Scott-Le Sueur County MINNESOTA Biographies.....John  Leonard Mc  Connell June 14 1846 - May 27 1943
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File contributed for Minnesota Biographies Project by:
elizabeth wilenius ewilenius October 19, 2003, 3:21 pm

Author: Elizabeth Wilenius

John Leonard McConnell was born JUne 14, 1846 in Rawyards, Scotland to 
Alexander Gray McConnell and his wife Janet Strathern. When he was two years 
old the family left Scotland for America and settled near Turtle Creek , 
Pennsylvania.  The family moved westward and in 1854, they were in the 
Minnesota Territory where his father worked on government boats on the nearby 
Minnesota River and also as an engineer at nearby sawmills.  They staked 
claims in Blakely Township of Scott County and settled in as farmers.  At 
seventeen, John joined Brackett's Battalion at Fort Snelling. This Battalion 
had to see two years of Civil War Service and two years of Indian War Service. 
The original Brackett's Battalion was the longest serving Minnesota volunteer 
troop during the Civil War serving in the south mostly in Alabama and 
Tennessee. John married Julia Sprague on September 9, 1872 and they had seven 
children  1) Colista in 1876 who married John Glock, 2)Bertha in 1878 who 
married David Working, 3)Eva in 1881 who married Fred Williams, 4) Maude in 
1883 who married George Goolsby, 5) Paul in 1887 who married Edna Crosby and 
Marie Dittler, 6)Arnie in 1889 who married Meta Glock, and 7) John Jr. in 1892 
who married Edna Siver.  After his wife Julia died in 1892, at just 39 years 
of age, John was then married to Nancy Goodell, Sarah Sandberg, and then Helen 
Peterson. In 1942, John was one of the 23 living Civil War veterans living in 
Minnesota. John was the last man of the George Bradley GAR Post of Belle 
Plaine. Seventy-five years after the battle at Killdeer Mountain, John 
returned to the scene as the last man standing of Brackett's Battalion. At 
that battle, he and his father were both engaged in the battle against the 
Sioux Indians. In 1999, a tribute to Cival War veteran, John L. McConnell was 
held at the Oakwood Cemetery in BellePlaine, Minnesota. A new grave marker was 
dedicated in his honor not just for longevity of life or becoming the "last 
man" but paying tribute to him as being the last symbol of an era, an era when 
calvarymen lived hard, traveled far, and marched proudly in saddle. John died 
on May 27, 1943 and lies with his parents and family in Oakwood Cemetery, 
Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

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