John A. Logan Museum | Murphysboro, IL

Portrait of General John A. Logan
General John A. Logan

The Southern Illinois region which shaped Logan was nicknamed “Egypt” by farmers from northern Illinois who came south to purchase grain and seed after their crops were devastated by the harsh winter of 1832. These men likened themselves to the Hebrews of Genesis who had to go “down to Egypt to buy corn.”

The first settlers moving westward into Illinois had come predominantly to the southern part of the state. These people traveled fixed routes from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia through Tennessee and Kentucky to Illinois. They brought

with them their slaves and their customs, making “southern” Illinois a cultural as well as geographic term. Logan’s mother, Elizabeth Jenkins, was of typical Southern Illinois ancestry.

Logan’s father, Dr. John Logan, was a Scot-Irish immigrant who, having acquired a fortune in Missouri, sold his slaves and moved to Jackson County, Illinois, in 1824. A staunch Jacksonian Democrat, he believed that “it is no odds how obscure a young man may be Brought up he may aspire even to the presidential chair . . . Man rises on Marrit and falls on Demarit . . .[sic].” Dr. Logan served three terms in the state legislature, was a friend to the young Abraham Lincoln, and the namesake of Logan County in central Illinois.

John A. Logan was raised in a home that was a political, educational, and social center of the day. In addition to his father’s political activities, his uncle, Alexander M. Jenkins, was a Democratic state legislator and lieutenant governor. Logan’s pioneer education was supplemented with private tutors and two years at Shiloh Academy in Randolph County, Illinois. At Shiloh, Logan earned high marks in oratory. The family farm featured a good stable and a race track. As a boy, Logan excelled at horse racing.

In 1847 Logan volunteered for the Mexican War. He was stationed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he served as adjutant of the post. After the war he was elected Jackson County Clerk, but soon resigned to earn a law degree at Louisville University. Returning to politics, Logan was elected prosecuting attorney of the Third Judicial District. In 1852 Logan was elected as a Democrat to the Illinois House of Representatives. Here he fiercely led and won the crusade which created the state’s harsh Black Codes. His actions in Springfield represented his constituents’ concerns and earned him the title of “Egypt’s spokesman.” In 1858 the region elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives. When the Civil War began, Logan was beginning his second term as a congressman.