John McClure
Associate Justice of the
Arkansas Supreme Court
In office
1868–1871
Personal details
BornMissing
Ohio
Died1915
Political partyRepublican
Residence(s)(1) Arkansas County
(2) Little Rock, Arkansas
OccupationLawyer
United States Army lieutenant colonel

John McClure (died 1915),[1] nicknamed Poker Jack,[2] was a politician and judge in Arkansas during Reconstruction. He was originally a lawyer from Ohio.[3]

Biography

McClure was part of Powell Clayton's inner circle. A Republican carpetbagger, he arrived in the capital city of Little Rock as the Lieutenant Colonel of an African-American regiment in the United States Army. Dismissed from the Army for playing cards, he gained the nickname, "Poker Jack," from the Democrats. After the American Civil War ended, he became an agent of the Freedmens Bureau for Arkansas County in eastern Arkansas.

In 1868, he was appointed to the Arkansas Supreme Court and served until 1871. When Clayton was impeached in 1870, McClure issued an injunction preventing Clayton's lieutenant governor James M. Johnson from taking office. As a result of this action, McClure was also impeached and only narrowly avoided removal from office.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Joseph A. Ranney (1 January 2006). In the Wake of Slavery: Civil War, Civil Rights, and the Reconstruction of Southern Law. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-275-98972-9.
  2. ↑ Dan Ryan (24 June 2011). Merryweather. AuthorHouse. p. 418. ISBN 978-1-4634-1445-0.
  3. ↑ John Gould Fletcher (1947). Arkansas. University of Arkansas Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-55728-040-4.


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