Duncan K. McRae

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Duncan K. McRae (born August 16, 1820) was a political candidate and soldier from North Carolina. He was a legislator in Cumberland County, North Carolina.[1] He left the Democrat Party and gained support from remnants of the Whig Party, but lost his candidacy for governor of North Carolina in 1858 to John Willis Ellis by a wide margin. Ellis later helped him gain comman of a regiment during the Civil War.[2] McRae drew critiques for his changing political positions.[2]

During the U.S. Civil War he was involved in the Battle of Antietam and is listed in the Antietam Confederate order of battle. He is also listed in the Seven Days Confederate order of battle as a Colonel with the 5th North Carolina.

McRae was involved in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 and his letters describing the action survive.[3]

He took over the 5th North Carolina troops after the death of Samuel Garland at South Mountain. He "railed" against his critics during the war.[2]

He was the son of Jon McRae (1792–1909), postmaster of Fayetteville, North Carolina in the 1840s and 1850s.[4]

McRae was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina on August 16, 1820. He attended the University of Virginia and William and Mary. He studied law with Robert Strange. He served in the North Carolina House (D-Cumberland) from 1842 to 1843. He founded a short-lived Raleigh newspaper with Perrin Busbee named the Democratic Signal in 1843. He served as consul with the Ambassador to France during the Franklin Pierce administration. He was an Independent Democrat candidate for governor of North Carolina in 1858. He campaigned as the Land Distribution Democratic nominee, calling for public lands given by North Carolina to the federal government in 1790 to be sold and the money granted to North Carolina. He published a law journal in Memphis, Tennessee during the Reconstruction Era before moving to Chicago. Later he returned to Wilmington, North Carolina. He gave a speech in Raleigh in favor of Winfield S. Hancock [5][6]

References

  1. ↑ State Parties and National Politics: North Carolina, 1815-1861 by Thomas E. Jeffrey pages 264, 381
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 ashness of That Hour: Politics, Gettysburg, and the Downfall of Confederate ... by Robert J. Wynstra
  3. ↑ The Maryland Campaign of September 1862: Ezra A. Carman’s Definitive Study ... by Ezra Ayers Carman
  4. ↑ "John McRae Papers, 1792-1909, 1966.". 2.lib.unc.edu. Retrieved 2014-01-25. 
  5. ↑ "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Duncan K. McRae". ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2014-01-25. 
  6. ↑ Raleigh News and Observer, 9/19/1880

Further reading

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