Duncan McArthur
Brigadier General, U.S. Army

Duncan McArthur was born on 14 June 1772 in Dutchess County, NY, he moved to Pennsylvania with his father in 1780 when he was a child.

McArthur joined General Josiah Harmar's Army of Pennsylvania Volunteers when he was 17 and served in the Indian Campaigns in the Northwest Territory. He moved to Maysville, KY, in 1793 and found employment at the salt works. In 1796, he became one of the earliest inhabitants of Ross County, OH, and acted as a spy among Indian tribes.

McArthur was a member of the Ohio Legislature in 1804 and helped to organize a state militia. He was commissioned as Colonel in 1805 and became Major General in 1808. He served in the Ohio State Senate from 1805-14 and as Speaker of the House in 1809-10. He supported moving the State Capitol to Columbus and opposed the organization of Tammany Societies in Ohio.

During the War of 1812, he raised a regiment of volunteers. He was captured by the British and held briefly as a prisoner of war. He returned to Ohio after his parole and was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1813. McArthur resigned before qualifying to accept a commission as Brigadier General in the U.S. Army and assumed command of the Army of the Northwest after the resignation of General William Henry Harrison.

After the war, he was appointed as the Indian Treaty Commissioner from 1816-19 while also serving as a member of the Ohio Legislature. He regained a seat in the State Senate in 1821. Elected as an Adams-Clay Republican to represent Ohio's 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, he served from 1823-25 and was Chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures. He declined re-nomination in 1824. McArthur held state office positions until he was elected as Ohio's 10th Governor in 1830. He served one term and was defeated for re-election in 1832. He was also one of the founders of Greenfield, OH.

Honors

McArthur, OH, in Vinton County is named for him. 

Death and Burial

Duncan McArthur died on 29 April 1839 at his residence in Chillicothe, OH, when he was 66 years old. He is buried at Grandview Cemetery in Chillicothe.