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Hugh Lawson McClung

Hugh Lawson McClung (1839-1862), 1860, Knaffl & Bros. Photography, Cabinet card, Bequest of Judge John Webb Green and Ellen McClung Green, 1957.3.260.4.

This is a photograph of Hugh Lawson McClung, who was the son of Matthew McClung and Eliza Morgan McClung, and the brother of Frank H. McClung, the namesake of the McClung Museum.

Hugh died on this day, February 15, in 1862 during the Battle of Fort Donelson while serving as a Captain in the 26th Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers, Confederate States Army. McClung is buried in Knoxville’s Old Gray Cemetery.

During the battle, which was fought from February 12–16, 1862, the Union captured a Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border, which opened the Cumberland River, an important avenue for the invasion of the South.