An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, pages 337-338
	
	
	GENERAL T.J. McKENNY, a resident of Olympia, was born in Gallatin county,
Illinois, in 1830. His father, Samuel Sherwood McKenny, was born in Quebec,
Canada. Coming to the United States, he was married to Miss Constance Decker, of
Catskill, New York. He then started westward, when he engaged in trading upon
the Mississippi river.
	T.J. McKenney was educated at Locust Hill Episcopal College, Franklin
county, Illinois, under the direction of Prof. Benager Guernsey Root. In 1847 he
left college to enlist for the Mexican war and was mustered in at Allen,
Illinois, as a member of the First Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
commanded by Colonel E.W.B. Newby. His first soldiering was in carrying knapsack
and blankets in marching order across the plains to Santa Fe, a distance of
1,800 miles. The service of the company was through the Navajo Indian country
and along the border of Mexico. After about eighteen months of service they were
returned to Illinois and mustered out. Young McKenny then went to Keokuk, Iowa,
and was employed as clerk in a retail drug store, subsequently engaging in the
same line of business. With his love for military affairs, he raised the Union
Guards of the State Militia and served in the capacity of First Lieutenant,
receiving his commission from Governor James W. Grimes.
	Upon the breaking out of the war in 1861, he was actively interested in
raising Company A, of Second Iowa Infantry and, upon the organization of the
company, was elected First Lieutenant, Colonel Sam R. Curtis in command. This
was the first regiment to leave the State under orders of General Nathaniel
Lyon. The regiment was assigned to duty along the Hannibal & St. Joseph
Railroad, where it was engaged in many skirmishes. It was then ordered with
General Fremont's grand flotilla to Bird's Point, opposite Cairo, where the
regiment became decimated by disease and was ordered to St. Louis to recruit.
General Curtis was then in command of the Department of Missouri, with
headquarters at Benton Barracks, and he detailed Lieutenant McKenny to special
service as Post-Adjutant and Adjutant-General. At this time there was some
suspicion of the loyalty of General Fremont, and orders of removal signed by
General Scott and President Lincoln were forwarded to General Curtis by special
messenger, Leonard Swett. These orders were to be conveyed to General Fremont.
General Curtis selected Captain McKenny for this most responsible and dangerous
service. Disguised in a planter's suit of clothes, and given necessary papers
and passes, he started in the dead of night, upon his most dangerous mission.
Duly arriving at General Fremont's headquarters, Captain McKenny had great
difficulty in reaching his presence, but at last did so and delivered into the
general's hands the messages, which created great consternation. The captain
also had dispatches to General Hunter, who was to succeed Fremont. The delivery
of the same was accomplished midst increasing dangers, the captain traveling on
horseback by night through a country infested by the enemy. He then returned to
St. Louis to find General William K. Strong in command of Benton Barracks and
General Curtis ordered to command of Army of the Southwest, with headquarters at
Rolla. Captain McKenny was assigned by war department as Adjutant-General and
Aide to General Strong, and subsequently became Post-Adjutant and
Adjutant-General to General Sherman, who was placed in command. After a few
months Captain McKenny asked to be relieved and returned to his regiment, but
before request was received he was ordered to report to General Curtis and
became Adjutant-General upon his staff. Shortly after, General Curtis took the
field in pursuit of Price's army, (then in the vicinity of Springfield),
overtaking the rear guard at Sugar creek. The battle was hotly contested, and
the First Missouri Cavalry abandoned by its colonel. Captain McKenny assumed
temporary command and performed gallant service. He received wounds in hip and
head and now carries a ball in the head and one in the hip. In recognition of
his ability and bravery the officers of the First Missouri Cavalry addressed a
petition to the Governor of the State asking that Captain McKenny he
commissioned Colonel of the regiment, which through personal preferences was
declined. He was, however, commissioned additional Aide-de-Camp on the staff of
Major-General Halleck, with rank of Major. During the battle of Pea Ridge, March
7, 1863, he passed forty-eight hours in the saddle as Aide to General Curtis.
The victory being won, upon the 10th the Major started for VanBuren, Arkansas,
with the prisoners of war, to make an exchange with General Price, which being
accomplished he returned to headquarters. He continued on the staff of General
Curtis until General Price was driven from Missouri. He was then assigned to the
Department of the Northwest with General Curtis, and later to the staff of
General Pope as Assistant Inspector General, in which position he remained to
the close of the war. For meritorious conduct, bravery and special he was
brevetted a number of times, first as Lieutenant-Colonel, then Colonel, and
later Brigadier-General. The General was a brave, fearless soldier, never
shrinking from the path of duty, howsoever great the dangers and difficulties.
	At the close of the war General McKenny returned to Keokuk, Iowa, completed
his studies in medicine at the Iowa College of Physicians and Surgeons and
graduated in 1866. The same year he was appointed by the President and confirmed
by the Senate as Superintendent of Indian Affairs of Washington Territory, and
came to the coast January 1, 1867, to assume the duties of office, with
headquarters at Olympia. In this capacity he served five years, then resigned
and engaged in handling real estate and later in the drug business, which he
followed up to 1888, when he retired. He was President of the State Hospital for
the Insane for a number of years. He has also been actively interested in the
development of schools. During the construction of the Olympia & Leinin
railroad, he was president of the Company, president of Olympia Hotel Company,
and builder of the McKenny Block.
	General McKenny was married in St. Louis, in 1863, to Miss Adelaide,
daughter of the Hon. Washington King, the Know-Nothing Mayor of St. Louis,
elected before the war.
	
	
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
	
	
	
	
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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
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