History of Burlington, (Bradford County) Pennsylvania United States of America

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Thomas Jefferson McKean, soldier, was born in Burlington, Pa., Aug. 21, 1810. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy and brevetted 2d lieutenant, 4th infantry, July 1, 1831. He served in garrison in Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri, 1831-34; was promoted 2d lieutenant, Sept. 15, 1833, and resigned. March 31, 1834. He engaged in civil engineering, 1834-37; served in the Florida war, 1837-38, as adjutant of the 1st Pennsylvania volunteers; removed to Iowa Territory, where he was a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1846, and at the outbreak of the Mexican war he organized and drilled a company of volunteers, with which He enlisted as a private in 1847, and was sergeant-major in the 15th infantry, 1847-48. He was engaged in the battle of Contreras; was wounded at Churubusco; served at Molino del Rey; at the storming of Chapultepec, and in the capture of Mexico. He declined the brevet of 2d lieutenant of the 1st dragoons, June 28, 1848, and was chief engineer of the Dubuque and Keokuk railroad, 1848-51; U.S. deputy surveyor and general assistant to the surveyor-general of Wisconsin, 1851-55; commissioner to locate the seat of government of Iowa, in 1855; and sheriff of Linn county, Iowa, in 1859, where he engaged in farming, 1848-61. He was appointed additional paymaster of U.S. volunteers, June 1, 1861; was promoted brigadier-general of U.S. volunteers, Nov. 21, 1861; commanded Jefferson City and the central district of Missouri, December, 1861, to March, 1862, and served in the Mississippi campaign, April to July, 1862. He commanded Benton barracks at St. Louis, Mo., July to September, 1862; Corinth, Miss., September to October, 1862, and was engaged in the battle of Corinth, Oct. 3-4, 1862, where he commanded the 6th division, Army of West Tennessee. He commanded the northeast district of Missouri, January to June, 1863; the district of Nebraska, June, 1863, to March, 1864, and the district of South Kansas, March to August, 1864. He served as chief of cavalry, Department of the Gulf, September to October, 1864; was on court-martial duty, October to December, 1864; in command of the district of West Florida, December, 1864, to February, 1865, the district of Morganiza, La., March to April, 1865, and the district of southwest Missouri, June to August, 1865. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers, March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services during the war, and was mustered out of the volunteer service, Aug. 24, 1865. He settled as a farmer near Marion, Iowa, in 1865, was mayor of Marion in 1865 and was appointed pension agent for the eastern district of the state in 1869, which office He declined. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago, Ill., May 20, 1868. He died in Marion, Iowa, April 19, 1870.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Burlington, (Bradford County) Pennsylvania

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