Franklin County IL Archives Biographies.....Logan, John A. 1824 - 1886
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Author: Biographical Publishing Co. (1894)

GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN was born in Franklin County, Ill., in 1824. He entered
military service as Captain in the Mexican War and served for two years. At the
beginning of the Civil War he espoused the cause of the Union and entered the
volunteer service in 1861, when he raised and commanded the Thirty-first
Illinois Infantry. At the battle of Belmont, Mo., he led his men into the fight
with great gallantry. Though they were raw troops and had never stood fire, yet
they fought on this occasion, under the lead of Colonel Logan, with a bravery
seldom surpassed by veteran soldiers.

  At the battle of Ft. Donelson, Colonel Logan's command held the right of the
line and was pressed by overwhelming odds. Stubbornly resisting the massed
columns of the enemy, he succeeded in holding his position until reinforcements
were brought and the Confederates finally driven from the field. On that
occasion he was severely wounded the first day of the battle, but refused to go
to the rear. For his meritorious conduct in that engagement he was made a
Brigadier-General and assigned to the army under command of General Grant. At
the battle of Shiloh he displayed his usual courage and solid fighting
qualities. For daring and distinguished conduct al this terrible trial of
strength between the great contending armies, he was promoted to Major-General
November 29, 1862.

  Taking command of a division, General Logan accompanied Grant through the
Vicksburg campaign, and after the fall of that city, the Father of Waters
became, as in days past, the common property of the American people. Before the
war began, General Logan, in a speech to the people of Illinois, declared that
"If the rebel states, or any other foreign Government, ever attempted to control
the mouth of the Mississippi River the men of the northwest would hew their way
to the Gulf of Mexico, sword in hand." That prophecy was fully realized. The
people of the northwest nobly vindicated the truth of what General Logan had
said years before, and forever settled the question that the men of the great
northwest are unalterably resolved that the Mississippi River is the common
birthright of the children of its far-spreading valleys, which they will neither
voluntarily relinquish nor peacefully surrender. It was indeed a proud day for
General Logan when he could stand on the ruins of the last hostile fortification
along this noble river and fully realize the thought that the yeomanry of the
northwest had literally carved their way through the entire Confederacy to
vindicate their claim to this, the greatest of all American rivers. The Stars
and Stripes could now be raised on a steamboat at St. Paul, Minn., and borne,
proudly waving, to the mouth of the national thoroughfare and out on the gulf
below. This work having been finished by the western army, the command sought
other fields of conquest.

  From Vicksburg General Logan started with Sherman, through Mississippi and
Alabama, to the relief of Chattanooga, in Tennessee. November 24, 1863, the
battle of Mission Ridge was fought and won. In that great conflict Logan bore a
conspicuous part and again acquitted himself with distinguished honor. At the
beginning of the Atlanta campaign he was placed in command of the Fifteenth
Atlanta Cavalry .N In command of this corps he made the celebrated march through
the entire Confederacy, from Chattanooga to Atlanta, thence to Savannah, through
the Carolinas and Virginia to Richmond, and on to Washington. On reaching the
latter city General Howard was appointed Superintendent of the Freedmen's
Bureau, and General Logan succeeded to the command of the Army of the Tennessee,
consisting of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Atlanta Cavalry. Thus from the
position of an humble station he had fought his way to the supreme command of a
magnificent army of a hundred thousand men.

  In every department of life the native talents and energy of the General
brought him success. As a lawyer his was a brilliant career. As a politician, he
had, before the Rebellion, attained a wide and growing popularity in Illinois,
having been elected to Congress, and having held other posts of honor. Illinois
may be proud of her Logan, whose noble valor has vindicated her honor in many a
fiercely fought battle, and whose eminent achievements in peaceful pursuits are
surpassed only by his daring deeds in the bloody theatre of war. He was a lover
of military science and born to be a commander. Among the soldiers he was the
idol of the Army of the Tennessee. He was loved by his men not only because he
was their commander, but literally their leader on all occasions where danger
was to be encountered.

  At the close of the Civil War, General Logan resigned his position and retired
to civic life, though from that time until his death, December 26, 1886, he was
closely associated with the history of Illinois and the United States as well.
In person he was a remarkable man, resembling no other general. His complexion
was dark, his eyes and hair very black, and in stature he was low and heavy. He
wore his hair and mustache long, which increased his resemblance to the Indian
chiefs of the western wilds.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe
Counties, Illinois
Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the
Counties
Together with Biographies and Portraits of All the Presidents of the United
States and the Governors of the State of Illinois

Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co.

1894

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