Governor of Ohio, U.S. Congressman, War of 1812 Officer. Born in Dutchess County, New York, he moved to Pennsylvania with his father in 1780 when he was a child. McArthur joined General Josiah Harmar's Army of Pennsylvania Volunteers when he was 17 and served in the Indian Campaigns in the Northwest Territory. He moved to Maysville, Kentucky in 1793 and found employment at the salt works. In 1796, he became one of the earliest inhabitants of Ross County, Ohio and acted as a spy among Indian tribes. McArthur was a member of the Ohio Legislature in 1804 and helped to organize a state militia. He was commissioned as Colonel in 1805 and became Major General in 1808. He served in the Ohio State Senate from 1805 to 1814, and as Speaker of the House in 1809 and 1810. He supported moving the State Capitol to Columbus and opposed the organization of Tammany Societies in Ohio. During the War of 1812, he raised a regiment of volunteers. He was captured by the British and held briefly as a prisoner of war. He returned to Ohio after his parole and was elected to the United States Congress in 1813. McArthur resigned before qualifying to accept a commission as Brigadier General in the United States Army and assumed command of the Army of the Northwest after the resignation of General William Henry Harrison. After the war, he was appointed as the Indian Treaty Commissioner from 1816 to 1819 while also serving as a member of the Ohio Legislature. He regained a seat in the State Senate in 1821. Elected as an Adams-Clay Republican to represent Ohio's 6th District in the United States House of Representatives, he served from 1823 to 1825 and was Chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures. He declined renomination in 1824. McArthur held state office positions until he was elected as Ohio's 10th Governor in 1830. He served one term and was defeated for reelection in 1832. He was also one of the founders of Greenfield, Ohio. McArthur died at his residence in Chillicothe, Ohio in 1839 when he was 66 years old. McArthur, Ohio in Vinton County is named for him.