ohio Historical Society

|pages=128–147

}}

{{CongBio|M000299}}

{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=McArthur, Duncan|year=1900 |short=x}}

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Category:1772 births

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