James McQuade

James McQuade, Soldier, was born in Utica, N.Y., Apr. 27, 1829. He was educated in a Catholic school in Montreal, Canada, and developed remarkable linguistic powers. Returning home to Utica after graduation, he studied law, but abandoned it for banking. In 1851-53 he served as assistant clerk of the assembly, and in 1859 was a member of the body. Previous to the breaking out of the civil war, his military proclivities had led him to organizing the Utica citizens' corps, and when the first call for troops came in April, 1861, the corps enlisted as a company, and he was elected colonel of the 14th New York infantry. At the battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, by reason of the death of his senior colonels in the brigade, he took command and held it for eighteen mouths. At Chancellorsville he was ill, but insisted on leading his forces into battle until he fell exhausted from his horse. He was brevetted brigadier-general and major-general of volunteers, March 18, 1865. When he retired to private life at the end of the war, he returned to politics, and was also elected department commander of the G. A. R. in New York in 1879. Gen. McQuade's contributions to literature were confined to the publication of several army songs, among the most popular of which was "The Loyal Legioner." He died in Utica, N. Y., March 25, 1885.