John McClelland (1766-1849)

John McClelland (1766–1849) was an officer in the War of 1812. He was the son of American Revolutionary War officer Lieutenant-Colonel John B. McClelland, who was a casualty of Colonel Crawford's ill-fated Sandusky Expedition.

McClelland was born in September 1766 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (later to become Bedford, afterward Westmoreland, and finally Fayette County) to Lt. Colonel John B. McClelland (1734–1782) and Martha Dale (1741–1822), near the Brown Settlement at Redstone Creek, which was referred to as Union Township at the time. He married Rachel Orr (1770–1843) in 1787.

Like his father and his older brothers Hugh and Alexander, John actively participated in the American Revolutionary War. In 1781, at the age of fifteen, McClelland (sometimes spelled "McClellan") enlisted at Guilford Township (now Franklin County, Pennsylvania) in the Eighth Company of the First Battalion of Cumberland County Militia, commanded by Colonel James Johnston; 6th Class, reporting to Captain James Young.

During the early 1790s, John McClelland took part in the Whiskey Rebellion, as a member of the "Whiskey Boys", a group of citizens who were infuriated that Congress had imposed a biased tax on whiskey, intended to pay back government bond holders. While smaller distilleries were to pay taxes by the gallon, larger distillers could take advantage of a flat fee, putting the smaller distilleries at an obvious disadvantage. Their discontent stemmed from factors similar to that which characterized their experience leading up to the Revolutionary War: a sense of isolation and alienation from government authorities that failed to consider their needs and interests.

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