Nathaniel McLean

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Nathaniel Collins McLean
February 2, 1815 – January 4, 1905
Brig. Gen. Nathaniel McLean
Place of birth	Cincinnati, Ohio
Place of death	Bellport, New York
Allegiance	United States of America
Years of service	1861-1865
Rank	Brigadier General
Other work	Lawyer, Farmer

Nathaniel Collins McLean (February 2, 1815 – January 4, 1905), was a lawyer, farmer, and Union general during the American Civil War.

Nathaniel McLean was the son of John McLean, an 1856 and 1860 Republican presidential candidate an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States known as "the politician of the Supreme Court".

McLean was well educated, and graduated from Augusta College in Kentucky at the age of sixteen. He then attended Harvard College and received his J.D. He was married in 1838 to the daughter of a Cincinnati judge. While practicing law, he fell ill, and he was advised to travel to Europe and attempt to regain his health. Shortly after his trip, his wife died. He remarried in 1858.

At the beginning of the Civil War, McLean organized the 75th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment under authority from Maj. Gen John C. Fremont and became its colonel. The regiment was organized into a brigade commanded by Brig. Gen Robert Milroy and assigned to duty in western Virginia. In January 1862, McLean's troops were engaged at Huttonsville, at the foot of Cheat Mountain. At the Battle of Cross Keys, McLean was promoted to the command of a brigade, consisting of four Ohio regiments. He was then assigned to Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia and participated in the Second Bull Run campaign. For service in this campaign, McLean received a promotion to brigadier general.

McLean kept command of his brigade when it was reorganized into the Army of the Potomac, and he fought in every major engagement under its succession of commanders, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, and Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, the brigade had been organized into the XI Corps and was nearly destroyed during the surprise Confederate flank attack lead by Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, commander of the XI Corps, held McLean partially responsible for the disaster and had him shunted off to the Ohio Valley in a staff position. McLean did not hold another field command for a year, although he was in command of the first division of the District of Kentucky under Maj. Gen. Stephen Gano Burbridge, consisting of four brigades.

McLean commanded a brigade in the Atlanta Campaign, and again came into conflict with General Howard for alleged failures at the Battle of New Hope Church. McLean was once again relegated to a staff position and later transferred to North Carolina, where he served during Sherman's Carolina Campaign. During the whole war General McLean was off duty for the space of thirty days, having had leave of absence once for twenty, and again for ten days.

After the war, McLean relocated to Minnesota, where he retired to the quiet occupation of a farmer.

Persondata
NAME	McLean, Nathaniel Collins
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	General
DATE OF BIRTH	February 2, 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cincinnati, Ohio
DATE OF DEATH	January 4, 1905
PLACE OF DEATH	Bellport, New York