McAfee, Madison, 1818-1862

Madison McAfee was a political figure in Mississippi, who ran for governor in 1861 and served as the state’s quartermaster general during the Civil War. Born in Lawrence, Mississippi in 1818, McAfee served a public auditor in Mississippi during the late 1850s. Shortly after Mississippi declared its secession from the Union in early 1861, McAfee received an appointment as quartermaster general for the state’s military. As part of the “Military Board” overseeing the Mississippi militia, McAfee clashed with Governor John J. Pettus. He ran for governor as a moderate Democrat against Pettus in a contentious election in the fall of 1861. However, in September, before the election, McAfee stepped away from the gubernatorial race, reportedly citing his desire to avoid a highly partisan political battle in the midst of the war. McAfee died the following year, 1862. (The Weekly Mississippian, Jackson, MS, July 20, 1859; The American Citizen, Canton, MS, September 21, 1861; Robert W. Dubay, “Mississippi,” The Confederate Governors, ed. W. Buck Yearns, 118-119; Dunbar Rowland, The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, 1908, 31, 148, 424)