MCCLELLAND, SAMUEL (?-1843). Samuel McClelland, soldier of the Republic of Texas, was born in Ireland and immigrated as a youth to the United States. In 1835 he moved to Liberty County, Texas. On March 18, 1836, he enlisted as a private in Capt. Jesse Billingsley's Company C of Col. Edward Burleson's First Regiment, Texas Volunteers. He fought in the battle of San Jacinto and was discharged on June 10 but reenlisted on July 1 in Capt. John G. McGehee's company, in which he served until October 31, 1836. McClelland's Harris County home and property were sold at a sheriff's sale on June 25, 1838, to satisfy a judgment in favor of Moseley Baker.
On November 12, 1842, McClelland enlisted as a private in Capt. Ewen Cameron's company of Col. James R. Cookqv's First Regiment of Brig. Gen. Alexander Somervell's South Western Army. When the Somervell expedition broke up McClelland remained with the rump of the army that continued the campaign, now known as the Mier expedition, under Col. William S. Fisher. After being captured at the battle of Mier on December 26, 1842, McClelland was marched into the interior of Mexico, where he died from the effects of pleurisy at the Hacienda St. John, Laguna Seco, on March 30, 1843.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986). Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Thomas J. Green, Journal of the Texian Expedition Against Mier (New York: Harper, 1845; rpt., Austin: Steck, 1935). Joseph Milton Nance, Attack and Counterattack: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1842 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964). Marilyn M. Sibley, ed., Samuel H. Walker's Account of the Mier Expedition (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1978). Telegraph and Texas Register, May 26, 1838.
