John McLenan (1827-1865) was an influential and prolific illustrator whose works appeared nationally in books and periodicals from 1852 to 1866. According to legend, McLenan was sketching on a barrel head when he was “discovered” in 1848 by famed wood engraver DeWitt C. Hitchcock. The meeting resulted immediately in a new career for McLenan, who remained in Cincinnati until 1851. Upon moving to New York in 1852, McLenan found employment with a host of publishers, including the legendary Charles Scribner. Working with a broad range of subject matter, McLenan depicted a number of Southern topics, among which were The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1853); A Series of

Sketches, Fisher’s River, North Carolina (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1859), and Life and Times of Gen. Sam.Dale, the Mississippi Partisan (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860).

McLenan’s satirical illustrations appeared in the New York Picayune, Vanity Fair, and in numerous issues of Harper’s Weekly.