- John McElroy
John McElroy (1846–1929) was an American printer, soldier, journalist and author, most known for writing the
novel "The Red Acorn" and the four-volume "Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons", based upon his lengthy confinement in the Confederate Andersonville prison camp during theAmerican Civil War .John McElroy was born to Robert and Mary Henderson McElroy in
Greenup County, Kentucky . When his father died, he traveled to St. Louis to become anapprentice in the printing business.As a sixteen year old in 1863, McElroy enlisted in the
Union Army as a private in Company L of the 16th Illinois Cavalryregiment , having earlier served with local Union troops in operations near St. Louis. In January 1864, he was among dozens of men captured in a skirmish nearJonesville, Virginia , by Confederate cavalrymen underWilliam E. Jones . McElroy sent to a variety of camps before being assigned to Andersonville prison, where he remained for the rest of the war.After the war ended, McElroy was released from captivity and transported back to the North. He settled in Chicago and resumed the printer's trade. He became a local reporter and newspaperman before moving to
Toledo, Ohio , to become an editor of the "Toledo Blade ". He married Elsie Pomeroy ofOttawa, Ohio , and raised a family. In 1879, he wrote "Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons", a non-fiction work based on his experiences during his fifteen-month incarceration. It quickly became abestseller and remained popular for the next twenty years.In 1884, he moved from Toledo to
Washington, D.C. to take over as editor and co-owner of the "National Tribune". He was active in the localGrand Army of the Republic , serving as commander of the Department of the Potomac in 1896. In 1908, McElroy wrote "The Economic Functions of Vice". The following year, he published "Struggle for Missouri", a history of the bitter division overslavery that split the state's loyalties and led to armed conflict within its borders. In 1910, he wrote a Civil War novel entitled "Si Klegg: His Transformation from a Raw Recruit to a Veteran".References
* McElroy, Rev. John McConnell, "The Scotch-Irish McElroys in America: A. D. 1717-A. D. 1900." Albany, New York: Brandow Printing Company, 1901.
External links
*gutenberg author| id=John_McElroy | name=John McElroy
* [http://www.online-literature.com/john-mcelroy/ McElroy]
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