John J. McRae

John J. McRae
Member of the Confederate House of Representatives for Mississippi
In office
February 18, 1862 – February 17, 1864
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJohn Tillman Lamkin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 5th district
In office
December 7, 1858 – January 12, 1861
Preceded byJohn A. Quitman
Succeeded byLegrand W. Perce
21st Governor of Mississippi
In office
January 10, 1854 – November 16, 1857
Preceded byJohn J. Pettus
Succeeded byWilliam McWillie
United States Senator
from Mississippi
In office
December 1, 1851 – March 17, 1852
Appointed byJames Whitfield
Preceded byJefferson Davis
Succeeded byStephen Adams
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office
1847–1851
Personal details
BornJohn Jones McRae
(1815-01-10)January 10, 1815
Sneedsboro, North Carolina, United States
DiedMay 31, 1868(1868-05-31) (aged 53)
Belize City, British Honduras
PartyDemocratic

John Jones McRae (January 10, 1815 – May 31, 1868) was an American politician from Mississippi. A Democrat,[1] he served in the Mississippi House of Representatives, the US House and Senate, the Confederate Congress, and as governor of Mississippi.

Biography

McRae was born in Sneedsboro, North Carolina. In 1817, he moved with his parents to Winchester, Mississippi.[2] McRae graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 1834, and the same year he founded the town of Enterprise in Clarke County.[3] McRae attempted to find a navigable path from his new town to the sea via the Chickasawhay River, and in 1842 managed to sail a steamboat from Lake Ponchartrain to Enterprise.[4]

He studied law in Pearlington and was admitted to the bar.[3] McRae was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, serving from 1847 to 1851.[1] During that time, he helped establish the University of Mississippi.[5]

McRae was selected as a Democratic US Senator from Mississippi in 1851 to fill a vacancy, serving in that office until 1852.[6] He ran for Governor of Mississippi in the November 1853 election, defeating his Whig opponent Francis M. Rogers by a sizeable margin.[6] In the 1855 election he stood again, defeating his Know Nothing opponent by a similar margin to the prior election.[6]

Prevented by term limits from running again for governor, McRae left that office in 1857 and stood for Congress, winning a seat in the US House of Representatives.[6] A staunch advocate of southern secession, McRae withdrew from Congress in January 1861 when Mississippi left the Union.[3] He then won election to the First Confederate Congress in 1861, but was defeated for reelection by John Tillman Lamkin in 1863 due to war-weariness in his home state.[3]

He died on a visit to British Honduras (now Belize), where his brother Colin J. McRae lived in exile.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Colin J. McRae Collection, Columbia, South Carolina: South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum
  2. ↑ "McRAE, John Jones, (1815 - 1868)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Warner, Ezra J.; Yearns, W. Buck (1975). Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress. Louisiana State University Press. p. 165. Retrieved April 10, 2026.
  4. ↑ Lowry, Robert; McCardle, William H. (1891). A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis. Jackson, Mississippi: R. H. Henry & Company. p. 461. ISBN 978-0-7884-4821-8. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  5. 1 2 Donald C. Simmons, Jr., Confederate Settlements in British Honduras, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2001, p. 91
  6. 1 2 3 4 Rowland, Dunbar. (1908). The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Volume 2. Mississippi Department of Archives and History. pp. 148–149.
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