MeCRA'DY, EDWARD ( 1833— ). An Ameri can lawyer. soldier, and historian, born in Charles ton, S. C. He studied at Charleston College, and in 1S55 was admitted to the bar in his native State,where he took an active part in the secession movement and participated in the capture of Castle Pinckney and in the bombardment of Fort Sumter. After the organization of the Confederate Government, he entered its military service as captain of the first company raised in South Carolina (.June 27, 1861), and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was wounded at the second battle of Bull Run (August 30, 1862), and a few months later was so severely injured by a falling tree as to be incapacitated for further field service. After the war he became a mem ber of the House in his State Legislature, and proposed the South Carolina election and regis tration law, known as the Eight-Box Law. His principal works are: The History of South Caro lina Under the Proprietary Government, 1670 1719 (1S97) ; The History of South Carolina Under the Royal Government, 1719-1776 (1899) ; and The History of South Carolina in the Revolu tion, 177.;-1780 (190]).
IffeCRA'B,Y, GEORGE WASHINGTON ( 1835— ). An American politician, born at Evanston, Ind. When he was about a year old his family removed to that part of Wisconsin Territory which later became the State of Iowa. He was admitted to the bar in 1856 and began to practice law at Keokuk. The next year he was elected to the State Legislature, and from 1861 until 1865 he was a member of the State Senate. From 1869 until 1877 he was a Republican member of Con gress, where he served on the Committee on Re vision of Laws, Naval Affairs, and Judiciary, and was chairman of the committees on Elec tions and on Railroads and Canals. He drew up the law under which the United States judiciary was reorganized, proposed the appointment of a joint committee to count the electoral vote at the time of the Tilden-Hayes controversy, and was largely instrumental in securing the passage of the Electoral Bill. He was Secretary of War from 1877 to ]879. but in the year be came judge of the Eighth United States judicial district. lie published The American Lame of Elections (1875).
MeCREA, m'-krh', JANE ( 1753-77). An Ameri can girl, who during the Revolutionary War met her death under circumstances which have given her name a place in history. She was born at Bedminster (now Lamington), N. J.; hut after the death of her father, a Scotch Presby terian clergyman, she lived near Fort Edward, N. Y., with her brother, and in July, 1777, at the time of Burgoyne's invasion, was visiting a Mrs. McNeil at this place. Her lover, David Jones, was an officer in a Loyalist regiment, and on the morning of July 27th seems to have sent a small party of Indians (under Duluth) to escort her within the English lines, where the two were to be married. Meanwhile another party of In. dians under the Wyandot Panther (or Wolf) captured her and Mrs. McNeil, and was closely pursued and fired upon by a party of Ameri cans. Mrs. McNeil arrived in safety at the English camp, and on the next day a scalp, identified as that of Jane McCrea (whose body was found soon afterwards), was brought in; but the exact manner of her death was never defi nitely known. The Indians claimed that she was
shot accidentally, by the pursuing Americans, but it seems almost certain that she was killed by the Indians themselves, during a dispute over her possession between Panther and Duluth. The story of her death. embellished with many romantic de tails, spread with wonderful rapidity, and so aroused the surrounding country that volunteers poured in from all sides to assist in the opera tions against Burgoyne; while Burgoyne him self, shocked at the barbarity of his Indian al lies, reproved them with such severity that most of them forthwith left his camp and refused further aid. Many versions of the story have appeared, all accounts, however, agreeing that the unfortunate girl was beautiful and highly accomplished, and a general favorite.
MeCULLOCH, m'-kfil'16, BENJA mix (1811 62). An American soldier. born in Rutherford County, Tenn. He left school at the age of four teen to become a hunter and river boatman; joined David Crockett (q.v.) and other adven turous frontiersmen in 1835 as a volunteer in the Texan war of independence, and served with distinction in the battle of San Jacinto. After the war he settled at Gonzales as a surveyor, and in 1839 was elected a member of the Texan Congress. In 1840-41 he was engaged in fighting the Comanches, and in repelling Mexican border raids. lie was a member of the first Texas State Legislature, and was appointed a major-general' of the State militia. In the Mexican War, he recruited a picked force of Texan mounted rangers, served under Taylor at Monterey and Buena Vista, and later performed valuable scout ing duty during Scott's advance on the Mexican capital. After a few years' residence in Cali fornia, he returned to Texas in 1852, and in the following year was appointed to the difficult and dangerous post of United States marshal for Texas. In 1857 he was one of the commissioners to settle the difficulties with the Mormons in Utah. At the outbreak of the Civil War he en tered the Confederate service, and was appoint ed, in May. 186]. brigadier-general, and placed in command of the Indian Territory. He had scarcely organized his command, when he was ordered with it into Missouri to carry out the plan of winning that State for the Confederacy. He joined General Sterling Price. and with him defeated the Federal forces under Gen. Nathaniel Lyon (q.v.) at Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861 After the battle he refused to order a pursuit of the Federal troops. and was superseded in the chief command by General Price. He continued in active service, however, commanded one of the Confederate wings under Gen. Earl Van Dorn (q.v.) at the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. (q.v.), March 7-8, 1862, and was killed by a sharpshooter while reconnoitring. Consult Reid, Scouting Ex peditions of McCulloch's Rangers (Philadelphia, 1850) ; and Rose, Life and Services of Gen. Ben jamin McCulloch. •