McCain - Mississippi's (almost) Native Son

Vicksburg Post editor Charlie Mitchell writes this week about John McCain's family and professional connection to Mississippi:

What is interesting for Mississippians, however, is that if McCain is somehow elected, he may be the closest thing this state ever has to a native son in the White House.

His grandfather, John Sidney McCain Sr., was born and grew up on a plantation in Carroll County that had been in the McCain family since 1848. The senator's ancestor went by his middle name and was called "Sid." Later generations settled in Arizona, but past and present had military orientations. John Sr. was an admiral in the Pacific Navy, commander of the fast-attack force and one of the faces in that famous photo taken when the Japanese surrendered aboard the USS Missouri. Days later he died at 61. John Jr. was a submariner, also in World War II.

The senator, whose own military history is well-known, arrived when his father was stationed in Panama. (They were officially in the Canal Zone which allows him to pass muster, as the Constitution requires for presidents, of being native born.) In his family memoir, Faith of my Fathers, published in 1999, McCain remembers visiting his grandparents' home, formally dubbed Waverly by his great-grandmother, but known locally as "Teoc," the Choctaw word for tall pines.

It was in defense of that plantation that William Alexander McCain, grandson of the first McCain in America, died while a member of a Mississippi cavalry unit in the Civil War. William Alexander had three sons. The oldest, Joseph Watt McCain, also fought for the Confederacy. The youngest, Henry Pinckney McCain, served in the U.S. Army after the Civil War. The middle son, also a John McCain, was too young for Confederate service, but later became sheriff of Carroll County.

The senator's maternal ancestors also included a bevy of warriors, including brothers John and Thomas Young, Indian fighters in North Carolina. Thomas was scalped and killed. John tracked down the raiding party, killed a bunch of them and returned the scalp to be buried with his brother's body. John Young, as a militia captain, was later tapped to be a staff officer for Gen. George Washington.

Past events aside, it's clear enough that today's incarnation of the McCain-Young genes faces a heck of a battle. The right wing of his own party doesn't even like him.

If he were to prevail, however, this state could claim a connection. From 12 years before the Civil War until 1952 when his last uncle died, McCains were Mississippians. (Read the Full Story Here)