ENTRY

John A. McCausland (1836–1927)

SUMMARY

John A. McCausland was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Known as “Tiger John,” the former mathematics professor was hailed as a hero by the citizens of Lynchburg, Virginia, for repulsing an attack by the Union general David Hunter in June 1864. A month later, however, McCausland was condemned as a villain by the citizens of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, for acting on the orders of Jubal A. Early and burning their Cumberland Valley town in retaliation for Union actions in the Shenandoah Valley. The incident followed the famously unreconstructed McCausland through the rest of his long life, forcing him to leave the country for a time after the surrender at Appomattox, and becoming the headline of his many obituaries in 1927.

McCausland was born on September 13, 1836, in Saint Louis, Missouri. His father was an immigrant from County Tyrone, Ireland; his mother was a native of Botetourt County, Virginia. After they both died in 1843, McCausland and his brothers lived with their grandmother and then their guardian uncle, who moved them to Henderson, Virginia (now West Virginia). McCausland was graduated first in his class from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington in 1857. After attending the University of Virginia in Charlottesville for a year, he returned to VMI to teach mathematics. As an assistant to Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, he helped to command VMI cadets who guarded the scaffolding from which John Brown was hanged on the morning of December 2, 1859, in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia).

At the outbreak of the Civil War, McCausland organized the Rockbridge Artillery—which became part of the Stonewall Brigade—but turned command of it over to William Nelson Pendleton. He then raised a second unit, the 36th Virginia Infantry Regiment, which he led in the early campaigns in the Kanawha Valley in western Virginia. He served under former Virginia governor and United States secretary of war John B. Floyd at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862 when Floyd infamously fled with his Virginia soldiers rather than surrender to Union general Ulysses S. Grant. After Floyd was relieved of his command, McCausland returned to southwestern Virginia, where he would serve, in succession, under generals William W. Loring, John Echols, Samuel Jones, and Albert G. Jenkins.

After Jenkins was mortally wounded at the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain on May 9, 1864, McCausland took command of Jenkins’s brigade, performed well, and was promoted to brigadier general on May 24. Soon after, Union brigadier general David Hunter and his new Army of West Virginia targeted Lynchburg, a major Confederate transportation hub, for attack. With Brigadier General John Imboden, McCausland fought a delaying action against Hunter on June 17, giving Lieutenant General Jubal Early time to arrive with reinforcements. Lynchburg was saved, and its citizens presented McCausland with an engraved gold sword, silver spurs, and a new horse.

McCausland then joined with Early in the first phase of the latter’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign, which involved moving north into Maryland, Pennsylvania, and eventually to the outskirts of Washington, D.C. In part to avenge the Union burning of parts of the Shenandoah Valley, Early sent McCausland to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he demanded and received ransom; then, under Early’s orders, McCausland moved farther north to the town of Chambersburg.

Destruction of Chambersburg

Located about twenty-five miles northwest of Gettysburg, Chambersburg—the Franklin County seat with a population of about five thousand—briefly had been a staging point for John Brown in 1859 and had already been occupied twice—in October 1862 by Major General J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry and in June 1863 by General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. McCausland arrived at the head of a detachment of cavalry on July 30, 1864, with orders to secure from the town a ransom of either one hundred thousand dollars in gold or five hundred thousand dollars in United States currency. Absent that, he should burn it, which he did by the early afternoon. The fire destroyed about five hundred and fifty buildings, left three thousand people homeless, and caused $1.6 million in damages.

After the raid on Chambersburg, McCausland operated for the remainder of the war with his brigade in the Shenandoah Valley, supporting Early against Union general Philip H. Sheridan. After the Battle of Waynesboro in March 1865, McCausland joined Confederate general Thomas L. Rosser for the Appomattox Campaign.

McCausland refused to follow Lee in surrender on April 9, however. With the remnants of his command, he escaped the Union encirclement and shortly thereafter demobilized at Lynchburg. The prosecuting attorney of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, meanwhile, had obtained a warrant against McCausland on the charge of arson. McCausland responded by fleeing to Canada, then England, Scotland, and France, and finally Mexico. In 1867, after receiving indications from Grant that he would not be prosecuted, he returned to the United States and settled on a large estate in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia.

McCausland remained on his profitable farm until he died of natural causes on January 23, 1927. At the time of his death, he and Felix Robertson were the last of the Confederate brigadier generals still alive. McCausland was buried in Smith Cemetery in Henderson, West Virginia.

RELATED CONTENT
MAP
TIMELINE
September 13, 1836
John A. McCausland is born in Saint Louis, Missouri.
1849
John A. McCausland moves to Henderson, Virginia (now in West Virginia).
1853
John A. McCausland enrolls at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.
1857
John A. McCausland graduates first in his class from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.
1858
John A. McCausland studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville for a year.
1859
After a year at the University of Virginia, John A. McCausland returns to the Virginia Military Institute as an assistant professor in mathematics.
December 2, 1859
Eighty-five Virginia Military Institute cadets, under the leadership of Thomas J. Jackson and John McCausland, attend the execution of John Brown in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia).
1861
John A. McCausland organizes and drills the Rockbridge Artillery but turns command over to William N. Pendleton. He then organizes and takes command of the 36th Virginia Infantry Regiment.
July 17, 1861
John A. McCausland sees his first combat during a small skirmish with Union troops under the command of Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox.
September 9, 1861
Under the command of Confederate general John B. Floyd, John A. McCausland participates in the Battle of Carnifex Ferry.
February 14, 1862
Union general Ulysses S. Grant lays siege to Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
February 16, 1862
Confederate generals John B. Floyd and John A. McCausland evacuate their men from Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in the early morning hours, leaving General Simon Bolivar Buckner to surrender the fort. The evacuation of Donelson will destroy Floyd's military career, but McCausland receives little criticism.
April 1862
John A. McCausland returns to southwestern Virginia from action in the West.
May 9, 1864
John A. McCausland takes command of Albert Jenkins's brigade at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain after Jenkins receives a mortal wound.
May 24, 1864
John A. McCausland is appointed brigadier general.
June 18, 1864
Confederate forces under John A. McCausland turn Union general David Hunter back from Lynchburg, saving the city. A month later, McCausland receives a golden sword as a token of thanks from Lynchburg's citizens.
July 1864
John A. McCausland joins Confederate general Jubal A. Early's raid against the North.
July 28, 1864
Confederate general Jubal A. Early orders John A. McCausland to raid Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
July 30, 1864
When the citizens of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, cannot produce the demanded ransom, Confederate general John A. McCausland burns the town.
1865
John A. McCausland flees the United States, spending time in Canada, Europe, and Mexico before returning in 1867.
March 30, 1865
John A. McCausland, under the command of General Thomas Rosser, fights at the Battle of Five Forks. He remains with the Army of Northern Virginia until his escape from Appomattox.
1867
John A. McCausland returns to Saint Louis, Missouri, and sells his property there in order to acquire land in Henderson, West Virginia. A shrewd manager, McCausland soon has a productive and valuable farm in operation.
October 3, 1878
John A. McCausland marries Emmet Charlotte Hannah. The two will have four children.
August 25, 1891
Charlotte Hannah, wife of John A. McCausland, dies.
January 23, 1927
John A. McCausland dies.
FURTHER READING
  • Brown, James Earl. “Life of Brigadier General John McCausland.” West Virginia History: A Quarterly Magazine 4 (July 1943): 239–293.
  • Pauley, Michael. Unreconstructed Rebel: The Life of General John McCausland. Missoula: Pictorial Histories, 1993.
CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Luebke, Peter. John A. McCausland (1836–1927). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/mccausland-john-a-1836-1927.
MLA Citation:
Luebke, Peter. "John A. McCausland (1836–1927)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 29 Nov. 2023
Last updated: 2021, December 22
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