Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/171

 McKAY

MACKAY

and served throughout the war with Mexico ; was brevetted captain, Sept. 23, 1846, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the several conflicts at Monterey, Mexico ; participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the capture of San Antonio ; was promoted captain, and was brevetted major, Aug. 20, 1847, for Contreras and Churubusco, Mexico. He was assistant adju- tant-general of General Butler's volunteer divi- sion, 1846-47 ; of General Worth's regular divi- sion, 1847-48 ; of the western division, 1849-50, and of the 3d military department, 1850-51. He was treasurer of the Soldiers' Home, a military asylum near Washington, D.C., 1851-53, and was brevetted major of staff and assistant adjutant- general, Aug. 5, 1853. He was assigned to the eastern division and served, 1853-56 ; was on spe- cial duty at Washington, D.C., 1855-56, and was assistant adjutant-general of the department of the Pacific, 1856-61. He was promoted lieuten- ant-colonel of staff and assistant adjutant-general. May 11, 1861, but declined. He resigned from the U. S. army, Aug. 3, 1861, and on Sept. 15, 1861, was appointed assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. A. S. Johnston with the rank of colonel. He served in camp at Bowling Green, and when Gen. S. B. Buckner was entrusted with the defence of Forts Henry and Donelson he was transferred to his staff. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and was placed in command of the troops on Madrid Bend, Island No. 10, March 29, 1862, where he succeeded Gen. John P. McCown, and on the surrender of the island, April 8, 1S62, he was one of the three gen- eral officers who surrendered. He was imprisoned in Fort Warren, Boston harbor, until exchanged. After his exchange he was assigned to the com- mand of a brigade in the department of Tennes- see under Gen. Samuel Jones. In December fol- lowing he was given command of the District of the Gulf, and in February, 1863, being succeeded by Gen. S. B. Buckner, he was assigned to the western division of that district. In April, 1863, he was appointed chief of staff to Gen. Braxton Bragg, and was relieved at his own request after the battle of Chickamauga. In November fol- lowing he was assigned to the command of the brigades lately under General Hebert, at Smith- ville, N.C.,and in November, 1864, was assigned to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston as chief of staff, and served in the Atlanta campaign from Dalton to Atlanta. On April 20, 1865, after the surrender of General Lee, he joined with Gens. G. W. Smith and Howell Cobb in the surrender of Macon, Ga. He died at Langley, Va., Aug. 19, 1891.

McKAY, Donald, shipbuilder, was born in. Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Sept. 4, 1810. He learned the shipbuilders' trade in New York city, settled in Newburyport, Mass., as a shipbuilder, and in

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1845 removed his business to East Boston, Mass., where he conducted a large ship yard. He built for Enoch Train several clipper ships for his line of Liverpool packets which were celebrated for their speed. He also built many of the New England clip- per ships for the California and Australian trade. He built the Great Re- public, of 4556 tons, in 1853, at the time the largest mer- chantman in the world ; the Flying Cloud, that made the run from New York to San Francisco in eighty-nine days, three days less than the Great Republic ; the Sovereign of the Seas, 2400 tons, making 430 geographical miles in twenty- four consecutive hours and 3144 miles in ten consecutive days. He constructed the model of a paddle-wheel steamer, exhibited in July, 1853, which he believed would cross the ocean in six days. He constructed a number of U.S, gunboats, including tlie light-draught monitor Nauset and the double-end gunboat Ashuelot, for service in the civil war. The last boat of his construction was the U.S. sloop-of-war Adams, in 1874. He retired to Hamilton, Mass., in 1874, and devoted himself to farming. The beauty and speed of the clipper ships, Westward Ho, Flying Fish, Bald Eagle, Empress of the Seas, Staghound, Star of Empire and Golden Fleece gave him a world-wide reputation as a naval constructor. He died in Hamilton, Mass., Sept. 20, 1880.

McKAY, James J., representative, was born in Bladen county, N.C., in 1793. He became a lawyer in his native county ; was a member of the North Carolina senate, 1816-22, 1826 and 1830, and was U.S. district attorney for North Carolina for several years. He was a representa- tive in the 22d-30th congresses, 1831-^9, and was chairman of the committee on ways and means, 1837-47. At the Democratic national convention that met in Baltimore, May 22, 1848, he received the vote of the North Carolina delegation as their candidate for Vice-President. He died in Goldsboro, N.C., Sept. 14, 1853.

MACKAY, John William, capitalist, was born in Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 28, 1831. His ances- tors, who were Scotch, settled in the north of Ireland. He came to the United States with his parents in 1840 and settled in New York city, where his father died in 1842. He attended the public schools and learned the trade of shipbuild- ing. In 1849 he went to California, where he engaged in mining. He began to work the Com- fjtock lode in Nevada in 1860, and being hampered