Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/112

90 and, after some time spent in teachins:, was or- dained at Dartmouth college, 20 May, 1772. and spent sixteen months as a missionary to the Dela- ware Indians, near Pittsburg. Pa. On 13 Nov., 1776, he was installed pastor of the Congregational church at North Hampton, N. H., where he re- mained until August, 1785, when he was dismissed at his own request. The following year he was called to the church at East Windsor, Conn., and continued in that relation until his death, a period of thirtv-four vears. He was trustee of Dartmouth college "from 1777 till 1800, and received the de- gree of D. D. from the same institution in 1803. Dr. McClure published, in addition to eleven occa- sional discourses, an " Oration at the Opening of Exeter Phillips Academy" (1783); "Sermons on the Moral Law " (1795 ; new ed. in 1818) ; " Ora- tion on the Death of Gen. Washington " (1800) ; and. in connection with Rev. Dr. Parish. '' Me- moirs of the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, D. D." (1810).

McCLURE, George, soldier, b. near London- derry, Ireland, in 1771 ; d. in Elgin, 111., 16 Aug., 1851. He emigrated to Baltimore in 1791, and subsequently settled in Bath, N. Y., where he studied law, and was successively a member of the legislature, sheriff, surrogate, and judge of Steuben county. He volunteered in the war of 1812. and in 1813 commanded a brigade on the Buffalo fron- tier, being brought prominently into notice by or- dering the burning of Newark (afterward Niaga- ra), Canada West. When he had determined early in December to abandon Fort George, after endeav- oring to destroy the former work by blowing it up while its garrison was crossing "the river to Fort Niagara, he set fire to the neighboring village of Newark. The weather was intensely cold, and the inhabitants, who had only been given a few hours' notice, inch;ding a large number of women and children, were driven from their homes into the deep snow, with but little food and clothing. Only one dwelling out of one hundred and fifty was left standing. When the British took posses- sion of the abandoned fortification they decided on svfitt retaliation, and soon six villages, and many isolated houses on the American bank of the Niaga- ra river, together with several vessels, were set on fire, and scores of innocent persons lost their lives.

McCLURE, John, patriot, b. in Chester district, S. C, about 1730 ; d. in Charlotte, N. C, 18 Aug.. 1780. After the fall of Charleston, S. C, 12 May, 1780, the South Carolina patriots were greatly dis- heartened, and in the following month Sir Henry Clinton wrote to the British ministry : " I may venture to assert that there are few men in South Carolina who are not either our prisoners, or in arms with us." Many patriots had found refuge in North Carolina, while others had gone up to the mountains and were gathering their country- men into bands to avenge the insults of their oppressoi-s. Eai-ly in July, Gen. Thomas Sumter returned to South Carolina with a few followers. He found that the Whigs, led by John McClure, Richard Winn, and others, had already attacked the enemy at different points. To crush these patriots, and bind the loyalists together, the Brit- ish authorities sent out marauding parties, chiefly Tories. At Mcbley's meeting-house, on the banks of Little river, F'airfield district, Capt. MeClure and Capt. Bratton fell upon a party of loyalists and dispersed them. This disaster, following closely upon that at Beckamville, where McClure. at the head of thirty-three men, had routed a party of Tories and British soldiers the previous month, caused the commander at Rocky Mount, Chester CO., to send out Capt. Christian Huch with 400 cavalry and a body of well -mounted loyalists. After Huch had committed various depredations, he encamped in a lane on the plantation of James Williamson, now Brattonville. where he passed the night of 11 July. Early on the following morn- ing they were surprised by McClure and Bratton, whose forces, only 133 in number, entered each end of the lane. After a fierce struggle, lasting an hour. Huch and Col. Ferguson, of the Tory militia, were killed and the forces under them were dis- persed. Capt. IMcClure leading the pursuit. On 6 Aug. that officer was present at the battle of Hanging Rock, and fell at the first fire pierced by two bullets. When his friends came to his aid he urged them to leave him and pursue the enemy. After the battle he was taken to Waxhaw church, and thence to Charlotte, N. C, where he died in Liberty hall. Gen. William R. Davie said of him : " Of the many brave men with whom it was my fortune to become acquainted in the army, John McClure was one of the bravest."

McCLURE, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier, British arctic explorer, b. in Wexford, Ireland. 28 Jan., 1807 ; d. in London. England, 17 Oct.. 1873. He was the posthumous child of a British officer that was killed at the battle of Aboukir. He was adopted by Gen. Le Mesurier, and through his influence educated at Eton and Sandhurst, but, being averse to a military career, obtained an appoint- ment as midshipman in the navy. After serving for ten years on various stations, he accompanied Sir George Bach to the arctic regions as mate of the " Terror," and for his services was rewarded with a lieutenancy. In 1848 he joined the Frank- lin search expedition of Sir John Ross, and was promoted commander. In 1850 he began the voy- age which secured him lasting fame as the dis- coverer of the Northwest passage. He left Plym- outh in command of the " Investigator," which was provisioned for three years and had a crew of sixty- six men, under orders to pass through Bering straits, and thence, if practicable, to proceed to Mel- ville island, an achievement which had not then been accomplished by any vessel. Capt. McClure entered a strait, which he named the Prince of Wales strait, and, after his ship was frozen fast, he continued the exploration by sledges until he reached Melville, or Barrow's, straits in the winter of 1850-1. This was called the first discovery of the Northwest passage. The next season he dis- covered a second route on the north side of Baring island. In 1853 he was extricated from a perilous situation by Capt. Kellett. who arrived at Melville island f roni the east. McClure remained in the arc- tic regions until 1854, and his whole party reached England on 28 September of that year. IMcClure received the £5,000 that had been offered for the discovery of the Northwest passage, and a similar sum was distributed among his officers and crew. He was also knighted and subsequently made vice- admiral. From^his journals Capt. Sherard Osborn published " The Discovery of the Northwest Pas- sage " (London, 1856).

McCLURG, Alexander Caldwell, publisher, b. in Philadelphia. Pa., about 1835. He was graduated at Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, in 1853. He left the house of S. C. Griggs and Co., book-sellers of Chicago, to enter the National army as a private, 15 Aug., 1862, and was subsequently commissioned captain in the 88th Illinois volunteers. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the adjutant-general's department, and chief of staff of the 14th army corps, and brevetted colonel and brigadier-general. He served to the end of the war in the Army of the Cumberland, and accom-