He was the son of American Revolutionary War officer Lieutenant-Colonel John B. McClelland, who was a casualty of Colonel Crawford's ill-fated Sandusky Expedition.
Colonel John B. McClelland (1734–1782) and Martha Dale (1741–1822), near the Brown Settlement at Redstone Creek, which was referred to as Union Township at the time.
Their discontent stemmed from factors similar to that which characterized their experience leading up to the Revolutionary War: a sense of isolation and alienation from government authorities that failed to consider their needs and interests.
The excise tax, passed in July 1791, placed a considerable burden on western farmers who converted excess grain into whiskey, which was easier to transport and much more marketable.
Will the Commissioners, aforesaid, give to the eleventh day of October next, to take the sense of the people at large, of the four counties west of Pennsylvania, and that part of Bedford west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the Ohio County in Virginia, whether they will accede to the resolution of the said commissioners as stated at large, in the conference, with the committee of conference met at Pittsburgh the 21st day of August last?
John A McClelland served as Captain of a company of volunteer light dragoons, who entered 12 months of Federal service in October 1812.