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/f77
The Histoet
OF
Winnebago Couhty, III.
ITS
PAST AND PRESENT,
CONTAINING
A History of the County — Its Cities, Towns, Etc., A Biographical
Directory of its Citizens, War Record o^ its Yolunteers in
THE late Rebellion, Portraits of Early Settlers and
Prominent Men, General and Local Statistics,
History of the IS^orthwest, History of Illinois,
Constitution of the United States, Map of
Winnebago County, Miscellaneous
Matters, Etc., Etc.
IIjIjXJST:Ei-A.TEnD.
CHICAGO :
H. F. KETT & CO., Cor. 5th Ave. and Washington St.
1877.
Preface.
Less than fifty j'cars ago, the Rock River countrj'-, now so replete with all the more
advanced accomplishments of civilization and intelligence, was an unbroken and undis-
turbed Indian wild — the hunting grounds of that tribe of red men from whom the County
of Winnebago derives its name. The only white man known to have had a home here,
previous to the Fall of 1834, was Stephen Mack, a son of Vermont, who, with that spirit
and love of adventure peculiarly characteristic of the pioneers of the Great West, appears
to have drifted into the valley of Rock River, and found a home within the limits of the
County of Winnebago, as early as 1829. Five years later, in the month of August, 1834,
two other sons of the Eastern States, GEUM.\Nicrs Kent and Thatcher Blake, born
and raised in almost adjoining states — Connecticut and Maine — but never knowing each
other until they met at Galena, both en route for the same objective point, anchored tlieir
light canoe at the mouth of a small creek that now bears the name of one of these men,
(Kent,) and stepped ashore to consecrate the grove-besprinkled and flower-bedecked prairies
to the uses of the white man.
The lapse of time in the intervening years since the date of these events, the changes
that have followed, have not been without their history: a history full of important events,
and fraught with interest to the sons and daughters of those who followed in the footsteps
of Stephen. Mack, Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake from the old homes in
the New England States to the haunts of the Winnebagoes, and whose energy, enterprise
and industry have made tlie fertile valleys, prairies and grove-covered hillsides of half a
century ago to abound with modern acquirements, intelligence, wealth and prosperity.
To preserve this history to the literature of the county, and thus hand it down to
posterity as a completing lipk in the history of that great country of which AVinnebago
County is an integral part, has been the object of this undertaking. And while the pub-
lishers do not arrogate to themselves a degree of accuracy beyond criticism, they hope to
be found measurably correct in their compilation and arrangement of the almost inuumer
able incidents that have been swallowed up in the Past, and that enter so largely into the
Pkesp:nt of the community i-n whose interest this volume is written.
Without the aid and assistance of the survivors of the pioneers of 1834-5, or of tlieii
immediate descendants, and numerous notes from their carefully written and well preserved
diaries, our task would have been far more arduous and difficult. To the patriarchs of the
Past, who have so favored us, as well as to the representative men of the Present, we
tender our grateful acknowledgements. Among these we take especial pleasure in men-
tioning the names of Thatcher Blake (the only male survivor of the settlers of 1834),
James B. Martyn (of Belvidere), Thomas D. Robertson, Selden M. Church, Goodyear
A. Sanford, II. R. Enoch, Esq., Editor of the Rockford Journal, John H. Thurston and
A. I. Enoch, whose retentive memories have added largely to whatever of interest may be
accredited to this volume.
The undertaking of the publishers completed, it only remains for them to tender to
the people of Winnebago County in general their obligations and acknowledgements for
the uniform kindness and courtesy extended to them, and their representatives and agents,
during the preparation of these annals, as well as for their liberal patronage, without which
this history would have been left buried beneath the debris of time, unwritten and unpre-
served.
Respectfully,
II. F. Kett & Co.,
Chicago, November, 1877. Publishers.
(ys^
W ^ ^ ^'-
c
ONTENTS.
HISTORirAI..
Page.
History Northwest Territory.. 19
Geo'jr-.phical Ptisiiioii 19
Early Explonitons 20
Discovcrv of the Ohio '6i
Eniilish Exploratious and
SeltUnuMits -... 35
Anieriiau St'ttlenieuts 60
Division of the Morthwest
Territory ()6
Teciuuseh and the War of
1812 ro
Black Hawk and the Black
IlMwk War :.. 74
Other Indian Troubles .... 79
Present Condition of the
Northwest 87
Illinois 99
Indiana. 101
Iowa - 102
Michigan 103
Wisconsin. 104
Minnesota 106
Nebraska 107
Page.
History of Illinois 109
Coal - 125
Compact of 1787 117
Chicago 13^
Early Discoveries 109
EarlV Settlements 115
Edncation 129
French Occupation 1)2
Genius of La Salle 113
Material Resources 124
;Ma>sacre-at Ft. Dearborn, 141
Physical Features 121
Pri"iL;regs of Development. 123
Relii.'ion and Morals 128
War Record 130
History of Winneba<ro Co 221
Ptiysical Geography 226
Geological Formations... 227
Economical Geology 231
Indian Antiquities 232
Gen-ral History 234
A'jricultural 285
War Record 310
Page.
History of Winnebago Co.
Old Settler's Association 349
River Improvements 354
Educational 3.54
Reli'jrious Interests 359
Court House 362
Official Record 386
Vote of County.. .394 and 395
Property Statement 396
History of Towns : *
Argyle 4.54
Cherry Valley 443
Durand 451
Guilford 453
Harrison 453
Harlem 455
New Milford 455
Pecatonica 439
Rocklord -. 399
Rockton - 445
Roscoe 449
Shirland 454
Winnebago 430
Page.
Month of the Mississippi 21
Source of the Mississippi 21
Wild Prairie 23
La Salle Landing on the Shore
of Green Bay 25
Buffalo Hunt 27
Trapping 29
Hunting 32
Iioquois Chief. 34
Poutiac, the Ottawa Chieftain. 43
Indians Attacking Frontiers-
men 56
A Prairie Storm 59
A Pioneer Dwelling 61
BreakiuL: Prairie 63
Tecumseh,the Shawnoe Chief-
tain 69
ILIilSTRATIOXN.
Page.
Indians Attacking a Stockade. 72
Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain 75
Big Eagle 80
Captain Jack,the Modoc Chief-
tain . 83
Kinzie House 85
Villa-e Residence 86
.A Repieseiitative Pioneer 87
Lincoln Monument, Spring-
field, 111 88
.■\ Pioneer School House 89
Farm View in the Winter 90
Spring Scene 91
Pioneers' First Winter 92
Api)le Harvest 94
Great Iron Bridge of C, R. I.
Page.
and P. R. R., Crossing the
Mississippi at Davenport,
Iowa - - 96
A Western Dwelling 100
Hunting Prairie Wolves in an
Early Day 108
Starved Rock, on the Illinois
River. La Salle Co., Ill 110
An Early Settlen.ent 116
Chieawoin 18:33 133
Old F(.rt Dearl)orn,1830 136
Present Site Lake St. Bridge,
ChieaHO. 1833 136
Ruins of Chicago 142
View of the City of Chicago. .144
Shabbona 149
LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.
Blake, Thatcher 147
Church. S. M .219
Carpeuler, Juo. H 3'i7
Carpc-ter. Mary L 387
Cross. R.J 317
Coehian, Geo 407
Cam phell. David 609
Duiiwell. C. A 347
Enoch. H. R 183
Ferguson, Duncan .467
French, Irvin 567
Page.
George, San-pson 297
Hooker, Harley 287
Herring, J no. 417
Hollislcr, Geo. H... 447
Haskell, Geo 4.57
Hussey. D.J. ...505
Jones, J. P 547
K e i I h , L e w i 8 367
Lake, Jno 397
Lowiy, M. L 577
Manny, Juo. P 165
Page.
Patterson, A 337
Perley, Putnam 437
Smith, A. E 201
Talcott, Wm ...2-37
Talcott. II. W 247
Talcott, Wait 257
Talcott, Thos. B 267
Talcott, Sylvester 277
Thompson, N. C 477
Vansickle, Jno 327
WIJfXEBAGO COUNTT WAR RECORD.
Page.
Infantry 31,5
8th 315
i;th _ 315
15th 319
44th 320
45th 322
52d 324
55th 325
Page.
Infantry.
67th 326
74th 329
'JOth 336
141st 339
146th ■. ::-'39
147th 340
153d 341
P.iGE.
Miscellaneous Infantry 342
Cavalry .343
8th 343
11th UA
12th .344
17th 345
Miscellaneous Cavalry 346
Artillery 346
\l:^7iiSS'i
VI
CONTENTS.
DIRECTORY.
Tage.
Banitt Township 581
Cberry Valley Township S39
Duiaud " 603
Guilford " 540
JJarrison " 594
Harlem " 028
Page.
Laona Township 632
New Milford Township 555
Owen " (V£i
Pecatonica " 562
Rockloid Citv 456
Rockford Township 537
Page.
Rockton Township 652
Roscoe " 618
Seward " 573
Shirland '• 663
Winnebago " 635
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE EAWS-
Page.
Adoption of Children 160
Bills of Exchange and Prom-
issory Notes 1.51
County Courts 155
Conveyances 164
Church Organization 189
Descent 151
Deeds and Mortgages 1.57
Drainage 163
Damages from Trespass 169
Definition of Com'rcial Termsl73
Exemptions from Forced Sale, 156
Estrays 1.57
Fences 168
Forms :
Articles of Agreement 175
Bills ot Purchase.. 174
Bills of Sale 176
Forms: Page.
Bonds 176
Chattel iMortgages 177
Codicil 189
Lease of Farm and B"ld'gs,179
Lease of House 18(1
Landlord's Agreement 180
Notes 174
Notice Tenant to Quit 181
Orders ...174
Quit Claim Deed 185
Receipt 174
Real Estate Mortgage to
secure paym't of Money, 181
Release 186
Tenant's Agreement 180
Tenant's Notice to Quit. .181
Warranty Deed 182
Will lfc7
Page.
Game 158
Interest 151
Jurisdiction of Courts 154
Limitation' of Action 155
Landlord and Tenant 169
Liens 172
Married Women 155
Millers 159
Marks and Brands 159
Paupers 164
Roads and Bridges 161
Surveyors and Surveys 160
Suggestion toPersons purchas-
ing Books by Subscription .190
Taxes 154
Wills and Estates 152
Weights and Measures 158'
Wolf Scalps 164
IVIISCEEEAIVEOITS.
Page.
Map of Winnebago Co Front.
Constitution ot United Staiesl92
Electors of President and
Vice-President. 1876 206
Practical Rules for every day
use 207
U. S. Government Land Meas-
ure 210
Page.
Surveyors Measure 211
How to keep ac'counts .211
Interest Table 212
Miscellaneous Table 212
Names of the States of the
Union and their Significa-
tions 213
Population of the U. S 214
TOO liATES AND ERRATA.
Page.
Population of Fifty Principal
Cities of the U. S 214
Population and Area of the
United States 215
Population oi the Principal
Countries in the World 215
Population Illinois. ...216 & 217
Agricultural Productions of
Illinois by Counties 1870 ...218
668
OtTAWAY & COLBBRT,
PRINTERS,
147 & 149 Fifth Av., Chicago, 111.
The Northwest Territory.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States
by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the
Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the
United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States
of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of
Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United
States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi
River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary
of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the
Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National
domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the
" New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old " Northwestern
Territory. "
In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast
magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater
in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States,
including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected
eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula-
tion, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of
the entire population of the United States.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent
flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far-
stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the
highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent
on the globe.
For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North-
west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United
States.
(19)
20 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New
World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallel
of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than
half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence
to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no
settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that
he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and
disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery
for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize
upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by
DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer
took advantage of these discoveries.
In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the
wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene-
trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which
run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the
first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from
the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian
envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary,
below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent
result; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders
attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes,
nor was it until 1660 that a station Avas established upon their borders by
Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude
Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white mau among the
Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette
founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two
years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen-
eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the
present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a
grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were
taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken
of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at
Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St.
Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied
— as all others did then — that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's
children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come.
Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
21
22
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his
king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico
or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe-
dition, prepared for the undertaking.
On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist-
ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of
discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were
astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade
them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as
exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of
frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But,
nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he
was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region
they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which
the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they
separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the
adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and
Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar-
quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the
town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows,
which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to
thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in
giving them an abundant " chase." This was the farthest outpost to
which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the
year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed
in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake.
He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to
Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun-
tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths
of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct
them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on
the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to
witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet
ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage,
returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin,
which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown
waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck
out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were
now upon the bosom of ths Father of Waters. The mystery was about
to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is
beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been
clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned bv the hand of
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
23
Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand
"• reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of
France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared
on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a
country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab-
itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas-
tidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.
m
THE WILD PRAIEIE.
On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon
the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the
boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a
village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a
half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most
hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person.
After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to
about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being
satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course
24 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
up the river, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois,
rowed up th.at stream to its source, and procured guides from that point
to the lakes. " Nowhere on this journe3%" says Marquette, *' did we see
such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards,
swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River."
The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and
reported their discovery — one of the most important of the age, but of
which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by
the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette
returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them
until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the
mouth of a stream — going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan — he asked
to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe,
he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time
passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found
him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefull}'- passed away while at
prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place
fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving
the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been
called Marquette.
While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in
the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre-
paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun
by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin.
After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see
the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French
trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of
those ages — a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an
expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific,
when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind
of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol-
lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous
western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to
Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan,
dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that
LaSalle's idea to connect- the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf
of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un-
measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis-
tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.
LaSalle now repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who
warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received
from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chev-
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
26
alier returned to Canada, and busily entered upon his work. He at
once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed the first ship to sail on
these fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined
by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He
passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and
into Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were
some time at Michilliraackinac, where LaSalle founded a fort, and passed
on to Green Bay, the " Bale des Puans " of the French, where he found
a large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with
these, and placing her under the care of a, pilot and fourteen sailors.
LA SALLE LANDING ON THE SHORE OF GREEN BAY.
Started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard
of. He remained about these parts until early in the Winter, when, hear-
ing nothing from the Griffin, he collected all his men — thirty working
men and three monks — and started again upon his great undertaking.
By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by
the Indians, " Theakeke," wolf^ because of the tribes of Indians called
by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans, dwelling there. The
French pronounced it Kiakiki, which became corrupted to Kankakee.
" Falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the
country," about the last of December they reached a village of the
Illinois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that momen*
26 THE NORTHWEST TERRITOHY.
no inhabitants. The Seur de LaSalle being in want of some breadstuffs,
took advantage of the absence of the Indians to help himself to a suffi-
ciency of maize, large quantities of which he found concealed in holes
under the wigwams. This village was situated near the present village
of Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois. The corn being securely stored,
the voyagers again betook themselves to the stream, and toward evening,
on the 4th day of January, 1680, they came into a lake which must have
been the lake of Peoria. This was called by the Indians Pim-i-te-wi, that
is, a place where there are many fat beasts. Here the natives were met
with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent
some time with them, LaSalle determined to erect another fort in that
place, for he had heard rumors that some of the adjoining tribes were
trying to disturb the good feeling which existed, and some of his men
were disposed to complain, owing to the hardships and perils of the travel.
He called this fort " Crevecceur''' (broken-heart), a name expressive of the
very natural sorrow and anxiety which the pretty certain loss of his ship,
Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment, the danger of hostility on the
part of the Indians, and of mutiny among his own men, might well cause
him. His fears were not entirely groundless. At one time poison was
placed in his food, but fortunately was discovered.
While building this fort, the Winter wore away, the prairies began to
look green, and LaSalle, despairing of any reijiforcements, concluded to
return to Canada, raise new means and new men, and embark anew in
the enterprise. For this purpose he made Hennepin the leader of a party
to explore the head waters of the Mississippi, and he set out on his jour-
ney. This journey was accomplished with the aid of a few persons, and
was successfully made, though over an almost unknown route, and in a
bad season of the year. He safely reached Canada, and set out again for
the object of his search.
Hennepin and his party left Fort CreveccEur on the last of February,
1680. When LaSalle reached this place on his return expedition, he
found the fort entirely deserted, and he was obliged to return again to
Canada. He embarked the third time, and succeeded. Seven days after
leaving the fort, Hennepin reached the Mississippi, and paddling up the
icy stream as best he could,'reached no higher than the Wisconsin River
by the 11th of April. Here he and his followers were taken prisoners by a
band of Northern Indians, who treated them Avith great kindness. Hen-
nepin's comrades were Anthony Auguel and Michael Ako. On this voy-
age they found several beautiful lakes, and " saw some charming prairies."
Their captors were the Isaute or Sauteurs, Chippewas, a tribe of the Sioux
nation, who took them up the river until about the first of May, when
they reached some falls, which Hennepin christened Falls of St. Anthony
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
27
in honor of his patron yaint. Here they took the land, and traveling
nearly two hundred miles to the northwest, brought them to their villages.
Here they were kept about three months, were treated kindly by their
captors, and at the end of that time, were met by a band of Frenchmen,
BUFFALO HUNT.
headed by one Seur de Luth, who, in pursuit of trade and game, had pene-
trated thus far by the route of Lake Superior ; and with these fellow-
countrymen Hennepin and his companions were allowed to return to the
borders of civilized life in November, 1680, just after LaSalle had
returned to the wilderness on his second trip. Hennepin soon after went
to France, where he published an account of his adventures.
28 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
The Mississippi was first discovered by De Soto in April, 1541, in his
vain endeavor to find gold and precious gems. In the following Spring,
De Soto, weary with hope long deferred, and worn out with his wander-
ings, he fell a victim to disease, and on the 21st of May died. His followers,
reduced by fatigue and disease to less than three hundred men, wandered
about the country nearly a year, in the vain endeavor to rescue them-
selves by land, and finally constructed seven small vessels, called brigan-
tines, in which they embarked, and descending the river, supposing it
would lead them to the sea, in July they came to the sea (Gulf of
Mexico), and by September reached the Island of Cuba.
They were the first to see the great outlet of the Mississippi ; but,
being so weary and discouraged, made no attempt to claim the country,
and hardly had an intelligent idea of what they had passed through.
To La Salle, the intrepid explorer, belongs the honor of giving the
first account of the mouths of the river. His great desire was to possess
this entire country for his king, and in January, 1682, he and his band of
explorers left the shores of Lake Michigan on their third attempt, crossed
the portage, passed down the Illinois River, and on the 6th of February,
reached the banks of the Mississippi.
On the 13th they commenced their downward course, which they
pursued with but one interruption, until upon the 6th of March they dis-
covered the three great passages by which the river discharges its waters
into the gulf. La Salle thus narrates the event :
" We landed on the bank of the most western channel, about three
leagues (nine miles) from its mouth. On the seventh, M. de LaSalle
went to reconnoiter the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonti
meanwhile examined the great middle channel. They found the main
outlets beautiful, large and deep. On the 8th we reascended the river, a
little above its confluence with the sea, to find a dry place beyond the
ref^h of inundations. The elevation of the North Pole was here about
twenty-seven degrees. Here we prepared a column and a cross, and to
the column were ajBfixed the arms of France with this inscription :
Louis Le Grand, Roi De France et de Navarre, regne ; Le neuvieme Avril, 1682.
The whole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deum^ and then, after
a salute and cries of " Vive le Moi,^" the column was erected by M. de
LaSalle, who, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice the authority of
the King of France. LaSalle returned and laid the foundations of the Mis-
sissippi settlements in Illinois, thence he proceeded to France, where
another expedition was fitted out, of which he was commander, and in two
succeeding voyages failed to find the outlet of the river by sailing along
the shore of the gulf. On his third voyage he was killed, through the
THE NORTHWEST TERRITOBY.
29
treachery of his followers, and the object of his expeditions was not
accomplished until 1699, when D'Iberville, under the authority of the
crown, discovered, on the second of March, by way of the sea, the mouth
of the " Hidden River.'' This majestic stream was called by the natives
'•' Malbouchia," and by the Spaniards, '■'■la ^alissade,'' from the great
*^-^"^^.&@^lS«.^&fV"^*
TRAPPING.
number of trees about its mouth. After traversing the several outlets,
and satisfying himself as to its certainty, he erected a fort near its
western outlet, and returned to France.
An avenue of trade was now opened out which was fully improved.
In 1718, New Orleans was laid out and settled by some European colon-
ists. In 1762, the colony was made over to Spain, to be regained by
France under the consulate of Napoleon. In 1803, it was purchased by
30 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
the United States for the sum of fifteen million dollars, and the territory
of Louisiana and commerce of the Mississippi River came under the
charge of the United States. Although LaSalle's labors ended in defeat
and death, he had not worked and suffered in vain. He had thrown
open to France and the world an immense and most valuable country ;
had established several ports, and laid the foundations of more than one
settlement there. " Peoria, Kaskaskia and Cahokia, are to this day monu-
ments of LaSalle's labors ; for, though he had founded neither of them
(unless Peoria, which was built nearly upon the site of Fort Crevecoeur,)
it was by those whom he led into the West that these places were
peopled and civilized. He was, if not the discoverer, the first settler of
the Mississippi Valley, and as such deserves to be known and honored."
The French early improved the opening made for them. Before the
year 1698, the Rev. Father Gravier began a mission among the Illinois,
and founded Kaskaskia. For some time this was merely a missionary
station, where none but natives resided, it being one of three such vil-
lages, tha other two being Cahokia and Peoria. What is known of
these missions is learned from a letter written by Father Gabriel Marest,
dated " Aux Cascaskias, autrement dit de I'lmmaculate Conception de
la Sainte Vierge, le 9 Novembre, 1712." Soon after the founding of
Kaskaskia, the missionary, Pinet, gathered a flock at Cahokia, while
Peoria arose near the ruins of Fort Crevecceur, This must have been
about the year 1700. The post at Vincennes on the Oubache river,
(pronounced Wa-ba, meaning summer cloud moving siviftli/) was estab-
lished in 1702, according to the best authorities.* It is altogether prob-
able that on LaSalle's last trip he established the stations at Kaskaskia
and (jahokia. In July, 1701, the foundations of Fort Ponchartrain
were laid by De la Motte Cadillac on the Detroit River. These sta-
tions, with 'those established further north, were the earliest attempts to
occupy the Northwest Territory. At the same time efforts were being-
made to occupy the Southwest, which finally culminated in the settle-
ment and founding of the City of New Orleans by a colony from England
in 1718. This was mainly accomplished through the efforts of the
famous Mississippi Company, established by the notorious John Law,
who so quickly arose into prominence in France, and who with his
scheme so quickly and so ignominiously passed away.
From the time of the founding of these stations for fifty years the
French nation were engrossed with the settlement of the lower Missis-
sippi, and the war with the Chicasaws, who had, in revenge for repeated
• There Is considerable dispute about this date, some asserting it was founded as late as 1742. When
the new court house at Vincennes was erected, all authorities on the subject were carefully examined, and
1703 fixed upon as the correct date. It was accordingly engraved on the corner-stone of the court house.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 31
injuries, cut off the entire colony at Natchez. Although the company
did little for Louisiana, as the entire West was then called, yet it opened
the trade through the Mississippi River, and started the raising of grains
indigenous to that climate. Until the year 1750, but little is known of
the settlements in the Northwest, as it was not until this time that the
attention of the English was called to the occupation of this portion of the
New World, which they then supposed they owned. Vivier, a missionary
among the Illinois, writing from " Aux Illinois," six leagues from Fort
Chartres, June 8, 1750, says: "We have 'here whites, negroes a^nd
Indians, to say nothing of cross-breeds. There are five French villages,
and three villages of the natives, within a space of twenty-one leagues
situated between the Mississippi and another river called the Karkadaid
(Kaskaskias). In the five French villages are, perhaps, eleven hundred
whites, three hundred blacks and some sixty red slaves or savages. The
three Illinois towns do not contain more than eight hundred souls all
told. Most of the French till the soil; they raise wheat, cattle, pigs and
horses, and live like princes. Three times as much is produced as can
be consumed ; and great quantities of grain and flour are sent to New
Orleans.'' This city was now the seaport town of the Northwest, and
save in the extreme northern part, where only furs and copper ore were
found, almost all the products of the country found their way to France
by the mouth of the Father of Waters. In another letter, dated Novem-
ber 7, 1750, this same priest says : " For fifteen leagues above the
mouth of the Mississippi one sees no dwellings, the ground being too low
to be habitable. Thence to New Orleans, the lands are only partially
occupied. New Orleans contains black, white and red, not more, I
think, than twelve hundred persons. To this point come all lumber,
bricks, salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins and bear's grease ; and above all, pork
and flour from the Illinois. These things create some commerce, as forty
vessels and more have come hither this year. Above New Orleans,
plantations are again met with ; the most considerable is a colony of
Germans, some ten leagues up the river. At Point Coupee, thirty -five
leagues above the German settlement, is a fort. Along here, within five
or six leagues, are not less than sixty habitations. Fifty leagues farther
up is the Natchez post, where we have a garrison, who are kept prisoners
through fear of the Chickasaws. Here and at Point Coupee, they raise
excellent tobacco. Another hundred leagues brings us to the Arkansas,
where we have also a fort and a garrison for the benefit of the river
traders. * * * From the Arkansas to the Illinois, nearly five hundred
leagues, there is not a settlement. There should be, however, a fort at
the Oubache (Ohio), the only path by which the English can reach the
Mississippi. In the Illinois country are numberless mines, but no one to
32
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
work them as they deserve." Father Marest, writing from the post at
Vincennes in 1812, makes the same observation. Vivier also says : " Some
individuals dig lead near the surface and supply the Indians and Canada.
Two Spaniards now here, who claim to be adepts, say that our mines are
like those of Mexico, and that if we would dig deeper, we should find
silver under the lead ; and at any rate the lead is excellent. There is also
in this country, beyond doubt, copper ore, as from time to time large
pieces are found in the streams."
2^
HUNTING.
At the close of the year 1750, the French occupied, in addition to the
lower Mississippi posts and those in Illinois, one at Du Quesne, one at
the Maumee in the country of the Miamis, and one at Sandusky in what
may be termed the Ohio Valley. In the northern part of the Northwest
they had stations at St. Joseph's on the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan,
at Fort Ponchartrain (Detroit), at Michillimackanac or Massillimacanac,
Fox River of Green Bay, and at Sault Ste. Marie. The fondest dreams of
LaSalle were now fully realized. The French alone were possessors of
this vast realm, basing their claim on discovery and settlement. Another
nation, however, was now turning its attention to this extensive country,
THK NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 33
and hearing of its wealth, began to lay plans for occupying it and for
securing the great profits arising therefrom.
The French, however, had another claim to this country, namely, the
DISCOVERY OF THE OHIO.
This " Beautiful " river was discovered by Robert Cavalier de La-
Salle in 1669, four years before the discovery of the Mississippi by Joliet
and Marquette.
While LaSalle was at his trading post on the St. Lawrence, he found
leisure to study nine Indian dialects, the chief of which was the Iroquois.
He not only desired to facilitate his intercourse in trade, but he longed
to travel and explore the unknown regions of the West. An incident
soon occurred which decided him to fit out an exploring expedition.
While conversing with some Senecas, he learned of a river called the
Ohio, which rose in their country and flowed to the sea, but at such a
distance that it required eight months to reach its mouth. In this state-
ment the Mississippi and its tributaries were considered as one stream.
LaSalle believing, as most of the French at that period did, that the great
rivers flowing west emptied into the Sea of California, was anxious to
embark in the enterprise of discovering a route across the continent to
the commerce of China and Japan. '
He repaired at once to Quebec to obtain the approval of the Gov-
ernor. His eloquent appeal prevailed. The Governor and the Intendant,
Talon, issued letters patent authorizing the enterprise, but made no pro-
vision to defray the expenses. At this juncture the seminary of St. Sul-
pice decided to send out missionaries in connection with the expedition,
and LaSalle offering to sell his improvements at LaChine to raise money,
the offer was accepted by the Superior, and two thousand eight hundred
dollars were raised, with which LaSalle purchased four canoes and the
necessary supplies for the outfit.
On the 6th of July, 1669, the party, numbering twenty-four persons,
embarked in seven canoes on the St. Lawrence ; two additional canoes
carried the Indian guides. In three days they were gliding over the
bosom of Lake Ontario. Their guides conducted them directly to the
Seneca village on the bank of the Genesee, in the vicinity of the present
City of Rochester, New York. Here they expected to procure guides to
conduct them to the Ohio, but in this they were disappointed.
The Indians seemed unfriendly to the enterprise. LaSalle suspected
that the Jesuits had prejudiced their minds against his plans. After
waiting a month in the hope of gaining their object, they met an Indian
34
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
from the Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, who assured them
that they could there find guides, and offered to conduct them thence.
On their way they passed the mouth of the Niagara River, when they
heard for the first time the distant thunder of the cataract. Arriving
^^^^.^.,
IROyUOlS OHIKF.
among the Iroquois, they met with a friendly reception, and learned
from a Shawanee prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks.
Delighted with the unexpected good fortune, they made ready to resume
their journey ; but just as they were about to start they heard of the
arrival of two Frenchmen in a neighboring village. One of them proved
to be Louis Joliet, afterwards famous as an explorer in the West. He
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 35
had been sent by the Canadian Government to explore the copper mines
on Lake Superior, but had failed, and was on his way back to Quebec.
He gave the missionaries a map of the country he had explored in the
lake region, together with an account of the condition of the Indians in
that quarter. This induced the priests to determine on leaving tlie
expedition and going to Lake Superior. LaSalle warned them that the
Jesuits were probably occupying that field, and that they would meet
with a cold reception. Nevertheless they persisted in their purpose, and
after worship on the lake shore, parted from LaSalle. On arriving at
Lake Superior, they found, as LaSalle had predicted, the Jesuit Fathers,
Marquette and Dablon, occupying the field.
These zealous disciples of Loyola informed them that they wanted
no assistance from St. Sulpice, nor from those who made him their patron
saint ; and thus repulsed, they returned to Montreal the following June
without having made a single discovery or converted a single Indian.
After parting with the priests, LaSalle went to the chief Iroquois
village at Onondaga, where he obtained guides, and passing thence to a
tributary of the Ohio south of Lake Erie, he descended the latter as far
as the falls at Louisville. Thus was the Ohio discovered by LaSalle, the
persevering and successful French explorer of the West, in 1669.
The account of the latter part of his journey is found in an anony-
mous paper, which purports to have been taken from the lips of LaSalle
himself during a subsequent visit to Paris. In a letter written to Count
Froutenac in 1667, shortly after the discovery, he himself says that he
discovered the Ohio and descended it to the falls. This was regarded as
an indisputable fact by the French authorities, who claimed the Ohio
Valley upon another ground. When Washington was sent by the colony
of Virginia in 1753, to demand of Gordeur de St. Pierre why the French
had built a fort on the Monongahela, the haughty commandant at Quebec
replied : " We claim the country on the Ohio by virtue of the discoveries
of LaSalle, and will not give it up to the English. Our orders are to
make prisoners of every Englishman found trading in the Ohio Valley."
ENGLISH EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS.
When the new year of 1750 broke in upon the Father of Waters
and the Great Northwest, all was still wild save at the French posts
already described. In 1749, when the English first began to think seri-
ously about sending men into the West, the greater portion of the States
of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were yet
under the dominion of the red men. The English knew, however, pretty
36 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
conclusively of the nature of the wealth of these wilds. As early as
1710, Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, had commenced movements to
secure the country west of the Alleghenies to the English crown. In
Pennsylvania, Governor Keith and James Logan, secretary of the prov-
ince, from 1719 to 1731, represented to the powers of England the neces-
sity of securing the Western lands. Nothing was done, however, b}- that
power save to take some diplomatic steps to secure the claims of Britain
to this unexplored wilderness.
England had from the outset claimed from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
on the ground that the discovery of the seacoast and its possession was a
discovery and possession of the country, and, as is well known, her grants
to the colonies extended " from sea to sea." This was not all her claim.
She had purchased from the Indian tribes large tracts of land. This lat-
ter was also a strong argument. As early as 1684, Lord Howard, Gov-
ernor of Virginia, held a treaty with the six nations. These were the
great Northern Confederacy, and comprised at first the Mohawks, Onei-
das, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Afterward the Tuscaroras Avere
taken into the confederacy, and it became known as the Six Nations.
They came under the protection of the mother country, and again in
1701, they repeated the agreement, and in September, 1726, a formal deed
was drawn up and signed by the chiefs. The validity of this claim has
often been disputed, but never successfully. In 1744, a purchase was
made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, of certain lands within the " Colony of
Virginia," for which the Indians received £200 in gold and a like sum in
goods, with a promise that, as settlements increased, more should be paid.
The Commissioners from Virginia were Colonel Thomas Lee and Colonel
William Beverly. As settlements extended, the promise of more pay was
called to mind, and Mr. Conrad Weiser was sent across the mountains with
presents to appease the savages. Col. Lee, and some Virginians accompa-
nied him with the intention of sounding the Indians upon their feelings
regarding the English. They were not satisfied with their treatment,
and plainly told the Commissioners why. The English did not desire the
cultivation of the country, but the monopoly of the Indian trade. In
1748, the Ohio Company was formed, and petitioned the king for a grant
of land beyond the Alleghenies. This was granted, and the government
of Virginia was ordered to orant to them a half million acres, two hun-
dred thousand of which were to be located at once. Upon the 12th of
June, 1749, 800,000 acres from the line of Canada north and west was
made to the Loyal Company, and on the 29th of October, 1751, 100,000
acres were given to the Greenbriar Company. All this time the French
were not idle. They saw that, should the British gain a foothold in the
West, especially upon the Ohio, they might not only prevent the French
THE NOllTHWEST TERRITORY. 37
settling upon it, but in time Avould come to the lower posts and so gain
possession of the whole country. Upon the 10th of May, 1774, Vaud-
reuil, Governor of Canada and the French possessions, well knowing the
consequences that must arise from allowing the English to build trading-
posts in the Northwest, seized some of their frontier posts, and to further
secure the claim of the French to the West, he, in 1749, sent Louis Cel-
eron with a party of soldiers to plant along the Ohio River, in the mounds
and at the mouths of its principal tributaries, plates of lead, on which
were inscribed the claims of France. These were heard of in 1752, and
within the memory of residents now living along the "• Oyo," as the
beautiful river was called by the French. One of these plates was found
with the inscription partly defaced. It bears date August 16, 1749, and
a copy of the inscription with particular account of the discovery of the
plate, was sent by DeWitt Clinton to the American Antiquarian Society,
among whose journals it may now be found.* These measures did not,
however, deter the English from going on with their explorations, and
though neither party resorted to arms, yet the conflict was gathering, and
it was only a question of time when the storm would burst upon the
frontier settlements. In 1750, Christopher Gist was sent by the Ohio
Company to examine its lands. He went to a village of the Twigtwees,
on the Miami, about one hundred and fifty miles above its mouth. He
afterward spoke of it as very populous. From there he went down
the Ohio River nearly to the falls at the present City of Louisville,
and in November he commenced a survey of the Company's lands. Dur-
ing the Winter, General Andrew Lewis performed a similar work for the
Greenbriar Company. Meanwhile the French were busy in preparing
their forts for defense, and in opening roads, and also sent a small party
of soldiers to keep the Ohio clear. This party, having heard of the Eng-
lish post on the Miami River, early in 1652, assisted by the Ottawas and
Chippewas, attacked it, and, after a severe battle, in which fourteen of
the natives were killed and others wounded, captured the garrison.
(They were probably garrisoned in a block house). The traders were
carried away to Canada, and one account says several were burned. This
fort or post was called by the English Pickawillany. A memorial of the
king's ministers refers to it as " Pickawillanes, in the center of the terri-
tory between the Ohio and the Wabash. The name is probably some
variation of Pickaway or Picqua in 1773, written by Rev. David Jones
Pickaweke."
* The following is a translation of the Inscription on the plate: "In the year 1749, reign of Louis XV.,
King of France, we, Celeron, conir.iandant of a cletachnient by Monsieur the Marquis of Galllsoniere, com-
maniler-in-chief of New France, to establish tranquility in certain Indian villages of these cantons, have
buried tliis plate at the confluence of the Toradakoin, this twenty- ninth of July, near the river Ohio, otherwise
Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possession which we have taken of the said river, and all its
tributaries; inasmuch as the preceding Kings of France have enjoyed it, and maintained it by their arms and
treaties; especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix LaChapelle."
S8 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
This was the first blood shed between the French and English, and
occurred near the present City of Piqua, Ohio, or at least at a point about
forty-seven miles north of Dayton. Each nation became now more inter-
ested in the progress of events in the Northwest. The English deter-
mined to purchase from the Indians a title to the lands they wished to
occupy, and Messrs. Fry (afterward Commander-in-chief over Washing-
ton at the commencement of the French War of 1775-1763), Lomax and
Patton were sent in the Spring of 1752 to hold a conference with the
natives at Logstown to learn what they objected to in the treaty of Lan-
caster already noticed, and to settle all difficulties. On the 9th of June,
these Commissioners met the red men at Logstown, a little village on the
north bank of the Ohio, about seventeen miles below the site of Pitts-
burgh. Here had been a trading point for many years, but it was aban-
doned by the Indians in 1750. At first the Indians declined to recognize
the treaty of Lancaster, but, the Commissioners taking aside Montour,
the interpreter, who was a son of the famous Catharine Montour, and a
chief among the six nations, induced him to use his influence in their
favor. This he did, and upon the 13th of June they all united in signing
a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its full extent, consenting to a
settlement of the southeast of the Ohio, and guaranteeing that it should
not be disturbed by them. These were the means used to obtain the first
treaty with the Indians in the Ohio Valley.
Meanwhile the powers beyond the sea were trying to out-manceuvre
each other, and were professing to be at peace. The English generally
outwitted the Indians, and failed in many instances to fulfill their con-
tracts. They thereby gained the ill-will of the red men, and further
increased the feeling by failing to provide them with arms and ammuni-
tion. Said an old chief, at Easton, in 1758 : " The Indians on the Ohio
left you because of your own fault. When we heard the French were
coming, we asked you for help and arms, but we did not get them. The
French came, they treated us kindly, and gained our affections. The
Governor of Virginia settled on our lands for his own benefit, and, when
we wanted help, forsook us."
At the beginning of 1653, the English thought they had secured by
title the lands in the West, but the French had quietly gathered cannon
and military stores to be in readiness for the expected blow. The Eng-
lish made other attempts to ratify these existing treaties, but not until
the Summer could the Indians be gathered together to discuss the plans
of the French. They had sent messages to the French, warning them
away ; but they replied that they intended to complete the chain of forts
already begun, and would not abandon the field.
Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio regard-
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 39
ing the positions and purposes of the French, Governor Dinwicldie of
Virginia determined to send to them another messenger and learn from
them, if possible, their intentions. For this purpose he selected a young
man, a surveyor, who, at the early age of nineteen, had received the rank
of major, and who was thoroughly posted regarding frontier life. This
personage was no other tlian the illustrious George Washington, who then
held considerable interest in Western lands. He was at this time just
twenty-two years of age. Taking Gist as his guide, the two, accompanied
by four servitors, set out on their perilous march. They left Will's
Creek on the 10th of November, 1753, and on the 22d reached the Monon-
gahela, about ten miles above the fork. From there they went to
Logstown, where Washington had a long conference with the chiefs of
the Six Nations. From them he learned the condition of the French, and
also heard of their determination not to come down the river till the fol-
lowing Spring. The Indians were non-committal, as they were afraid to
turn either way, and, as far as they could, desired to remain neutral.
Washington, finding nothing could be done with them, went on to
Venango, an old Indian town at the mouth of French Creek. Here the
French had a fort, called Fort Machault. Through the rum and flattery
of the French, he nearly lost all his Indian followers. Finding nothing
of importance here, he pursued his way amid great privations, and on the
11th of December reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here
he delivered Governor Dinwiddle's letter, received his answer, took his
observations, and on the 16th set out upon his return journey with no one
but Gist, his guide, and a few Indians who still remained true to him,
notwithstanding the endeavors of the French to retain them. Their
homeward journey was one of great peril and suffering from the cold, yet
they reached home in safety on the 6th of January, 1754.
From the letter of St. Pierre, commander of the French fort, sent by
Washington to Governor Dinwiddle, it was learned that the French would
not give up Avithout a struggle. Active preparations were at once made
in all the English colonies for the coming conflict, while the French
finished the fort at Venango and strengthened their lines of fortifications,
and gathered their forces to be in readiness.
The Old Dominion was all alive. Virginia was the center of great
activities ; volunteers were called for, and from all the neighboring
colonies men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac
men were enlisting under the Governor's proclamation — which promised
two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. Along this river they were
gathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this point, whither Trent
had come for assistance for his little band of forty-one men, who were
40 THE NOKTHWEST TEKRITORY.
working away in hunger and want, to fortify that point at the fork of
the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest.
" The first birds of Spring filled the air with their song ; the swift
river rolled by the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of
Spring and the April showers. The leaves were appearing ; a few Indian
scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand ; and all was so quiet,
that Frazier, an old Indian scout and trader, who had been left by Trent
in command, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten
miles up the Monongahela. But, though all was so quiet in that wilder-
ness, keen eyes had seen the low intrenchment rising at the fork, and
swift feet had borne the news of it up the river ; and upon the morning
of the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw
upon the Allegheny a sight that made his heart sink — sixty batteaux and
three hundred canoes filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and
stores. * * * That evening he supped with his captor, Contrecoeur,
and the next day he was bowed off by the Frenchman, and with his men
and tools, marched up the Monongahela."
The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la
Chapelle, in 1748, had left the boundaries between the French and
English possessions unsettled, and the events already narrated show the
French were determined to hold the country watered by the Mississippi
and its tributaries ; while the English laid claims to the country by virtue
of the discoveries of the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New-
foundland to Florida, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The
first decisive blow had now been struck, and the first attempt of the
English, through the Ohio Company, to occupy these lands, had resulted
disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed
the fortifications begun at the Fork, which they had so easily captured,
and when completed gave to the fort the name of DuQuesne. Washing-
ton was at Will's Creek when the news of the capture of the fort arrived.
He at once departed to recapture it. On his way he entrenched him-
self at a place called the "• Meadows," where he erected a fort called
by him Fort Necessity. From there he surprised and captured a force of
French and Indians marching against him, but was soon after attacked
in his fort by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the
morning of July 4th. He was allowed to return to Virginia.
The English Government immediately planned four campaigns; one
against Fort DuQuesne ; one against Nova Scotia ; one against Fort
Niagara, and one against Crown Point. These occurred during 1755-6,
and were not successful in driving the French from their possessions.
The expedition against Fort DuQuesne was led by the famous General
Braddock, who, refusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 41
acquainted with Indian warfare, suffered such an inglorious defeat. This
occurred on the morning of July 9th, and is generally known as the battle
of Monongahela, or " Braddock's Defeat." The war continued with
various vicissitudes through the years 1756-7 ; when, at the commence-
ment of 1758, in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, then Secre-
tary of State, afterwards Lord Chatham, active preparations were made to
carry on the war. Three expeditions were planned for this year : one,
under General Amherst, against Louisburg ; another, under Abercrombie,
against Fort Ticonderoga ; and a third, under General Forbes, against
Fort DuQuesne. On the 26th of July, Louisburg surrendered after a
desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part of the
Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abercrombie
captured Fort Frontenac, and when the expedition against Fort DuQuesne,
of which Washington had the active command, arrived there, it was
found in flames and deserted. The English at once took possession,
rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illustrious statesman, changed the
name to Fort Pitt.
The great object of the campaign of 1759, was the reduction of
Canada. General Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec ; Amherst was to
reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and General Prideaux was to
capture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant
Prideaux lost his life in the attempt. Amherst captured Ticonderoga
and Crown Point without a blow ; and Wolfe, after making the memor-
able ascent to the Plains of Abraham, on September 13th, defeated
Montcalm, and on the 18th, the city capitulated. In this engagement
Montcolm and Wolfe both lost their lives. De Levi, Montcalm's successor,
marched to Sillery, three miles above the city, with the purpose of
defeating the English, and there, on the 28th of the fuUowing April, was
fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian War. It
resulted in the defeat of the French, and the fall of the City of Montreal.
The Governor signed a capitulation by which the whole of Canada was
surrendered to the English. This practically concluded the war, but it
was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and England
were signed. This was done on the 10th of February of that year, and
under its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of
the Iberville River, in Louisiana, were ceded to England. At the same
time Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.
On the 13th of September, 1760, Major Robert Rogers was sent
from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only remaining French post
in the territory. He arrived there on the 19th of Noveml)er, and sum-
moned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post,
Beletre, refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defeat of the
42 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
French arms, surrendered. Rogers remained there until December 23d
under the personal protection of the celebrated chief, Pontiac, to whom,
no doubt, he owed his safety. Pontiac had come here to inquire the
purposes of the English in taking possession of the country. He was
assured that they came simply to trade with the natives, and did not
desire their country. This answer conciliated the savages, and did much
to insure the safety of Rogers and his party during their stay, and while
on their journey home.
Rogers set out for Fort Pitt on December 23, and was just one
month on the way. His route was from Detroit to Maumee, thence
across the present State of Ohio directly to the fort. This was the com-
mon trail of the Indians in their journeys from Sandusky to the fork of
the Ohio. It went from Fort Sandusky, where Sandusky City now is,
crossed the Huron river, then called Bald Eagle Creek, to " Mohickon
John's Town" on Mohickon Creek, the northern branch of White
Woman's River, and thence crossed to Beaver's Town, a Delaware town
on what is now Sandy Creek. At Beaver's Town were probably one
hundred and fifty warriors, and not less than three thousand acres of
cleared land. From there the track went up Sandy Creek to and across
Big Beaver, and up the Ohio to Logstown, thence on to the fork.
The Northwest Territory was now entirely under the English rule.
New settlements began to be rapidly made, and the promise of a large
trade was speedily manifested. Had the British carried out their promises
with the natives none of those savage butcheries would have been perpe-
trated, and the country would have been spared their recital.
The renowned chief, Pontiac, was one of the leading spirits in these
atrocities. We will now pause in our narrative, and notice the leading
events in his life. The earliest authentic information regarding this
noted Indian chief is learned from an account of an Indian trader named
Alexander Henry, who, in the Spring of 1761, penetrated his domains as
far as Missillimacnac. Pontiac was then a great friend of the French,
but a bitter foe of the English, whom he considered as encroaching on his
hunting grounds. Henry was obliged to disguise himself as a Canadian
to insure safety, but was discovered by Pontiac, who bitterly reproached
him and tlie English for their attempted subjugation of the West. He
declared that no treaty had been made with them ; no presents sent
them, and that he would resent any possession of the West by that nation.
He was at the time about fifty years of age, tall and dignified, and was
civil and military ruler of the Ottawas, Ojibwas and Pottawatamies.
The Indians, from Lake Michigan to the borders of North Carolina,
were united in this feeling, and at the time of the treaty of Paris, ratified
February 10, 1763, a general conspiracy was formed to fall suddenly
THE NORTHWEST TERKITOK.Y.
43
PONTIAC, THE OTTAWA CHIEFTAIN.
44 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
upon the frontier British posts, and with one blow strike every man dead.
Pontiac was the marked leader in all this, and was the commander
of the Chippewas, Ottawas, Wyandots, Miamis, Shawanese, Delawares
and Mingoes, who had, for the time, laid aside their local quarrels to unite
in this enterprise.
The blow came, as near as can now be ascertained, on May 7, 176-^.
Nine British posts fell, and the Indians drank, " scooped up in the hollow
of joined hands," the blood of many a Briton.
Pontiac's immediate field of action was the garrison at Detroit.
Here, however, the plans were frustrated by an Indian woman disclosing
the plot the evening previous to his arrival. Everything was carried out,
however, according to Pontiac's plans until the moment of action, when
Major Gladwyn, the commander of the post, stepping to one of the Indian
chiefs, suddenly drew aside his blanket and disclosed the concealed
musket. Pontiac, though a brave man, turned pale and trembled. He
saw his plan was known, and that the garrison were prepared. He
endeavored to exculpate himself from any such intentions ; but the guilt
was evident, and he and his followers were dismissed with a severe
reprimand, and warned never to again enter the walls of the post.
Pontiac at once laid siege to the fort, and until the treaty of peace
betAveen the British and the Western Indians, concluded in August, 1764,
continued to harass and besiege the fortress. He organized a regular
commissariat department, issued bills of credit written out on bark,
which, to his credit, it may be stated, were punctually redeemed. At
the conclusion of the treaty, in which it seems he took no part, he went
further south, living many years among the Illinois.
He had given up all hope of saving his country and race. After a
time he endeavored to unite the Illinois tribe and those about St. Louis
in a war with the whites. His efforts were fruitless, and only ended in a
quarrel between himself and some Kaskaskia Indians, one of whom soon
afterwards killed him. His death was, however, avenged by the northern
Indians, who nearly exterminated the Illinois in the wars which followed.
Had it not been for the treachery of a few of his followers, his plan
for the extermination of the whites, a masterly one, would undoubtedly
have been carried out.
It was in the Spring of the year following Rogers' visit that Alex-
ander Henry went to Missillimacnac, and everywhere found the strongest
feelings against the English, who had not carried out their promises, and
were doing nothing to conciliate the natives. Here he met the chief,
Pontiac, who, after conveying to him in a speech the idea that their
French father would awake soon and utterly destroy his enemies, said :
*' Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not
THE NOliTHWEST TEKIMTORY. 45
yet conquered us ! We are not your slaves ! Those lakes, these woods,
these mountains, were left us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance,
and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like
the white people, can not live without bread and pork and beef. But you
ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided
food for us upon these broad lakes and in these mountains."
He then spoke of the fact that no treaty had been made with them,
no presents sent them, and that he and his people were yet for war.
Such were the feelings of the Northwestern Indians immediately after
the English took possession of their country. These feelings were no
doubt encouraged by the Canadians and French, who hoped that yet the
French arms might prevail. The treaty of Paris, however, gave to the
English the right to this vast domain, and active preparations were going
on to occupy it and enjoy its trade and emoluments.
In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to pre-
vent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters
of the entire West. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fon-
tainbleau, gave to the English the domain of the country in question.
Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States
and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the Great
Lakes, comprehending a large territory which is the subject of these
sketches, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States ; and
twenty years still later, in 1803, Louisiana was ceded by Spain back to
France, and by France sold to the United States.
In the half century, from the building of the Fort of Crevecoeur by
LaSalle, in 1680, up to the erection of F'ort Chartres, many French set-
tlements had been made in that quarter. These have already been
noticed, being those at St. Vincent (Vincennes), Koliokia or Cahokia,
Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher, on the American Bottom, a large tract
of rich alluvial soil in Illinois, on the Mississippi, opposite the site of St.
Louis.
By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including
all these and other towns of the Northwest, were given over to England;
but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when
Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty of England, established him-
self at Fort Chartres bearing with him the proclamation of General Gage,
dated December 30, 1764, which promised religious freedom to all Cath-
olics who worshiped here, and a right to leave the country with their
effects if they wished, or to remain with the privileges of Englishmen.
It was shortly after the occupancy of the West by the British that the
war with Pontiac opened. It is already noticed in the sketch of that
chieftain. By it many a Briton lost his life, and many a frontier settle-
46 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
ment in its infancy ceased to exist. This was not ended until the year
1764, when, failing to capture Detroit, Niagara and Fort Pitt, his confed-
eracy became disheartened, and, receiving no aid from the French, Pon-
tiac abandoned the enterprise and departed to the Illinois, among whom
he afterward lost his life.
As soon as these difficulties were definitely settled, settlers began
rapidly to survey the country and prepare for occupation. During the
year 1770, a number of persons from Virginia and other British provinces
explored and marked out nearly all the valuable lands on the Mononga-
hela and along the banks of the Ohio as far as the Little Kanawha. This
was followed by another exploring expedition, in which George Washing-
ton was a party. The latter, accompanied by Dr. Craik, Capt. Crawford
and others, on the 20th of October, 1770, descended the Ohio from Pitts-
burgh to the mouth of the Kanawha ; ascended that stream about fourteen
miles, marked out several large tracts of land, shot several buffalo, which
were then abundant in the Ohio Valley, and returned to the fort.
Pittsburgh was at this time a trading post, about which was clus-
tered a village of some twenty houses, inhabited by Indian traders. This
same year, Capt. Pittman visited Kaskaskia and its neighboring villages.
He found there about sixty-five resident families, and at Cahokia only
forty-five dwellings. At Fort Chartres was another small settlement, and
at Detroit the garrison were quite prosperous and strong. For a year
or two settlers continued to locate near some of these posts, generally
Fort Pitt or Detroit, owing to the fears of the Indians, who still main-
tained some feelings of hatred to the English. The trade from the posts
was quite good, and from those in Illinois large quantities of pork and
flour found their way to the New Orleans market. At this time the
policy of the British Government was strongly opposed to the extension
of the colonies west. In 1763, the King of England forbade, by royal
proclamation, his colonial subjects from making a settlement beyond the
sources of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. At the instance
of the Board of Trade, measures were taken to prevent the settlement
without the limits prescribed, and to retain the commerce within easy
reach of Great Britain.
The commander-in-chief of the king's forces wrote in 1769 : " In the
course of a few years necessity will compel the colonists, should they
extend their settlements west, to provide manufactures of some kind for
themselves, and when all connection upheld by commerce with the mother
country ceases, an independency in their government will soon follow."'
In accordance with this policy. Gov. Gage issued a proclamation
in 1772, commanding the inhabitants of Vincennes to abandon their set-
tlements and join some of the Eastern English colonies. To this they
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. ~ 47
strenuously objected, giving good reasons therefor, and were allowed ^to
remain. The strong opposition to this policy of Great Britain led to its
change, and to such a course as to gain the attachment of the French
population. In December, 1773, influential citizens of Quebec petitioned
the king for an extension of the boundary lines of that province, which
was granted, and Parliament passed an act on June 2, 1774, extend-
ing the boundary so as to include the territory lying within the present
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.
In consequence of the liberal policy pursued by the British Govern-
ment toward the French settlers in the West, they were disposed to favor
that nation in the war which soon followed with the colonies ; but the
early alliance between France and America soon brought them to the side
of the war for independence.
In 1774, Gov. Dunmore, of Virginia, began to encourage emigration
to the "Western lands. He appointed magistrates at Fort Pitt under the
pretense that the fort was under the government of that commonwealth.
One of these justices, John Connelly, who possessed a tract of land in the
Ohio Valley, gathered a force of men and garrisoned the fort, calling it
Fort Dunmore. This and other parties were formed to select sites for
settlements, and often came in conflict with the Indians, who yet claimed
portions of the valley, and several battles followed. These ended in the
famous battle of Kanawha in July, where the Indians were defeated and
driven across the Ohio.
During the years 1775 and 1776, by the operations of land companies
and the perseverance of individuals, several settlements were firmly estab-
lished between ths Alleghanies and the Ohio River, and western land
speculators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a council held
in Kaskaskia on July 5, 1773, an association of English traders, calling
themselves the " Illinois Land Company," obtained from ten chiefs of the
Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Peoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on
the east side of the Mississippi River south of the Illinois. In 1775, a mer-
chant from the Illinois Country, named. Viviat, came to Post Vincennes
as the agent of the association called the " Wabash Land Company." On
the 8th of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs, a deed for
37,497,600 acres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested
by a number of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and afterward recorded in
the office of a notar}^ public at Kaskaskia. This and other land com-
panies had extensive schemes for the colonization of the West ; but all
were frustrated by the breaking out of the Revolution. On the 20th of
April, 1780, the two companies named consolidated under the name of the
" United Illinois and Wabash Land Company." They afterward made
48 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
strenuous efforts to have these grants sanctioned by Congress, but all
signally failed.
When the War of the Revolution commenced, Kentucky was an unor-
ganized country, though there were several settlements within her borders.
In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated lliat at that time
" Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1,000 white and black in-
habitants — the whites being a little the more numerous. Cahokia con-
tains 50 houses and 300 white inhabitants, and 80 negroes. There were
east of the Mississippi River, about the year 1771 " — when these observa-
tions were made — " 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and 280
negroes."
From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and
nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report
made by a committee to Congress in June, 1778. From it the following-
extract is made :
"Near the mouth of the River Kaskaskia, there is a village which
appears to have contained nearly eighty families from the beginning of
the late revolution. There are twelve iamilies in a small village at la
Prairie du Rochers, and near fifty families at the Kahokia Village. There
are also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philips, which is five
miles further up the river.''
St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time con-
tained, including its neighboring towns, over six hundred whites and one
hundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the country
west of the Mississippi was now under French nde, and remained so until
ceded again to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the
country including New Orleans to the United States. At Detroit there
were, according to Capt, Carver, who was in the Northwest from L766 to
1768, more than one hundred houses, and the river was settled for more
than twenty miles, although poorly cultivated — the people being engaged
in the Indian trade. This old town has a history, which we will here
relate.
It is the oldest town in the Northwest, having been founded by
Antoine de Lamotte Cadillac, in 1701. It was laid out in the form of an
oblong square, of two acres in length, and an acre and a half in width.
As described by A. D. Frazer, who first visited it and became a permanent
resident of the place, in 1778, it comprised within its limits that space
between Mr. Palmer's store (Conant Block) and Capt. Perkins' house
(near the Arsenal building), and extended back as far as the public barn,
and was bordered in front by the Detroit River. It was surrounded by
oak and cedar pickets, about fifteen feet long, set in the ground, and had
four gates — east, west, north and south. Over the first three of these
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 49
^ates were block houses provided with four gans apiece, each a six-
pounder. Two six-gun batteries were planted fronting the river and in a
parallel direction with the block houses. There were four streets running
east and west, the main street being twenty feet wide and the rest fifteen
feet, while the four streets crossing these at right angles were from ten
to fifteen feet in width.
At the date spoken of by Mr. Frazer, there was no fort within the
enclosure, but a citadel on the ground corresponding to the present
northwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Wayne Street. The citadel was
inclosed by pickets, and within it Vvcre erected barracks of wood, two
stories high, sufficient to contain ten officers, and also barracks sufficient
to contain four hundred men, and a provision store built of brick. The
citadel also contained a hospital and guard-house. The old town of
Detroit, in 17T8, contained about sixty houses, most of them one story,
with a few a story and a half in height. They were all of logs, some
hewn and some round. There was one building of splendid appearance,
called the " King's Palace," two stories high, which stood near the east
gate. It was built for Governor Hamilton, the first governor commissioned
by the British. There were two guard-houses, one near the w^est gate and
the other near the Government House. Each of the guards consisted of
twenty-four men and a subaltern, who mounted regularly every morning
between nine and ten o'clock. Each furnished four sentinels, who were
relieved every two hours. There was also an officer of the day, who per-
formed strict duty. Each of the gates was shut regularly at sunset ;
even wicket gates were shut at nine o'clock, and all the keys were
delivered into the hands of the commanding officer. They were opened
in the morning at sunrise. No Indian or squaw was permitted to enter
town with any weapon, such as a tomahawk or a knife. It was a stand-
ing order that the Indians should deliver their arms and instruments of
every kind before they were permitted to pass the sentinel, and they were
restored to them on their return. No more than twenty-five Indians were
allowed to enter the town at any one time, and they were admitted only
at the east and west gates. At sundown the drums beat, and all the
Indians were required to leave town instantly. There was a council house
near the water side for the purpose of holding council with the Indians.
The population of the town was about sixty families, in all about two
hundred males and one hundred females. This town was destroyed by
fire, all except one dwelling, in 1805. After which the present '' new "
town was laid out.
On the breaking out of the Revolution, the British held every post of
importance in the West. Kentucky was formed as a component part of
Virginia, and the sturdy pioneers of the West, alive to their interests,
50 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
and recognizing the great benefits of obtaining the control of the trade in
this part of the New World, held steadily to their purposes, and those
within the commonwealth of Kentucky proceeded to exercise their
civil privileges, by electing John Todd and Richard Gallaway,
burgesses to represent them in the Assembly of the parent state.
Early in September of that year (1777) the first court was held
in Harrodsburg, and Col. Bowman, afterwards major, who had arrived
in August, was made the commander of a militia organization which
had been commenced the March previous. Thus the tree of loyalty
was growing. The chief spirit in this far-out colony, who had represented
her the year previous east of the mountains, was now meditating a move
unequaled in its boldness. He had been watching the movements of the
British throughout the Northwest, and understood their whole plan. He
saw it was through their possession of the posts at Detroit, Vincennes,
Kaskaskia, and other places, which would give them constant and easy
access to the various Indian tribes in the Northwest, that the British
intended to penetrate the country from the north and south, and annihi-
late the frontier fortresses. This moving, energetic man was Colonel,
afterwards General, George Rogers Clark. He knew the Indians were not
unanimously in accord with the English, and he was convinced that, could
the British be defeated and expelled from the Northwest, the natives
might be easily awed into neutrality ; and by spies sent for the purpose,
he satisfied himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settlements
might easily succeed. Having convinced himself of the certainty of the
project, he repaired to the Capital of Virginia, which place he reached on
November 5th. While he was on his way, fortunately, on October 17th,
Burgoyne had been defeated, and the spirits of the colonists greatly
encouraged thereby. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at
once entered heartily into Clark's plans. The same plan had before been
agitated in the Colonial Assemblies, but there was no one until Clark
came who was sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs at the
scene of action to be able to guide them.
Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his
plan, received, on the 2d of January, two sets of instructions — one secret,
the other open — the latter authorized him to proceed to enlist seven
companies to go to Kentucky, subject to his orders, and to serve three
months from their arrival in the West. The secret order authorized him
to arm these troops, to procure his powder and lead of General Hand
at Pittsburgh, and to proceed at once to subjugate the country.
With these instructions Clark repaired to Pittsburgh, choosing rather
to raise his men west of the mountains, as he well knew all were needed
in the colonies in the conflict there. He sent Col. W. B. Smith to Hoi-
TBE NORTHWEST TERKITOKY. 61
ston for the same purpose, but neither succeeded in raising the required
number of men. The settlers in these parts were afraid to leave their
own firesides exposed to a vigilant foe, and but few could be induced to
join the proposed expedition. With three companies and several private
volunteers, Clark at length commenced his descent of the Ohio, which he
navigated as far as the Falls, where he took possession of and fortified
Corn Island, a small island between the present Cities of Louisville,
Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. Remains of this fortification may
yet be found. At this place he appointed Col. Bowman to meet him
with such recruits as had reached Kentucky by the southern route, and
as many as could be spared from the station. Here he announced to
the men their real destination. Having completed his arrangements,
and chosen his party, he left a small garrison upon the island, and on the
24th of June, during a total eclipse of the sun, which to them augured
no good, and which fixes beyond dispute the date of starting, he with
liis chosen band, fell down the river. His j)lan was to go by water as
far as Fort Massac or Massacre, and thence march direct to Kaskaskia.
Here he intended to surprise the garrison, and after its capture go to
Cahokia, then to Vincennes, and lastly to Detroit. Should he fail, he
intended to march directly to the Mississippi River and cross it into the
Spanish country. Before his start he received two good items of infor-
mation : one that the alliance had been formed between France and the
United States ; and the other that the Indians throughout the Illinois
country and the inhabitants, at the various frontier posts, had been led to
believe by the British that the " Long Knives" or Virginians, were the
most fierce, bloodthirsty and cruel savages that ever scalped a foe. With
this impression on their minds, Clark saw that proper management would
cause them to submit at once from fear, if surprised, and then from grati-
tude would become friendly if treated with unexpected leniency.
The march to Kaskaskia was accomplished through a hot July sun,
and the town reached on the evening of July 4. He captured the fort
near the village, and soon after the village itself by surprise, and without
the loss of a single man or by killing any of the enemy. After sufihciently
working upon the fears of the natives, Clark told them they were at per-
fect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take whichever side of the
great conflict they would, also he would protect them from any barbarity
from British or Indian foe. This had the desired effect, and the inhab-
itants, so unexpectedly and so gratefully surprised by the imlooked
for turn of affairs, at once swore allegiance to the American arms, and
when Clark desired to go to Cahokia on the 6th of July, they accom-
panied him, and through their influence the inhabitants of the place
surrendered, and gladly placed themselves under his protection. Thus
52 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
the two important posts in Illinois passed from the hands of the English
into the possession of Virginia.
In the person of the priest at Kaskaskia, M. Gibault, Clark found a
powerful ally and generous friend. Clark saw that, to retain possession
of the Northwest and treat successfully with the Indians within its boun-
daries, he must establish a government for the colonies he had taken.
St. Vincent, the next important post to Detroit, remained yet to be taken
before the Mississippi Valley was conquered. M. Gibault told him that
he would alone, by persuasion, lead Vincennes to throw off its connection
with England. Clark gladly accepted his offer, and on the 14th of July,
in company with a fellow-townsman, M. Gibault started on his mission of
peace, and on the 1st of August returned with the cheerful intelligence
that the post on the " Oubache " had taken the oath of allegiance to
the Old Dominion. During this interval, Clark established his courts,
placed garrisons at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, successfully re-enlisted his
men, sent word to have a fort, which proved the germ of Louisville,
erected at the Falls of the Ohio, and dispatched Mr. Rocheblave, who
had been commander at Kaskaskia, as a prisoner of war to Richmond.
In October the County of Illinois was established by the Legislature
of Virginia, John Todd appointed Lieutenant Colonel and Civil Governor,
and in November General Clark and his men received the thanks of
the Old Dominion through their Legislature.
In a speech a few days afterward, Clark made known fully to the
natives his plans, and at its close all came forward and swore alle-
giance to the Long Knives. While he was doing this Governor Hamilton,
having made his various arrangements, had left Detroit and moved down
the Wabash to Vincennes intending to operate from that point in reducing
the Illinois posts, and then proceed on down to Kentucky and drive the
rebels from the West. Gen. Clark had, on the return of M. Gibault,
dispatched Captain Helm, of Fauquier County, Virginia, with an attend-
ant named Henry, across the Illinois prairies to command the fort.
Hamilton knew nothing of the capitulation of the post, and was greatly
surprised on his arrival to be confronted by Capt. Helm, who, standing at
the entrance of the fort by a loaded cannon ready to fire upon his assail-
ants, demanded upon what terms Hamilton demanded possession of the
fort. Being granted the rights of a prisoner of war, he surrendered to
the British General, who could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw the
force in the garrison.
Hamilton, not realizing the character of the men with whom he was
contending, gave up his intended campaign for the Winter, sent his four
hundred Indian warriors to prevent troops from coming down the Ohio,
THE NORTHWEST TERRITOKY. 53
and to annoy the Americans in ;iH ways, and sat qnietly down to pass the
Winter. Information of all these proceedings having reached Clark, he
saw that immediate and decisive action was necessary, and that* unless
he captured Hamilton, Hamilton would capture him. Clark received the
news on the 20th of January, 1779, and on February 4th, having sufl&-
cientl}"^ garrisoned Kaskaskia and Cahokia, he sent down the Mississippi
a '' battoe," as Major Bowman writes it, in order to ascend the Ohio and
Wabash, and operate with the land forces gathering for the fray.
On the next day, Clark, with his little force of one hundred and
twenty men, set out for the post, and after incredible hard marching
through much mud, the ground beingv thawed by the incessant spring
rains, on the 22d reached the fort, and being joined by his " battoe," at
once commenced the attack on the post. The aim of the American back-
woodsman was unerring, and on the 24th the garrison surrendered to the
intrepid boldness of Clark. The French were treated with great kind-
ness, and gladly renewed their allegiance to Virginia. Hamilton was
sent as a prisoner to Virginia, where he was kept in close confinement.
During his command of the British frontier posts, he had offered prizes
to the Indians for all the scalps of Americans they would bring to him,
and had earned in consequence thereof the title " Hair-buyer General,"
by which he was ever afterward known.
Detroit was now without doubt within easy reach of the enterprising
Virginian, could he but raise the necessary force. Governor Henry being
apprised of this, promised him the needed reinforcement, and Clark con-
cluded to wait until he could capture and sufficiently garrison the posts.
Had Clark failed in this bold undertaking, and Hamilton succeeded in
uniting the western Indians for the next Spring's campaign, the West
would indeed have been swept from the Mississippi to the Allegheny
Mountains, and the great blow struck, which had been contemplated from
the commencement, by the British.
" But for this small army of dripping, but fearless Virginians, the
union of all the tribes from Georgia to Maine against the colonies might
have been effected, and the whole current of our history changed."
At this time some fears were entertained by the Colonial Govern-
ments that the Indians in the North and Northwest were inclining to the
British, and under the instructions of Washington, now Commander-in-
Chief of the Colonial army, and so bravely fighting for American inde-
pendence, armed forces were sent against the Six Nations, and upon the
Ohio frontier, Col. Bowman, acting under the same general's orders,
marched against Indians within the present limits of that State. These
expeditions were in the main successful, and the Indians were compelled
to sue for peace.
54 THE NORTHWEST TERRlTOaY.
During this same year (1779) the famous " Land Laws" of Virginia \
were passed. The passage of these laws was of more consequence to the
pioneers of Kentucky and the Northwest than the gaining of a few Lidian [
conflicts. These laws confirmed.in main all grants made, and guaranteed
to all actual settlers their rights and privileges. After providing for the
settlers, the laws provided for selling the balance of the public lands at
forty cents per acre. To carry the Land Laws into effect, the Legislature
sent four Virginians westward to attend to the various claims, over many
of which great confusion prevailed concerning their validity. These
gentlemen opened their court on October 13, 1779, at St. Asaphs, and
continued until April 26, 1780, when they adjourned, having decided
three thousand claims. They were succeeded by the surveyor, who
came in the person of Mr. George May, and assumed his duties on the
10th day of the month whose name he bore. With the opening of the
next year (1780) the troubles concerning the navigation of the Missis-
sippi commenced. The Spanish Government exacted such measures in
relation to its trade as to cause the overtures made to the United States
to be rejected. The American Government considered they had a right
to navigate its channel. To enforce their claims, a fort was erected below
the mouth of the Ohio on the Kentucky side of the river. The settle-
ments in Kentucky were being rapidly filled by emigrants. It was dur-
ing this year that the first seminary of learning was established in the
West in this young and enterprising Commonwealth.
The settlers here did not look upon the building of this fort in a
friendly manner, as it aroused the hostility of the Indians. Spain had
been friendly to the Colonies during their struggle for independence,
and though for a while this friendship appeared in danger from the
refusal of the free navigation of the river, yet it was finally settled to the
satisfaction of both nations.
The Winter of 1779-80 was one of the most unusually severe ones
ever experienced in the West. The Indians always referred to it as the
"Great Cold." Numbers of wild animals perished, and not a few
pioneers lost their lives. The following Summer a party of Canadians
and Indians attacked St. Louis, and attempted to take possession of it
in consequence of the friendly disposition of Spain to the revolting
colonies. They met with such a determined resistance on the part of the
inhabitants, even the women taking part in the battle, that they were
compelled to abandon the contest. They also made an attack on the
settlements in Kentucky, but, becoming alarmed in some unaccountable
manner, the}^ fled the country in great haste.
About this time arose the question in the Colonial Congress con-
cerning the western lands claimed by Virginia, New York, Massachusetts
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 55
and Connecticut. The agitation concerning this subject finally led New
York, on the 10th of February, 1780, ii,o pass a law giving to the dele-
gates of tliat State in Congress the power to cede her western lands for
the benefit of the United States. This law was laid before Congress
during the next month, but no steps were taken concerning it until Sep-
tember Gth, when a resolution passed that body calling upon the States
claiming western lands to release their claims in favor of the whole body.
This basis formed the union, and was the first after all of those legislative
measures which resulted in the creation of the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In December of the same
year, the plan of conquering Detroit again arose. The conquest might
have easily been effected by Clark had the necessary aid been furnished
him. Nothing decisive was done, yet the heads of the Government knew
that the safety of the Northwest from British nivasion lay in the capture
and retention of that important post, the only unconquered one in the
territory.
Before the close of the year, Kentucky was divided into the Coun-
ties of Lincoln, Fayette and Jefferson, and the act establishing the Town
of Louisville was passed. This same year is also noted in the annals of
American history as the year in which occurred Arnold's treason to the
United States.
Virginia, in accordance with the resolution of Congress, on the 2d
day of January, 1781, agreed to yield her western lands to the United
States upon certain conditions, which Congress would not accede to, and
the Act of Cession, on the part of the Old Dominion, failed, nor was
anvthing farther done until 1783. During all that time the Colonies
were busily engaged in the struggle with the mother country, and in
consequence thereof but little heed was given to the western settlements.
Upon the 16th of April, 1781, the first birth north of the Ohio River of
American parentage occurred, being that of Mary Heckewelder, daughter
of the widely known Moravian missionary, whose band of Christian
Indians suffered in after years a horrible massacre by the hands of the
frontier settlers, who had been exasperated by the murder of several of
their neighbors, and in their rage committed, without regard to humanity,
a deed which forever afterwards cast a shade of shame upon their lives.
For this and kindred outrages on the part of the whites, the Indians
committed many deeds of cruelty which darken the years of 1771 and
1772 in the history of the Northwest.
During the year 1782 a number of battles among the Indians and
frontiersmen occurred, and between the Moravian Indians and the Wyan-
dots. In these, horrible acts of cruelty were practised on the captives,
many of such dark deeds transpiring under the leadership of the notorious
56
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
frontier outlaw, Simon Girty, whose name, as well as those of his brothers,
was a terror to women and children. These occurred chiefly in the Ohio
valleys. Cotemporary with them were several engagements in Kentucky,
in which the famous Daniel Boone engaged, and who, often by his skill
and knowledge of Indian warfare, saved the outposts from cruel destruc-
INUIANS ATTACKING FliONTl KliSM KN.
tion. By the close of the year victory had perched upon the American
banner, and on the 30th of November, provisional articles of peace had
been arranged between the Commissioners of England and her uncon-
querable colonies. Cornwallis had been defeated on the 19th of October
preceding, and the liberty of America was assured. On the 19th of
April following, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, peace was
THE is'ORTHWKST TERRITORY. 57
proclaimed to the army of the United States, and on the 2d of the next
September, the definite treaty which ended our revolutionary struggle
was concluded. By the terms of that treaty, the boundaries of the West
were as follows : On the north the line was to extend along the center of
the Great Lakes ; from the western point of Lake Superior to Long Lake ;
thence to the Lake of the Woods ; thence to the head of the Mississippi
River; down its center to the 31st parallel of latitude, then on tliat line
east to the head of the Appalachicola River ; down its center to its junc-
tion with the Flint ; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and
thence down along its center to the Atlantic Ocean.
Following the cessation of hostilities with England, several posts
were still occupied by the British in the North and West. Among these
was Detroit, still in the hands of the enemy. Numerous engagements
with the Indians throughout Ohio and Indiana occurred, upon whose
lands adventurous whites would settle ere the title had been acquired by
the proper treaty.
I To remedy this latter evil, Congress appointed commissioners to
treat with the natives and purchase their lands, and prohibited the set-
tlement of the territory until this could be done. Before the close of the
year another attempt was made to capture Detroit, which was, however,
not pushed, and Virginia, no longer feeling the interest in the Northwest
she had formerly done, withdrew her troops, having on the 20th of
December preceding authorized the whole of her possessions to be deeded
to the United States. This was done on the 1st of March following, and
the Northwest Territory passed from the control of the Old Dominion.
To Gen. Clark and his soldiers, however, she gave a tract of one hundred
and fifty thousand acres of land, to be situated any where north of the
Ohio wherever they chose to locate them. They selected the region
opposite the falls of the Ohio, where is now the dilapidated village of
Clarksville, about midway between the Cities of New Albany and Jeffer-
sonville, Indiana.
While the frontier remained thus, and Gen. Haldimand at Detroit
refused to evacuate alleging that he had no orders from his King to do
so, settlers were rapidly gathering about the inland forts. In the Spring
of 1784, Pittsburgh was regularly laid out, and from the journal of Arthur
Lee, who passed through the town soon after on his way to the Indian
council at Fort Mcintosh, we suppose it was not very prepossessing in
appearance. He says :
" Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who
live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as if in the north of Ireland or
even Scotland. There is a great deal of trade carried on, the goods being
bought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per pound from Phila-
68 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
delphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops flour, wheat, skins and
money. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a
priest of any persuasion, nor church nor chapel."
Kentucky at this time contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and
was beginning to discuss measures for a separation from Virginia. A
land office was opened at Louisville, and measures were adopted to take
defensive precaution against the Indians who were yet, in some instances,
incited to deeds of violence by the British. Before the close of this year,
1784, the military claimants of land began to occupy them, although no
entries were recorded until 1787.
The Indian title to the Northwest was not yet extinguished. They
held large tracts of lands, and in order to prevent bloodshed Congress
adopted means for treaties with the original owners and provided for the
surveys of the lands gained thereby, as well as for those north of the
Ohio, now in its possession. On January 31, 1786, a treaty was made
with the Wabash Indians. The treaty of Fort Stanwix had been made
in 1784. That at Fort Mcintosh in 1785, and through these mucli land
was gained. The Wabash Indians, however, afterward refused to comply
with the provisions of the treaty made with them, and in order to compel
their adherence to its provisions, force was used. Daring the year 1786,
the free navigation of the Mississippi came up in Congress, and caused
various discussions, which resulted in no definite action, only serving to
excite speculation in regard to the western lands. Congress had promised
bounties of land to the soldiers of the Revolution, but owing to the
unsettled condition of affairs along the Mississippi respecting its naviga-
tion, and the trade of the Northwest, that body had, in 1783, declared
its inability to fulfill these promises until a treaty could be concluded
between the two Governments. Before the close of the year 1786, how-
ever, it was able, through the treaties with the Indians, to allow some
grants and the settlement thereon, and on the 14th of September Con-
necticut ceded to the General Government the tract of land known as
the " Connecticut Reserve," and before the close of the following year a
large tract of land north of the Ohio was sold to a company, who at once
took measures to settle it. By the provisions of this grant, the company
were to pay the United States one dollar per acre, subject to a deduction
of one-third for bad lands and other contingencies. They received
750,000 acres, bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the east by the
seventh range of townships, on the west by the sixteenth range, and on
the north by a line so drawn as to make the grant complete without
the reservations. In addition to this, Congress afterward granted 100,000
acres to actual settlers, and 214,285 acres as army bounties under the
resolutions of 1789 and 1790.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
69
While Dr. Cutler, one of the agents of the company, was pressinj^
its claims before Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance
for the political and social organization of this Territory. When the
cession was made by Virginia, in 1784, a plan was offered, but rejected.
A motion had been made to strike from the proposed plan tlie prohibition
of slaver}-, which prevailed. The plan was then discussed and altered,
and finall}' passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina.
By this proposition, the Territory was to have been divided into states
A PKAIRIE STORM.
by parallels and meridian lines. This, it was thought, would make ten
states, wdiich were to have been named as follows — beginning at the
northwest corner and going southwardly : Sylvania, Michigania, Cher-
sonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illenoia, Saratoga, Washington, Poly-
potamia and Pelisipia.
There was a more serious objection to this plan than its category of
names, — the boundaries. The root of the difficulty w^as in the resolu-
tion of Congress passed in October, 1780, which fixed the boundaries
of the ceded lands to be from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles
60 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
square. These resolutions being presented to the Legislatures of Vir-
ginia and Massachusetts, they desired a change, and in July, 1786, the
subject was taken up in Congress, and changed to favor a division into
not more than five states, and not less than three. This was approved by
the State Legislature of Virginia. The subject of the Government was
again taken up by Congress in 1786, and discussed throughout that year
aud until July, 1787, when the famous "Compact of 1787" was passed,
and the foundation of the government of the Northwest laid. This com-
pact is fully discussed and explained in the history of Illinois in this book,
and to it the reader is referred.
The passage of this act and the grant to the New England Company
was soon followed b}^ an application to the Government by John Cleves
Symmes, of New Jersey, for a grant of the land between the Miamis.
This gentleman had visited these lands soon after the treaty of 1780, and,
being greatly pleased with them, offered similar terms to those given to the
New England Company. The petition was referred to the Treasury
Board with power' to act, and a contract was concluded the following
year. During the Autumn the directors of the New England Company
were preparing to occupy their grant the following Spring, and upon the
23d of November made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men,
under the superintendency of Gen. Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six
boat-builders were to leave at once, and on' the first of January the sur-
veyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hart-
ford and proceed on their journey westward ; the remainder to follow as
soon as possible. Congress, in the meantime, upon the od of October,
had ordered seven hundred troops for defense of the western settlers, and
to prevent unauthorized intrusions ; and two days later appointed Arthur
St. Clair Governor of the Territ'ory of the Northwest.
AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS.
The civil organization of the Northw^est Territory was now com-
plete, and notwithstanding the uncertainty of Indian affairs, settlers from
the East began to come into the country rapidly. The New England
Company sent their men during the Winter of 1787-8 pressing on over
the Alleghenies by the old Indian path wliich had been opened into
Braddock's road, and which has since been made a national turnpike
from Cumberland westward. Through the weary winter days they toiled
on, and by April were all gathered on the Yohiogany, where boats had
been built, and at once started for the Muskingum. Here they arrived
on the 7th of that month, aud unless the Moravian missionaries be regarded
as the pioneers of (^hio, tliis little l)and can justly claim that honor.
THE NORTHWEST TKRItlTORY.
61
Gen. St. Clair, the iippointed Governor of the Northwest, not havinir
yet arrived, a set of laws were passed, written out, and published by
being nailed to a tree in the embryo town, and Jonathan Meigs appointed
to administer them.
Washington in writing of this, the first American settlement in the
Northwest, said : " No colony in America was ever settled under
such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at Muskingum.
Information, property and strength will be its characteristics. I know
many of its settlers personally, and there never were men better calcu-
lated to promote the welfare of such a community.'"
^<'£^jsfi:\::^4pSm^mi-^-''W^i^^^.
A PIONKKK ])WK1,LIX(;
On the 2d of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held
on the banks of the Muskingum, " for the purpose of naming the new-
born city and its squares." As yet the settlement was known as the
"Muskingum,*' but that was now changed to the name Marietta, in honor
of Marie Antoinette. The square upon which the block -houses stood
was called "■ Campus Martins /'^ square number 19, "• OapitoUum T square
number 61, "•Cecilia f' and the great road through the covert way, '' Sacra
Via.'' Two days after, an oration was delivered by James M. Varnum,
who with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong had been appointed to the
judicial bench of the territory on the 16th of October, 1787. On July 9,
Gov. St. Clair arrived, and the colony began to assume form. The act
of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the Nortliwest,
62 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
under the first of which the whole power was invested in the hands of a
governor and three district judges. This was immediately formed upon
the Governor's arrival, and the first laws of the colony passed on the 25th
of July. These provided for the organization of the militia, and on the
next day appeared the Governor's proclamation, erecting all that country
that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto River into the
County of Washington. From that time forward, notwithstanding the
doubts yet existing as to the Indians, all Marietta prospered, and on the
2d of September the first court of the territory was held with imposing
ceremonies.
The emigration westward at this time was very great. The com-
mander at Fort Harmer, at the mouth of the Muskingum, reported four
thousand five hundred persons as having passed that post between Feb-
ruary and June', 1788 — many of whom would have purchased of the
"Associates," as the New England Company was called, had they been
ready to receive them.
On the 26th of November, 1787, Symmes issued a pamphlet stating
the terms of his contract and the plan of sale he intended to arlopt. In
January, 1788, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, took an active interest
in Symmes' purchase, and located among other tracts the sections upon
which Cincinnati has been built. Retaining one-third of this locality, he
sold the other two-thirds to Robert Patterson and John Filson, and the
three, about August, commenced to lay out a town on the spot, which
was designated as being opposite Licking River, to the mouth of which
they proposed to have a road cut from Lexington. The naming of the
town is thus narrated in the "Western Annals "* : — " Mr. Filson, who had
been a schoolmaster, was appointed to name the town, and, in respect to
its situation, and as if with a prophetic perception of the mixed race that
were to inhabit it in after days, he named it Losantiville, which, being
interpreted, means : ville^ the town : anti., against or opposite to ; os, the
mouth ; L. of Licking."'
Meanwhile, in July, Symmes got thirty persons and eight four-horse
teams under way for the West. These reached Limestone (now Mays-
ville) in September, where were several persons from Redstone. Here
Mr. Symmes tried to found a settlement, but the great freshet of 1789
caused the " Point," as it was and is yet called, to be fifteen feet under
water, and the settlement to be abandoned. The little band of settlers
removed to the mouth of the Miami. Before Symmes and his colony left
the " Point," two settlements had been made on his purchase. The first
was by Mr. Stiltes, the original projector of the whole plan, who, with a
colony of Redstone people, had located at the mouth of the Miami,
whither Symmes went with his Maysville colony. Here a clearing had
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
63
been made by the Indians owing to the great fertility of the soil. Mr.
Stiltes with his colony came to this place on the 18th of November, 1788,
with twenty-six persons, and, building a block-house, prepared to remain
throuo-h the Winter. They named the settlement Columbia. Here they
were kindly treated by the Indians, but suffered greatly from the flood
of 1789.
On the 4th of March, 1789, the Constitution of the United States
went into operation, and on April 30, George Washington was inaug-
urated President of the American people, and during the next Summer,
an Indian war was commenced by the tribes north of the Ohio. The
President at first used pacific means ; but these failing, he sent General
Harmer against the hostile tribes. He destroyed several villages, but
BREAKING PRAIEIE.
was defeated in two battles, near the present City of Fort Wayne,
Indiana. From this time till the close of 1795, the principal events were
the wars with the various Indian tribes. In 1796, General St. Clair
was appointed in command, and marched against the Indians ; but while
he was encamped on a stream, the St. Mary, a branch of the Maumee,
he was attacked and defeated with the loss of six hundred men.
General Wayne was now sent against the savages. In August, 1794,
he met them near the rapids of the Maumee, and gained a complete
victory. This success, followed by vigorous measures, compelled the
Indians to sue for peace, and on the 30th of July, the following year, the
treaty of Greenville was signed by the principal chiefs, by which a large
tract of country was ceded to the United States.
Before proceeding in our narrative, we will pause to notice Fort
Washington, erected in the early part of this war on the site of Cincinnati.
Nearly all of the great cities of the Northwest, and indeed of the
64 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
whole country, have had their nuclei in those rude pioneer structures,
known as forts or stockades. Thus Forts Dearborn, Washington, Pon-
chartrain, mark the original sites of the now proud Cities of Chicago,
Cincinnati and Detroit. So of most of the flourishing cities east and west
of the Mississippi. Fort Washington, erected by Doughty in 1790, was a
rude but highly interesting structure. It was composed of a number of
strongly-built hewed log cabins. Those designed for soldiers' barracks
were a story and a half high, while those composing the officers quarters
were more imposing and more conveniently arranged and furnished.
The whole were so placed as to form a hollow square, enclosing about an
acre of ground, with a block house at each of the four angles.
The logs for the construction of this fort were cut from the ground
upon which it was erected. It stood between Third and Fourth Streets
of the present city (Cincinnati) extending east of Eastern Row, now
Broadway, which was then a narrow alley, and the eastern boundary of
of the town as it was originally laid out. On the bank of the river,
immediately in front of the fort, was an appendage of the fort, called the
Artificer's Yard. It contained about two acres of ground, enclosed by
small contiguous buildings, occupied by workshops and quarters of
laborers. Within this enclosure there was a large two-story frame house,
familiarly called the " Yellow House," built for the accommodation of
the Quartermaster General. For many years this was the best finished
and most commodious edifice in the Queen City. Fort Washington was
for some time the headquarters of both the civil and military governments
of the Northwestern Territory.
Following the consummation of the treaty various gigantic land spec-
ulations were entered into by different persons, who hoped to obtain
from the Indians in Michigan and northern Indiana, large tracts of lands.
These were generally discovered in time to prevent the outrageous
schemes from being carried out, and from involving the settlers in war.
On October 27, 1795, the treaty between the United States and Spain
was signed, whereby the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured.
No sooner had the treat}'^ of 1795 been ratified than settlements began
to pour rapidly into the West. The great event of the year 1796 was the
occupation of that part of the Northwest including Michigan, which was
this year, under the provisions of the treaty, evacuated by the British
forces. The United States, owing to certain conditions, did not feel
justified in addressing the authorities in Canada in relation to Detroit
and other frontier posts. When at last the British authorities were
called to give them up, they at once complied, and General Wayne, who
had done so much to preserve the frontier settlements, and who, before
the year's close, sickened and died near Erie, transferred his head-
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 65
quarters to the neighborhood of the hikes, Avhere a county named after
him was formed, Avhich included the northwest of Ohio, all of Michigan,
and the northeast of Indiana. During this same year settlements were
formed at the present City of Chillicothe, along the Miami from Middle-
town to Piqua, while in the more distant West, settlers and speculators
began to appear in great numbers. In September, the City of Cleveland
was laid out, and during the Summer and Autumn, Samuel Jackson and
Jonathan Sharpless erected the first manufactory of paper — the " Red-
stone Paper Mill '' — in the West. St. Louis contained some seventy
houses, and Detroit over three hundred, and along the river, contiguous
to it, were more than three thousand inhabitants, mostly French Canadians,
Indians and half-breeds, scarcely any Americans venturing yet into that
part of the Northwest.
The election of representatives for the territory had taken place,
and on the 4th of February, 1799, they convened at Losantiville — now
known as Cincinnati, having been named so by Gov. St. Clair, and
considered the capital of the Territory — to nominate persons from whom
the members of the Legislature were to be chosen in accordance with
a previous ordinance. This nomination being made, the Assembly
adjourned until the 16th of the following September. From those named
the President selected as members of the council, Henry Vandenburg,
of Vincennes, Robert Oliver, of Marietta, James Findlay and Jacob
Burnett, of Cincinnati, and David Vance, of Vanceville. On the 16th
of September the Territorial Legislature met, and on the 24th the two
houses were duly organized, Henry Vandenburg being elected President
of the Council. *
The message of Gov. St. Clair was addressed to the Legislature
September 20th, and on October 13th that body elected as a delegate to
Congress Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, who received eleven of the votes
cast, being a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, son of
Gen. St. Clair.
The whole number of acts passed at this session, and approved by
the Governor, were thirty-seven — eleven others were passed, but received
his veto. The most important of those passed related to the militia, to
the administration, and to taxation. On the 19th of December this pro-
tracted session of the first Legislature in the West was closed, and on the
30th of December the President nominated Charles Willing Bryd to the
office of Secretary of the Territory vice Wm. Henry Harrison, elected to
Congress. The Senate confirmed his nomination the next day.
Q6 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
DIVISION OF THE NORTHWEST TEERITORY.
The increased emigration to the Northwest, the extent of the domain,
and the inconvenient modes of travel, made it very difficult to conduct
the ordinary operations of government, and rendered the efficient action
of courts almost impossible. To remedy this, it was deemed advisable to
divide the territory for civil purposes. Congress, in 1800, appointed a
committee to examine the question and report some means for its solution.
This committee, on the 3d of March, reported that :
" In the three western countries there has been but one court having
cognizance of crimes, in five years, and the immunity which offenders
experience attracts, as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned crim-
inals, and at the same time deters useful citizens from making settlements
in such society. The extreme necessity of judiciary attention and assist-
ance is experienced in civil as well as in criminal cases. * * * * To
minister a remedy to these and other evils, it occurs to this committee
that it is expedient that a division of said territory into two distinct and
separate governments should be made ; and that such division be made
by a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, running
directly north until it intersects the boundary between the United States
and Canada."
The report was accepted by Congress, and, in accordance with its
suggestions, that body passed an Act extinguishing the Northwest Terri-
tory, which Act was approved May 7. Among its provisions were these :
" That from and after July 4 next, all that part of the Territory of
the United States northwest of the Ohio River, which lies to the westward
of a line beginning at a point on the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the
Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north
until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and
Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a
separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory."
After providing for the exercise of the civil and criminal powers of
the territories, and other provisions, the Act further provides :
" That until it shall otherwise be ordered by the Legislatures of the
said Territories, respectively, Chillicothe on the Scioto River shall be the
seat of government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the
Ohio River ; and that St. Vincennes on the Wabash River shall be the
seat of government for the Indiana Territory."
Gen. Wm. Henr^^ Harrison was appointed Governor of the Indiana
Territory, and entered upon his duties about a year later. Connecticut
also about this time released her claims to the reserve, and in March a law
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 67
was passed accepting this cession. Settlements had been made upon
thirty-five of the townships in the reserve, mills had been built, and seven
hundred miles of road cut in various directions. On the 3d of November
the General Assembly met at Chillicothe. Near the close of the year,
the first missionary of the Connecticut Reserve came, who found no
township containing more than eleven families. It was upon the first of
October that the secret treaty had been made between Napoleon and the
King of Spain, whereby the latter agreed to cede to France the province
of Louisiana.
In January, 1802, the Assembly of the Northwestern Territory char-
tered the college at Athens. From the earliest dawn of the western
colonies, education was promptly provided for, and as early as 1787,
newspapers were issued from Pittsburgh and Kentucky, and largely read
throughout the frontier settlements. Before the close of this year, the
Congress of the United States granted to the citizens of the Northwestern
territory the formation of a State government. One of the provisions of
the "compact of 1787" provided that whenever the number of inhabit-
ants within prescribed limits exceeded 45,000, they should be entitled to
a separate government. The prescribed limits of Ohio contained, from a
census taken to ascertain the legality of the act, more than that number,
and on the 30th of April, 1802, Congress passed the act defining its limits,
and on the 29th of November the Constitution of the new State of Ohio,
so named from the beautiful river forming its southern boundary, came
into existence. The exact limits of Lake Michigan were not then known,
but the territory now included within the State of Michigan was wholly
within the territory of Indiana.
Gen. Harrison, while residing at Vincennes, made several treaties
with the Indians, thereby gaining large tracts of lands. The next year is
memorable in the history of the West for the purchase of Louisiana from
France by the United States for $15,000,000. Thus by a peaceful mode,
the domain of the United States was extended over a large tract of
country west of the Mississippi, and was for a time under the jurisdiction
of the Northwest government, and, as has been mentioned in the early
part of this narrative, was called the "New Northwest." The limits
of this history will not allow a description of its territory. The same year
large grants of land were obtained from the Indians, and the House of
Representatives of the new State of Ohio signed a bill respecting the
College Township in the district of Cincinnati.
Before the close of the year, Gen. Harrison obtained additional
grants of lands from the various Indian nations in Indiana and the present
limits of Illinois, and on the 18th of August, 1804, completed a treaty at
St. Louis, whereby over 51^000,000 acres of lands were obtained from the
68 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
aborigines. Measures were also taken to learn the condition of affairs in
and about Detroit.
C. Jouett, the Indian agent in Michigan, still a part of Indiana Terri-
tory, reported as follows upon the condition of matters at that post :
" The Town of Detroit. — The charter, which is for fifteen miles
square, was granted in the time of Louis XIV. of France, and is now,
from the best information I have been able to get, at Quebec. Of those
two hundred and twenty-five acres, only four are occupied by the town
and Fort Lenault. The remainder is a common, except twenty-four
acres, which were added twenty years ago to a farm belonging to Wm.
Macomb. * * * A stockade incloses the town, fort and citadel. The
pickets, as well as the public houses, are in a state of gradual decay. The
streets are narrow, straight and regular, and intersect each other at right
angles. The houses are, for the most part, low and inelegant."
During this year. Congress granted a township of land for the sup-
port of a college, and began to offer inducements for settlers in these
wilds, and the country now comprising the State of Michigan began to
fill rapidly with settlers along its southern borders. This same year, also,
a law was passed organizing the Southwest Territory, dividing it into two
portions, the Territory of New Orleans, which city was made the seat of
government, and the District of Louisiana, which was annexed to the
domain of Gen. Harrison.
On the 11th of January, 1805, the Territory of Michigan was formed,
Wm. Hull was appointed governor, with headquarters at Detroit, the
change to take effect on June 30. On the 11th of that month, a fire
occurred at Detroit, which destroyed almost every building in the place.
When the officers of the new territory reached the post, they found it in
ruins, and the inhabitants scattered throughout the country. Rebuild-
ing, however, soon commenced, and ere long the town contained more
houses than before the fire, and many of them much better built.
While this was being done, Indiana had passed to the second grade
of government, and through her General Assembly had obtained large
tracts of land from the Indian tribes. To all this the celebrated Indian,
Tecumthe or Tecumseh, vigorously protested, and it was the main cause
of his attempts to unite the various Indian tribes in a conflict with the
settlers. To obtain a full account of these attempts, the workings of the
British, and the signal failure, culminating in the death of Tecumseh at
the battle of the Thames, and the close of the war of 1812 in the Northwest,
we will step aside in our story, and relate the principal events of his hfe,
and his connection with this conflict.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
69
TECUMSEH, THE SHAWANOE CHIEFTAIN.
70 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
TECUMSEH, AND THE WAR OF 1812.
This famous Indian chief was born about the year 1768, not far from
the site of the present City of Piqua, Ohio. His father, Puckeshinwa,
was a member of the Kisopok tribe of the Swanoese nation, and his
mother, Methontaske, was a member of the Turtle tribe of the same
people. They removed from Florida about the middle of the last century
to the birthplace of Tecumseh. In 1774, his father, who had risen to be
chief, was slain at the battle of Point Pleasant, and not long after Tecum-
seh, by his bravery, became the leader of his tribe. In 1795 he was
declared chief, and then lived at Deer Creek, near the site of the
present City of Urbana. He remained here about one year, when he
returned to Piqua, and in 1798, he went to White River, Indiana. In
1805, he and his brother, Laulewasikan (Open Door), who had announced
himself as a prophet, went to a tract of land on the Wabash River, given
them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. From this date the chief
comes into prominence. He was now about thirty-seven years of age,
was five feet and ten inches in height, was stoutly built, and possessed of
enormous powers of endurance. His countenance was naturally pleas-
ing, and he Avas, in general, devoid of those savage attributes possessed
by most Indians. It is stated he could read and write, and had a confi-
dential secretary and adviser, named Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, who
afterward became chief of the Pottawatomies. He occupied the first
house built on the site of Chicago. At this time, Tecumseh entered
upon the great work of his life. He had long objected to the grants of
land made by the Indians to the whites, and determined to unite all the
Indian tribes into a league, in order that no treaties or grants of land
could be made save by the consent of this confederation.
He traveled constantly, going from north to south ; from the south
to the north, everywhere urging the Indians to this step. He was a
matchless orator, and his burning words had their effect.
Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana, by watching the move-
ments of the Indians, became convinced that a grand conspiracy was
forming, and made preparations to defend the settlements. Tecumseh's
plan was similar to Pontiac's, elsewhere described, and to the cunning
artifice of that chieftain was added his own sagacity.
During the year 1809, Tecumseh and the prophet were actively pre-
paring for the work. In that year. Gen. Harrison entered into a treaty
with the Delawares, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel River Indians
and Weas, in which these tribes ceded to the whites certain lands upon
the Wabash, to all of which Tecumseh entered a bitter protest, averring
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 71
as one principal reason that he did not want the Indians to give up any
hinds north and Avest of the Ohio River.
Tecumseh, in August, 1810, visited the General at Vincennes and
held a council relating to the grievances of the Indians. Becoming unduly
angry at this conference he was dismissed from the village, and soon after
departed to incite the southern Indian tribes to the conflict.
Gen. Harrison determined to move upon the chief's headquarters at
Tippecanoe, and for this purpose went about sixty-five miles up the
Wabash, where he built Fort Harrison. From this place he went to the
prophet's town, where he informed the Indians he had no hostile inten-
tions, provided they were true to the existing treaties. He encamped
near the village early in October, and on the morning of November 7, he
was attacked by a large force of the Indians, and the famous battle of
Tippecanoe occurred. The Indians were routed and their town broken
up. Tecumseh returning not long after, was greatly exasperated at his
brother, the prophet, even threatening to kill him for rashly precipitating
the war, and foiling his (Tecumseh's) plans.
Tecumseh sent word to Gen. Harrison that he was now returned
from the South, and was ready to visit the President as had at one time
previously been proposed. Gen. Harrison informed him he could not go
as a chief, which method Tecumseh desired, and the visit was never
made.
In June of the following year, he visited the Indian agent at
Fort Wayne. Here he disavowed any intention to make a war against
the United States, and reproached Gen. Harrison for marching against his
people. The agent replied to this ; Tecumseh listened with a cold indif-
ference, and after making a few general remarks, with a haughty air drew
his blanket about him, left the council house, and departed for Fort Mai-
den, in Upper Canada, where he joined the British standard.
He remained under this Government, doing effective work for the
Crown while engaged in the war of 1812 which now opened. He was,
however, always humane in his treatment of the prisoners, never allow-
ing his warriors to ruthlessly mutilate the bodies of those slain, or wan-
tonly murder the captive.
In the Summer of 1813, Perry's victory on Lake Erie occurred, and
shortly after active preparations were made to capture Maiden. On the
27th of September, the American army, under Gen. Harrison, set sail for
the shores of Canada, and in a few hours stood around the ruins of Mai-
den, from which the British army, under Proctor, had retreated to Sand-
wich, intending to make its way to the heart of Canada by the Valley of
the Thames. On the 29th Gen. Harrison was at Sandwich, and Gen.
McArthur took possession of Detroit and the territory of Michigan.
72
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
On the 2d of October, the Americans began their pursuit of Proctor,
whom they overtook on the 5th, and the battle of the Thames followed.
Early in the engagement, Tecumseh who was at the head of the column
of Indians was slain, and they, no longer hearing the voice of their chief-
tain, fled. The victory was decisive, and practically closed the war in
the Northwest.
INDIANS ATTACKING A STOCKADE.
Just who killed the great chief has been a matter of much dispute ;
but the weight of opinion awards the act to Col. Richard M. Johnson,
who fired at him with a pistol, the shot proving fatal.
In 1805 occurred Burr's Insurrection. He took possession of a
beautiful island in the Ohio, after the killing of Hamilton, and is charged
by many with attempting to set up an independent government. His
plans were frustrated by the general government, his property confiscated
and he was compelled to flee the country for safety.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 73
In January, 1807, Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, made a
treaty with the Indians, whereby all that peninsula was ceded to the
United States. Before the close of the year, a stockade was built about
Detroit. It was also during this year that Indiana and Illinois endeavored
to obtain the repeal of that section of the compact of 1787, whereby
slavery was excluded from the Northwest Territory. These attempts,
however, all signally failed.
In 1809 it was deemed advisable to divide the Indiana Territory.
This was done, and the Territory of Illinois was formed from the western
part, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia. The next year,
the intentions of Tecumseh manifested themselves in open hostilities, and
then began the events already narrated.
While this war was in progress, emigration to the West went on with
surprising rapidity. In 1811, under Mr. Roosevelt of New York, the
first steamboat trip was made on the Ohio, much to the astonishment of
the natives, many of whom fled in terror at the appearance of the
" monster." It arrived at Louisville on the 10th day of October. At the
close of the first week of January, 1812, it arrived at Natchez, after being
nearly overwhelmed in the great earthquake which occurred while on its
downward trip.
The battle of the Thames was fought on October 6, 1813. It
effectually closed hostilities in the Northwest, although peace was not
fully restored until July 22, 1814, when a treaty was formed at Green-
ville, under the direction of General Harrison, between the United States
and the Indian tribes, in which it was stipulated that the Indians should
cease hostilities against the Americans if the war were continued. Such,
happily, was not the case, and on the 24th of December the treaty
of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United
States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various
Indian tribes throughout the West and Northwest, and quiet was again
restored in this part of the new world.
On the 18th of March, 1816, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a city.
It then had a population of 8,000 people, and was already noted for its
manufacturing interests. On April 19, Indiana Territory was allowed
to form a state government. At that time there were thirteen counties
organized, containing about sixty-three thousand inhabitants. The first
election of state officers was held in August, when Jonathan Jennings
was chosen Governor. The officers were sworn in on November 7, and
on December 11, the State was formally admitted into the Union. For
some time the seat of government was at Corydon, but a more central
location being desirable, the present capital, Indianapolis (City of Indiana),
was laid out January 1, 1825.
74 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Oa the 28th of December the Bank of Illinois, at Shawneetown, was
chartered, with a capital of $300,000. At this period all banks were
under the control of the States, and were allowed to establish branches
at different convenient points.
Until this time Chillicothe and Cincinnati had in turn enjoyed the
privileges of being the capital of Ohio. But the rapid settlement of the
northern and eastern portions of the State demanded, as in Indiana, a
more central location, and before the close of the year, the site of Col-
umbus was selected and surveyed as the future capital of the State.
Banking had begun in Ohio as early as 1808, when the first bank was
chartered at Marietta, but here as elsewhere it did not bring to the state
the hoped-for assistance. It and other banks were subsequently unable
to redeem their currency, and were obliged to suspend.
In 1818, Illinois was made a state, and all the territory north of her
northern limits was erected into a separate territory and joined to Mich-
igan for judicial purposes. By the following year, navigation of the lakes
was increasing with great rapidity and affording an immense source of
revenue to the dwellers in the Northwest, but it was not until 1826 that
the trade was extended to Lake Michigan, or that steamships began to
navigate the bosom of that inland sea.
Until the year 1832, the commencement of the Black Hawk "War,
but few hostilities were experienced with the Indians. Roads were
opened, canals were dug, cities were built, common schools were estab-
lished, universities were founded, many of which, especiall}' the Michigan
University, have achieved a world wide-reputation. The people were
becoming wealthy. The domains of the United States had been extended,
and had the sons of the forest been treated with honesty and justice, the
record of many years would have been that of peace and continuous pros-
perity.
BLACK HAWK AND THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
This conflict, though confined to Illinois, is an important epoch in
the Northwestern history, being the last war with the Indians in this part
of the United States.
Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or Black Hawk, was born in the principal
Sac village, about three miles from the junction of Rock River with the
Mississippi, in the year 1767. His father's name was Py-e-sa or Pahaes ;
his grandfather's, Na-na-ma-kee, or the Thunderer. Black Hawk early
distinguished himself as a warrior, and at the age of fifteen was permitted
to paint and was ranked among the braves. About the year 1783, he
went on an expedition against the enemies of his nation, the Osages, one
THT5 NORTHWEST TERBITORY.
76
BLACK HAWK, THE SAC CHIEFTAIN.
76 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
of whom he killed and scalped, and for this deed of Indian bravery he was
permitted to join in the scalp dance. Three or four years after he, at the
head of two hundred braves, went on another expedition against the
Osages, to avenge the murder of some women and children belonging to
his own tribe. Meeting an equal number of Osage warriors, a fierce
battle ensued, in which the latter tribe lost one-half their number. The
Sacs lost only about nineteen warriors. He next attacked the Cherokees
for a similar cause. In a severe battle with them, near the present City
of St. Louis, his father was slain, and Black Hawk, taking possession of
the " Medicine Bag," at once announced himself chief of the Sac nation.
He had now conquered the Cherokees, and about the year 1 800, at the
head of five hundred Sacs and Foxes, and a hundred lowas, he waged
war against the Osage nation and subdued it. For two years he battled
successfully with other Indian tribes, all of whom he conquered.
Black Hawk does not at any time seem to have been friendly to
the Americans. When on a visit to St. Louis to see his " Spanish
Father," he declined to see any of the Americans, alleging, as a reason,
he did not want two fathers.
The treaty at St. Louis was consummated in 1804. The next year the
United States Government erected a fort near the head of the Des Moines
Rapids, called Fort Edwards. This seemed to enrage Black Hawk, who
at once determined to capture Fort Madison, standing on the west side of
the Mississippi above the mouth of the Des Moines River. The fort was
garrisoned by about fifty men. Here he was defeated. The difficulties
with the British Government arose about this time, and the War of 1812
followed. That government, extending aid to the Western Indians, by
giving them arms and ammunition, induced them to remain hostile to the
Americans. In August, 1812, Black Hawk, at the head of about five
hundred braves, started to join the British forces at Detroit, passing on
his way the site of Chicago, where the famous Fort Dearborn Massacre
had a few days before occurred. Of his connection with the British
Government but little is known. In 1813 he with his little band descended
the Mississippi, and attacking some United States troops at Fort Howard
was defeated.
In the early part of 1815, the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi
were notified that peace had been declared between the United States
and England, and nearly all hostilities had ceased. Black Hawk did not
sign any treaty, however, until May of the following year. He then recog-
nized the validity of the treaty at St. Louis in 1804. From the time of
signing this treaty in 1816, until the breaking out of the war in 1832, he
and his band passed their time in the common pursuits of Indian life.
Ten years before the commencement of this war, the Sac and Fox
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 77
Indians were urged to join the lowas on the west bank of the Father of
Waters. All Avere agreed, save the band known as the British Band, of
which Black Hawk was leader. He strenuously objected to the removal,
and was induced to comply only after being threatened with the power of
the Government. This and various actions on the part of the white set-
tlers provoked Black Hawk and his band to attempt the capture of his
native village now occupied by the whites. The war followed. He and
his actions were undoubtedly misunderstood, and had his wishes been
acquiesced in at the beginning of the struggle, much bloodshed would
have been prevented.
Black Hawk was chief now of the Sac and Fox nations, and a noted
warrior. He and his tribe inhabited a village on Rock River, nearly three
miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, where the tribe had lived
many generations. When that portion of Illinois was reserved to them,
they remained in peaceable possession of their reservation, spending their
time in the enjoyment of Indian life. The fine situation of their village
and the quality of their lands incited the more lawless white settlers, who
from time to time began to encroach upon the red men's domain. From
one pretext to another, and from one step to another, the crafty white
men gained a foothold, until through whisky and artifice they obtained
deeds from many of the Indians for their possessions. The Indians were
finally induced to cross over the Father of Waters and locate among the
lowas. Black Hawk was strenuously opposed to all this, but as the
authorities of Illinois and the United States thought this the best move, he
was forced to comply. Moreover other tribes joined the whites and urged
the removal. Black Hawk would not agree to the terms of the treaty
made with his nation for their lands, and as soon as the military, called to
enforce his removal, had retired, he returned to the Illinois side of the
river. A large force was at once raised and marched against him. On
the evening of May 14, 1832, the first engagement occurred between a
band from this army and Black Hawk's band, in which the former were
defeated.
This attack and its result aroused the whites. A large force of men
was raised, and Gen. Scott hastened from the seaboard, by way of the
lakes, with United States troops and artillery to aid in the subjugation of
the Indians. On the 24th of June, Black Hawk, with 200 warriors, was
repulsed by Major Demont between Rock River and Galena. The Ameri-
can army continued to move up Rock River toward the main body of
the Indians, and on the 21st of July came upon Black Hawk and his band,
and defeated them near the Blue Mounds.
Before this action. Gen. Henry, in command, sent word to the main
army by whom he was immediately rejoined, and the whole crossed the
78 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Wisconsin in pursuit of Black Hawk and his band who were fleeing to the
Mississippi. They were overtaken on the 2d of August, and in the battle
which followed the power of the Indian chief was completely broken. He
fled, but was seized by the Winnebagoes and delivered to the whites.
On the 21st of September, 1832, Gen. Scott and Gov. Reynolds con-
cluded a treaty with the Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes by which they
ceded ^to the United States avast tract of country, and agreed to remain
peaceable with the whites. For the faithful performance of the provi-
sions of this treaty on the part of the Indians, it was stipulated that
Black Hawk, his two sons, the prophet Wabokieshiek, and six other chiefs
of the hostile bands should be retained as hostages during the pleasure
of the President. They were confined at Fort Barracks and put in irons.
The next Spring, by order of the Secretary of War, they were taken
to Washington. From there they were removed to Fortress Monroe,
"there to remain until the conduct of their nation was such as to justify
their being set at liberty." They were retained here until the 4th of
June, when the authorities directed them to be taken to the principal
cities so that they might see the folly of contending against the white
people. Ever3'where they were observed by thousands, the name of the
old chief being extensively known. By the middle of August they
reached Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, where Black Hawk was soon
after released to go to his countrymen. As he passed the site of his birth-
place, now the home of the white man, he was deeply moved. His' village
where he was born, where he had so happily lived, and where he had
hoped to die, was now another's dwelling place, and he was a wanderer.
On the next day after his release, he went at once to his tribe and
his lodge. His wife was yet living, and with her he passed the remainder
of his days. To his credit it may be said that Black Hawk always re-
mained true to his wife, and served her with a devotion uncommon among
the Indians, living with her upward of forty years.
Black Hawk now passed his time hunting and fishing. A deep mel-
ancholy had settled over him from which he could not be freed. At all
times when he visited the whites he was received with marked atten-
tion. He was an honored guest at the old settlers' reunion in Lee County,
Illinois, at some of their meetings, and received many tokens of esteem.
In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his
annuity from the Government, he contracted a severe cold which resulted
in a fatal attack of bilious fever which terminated his life on October 3.
His faithful wife, who was devotedly attached to him, mourned deeply
during his sickness. After his death he was dressed in the uniform pre-
sented to him by the President while in Washington. He was buried in
a grave six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful eminence. " The
THE NOTtTHWKST TERRITORY. 79
body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting posture, upon a
seat constructed for the purpose. On his left side, the cane, given him
by Henry Clay, was placed upright, with 'his right hand resting upon it.
Many of the old warrior's trophies were placed in the grave, and some
Indian garments, together with his favorite weapons."
No sooner was the Black Hawk war concluded than settlers began
rapidly to pour into the northern parts of Illinois, and into Wisconsin,
now free from Indian depredations. Chicago, from a trading post, had
grown to a commercial center, and was rapidly coming into prominence.
In 1835, the formation of a State Government in Michigan was discussed,
but did not take active form until two years later, when the State became
a part of the Federal Union.
The main attraction to that portion of the Northwest lying west of
Lake Michigan, now included in the State of Wisconsin, was its alluvial
wealth. Copper ore was found about Lake Superior. For some time this
region was attached to Michigan for judiciary purposes, but in 1830 was
made a territory, then including Minnesota and Iowa. The latter State
was detached two years later. In 1848, Wisconsin was admitted as a
State, Madison being made the capital. We have now traced the various
divisions of the Northwest Territory (save a little in Minnesota) from
the time it was a unit comprising this vast territory, until circumstances
compelled its present division.
OTHER INDIAN TROUBLES.
Before leaving this part of the narrative, we will narrate briefly the
Indian troubles in Minnesota and elsewhere by the Sioux Indians.
In August, 1862, the Sioux Indians living on the western borders of
Minnesota fell upon the unsuspecting settlers, and in a few hours mas-
sacred ten or twelve hundred persons. A distressful panic was the
immediate result, fully thirty thousand persons fleeing from their homes
to districts supposed to be better protected. The military authorities
at once took active measures to punish the savages, and a large number
were killed and captured. About a year after, Little Crow, the chief,
was killed by a Mr. Lampson near Scattered Lake. Of those captured,
thirty were hung at Mankato, and the remainder, through fears of mob
violence, were removed to Camp McClellan, on the outskirts of the City
of Davenport. It was here that Big Eagle came into prominence and
secured his release by the following order :
80
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
BIG EAGLE.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 81
"Special Order, No. 430. "War Department,
" Adjutant General's Office, Washington, Dec. 3, 1864.
" Big Eagle, an Indian now in confinement at Davenport, Iowa,
will, upon the receipt of this order, be immediately released from confine-
ment and set at liberty.
'• By order of the President of the United States.
" Official : " E. D. Townsend, AssH Adft G-en.
" Capt. James Vanderventer, Corti'y Sub. Vols.
" Through Com'g Gen'l, Washington, D. C."
Another Indian who figures more prominently than Big Eagle, and
who Avas more cowardly in his nature, with his band of Modoc Indians,
is noted in the annals of the New Northwest : we refer to Captain Jack.
This distinguished Indian, noted for his cowardly murder of Gen. Canby,
was a chief of a Modoc tribe of Indians inhabiting the border lands
between California and Oregon. This region of country comprises what
is known as the " Lava Beds," a tract of land described as utterly impene-
trable, save by those savages who had made it their home.
The Modocs are known as an exceedingly fierce and treacherous
race. They had, according to their own traditions, resided here for many
generations, and at one time were exceedingly numerous and powerful.
A famine carried off nearly half their numbers, and disease, indolence
and the vices of the white man have reduced them to a poor, weak and
insignificant tribe.
Soon after the settlement of California and Oregon, complaints began
to be heard of massacres of emigrant trains passing through the Modoc
country. In 1847, an emigrant train, comprising eighteen souls, was en-
tirely destroyed at a place since known as " Bloody Point." These occur-
rences caused the United States Government to appoint a peace commission,
who, after repeated attempts, in 1864, made a treaty with the Modocs,
Snakes and Klamaths, in which it was agreed on their part to remove to
a reservation set apart for them in the southern part of Oregon.
With the exception of Captain Jack and a band of his followers, who
remained at Clear Lake, about six miles from Klamath, all the Indians
complied. The Modocs who went to the reservation were under chief
Schonchin. Captain Jack remained at the lake without disturbance
until 1869, when he was also induced to remove to the reservation. The
Modocs and the Klamaths soon became involved in a quarrel, and Captain
Jack and his band returned to the Lava Beds.
Several attempts were made by the Indian Commissioners to induce
them to return to the reservation, and finally becoming involved in a
82 THE NORTEHVEST TERRITORY.
difficulty with the commissioner and his military escort, a fight ensued,
in which the chief and his band were routed. They were greatly enraged,
and on their retreat, before the day closed, killed eleven inoffensive whites.
The nation was aroused and immediate action demanded. A com-
mission was at once appointed by the Government to see what could be
done. It comprised the following persons : Gen. E. R. S. Canby, Rev.
Dr. E. Thomas, a leading Methodist divine of California ; Mr, A. B.
Meacham, Judge Rosborough, of California, and a Mr. Dyer, of Oregon.
After several interviews, in which the savages were always aggressive,
often appearing with scalps in their belts, Bogus Charley came to the
commission on the evening of April 10, 1873, and informed them that
Capt. Jack and his band would have a " talk " to-morrow at a place near
Clear Lake, about three miles distant. Here the Commissioners, accom-
panied by Charley, Riddle, the interpreter, and Boston Charley repaired.
After the usual greeting the council proceedings commenced. On behalf
of the Indians there were present : Capt. Jack, Black Jim, Schnac Nasty
Jim, Ellen's Man, and Hooker Jim. They had no guns, but carried pis-
tols. After short speeches by Mr. Meacham, Gen. Canby and Dr. Thomas,
Chief Schonchin arose to speak. He had scarcely proceeded when,
as if by a preconcerted arrangement, Capt. Jack drew his pistol and shot
Gen. Canby dead. In less than a minute a dozen shots were fired by the
savages, and the massacre completed. Mr. Meacham was shot by Schon-
chin, and Dr. Thomas by Boston Charley. Mr. Dyer barely escaped, being
fired at twice. Riddle, the interpreter, and his squaw escaped. The
troops rushed to the spot where they found Gen. Canby and Dr. Thomas
dead, and Mr. Meacham badly wounded. The savages had escaped to
their impenetrable fastnesses and could not be pursued.
The whole country was aroused by this brutal massacre ; but it was
not until the following May that the murderers were brought to justice.
At that time Boston Charley gave himself up, and offered to guide the
troops to Capt. Jack's stronghold. This led to the capture of his entire
gang, a number of whom were murdered by Oregon volunteers Avhile on
their way to trial. The remaining Indians were held as prisoners until
July when their trial occurred, which led to the conviction of Capt.
Jack, Schonchin, Boston Charley, Hooker Jim, Broncho, alias One-Eyed
Jim, and Slotuck, who were sentenced to be hanged. These sentences
were approved by the President, save in the case of Slotuck and Broncho
whose sentences were commuted to imprisonment for life. The others
were executed at Fort Klamath, October 3, 1873.
These closed the Indian ti'oubles for a time in the Northwest, and for
several years the borders of civilization remained in peace. They were
again involved in a conflict with the savages about the country of the
THE NORTHWEST TEKRITORY.
83
^i^^^^*^
CAPTAIN JACK, THE MODOC CHIEFTAIN.
84 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Black Hills, in which war the gallant Gen. Custer lost his life. Just
now the borders of Oregon and California are again in fear of hostilities ;
but as the Government has learned how to deal with the Indians, they
will be of short duration. The red man is fast passing away before the
march of the white man, and a few more generations will read of the
Indians as one of the nations of the past.
The Northwest abounds in memorable places. We have generally
noticed them in the narrative, but our space forbids their description in
detail, save of the most important places. Detroit, Cincinnati, Vincennes,
Kaskaskia and their kindred towns have all been described. But ere we
leave the narrative we will present our readers with an account of the
Kinzie house, the old landmark of Chicago, and the discovery of the
source of the Mississippi River, each of which may well find a place in
the annals of the Northwest.
Mr. John Kinzie, of the Kinzie house, represented in the illustra-
tion, established a trading house at Fort Dearborn in 1804. The stockade
had been erected the year previous, and named Fort Dearborn in honor
of the Secretary of War. It had a block house at each of the two angles,
on the southern side a sallyport, a covered way on the north side, that led
down to the river, for the double purpose of providing means of escape,
and of procuring water in the event of a siege.
Fort Dearborn stood on the south bank of the Chicago River, about
half a mile from its mouth. When Major Whistler built it, his soldiers
hauled all the timber, for he had no oxen, and so economically did he
work that the fort cost the Government only fifty dollars. For a while
the garrison could get no grain, and Whistler and his men subsisted on
acorns. Now Chicago is the greatest grain center in the world.
Mr. Kinzie bought the hut of the first settler, Jean Baptiste Point au
Sable, on the site of which he erected his mansion. Within an inclosure
in front he planted some Lombardy poplars, seen in the engraving, and in
the rear he soon had a fine garden and growing orchard.
In 1812 the Kinzie house and its surroundings became the theater
of stirring events. The gari'ison of Fort Dearborn consisted of fifty-four
men, under the charge of Capt. Nathan Heald, assisted by Lieutenant
Lenai T. Helm (son-in-law to Mrs. Kinzie), and Ensign Ronan. The
surgeon was Dr. Voorhees. The only residents at the post at that time
were the wives of Capt. Heald and Lieutenant Helm and a few of the
soldiers, Mr. Kinzie and his family, and a few Canadian voyagers with their
wives and children. The soldiers and Mr. Kinzie were on the most
friendly terms with the Pottawatomies and the Winnebagoes, the prin-
cipal tribes around them, but they could not win them from their attach-
ment to the British.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
86
After the battle of Tippecanoe it was observed that some of the lead-
ing chiefs became sullen, for some of their people had perished in that
conflict with American troops.
One evening- in April, 1812, Mr. Kinzie sat playing his violin and his
children were dancing to the music, when Mrs. Kinzie came rushing into
the house pale with terror, and exclaiming, '' The Indians ! the Indians I "
" What ? Where ? " eagerly inquired Mr. Kinzie. " Up at Lee's, killing
and scalping," answered the frightened mother, who, when the alarm was
given, was attending Mrs. Burns, a newly-made mother, living not fur off.
KINZIE HOUSE.
Mr. Kinzie and his family crossed the river in boats, and took refuge in
the fort, to which place Mrs. Burns and her infant, not a day old, were
conveyed in safety to the shelter of the guns of Fort Dearborn, and the
rest of the white inhabitants fled. The Indians were a scalping party of
Winnebagoes, who hovered around the fort some days, when they dis-
appeared, and for several weeks the inhabitants were not disturbed by
alarms.
Chicago was then so deep in the wilderness, that the news of the
declaration of war against Great Britain, made on the 19th of June, 1812,
did not reach the commander of the garrison at Fort Dearborn till the 7th
of August. Now the fast mail train will carry a man from New York to
Chicago in twenty-seven hours, and such a declaration might be sent,
every word, by the telegraph in less than the same number of minutes.
THE l!fOETHWEST TERRITORY.
87
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE NORTHWEST.
Preceding- chapters have brought us to the close of the Black Hawk
war, and we now turn to the contemplation of the growth and prosperity
of the Northwest under the smile of peace and the blessings of our civili-
zation. The pioneers of this region date events back to the deep snow
A KEPEJiSENTATIVK PIOXEEB.
of 1831, no one arriving here since that date taking first honors. The
inciting cause of the immigration which overflowed the prairies early in
the '30s was the reports of the marvelous beauty and fertility of the
region distributed through the East by those who had participated in the
Black Hawk campaign with Gen. Scott. Chicago and Milwaukee then
had a few hundred inhabitants, and Gurdon S. Hubbard's trail from the
former city to Kaskaskia led almost through a wilderness. Vegetables
and clothing were largely distributed through the regions adjoining the
88
THE NORTHWEST TERBITORY.
lakes by steamers from the Ohio towns. There are men now living in
Illinois who came to the state when barely an acre was in cultivation,
and a man now prominent in the business circles of Chicago looked over
the swampy, cheerless site of that metropolis in 1818 and went south-
ward into civilization. Emisrrants from Pennsvlvania in 1830 left behind
LINCOLN MONUMENT, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
them but one small railway in the coal regions, thirty miles in length,
and made their way to the Northwest mostly with ox teams, finding in
Northern Illinois petty settlements scores of miles apart, although the
southern portion of the state was fairly dotted with farms. The
water courses of the lakes and rivers furnished transportation to the
second great army of immigrants, and about 1850 railroads were
pushed to that extent that the crisis of 1837 was precipitated upon us,
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
89
from the effects of which the Western country had not fully recovered
at the outbreak of the war. Hostilities found the colonists of the prairies
fnllv alive to the demands of the occasion, and the honor of recruiting
the vast armies of the Union fell largely to Gov. Yates, of Illinois, and
Gov. Morton, of Indiana. To recount the share of the glories of the
campaign won 'by q'zv Western troops is a needless task, except to
mention the fact that Illinois gave to zhe nation the President who saved
90
THE NORTHWEST TEEKITORY.
it, and sent out at the head of one of its regiments tne general who led '
its armies to the final victoiy at Appomattox. The struggle, oil the ^
ffAKM VlJiW IN WINTER.
whole, had a marked eifect for the better on the new Northwest, giving
it an impetus which twenty years of peace would' not have produced.
In a large degree this prosperity was an inflated one, and with the rest
of the Union we have since been compelled to atone therefor by four
THE NOKTHWEST TEIiElTORY.
91
SPRING SCENE.
i.'; ,,Tm ">•_
iii'pii^iiiwiiiiitvi ill "'I ' ". J vj '' rw
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 93
years of depression of values, of scarcity of employment, and loss of
fortune. To a less degree, however, than the manufacturing or mining-
regions has the West suffered during the prolonged panic noAv so near its
end. Agriculture, still the leading feature in our industries, has been
quite prosperous through all these dark years, and the farmers have
cleared away many incumbrances resting over them from the period of
fictitious values. The population has steadily increased, the arts and
sciences are gaining a stronger foothold, the trade area of the region is
becoming daily more extended, and we have been largely exempt from
the financial calamities which have nearly wrecked communities on the
st-aboard dependent wholly on foreign commerce or domestic manufacture.
At the present period there are no great schemes broached for the
Northwest, no propositions for government subsidies or national works
of improvement, but the capital of the world fs attracted hither for the
purcliase of our pi-oducts or the expansion of our capacity for serving the
nation at large. A new era is dawning as to transportation, and we bid
fair to deal almost exclusively with the increasing and expanding lines
of steel rail running through every few miles of territory on the prairies.
Tlie lake marine will no doubt continue to be useful in the warmer
season, and to serve as a regulator of freight rates ; but experienced
navigators forecast the decav of the svstem in movinof to the seaboard
the enormous crops of the West. Within the past five years it has
become quite common to see direct shipments to Europe and the West
Indies going through from the second-class towns along the Mississippi
and Missouri.
As to popular education, the standard has of late risen very greatly,
and our schools would be creditable to any section of the Union.
More and more as the events of the war pass into obscurity will the
fate of the Northwest be linked with that of the Southwest, and the
next Congressional apportionment will give the valley of the Mississippi
absolute control of the legislation of the nation, and do much toward
securing the removal of the Federal capitol to some more central location.
Our public men continue to wield the full share of influence pertain-
ing to their rank in the national autonomy, and seem not to forget that
for the past sixteen years they and their constituents have dictated the
principles which should govern the country.
In a work like this, destined to lie on the shelves of the librarj- for
generations, and not doomed to daily destruction like a newspaper, one
can not indulge in the same glowing predictions, the sanguine statements
of actualities that fill the columns of ephemeral publications. Time may
bring grief to the pet projects of a writer, and explode castles erected on
a pedestal of facts. Yet there are unmistakable indications before us of
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 95
the same radical change in our great Northwest which characterizes its
history for the past thirty years. Our domain has a sort of natural
geographical border, save where it melts away to the southward in the
cattle raising districts of the southwest.
Our prime interest will for some years doubtless be the growth of
the food of the world, in which branch it has already outstripped all
competitors, and our great rival in this duty will naturally be the fertile
plains of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, to say nothing of the new
empire so rapidly growing up in Texas. Over these regions there is a
continued progress in agriculture and in railway building, and we must
look to our laurels. Intelligent observers of events are fully aware of
the strides made in the way of shipments of fresh meats to Europe,
many of these ocean cargoes being actually slaughtered in the West and
transported on ice to the wharves of the seaboard cities. That this new
enterprise will continue there is no reason to doubt. There are in
Chicago several factories for the canning of prepared meats for European
consumption, and the orders for this class of goods are already immense.
English capital is becoming daily more and more dissatisfied with railway
loans and investments, and is gradually seeking mammoth outlays in
lands and live stock. The stock yards in Chicago, Indianapolis and East
St. Louis are yearly increasing their facilities, and their plant steadily
grows more valuable. Importations of blooded animals from the pro-
gressive countries of Europe are destined to greatly improve the quality
of our beef and mutton. Nowhere is there to be seen a more enticing
display in this line than at oar state and county fairs, and the interest
in the matter is on the increase.
To attempt to give statistics of our grain production for 1877 would
be useless, so far have we surpassed ourselves in the quantity and
quality of our product. We are too liable to forget that we are giving
the world its first article of necessity — its food supply. An opportunity
to learn this fact so it never can be forgotten was afforded at Chicago at
the outbreak of the great panic of 1873, when Canadian purchasers,
fearing the prostration of business mightbring about an anarchical condition
of affairs, went to that city with coin in bulk and foreign drafts to secure
their supplies in their own currency at first hands. It may be justly
claimed by the agricultural community that their combined efforts gave
the nation its first impetus toward a restoration of its crippled industries,
and their labor brought the gold premium to a lower depth than the
government was able to reach by its most intense efforts^ of legislation
and compulsion. The hundreds of millions about to be disbursed for
farm products have already, by the anticipation common to all commercial
96
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
nations, set the wheels in motion, and will relieve us from the perils so
long shadowing our efforts to return to a healthy tone.
Manufacturing has attained in the chief cities a foothold which bids
fair to render the Northwest independent of the outside world. Nearly
our whole region has a distribution of coal measures which will in time
support the manufactures necessary to our comfort and prosperity. As
to transportation, the chief factor in the production of all articles except
food, no section is so magnificently endowed, and our facilities are yearly
increasing beyond those of any other req-ion.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 97
The period from a central point of the war to the outbreak of the
panic was marked by a tremendous growth in our railway lines, but the
depression of the times caused almost a total suspension of operations.
Now that prosperity is returning to our stricken country we witness its
anticipation by the railroad interest in a series of projects, extensions,
and leases which bid fair to largely increase our transportation facilities.
The process of foreclosure and sale of incumbered lines is another matter
to be considered. In the case of the Illinois Central road, which formerly
transferred to other lines at Cairo the vast burden of freight destined for
the Gulf region, Ave now see the incorporation of the tracks connecting-
through to New Orleans, every mile co-operating in turning toward the
northwestern metropolis the weight of the inter-state commerce of a
thousand miles or more of fertile plantations. Three competing routes
to Texas have established in Chicago their general freight and jDassenger
agencies. Four or five lines compete for all Pacific freights to a point as
as far as the interior of Nebraska. Half a dozen or more splendid bridge
structures have been thrown across the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers by
the railways. The Chicago and Northwestern line has become an aggre-
gation of over two thousand miles of rail, and the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul is its close rival in extent and importance. The three lines
running to Cairo via Vincennes form a through route for all traffic with
the states to the southward. The chief projects now under discussion
are the Chicago and Atlantic, which is to unite with lines now built to
Charleston, and the Chicago and Canada Southern, which line will con-
nect with all the various branches of that Canadian enterprise. Our
latest new road is the Chicago and Lake Huron, formed of three lines,
and entering the city from Valparaiso on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne
and Chicago track. The trunk lines being mainly in operation, the
progress made in the way of shortening tracks, making air-line branches,
and running extensions does not show to the advantage it deserves, as
this process is constantly adding new facilities to the established order
of things. The panic reduced the price of steel to a point where the
railways could hardly afford to use iron rails, and all our northwestern
lines report large relays of Bessemer track. The immense crops now
being moved have given a great rise to the value of railway stocks, and
their transportation must result in heavy pecuniary advantages.
Few are aware of the importance of the wholesale and jobbing trade
of Chicago. One leading firm has since the panic sold $2-1,000,000 of
dry goods in one year, and they now expect most confidently to add
seventy per cent, to the figures of their last year's business. In boots
and shoes and in clothing, twenty or more great firms from the east have
placed here their distributing agents or their factories ; and in groceries
98
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Chicago supplies the entire Northwest at rates presenting advantages
over New York.
Chicago has stepped in between New York and the rural banks as a
financial center, and scarcely a banking institution in the grain or cattle
regions but keeps its reserve funds in the vaults of our commercial insti-
tutions. Accumulating here throughout the spring and summer months,
they are summoned home at pleasure to move the products of the
prairies. This process greatly strengthens the northwest in its financial
operations, leaving home capital to supplement local operations on
behalf of home interests.
It is impossible to forecast the destiny of this grand and growing
section of the Union. Figures and predictions made at this date might
seem ten years hence so ludicrously small as to excite only derision.
ILLINOIS.
Length, 380 miles, mean width about 156 miles. Area, 55,410 square
miles, or 35,462,400 acres. Illinois, as regards its surface, constitutes a
table-land at a varying elevation ranging between 350 and 800 feet above
the sea level ; composed of extensive and highly fertile prairies and plains.
Much of the south division of the State, especially the river-bottoms, are
thickl}' wooded. The prairies, too, have oasis-like clumps of trees
scattered here and there at intervals. The chief rivers irrigating the
State are the Mississippi — dividing it from Iowa and Missouri — the Ohio
(forming its south barrier), the Illinois, Wabash, Kaskaskia, and San-
gamon, with their numerous affluents. The total extent of navigable
streams is calculated at 4,000 miles. Small lakes are scattered over vari-
ous parts of the State. Illinois is extremely prolific in minerals, chiefly
coal, iron, copper, and zinc ores, sulphur and limestone. The coal-field
alone is estimated to absorb a full third of the entire coal-deposit of North
America. Climate tolerably equable and healthy ; the mean temperature
standing at about 51° Fahrenheit As an agricultural region, Illinois takes
a competitive rank with neighboring States, the cereals, fruits, and root-
crops yielding plentiful returns ; in fact, as a grain-growing State, Ilhnois
may be deemed, in proportion to her size, to possess a greater area of
lands suitable for its production than any other State in the Union. Stock-
raising is also largely carried on, while her manufacturing interests in
regard of woolen fabrics, etc., are on a very extensive and yearly expand-
ing scale. The lines of railroad in the State are among the most exten-
sive of the Union. Inland water-carriage is facilitated by a canal
connecting the Illinois River with Lake Michigan, and thence with the
St. Lawrence and Atlantic. Illinois is divided into 102 counties ; the
chief towns being Chicago, Springfield (capital), Alton, Quincy, Peoria,
Galena, Bloomington, Rock Island, Vandalia, etc. By the new Consti-
tution, established in 1870, the State Legislature consists of 51 Senators,
elected for four years, and 153 Representatives, for two years ; which
numbers were to be decennially increased thereafter to the number of
six per every additional half-million of inhabitants. Religious and
educational institutions are largely diffused throughout, and are in a very
flourishing condition. Illinois has a State Lunatic and a Deaf and Dumb
Asylum at Jacksonville ; a State Penitentiary at Joliet ; and a Home for
(99)
100
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Soldiers' Orphans at Normal. On November 30, 1870, the public debt of
the State was returned at $4,870,937, with a balance of $1,808,833
unprovided for. At the same period the value of assessed and equalized
property presented the following totals: assessed, -$840,031,703 ; equal-
ized $480,664,058. The name of Illinois, through nearly the whole of
the eighteenth century, embraced most of the known regions north and
west of Ohio. French colonists established themselves in 1673, at
Cahokia and Kaskaskia, and the territory of which these settlements
formed the nucleus was, in 1763, ceded to Great Britain in conjunction
with Canada, and ultimately resigned to the United States in 1787.
Illinois entered the Union as a State, December 3, 1818 ; and now sends
19 Representatives to Congress. Population, 2,539,891, in 1870.
A WESTERN DWELLING.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 101
INDIANA.
The profile of Indiana forms a nearly exact parallelogram, occupy-
ing one of tlie most fertile portions of the great Mississippi Valley. The
greater extent of the surface embraced within its limits consists of gentle
undulations rising into hilly tracts toward the Ohio bottom. The chief
rivers of the State are the Ohio and Wabash, with their numerous
affluents. The soil is highly productive of the cereals and grasses — most
particularly so in the valleys of the Ohio, Wabash, Whitewater, and
White Rivers. The northeast and central portions are well timbered
with virgin forests, and the west section is notably rich in coal, constitut-
ing an offshoot of the great Illinois carboniferous field. Iron, copper,
marble, slate, gypsum, and various clays are also abundant. From an
agricultural point of view, the staple products are maize and wheat, with
the other cereals in lesser yields ; and besides these, flax, hemp, sorghum,
hops, etc., are extensively raised. Indiana is divided into 92 counties,
and counts among her principal cities and towns, those of Indianapolis
(the capital), Fort Wayne, Evansville, Terre Haute, Madisou, Jefferson-
ville, Columbus, Vincennes, South Bend, etc. The public institutions of
the State are many and various, and on a scale of magnitude and
efficiency commensurate with her important political and industrial status.
Upward of two thousand miles of railroads permeate the State in all
directions, and greatly conduce to the development of her expanding
manufacturing interests. Statistics for the fiscal year terminating
October 31, 1870, exhibited a total of receipts, $3,896,641 as against dis-
bursements, $3,532,406, leaving a balance, $364,135 in favor of the State
Treasury. The entire public debt, January 5, 1871, $3,971,000. This
State was first settled by Canadian voyageurs in 1702, who erected a fort
at Vincennes ; in 1763 it passed into the hands of the English, and was
by the latter ceded to the United States in 1783. From 1788 till 1791,
an Indian warefare prevailed. In 1800, all the region west and north of
Ohio (then formed into a distinct territory) became merged in Indiana.
In 1809, the present limits of the State were defined, Michigan and
Illinois having previously been withdrawn. In 1811, Indiana was the
theater of the Indian War of Tecumseh, ending with the decisive battle
of Tippecanoe. In 1816 (December 11), Indiana became enrolled among
the States of the American Union. In 1834, the State passed through a
monetary crisis owing to its having become mixed up with railroad,
fjanal, and other speculations on a gigantic scale, which ended, for the
time being, in a general collapse of public credit, and consequent bank-
ruptcy. Since that time, however, the greater number of the public
102 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
works which had brought about that imbroglio — especially the great
Wabash and Erie Canal — have been completed, to the great benefit of
the State, whose subsequent progress has year by year been marked by
rapid strides in the paths of wealth, commerce, and general social and
political prosperity. The constitution now in force was adopted in 1851.
Population, l,68o!|637.
IOWA.
In shape, Iowa presents an almost perfect parallelogram; has a
length, north to south, of about 300 miles, by a pretty even width of 208
miles, and embraces an area of 55,045 square miles, or 35,228,800 acres.
The surface of the State is generally undulating, rising toward the
middle into an elevated plateau which forms the " divide " of the
Missouri and Mississippi basins. Rolling prairies, especially in the south
section, constitute a regnant feature, and the river bottoms, belted with
woodlands, present a soil of the richest alluvion. Iowa is well watered ;
the principal rivers being the Mississippi and Missouri, which form
respectively its east and west limits, and the Cedar, Iowa, and Des
Moines, affluents of the first named. Mineralogically, Iowa is important
as occupying a section of the great Northwest coal field, to the extent of
an area estimated at 25,000 square miles. Lead, copper, zinc, and iron,
are also mined in considerable quantities. The soil is well adapted to
the production of wheat, maize, and the other cereals ; fruits, vegetables,
and esculent roots ; maize, wheat, and oats forming the chief staples.
Wine, tobacco, hops, and wax, are other noticeable items of the agricul-
tural yield. Cattle-raising, too, is a branch of rural industry largely
engaged in. The climate is healthy, although liable to extremes of heat
and cold. The annual gross product of the various manufactures carried
on in this State approximate, in round numbers, a sum of f 20,000,000.
Iowa has an immense railroad system, besides over 500 miles of water-
communication by means of its navigable rivers. The State is politically
divided into 99 counties, with the following centers of population : Des
Moines (capital), Iowa City (former capital), Dubuque, Davenport, Bur-
lington, Council Bluffs, Keokuk, Muscatine, and Cedar Rapids. The
State institutions of Iowa — religious, scholastic, and philanthropic — are
on a par, as regards number and perfection of organization and operation,
with those of her Northwest sister States, and education is especially
well cared for, and largely diffused. Iowa formed a portion of the
American territorial acquisitions from France, by the so-called Louisiana
purchase in 1803, and was politically identified with Louisiana till 1812,
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 103
when it merged into the Missouri Territory; in 1834 it came under the
Michigan organization, and, in 1836, under that of Wisconsin. Finally,
after being constituted an independent Territory, it became a State of
the Union^ December 28, 1846. Population in 1860, 674,913 ; in 1870,
1,191,792, and in 1875, 1,353,118.
MICHIGAN.
United area, 56,243 square miles, or 35,995,520 acres. Extent of the
Upper and smaller Peninsula — length, 316 miles; breadth, fluctuating
between 36 and 120 miles. The south division is 416 miles long, by from
50 to 300 miles wide. Aggregate lake-shore line, 1,400 miles. The
Upper, or North, Peninsula consists chiefly of an elevated plateau,
expanding into the Porcupine mountain-system, attaining a maximum
height of some 2,000 feet. Its shores along Lake Superior are eminently
bold and picturesque, and its area is rich in minerals, its product of
copper constituting an important source of industry. Both divisions are
heavily wooded, and the South one, in addition, boasts of a deep, rich,
loamy soil, throwing up excellent crops of cereals and other agricultural
produce. The climate is generally mild and humid, though the Winter
colds are severe. The chief staples of farm husbandry include the cereals,
grasses, maple sugar, sorghum, tobacco, fruits, and dairy-stuffs. In 1870,
the acres of land in farms were : improved, 5,096,939 ; unimproved
woodland, 4,080,146 ; other unimproved land, 842,057. The cash value
of land was $398,240,578 ; of farming implements and machinery,
$13,711,979. In 1869, there were shipped from the Lake Superior ports,
874,582 tons of iron ore, and 45,762 of smelted pig, along with 14,188
tons of copper (ore and ingot). Coal is another article largely mined.
Inland communication is provided for by an admirably organized railroad
system, and by the St. Mary's Ship Canal, connecting Lakes Huron and
Superior. Michigan is politically divided into 78 counties ; its chief
urban centers are Detroit, Lansing (capital), Ann Arbor, Marquette,
Bay City, Niles, Ypsilanti, Grand Haven, etc. The Governor of the
State is elected biennially. On November 30, 1870, the aggregate bonded
debt of Michigan amounted to $2,385,028, and the assessed valuation of
land to $266,929,278, representing an estimated cash value of $800,000,000.
Education is largely diffused and most excellently conducted and pro-
vided for. The State University at Ann Arbor, the colleges of Detroit
and Kalamazoo, the Albion Female College, the State Normal School at
Ypsilanti, and the State Agricultural College at Lansing, are chief among
the academic institutions. Michigan (a term of Chippeway origin, and
104 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
signifying " Great Lake), was discovered and first settled by French
Canadians, who, in 1670, founded Detroit, the pioneer of a series of trad-
ing-posts on the Indian frontier. During the " Conspiracy of Pontiac,"
following the French loss of Canada, Michigan became the scene of a
sanguinary struggle between the whites and aborigines. In 1796, it
became annexed to the United States, which incorporated this region
with the Northwest Territory, and then with Indiana Territory, till 1803,
when it became territorially independent. Michigan was the theater of
warlike operations during the war of 1812 with Great Britain, and in
1819 was authorized to be represented by one delegate in Congress ; in
1837 she was admitted into the Union as a State, and in 1869 ratified the
15th Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Population, 1,184,059.
WISCONSIN.
It has a mean length of 260 miles, and^a maximum breadth of 215.
Land area, 53,924 square miles, or 34,511,360 acres. Wisconsin lies at a
considerable altitude above sea-level, and consists for the most part of an
upland plateau, the surface of which is undulating and very generally
diversified. Numerous local eminences called mounds are interspersed
over the State, and the Lake Michigan coast-line is in many parts char-
acterized by lofty escarped cliffs, even as on the west side the banks of
the Mississippi form a series of high and picturesque bluffs. A group of
islands known as The Apostles lie off the extreme north point of the
State in Lake Superior, and the great estuary of Green Bay, running far
inland, gives formation to a long, narrow peninsula between its waters
and those of Lake Michigan. The river-system of Wisconsin has three
outlets — those of Lake Superior, Green Bay, and the Mississippi, whicli
latter stream forms the entire southwest frontier, widening at one point
into the large watery expanse called Lake Pepin. Lake Superior receives
the St. Louis, Burnt Wood, and Montreal Rivers ; Green Bay, the
Menomouee, Peshtigo, Oconto, and Fox ; while into the Mississippi
empty the St. Croix, Chippewa, Black, Wisconsin, and Rock Rivers.
The chief interior lakes are those of Winnebago, Horicon, and Court
Oreilles, and smaller sheets of water stud a great part of the surface.
The climate is healthful, with cold Winters and brief but very warm
Summers. Mean annual rainfall 31 inches. The geological system
represented b}^ the State, embraces those rocks included between the
primary and the Devonian series, the former containing extensive
deposits of copper and iron ore. Besides these minerals, lead and zinc
are found in great quantities, together with kaolin, plumbago, gypsum,
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 105
and various clays. Mining, consequently, forms a prominent industry,
and one of yearly increasing dimensions. The soil of Wisconsin is of
varying quality, but fertile on the whole, and in the north parts of the
State heavily timbered. The agricultural yield comprises the cereals,
together with flax, hemp, tobacco, pulse, sorgura, and all kinds of vege-
tables, and of the hardier fruits. In 1870, the State had a total number
of 102,904 farms, occupying 11,715,321 acres, of which 5,899,343 con-
sisted of improved land, and 3,437,442 were timbered. Cash value of
farms, 8300,414,064 ; of farm implements and machinery, $14,239,364.
Total estimated value of all farm products, including betterments and
additions to stock, $78,027,032 ; of orchard and dairy stuffs, $1,045,933 ;
of lumber, $1,327,618 ; of home manufactures, $338,423 ; of all live-stock,
$45,310,882. Number of manufacturing establishments, 7,136, employ-
ing 39,055 hands, and turning out productions valued at $85,624,966.
The political divisions of the State form 61 counties, and the chief places
of wealth, trade, and population, are Madison (the capital), Milwaukee,
Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Prairie du Chien, Janesville, Portage City,
Racine, Kenosha, and La Crosse. In 1870, the total assessed valuation
reached $333,209,838, as against a true valuation of both real and personal
estate aggregating $602,207,329. Treasury receipts during 1870, $886,-
696 ; disbursements, $906,329. Value of church property, $4,749,983.
Education is amply provided for. Independently of the State University
at Madison, and those of Galesville and of Lawrence at Appleton, and
the colleges of Beloit, Racine, and Milton, there are Normal Schools at
Platteville and Whitewater. The State is divided into 4,802 common
school districts, maintained at a cost, in 1870, of $2,094,160. The cliari-
table institutions of Wisconsin include a Deaf and Dumb Asylum, an
Institute for the Education of the Blind, and a Soldiers' Orphans' School.
In January, 1870, the railroad system ramified throughout the State
totalized 2,779 miles of track, including several lines far advanced toward
completion. Immigration is successfully encouraged by the State author-
ities, the larger number of yearly new-comers being of Scandinavian and
German origin. The territory now occupied within the limits of the
State of Wisconsin was explored by French missionaries and traders in
1639, and it remained under French jurisdiction until 1703, when it
became annexed to the British North American possessions. In 1796, it
reverted to the United States, the government of which latter admitted
it within the limits of the Northwest Territory, and in 1809, attached it
to that of Illinois, and to Michigan in 1818. Wisconsin became independ-
ently territorially organized in 1836, and became a State of the Union,
March 3, 1847. Population in 1870, 1,064,985, of which 2,113 were of
ilie colored race, and 11,521 Indians, 1,206 of the latter being out of
tribal relations.
106 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
MINNESOTA
Its length, north to south, embraces an extent of 380 miles ; its
breadth one of 250 miles at a maximum. Area, 84,000 square miles, or
54,760,000 acres. The surface of Minnesota, generally speaking, con-
sists of a succession of gently undulating plains and prairies, drained by
an admirable water-system, and with here and there heavily- timbered
bottoms and belts of virgin forest. The soil, corresponding with such a
superfices, is exceptionally rich, consisting for the most part of a dark,
calcareous sandy drift intermixed with loam. A distinguishing physical
feature of this State is its riverine ramifications, expanding in nearly
every part of it into almost innumerable lakes — the whole presenting an
aggregate of water-power having hardly a rival in the Union. Besides
the Mississippi — which here has its rise, and drains a basin of 800 miles
of country — the principal streams are the Minnesota (334 miles long),
the Red River of the North, the St. Croix, St. Louis, and many others of
lesser importance ; the chief lakes are those called Red, Cass, Leech,
Mille Lacs, Vermillion, and Winibigosh. Quite a concatenation of sheets
of water fringe the frontier line where Minnesota joins British America,
culminating in the Lake of the Woods. It has been estimated, that of
an area of 1,200,000 acres of surface between the St. Croix and Mis-
sissippi Rivers, not less than 73,000 acres are of lacustrine formation. In
point of minerals, the resources of Minnesota have as yet been very
imperfectly developed; iron, copper, coal, lead — all these are known to
exist in considerable deposits ; together with salt, limestone, and potter's
clay. The agricultural outlook of the State is in a high degree satis-
factor}^ ; wheat constitutes the leading cereal in cultivation, with Indian
corn and oats in next order. Fruits and vegetables are grown in great
plenty and of excellent quality. The lumber resources of Minnesota are
important ; the pine forests in the north region alone occupying an area
of some 21,000 square miles, which in 1870 produced a return of scaled
logs amounting to 313,116,416 feet. The natural industrial advantages
possessed by Minnesota are largely improved upon by a railroad sj'stem.
The political divisions of this State number 78 counties ; of which the
chief cities and towns are : St. Paul (the capital), Stillwater, Red Wing,
St. Anthony, Fort Snelling, Minneapolis, and Mankato. Minnesota has
already assumed an attitude of high importance as a manufacturing State ;
this is mainly due to the wonderful command of water-power she pos-
sesses, as before spoken of. Besides her timber-trade, the milling of
flour, the distillation of whisky, and the tanning of leather, are prominent
interests, which, in 1869, gave returns to the amount of 114,831,043.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 107
Education is notably provided for on a broad and catholic scale, the
entire amount expended scholastically during the year 1870 being $857,-
816 ; while on November 30 of the preceding year the permanent school
fund stood at $2,476,222. Besides a University and Agricultural College,
Normal and Reform Schools flourish, and with these may be mentioned
such various philanthropic and religious institutions as befit the needs ot
an intelligent and prosperous community. The finances of the State for
the fiscal year terminating December 1, 1870, exhibited a balance on the
right side to the amount of $136,164, being a gain of $44,000 over the
previous year's figures. The earliest exploration of Minnesota by the
whites was made in 1680 by a French Franciscan, Father Hennepin, who
gave the name of St. Antony to the Great Falls on the Upper Missisippi.
In 1763, the Treaty of Versailles ceded this region to England.
Twenty years later, Minnesota formed part of the Northwest Territory
transferred to the United States, and became herself territorialized inde-
pendently in 1849. Indian cessions in 1851 enlarged her boundaries, and.
May 11, 1857, Minnesota became a unit of the great American federation
of States. Population, 439,706.
NEBRASKA.
Maximum length, 412 miles ; extreme breadth, 208 miles. Area,
75,905 square miles, or 48,636,800 acres. The surface of this State is
almost entirely undulating prairie, and forms part of the west slope of
the great central basin of the North American Continent. In its west
division, near the base of the Rocky Mountains, is a sandy belt of
country, irregularly defined. In this part, too, are the " dunes," resem-
bling a wavy sea of sandy billows, as well as the Mauvaises Terres. a tract
of singular formation, produced by eccentric disintegrations and denuda-
tions of the land. The chief rivers are the Missouri, constituting its en-
tire east line of demarcation ; the Nebraska or Platte, the Niobiara, the
Republican Fork of the Kansas, the Elkhorn, and the Loup Fork of the
Platte. The soil is very various, but consisting chiefly of rich, bottomy
loam, admirably adapted to the raising of heavy crops of cereals. All
the vegetables and fruits of the temperate zone are produced in great
size and plenty. For grazing purposes Nebraska is a State exceptionally
well fitted, a region of not less than 23,000,000 acres being adaptable to
this branch of husbandry. It is believed that the, as yet, comparatively
infertile tracts of land found in various parts of the State are susceptible
of productivity by means of a properly conducted system of irrigation.
Few minerals of moment have so far been found within the limits of
108
THE NORTHWEST TEERITOEY.
Nebraska, if we may except important saline deposits at the head of Salt
Creek in its southeast section. The State is divided into 57 counties,
independent of the Pawnee and Winnebago Indians, and of unorganized
territory in the northwest part. The principal towns are Omaha, Lincoln
(State capital), Nebraska City, Columbus, Grand Island, etc. In 1870,
the total assessed value of property amounted to $53,000,000, being an
increase of $11,000,000 over the previous year's returns. The total
amount received from the school-fund during the year 1869-70 was
$77,999. Education is making great onward strides, the State University
and an Agricultural College being far advanced toward completion. In
the matter of railroad communication, Nebraska bids fair to soon place
herself on a par with her neighbors to the east. Besides being inter-
sected by the Union Pacific line, with its off-shoot, the Fremont and Blair,
other tracks are in course of rapid construction. Organized by Con-
gressional Act into a Territory, May 80, 1854, Nebraska entered the
Union as a full State, March 1, 1867. Population, 122,993.
HUNTING PRAIRIE WOLVES IN AN EARLY DAY.
Early History of Illinois.
The name of this beautiful Prairie State is derived from Illim^ a
Delaware word signifying Superior Men. It has a French termination,
and is a symbol of how the two races — the French and the Indians —
were intermixed during the early history of the country.
The appellation was no doubt well applied to the primitive inhabit-
ants of the soil whose prowess in savage warfare long withstood the
combined attacks of the fierce Iroquois on the one side, and the no less
savage and relentless Sacs and Foxes on the other. The Illinois were
once a powerful confederacy, occupying the most beautiful and fertile
region in the great Valle}^ of the Mississippi, which their enemies coveted
and struggled long and hard to wrest from them. By the fortunes of
war they were diminished in numbers, and finally destroyed. " Starved
Rock," on the Illinois River, according to tradition, commemorates their
last tragedy, where, it is said, the entu-e tribe starved rather than sur-
render.
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
The first European discoveries in Illinois date back over two hun-
dred years. They are a part of that movement which, from the begin-
ning to the middle of the seventeenth century, brought the French
Canadian missionaries and fur traders into the Valley of the Mississippi,
and which, at a later period, established the civil and ecclesiastical
authority of France from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico,
and from the foot-hills of the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains.
The great river of the West had been discovered by DeSoto, the
Spanish conqueror of Florida, three quarters of a century before the
French founded Quebec in 1608, but the Spanish left the country a wil-
derness, without further exploration or settlement within its borders, in
which condition it remained until the Mississippi was discovered by the
agents of the French Canadian government, Joliet and Marquette, in 1673.
These renowned explorers were not the first white visitors to Illinois.
In 1671 — two years in advance of them — came Nicholas Perrot to Chicago.
He had been sent by Talon as an agent of the Canadian government to
109
110
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OP HiLINOIS. Ill
call a great peace convention of Western Indians at Green Bay, prepara-
tory to the movement for the discovery of the Mississippi. It was
deemed a good stroke of policy to secure, as far as possible, the friend-
ship and co-operation of the Indians, far and near, before venturing upon
an enterprise which their hostility might render disastrous, and which
their friendship and assistance would do so much to make successful ;
and to this end Perrot was sent to call together in council the tribes
throughout the Northwest, and to promise them the commerce and pro-
tection of the French government. He accordingly arrived at Green
Bay in 1671, and procuring an escort of Pottawattamies, proceeded in a
bark canoe upon a visit to the Miamis, at Chicago. Perrot was there-
fore the first European to set foot upon the soil of Illinois.
Still there were others before Marquette. In 1672, the Jesuit mis-
sionaries. Fathers Claude Allouez and Claude Dablon, bore the standard
of the Cross from their mission at Green Bay through western Wisconsin
and northern Illinois, visiting the Foxes on Fox River, and the Masquo-
tines and Kickapoos at the mouth of the Milwaukee. These missionaries
penetrated on the route afterwards followed by Marquette as far as the
Kickapoo village at the head of Lake Winnebago, where Marquette, in
his journey, secured guides across the portage to the Wisconsin.
The oft-repeated story of Marquette and Joliet is well known.
They were the agents employed by the Canadian government to discover
the Mississippi. Marquette was a native of France, born in 1637, a
Jesuit priest by education, and a man of simple faith and of great zeal and
devotion in extending the Roman Catholic religion among the Indians.
Arriving in Canada in 1666, he was sent as a missionary to the far
Northwest, and, in 1668, founded a mission at Sault Ste. Marie. The
following year he moved to La Pointe, in Lake Superior, where he
instructed a branch of the Hurons till 1670, when he removed south, and
founded the mission at St. Ignace, on the Straits of Mackinaw. Here
he remained, devoting a portion of his time to the study of the Illinois
language under a native teacher who had accompanied him to the mission
from La Pointe, till he was joined by Joliet in the Spring of 1673. By
the way of Green Bay and the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, they entered
the Mississippi, which they explored to the mouth of the Arkansas, and
returned by the way of the Illinois and Chicago Rivers to Lake Michigan.
On his way up the Illinois, Marquette visited the great village of
the Kaskaskias, near what is now Utica, in the county of LaSalle. The
following year he returned and established among them the mission of
the Immaculate Virgin Mary, which was the first Jesuit mission founded
in Illinois and in the Mississippi Valley. The intervening winter he
had spent in a hut which his companions erected on the Chicago River, a
few leagues from its mouth. The founding of this mission was the last
112 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLIKOIS. f ',
\
act of Marquette's life. He died in Michigan, on his way back to Green [
Bay, May 18, 1675. M
FIRST FRENCH OCCUPATION.
The first French occupation of the territory now embraced in Illi-
nois was effected by LaSalle in 1680, seven years after the time of Mar-
q^uette and Joliet. LaSalle, having constructed a vessel, the " Griffin,"
above the falls of Niagara, which he sailed to Green Bay, and having
passed thence in canoes to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, by which
and the Kankakee he reached the Illinois, in January, 1680, erected Fort
Crevecoeur, at the lower end of Peoria Lake, where the city of Peoria is
now situated. The place where this ancient fort stood may still be seen
just below the outlet of Peoria Lake. It was destined, however, to a
temporary existence. From this point, LaSalle determined to descend
the Mississippi to its mouth, but did not accomplish this purpose till two
years later — in 1682. Returning to Fort Frontenac for the purpose of
getting materials with which to rig his vessel, he left the fort in charge of
Touti, his lieutenant, who during his absence was driven off by the Iro-
quois Indians. These savages had made a raid upon the settlement of
the Illinois, and had left nothing in their track but ruin and desolation.
Mr. Davidson, in his History of Illinois, gives the following graphic
account of the picture that met the eyes of LaSalle and his companions
on their return :
" At the great town of the Illinois they were appalled at the scene
which opened to their view. No hunter appeared to break its death-like
silence with a salutatory whoop ot welcome. The plain on which the
town had stood was now strewn with charred fragments of lodges, which
had so recently swarmed with savage life and hilarity. To render more
hideous the picture of desolation, large numbers of skulls had been
placed on the upper extremities of lodge-poles which had escaped the
devouring flames. In the midst of these horrors was the rude fort of
the spoilers, rendered frightful by the same ghastly relics. A near
approach showed that the graves had been robbed of their bodies, and
swarms of buzzards were discovered glutting their loathsome stomachs
on the reeking corruption. To complete the work of destruction, the
growing corn of the village had been cut down and burned, while the
pits containing the products of previous years, had been rifled and their
contents scattered with wanton waste. It was evident the suspected
blow of the Iroquois had fallen with relentless fury."
Tonti had escaped LaSalle knew not whither. Passing down the
lake in search of him and his men, LaSalle discovered that the fort had
been destroyed, but the vessel which he had partly constructed was still
HISTORY OF THE STATE OP ILLINOIS. 113
on the stocks, and but slightly injured. After further fruitless search,
failing to find Tonti, he fastened to a tree a painting representing himself
and party sitting in a canoe and bearing a pipe of peace, and to the paint-
ino; attached a letter addressed to Tonti.
Tonti had escaped, and, after untold privations, taken shelter among
the Pottawattaraies near Green Bay. These were friendly to the French.
One of their old chiefs used to say, " There were but three great cap-
tains in the world, himself, Tonti and LaSalle."
GENIUS OF LaSALLE.
We must now return to LaSalle, whose exploits stand out in such
bold relief. He was born in Rouen, France, in 1643. His father was
wealthy, but he renounced his patrimony on entering a college of the
Jesuits, from which he separated and came to Canada a poor man in 1666.
The priests of St. Sulpice, among whom he had a brother, were then the
proprietors of Montreal, the nucleus of which was a seminary or con-
vent founded by that order. The Superior granted to LaSalle a large
tract of land at LaChine, where he established himself in the fur trade.
He was a man of daring genius, and outstripped all his competitors in
exploits of travel and commerce with the Indians. In 1669, he visited
the headquarters of the great Iroquois Confederacy, at Onondaga, in the
heart of New York, and, obtaining guides, explored the Ohio River to
the falls at Louisville.
In order to understand the genius of LaSalle, it must be remembered
that for many years prior to his time the missionaries and traders were
obliged to make their way to the Northwest by the Ottawa River (of
Canada) on account of the fierce hostility of the Iroquois along the lower
lakes and Niagara River, which entirely closed this latter route to the
Upper Lakes. They carried on their commerce chiefly by canoes, pad-
dling them through the Ottawa to Lake Nipissing, carrying them across
the portage to French River, and descending that to Lake Huron. This
being the route by which they reached the Northwest, accounts for the
fact that all the earliest Jesuit missions were established in the neiofhbor-
hood of the Upper Lakes. LaSalle conceived the grand idea of opening
the route by Niagara River and the Lower Lakes to Canadian commerce
by sail vessels, connecting it with the navigation of the Mississippi, and
thus ox3ening a magnificent water communication from the Gulf of St.
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. This truly grand and comprehensive
purpose seems to have animated him in all his wonderful achievements
and the matchless difficulties and hardships he surmounted. As the first
step in the accomplishment of this object he established himself on Lake
Ontario, and built and garrisoned Fort Frontenac, the site of the present
114 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. *
city of Kingston, Canada. Here he obtained a grant of land from the
French crown and a body of troops by which he beat back the invading
Iroquois and cleared the passage to Niagara Falls. Having by this mas-
terly stroke made it safe to attempt a hitherto untried expedition, his
next step, as we have seen, was to advance to the Falls with all his
outfit for building a ship with which to sail the lakes. He was success-
ful in this undertaking, though his ultimate purpose was defeated by a
strange combination of untoward circumstances. The Jesuits evidently
hated LaSalle and plotted against him, because he had abandoned them
and co-operated with a rival order. The fur traders were also jealous of
his superior success in opening new channels of commerce. At LaChine
he had taken the trade of Lake Ontario, which but for his presence there
would have gone to Quebec. While they were plodding with their bark
canoes through the Ottawa he was constructing sailing vessels to com-
mand the trade of the lakes and the Mississippi. These great plans
excited the jealousy and envy of the small traders, introduced treason and
revolt into the ranks of his own companions, and finally led to the foul
assassination by which his great achievements were prematurely ended.
In 1682, LaSalle, having completed his vessel at Peoria, descended
the Mississippi to its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico. Erecting a
standard on which he inscribed the arms of France, he took formal pos-
session of the whole valley of the mighty river, in the name of Louis
XIV., then reigning, in honor of whom he named the country Louisiana.
LaSalle then went to France, was appointed Governor, and returned
with a fleet and immigrants, for the purpose of planting a colony in Illi-
nois. They arrived in due time in the Gulf of Mexico, but failing to
find the mouth of the Mississippi, up which LaSalle intended to sail, his
supply ship, with the immigrants, was driven ashore and wrecked on
Matagorda Bay. With the fragments of the vessel he constructed a
stockade and rude huts on the shore for the protection of the immigrants,
calling the post Fort St. Louis. He then made a trip into New Mexico,
in search of silver mines, but, meeting with disappointment, returned to
find his little colony reduced to forty souls. He then resolved to travel
on foot to Illinois, and, starting with his companions, had reached the
valley of the Colorado, near the mouth of Trinity river, when he was
shot by one of his men. This occurred on the 19th of March, 1687.
Dr. J. W. Foster remarks of him : " Thus fell, not far from the banks
of the Trinity, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, one of the grandest charac-
ters that ever figured in American history — a man capable of originating
the vastest schemes, and endowed with a will and a judgment capable of
carrying them to successful results. Had ample facilities been placed by
the King of France at his disposal, the result of the colonization of this
continent might have been far different from what we now behold."
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 115
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
A temporary settlement was made at Fort St. Louis, or the old Kas-
kaskia village, on the Illinois River, in what is now LaSalle County, in
1682. In 1690, this was removed, with the mission connected with it, to
Kaskaskia, on the river of that name, emptying into the lower Mississippi
in St. Clair County. Cahokia was settled about the same time, or at
least, both of these settlements began in the year 1690, though it is now
pretty well settled that Cahokia is the older place, and ranks as the oldest
permanent settlement in Illinois, as well as in the Mississippi Valley.
The reason for the removal of the old Kaskaskia settlement and mission,
was probably because the dangerous and difficult route by Lake Michigan
and the Chicago portage had been almost abandoned, and travelers and
traders jDassed down and up the Mississippi by the Fox and Wisconsin
River route. They removed to the vicinity of the Mississippi in order
to be in the line of travel from Canada to Louisiana, that is, the lower
part of it, for it was all Louisiana then south of the lakes.
During the period of French rule in Louisiana, the population prob-
ably never exceeded ten thousand, including whites and blacks. Within
that portion of it now included in Indiana, trading posts were established
at the principal Miami villages which stood on the head waters of the
Maumee, the Wea villages situated at Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, and
the Piankeshaw villages at Post Vincennes ; all of which were probably
visited by French traders and missionaries before the close of the seven-
teenth century.
In the vast territory claimed by the French, many settlements of
considerable importance had sprung up. Biloxi, on Mobile Bay, had
been founded by DTberville, in 1699 ; Antoine de Lamotte Cadillac had
founded Detroit in 1701 ; and New Orleans had been founded by Bien-
ville, under the auspices of the Mississippi Company, in 1718. In Illi-
nois also, considerable settlements had been made, so that in 1730 they
embraced one hundred and forty French families, about six hundred " con-
verted Indians," and many traders and voyageurs. In that portion of the
country, on the east side of the Mississippi, there were five distinct set-
tlements, with their respective villages, viz. : Cahokia, near the mouth
of Cahokia Creek and about five miles below the present city of St.
Louis ; St. Philip, about forty-five miles below Cahokia, and four miles
above Fort Chartres ; Fort Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskaskia ;
Kaskaskia, situated on the Kaskaskia River, five miles above its conflu-
ence with the Mississippi ; and Prairie du Rocher, near Fort Chartres.
To these must be added St. Genevieve and St. Louis, on the west side
of the Mississippi. These, with the exception of St. Louis, are among
116
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 117
the oldest French towns in the Mississippi Valley. Kaskaskia, in its best
days, was a town of some two or three thousand inhabitants. After it
passed from the crown of France its population for many years did not
exceed fifteen hundred. Under British rule, in 1773, the population had
decreased to four hundred and fifty. As early as 1721, the Jesuits had
established a college and a monastery in Kaskaskia.
Fort Chartres was first built under the direction of the Mississippi
Company, in 1718, by M. de Boisbraint, a military officer, under command
of Bienville. It stood on the east bank of the Mississippi, about eighteen
miles below Kaskaskia, and was for some time the headquarters of the
military commandants of the district of Illinois.
In the Centennial Oration of Dr. Fowler, delivered at Philadelphia,
by appointment of Gov. Beveridge, we find some interesting facts with
regard to the State of Illinois, which we appropriate in this history:
In 1682 Illinois became a possession of the French crown, a depend-
ency of Canada, and a part of Louisiana. In 1765 the English flag was
run up on old Fort Chartres, and Illinois was counted among the treas-
ures of Great Britain.
In 1779 it was taken from the English by Col. George Rogers Clark.
This man was resolute in nature, wise in council, prudent in policy, bold
in action, and heroic in danger. Few men who have figured in the his-
tory of America are more deserving than this colonel. Nothing short of
first-class ability could have rescued Vincens and all Illinois from the
English. And it is not possible to over-estimate the influence of this
achievement upon the republic. In 1779 Illinois became a part of Vir-
ginia. It was soon known as Illinois County. In 1784 Virginia ceded
all this territory to the general government, to be cut into States, to be
republican in form, with " the same right of sovereignty, freedom, and
independence as the other States."
In 1787 it was the object of the wisest and ablest legislation found
in any merely human records. No man can study the secret history of
THE "COMPACT OF 1787,"
and not feel that Providence was guiding with sleepless eye these unborn
States. The ordinance that on July 13, 1787, finally became the incor-
porating act, has a most marvelous histor3^ Jefferson had vainly tried
to secure a system of government for the northwestern territory. He
was an emancipationist of that day, and favored the exclusion of slavery
from the territory Virginia had ceded to the general government; but
the South voted him down as often as it came up. In 1787, as late as
July 10, an organizing act without the anti-slavery clause was pending.
This concession to the South was expected to carry it. Congress was in
118 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
session in New York City. On July 5, Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of
Massachusetts, came into New York to lobby on the northwestern terri-
tory. Everything seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe.
The state of the public credit, the growing of Southern prejudice,
the basis of his mission, his personal character, all combined to complete
one of those sudden and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that
once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the
breath of the Almighty. Cutler was a graduate of Yale — received his
A.M. from Harvard, and his D.D. from Yale. He had studied and taken
degrees in the three learned professions, medicine, law, and divinity. He
had thus America's best indorsement. He had published a scientific
examination of the plants of New England. His name stood second only
to that of Franklin as a scientist in America. He was a courtly gentle-
man of the old style, a man of commanding presence, and of inviting
face. The Southern members said they had never seen such a gentleman
in the North. He came representing a company that desired to purchase
a tract of land now included in Ohio, for the purpose of planting a colony.
It was a speculation. Government money was worth eighteen cents on
the dollar. This Massachusetts company had collected enough to pur-
chase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other speculators in New York made
Dr. Cutler their agent (lobbyist). On the 12th he represented a demand
for 5,500,000 acres. This would reduce the national debt. Jefferson
and Virginia were regarded as authority concerning the land Virginia
had just ceded. Jefferson's policy wanted to provide for the public credit,
and this was a good opportunity to do something.
Massachusetts then owned the territorj^ of Maine, which she was
crowding on the market. She Avas opposed to opening the northwestern
region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caught the inspira-
tion, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The English minister invited him to
dine with some of the Southern gentlemen. He was the center of interest.
The entire South rallied round him. Massachusetts could not vote
against him, because many of the constituents of her members were
interested personally in the western speculation. Thus Cutler, making
friends with the South, and, doubtless, using all the arts of the lobby,
was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper convictions, he
dictated one of the most compact and finished documents of wise states-
manship that has ever adorned any human law book. He borrowed from
Jefferson the term " Articles of Compact," which, preceding the federal
constitution, rose into the most sacred character. He then followed very
closely the constitution of Massachusetts, adopted three years before.
Its most marked points were :
1. The exclusion of slavery from the territory forever.
2. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a seminary,
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 119
and every section numbered 16 in each township ; that is, one-thirty-sixth
of all the land, for public schools.
3. A provision prohibiting the adoption of any constitution or the
enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts.
Be it forever remembered that this compact declared that " Religion,
morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall always
be encouraged."'
Dr. Cutler planted himself on this platform and would not yield.
Giving his unqualified declaration that it was that or nothing^that unless
they could make the land desirable they did not want it — he took his
horse and buggy, and started for the constitutional convention in Phila-
delphia. On July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was
unanimously adopted, every Southern member voting for it, and only one
man, Mr. Yates, of New York, voting against it. But as the States voted
as States, Yates lost his vote, and the compact was put beyond repeal.
Thus the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wis-
consin — a vast empire, the heart of the great valley — were consecrated
to freedom, intelligence, and honesty. Thus the great heart of the nation
was prepared for a year and a day and an hour. In the light of these eighty-
nine years I affirm that this act was the salvation of the republic and the
destruction of slavery. Soon the South saw their great blunder, and
tried to repeal the compact. In 1803 Congress referred it to a committee
of which John Randolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance
was a compact, and opposed repeal. Thus it stood a rock, in the way
of the on-rushing sea of slavery.
With all this timely aid it was, after all, a most desperate and pro-
tracted struggle to keep the soil of Illinois sacred to freedom. It was
the natural battle-field for the irrepressible conflict. In the southern end
of the State slavery preceded the compact. It existed among the old
French settlers, and was hard to eradicate. The southern part of the
State was settled from the slave States, and this population brought their
laws, customs, and institutions with them. A stream of population from
the North poured into the northern part of the State. These sections
misunderstood and hated each other perfectly. The Southerners regarded
the Yankees as a skinning, tricky, penurious race of peddlers, filling the
country with tinware, brass clocks, and wooden nutmegs. The North-
erner thought of the Southerner as a lean, lank, lazy creature, burrowing
in a hut, and rioting in whisky, dirt and ignorance. These causes aided
in making the struggle long and bitter. So strong was the sympathy
with slavery that, in spite of the ordinance of 1787, and in spite of the
deed of cession, it was determined to allow the old French settlers to
retain their slaves. Planters from the slave States might bring their
120 HISTORY OF THE STATE OP ILLINOIS.
slaves, if they would give them a chance to choose freedom or years
of service and bondage for their children till they should become
thirty years of age. If they chose freedom they must leave the State
in sixty days or be sold as fugitives. Servants were whipped for offenses
for which white men are fined. Each lash paid forty cents of the fine. A
negro ten miles from home without a pass was whipped. These famous
laws were imported from the slave States just as they imported laws for
the inspection of flax and wool when there was neither in the State.
These Black Laws are now wiped out. A vigorous effort was made
to protect slavery in the State Constitution of 1817. It barely failed.
It was renewed in 1825, when a convention was asked to make a new
constitution. After a hard fight the convention was defeated. But
slaves did not disappear from the census of the State until 1850. There
were mobs and murders in the interest of slavery. Lovejoy was added
to the list of martyrs — a sort of first-fruits of that long life of immortal
heroes who saw freedom as the one supreme desire of their souls, and
were so enamored of her that they preferred to die rather than survive her.
The population of 12,282 that occupied the territory in A.D. 1800,
increased to 45,000 in A.D. 1818, when the State Constitution was
adopted, and Illinois took her place in the Union, with a star on the flag
and two votes in the Senate.
Shadrach Bond was the first Governor, and in his first message he
recommended the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal.
The simple economy in those days is seen in the fact that the entire
bill for stationery for the first Legislature was only $13.50. Yet this
simple body actually enacted a very superior code.
There was no money in the territory before the war of 1812. Deer
skins and coon skins were the circulating medium. In 1821, the Legis-
lature ordained a State Bank on the credit of the State. It issued notes
in the likeness of bank bills. These notes were made a legal tender for
every thing, and the bank was ordered to loan to the people $100 on per-
sonal security, and more on mortgages. They actually passed a resolu-
tion requesting the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States to
receive these notes for land. The old French Lieutenant Governor, Col.
Menard, put the resolution as follows : '' Gentlemen of the Senate : It is
moved and seconded dat de notes of dis hank be made land-office money.
All in favor of dat motion say aye ; all against it say no. It is decided
in de affirmative. Now, gentlemen, I bet you one hundred dollar he
never be land-office money ! " Hard sense, like hard money, is always
above par.
This old Frenchman presents a fine figure up against the dark back-
ground of most of his nation. They made no progress. They clung to
their earliest and simplest implements. They never wore hats or caps^
HISTORY OP THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 121
They pulled their blankets over their heads in the winter like the Indians,
with whom they freely intermingled,
Demagogism had an early development. One John Grammar (only
in name), elected to the Territorial and State Legislatures of 1816 and
1836, invented the policy of opposing every new thing, saying, " If it
succeeds, no one will ask who voted against it. If it proves a failure, he
could quote its record." In sharp contrast with Grammar was the char-
acter of D. P. Cook, after whom the county containing Chicago was
named. Such was his transparent integrity and remarkable ability that
his will was almost the law of the State. In Congress, a young man,
and from a poor State, he was made Chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee. He was pre-eminent for standing by his committee, regard-
less of consequences. It was his integrity that elected John Quincy
Adams to the Presidency. There were four candidates in 1824, Jackson,
Clay, Crawford, and John Quincy Adams. There being no choice by the
people, the election was thrown into the House. It was so balanced that
it turned on his vote, and that he cast for Adams, electing him ; then
went home to face the wrath of the Jackson party in Illinois. It cost
him all but character and greatness. It is a suggestive comment on the
times, that there was no legal interest till 1830. It often reached 150
per cent., usually 50 per cent. Then it was reduced to 12, and now to
10 per cent.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OP THE PRAIRIE STATE.
In area the State has 55,410 square miles of territory. It is about
150 miles wide and 400 miles long, stretching in latitude from Maine to
North Carolina. It embraces wide variety of climate. It is tempered
on the north by the great inland, saltless, tideless sea, which keeps the
thermometer from either extreme. Being a table land, from 600 to 1,600
feet above the level of the sea, one is prepared to find on the health
maps, prepared by the general government, an almost clean and perfect
record. In freedom from fever and malarial diseases and consumptions,
the three deadly enemies of the American Saxon, Illinois, as a State,
stands without a superior. She furnishes one of the essential conditions
of a great people — sound bodies. I suspect that this fact lies back of
that old Delaware word, Illini, superior men.
The great battles of history that have been determinative of dynas-
ties and destinies have been strategical battles, chiefly the question of
position. Thermopylae has been the war-cry of freemen for twenty-four
centuries. It only tells how much there may be in position. All this
advantage belongs to Illinois. It is in the heart of the greatest valley in
the world, the vast region between the mountains — a valley that could
122 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
feed mankind for one thousand years. It is well on toward the center of
the continent. It is in the great temperate belt, in which have been
found nearly all the aggressive civilizations of history. It has sixty-five
miles of frontage on the head of the lake. With the Mississippi forming
the western and southern boundary, with the Ohio running along the
southeastern line, with the Illinois River and Canal dividing the State
diagonally from the lake to the Lower Mississippi, and with the Rock and
Wabash Rivers furnishing altogether 2,000 miles of water-front, con-
necting with, and running through, in all about 12,000 miles of navi-
gable water.
But this is not all. These waters are made most available by the
fact that the lake and the State lie on the ridge running into the great
valley from the east. Within cannon-shot of the lake the water runs
away from the lake to the Gulf. The lake now empties at both ends,
one into the Atlantic and one into the Gulf of Mexico. The lake thus
seems to hang over the land. This makes the dockage most serviceable ;
there are no steep banks to damage it. Both lake and river are made
for use.
The climate varies from Portland to Richmond ; it favors every pro-
duct of the continent, including the tropics, with less than half a dozen
exceptions. It produces every great nutriment of the world except ban-
anas and rice. It is hardly too much to say that it is the most productive
spot known to civilization. With the soil full of bread and the earth full
of minerals ; with an upper surface of food and an under layer of fuel ;
with perfect natural drainage, and abundant springs and streams and
navigable rivers ; half way between the forests of the North and the fruits
of the South ; within a day's ride of the great deposits of iron, coal, cop-
per, lead, and zinc ; containing and controlling the great grain, cattle,
pork, and lumber markets of the world, it is not strange that Illinois has
the advantage of position.
This advantage has been supplemented by the character of the popu-
lation. In the early days when Illinois was first admitted to the Union,
her population were' chiefly from Kentucky and Virginia. But, in the
conflict of ideas concerning slavery, a strong tide of emigration came in
from the East, and soon changed this composition. In 1870 her non-
native population were from colder soils. New York furnished 133,290 ;
Ohio gave 162,623; Pennsylvania sent on 98,352; the entire South gave
us only 206,734. In all her cities, and in all her German and Scandina-
vian and other foreign colonies, Illinois has only about one-fifth of her
people of foreign birth.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 123
PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT.
One of the greatest elements in the early development of Illinois is
the Illinois and Michigan Canal, connecting the Illinois and Mississippi
Rivers with the lakes. It was of the utmost importance to the State.
It Avas recommended by Gov. Bond, the first governor, in his first message.
In 1821, the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for surveying the route.
Two bright young engineers surveyed it, and estimated the cost at
1600,000 or $700,000. It finally cost $8,000,000. In 1825, a law was
passed to incorporate the Canal Company, but no stock was sold. In
1826, upon the solicitation of Cook, Congress gave 800,000 acres of land
on the line of the work. In 1828, another law — commissioners appointed,
and work commenced with new survey and new estimates. In 1834—35,
George Farquhar made an able report on the whole matter. This was,
doubtless, the ablest report ever made to a western legislature, and it
became the model for subsequent reports and action. From this the
work went on till it was finished in 1848. It cost the State a large
amount of money ; but it gave to the industries of the State an impetus
that pushed it up into the first rank of greatness. It was not built as a
speculation any more than a doctor is employed on a speculation. But
it has paid into the Treasury of the State an average annual net sum of
over $111,000.
Pending the construction of the canal, the land and town-lot fever
broke out in the State, in 1834-35. It took on the malignant type in
Chicago, lifting the town up into a city. The disease spread over the
entire State and adjoining States. It was epidemic. It cut up men's
farms without regard to locality, and cut up the purses of the purchasers
without regard to consequences. It is estimated that building lots enough
were sold in Indiana alone to accommodate every citizen then in the
United States.
Towns and cities were exported to the Eastern market by the ship-
load. There was no lack of buyers. Every up-ship came freighted with
speculators and their money.
This distemper seized upon the Legislature in 1836-37, and left not
one to tell the tale. They enacted a system of internal improvement
without a parallel in the grandeur of its conception. They ordered the
construction of 1,300 miles of railroad, crossing the State in all direc-
tions. This was surpassed by the river and canal improvements.
There were a few counties not touched by either railroad or river or
canal, and those were to be comforted and compensated by the free dis-
tribution of $200,000 among them. To inflate this balloon beyond cre-
dence it was ordered that work should be commenced on both ends of
124 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
each of these railroads and rivers, and at each river-crossing, all at the
same time. The appropriations for these vast improvements were over
112,000,000, and commissioners were appointed to borrow the money on
the credit of the State. Remember that all this was in the early days of
railroading, when railroads were luxuries ; that the State had whole
counties with scarcely a cabin ; and that the population of the State was
less than 400,000, and you can form some idea of the vigor with which
these brave men undertook the work of making a great State. In the
light of history I am compelled to say that this was only a premature
throb of the power that actually slumbered in the soil of the State. It
was Hercules in the cradle.
At this juncture the State Bank loaned its funds largely to Godfrey
Oilman & Co., and to other leading houses, for the purpose of drawing
trade from St. Louis to Alton. Soon they failed, and took down the
bank with them.
In 1840, all hope seemed gone. A population of 480,000 were loaded
with a debt of $14,000,000. It had only six small cities, really only
towns, namely : Chicago, Alton, Springfield, Quincy, Galena, Nauvoo.
This debt was to be cared for when there was not a dollar in the treas-
ury, and when the State had borrowed itself out of all credit, and when
there was not good money enough in the hands of all the people to pay
the interest of the debt for a single year. Yet, in the presence of all
these difficulties, the young State steadily refused to repudiate. Gov.
Ford took hold of the problem and solved it, bringing the State through
in triumph.
Having touched lightly upon some of the more distinctive points in
the history of the development of Illinois, let us next briefly consider the
MATERIAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE.
It is a garden four hundred miles long and one hundred and fifty
miles wide. Its soil is chiefly a black sandy loam, from six inches to
sixty feet thick. On the American bottoms it has been cultivated for
one hundred and fifty years without renewal. About the old French
towns it has yielded corn for a century and a half without rest or help.
It produces nearly everything green in the temperate and tropical zones.
She leads all other States in the number of acres actually under plow.
Her products from 25,000,000 of acres are incalculable. Her mineral
wealth is scarcely second to her agricultural power. She has coal, iron,
lead, copper, zinc, many varieties of building stone, fire clay, cuma clay,
common brick clay, sand of all kinds, gravel, mineral paint — every thing
needed for a high civilization. Left to herself, she has the elements of
all greatness. The single item of coal is too vast for an appreciative
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 125
handling in figures. We can handle it in general terms like algebraical
si^ns, but long before we get up into the millions and billions the human
mind drops down from comprehension to mere symbolic apprehension.
When I tell you that nearly four-fifths of the entire State is under-
laid with a deposit of coal more than forty feet thick on the average (now
estimated, by recent surveys, at seventy feet thick), you can get some
idea of its amount, as you do of the amount of the national debt. There
it is ! 41,000 square miles — one vast mine into which you could put
any of the States ; in which you could bury scores of European and
ancient empires, and have room enough all round to work without know-
ing that they had been sepulchered there.
Put this vast coal-bed down by the other great coal deposits of the
world, and its importance becomes manifest. Great Britain has 12,000
square miles of coal ; Spain, 3,000; France, 1,719 ; Belgium, 578 ; Illinois
about twice as many square miles as all combined. Virginia has 20,000
square miles ; Pennsylvania, 16,000 ; Ohio, 12,000. Illinois has 41,000
square miles. One-seventh of all the known coal on this continent is in
Blinois.
Could we sell the coal in this single State for one-seventh of one cent
a ton it would pay the national debt. Converted into power, even with
the wastage in our common engines, it would do more work than could
be done by the entire race, beginning at Adam's wedding and working
ten hours a day through all the centuries till the present time, and right
on into the future at the same rate for the next 600,000 years.
Great Britain uses enough mechanical power to-day to give to each
man, woman, and child in the kingdom the help and service of nineteen
untiring, servants. No wonder she has leisure and luxuries. No wonder
the home of the common artisan has in it more luxuries than could be
found in the palace of good old King Arthur. Think, if you can conceive
of it, of the vast army of servants that slumber in the soil of Illinois,
impatiently awaiting the call of Genius to come forth to minister to our
comfort.
At the present rate of consumption England's coal supply will be
exhausted in 250 years. When this is gone she must transfer her dominion
either to the Indies, or to British America, which I would not resist ; or
to some other people, which I would regret as a loss to civilization.
COAL IS KING.
At the same rate of consumption (which far exceeds our own) the
deposit of coal in Illinois will last 120,000 years. And her kingdom shall
be an everlasting kingdom.
Let us turn uow from this reserve power to the annual product.; of
126 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF LLLDSTOIS.
the State. We shall not be humiliated in this field. Here we strike the
secret of our national credit. Nature provides a market in the constant
appetite of the race. Men must eat, and if we can furnish the provisions
we can command the treasure. All that a man hath will he give for his
Hfe.
According to the last census Illinois produced 30,000,000 of bushels
of wheat. That is more wheat than was raised by any other State in the
Union. She raised In 1875, 130,000,000 of bushels of corn — twice as
much as any other State, and one-sixth of all the corn raised in the United
States. She harvested 2,747,000 tons of hay, nearly one-tenth of all the
hay in the Republic. It is not generally appreciated, but it is true, that
the hay crop of the country is worth more than the cotton crop. The
hay of Illinois equals the cotton of Louisiana. Go to Charleston, S. C,
and see them peddling handfuls of hay or grass, almost as a curiosity,
as we regard Chinese gods or the cryolite of Greenland ; drink your
coffee and condensed milk; and walk back from the coast for many a
league through the sand and burs till you get up into the better atmos-
phere of the mountains, without seeing a waving meadow or a grazing
herd ; then you will begin to appreciate the meadows of the Prairie State,
where the grass often grows sixteen feet high.
The value of her farm implements is $211,000,000, and the value of
her live stock is only second to the great State of New York. in 1875
she had 25,000,000 hogs, and packed 2,113,845, about one-half of all that
were packed in the United States. This is no insignificant item. Pork
is a growing demand of the old world. Since the laborers of Europe
have gotten a taste of our bacon, and we have learned how to pack it dry
in boxes, like dry goods, the world has become the market.
The hog is on the march into the future. His nose is ordained to
uncover the secrets of dominion, and his feet shall be guided by the star
of empire.
Illinois marketed $57,000,000 worth of slaughtered animals — more
than any other State, and a seventh of all the States.
Be patient with me, and pardon my pride, and I will give you a list
of some of the things in which Illinois excels all other States.
Depth and richness of soil ; per cent, of good ground ; acres of
improved land ; large farms — some farms contain from 40,000 to 60,000
acres of cultivated land, 40,000 acres of corn on a single farm ; number of
farmers ; amount of wheat, corn, oats and honey produced ; value of ani-
mals for slaughter; number of hogs ; amount of pork ; nunjber of horses
— three times as many as Kentucky, the horse State.
Illinois excels all other States in miles of railroads and in miles of
postal service, and in money orders sold per annum, and in the amount of
lumber sold in her markets.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 127
Illinois is only second in many important matters. This sample list
comprises a few of the more important : Permanent school fund (good
for a young state) ; total income for educational purposes ; number of pub-
lishers of books, maps, papers, etc.; value of farm products and imple-
ments, and of live stock ; in tons of coal mined.
The shipping of Illinois is only second to New York. Out of one
port during the business hours of the season of navigation she sends forth
a vessel every ten minutes. This does not include canal boats, which go
one every five minutes. No wonder she is only second in number of
bankers and brokers or in physicians and surgeons.
She is third in colleges, teachers and schools ; cattle, lead, hay,
flax, sorghum and beeswax.
She is fourth in population, in children enrolled in public schools, in
law schools, in butter, potatoes and carriages.
She is fifth in value of real and personal property, in theological
seminaries and colleges exclusively for women, in milk sold, and in boots
and shoes manufactured, and in book-binding.
She is only seventh in the production of wood, while she is the
twelfth in area. Surely that is well done for the Prairie State. She now
has much more wood and growing timber than she had thirty years ago.
A few leading industries will justify emphasis. She manufactures
$205,000,000 worth of goods, which places her well up toward New York
and Pennsylvania. The number of her manufacturing establishments
increased from 1860 to 1870, 300 per cent.; capital employed increased 350
per cent., and the amount of product increased 400 per cent. She issued
6,500,000 copies of commercial and financial newspapers — only second to
New York. She has 6,759 miles of railroad, thus leading all other States,
worth $686,458,000, using 3,245 engines, and 67,712 cars, making a train
long enough to cover one-tenth of the entire roads of the State. Her
stations are only five miles apart. She carried last year 15,795,000 passen-
gers, an average of SQw miles, or equal to taking her entire population twice
across the State. More than two-thirds of her land is within five miles of
a railroad, and less than two per cent, is more than fifteen miles away.
The State has a large financial interest in the Illinois Central railroad.
The road was incorporated in 1850, and the State gave each alternate sec-
tion for six miles on each side, and doubled the price of the remaining
land, so keeping herself good. The road received 2,595,000 acres of land,
and pays to the State one-seventh of the gross receipts. The State
receives this year $350,000, and has received in all about $7,000,000. It
is practically the people's road, and it has a most able and gentlemanly
management. Add to this the annual receipts from the canal, $111,000,
and a large per cent, of the State tax is provided for.
128 HISTORY OF THE STATE OP ILLINOIS.
THE RELIGION AND MORALS
of the State keep step with her productions and growth. She was born
of the missionary spirit. It was a minister who secured for her the ordi-
nance of 1787, by which she has been saved from slavery, ignorance, and
dishonesty. Rev. Mr. Wiley, pastor of a Scotch congregation in Randolph
County, petitioned the Constitutional Convention of 1818 to recognize
Jesus Christ as king, and the Scriptures as the only necessary guide and
book of law. The convention did not act in the case, and the old Cove-
nanters refused to accept citizenship. They never voted until 1824, when
the slavery question was submitted to the people ; then they all voted
against it and cast the determining votes. Conscience has predominated
whenever a great moral question has been submitted to the people.
But little mob violence has ever been felt in the State. In 1817
regulators disposed of a band of horse-thieves that infested the territory.
The Mormon indignities finally awoke the same spirit. Alton was also
the scene of a pro-slavery mob, in which Lovejoy was added to the list of
martyrs. The moral sense of the people makes the law supreme, and gives
to the State unruffled peace.
With $22,300,000 in church property, and 4,298 church organizations,
the State has that divine police, the sleepless patrol of moral ideas, that
alone is able to secure perfect safety. Conscience takes the knife from
the assassin's hand and the bludgeon from the grasp of the highwayman.
We sleep in safety, not because we are behind bolts and bars — these only
fence against the innocent ; not because a lone officer drowses on a distant
corner of a street ; not because a sheriff may call his posse from a remote
part of the county ; but because conscience guards the very portals of the
air and stirs in the deepest recesses of the public mind. This spirit issues
within the State 9,500,000 copies of religious papers annually, and receives
still more from without. Thus the crime of the State is only one-fourth
that of New York and one-half that of Pennsylvania.
Illinois never had but one duel between her own citizens. In Belle-
ville, in 1820, Alphonso Stewart and William Bennett arranged to vindi-
cate injured honor. The seconds agreed to make it a sham, and make
them shoot blanks. Stewart was in the secret. Bennett mistrusted some-
thing, and, unobserved, slipped a bullet into his gun and killed Stewart.
He then fled the State. After two years he was caught, tried, convicted,
and, in spite of friends and political aid, was hung. This fixed the code
of honor on a Christian basis, and terminated its use in Illinois.
The early preachers were ignorant men, who were accounted eloquent
according to the strength of their voices. But they set the style for all
public speakers. Lawyers and political speakers followed this rule. Gov.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OP ILLINOIS. 129
Ford says: "Nevertheless, these first preachers were of incalculable
benefit to the country. They inculcated justice and morality. To them
are we indebted for the first Christian character of the Protestant portion
of the people."
In education Illinois surpasses her material resources. The ordinance
of 1787 consecrated one thirty-sixth of her soil to common schools, and
the law of 1818, the first law that went upon her statutes, gave three per
cent, of all the rest to
EDUCATION.
The old compact secures this interest forever, and by its yoking
morality and intelligence it precludes the legal interference with the Bible
in the public schools. With such a start it is natural that we should have
11,050 schools, and that our illiteracy should be less than New York or
Pennsylvania, and only about one-half of Massachusetts. We are not to
blame for not having more than one-half as many idiots as the great
States. These public schools soon made colleges inevitable. The first
college, still flourishing, was started in Lebanon in 1828, by the M. E.
church, and named after Bishop McKendree. Illinois College, at Jackson-
ville, supported by the Presbyterians, followed in 1830. In 1832 the Bap-
tists built Shurtleff College, at Alton. Then the Presbyterians built Knox
College, at Galesburg, in 1838, and the Episcopalians built Jubilee College,
at Peoria, in 1847. After these early years colleges have rained down.
A settler could hardly encamp on the prairie but a college would spring
up by his wagon. The State now has one very well endowed and equipped
university, namely, the Northwestern University, at Evanston, with six
colleges, ninety instructors, over 1,000 students, and $1,500,000 endow-
ment.
Rev. J. M. Peck was the first educated Protestant minister m tne
State. He settled at Rock Spring, in St. Clair County, 1820, and left his
impress on the State. Before 1837 only party papers were published, but
Mr. Peck published a Gazetteer of Illinois. Soon after John Russell, of
Bluffdale, published essays and tales showing genius. Judge James Hall
published The Illinois Monthly Magazine with great ability, and an annual
called The Western Souvenir^ which gave him an enviable fame all over the
United States. From these beginnings Illinois has gone on till she has
more volumes in public libaaries even than Massachusetts, and of the
44,500,000 volumes in all the public libraries of the United States, she
has one-thirteenth. In newspapers she stands fourth. Her increase is
marvelous. In 1850 she issued 5,000,000 copies; in 1860, 27,590,000 ; in
1870, 113,140,000. In 1860 she had eighteen colleges and seminaries ; in
1870 she had eighty. That is a grand advance for the war decade.
This brings us to a record unsurpassed in the history of any age.
IBO HISTORY OF THE STATE OP ILLINOIS.
THE WAR RECORD OF ILLINOIS.
I hardly know where to begin, or how to advance, or what to say. I
can at best give you only a broken sj^nopsis of her deeds, and you must
put them in the order of glory for yourself. Her sons have always been
foremost on fields of danger. In 1832-33, at the call of Gov. Reynolds,
her sons drove Blackhawk over the Mississippi.
When the Mexican war came, in May, 1846, 8,370 men offered them-
selves when only 3,720 could be accepted. The fields of Buena Vista and
Vera Cruz, and the storming of Cerro Gordo, will carry the glory of Illinois
soldiers along after the infamy of the cause they served has been forgotten.
But it was reserved till our day for her sons to find a field and cause and
foemen that could fitly illustrate their spirit and heroism. Illinois put
into her own regiments for the United States government 256,000 men,
and into the army through other States enough to swell the number to
290,000. This far exceeds all the soldiers of' the federal government in
all the war of the revolution. Her total years of service were over 600,000.
She enrolled men from eighteen to forty-five years of age when the law
of Congress in 1864 — the test time — only asked for those from twenty to
forty -five. Her enrollment was otherwise excessive. Her people wanted
to go, and did not take the pains to correct the enrollment. Thus the
basis of fixing the quota was too great, and then the quota itself, at least
in the trying time, was far above any other State.
Thus the demand on some counties, as Monroe, for example, took every
able-bodied man in the county, and then did not have enough to fill the
quota. Moreover, Illinois sent 20,844 men for ninety or one hundred days,
for whom no credit was asked. When Mr. Lincoln's attention was called
to the inequality of the quota compared with other States, he replied,
" The country needs the sacrifice. We must put the whip on the free
horse."' In spite of all these disadvantages Illinois gave to the country
73,000 years of service above all calls. With one-thirteenth of the popu-
lation of the loyal States, she sent regularly one-tenth of all the soldiers,
and in the peril of the closing calls, when patriots were few and weary,
she then sent one-eighth of all that were called for by her loved and hon-
ored son in the white house. Her mothers and daughters went into the
fields to raise the grain and keep the children together, while the fathers
and older sons went to the harvest fields of the world. I knew a father
and four sons who agreed that one of them must stay at home ; and they
pulled straws from a stack to see who might go. The father was left..
The next day he came into the camp, saying : " Mother says she can get
the crops in, and I am going, too." I know large Methodist churches
from whicli every male member went to the army. Do you want to know
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 131
what these heroes from Illinois did in the field ? Ask any soldier with a
good record of his own, who is thus able to judge, and he will tell you
that the Illinois men went in to win. It is common history that the greater
victories were won in the West. When everything else looked dark Illi-
nois was gaining victories all down the river, and dividing the confederacy.
Sherman took with him on his great march forty-five regiments of Illinois
infantry, three companies of artillery, and one company of cavalry. He
could not avoid
GOING TO THE SEA.
If he had been killed, I doubt not the men would have gone right on.
Lincoln answered all rumors of Sherman's defeat with, " It is impossible ;
there is a mighty sight of fight in 100,000 Western men." Illinois soldiers
brought home 300 battle-flags. The first United States flag that floated
over Richmond was an Illinois fl'ag. She sent messengers and nurses to
every field and hospital, to care for her sick and wounded sons. She said,
" These suffering ones are my sons, and I will care for them."
When individuals had given all, then cities and towns came forward
with their credit to the extent of many millions, to aid these men and
their families.
Illinois gave the country the great general of the war — Ulysses S.
Grant — since honored with two terms of the Presidency of the United
States.
One other name from Illinois comes up in all minds, embalmed in all
hearts, that must have the supreme place in this story of our glory and
of our nation's honor ; that name is Abraham Lincoln, of 'Illinois.
The analysis of Mr. Lincoln's character is difficult on account of its
symmetry.
In this age we look with admiration at his uncompromising honesty.
And well we may, for this saved us. Thousands throughout the length
and breadth of our country who knew him only as " Honest Old Abe,"
voted for him on that account ; and wisely did they choose, for no other
man could have carried us through the fearful night of the war. When
his plans were too vast for our comprehension, and his faith in the cause
too sublime for our participation ; when it was all night about us, and all
dread before us, and all sad and desolate behind us ; when not one ray
shone upon our cause ; when traitors were haughty and exultant at the
South, and fierce and blasphemous at the North ; when the loyal men here
seemed almost in the minority ; when the stoutest heart quailed, the bravest
cheek paled ; when generals were defeating each other for place, and
contractors were leeching out the very heart's blood of the prostrate
republic : when every thing else had failed us, we looked at this calm,
patient man standing like a rock in the storm, and said : " Mr. Lincoln
132 HISTOEY OP THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
is honest, and we can trust him still." Holding to this single point with
the energy of faith and despair we held together, and, under God, he
brought us through to victory.
His practical wisdom made him the wonder of all lands. With such
certainty did Mr. Lincoln follow causes to their ultimate effects, that his
foresight of contingencies seemed almost prophetic.
He is radiant with all the great virtues, and his memory shall shed a
glory upon this age that shall fill the eyes of men as they look into his-
tory. Other men have excelled him in some point, but, taken at all
points, all in all, he stands head and shoulders above every other man of
6,000 years. An administrator, he saved the nation in the perils of
unparalleled civil war. A statesman, he justified his measures by their
success. A philanthropist, he gave liberty to one race and salvation to
another. A moralist, he bowed from the summit of human power to the
foot of the Cross, and became a Christian. A mediator, he exercised mercy
under the most absolute abeyance to law. A leader, he was no partisan.
A commander, he was untainted with blood. A ruler in desperate times,
he was unsullied with crime. A man, he has left no word of passion, no
thought of malice, no trick of craft, no act of jealousy, no purpose of
selfish ambition. Thus perfected, without a model, and without a peer,
he was dropped into these troubled years to adorn and embellish all that
is good and all that is great in our humanity, and to present to all coming
time the representative of the divine idea of free government.
It is not too much to say that away down in the future, when the
republic has fallen from its niche in the wall of time ; when the great
war itself shall have faded out in the distance like a mist on the horizon ;
when the Anglo-Saxon language shall be spoken only by the tongue of
the stranger ; then the generations looking this way shall see the great
president as the supreme figure in this vortex of historv
CHICAGO.
It is impossible in our brief space to give more than a meager sketch
of such a city as Chicago, which is in itself the greatest marvel of the
Prairie State. This mysterious, majestic, mighty city, born first of water,
and next of fire ; sown in weakness, and raised in power ; planted among
the willows of the marsh, and crowned with the glory of the mountains ;
sleeping on the bosom of the prairie, and rocked on the bosom of the sea ;
the youngest city of the world, and still the eye of the prairie, as Damas-
cus, the oldest city of the world, is the eye of the desert. With a com-
merce far exceeding that of Corinth on her isthmus, in the highway to
the East ; with the defenses of a continent piled around her by the thou-
sand miles, making her far safer than Rome on the banks of the Tiber ;
I!}
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
133
CO
CO
00
134 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. •?
-with schools eclipsing Alexandria and Athens ; with liberties more con-
spicuous than those of the old republics ; with a heroism equal to the first
Carthage, and with a sanctity scarcely second to that of Jerusalem — set
your thoughts on all this, lifted into the eyes of all men by the miracle of
its growth, illuminated by the flame of its fall, and transfigured by the
divinity of its resurrection, and you will feel, as I do, the utter impossi-
bility of compassing this subject as it deserves. Some impression of her
importance is received from the shock her burning gave to the civilized
world.
When the doubt of her calamity was removed, and the horrid fact
was accepted, there went a shudder over all cities, and a quiver over all
lands. There was scarcely a town in the civilized world that did not
shake on the brink of this opening chasm. The flames of our homes red-
dened all skies. The city was set upon a hill, and could not be hid. All
eyes were turned upon it. To have struggled and suffered amid the
scenes of its fall is as distinguishing as to have fought at Thermopylae, or
Salamis, or Hastings, or Waterloo, or Bunker Hill.
Its calamity amazed the world, because it was felt to be the common
property of mankind.
The early history of the city is full of interest, just as the early his-
tory of such a man as Washington or Lincoln becomes public property,
and is cherished by every patriot.
Starting with 560 acres in 1833, it embraced and occupied 23,000
acres in 1869, and, having now a population of more than 500,000, it com-
mands general attention.
The first settler — Jean Baptiste Pointe au Sable, a mulatto from the
West Indies — came and began trade with the Indians in 1796. John
Kinzie became his successor in 1804, in which year Fort Dearborn was
erected.
A mere trading-post was kept here from that time till about the time
of the Blackhawk war, in 1832. It was not the city. It was merely a
cock crowing at midnight. The morning was not yet. In 1833 the set-
tlement about the fort was incorporated as a town. The voters were
divided on the propriety of such corporation, twelve voting for it and one
against it. Four years later it was incorporated as a city, and embraced
660 acres.
The produce handled in this city is an indication of its power. Grain
and flour were imported from the East till as late as 1837. The first
exportation by way of experiment was in 1839. Exports exceeded imports
first in 1842. The Board of Trade was organized in 1848, but it was so
weak that it needed nursing till 1855. Grain was purchased by the
wagon-load in the street.
I remember sitting with my father on a load of wheat, in the long
HISTORY OF THE STATE OP ILLINOIS. 135
line of wagons along Lake street, while the buyers came and untied the
bags, and examined the grain, and made their bids. That manner of
business had to cease with the day of small things. Now our elevators
will hold 15,000,000 bushels of grain. The cash value of the produce
handled in a year is $215,000,000, and the produce weighs 7,000,000
tons or 700,000 car loads. This handles thirteen and a half ton each
minute, all the year round. One tenth of all the wheat in the United
States is handled in Chicago. Even as long ago as 1853 the receipts of
grain in Chicago exceeded those of the goodly city of St. Louis, and in
1854 the exports of grain from Chicago exceeded those of New York and
doubled those of St. Petersburg, Archangel, or Odessa, the largest grain
markets in Europe.
The manufacturing interests of the city are not contemptible. In
1873 manufactories employed 45,000 operatives ; in 1876, 60,000. The
manufactured product in 1875 was worth $177,000,000.
No estimate of the size and power of Chicago would be adequate
that did not put large emphasis on the railroads. Before they came
thundering along our streets canals were the hope of onr country. But
who ever thinks now of traveling by canal packets ? In June, 1852,
there were only forty miles of railroad connected with the city. The
old Galena division of the Northwestern ran out to Elgin. But now,
who can count the trains and measure the roads that seek a terminus or
connection in this city ? The lake stretches away to the north, gathering
in to this center all the harvests that might otherwise pass to the north
of us. If you will take a map and look at the adjustment of railroads,
you will see, first, that Chicago is the great railroad center of the world,
as New York is the commercial city of this continent ; and, second, that
the railroad lines form the iron spokes of a great wheel whose hub is
this city. The lake furnishes the only break in the spokes, and this
seems simply to have pushed a few spokes together on each shore. See
the eighteen trunk lines, exclusive of eastern connections.
Pass round the circle, and view their numbers and extent. There
is the great Northwestern, with all its branches, one branch creeping
along the lake shore, and so reaching to the north, into the Lake Superior
regions, away to the right, and on to the Northern Pacific on the left,
swinging around Green Bay for iron and copper and silver, twelve months
in the year, and reaching out for the wealth of the great agricultural
belt and isothermal line traversed by the Northern Pacific. Another
branch, not so far north, feeling for the heart of the Badger State.
Another pushing lower down the Mississippi — all these make many con-
nections, and tapping all the vast wheat regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Iowa, and all the regions this side of sunset. There is that elegant road,
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, running out a goodly number of
136
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
.m
\f
OLD FOBT DEARBORN, 1830.
'I
PRESENT SITE OK I.AKE STKEET JJKlDtiE, CHICAGO, IN 1833.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 137
branches, and reaping the great fields this side of the Missouri River.
1 can only mention the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis, our Illinois Central,
described elsewhere, and the Chicago & Rock Island. Further around
we come to the lines connecting us with all the eastern cities. The
Chicago, Indianapolis & St. Louis, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne &
Chicago, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and the Michigan Cen-
tral and Great Western, give us many highways to the seaboard. Thus we
reach the Mississippi at five points, fi'om St. Paul to Cairo and the Gulf
itself by two routes. We also reach Cincinnati and Baltimore, and Pitts-
burgh and Philadelphia, and New York. North and south run the water
courses of the lakes and the rivers, broken just enough at this point to
make a pass. Through this, from east to west, run the long lines that
stretch from ocean to ocean.
This is the neck of the glass, and the golden sands of commerce
must pass into our hands. Altogether we have more than 10,000 miles
of railroad, directly tributary to this city, seeking to unload their wealth
in our coffers. All these roads have come themselves by the infallible
instinct of capital. Not a dollar was ever given by the city to secure
one of them, and only a small per cent, of stock taken originally by her
citizens, and that taken simply as an investment. Coming in the natural
order of events, they will not be easily diverted.
There is still another showing to all this. The connection between
New York and San Francisco is by the middle route. This passes inevit-
ably through Chicago. St. Louis wants the Southern Pacific or Kansas
Pacific, and pushes it out through Denver, and so on up to Cheyenne.
But before the road is fairly under way, the Chicago roads shove out to
Kansas City, making even the Kansas Pacific a feeder, and actually leav-
ing St. Louis out in the cold. It is not too much to expect that Dakota,
Montana, and Washington Territory will find their great market in Chi-
cago.
But these are not all. Perhaps I had better notice here the ten or
fifteen new roads that have just entered, or are just entering, our city.
Their names are all that is necessary to give. Chicago & St. Paul, look-
ing up the Red River country to the British possessions ; the Chicago,
Atlantic & Pacific ; the Chicago, Decatur & State Line ; the Baltimore &
Ohio; the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes; the Chicago & LaSalle Rail-
road ; the Chicago, Pittsburgh & Cincinnati ; the Chicago and Canada
Southern ; the Chicago and Illinois River Railroad. These, with their
connections, and with the new connections of the old roads, already in
process of erection, give to Chicago not less than 10,000 miles of new
tributaries from the richest land on the continent. Thus there will be
added to the reserve power, to the capital within reach of this city, not
less than $1,000,000,000.
138 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
Add to all this transporting power the ships that sail one every nine
minutes of the business hours of the season of navigation ; add, also, the
canal boats that leave one every five minutes during the same time — and
you will see something of the business of the city.
THE COMMERCE OF THIS CITY
has been leaping along to keep pace with the growth of the country
around us. In 1852, our commerce reached the hopeful sum of
$20,000,000. In 1870 it reached 1400,000,000. In 1871 it was pushed
up above $450,000,000. And in 1875 it touched nearly double that.
One-half of our imported goods come directly to Chicago. Grain
enough is exported directly from our docks to the old world to employ a
semi-weekly line of steamers of 3,000 tons capacity. This branch is
not likely to be greatly developed. Even after the great Welland Canal
is completed we shall have only fourteen feet of water. The great ocean
vessels will continue to control the trade.
The banking capital of Chicago is $24,431,000. Total exchange in
1875, $659,000,000. Her wholesale business in 1875 was $294,000,000.
The rate of taxes is less than in any other great city.
The schools of Chicago are unsurpassed in America. Out of a popu-
lation of 300,000 there were only 186 persons between the ages of six
and twenty-one unable to read. This is the best known record.
In 1831 the mail system was condensed into a half-breed, who went
on foot to Niles, Mich., once in two weeks, and brought back what papers
and news he could find. As late as 1846 there was often only one mail
a week. A post-office was established in Chicago in 1833, and the post-
master nailed up old boot-legs on one side of his- shop to serve as boxes
for the nabobs and literary men.
It is an interesting fact in the growth of the young city that in the
active life of the business men of that day the mail matter has grown to
a daily average of over 6,500 pounds. It speaks equally well for the I
intelligence of the people and the commercial importance of the place, \
that the mail matter distributed to the territory immediately tributary to j
Chicago is seven times greater than that distributed to the territory I
immediately tributary to St. Louis. ||I
The improvements that have characterized the city are as startling ''
as the city itself. In 1831, Mark Beaubien established a ferry over the \
river, and put himself under bonds to carry all the citizens free for the
privilege of charging strangers. Now there are twenty-four large bridges
and two tunnels.
In 1833 the government expended $30,000 on the harbor. Then
commenced that series of manoeuvers with the river that has made it one
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 139
of the world's curiosities. It used to wind around in the lower end of
the town, and make its way rippling over the sand into the lake at the
foot of Madison street. They took it up and put it down where it now
is. It was a narrow stream, so narrow that even moderately small crafts
had to go up through the willows and cat's tails to the point near Lake
street bridge, and back up one of the branches to get room enough in
which to turn around.
In 1844 the quagmires in the streets were first pontooned by plank
roads, which acted in wet weather as public squirt-guns. Keeping you
out of the mud, they compromised by squirting the mud over you. The
wooden-block pavements came to Chicago in 1857. In 1840 water was
delivered by peddlers in carts or by hand. Then a twenty-five horse-
power engine pushed it through hollow or bored logs along the streets
till 1854, when it was introduced into the houses by new works. The
first fire-engine was used in 1835, and the first steam fire-engine in 1859.
Gas was utilized for lighting the city in 1850. The Young Men's Chris-
tian Association was organized in 1858, and horse railroads carried them
to their work in 1859. The museum was opened in 1863. The alarm
telegraph adopted in 1864. The opera-house built in 1865. The city
grew from 560 acres in 1833 to 23,000 in 1869. In 1834, the taxes
amounted to $48.90, and the trustees of the town borrowed $60 more for
opening and improving streets. In 1835, the legislature authorized a loan
of $2,000, and the treasurer and street commissioners resigned rather than
plunge the town into such a gulf.
Now the city embraces 36 square miles of territory, and has 30 miles
of water front, besides the outside harbor of refuge, of 400 acres, inclosed
by a crib sea-wall. One-third of the city has been raised up an average
of eight feet, giving good pitch to the 263 miles of sewerage. The water
of the city is above all competition. It is received througli two tunnels
extending to a crib in the lake two miles from shore. The closest analy-
sis fails to detect any impurities, and, received 35 feet below the surface,
it is always clear and cold. The first tunnel is five feet two inches in
diameter and two miles long, and can deliver 50,000,000 of gallons per
day. The second tunnel is seven feet in diameter and six miles long,
running four miles under the city, and can deliver 100,000,000 of gal-
lons per day. This water is distributed through 410 miles of water-
mains.
The three grand engineering exploits of the city are : First, lifting
the city up on jack-screws, whole squares at a time, without interrupting
the business, thus giving us good drainage ; second, running the tunnels
under the lake, giving us the best water in the world ; and third, the
turning the current of the river in its own channel, delivering us from the
old abominations, and making decency possible. They redound about
140 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
equally to the credit of the engineering, to the energy of the people, and
to the health of the city.
That which really constitutes the city, its indescribable spirit, its soul,
the way it lights up in every feature in the hour of action, has not been
touched. In meeting strangers, one is often surprised how some homely
women marry so well. Their forms are bad, their gait uneven and awk-
ward, their complexion is dull, their features are misshapen and mismatch-
ed, and when we see them there is no beauty that we should desire them.
But when once they are aroused on some subject, they put on new pro-
portions. They light up into great power. The real person comes out
from its unseemly ambush, and captures us at will. They have power.
They have ability to cause things to come to pass. We no longer wonder
why they are in such high demand. So it is with our city.
There is no grand scenery except the two seas, one of water, the
other of prairie. Nevertheless, there is a spirit about it, a push, a breadth,
a power, that soon makes it a place never to be forsaken. One soon
ceases to believe in impossibilities. Balaams are the only prophets that are
disappointed. The bottom that has been on the point of falling out has
been there so long that it has grown fast. It can not fall out. It has all
the capital of the world itching to get inside the corporation.
The two great laws that govern the growth and size of cities are,
first, the amount of territory for which they are the distributing and
receiving points ; second, the number of medium or moderate dealers that
do this distributing. Monopolists build up themselves, not the cities.
They neither eat, wear, nor live in proportion to their business. Both
these laws help Chicago.
The tide of trade is eastward — not up or down the map, but across
the map. The lake runs up a wingdam for 500 miles to gather in the
business. Commerce can not ferry up there for seven months in the year,
and the facilities for seven months can do the work for twelve. Then the
great region west of us is nearly all good, productive land. Dropping
south into the trail of St. Louis, you fall into vast deserts and rocky dis-
tricts, useful in holding the world together. St. Louis and Cincinnati,
instead of rivaling and hurting Chicago, are her greatest sureties of
dominion. They are far enough away to give sea-room, — farther off than
Paris is from London, — and yet they are near enough to prevent the
springing up of any other great city between them.
St. Louis will be helped by the opening of the Mississippi, but also
hurt. That will put New Orleans on her feet, and with a railroad running
over into Texas and so West, she will tap the streams that now crawl up
the Texas and Missouri road. The current is East, not North, and a sea-
port at New Orleans can not permanently help St. Louis.
Chicago is in the field almost alone, to handle the wealth of one-
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 141
fourth of the territory of this great republic. This strip of seacoast
divides its margins between Portland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore and Savannah, or some other great port to be created for the
South in the next decade. But Chicago has a dozen empires casting their
treasures into her lap. On a bed of coal that can run all the machinery
of the world for 500 centuries ; in a garden that can feed the race b}^ the
thousand years ; at the head of the lakes that give her a temperature as a
summer resort equaled by no great city in the land : with a climate that
insures the health of her citizens ; surrounded by all the great deposits
of natural wealth in mines aud forests and herds, Chicago is the wonder
of to-day, and will be the city of the future.
MASSACRE AT FORT DEARBORN.
During the war of 1812, Fort Dearborn became the theater of stirring
events. The garrison consisted of fifty-four men under command of
Captain Nathan Heald. assisted by Lieutenant Helm (son-in-law of Mrs.
Kinzie) and Ensign Ronan. Dr. Voorhees was surgeon. The only resi-
dents at the post at that time were the wives of Captain Heald and Lieu-
tenant Helm, and a few of the soldiers, Mr. Kinzie and his family, and
a few Canadian voyageurs, with their wives and children. The soldiers
and ]\Ir. Kinzie were on most friendly terms with the Pottawattamies
and Winnebagos, the principal tribes around them, but they could not
win them from their attachment to the British.
One evening in April, 1812, Mr. Kinzie sat playing on his violin and
his children were dancing to the music, when Mrs. Kinzie came rushing
into the house, pale with terror, and exclaiming: "The Indians! the
Indians!" "What? Where?" eagerly inquired Mr. Kinzie. "Up
at Lee's, killing and scalping," answered the frightened mother, who,
when the alarm was given, was attending ]\Irs. Barnes (just confined)
Uving not far off. Mr. Kinzie and his family crossed the river and took
refuge in the fort, to which place Mrs. Barnes and her infant not a day
old were safely conveyed. The rest of the inhabitants took shelter in the
fort. This alarm was caused by a scalping party of Winnebagos, who
hovered about the fort several days, when they disappeared, and for several
weeks the inhabitants were undisturbed.
On the Tth of August, 1812, General Hull, at Detroit, sent orders to
Captain Heald to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and to distribute all the United
States property to the Indians in the neighborhood — a most insane order.
The Pottawattamie chief, who brought the dispatch, had more wisdom
than the commanding general. He advised Captain Heald not to make
the distribution. Said he : " Leave the fort and stores as they are, and
let the Indians make distribution for themselves ; and while they are
engaged in the business, the white people may escape to Fort Wayne."
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 143
Captain Heald held a council with the Indians on the afternoon of
the 12th, in which his officers refused to join, for they had been informed
that treachery was designed — ^that the Indians intended to murder the
white people in the council, and then destroy those in the fort. Captain
Heald, however, took the precaution to open a port-hole displaying a
cannon pointing directly upon the council, and by that means saved
his life.
Mr. Kinzie, who knew the Indians well, begged Captain Heald not
to confide in their promises, nor distribute the arras and munitions among
them, for it would only put power into their hands to destroy the whites.
Acting upon this advice, Heald resolved to withhold the munitions of
war ; and on the night of the 13th, after the distribution of the other
property had been made, the powder, ball and liquors were thrown into
the river, the muskets broken up and destroyed.
Black Partridge, a friendly chief, came to Captain Heald, and said :
" Linden birds have been singing in my ears to-day: be careful on the
march you are going to take." On that dark night vigilant Indians had
crept near the fort and discovered the destruction of their promised booty
going on within. The next morning the powder was seen floating on the
surface of the river. The savages were exasperated and made loud com-
plaints and threats.
On the following day when preparations were making to leave the
fort, and all the inmates were deeply impressed with a sense of impend-
ing danger, Capt. Wells, an uncle of Mrs. Heald, was discovered upon
the Indian trail among the sand-hills on the borders of the lake, not far
distant, with a band of mounted Miamis, of whose tribe he was chief,
having been adopted by the famous Miami warrior. Little Turtle. When
news of Hull's surrender reached Fort Wayne, he had started with this
force to assist Heald in defending Fort Dearborn. He was too late.
Every means for its defense had been destroyed the night before, and
arrangements were made for leaving the fort on the morning of the 15th.
It was a warm bright morning in the middle of August. Indications
were positive that the savages intended to murder the white people ; and
when they moved out of the .southern gate of the fort, the march was
like a funeral procession. The band, feeling the solemnity of the occa-
sion, struck up the Dead March in Saul.
Capt. Wells, who had blackened his face with gun-powder in token
of his fate, took the lead with his band of Miamis, followed by Capt.
Heald, with his wife by his side on horseback. Mr. Kinzie hoped by his
personal influence to avert the impending blow, and therefore accompanied
them, leaving his family in a boat in charge of a friendly Indian, to be
taken to his trading station at the site of Niles, Michigan, in the event ot
his death.
144
HISTORY OF TELE STATE OP ILLINOIS.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 145
The procession moved slowly along the lake shore till they reached
the sand-hills between the prairie and the beach, when the Pottawattamie
escort, under the leadership of Blackbird, filed to the right, placing those
hills between them and the white people. Wells, with his Miamis, had
kept in the advance. They suddenly came rushing back. Wells exclaim-
ing, " They are about to attack us ; form instantly." These words were
quickly followed by a storm of bullets, which came whistling over the
little hills which the treacherous savages had made the covert for their
murderous attack. The white troops charged upon the Indians, drove
them back to the prairie, and then the battle was waged between fifty-
four soldiers, twelve civilians and three or four women (the cowardly
Miamis having fled at the outset) against five hundred Indian warriors.
The white people, hopeless, resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible.
Ensign Ronan wielded his weapon vigorously, even after falling upon his
knees weak from the loss of blood. Capt. Wells, who was by the side of
his niece, Mrs. Heald, when the conflict began, behaved with the greatest
coolness and courage. He said to her, " We have not the slightest chance
for life. We must part to meet no more in this world. God bless you."
And then he dashed forward. Seeing a young warrior, painted like a
demon, climb into a wagon in which were twelve children, and tomahawk
them all, he cried out, unmindful of his personal danger, " If that is your
game, butchering women and children, I will kill too." He spurred his
horse towards the Indian camp, where they had left their squaws and
papooses, hotly pursued by swift-footed young warriors, who sent bullets
whistling after him. One of these killed his horse and wounded him
severely in the leg. With a yell the young braves rushed to make him
their prisoner and reserve him for torture. He resolved not to be made
a captive, and by the use of the most provoking epithets tried to induce
them to kill him instantly. He called a fiery young chief a squmv, when
the enraged warrior killed Wells instantly with his tomahawk, jumped
upon his body, cut out his heart, and ate a portion of the warm morsel
with savage delight !
In this fearful combat women bore a conspicuous part. Mrs. Heald
was an excellent equestrian and an expert in the use of the rifle. She
fought the savages bravely, receiving several severe wounds. Though
faint from the loss of blood, she managed to keep her saddle. A savage
raised his tomahawk to kill her, when she looked him full in the face,
and with a sweet smile and in a gentle voice said, in his own language,
" Surely you will not kill a squaw ! " The arm of the savage fell, and
the life of the heroic woman was saved.
Mrs. Helm, the step-daughter of Mr. Kinzie, had an encounter with
a stout Indian, who attempted to tomahawk her. Springing to one side,
she received the glancing blow on her shoulder, and at the same instant
146 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
seized the savage round the neck with her arms and endeavored to get
hold of his scalping knife, which hung in a sheath at his breast. While
she was thus struggling she was dragged from her antagonist by anothei
powerful Indian, who bore her, in spite of her struggles, to the margin
of the lake and plunged her in. To her astonishment she was held by
him so that she would not drown, and she soon perceived that she was
in the hands of the friendly Black Partridge, who had saved her life.
The wife of Sergeant Holt, a large and powerful woman, behaved as
bravely as an Amazon. She rode a fine, high-spirited horse, which the
Indians coveted, and several of them attacked her with the butts of their
guns, for the purpose of dismounting her ; but she used the sword which
she had snatched from her disabled husband so skillfully that she foiled
them ; and, suddenly wheeling her horse, she dashed over the prairie,
followed by the savages shouting, " The brave woman ! the brave woman !
Don't hurt her ! " They finally overtook her, and while she was fighting
them in front, a powerful savage came up behind her, seized her by the
neck and dragged her to the ground. Horse and woman were made
captives. Mrs. Holt was a long time a captive among the Indians, but
was afterwards ransomed.
In this sharp conflict two-thirds of the white people were slain and
wounded, and all their horses, baggage and provision were lost. Only
twenty-eight straggling men now remained to fight five hundred Indians
rendered furious b}^ the sight of blood. They succeeded in breaking
through the ranks of the murderers and gaining a slight eminence on the
prairie near the Oak Woods. The Indians did not pursue, but gathered
on their flanks, while the chiefs held a consultation on the sand-hills, and
showed signs of willingness to parley. It would have been madness on
the part of the whites to renew the fight ; and so Capt. Heald went for-
ward and met Blackbird on the open prairie, where terms of surrender
were soon agreed upon. It was arranged that the white people should
give up their arms to Blackbird, and that the survivors should become
prisoners of war, to be exchanged for ransoms as soon as practicable.
With this understanding captives and captors started for the Indian
camp near the fort, to which Mrs. Helm had been taken bleeding and
suffering by Black Partridge, and had met her step-father and learned
that her husband was safe.
A new scene of horror was now opened at the Indian camp. The
wounded, not being included in the terms of surrender, as it was inter-
preted by the Indians, and the British general. Proctor, having offered a
liberal bounty for American scalps, delivered at Maiden, nearly all the
wounded men were killed and scalped, and the price of the trophies was
afterwards paid by the British government.
^ I^ i i- m H tk^ t^ it r ^ ^ ^
"mp^
Thatcher Blake Esq.
ROCKFORD ILL
i
■ \'
HISTlpRY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
149
SHABBONA.
This celebrated Indian chief, whose portrait appears in this work,
deserves more than a passing notice. Although Shabbona was not so con-
spicuous as Tecumseh or Black Hawk, yet in point of merit he was
superior to either of them.
Shabbona was born at an Indian village on the Kankakee River, now
in Will County, about the year 1775. While young he was made chief of
the band, and went to Shabbona Grove, now DeKalb County, where they
were found in the early settlement of the county.
In the war of 1812 Shabbona with his warriors joined Tecumseh, was
150 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
aid to that great chief, and stood by his side when he fell at the battle of
the Thames. At the time of the Winnebago war, in 1827, he visited almost
every village among the Pottawatomies, and by his persuasive arguments
prevented them from taking part in the war. By request of the citizens
of Chicago, Shabbona, accompanied by Billy Caldwell (Sauganasli), visited
Big Foot's village at Geneva Lake, in order to pacify the warriors, as fears
were entertained that they were about to raise the tomahawk against the
whites. Here Shabbona was taken prisoner by Big Foot, and his life
threatened, but on the following day was set at liberty. From that time
the Indians (through reproach) styled him " the white man's friend,"
and many times his life was endangered.
Before the Black Hawk war, Shabbona met in council at two differ-
ent times, and by his influence prevented his people from taking part with
the Sacs and Foxes. After the death of Black Partridge and Senachwine,
no chief among the Pottawatomies exerted so much influence as Shabbona.
Black Hawk, aware of this influence, visited him at two different times, in
order to enlist him in his cause, but was unsuccessful. While Black Hawk
was a prisoner at Jefferson Barracks, he said, had it not been for Shabbona
the whole Pottawatomie nation would have joined his standard, and he
could have continued the war for years.
To Shabbona many of the early settlers of Illinois owe the pres-
ervation of their lives, for it is a well-known fact, had he not notified the
people of their danger, a large portion of them would have fallen victims
to the tomahawk of savages. By saving the lives of whites he endangered
his own, for the Sacs and Foxes threatened to kill him, and made two
attempts to execute their threats. They killed Pypeogee, his son, and
Pyps, his nephew, and hunted him down as though he was a wild beast.
Shabbona had a reservation of two sections of land at his Grove, but
by leaving it and going west for a short time, the Government declared
the reservation forfeited, and sold it the same as other vacant land. On
Shabbona's return, and finding his possessions gone, he was very sad and
broken down in spirit, and left the Grove for ever. The citizens of Ottawa
raised money and bought him a tract of land on the Illinois River, above
Seneca, in Grundy County, on which they built a house, and supplied
him with means to live on. He lived here until his death, which occurred
on the 17th of July, 1859, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and was
buried with great pomp in the cemetery at Morris. His squaw, Pokanoka,
was drowned in Mazen Creek, Grundy County, on the oOth of November,
1864, and was buried by his side.
In 1861 subscriptions were taken up in many of the river towns, to
erect a monument over the remains of Shabbona, but the war breaking
out, the enterprise was abandoned. Only a plain marble slab marks the
resting-place of this friend of the white man.
Abstract of Illinois State Laws.
BILLS OF EXCHANGE AND PROMISSORY NOTES.
No promissory note^ check, draft, bill of exchange, order, or note, negO'
tiahle insfrumeyit payable at sight, or on demand, or on presentment, shall
be entitled to dags of grace. All other bills of exchange, drafts or notes are
entitled to three days of grace. All the above mentioned paper falling
due on Sunday, JVew Years^ Dciy-: the Fourth of July, Christmas, or any
day appointed or recommended by the President of the United States or
the Governor of the State as a day of fast or thanksgiving, shall be deemed
as due on the day previous, and should two or more of these days come
together, then such instrument shall be treated as due on the d^ay previous
to the first of said days. No defense can be made against a negotiable
instrument (assigned before due') in the hands of the assignee without
notice, except fraud was used in obtaining the same. To hold an indorser,
due diligence must be used by suit, in collecting of the maker, unless suit
Avould have been unavailing. Notes payable to person named or to order,
in order to absolutely transfer title, must be indorsed by the payee. Notes
payable to bearer may be transferred by delivery, and when so payable
every indorser thereon is held as a guarantor of payment unless otherwise
expressed.
In computing interest or discount on negotiable instruments, a month
shall be considered a calendar month or tivelfth of a year, and for less
than a month, a day shall be figured a thirtieth part of a month. Notes
only bear interest when so expressed, but after due they draw the legal
interest, even if not stated.
INTEREST.
The legal rate of interest is six per cent. Parties may agree in writ-
ing on a rate not exceeding ten per cent. If a rate of interest greater
than ten per cent, is contracted for, it works a forfeiture of the whole of
said interest, and only the principal can be recovered.
DESCENT.
When no will is made, the property of a deceased person is distrib-
uted as follows :
152 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
First. To his or her children and their descendants in equal parts ;
the descendants of the deceased child or grandchild taking the share of
their deceased parents in equal parts among them.
Second. Where there is no child, nor descendant of such child, and
no widow or surviving husband, then to the parents, brothers and sisters
of the deceased, and their descendants, in equal parts, the surviving
parent, if either be dead, taking a double portion ; and if there is no
parent living, then to the brothers and sisters of the intestate and their
descendants.
Third. When there is a undoiv or surviving husband, and no child or
children., or descendants of the same, then one-half of the real estate and
the whole of the personal estate shall descend to such widow or surviving
husband, absolutely, and the other half of the real estate shall descend as
in other cases where there is no child or children or descendants of the
same.
Fourth. When there is a widow or surviving husband and also a child
or children, or descendants of the latter, then one third of all the personal
estate to the widow or surviving husband absolutely.
Fifth. If there is no child, parent, brother or sister, or descendants of
either of them, and no widow or surviving husband, then in equal parts
to the next of kin to the intestate in equal degree. Collaterals shall not
be represented except with the descendants of brothers and sisters of the
intestate, and there shall be no distinction between kindred of the ivhole
and the half blood.
Sixth. If any intestate leaves a widow or surviving husband and no
kindred, then to such ividow or surviving husband ; and if there is no such
widow or surviving husband, it shall escheat to and vest in the county
where the same, or the greater portion thereof, is situated.
WILLS AND ESTATES OF DECEASED PERSONS.
No exact form of words are necessary in order to make a will good at
law. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years, and Qverj female
of the age of eighteen years, of sound mind and memory, can make a valid
will ; it must be in ivriting, signed by the testator or by some one in his
or her presence and by his or her direction, and attested by two or more
credible witnesses. Care should be taken that the witriesses are not inter-
ested in the will. Persons knoiving themselves to have been named in the
will or appointed executor, must within thirty days of the death of
deceased cause the will to be proved and recorded in the proper county,
or present it, and refuse to accept ; on failure to do so are liable to forfeit
the sum of twenty dollars per month. Inventory to be made by executor
or administrator within three months from date of letters testamentary or
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 153
of administration. Executors' and administrators' compensation not te
exceed six per cent, on amount of personal estate, and three per cent.
on money realized from real estate, with such additional allowance as?
shall be reasonable for extra services. Appraisers' comperisation $2 pei
day.
Notice requiring all claims to be presented against the estate shall Ik'
given by the executor or administrator within six months of being quali'
fied. Any person having a claim and not presenting it at the time fixed
by said notice is required to have summons issued notifying the executor
or administrator of his having filed his claim in court ; in such cases the
costs have to be paid by the claimant. Claims should be filed within two
gears from the time administration is granted on an estate, as after that
time they nve forever barred, unless other estate is found that was not in-
ventoried. Married ivomen, infants, per 8o?is insane, imprisoned or without
the United States, in the employment of the United States, or of this
State, have two gears after their disabilities are removed to file claims.
Claims are classified and paid out of the estate in the following manner:
First. Funeral expenses.
iSecotid. The widow's award, if there is a widow ; or children if there
are children, and no widoiv.
Third. Expenses attending the last illness, not including physician's
bill.
Fourth. Debts due the common school or township fund.
Fifth. All expenses of proving the will and taking out letters testa-
mentary or administration, and settlement of the estate, and the phgsi-
cian's bill in the last illness of deceased.
Sixth. Where the deceased has received moneg m trust for any pur-
pose, his executor or administrator shall pay out ot" his estate the amount
received and not accounted for.
Seventh. All other debts and demands of whatsoever kind, without
regard to qualitg or dignitg, which shall be exhibited to the court within
two gears from the granting of letters.
Award to Widow and Children, exclusive of debts and legacies or be-
quests, except funeral expenses :
First. The familg pictures and wearing apparel, jewels and ornaments
of herself and minor children.
Second. School books and the familg librarg of the value of $100.
Third. One sewirig machine.
Fourth. Necessarg beds, bedsteads and bedding for herself and family.
Fifth. The stoves and pipe used in the family, with the necessary
rooking utensils, or in case they have none, $50 in money.
Sixth. Household and kitchen furniture to the value of $100.
Seventh. One milch cow and calf for every four members of her family.
154 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
MgTitJi. Two sheep for each member of her family, aud the fleeces
taken from the same, and one horse, saddle and bridle.
Ninth. Provisions for herself and family for one year.
Tenth. Food for the stock above specified for six months.
Eleventh. Fuel for herself and family for three months.
Twelfth. One hundred dollars worth of other property suited to her
condition in life, to be selected by the widow.
The widow if she elects may have in lieu of the said award, the same
personal property or money in place thereof as is or may be exempt from
execution or attachment against the head of a family.
TAXES.
The owners of real and personal property, on the first day of May in
each year, are liable for the taxes thereon.
Assessments should be completed before the fourth Monday in June,
at which time the town board of review meets to examine assessments,
hear objections, and make such changes as ought to be made. The county
board have also power to correct or change assessments.
The tax books are placed in the hands of the town collector on or
before the tenth day of December, who retains them until the tenth day
of March following, when he is required to return them to the county
treasurer, who then collects all delinquent taxes.
No costs accrue on real estate taxes till advertised, which takes place
the first day of April, when three weeks' notice is required before judg-
ment. Cost of advertising, twenty cents each tract of land, and ten cents
each lot.
Judgment is usually obtained at May term of County Court. Costs
six cents each tract of land, and five cents each lot. Sale takes place in
June. Costs in addition to those before mentioned, twenty-eight cents
each tract of land, and twenty-seven cents each town lot.
Real estate sold for taxes may be redeemed any time before the expi-
ration of two years from the date of sale, by payment to the County Clerk
of the amount for which it was sold and twenty-five per cent, thereon if
redeemed within six months, fifty per cent, if between six and twelve
months, if between twelve and eighteen months seventy-five per cent.,
and if between eighteen months and two years one hundred per cent.,
and in addition, all subsequent taxes paid by the purchaser, with ten per
cent, interest thereon, also one dollar each tract if notice is given by the
purchaser of the sale, and a fee of twenty-five cents to the clerk for his
certificate.
JURISDICTION OF COURTS.
Justices have jurisdiction in all civil cases on contracts iov the recovery
of moneys for damages for injury to real projperty, or taking, detaining, or
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 155
injuring personal property ; for rent; for all cases to recover damages done
real or personal property by railroad companies, in actions of replevin^ and
in actions for damages for fraud in the sale^ purchase, or exchange of per-
sonal property, when the amonnt claimed as due is not over $200. They
have also jurisdiction in all cases for violation of the ordinances of cities,
toivns or villages. A justice of the peace may orally order an officer or a
private person to arrest any one committing or attempting to commit a
criminal offense. He also upon complaint can issue his warrant for the
arrest of any person accused of having committed a crime, and have him
brought before him for examination.
COUNTY COURTS
Have jurisdiction in all matters of probate (except in counties having a
population of one hundred thousand or over), settlement of estates of
deceased persons, appointment of guardians and co7iservators, and settle-
ment of their accounts ; all matters relating to apprentices ; proceedings
for the collection of taxes and assessments, and in proceedings of executors,
administrators, guardians and conservators for the sale of real estate. In
laiv cases they have concurrent jurisdiction with Circuit Courts in all
cases where justices of the peace now have, or hereafter may have,
jurisdiction when the amount claimed shall not exceed $1,000, and in all
criminal offenses where the punishment is not imprisonment in the peni-
tentiary, or death, and in all cases of appeals from justices of the peace
and police magistrates ; excepting when the county judge is sitting as a
justice of the peace. Circuit Courts have unlimited jurisdiction.
LIMITATION OF ACTION.
Accounts five years. Notes and written contracts ten years. Judg-
ments twenty years. Partial payments or new promise in writing, within
or after said period, will revive the debt. Absence from the State deducted,
and when the cause of action is barred by the law of another State, it has
the same effect here. Slander and libel, one year. Personal injuries, two
years. To recover land or make entry thereon, twenty years. Action to
foreclose mortgage or trust deed, or make a sale, within ten years.
All persons in possession of land, and paying taxes for seven consecu-
tive years, with color of title, and all persons paying taxes for seven con-
secutive years, with color of title, on vacant land, shall be held to be the
legal owners to the extent of their paper title.
MARRIED WOMEN
May sue and be sued. Husband and wife not liable for each other^s debts,
either before or after marriage, but both are liable for expenses and edu-
cation of the family.
4
156 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
She may contract the same as if unmarried^ except that in a partner-
ship business she can not, without consent of her husband, unless he has
abandoned or deserted her, or is idiotic or insane, or confined in peniten-
tiary ; she is entitled and can recover her own earnings, but neither hus-
band nor wife is entitled to compensation for any services rendered for the
other. At the death of the husband, in addition to widow's award, a
married woman has a dower interest (one-third) in all real estate owned
by her husband after their marriage, and which has not been released by
her, and the husband has the same interest in the real estate of the wife
at her death.
EXEMPTIONS FROM FORCED SALE.
Home worth $1,000, and the following Personal Property : Lot of ground
and buildings thereon, occupied as a residence by the debtor, being a house-
holder and having a family, to the value of $1,000. Exeinption continues
after the death of the householder for the benefit of widow and family, some
one of them occupying the homestead until youngest child shall become
twenty-one years of age, and until death of widoiv. There is no exetnption
from sale for taxes, assessments, debt or liability incurred for the purchase
or improvement of said homestead. No release or waiver of exemption is
valid, unless in writing, and subscribed by such householder and wife (if
he have one), and acknowledged as conveyances of real estate are required
to be acknowledged. The following articles of personal property owned
by the debtor, are exempt from execution, ivrit of attachment, and distress
for rent : The necessary wearing apparel. Bibles, school books and famil}'-
pictures of every person ; and, 2d, one hundred dollars worth of other
property to be selected by the debtor, and, in addition, when the debtor
is the head of a family and j-esides with the same, three hundred dollars
worth of other property to be selected by the debtor ; provided that such
selection and exemption shall not be made by the debtor or allowed to
him or her from any money, salary or wages due him or her from any
person or persons or corporations whatever.
When the head of a family shall die, desert or not reside with the
same, the family shall be entitled to and receive all the benefit and priv-
ileges which are by this act conferred upon the head of a family residing
with the same. No personal property is exempt from execution when
judgment is obtained for the wages of laborers or servants. Wages of a
laborer who is the head of a family can not be garnisheed, except the sum
due him be in excess of $25.
ABSTKACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 157
DEEDS AND MORTGAGES.
To be valid there must he a valid consideration. Special care should
be taken to have them signed, sealed, delivered, and properly acknowl-
edged, with the proper seal attached. Witnesses are not required. The
acknowledgement must be made in this state, before Master in Chancery,
Notary Public, United States Commissioner, Circuit or County Clerk, Justice
of Peace, or any Court of Record having a seal, or any 'Judge, Justice, or
Clerk of any such Court. When taken before a Notary Public, or United
States Commissioner, the same shall be attested by his official seal, when
taken before a Court or the Clerk thereof, the same shall be attested by
the seal of such Court, and when taken before a Justice of the Peace resid-
ing out of the county where the real estate to be conveyed lies, there shall
be added a certificate of the County Clerk under his seal of office, that he
was a Justice of the Peace in the county at the time of taking the same.
A deed is good without such certificate attached, but can not be used in
evidence unless such a certificate is produced or other competent evidence
introduced. Acknowledgements made out of the state must either be
executed according to the laws of this state, or there should be attached
a certificate that it is in conformity with the laws of the state or country
where executed. Where this is not done the same may be proved by any
other legal way. Acknowledgments where the Homestead rights are to
be waived must state as follows : " Including the release and waiver of
the right of homestead."
Notaries Public can take acknowledgements any where in the state.
Sheriffs, if authorized by the mortgagor of real or personal property
in his mortgage, may sell the property mortgaged.
In the case of the death of grantor or holder of the equity of redemp-
tion of real estate mortgaged, or conveyed by deed of trust where equity
of redemption is waived, and it contains power of sale, must be foreclosed
in the same manner as a common mortgage in court.
ESTRAYS.
Horses, mules, asses, neat cattle, swine, sheep, or goats found straying
at any time during the year, in counties where such animals are not allowed
to run at large, or between the last day of October and the 15th day of
April in other counties, the owner thereof being unknown, may be taken up
as estrays.
No person not a householder in the county where estray is found can
lawfully take up an estray, and then only upon or about his farin or place
of residence. Estrays should not be used before advertised, except animals
giving milk, which may be milked for their benefit.
158 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
Notices must be posted up within five (5) days in three (3) of the
most public places in the town or precinct in which estray was found, giv-
ing the residence of the taker up, and a particular description of the
estray, its age, color, and marks natural and artificial, and stating before
what justice of the peace in such town or precinct, and at what time, not
less than ten (10) nor more than fifteen (15) days from the time of post-
ing such notices, he will apply to have the estray appraised.
A copy of such notice should be filed by the taker up with the totvn
clerk, whose duty it is to enter the same at large, in a book kept by him
for that purpose.
If the owner of estray shall not have appeared and proved ownership,
and taken the same away, first paying the taker up his reasonable charges
for taking up, keeping, and advertising the same, the taker up shall appear
before the justice of the peace mentioned in above mentioned notice, and
make an affidavit as required by law.
As the affidavit has to be made before the justice, and all other steps as
to appraisement, etc., are before him, who is familiar therewith, they are
therefore omitted here.
Any person taking up an estray at any other place than about or
upon his farm or residence, or without complying with the laio, shall forfeit
and pay a fine of ten dollars with costs.
Ordinary diligence is required in taking care of estrays, but in case
they die or get away the taker is not liable for the same.
GAME.
It is unlawful for any person to kill, or attempt to kill or destroy, in
any manner, srnj prairie henor chicken or woodcock between the loth day
of January and the 1st day of September ; or any deer, faion, ivild-turkey,
partridge or pheasant between the 1st day of February and the 1st day
of October ; or any quail between the 1st day of February and 1st day of
November ; or any wild goose, duck, snipe, brant or other water fowl
between the 1st day of May and 15th day of August in each year.
Penalty : Fine not less than $5 nor more than $25, for each bird or
animal, and costs of suit, and stand committed to county jail until fine is
paid, but not exceeding ten days. It is unlauful to hunt with gun, dog
or net within the inclosed grounds or lands of another without p)ermission.
Penalty: Fine not less than $3 nor more than $100, to be paid into
school fund.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
Whenever any of the following articles shall be contracted for, or
sold or delivered, and no special contract or agreement shall be made to
the con1;rary, the weight per bushel shall be as follows, to-wit :
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
159
Pounds.
Pounds.
Stone Coal,
- 80
Bupkwheat, - *
- 52
Unslacked Lime,
- 80
Coarse Salt,
- 50
Corn in the ear.
- 70
Barley, - - -
- 48
Wheat,
- 60
Corn Meal,
- 48
Irish Potatoes,
- 60
Castor Beans,
- 46
White Beans,
- 60
Timothy Seed, -
- 45
Clover Seed, -
- 60
Hemp Seed, -
- 44
Onions, _ = -
- 57
Malt, - - - -
- 38
Shelled Corn,
- 56
Dried Peaches,
- 33
Rye, - - - -
- 56
Oats, - - - -
- 32
Flax Seed, -
- 56
Dried Apples,
- 24
Sweet Potatoes, -
- 55
Bran, - - - -
- 20
Turnips,
- 55
Blue Grass Seed, -
- 14
Fine Salt, -
- 55
Hair (plastering).
8
Penalty for giving less than the above standard is double the amount
of property wrongfully not given, and ten dollars addition thereto.
1^
MILLERS.
The owner or occupant of every public grist mill in this state shall
grind all grain brought to his mill in its turn. The toll for both steam
and water mills, is, for grinding and bolting wheats rye, or other grain., one
eighth part; for grinding Indian corn, oats, barley and buckwheat not
required to be bolted, one seventh part; for grinding malt, and chopping all
kinds of grain, one eighth part. It is the duty of every miller when his
mill is in repair, to aid and assist in loading and unloading all grain brought
to him to be ground, and he is also required to keep an accurate half
bushel measure, and an accurate set of toll dishes or scales for weiohins'
the grain. The penalty for neglect or refusal to comply with the law is
$5, to the use of any person to sue for the same, to be recovered before
any justice of the peace of the county where penalty is incurred. Millers
are accountable for the safe keeping of all grain left in his mill for the
purpose of being ground, with bags or casks containing same (except it
results from unavoidable accidents), provided tbat such bags or casks are
distinctly marked with the initial letters of the owner's name.
MARKS AND BRANDS.
Owners of cattle, horses, hogs, sheep or goats may have one ear mark
and one brand, but which shall be different from his neighbor s, and may
be recorded by the county clerk of the county in which such property is
kept. The fee for such record is fifteen cents. The record of such shall
be 02Mn to examination free of charge. In cases of disputes as to marks
or brands, such record is prima facie evidence. Owners of cattle, horses,
liogs, sheep or goats that may have been branded by the former owner.,
160 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
may be re-branded in presence of one or more of his neighbors, who shall |,
certify to the facts of the marking or branding being done, when done, h
and in what brand or mark they were re-branded or re-marked, which
certificate may also be recorded as before stated.
ADOPTION OF CHILDREN.
Children may be adopted by any resident of this state, by filing a
petition in the Circuit or County Court of the county in which he resides,
asking leave to do so, and if desired may ask that the name of the child
be changed. Such petition, if made by a person having a husband or
wife, will not be granted, unless the husband or wife joins therein, as the
adoption must be by them jointly.
The petition shall state name, sex, and age of the child, and the new
name, if it is desired to change the name. Also the name and residence
of the parents of the child, if known, and of the guardian, if any, and
whether the parents or guardians consent to the adoption.
The court must find, before granting decree, that the parents of the
child, or the survivors of them, have deserted his or her family or such
child for one year next preceding the application, or if neither are living,
the guardian ; if no guardian, the next of kin in this state capable of giving
consent, has had notice of the presentation of the petition and consents
to such adoption. If the child is of the age of fourteen years or upwards,
the adoption ca7i not be made 'without its consent.
SURVEYORS AND SURVEYS.
There is in every county elected a surveyor known as county sur-
veyor, who has power to appoint deputies, for whose official acts he is
responsible. It is the duty of the county surveyor, either by himself or
his deputy, to make all surveys that he may be called upon to make within
his county as soon as may be after application is made. The necessary
chainmen and other assistance must be employed by the person requiring
the same to be done, and to be by him paid, unless otherwise agreed ; but
the chainmen must be disinterested persons and approved by the surveyor
and sworn by him to measure justly and impartially.
The County Board in each county is required by law to provide a copy
of the United States field notes and plats of their surveys of the lands
in the county to be kept in the recorder's office subject to examination
by the public, and the county surveyor is required to make his surveys
in conformity to said notes, plats and the laws of the United States gov-
erning such matters. The surveyor is also required to keep a record
of all surveys made by him, which shall be subject to inspection by any
one interested, and shall be delivered up to his successor in office. A
I
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 161
certified copy of the said surveyor's record shall be prima facie evidence
of its contents.
The fees of county surveyors are six dollars per day. The county
surveyor is also ex officio inspector of mines, and as such, assisted by some
practical miner selected by him, shall once each year inspect all the
mines in the county, for which they shall each receive such compensa-
tion as may be fixed by the County Board, not exceeding $5 a day, to
be paid out of the county treasury.
ROADS AND BRIDGES.
Where practicable from the nature of the ground, persons traveling
in any kind of vehicle, must turn to the right of the center of the road, so
as to permit each carriage to pass without interfering with each other.
The penalty jfor a violation of this provision is $5 for every offense, to
be recovered by the party injured ; but to recover, there must have
occurred some injury to person or property resulting from the violation.
The owners of any carriage traveling upon any road in this State for the
conveyance of passengers who shall employ or continue in his employment
as driver any person who is addicted to drunkeniiess^ or the excessive use of
spiritous liquors, after he has had notice of the same, shall forfeit, at the
rate of $5 per da}', and if any driver while actually engaged in driving
any such carriage, shall be guilty of intoxication to such a degree as to
endanger the safety of passengers, it shall be the duty of the owner, on
receiving ivritten notice of the fact, signed by one of the passengers, and
certified by him on oath, forthwith to discharge such driver. If such ownei
shall have such driver in his employ within three months after such notice,
he is liable for $5 per day for the time he shall keep said driver in his
employment after receiving such notice.
Persons driving any carriage on any public highway are prohibited
from running their horses upon any occasion under a penalty of a fine not
exceeding 810, or imprisonment not exceeding sixty days, at the discre-
tion of the court. Horses attached to any carriage used to convey passen-
gers for hire must be properly hitched or the lines placed in the hands of
some other person before the driver leaves them for an}^ purpose. For
violation of this provision each driver shall forfeit tiventy dollars, to be
recovered by action, to be commenced within six months. It is under-
stood by the term carriage herein to mean any carriage or vehicle used
for the transportation of passengers or goods or either of them.
The commissioners of highways in the different tov/ns have the care
and superintendence of highways and bridges therein. They have all
the powers necessary to lay out, vacate, regulate and repair all roadsi
build and repair bridges. In addition to the above, it is their duty to
erect and keep in repair at the forks or crossing-place of the most
162 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
important roads post and guide boards with plain inscriptions, giving
directions and distances to the most noted places to which such road may
lead ; also to make provisions to prevent thistles, burdock, and cockle
burrs, mustard, yellow dock, Indian mallow and jimson weed from
seeding, and to extirpate the same as far as practicable, and to prevent
all rank growth of vegetation on the public highways so far as the same
may obstruct public travel, and it is in their discretion to erect watering
places for public use for watering teams at such points as may be deemed
advisable.
The Commissioners, on or before the 1st day of May of each year,
shall make out and deliver to their treasurer a list of all able-bodied men
in their town, excepting paupers, idiots, lunatics, and such others as are
exempt by law, and assess against each the sum of two dollars as a poll
tax for highway purposes. Within thirty days after such list is delivered
they shall cause a written or printed notice to be given to each person so
assessed, notifying him of the time when and place where such tax must
be paid, or its equivalent in labor performed ; they may contract with
persons owing such poll tax to perform a certain amount of labor on any
road or bridge in payment of the same, and if such tax is not paid nor
labor performed by the first Monday of July of such year, or within ten
days after notice is given after that time, they shall bring suit therefor
against such person before a justice of the peace, who shall hear and
determine the case according to law for the offense complained of, and
shall forthwith issue an execution, directed to any constable of the county
where the delinquent shall reside, who shall forthwith collect the moneys
therein mentioned.
The Commissioners of Highways of each town shall annually ascer-
tain, as near as practicable, how much money must be raised by tax on real
and personal property for the making and repairing of roads, only, to any
amount they may deem necessar}'-, not exceeding forty cents on each one
hundred dollars' worth, as valued on the assessment roll of the previous
year. The tax so levied on property lying within an incorporated village,
town or city, shall be paid over to the corporate authorities of such town,
village or city. Commissioners shall receive $1.50 for each day neces-
sarily employed in the discharge of their duty.
Overseers. At the first meeting the Commissioners shall choose one
of their number to act General Overseer of Highways in their township,
whose duty it shall be to take charge of and safely keep all tools, imple-
ments and machinery belonging to said town, and shall, by the direction
of the Board, have general supervision of all roads and bridges in their
town.
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 163
As all township and county officers are familiar with their duties, it
is only intended to give the points of the law that the pul)lic should be
familiar with. The manner of laying out, altering or vacating roads, etc.,
will not be here stated, as it would require more space than is contem-
plated in a work of this kind. It is sufficient to state that, the first step
is by petition, addressed to the Commissioners, setting out what is prayed
for, giving the names of the owners of lands if known, if not known so
state, over which the road is to pass, giving the general course, its place
of beginning, and where it terminates. It requires not less than twelve
freeholders residing within three miles of the road who shall sign the
petition. Public roads must not be less than fifty feet wide, nor more
than sixty feet wide. Roads not exceeding two miles in length, if peti-
tioned for, may be laid out, not less than forty feet. Private roads
for private and public use, may be laid out of the width of three rods, on
petition of the person directly interested ; the damage occasioned thereby
shall be paid by the premises benefited thereby, and before the road is
opened. If not opened in two years, the order shall be considered
rescinded. Commissioners in their discretion may permit persons who
live on or have private roads, to work out their road tax thereon. Public
roads must be opened in five days from date of filing order of location,
or be deemed vacated.
DRAINAGE.
Whenever one or more owners or occupants of land desire to construct
a drain or ditch across the land of others for agricultural, sanitary or
mining purposes, the proceedings are as follows :
File a petition in the Circuit or County Court of the county in which
the proposed ditch or drain is to be constructed, setting forth the neces-
sity for the same, with a description of its proposed starting point, route
and terminus, and if it shall be necessary for the drainage of the land or
coal mines or for sanitary purposes, that a drain, ditch, levee or similar
work be constructed, a description of the same. It shall also set forth
the names of all persons owning the land over which such drain or ditch
shall be constructed, or if unknown stating that fact.
No private property shall be taken or damaged for the purpose of
constructing a ditch, drain or levee, without compensation, if claimed by
the owner, the same to be ascertained by a jury ; but if the construction
of such ditch, drain or levee shall be a benefit to the owner, the same
shall be a set off against such compensation.
If the proceedings seek to affect the property of a minor, lunatic or
married woman, the guardian, conservator or husband of the same shall
be made party defendant. The petition may be amended and parties
made defendants at any time when it is necessary to a fair trial.
f
164 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. '^ '
When the petition is presented to the judge, he shall note therein
when he will hear the same, and order the issuance of summonses and
the publication of notice to each non-resident or unknown defendant.
The petition may be heard by such judge in vacation as well as in
term time. Upon the trial, the jury shall ascertain the just compensation
to each owner of the property sought to be damaged by the construction
of such ditch, drain or levee, and truly report the same.
As it is only contemplated in a work of this kind to give an abstract
of the laws, and as the parties who have in charge the execution of the
further proceedings are likely to be familiar with the requirements of the
statute, the necessary details are not here inserted.
WOLF SCALPS.
The County Board of any county in this State may hereafter alluw
such bounty on wolf scalps as the board may deem reasonable.
Any person claiming a bounty shall produce the scalp or scalps with
the ears thereon, within sixty days after the wolf or wolves shall have
been caught, to the Clerk of the County Board, who shall administer to
said person the following oath or affirmation, to-wit: "You do solemnly
swear (or affirm, as the case may be), that the scalp or scalps here pro-
duced by you was taken from a wolf or wolves killed and first captured
by yourself within the limits of this county, and within the sixty days
last past."
CONVEYANCES.
When the reversion expectant on a lease of any tenements or here-
ditaments of any tenure shall be surrendered or merged, the estate which
shall for the time being confer as against the tenant under the same lease
the next vested right to the same tenements or hereditaments, shall, to
the extent and for the purpose of preserving such incidents to and obli-
gations on the same reversion, as but for the surrender or merger thereof,
would have subsisted, be deemed the reversion expectant on the same
lease.
PAUPERS.
Every poor person who shall be unable to earn a livelihood in conse-
quence of any bodili/ infirmity, idiocy, lunacy or unavoidable cause, shall
be supported by the father, grand-father, mother, grand-mother, children,
grand-children, brothers or sisters of such poor person, if they or either
of them be of sufficient ability ; but if any of such dependent class shall
have become so from intemperance or other had conduct, they shall not be
entitled to support from any relation except parent or child.
^K
'I Rnr.KFnRD
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 167
The children shall first be called on to support their parents, if they
are able ; but if not, the parents of such poor person shall then be called
on, if of sufficient ability ; and if there be no parents or children able,
then the brothers and sisters of such dependent person shall be called
upon ; and if there be no brothers or sisters of sufficient ability, the
grand-children of such person shall next be called on ; and if they are
not able, then the grand-parents. Married females, while their husbands
live, shall not be liable to contribute for the support of their poor relations
except out of their separate property. It is the duty of the state's
(county) attorney, to make complaint to the County Court of his county
against all the relatives of such paupers in this state liable to his support
and prosecute the same. In case the state's attorney neglects, or refuses, to
complain in such cases, then it is the duty of the overseer of the poor to
do so. The person called upon to contribute shall have at least ten days'
notice of such application by summons. The court has the power to
determine the kind of support, depending upon the circumstances of the
parties, and may also order two or more of the different degrees to main-
tain such poor person, and prescribe the proportion of each, according to
their ability. The court may specify the time for which the relative shall
contribute — in fact has control over the entire subject matter, with power
to enforce its orders. Every county (except those in which the poor are
supported by the towns, and in such cases the towns are liable) is required
to relieve and support all poor and indigent persons lawfully resident
therein. Residence means the actual residence of the party, or the place
where he was employed ; or in case he was in no employment, then it
shall be the place where he made his home. When any person becomes
chargeable as a pauper in any county or town who did not reside at the
commencement of six months immediately preceding his becoming so,
but did at that time reside in some other county or town in this state,
then the county or town, as the case may be, becomes liable for the expense
of taking care of such person until removed, and it is the duty of the
overseer to notify the proper authorities of the fact. If any person shall
bring and leave any pauper in any county in this state where such pauper
had no legal residence, knowing him to be such, he is liable to a fine of
$100. In counties under township organization, the supervisors in each
town are ex-officio overseers of the poor. The overseers of the poor act
under the directions of the County Board in taking care of the poor and
granting of temporary relief; also, providing for non-resident persons not
paupers who may be taken sick and not able to pay their way, and in case
of death cause such person to be decently buried.
The residence of the inmates of poorhouses and other charitable
institutions for voting purposes is their former place of abode.
168 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
FENCES.
In counties under townsliip organization, the town assessor and com-
missioner of highways are the fence-viewers in their respective towns.
In other counties the County Board appoints three in each precinct annu-
ally. A lawful fence is four and one-half feet high^ in good repair, con-
sisting of rails, timber, boards, stone, hedges, or whatever the fence-
viewers of the town or precinct where the same shall lie, shall consider
equivalent thereto, but in counties under township organization the annual
town meeting may establish any other kind of fence as such, or the County
Board in other counties may do the same. Division fences shall be made
and maintained in just proportion by the adjoining owners, except when
the owner shall choose to let his land lie open, but after a division fence is
built by agreement or otherwise, neither party can remove his part of such
fence so long as he may crop or use such land for farm purposes, or without
giving the other party one year's notice in writing of his intention to remove
his portion. When any person shall enclose his land upon the enclosure
of another, he shall refund the owner of the adjoining lands a just pro-
portion of the value at that time of such fence. The value of fence and
the just proportion to be paid or built and maintained by each is to be
ascertained by two fence-viewers in the town or precinct. Such fence-
viewers have power to settle all disputes between different owners as to
fences built or to be built, as well as to repairs to be made. Each party
chooses one of the viewers, but if the other party neglects, after eight
days' notice in writing, to make his choice, then the other party may
select both. It is sufficient to notify the tenant or party in possession,
when the owner is not a resident of the town or precinct. The two
fence-viewers chosen, after viewing the premises, shall hear the state-
ments of the parties , in case they can't agree, they shall select another
fence-viewer to act with them, and the decision of any two of them is
final. The decision must be reduced to writing, and should plainly set
out description of fence and all matters settled by them, and must be
filed in the office of the town clerk in counties under township organiza-
tion, and in other counties with the county clerk.
Where any person is liable to contribute to the erection or the
repairing of a division fence, neglects or refuses so to do, the party
injured, after giving sixty days notice in writing when a fence is to be
erected, or ten days when it is only repairs, may proceed to have the
work done at the expense of the party whose duty it is to do it, to be
recovered from him with costs of suit, and the party so neglecting shall
also be liable to the party injured for all damages accruing from such
neglect or refusal, to be determined by any two fence-viewers selected
as before provided, the appraisement to be reduced to writing and signed.
ABSTEACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 169
Where a person shall conclude to remove his part of a division fence,
and let his land lie open, and having given the year's notice required, the
adjoining owner may cause the value of said fence to be ascertained by
fence-viewers as before provided, and on payment or tender of the
amount of such valuation to the owner, it shall prevent the removal. A
party removing a division fence without notice is liable for the damages
accruing thereby. •
Where a fence has been built on the land of another through mis-
take, the owner may enter upon such premises and remove his fence and
material within six months after the division line has been ascertained.
Where the material to build such a fence has been taken from the land
on which it was built, then before it can be removed, the person claiming
must first pay for such material to the owner of the land from which it
was taken, nor shall such a fence be removed at a time when the removal
will throw open or expose the crops of the other party ; a reasonable
time must be given beyond the .six months to remove crops.
The compensation of fence-viewers is one dollar and fifty cents a
day each, to be paid in the first instance by the party calling them, but
in the end all expenses, including amount charged by the fence-viewers,
must be paid equally b}^ the parties, except in cases where a party neglects
or refuses to make or maintain a just proportion of a division fence, when
the party in default shall pay them.
DAMAGES FROM TRESPASS.
Where stock of any kind breaks into any person's enclosure, the
fence being good and sufficient^ the owner is liable for the damage done ;
but where the damage is done by stock running at large^ contrary to law,
the owner is liable where there is not such a fence. Where stock ia
found trespassing on the enclosure of another as aforesaid, the owner oi
occupier of the premises may take possession of such stock and keep the
same until damages, with reasonable charges for keeping and feeding and
all costs of suit, are paid. Any person taking or rescuing such stock so
held without his consent, shall be liable to a fine of not less than three
nor more than five dollars for each animal rescued, to be recovered by
suit before a justice of the peace for the use of the school fund. Within
twenty-four hours after taking such animal into his possession, the per-
son taking it up must give notice of the fact to the owner, if known, or
if unknown, notices must be posted in some public place near the premises.
LANDLORD AND TENANT.
The owner of lands, or his legal representatives, can sue for and
recover rent therefor, in any of the following cases :
First. When rent is due and in arrears on a lease for life or lives.
5
170 ABSTRACT OP ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
Second. When lands are held and occupied by any person without
any special agreement for rent.
Third. When possession is obtained under an agreement, written
or verbal, for the purchase of the premises and before deed given, the
right to possession is terminated by forfeiture on con-compliance with the
agreement, and possession is wrongfully refused or neglected to be given
upon demand made in writing by the party entitled thereto. Provided
that all payments made by the vendee or his representatives or assigns,
may be set off against the rent.
Fourth. When land has been sold upon a judgment or a decree of
court, when the party to such judgment or decree, or person holding under
him, wrongfully refuses, or neglects, to surrender possession of the same,
after demand in writing by the person entitled to the possession.
Fifth. When the lands have been sold upon a mortgage or trust
deed, and the mortgagor or grantor or person holding under him, wrong-
fully refuses or neglects to surrender possession of the same, after demand
in writing by the person entitled to the possession.
If any tenant, or any person who shall come into possession from or
under or by collusion with such tenant, shall willfully hold over any lands,
etc., after the expiration the term of their lease, and after demand made
in ivriting for the possession thereof, is liable to pay double rent. A
tenancy from year to year requires sixty days notice in writing, to termi-
nate the same at the end of the year ; such notice can be given at any
time within four months preceding the last sixty days of the year.
A tenancy by the month, or less than a year, where the tenant holds
over without any special agreement, the landlord may terminate the
tenancy, by thirty days notice in writing.
When rent is due, the landlord may serve a notice upon the tenant,
stating that unless the rent is paid within not less than five days, his lease
will be terminated ; if the rent is not paid, the landlord may consider the
lease ended. When default is made in any of the terms of a lease, it
shall not be necessary to give more than ten days notice to quit or of the
termination of such tenancy ; and the same may be terminated on giving
such notice to quit, at any time after such default in any of the terms of
such lease ; which notice may be substantially in the following form, viz:
To , You are hereby notified that, in consequence of your default
in (^here insert the character of the default), of the premises now occupied
by you, being etc. (here describe the premises), I have elected to deter-
mine your lease, and you are hereby notified to quit and deliver up pos-
session of the same to me within ten days of this date (dated, etc.)
The above to be signed by the lessor or his agent, and no other notice
or demand of possession or termination of such tenancy is necessary.
Demand may be made, or notice served, by delivering a written or
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 171
printed, or jDartly either, copy thereof to the tenant, or leaving the same
M-ith some person above the age of twelve years residing on or in posses-
sion of the premises ; and in case no one is in the actual possession of the
said premises, then by posting the same on the premises. When the
tenancy is for a certain time, and the term expires by the terms of the
lease, the tenant is then bound to surrender possession, and no notice
to quit or demand of possession is necessary.
Distress for rent. — In all cases of distress for rent, the landlord, by
himself, his agent or attorney, may seize for rent any personal property of
his tenant that may be found in the county where the tenant resides ; the
property of any other person, even if found on the premises, is not
hable.
An inventory of the property levied upon, with a statement of the
amount of rent claimed, should be at once filed with some justice of the
peace, if not over $200 ; and if above that sum, with the clerk of a court
of record of competent jurisdiction. Property may be released, by the
party executing a satisfactory bond for double the amount.
The landlord may distrain for rent, any time within six months after
the expiration of the term of the lease, or when terminated.
In all cases where the premises rented shall be sub-let, or the lease
assigned, the landlord shall have the same right to enforce lien against
such lessee or assignee, that he has against the tenant to whom the pre-
mises were rented.
When a tenant abandons or removes from the premises or any part
thereof, the landlord, or his agent or attorney, may seize upon any grain
or other crops grown or growing upon the premises, or part thereof so
abandoned, whether the rent is due or not. If such grain, or other crops,
or any part thereof, is not fully grown or matured, the landlord, or his
agent or attorney, shall cause the same to be properly cultivated, harvested
or gathered, and may sell the same, and from the proceeds pay all his
labor, expenses and rent. The tenant may, before the sale of such pro-
perty, redeem the same by tendering the rent and reasonable compensation
for work done, or he may replevy the same.
Exemption. — The same articles of personal property which are bylaw
exempt from execution, except the crops as above stated, is also exempt
from distress for rent.
If any tenant is about to or shall permit or attempt to sell and
remove from the premises, without the consent of his landlord, such
portion of the crops raised thereon as will endanger the lien of the land-
lord upon such crops, for the rent, it shall be lawful for the landlord to
distress before rent is due.
172 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
LIENS.
Any person who shall by contract^ express or implied, or partly both, [
with the owner of any lot or tract of land, furnish labor or material, or '
services as an architect or superintendent, in building, altering, repairing
or ornamenting any house or other building or appurtenance thereto on j
sucli lot, or upon any street or alley, and connected with such improve- ;
ments, shall have a lien upon the whole of such lot or tract of land, and
upon such house or building and appurtenances, for the amount due to ,
him for such labor, material or services. If the contract is expressed, and |
the time for the completion of the work is heyond three years from the com- '
mencement thereof ; or, if the time of payment is beyond one year from
the time stipulated for the completion of the work, then no lien exists.
If the contract is implied, then no lien exists, unless the work be done or \
material is furnished within one year from the commencement of the work '
or delivery of the materials. As between different creditors having liens, ;
no preference is given to the one whose contract was first made ; but each '
shares pro-rata. Incumbrances existing on the lot or tract of the land at
the time the contract is made, do not operate on the improvements, and
are only preferred to the extent of the value of the land at the time of
making the contract. The above lien can not be enforced unless suit is
commenced within six months after the last payment for labor or materials
shall have become due and payable. Sub-contractors, mechanics, workmen •
and other persons furnishing any material, or performing any labor for a
contractor as before specified, have a lien to the extent of the amount due
the contractor at the time the following notice is served upon the owner
of the land who made the contract:
To , You are hereby notified, that I have been employed by-
(here state whether to labor or furnish material, and substantially the
nature of the demand) upon your (here state in general terms description
and situation of building), and that I shall hold the (building, or as the
case may be), and your interest in the ground, liable for the amount that
may (is or may become) due me on account thereof. Signature,
Date,
If there is a contract in writing between contractor and sub-contractor,
a copy of it should be served with above notice, and said notice must be
served within forty days from the completion of such sub-contract, if there
is one ; if not, then from the time payment should have been made to the
person performing the labor or furnishing the material. If the owner is
not a resident of the county, or can not be found therein, then the above
notice must be filed with the clerk of the Circuit Court, with his fee, fifty
cents, and a copy of said notice must be published in a newspaper pub-
lished in the county, for four successive weeks.
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 173
"Wheu the owner or agent is notified as above, he can retain any
money due the contractor sufficient to pay such claim ; if more than one
claim, and not enough to pay all, they are to be paid pro rata.
The owner has the right to demand in writing, a statement of the
contractor, of what he owes for labor, etc., from time to time as the work
progresses, and on his failure to comply, forfeits to the owner ioO for
every offense.
The liens referred to cover any and all estates, whether in fee for
life, for years, or any other interest which the owner may have.
To enforce the lien of sub-contractors, suit must be commenced within
three months from the time of the performance of the sub-contract, or
during the work or furnishing materials.
Hotel, inn and hoarding-house keepers, have a lien upon the baggage
and other valuables of their guests or boarders, brought into such hotel,
inn or boarding-house, by their guests or boarders, for the proper charges
due from such guests or boarders for their accommodation, board and
lodgings, and such extras as are furnished at their request.
Stable-keepers and other persons have a lien upon the horses, car-
riages and harness kept by them, for the proper charges due for the keep-
ing thereof and expenses bestowed thereon at the request of the owner
or the person having the possession of the same.
Agisters (persons who take care of cattle belonging to others), and
persons keeping, yarding, feeding or pasturing domestic animals, shall
have a lien upon the animals agistered, kept, yarded or fed, for the proper
charges due for such service.
All persons who may furnish any railroad corporation in this state
with fuel, ties, material, supplies or any other article or thing necessary
for the construction, maintenance, operation or repair of its road by con-
tract, or may perform work or labor on the same, is entitled to be paid as
part of the current expenses of the road, and have a lien upon all its pro-
perty. Sub-contractors or laborers have also a lien. The conditions and
limitations both as to contractors and sub-contractors, are about the same
as herein stated as to general liens.
DEFINITION OF COMMERCIAL TERMS.
•f means dollars, being a contraction of U. S., which was formerly
placed before any denomination of money, and meant, as it means now,
United States Currency.
<£ means pounds, English money.
@ stands for at or to. lb iov pound, and bbl. for barrel; ^ iov per or
hy the. Thus, Butter sells at 20@30c ^ lb, and Flour at $8@12 "^ bbl.
% for per cent and # for number.
May 1.— Wheat sells at |1.20@1.25, *' seller June." Seller June
ir4 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
means that the person who sells the wheat has the privilege of delivering
it at any time during the month of June.
Selling short, is contracting to deliver a certain amount of grain or
stock, at a fixed price, within a certain length of time, when the seller
has not the stock on hand. It is for the interest of the person selling
"short," to depress the market as much as possible, in order that he may
buy and fill his contract at a profit. Hence the " shorts " are termed
" bears."
Buying long, is to contract to purchase a certain amount of grain or
shares of stock at a fixed price, deliverable within a stipulated time,
expecting to make a profit by the rise of prices. The "longs" are
termed "bulls," as it is for their interest to "operate" so as to "toss"
the prices upward as much as possible.
NOTES.
Form of note is legal, worded in the simplest way, so that the
amount and time of payment are mentioned.
$100. Chicago, 111., Sept. 15, 1876.
Sixty days from date I promise to pay to E. F. Brown,
or order. One Hundred dollars, for value received.
L. D. LowRY.
A note to be payable in any thing else than money needs only the
facts substituted for money in the above form.
ORDERS.
Orders should be worded simply, thus :
Mr. F. H. CoATS: Chicago, Sept. 15, 1876.
Please pay to H. Birdsall, Twenty-five dollars, and charge to
F. D. SiLVA.
RECEBPTS.
Receipts should always state when received and what for, thus:
$100. _ Chicago, Sept. 15, 1876.
Received of J. W. Davis, One Hundred dollars, for services
rendered in grading his lot in Fort Madison, on account.
Thomas Brady.
If receipt is in full it should be so stated.
BILLS OF PURCHASE.
W. N. Mason, Salem, Illinois, Sept. 15, 1876.
Bought of A. A. Graham.
4 Bushels of Seed Wheat, at $1.50 - - - - f6.00
2 Seamless Sacks " .30 - - .60
Received payment, $6.60
A. A. Graham.
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 176
ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT.
An agreement is where one party promises to another to do a certain
thing in a certain time for a stipulated sum. Good business men always
reduce an agreement to writing, which nearly always saves misunder-
standings and trouble. No particular form is necessary, but the facts must
be clearly and explicitly stated, and there must, to make it valid, be a
reasonable consideration.
GENERAL FORM OF AGREEMENT.
This Agreement, made the Second day of October, 1876, between
John Jones, of Aurora, County of Kane, State of Illinois, of the first part,
and Thomas Whiteside, of the same place, of the second part —
WITNESSETH, that the said John Jones, in consideration of the agree-
ment of the party of the second part, hereinafter contained, contracts and
agrees to and with the said Thomas Whiteside, that he will deliver, in
good and marketable condition, at the Village of Batavia, 111., during the
month of November, of this year. One Hundred Tons of Prairie Hay, in
the following lots, and at the following specified times ; namely, twenty-
five tons by the seventh of November, twenty-five tons additional by the
fourteenth of the month, twenty-five tons more by the twenty-first, and
the entire one hundred tons to be all delivered by the thirtieth of
November.
And the said Thomas Whiteside, in consideration of the prompt
fulfillment of this contract, on the part of the party of the first part,
contracts to and agrees with the said John Jones, to pay for said hay five
dollars per ton, for each ton as soon as delivered.
In case of failure of agreement by either of the parties hereto, it is
hereby stipulated and agreed that the party so failing shall pay to the
other, One Hundred Dollars, as fixed and settled damages.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands the day and
year first above written. John Jones,
Thomas Whiteside.
AGREEMENT WITH CLERK FOR SERVICES.
This Agreement, made the first day of May, one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-six, between Reuben Stone, of Chicago, County
of Cook, State of Illinois, party of the first part, and George Barclay, of
Englewood, County of Cook, State of Illinois, party of the second part —
WITNESSETH, that Said George Barclay agrees faithfully and dili-
gentl}'- to work as clerk and salesman for the said Reuben Stone, for
and during the space of one year from the date hereof, should both
live such length of time, without absenting himself from his occupation ;
176 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
during which time he, the said Barclay, in the store of said Stone, of
Chicago, will carefully and honestly attend, doing and performing all
duties as clerk and salesman aforesaid, in accordance and in all respects
as directed and desired by the said Stone.
In consideration of which services, so to be rendered by the said
Barclay, the said Stone agrees to pay to said Barclay the annual sum of
one thousand dollars, payable in twelve equal monthly payments, each
upon the last day of each month ; provided that all dues for days of
absence from business by said Barclay, shall be deducted from the sum
otherwise by the agreement due and payable by the said Stone to the said
Barclay.
Witness our hands. Reuben Stone.
George Barclay.
BILLS OF SALE.
A bill of sale is a written agreement to another party, for a consider-
ation to convey his right and interest in the personal property. The
purchaser must take actual possession of the property. Juries have
power to determine upon the fairness or unfairness of a bill of sale.
COMMON FORM OF BILL OF SALE.
Know all Men by this instrument, that I, Louis Clay, of Princeton,
Illinois, of the first part, for and in consideration of Five Hundred
and Ten dollars, to me paid by John Floyd, of the same place, of the
second part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have sold, and
by this instrument do convey unto the said Floyd, party of the second
part, his executors, administrators, and assigns, my undivided half of
ten acres of corn, now growing on the farm of Thomas Tyrrell, in the
town above mentioned ; one pair of horses, sixteen sheep, and five cows,
belonging to me, and in my possession at the farm aforesaid ; to have and
to hold the same unto the party of the second part, his executors and
assigns, forever. And I do, for myself and legal representatives, agree
with the said party of the second part, and his legal representatives, to
warrant and defend the sale of the afore-mentioned property and chattels
unto the said party of the second part, and his legal representatives,
against all and every person whatsoever.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my hand, this tenth day
of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Louis Clay.
BONDS.
/ A bond is a written admission on the part of the maker in which he
pledges a certain sum to another, at a certain time.
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
^ COMMON FORM OF BOND.
Know all Men by this instrument, that I, George Edgerton, of
Watseka, Irocxuois County, State of Illinois, am firmly bound unto Peter
Kirchoff, of the place aforesaid, in the sum of five hundred dollars, to be
paid to the said Peter Kirchoff, or his legal representatives ; to which
payment, to be made, I bind myself, or my legal representatives, by this
instrument.
Sealed with my seal, and dated this second day of November, one
thousand eight hundred and sixtj^-four.
The condition of this bond is such that if I, George Edgerton, my
heirs, administrators, or executors, shall promptly pay the sum of two
hundred and fifty dollars in three equal annual payments from the date
hereof, with annual interest, then the above obligation to be of no effect ;
otherwise to be in full force and valid.
Sealed and delivered in
presence of George Edgerton. [l.s.]
William Turner.
CHATTEL MORTGAGES.
A chattel mortgage is a mortgage on personal property for payment
of a certain sum of money, to hold the property against debts of other
creditors. The mortgage must describe the property, and must be
acknowledged before a justice of the peace in the township or precinct
where the mortgagee resides, and entered upon his docket, and must be
recorded in the recorder's office of the county.
GENERAL FORM OF CHATTEL MORTGAGE.
This Indenture, made and entered into this first day of January,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five,
between Theodore Lottinville, of the town of Geneseo in the County
of Henry, and State of Illinois, party of the first part, and Paul Henshaw,
of the same town, couuty, and State, part}^ of the second part.
Witnesseth, that the said party of the first part, for and in consider-
ation of the sum of one thousand dollars, in hand paid, the receipt whereof
is hereby acknowledged, does hereby grant, sell, convey, and confirm unto
the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns forever, all and
singular the following described goods and chattels, to wit :
Two three-year old roan-colored horses, one Burdett organ. No. 987,
one Brussels carpet, 15x20 feet in size, one marble-top center table, one
Home Comfort cooking stove, No. 8, one black walnut bureau with mirror
attached, one set of parlor chairs (six in number), upholstered in green
rep, wiih lounge corresponding with same in style and color of upholstery,
now in possession of said Lottinville, at No. 4 Prairie Ave., Geneseo, 111.;
178 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
Together with all and singular, the appurtenances thereunto "belong-
ing, or in any wise appertaining ; to have and to hold the above described
goods and chattels, unto the said party of the second part, his heirs and
assigns, forever.
Provided, always, and these presents are upon this express condition,
that if the said Theodore Lottinville, his heirs, executors, administrators,
or assigns, shall, on or before the first day of January, A.D., one thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six, pay, or cause to be paid, to the said Paul
Ranslow, or his lawful attorney or attorneys, heirs, executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, the sum of One Thousand dollars, together with the
interest that may accrue thereon, at the rate of ten per cent, per annum,
from the first day of January, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-five, until paid, according to the tenor of one promissory note
bearing even date herewith for the payment of said sum of money, that
then and from thenceforth, these presents, and everything herein con-
tained, shall cease, and be null and void, anything herein contained to the
contrary notwithstanding.
Provided, also, that the said Theodore Lottinville may retain the
possession of and have the use of said goods and chattels until the day
of payment aforesaid ; and also, at his own expense, shall keep said goods
and chattels ; and also at the expiration of said time of payment, if said
sum of money, together with the interest as aforesaid, shall not be paid,
shall deliver up said goods and chattels, in good condition, to said Paul
Ranslow, or his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns.
And provided, also, that if default in payment as aforesaid, by said
party of the first part, shall be made, or if said party of the second part
shall at any time before said promissory note becomes due, feel himself
unsafe or insecure, that then the said party of the second part, or his
attorney, agent, assigns, or heirs, executors, or administrators, shall have
the right to take possession of said goods and chattels, v/herever they
may or can be found, and sell the same at public or private sale, to the
highest bidder for cash in hand, after giving ten days' notice of the time
and place of said sale, together with a description of the goods and chat-
tels to be sold, by at least four advertisements, posted up in public places
in the vicinity where said sale is to take place, and proceed to make the
sum of money and interest promised as aforesaid, together with all. reason-
able costs, charges, and expenses in so doing ; and if there shall be any
overplus, shall pay the same without delay to the said party of the first
part, or his legal representatives.
In testimony whereof, the said party of the first part has hereunto
set his hand and affixed his seal, the day and year first above written.
Signed, sealed and delivered in
presence of Theodore Lottiistville. [l.s.]
Samuel J. Tilden.
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 179
LEASE OF FARM AND BUILDINGS THEREON.
This Indenture, made this second day of June, 1875, between David
Patton of the Town of Bisbee, State of Illinois, of the first part, and John
Doyle of the same place, of the second part,
Witnesseth, that the said David Patton, for and in consideration of
the covenants hereinafter mentioned and reserved, on the part of the said
John Doyle, his executors, administrators, and assigns, to be paid, kept,
and performed, hath let, and by these presents doth grant, demise, and
let, unto the said John Doyle, his executors, administrators, and assigns,
all that parcel of land situate in Bisbee aforesaid, bounded and described
as follows, to wit :
[^Here describe the land.~\
Together with all the appurtenances appertaining thereto. To have
and to hold the said premises, with appurtenances thereto belonging, unto
the said Doyle, his executors, administrators, and assigns, for the term of
five years, from the first day of October next following, at a yearly rent
of Six Hundred dollars, to be paid in equal payments, semi-annually, as
long as said buildings are in good tenantable condition.
And the said Doyle, by these presents, covenants and agrees to pay
all taxes and assessments, and keep in repair all hedges, ditches, rail, and
other fences ; (the said David Patton, his heirs, assigns and administra-
tors, to furnish all timber, brick, tile, and other materials necessary for
such repairs.)
Said Doyle further covenants and agrees to apply to said land, in a
farmer-like manner, all manure and compost accumulating upon said
farm, and cultivate all the arable land in a husbandlike manner, accord-
ing to the usual custom among farmers in the neighborhood ; he also
agrees to trim the hedges at a seasonable time, preventing injury from
cattle to such hedges, and to all fruit and other trees on the said premises.
That he will seed down with clover and timothy seed twenty acres yearly
of arable land, ploughing the same number of acres each Spring of land
now in grass, and hitherto unbroken.
It is further agreed, that if the said Doyle shall fail to perform the
whole or any one of the above mentioned covenants, then and in that
case the said David Patton may declare this lease terminated, by giving
three months' notice of the same, prior to the first of October of any
year, and may distrain any part of the stock, goods, or chattels, or other
property in possession of said Doyle, for sufficient to compensate for the
non-performance of the above written covenants, the same to be deter-
mined, and amounts so to be paid to be determined, by three arbitrators,
chosen as follows : Each of the parties to this instrument to choose one,
180 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
and the two so chosen to select a third ; the decision of said arbitrators
to be final.
In witness whereof, we have hereto set our hands and seals.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
in presence of David Patton. [l.s.]
James Waldron. John Doyle. [l.s.]
FORM OF LEASE OF A HOUSE.
This Instrument, made the first day of October, 1875, witnesseth
that Amos Griest of Yorkville, County of Kendall, State of Illinois, hath
rented from Aaron Young of Logansport aforesaid, the dwelling and lot
No. 13 Ohio Street, situated in said City of Yorkville, for five years
from the above date, at the yearly rental of Three Hundred dollars, pay-
able monthly, on the first day of each month, in advance, at the residence
of said Aaron Young.
At the expiration of said above mentioned term, the said Griest
agrees to give the said Young peaceable possession of the said dwelling,
in as good condition as when taken, ordinary wear and casualties excepted.
In witness whereof, we place our hands and seals the day and year
aforesaid.
Signed, sealed and delivered Amos Griest. [l.s.]
in presence of
Nickolas Schutz, Aaron Young, [l.s.]
Notary Public.
LANDLORD'S AGREEMENT.
This certifies that I have let and rented, this first day of January,
1876, unto Jacob Schmidt, my house and lot, No. 15 Erie Street, in the
City of Chicago, State of Illinois, and its appurtenances ; he to have the
free and uninterrupted occupation thereof for one year from this date, at
the yearly rental of Two Hundred dollars, to be paid monthly in advance ;
rent to cease if destroyed by fire, or otherwise made untenantable.
Peter Funk.
TENANT'S AGREEMENT.
This certifies that I have hired and taken from Peter Funk, his
house and lot. No. 15 Erie Street, in the City of Chicago, State of Illi-
nois, with appurtenances thereto belonging, for one year, to commence
this day, at a yearly rental of Two Hundred dollars, to be paid monthly
in advance ; unless said house becomes untenantable from fire or other
causes, in which case rent ceases ; and I further agree to give and yield
said premises one year from this first day of January 1876, in as good
condition as now, ordinary wear and damage by the elements excepted.
Given under my hand this day. Jacob Schmidt.
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 181
NOTICE TO OUIT.
To F. W. Aelen,
Sir : Please observe that the term of one year, for which the house
and land, situated at No. 6 Indiana Street, and now occupied by you,
were rented to you, expired on the first day of October, 1875, and as 1
desire to repossess said premises, you are hereby requested and required
to vacate the same. RespectfuUv Yours,
P. T. Baknum.
Lincoln, Neb., October 4, 1875.
TENANT'S NOTICE OF LEAVING.
Dear Sir:
The premises I now occupy as your tenant, at No. 6 Indiana Street,
I shall vacate on the first day of November, 1875. You will please take
notice accordingly.
Dated this tenth day of October, 1875. F. W. Arlen.
To P. T. Barnum, Esq.
REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE TO SECURE PAYMENT OF MONEY.
This Indenture, made this sixteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, between William
Stocker, of Peoria, County of Peoria, and State of Illinois, and Olla, his
wife, party of the first part, and Edward Singer, party of the second part.
Whereas, the said party of the first part is justly indebted to the said
party of the second part, in the sum of Two Thousand dollars, secured
to be paid by two certain promissory notes (bearing even date herewith)
the one due and payable at the Second National Bank in Peoria, Illinois,
with interest, on the sixteenth day of May, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three ; the other due and payable at the Second
National Bank at Peoria, 111., with interest, on the sixteenth day of May,
in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventj^-four.
Now, therefore, this indenture witnesseth, that the said party of the
first part, for the better securing the payment of the money aforesaid,
with interest thereon, according to the tenor and effect of the said two
promissory notes above mentioned ; and, also in consideration of the fur-
ther sum of one dollar to them in hand paid by the said party of the sec-
ond part, at the delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof is hereby
acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, and conveyed, and by these
presents do grant, bargain, sell, and convey, unto the said party of the
second part, his heirs and assigns, forever, all that certain parcel of land,
situate, etc.
{^Describing the premises.'\
To have and to hold the same, together with all and singular the
Tenements, Hereditaments, Privileges and Appurtenances thereunto
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
belonging or in any wise appertaining. And also, all the estate, interest,
and claim whatsoever, in law as well as in equity which the party of
the first part have in and to the premises hereby conveyed unto the said
party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, and to their only proper
use, benefit and behoof. And the said William Stocker, and 011a, his
wife, party of the first part, hereby expressly waive, relinquish, release,,
and convey unto the said party of the second part, his heirs, executors,
administrators, and assigns, all right, title, claim, interest, and benefit
whatever, in and to the above described premises, and each and every
part thereof, which is given by or results from all laws of this state per-
taining to the exemption of homesteads.
Provided always, and these presents are upon this express condition,
that if the said party of the first part, their heirs, executors, or adminis-
trators, shall well and truly pay, or cause to be paid, to the said party of
the second part, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, the afore-
said sums of money, with such interest thereon, at the time and in the
manner specified in the above mentioned promissory notes, according to
the true intent and meaning thereof, then in that case, these presents and
every thing herein expressed, shall be absolutely null and void.
In witness whereof, the said party of the first part hereunto set their
hands and seals the day and year first above written.
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of
James Whitehead, William Stocker. [l.s.]
Fred. Samuels. Olla Stocker. [l.s.]
WARRANTY DEED WITH COVENANTS.
This Indenture, made this sixth day of April, in the year of oui
Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, between Henry Best
of Lawrence, County of Lawrence, State of Illinois, and Belle, his wife,
of the first part, and Charles Pearson of the same place, of the second part.
Witnesseth, that the said party of the first part, for and in consideration
of the sum of Six Thousand dollars in hand paid by the said party of the
second part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted,
bargained, and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargain, and sell,
unto the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, all the fol-
lowing described Iot;, piece, or parcel of land, situated in the City of Law-
rence, in the County of Lawrence, and State of Illinois, to wit :
\_Here describe the property.~\
Together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances
thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining, and the reversion and
reversions, remainder and remainders, rents, issues, and profits thereof;
and all the estate, rignt, title, interest, claim, and demand whatsoever, of
the said party of the nrst part, either in law or equity, of, in, and to the
'~^-
/
r
EDiTOF? JOURNAL, ROCKFORD
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 185
above bargained premises, with the hereditaments and appurtenances.
To have and to hold the said premises above bargained and described,
with the appurtenances, unto the said party of the second part, his heirs
and assigns, forever. And the said Henry Best, and Belle, his wife, par-
ties of the first part, hereby expressly waive, release, and relinquish unto
the said party of the second part, his heirs, executors, administrators, and
assigns, all right, title, claim, interest, and benefit whatever, in and to the
above described premises, and each and every part thereof, which is given
by or results from all laws of this state pertaining to the exemption of
homesteads.
And the said Henry Best, and Belle, his wife, party of the first
part, for themselves and their heirs, executors, and administrators, do
covenant, grant, bargain, and agree, to and with the said party of the
second part, his heirs and assigns, that at the time of the ensealing and
deliver}^ of these presents they were well seized of the premises above
conveyed, as of a good, sure, perfect, absolute, and indefeasible estate of
inheritance in law, and in fee simple, and have good right, full power,
and' lawful authority to grant, bargain, sell, and convey the same, in
manner and form aforesaid, and that the same are free and clear from all
former and other grants, bargains, sales, liens, taxes, assessments, and
encumbrances of what kind or nature soever ; and the above bargained
premises in the quiet and peaceable possession of the said party of the
second part, his heirs and assigns, against all and every person or persons
lawfully claiming or to claim the whole or any part thereof, the said party
of the first part shall and will warrant and forever defend.
In testimony whereof, the said parties of the first part have hereunto
set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.
Signed, sealed and delivered
in presence of Henry Best, [l.s.]
Jerry Linklater. Belle Best. [l.s.]
QUIT-CLAIM DEED.
This Indenture, made the eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, between David Tour,
of Piano, County of Kendall, State of Illinois, party of the first part,
and Larry O'Brien, of the same place, party of the second part,
Witnesseth, that the said party of the first part, for and in considera-
tion of Nine Hundred dollars in hand paid by the said party of the sec-
ond part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and the said party
of the second part forever released and discharged therefrom, has remised,
released, sold, conveyed, and quit-claimed, and by these presents, does
remise, release, sell, convey, and quit-claim, unto the said party of the
second part, his heirs and assigns, forever, all the right, title, interest,
186 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
claim, and demand, which the said party of the first part has in and to
the following described lot, piece, or parcel of land, to wit :
[^Here describe the land.^
To have and to hold the same, together with all and singular the
appurtenances and privileges thereunto belonging, or in any wise there-
unto appertaining, and all the estate, right, title, interest, and claim
whatever, of the said party of the first part, either in law or equity, to
the only proper use, benefit, and behoof of the said party of the second
part, his heirs and assigns forever.
In witness whereof the said party of the first part hereunto set his
hand and seal the day and year above written.
Signed, sealed and delivered David Tour, [l.s.]
in presence of
Thomas Ashley.
The above forms of Deeds and Mortgage are such as have heretofore
been generally used, but the following are much shorter, and are made
equally valid by the laws of this state.
WARRANTY DEED.
The grantor (here insert name or names and place of residence), for
and in consideration of (here insert consideration) in hand paid, conveys
and warrants to (here insert the grantee's name or names) the following
described real estate (here insert description), situated in the County of
in the State of Illinois.
Dated this day of A. D. 18 .
QUIT CLAIM DEED.
The grantor (here insert grantor's name or names and place of resi-
dence), for the consideration of (here insert consideration) convey and
quit-claim to (here insert grantee's name or names) all interest in the
following described real estate (here insert description), situated in the
County of in the State of Illinois.
Dated this day of A. D. 18 .
MORTGAGE.
The mortgagor (here insert name or names) mortgages and warrants
to (here insert name or names of mortgagee or mortgagees), to secure the
payment of (here recite the nature and amount of indebtedness, showing
when due and the rate of interest, and whether secured by note or other-
wise), the following described real estate (here insert description thereof),
situated in the County of in the State of Illinois.
Dated this day of A. D. 18 .
RELEASE.
Know all Men by these presents, that I, Peter Ahlund, of Chicago,
of the County of Cook, and State of Illinois, for and in consideration of
One dollar, to me in hand paid, and for other good and valuable considera-
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
187
tions, the receipt whereof is hereby confessed, do hereby grant, bargain,
remise, convey, release, and quit-claim unto Joseph Carlin of Chicago,
of the County of Cook, and State of Illinois, all the right, title, interest,
claim, or demand whatsoever, I may have acquired in, through, or by a
certain Indenture or Mortgage Deed, bearing date the second day of Jan-
uary, A. D. 1871, and recorded in the Recorder's office of said county,
in book A of Deeds, page 46, to the premises therein described, and which
said Deed was made to secure one certain promissory note, bearing even
date with said deed, for the sum of Three Hundred dollars.
Witness my hand and seal, this second day of November, A. D. 1874.
Peter Ahlund. [l.s.]
State of Illinois, )
Cook County. ) * I, George Saxton, a Notary Public in
and for said county, in the state aforesaid, do hereby
certify that Peter Ahlund, personally known to me
as the same person whose name is subscribed to the
foregoing Release, appeared before me this day in
[ ^°skaI^^ ] person, and acknowledged that he signed, sealed, and
delivered the said instrument of writing as his free
and voluntary act, for the uses and purposes therein
set forth.
Given under my hand and seal, this second day of
November, A. D. 1874.
George Saxton, N. P.
GENERAL FORM OF WILL FOR REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY.
I, Charles Mansfield, of the Town of Salem, County of Jackson,
State of Illinois, being aware of the uncertainty of life, and in failing
health, but of sound mind and memory, do make and declare this to be
my last will and testament, in manner following, to wit:
First. I give, devise and bequeath unto my oldest son, Sidney H.
Mansfield, the sum of Two Thousand Dollars, of bank stock, now in the
Third National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the farm owned by myself
in the Town of Buskirk, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, with
all the houses, tenements, and improvements thereunto belonging ; to
have and to hold unto my said son, his heirs and assigns, forever.
Second. I give, devise and bequeath to each of my daughters, Anna
Louise Mansfield and Ida Clara Mansfield, each Two Thousand dollars in
bank stock, in the Third National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio, and also each
one quarter section of land, owned by myself, situated in the Town of
Lake, Illinois, and recorded in my name in the Recorder's office in the
county where such land is located. The north one hundred and sixty
acres of said half section is devised to my eldest daughter, Anna Louise.
188 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
Third. I give, devise and bequeath to my son, Frank Alfred Mans-
field, Five shares of Railroad stock in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
and my one hundred and sixty acres of land and saw mill thereon, situ-
ated in Manistee, Michigan, with all the improvements and appurtenances
thereunto belonging, which said real estate is recorded in my name in the
county where situated.
Fourth. I give to my wife, Victoria Elizabeth Mansfield, all my
household furniture, goods, chattels, and personal property, about my
home, not hitherto disposed of, including Eight Thousand dollars of bank
stock in the Third National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio, Fifteen shares in
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the free and unrestricted use, pos-
session, and benefit of the home farm, so long as she may live, in lieu of
dower, to which she is entitled by law ; said farm being my present place
of residence.
Fifth. I bequeath to my invalid father, Elijah H. Mansfield, the
income from rents of my store building at 145 Jackson Street, Chicago,
Illinois, during the term of his natural life. Said building and land there-
with to revert to my said sons and daughters in equal proportion, upon
the demise of my said father.
Sixth. It is also my will and desire that, at the death of my wife,
Victoria Elizabeth Mansfield, or at any time when she may arrange to
relinquish her life interest in the above mentioned homestead, the same
may revert to my above named children, or to the lawful heirs of each.
And lastly. I nominate and appoint as executors of this ray last will
and testament, my wife, Victoria Elizabeth Mansfield, and my eldest son,
Sidney H. Mansfield.
I further direct that my debts and necessary funeral expenses shaxl
be paid from moneys now on deposit in the Savings Bank of Salem, the
residue of such moneys to revert to my wife, Victoria Elizabeth Mansfield,
for her use forever.
In witness whereof, I, Charles Mansfield, to this my last will and
testament, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this fourth day of April,
eighteen hundred and seventy-two.
Signed, sealed, and declared by Charles
Mansfield, as and for his last will and
testament, in the presence of us, who,
at his request, and in his presence, and
in the presence of each other, have sub- >
scribed our names hereunto as witnesses
thereof.
Peter A. Schenck, Sycamore, Ills.
Frank E. Dent, Salem, Ills.
Cblarles Mansfield, [l.s.]
Charles Mansfield, [l.s.]
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS. 18'J
CODICIL.
Whereas I, Charles Mansfield, did, on the fourth day of April, one
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, make my last will and testa-
ment, I do now, by this writing, add this codicil to my said will, to be
taken as a part thereof.
Whereas, by the dispensation of Providence, my daughter, Anna
Louise, has deceased November fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three,
and whereas, a son has been born to me, which son is now christened
Richard Albert Mansfield, I give and bequeath unto him my gold watch,
and all right, interest, and title in lauds and bank stock and chattels
bequeathed to my deceased daughter, Anna Louise, in the body of this will.
In witness whereof, I hereunto place my hand and seal, this tenth
day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy -five.
Signed, sealed, published, and declared to"^
us by the testator, Charles Mansfield, as
and for a codicil to be annexed to his
last will and testament. And we, at
his request, and in his presence, and in
the presence of each other, have sub-
scribed our names as witnesses thereto,
at the date hereof.
Frank E. Dent, Salem, Ills.
John C. Shay, Salem, Ills.
CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS
May be legally made by electing or appointing^ according to the usages
or customs of the body of which it is a part, at any meeting held for that
purpose, two or more of its members as trustees, wardens or vestrymen, and
may adopt a corporate name. The chairman or secretary of such meeting
shall, as soon as possible, make and file in the office of the recorder of
deeds of the county, an affidavit substantially in the following form :
State of Illinois, )
County
>
I. , do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be),
that at a meeting of the members of the (here insert the name of the
church, society or congregation as known before organization), held at
(here insert place of meeting), in the County of , and State of
Illinois, on the day of , A.D. 18 — , for that purpose, the fol-
lowing persons were elected (or appointed) [here insert their names']
trustees, wardens, vestrymen, (or officers by whatever name thej^ may
choose to adopt, with powers similar to trustees) according to the rules
and usages of such (church, societ;y^ or congTegation), and said
190 ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
adopted as its corporate name (here insert name), and at said meeting
this affiant acted as (chairman or secretary, as the case may be).
Subscribed and sworn to before me, this day of , A.D.
18—- Name of Affiant
which affidavit must be recorded by the recorder, and shall be, or a certi-
fied copy made by the recorder, received as evidence of such an incorpo-
ration.
No certificate of election after the first need he filed for record.
The term of office of the trustees and the general government of the
society can be determined by the rules or by-laws adopted. Failure to
elect trustees at the time provided does not work a dissolution, but the
old trustees hold over. A trustee or trustees may be removed, in the
same manner by the society as elections are held by a meeting called for
that purpose. The property of the society vests in the corporation. The
corporation may hold, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, land not
exceeding ten acres, for the purpose of the society. The trustees have
the care, custody and control of the property of the corporation, and can,
when directed b}^ the society, erect houses or improvements, and repair
and alter the same, and may also when so directed by the society,
mortgage, encumber, sell and convey any real or personal estate belonging
to the corporation, and make all proper contracts in the name of such
corporation. But they are prohibited by law from encumbering or inter-
fering with any property so as to destroy the effect of any gift, grant,
devise or bequest to the corporation ; but such gifts, grants, devises oi
bequests, must in all cases be used so as to carry out the object intended
by the persons making the same. Existing societies may organize in the
manner herein set forth, and have all the advantages thereof.
SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE PURCHASING BOOKS BY SUBSCRIPTION.
The business of publishing books by subscription having so often been
brought into disrepute by agents making representations and declarations
not authorized by the publisher ; in order to prevent that as much as possi-
ble, and that there may be more general knowledge of the relation such
agents bear to their principal, and the law governing such cases, the fol-
lowing statement is made :
A subscription is in the nature of a contract of mutual promises, by
which the subscriber agrees to pay a certain sum for the work described ;
the consideration is concurrent that the publisher shall publish the booh
named, and deliver the same, for which the subscriber is to pay the price
named. ITie nature and character of the work is described in the prospectus
and by the sample shown. These should be carefully examined before sub-
scribing, as they are the basis and consideration of the promise to pay,
ABSTRACT OF I ILLINOIS STATE LAW:?. 191
and not the too often exaggerated statements of the agent ^ who is merely
employed to solicit subscriptions, for which he is usually paid a commissio7i
for each subscriber, and has no authority to change or alter the conditions
upon which the subscriptions are authorized to be made by the publisher.
Should the agent assume to agree to make the subscription conditional or
modify or change the agreement of the publisher, as set out by prospectus
and sample, in order to bind the principal, the subscriber should see that
sucli conditions or changes are stated over or in connection with his signa-
ture, so that the publisher may have notice of the same.
All persons making contracts in reference to matters of this kind, or
any other business, should remember that the laiv as to written contracts is,
that they can not be varied, altered or i-escinded verbally, but if done at all,
must be done in writing. It is therefore important that all persons contem-
plating subscribing should distinctly understand that all talk before or after
the subscription is made, is not admissible as evidence, and is no part of the
contract.
Persons employed to solicit .subscriptions are known to the trade as
canvassers. They are agents appointed to do a particular business in a
prescribed mode, and have no authority to do it in any other way to the
prejudice of their principal, nor can they bind their principal in any other
matter. They cannot collect money, or agree that payment may be made
in anything else but money. They can not extend the time of payment
beyond the time of delivery, nor bind their principal for the payment of
expenses incurred in their buisness.
It would save a great deal of trouble, and often serious loss, if persons,
before signing their names to any subscription book, or any written instru-
ment, would examine carefully what it is ; if they can not read themselves,
should call on some one disinterested who can,
6
192 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AND ITS AMENDMENTS.
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common
defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.
Article I.
Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and
House of Representatives.
Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of mem-
bers chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the
electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of
the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.
No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the
age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in
which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the sev-
eral states which may be included within this Union, according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole
number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.
The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first
meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subse-
quent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The
number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand,
but each state shall have at least one Representative ; and until such
enumeration shall be made the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled
to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plan-
tations one, Connecticut five. New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylva-
nia eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten. North Carolina five,
and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the
Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other
officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Sec. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
Senators from each state, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six years ;
and each Senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first
election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes.
The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expira-
AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 193
tion of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth
year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that
one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by
resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any state,
the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next
meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age
of thirty years and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he
shall be chosen.
The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President jot-o
tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise
the office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When
sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation. Vv'hen the
President of the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall preside.
And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds
of the members present.
Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of
honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party convicted
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment,
and punishment according to law.
Sec. 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for Sen-
ators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the Legis-
lature thereof; but the Congress may at any time hy law make or alter
such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by
law appoint a different day.
Sec. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the election, returns, and
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute
a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to
day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members
in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide.
Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its'
members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds,
expel a member.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to
time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment,
require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house
on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered
on the journal.
Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three da\'s, nor to any other
place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
Sec. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compen-
sation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the
treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason.
194 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their
attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and
returning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in either house
they shall not be questioned in any other place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United
States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall
have been increased during such time ; and no person holding any office
under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his
continuance in office.
Sec. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives ; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments
as on other bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and
the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President
( - the United States ; if he approve he shall sign it ; but if not he shall
return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have origi-
nated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and
proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration two-thirds of that
house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objec-
tions, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if
approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all
such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by j eas and nays,
and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered
on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned
by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted), after it shall have
been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he
had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its
return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a
question of adjournment), shall be presented to the President of the
United States, and before the same shall take effect shall be approved by
him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed by two-thirds of
the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and lim-
itations prescribed in the case of a bill.
Sec. 8. The Congress shall have power —
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts,
and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United
utates ; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout
the United States ;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States ;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
Str.tes, and with the Indian tribes ;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on
the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States ;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and
fix the standard of weights and measures ;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and
current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads ;
t
AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 195
To promote the progress of sciences and useful arts, by securing,
for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries ;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high
seas, and offenses against the law of nations ;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules
concerning captures on land and water ;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that
use shall be for a longer term than two years ;
To provide and maintain a navy ;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and
naval forces ;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions ;
To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the
United States, reserving to the states respectively the appointment of the
officers, and the authorit}" of training the militia according to the disci-
pline prescribed by Congress ;
To exercise legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not
exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the
acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United
States, and to exercise like authority over ail places purchased by the
consent of the Legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for
the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock yards, and other needful
buildings ; and
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any depart-
ment or officer thereof.
Sec. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the
states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited
by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight,
but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten
dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may
require it.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion
to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or rev-
enue to the ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels
bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in
another.
No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of
appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account of
the receipts and expeditures of all public money shall be published from
time to time.
196 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United. States : and no >[
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the i
consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title
of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
Sec. 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confeder-
ation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of (j
credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of |i
debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the
obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts
or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary
for executing its inspection laws, and the net produce of all duties and f
imposts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the ^
Treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the
revision and control of the Congress.
No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on a
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any i
agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or n
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will '.f
not admit of delay.
Article II. I
2
Section 1. The Executive power shall be vested in a President of tp
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term i^
of four years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same 5'
term, be elected as follows : J
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof
may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators j,
and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress; ;rj
but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or '
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. -
[ * The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by r,
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of
the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the
persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list they j
shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the government ,;
of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The Pres-
ident of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Rep- ■>
resentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted.
The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President,
if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ;
and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal
number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately :
choose by ballot one of them for President ; and if no person have a ma-
jority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like
manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the vote
shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one
vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members
from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be
necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, (
* This Clause between .brackets tias beeu superseded and aunulled by the Twelfth.amendment.
AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 197
the person having the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be
the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have
equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-Presi-
dent.]
The Congress may determine the time of choosing the Electors, and
the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the same
throughout the United States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United
States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible
to the ofSce of President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that
office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been
fourteen years a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death,
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-Pi;esident, and the Congress
may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inabil-
ity, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall
then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the dis-
ability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a com-
pensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the
period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive
within that period any other emolument from the United States or any of
them.
Before he enters on the execution of his office, he shall take the fol-
lowing oath or affirmation :
" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Sec. 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the army and
navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when
called into the actual service of the United States ; he may require the
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective
offices, and he shall have powei- to grant reprieves and pardon for offenses
against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present con-
cur ; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice of the Senate,
shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of
the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be
established by law ; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment
of such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, in
the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which
shall expire at the end of their next session.
Sec. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information
of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such mea-
sures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may on extraordinary
198 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES
occasions convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagree-
ment between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may |
adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive
ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be
faithfully executed, and shall commission all the ofiQcers of the United
States.
Sec. 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the
United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and con-
viction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article III.
Section I. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested
in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as the Congress may from
time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme and
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at
stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office.
Sec. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and
equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases
affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of "i
admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United
States shall be a party ; to controversies between two or more states ;
between a state and citizens of another state ; between citizens of differ-
ent states ; between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants
of different states, and between a state or the citizens thereof, and foreign
states, citizens, or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls,
and those in which a state shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have
original jurisdiction.
In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall
have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions
and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by
jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shali
have been committed ; but when not committed within an}'' state, the
trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have
directed.
Sec. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levy-
ing war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid
and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the tes-
timony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open
court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason,
but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture,
except during the life of the person attainted.
Article IV.
Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the ^
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And
AND ITS AMENDMENTS. l^'J
the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such
acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
Sec. 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several states.
A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime,
who shall flee from justice and be found in another stale, shall, on demand
of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered
up, to be removed to the state having jurisdicl'.on of the crime.
No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered
up on the claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
Sec. 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union ;
but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any
other state ; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states,
or parts of states, without the consent of the Legislatures of the states
concerned, as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging
to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed
as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular state.
Sec. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them
against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or of the Execu-
tive (when the Legislature can not be convened), against domestic vio-
lence.
Article V.
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the ap-
plication of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call
a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be
valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, when rati-
fied by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by con-
ventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratifi-
cation may be proposed by the Congress. Provided that no amendment
which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and
eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth
section of the first article ; and that no state, without its consent, shall
be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Article VI.
All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adop-
tion of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United States under
this Constitution as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the
land ; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in
the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the mem-
200
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
bers of the several state Legislatures, and all executive and judicial offi-
cers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound
by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no religious test
shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under
the United States.
Article VII.
The ratification of the Conventions of nine states shall be sufficient
for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying
the same.
Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the
seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the
United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have
hereunto subscribed our names.
GEO. WASHINGTON,
President and Deputy from Virginia.
New Hampshire.
John Langdon,
Nicholas Oilman.
Massachusetts.
Nathaniel Goeham,
RuFus King.
Connecticut.
Wm. Sam'l Johnson,
Roger Sherman.
Delaware.
Geo. Read,
John Dickinson,
Jaco. Broom,
Gunning Bedford, Jr.,
Richard Bassett.
Maryland.
James M'Henry,
Danl. Carroll,
Dan. of St. Thos. Jenifee.
New York.
Alexander Hamilton.
New Jersey.
WiL. Livingston,
Wm. Paterson,
David Brearley,
JoNA. Dayton.
Virginia.
John Blair,
James Madison, Jr.
North Carolina.
Wm. Blount,
Hu. Williamson,
Rich'd Dobbs Spaight.
Pennsylvania.
B. Franklin,
RoBT. Morris,
Thos. Fitzsimons,
James Wilson,
Thos. Mifflin,
Geo. Clymer,
Jared Ingersoll,
Gouv. Morris.
South Carolina.
j. rutledge,
Charles Pinckney,
Chas. Cotesworth Pinckney,
Pierce Butler.
G-eorgia.
William Few,
Abr. Baldwin.
WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.
PROPRIETOR gazette: AND POSTMASTER
ROCKFORD ILL.
AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 203
Articles m Addition to and Amendatory of the Constitution
OF THE United States of America.
Proposed hy Congress and ratified hy the Legislatures of the several statei,
pursuant to the fifth article of the original Constitution.
Article I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Article II.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Article III.
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be pre-
scribed by law.
Article IV.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be vio-
lated ; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched
and the persons or things to be seized.
Article V.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual
service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject
for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall
be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor
shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Article VI.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and
cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ;
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to
have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Article VII.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fpct
204 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United
States than according to the rules of the common law.
Article VIII.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Article IX.
The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Article X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively,
or to the people.
Article XI.
The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to
extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one
of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or sub-
jects of any foreign state.
Article XII.
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot
for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in their
ballots the person to be voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the
person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of
all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-
President, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall sign
and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United
States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the
Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives,
open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person
having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President,
if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ;
and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the
highest number not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by
ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be
taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; a
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-
thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to
a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a Presi-
dent whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the
fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as
President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of
the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-
President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be the majority
of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a major-
AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 205
itj; then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose
the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds
of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number
shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible
to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the
United States.
Article XIII.
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris-
diction.
Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro-
priate legislation.
Article XIV.
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and
of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.
Sec. 2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several states
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of per-
sons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed ; but when the right to
vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and Vice-
President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the execu-
tive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the Legislature
thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being
twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way
abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crimes, the basis of
representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the num-
ber of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens
twenty-one years of age in such state.
Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or
military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previ-
ously taken an oath as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of the
United States, or as a member of any state Legislature, or as an execu-
tive or judicial officer of any state to support the Constitution of the
United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the
same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may,
by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.
Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States author-
ized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and boun-
ties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be ques-
tioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall pay any debt
or obligation incurred in the aid of insurrection or rebellion against the
United States, or any loss or emancipation of any slave, but such debts,
obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.
206
CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES.
Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this act.
Article XV.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro-
priate legislation.
ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.
November 7, 1876.
COUNTIES.
■a ^•
S c 3
pa
CO
o rt
^S
CD O
go
5
-*^
'5?
X
'
<
COUNTIES.
hi
« 0) g
X Pi
-So
~K0
c
.-
a
<
4953
1219
1520
1965
944
3719
441
2231
1209
4530
2501
1814
1416
1329
2957
36548
1355
1145
3679
1928
1631
2129
2715
970
1145
1881
1601
966
4187
703
1695
1996
627
3496
330
1315
4177
3768
2040
6308
1280
1142
363
1495
2218
900
918
1618
3103
3287
2197
1541
1989
2822
39240
1643
1407
1413
1174
1357
1276
2883
466
2265
2421
742
1302
4669
1140
3160
1142
1433
4207
611
1015
1928
2578
2071
41
17
3550
2788
3120
3567
4554
2009
1553
1566
1231
2952
3465
6363
1115
2209
845
2486
3069
1245
3833
4665
1319
1541
1807
8055
1043
646
2357
1410
8912
980
4851
1522
910
2069
1140
4708
3198
2850
978
4372
650
2795
1911
1570
1297
3851
4770
1672
4505
1733
2134
2595
2782
4076
4730
2444
1430
1939
793
2811
1874
4410
1657
1428
1651
3013
8174
1672
1921
5443
800
1383
1316
4040
772
459
2589
1552
2838
1081
5847
1804
1269
8553
786
5891
2758
3171
2155
3031
936
1984
1671
1751
2066
2131
3999
1644
1568
2105
117U
37
268
114
39
209
135
86
20
347
34
518
10
90
7
201
109
28
104
95
5
48
117
35
3
Bond
17
43
183
145
"2
1
2
"li
Boone ,
Brown
Macoupin
Marshall..
1
111
74
604
207
236
112
132
102
277
38
129
65
746
94
25
161
61
43
57
204
391
89
282
1
108
770
1
7
■ "i
16
"2
3
■'i
6
9
■■3
3
■■"8
■"i
■■9
■4
Cass
3
Clark
7
Clay
Clinton
3
Cook
Crawford
....
3
Cumberland
Moultrie
DeKalb
Ogle
g
DeWitt
Dougl as
Pope
Du Page
Edgar
Piatt. ..
Pike
4
Efflngliam
Pulaski
Fayptte
14
2
55
27
641
29
115
182
841
96
99
26
44
3
288
207
138
39
482
469
133
677
41
70
237
■"is
1
130
Foru
Franklin
Richland
Fulton
Gallatin
Sangamon
Grundy
Hamilton
Shelby
Stark
Hardin
134
1
840
249
106
■■■4
14
1
Henderson
St. Clair
1
s
Tazewell
9
Jackson
Jasper
g
Jefferson
1346
1345
2907
1367
5398
2627
1869
5235
2619
6277
1198
3087
1667
2166
2276
893
2850
1363
524
2632
1647
6001
1329
2080
647
'"UQ
61
172
26
309
141
55
514
27
100
12
2
"2
■■■3
"5
2
"i
1
15
"6
Wabash
Warren
1
Jo Daviess
Johnson
Kane
White
4
Kankakee
Whiteside.
1
Kendall
Will
Knox
9
LaSalle
Woodford
4
Total
Lee
275958
257099
16951
157
Practical Rules for Every Day Use.
Hoiv to find the gain or loss per cent, when the cost and selling price
are given.
Rule. — Find the difference between the cost and selling price, which
will be the gain or loss.
Annex two ciphers to the gain or loss, and divide it by the cost
price ; the result will be the gain or loss per cent.
Hoio to change gold into currency.
Rule. — Multiply the given sum of gold by the price of gold.'
Hotv to change currency into gold.
Divide the amount in currency by the price of gold.
How to find each partner^ s share of the gain or loss in a copartnership
business.
Rule. — Divide the whole gain or loss by the entire stock, the quo-
tient will be the gain or loss per cent.
Multiply each partner's stock by this per cent., the result will be
each one's share of the gain or loss.
ITow to find gross and net weight and price of hogs.
A short and simple method for finding the net weight., or price of hogs,
when the gross weight or price is given, and vice versa.
Note.— It is generally assumed that tlie gross weight of Hogs diminlslied by 1-5 or 20 per cent,
of itself gives the net weight, and the net weight increased l>y yi or 25 per cent, of itself equals the
gross weight.
To find the net weight or gross price.
Multiply the given number by .8 (tenths.)
To find the gross weight or net price.
Divide the given number by .8 (tenths.)
How to find the capacity of a granary, bin, or wagon-bed.
Rule. — Multiply (by short method) the number of cubic feet by
6308, and point off one decimal place — the result will be the correct
answer in bushels and tenths of a bushel.
For only an approximate answer, multiply the cubic feet by 8, and
point off one decimal place.
Hoiv to find the cotitents of a corn-crib.
Rule. — Multiply the number of cubic feet by 54, short method, or
(207)
208 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.
by 4i ordinary method, and point off one decimal place — the result will
be the answer in bushels.
Note.— In estimating corn in Hie ear, the quality and the time it has been cribbed must be taken
into consideration, since corn will shrink considerably during the Winter and Spring. This rule generally holds
good for corn measured at the time it is cribbed, provided it is sound and clean.
How to find the contents of a cistern or tank.
Rule. — Multiply the square of the mean diameter by the depth (all
in feet) and this product by 5681 (short method), and point off one
decimal place — the result will be the contents in barrels of 31i gallons.
How to find the contents of a barrel or cask.
Rule. — Under the square of the mean diameter, write the length
(all in inches) in reversed order, so that its units will fall under the
TENS ; multiply by short method, and this product again by 430 ; point
off one decimal place, and the result will be the answer in wine gallons.
How to measure boards.
Rule. — Multiply the length (in feet) by the width (in inches) and
divide the product by 12 — the result will be the contents in square feet.
How to measure scantlings, joists, planks, sills, etc.
Rule. — Multiply the width, the thickness, and the length together
(the width and thickness in inches, and the length in feet), and divide
the product by 12 — the result will be square feet.
How to find the number of acres in a body of land.
Rule. — Multiply the length by the width (in rods), and divide the
product by 160 (carrying the division to 2 decimal jslaces if there is a
remainder) ; the result will be the answer in acres and hundredths.
When the opposite sides of a piece of land are of unequal length,
add them together and take one-half for the mean length or width.
How to find the number of square yards in a floor or wall.
Rule. — Multiply the length by the width or height (in feet), and
divide the product by 9, the result will be square yards.
How to find the number of bricks required in a building.
Rule. — Multiply the number of cubic feet by 22^.
The number of cubic feet is found by multiplying the length, height
and thickness (in feet) together.
Bricks are usually made 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and two inches
thick ; hence, it requires 27 bricks to make a cubic foot without mortar,
but it is generally assumed that the mortar fills 1-6 of the space.
How to find the number of shingles required in a roof.
Rule. — Multiply the number of square feet in the roof by 8, if the
shingles are exposed 4^ inches, or b}- 7 1-5 if exposed o inches.
To find the number of square feet, multiply the length of the roof by
twice the length of the rafters.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 209
To find the length of the rafters, at one-fourth pitch, multiply the
width of the building by .56 (hundredths) ; at one-third pitch, by .6
(tenths) ; at two-fifths pitch, by .64 (hundredths) ; at one-half
pitch, by .71 (hundredths). This gives the length of the rafters from
the apex to the end of the wall, and whatever they are to project must be
taken into consideration.
NOTK.— By >^ or H pitch is meant that the apex or comb of the roof is to be X or X the widtli of the
building Iiigrlier than the walls or base of the rafters.
How to reckon the cost of hay.
Rule. — Multiply the number of pounds by half the price per ton,
and remove the decimal point three places to the left.
Hoiv to measure grain.
Rule. — Level the grain ; ascertain the space it occupies in cubic
feet ; multiply the number of cubic feet by 8, and point off one place to
the left.
Note.— Exactness requires the addition to every three hundred bushels of one extra bushel.
The foregoing rule may be used for finding the number of gallons, by
multiplying the number of bushels by 8.
If the corn in the box is in the ear, divide the answer by 2, to find
the number of bushels of shelled corn, because it requires 2 bushels of ear
corn to make 1 of shelled corn.
Rapid rules for measuring la7id without instruments.
In measuring land, the first thing to ascertain is the contents of any
given plot in square yards ; then, given the number of yards, find out the
number of rods and acres.
The most ancient and simplest measure of distance is a step. Now,
an ordinary-sized man can train himself to cover one yard at a stride, on
the average, with sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes.
To make use of this means of measuring distances, it is essential to
walk in a straight line ; to do this, fix the eye on two objects in a line
straight ahead, one comparatively near, the other remote ; and, in walk-
ing, keep these objects constantly in line.
Farmers and others hy adopting the following simple and ingenious con-
trivance, may always carry with them the scale to construct a correct yard
measure.
Take a foot rule, and commencing at the base of the little finger of
the left hand, mark the quarters of the foot on the outer borders of the
left arm, pricking in the marks with indelible ink.
To find how many rods in length will make an acre, the tvidth being given.
Rule. — Divide 160 by the width, and the quotient will be the answer.
210 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.
How to find the number of acres in any plot of land, the number of rods
being given.
Rule. — Divide the number of rods by 8, multiply the quotient by 5,
and remove the decimal point two places lo the left.
The diameter being given, to find the circumference.
Rule. — Multiply the diameter by 3 1-7.
How to find the diameter, when the circumference is given.
Rule. — Divide the circumference by 3 1-7.
To find how many solid feet a round stick of timber of the same thick-
ness throughout will contain when squared.
Rule. — Square half the diameter in inches, multiply by 2, multiply
by the length in feet, and divide the product by 144.
General rule for measuring timber, to find the solid contents in feet.
Rule. — Multiply the depth in inches by the breadth in inches, and
then multiply by the length in feet, and divide by 144.
To find the number of feet of timber in trees with the bark on.
Rule. — Multiply the square of one-fifth of the circumference in
inches, by twice the length, in feet, and divide by ^44. Deduct 1-10 to
1-15 according to the thickness of the bark.
Howard's new rule for computing interest.
Rule. — The reciprocal of the rate is the time for which the interest
on any sum of money will be shown by simply removing the decimal
point two places to the left; for ten times that time, remove the point
one place to the left; for 1-10 of the same time, remove the point three
places to the left.
Increase or diminish the results to suit the time given.
Note.— The reciprocal of the rate is found by inverting tlie rate ; thus 3 per cent, per month, in-
verted, liecomes )^ of a month, or 10 days.
When the rate is expressed by one figure, always write it thus : 3-1,
three ones.
Rule for converting English into Am.erican currency.
Multiply the pounds, with the shillings and pence stated in decimals,
by 400 plus the premium in fourths, and divide the product by 90.
U. S. GOVERNMENT LAND MEASURE.
A township — 36 sections each a mile square.
A section — 640 acres.
A quarter section, half a mile square — 160 acres.
An eighth section, half a mile long, north and south, and a quarter
of a mile wide — 80 acres.
A sixteenth section, a quarter of a mile square — 40 acres.
MISCELLANEOUS INFOIIMATION. 211
The sections are all numbered 1 to 36, commencing at the north-east
corner.
The sections are divided into quarters, which are named by the
cardinal points. The quarters are divided in the same way. The de-
scription of a forty acre lot would read : The south half of the west half of
the south-west quarter of section 1 in township 24, north of range 7 west,
or as the case might be ; and sometimes will fall short and sometimes
overrun the number of acres it is supposed to contain.
The nautical mile is 795 4-5 feet longer than the common mile.
SURVEYORS' MEASURE.
7 92-100 inches make 1 link.
25 links " 1 rod,
4 rods " 1 chain.
80 chains " 1 mile.
Note. — A chain is 100 links, equal to 4 rods or Q6 feet.
Shoemakers formerly used a subdivision of the inch called a barley-
corn ; three of which made an inch.
Horses are measured directly over the fore feet, and the standard of
measure is four inches — called a hand.
In Biblical and other old measurements, the term span is sometimes
used, which is a ler.gth of nine inches.
The sacred cubit of the Jews was 24.024 inches in length.
The common cubit of the Jews was 21.704 inches in length.
A pace is equal to a yard or 36 inches.
A fathom is equal to 6 feet.
A league is three miles, but its length is variable, for it is strictly
speaking a nautical term, and should be three geographical miles, equal
to 3.45 statute miles, but when used on land, three statute miles are said
to be a league.
In cloth measure an aune is equal to li yards, or 45 inches.
An Amsterdam ell is equal to 26.796 inches.
A Trieste ell is equal to 25.284 inches.
A Brabant ell is equal to 27.116 inches.
HOW TO KEEP ACCOUNTS.
Every farmer and mechanic, whether he does much or little business,
should keep a record of liis transactions in a clear and systematic man-
ner. For ihe benefit of those who have not had the opportunity' of ac-
quiring a primary knowledge of the principles of book-keeping, we liere
present a simple form of keeping accounts which is easily comprehended,
und well adapted to record the business transactions of farmers, mechanics
and laborers.
212
MISCELLAI?EOUS INFORMATION.
1875.
A. H. JACKSON.
Dr.
Cr.
Jan. 10
" 17
Feb. 4
a 4
March 8
8
" 13
" 27
April 9
9
May 6
24
July 4
To 7 bushels Wheat ...at $1.25
By shoeing span of Horses
To 14 bushels Oats.. at $ .45
Too lbs. Butter at .25
By new Harrow
By sharpening 2 Plows
By new Double-Tree
To Cow and Calf
To half ton of Hay
By Cash
By repairing Corn-Planter —
To one Sow with Pigs
By Cash, to balance account .-
48
6
17
50
05
18
2
25
4
35
$88
50
00
40
25
00
75
15
05
1875.
CASS A MASON.
Dr.
Cr.
March 21
" 21
" 23
1
1
19
26
10
29
12
12
1
May
i(
June
(1
July
Aug.
Sept.
By 3 days' labor ..at $1.25
To 2 Shoats at 3.00
To 18 bushels Corn at .45
By 1 month's Labor
To Cash
By 8 days' Mowing at $1.50
To 50 lbs. Flour
To 27 lbs. Meat ...at$ .10
By 9 days' Harvesting at 2.00
By 6 days' Labor at 1.50
To Cash..-.
To Cash to balance account
10
2
2
20
18
$67
(0
S3
25
42
18
9
$67
75
00
00
00
00
75
INTEREST TABLE.
A SIMPLK RULE KOR ACCURATELY COMPUTINO INTEREST AT ANY GIVEN PeK CENT. KOK ANY
Length op Time.
Multiply the principal (amount of money at interest) by the time reduced to days; then divide this product
by the quoUcdt obtained by dividing 360 (the number of days in the interest year) by the per c<?nt. of interest,
undthe quotient thus obtained will be tlie required interest.
illustration. Solution.
Require the interest of $463.50 for one month and eighteen days at 6 per cent. An
interest montli is 30 days; one montli and eighteen days equal 48 days. $4b3.50 multi-
plied by .48 gives s;3'>30000; 360divided by 6 (the per cent, of interest) gives 60, and
' " ' . . . . -^, -.- . ^., — ^ If the rar "
$462.50
.48
l233.0d00di'vided by 60 will give vou tlie exact interest, whicn is .$3.70. If the rare of 370000
interest in the ai)ove example were 12 per cent., we would divide the $222.0000 by 30 6)360 , 185000
(because 360 divided by 12 gives .30); if 4 per cent., we would divide by 90; If 8 per
cent., by 45: and iu like manner for any other per cent. 60/$222.0000(S3.70
180
420
420
"oo
MISCELLANEOUS TABLE.
12 units or things, 1 Dozen. I 196 pounds, 1 Barrel of Flour. I 24 sheets of paper. 1 Quire.
12 dozen, 1 Gross. 300 pounds, 1 Barrel of Pork. 20 quires paper 1 Ream.
80 things 1 Score. 56 pounds. 1 Firliin of Butter. 4 ft. wide, 4 ft. high, and 8 ft. long, I Cord Wood.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 213
NAMES OF THE STATES OF THE UNION, AND THEIR SIGNIFICATIONS.
Virginia. — The oldest of the States, was so called in honor of Queen
Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen," in whose reign Sir Walter Raleigh made
his first attempt to colonize that region.
Florida. — Ponce de Leon landed on the coast of Florida on Easter
Sunday, and called the country in commemoration of the day, which was
the Pasqua Florida of the Spaniards, or " Feast of Flowers."
Louisiana was called after Louis the Fourteenth, who at one time
owned that section of the country.
Alabama was so named by the Indians, and signifies " Here we Rest."
Mississippi is likewise an Indian name, meaning " Long River."
Arkansas^ from Kansas, the Indian word for " smoky water." Its
prefix was really arc, the French word for " bow."
The Carolinas were originally one tract, and were called "Carolana,"
after Charles the Ninth of France.
Greorgia owes its name to George the Second of England, who first
established a colony there in 1732.
Tennessee is the Indian name for the " River of the Bend," i. e., the
Mississippi which forms its western boundary.
Kentucky is the Indian name for " at the head of the river."
Ohio means "• beautiful ; " Iowa, " drowsy ones ; " Minnesota., " cloudy
water," and Wisconsin., "wild-rushing channel."
Illinois is derived from the Indian word illini., men, and the French
suffix ols, together signifying " tribe of men."
Michigari was called by the name given the lake, fish-weir., which was
so styled from its fancied resemblance to a fish trap.
Missouri is from the Indian word " muddy," which more properly
applies to the river that flows through it.
Oregon owes its Indian name also to its principal river.
Cortes named California.
Massachusetts is the Indian for " The country around the great hills."
Connecticut., from the Indian Quon-ch-ta-Cut, signifying "Long
River."
Maryland., after Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles the First, of
England.
iVew York was named by the Duke of York.
Pennsylvania means " Penn's woods," and was so called after William
Penn, its orignal owner.
214
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.
Delaware after Lord De La Ware.
New Jersey, so called in honor of Sir George Carteret, who was
Governor of the Island of Jersey, in the British Channel.
Maine was called after the province of Maine in France, in compli-
ment of Queen Henrietta of England, who owned that province.
Vermont, from the French word Vert Mont, signifying Green
Mountain.
New Hampshire, from Hampshire county in England. It was
formerly called Laconia.
The little State of Rhode Island owes its name to the Island of
Rhodes in the Mediterranean, which domain it is said to greatly
resemble.
Texas is tlie American word for the Mexican name by which all that
section of the country was called before it was ceded to the United States.
POPULATION OF THE
UNITED STATES.
States ano Tkbritouies.
Alabama
AiKaiis.is
Calif Driiia
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraslia
Nevaila
New Hampshire.
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina ..
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina...
T'niiessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wiscousiu
Total States.,
Arizona
Coloiada
I>.iUofa
District of Columbia.
Idaho
Montana
New Mexico
Utah ..
Washington
Wyoming
Total Territories
Total United States
38:n3,a53
9,658
39,864
14,181
131.700
14,999
20,59,5
91,874
86.786
23.9.'j.5
9,118
442,730
38,555,983
POPULATION OF FIFTY
PRINCIPAL CITIES.
Aggregate
Population.
New York. N. Y
Philadelphia, Pa
Brooklyn, N. Y
St. Louis, Mo
CUicago, 111
Baltimore, Md ,
Boston, Mass
Cincinnati, Ohio
New Orleans, La. ..
San Francisco, Cal..
ButTalo, N. Y ,
Washington, D. C...
Newark, N. J
Louisville, Ky
Cleveland, Ohio
Pittsburg, Pa
Jersey City, N. J ...
Detroit, Mich
Milwaukee, Wis
Albany, N. Y
Providence. R. I
Rochester, N. Y
Allegheny, Pa
Richmond, Va
New Haven, Conn.,
Charleston, S. C
Indianapolis, Ind...
Troy, N. Y
Syracuse, N. Y ,
Worcester, Mass...
Lowell, Mass
Memphis, Tenn
Cambridge, Mass. . ,
Hartford, Conn
Srranton, Pa
Reading, Pa
Paterson, N. J
Kansas City, Mo...
Mobile, Ala
Toledo. Ohio
Portl ,1/1(1. Me
Columiuis, Ohio
Wilmington, Del...
Dayton, Ohio
Lawrence, Mass
Utica, N. Y
Charlestown, Mass
Savannah, Ga
Lynn. Mass
Fall River, Mass...
942,
674,
396,
310,
298.
267,
250,
216,
191,
149,
117,
109,
105,
100.
92,
86,
82.
79,
71,
69,
68,
62,
53,
51.
50,
48,
48,
46,
43,
41,
40,
40.
39,
37,
3,5,
33,
33,
32,
32,
31
31
31
30
30
28
28
28,
2S,
292
022
099
864
977
354
526
239
418
473
714
199
059
753
829
076
546
577
440
422
904
386
180
038
840
956
244
465
051
105
928
226
634
180
092
930
579
,260
,034
,584
,413
274
841
,473
,921
804
323
235
,233
,766
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.
21^
POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.
Ar>'a ill
Status and s(iu;ire
Terkitokiks. Mil
States.
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Coiinectirut
Delaware
Floiida
Georgia
Illinois
Imliaua
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Mi=safliv.si'tts...
Miclii^ran*
Muinp-:ata
Mississ ppi
IMissou) i
Nebraska
Xevad I
Now Haniiibhire.
New .leiM'V
New York
North Carolina..
Ohio
Oregon
* Last Census
I'OPIT.ATION
1,3.'')0,544
538,349
857,039
990,992
484.4'n
560,^47
537,454
12.5,015
187,748
1.184,109
:;i,5:-!9,891
1.(180,637
1.191.70',>
304,399
l,3J1.0n
720,915
026,915
780,894
1,4.57.351
1.184,059
439,700
827.922
1,721.295
123.993
42,491
318.300
900,096
4,382,759
1,071,361
2,66.5.260
90,923
Michigan taken in 1874
Miles
K. K.
1875. 1872
1,651,912
1,334.031
598,429
246,280
52,540
1,026,502
4,705,208
671
25
013
820
227
466
108
904
529
160
760
123
539
871
820
606
235
,61:;
990
,581)
82 S
59:^;
■i90
,265
,470
,190
,740
lo9
States and
Tkkritories.
States.
Pennsylvania
Rliode IslaTul
South Carolina...
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Total States
Territories.
Arizona
Colorado
Dakota
Dist. of Columbia.
Idaho
Montana
New Mexico
Utah
Wasliington
Wyoming
Total Territories.
Area in
squaro
Mile,s.
46,
1,
29,
45,
237,
10,
40,
23,
53,
1,950,171
113,916
104,.50O
147,490
60
90,932
143.776
121,201
80.056
69.944
93,107
I'OPri.ATION.
1870.
3,521,
70.5,
1,258,
818,
3:i0,
1,22.5,
442
1,054
38,113,253
9,658
39,864
14,181
131,700
14,999
20,595
91.874
86.786
23.955
9,118
965,032 442,730
1875.
258,239
925,145
1,236,729
Miles
R. R.
1872.
5,113
136
1.201
1,520
865
675
1,490
485
1,725
59,587
375
■■■498
1,265
Aggregate of U. S.. 2,915,203'38,555,983 I 60,852
• Included in the Railroad Mileage of Maryland.
PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD;
l^OPULATION AND ArEA,
Countries.
Population.
China
British Empire
Russia
United States with Alaska
France
Austria and Hungary
.lapan
(treat Britain and Ireland
German Empire
Italy
Spain
Brazil
Turkey
Mexico
Sweden and Norway
Persia
Belgium
Bavaria
Portugal
Holland
'- ew Grenada
Chili
Switzerland
Peru
Bolivia
A.rgentine Republic
Wurtemburg
Denmark
Venezuela
Baden
G reece
Guatemala
Ecuador
Paraguay
Hesse ,
Liberia ,
San Salvador
Hayti ..
Nicaragua
Uruguay
Honduras
S;vn Domingo
Costa Rica
Hawaii
446,
226,
81
38
36.
35,
34,
31
29
27.
16
10
16.
9,
5,
5,
5,
4,
3,
3,
3,
2,
2,
2,
2,
1,
1
1
I,
1
1
1
1
1
500 000
817,108
925,4'io
925,600
469,800
904,400
785,300
817.100
906.092
439,921
642,000
000, OdO
463,000
173,000
921.500
000,000
021,300
861.400
99,5,200
688.300
000.000
000.000
669,100
500,000
000.000
,812,000
,818,500
,784.700
500,000
,461,400
,457.900
180,000
,300,000
,000,000
823,138
718,000
600,000
572,000
350,000
300,000
350,000
136,000
165,000
62,950
Date of
Census.
1871
1871
1871
1870
1866
1869
1871
1871
1871
1871
1867
1869
1870
1870
1869
1871
1868
1870
1870
1869
1870
1871
■1869
1871
1870
1871
1870
1871
"isVi
1871
1871
1871
1871
1871
1876
Area In
Square
ftfiles.
3,741,846
4,677,432
8,003,778
^,603.884
201.091
240.348
149,399
121,315
160,207
118,847
195,775
3,253.029
672,621
761,526
292,871
635,964
11,373
29,292
34,494
12,680
357,157
132.616
15,992
471,838
497.321
871,848
7,533
14,753
368,238
5,912
19,353
40,879
218,928
63,787
2,969
9,576
7,335
10,205
58,171
66,722
47.092
17,827
21,505
7.633
Inhabitants
to Square
Mile.
119.3
48.6
10.2
7.78
178.7
149.4
232.8
262.3
187.
230.9
85.
3.07
24.4
20.
7.8
441.5
165.9
115.8
290.9
8.4
15.1
166.9
5.3
4.
2.1
241.4
130.9
4.2
247.
75.3
28.9
5.9
15.6
277.
74.9
81.8
56.
6.
6.5
7.4
7.6
7.7
80.
Pekin
London
St. Petersburg..
Washington
Paris
Vienna
Yeddo
London
Berlin
Rome
Madrid
Rio Janeiro
Constantinople .
Mexico
Stockholm
Teheran
Brussels
Municli ,
Lisbon
Hague
Bogota
Santiago ,
Berne
Lima ,
Chuquisaca
Buenos Ayres..
Stuttgart
Copenliagen
Caraccas
Carlsruhe ,
Athens
Guatemala
(Juito
Asuncion
Darmstadt
Monrovia
Sal Salvador...
Port au Prince
Managua
Monte Video...
Comayagua —
San Domingo...
San Jose
Honolulu
Population.
1,648,800
3,251,800
667,000
109,199
1,825,300
833,900
1,554,900
3,251,800
825,400
244,484
332,000
420,000
1,075,000
210.. 300
136.900
120,000
314,100
169.500
224,063
90,100
45,000
115,400
36,000
160,100
25,000
177.800
91,600
162,042
47,000
36,600
43,400
40,000
70,000
48,000
30,000
3,000
15,000
20,000
10,000
44.500
12,000
20,000
2,000
7,633
216
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
POPUIiATION OF ILLINOIS,
By Counties.
COUNTIES.
Adams
Alexander. .
Bond
Boone
Brown
Bureau
Calhoun
Carroll
Cass -
Champaign.
Christian ..
Clark
Clay
Clinton
Coles
Cook
Crawford
Cumberland
De Kalb.--
De Witt...
Douglas
Du Page
Edgar
Edwards
Effingham..
Fayette
Ford
Franklin
Fulton
Gallatin
Greene
Grundy
Hamilton ..
Hancock
Hardin
Henderson .
Henry
Iroquois
Jackson
Jasper
Jefferson
Jersey
Jo Daviess.
Johnson
Kane
Kankakee..
Kendall
Knox
Lake
La Salle
Lawrence..
Lee
Livingston .
Logan
AGGREGATE.
1870. I860. 1850. 1840. 1830. 1830
56362
10564
13152
12942
12205
32415
6562
16705
II580
32737
20363
18719
15875
16285
25235
349966
13889
12223
23265
14768
13484
16685
21450
7565
15653
19638
9103
12652
38291
II134
20277
14938
13014
35935
5113
12582
35506
25782
19634
11234
17864
15054
27820
1 1 248
39091
24352
12399
39522
21014
60792
12533
27171
31471
23053
41323
4707
9815
11678
9938
26426
5144
"733
11325
14629
10492
14987
9336
1 094 1
14203
144954
11551
8311
10820
7140
14701
16925
5454
7816
11189
1979
9393
33338
8055
16093
10379
9915
29061
3759
9501
20660
12325
9589
8364
12965
12051
27325
9342
30062
15412
13074
28663
18257
48332
9214
17651
11637
14272
26508
2484
6144
7624
7198
8841
3231
4586
7253
2649
3203
9532
4289
5139
9335
43385
7135
3718
7540
5002
9290
10692
3524
3799
8075
5681
22508
5448
12429
3023
6362
14652
2887
4612
3807
4149
5862
3220
8109
7354
18604
4114
16703
7730
13279
14226
17815
618I
5-3 9*
1553
5128
14476
3313
5060
1705
4183
3067
1741
1023
2981
1475
1878
7453
3228
3718
9616
10201
4422
1697
3247
3535
8225
3070
1675
6328
3682
13142
10760
11951
3945
9946
1378
1260
1695
3566
1472
5762
4535
6180
3626
6501
7060
2634
9348
7092
2035
759
2333
2186
1390
3124
1090
3940
755
2330
3117
4071
1649
2704
4083
1841
7405
7674
2616
483
41
1828
2555
2111
1596
274
'3668
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.
217
POPULATION OF ILLINOIS— Concluded.
COUNTIES.
Macon
Macoupin...
Madison
Marion
Marshall
Mason
Massac
McDonough.
McHenry . ..
McLean
Menard
Mercer
Monroe
Montgomery
Morgan
Moultrie
Ogle
Peoria
Perry
Piatt .-
Pike
Pope.
Pulaski
Putnam
Randolph
Richland
Rock Island
Saline
Sangamon ..
Schuyler
Scott
Shelby
Stark
St. Clair
Stephenson..
Tazewell
Union
Vermilion
Wabash
Warren
Washington.
Wayne
White
Whitesides ..
Will. ,
Williamson.
Winnebago.
Woodford..
Total..
AGGRKGATB.
1870. 1860. 1850. 1840. 1830. 1820
26481
32726
4413I
20622
16950
16184
9581
26509
23762
53988
II735
18769
12982
25314
2S463
10385
27492
47540
13723
10953
30768
II437
875^
6280
20859
12803
29783
12714
46352
17419
10530
25476
IO75I
51068
30608
27903
1651S
30388
8841
23174
17599
19758
16846
27503
43013
17329
29301
18956
2539891
13738
24602
31251
12739
13437
IO931
6213
20069
22089
28772
9584
15042
12832
13979
22II2
6385
22888
36601
9552
6127
27249
6742
3943
5587
17205
9711
21005
9331
32274
14684
9069
14613
9004
37694
25112
21470
11181
19800
7313
18336
13731
12223
12403
18737
29321
12205
24491
13282
1711951
3988
12355
20441
6720
5180
5921
4092
7616
14978
10163
6349
5246
7679
6277
16064
3234
10020
17547
5278
1606
1S819
3975
2265
3924
1 1079
4012
6937
5588
19228
10573
7914
7807
3710
20180
1 1666
12052
7615
11492
4690
8176
6953
6825
8925
5361
16703
7216
11773
4415
851470
3039
7926
14433
4742
1849
5308
2578
6565
4431
2352
4481
4490
19547
3479
6153
3222
11728
4094
2131
7944
2610
14716
6972
6215
6659
1573
13631
2800
7221
5524
9303
4240
6739
4810
5133
7919
2514
10167
4457
4609
476183
1122
1990
6221
2125
{b)
26
2000
2953
12714
1215
2396
3316
<ri3IO
4429
12960
b2qS9
2972
7078
4716
3239
5836
2710
308
1675
2553
6091
1574^5
f-<J«f!»-j-,-
PRODUCTIONS OF AGRICULTURE, STATE OF ILLINOIS, BY C0UNTIES.-I870.
ImiHoved
Land.
Number.
19.329.953
Woodl'iid
other un-
improved
Spring
Wheat.
Bushels.
10,133.207
Winter
Wheat.
Rye.
Indian
Corn.
Jiushels.
129;921.39.-
Oats.
COUNTIES.
Total
Nnmljfi .
5,061.578
N'uinber.
1.491.331
Bnsiiels.
19 99.5.198
Bushels.
2456.578
Jiushels.
*2. 780. 851
287,926
1:1 836
145,045
137.307
57,062
398.611
37,684
186,864
92.902
419,368
241,472
118.594
146.922
150,177
208,337
348.824
105,505
75,342
334,503
168,539
147,633
164,874
,^65,458
58,913
120,343
187,196
141,238
80,749
238,l:i2
49,573
175,408
193,999
88,996
311,517
28.117
140,954
265,904
322,510
78,548
90,867
118,951
94,147
1^6,517
57,820
240,120
312,183
164.004
330,839
207,779
533,734
87,831-
322,213
377,505
321,709
205,256
231, 05t.
257,033
173.081
166,057
209,45:d
25.151
261.635
330.566
494.978
134,173
322.80S'
92.810
276,682
293,450
144,220
316,883
170,729
9:1754
94,454
233 785
55,980
19,319
37,271
140,764
75,079
15.5,214
73,309
421,748
90,195
85,331
310,179
138,129
231,117
254,857
229,126
75,832
360,251
54,063
266.187
177.592
147,352
92,398
289,809
419,443
128,448
241,373
325,504
112,576
17,761
42,613
29,886
35,491
41,866
63.443
29,793
33,493
16,789
19,803
102,201
80,612
48,868
45,314
19,635
78,350
40,334
17,723
29,548
11,897
17,243
66,803
57,585
56.330
9;1460
2,996
3,994
123.833
68,750
9:1243
6,256
93,878
43,385
44,771
34,705
12,620
22,478
87,643
67,033
94,888
51,427
82.07(,
34,646
10,978
34,244
41,566
21,073
48,lli
72.738
12,071
12,463
17,394
18,153
81,324
89,450
61,579
28,2611
31,739
33,39(i
52,547
53,293
40,361
34.931
45,977
83,369
47,804
60,217
24,783
43,643
48,666
68,470
,5,978
128,953
87,754
12,516
17,184
162.274
50,618
81,239
70.393
51,085
62,477
44,633
74,908
12.375
76,591
4:1167
45,268
83,606
5:1078
37,558
27,294
55,852
146,794
78.167
21.823
24,361
116,949
37,238
25,217
19,370
i;915
2.658
25.608
15.803
2,754
33,302
6,604
58, .502
19.173
5,430
5,235
8,733
3,3 74
17,337
27,185
5,604
6,551
17,633
7,316
3.851
14,283
830
26,206
16.786
63.976
86,710
4,076
3.565
29.653
4,505
3,343
18,480
107
14,243
31,459
6:1498
5.991
12,250
778
1,363
45,779
79,141
399
10,598
2.283
25,155
24.399
2,35(^
3,273
7,409
41,788
40»
9,115
7,34;^
13,675
4,142
2.976
31,013
30
14,03.0
57.998
49,087
13,9.53
22,588
666
8,495
1,376
13,113
14.913
3,516
220
13,897
9.302
16,191
700
241,042
1,3,276
465,236
75
418,073
13,165
103.577
18,360
947.616
42,658
368.625
599
11 7. .502
724
221,298
260
127,054
12:1091
504,041
195.118
85,737
61b.8bi8
154.485
4,904
212.924
84,697
190
11,695
65,461
693
247.360
122.703
195.716
351.310
1.008
111.324
223,930
8:1093
577.400
150
92,347
232,75(1
32,306
69,063
445
10,480
329.036
87.808
100.55-3
558,367
555
92,191
325
480
1,249
7,654
221
2,193
264,134
2,260
1,339
40,96;<
196,613
861,39b
1,207,181
17:165X
901)
125,628
72.316
36,146
270
10,95.'
45.793
13,20:i
651,767
744.891
357,523
196,436
5,5811
31,84:d
350,446
39,763
1 057,497
70,457
44,923
796
1,031,022
150,268
2.27P
8:1011
247.658
165.724
266.105
453,015
1,563 631
2,118
72,410
180.231
249,558
202.201
5,712
672,486
164,689
184,321
264
1,996
170,787
2,468
108,307
20,989
30
6,240
35,871
4,742
43,811
186
25,721
2.772
45,752
10,722
7,308
3.221
1,619
8,825
20,171
15,497
14,798
21,018
11 540
9,017
7,533
37,508
538
19,759
25,328
11,577
5,195
131.711
513
415
4.93(1
11.672
133,533
865
96,430
35,766
23,259
524
9,165
5,934
1,452,905
244,230
1,064,053
466,985
337,769
3,030.404
234,041
1,367.965
1,146,980
3,924,720
1,88:1336
614.582
1,019.994
813.357
2,13:1111
570,427
581,964
403.075
1,023,849
1,311,635
1,680,23.-^
331,981
2,107,615
352,371
630,34 7
963.535
565,671
65:1209
1,508,763
509,491
1,051.313
295.971
735,25-J
1,510.401
172.651
1,712,901
2,541,68:3
. 799,811'
611,951
461,345
887,981
519,120
1,286,326
343,29b
674,33:3
637,391.
681,267
2,708,31!'
517,35:
3,077,03;
656,36:
1,656,97b
1,183,69(
4,221,64(1
2,214,468
1,051,544
2.127.54B
1,034,057
1,182,903
2,648,72!
13.3,13(1
1,362,49(
1,14.5,005
3.72337!^
1.973.881
2,054,96;.
543,71b
1,537,89b
3,198,835
1,75:1141
1,787,066
969,224
384,446
1,039.725
1,399,18b
315,95b
195.735
3.34,359
510.081'
482,591
l,459,65:i
531,516
4,388,763
440,975
752.771
2,082.578
1,149 878
1,433.121
1,615,679
2.062,053
679.753
2,818.027
431,361
2,982,853
836.115
1 179,291
870.521
2,163 943
1,131,458
655,710
1,237,406
2,154,185
759,074
21,637
Bond
461,097
579,137
70,852
987,436
26,234
775,100
Cass
168,784
Champaign
Christian
Clark
731,375
383,831
212.638
Clay
1,894
500
2.651
144,396
60
550
398,059
106,493
7.683
106,096
13 383
269.945
Clinton
Coles
Cook
Crawford
CuniLierlaud
DeKalb
DeWitt
446,334
31,5,954
1,584,335
136,355
171,880
1,087,074
216,756
22.5,074
860,809
290,679
129,153
Effingham
77
386,073
497,395
42,571
365
193,669
154,589
222,426
Fulton
261,390
27,164
64,029
Grundy..
21,700
129
181,378
13
161,112
462,379
57,160
890
269.332
203.464
Hancock
Hardin
579,599
26,991
239,386
668.367
Iroquois
430.746
149,931
Jasper
Jersey
JoDaviess
Johnson
Kane
Kankakee
Kendall
Knox
149,214
285,949
71,770
282,758
7.185
2.46b
2.3,618
12,93.0
5.16:-
11.1547
5.871
48,30b
1,121
14,829
26,16:
37,233
29,23::
2.404
3.68.'^.
1'4,517
36,135
49,183
544
52,401
39,264
39.824
4.28:
40,77(:
1,42.'
3,29t
5.53.'
6,670
157,504
99,503
l,01f
9,248
25.303
2.306
223
7.707
3,33.^
3.401
20,00:^
568
23,07:^
20,841
930
23.686
30.534
1,008
135,363
59,027
1,737
52,476
874,016
74,525
188,82H
10.3,466
90,681
267,764
168,914
271,181
785,608
772,408
468,890
787.952
699,069
LaSalle
1,509,642
131,386
450,79:^
120,206
198,051
55,239
160
55(1
903,197
659,300
Logan
490,226
454,648
Macoupin
Madison
459,417
475,252
389,446
Marshall
106,129
73,261
363,604
272,660
22,097
McUonough
27:1871
401,790
211,801
36,153
289,291
280,717
910,397
911,127
23,5.0:41
453,889
153,351
59
18,196
17,128
497,038
92,361
668,434
198,734
Moultrie
36:1992
Ogle
141,540
334,892
338,760
Piatt
26.383
130
130,610
Pike
161,419
Pope
Pul.aski
67,886
16,511
Put nam
4.174
1,170
2.025
20,755
809
19,932
21,294
1,610
9,314
2,783
2,016
13,701
14,846
5,300
31,122
509
14,583
1.931
10,486
869
37.310
6,335
1,648
15,237
23,135
28,137
450
86,519
Rauilnlph
414,487
204.634
243,541
200
89,304
56,331
18
15,536
134,630
2.550
527,394
132,417
■■■■44; 806
276.575
Saline
69.793
397,718
119.359
Scott
13 463
Shelby
637.813
Stark
316 726
St. Clair
476.851
Stephenson
Tazewell
960.630
505,841
Union
124,473
436.051
Wabash
110,793
186,290
72,312
2,576
8,665
418
31,658
8,0:50
6,228
137,985
20.426
601,054
533,:J98
266
404,482
White
119.653
Whitesides
457.455
195,286
176
408,606
178.139
880 838
Will
1,S6S,6S2
Williamson
180,986
Winnebago
868,903
Woodford
744,581
ROCKFORD
History of Winnebago County.
In Jaiuiary, A. D., 1818, the territorial legislature of Illinois petitioned
Congress for the admission of the territory into the Union as an indepen-
dent state. ISTathaniel Pope was the territorial delegate in Congress, at
that time. The petition was sent to him, and by him presented to Con-
gress. By reason of a pressure of other business, the petition was not
acted upon until the April following, when, with certain amendments pre-
pared by Mr. Pope, it became a law, and Illinois was declared an indepen-
dent state. The amendments proposed by Mr. Pope were: first, to extend
the northern boundary of the new state to the parallel of -12 degrees 30
minutes north latitude; and second, to apply the three per cent, fund,
arising from the sales of the public lands, to the encouragement of learning
instead of the making of roads leading to the state, as had been the practice
on the admission of Ohio and Indiana. These important changes, says
Ford's History of Illinois, were proposed and carried through both
houses of Congress by Mr. Pope, upon his own responsibility. The territo-
rial legislature had not petitioned for them, no one at that time having
suggested or requested the making of them, but they inet the unqualified
approbation of the people of the state.
Under the ordinance of 1787, there were to be not less than three, nor
more than five states erected out of the territory northwest of the Ohio
River. The boundaries of these states were defined by that ordinance.
The three states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were to include the whole
territory, and were to be bounded by the British possessions on the north.
But Congress reserved the right, if they thereafter found it expedient, to
form one or two states in that part of the territory which lies north of an
east and west line drawn through the southern bend of Lake Michigan.
"That line, it was generally supposed," continues Mr. Ford, "was to be the
north boundary of Illinois." Judge Pope, seeing that the port of Chicago was
north of that line, and that it would be excluded by it from the state, was
led to a critical examination oi the ordinance, which resulted in a clear
and satisfactory conviction that it was competent for Congress to extend the
boundaries of the new state as far north as they pleased, and found no dif-
ficulty in convincing others of the correctness of his views.
Under the same ordinance Congress was vested with the power, if they
should find it expedient, to establish a state north of Illinois, in that part of
the northwestern territory which lies north of the parallel running through
the southern bend of the lake. Under this provision, "Wisconsin, at one
time, laid claim to a certain part of the northern section of Illinois, "includ-
ing," said Mr. Ford, at the date of his writing (1847), "fourteen counties,
embracing the richest and most poj)ulous part of the state."
When Illinois was admitted into the Union in 1818, the whole people
numbered only about forty-five thousand souls. Of these, some two thou-
sand were the descendants of the old French settlers at Kaskaskia, Prairie
du Rocher, Prairie du Pont, Cahokia, Peoria and Chicago. These people
lived in the style of the French peasantry of two hundred years ago. They
13
222 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
had made no improvements in anything, nor had they adopted any of the
improvements made by others. The other forty-three thousand were made
up by people from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and
Pennsylvania. In that year (IS 18) the settled part of the state extended
a little north of Edwardsville and Alton; south, along the Mississippi to the
mouth of the Ohio; east, in the direction of Carlysle, in Clinton county, to
the Wabash, and down the Wabash and the Ohio to the confluence of the
Ohio with the Mississippi, where Cairo has since been built. But the
country included within these boundaries was not all occupied at that
time. Between the Kaskaslda River and the Wabash, and between the
Kaskaskia and the Ohio there was a large wilderness that could not be trav-
ersed in less than three days. The entire northern part of the state vv^as a
trackless prairie. But gradually the settlements extended northward. Year
by year immigration increased, but, as a rule, the early settlers selected
homes in the timbered districts, leaving the prairies as worthless for agri-
cultural uses, because of the scarcity of timber for fencing and other pur-
poses. Gradually, however, a change came over the minds of men in regard
to these things, and the prairies were sought after and put under cultiva-
tion; and as their easy subjection to farm tillage and rich returns came to
be known, their fame spread abroad, and Illinois began to be regarded as a
very Valparaiso/'^ But with all their wealth and productiveness the
prairies of Northern Illinois remained comparatively unknown, and almost
entirely unoccupied by white men until after the close of the Blackhawk
Indian troubles, in 1832.
The first part of Northern Illinois to be permanently occupied by white
men, so far as any records can be found, seems to have been La Pointe
(now Galena). As to who made the first settlement the authorities diflPer.
Ford's history ascribes that honor to Colonel James Johnson and a party of
miners, from Kentucky, who located there in 1824, and commenced mining
operations about one mile above the present site of the city. Another author-
ity gives the honor to Ira Barker, who went from Terre Haute, Indiana, with
an exploring party in the summer of 1824. This party made the entire
journey across the state without seeing a single white man or sleeping in a
house until thej^ reached La Pointe, which, on their arrival, only boasted
three or four log huts. The same authority from which this information is
derived says that in the same summer three other men, Smith, Meeker and
Harris, also, arrived at the same place, La Pointe. Whatever the diifer-
ences of opinion as to who were the first settlers there, all agree as to the
time — the summer of 1824. These men, it is fair to presume, were all min-
ing adventurers, and the extraordinary success that attended their ventures
induced a great rush there in 1825; while in 1826 and 1827 fortune hunters
poured in by thoasands. In 1825 Galena was mapped out, and February
17, 1827, Jo Daviess county, extending across Rock River and embracing
the territory which is now comprised in nine counties, was erected. With
the exception of the Galena miners of 1824 and a few scattered fur traders,
there were no white settlers in all of Northern Illinois at that time.
The men composing General Scott's army, in his campaign against the
Indians, were disbanded at Dixon, in the fall of 1832. During that cam-
paign they had traversed a large part of the country tributary to Rock River,
and observed its great natural beauty and fertility of soil, and upon their
*Spanish for Vale of Paradise.
SI8T0BY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 223
return to their respective homes they carried with them such glowing
descriptions of tlie Winnebago country, that it wej-e strange, indeed, if
if did not become to be regarded as an ahnost second Eden.
In 1833, the Fox River valleys began to settle np with immigrants
from the ohler states, and in 1834 and 1835 the prairies along Kock Iliver
and the Kishwaukee Creeks began to receive the advance guard of the
thousands of industrious and prosperous people that now dwell in their
midst.
The earliest permanent white settler in the territory now included in
Winnebago county, of whom there is any knowledge, was Stephen Mack.
His cabin was built in a grove about half a mile above the mouth of the
Pecatonica Kiver at a place that was subse(|ucntly called Bird's Grove. The
time of his coming and casting his lot with the VVinnebagoes is not defi-
nitely known. Neither is there much known of his early life, or of the^
motives that caused him to isolate himself from kindred, friends and his
own race. All that was ever known of this strange recluse is presented in
the following sketch:
Stephen Mack was born in Vermont. He was the son of a retired
army officer, who was largely engaged in the fur trade. After receiving a
good common school education, Stephen was entered as a student at Dart-
mouth College, Hanover, ISTew Hampshire. From some cause, he could
not reconcile himself to the routine of college life, and, finally, abandoned
it without waiting for commencement day. His father, hoping to reclaim
him from the wild 'Jiabits into which he had fallen, sent him out among the
Western Indians to buy furs. Whither he drifted, or how he was occupied
from the time he left parental guardianship until he came to the Kock Iliver
country is left to the conjecture of the curious. Having mixed a great deal
with the Indians, gradually assimilating to their habits and customs, he at
last married an Indian woman named Ho-no-ne-gah, the daughter of an
Indian chief. The peculiar circumstances that led to this "match" are not
definitely stated — that it was not a love match is beyond doubt. Some
authorities state that Ho-no-ne-gah once saved Mack's life, from the fury of
some Winnebagoes whom he had offended, and that out of gratitude he
offered Plo-no-ne-gah his hand, his heart and his fortune as a recompense.
Other authorities ascribe the marriage to selfishness and greed on Mack's
part, hoping thereby to become enriched by the possession of the lands Ho-
no-ne-gah would inherit from her father. Whatever the true cause, it is a
secret with the others of his life, both of which have passed beyond the
judgment of men. Of this marriage eight children were born — four girls
and four boys. Two of the boys were named Henry and William. The
names of the other, two are not remembered, if ever known. The girls were
named Rosa, Mary, Louise and Caroline. In after years,when Rock Ford had
become Rockford, and a seminary had grown up with the city, Louise and
Mary were sent there to be learned in the ways of the whites, but their wild
natures were a proof against its civilizing influences, and finally followed
their people to their new reservation in Minnesota, where they still remained
at last authentic reports. Of the eight children born to Stephen Mack out
of his wedlock with an Indian wife, not one became a citizen of the common-
wealth of Illinois. Ho-no-ne-gah, the Indian mother of Mack's children,
died in 1847, and a year afterwards he married a white woman. This mar-
riage was an unfortunate alliance. The woman he chose for a second help-
mate was not as good as his squaw wife. She robbed him whenever occasiou
224 HiSTOKr OF winnebago county.
offered, and, finally, set fire to their house while under the influence of opi-
um, to the use of which she was a great slave. A short time after this oc-
currence the life of Stephen Mack went out,and followed that of his Indian wife
into the spirit world, while his mortal remains were buried amid the trees and
flowers around tlie spot where his cabin had been reared, sometime about
the year 1829.
Those who knew the subject of the above sketch say that Stephen
Mack was di2:nified and manly in his bearing, affable and pleasant in his
intercourse with his white neighbors, and particularly pleasant with those
with whom he had an intimate acquaintance. It is said that he hardly ever
used a profane word. Sometimes he would manifest religious inclinations,
and at one time hired a man named McDowell to come to liis house, read the
Scriptures, and pray with his fiimily. But this kind of devotion did not
last long. Mack was tall, and as erect as any of the Indians among whom
he dwelt, and possessing a good common education, and withal a close
reader — always keeping a good stock of books in his cabin — he might have
been a man among men, but he chose otherwise.
In the summer of 1833, Mr. John Phelps, who died a few years ago
in Oregon, at the age of seventy-eight years, in company with a French-
man, started down the Pecatonica from Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on a
voyage of exploration or discovery. Their vessel was an ordinary canoe or
dug out, and the propelling power a paddle in the hands of Lewis Lemon, a
bov of color that Mr. Kent had brought from Alabama, and of whom we
will speak more in detail in another place. These men made a short stop
at the mouth of what was subsequently named Kent's creek, at the same
place where Messrs. Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake landed in the
late afternoon of an August day, 1834. Phelps and his companion clu voy-
age were pleased with the location, and but for the seeming scarcity of
timber would have located here. But that objection overruled their other-
wise favorable impressions, and they passed on down the river and selected
claims at the site now occupied by the town of Oregon, thus leaving Rock-
ford to be founded by representatives from two extreme sections of the
country — Germanicus Kent, of the State of Alabama, and Thatcher Blake,
of the State of Maine.
In 1833, Mr. Kent with his family and his colored boy, Lewis Lemon,
came up to Galena, where his brother, Rev. Aratus Kent, a Presbyterian
clero-yman, was located. Soon after his arrival there, Mr. Kent learned
from some of the soldiers that had been with Scott's army, of the exceeding
beauty of the Rock River country, and he determined to visit it at the
earliest opportunity.
In June, 1834, Thatcher Blake, w^ho combined the qualifications of
school teacher and farmer, set out from his native county of Oxford, Maine,
to find fame and fortune in the "far west." As he had no settled point in
view, he traveled along from place to place, occasionally meeting a returned
soldier from the Blackhawk war, from whom he heard glowing accounts of
the Rock River country, and the immense and quickly acquired fortunes of
the Galena miners. More impressed with the advantages the valley offered
for farming than with the mineral resources of the Galena district, he
determined to visit this valley, and if he found the half said of its beauty
and wealth of soil to be true, to make it his home for life — a determination
he has so far carried out. The only railroad in those days between Illinois
and Maine, was the one from Albany to Troy, N. Y. The rest of Mr.
HISTORY OF WINNEBAOO COUNTY, 225
Blake's trip was made by the New York and Erie Canal, to Buffalo, thence
by other conveyance to Pittsburc^; thence by steamboat down the Ohio to
tiie Mississippi, and up that river via St. Lonis to Galena,
Soon after his arrival at Galena, and expressing his purpose to visit
Rock river, he heard of Kent's purpose to make a similar trip, and he at
once sought that gentleman's ])resence, made his acquaintance, and together
they made arrangements for the prosecution of that tour of discovery that
not only resulted to their own advantage, but to the advantage of many
thousands of others.
They started from Galena in a "Democrat" wagon, passed up into
Wisconsin, and struck the Pecatonica about four miles from what was then
known as ''Hamilton's Diggings," operated by a son of Alexander Hamil-
ton, who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. A man named Ransom had
settled on the Pecatonica at that point, and of him they purchased a canoe,
and made the balance of the trip by that means of conveyance. The first
halt they made was at AVinnishick's village, where Freeport now is. There
Mr. Keiit went ashore to examine the land, leaving Mr. Blake in charge of
the canoe, provisions, etc., and during his absence the Indians gathered
around in such numbers that Mr. Blake was obliged to lay off in the middle
of the stream to prevent them from plundering his " boat." Not exactly
suited with the " lay of the land " at that point, their journey was resumed
and continued until they glided into Rock river, upon whose silvery waters
they floated down to the mouth of the creek that was named in honor of
one of its discoverers, Germanicus Kent. Here they landed, late in the
afternoon of an August day, 1834. Drawing their canoe ashore, tired with
the fatigues of their long and tortuous journey, they soon disposed them-
selves to rest and slumber. On the morning of the morrow, after partaking
of a camp breakfast, they set about an examination of the surroundings,
and the impressions formed from reports of the beauty and fertility of the
country, were more than confirmed by actual examination, and the conclu-
sions then reached were never afterwards changed. At the close of the day
they returned to their camp to partake of their evening meal and discuss
the situation. Blake had selected a site for a farm, and Kent had selected
a location for a saw mill on the little creek that now bears his name, a few
rods above its mouth, little dreaming that the building of a mill there
would be the nucleus around which would spring up one of the greatest
manufacturing centres in the western country. But such have been
the accomplishments of less than half a centiiry. Another night's rest be-
neath the wide-spreading boughs and thick foliage of a friendly tree, an early
breakfast, and their camp ec^uipage re-packed and transferred to their canoe,
and they again committed themselves to the current of Rock river, by
which they were borne down to Dixon, From Kent's creek to Dixon they
found no landmarks that pleased them so well as their discoveries here, and
at Dixon they gave up the hunt, disposed of their canoe, and made for
Galena, to perfect arrangements for the immediate occupancy and improve-
ment of their claims at the junction of Kent's creek with Rock river.
"Wagons and teams were purchased, supplies laid in, and a gang of men
employed to build a dam, dig the race and prepare the timber for the saw
mill which Kent had determined to build. These preparations completed,
the return trip was commenced. The country was then known as Winne-
bago. There were no roads — not even an Indian trail — to guide them from
Galena directlv to their new El Dorado, Their route was by way of the Galena
226 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
and Dixon line of travel as far as Chambers' Grove, from which point they
struck out on the open prairie in a northeast course, and in the evening of
the fourth da}^ the pioneer cavalcade drew up and went into camp on the
site of their future operations, and a manufacturing city in 1877 of at least
15,000 population.
We have been somewhat minute and elaborate in these following, s of
the settlements and incidents pertinent to the earlier liistory of the Winne-
bago country, that its historical connections with the Pkesent might be the
more fully dehned and preserved. And having traced the origin and
history of the first settlement, in the fall of 1S34, we come now to the
immediate history of Winnebago County, first presenting its Physical
Geography; second, its Geological Formations; and third, a brief reference
to its Indian Antiquities, Mound Builders, etc.
PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHT.
Winnebago County is bounded on the east by Boone County; on the
south by Ogle County; on the west by Stephenson County, and on the north
by the Wisconsin state line. It was organized by an act of the Legislature,
in January, A. D. 1836, and derives its name from a tribe of Indians that
once included its territory in their hunting grounds. It is twenty-tour
miles wide from east to west, and twenty-two miles long, on an average,
from north to south, and contains about 540 sections of land. The town-
ships as named are not all bounded by township lines, bat in part by
streams and imaginary lines, making the townships thus different in size
and shape. Its general level is perhaps somewhat higher than that of
Stephenson County, although we have no information of the actual figures.
The face of the country is high, dry, somewhat more sandy, rolling and
undulating than Stephenson. A considerable portion of tlie surface is
covered with timber of various qualities. In the northwestern part of the
county, alono- Sugar river and its tributaries, and along portions of the
north bank of the Pecatonica, there is much scattering timber and. brush
land, interspersed with occasioiuil swampy tracts. A few miles below
Rockford, along the north l)ank of Puck river, and extending north and
west from the same, there is a tract of barrens covered with brushwood and
a rather light growth of white oak and black jack timber. In the south-
eastern portion of the county, along and near the Kishwaukee creeks, the
face of the country is rough, hilly, barren, brushy, and covered with an
occasional growth of fair timber. The rest of the county is chiefly prairie,
interspersed with many beautiful but small groves.
It is well watered with many fine streams. Pock river enters it about
six miles from its northeast corner, at Beloit, runs nearly due south some
eighteen miles to Pockford, then bears off gradually to the west and
enters Ogle County some fifteen miles south and west of this latter city.
This noble and beautiful stream, and its broad, rich valle}^ fill the mind of
the beholder with admiration. The waters of this stream are silvery and
clear, beyond any other river in the State; its bottom, for the most part,
rocky and sandy; its current, swift and strong; its flow and volume constant.
Heavy water powers at Beloit, Rockton, and Pockford, afibrd splendid
manufacturing facilities; and all along the stream, every few miles, dams
might be constructed which would cause thousands of busy wheels to toil
in the service of man. At these three places scores of foundries, factories,
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 227
machine shops, manufacturing establishments, paper mills, grain mills, and
other similar enterprises attest the capabilities and power of this niag-
niiicent river.
The next stream in size is the Pecatonica river. It enters the county
on the west, some eight miles from its southwestern corner, and flows in a
feneral east and north course, about twenty miles, to near the town of
!,ockton, where it mingles its turbid waters with the bright, flashing cur-
rent of Kock river. If possible, its course is more tortuous and its waters
more muddy in Winnebago than in Stephenson county. Sugar river comes
in from the northwest and enters the Pecatonica near the village of Shir-
land. Both these streams have bottoms of rich, deep alluvium from one to
perhaps three miles wide. Neither of them afford any water power. Both
of them, we believe, are dammed in the water mill sense of the term, but
such lazy rivers will never make whirling wheels hum the songs of busy labor.
The two branches of the Kishwaukee unite near the southeastern corner of
the county, and flow in a considerable stream, until their commingled waters
fall into Rock river, in the township of New Milford. Killbuck creek,
in the southeast, Kent creek coming in at Rockford, the Kennikiuick creeks
in the neighborhood of Roscoe, and another considerable stream, a tribu-
tary of Sugar river, in the northwest, known as Coon creek, are the most
important of the smaller streams, and with their little feeding tributaries
aftord plenty of water for agricultural purposes, together with a number of
light water powers.
Some of the Indian names of these streams have a very descriptive
significance, Pecatonica, as before mentioned, means "crooked stream " or
'•muddy waters," and so far as the steam is descriptive of the name, it ought
to mean them both. Sinissippi, the Indian name of Rock river, signifies
"rocky river." Kishwaukee means "clear waters" or "sycamore," a name
reasonably descriptive of the stream. Winnebago means the "fish eaters."
Taking, therefore, all things into consideration, Winnebago County is
hardly so good a county for agricultural purposes as its western neighbor,
Stephenson. The soil is hardly so fat; the amount of poor land is propor-
tionately greater. But taking into account its manufacturing interests and
facilities, the unexampled fertility and Rhine-like beauty of its Rock river
valley, and the enterprise and wealth of its grove-besprinkled city of Rock-
ford, it would puzzle a jury to decide which is the more desirable county,
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
[Compiled f 7^07/1 the State Geological Report of 1873, Vol. V.,pj). 84-93.]
The geology of Winnebago County is of the simplest character. First,
there are "the usual quaternary deposits, consisting of sand, clays, gravels,
boulders, subsoils and alluvium. After these, the three well-known divis-
ions of the Trenton limestone outcrop along the streams and hills, and
show themselves in the railroad cuts, wells and quarries in different parts of
the country. These are the Galena, Blue and Buff limestones of the West-
ern Geologists. A perpendicular section, as near as we can construct it,
exhibits the following strata:
Quaternary deposits. Average depth, about. 15 feet.
Galena limestone - - ^6 '^|
Blue limestone 35
Buft" limestone -45
228
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
The measurements of the Hmestones were made at actual worked out-
crops. At no place was the St. Peter's sandstone discovered, although it is
supposed that it comes well to the surface about Beloit and Rockton. No
remains of the Cincinnati group were discovered, although the thickness of
the Galena indicated that patches of it might exist. The Trenton lime-
stones were the only ones exposed or dug into in the county.
SURFACE GEOLOGY.
Alluvial Deposits. — The usual alluvial bottoms exist along the Rock,
Pecatonica, and Sugar rivers. These are from one to five miles in width.
On the two latter named streams, the deposit is deep, black, fat and rich,
supporting in places a heavy growth of timber, and, where cultivated, af-
fording the usual superior Indian corn land of flat river bottoms. The de-
posit along Rock river is not so rich, being composed of more sands and
clays, with occasional patches and strips of the fatter soils.
Loess!^ — Some of the blufts along Rock river are in part composed of
loess clays, in which no fluviatile shells were noticed. But this formation
was found to be of very limited extent.
The Drift Proper. — The drift, a subject of grave discussion among
scientists and geologists, is very largely developed in this county. It is
composed of loose detrital matter, often of considerable thickness, brought
from long distances and deposited over large areas of the county. The ma-
terials making up this loose mass were not derived, to any great extent, from
the underlying Trenton rocks, but came from the metamorphic regions of
the north. Whether brought by the currents and flow of the waters, or
transported adhering to the sides of the slow moving, pale green mountains,
the ice-bergs; or ground and pushed and moved along by creeping, all-
powerful glaciers, will, perhaps, never be positively known. All of these
causes may have contributed to these results, but the appearance of the
gravel beds themselves indicates the long continued action of water. This
is much more evident in Winnebago County, says the report, than in the
Stephenson county gravel beds. The railroad track from Beloit to Caledo-
nia, every few miles, cuts through the top of long, undulating swells of
land. These swells are pure, unmodified, unstratified drift. They are made
up of assorted and well rounded gravel of all sizes, from that of a pistol
bullet to that of a goose ^^^., intermingled with a white or yellowish-white
sand, and occasional small i)oulders, and are sometimes ten or fifteen feet in
thickness. All the railroads exhibit the same beds along their tracks,
though in a less prominent degree. Every township in the county has
more or less of these gravel beds, and their underlying associate deposits of
clay and sand. Along some of the prairies, and in the little streams, huge
boulders, the size of a hay-cock are sometimes found, partially sunk into
the soil by their great weight. Two of these particularly attracted the at-
tention of the State geologists. One was as black as night, but bisected
through the middle bv a flame of flesh-colored granite three-fourths of an
inch in thickness. They once saw one ])recisely like it, and evidently from
the same original locality, in Clark county, Missouri. The other was flame-
colored and planed smooth on two sides, nearly at right angles, evidently
by glacial action. These lost or transported rocks, the story of whose jour-
ney from the north is wrapped in deep mystery — clay and sand banks, with
faint lines of stratification in some instances, assorted gravel beds, nuggets
*Loess — To loosen, detach. A tertiary deposit on tlie banks of the Khine.
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 229
and boulders of copper, rounded to smoothness by erosion of the waters*
all these left in their present positions by the waves of the retii-in_i^ seas,
slightly modified, in some cases, by subsequent agencies — make the" study
of the drift in this country attractive, and are full of lessons of thought to
the contemplative mind.
THE TRENTON FORMATION.
The Galena Zimestotie. — Two-thirds of "Winnebago County is under-
laid by this rock. It is a heavy-bedded, yellowish, cream-colored dolomitic
limestone, compact, irregular, somewhat crystaline towards the middle and
bottom strata, light-colored, porous, crumbling, and full of sand in little
cavities towards the top. In some localities the bottom layers pass gradu-
ally into the blue, shaley parts of the Blue division, so that it is difficult to
place the line of demarcation between the two. An imaginary line enter-
ing the county about the southeast corner of the township of lioscoe, drawn
thence in a southeast course until Kock river is reached; thence in a slight
bend towards the northwest until within a short distance of the Pecatonica,
at a point about f uir miles above its mouth; thence meandering along the
Pecatonica from one to two miles south of the thread of that stream until
the western boundary line of the county is reached; thence starting south
and keeping around the boundary line to the place of beginning, and em-
bracing about two-thirds of the county, would indicate the superficial extent
of this division, to which might be added a narrow strip extending from the
village of Pecatonica up towards and nearly to the northwest corner of the
county. The most notable quarries and outcrops within these boi;ndaries
are the following: The first heavy outcrop of the Galena limestone is on
Rock river, about three miles above Rockford. A high bluff on the north
bank of the river presents a bold escarpment some seventy -five feet in height.
Here a large quarry has been opened. The stones are hard, compact, and
sub-crystal ine, and burn into the very best quick-lime. Large quantities of
this stone are transported down to Rockford and burned into lime at the New
York lime-kiln. The next heavy outcrops are found at Rockford. Along
the Prairie ridge, one mile east of Rockford, there is an exposure of about
forty feet in thickness, where a light-colored, whitish, friable stone is quar-
ried to a considerable extent. In a timbered ridge, about one mile north
of the fair grounds, there is another deposit of about ninety-six feet in
thickness, where the quarrymen have penetrated entirely through the
Galena limestone, and entered the Blue limestone below it. The line of
demarkation is strongly defined. Three miles below the city, in a bluff on the
west side of the river, is a worked out crop thirty-five feet thick. Still
farther down the river, and near the Ogle county line, is an exposure in the
timber, about six feet in depth. Thus the valley of Rock river, for two-
thirds of its extent in Winnebajfb County, is hollowed out of the Galena
limestone.
In all the cuts and excavations along the line of the Galena division of
the JSTorth-Western railroad, which enters the county near the village of
Pecatonica on the west, and leaves it on the east line, lead-bearing rocks are
shown. At Cherry Yalley a heavy quarry of these cream-colored limestones
has been worked. The massive stone for the railroad bridge and piers at
this place, was taken from this quarry. From a crevice in this quarry
several nuggets of pure copper were taken, the larger of which were sold to
tinners, or found their way into eastern museums. Two and a half miles
230 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
below Cherry Yalley, on the Kishwaukee, is another quarry, at which a
h*me-kihi has been operated. At Trink's quarry, a mile farther clown, there
is an exposure of fifteen or twenty feet, from which many cords of stone
.have been taken.
One ot the heaviest outcrops is found a little east of the station of
Harlem, on the line of the railroad leading from Rock ford to Caledonia.
The cut passes through a rocky hill, several hundred yards in length and
about eighty f.-et in depth at the comb of the elevation. The strata here
are massive and solid, and furnish splendid material for heavy masonry.
The top of the hill is covered with a fine, limey, white clay. Gravel and
boulders also abound in the neighl)orliood. About Winnebago, Argyle, and
along south of Harrison, are a number of light quarries worked into the
Galena. Without particularizing, says the report, all that part of the county
bounded by our imaginary line circumscribing the Galena, is underlaid, at
no great depth, by this famous lead-bearing rock. The only fossil found in
abundance is the characteristic Receptaculitea sulcata. Quarrymen and
miners speak of it as the "honey-comb," "sunflower coral," or ''lead fossil."
Specimens are numerous, but generally break to pieces before finding their
way into the cabinet, on account of the friable nature of the upper strata in
which they are mostly found.
The Blue Limestone. — The Blue limestone, or Trenton proper of the
older western geologists, next succeeds the Galena in the descending order.
It is largely developed in the northern and northwestern part of the county.
It is here a thin-bedded, bluish-gray limestone, calcareous, or with a lime
base — but some of the shaley partings have a clayey base. In the bottom
of the deeper quarries, a very blue stratum always exists. This is massive
and conchoidal or glassy in fracture, and in the mining region is known as
the "glass rock." A line drawn from a point in the western boundary line
of the county, some two or three miles north of where the Pecatonica river
enters it, along the north edge of the alluvial bottom of this stream to a
locality about midway between Shirland and Rockton; thence east of north
to the northern boundary line of the county; thence M^est round the county
line to the place of beginning, would bound the superficial area underlaid
by this deposit, except that the extreme western part occasionally shows
beds of passage into the overlying Galena, and except that a considerable
patch of the Blue rocks exist in the extreme northeastern part of the county.
The first and second railroad cuts east of Shirland, made by the West-
ern Union railroad in excavating for their track, afford the best exposure
examined for investigating the Blue limestones of the Trenton series. The
first is about eight hundred feet long and thirty feet deep; the second is
about four hundred and fifty feet long and fifteen feet deep. The rocks are
of a whitish-gray color, with conchoidal fracture, becoming darker colored
as the lower strata of the quarries are reached. Further west, about Durant,
the stone shows a nearer approximation, in lithological characters, to the
Galena. The elevations here are capped with the latter rock. The Sugar
river hills are rock-ribbed with the division of the Trenton.
The fossils noticed in the railroad cuts near Shirland are numerous,
but mostly small and fragmentary. Some of the thinner and more shaly
strata are covered with shells, fragments of trilobites, stems of the en-
crinites, and pieces of corals, so thick as to resemble masses of fossils
stuck together by some adhesive paste.
The Bu^ Limestone. — This is an unevenly bedded, somewhat argilla-
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 231
ceons or clayey, dolomite. For the most part, it is of a light yellowish or
brownish color, shading into blue towards the bottom of tlie quarries. It
is not very homogeneous in composition or stratification, presenting in
some of its layers an earthy, and in some a crystaline, appearance. In
every outcrop worked to any considerable extent the lower layers become
quite massive, and of a dark blue color. When first removed from the
quarry, this blue stone presents a beautiful appearance, and no materials
make handsomer mason work, but when exposed to tlie weather for some
length of time the dark, rich, blue color fades into dirty whitish blue. It
makes a good building stone, but on account of its earthy base does not
burn into good lime. But a limited j^ortion of the county is underlaid by
this formation.
Fossils. — The characteristic fossils of the buff limestone, observed at
Ilockton,consist of fragments and indistinct traces of fucoids: "^ (J epJicdopoda,
of the genus Orthoceras, Cyrtoceras, and Lituites; Gasteropoda, of the genera
Pleurotoriiaria and Miirchlsonla\ Brachiopoda, of the genera Orthis and
Strophomena; LaineUihranchiata, of the genera Tellinomya and Amljoriy-
chia; and zoophytes, or corals in fragments.
T\\Q PJeuTotomaria subconica,Oncoceras pandion, Tellinomya cuneata,
Onnoceras teiivifilitm, Tellinomya ventricosa, and species of Orthocera
and Amhonychla, are the fossils occurring in the greatest abundance. The
easts of some of these come out in great perfection.
*CephaIjOPODA. — Having a head furnished with arms for feet, as tlie cuttle fish. It is
a snail shell and not a bivalve.
OiiTHOCERA. — Greek for straight liorn ; is a segmented-chambered shell.
Cyktocera. — Greek for bent horn ; same as above, only bent.
LiTUiTES. — Differs slightly from above in connection between segments.
Gasteropoda.— Greek for sto nach-footed, i. e., having feet on the arms about the
stomach, like the common snail.
Pi.EUROTOMARiA. — A spccies of the above, but with square outer surface to the whirls.
MuRCHisoNiA. — A long steeple shell named from Sir R. I. Murchison, an eminent
English geologist.
Brachiopoda. — Like an ordinary bivalve, in which the mouth of the animal faces the
corner of the shell; Orthis family, a thin D-shaped bivalve; Strophomena, a variety of the
Oi'this. the ditference being in the hinge.
LameijLIbranchiata. — A laminated shell, the animal having a mantle reaching out to
the edge of the shell, like an oyster.
Tellinomya. — A genus of marine bivalve.
Amboxychia. — A species of marine clam shells.
Oncoceras. — A species of Orthoceras.
ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY.
Building Stone. — Stone adapted to building purposes is plentiful.
The quarries at Harlem and Cherry Yalley furnish excellent materials for
solid and massive masonry. Many of the private residences in Rockford. as
well as the public school building, are built from stone taken from the Rock-
ford quarry. These buildings present a rich cream colored appearance
and beauty that cannot be easily excelled. The general appearance is
superior to walls built up with the famous Milwaukee brick.
The Buff and Blue limestone also furnish stone of good quality for all
ordinary mason work.
Lime. — The Buff limestone of Rockton does not burn a good quick-
lime, but, if properly managed, would no doubt return a good lime for
hydraulic uses. Some of the Blue limestone makes a fair quicklime, but
232 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
the Galena excels all others in the quality of this useful material. It can
be obtained in inexhaustible quantities from convenient quarries.
Sands and Clays. — Sands lor all economical purposes are found almost
anywhere along the river banks or from thickly strewn drift deposits.
Clay for good common red brick is abundant in almost any of the under-
lying subsoils.
Mineral Wealth. — Of this the county possesses very little. Although
covered to so large an extent by the real lead-bearing rocks, no bodies of
mineral have ever been found in the county. Some traces of lead have
been found in many of the worked exposures, and bits of iloat mineral
are sometimes picked up in the gravel beds, but these are simply matters
of curiosity, and do not denote any workable deposits of lead ore.
Bog iron ore exists about many of the springs, but is worthless for eco-
nomical purposes. Copper in its pure state has often been met with. No
deposits of the metal exist. It is all float material, found in connection
with the drifts. The largest boulder or nugget ever found was by a rail-
road laborer in the southeast part of the county. Its weight was fourteen
pounds. Another nugget of several pounds' weight was found in digging
a well some thirty feet below the surface. While these are matters of
interesting speculation, they do not add much to the economical uses of the
county.
Peat. — The land is too well drained to afford favorable conditions for
the irrowth of this useful material. I^o beds of value have ever been found.
INDIAN ANTIQUITIES.
The Indian race is fast fading away before the resistless march of the
Anglo-Saxon race, and at his present rapid rate of decrease the Indian will
soon be a historic name. But he has left memorials which will last when
the proudest builded monuments of his all-conquering foes have crumbled
into oblivion. The geography and significance of our Indian names is a
wonderful subject. Flint arrow points and spear heads are frequently
picked up, while stone axes and smooth, oblong instruments, sharp at one
end, and used for skinning animals, are of not unfrequent finding.
The mound builders, whoever they were, once swarmed in the valleys
and woodlands, sat down upon every picturesque spot along the streams,
and left their mound-builded structures as memorial monuments of their
busy lives. These things do not belong to the geology of the county, and
are only introduced here because tbey are subjects of interest to thoughtful
men.
Three classes of these mounds have been noticed in this county — the
common round mound, from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and from two
and a half to five feet high. There is a large group of them on the banks
of Kock River, six or seven miles below Rockford. At many other places
along the river they exist in scattered groups. On the north bank of the
river, within the city limits of Rockford, several large ones are preserved
in private grounds. But by far the largest number of them are found on
the banks of the Kishwaukee, in the southeastern part of the county, near
the confluence of the two streams of that name. Scores of them are scat-
tered about there, and scores more have been nearly obliterated by the
sacriligious hand of the plowman. The older inhabitants recall many
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
233
occ-asions where bands of Indians, pilgrim-like, returned to these silent
mounds and held over them for dajs their mystic rites.
The oblong shaped mound is of much rarer occurrence. At the locality
in Kockford, already alluded to, there is a very remarkable one. Lt is one
hundred and thirty feet long, about twelve feet wide at the base, and three
or four feet high. Near by this one is a mound of the third class, or those
having a fanciful resemblance to some form of animal life. In Ilockford
it is called the "Turtle Mound," but it resembles more an alligator with its
head cut otf than it does a turtle. Its dimensions are: Whole length, one
hundred and fifty feet; width, opposite fore legs, fifty feet; width, opposite
hind legs, thirtj'-nine feet; length of tail, from point opposite hind legs to
end of tail, one hundred and ten feet; length from a point opposite hind to
a point opposite fore legs, thirty-three feet; distance from opposite fore
legs to where neck should begin, fifteen feet. The figure lies up and down
the river, on a line almost north and south, the tail extending northward.
The body rises into a mound as high as a standing man. The feet and tail
gradually extend into the greensward, growing less distinct and indefinable,
until they cannot be distinguished from the surrounding sod. The eftigy,
whether of alligator, lizard, or turtle, seems to be headless, and no depres-
sion in the surrounding soil would indicate that the materials out of which
it is constructed were obtained in its immediate vicinity. It is a curious
structure, and one would like to know its
true history as he looks upon its partially
defaced form. What were its uses, and
who builded its uncouth animal propor-
tions, may be better answered by the re-
searches of the antiquarian than by the
geologist or historian.
In prosecuting a search in one of these
mounds for relics, August 12, 1874, Hi-
ram R. Enoch, Esq., Editor of the Rock-
ford Journal^ uncovered a gypsum tablet
bearing the inscriptions represented on
the subjoined engraving.
The tablet was about three-eighths of
an inch in thickness. The mound from
which it was taken was located six miles
below Rockford, and was about seven feet
in height. The tablet was found at the
bottom of the mound, on a level with the
surrounding claim.
The figures as represented on this cut
are reversed from those on the "tablet."
They should change sides, yet face towards
the central fiirure as now.
234 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
GENERAL HISTORY.
We left Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake, the first permanent
settlers of Winnebago Connty and the real founders of Rockford, together
with the few men who accompanied them, going into camp on Kent's
Creek, on their return from Galena with teams, supplies, etc., preparatory
to beginning improvements on the claims they had selected in August.
From this point we take up the text of the Past and Present of Winne-
bago County, and will seek to make it as detailed and accurate as accessible
data will permit. That some errors will occur in the dates and the names
of prominent characters in the county's history, cannot be denied, but
studious care will be taken to avoid as many such inaccuracies as possible.
The first work undertaken by these pioneers was the erection of a
cabin 12x14 feet, which was soon completed. The site selected for that
house was on the south side of what are now the grounds of Mr. Robert H.
Tinker, on the north side of Kent's Creek, and only a few rods from what
is now Main street. Their rude cabin completed, preparations were under-
taken for the erection of the saw mill. The timber for this mill was taken
from the finest on the east side of the river on the grounds now occupied
by the Rockford Female Seminary. In November, after the timber for the
mill had been hewn out and hauled to the ground where it was to be
erected, Mr. Kent returned to Galena, where he remained during the winter,
making only one trip to the site of his new home towards spring to bring
down supplies. While the other men were hard at work on the mill, Mr.
Blake erected a cabin in the grove on the claim he had selected, in which
himself, Jeiferson Garner, Squier Garner and Joseph Garner, the mill men,
spent the winter of 1834-5.
The next settler came in the early part of April, 1835. The first in-
timation the founders of Rockford had of his coming was the sight of his
covered wagon on the east side of the river. The ice had not all gone out
of the river, but had become somewhat w^eakened by the mildness of
the weather. Messrs. Kent and Blake (Kent had just brought down the
supplies spoken of above) crossed the river, and met Daniel Shaw Haight.
Accompanying Haight were two or three other men who were on an explor-
ing expedition. Haight selected a claim on the east side of the river, and
in a short time returned to Geneva for his wife and family. In May he
came back, bringing in addition to his wife and one child, his wife's sister,
a Miss Carey, and a hired man — Mrs. Haight and her sister being the first
white women to visit and become settlers at Rockford. For a time, and
until a cabin could be built, and this was delayed until Haight made a sec-
ond trip to Geneva to bring up the balance of their household goods, the
family lived under the wide spreading boughs of a burr oak tree. Haight
was a native of Balton, Warren county, New York, from whence, a year or
two previous to his appearance on Rock River, he had moved to and
selected a claim in Kane county, near Geneva. He sold that claim to a
Mr. Harrington, father of Mr. Gus. Harrington, who, in after years,
became a noted Democratic politician. Haight's cabin was the first one
built on the east side of the river, and was a double cabin, that is, a cabin of
two rooms about the same size. It afterwards became a place ot note, serv-
ing in ^turn as hotel, meeting house, post office, circuit court room, etc.
These first cabins were very primitive afiairs, but the manner of their con-
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 235
struction has been so often described as to render au additional descrip-
tion superfluous. Suffice it to say, that Ilaight's cabin was made and fin-
ished without nails. Door hinges were made of wood; the floors of pun-
cheons, logs split in thicknesses of three or four inches, one side dressed
down with a broad-ax, and the ends of the other side, where they were to
rest on tiie sleepers, dressed down to a level in like manner. There were
no attempts at building frame houses until 183(), when Bundy and Goodhue
built a frame store house, on what is now lot one on block eight. The
floors were made from sawed lumber, the siding from split stull, and the
studding from small saplings hewed on either side. Thomas Lake and
Sidney Two good were the carpenters.
Kent's mill enterprise met with its set-backs. Soon after they came in
the fall of ISM, tliey commenced to build the dam, but in January follow-
ing, when the ice was sixteen inches in thickness, a thaw came, the creek
began to rise, and, breaking over its icy barrier, the water rushed down in
one huge torrent and carried the dam away, together with huge pieces of
shelving rock that cropped out along the banks of the creek. Early in the
spring, workmen commenced digging the race, hut the re-building of the
dam was not undertaken until in June, nor was the mill completed until
July. In the fall of 1834, Kent had commenced to build a good log house,
which was completed in the spring following, and into which his family
moved immediately on their arrival from Galena, Kent's claim embraced
a section of land including Mr. Tinder's estate, extending south as far as
Montague's addition; on the west, it included the property of S. M. Church,
and extended north to State street, the eastern line following the bank of
Kock river. The vast manufacturing establishments that followed the
building of the Rock river dam, are located on a part of the Kent claim,
the ownership of which land, if now vested in one man, would be an im-
mense fortune. Blake's claim included the northwest quarter of section
twenty, and the southwest quarter of section twenty-nine. The third claim
was made by Mr. Kent for an Englishman, named John Wood, a former
superintendent of the Bell Factory cotton and woolen mills, about nine
miles from Huntsville, Alabama, owned and operated by Messrs. Fatten,
Donaghon & Co., of which firm Mr. Kent had been a member. This claim
was made in the fall of 1834, but Mr. Wood did not come to occupy it
until the spring of 1835. These claims were all located on the west side of
the river. James Boswell made the second claim on the east side of the
river soon after Ilaight's arrival.
In June, 1835, the Rockford settlement numbered only eleven persons.
The first religious services held at Rockford were at the house of Germani-
cus Kent, on the second Sunday of June, 1835, and were conducted by his
brother. Rev. Aratus Kent, of Galena. On that occasion every soul in
Rockford attended divine service. The audience was composed of Mrs.
Haight and Miss Carey, her sister, Mrs. Kent and Germanicus Kent,
Thatcher l>lake, Albert San ford, Daniel S. Haight and his hired man, and
Kent's mill -Wright, a Mr. Van Zandt.
The first claim was made here in 1834. During that winter and up to
the second Sunday in June following, the population numbered only eleven
persons, whose names we have just repeated. In the latter part of that year
an increase of the following names had been added: Ephraim Wyman,
Wm. E. Dunbar, John Yance, Eliphalet Gregory, P. P. Churchill, Mr. —
Smith, Lewis Haskius, Joseph Jolly, John Caton, Chas. Hall, Milton Kil-
236 HISTORY OF WI«s[NEBAGO COUNTY.
burn, Ltike Joslin, Israel Morrell, D. A. Spauldiug, Leva Gov and Adam
Keith. There maj have been some others, says the authority, from which
we quote, that have been overlooked. These names increased the Rockford
population to twenty-seven adults, in the fall of 1835. But these were not
ah that had come in and claimed an abiding place in what is now Winne-
bago County. Settlements had been commenced in different parts of the
county, and according to a speech delivered before the early settlers in
Rockford, in June, 1860, by Selden M. Church, there were the following
settlers in what are now the different townships, in the summer of 1835:
JVew Milford. — Samuel Brown, Wm. R. Wheeler, Richard Hoga-
boom, Phineas M. Johnson, John Adams, James Campbell, John B. Long,
and a Mr. Paddleford.
Guilford. — Henry Enoch, Wm. H. Enoch, J. A. Pike, Abraham I.
Enoch, John Kelsoe, Mr. Rexford, Jas. Sayre, Abel C. Gleason. John Brink
and Wm. C. Blair.
Butler (now Cherry Yalley). — Joseph P. Briggs.
Harlem. — Wm. Mead, Chauncy Mead and Zerari Butler.
lioscoe. — Robert J. Cross, Robert Logan, Elijah H. Brown and Wm.
Bray ton.
Rochton.—T\\o^. B. Talcott, Wm. Talcott, Henry Talcott, John F.
Thayre, Isaac Adams, Pearly P. Burnham, Darius Adams, David A. Blake,
Ellison Blake, John Kilgore and John Lovessee.
Oioen. — ^Jas. B. Lee and Richard M. Walker.
Burritt. — Isaac Hame, John S. Mcintosh, A. M. Shearman, John
Manchester and family, Elias Trask and Alva Trask.
Lymnder (now Pecatonica). — Ephraim Sumner, Wm. Sumner, Mrs.
Dolly Guilford, Elijah Guilford and Thos. Hame.
Elida (now Winnebago). — David A. Holt.
Howard (now Durand). — Harvey Lowe and Nelson Salisbury. These
parties made claims in 1835, but did not occupy them till the spring
of 1836.
Seward. — Thomas Williams, Joseph Yauce, Austin Andrews and
Edmund Whittlesy.
Harrison. — Joseph Miner, Albert Fancher, Eli Burbank, and a Mr.
Barneby.
The names above given only represent the heads of families and un-
married men, making a total of 81.
In the fall of 1835 a rapid increase of immigration set in, which was
kept up from that time forward. In 1836-7, the increase was very large.
As each new comer was pleased or displeased with the country, so were their
friends in the old home influenced. But few were dissatisfied, however, and
their glowing letters descriptive of the beauty of the landscape, fertility of
the soil, etc., were only incentives to increased immigration.
In the summer and fall of 1835, the necessity for some kind of local gov-
ernment began to be agitated, and steps were taken to organize the county.
In January, 1836, an act was passed by the Legislature for the organization
of Winnebago, Kane and Ogle counties. That act defined the county lines
of Winnebago as follows: " Commencing at the southeast corner of town-
ship number forty-three, range number four, east of the third principal
meridian; thence west to said meridian; thence north, along a line of said
meridian, to the southeast corner of township number twenty-six, in range
number eleven, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence west to the
^
^-^■^
{DECEASED
ROCKTON
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 239
dividing line between ranges numbers seven and eight; thence north alono-
said dividing line, to the northern boundary of the State; thence east along
said boundary line, to the northeast corner of range four, east of the third
principal meridian; thence south to the place of beginning."
As thus defined, Winnebago included all of the present county of
Boone, and the two tier of townships on the western part of Stephenson
County. Boone was set off and erected into a separate county in the winter
of 1836-7, the first election being held on the first Monday of May, 1837.
Stephenson was created a year or two later.
The same act designated Robert Stephens and Rezin Zorley, of Cook
county, and John Phelps, of Jo. Daviess County, as commissioners to
" establish the permanent seat of justice of Winnebago County," and ap-
pointed the first Monday in May of the same year as the time, and the
house of Daniel S. Haight as the place, where they should meet preparatory
to a discharge of their duties as such commissioners.
Section 8, of the same act, provided that, until public buildings should
be erected, the courts should be held at the house of Germanicus Kent or
Daniel S. Ilaight, as the county commissioners should direct.
The law under which the county was organized required that there
should be three hundred and fifty legal voters before the county could hold
an election. Dr. Daniel H. Whitney undertook the task of census-taker,
and succeeded in obtaining the requisite number of names, which evidence
was submitted to Hon. Thomas H. Ford, then Circuit Judge, who gave the
necessary order for the election. At that time, and from the adoption of
the constitution under which Illinois Territory had been admitted into the
union as a sovereign and independent state, the county and state elections
were held on the first Monday in August annually. Since then the time
has been changed to IS^ovember. At the same time Judge Ford ordered the
election, he appointed Germanicus Kent, of Rockford, Joseph P. Griggs, of
Cherry Valley (then Butler precinct), and Robert J, Cross, of Roscoe, as
judges or inspectors of the election.
ISTot withstanding the first Monday in May, 1836, had been appointed
by Legislative enactment for the meeting of the commissioners to locate
the county seat, they delayed meeting for the discharge of the trust reposed
in them until the fourteenth of July following.
In August, 1835, Nicholas Boilvin, of Chicago, aided by a Major
Campbell, (said to have been a resident of Ottawa) purchased of Catherine
Mayott, a woman of Indian extraction, her right to an unlocated section of
land, for the sum of eight hundred dollars. This land, as was shown by
subsequent events, belonged jointly to Nicholas Boilvin, a free trader, of
Chicago, Charles Reed, of Joliet, and Major Campbell. The instrument of
writing conveying this right of ownership from Catherine Mayott to the
parties above named was the first deed entered on record in Winnebago
County, and, as the land it conveyed entered largely into the early history
of the county, we copy it entire :
Know all men by these presents, that I, Catharine Mayott, of the town of Chica,o;o, and
State of Illinois, for and in consideration of the sum of eight hundred dollars, to me in hand
well and truly paid by my relative and friend, Nicholas Boilvin, of said Chicago, the receipt
whereof I hereby acknowledge, have granted, bargained, sold and conveyed, and by these
presents do grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Nicholas Boilvin, his heirs, execu-
tors and assigns, the unlocated section of land which was granted to me by the littii article
of the treaty between the United States and the Winnebago Nation of Indians, made and
concluded at Prairie du Chien, on the first day of August, in the year of our Lord one
240 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, (the other section granted to me having been sold
to Henry Gratiot), toi^ether with all the right, title, interest, claim and control which I, the
said Catharine Muyott, have, or may, or can have, by virtue of the treaty aforesaid. To have
and to hold to him, the said Nicholas Boilvin, his heirs, executors and assigns, to his and
their sole use and behoof forever. And furthermore, I, the said Catharine, for myself, my
heirs, executors and assigns, hereby covenant, promise and agree to and with the said Nicii-
olas Boilvin, his heirs, executors and assigns, that all acts and doings in the premises which
have hitherto been done, or may yet be performed under tlie direction or authority of the
said Boilvin or his lawful agent, I will ratify and confirm ; and I hereby bind myself, my
heirs and executors, to the fulfillment of the contract between the said Boilvin and myself,
hereby granting and selhng unto the said Nicholas Boilvin all my right, title and interest
in and to the premises aforesaid, in as full, perfect and absolute a manner as it is possible to
be done, performed or executed. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal,
at Chicago aforesaid, this twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and thirty-five.
her
Catharine x Mayott. [Seal.]
mark.
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of
G. W. Dole,
Thomas Hartzell,
Isaac Harmon.
State op Illinois, Cook Co.
This day came before me, Catharine Mayott, to me personally known as the real person
who executed the foregoing deed of conveyance; and then before me, after the same was
read, and the contents thereof being fully explained to her, acknowledged that she had
executed the same freely and voluntarily for the uses and purposes therein contained, and
acknowledged herself satisfied with the consideration therein named and received thereof.
Given under my hand and seal this 2oth day of August, A. D. 1835.
Isaac Harmon, J. P. [Seal.]
Recorded September 3d, 1835.
Recorder's Office,' Cook County, Illinois.
I, Richard J. Hamilton, Recorder of Cook County and State aforesaid, do hereby
certify that the within and foregoing deed of conveyance from Catharine Mayott to Nicholas
Boilvin is a true copy of the original as recorded in my ofiice, on the third day of September,
1835, in Book I, page 428. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of
office, this 29th day of August, 1836.
Ten years after the date of the certificate of the Recorder of CooIj
County, the copy ot the deed certified to by him was entered for record in
'Winnel3ago County, as the following endorsement certifies:
Filed September 7th, 1846. Recorded and examined September 8th, 1836.
Daniel H. Whitney, Mecorder Winnebago Co., Illinois.
With the warranty conveyed in this deed, JSTicholas Boilvin claimed
section fourteen, township number forty-four north, range one east of the
third principal meridian, about two miles above the city of Rockford.
Soon after Boilvin made this selection, Mr. Charles Reed appeared as prin-
cipal manager, and a town was mapped out and named Winnebago. Reed's
purpose was to make this place the county seat, and so far as the action of
the gentlemen appointed by the Legislature to establish the "permanent
seat of justice for Winnebago County" was concerned — at least two of them,
Robert Stephens and Rezin Zorley (the third one, John Phelps, never
appearing) — he was successful. The time fixed by law for the discharge of
that dtity, was the first Monday in May, 1836, or as soon thereafter as prac-
ticable; but the two commissioners named above (Stephens and Zorley) did
not appear at the place appointed for them to meet, until the fourteenth
day of July following. After being first duly sworn by James McKee, a
justice of the peace for Will County, they proceeded to discharge their
trust. On the sixteenth day of the same month, they reported that, "b^ng
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 241
governed in the matter by the best judgment they were able to form
respecting the same, they had determined on, iixed and selected, the follow-
ing place or location for the permanent seat of justice for Winnebago
County, to-wit: In secti'on fourteen, township number forty-four north,
range one, east of the third principal meridian, at a point fourteen chains
south of the (juarter-section corner, on the line dividing sections thirteen
and fourteen, and four chains west of said line, upon which point the stake
was struck, on the sixteenth day of July, A. D. 1836, on lands owned by
Nicholas Boilvin & Co., on the express condition that said Boilvin & Co.
are to make a good warranty deed to said County of Winnebago, of thirty
acres, for the purpose of erecting public buildings for said County, so long
as it shall remain the permanent seat of justice for said County," etc.
This selection of a site for the "permanent seat of justice for Winne-
bago County," was not satisfactory to the people — at least to that portion
of them included among the friends of Kockford, and they were more
numerous than the friends of Winnebago, and it was intimated among a
good many of the settlers, that Heed had seen the commissioners before
they cajiie to discharge their duty. However true this intimation may
have been, his seeing them and the honor of having secured their report
favorable to Winnebago, proved of little real value to him and his associates,
Messrs. Campbell and Boilvin, for the county business was never transacted
there. To quote the language of the surviving settlers of 1836, "theywere
•bull-dozed' out of it."
The law providing for the organization of Winnebago County further
declared '"that the said county seat should be located on lands belonging to the
United States, if a site for said county seat on such lands can be found eligible,
or upon lands claimed by citizens of said county; but if such location, should
be made upon land claimed by any individual having title or pre-emption
right to the same, the claimant or proprietor upon whose claim or right of
pre-emption the said seat of justice might be located, should make a deed
in fee simple to any number of acres of said tract, not less than twenty, to
the said county; or in lieu thereof, such claimant or owner or owners of such
pre-emption right should donate to the said county at least three thousand
dollars, to be applied to building county buildings within one year after the
location of said county seat; and that the proceeds of such quarter section,
if the county seat should be located on government lands, or the proceeds
of such twenty acres of land, if it were located on pre-emption right of
individuals, or the said three thousand dollars, in case such pre-emption
right or owner or owners shall elect to pay that sum in lieu of the said
twenty acres, shall be appropriated to the erection of a sufficient court
house and jail."
Reed, for himself and associates, carried out in good faith, so far as
making and tendering a deed for the land (as specified in the bill under
which the county was organized) was concerned, to the county commission-
ers at their first meeting in August; but it was rejected in consequence of
the following objectionable clause: "To have and to hold (the said thirty
acres of land), with all the privileges and appurtenances thereunto belong-
ing, as long as the same shall remain as the permanent seat of justice for
said county."
From the time the locating commissioners struck the stake designating
the ground whereon the county seat should be located, Mr. Reed spared no
efibrt to herald the advantages of Winnebago, and to improve the place by
242 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COITNTT.
the erection of buildin^^s, etc. He at once built a two-story lionse, which
lie used as a hotel and store. S. S. Richardson and Kingsley located there
and joined Heed in making improvements. John Yance started a provision
store, and a son of Yulcan opened a blacksmith shop. With these build-
ings, seven dwelling houses, a free ferry, a lime kiln, etc., the opening of a
road through the timber east from AVinnebago, to meet the state road from
Chicago to Galena, at Beaver creek, and sundry other local undertakings,
Winnebago really began to wear the appearance of thrift. No man knew
better than Reed that all these things were necessary to bolster up and sus-
tain the report of the commissioners. But other agencies were at work,
which, in the end overcame all his aspirations and rendered useless his
expenditures of time and money to make Winnebago the "permanent seat
of justice for Winnebago County," This was the beginning of county seat
troubles, which continued until settled by the people on tlie fii st Monday in
May, 1839, of ^liicli farther mention will hereafter be made.
Although dissatisfied with the location of the county seat, there was
nothing left to the settlers, at least for the time, but submission; and the
first election having been set for the first Monday in August, and the time
being only a few days distant, the settlers turned their attention to the
selection of candidates to be voted for. Political considerations, from a par-
tisan standpoint, did not enter into the manipulations of that election, and
instead of calling a convention, as is done in these latter days, the honors
were divided between the voting settlers of the different sections of the
county, which at that time, and until May, 1837, included Boone county.
Besides a member of Congress and two members of the State Legislature to
be voted for, the following county officers were to be chosen: Three County
Commissioners, Recorder, Sheriff, County Surveyor and Coroner. The duty
of the commissioners of those days of the Past were the same as devolve
upon the supervisors in these days of the Present. Upon them devolved
the duty of putting the county machinery in motion, and the future of the
county depended, in a great measure, upon their character and business
capacity, upon the same principle that
" Just as the twig is bent, the tree 's inclined."
Councils for deliberation and an interchange of views were held, and
the following division of honors agreed upon:
To Squaw Prairie (now Belvidere), were assigned two of the candidates
— commissioner and recorder; to Rockford, one commissioner and the can-
didate for sheriff", and to the north part of the county, the other candidate
for commissioner. In adjusting the distribution of the Rockford candidates
a dissension arose between the east and west parts of the town. Daniel S.
Haight, of the east side, had been named as the candidate for sheriff",
and his interests all being on that side of the river, and looking for-
ward to a final and permanent adjustment of the county seat question,
he was naturally desirous that the candidate for commissioner should
also be chosen from among the settlers of his bailiwick. Kent and his
west side friends were equally determijied in their adherence to the terms
of the treaty entered into for a fair and equal distribution of the oflices
to the different sections of the county, and upon the eve of the election
advised Mr. Haight that unless he also adhered to the agreement that the
west side would select both the candidates for sheriff and commissioner and
vote for and elect them. This argument convinced Haight of his error, and
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 243
William E. Dunbar was named as the candidate of the west sidcrs for com-
missioner.
Elections in those days were not conducted as thej now are. Written
or printed ballots were not then in use in Illinois, and hence citizens voted
viva voce. And without previous organization and without statutes to
guide tliem in their duties, it may be readily imagined that the first election
in Winnebago County was conducted M'ithout much form. Mr. H. R.
Enoch, editor of the Rockford Journal, in speaking of this election through
his paper, said:
"Neither one of the judges knew anything of the election laws of
Illinois, and not a statute was to be obtained in the county. Of the judges,
Mr. Kent knew something of the laws of Virginia and Alabama; Mr.
Robert J. Cross was familiar with those of IS'ew York and Michigan, and
Mr. Griggs with those of Ohio. D. A. Spaulding had some knowledge of
the laws of Illinois, so he was selected as one of the clerks, and intrusted
with the duty of making the poll books, and upon him devolved the honor
of principally conducting the first election in the county."
There were no "split tickets" at that election — the settlers generally
voted straight, and there was not much difficulty or confusion in making
out the tally sheet. The poll l.-ook showed that 120 votes had been cast.
There being*' but one voting precinct in the county, the settlers from all
parts of the county voted here. The following names represent the voters
at that election:
David Caswell, George Caswell, David Barnes, P. P. Burnham, Thomas
Crane, Milton S. Mason, Timothy Caswell, Thatcher Blake, Setli Scott,
Joshua Fawcett, John Barrett, Jeremiah Frame, John F. Thayer, William
Randall, John Welch, Joshua Cramer, John Slavins, David Blake, William
Barlow, Joseph B. Baker, Daniel Fairchild. Livingston Bobbins, Alfred
Shattuck, Alva Trask, William Smith, Ira Ilaskins, John Burts, Simon P.
Doty, Charles H. Payne, Royal Briggs, Solomon Watson, Abraham Wat
son, Ralzimond Gardner, Mason Sherburne, John K. Towner, John G.
Lockridge, John Allen, John Lovesse, A. E. Courtright, Henry Enoch,
Ephraim Sumner, S. Brown, A. R. Dimmick, Samuel Hicks, H. M. Wat-
tles, T. R. J. English, Oliver Robbins, J. P. Griggs, Aaron V. Taylor, Luke
Joslyn, Wm. Sumner, David D. Elliott, John Handy, Jacob Pettyjohn,
Daniel S. Haiglit, Jacob Keyt, John Lefonton, John Kelso, William R.
Wheeler, M. Ewing, Charles Works, Sidney Twogood, Phineas Churchill,
Thomas B. Talcott, Austin Andrews, Thomas Lake, Benjamin McConnell,
Benjamin DePue, Benjamin AVhite, Lewis Ilarkins, Aaron B. Davis, Joel
Pike, R. M. Waller, Julius Trask, William Carey, Ephraim Wyman, P. D.
Taylor, Wm. Brayton, Israel Morrill, Harlyn Shattuck, David DeAVitt,
James B. Young, Abel Thuiston, John Kandler, John Adams, Milton Kil-
burn, Richard II. Enoch, Joseph Chadwick, Daniel Piper, John Hance,
Henry Enoch, Jr., Jacob Enoch, Peter Moore, Sylvester Sutton, V. B. Rex-
ford, William G. Blair, Daniel H. Whitney, James Jackson, Isaac Adams,
Isaac Harrell, E. A. Nixon, John Wood, William Mead, Joseph Rodgers,
A. C. Gleason, Henry Hicks, John Brink, E. Gregory, L. C. Waller, James
Thomas, G. Kent, Chauncey Mead, George Randall, W. H. Talcott, Wil-
liam E. Dunbar, S. A. Lee, Charles Reed, Charles Sayres, Robt. J. Cross,
and D. A. Spaulding.
Of the above 120 voters at the first election in Winnebago County,
only fifteen are living at the date of this writing, Oct. 1, 1877. Of these,
244
HISTOEY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Thatcher Blake, Ephraim Sumner, Charles "Works, Phineas Churchill,
Thomas Lake, and Ephraim Wjmian are living in Kockford, or its immedi-
ate vicinity. Thomas B. Talcott, Isaac Adams of Rockton, and A. C.
Gleason live at Cherry Yalley; Simon P. Doty, at Belvidere; Harlyn Sliat-
tuck, at Shattuck's Grove, Boone County (P. O. Belvidere); H. M. Wattles
(at last authentic account, one year ago), in Minnesota; W. R. Wheeler,
Colorado Springs, Colorado; P. M. Waller, Charles City, Iowa; Israel
Morrill, Minnesota; David Caswell, Iowa.
The following is the official report of the election above quoted:
For Member of Congress. — William L. May had 73 votes; John T.
Stuart had 44 votes. Majority for May, 29.
For Liepresentat'me to the State Legislature. — John Turner had 74
votes; Charles R. Bennett had 73 votes; Elijah Charles had 34 votes; James
Craig had 40, and L. H. Bo wen had 8 votes.
For Sheriff. — Daniel S. Haight had 83 votes; Henry Hicks had 31
votes. Majority for Haight, 52 votes.
For Coroner. — Eliphalet Gregory had 95 votes, and no opposition.
For County Commissio7iers.—Th.oma,&Ji. Talcott had 83 votes; Simon
P. Doty had 68 votes; William E. Dunbar had 60 votes; G. Kent had 35
votes; Seth Scott had 46 votes; Levi Moulthrop had 32 votes, and Isaiah
Courtright had 4 votes. Talcott, Doty and Dunbar were elected.
For County Surveyor. — D. A. Spaulding had 81 votes, and John
Kelso had 28 votes. Spaulding's majority, 53.
For Recorder. — Daniel H. Whitney had 72 votes; John E. Yance had
41 votes, and James Boswell had 1 vote. Whitney's majority, 30 votes.
The first Monday in August, 1836, was also the first day of the month.
On Wednesday, the third, the second day after their election, the commis-
sioners met at the house of Daniel S. Haight, on the east side of the river,
and, there being n(i Justice of the Peace nearer than Galena, Ottawa, Joliet
or Chicago, proceeded to administer the oath of office to each other.
[It may be well to state that previous to this organization all that part
of the country east of Rock River, including the present counties of Boone,
McHenry, DeKalb, and a part of Ogle, and probably a portion of some of
the others adjoining, was known as LaSalle Count3\ All west of Rock River,
including the present counties of Jo Daviess, Carroll, Lee, and that part of
Ogle lying west of Rock River, was known and recognized in the courts of
the state as Jo- Daviess County, named in honor of Col. Jo Daviess, of
Kentucky, who bore a conspicuous part in the campaigns of Gen. Harrison
against the Indians.]
After subscribing to the oath of office, the commissioners proceeded to
the business of starting the machinery of the county. The first order
entered was one appointing Don Alonzo Spaulding as clerk of the Board.
The second order related to the division of the county into precincts, and
fixing a time for the election of Justices of the Peace, constables, etc.
Seven voting precincts were then established, as follows:
' Yellow JEtiver included townships 26-7, of ranges 8 and 0, east of the
fourth principal meridian, now the towns of Silver Creek, Ridott, Freeport,
Lancaster, and the south half of Rock River in Stephenson County.
Rock Gh'ove included townships 28-9, in ranges 8, 9 and 10, east of the
third principal meridian, now the north half of Rock River, all of Buck
Eye, Rock Grove, and the east half of Oneco, in Stephenson County, and
Laona and Howard, in Winnebago.
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 245
Peehetolika included toMaisliips 26, 7, range 11, east of the fourth
principal meridian, now known as Seward, Lysander and Burritt.
Kisivauhee included townships 4, 3, ranges 1 and 2, east of the third
principal meridian, now known as Cherry Yalley, New Milford, and part of
the town of Rockford.
Rockford included township 26, range 11, east of the fourth princi-
pal meridian, and township •li and the south half of township 45,
ranges 1 and 'A, east of the third principal meridian, now including the
towns of Winnebago, Guilford, the most of Rockford, and tlie south half
of Owen and Harlem.
Rock River included townships 28 and 29, range 11, east of the fourth
jDrincipal meridian, and the north half of township 45, range 1, and
all of township 46, ranges 1, 2 and 3, east of the tliird principal meridian,
now the towns of Shirland, Harrison, Ilockton, Roscoe, the north half of
Owen and Harlem, in Winnebago County, and the town of Manchester in
Boone County, a strip of territory 24 miles long and from 6 to 12 in width,
and covering 6 townships of land. Immense as it was, it only polled 20
votes at the Presidential election, in November, 1836.
Belvidere included townships 43, 44, and 45, in ranges 3 and 4 east,
and township 46, range 4 east. This precinct embraced all the county of
Boone, exce]>t the town of Manchester, which was embraced in the liock
River precinct, and although it covered an area of 252 square miles, it only
polled 23 votes in the Yan Buren and Harrison presidential campaign in
November, 1836.
The commissioners also entered an order fixing the time and places of
holding the election. The time fixed was the 2Tth of August; the oflScers
to be elected were Justices of the Peace and constables. Judges or in-
spectors of election were also appointed. In only three of the precincts,
however, were elections held in August, as ordered by the commissioners —
Belvidere, Rock River, and Pecatonica. In Belvidere, John K. Towner and
John S. King were elected Justices of the Peace, and Abel Thurston and
Mason Sherburne, constables.
In Rock River, Sylvester Talcott and Robert J. Cross were elected
Justices, and John P. Parsons and D. A. Blake were elected constables.
In Pecatonica, Ephraim Sumner and Isaac Hance were chosen as
Justices, and William Sumner and Thomas Hance designated as constables.
The above named were the first civil officers elected in the county.
At a subsequent meeting of the board of county commissioners,
another election was ordered to be held in the ]>recincts that failed to vote
in August. This second election was set for the 14th of October follow-
ing. xVt ihis date the following named settlers were selected as justices
and constables:
Rockford. — William E. Dunbar and Henry Hicks, justices; consta-
bles, none reported.
Yelloio River. — Daniel W. Wootan and Seth Scott, justices; consta-
bles, William Baker and Hiram Walker.
Kiskioaukee. — Philetus M. Johnson and William R. Wheeler, justices;
cojistables, Wihiam Clark and William Randall.
Rock Grove. — Jonathan Carey and Orleans Daggett, justices; con-
stables, Josiah Blackmore and Jacob Stratton.
Some of the above named refused to qualify — among them Daniel W.
Wootan, of Yellow River precinct. His commission as justice of the peace
still remains among the files in the office of the county clerk.
246 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
At this August session of the board of county commissioners, Eobert
Stephens and Rezin Zorley, two of the commissioners appointed by the
Legislature to estabhsh the "permanent seat of justice of Winnebago
County," appeared and presented their report, to which reference has
already been made,
Charles Reed next presented a deed from Nicholas Boilvin & Co., to
the County of Winnebago, for thirty acres of land at the town of Winne-
bago, for the use of the public buildings of the county, as required by the
act of the Legislature creating the county, establishing the county seat, etc.
This deed at the time was rejected, because it stipulated that the title
should remain vested in the county so lo7ig as the town of Winnebago
should remain as the "permanent seat of justice for said county. " Says
Mr. Hiram R. Enoch:
"The 'county seat question' had thus early entered into the politics of
the county, and, as it turned out, proved one of the most, if not the most
exciting question in the county for several years, being fruitful of numerous
exciting elections, and the means of producing many schisms between the
representatives of the rival towns."
At this same August meeting of the county commissioners, Robert J.
Cross, of Roscoe, was appointed county treasurer. Why the particular
necessity of the early appointment of this officer is not clearly defined, as
the amount of public money to be taken care of was exceedingly small,
as there had been no assessment or collection of taxes up to that time.
William E. Dunbar was appointed as agent of the county to carry the
returns of the election to Yandalia, then the capital of the State, procure
the commissions of the officers just elected, and, if possible, secure copies
of the State laws, etc.
The first claims ever entered of record as against the county, were
presented to this meeting of the board. Germanicus Kent, Robert J.
Cross and J. P. Griggs, as judges of election, and D. A. Spaulding and S.
A. Lee, as clerks, presented claims of one dollar each for their services at
the election held on the Monday previous. D. A. Spaulding was also
allowed Jifty cents for stationery furnished for poll books.
As we have already stated, political prejudices did not disturb the con-
ditions of the first election, August 1, 1836. But when the county had
been fully organized and its machinery put in motion by the first board of
county commissioners, the settlers began to divide up — to define party
lines and to take sides accordingly. In 1836, John T. Stuart was the Whig
candidate for Congress, and came out 29 votes behind his Democratic com-
petitor. Two years later (in 1838) Mr. Stuart was again a candidate
against Stephen A. Douglas, when he received a majorit}^ of 93 in the
county; and in 1840, when General Harrison was the Whig candidate for
president — when the people went wild over "Tippecanoe and Tyler too,"
Mr. Stuart was again a candidate, and this time received a majority in the
county of 270 over his Democratic competitor. These results showed a
steady Whig gain. Stuart was beaten in the district in 1836, by William
L. May, Democrat, but in the elections of 1838-40, he was elected by hand-
some majorities. The district at that time extenOed from the Wisconsin
state line on the north to a line below Springfield, extending across the
state from a point on the Indiana state line to the Mississippi river. There
are now twelve Congressional districts in the same territory.
At the presidential election in 1836, only 158 votes were polled in the
county, apportioned among the five precincts voting, as follows :
H.WTalcott
(DECEASCDJ
ROCKTON
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 249
Precincts. Dem. Whig.
Rockford - •....24 19
Bel videre l;5 10
Kisli wjiukee -. -. _.1G 9
Rock River... 1 19
Yellow River 34 13
88 70—158
This was an increase over the August election, of thirty-eiirht votes,
out of which the Democrats had a majority of eigliteeii.
In 1S40, when Boone County had been organized from a part of the
territory east of Rock river, and Stephenson County had absorbed two tiers '
of townships from the western part of Winnebago, as originally erected,
leaving the county as now constituted, the vote was as follows: In August
the Whigs polled 637 votes, and the Democrats 285 votes, making a total
of 9'2'2 votes, and a Whig majority of 352. In November of the same
year, at the presidential election, the Whigs cast 789 votes, and the Demo-
crats 321— total, 1,110. Whig majority ^6S.
Turning back to the action of the board of County Commissioners, we
find nothing of material importance to claim their attention for several
sessions. -The most of their time was taken up in hearing petitions for
roads, appointing viewers, etc. The most important among their first
ofiicial actions at their first sessions in August, September and Deceml)er,
1836, was the establishment of ferries at Rockford and Winnebago, and one
where the township line between townships 44 and 45 crosses Rock river.
The rates of toll established at these ferries was as follows:
For each carriage, wagon or cart drawn by two horses, oxen or mules 623^c.
For the same drawn by one horse. 373^0.
For each additional horse. - 12^0.
For man and horse 25c.
For each horse, mule or head of cattle 12/^c.
For hoirs, sheep and goats, per score -- 50c.
For each footman G^^c.
The commissioners likewise established hotel rates in those days, and
in poring over the first record of their proceedings, from August 3. 1836, to
December 10, 1842 inclusive, and numbering 475 pages, we found the fol-
low^ing table of rates licensed hotels were allowed to charge :
For victualing, per meal 37^c.
Lodging, per night 1-^3^2^.
Oats, per bushel $1.25. ^
Liquor, per glass 6/4C.
Any charge above these rates marked a forfeiture of license.
Eleven months after the complete organization of the county, and the
election of the first board of county oflicers in August, 1836, came the "day
we celebrate," July 4, A. D. 1837", and, as full of patriotism^ as the peo])le
within the shadows of Independence Hall, or Bunker Hill, the settlers
resolved to spare one day from their farm-making and other business pur-
suits, and to join in such patriotic and social amusements as their limited
advantages would permit. The programme consisted of an opening salute
by the Anvil Artillery, the raising of a liberty pole (hickory) in the rear ot
what is now No. 310 State street, East Rockford, the reading of the Declara-
tion of Independence, by C. I. Horsman, an oration by John C. Iveinble,
and a grand dinner, served up by Henry Thurston, in the Irame ot the
Rockford House, which was roofed, and sided up as high as the windows.
250 HISTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Temporary tables were put up, and the edibles were served on clean shin-
gles in lieii of plates. Beef was the staple, which was cooked, as the bill of
fare said, in various ways, and served cold. The speaking took place in
Haight's barn, which stood near the present corner of State and Kish-
waukee streets. The bay of the barn was covered for the speakers, and the
threshing floor, which was a large one, having been built to thresh with
three horses al)reast, was tilled up with benches for the audience. An old
settler, one who dined at the Rockford House on that day, a little over forty
years ago, said of the dinner to the writer: " The fact was that the number
to be cooked for was so much lai ger than was anticipated, that the beef
could only be cooked in sufficient quantities in one way. This was done by
Mrs. Thurston, who boiled the beef in a twelve-gallon, iron kettle, in the
yard in the rear of the house. Knives and forks, as well as plates, were
scarce, and each man ' went in with his own tools' whenever these useful
table appliances were lacking."
The proceedings of the day wound up with a grand ball at Haight's
yellow house, which stood opposite the Rockfoi'd House, and which was
ready for plastering. Some sheeting was procured, which was used to par-
tition off the ladies' dressing room. Supper was provided by Mrs. Ivil-
burn, of " Whig Hill," and a good one it was, says our informant. The
music was furnished by Jacob Miller, commonly called " old Jake." The
belle of the occasion became a grandmother several years ago.
Among the first settlers were a goodly number who, if not reared
within large cities, were at least raised near them, and, as a consequence,
had been accustomed to the amusements they furnished. The change from
these associations to the scenes of a wild, new conntry was attended with a
degree of lonesomeness, sometimes not calculated to make them feel at ease;
and to remove this kind of '"dull care," something must be provided Ihat
would shorten the long winter evenings. Among the most popular amuse-
ments provided was a Mock Court, Avliich is well remembered by many of
the survivors of 1836-7-8, as affording some remarkable scenes. Quoting
from a paper written by Hiram R. Enoch, Esq., we present a brief sketch
of this court and its characters :
" The sessions of the 'court' were held in ' Miller's store,' and the spec-
imens of lofty, spread-eagle elocjuence made before that tribunal have sel-
dom been equalled. The decisions of tlie court were not always in strict
accordance with the law and evidence, but were rigidly enforced. Each
member of the court, as well as outsiders, had his particular soubriquet^ to
which he answered as readily as if addressed by his proper name. There
was 'old Hayes, after the noted thief-catcher of that day in New York;
'Flint,' 'Gun Lock,' 'Tut,' 'Blower,' 'Brink,' ^S. C.,"Queen,' 'Old Frost,'
'Young Frost,' 'Big Frost,' 'Little Frost,' 'Eed Frost,' and some others that
would not sound well in ears polite.
" Another popular summer institution was the ' Awkwark Squad.'
Some of the old settlers will remember the hearty laughs they had when, as
the squad were paraded in double column in front of 'Sam Little's grocery,'
the 'Colonel' took 'S. C and 'Queen' from the ranks to 'mark time,' with
frequent 'dressing of the ranks,' in front of 'Sam's bar to 'smile.' "
Close readers of history will remember that somewhere about 1830-1-2
an insurrection, reaching in magnitude a rebellion, occurred in Poland,
against the Russian Government; that the insurrection was speedily sup-
pressed, and its leaders or officers exiled. Out of sympathy for their condi-
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 251
tion, Congress, with a generosity peculiar to a free people, made a grant of
western lands to them whereon they might settle as a colony. The terms
of the grant gave them permission to settle on any unclaimed Western
lands they might select. Accepting the grant, they sent an agent hv the
name of Chlopicki, to make the selection, and, arriving in America about
the time the Winnebago country was the great centre of attraction, became
to Winnebago County, and made a selection of thirty-six sections in the
present towns of Rockford, Owen and Rockton. Nearly all of this land,
however, had been previously occupied by settlers, and hence this selection
was clearly in violation of the grant, lor it stipulated that the selection
could only be made from unoccupied lands. Chlopicki was informed that
his selection was in violation of the terms of the grant, and he agreed to
lay his claim elsewhere, but did not keep his word. This action on his part
led to an unpleasant and uneasy condition of affairs that continued for sev-
eral years. The lands in this part of the Winnebago County belonged to
the Galena land district, and all outside of Rockford, Owen and Rockton
(in which were located the thirty-six sections in controversy) were opened
to sale and entry in the fall of 1839, but these lands were withheld from sale
for nearly eight years after they had been surveyed and platted. In a com-
munication upon this subject, published in the Winnebago Forum^ in
181:3, William H. Halen, Esq., wrote as follows:
" These two townships (a portion of Rockton and Rockford) have been
withheld from sale for a much greater length of time than is ordinarily
allowed to elapse after the land has been settled upon by permanent occu-
pants. They were duly surveyed out and sub-divided into sections and
parts of sections, more than seven years ago, and in the regular course of
things should have been brought into market as early as 1838 or 1839.
This consummation, so desirable to two parties, namely, to the gov^ernment
and the settlers — to the first that it might get its honest dues, and to the
second that they might secure a title to the property — was prevented at that
time by the intrusion of a third party.
" This unwelcome, unbidden third party was a self-constituted com-
mittee pretending to be the representatives of a company of Polish exiles,
sent over in two Austrian frigates. Congress had passed an act authoriz-
ing this company of exiles, upon certain terms and conditions, and in a cer-
tain manner in the act prescribed, to select for its members a quantity of
lands: and these pseudo agents or representatives, greedy for speculations
and attracted principally by their beauty and numerous natural advantages,
pounced upon these two townships like hawks upon their prey, regardless of
the rights of the settlers, although at that time they might have found
thousands of acres of lands unoccupied, unclaimed, and of as fine a quality
for farming purposes as need ever be sought on the earth's surface. A
minute history of this spurious claim might not, perhaps, be uninteresting
to such as are yet unacquainted with it, but I should deem it quite out of
place here, seeing that it is now numbered with the things that were, and
the time, the room and the inclination, and, above all, in this connection
the occasion for its details, are lacking.
" Suffice it to say, that after the settlers had, by their petitions for sev-
eral successive sessions, called the attention of Congress to the subject, an
act was passed and became a law on the 14:tli of April, 1842, removing the
incubus, and authorizing the entry of these lands in these two tcnvnships by
pre-emption, like other government lands.
252 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
" In the midst of our rejoicings over the righteous result, let us not
lose sight of the important fact that our business might have been buried
beneath the mass of unfinished Congressional matters for years to come,
but for the kindness of the Hon. O. H. Smith, of Indiana, the Hon. Robt.
J. Walker, of Mississippi, and the Hon. Richard M. Young, of this State,
Senators in Congress, who, well informed of the facts in the case, and satis-
tied of the justice of our cause, most genei'ously gave us the benefit of their
eflicient aid, by Avhich the affair was finally disposed of to the satisfaction o±
all parties, as well as ourselves, and ample provision was made for the bene-
fit of the real exiles from Poland, and these unfortunate and meritorious
countrymen of Kosciusko had no occasion to question the honor and good
faith of a government which some of the most illustrious patriots of Poland
had bled to establish.''
Claim troubles were of frequent occurrence, and many of the original
or first claimants, after making their selections and returning for their fam-
ilies, were greatly surprised on their return to settle on them to find them
in the possession of others. These second occupants were called "jumpers."
In the absence of those who had first selected them, these interl<jpers
would put up on the claim a hut or cabin, and maybe plow a furrow
around as much of the land as they desired, and assume to be "lord of all
they surveyed." (3thers who had made valuable selections, that is to say,
where they had selected claims in favorable locations — locations that were
likely from the growth of the country to become valuable in the future by
reason of their probable proximity to towns, public roads, etc., and who
remained on them, were often surprised on getting up in the morning, to
find that during the night another shanty or cabin had sprung up and was
occupying a place near their own. This new shanty would usually be occu-
pied b}'- three or four men, friends of the "jumper," who had come to help
him hold his claim. The tnodus operaTidi of these men was to put their
10x12 shanty together at some convenient locality where lumber was within
easy reach, load it on a wagon at night, and transport it to their intended
site of occupancy, dump it down quietly, and by the "peep o' day" be ready
to maintain their claim by force of arms, in what they were pleased to call
their "castle." This course of procedure often resulted in severe and bitter
hand-to-hand fights among the parties, and finally grew so numerous that
arrangements had to be provided to protect the rightful claimants in the
maintenance of their claims. A "settlers' court" was organized, at which
all these cases were determined, each party stating his case to the court,
and the reasons for wishing to retain his claim. As a rule, the decisions ot
this court were in favor of the settler who had a family and intended to
become a permanent settler; and to the credit of both parties to these
claims controversies, be it said, the findings of the court were always
observed and carried out to the very letter, with but few very rare excep-
tions. When a disposition to treat the decisions of the court with contempt
did occur, the settlers were ready to turn out en masse to enforce the decree
of their court. No violence would be used, but the jumpers were given to
understand that the decisions of that court were law, and must be respected.
If they stood upon the order of their going, their shanties and all within
them would be loaded up on wagons or runners, and hauled some miles
away, wdth the assurance that harsher measures would be used in case of
another offense of like character.
A short timo^ before the land sales came on at Galena, in 1839, the
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 253
settlers were called together in a public meeting at Tiockford, for the pur-
pose of clu)osing a committee to attend at the sale and adjust and settle any
dispute or controversy that might arise in regard to claims, etc. Messrs.
Henry Enoch, Hayes and Jas. ]>. Martyn were chosen as such com-
mittee. They were duly sworn and directed to proceed to Galena and keep
open court every day during the continuance of the sales, or at least until
there was no longer occasion for such courts of adjustment. And, as we
are advised by a settler of that date who has lived to see the ])raii"ie wilder-
nesses of 1S34-5 reduced to fields of agricultural beauty and productiveness,
that the adoption of such precautions was a wise measure, and that it
prevented a great deal of subsequent litigation.
LOCAL DISSENiSIONS PAPER TOWNS WINNEBAGO — THE COUNTY SEAT
QUESTION SETTLED.
Another fruitful source of local discord was the road question, and it
is a fact sustained by the records of the commissioners' court that the prin-
cipal business of that body for the first three or four years after the county
was organized and its machinery set in motion was confined to settling
these ugly neighborhood dissensions. Petitions and remonstrances w^ere
received by the dozen at almost eveiy session; viewers had to be appointed,
reports to be examined, and delegations received and their complaints
heard. All these things consumed time.
Every man occupying an "eligible" claim was possessed to a greater
or less degree with a town mania, and to further his schemes sought to
have all the roads of the country to center at his particular location, and as
a conse(|uenc! a great deal of hard work had to be done by the parties
directly interested, and numerous towns, with "big sounding" names, in-
numerable streets, avenues, and parks, with no less pretentious designations,
were mapped out on paper, and heralded to the world as the great center of
the Winnebago country, and the future inland metropolis of the "great
West." But few of these towns, however, survived long. The places that
once knew them in name now know them no more, except as well-cultivated
productive farms. Some of these towns were conceived in a spirit of spec-
ulation that made some men almost w-ild with excitement. Lots sold at
wonderfully fabulous prices, and a great many men in distant states who
saw the towns on paper, but who never had set foot in the state, were in-
duced to invest money in "corner lots." They were made to see a great
future before these towns, and that future has grown wider and wider, while
the towns and the large returns they expected from their investments were
long since Ijuried within the rusty vaults of time. The resistless march of
improvement and enterprise swept on and over these paper cities, crushing
them down and out of sight, and almost out of memory. Permanent and
needed roads were established, and local demands and natural advantages
have made towns and villages, and mills, and other adjuncts and necessi-
ties of a better civilization and more enlightened intelligence to spring up
in localities but little dreamed of by the pioneer settlers of 1834.
Among the towns that once had an existence but now are not was the
town of Winnebago, to which reference has already been made as the point at
which the county seat was originally located. The site of that old town is
about two miles above State street, Rockford, and emljraced an area of six
hundred and thirty-seven and seventy-eight-hundredths acres. This town
was laid out by Nicholas Boilvin & Co., Charles Eeed and Major Camp-
254 HISTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COtJNTT.
bell being the "Co." The plat contained two hundred and fifty-seven
blocks, which were subdivided into two thousand, four hundred and thirtv-
six lots. .The refusal of the county officers to recognize it as the county
seat, a refusal in which they perseveringly persisted, lead to county seat
troubles that were not settled until an act was passed by the legislature, and
approved March 2, 1839 (see laws of Illinois, 1838-9, page 264), providing
for the holding of a special county seat election on the first Monday in May
following (1839). At that election, Rockford, Winnebago, Roscoe, Willow
Creek (llarleni Township), Pecatonica, and Scipio (also in Harlem Town-
ship), wert; aspirants for county seat honors. The following figures show
the number of votes cast for each town: Rockford, 320; Winnebago, 75;
Roscoe, 2; Willow Creek, 5; Pecatonica, 1; Scipio, 1; total votes cast, 4p4,
of which Rocktord had a majority over all of 236 vote's. This election
settled for all time the county seat troubles of Winnebago County, although
it left for many yetirs trace's of ill-feeling between some of the settlers,
notwithstanding the victors treated the vanquished right royally the night
after the election, at the Rockford House, where each pledged the other in
Kentucky's best Bourbon to "let the dead past bury its dead," and to for-
ever ignore the personal differences that had grown up out of the question
they had tliat day settled at the ballot box.
J^'rom that day Winnebago began to fall into decay. Some of the
houses that had been built there were pulled down, hauled to Rockford and
re-erected; others were removed elsewhere, and Boilvin & Co. saw their
cherished hopes vanish into nothingness. Mr. Reed subsequently moved to
Rockton, where he continued to reside until his death. The lots and blocks
into which the section of land had been divided in many instances became
delinquent for taxes and were sold, at tax sale. Rockford has grown up
that way, and some of the residents occupy houses and homes on the south-
ern part of what was once Winnebago. Another part of it is an open com-
mon; a third part is cultivated by Mr. George S. Haskel, the world-renowned
seedsman, while a fourth part of it is included in the West Rockford
cemetery.
A few years ago, Mrs. Campbell, the widow of Major Campbell, one
of the original proprietors, by her attorney appeared in Rockford and put in
a claim for dower interest in this land. The facts upon which she based
her claim were these: Some time after Mr. Campbell had become interested
in Winnebago, he took the benefit of the bankrupt law, and among other
aasignments made for the benefit of his creditors he assigned his interest
in the Winnebago property without the knowledge, consent, or signature of
his wife. After his death, and when legal luminaries had discovered that
no assignment of real estate was good in law without the wife joined in the
assignment, she sought to recover her dower interest here as above stated.
Some of the parties who had become owners of lots and grounds in Winne-
bago readily settled and paid over whatever price was agreed upon. Some
others, believing that possession covers nine points in law, presented a bold
front, "determined to hold the fort." To these, Mrs. Campbell's agent
proposed an appraisement of the property and a settlement on the basis of
five per cent, of whatever value might be established. Another part of the
occupants laughed the claim to scorn. As a town, Winnebago lost its pres-
tige, what little it had, when Rockford was voted the county seat by a
majority of 236 over all competitors, and little by little it passed into
oblivion, and there is no thing now but its name to mark its memory.
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 255
FIEST CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, JURY, ETC.
Notwithstanding the county was organized and the machinery put in
working order in x\ugust, 1830, no circuit court was held in the county
until October, 1837. The sessions of the county comniissioners had been
held at the house of Daniel S. Haight. The commissioners were vested
with power to designate the place where the sessions of the circuit court
should be held, and in consonance with that powei- they designated the
house of Mr. Haight. By this time, Mr. Haight had erected a mure pre-
tentious structure than his first cabin, and had named it the Rockford
House, occupying it as a hotel. In this building, says Mr. J. H. Thurston,
the first session of the circuit court was held. The court convened October
6, 1837. Dan (not Daniel) Stone was judge and James H. Mitchell was
clerk. Judge Stone occupied one of the few chairs the house afibrded,
which was placed behind a table that occupied a central position in one end
of the room, and the clerk occupied another table and another one of the
few remaining chairs. The states attorney was not present, and Judge
Stone appointed Seth B. Farwell prosecutor jpro tern. The audience con-
tented themselves with seats on rude benches that were placed around the
sides of the room. The petit jurors in attendance at this term of court
were: Edward Gating, James B. Martyn, Joel Pike, William Pepper,
Bichard Montague, Isaac N. Cunningham, Thatcher Blake, Henry Thurs-
ton, Charles I. Horsman, David G-oodrich, James Jackson, and Cyrus
Jenks. Of these jurymen, only Thatcher Blake, Richard Montague, and
James B. Martyn are known to be still living, 'i'he first two named reside
in Rockford, and James B. Martyn at Belvidere, the owner and manager of
the Baltic Flouring Mills.
The compensation of jurors in those days was fixed at seventy-five
cents per day for each day's attendance, and payment made in county orders
worth only about forty cents on the dollar.
The first case called was S. Finley vs. David A. Blake. This case was
continued. The next was The People of the State of Illinois vs. Isaac
Hance and Albert Hance, but no prosecuting witnesses appearing the case
was quashed. The case of the People vs. Robert Mattox, charged with
assault with intent to kill, was also quashed. The most important case,
and one of two that went to a jury, was a suit over a claim between Samuel
Gregory and Thomas Lake. Aften a two days' session, the court adjourned
until the next term in course,
THE FIRST CRIME HORRIBLE DISCOVERY.
The first crime committed in the county after its settlement by white
men, dates back to 1835 — a year before the county was organized, and that
crime remains as much of a mystery in 1877 — forty-two years after it was
committed — as it was when first uncovered. It is at least one instance in
contradiction of the old saying that "murder will out." This mystery con-
sisted in the finding of the remains of a human body in the woods about
two and a half miles south of Rockford. The body was terribly mutilated
and in an advanced state of decomposition, but not so far decomposed as to
render its indentity, as those of a white man, obscure or doubtful. The
finding of these remains naturally excited the people and sowed the seed of
distrust. Up to that time nothing had ever transpired to shake their faith
in each other, but this was a mystery. Harmony and good will had always
256 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COTTNTT.
prevailed amons; the people from one end of the county to the. other, and,
knowing each other as they imagined they did, it was impossible to fix the
crime npon any one. Says James P. Ma'rtyn, now of Belvidere, in speak-
ing ot this discovery to the writer : "The finding of this ghastly corpse in
the woods only two miles from Rockford upset the entire community. By
some, the murder was charged to a few scattering Indians that had been
roaming about the settlement. But this theory was not justified by the
status the Indians had maintained toward the whites, which had always
been friendly. Others were of the opinion that there was a Cain among
the pioneers of those days, but the general character sustained by the early
settlers bore down this opinion, and the more the matter was discussed, the
more hidden the murderer seemed to become. The general conclusion
reached, however, was that the poor fellow had T)een murdered for his claim,
and that, while his slayer was among the later comers to the settlement,
his crime had l)een so secretly and stealthily committed as to be past find-
ing out. The remains were buried in the woods where they were found,
since when they have not been disturbed."
This first crime was also the first death in the county. The second
death was that of Sampson George, an Englishman, who came to the county
in September, 183B, his death occurring about five weeks after his arrival.
A short time after arriving in the county, Mr. George purchased an 880
acre claim of Mr. Joshua Faucett, about one and a half miles southeast of
Rockford, where he was engaged in preparing and fitting up a cabin for
winter (juarters, when he fell a victim to sickness and disease which termin-
ated in death.
COUNTY OFFICES. FIRST LE\T OF TAXES.
For several years after the county was organized, the county business
was all transacted on the east side of the river, and on that side the first
court house, a small affair, was built. It was located on the present site of
the American House. Besides serving as a court house, it was also used for
holding religious services, and during 1838-9, it was also ustd as a school
house, Mr. James M. Wight being the teacher, who also has the credit of
being'tlie first male teacher in the county. This building wts afterwards
used as a printing oflice, by Philander Knappen, who published a newspaper
known as the Rockford Star^ a Democratic organ, in 1840, continuing it
for a little over a year, when he sold the establishment to John A. Brown,
who changed the name to the Rockford Pilot. This building was subse-
quently removed to the opposite side of the block (where it is still standing)
remodeled and converted into a dwelling house, and is designated as No.
114 North First street.
Resuming an examination of the old County Commissioners' record,
we find that the iirst order levying county taxes was made at the March
term ot 1837. That order was short, and was embraced in these two
paragraphs :
"Ordered that one-half per cent, taxes be levied on the following
property :
"Town lots, horses and mares, meat cattle above three years old, watches,
carriages and wagons; and it is likewise ordered that one-fourth per cent,
be levied on stock in trade."
The sum total of the assessment under this order was $562.59^. Of
this sum, $298.29^ was assessed against personal property; $264.30 against
/^.
ROCKFORD
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 259
town lots in Winnebago, owned by non-residents. At that date, lands were
not taxable — the lands not yet having come into market. Under the old
constitution and laws, assessments were made by county treasurers, and the
taxes ctiUected by sheriffs. As previously noted, Mr. K. J. Cross had been
appointed county treasurer in the tall of 1S36, and it took him only fifteen
da3's to complete the first assessment made in the county, for which service
he was allowed the sum of $30.00, or $2.00 per day. He was also allowed
the further sum of $9.28 for receiving and disbursing the taxes when col-
lected, that being two per cent, on the amount collected— about $464.00.
SURVEY OF PUBLIC LANDS. LAND SALES.
The survey of the public lands in Winnebago County was not com-
menced until the fall of 1836, after the first county election in August.
Don Alonzo Spaulding was the surveyor, and among his assistants was C.
B. Farwell who has since represented one of the Chicago districts in Con-
gress. The lands did not come into market until the fall of 1839, and for
three years after were exempt from taxation, so that it was not until 1842-3
that any county revenue was derived from that source. All revenue neces-
sary to defray the expenses of the county until the lands became taxable
was raised from taxes assessed against personal property.
The opening of the lands to sale and entry was an interesting era to
the settlers of W innebago County. Many of them had got their farms well
under way, and had raised a suflicient surplus to enable them to be pre-
pared to secure their homes when the sale commenced. Others had enough
hoarded up from other sources when they first settled on their claims, but a
few were so unfortunate as to be dependent on a certain class of men who
are always around at such times, anxious to befriend the needy, provided
they can make a nice thing out of it for themselves.
The years 1837-8-9, up to the oj)ening of the land sales at Galena, in
October of the last named year, were not marked by any events of extraor-
dinary interest. For the most part, the settlers were an honest, upright
and industrious people as individuals, and correspondingly so as a com-
munity. Secure in possession of their homes by a guaranty from "Uncle
Sam," new plans were marked out and new enterprises undertaken, that, in
a large majority of cases, were successfully carried out. Public and private
economy seem to have been well studied ; and public and private business
so carefully managed from the beginning that Winnebago County and
Winnebago people have come to enjoy an enviable character, both at home
and abroad.
EARLY POLITICS INCIDENTS, ETC.
Until the opening of the ever memorable campaign of 1840, there was
but little to disturb the "even tenor of the ways" and pursuits of the people,
or to distract their attention from the industries in which they were en-
gaged. But the enthusiasm of that campaign reached the uttermost parts
of the country, and the excitement ran as high in the Winnebago country
as it did among the people in the immediate vicinity of the Tippecanoe
battle ground in the Wabash (Indiana) country, or among the neighbors of
General Harrison (the political idol of the Whig party), in his JN^orth Bend
home, in Hamilton County, Ohio. That was the "Log Cabin," "Coon
Skin," and "Hard Cider" campaign, and the campaign which, in a measure,
was the origin of the large political meetings that have since marked our
15
260 mSTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
presidential camyjai^^ns, and rendered them important eras in the history of
our national poHtics. In that campaign, large delegations, headed by bands
of music, and log cabins built on wheels, sometimes drawn by four horses,
and sometimes by several yokes of oxen, would travel scores of miles to
participate in AVhig meetings and listen to Whig gospel as it fell from the
lips of Whig orators. Following the log cabins there would sometimes be
a huge canoe, long enough and wide enough to seat fifty men, all of whom
would wear coon "skin caps, and maybe support on their right shoulders a
miniature cabin built of hazel or willow twigs. General Plarrison had
made the race against Van Buren in 1836, but was defeated. He was
again nomiiuited by the Whigs in 1840, and Van Buren by the Democrats.
From the time these nominations were made until the day of the election
in November, the excitement ran high and both parties were on the alert
for every possible advantage. One of the leading arguments oi the Whigs
in that campaign was that Van Buren's re-election would be the signal for
a reduction in the price of all American commodities, the ruin of industr}'-
and the destruction of labor. Whig newspapers in those days contained
advertisements something like the following :
The subscriber will pay six dollars per barrel for flour if Harrison is elected, and
three dollars if Van Buren is.
The subscriber will pay five dollars per hundred weight for pork if Harrison is
elected, and two dollars and a half if Van Buren is.
Winnebago County had started out as a Whig County, and when the
campaign of 1840 opened, the Whig voters entered fully into the spirit that
had been awakened in the older states, and the symbols of the Whig party
— log cabins, coon skins, hard cider and canoes — were readily adopted as
peculiarly symbolic of the condition of the country. Public meetings were
appointed, hard cider was drunk, Whig songs were suHg in unison with
fifes, drums and fiddles, speeches were made both by day and by night, and
thus the campaign went on.
Up to this time, the Democrats had always carried the state, and it was
determined by the Whigs that a political regeneration must be secured;
and to aid in this undertaking, it was determined by the local Whig leaders
to get up a rousing rally at Rockford. The meeting was called, and the re-
sponse was most gratifying. H. B. Potter was marshal of the day, and as
delegations from different parts of Winnebago and adjoining counties ap-
proached the embryo city, they were met by the marshal, his aids, and por-
tions, at least, of such delegations as had already arrived, and the band — an
E bugle played by Sam Parker, and a clarionet manipulated by another
musical genius, whose name we have forgotten. Neither one of the mem-
bers of this "band" knew anything of music, and consequently could not
"keep time" or play in unison, so they concluded to play separately. The
effect of this double solo may be imagined, but is not easily described; but
headed by this band, the delegations were marched into town. Men, women
and children took part in this meeting, which was addressed by Hon. Edw.
Baker (who subse(j[uently became a general in the union army), Jacob B.
Miller and others.
During this campaign, a number of incidents occurred in Eockford,
the mention of which awakens recollections of olden times. Among these
is the following:
The Whigs had selected a log cabin on the corner of South Main and
State streets, east side, and surmounted it with the tallest pole that could be
aiSTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 261
found in the woods. Cords and ]>ulleys were attached, and all was left in
readiness to run up the stars and stripes. The night before the meeting
for which these preparations were made, the Democrats conceived the idea
of playing a trick on their Whig neighbors, and at once put it into effect.
To a red flannel skirt (which was claimed by the Democrats to he suggestive
of some little difficulty in which General Harrison was the chief actor)
they attached the cord and running it up to the top of tlici pole, cut
the C(»rd so high that it could not be taken down. But the anticipated effect
of this intended joke was lost, for the Whigs were not disconcerted by it in
the least, but calmly said to the perpetrators, "if that is your flag, gentle-
men, you are welcome to it." To the credit of the more thoughtful of the
Democrats, like Haight, Knappen and others, they condemned the act as
unworthy of good Democrats, and washed their hands of the afl'air in an
extra edition of the Star (Knappen's paper), which was freely circulated at
the Whig meeting.
The most active Whig speakers of those days were M. P. Sweet, of
Freeport, Jacob B. Miller, and the present Judge Drummond, who was at
that time a young lawyer practicing at the Rockford bar, and Judge Selden
M. Church, who still lives at Rockford. The Democrats were locally rep-
resented by Thompson Campbell, Jason Marsh, Daniel S. Haight, and I*.
Knappen, editor of the Sta7\
In 1840 the Winnebago prairies, hill tops and river valleys seemed to
be alive with Whigs, and Democracy was on the decline. This condition of
the political pulse alarmed the Democrats and nerved them to action. A
great Democratic meeting was called, and preparations made on an elaborate
scale for the diffusion of Democratic truths. The enemy must be assaulted
and the Whig arn.iy routed, horse, foot and dragoon. To this end, the big-
gest guns of the party were engaged to be present and belch forth Demo-
cratic thunder. Huge posters were procured and spread broadcast,
announcing in heavy lines and flaming colors the names of the speakers and
a brief outline^of the programme. Among^ the speakers was John — Long
John — -Wentworth, of Chicago, then a Democrat in good standing, of
whom, on this occasion, the following joke is told:
Some days before the great Democratic rally was to take place, the
towering form of Mr. Wentworth loomed up in the midst of the Bock-
fordites, by whom he was looked up to as the great political Moses who
was to deliver the Democracy from the toils the Whigs were spreading
around them. The day before that set for the meeting, Mr. Wentworth
sought the solitude and privacy ot an adjacent grove (so the story goes),
and mounting a convenient log, with the trees for an audience, proceeded
to rehearse the speech he had prepared for delivery the next day. But he
was not unheard by man. Giles C. Hard, the ferryman, was an involuntary
listener, and after listening to the speaker's flow of logic and eloquence
until his pent-up admiration and enthusiasm could be controlled no longer,
he gave vent to his feelings in "rapturous applause," and rushed forward to
congratulate Mr. W. upon his soul-stirring address. It is needless to say,
that, though approaching the finale of his speech, it was not fully com-
pleted that day nor the next in consequence of Mr. Hard's interruption,
and the subse(|uent act in the drama. The joke was too good to keep,
and Hard opened the bag, or rather his mouth, and let the secret
out.. Mr. B. J. Gray, the editor of the Whig newspaper, the Express,
got hold of it, and Hard, having a good memory, repeated it to that
262 HISTORY OF wnSTNEBAGO COTJNTY.
gentleman, who noted it down. That night the Express office was illum-
inated and Mr. Wentworth's speech to the trees put in type, and long
before the Democratic meeting appointed for the next day had assembled,
extras of the Express containing this' speech were issued, and scat-
tered broadcast tlironghout Rockford, thus forestalling the public mind,
and stealing the speaker's thunder. The originality, poetry and eloquence
of the speech were gone, and what little of it Mr. Wentworth did dehver,
fell vapid upon the ears of his listeners. Knowing the cause and appreciat-
ing the awkwardness of the situation, the speaker finally abandoned the
line of the stolen speech, and branched olf in an entirely different line of
argument, and, rising to the dignity of the occasion, made one of the best
political speeches (from a Democratic stand-point) ever delivered in Winne-
bago County.
After having been once beaten for the office of Clerk of the Circuit
Court of Hamilton County, Ohio, and for President in 1836, General Har-
rison was elected in 1840, but lived to fill the office but one month. Of all
the presidents before or since his time, Yan Buren was the only one who
left his salary as president intact and untouched until the expiration of his
term (March, 1841), when he drew the entire amount, $100,000 in gold, and
retired to Kinderhook. In after years he became the leader and candidate
of the Free Soil party for president.
PKAIRIE BANDITS AKD OUTLAWRY.
As the immigration increased, a few bad and dishonest characters fol-
lowed, and scattered themselves about among the people in different parts
of the county. Up to 1840-1 only one crime of a serious nature (and of
that mention has already been made), so far as the records show, had been
committed. But from this time for several years forward, the honest people
seem to have been at the mercy of the outlaws and desperadoes. This gang
of cut-throats, however, was not confined to Winnebago County alone, but
was spread broadcast over the country, while they had communication with
like characters in all the Western and Southwestern states and territories.
The honest, industrious part of the community had been attracted here by
the advantages the country offered for procuring homes and the accumula-
tion of sufficient wealth to provide against want in declining years. The
blacklegs followed, on the same principle that "where the carcass is, there
will be gathered the buzzards also." Another consideration with them,
perhaps, was the scarcity of jails and prisons, the unorganized condition of
society, the absence of civil law, and consequently the comparative ease with
which they might escape detection, or at least punishment by imprison-
ment, etc. For several years after the first settlement of Winnebago
County, the nearest jail was at Galena, and that was only an apology for a
prison. It is related that on one occasion an evil doer was sentenced to
jail for some offense, and that he was taken to the Galena jail and locked up.
The sheriff started home, but had scarcely left the shadow of the jail, before
his prisoner managed to get out, and when the sheriff" arrived at Rockford,
his late prisoner was among the first to greet his return. In those days the
facilities for administering justice were necessarily incomplete, the courts
but imperfectly organized, while the resources from which to derive revenue
to pay officers of law, were very limited. Most of the people who had set-
tled here brought but .little of this world's goods with them, but depended
on their own strong arms and industry and the resources of nature to sup-
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 263
ply them with the necessaries of life. All these things were understood
and considered by the blackdegs and their allies, and were just so many
arguments to induce them to choose this as a field for their operations.
The sparse settlements, absence of thickly traveled roads and the long dis-
tances between houses, offered favorable opportunities for transferring stolen
horses from one section to another. Extending from Wisconsin down
through Illinois into Missouri and Arkansas, there was unquestionably a
line of horse thieves, along which stolen horses were almost continaously
passing. This line had convenient stations, and the stations were in charge
of men, who, to all outward appearances were honest, hard-working set-
tlers. Under this arrangement a horse stolen at either end of the line, or
anywhere in its vicinity in the interior, for that matter, could be passed
from one agent to another, and no one of the agents be absent from his
home or business for more tlian a few hours at a time. And thus, for years,
they could remain unsuspected. I>ut these operations grew bolder and
bolder. Horse after horse would be stolen and spirited away, no one knew
where or how. Robbery after robbery occurred throughout the country,
and every once in a while a mangled corpse would be found in some unin-
habited wood. Counterfeit money was flooding the country, but no clue to
the authors of these crimes could be obtained. Ogle County, particularly,
seemed to be a favorite and chosen field for the operations of these outlaws,
but they extended into Winnebago as well. At last they became too com-
mon for longer endurance. Patience ceased to be a virtue; and hope that
such things would die out as the country advanced in population and im-
provements, grew sick, ixxid determined desperation seized upon the minds
of men, and they resolved if there were no laws that would protect them
against the ravages of thieves, robbers and counterfeiters, that they would
protect themselves. It was a desperate resolve, and desperately and bloodily
executed.
It may not be amiss in this connection to state, that, as subsequent
events proved, some of the gang of villains, to whose operations reference
has just been made, had so conducted themselves be^fore the public that they
had been clothed with positions of trust. This is particularly true as to Lee
County. About the year 1835 or 1836 there came to Inlet Grove, in
that county, Adolphus Bliss and his wife, Hannah, and two other men
named Dewey and West. These parties were the first to settle in that
part of the county, and from the close intimacy that existed be-
tween them, they came to be known to the later settlers as
'' Bliss, Dewey, West & Co." They had each settled on gov-
ernment land, and to the casual passer-by seemed to be intent on
making farms and earning an honest living. But time and events proved
otherwise. Bliss had built a log house, which was known all along the
Rock River valley as the " Log Tavern." On a board in front of the house
painted in large black letters, was this inscription — " Travellers' Home."
To many a land hunter in those days that sign was a welcome sight, and
many a family and individual sojourned there longer than they would have
done had they known the true character of the proprietors. Later events
showed that this " Log Tavern " was a rendezvous for counterfeiters, or, at
least, a distributing point for their currency and coin, especially the latter.
Making change is quite a business in its way with hotel keepers, and, as
most people know, change is sometimes hard to get. But "Aunt Hannah,"
the wife of Bliss, was never " short," and never allowed herself to become
264 HISTORY OF WINNSIBAGO COUNTY.
SO, for she had the means of always maldng the supply equal to tlie demand,
for, as subsequently shown, she kept no less than five sets of bogus dies
sewed up in her feather bed. JN'ow, for the other parties: Dewey was
Bliss' nearest neighbor on the one hand, and West on the other, the last of
whom eventually turned traitor, and revealed the secrets of "Bliss, Dewey,
West ct Co." As the settlement in that neighborhood increased, Dewey
was elected justice of the peace, and West was chosen constable. When-
ever their funds began to run low, all that was necessary to replenish their
exchequer was to call on Aunt Hannah, and officially demand the dies, and
their demands were never resisted — for such resistance would have been a
criminal breach of the law! Whenever an attempt was made to arrest a
villain. Justice Dewey would inform his comrades of the facts, then issue a
Avarrant and place it in the hands of Constable West for'service,who, knowing
in which direction the outlaw had gone, would start out in hot haste in a
directly opposite direction, and, of course, always return his warrant en-
dorsed "not found.'" For years, the firm of "Bliss, Dewey, West-tfe Co."
boldly prosecuted this kind of business. At last, however, their true char-
acters were unmasked, and Bliss and Dewey were arrested, tried, convicted
and sent to the states prison at Alton^ West appearing against them as a
witness on the part of the people that he and they had so long outraged and
plundered.
From 1837-8 to 1844-5, when the gang was finally broken up — st)me
of them killed by the "regulators," some arrested and sent to the peniten-
tiary, and the others driven from the state — horse stealing Avas carried on
in a wholesale manner. Two men named Birch and Sutton seem to have
been trusty leaders of the gang, and to them was confided the duty of run-
ning horses from Wisconsin to Missouri, and from Missouri to Wisconsin.
These fellows would come up from the south and southwest with stolen
horses, and, unless in fear of immediate pursuit, would sometimes leave
them with Dewey, West & Sawyer, at Inlet Grove; Bridge, Driscoll & Co.,
at Washington Grove; or Oliver k Co., at Rockford, and so on to the end
of the line. These parties would dispose of them as emergencies or neces-
sities required. This brings our history back to Winnebago county.
Charles Oliver, of whom mention was made in the last preceding para-
graph, was a man of pleasing exterior, and, as is sonietimc;s said of coun-
terl'eit bills "well calculated" to deceive." He came here in 1836, when
Haight's old Eockford House w^as in the zenith of its glory, where he
became a permanent and popular boarder, "a hale fellow well met," but
who, as was afterwards proven in court, was the head center and ring leader
of the gang of outlaws that infested this part of the country for so many
years. But notwithstanding all this, he came near being foisted on to the
Rockford community as a justice of the peace, the particulars of which we
glean from Mr. James B. Martyn, an early settler of Winnebago county,
but now of Belvidere, and from whose memory we have heretofore quoted.
Says this authority: "Oliver was a man of some means, his father telling me
that he had started Charles out in the world with $4,000, hoping that he
would do well. An election for a justice of the peace coming on some time
after young Oliver's arrival, he was chosen as a candidate on the one side,
and myself (Martyn) on the other. The election was closely contested, and
the polls did not close until 10 o'clock at night. In those days, so long as
a vote was offered every ten minutes, the polls were kept open ; and in this
instance the friends of the respective candidates were so anxious and deter-
HISTORY OK WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 265
mined that they never quit the polls until every voter in the precinct had
been brought out, and was known to have cast his ballot. Oliver was beaten
by a small majority."
Up to 1841 no decisive measures had been inaui;-urated to rid the country
of the presence of the villains that had apparent control of everything.
The laws could not be enforced with any degree of efficiency. If arrested,
tried and found sufficiently guilty to hold them to bail {in bailable offenses)
there were no jails sufficiently secure to hold them, and even if there had
been, there were members of the gang abundantly able to offer any amount
of bail required, and thus it came" about that the ranks of the outlaws were
never thinned out by the imprisonment of any of the members of the
unworthy fraternity. " In April, of this year, however, fifteen honest, sturdy,^
fearless and determined men who had been victims to the predatory raids of
the outlaws, held a meeting in a log school house at AYhite Rock, for con-
sultation. These fifteen men represented a large district of county upon
which the gang had so long preyed unmolested. Some of them were native
born Americans — some were Canadians, and some were Scotchmen, but all
were resolute and determined. Without entering into details, suffice it to
sav that that meeting, after fully and carefully reviewing the situation and
the repeated outrages to which the commimity had been subjected, and
recognizing the fact, as it seemed to them, that law, justice and its execu-
tives were inadequate to the protection of the people and the arrest and
punisliment of the outlaws, they entered into a solemn compact with each
other to rid the county of the desperadoes by which it was infested. The
course resolved upon was to visit every known or suspected person, and
notify them to leave the county within a given length of time, and that if
they did not comply, they would be summarily and severely dealt with —
stripped and lashed until they would promise to comply with the decision
and demands of the " Eegul'ators." To the accomplishment of this^ work
the Ogle County Regulators solemnly pledged themselves or to die in the
attempt. The work was soon commenced. From fifteen, their number
soon increased to scores and hundreds. Their first victim was a man whom
it was charged had been the means of having a neighbor's horse stolen.
He was taken out of his house and ordered to 'strip, which order he obeyed.
His hands were tied behind his back, when he was given thirty-six lashes
with a raw hide, well applied, the blood following every stroke. He stood
the ordeal, said an eye witness, without flinching, and when the terrible
work was ended, he remarked: " Now, as your rage is satisfied, and to prove
that I am an honest man, I will join your company." He became a mern-
ber, although it was almost certainly known that before this castigation his
life had not been one of irrepr ;achable honesty. Their next victim was a
man who had once been a Baptist preacher in the east, but had long_ since
fallen from his high estate. He was notified to leave the country, which he
agreed to do, but after leaving him, it seems that a part of the regulators
returned to his house, took him out, tied him to a burr oak tree, and gave
him ninety-six lashes.
Once started, the organization spread, and soon extended into Boone,
McHenry and Winnebago counties, and, says the authority from which we
quote, " had a reg flag been hoisted during the night over every house the
inmates of which sympathized with the regulators, the people, when they
awoke, would have supposed the whole county had the small-pox." The
friends and comrades of the men who had been whipped and ordered to
266 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
leave the country weye fearfully enraged and swore eternal and bloody ven-
geance. Eighty of them assembled in the barn of one of their number,
where their plans were laid and preparations made to visit White Ruck and
murder every man, woman and child in that hamlet. That they absolutely
started on that bloody mission is susceptible of proof, but on the way they
met another member' of the gang, a little cooler headed than the masses,
who, learning the terrible object of their raid, implored them to desist from
the undertaking, and was finally successful in prevailing upon them to dis-
perse to their hoines. The plans, however, of the desperadoes had been
overheard, and intelligence of the threatened massacre carried to White
Eock, where preparations were at once made by the people to defend their
homes and their lives as dearly as the emergency of tlie occasion required.
Fortunately the attack did not come, and the bloody work was averted.
Soon after this, Mr. S. Wellington, who had been elected Captain of
the Regulators, resigned, and John Campbell, a Scotchman and a devout
Presl)yterian, was chosen as his successor. Within two weeks after his
election, he received a letter from William Driscoll filled with most direful
threats — not only threatening Campbell's life, but the life of every one who
dared to oppose their murderous, thieving operations. The only effect of
this letter was to add fuel to the already kindled flame, and in directing the
rage of the entire community against the Driscolls. Soon after the receipt
ot this letttr by Mr. Campbell, one hundred and ninety-six of the Regula-
tors assembled together and marched to the residence of the Driscolls, in
South Grove. On approaching the place, they discovered a number of ruf-
fians armed to the teeth, as if inviting the attack. When within a half a
mile of the house, they halted to complete arrangements for the assault.
There it was determined that one of the number should go forward and beard
the lion in his den. While preparing to draw lots as to who should under-
take this sup])osed death-ride, a young man, who afterwards became one o±
Rockford's best known citizens, volunteered to undertake the mission, and
immediately started. As he noared the house, the door flew open, and
nearly a score of rufiians, all armed M'ith pistols, dashed out and made for
the woods. The old man Driscoll mounted a fast horse and was soon beyond
pui'suit. One man remained behind, and he informed the two hundred
determined men that Driscoll had gone to Sycamore to muster his forces,
and that they would return in two hours to fight them. Nothing daunted,
the Regulators dismounted and threw themselves upon the ground to await
the coming of Driscoll's army.
At three o'clock in the afternoon Driscoll returned, but instead of
bringing his threatened company of confederates he brought Sherifii" Wal-
rodd. Squire Mayo, and the Probate Judge, Lovell, of DeKalb County.
These gentlemen in(|uired the nature of the strange gathering, in answer to
which Mr. Cam])bell, as leader of the citizens, made a decided and efiective
answer, every word of which fell with powerful force against Driscoll and
his confederates. He not only told why they were there, and for what pur-
pose they had come, but what they intended to do. He told of crimes the
Driscolls had committed — how William Driscoll and another man had
robbed, and some said murdered, a peddlar and secreted the plunder in a
barn, and that in a day or two afterwards Driscoll had gone in the dead of
night and stolen the goods from his confederate, thereby "making himself
the meanest thief on the face of God's earth." The Driscolls btood by
livid with rage, and gnashed their teeth as Campbell toldiof their dark deeds.
d/^X^dM^^
ROCKTON
HISTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 269
When Campbell had finished, the three gentlemen from DeKalb who
had come over with Driscoll abandoned them, and told the citizens that any
time they needed helj) to can-y out their ])urpose to call on Sycamore, from
whence they could rely on at least one hundred good and willing men.
The Driscolls were then notified to leave the state, and were allowed to
name the day when they would depart. They fixed the time at twenty
days. Soon after the citizens dispersed to their h(,)mes.
The Driscolls did not leave the state, nor did they make preparations
to leave. On the contrary, they continued m their evil ways, and if possi-
ble became bolder and more defiant than ever. In less than ten days after
the events narrated above, a meeting of the outlaws and desperadoes was
held on the farm of a man named William Bridge, at Lafayette Grove,
where the murder of Campbell was planned, and Bridge and David Driscoll
detailed to the atrocious work. They were sworn to waylay Campbell, and
not to leave him until he was a corpse.
Sunday, June 27, 18il, the bloody deed was accomplished. Campbell
and his family had gone to church, several miles ^distant, in the morning.
On their return in the afternoon, he stopped at his barn to care for his
horses. This care discharged, he started from the barn towards his house,
when he was confronted by Bridge and Driscoll, the former of whom asked
him some question, and before he could answer it Driscoll raised his gun
and shot him through the heart, and Campbell fell to the earth a corpse.
Their oath had been kept.
News of the nrurder spread like wildfire. Iiidignation against the
Driscolls was aroused to fever heat. On Monday, the 28th, the remains of
Campbell were buried. After the funeral, the excitement and indignation
against the perpetrators and instigators of the bloody crime broke out afresh.
The very air was filled with threats of vengeance against them, and nothing
but the lives of the murderous gang would pay the penalty. News of the
terrible crime had been carried to Sycamore, Oregon and Eockford, and
help in the work of extenuation demanded, and it was given. Monday
afternoon Ilockford was more like a deserted village than a bustling, busy
little village. Every man that could go, vveiit — all determined to "avenge
Campbell's death. The arrest of William Driscoll was made by Eockfoi-d
men. Men from Oregon, headed by the Sheriff", had arrested old man
Driscoll and lodged him in the Ogle county jail. Bridge and David Dris-
coll could not be found. They had escaped the vigilance of an outraged
people, and fled no one knew whither. Tuesday morning, the 29th, the
Oregon people heard that the citizens of Rockford had William Driscoll a
prisoner at Lafayette Grove, and the old man was immediately taken from
the jail, a rope put around his neck, by which he was dragged after the in-
furiated ])opulace to the ferry, where they crossed to the opposite side of the
river, and by ten o'clock they had joined the Rockford division at Wash-
ington Grove. By this time the crowd had increased to at least five hun-
dred men. Three of the Driscolls — the old man, William and Pierce, the
latter being the youngest of the family — were prisoners. Only the old man
was manacled. In the centre of one group stood William Driscoll, know-
ing full well that at last he had been overtaken in his career of crime, and
that his life was about to pay the penalty. He was about torty-five years of
age, rather above the average of men in height, hea\y set and muscular,
and would probably have tipped the scales at one hundred and eighty
pounds. He was a man of strong will and great endurance. U is features
270 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
were firm and presented a peculiarly heavy appearance. He was that type
of man that could face any ordinary danger without the least fear, but here
were five hundred resolute, determined men to hold him to an account for
his Miaiiifdld crimes, the remembrance of which at this moment no doubt
arose before him like so many spectres. Pierce, his younger brother, stood
near by, and soon the father, dragged along by a rope tied around his neck,
was phiced near them. "This man," says those who knew him, "was a
singular looking specimen of humanity. He was upwards of six feet in
height, slightly inclined to corpulency, and weighed about two hundred
pounds. He was all muscle and sinew, and every way one of the most
powerful men in all that crowd of half a thousand men. His face was the
only repulsive feature about old John Driscoll, which was owing to the loss
of a part of his nose, which had long before been bitten off in a fight.
His hair was iron gray and coarse, his eyebrows heavy and shaggy -like, and
his face smooth." Untrembling and unmoved, he stood motionless in
the midst of his inquisitors and executioners.
One of the men standing near by asked the old man how many horses
he supposed he had stolen during his life of crime and outlawry, to which
he coolly replied: "I presume I have been the means of stealing from fifty
to one hundred," and as he thus answered a momentary smile fiashed
across his features.
William Driscoll was similarly questioned. He admitted that at one
of their midnight conclaves he had suggested that Campbell should be
served as the gang had served a man out in Iowa — killed — but denied all
knowledge of the murder of John Campbell on the Sunday before.
About this time Law^'ers Latimer and. Jason Marsh arrived from Rock-
ford, and they were made spokesmen for the party. Old man Driscoll,
carefully guarded, was allowed to step aside for consultation with Marsh,
to whom lie protested that he was innocent. When the time granted for
this consultation had expired. Marsh announced in a few words that Dris-
coll had no confession to make, and urged the crowd not to be too hasty in
the premises, and that time be allowed the men to ])repare for death. He
also urged that Pierce Driscoll, the younger, be released, to wliich the crowd
assented.
Latimer, for the people, made a vehement address, saying that nothing
but blood would palliate the crimes that had been committed, that as long
as the gang of outlaws were permitted fo remain on the earth, no commu-
nity would be safe from their depredations and crimes. The Driscolls, if
not the head centers and authors and instigators of the untokl robberies and
murders that had been committed in the country, were at least accomplices,
and had shared in the plunder. He maintained that the people were justi-
fied in taking the course they had, that their safety demanded it, that the
murder of Campbell must be avenged, and that if the actual murderers
could not be found, those who planned the foul deed must suffer in their
stead, and concluded by urging the immediate execution of John Driscoll
and his son, William.
When Latimer concluded his remarks, the son-in-law of Campbell
moved that sentence of death be passed upon the two prisoners. The motion
was submitted to the crowd. Death-like silence prevailed, and the prisoners,
although calm and motionless, turned deathly pale. When at last the silence
was broken, tho vote was almost unanimous in favor of immediate execution,
and the men were told to prepare to die. The old man was the first to speak,
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 271
and turning to a bj-stancler he said: "If you are goinc; to slioot me down,
for God's sake take this rope from my neck, for it is choking me." Camp-
bell's son-in-law untied it. One hour was given them for ])rayer, and two
ministers who were present prayed with the condemned men, to one of
whom it is said William Driscoll confessed that he had murdered no less
than six men with his own hand. He prayed for forgiveness and became
quite penitent. The old man was determined, and held out to the very end
without uttering the simple prayer, "God have mercy on my soul."
The hour expired, the moment of execution had come. One hundred
citizens, armed Avith rifles, were formed in two death divisions — fifty were to
fire upon the old man and fifty upon his son William. The old man was
led forth first; his eyes were bandaged, and he was made to kneel upon the
earth. All things in readiness, the word to fire was given, and the old man
fell to the earth riddled and shattered to pieces with the charges of ffty
rljles.
William and Pierce Driscoll witnessed the execution of their father.
William's fate came next. In the last hour abject fear overcame his former
boldness, and his hair turned almost white. In a semi-conscious condition
he was led forth, and in a few minutes his body was riddled by the dis-
charges from the other fifty rifles, and lay bleeding and quivering by the
side of his father.
Pierce Driscoll was told that he would be permitted to take charge of
the dead bodies of his father and brother, and that teams and help would
be provided to convey them home and prepared for burial, but the offer was
declined with the declaration that he would have nothing to do with it.
Spades and shovels were procured and a rude grave was dug on the spot
where they had been killed, and unwashed and uncofiined, ghastly and gory,
their bodies were rolled into the one grave together and covered over.
Three weeks later their bodies were taken up by their friends, washed and
given a decent burial.
Unparalleled excitement followed these proceedings. The volunteer
club scoured the country in every direction to find William Bridge and
David Driscoll, and Bridge barely made his escape. When the Regulators
were at his liouse, he was hidden in an excavation underneath it. When
the Regulators had gone, he left his home and fled from the State, but sub-
sequently recurned, and was arrested. David Driscoll was arrested some
years later and tried on the charge of killing Campbell, but was finally
acipitted, when he left the country.
It is true that this bloody tragedy was enacted in an adjoining county,
but being so closely allied to Winnebago, and participated in by people from
this county, that it naturally forms a part oi the history we are writing.
Many of the participants became wealthy and respected citizens, and there
is no doubt but what they honestly and conscientiously believed it was the
only means by which they could rid the country o'i the outlaws that infested
it, and thereby protect their lives and their property. But this disposition
of the Driscolls was not the end.
People diftered as to the means employed to free the country of the
presence of the desperadoes, and took sides accordingly. Mr. Kna]>pen,
editor of the Star^ took strong grounds against the proceedings in the Dris-
coll case, and denounced it in strong language. In an editorial under date
of July 1, 184:1, Mr. Knappen said:
" A short time since we received through the post-ofiice a coj)y of the
272 HISTORY OF ^VINNEBAGO COUNTY.
proceedings of the Oijle County Lynchers, up to the latest date, embracing
the following resolution:
" Resolved, That the proceedings of the Volunteer Company be published in the Rock-
tord newspapers once a month.
" Now, be it kuown to all the world that we have solemnly resolved
that the proceedings of the Ogle County, or any county volunteer lynch
company, cannot be justilied or encouraged in our columns. The view we
take of the subject does not permit us to approve the measures and conduct
of th •■ said company. If two or three hundred citizens are to assume the
administration of the lynch law in the face and eyes of the laws of the land,
we shall soon have a fearful state of things, and where, we ask, will it end if
mob law is to supercede the civil law? If it is tolerated, no man's life or
pi'operty is safe; his neighbor, who may be more popular than himself, wnll
possess an easy, ready way to be revenged by misrepresentation and false
accusation; in short, of what avail are our legislative bodies and their enact-
ments? AVe live in a land of laws, and to them it becomes us to resort and
submit for the punishment and redress as faithful keepers of the laws, and
thus extend to each other the protection and advantages of the law, and
repulse every attempt to deprive a fellow citizen of the precious privilege
granted in all civilized countries — namely, the right to be tried by an
impartial jury of twelve good men of his county. . JBut, perhaps, it will be
argued l)y some, that we have in this new country no means or proper
phiccs for securing offenders and 1)reakers of the laws, to which w'e answer,
then build tliem. The time already spent by three or four hundred men in
tliis and Ogle counties, at three or four different times, and from two to four
days at a time, this season, would have built jails so strong that no man, or
dozen men on earth, deprived of implements with which to work, and con-
fined in them, could ever escape, and guard them sufficiently strong by
armed men outside, to prevent assistance from rescuing them from the arm
of the law. Would not this course be much more patriotic and creditable
to the citizens of a civilized and Christianized country, than to resort to the
administration of mob Uuv by Judge Lynch? Not on us, gentlemen, but
on your own heads be the responsibility; we wash our hands clear from the
Blood of Lynch LawP
In the same number of the Star from which the above is quoted, there
appeared two communications — one signed Vox Populi, taking strong
grounds against the action of the Kegulators, pronouncing .them a "■Ban-
ditti,'''' etc.- This writer says: "Banditti like, after organization, these fiends
in human shape, commenced traversing the country for plunder — -not, per-
ha])S, valuable goods, but the liberty and lives of their fellow citizens!
Every one who happened to fall under the suspicion of one or more of this
gang, was at once brc)ught before their self-constituted tribunal, where there
was no difficulty in procuring testimony for convicting him of any crime
named, when he was sentenced, and men appointed to inflict the adjudged
punishment, which, in the embiyo existence of the 'Clan,' generally con-
sisted in giving the culprit from twenty to three hundred lashes well laid on.
* * * No one pretends that John and William Driscoll had
committed murder, nor can they say that they merited the punishment they
received, even had they been found guilty "by an impartial jury of their
country of the crime alleged by the mob. No: had unimpeachable testi-
mony been brought to prove them guilty of that for which circumstantial
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 2Y3
evidence was liorribl)^ distorted to convict them, the penalty would have
been hut three to five years imprisonment in the penitentiary." Tliis cor-
respondent also says that "some three weeks since [before the date of his
letter], John DriscoU was arrested for some misdemeanor, by the 'Lynchino-
Club,' and after being threatened with whipping and death unless he
revealed the names of the horse-thieves and counterfeiters belonging to the
tribe, consented to give the names of certain persons suspected by him,
intimating at the same time that some of the members of the club then
present would curse the day that' the disclosures had been extorted. An
almost unanimous cry for his release was raised, and he was set at libertv!
And has it come to this, that in a land of civilization and Christianity,
blessed with as wholesome a code of laws as man's ingenuity ever invented,
a few desperadoes shall rise up and inflict all manner of punishment, even
DEATH, upon whomsoever they please? Shall all Civil Law be sacriflced and
trampled in the dust at the shrine of Mobycracy? Shall the life and prop-
erty of no one receive any protection from the civil law, but both be sub-
ject to the nod of an inconsiderate and uncontrollable mob:' Shall these
things he so? Or will the people rise en masse, and assert the laws of the
land, and enforce the same against the murderers and lynchers? The latter
course is certainly pointed out by justice, and I trust in God that justice
will be meted out to all who have had a hand in this bloody business."
The second communication to which reference was made above, was
signed "B," bore date July 1, 1841, and sustained the action of the Eegu-
lators. It was generally credited to Mr. Latimer, the attorney, who made
such a violent address on the occasion of the killing of the Driscolls. He
subsequently removed to Lancaster, Grant County, Wisconsin, where he
was killed in a street fight wdth a gambler.
The Star editorial already quoted, and the communication of Vox
Populi, only maddened the Regulators the more, and a few nights after the
paper was issued containing these articles, the office was entered by unknown
parties and the type in forms and cases "pied" — that is, turned out on the
floor promiscuously, and the entire office reduced to a pile of ruins. Knap-
pen's hopes were blasted, and he shortly sold the wreck to John A. Brown,
who rescued the material from confusion, and the publication of a paper
called the Pilot commenced. But murders, and robberies and kindred
crimes did not stop with the killing of the Driscolls and the sacking of the
Star oflice. Outrages continued, and the people came to live in almost
uninterrupted fear and alarm. ISTo horse owner knew at what hour his
stables would be plundered or himself murdered. Without entering into
a detailed specification of the repeated outrages, robberies, etc., we will
enumerate a few of the boldest in the order of their occurrence:
On the night of the 18th of September, 1843, the store of William
McKinney, in liockford, was entered and plundered of a trunk containing
between $700 and $800. A brother of McKinney was sleeping in the
store, but was awakened by the noise made by the midnitdit prowlers, and
attempting to oppose the robber, who called him by name, he was awed into
silence and non-resistance by a knife that was placed against his breast, the
thief remarking that he "must have the trunk containing the money, as he
could not afford to run such risks for nothing." He got the trunk and
escaped, and eluded capture.
Scarcely had the excitement created by this bold robbery died away,
when the community was again startled by the perpetration of a bolder one
274 HISTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Still. This rol)bery was committed on one of Frink, Walker & Co.'s four-
horse mail coaches, about four miles out from Kockford towards Chicago,
while, as it is stated, the coach was actually in motion and full of passen-
gers, l)ut wag not discovered until the coach arrived at Newbergh. The
following morning the trunks and baggage were found a few rods from the
road, broken open and rifled of all their valuables. A newspaper published
here at the time, in speaking of this robbery said: "What renders these
transactions still more exciting, is the fact that they are committed by those
who are perfect scholars in the business movements of the town." 'No im-
mediate clue to this last bold robbery was obtained.
This stage robbery was followed a few weeks later by another one fully
as daring. In this instance the house of William Mulford, in Guilford
township, was entered in the night time, and'while a party of the gang stood
guard over Mr. and Mrs. Mulford, who had gone to l)ed, the others ran-
sacked the house, and found about $400, which they carried away. It hud
])een rumored that Mulford had received some $15,000 from New York a
short time before, and this rumor had reached the ears of the gang. But
luckily, if such sum Had been received, it was so carefully secreted as
to be beyond discovery by the robbers. The alarm was given next morn-
ing, and although the country was hunted over for miles, not a track of the
desperadoes could be found, and in a short time this robbery was almost
forgotten in the series of depredations that followed — all so perfectl}^
planned and carried out, that detection and discovery seemed impossible.
But argus-eyed Nemesis was on their track.
The killing of the Driscolls was one step made towards ridding the
country from desperadoes. But many other steps were necessary before
the work would be fully completed. In the early part of the summer
of 1845, Charles West, of the firm of Bliss, Dewey, West & Co.,
of whom mention has- heretofore been made, became oiFended at the
gang. Taking advantage of this circumstance, certain respectable people in
the immediate neighborhood of the Bliss and Dewey rendezvous, succeeded
in prevailing upcjn West to reveal the names of the gang that had been
operating through this part of the country, and a number of them were soon
afterwards arrested. ' Among some of the most prominent and active mem-
bers of the gang were: Chas. Oliver, Jr., and Wm. McDowell, of Kockford;
Sutton, alias Fox, Birch, the "boss" thief of the gang, and who was known
from one end of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to the other by the
several aliases of Harris, Haynes and Brown; Bridge, Davis, Thomas Aiken,
and Baker. Besides, there were a number of others whose names are for-
forgotten. Among other revelations made by West, was the plan, as well as
the names of the parties, who robbed McKinney's store, in Kockford, and
Mulford';-' in Guilford. Oliver, the man who came near being elected to
the office of justice of the peace, in Kockford, (a fact already mentioned),
was the local director and manager of the gang. He planned the Mulford
robbery, and shared the plunder. McDowell, a carpenter, was one of the
parties that actively participated in that robbery. On the strength of
West's testimony, Oliver and McDowell were indicted by a night session of
the grand jury, in June, 1843. The sheriff at that particular time was
absent. There was no deputy, and the coroner, next in authority to the
sheriff, was the father-in.law of McDowell. This fact rendered him an un-
safe person to be entrusted with the arrest of Oliver and McDowell. Under
the law in those days, two justices of the peace could appoint an officer to
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 275
act in cases of emergency where there was no sheriff, or in the absence of
that officer; and acting under tliis law, Channcy Burton and Willard
Wheeler, justices of the peace at that time, were called up out of bed, and
Mr. Goodyear A. Sandford, the hist preceding slieriff, appointed to arrest
Oliver and McDoweU. By this time, the night was well nigh gone, and as
the affair had been kept perfectly quiet, their arrest was deferred till the
next day, when Mr. Sanford took them into custody without difficulty. At
the same time. Bridge, implicated in the killing of Campbell, who had re-
turned to Ogle County, was also arrested and brought up to the Winnebago
jail. The news of the arrest of Oliver, McDowell and Bridge rekindled the
old embers of excitement, and it was determined that no bail ought to be
offered or accepted for the release of these parties, but that they should be
held in close custody until they could be tried in the Circuit Court. The
murder of Colonel Davenport a month later, July 4,1845, added fresh fury
to the excitement of the people, and it is a matter of remark that the same
fate was not meted to the parties under arrest, that had been meted out to
the Driscolls; for the finger of suspicion unerringly pointed to Birch and
Sutton, alias Fox and Davis, members of the gang, as his murderers, but
better counsels prevailed, and they were left to the courts.
The trial of Oliver came on August 26, 1845. Among Other revela-
tions, West had stated that Oliver had planned the robbery of Mulford, and
that although he was not present when the crime was perpetrated, he had
received a share of the stolen money. This money he exchanged for stolen
horses. Oliver and McDowell had confided the secrets of the Mulford rob-
bery to a man named Irving A. Stearns, to whom Oliver had offered some
of the Mulford money in exchange for a horse. Subsequently Stearns went
to Michigan, where, for some crime, he was arrested, tried, convicted and
sentenced to the penitentiary, facts which the reader will please bear
in mind.
The trial of Oliver excited the people of Winnebago County as they
had never been excited before, and as they have seldom been excited since.
When the case came on, the court house was crowded to its utmost capacity,
Thomas C. Browne was presiding judge of the district at that time. Jas.
L. Loop was district attorney, and was assisted in the prosecution by nearly
the entire legal profession of'Rockford — Jason Marsh, James M. Wright,
Anson S. and Cyrus F. Miller and Thos. D. Bobertson. The prisoner was
represented by M. P. Sweet, of Freeport, and M. T. Johnson, of Galena.
Oliver was bold and defiant. The robbery of Mulford had been so carefully
planned and secretly managed that he felt sure of acquittal. The only wit-
ness to be feared was Stearns, and he imagined himself secure from his tes-
timony by reason of his imprisonment in the Michigan penitentiarj'-, never
suspecting that measures had been taken to secure his pardon, ])resence and
appearance in court as a witness against him. But Jason Marsh, who. from
the time of the Mulford robbery, had been actively engaged in working up
the case and ferreting out the robbers, had accomplished this important end,
and had Stearns in Rockford when the court came on — a fact unknown to
the prisoner until Stearns, when his name was called with that of other wit-
nesses — G. A. Sandford, Jas. B. Martyn, C. II. Spafibrd, Anson Barnum,
D. Howell, Dr. Searle, A. Eice and others — appeared at the clerk's desk to
be sworn. The testimony of Stearns was so direct and conclusive that the
cross examination failed to weaken it in the least, and Oliver was sentenced
to the penitentiary for eight years. At the end of five years, he was par-
276 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
doned out and rejoined his wife and family in New York. A few years
later, he visited Rockford and mingled qnite freely with the people among
whom lie had once been so popular, and to some of whom he explained why
the gang had not robbed more of them. To Goodyear A. Sandford he
said: "The buys often wanted to go for you (as county treasurer), but I
wouldn't let them, because you was such a clever fellow." McDowell was
convicted a little later in the course of time, and was also sentenced for
eight years, but, like his old leader in crime, was jiardoned at the end of
five years and went to work as a carpenter at Alton, where he so conducted
himself as to win the respect of the people, and where he was still living at
last accounts. Bridge took a change of venue to Ogle County, where he
was also convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary. After his release, he
went to Iowa, where, reports say, he fell into his old vices and was finally
killed by -i sheritf, whom he was resisting. Mr. Loop, the prosecuting
attorney, was a young man, and his management of the case for the people
is still highly praised, and a bright and honorable career as an attorney was
predicted for him, but he lived only a few years to enjoy the fame he earned
oil that occasion. Of Mr. Marsh it was said, "fees large and liberal might
have been his to defend Oliver and McDowell, both of whom had accumu-
lated considerable means, and whose counsel he had previously been, but
he chose rather to lend his ability and legal knowledge towards freeing the
country from the presence of the desperadoes and outlaws that had so long
infested it." And his efforts in that direction were not without reward.
The conviction of Oliver and McDowell in the Winnebago court, and the
arrest and conviction, and in some cases, the execution, of the other mem-
bers of the gang, either frightened their unarrested associates in crime out
of the country or turned them from their evil ways.
Of Thomas D. Robertson, another of the Rockford lawyers who assisted
in the prosecution, it is said that "though young in years and in the practice
of his profession, he acquitted himself admirably, fully sustaining the hopes
of his friends." He is now the president of the Winnebago JSTational Bank.
The jury before whom Oliver was tried was composed of the following
named gentlemen' Giles Maybee, Asa Farnsworth, E. C. Tracy, Calvin
Haskell, Edward Bradley, Asa Crosby, Joshua Heath, Jr., Albert Tuttle,
Phineas Howes, Harvey Higl)ee, Geo. Dixon andAndrus Corbin. Of these
jurors, all are dead but Mr. Howes, who still lives in Rockford.
FIEST COUNTY BUILDINGS, ETC.
For the first two or three years either Haight's private residence or
the Rockfurd House served as a court house or for the sessions of the
county commissioncis, etc. Then came the building of a frame house for
the use of the county, schools, churches, and public meetings, and such other
occasions as the occurrences of the time demanded. For the first five years
these buildings answered very cleverly for the many uses to which they
were applied, but the rapid increase of population and public business
demanded something better and more commodious.
In April, 1843, Daniel S. Ilaight, E. Hubbell, Potter Hollis, H. Holmes,
Loanii Peake, Daniel Howell and John A. Brown, all of the East Side,
made propositions to the county commissioners to build a court house and
jail, to cost four thousand dollars. Some preliminary arrangements were
considered, and the site for the court house and jail selected, but some com-
plications arose that interfered and prevented the proposition from being
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 279
consummated. At a special meeting of the Board of Commissioners held on
the 22d of April, 1843, C. I. Ilorsman, for himself and others, presented
rhe following proposition:
"That the undersigned citizens of Kockford agree to erect such build-
ings as the county commissioners shall direct, and according to such plan
and finish as the commissioners shall furnish for a court house, county-
offices and jail, the said buildings to be commenced before the lirst day of
June next, and the jail to be linished before the first day of January, 1844.
The remainder of the said building or buildings to be linished bv the first
day of January, 1844, and to perfect and convey to the county a good title
to the land on which the same buildings shall stand, to the amount of two
and a half acres. Provided: The commissioners select the site of the
buildings on the west side of Rock River, and to give satisfactory security
to be filed with the county clerk as soon as the commissioners accept the
proposition. Signed, George Haskell, Charles I. Horsman, H. W. Loomis,
M. Burrows, Charles Hall, Thomas D. Robertson, Geo. W. Dewej^, David
D. Ailing, H. R. Maynard, Alden Thomas, S. Skinner, Geo. Barrows, John
Fisher, D. Harper, D. Dow."
This proposition was accepted, and entering into bond in the sum of
$20,000 for the faithful performance of their undertaking, Messrs. Has-
kell, Horsman, and their associates were paid ten dollars by the commis-
sioners to "bind the bargain," and the contract to build the court house
was let.
The site selected for the county buildings is that now occupied. The
undertaking was completed in good faith, as specified in the proposition.
The jail served its purpose until 1873, when it gave place to the present
structure, and the court house for just thirty-three years, but at last the
primitive structure,jwhich bears the date of "1492," is overshadowed by
the walls of one of the grandest county buildings in the state. Its style of
architecture is known as the French Venetian with American treatment.
But of this magnificent structure, and the terrible catastrophe attending its
erection, more anon. The stone building in which the county records are
kept and business transacted was built in 1851.
The ancient date borne by the old court house — 1492 — is the work of
one of Rockford's wags, and had its origin in this: The completion of the
Rockford Central Railroad, running from Rockford to Rochelle, was signal-
ized by a railroad jubilee — that is to say, the people of Rockford extended
an invitation to "all the world and the rest of mankind" to come and see
them on that occasion. Ample preparations were made to entertain their
guests. The city put on its best. Public and private buildings were hand-
somely decorated — all but the old court house. Frank Peats was the
Sheritf, and by virtue of his office had charge of the public buildings.
Some inquiries were made why the local temple of justice was not deco-
rated, and Sheriff Peats was reminded of his duty as a public officer — that
as it was to be a gala day he should not neglect the opportunity or the
occasion to dress up the court house in a style becoming the spirit and
pride of the people of Winnebago County. "Enough said." ^y trade,
the Sheriff was a painter, and procuring a pot, brush and ladder, he erected
the latter against the front of the old temple, and painted in large black
figures "1492," representing the year in which Christopher Columbus dis-
covered America. This inscription has never been erased. It has been the
subject of many a hearty laugh to some, and of indignation to others. To
16
280 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
one man in particular, in middle life, in good circumstances, was it a snb-
ject of annoyance, to say the least. Some of his friends from the East had
come to visit him, and. as in duty bound, he was sho\ving them aronnd
Kockford. During their perambulations, they passed in front of the court
house. His eyes caught the inscription — 1492. He suddenly stopped, and
looked. "AYliy,"' said he, when he recovered himself sufficiently to find
his voice, "what is that? What does it mean? 1492? That's the year
Columbus discovered America. That's outrageously sacriligious. I was
christened in that building." And such was the fact, and he has not gotten
over it yet — we don't mean the christening, but the knowledge of the fact
that a sacriligious hand held so defamed the Winnebago court house.
ANTE-WAR RECORDS.
Turning again to the old records of the County Commissioners' Court,
we come to a document that is not without interest, particularly so as it
will carry the mind of the reader back to ante-war times — to the time when
human beings were bought and sold like cattle — when husbands and fathers
were torn from wives and children, manacled and driven wherever it pleased
the speculator in human flesh — wHen children were sold from parents, and
the separation made as final and irrevocable, and more terrible in torture,
than if death, the king of terrors, had come and taken them away. But we
need not dwell on this poisonous plague that once ruled in triumph over
one part of our common country, for, at last, outraged humanity and
civilization could endure it no longer, and it was washed out in blood.
Germanicus Kent was born in Connecticut. When quite a young man
he went to Virginia, where he remained some years, and then removed to
Alabama. In those states he made the workings and influences of slavery
an especial study. In Alabama he became associated in a business way
with Jarmes G. Birney, the first candidate ever nominated to the presidency
by the Abolition Party. Associated together for a number of years,
Messrs. Birney and Kent had ample opportunities for investigation and
interchange of opinions on the one subject — slavery — that was not only
uppermost in their minds, but afiecting and poisoning almost every com-
mercial, social and political interest of the country, and they determined to
quit the section that fostered and protected it the first favorable opportunity
that offered for disposing of their business interests. The time came; their
property was disposed of, and they struck out for the north — the home of
the free — Mr. Birney went to Ohio, and Mr. Kent, as already known, coming
to Illinois and Winnebago County.
During the years that Mr. Kent lived in Alabama, he had become
the owner, by purchase, of a colored boy named Lewis Lemon, for to be
without the ownership of a slave in any of the Southern States in those days
was to ostracise one's self from business and social recognition. Mr. Kent
bought Lewis, when he was seventeen years of age, from Ori-is D. Lemon,
a slave dealer, to whom he paid $450 in gold. According to the statement
of Lewis, he was born in North Carolina, but had been sold from time to
time, until he passed into the ownership of Lemon and then to Kent.
When the latter concluded to come to Illinois, Lewis chose between coming
along and buying his freedom from Mr. Kent, and being sold again into
the hands of southern slave speculators. At St. Louis, in 1834, while they
were en route to Galena, Mr. Kent and Lewis entered into an agreement as
to the price which the latter was to pay for himself in work at $15 per
J
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 281
month, the stipulated price being $800, bearing ten per cent, interest — time,
six years and seven months. Both parties religiously kept the faith of the
agreement, and in four years and four nujuths, Lewis worked his way into
freedom and independence. At the March meeting, 1842, of the County
Commissioners' Court, the following document, relating to this transaction,
was entered of record:
Be it remembered that at the present term, March, A. D. 1842, of the County of Winne-
bago, State of Illinois, Lewis Lemon, a free man of color, presented the evidence of his
being a free man by the following writing of Uermanicus Kent, of said county, which being
duly acknowledged by him, is ordered to be filed and entered on record :
To all to whom these presents shall come, Gkeetino : That, Avhereas the undersigned, Ger-
mauicus Kent, of Rockford, Illinois, did, in the year A. D. 132!), being then a resident of
the State of Alabama, purchase of Orrin D. Lemon, since deceased, a colored boy named
Lewis, then about seventeen years of age, as a slave for life; and whereas, upon the removal
of the undersigned from said State of Alabama, to said State of Illinois; now this is to cer-
tify that said Lewis by my removmg him to said State of Illinois, and his residence there
ever since, did become free and emancipated from all services due to me as a slave, and that lie
is, and by right ought to be, free forever hereafter. And this is to further certify that said
Lewis was born a slave of said Orrin D. Lemon, then residing in Wake County (N. C.) from
whence he removed to Madison County, Alabama, where I purchased said Lewis of him.
The said Lewis is aged about twenty.seven years; in person he is five feet, eight inches high,
well built, rather stout, and weighs about one hundred and seventy pounds; his features
are good, dark yellow complexion, open and frank countenance, mouth prominent and
large lips.
In witness wiiereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Rockford, Illinois, this
sixth day of September, A. D. 1839.
[Seal.] Germanicus Kent.
In presence of W. E. Dunbar and William Hulin.
. State of Illinois, Winnebago County, ss: This day before me, Selden M. Church,
Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of the said County, came Germanicus Kent,
known to me to be the real person described in, and who executed the within instrument of
writing, and acknowledged that he executed the same for the uses and purposes therein
expressed.
Given under my hand and prirate seal (there being no official seal provided), at Rock-
ford, this 11th day of March, A. D. 1842.
[Seal.] Selden M. Church, '
Clerk County Gomviissioners' Court, Winnebago Co.
And it further appearing to the satisfaction of the said Court, that said Lewis Lemon
has resided in the State of Illinois as a man of color since the month of August, A. D. 1884,
and that he has demeaned himself as a sober and honest person, this Court doth therefore
order that the clerk ot the Court shall certify under the seal of the Court the facts aforesaid,
and that said Lewis Lemon is a free person of color, entitled to all rights and immunities
as such.
Thus was Lewis Lemon made an independent man. It is the only
document of record to remind the people of the county of the former
existence of slavery, and that one of its victims here found freedom and a
home. In August, 1877, Lewis Lemon, at the age of about sixty-five
years, ended his earthly pilgrimage, and was called to meet his kindred who
had gone before him to the land of the leal.
PLANK KOADS KIVER IMPROVEMENTS RAILROADS.
Ten years in the passage of time marks wonderful changes and improve-
ments in any country — among any people. But in no country, among no
people, perhaps, did that period of time bring greater changes than to the
country of the Winnebagoes and the Winnebago people. In the early sum-
mer of 1835, every soul living in the county could have been comfortably
seated in a 12x11 cabin. Ten years later settlements had reached to all
parts of the county. The wild prairies of a decade before had been reduced
to cultivation and remunerative tillage. Foundations for competence and
282 HISTOKT OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
independence had been laid, and were being successfully carried out. A
large surplus of farm produce was being raised for which a market abroad
must be found. There was little demand at home — almost everybody raised
enough and to spare. Hitherto the only means of transportation was by ox
or horse teams; the only means of travel by lumbering four-horse stage
coaches. Something else, something faster and something better was de-
manded, and the people began to think and plan. A plank road between
Rockford and Chicago had been discussed. An estimate on the probable
cost per mile had been made, and was set down at $3,860.37, or an aggre-
gate of $312,731.29. A convention had also been held at Sterling to con-
sider the improvement of Rock River so as to make it navagable. In 1843
a survey was made between Joliet and Aurora to determine if it were pos-
sible to supply the Illinois and Michigan canal from Fox River. The re-
port of the surveyors and engineers was highly favorable to the scheme.
The bed of the Fox River at Aurora was found to be forty feet higher than
the summit level of the canal, and the report set the people of the Rock
River valley, especially in the vicinity of Rockford, all agog.
"Indeed," said the report, "there are but two places on the whole line
that would require anything like heavy excavation. The deepest cut is
about fifteen feet, and the distance about twenty rods. The maximum cost
of a feeder with a tow path, and to answer all purposes of navigation, is
estimated at $200,000. * * * Should the plan be carried out, but one
further step remains to be taken. If a favorable route can be found, the
work will be extended from Aurora to Rockford. The interest of the com-
pany demands it — the city of Chicago, the farmers of Rock River, the
mineral region of Wisconsin, and the people of the state, all have an inter-
est in the undertaking." This undertaking was discussed for a time, but
like the plank road and kindred schemes was finally abandoned. At last,
in 1845, the people settled down to the consideration of railroad enter-
prises, and on the 28th of November of that year the initiatory meeting was
held to devdse ways and means to interest the people in the building of a
railroad leading to Chicago. Anson S. Miller was chairman, and Selden M.
Church, secretary, and Hon. M. P. Sweet addressed the meeting. The fol-
lowing resolutions were adopted:
Hesohcd, That those counties interested in the construction of a railroad from Galena
to Chicago be recommended to meet in convention at Rockfock for the purpose of taking
measures for constructing said road at the earliest possible period.
Resolved, That said convention meet at the court house in Kockford, January 7, 1846.
Jason Marsh, T. D. Robertson and William Hulin were appointed a
committee of correspondence to carry out the spirit of the meeting; and
Horace Miller, A. C. Gleason, Reuben Barrett, Harvey Gregory, Robert J.
Cross, Asa Farnsworth, Stephen Mack, Thomas R. Talcott, Simon Petti-
bone, Guy Hulett, Snyder J . Fletcher, Alonzo Hall, Daniel Baker, E. S.
Cable, Harvey Woodruff, Joseph Manchester, George Haskell, Willard
Wheeler, E. H. Potter, Newton Crawford, J. C. Goodhue, S. M. Church,
Anson Miller, Jason Marsh, and Thomas D. Robertson, were appointed to
address the meeting on the importance and necessity of the undertaking.
In all the counties from Chicago to Galena meetings were held and
delegates appointed to attend the Rockford Convention. Cook County sent
Isaac N. Arnold, J. Y. Scammon, J. B. F. Russell, Mark Skinner, Thomas
Dyer, E. W. Tracy, Jno. Davlin, Stephen F. Gale, Wm. H. Brown, Walter
L. Newberry, William E. Jones, Bryan W. Raymond, F. C. Sherman, Wil-
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
283
liam Jones, and Mayor Aug. Garrett, 16; DeKalb sent 1 delegate;
McHenry, 15; Rock Co., Wis., 3; Ogle, 80; Boone, 42; Lee, 1; Kane, 15;
Stephenson, -lO; Winnebago, 100; Jo Daviess, 6; total, 319.
The following named gentlemen were chosen as permanent officers of
the meeting: President, Thomas Drummond, of Jo Daviess; Yice Presi-
dents, William H. Brown, of Cook; Joel Walker, of Boone: Spooner
Ruggles, of Ogle; and Elijah Wilcox, of Kane. Secretaries, T. D. Robert-
son, of Winnebago; J. B. F. Russell, of Cook; and S. P. Hyde, of
McHenry.
It is proper to remark in this connection that in 1836 a charter had
been obtained by ISTew York parties under the name and style of the
Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company, for the purpose of building a
railroad from Galena to Chicago. This company had also secured a tract
of 1,000 acres of land on DuPage River, and in 1838 had done some grad-
ing on the prairie west of Chicago. This much accomplished, the under-
taking was left in abeyance. Some time in the latter part of 1845, Messrs.
Ogde'n and Jones, of Chicago, negotiated with Messrs. Kevins and Matte-
son, of New York, for the purchase of this charter, and the DuPage land,
etc., for which they paid $20,000.
When the Rockford meeting of January T, 1846, was fully organized,
Walter L. Kewberry, of Cook County, offered the following resolution:
Resolved, If a satisfactory arrangement can be made with the present holders of the
stock of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company, that the members of this con-
vention will use all honorable measures to obtain subscriptions to the stock of said company.
An animated and spirited discussion followed the introduction of this
resolution, which elicited a full history of the charter, its great powers, and
the happy results that would follow its purchase, and the completion of the
road under it, etc., after which the resolution was unanimously adopted.
Previous to the adoption of this resolution, a committee of one from
each county had been appointed to draft a series of resolutions expressive
of the views of the convention on the subject under consideration. That
committee consisted of the following named gentlemen, to wit: J. Y.
Scammon, of Cook; George T. Kasson, of McHenry; C. S. Herasted, of
Jo Daviess; M. G. Dana, of Ogle; James S. Waterman, of DeKalb; W.
H. Oilman, of Boone; John A. Clark, of Stephenson; A. B. Wells, of
Kane; S. M. Church, of Winnebago.
This committee, through its chairman, J, Y. Scammon, submitted the
following report:
Besolved, That the wants of the farmers and business men of Northern Illinois, require
the immediate construction of a railroad from Chicago to Galena ; that the value of farms
upon the route would be doubled by the construction of the road, and the convenience of
the inhabitants immeasurably promoted thereby.
Besolved, That in order to accomplish the object of this convention, it is indispensably
necessary that the inhabitants and owners of property between Galena and Chicago should
come forward and subscribe to the stock of the proposed railroad, to the extent of their
ability ; and that, if each farmer upon the route shall take at least one share of the stock
(.$100), the completion of the road would be placed beyond contingencj^
This embraces the history of the beginning of the Illinois railroad
system, and was the nucleus around which has gathered so many accom-
plishments of that character — from which have grown similar undertakings,
until there is scarcely a county or county town in the entire State, that is
not accessible by railroad communication.
284 HISTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Several subsequent meetings were held in Rockford, to promote the inter-
ests of the undertaking, urge subscriptions, etc., at which meetings the mag-
nitude of the undertaking, and its interests and benefits to the community
were presented by Messrs. Ogden, John Warner, Charles Walker and others.
John A. Holland, then residing in Rockford, but now deceased, was an
active advocate of the enterprise, and largely contributed to its success.
In 1S4S, T. D. Robertson, now of the Winnebago National Bank, was
elected a director of the road, in which capacity he continued to serve until
the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad interests were consolidated with
the Chicago and jSTorthwestern, in 1864. He also served as director in that
Company until July, 1867,
Aug. 20, 1852, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was completed
to the east side of Rock river; and to the west side of the river, by the
erection of the necessary bridge, in August, 1853.
The next railroad undertaking was the organization of a company to
L'uild what was first known as the Rockford Central Railroad, intended to
run from Rockturd to Mendota, on the Illinois Central railroad, and to
extend northward up Rock river to Beloit, Wisconsin, and other points in
that direction. This CQ^npany was organized on the 7th of March, 1855,
with the following officers:
President, R. P. Lane; Secretary, E. H. Baker; Treasurer, C. H. Spaf-
ford; Attorney, Jason Marsh; Chief Engineer, R. Ogilby; Consulting
Engineer, R. B. Mason; Executive Committee, M. Starr, Jason Marsh, D.
S. Penfield.
The object of this road was to afford Rockford direct communication
with the coal fields in the southern part of the State, and the lumber
districts of Wisconsin. Other enterprises coming on about that time,
operations were never commenced on this line, other than mere temporary
surveys.
The project of building a road over this same route was again revived
in the spring of 1871, under the name of the Rockford Central R. P., and
several thousand dollars were expended in grading in Rockford and between
Pockford and Rochelle, and substantia] stone piers for a bridge across Rock
river, just below the dam, were constructed; but this enterprise also fell
through for lack of funds and want of confidence in the chiet manager, E.
F. Hollister. In the summer of 1874, the project was again revived, under
the management of F. E. Hinkley, of the C. & I. P. P., and under his
manfigement, in 1875 the Rockford division of the C. '& I. P. R. was com-
pleted and beg:m running between Rockford and Rochelle. The road is a
valuable auxiliary to Rockford manufacturing interests, as it opens up a
close communication for that interest with the southwest, by means of the
Chicago, Burlington & Quinc-y P. P., in whose interests the C. & I. P. P.
is largely opei'ated.
The third railroad enterprise inaugurated by the Rockford people, was
the Rockford and Kenosha line. A company to build this road was organ-
ized in ISTovember, 1856, and the following named gentlemen chosen as
officers :
President, C. H. Spafford; Yice President, P. P. Lane; Secretary, E.
H. Baker; Treasurer, A. C. Spatfbrd; Executive Committee, J. Bond. J.
M. Capron, P. P. Lane, D. S. Penfield, Seeley Perry.
In March, 1857, the contract for the construction of this road from
Pockford to Harvard was awarded. Beyond Harvard to Kenosha the road
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 285
was under a different inanageinent, and governed by a charter grantc 1 by
the legislature of Wisconsin. Althongh work was commenced on this road
in the early S[)ring of 1857, its progress was slow, and in the fall of that
year, in consequence of the financial revulsions that paralj'zed all industries
for the time, work was almost entirely suspended. In August, 1858, the
company had become so crippled, that they found it necessary to apply to
the City Council for a loan of the city credit to the amount of $50,000,
which was granted by a v'ote of -the people by a majority of five hundred.
This is the only instance in the history of Rockford, where the credit of
the city was loaned in aid of a railroad, and from the results that followed
this experiment, it will probably be the last.
In November, 1859, the road was completed beween Rockford and
Harvard, and on the 21st of that month an excursion train arrived from
Chicago, bringing a number of guests from that city and intervening
points, and a grand banquet was held at the Holland House, the same
evening, in honor of the completion of the undertaking. The completion of
this road opened a competing line between liockford and Chicago, under
the management of the Chicago and North western railway company, by
which the new road has continued to be operated. Until the last named
road obtained control of the Galena and Chicago Union, the benefits of this
competition to Rockford interests were very marked, the rivalry became very
sharp, and at one time, passenger fare between Rockford and Chicago was
reduced to one dollar.
AGEICULTUEAL.
The first Agricultural Society of Winnebago County was organized
April 13, 1841, with the following oflicers:
President — -Dr. George Haskell; Yice President — Robert J. Cross;
Secretary — George W. Lee ; Directors — Horace Miller, Richard Montague,
I. M. Johnson, James S. Norton, N. Crawford, I. N. Cunningham and
Jonathan Wei don.
July 5th an adjourned meeting of the Society was held, when an
address was delivered by the president, after which the following resolur
tions were passed, and an amended constitution adopted:
'■'■ Resolved, That this Society tender their thanks to the president for
his address, and that Jason Marsh,, James S. Norton and Jonathan Weldon
be a committee to confer with the president and request a copy of his
address for publication.
"2. That this Society regard with great interest the dissemination of
useful agricultural information among the farmers of this region ot country;
and would therefore recommend the Union Agriculturalist to the people
of this county, as a paper adapted to their w.ants, and which promises to
be of important service to the cause of agriculture in Illinois.
"8. That as the soil and the rolling character of the lands in Winne-
bago County render this district one of the most eligible in the West for
wool-growing — that from past ex])erience in raising sheep among us, it is
found that they are less liable to disease than in most other sections of our
cou.ntry, this Society regards the growing of wool as among the most cer-
tain, easy and profitable productions; one which, when the home market
shall be supplied, can be transported to a distant market for a small per-
centage of its value; and therefore we would earnestly recommend persons
from abroad who contemplate removing to this region, and our own farmers,
286 HISTORY OF WESnsnEBAGO COUNTY.
to embark in the growing of wool as a profitable and certain source of
wealth.
"The annual meeting of the Society and Cattle Show will be on the
second Wednesday in October, when premiums will be given on the follow-
ing articles. The amount of the premiums will be governed by the funds
of the Society on hand at that time. Where nothing more substantial is
awarded, a certificate will be given."
The premium list was a small affair, only occupying forty-six lines
(newspaper measure) of minion type. Seven premiums were oilered on
horses, six on cattle, four on hogs, two on sheep, one for the best cultivated
ten acres of land, taking into account the condition of the land and the
amount of the crop; for the best twenty-five 'pounds of butter, for the best
cheese weighing fifteen pounds and over, for the best ten yards of flanuel
manufactured in the county, for the best fifty "skeins of silk manufactured
in the county, and for the best ten pounds of beet sugar manufactured in
the county."
The announcement further added: "Premiums may be given for other
articles not specified in the list, which may be presented at the fair, and
which may be considered worthy of a premium. * * * ^g
the great object of the Society is improvement, it is hoped all who have
anything icorthy of exhibition will present it at the Cattle SAoio.-^
September 13th, the quarterly meeting of the Executive Officers of the
Society was held, when the following resolutions were adopted
'■''Resolved, That the annual fairs be held at Rockford alternately, on
the east and west side of the river, commencing the present season on th^
east side."
'■'■Resolved, That all the available funds of the society be distributed in
premiums on the day of the cattle show, and that the premiums be paid in
agricultural publications."
'■'■Resolved, That George Haskell, J. Weldon, and George W. Lee, be a
committee to prepare a code of By-Laws for the society."
'■'■Resolved, That with a view of extending the benefits of the Winne-
bago Agricultural Society, of enlisting the combined efforts of the farmers
of this county in sustaining the society, J. Weldon be appointed our agent
to obtain members of the society, and to collect the moneys for the same,
which shall be devoted to the payment of the premiums at the ensuing cattle
show."
'•'■ Resolved^ That the society meet at two o'clock p. m. on the 13tli day
of October, and form a procession under the direction of Jason Marsh,
Esq., Marshal of the day, and march to the place appointed for the delivery
of the address."
'■'■Resolved, That D. S. Haight, Dr. Goodhue, and C. I. Horsman, be a
committee of arrangements to prepare a place for a show, and to make all
the necessary preparations for exhibitions, rent a room for the delivery of
an address, and for facilitating the passage over the ferry."
I. IT. Cunningham, J, Weldon, and Lebbeus Wilson, were appointed a
committee on horses; Milton Kilbourne, Horace Miller, and Samuel Hayes,
on cattle; Isaac M. Johnson, J. S. Norton, and Ezra S. Cable, on sheep;
C. I. Horsman, Alonzo Carey, and Jason Marsh, on cultivated lands; B. T.
Lee, Peter B. Johnson. D. S. Haight, P. H. Watson, and James B. Martyn,
on hogs; H. Leach, Henry ^Thurston, and W. E. Dunbar, on domestic
articles.
',-f'iA' ■>'?^fiii'?,'i£;-{''^??^
[aC CEASED)
ROCKTON
HISTORY OF WnsnSTEBAGO COUNTY. 289
According to the Rockford Pilot, of the 21st of October, the show was
considered a brilliant success, being "generally attended by our farmers,
and many persons of distinction from the neighboring counties appeared as
spectators and participants."
''The various committees met at 11 o'clock a. m. and proceeded to the
grove adjoining- the village (east side) where they made their examinations."
The society had nothing but rail pens for the accommodation of stock.
While the committees were examining the stock, "the exhibition ol domes-
tic articles was open at the hall of the Rockford House. By two o'clock,
the several committees had completed the duties assigned them, and nnder
the direction of Jason Marsh, marshal of the day, the spectators and exhib-
itors were formed in procession, and marched to the court house, where a
large number of ladies and gentlemen had already assembled, and where
the address was to be delivered. The meeting was opened with prayer, by
Rev. Mr. Potter, and the address delivered by Dr. J. C. Goodhue, which
was listened to with great attention and interest. The address was both
practical and illustrati^-?, and contained just the lessons which, if put in
practice by our farmers, would secure happier results to their agricultural
labors. He dwelt with great effect and eloquence upon the bright pros-
pects which await, the farmers of this fertile valley, and with a just severity
upon their laxity in not introducing the strict principles of mental econ-
omy into their agricultural occupations, and presented a practical knowledge
of his subject, which showed that he had not studied alone in the school
Esculapius."
Bj five o'clock the premiums had all been awarded, and the people
"homeward bound."
Premiums were awarded as follows:
Hi.n'.'^es. — Best stalhon, J. S. Norton; best three years' old stallion,
Samuel Brown; best two years' old stalhon, Adam Keith; best broodmare.
H. P. Reddington; best yearling colt, L. O. Wallem; best two years' old
colt, Samuel Brown.
Cattle.— BQit buh, of any age, B. T. Lee, for his "Duke of Wellington,"
imported with his dam on the ship "Splendid," Captain Proal, from Liver-
pool, in 1836; best two years' old bull (three fourths Durham), J. S.
N^orton; second best same, Jared Llickox; best cow, of any age, with calf
ten months' old, sired by "Duke of Wellington," Horace Miller; best
heifer under two years, Horace Miller; best heifer calf, P. H. Watson.
Sheep. — Best buck, Charles Richings. No ewes were shown.
Hogs. — Best boar (thorough bred Berkshire), Horace Miller; second
best same, Wilson, Byron^, Ogle County; best sow (Irish graziers), J. S.
Norton; two best pigs, Willard Wheeler and Spafford Marsh.
BomestiG Articles. — Cheese, Milton Kilbourne; butter, John Straw;
silk, Asa Crosby; cocoons, superior quality, exhibited by Messrs. Morgan
and Horsman and Dr. Haskell; China tree corn, C. I. Horsman; Baden
same, D. S. Haight; White Dent same, J. Paul; round pink-eyed potatoes,
H. Enoch.
Fruit. — Messrs. Morgan and Horsman exhibited some beautiful speci-
mens of Isabella grapes.
The Misses Paul, five straw bonnets and one hat of superior manufac-
ture. Isaac Harrod showed a spinning wheel of good quality.
And this is the report entire of the first Agricultural Fair held in
Northern Illinois.
290 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
The second annual Cattle Show and Fair of the "Winnebago- County
Agricultural Society" was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 11th and
12th days of October, 1842, and, according to the Pilot and the Prairie
Fanner of those days, was a most gratifying success. The premium list
was much larger and embraced a much wider range than the previous one.
Of this fair, the Pilot of October 13th, the day after the fair, said:
"The weather was beautiful, as if ordered expressly for the occasion.
The attendance was large, and the show of stock, etc., highly creditable to the
enterprise of the farming community. * ^ * Yesterday was really a grand
gala day, and will be remembered with pleasure by us, who, in all probability,
have looked for the last time upon a gathering of the people of this section
of the country. A goodly sight it was, indeed. The farmer was there, in
his independence, as the foundation of all; the mechanic was there in his
pride of genius, showing the power ot mind in the application of bodily
power to accomplish results. The women were there —
" ' The glow of whose presence was warmer
Than the sunniest juice of the wine.'
"At 12 o'clock M., the Congregational Church was crowded by a con-
course of citizens, and an address delivered by Anson S. Miller, Esq., that,
though the speaker was suffering from recent illness, was such a masterly
effort that it was requested for publication. Mr. Miller spoke without
notes, yet he was so thoroughly impressed with his subject that his elo-
quence commanded the undivided attention of his large and intelligent
audience for more than an hour. After the address, the throng of people
were formed in procession and marched out to the grove west of town,
where a most elegant free dinner was provided, and to which everybody
was invited. The tables were tastefully arranged, and supplied with the
choicest viands the country afforded."
This societ}^ kept up its organization and annual exhibitions for several
years, when it went down under the pressure of the times. In 1852, another
organization was accomplished, and out of which the present proud, enter-
prising, influential and well-managed Winnebago Agricultural Society has
grown. The present society was organized under a general law of the
Legislature, passed in January, 1855, and becoming operative in February
following. The first officers of the new society were:
President — H. P. Sloan, of Winnebago; Vice President — H. Starkey,
of Cherry Valley; Treasurer — H. H. Enoch, of Rockford; Secretary^
R. Ogilby, of Ilockford; Corresponding Secretary — E. W. Blaisdell, of
Kockford; Recording Secretary — Thomas Y. Kirkpatrick; Directors — R.
J. Cross, Roscoe; Milton Kilbourne, Rockford; Lewis O. Owen, Owen; R.
H. Saunders, Pecatonica; Horace Miller, Xew Milford. A few years later
the number of Directors was increased to six, and the time of holding the
annual business meetings, election of officers, etc., changed from January to
February.
Until 1858, the society held its exhibitions on leased or rented grounds.
Its buildings and other accommodations were temporary and poor. Its
floral hall was a huge canvas tent, and its rental to other counties was one
of its sources of revenue — Boone County at one time paying fifty dollars
for its use for their fair. In 1858, the society purchased of C. I. Horsman,
for $600 per acre, twelve acres of ground, since when other purchases were
made, increasing the grounds to twenty-two acres. Immediately after the
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 291
first pnrcliase from Ilorsinan, peruianent improvements were commenced
and have been continued from time to time, nntil now the Winnebao-o
Fair gronnds are tlie most complete and convenient in the state. In Feb-
ruary list (1877), the real estate and improvements were valued at
976.67. The indebtedness was $7,979.27, leaving the assets of the society
at $32,997.40 above its liabilities.
The present otHcers of the society are: President — H. W. Carpenter,
Rockford; Y lea President — John Lake, Rockford; Secretary — ^Ilenrv P.
Kimball, Rockford; Treasurer — G. A. Sanford, Rockford; Directors —
Lawrence McDonald, Seward; Lucien B. Williams, Harrison; James R,
Bartlett, New Milford; John Smith, Harlem; A. E. Cutter, Rockford;
Selden M. Church, Rockford; and E. S. Bartholomew, ex-officio.
Hi 1875, Mr. Henry P. Kimball, the secretary of the society for seven-
teen years, by authority and consent of the Board of Directors, extended
an invitation to Jeflerson Davis to be present at the annnal exhibition in
September, and deliver the annual address. This invitation and its accept-
ance stirred up such 2. furore of excitement among the people of Northern
niinois as to induce Mr. Davis to withdraw his acceptance. The corre-
spondence thus necessitated became a matter of natior.al notoriety, and as
such is made to form a part of the history we are writing, and is therefore
included.
MR. Kimball's letter of invitation.
RocKFORB, Winnebago Co., III. \
July 1st, 1875. f
Hon. Jefferson Davis, Ex-President of the Southern Confedenicy, MemjyMs, Ten-
nessee:— In behalf of the Official Board of the WinuebagoCounty Agricultural Association,
I have the honor to iuvite you to deliver its Annual Address, iSeptember 16th of the cur-
rent year. As a partial remuneration for your services and incidental expenses, 1
herewith offer you the sum of Five Hundred dollars. I also guarantee you a con-
vention of forty thousand of the representatives of the industry, cufture and progress of
the great Northwest, who will receive you with courteous civility, unless, indeed, I
have greatly misinterpreted the clemency, thospitality and Christian magnanimity of
our people.
The wisdom, propriety and justice of my invitation are established upon the immuta-
ble principles of our holy Christianity and the diviner qualities of our humanity.
Ten long years of political feuds and sectional antagonisms have passed away since
our victorious Armies furled their battle-flags, and with triumphal marches and crowned
with garlands of victory, passed through the Gates of our National Capitol to their Northern
homes.
Gradually have the jealousies and animosities engendered by so severe a contest
died away. The South, by the most bitter and unparalleled reverses, has been com-
pelled to accept the verdict of our invincible arms. Struggling in her weakness and des-
titution, to rebuild the ruined palaces of her Industry, and "develop her natural resources
by free and intelligent labor, she stretches forth her arms of hospitality and welcome,
and appeals for assistance to the capital and philanthropy of the North. She opens the
gates of her borders to the East and the West; and to the very men, who, by the con-
tinued agitation of the Emancipation Measures, precipitated the conflict, she teudei's
the olive branch of peace and strews their advent with flowers.
The Government, by the prerogatives of its high tribunals, has long ago adjusted the
measures of reconstruction and the rights of citizenship. It becomes no part of the duty
of a private citizen, in the exercise of a spirit of revenge, to interfere with the enactments
of Congress, or the judgments of our Supreme Court. To our Sovereign States,
united under the constitution and protection of the General Government, the highest in-
centives are now presented, in view of the grand posibilities of our nation's future des-
tiny, to cultivate amity and fellowship with each other, and, by friendly intercourse and
commercial exchange, to co-operate to re-establish our former Union.
Underlying my invitation to your excellency, is a higlier significance than what
may be involved in a mere business engagement. It is my spirit and purpose to recog-
nize the accomplishments of genius and the qualities of brilliant stateamenship, wherever
existing, whatever may have been the errors and misjudgments of the past.
292 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY,
Hoping that you will honor our Association with an early acceptance, and, person-
ally, desiring that a beneficent Providence may crown your advancing years with peace,
honor and prosperity,
I have the honor to remain.
Yours truly
HEimY P. Kjmbell,
Sec. Winnebago County Ay. Soc.
MR. DAVIS' LETTER OP ACCEPTANCE.
Memphis, Tenn., Aug. 5, 1875.
H. P. Kimball, Secretary, &c. — Dear Sir: Yours of the 1st inst. has been re-
ceived, and I have the honor to accept the invitation to address the patrons of the Industrial
Association of Winnebago County at their meeting in September next, and, unless pre-
vented by some unforeseen cause, will be with you on the 14th proximo, the commence-
ment day of your exposition.
Your previous letter on the same subject would have been replied to but for the un-
certainty which existed tlien and until several days past as to the probability of arranging
some business matters so as to permit my absence at the time specified.
I have long desired to revisit your county and witness the wonderful development
which has been uiade since I left it. It was then a wilderness, occupied by savages. The
courteous invitation extended to me is therefore doubly welcome.
With cordial thanks to your associates and to j'ourself, I am respectfully and truly
yours,
Jefferson Davis.
Id the time of the Indian tronble through this country Jeff. Davis,
with other men of that day and generation, helped subdue them. Later,
however, he became the representative man and leader in the attempt to
establish an independent confederacy out of the slave States, and, although
unsuccessful, the horrors of the war that followed were not forgotten.
When his promised attendance was announced, the memories of war times
were kindled anew in the loyal heart, and a cry of opposition was raised
that was soon borne to the ears of the Confederate chieftain, giving liim to
know that his presence would be offensive almost bej'-ond toleration. In
giving shape to this opposition the G. L. Kevins Post, G. A. R., of Rock-
ford, were the hrst to move, and caused to be issued the following protest :
" Whereas, We learn, with regret, that Jefferson Davis has been in-
vited bv the Board of Directors of the Winnebago Agricultural Society to
deliver ibhe annual address at our county fair; and whereas we look upon it
as an insult to the loyal citizens of Winnebago County to invite the arch-
traitor, Jeff. Davis, to address the relatives and surviving friends of thir-
teen thousand men murdered at Andersonville alone, by his orders,
^^ Hesolved, That while as an organization we have nothing to do with
politics, yet, as loyal citizens and former soldiers, we feel it our duty to
speak in behalf of the memory of our fallen comrades, who are no longer
able to speak for themselves.
" 2. That we protest against the action of the Board of Directors, and
pledge ourselves that we will not attend the fair, nor contribute anything
toward making it a success, if the Board of Directors persist in bringing
forward this arch-traitor and coward.
^" 3. That these resolutions be signed by the members of this Post, and
published in the county papers."
This protest was signed by one hundred and twenty-six members of
the Post, and a printed copy thereof forwarded to Mr. Davis, upon the re-
ceipt of which he addressed to Mr. Kimball the following
HISTOKT OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 293
LETTER OP REVOCATION.
Memphis, Tenn., Aug. 15, 1875.
Hy. p. Kimball, Secretary Winnebago County Acricultiiual Society, Hock-
ford, III. — Dear Sir: I, yesterday, sent to you a telegram announcing my revocation of
the conditioned acceptance ot the invitation to address your Association at the annual
meeting in September next.
The long period that has elapsed since the receipt of your tirst letter, and the consid-
erate courtesy which has marked your correspondence, makes it a duty to the Board and to
myself that a sutticient explanation should be given of this change of purpose.
Three objects mainlj^ induced me to accept the invitation: First, (he hope that per-
sonal intercourse might remove some of the prejudices which had been generated by par-
tisan fictions, and nurtured Ijy individual and sectional hate. Anxious now, as in former
years, to promote the interest of our great Valley of the Mississippi, and believing that,
with mutual confidence and co-intelligence, much could be done for their advancement, 1
only delayed my acceptance of your invitation until it became reasonable that it could
be met.
The productive capacity of the Northwest needs for its development cheaper and
safer transportation to the markets of the Southwest, and also to those of foreign countries.
In England, especially, earnest attention has been directed for several years past to a more
direct and economical trade with the Mississippi Valley. In this connection there was a
desire to confer with the patrons of husbandry in your rich and prosperous section. To
discuss with them the questions involved in securing better means of transporting your
farm products to the most favorable markets, and of providing agencies which should in-
sure larger returns to the producer, and, by such conference, to learn the views of our men
of the family of the Mississippi Valley A family the chief interest of all the members of
which is agriculture, but cultivators of such various crops as to make the trade among
themselves extensive and lucrative, while it stamps upon each and all the same interest and
the same policy as their foreign trade.
To render such a conference effectual, there must needs be a disposition to attend to
the subject under consideration, surely not a purpose to smother it by the interposition of
matters having no just relation to it.
The second object was to recognize the courtesy of your Board, and I was encour-
aged to believe that your reception of me would be beneficial, rather than injurious, to
your Association. This was the more supposable beause several other agricultural socie-
ties of Illinois had, in like manner, invited me to address their annual meetings.
Yesterday, I received a printed paper, being the protest of a number of your fellow-
countrymen against the action of your Board in their invitation to me to make the annual
address at the county meeting. Thereupon I sent to you the telegram withdrawing my ac-
ceptance of the invitation, under the conviction that it would not be useful nor agreeable to
participate in the meeting, and I now hope that neither your Association nor the Directors
will suffer harm by the delay in procuring an orator, or by the correspondence which has
caused it.
The third object was to gratify a wish, long entertained, to see in its cultivated dress
a country known by me as a trackless wilderness ; but, that being merely a personal gratifi-
cation, it may be indulged at my convenience, or postponed indefinitely. I can well be-
lieve that the cause which has changed my purpose was unforeseen by you, as by me, and
you may be assured that I feel no dissatisfaction toward the Directors or yourself, and have
suffered no personal "embarrassment" from the event. As the invitation was unexpected,^
and only accepted as the expression of general good will, so my only regret is the loss of
opportunity to promote a public interest with which the welfare of your community is
identified.
Again expressing the hope that neither the Directors nor yourself may suffer injury or
annoyance, and thanking you for the kindness and consideration you have manifested, I
am respectfully yours, Jefferson Davis.
Whatever may be said about the policy of extending the invitation to
Mr. Davis, it had the eftect to advertise the Winnebago exhibition for 1875
as no society was ever advertised before, and probably never will be agam.
The controversies it engendered were not conlined to Winnebago County,
or the State of Illinois. It spread all over the country, and at St. Louis
grew so furious as to end in a challenge to mortal combat between two ed-
itors of St. Louis papers — Colonel Emory S. Foster, of tlie Journal, and
Major John N.Edwards, of the Disjjatch. Major Edwards had been a
member of Jo Shelby's famous rebel brigade from the time it was organ-
ized until the war closed, after which, with a large number of his comrades,
294 HISTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
he souglit exile in Mexico, rather than to surrender with the remainder of
the rebel army, and remained absent for a period of two or three years, but
finally returned to St. Louis. When the protest of the Nevins Post, G. A.
E,., reached St. Louis, Edwards made it the subject of a very malignant edi-
torial article, not only reflecting upon the Illinois soldiers, but upon the
women of the State as well, intimating very plainly that in many of their
homes there were pianos and other articles that had been stolen from JeflF.
Davis' Southern neighbors. Foster had been Colonel of a Federal regi-
ment during the war, and he at once espoused the cause of the soldiers and
the women of Illinois, especially those of the Winnebago country, and, through
the columns of the Journal^ repelled the insinuations of Edwards in a way
to arouse his old war spirit. He regarded Foster's retort as a personal in-
sult — a base reflection upon his honor, and at once determined to demand
redress according to the code duello — in former years a prevailing practice
of settling personal difhculties among the Southern chivalry. Foster and
Edwards liad met on more than one field of battle during the war, and had
reason to know each other's mettle. Edwards sent a challenge to Foster,
which was accepted. The details of the necessary arrangements were re-
ferred to their respective friends. And, as the difficulty had grown out of
the Winnebago invitation to Jefi". Davis, the fair grounds here were chosen
as the place where it should be settled. The time fixed was Saturday, Sep-
tember 4, 1875. On the morning of that day the principals, their seconds,
a friend or two, a surgeon, and one or two ubiquitous newspaper reporters,
arrived from Chicago, and took rooms and dinner at the Holland House.
In the afternoon the terrors of Illinois laws against dueling began to haunt
them, and the fair grounds were abandoned for a place a little more remote
from officers of the law. Hacks were enwiffed, and the belligerents and
their respective attaches were driven up toward the Wisconsin State line,
as far as Brown's Creek, in Owen, where they halted, a little before 5
o'clock. A spot was selected a short distance off the main road, the dis-
tance agreed upon, staked off, and positions chosen. Both men were cool,
calm and collected — Foster all the while smoking a cigar. Time was soon
called, and the men came to the scratch like old soldiers. At the words
" one, two, three," there was a simultaneous discharge and report of two
pistols, but neither one of the combatants were scathed. Edwards wanted
another trial, but Foster did not. As the challenged party, his honor and
courage had been vindicated, and he sought nothing else. Shaking hands,
the parties separated, and started for home — Edwards and his party going
up through Wisconsin, and Foster and his friends going in another direc-
tion. And so ended what promised to be a bloody and murderous com-
bat — that is, if the heroes (?) were in earnest and their weapons loaded with
balls or cartridges.
Some time afterwards, Governor Beveridge issued a requisition upon
the Governor of Missouri for the rendition of Foster and Edwards to the
authorities of Winnebago County, but for some cause never fully or satis-
factorily explained to the public, the rendition was never accomplished.
In 1&77, Mr. Kimball invited another representative man of the south
— Governor Wade Hampton, of South Carolina — to attend the exposition
and deliver the annual address. While this invitation and its acceptance
elicited some expressions of disapproval, the dissatisfaction was not so
general as in the case of Mr. Davis, and the large audience that greeted
Governor Hampton's apjjearance on the Winnebago Fair Grounds, on
HI8T0KY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 295
Thursday, Sept. 13, 1877, and the marked attention ^iven to his address,
gave evidence that the bitter memories engendered by tlie war had well
nigh died out. As shown by the number of tickets sold that day, 17,000
persons were in attendance. At the hour of two o'clock in the afternoon,
the time set for the delivery of the address, nearly the whole of this vast
congregation of people had assembled in front of and around the speaker's
stand, presenting an audience such as few public men ever addressed. Gov-
ernor Hampton was introduced by Hon. William Lathrop, Republican
member of Congress from this district, in a few brief, but well chosen, re-
marks, and if there had been any doubts entertained as to how the speaker
would be received, they were quickly dispelled by the hearty demonstra-
tions of welcome and good-will that greeted him as he appeared at the front
of the stand. His address was a very happy and felicitious one, and fre-
quently interrupted by loud applause.
In a work of this character, the re-production of Governor Hampton's
address would be out of place, but there were some parts of it so full of
wisdom, so appropriate to the condition of the times, as to demand preser-
vation. In that part of it which we quote below, there is a lesson that
every one may study with profit. Referring to the vast extent of Illinois,
to what the people of the State had accomplished in times past, and to what
they might accomplish in time to come. Governor Hampton said :
" I would like to talk to you, if I had time, of your great State. I
may not live to see it, but many of you will live to see these fertile valleys
filled up. A part of your State is called ' Egy])t.' Why could you not be
as prosperous as the Egypt of old ? We are told by ancient writers that
along the i^Tile there were in a space of ten or twelve thousand square miles
twenty thousand cities and towns and eight millions of people in them.
You in Illinois have over fifty thousand square miles. What would it be
if your population was in the same proportion ? You have a soil as rich
as that on the Nile. You have a climate far better, and above all, you are
peopled by the younger races of the world, and the grandest destiny that
was ever offered to a people is in your hands. Think what the Mississippi
Yalley is. Think that it reaches from the Blue Mountains on the east to
the Rocky Mountains on the west, and that it runs from the tropics to
where perpetual snow shines in the sunlight. Think of the hundreds of
millions of people that could be supported here, and then think of the
glorious destiny that must be yours; and when you think of what may be
that glorious destiny, forget not what was the destiny of the people
of Egypt. Rich and cultivated as they were, with science, educa-
tion and everything but religion, they have died, leaving only stupendous
pyramids as burial places for their dead, and the ruins of splendid temples
that were dedicated to the worship of apes and crocodiles. You have the
great problem to solve that the people of all times have had to solve. The
great problem of the relations of labor to capital, the great problem ot the
relations of people and States to the general government, and that problem
is made more difficult by the infusion of universal suftrage. But I believe
that we can solve that question if we devote to it one half the energy that
we do to material pursuits. We can do it by education; and when I say
education, I do not mean the mere improving of faculties so that one ,
can read and write. I mean the education of the heart and soul, as well as
the mind. When 3^ou have succeeded in doing that, when you will make a
man learn that all learning is foolishness in the light of God, when you can
296 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
teach him that, and make him look to God for hfe and freedom, then we
will be on the high road that leads to peace, prosj)erity and happiness."
Governor Hampton was followed by Gen. Sam. F. Carey, of Ohio, the
great Buckeye temperance apostle, a former member of Congress, and the
greenback candidate for Yice-President in 1876. His speech on this occa-
sion was one of the best of his life, and well adapted to the times and full
of progressive ideas. Commencing with the time when he was a boy, wear-
ing tow-linen shirts — and it made his back itch now to think of them — he
noted the great improvements that had been made in farm machinery, and
everything else that renders the American people the wonder, admiration
and envy of the rest of the civilized world for their great achievements in
the arts, sciences and all else that makes a people proud, prosperous and
happy. Full of sound, practical sense, happily illustrated by humorous
anecdotes of the prejudices entertained by the people of the not very long
ago against temperance, the cummon-sciiool system, the raih'oad, the tele-
graph, and kindred enterprises, particularly in some parts of the south.
He kept his vast audience enchained by his eloquence for nearly two hours.
The fii st agricultural address delivered in the county was rendered
before the original society — the one organized April 13, 1841 — by Dr.
George Haskell, in July of that year. A copy of the address was solicited
for publication at the time, but for reasons satisfactory to himself, the request
was not honored. In after years, when Winnebago County and Kockford,
whose growCh he had watched and fostered from their earliest beginnings,
had attained prosperity and prominence, he removed to Vineland, JSIew
Jersey, where he died in 1876. A year or two before his death, while
visiting his daughter, the wife of Henry P. Kimball, Esq., he presented to
Mr. Kimball the original manuscript of the address referred to, together
with the correspondence that ensued between him and the committee
appointed to solicit it for publication thirty-six years ago, with the request
that the papers be preserved among the other agricultural records of the
county. Among the early settlers of the county, a warm and ardent friend
of the tillers of the soil, of quick perceptions, a deep thinker and ardently
attached to agricultural pursuits as the basis of all wealth and prosperity,
his address of that day is full of merit and as worthy of preservation in the
history of the county he and his descendants helped to make as any of more
modern date, and will no doubt be read with great interest. It is liereM'ith
appended.
address read before the agricultural society of winnebago county,
July 5, 1841.
'■'■Geiitlemeii: — As you have requested me to address you on the present
occasion, I have consented to do so froia a sense of duty; not that I feel
competent to do justice to the subject for the consideration of which we
have assembled at this time, but if I can impart any information that will
benefit my fellow-citizens, or direct their attention to matters in which all
are deeply interested, I shall feel that my labor has not been in vain. It is
not the farmer alone who is to be benefited by the formation of agricultural
societies, and the improvements which such societies may be the means of
making in the community, but the mechanic, the manufacturer, the mer-
chant, the professional man, and in fact every member of societj^, whatever
may be his condition or calling, is interested in agricultural improvement.
*' The earth everywhere abounds with the elements of human happiness
Sampson George
(deceased)
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 299
and comfort. To man has been consigned, by a beneficent Providence, the
capacity and duty of cultivating the soil, and of rendering those elements
subservient to our wants and our highest enjoyments. And it has been
wisely ordained that our temporal reward shall be in a measure proportioned
to the fidelity with which we perform our high duties to ourselves, our
fellow men and our Creator. The cultivation of the earth was the primitive
employment of man. It is still the great business among all civilized
nations, and particularly in our own country, and it must ever remain so.
as it is alike necessary to our wants, our happiness and our existence as an
independent people. All other arts and employments which distinguish
civilized life are dependent upon agriculture for support and existence. If
the cultivation of the soil were to cease, and the earth to withhold her con-
tributions, all the arts, trades and professions would fail, the world would
become a wilderness and man a savage. Where do we lind society in its
most enlightened, refined and improved condition? Take a survey of the
present condition of this globe, and you will find tliac nations and people
are enlightened and prosperous in proportion to the improved state of their
agriculture, and that the other arts of useful industry prosper or decline as
this parent art is productive or unproductive. As proof of this I will refer
you to the history of Egypt, of Greece, Asia Minor, Italy and Spain, which
in turn have been the granaries, in a measure, of the civilized world, which
have risen and declined with the condition of their agriculture. While that
flourished, commerce and the arts flourished among them and they were
prosperous and powerful. But as the agriculture of those countries declined,
or was destroyed by the inroads of hostile armies, by the arbitrary sway of
despotic power, or the corrupting influence of comuiercial cupidity and
extravagance, the ])hysical and moral energies of those nations were broken
down, and they became impotent and servile. Some of their once fairest
portions have been made desert by the violence of men; commerce and the
arts have fled to countries where agriculture flourished, and their population
has degenerated into a miserable set of poor, ignorant, enslaved human
beings, objects of pity and Christian benevolence.
"iS^ow look at those countries where agriculture is most prosperous,
where the greatest attention is paid to the cultiv^ation and improvement of
the soil, and there you will find the moral and intellectual condition of the
people the most elevated, and human rights most respected. Where the
mental and physical powers are so happily combined and employed on
objects so useful to themselves and to society as those embraced by agricul-
tural labor, there is little inducement, little temptation, to immoral habits;
but there is a strong disposition in the inhabitants to maintain a healthful
state of morals and preserve in full vigor all the relative and social virtues,
which constitute the main ingredients in our cup of happiness. Pauperism
and crime are generally the fruits ot indolent habits of body or of mind,
which agriculture neither encourages nor permits. As productive labor is
the source of moral health to the body politic, it should be honored that it
may more abound. Agriculture has, and ever must have, an important
bearing upon our political destinies. The farmers of our country will be
the last class to be corrupted by the bribes and blandishments of power —
the last class to part with republican habits, to degenerate under the baleful
and enerv^ating influences of extravagancL!, dissipation and fashion.
"The higher the condition of agricultural improvement, the greater
will be the intelligence and independence of the agriculturist, and the
17
?)00 HISTORY or WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
stronger his inclination and his influence in perpetuating the virtues of our
revohitionary fathers, and in maintaining in their purity the institutions
which they estabhshed, and defending them from foreign and domestic foes.
Whether, therefore, we regard agriculture as a necessary branch of industry,
indispensible to our wants, and adapted to the development and useful
employment of our physical and mental powers, or in its influence upon
the moral, social and political aspect ot society, we find in it abundant
claims to our highest regards and warmest support.
" It has been said that in fixing on a location for life, the grand requisites
to comfort are: pure air, good water, and a healthy, fertile soil; yet these
seem incomplete, at least as regards comfort, without the addition of good
neighbors- — and tlierefore it is for the interest of every individual to do
what he can to improve the condition of those around him.
" A man, whatever may be his honest business, is profited by the pros-
perity of his neighbor, whether that neighbor be a farmer, a 'mechanic, a
merchant, or engaged in some professional calling.
"It is a bad trait in the human character, and one which generally de-
feats its object, but which is, nevertheless, too conspicuous, that many beek
to elevate themselves by depressing those around them — as if the poverty
and misfortune of the one added to the virtues and merits of the other.
"Not only philanthropy and Christianity, but self-interest enjoin that
when we have provided comfortably for ourselves and our own, we should
render all the assistance in our power to our brother who stands in need of
our aid. The selfish being who lives but for himself may, by amassing
wealth, enjoy his hour or his day of fancied greatness, but he can never
realize the pure, the elevated pleasures which flow from a life of active
benevolence to the human family.
" Society is in some measure a joint concern, at least so far as relates
to the producing classes ; the more these earn by their labor, the greater is
the accession of substantial wealth to the community. Whatever tends to
increase and improve the products of the soil serves to augment the com-
mon stock and enables the grower to supply the market with more and
better products, and to buy more liberally of the other classes in return.
"The merchant, the mechanic, the manufacturer and the professional
man have all as deep an interest in promoting the improvement of agricul-
ture and horticulture as the farmer and gardener have. The farmer virtu-
ally provides lor the other classes, and is at the same time their principal
patron and customer ; and although his labors are too often held to be low
and menial, by those who cannot and will not appreciate their value, his
condition affords the best criterion to judge of the welfare of those around
him. Ko country can long flourish or preserve its moral and physical
health whose agriculture is neglected and degraded. Every class of the
community, therefore, has a deep interest in promoting the improvement of
the soil, and all should willingly contribute their aid towards enlightening,
honoring and rewarding those who are honestly employed in its cultivation.
On the old continent, some men are born to rank and privilege, and others
are born to servile labor. Arbitrary laws have prescribed, to a great extent,
a man's condition in life ere the infant breathes the vital air. Arbitrary
power has perverted the laws of equality which were intended for the human
family, and has enacted artificial distinctions which industry and genius can
hardly- surmount, nor hereditary rank hardly sink below.
"We know no such distinctions among us. We recognize neither
HISTORY OF WINNEIJAGO COUNTY. 301
the hereditary distinctions conferred hj birth nor wealth. In our coun-
try, merit is the reward of individual ett'ort, and distinction the
price of intelligence, industry and virtue; and the competition is open to
all. We are all endowed with natural capacities for improvement, like the
soil we cultivate; and our reward, like the harvest, will l)e greater or less in
proportion to the measure of our solf-improveinent. But, as with the rich soil,
where nature has done most man generally does least, so with the mind; where
the expectations from parental aid are the greatest, the ofi'spring seem least
anxious to exert themselves to fulfil the high obligations imposed upon all.
Poverty and want are often the strongest stimulents to physical and mental
exertion; and when a laudable ambition is awakened to excel in any useful
pursuit, it seldom stops at mediocrity. Adversity more than prosperity is the
school in which men learn wisdom. There are high responsibilities resting
on the farmer and mechanic, which should stimulate them to mental and
moral exertion. They constitute the physical and political strength of our
country. If they are ignorant, poor and dependent, they are very liable to
become the tools of demagogues and the corruptors of public morals. If
they are intelligent and prosperous, they will be exemplary in their habits,
strong in their influence, and independent and patriotic in the bestowment
of their suffrages. With these incitements to improvement, and these
duties and responsibilities before them, the farmer and mechanic have
abundant cause to put forth their best exertions, to study the principles of
their business, and to profit by the genius and talents and discoveries of
others who excel in their respective callings; for however high a man may
be naturally gifted, or however successfully he may call his physical and
mental powers into action, he may learn much from the skill and practice
of others.
"Agriculture has too generally been considered a business requiring
mere physical power, with which the principles of natural science had little
or nothing to do. To plow, to sow, and to gather the crop, has been the
general routine of farming operations, regardless of tlie poverty which such
a practice was inflicting upon the soil. Thus the richest and most produc-
tive lands of the Atlantic States were rendered almost worthless, and the
scanty crops, diminishing from year to year, reproached the cultivator for
his ignorance and ingratitude. But within the last few years, the attention
of the farmers has been directed to the improvement of the soil, and, having
called to his aid the light produced by scientific investigations and discov-
eries, he has restoi'ed tlie soil to its original fertility and realized ample
compensation for his labors.
"And are we not practicing as bad a system of husbandry as our fathers
did in Kew England ^ Oar beautiful prairies, with their rich and produc-
tive soil, have presented inducements for too extensive cultivation. Some
of our richest lands are already nearly rendered worthless by the slovenly
manner in which they have been cultivated. The ease with which the first
and second crop, perhaps, have been obtained, has induced many of our
farmers to undertake more than they could well perform. The land has
been but half tilled — the weeds have been permitted to grow and ripen
their seeds, and the winds, the birds and other operators, have distributed
them profusely over the land. (Our soil is well adapted to the growth of
weeds, and under the skillful cultivation of many of our farmers, produces
an abundant harvest.) Tnough our soil is at present productive, and good
crops can be obtained without the use of manure, yet without it, the capa-
302 HISTORY OF WINISTEBAGO COUNTY.
bilities of the soil will be yearly diminishing. Our lands, rich as they are,
will be benefited by the application of manure, and those who apply all
they can obtain will be abundantly compensated for their labors.
"Probably the most of those whom I now address, have learned by
their own experience, something of the inconvenience, not to say actual loss,
they have sustained by half cultivating their land. Let us imj^rove by
past experience, and attempt no more than we can well accomplish. Let
us avail ourselves of the labors of others, and profit by their experience and
improvements. Science and art are now uniting their labors, and are
deriving mutual aid from each other on the farm, as they have for some
time been doing in the manufactory and in the shop of the artisan. A
new era is dawning upon the vision of the farmer; new light is illuming
his path, and a new interest and new pleasures are urging him on to
improvement. He begins to study the laws which Providence has ordained
for the government of improved culture, and he finds in 'their application
to his labors, the means of increasing profits and high intellectual enjoy-
ment; and the more he studies and is guided by these laws, the more does
he become satisfied of his former errors and his comparative limited sphere
of usefulness. Science is probably capable of rendering more important
services to husbandry than to any other branch of labor, and presents a
wider field of useful study to the cultivators of the soil, than to any other
class of society.
"One great obstacle to agricultural improvement, is the subordinate
rank to which this employment Jias been consigned, and to which the farm-
ers themselves have contributed, by a want of respect for themselves and
respect for their vocation. The wholesome habits of society have been so
broken up by the civil and political convulsions of the age and the inordi-
nate thirst for acquiring wealth and fashionable coilsequence through specu-
lations of various kinds, that honest productive labor has been thrown
entirely into the background, and considered not only ungenteel, but menial
and servile. Yet he who provides for the wants and comforts of himself
and family, and renders some service to society at large, by his mental and
physical industry, performs one of the high duties of life, and will ulti-
mately be rewarded in the conscious rectitude of his life, by a greater
measure of substantial happiness, than he who makes millions by fraud and
speculation, to be squandered in extravagance or wasted in folly by his
children or grandchildren.
"The revolutions constantly taking place in families sufficiently
admonish us, that it is not the wealth we leave to our children, but the
industrious and moral habits in which we educate them, that secure to
them worldly prosperity and the treasure of an approving conscience..
"Not content with the gains which are ever the reward of honest and
prudent industry, and which might be greatly increased by the culture of
the mind; not content with one of the most independent conditions in
society, hundreds of farmers have sought other and new employments, and
some of truly menial character, to get rid of labor, the greatest blessing to
man, and raise themselves in the imaginary scale of fashionable society;
and if they cannot participate themselves in this imaginary greatness, and it
is seldom anything more than imaginary, they are anxious to inflict the evil
upon their posterity. What class of society have within their reach so many
of the elements of human enjoyments as the independent tillers of the soil?
'The farmer,' says Franklin, 'has no need of popular favor; the success of
1
i
HISTORY OF WIN^fEBAGO CODNTV. 303
liis crops depends only on tlie blessing of God upon his honest industry.'
If discreetly conducted on the improved principles of husbandly, agricult-
ure offers the certain means of acquiring wealth, and as rapidly as is con-
sistent with the pure enjojmlents of life, or with the good order and pros-
perous condition of society. It is the golden mean, secure jalike from the
temptations of mushroom opulence and the craven sycophancy and depend-
ence of poverty.
"'The success of the farmer in producing profitable crops depends, as far
as human means are concerned, in a great measure upon preparing the soil
properly for the reception of the seed, in ada]jting the crop to the soil, and
bestowing upon it the necessary culture. A great obstacle in the way of
improvement is ignorance of the principles or science of agriculture, and a
blind adherence to old practices. I would not reject a practice that had
been proved to be useful and important; neither would I adhere to one
merely l.»ecause it had been sanctioned by age. But I would prove all
things, and hold fast that which is good. From the disc(jveries of science
and chemistry, as applied to agriculture, we are taught many important
lessons. Why has such signal success attended the practice of some of the ^
best informed farmers in our country of alternating their crops? Chemical
science answers the inquiry. The elementary matters which constitute the
different kinds of vegetables are similar, and exist in various proportions
both in the soil and in the products of the soil; and those elements are so
combined as to furnish food for one species of plants one season, and that
peculiar kind of food having been exhausted, the same species will not
flourish on the same soil in successive seasons. Every kind of plant has
its peculiar food ada]»ted to its support, and hence we see the importance of
a rotation in cro]:)s in order to obtain complete success. It is true there
are some soils so abundantly supplied with vegetable matter that they seem
for a time inexhaustible. I have known fields on the American Bottom,
which is one of the richest portions of the fertile "West, and even of the
world, where Indian corn has been raised successfully for more than twenty
successive years, and yet the crop is aljundant, and the caj^acities of the soil
do not seem to be diminished. But even that fertile soil may be worn out
and its stock of vegetable food exhausted under improper cultivation, and a
change of treatment may be found necessary in order to perpetuate its fer-
tility. The primitive elements which constitute all animal and vegetable
substances, combining in various forms and in various proportions, are oxy-
gen and hydrogen, the constituents of water, nitrogen, which mixed with
oxygen forms the atmosphere, and carbon. These elementary matters are
found in all the combinations of matter — in a solid form in animals, vege-
tables, and rocks. By the interposition of caloric, or the matter of heat,
they are rendered liquid and gaseous. When they disappear in one form
they take another — they are never lost, never annihilated. They perform a
constant routine under the fixed and established laws of nature, for the
benefit of man and for the order and preservation of the natural world. As
soon as the animal and vegetable cease to live, a decomposition, or separa-
tion of their elementary parts, commences, if exposed to the agency of lieat,
air and moisture, and goes on until their organic forms are lost, and their
elements are mingled with the soil and fitted again to enter into new vege-
table combinations and become again parts of new and living organic mat-
ters. Hence we may see the necessity of studying and observing those laws
of nature which govern to a greater or less extent the whole business of the
304 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
farm, and which can never be violated with impunity. And, in order to
study those laws to the best advantage, we should avail ourselves of all the
helps within our reach. We should profit by the labors and experience of
others, as they are communicated in the agricultural journals of the day.
Every farmer should by all means take some agricultural paper, and store
his mind with all that is valuable, and thus have a stock ready for use as
occasion may require. Individuals have been benefited hundreds of dollars
by the outlay of one dollar for a publication of this kind, in consequence of
the useful information it has given them in the prosecution of their busi-
ness. And here let me call the attention of this society to the " Union
Agriculturalist," published monthly at Chicago. Though there are valu-
able agricultural papers published in other sections of our country, and
which are most al.»ly conducted, and in themselves may be superior to Ihat
of our own State, yet they are not as well adapted to our peculiar wants as
one in which the experience of our prairie farmers is imparted for the bene-
fit of their brethren. The " Union Agriculturalist " is the organ of the
State Agricultural Society, and is published by the Union Agricultural So-
cietv, and, with a becoming zeal, we should take hold and help sustain it
and*^ make it worthy the high destiny of the Prairie State. Ko one is so
poor but he may find some means to raise one dollar a year to pay for such
a periodical. Better divide his means between that and the political jour-
nal than to be deprived of its benefits.
'' Thus far, in our county the orchard has not received that attention
its importance demands. I need not here enumerate the advantages of
good fruit. A tree that will produce fruit worth one dollar per bushel oc-
• cupies no moi-e ground than a tree whose fruit is beneath the notice of the
hog. One of the first labors every farmer should perform is to prepare a
suitable piece ot land and plant his orchard, and let that orchard be selected
from the best improved fruit, and in a very few years he will be abundantly
compensated for all his labor and expense.
" There has been much written upon the raising of silk within the last
few years, and many experiments have been detailed to prove that it may
be made a profitable auxilliary to farming operations. TJie Multicalis
speculation has gone by, and those who are supplied with the tree can make
the experiment of silk raising for themselves. If it can be made profitable
in any part of our country, it deserves a fair trial here.
" Laboring under the disadvantage of the want of a ready market for
our surplus produce, we should direct our attention to those articles which
will pay the expense of transportation to a distant market, or which can be
converted to useful purposes among us. As much as possible, we should
aim at being independent; we should raise and produce among ourselves
the most of the necessaries of life. Our farmers must raise the materials,
and our clothing must be manufactured among us. Where can wool be
raised with greater ease and more profit than on our fine prairies? Let every
farm be well stocked with good sheep, and all the wool which is not manu-
factured among us will bear to be transported to a distant market, and bring
in return those foreign articles which are regarded as necessary, and which
are draining the country of the little money there is in circulation. Before
Ave can be in easy and independent circumstances we must revert the present
order of things. Instead of sending our money away to procure necessaries
from abroad, we must not only produce articles to exchange for those neces-
saries, but have a surplus to convert into funds for other purposes. The
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 305
improvement of cattle and hogs demands the immediate attention of e^ery
farmer. Some few individuals have directed their attention to such improve-
ment with laudable zeal, and they will iind themselves abundantly repaid
for all trouble. Beef and pork will soon become staple articles" of this
countrv, and the farmer who would obtain the lari^est profit from his beef
and his pork will raise and fatten those animals, which, with the least
amount of food, will produce the most meat. If a hog of one breed, at a
given age, and with the same amount of food and the same attention, wdll
weigh twice or three times as much as one of a diiierent breed, is it not
impin-tant that our stock should be improved? And besides, the hog which
will weigh -iCXI, will sell in market more readily for $4.00 pei" hundred than
than the hog which weighs 150 or 200 will sell for $2.50 or $3. I will not
now sj)ecify the best breeds of cattle and hogs. If we should have a fair
next ()ctober, which we now contemplate, all will have an opportunity of
seeing and judging for themselves. Such exhibitions are highly important,
as they excite a spirit of emulation, and important results may be expected
from them when properl}^ conducted. ^
"Flax is an important article for the farmer to raise; if it can not be
manufactured into cloth at present, it will bear transportation, and the
seed can be manufactured into oil among us, and thus save the expense of
sending abroad for that important article. A manufactory tor small rope
would do a good business at once and would find a ready market for all that
conld be produced. Some one should also engage in the manufacture of
stai-ch, and thus save the expense of sending our wheat to the east to be made
into the article, and then go there to procure our supply. If sugar can be
made from the beet profitably anywhere, it deserves a trial here. The ease
with which the beet is raised, and the high price of sugar, offer strong
inducements to the capitalist to engage in its manufacture.
"I have thus endeav-ored to direct your attention to the importance of
agricultural improvements; and though this society has commenced opera-
tions at a time of great pecuniary embarrassments, yet let us not despise
the day of small things. Other societies have commenced under as unfa-
vorable circumstances as this, and they have steadily and perseverijjgly
advanced until their salutary influence has been apparent to all. I could
name instances did time permit, but I leave that for the present.
"The object of this society is a noble one, w^orthy the philanthropist
and the patriot; and though you may not reach the goal of your wishes,
your labors will not be lost.
"The seed which you sow will produce its tens and its twenty fold,
though you may not live to gather the harvest. The work of improvement
which you began will progress and be fraught with blessings on your chil-
dren and on yonr State."
The correspondence exchanged, concerning the printing of the address,
was as follows:
Dr. Geo. Haskell,
Sir: — The undersigned, a committee appointed by the Winnebago County Agricultural
Society, respectfully solicit of you the favor of a copy of your able address delivered before
said society at their last meeting. We are aware. Sir, that owing to the multitude of pub-
lications on the subject of agriculture, pains should be taken to select such as have the
merit of givina- useful information, or of containing matter of interest to tlie muss of readers.
But while we in common with others who -were present to hear your address were highly
gratitied, we think you cannot do the cause of agriculture, so important in itself, and espe-
306 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTy.
cially so embodying the leading interest of the West, a greater favor than to allow your
address to be published, that all who will may read and learn.
Your Obedient Servants,
Jason Marsh,"]
J. Weldon, \- Committee.
J. S. Norton, J
ROCKFORD, Aug. 21, 1841.
To Jason Marsh, \
J. Weldon, I" GommUtee Agricultural Society.
J. S. Norton, )
Gentlemen: — Your favor of Aug. 21 is before me, and in reply you will permit me to
say that 1 am not insensible of the flattering notice the society has taken of my address. I
feel a deep interest in whatever may be calculated to promote the objects of the Agricultural
Society, but upon matui'e deliberation I am not yet satislied that the cause of agriculture will
be materially benefited by the publication of the address I read before the society, while so
many others, more able, are published. I would, therefore, respectfully decline furnishing
a copjr for publication. Yours Respectfully,
Geo. Haskell.
RocKFORD, Aug. 25, 1841.
MURDER OF SHERIFF JOHN F. TAYLOR.
After the killing of the Driscolls, the arrest, trial, conviction and
sentence of Oliver, idcDowell and Bridge, in 1845, as members of the band
of outlaws that held dominion here for a number of years, the community
seems to have been peculiarly fortunate in its freedom from outlaws and
dishonest personages. From the time West and McDowell were sentenced
until November, 1856, there was but little of a criminal nature to disturb
the quiet of the people. What few crimes were committed were, for the
most part, of a petty character, and confined to that grade of crimes and
evil-doers that are to be found in all communities. When the "Bandits of
the Prairie" had been dispersed and banished from the country, the people
settled down to hard work, giving but little heed to anything but the
improvement of their farms and the general industries of a new country.
In the month of November, 1856, however, an event occurred that
threw the entire county into a fever of excitement, the like of whicli had
not been experienced since the cold-blooded murder of John Campbell by
the Driscolls and Bridge on Sunday, June 27, 1841. This excitement was
created by the murder of John F. Taylor, Sheriif, by Alfred Countryman,
and but for the firmness and decision of the more thinking of the citizens
of Rockford, Countryman would have received the same summary judgment
and execution that hurried the two Driscolls into eternity. The circumstances
attending this aflfair were as follows:
On the 11th day of November, 1856, Sheriif Taylor had taken Coun-
tryman under arrest on the charge of stealing cattle, and was taking him
to jail. When approaching the jail door. Countryman broke away from
the Sheriff, jumped over the fence on the Elm street side of the square, and
fled southward, towards Kent's creek. When at the corner of Elm and
Church streets, seeing that he was likely to be retaken, Countryman drew
a pistol from his pocket, turned and fired at Mr. Taylor, who was in close
pursuit. His aim was good, and Taylor fell to the ground and expired
almost instantly. The alarm was at once given, and hundreds of citizens
started in pursuit of Countryman, who kept on towards the grove south of
Kent's creek, and where he was finally captured. He was brought back to
town in a wagon in the midst of the most terrible excitement ever witnessed
in the streets of Rockford, and it was with the utmost difliculty that the
officers who had him in charge, assisted by some of the more prominent
r^
■».jif^*^
''^.
/<^^Z. ^ t^^^-^z/^^'
ROCKTON
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 309
citizens, could prevent the indignant and outraged populace from lynching
him upon the instant. But to the good name of the people be it said, better
counsels prevailed, and the law was allowed to take its course. Countrvnian
was placed in jail and closely confined, until the February term (1857) of
the Circuit Court, Judge Benjamin E.. Sheldon presiding, when he was
tried, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged on the 2Tth of March
tollovving.
The case was called on Monday, February 23d, and the entire afternoon
was spent in empannelling a jury, which consisted of the following named
persons:
Levi Tunks, Howard; Philo C. Watson, Kockford; Anthony M. Felmly,
Owen; Silas G. Tyler, Eockford; Jacob B. Place, Howard; G. R. Ames,
Harrison; Allen liice, Harrison; Charles "Works, Guilford; J. W. Jenks,
Eoscoe ; Edward Peppers, Howard ; J. W. Knapp, Roscoe ; S. P. Coller,
Burritt.
The jury being thus empanelled and sworn, the court adjourned until
9 o'clock Tuesday morning. The prosecution was conducted by U. D.
Meacham, State's Attorney, and William Brown, Esq.; the defence by
Orrin Miller, Jr., and T. J. Turner, Esq.
The trial was concluded on Thursday afternoon, Feljruary 26th, and the
case submitted to the jury, who returned a verdict of ''guilty of murder as
charged in the indictment," when Judge Sheldon proceeded to pass the
death sentence as follows:
''Alfred Countryman, you stand convicted of the murder of John F.
Taylor. Your crime was attended with very aggravated circumstances.
Mr. Taylor was the Sheriff' of this county — he had arrested you for a felony,
and was carrying you to the jail, when you broke from his custody and ran;
he pursued, and as he was about to retake you, you drew forth from a place
of concealment upon yoar person a pistol, turned upon and shot him, kill-
ing him in two or three minutes of time. Continuing your flight, you were
seen to reload your pistol, to be prepared, it would seem, to take the life of
the next man who approached to take you.
"This deed was perpetrated in the public streets of Eockford, in open
day, in the midst of the host of friends of the deceased, to whom he was en-
deared by his qualities as a man and his faithful services as an officer, sev-
eral of whom were eye-witnesses of the scene. It could only have been the
respect for law, which distinguishes this community, that prevented you
from being rent in pieces on the spot, by an explosion of popular
indignation.
*'To shoot down a peaceful officer of justice, in the quiet execution of
his duty, was a w^ton, brutal act, an awful manifestation of an abandoned
and malignant heart. In the eye of the law, no criine is more heinous than
to slay one of its officers in the discharge of his duty. The law guards with a
strong arm its officers when performing its own mandates. Your case is
a sad instance of the mischief of the barbarous practice of carrying deadly
weapons. If you had not had that weapon of death concealed ujion your
person, you might have escaped a murderer's doom. In a well-ordered com-
munity like this, there is no need, under ordinary circumstances, to carry
about such weapons of defence, and when carried they are much oftener used
as the weapon of offence than of defence.
"The penalty of your high crime is the forfeit of your life— the terrible
punishment the law inflicts not out of vengeance towards you, but for the
310 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
protection of human life, to deter men from the commission of the crime of
murder.
"I do entreat you to devote your few remaining- days on earth to an
earnest preparation for your future state of existence, upon which you are
so soon to enter ; delay it not in the hope that you may yet escape punish-
ment. Your counsel, who have ably defended you and done all that legal
abihty could do in your behalf, have made strenuous efforts to obtain for
you a new trial, and their zeal may yet lead them to attempt to procure a
reversal of your sentence. If so, rely not on any hope of success; regard
your doom as fixed, and act accordingly.
"Human Tribunals administer justice only, and punish — but you have
the consolation that mercy and pardon belong to that tribunal on high
before which you must hereafter answer for your violation of the divine
law. By meditation upon your spiritual concerns, and by true repentance
and contrition of heart, may you become a fit subject of di\ine mercy, and
obtain from your final judge forgiveness of your crimes.
" The sentence of the court is, that you, Alfred Countryman, be taken
to the jail of this county and detained in close custody until the twenty-
seventh day of March instant ; that on that day, between the hours of ten
iu the morning and five in the afternoon, you be taken thence to the place
of execution in this county, and there bo hung by the neck until you are
dead. And may God have merc}'^ on your soul."
The place of execution was on what is now the farm of Samuel I.
Oharct, about two miles west of the city of Rockford, and was the first and
last (to date, 1877) execution of the death penalty in Winnebago County.
The execution was public, and thousands of people were present to witness
it. When life was pronounced extinct, his body was cut down and deliv-
ered to his friends.
Alfred Countryman was born in Montgomery County, l^ew York, June
S8, 1830, and was consequently in the twenty-seventh year of his age at the
time of his execution. His father's family came to Ogle County in 1845-6,
according to the condemned man's confession or written statement of the
events of his life, where they were living at the time when Alfred com-
mitted the crim^ that forfeited his life. His life does not seem to have
been a smooth one, but full of changes and shiftings and wanderings from
one part of the country to another. Some time in the letter part of 1853
or in the early part of 1854, while working for the railroad company at
Fecatonica, he made the acquaintance of a woman whose home was at
Hampton, Michigan, to whom he was married by George Arnold, a justice
of the peace of that town. At the time ot his execution he had two chil-
dren — a girl and a boy — one about two years old, and the other an infant.
WAK RECOED.
With the exception of the recurrence of State and iJ^ational elections
and the ever-to-be-remeiid^ered Senatorial contest between two of America's
political giants, Lincoln and Douglas, in 1858, there was nothing in the
history of Winnebago County worth}' of especial mention after the execu-
tion of Countryman until the coming of the great and final conflict between
freedom and slavery, in 1861. Up to that time the people were busily
engaged in perfecting their plans against the coming of declining years —
improving their farms, building houses, shops, manufacturing establish-
HISTOKY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 311
merits, railroads, etc. Crime and criminals, and evil doers, with few ex-
ceptions, had been banished from the connty, and an era of local tranquility
and prosperity had been fully and successfully inau<^urated, so that when
the electric wires conveyed to them tlie intelligence that, on Friday', the
12th day of April, 1801, Fort Sumter, at Charleston, South Carolina, had
been lired upon by rebels in arms against the government, tli- y were startled
tVom the contemplation of undertakings nearly eom])leted. When, a day
later, news was borne along the same wires that Major Anderson had been
compelled to surrender Fort Sumter, individual enterprisers were abandoned,
at least for the time, and with one purpose the people rallied to a common
centre to take counsel together, and inaugurate such measures as might
become necessary to meet the Government's call for volunteers to defend
and maintain the integrity of the Union. While the people of Charleston
were holding high revel over the surrender of Fort Sumter, the people of
Winnebago County were preparing to take part in the measures that were
sure to be inaugurated to punish their treason. An impromptu meeting
was called in Eockford, and a committee appointed to prepare and issue a
call for a mass meeting of citizens to consider the exigencies ot the occa-
sion, and to adopt such measures as the times seemed sure to demand.
That committee issued the following call:
"union mass meeting."
^'■Citizens of Winnehago County, Let us Meet the Issue like MenP^'
"The citizens of Winnebago County, without distinction of party, are
requested to meet at the court house in Rockford, on Wednesday, April
24:th, 18G1, at one o'clock p. m., for the purpose of holding counsel together
and adopting such measures as in their judgment the present alarming
crisis demands, and properly responding to the President in his call for
support to the General Government. A full attendance from all the towns
in the count}^ is anxiously desired. — E. F. W. Ellis, S. M. Church, L. F.
Warner, CommAtteeP Dated April 17, 1861.
Saturday, April 20, 1861, the Rockford Register spoke as follows:
"patriotism at home."
"Our city, in common with all other places throughout the North, has
been the scene of almost continuous excitement on the war question during
the whole week. The prevailing subject and constant theme of conversa-
tion in all circles, at home as well as on the street, has been the exciting
news in connection with the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter,
and the war thus inaugurated. Party lines have for the time been laid
aside in devotion to the Union, and with few exceptions our Democratic
citizens, to their honor be it said, join heartily in sustaining the Adminis-
tration in the crisis thus forced upon the country. It is no time now to
argue who is right or who is wrong upon the questions of national policy
which have heretofore created dissensions into parties. One common pur-
pose should animate all hearts in this hour of our country's peril — that of
preserving it from irretrievable ruin. We hope we have no Cow Boys in
Rockford or Winnebago County."
The mass meeting called for the 24:th was an imposing demonstration.
Every man present and participating in the action of the meeting had, for
312 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
the once, divested himself of political bias, and was governed alone by
patriotic impulses. There was no halting between two opinions — there
was but one expression, but one purpose — "the Union must and shall be
preserved." Strong resolutions were adopted, and men and money pledged
till the rebellion was conquered, peace restored, and the integrity of the
Union vindicated.
But even before this meeting had assembled and taken action in the
premises, enlistments had commenced, and the organization of several
companies undertaken, and within a week after the news of the surrender
of Fort Sumter had been received the Rockford Zouaves had completed
their organization and tendered their services to the Government. The
citizens, equally patriotic, in a few hours subscribed and paid in the sum of
$1,270.49 to purchase the uniform for this company, and with hearts full of
love for their country and the prayers of the citizens they marched away
under command of Captain iSevins, and went into camp at Springlield.
During the week ending May 4, five other companies were raised, as fol-
lows: Kockford Zouaves, Company B, Ellis Rifles, Rockford Rifles, a com-
pany of Dragoons, and a company of Irish citizens. On. the 20th of
September, six companies had been raised and officered in Winnebago
County, and accepted for service as follows:
Rockford Zouaves^ Company A — Captain G. L. ISevins.
Rockforfl Zouaves^ Company B — Captain Andrus.
Durand Guards — Captain Whitmeyer.
Washburn Rifles — Captain Bird.
Rockford Rifles — Captain Smith.
Ellis Rifles— C2i^t?d\\ E. F. W. Ellis.
Besides these. Captain Austin was raising a cavalry company, Captain
Boyd's company was nearly full. Lieutenant Ketcheson was recruiting for
a Missouri regiment, and Major P. Flynn was forwarding recruits for Mul-
ligan's Irish Brigade at St. Louis.
This uprising of the patriotic men of Winnebago was in the first
months of the war — the spring and summer of 1861. While the younger
portion of the communit}^ were thus responding to their country's call for
men to defend and uphold its honor, the older men were no less active in
providing ways and means to help their boys off to the field of battJe. ISTor
were mothers, wives and sisters inactive. They had a duty to discharge and
they discharged it faithfully. The county authorities, within a veiy few
days after the surrender of Fort Sumter, met in special session and appro-
priated $10,000 to be expended in the equipment of volunteers, and the
support of the families of such of them as were married. This sum was
increased by subsequent appropriations for bounties, etc., until very nearly
$500,000 were paid out for war purposes. In addition, each township pro-
vided a liberal bounty fund, while private subscriptions were also made
from time to time, and whenever occasion or necessity demanded. There
was no penuriousness either in the county authorities or private individ-
uals. And thus the good work went on from the beginning to the end of
the war. To every call for volunteers, a ready response was made, and the
quota assigned to the county promptly filled.
In Kauff'man and Burch's Rockford City Directory and County Gazet-
teer, published in 1869, there is an article under the caption of "Winnebago
County in the War," from which we make the following statistical extract:
"Up to October 1, 1863, the quota of the county, according to the
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 313
enrollment returns made to the Assistant Marshal General's office at
Springfield, was 2,087 men; the enlistments credited to the county, 1,021,
leavino- the county short, according to this estimate, 116 men. These were
more than made up, however, by men who had enlisted in tlie regiments
raised in other States, and who had not up to this time heen allowed to the
credit of the county. It was subsequently ascertained that about 125 men
from this county had enlisted in Wisconsin and Missoui-i regiments.
"In 18()i a new enrollment was made by Halscy G. Clark, Esq., enroll-
ing officer of the county. This enrollment showed 4,627 persons between
the age of 20 and 45 years, liable to military duty.
"The quota of the county, upon this enrollment, under the various calls
for troops to July 1, 1864, was 2,778, apportioned to the different towns
and wards of the city as follows:
No. Enrolled Quota to
1864. July, 1864.
Roscoe ---- - 190 124
Harlem 1^7 88
Guilford 130 83
Cherry Valley -.228 134
New Milford .136 85
Owen - 172 104
Rocktou 268 167
Shirland 61 40
Harrison -. 80 53
BurriU 201 115
Winnebago ..213 133
Seward .198 111
Lysander 256 159
Howard 210 129
Laona 102 63
Rockford, outside of the city - -168 104
City, 1st Ward ...355 204
" 2d " . 407 233
" 3d " ..• 437 253
" 4th " 428 250
" 5th " , --250 148
Total ....4,627 2,778
" This quota was filled on the 30th day of September, 1864, the last
two men being mustered in on that day.
" In December, 1864, when the last call for men was made by the
President, it was resolved by the county authorities to make a new and
thorough enrollment, it being claimed that the one last made was incorrect,
and that it reported a greater number of men liable to military duty than
there really was in the county. Accordingly, in December, 1864, a thor-
ough canvass of each enrollment district was made, which gave 3,269 per-
sons liable to draft, a decrease of 1,361 fiom the previous enrollment.
Upon this enrollment the last quota of the county was based, amounting to
308 men. They were divided among the towns and wards of llockforcl as
follows :
Enrollment, Quota, Jan.
Dec. 1864. Ist, 1865.
Roscoe - ...125 16
Harlem -HO 23
Guilford 86 19
Cherry Valley..-. - 184 29
New iMilford --.- --- 106 22
Owen --. 153 27
Rockton 199 27
314 mSTOEY OF WliTNEBAGO COUNTY.
Enrollment, Qnota, Jan.
Dec. 1864. 1st, 186#.
Shirland ---. ---- - 50 3
Harrison ..- 93 10
Burritt - 166 20
Winnebago 200 9
Seward ITS 30
Lysander 229 20
Howard.... ---171 26
Laona 81 15
Rockford, outside of city 150 23
City, 1st Ward .._ 169 17
" 2d " 258 21
" 3d " 194 11
" 4th " .-..203 12
" 5th " 167 18
Total .- - 3,269 398
" The apparent unequal distribution of these quotas to the different
towns was the cause of much complaint among the county authorities;
their complaints, however, were of no avail, and the men had to be furn-
ished as apportioned. This was done by the 15th of April, 1865, the last
man having been mustered in previous to that date. These, with those
furnished under former calls, made 3,176 of her patriotic' citizens who
risked their hves on Southern battle-fields to sustain the Government.
" Although the county has within its limits a large number of persons
of foreign birth, to their credit be it said, but 36 of this number were will-
ing to shield themselves behind foreign protection papers, and while enjoy-
ing all the privileges of residents of the United States, refused to assist in
supporting its Government. They are divided among the towns as follows:
''Howard, 10; New Milford, 3; Laona, 3; 1st and 2d Wards City, 5;
3d, 4th and 5th AVards City, 6; Owen, 1; Rockton, 1; Harlem, 6; Guil-
ford, 1; total, 36."
Having thus preserved the patriotic offerings of the people of Winne-
bago County as a community, there is one other duty that devolves upon
our pen — that is, to gather the names of the brave men who were so ready
to forsake home, friends, Hnd the comforts of peaceful avocations, and offer
their lives in defense of their country's honor. This is not only a pleasure,
but it is a duty, not only due to those whom the fate of the war spared to
return to their homes, but to the memory of those who fell with tlieir faces
to the enemy — many of whom sleep the last, long sleep in unmarked and
unknown graves. This Record was well earned, and it is our purpose to
present the Record as complete as possible, and that it shall embrace the
names, companies, regiments, terms of enlistments, the battles in which
they engaged, etc. What more fitting tribute can be offered to their sol-
dier lives '( It will be a wreath of gloiy encircling every brow, and a mem-
ento which each and every one of them earned in defense of our country's
honor, integrity, and unity. Monuments may crumble; cities fall into de-
cay; the tooth of time leave its impress on all the works of man; but the
memory of the gallant deeds of the army of the Union in the great war of
the rebellion, in which the sons of Winnebago bore so conspicuous a part,
will live in the minds of men so long as time and civilized governments
endure.
Winnebago County War Record.
ABBREVIATIONS.
Adjt Adjutant
Art Artillery
Col Colonel
Capt Captain
Corpl - Corporal
Comsy Com missary
com .- commissioned
cav cavalry
captd - captured
disd discharged
e enlisted
excd exchaneed
inf infantry
kid killed
m. o - mustered out
prmtd promoted
prisr - prisoner
Regt... Regiment
Sergt.. - Sergeant
wd.. wounded
8th Infantry.
Second Assistant Surgeon Clarence M. Spalding, com.
March 27, 1865. Mustered out May 4, i856.
Company G.
Abraham John, e. Dec. 17, 1863, absent on furlough.
Barthoiit Jas. e. Sept. 28, 1864, absent on furlough.
Blackburn Jos. e. Dec. 20, 1863, prmt. Corpl., m. o.
Oct. 5, 1865.
Carlin M. e. Dec. 19, 1863, m. o. May 4, 1866.
Thurston John, e. Jan. 20, 1864, m. o. May 4, 1866.
11th Infantry,
The regiment was called into service under proclama-
tion of the President, April 16, 1861 ; organized at
Springfield, and mustered into service April 30, 1861, by
Captain Pope, for three months.
During this term of service, the regiment was sta-
tioned at Villa Ridge, HI., to June 20th, then removed
to Bird's Point, Mo., where it remained performing
garrison and field duty until July 30th, when the regi-
ment was mustered out, and re-enlisted for three years'
service. During the three months' term, the lowest
aggregate was S82, and the highest 933, and at the mus-
ter out was 916.
Upon the re-muster, July 13th, the aggregate was
2S8. During the months of August, September, Octo-
ber and November, the regiment was recruited to an
aggregate of 801. In the meantime were doing garrison
and field duty, participatin'g in the following expedi-
tions ; September 9th to nth, expedition towards New
Madrid ; October 6th to nth, to Charleston, Mo.; Nov-
ember 3d to i2th. to Bloomfield, Mo., via Commerce,
returning via Cape Girardeau ; January 7th and 8th,
expedition to Charleston, Mo., skirmished with a por-
tion of the command of Jeff. Thompson ; January 13th
to 20th, reconnoisance of Columbus, Ky., under Gen.
Grant ; January 25th to 28th, to Sikestown, Mo ; Feb-
ruary 2d, embarked on transports for Fort Henry, par-
ticipating in campaign against that place ; February
nth, moved towards Fort Donelson ; February 12th,
13th and 14th, occupied in investing that place, 12th,
heavily engaged with the enemy about five hours,
losing 329 killed, wounded and missing, out of about
500 engaged, of whom 72 were killed and 182 wounded ;
March 4th and 5th, <■« roitte to P'ort Henry ; jth to 13th,
en route to Savannah, Tenn., in transports ; 23d to
2Sth, en route from Savannah to Pittsburg Landing ;
April 6th and 7th, engaged in battle of Shiloh, losing
27 killed and wounded, out of 150 engaged ; April 24th
to June 4th, participated in siege of Corinth, thence
marched to Jackson, Tenn., making headquarters there
to August 2d ; participated in two engagements, July
ist and 2d, towards Trenton, Tenn.; July 23d to 28th,
to Lexington, Tenn.; August 2d, moved to Cairo, 111.,
for purpose of recruiting ; remained at that point until
August 23 ; thence to Paducah, Ky., remaining there
until November 20th ; in the meantime engaged in two
expeditions — August 24th to September i6th, to Clarks-
ville, Tenn.. via Forts Henry and Donelson — October
31st to November 13th, expedition to Hopkinsville,
Ky.; November 20th to 24tli, en route to Lagrange,
Tenn., where the regiment reported and was assigned
to Brigadier General McArthur's Division, Left Wing,
13th Army Corps. From this time to Jan. 12, 1863,
participated in campaign in Nortiiern Mississippi,
marching ziia Tallahatchie (where the regiment was
engaged in a sharp skirmish) ; from thence to Abbe-
ville ; thence seven miles below Oxford; thence to
Holly Springs, Moscow and .Memphis, Tenn. Re-
mained in Memphis until the 17th, when embarked on
transport and en route to Young's Point until 24lh, re-
maining there until February nth; then moved to
Lake Providence, and assigned to the Seventeenth
Army Corps, making headquar ers there until April
2oth, participating in expedition to American Bend,
from March 17th to 2Sth. April 23, 1863, the One Hun-
dred and Ninth Illinois Infantry was transferred to the
Eleventh, 589 being the aggregate gained by the trans-
fer. April 26lh, regiment moved with column to rear
ofVicksburg, via Richmond, Perkins' Landing, Grand
Gulf, Raymond and Black River, arriving before the
works May iSth ; May 19th and 22d, engaged in_ as-
saults on the enemy's works ; then in the advance siege
works to July 4th, at time of surrender ; the regiment
losing in the siege and assault i field officer (Colonel
Garrett NeviusJ killed, 3 line officers wounded, and 40
men killed and wounded. July 17th, moved with ex-
pedition to Natchez, Miss., participating in expedition
to Woodvillr, Miss. October 12th, returned to Vicks-
burg. Miss., making headquarters there to July 29,
1864 ; in the meantime eng.fged in the following expe-
ditions ; February ist to March 8ih, up Yazoo river to
Greenwood, Miss., having skin ish at Liverpool
Heights, February 5th, losing 4 killed and 9 woi-nded ;
action at Yazoo City, March 5th, losing i line officer
killed, 8 men killed, 24 wounded, and 12 missing ; April
6th to 28th, at Black River Bridge ; May 4th to 21st,
expedition to Yazoo City, Benton and Vaughn s Sta-
tion, Miss., taking prominent part in three important
skirmishes ; July 1st to 7th, with an expedition to Jack-
son, Miss., under Major General Slocum, eng.aged with
the enemy three times ; July -.gth, moved to Morganza,
and was assigned to Nineteenth Army Corps, staying
there to September 3d ; in the meantime participating
in an expedition to Clinton, La., August 34th to 29th ;
September 3d, moved to mouth of White river. Ark.;
316
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAH BECOKlJ.
October 8th, moved to Memphis, Tenn., returning to
White river October 27th ; November 6th and 7th, ex-
pedition to Gaine^' Landing ; November 8th, moved to
Diivall's Bluff, Ark.; November 30th to December 4th,
en route to Memphis, Tenn.; December 20th to 31st,
expedition to Moscow, Tenn.; January ist to 5th,
en route to Kenner, La.; February 4th to -jX^iv^ en route
to Dauphine Island, via Lake I'onchartrain ; March
17th to April i2th, engaged in operations against
Mobile, Ala., marching from Fort Morgan, participat-
ing in the investment and siege and final capture of
Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, and in the assault on
the latter. April 12th, marched into and took posses-
sion of the city of Mobile, staying there until the 27th
of May, when embarked in transport and moved via
Lake Ponchartrain to New Orleans ; from thence to
Alexandria, La., remaining there until June 22d ;
thence to Baton Rouge, La., to be mustered out of ser-
vice ; mustered out July 14, 1865, and left for Spring-
field, 111., for payment and final dLscharge.
Killed in the field and died of wounds.. 149
Aggregate three months' service 933
Aggregate three years' service 1879
Field and staff, three years' service.. S3
The following General Officers have been in the regi-
ment :
Gen. -W H. L. Wallace, Gen. T. E. G. Ransom,
Gen. Smith D. Atkins.
The following Field Officers of other regiments were
members of this regiment :
Col. Hotchkiss, Col. Hopeman, Col. H. H. Dean,
Col. G. L. Fort, Lieut. Col. McCalb,Maj. S. B. Dean,
Maj. Widmer.
Line Officers from this regiment to other regiments,
thirty-three (33).
Colonel Garrett Nevius, com. Major July 30, 1861.
Promoted Lieutenant Colonel Feb. 15, 1862. Pro-
moted Colonel March 16, 1863. Killed in Battle
near Vicksburg, i\Iay 23, 1863.
Adjutant Henry H. Dean, com. First Lieutenant Co.
D, July 30, 1861. Promoted Adjutant Oct. 16,
1862. Term expired July 31, 1864.
Quartermaster Sergeant Herrington Love, e. as Sergt.
July 30, 1861 Appointed Q. M. Sergeant Jan. 8,
1864. Transferred to 46th 1. V. I. Mustered out
July 8. 1865.
Commissary Sergeant Jno. W. Bardwell, e. Aug. 10,
1861. Appointed Com. Sergeant March 26, 1864.
Discharged Aug. 10, 1864, term expired.
Company D.
Captain Wm. D. E. Andrus, com. June 30, 1861. Term
e.xpired July 31, 1864.
First Lieutenant Urrin C. Towne, com. Second Lieu-
tenant July 30, 1861. First Lieutenant Oct. 16,
1862. I'erm expired July 29, 1864.
First Lieutenant Wm. H. Stalker, e. as private Sept.
28.1861. Re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 22, 1864. Pro-
moted Ccjrporal, Sergeant, First Sergeant, then
Second Lieutenant, July 29, 1864. Promoted First
Lieutenant July 3i,r864. Mustered out July 14, '65.
Second Lieutenant Aaron Bayles, e. as private Aug. 15,
1861. Re-enlistedas vet. Jan. 22, 1864. Promoted
Corporal, Sergeant, First Sergeant, then Second
Lieutenant, July 31. 1864. Mustered out July
14, 1865.
Sergt. Geo. E. Dolphin, e. July 30, 1861, disd. June 5,
1865, prmt. U. S. C. T.
Sergt. Samuel T. Beddoes, e. July 3o,'6i, trans, to 46th
1. V. I.
Corpl.D.R. Towne,e. Sept. i,'6i,disd. April 30,'62,disab.
Corpl. Benj. F. Whitcher, e. Aug. 15, 1861, disd. Sept.
I, 1862, as Sergt., wds.
Corpl. Henry P. Strong, e. Sept. i,'6i, died Jan. 2o,'62.
Corpl. W. H. A. Duner, e. Sept. 25, i86t, kid. at Don-
elson, Feb. 16, 1862.
Corpl. F. J. Houseman, e. Sept.i,'6i, m.o. Aug.2r,'65.
Corpl. Ambrose Stearns, e. Nov. i, iS5i, disd. July 26,
1862, disab.
Corpl. S. R. Hest, e. July 30,'6i, disd. Nov.20,'62, wds.
Musician F. B. Wakeman, e. July 30, 1861, disd. Mch.
10, 1863, disab.
Atkins Lewis, e. Sept. i, '61, disd. May 23, '62, disab.
Abbott Jas. e. Oct. 22, 1861, died April 6, 1862.
Atkins Wm. e. Sept. i, 1861, disd. Feb. 16, 1863, disab.
Allen Edw. W. e. Sept. i, '61, disd. Dec. 29, '62, disab.
Alien Wm. W, e. Sept. i, '61, disd. Dec. 29, '^, disab.
Bridgman O. e. Aug. 15, '61, died April 17, 1862, wds.
Bourne M. E. e. Aug. 10, '61, disd. Aug. io,'64,term ex.
Briggs G. J. e. Aug. 10, '61, disd. Aug. 10 '64, term ex.
Bookhaut Jas. e. Aug. 10, 1861, trans, to 8th I. V. I.
Bramer Henry, e. Aug. 10, i§6i, disd. April 7, 1364.
Britt Chas. F. e. Aug. 23, '61, disd. Sept. i, '63, disab.
Balson Wesley ,e. Oct. 22, '61, disd. Oct. 21, '64, term ex.
Compton R. A. e. Nov. i, '61, disd. Feb. i, '62, disab.
Carey Thos. e. Nov. i, '61, died March 15, 1862.
Crawford Jas. e. Aug. 15, '61, disd. July 20, '62, disab.
.Croley Daniel, e. Oct. 24, 1861, drowned Dec. 9, 1861.
Coddington A.W.e. Oct. 14, '61, disd. Aug. 15, '62, disab.
Doolittle P. W. e. Sept. 7, 1861, m. o. Dec. 17, 1864.
Donaldson Jas. B. e. Aug. 15, 1S61, died Nov. 17, 1S62.
Darling Geo. W. e. Ncv. 7, 1861, died Feb. 20, 1862.
Denton D. H. e. Aug. 15, '61, disd. Dec. 29,' 62, disab.
DarrallsF.W e. Sept. 15, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Frick F. e. Aug. 15, '61, m.o. as Corpl. Aug. 22, 1864.
Fuller Edwin B. e. Sept. 7, '61, disd. Sept. 7, '64, term ex.
Flannery M. e. Oct. 23, 1861, disd. Nov. 7, 1863, wds.
Gile Wm. A. e. Sept. 7, 1861, died Oct. 13, home on
furlough.
Gilbert Geo. W. e. Oct. 2, '61, disd. May 10, '63, disab.
Gile Geo. VS'. e. Sept. 7, 1861, m. o. June 28,1865.
Hamilton C. A. e. Aug. 10, 1861, died Oct. 7, 1861.
Hawkinson Chas. e. July 3o,'6i, disd. Corpl. Aug. 17*64.
Hudson Wm. e. Aug. i5,'6i, disd. Aug. 14, '64, term ex.
Harris H. E. e. Aug. 15, '61, disd. Aug. 17, '64, term ex.
Hudson W. J. e. Aug. 15, '61, disd. Aug. i7,'64, termex.
John Wm. e. Aug. 15, '61, re-enlisted as vet., died June
15, 1865.
Kent Wm. T. e. Aug. 10, 1861, disd. May 23, '62, disab.
Kingsley S. e. Sept. 1, 1861, died May 28, 1862.
Krunney F. e. Sept. i,'6i, died of wds. rec'd Donelson.
Loop M. M. e. Aug. 15, 1861, disd. Oct. 7, 1862.
Lathram A. H. e. Sept. i,'6i, disd. March 17, '62, disab.
Murphy Roger, e. Aug. io,'6i, disd. Aug. 25, '62, disab.
Murphy John, e. Oct. 4, 1861, died June 8, 1862.
Murphy Wm. J. e. Oct. 7, '6i. disd. Aug. 6, '62, disab.
Manchester Dennis, e. Sept. 5, '61, kid. at Shiloh, April
6, 1862.
Manchester Geo. H. e, Sept. i, 1861, died May 30,1863.
Mager E. K. e. July 30, 1861, died Feb. 20, 1862, wds.
Newell F. C. e. Aug. 15 1861, died Aug. 21, 1863.
Pelton A. H. e. Aug. 15, t86i, died Oct. 30, 1861.
Pluiner S.e. Nov. 7, 1861. disd. May 23, 1863, disab.
Shank C. C. e. July 30, 1861, m. o. July 29, 1864.
Stalker Jas. H. e. Sept. 20, '61, disd. Nov. 20, '62, disab.
Stewart Chas. e. Oct. 12, 1861, disd. May 23, 1862.
Sullivan Daniel, e. Oct. 24, '61, died April 11, '62, wds.
Thurston John, e. Oct. lo, '61. re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
22, 1864, trans, to 8th I. V. I.
Thompson Sam. e. Nov. i, 1861, died May 6, 1862.
Trask Julius, e. Aug. 10, '61, disd. May 23, '62, disab.
Tra.sk M. e. Sept. i, '61, re-enlisted as vet. Dec. 5, '63,
trans, to 46th I. V. I.
Town Wm. e Sept. i, 1861, disd. Aug. 15, 1862, disab.
Wheeler Chas. T. e. Sept. i, 1861, disd. Sept. 7, 1864.
Wilson Wm. M. e. Aug. 15, '61, disd. May 23, '62, disab,
Westbrook Jas. S. e. Sept. 15, 1861, disd. Sept. 17, 1864.
Warren John W. o. Sept. i, 1861, died Dec. 24, 1864.
Webb Miles C. e. Sept. i, 1861, disd. Oct. 31, 1864.
Warner A. 3. e. Sept. i, 1861, disd. Sept. 7, 1864.
Wright E. A. e. Sept. i. '61, disd. May 23, '62, disab.
Daniels F. W. e. Dec. 9,'62,prmt. Corpl. died July 7, '65.
Howard Matthews, e. Dec. 8, 1863, trans, to 8th I. V. I.
John Wm. e. March 9, 1864, died June 15, 1865.
Thompson A. A. e. Jan. 22, i864,*trans. to non-com-
missioned staff as Sergt. Major.
Abraham Jno. e. Dec. 17, '63, trans, to 8thl. V.I. Corpl.
Blackburn Jos. e. Dec. 22, '63, trans, to 8th I. V. I.
Barns Louis, e. Dec. 12, 1863, m. o. Sept. 26, 1865.
Beggs Paul, e. Aug. 15, 1862, died Aug. 7, 1863.
Coleman Isaac, e. Aug. 15, 1862, m. o. July 14, 1865.
Crowell F. B. e. Aug. 15, 1862, kid. at Yazoo City,
March 5, 1864.
Jackson Wm. A. e. Dec. 23, '63, trans, to 46th I. V. I.
Loop M. M. e. Dec. 17, '63, disd. Oct. 30, '64, disab.
Pitney Levi, e. Dec. 17, '63, absent without leave since
July 30, 1864.
Stalker Ewd. B. e. Aug. 14, '62, m.o. Sergt. July I4'6s.
Spicer A. C. disd. Sept. i, 1863, disab.
Van Needam Tlieo. e. Jan. 4, 1864, trans, to 46th I. V.I.
Wellington Thos. e. Dec. 24, 1863, trans, to 8th I. V. I.
ffi*^S^ v"l»i!fi^
c/^
/ley" 4{ '/b
'Ol-^.r
ROSCOE TP
WINNEBAGO COUNTY "WAR RECORD.
319
Company G.
First Lieutenant Edward P. Thomas, e. as First Ser-
geant Co. D. Sept. I, iS6i. Promoted Second
Lieutenant Feb. 15,1862. Promoted First Lieuten-
ant Nov. 22, 1862. Term expired Oct. 31, 1864.
loth Infantry,
The Fifteenth Regiment Infantry Illinois Volunteers
was organized at Frecport, Illinois, and mustered into
the United States service May 24, 1861 — being the first
reeiment organized from the State for the three years'
ijfcrvice. It then proceeded to Alton, 111., remaining
there si.x weeks for instruction. Left Alton for St.
Charles, Mo., thence, by rail, to Me.xico, Mo. Marched
to Hannibal, Mo., thence, by steamboat, to Jefferson
'Barracks; then^ ty rail, to Rollo, Mo. Arrived in
time to cover Gen. Siegel's retreat from Wilson's Creek;
thence to Tipton, Mo., and thence joined Gen. Fre-
mont's army. Marched from there to Springfield, Mo.;
thence back to Tipton ; then to Sedalia with Gen.
Pope, and assisted in the capture of 1,300 of the enemy
a few miles from the latter place ; then marched to Ot-
terville. Mo.,. where it went into winter quarters, Dec.
26, 1861. Remained there until Feb. i, 1S62. Then
marched to Jefferson City ; thence to St. Louis, by rail ;
embarked on transports for Fort Donelson, arriving
there the day of the surrender.
I he regiment was then assigned to the Fourth Di-
vision, Gen. Hurlbut commanding, and marched to
Fort Henry. Then embarked on transports for Pitts-
burg Landing. Participated in the battles of the 6th
and 7th of April, losing 252 men, killed and wounded.
Among the former were Lieutenant Colonel E. T. W.
Ellis, Major Goddard, Capiain- Brownell and Wayne,
and Lieutenant John W. Futerbaugh. Captain Adam
Nase, wounded and taken prisoner. The regiment then
marched to Corinth, participating in various skirmishes
and the siege of that place, losing a number of men
killed and wounded.
After the evacuation of Corinth, the regiment marched
to Grand Junction ; thence to Holly Springs, back to
Grand Junction; thence to Lagrange; thence to Mem-
phis, arriving there Jul}' 21, 1862, and remained there
until Septeniber6th. Then marched to Bolivar ; thence
to the Hatchie river, and participated in the battle of
the Hatchie. Lost fifty killed and wounded in that en-
gagement. Then returned to Bolivar ; from thence to
Lagrange ; thence, with Gen. Grant, down through
Mississippi to CotTeeville, returning to Lagrange and
Memphis ; thenc to Vicksburg, taking an active part
in the siege of that place. After the surrender of
Vicksburg, marched with Sherman tq, Jackson, Miss.;
then returned to Vicksburg and embarked for Natchez.
Marched thence to Kingston ; returned to Natchez ;
then to Harrisonburg, La., capturing Fort Beauregard,
on the Washita river. Returned to Natchez, remained
there until Nov. 10, 1S63. Proceeded to Vicksburg and
went into winter quarters. Here the regiment re-
enlisted HS veterans, remaining until Feb. i, 1864, when
it moved with Gen. Sherman through Mississippi. On
Champion Hills had a severe engagement with rebel
Carney. Marched to Meridian ; thence south to Enter-
prise ; thence bjck to Vicksburg. Was then ordered
to Illinois on veteran furlough. On expiration of fur-
lough joined Seventeenth Army Corps and proceeded
up the Tennessee river to Clifton; thence to Hunts-
viUe, Ala.; thence to Decatur and Rome, Ga.; thence
to Kingston, and joined Gen. Sherman's army, march-
ing on Atlanta.
At AUatoona Pass the Fifteenth and the Fourteenth
Infantry were consolidated, and the organization was
known as the Veteran Battalion Fourteenth and Fif-
teenth Illinois Infantry Volunteers, and numbering 625
men. From AUatoona Pass it proceeded to Ackworth,
and was then assigned to duty, guarding the Chatta-
nooga and -Atlanta Railroad. Whilst engaged in this
duty, the regiment being scattered along the line of
road, the rebel Gen. Hood, marching north, struck the
road at Big Shanty and Ackworth, and captured about
300 of the command. Tha remainder retreated to Ma-
rietta, were mounted and acted as scouts for Gen. Van-
dever. They were afterwards transferred to Gen. F.
P. Blair, and marched with Gen. Sherman through
Georgia.
After the capture of Savannah, the regiment pro-
ceeded to Beaufoit, South Carolina; thence to Salka-
18
hatchie river, participating in the various skirmishes in
that vicinity — Columbia, S. C, Fayeltevillc, N. C
battle of Bcntonville— losing a number wounded ■
thence to Goldsboro and Raleigh. At Raleigh, recruits
sufficient to fill up boih regiments were received, and
the organization of the Veteran Battalion discontinued
and the Fifteenlh reorganized. The campaign of Gen.'
Sherman ended by the surrender of Gen. Johnson. The
regiment then m..rched with the army to Washington,
D. C.,T'/rt Richmond and Fredericksburg, and partici-
pated in the grand review at Washiuiiton, May 24,
1865 ; remained there two weeks. Proceeded, by rail
and steamboat, to Louisville, Ky.; remained a't Louis-
ville two weeks. The regiment was then detached from
the Fourth Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, and
proceeded, by steamer, to St. Louis; from thence to
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, arriving there July i, 1865.
Joined the army serving on the Plains. Arrived at Fort
Kearney, August 14th ; then ordered to return to Fort
Leavenworth, S.'pt. 1, 186s. where the regiment was
mustered out the service and placed <?« route U>x .'spring-
field, 111., for final payment and discharge — having
served four years and four months.
Number of miles marched 4200
Number of miles by rail 2403
Number of miles by steamer 4310
Total miles traveled j, 012
Number of men joined from organization 1963
Number of men at date of muster-out 640
Lieutenant Colonel Edward F. Ellis, com. May 14,
1861. Killed in battle of Pittsburg Landing.
Adjutant Cyrenus C. Clark, com. First Lieutenant Co.
C, May 14, 1861. Promoted Adjutant Sept. 4, 1861.
Transferred to Staff.
Quartermaster Sergeant Jacob H. Read, com. Jan.
I, 1864. Transferred to Field and Staflf Veteran
Battalion.
Company A.
Lyman Chas. W. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 24, 1864.
Teisdale Robt. M. e. May 24, i86i, m. o. May 24, 1864.
Company B.
Cleaver Chas. W. e. May 24, 1861. disd. Feb. 6, 1862,
worthlessness.
Dunham Sam'l, e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
I, 1864. See Co. B, Vet. Bat.
Hartman H. H. e. May 24, '61, disd. Feb. 6, '62, disab.
Hardy Job E. e. May 24, '61, disd. Aug. 21, '62, disab.
Rhodes Milton, e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 24, 1864.
Smith Geo. G. e. May 24, iS6t, re-enlisted as vet., m.o.
May 30, 1865, First Sergeant.
Westfall Chas. H.e. May 24, '61, trans. Co. I, May 29, '61.
Vet. Dis. March 27, 1865.
Briggs D. D. disd. Sept. 13, 1861, disab.
Eastman E. H. e. May 24, '61, died July 27, '62, wds.
Garrett John H. e. May 24, '61, disd. Oct. 18, '62,disab.
Hill F. R. e. May 24, 1861, disab.
Hardy A. W. e. May 24, '61, disd. June i, '62, disab.
Company 0.
Captain Holder Brounell, commissioned May 14, 1861.
Killed at battle Pittsburg Landing.
Captain Geo. W. Bradley, commissioned Second Lieu-
tenant, May 14, 1861. Promoted First Lieutenant,
Sept. 4, 1861. Promoted Captain, April 7, 1862.
Died May 28, 1863.
Captain Hampden S. Cottel, e. as Sergt. May 24, 1861.
Promoted Second Lieutenant, Aug. 21, 1862. Pro-
moted Captain, May 28, 1863. Mustered out at
consolidation.
First Lieutenant Gideon V; Carr, e. as private May 24,
i86i. Promoted First Lieutenant, April 7, 1862.
Resigned June 2, 1863.
First Lieutenant Vilroy Q. Paxon, e. as Corporal, May
24, 1861. Promoted First Lieutenant, June 2, 1863.
Mustered out at consolidation.
Second Lieutenant OrviUe T. Andrews, e. as Sergeant,
May 24, i86t. Promoted Second Lieutenant, Sept.
4, 1861. Honorably discharged, Aug. 21, 1863.
Sergt. Lamar H. Lowe, e. May 24, 1861, disd. Oct. 18,
1862, disab.
320
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR RECORD.
Corpl. Wm. H. Lowe, e. May 24, 1861, disd. Aug. 18,
1862, disab.
Corpl. Chancy R. Burch, e. May 24, 1861, disd. July
28, 1862, disab.
Brown G. B. e. 'May 24, 1861, disd. March 31, '63, disab.
Bowman John A. e. May 24, '61, disd. Oct. 30, '62, disab.
Buckley Wm. T. e. May 24, '61, disd. Oct. 30, "62, disab.
Breen Wm. R. e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as veteran,
March i, 1864, m. o. Sept. 16, 1865.
Bennett D. W. e. May 24, 1861.
Bennett Abel H. e. May 24, '61, disd. Aug. 4, '62, disab.
Battershall F. H. e. May 24, '61, disd. Apl. 2S, '62, disab.
Babcock Geo. W. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Benson James, e. May 24, '61, disd. Aug. 23, '61, disab.
Baltazer A. G. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Brown Wm. H. e. May 24, '61, kid. Shiloh, Apl. 6, '62.
Cook Lewis, e. May 24, 1861, died Nov. 8, 1861.
Crowell F. J. e. May 24, i86i, died Oct. 18, 1S61.
Cooledge Jas. M. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Coughtry Wm. e. May 24, 1861, kid. Shiloh, Apl. 6,'62.
Coughtry Jas. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864. •
Conger John D. e. May 24, '61, disd. Nov. 25, '61, disab.
Compton John, e. May 24, 1861, died May 18, '62, wds.
Day D. W. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Douglas Wallace, e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Eason Elias J. e. May 24, 1861, disd. June 16. 1861,
worthlessness.
Falcon A. e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as veteran, Jan.
I, 1864, m. o. May 30, 1865.
Horsman Edw. A. e. May 24, '61, disd. July 17, '62, disab.
Haye Z. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Hart Win. J. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Hunter David, e. May 24, 1861, disd. Oct. 8, '61, disab.
Hambright F. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Hart Peter, e. May 24, 1861, disd. Oct. 18, 1862.
Hope Walter H. e. May 23, 1861, trans, to Co, C, Vet.
Bat.
Hager Patrick, e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Johnson Frank, e. May 24, '61, disd. Dec. 16, '62, disab.
John Wesley, e. May 24, 1S61, disd. Aug. 21, '62, disab.
Knapp A. W. e. May 24, 1861, disd. July 23, '62, disab.
Kilburn Jas. H. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Keel C. e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as veteran Jan. i,
1864, m. o. May 30, 1865.
King Oscar, e. ]\Iay 24, 1861, disd. Oct. 15, 1861, disab.
Keeling Geo. e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as veteran
Jan. I, 1864, m. o. May 30, 1865.
Lake E. E. e. May 24, 1861, disd. Dec. 4, 1862, disab.
La Barr Wm. H. H. e. May 24, 1861, kid. by lightning,
May 25, 1861.
Liddle Jos. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Merchant Abel L. e. May 24, 1861, died Nov. 15, 1863.
Marston Geo. W. e. May 24, '61, disd. Aug. 9, '62, disab.'
Merchant D. C. e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as veteran
Jan. I, 1864, kid. July 22, 1864.
Mahon James, e. May 24, 1861, trans, to Invalid Corps,
Sept. 26, 1863.
Needham W. O. e. May 24, 1861.
Osborn Edgar, e. May 24, 1861, died April 4, 1862.
Owen Jonathan, e. May 24, '61, disd. Oct. 18, '62, disab.
Pritchard Asa, e. May 24, 1861, disd. Dec. 16, '62,disab.
Peterson F. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Royston F. B. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Riddington Chas. H. e. May 24, iS6i,m.o. May 25, '64.
Read Jacob H. e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as veteran
Jan. I, 1864, m. o. May 30, 1865.
Roth John, e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Spaulding Geo. H. e. May 24, 1861, m, o. May 25, '64.
Smith Samuel K. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Starkey W. L. e. May 24, 1S61, died July 27, 1862.
Simpson Chas. H. e. May 24, '61, disd. Oct. 20, '61,
disab.
Shores L. D. e. May 24, 1861, disd. Nov. 29, '62, disab.
Simpson Peter, e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Tyler C. M. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Taylor A. C. e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Vance John E. e. May 24, '61, kid. Shiloh, Apl. 6, '62.
Wisner H. T. e. May 24, 1861, disd. Mch.31, 63,disab.
Wells Bennett, e. May 24, 1861.
Willis Frank, e. May 24, 1861, m. o. May 25, 1864.
Ward R. L. e. May 24, 1861, re-enlisted as veteran
Jan. I, 1864, died Nov. 18, '64, Andersonville pris.
Crawford Jacob M. e, Jan. i, 1864, m. o. May 30, 1865.
Wood Newel P. e. Jan. i, 1864, m. o. May 30, 1865.
Douglas A. e. Sept. 16, 1861, died May i, 1862, wds.
LaBarr Chas. G. e. May 28, 1861, died July 5, '62, wds.
Weld Arthur E. e. Dec. 20, 1863, m. o. May 30, 1865.
Company F.
Captain Cyrenus C. Clark, commissioned Feb. iS. 1862.
Died July 15, 1863.
44t7i Infantry.
The Forty-fourth was organized in August, 1861, at
Camp Ellsworth, Chicago, under the supervision of
Col. Chas. Knoblesdorff, and was mustered into setvice
Sept. 13, and immediately embarked for St. Louis, Mo.
Thence on 22d to Jefferson City. On 2Qth marched to
Sedalia, and was assigned to Gen. Sigel s famous divi-
sion. Oct. 13th took up line of march for SpringfielS,
Mo. The Forty-fourth was too late to participate in
the battle of Wilson Creek. It then moved to RoUa,
where it encamped for the winter. Gen. Curtis having
assumed command, on Feb. 2d the Forty. fourth moved
toward Springfield, to attack Price's army, but found
him gone ; pursued him into Arkansas. The two
armies concentrated their whole strength and met at
Pea Ridge, where a bloody battle was fought, defeating
the enemy, and ii) which the Forty-fourth took a prom-
inent part. It was also one of the most effective regi-
ments in the pursuit of the retreating rebels, capturing
one stand of colors, many prisoners and several pieces
of artillery. Resumed march April 5 to Forsythe, Mo,
and Batesville, Ark., where the army was re-organized,
and the Forty-fourth placed in Col. Osterhaus' brigade.
It thence proceeded to Cape Girardeau, Mo., and
thence by steamerto Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., where it
arrived iVIay 26th, and proceeded to army then besieg-
ing Corinth. Two days after arrival, rebels evacuated
and the Forty-fourth was assigned to Gen. Pope's
command, and went in pursuit of the fleeing enemy.
Was in camp at Rienzi, Miss., two months. Cincin-
nati, Ohio, being threatened, the Bngade, under com-
mand of Col. Grensel, marched thither, w ere it ar-
rived Sept. ist, and on the 17th moved, by rail, to
Louisville. Here the army was again reorganized, and
the Forty-fourth assigned to the Army of the Ohio,
under Gen. Buell. and was in the battle of Perrj'sville,
Oct. Sth, in a division commanded by Gen. P. H.
Sheridan. Marched to Crab Orchard and Bowling
Green, when Gen. Rosecrans assumed command.
Marched to Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 26. Moved,
with the army, against Murfreesboro, Tenn., and was
attached to Second Brigade, Third Division, Twen-
tieth Army Corps, Col. Shaffer commanding the Brig-
ade, Gen. Sheridan the Division, and Gen. McCook
the Corps.
At Stone River the Forty-fourth lost half its number,
in killed and wounded.
June 26, 1863, was engaged at Hoover's Gap, Shelby,
ville, and Tallahoma, Tenn. Thence it moved to
Stevrnson and Bridgeport, Ala., and to Chattanooga,
Tenn., and took part in the battle of Chickamauga.
In the battle of Mission Ridge, soon after. Gen. Sheri-
dan gave the Forty-fourth the praise of placing their
flag among the very first on the Rebel works. It then
made a forced march to relieve our army at Knoxville,
arriving three days after the siege was raised. The
Twentieth and Twenty-first Corps being consolidated,
the Forty-fourth was assigned to the Fourth Corps,
and Gen. F. T. Sherman to the command of Brigade.
After many marches and hardships the Forty-fourth
arrived at Chattanooga, Feb. 3, 1864, and, for the first
time in four months, drew full rations from the Gov-
ernment. Here the regiment re-enlisted and went
home on veteran furlough, arriving in Chicago March
1st, having marched during its term of enlistment over
5,000 miles.
April 14th, it arrived at Nashville, and immediately
marched to Chattanooga, and Irom thence entered on
the memorable Atlanta campaign, and participated in
the following skirmishes and engagements : Buzzard
Roost, Rocky-Faced Mountain, Resaca, Adairsville,
Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Gulps
Farm, Chattahoochie River, Peach Tree Creek, At-
lanta, and Jonesboro. Its movements then were to
Chattanooga, Tenn., Athens, Ala. , Pulaska, Tenn.,
and from thence gradually fell back on Nashville,
closely pursued by the enemy, and took a very promi-
nent part in the battle of Franklin. Thence proceeded,
via Nashville, to Huntsville, Ala., arriving January 5,
1865, March 28th, was ordered to Knoxville, thence to
Blue Springs, Tenn.
After the surrender of the Rebel armies the Forty-
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAB EECORD.
321
fourth was ordered to New Orleans, arriving June 22d.
It then moved, by steamer, to Port Lavaca, Texas,
where it remained until Sept. 25th, when it was mus-
tered out and proceeded to Springfield, III., arriving
Oct. 15, 1S65, and received its final payment and dis-
charge.
Major Luther M. Sabine, com. Captain Co. G Aug.
14, 1861. Promoted Major Oct. i, 1862. Resigned
Sept. 30, 1862.
Major Gustavus Freysleben, e. as Sergeant Co. G Aug.
I, 1861. Promoted Second Lieutenant Feb. 28,
1S62. Promoted Captain Co. A June 27, 1862.
Promoted Major Sept. 30, 1864. Resigned (as
Captain) Feb. 24, 1865.
Major .AlonzD \V. Clark, e. as First Sergeant Co. G
Aug. I, i86i. Promoted Second Lieutenant July
17, 1862. Pronioted First Lieutenant Jan. 25, 1863.
Promoted Captain Oct. i, 1S62. Promoted Major
May 10, 1S65. Resigned (as Captain) July 8, 1865.
Sergeant Major Edgar L Davis, e. Aug. i, 1861. Re-
duced to ranks Co. E Sept. 21, 1863.
Quarter-Master Sergeant Isaac I. Hicks, e. Aug. i, '61.
Principal Musician Gottfried Neitzel, e. Aug. 24, i86i.
Mustered out Jan. 26, 1863.
Principal Musician James Jory, e. Jan. i, 1864. Mus-
tered out Sept. 25, 1865.
Company G.
Captain Nathan Rundell, e. as Corporal Aug. i, 1861.
Re-enlisted as veteran Jan. i, 1864. Promoted
First Lieutenant Sept. 25, 1864. Promoted Cap-
tain May 10, 1865. Mustered out Sept. 25, 1865.
First Lieutenant Randolph D. Hobart, com. Afig. 14,
1861. Resigned April 19, 1862.
First Lieutenant Reuben E. Norton, e. as Sergeant
Aug. I, 1861. Promoted First Lieutenant April
ig, 1S62. Resigned Jan. 25, 1863.
First Lieutenant Silas B. Merchant, e. as private Aug.
I, i86i. Promoted Second Lieutenant Jan. 25,
1863. Promoted First Lieutenant Oct. i, 1862.
Resigned Sept. 25, 1864.
First Lieutenant HoUam R. Smith, e. as private Aug.
I, iS6i. Re-enlisted as veteran. Promoted Ser-
geant. Promoted First Lieutenant May 10, 1865.
Mustered out Sept. 25, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Robt. Penman, com. Aug. 14, 1861.
Resigned Feb. 28, 1862.
Second Lieutenant Edgar J. Davis, e. as Sergeant
Aug. I, 1S61. Promoted Sergeant Major. Pro-
moted Second Lieutenant Oct. i, 1862. Mustered
out as Sergeant.
Corpl. Wm. H. Edgington, e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. May
2b, 1862.
Corpl. Jas. J. Sloat, e. Aug.i,'6i,disd.Oct.28,'63,disab.
Corpl. J. B. Jennings, e. Aug. i, '61, m. o. Sept. 8, '64.
Corpl. C. R. Wells, e. Aug.i, '61, died Jan. 2, '63, wds.
Musician S. B. Hicks, e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as
vet. Jan. i, 1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Wagoner Thos. Penman, e. Aug. i, 1861.
Comsy. Sergeant Henry Adams, e. Aug. i, 1861, died
Oct. 23, 1861.
Allen Titus, e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. April 23, 1862.
Aiken John, e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Attwood Geo. e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. Jan. ig, 1862.
Abbott Asbury, e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. April i8, 1864.
Abbott T. J. e. Aug. i, 1861, Vet., m.o. Sept. 25, '65.
Babcock Floyd, e. Aug. i, 1861, died June 28, 1864.
Baker C. D. e. Aug. i, 1861, died Nov. 25, 1863, wds.
Harsbee Albert, e. Aug. i. i8fii.
Heeler Chas. e. Aug. i, 1861, killed Dec. 31, 1862.
Burgat P. e. Aug. i, 1861, trans, to Veteran Reserve
Corps, April 22, 1864.
Burgat Andrew, e. Aug. i, 1861, died at Rolla, Mo.,
Dec. 21, 1S61.
Bartlett James, e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
1, 1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Bartholomew A. e. Aug. i, 1861.
Colby Henry, e. Aug. i, 1861, died at Keetsville, Mo.
Crawford Levi L. e. Aug. i, 1861, died at Rolla, Mo.,
Nov. 28, 1861.
Christian Lewis, e. Aug. i, 1861, killed at Stone River,
Dec. 31, 1862.
Colins Theo. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, in. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Coons C. C. e. Aug. i, 1861, trans, to Veteran Reserve
Corps, April 30, 1864.
Cowan Robt. e. Aug. i, '61, died at Rolla, Mo., Dec.
23, 1861.
Coleman John, e. Aug. i, i86i, disd. Feb. 1862.
Chaniplin Joel, e. Aug. i, 1861, died Jan. ig, '63, wds.
Cummings Jos. e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. Jan. i, 1862.
Dobson Albert, e. Aug. i, 1861.
Don Thos. e. Sept. i, 1861, disd. Oct. 9, 1862.
Furgeson Isaiah, e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. I, 1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1863.
Fisher Henry, e Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
I, 1864, killed in Georgia. May 17, 1864.
Fulner Michael, e. Aug. i, 1861, died Feb. 4, '64, wds.
Gray D. P. e. Aug. i,'6t, died at Rolla, Mo.,Dec.28,'6i.
Godding Asa, e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. March, 1862.
Goodrich M. e. Sept. i, 1861, died Dec. 21, 1862.
Gifford A. e. Sept. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, i86^.
Hanks Wm. H. e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. Aug. i, 1862.
Hart Adam, e. Aug. i, 1861, re. enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865, 3S Sergt.
Hart Wm. e. Aug. i, i86i. re-enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Hubbard Daniel, e. Aug. i, 1861, trans, to V. R. C,
Aug. I, 1863.
Handlein Thos. e. Aug. i, 1861.
Johnson W. e. Aug. i, '61, died at Rolla, Mo., Nov. 26, '6i.
Jury James, e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, prmt. Principal Musician.
Knapp Geo. W. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. I, 1864, died June 28, 1864, wds. *
Merchant A. J. e. Aug. i, i;6i, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
I, 1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Mead R. J. e. Aug. i, 1861, died Nov. 30, 1861.
Makepeace C. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
I, 1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865, as Corpl.
Murphy John, e. Aug. i, 1861, died Jan. 25, '63, wds.
Moses Theo. W. e. Aug.i, '61, disd. May 24,'62, Sergt.
Naurtc Jacob, e. Aug. i, 1861.
Norton Marcus, e. Sept. i, i86i.
Porter James, e. Aug. i, 1861.
Parish Wm. H. e. Aug. i, 1861, trans, to First Mo. Lt.
Art., April, 1862.
Rogers Chas. e. Aug. i, 1861.
Rogers O. C. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Ramsdell N. e. Aug. i, 1861, re^enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Rising Austin, e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. Oct. 18, 1862.
Seely Chas. e. Aug. i, 1861.
Sherman Jas. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865, as Corpl.
Shields Thos. A. e. Aug. i, 1861, died at Rolla, Mo.,
Dec. 22, 1861.
Sawyer E. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 186!;, as Sergt.
Searls Stephen, e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
I, 1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865, as Corpl.
Streeter W. e. Aug. i, 1861, disd. March, 1862.
Underbill David, e. Aug. i, 1861.
Vinton Samuel, e. Aug. i, 1861, died Dec. 31, 1864.
Vanastein John W. e. Aug. i, 1861, missing in action,
at Stone River, Dec. 31, 1862.
Vanbroklin Don, e. Aug. i, 1861.
Washburne Henry, e. Aug. i, 1861.
Willmott Geo. e. Aug. i, 1861.
Wilson Nathan, e. Aug. i, i8'^i, re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. I, 1864, m. o. July 24, 1865.
Willie Thos. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. i,
1864, absent at m. o. of regt.
Young Wm. G. e. Aug. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
1, 1864, died July, 1864, wds.
Zorn Philip, e. Aug. i, 1861, died Andersonville Prison
March 24, i86i.
Dale Homer T. e. March 23, 1864, m. o. June 22, 1865.
HuffWm. e. March 23, 1864, m. o. Sept. 25, 1865.
Hobart Wm. e. March 21, '64, m.o. Sept. 23, '6s, Corpl.
Miller Wm. H. e. March 3i,'64,m.o. Sept. 25, '65, Corpl.
Norton R.'C. e. Mch. 23, '64. prmt. Hospital Steward.
Company I.
First Lieutenant Thos. J. Abbott, e. as private Aug. i,
1861. Re-enlisted as vet. Jan. I, 1864. Promoted
Sergeant, then First Lieutenant, Sept. 13, 1864.
Mustered out Sept 25, 1865.
322
AVlNNEBAGO COUNTY WAK KEOORD,
45th Infantry,
The Wasliburne Lead Mine Regiment was organized
at Chicago, 111., Dec. 25, 1861, by Col. John E. Smith,
and mustered into the United States' service as the
Forty-fifth Infantry Illinois Volunteers. Jan. 15,1862,
moved to Cairo, 111. February ist, assigned to Brigade
of Col. W. H. L. Wallace, Division of Brig. Gen. Mc-
Clernand. February 4th, landed beloA' Fort Henrj',on
the Tennessee, and on the 6th marched into the fort, it
having been surrendered to the gun-boats. February
nth, moved toward Fort Donelson, ar.d during the suc-
ceeding days bore its part of the suffering and of the
battle. The flag of the Forty-fifth was the first planted
on the enemy's works. Loss — 2 killed and 26 wounded.
March 4th, moved to the Tennessee river, and nth,
arrived at Savannah. Was engaged in the expedition
to Pin Hook. March zsth, moved to Pittsburg Land-
ing, and encamped Viear Shiloh Church.
The Forty-fifth took a conspicuous and honorable
part in the two. days' battle of Shiloh, losing 26 killed
and igg wounded and missing — nearly one. half of the
regiiiient. April 12th, Col. John E. Smith, of the
Forty-fifth, took command of the Brigade. During
the seige of Corinth, the regiment was in the F irst Bri-
gade, Third Division, Reserve Army of the Tennessee,
and bore its full share of the labors and dangers of the
campaign. June 4th, the regiment was assigned to
Third Brigade, and moved toward Purdy, fifteen miles.
On the 5th, marched to Bethel; 7th, to Montezuma,
and on the 8th to Jackson, Tenn., the enemy flying on
its approach.
During the months of June and July, engaged in
garrison and guard duty. August nth, assigned to
gnarding railroad, near Toon's Station. On the 31st,
after much desperate fighting. Companies C and D
were captured. The remainder of the regiment, con-
centrating at Toon's Station, were able to resist the at-
tack of largely outnumbering forces. Loss — 3 killed, 13
wounded and 43 taken prisoners. September 17th,
moved to Jackson ; November 2d, to Bolivar, and was
assigned to First Brigade, Third Division, Right Wing,
Thirteenth Army Corps. Nov. 3, 1862, marched from
Bolivar to Van Buren ; 4th, to Lagrange, and were as-
signed to Provost duty ; 28th, marched to Holly
Springs ; December 3d, to Waferford ; 4th, to Abbe-
ville ; 5th, to Oxford, t j Yocona river, near Spring
Dale.
Communications with the north having been cut off,
foraged on the country for supplies. December 17th,
notice received of the promotion of Col. John E. Smith
to Brigadier General, ranking from November 29th ;
December 22d, returned to Oxford ; 24th, moved to a
camp three mil s north of Abbeville, on the Talla-
hatchie river, where the regiment remained during the
month. Mustered out July 12, 1865, at Louisville, Ky.,
and arrived at Chicago July 15, 1865, for final payment
and discharge.
Colonel Robt. P. Sealey, com. First Lieutenant Co. F.
Sept. 17. 1861. Promoted Captain Co. G, Nov. i.
1861. Promoted Lieutenant Colonel June 28, 1863.
Promoted Colonel Aug. 4, 1863. Honorably dis-
charged (as Lieut. Col.) Jan. 10, 1865.
Lieutenant Colonel Melancthon Smith, com. Major
Oct. 31, 1861. Promoted Lieutenant Colonel Nov.
29, 1862. Died of wounds.
Lieutenant Colonel Jas. J. Palmer, com. First Lieuten-
ant Co. F, Dec. 2g, 1861. Promoted Captain April
8,1862. Promoted Major Jan. 10, 1865. Promoted
Lieutenant Colonel July 13, 1865. Mustered out
(as Major) July 12, 1865.
Adjutant Giles H Bush, com. Jan. 21, 1863. Resigned
Sept. 22, 1864. Re-entered service as Captain of
147th Regiment.
Quartermaster Evans Blake, com. Nov. 25, 1861. Re-
signed Jan. 31, 1865.
First Assistant Surgeon Wm. Lyman, com. Second As-
sistant Surgeon Sept. 5, 1862. Promote 1 First
Assistant Surgeon March 21, 1863. Resigned July
9, 1863.
First Assistant Surgeon John Conant, com. Second
Assistant Surgeon April 28, 1863 Promoted First
Assistant Surgeon July 9, 1863. Resigned Dec.
26, 1863.
Commissary Sergeant John Travis, e. Sept. 17, 1861.
Killed at Fort Donelson Feb. 15, 1862.
Commissary Sergeant H. M. Thomas, e. April 21,1862.
Drowned Sept. 29, 1863.
Commissary Sergeant Geo. A. Sealey, e. Sept. 17, 1861.
Mustered out July 12, 1865.
Hospital Steward Wm. M. Lyman, e. Jan. 5, 1864.
Mustered out July 12, 1865.
Principal Musician P. W. Copeland, e. Sept. 17,1861.
Promoted Prin. Musician Jan. 3, 1864. Mustered
out July 12, 1865.
Company B.
Creesler Alfred, e. Sept. 6, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.,
prmt. Principal Mu-.ician.
Davis W. F. e. Mch. 31, 1864. m. o. July 12, 1865.
Thomas H. W. e. April 21, 1862, drowned Sept. 29, '63.
Company C.
Corpl. Jas. W. Gear, e. Sept. 2, 1861, disd. July 14,
1862, wds.
Beldin Wm. W. e. Sept. 2, 1861, died at Savannah,
Tenn., May 4, 1862.
Casey John, e. Oct. 2, 1861, kid. at Shiloh Apr. 7, '62.
Webber V. e. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o, July 12, 1865.
Callaghan Peter, e. Oct. 8, 1864, m. o. July 12, i86s.
Ostrander Jerome, e. Feb. 15, 1864, m.o. July 12, 1865.
Company D.
Flannigan Francis, e. Sept. 21, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Dec. 19, 1863, m.o. July 12, 1865.
Callahan Peter, e Oct. 8, 1864.
Haveland Chas. H. Sept. 21, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Taylor O. e. Oct. 7, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Company F.
Captain Alfred Johnson, com. Dec. 29, iS5i. Died
April 7, 1862.
Captain Jos. R. Baxter, e. as Corpl. Sept. 21, 1861.
Re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 5, 1864. Promoted First
Sergeant, then First Lieutenant Dec. 28, 1864. Pro-
moted Captain July 9, 1865. Mustered out (as
First Lieutenant) July 12, 1865.
First Lieutenant Jos. Ludley, e. as Corpl. Nov. 22,
1861. Re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 5, 1864. Com. First
Lieutenant July 9, 1865. Mustered out (Sergeant)
July 12, 1865.
Sergt. Thos. P. Clogston, e. Sept. 30, 1861, disd. at
Chicago, wds.
Corpl. L. F. C. Breezier, e. Oct. 17, 1861, kid. at
Vicksburg, June 5>5, 1865.
Corpl. Emil A. Stahn, e. Oct. 21, 1861, re-enlisted as
vet. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865, as Sergt.
Musician Orrin Pettengill, e. Nov. 20, 1861, deserted
March 16, 1862. '
Allen Daniel M. e. Oct. 9, 1861, re-enhsted as vet. Jan.
5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865, as Corpl.
Bassett L. S. D. e. Sept. 30. i86i, died March 15, 1862.
Baxter Richard, e. Sept. 24, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Beals H. G. e. Nov. 23, 1861, deserted Dec. 27, 1864,
second desertion.
CoUas Chas. e. Dec. 2, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 5,
1864, died May 9, 1864.
Durno Wm. e. Nov. 22, 1861, died at Savannah, Tenn.,
wounds. '
Eckart John, e. Dec. q, i86r, died March 16, i86z.
Finning Theo. e. Oct. 18, '61, disd. Feb. i, '63, disab.
Henning Albert, e. Oct. 4, 1861, dropped from rolls, .
Aug. 18, 1862.
Hildebrand Theo e. Oct. 12, 1861. re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, died June 18, 1864.
Holtz H. e. Oct. 7, 61, dropped from rolls Aug. 18, '62.
Hall Geo. e. Oct. 31, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec. 19,
1863, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Kane Thos. e. Sept. 25, 1861, dishonorably disd. May
16, 1862.
Lord L. T. e. Dec. 16, '61, m. o. Dec. 29, '64, term ex.
Lindar Edgar T. e. Oct. 17, 1861, dropped from rolls
Aug. 18, 1862.
Losk Otto, e. Dec. 2, '61, wounded at Shiloh, disd.
Lutz Jos. e. March 30, 1864, died April 12, 1865 in the
field.
Minning Wm. e. Oct. 7, 1861.
Morties Albert, e. Dec. 2, '61, wounded at Shiloh, di=d.
Packard Chas. E. e. Oct. 30, 1861, died at St. Louis,
May 14, 1863.
WINWEBAGO COTINTY WAR RECORD.
323
Primer John M. e. Nov. 14, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Dec. i8, 1863, disd. June 19, 1865.
Rutzier Henry, e. Oct. 7, i86i, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
JO, 1863, m. o. July 12, 1865, as Corpl.
Roboins Samuel M. e. Nov. 20, 1861, kid. at Shiloh
April 6, 1862.
Rolfe John, e. Sept. 27, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 5, »
1864, died Oct. 26, 1864.
Rowles H. D. e. Nov. 18, 1861, disd. May 16, 1862.
Rian Chas. e. Nov. 16, '61, disd. July 24, 1862. disab.
Shoemaker H.W. e. Oct. 21, '61, disd. Oct.i4,'62,disab.
Simmons T. J. e. Oct. 19, i86i.
Stahn E. A. vet. , e. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865,
as Sergeant.
Torry Thos. J. e. Oct. 3, 1861, disd. July 7, 1862, wds.
Walker A. F. e. Oct. 12, 1861, died at Mound City,
March 8, 1862.
Ward Lyman vet., e. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, '65.
Weichbroeld A. e. Oct. 20, 1861 .
Company G.
Captain Syna M. Budlong, e. as First Sergeant Sept.
17, 1861. Corn. Second Lieutenant Dec. i, 1861.
Promoted First Lieutenant June i, 1S62. Promoted
Captain June 28, 1863. Detached.
First Lieutenant Dennis W. Griffin, com. Second Lieu-
tenant Co. F, Sept. 7, 1S61. Promoted First Lieu-
tenant Nov. I, i86i. Resigned June i, 1862.
First Lieutenant Leander Bander, e. as Sergeant Sept.
17, 1S61. Promoted Sergeant, then Second Lieu-
tenant June 28, 1863. Promoted First Lieutenant
Jan. 21, 1863. Mustered out July 12, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Geo. A. Sealey, e. as private Sept.
17, 1861. Promoted Commissary Sergeant. Pro-
moted Second Lieutenant July 9, 1865. Mustered
out (as Com. Sergt.) July 12, 1865.
Sergt. Freeman C. Brooks, e. Sept. 17, i86i,disd. Apl.
24, 1862. disab.
Sergt. A. H. Peates, e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Aug. 7,
1862, wds.
Sergt. John D. Blaisdell, e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted
as Vet. Jan. 5, 1864, disd. Sept. 26, 1864, disab.
Corpl. Berkett G. Jennings, e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd.
Aug. I, 1862, wds.
Corpl. D. McNeilage, e. Sept. 17, 1861, kid. at Shiloh,
April 7, 1862.
Corpl. H. D. Merrill, e. Sept. 17, 1861, m. o. Sept. 29,
1864, term ex.
Corpl. Bradley M. Flint, e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted
as Vet. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Corpl. Chas. W. Hogedon, e. Sept. 17, 1861, deserted
April II, 1862.
Corpl. D. H. Kingsley, e. Sept. 17, 1861.
Corpl. A. Houghtaling, e. Sept. 17, '61. disd. Jan. iq,'63.
Musician Wm. A. Moore, e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Sept.
18, 1863, disab.
Musician Wm. H. Tripp, e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted
as Vet. Dec. 19, 1863, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Anderson W. H. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865, as Sergt.
Anderson A. P. e. .Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Dec. 19, 1863, ^- °- July 12, 1865.
Adams C. e Nov. 6, i85i, disd. Mch. 18, 1863, disab.
Burch Nathan E. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Dec. 19. 1863, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Benson Benj. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet. Dec.
19, 1863, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Burd A J. e. Sept. 17, 1861, trans, to Invalid Corps
Sept. 15. 1863.
Butterfield E. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Apl. 23, '62, disab.
Barros Chas. H. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Bixby Luther C. e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. July 23,'62, disab.
Baker E. C. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd May 16, 1862.
Baker David, e. Sept. 17. 1861, re-enlisted as Vet. Jan.
2, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Benham Wm. R. e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. Aug. ii,'62,wds.
Bunt Adam A. e. Sept. 17, 1861, m. o. Nov. 9, 1864,
term ex.
Birkitt Smith, e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet. Jan.
4, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Barnes Wm. E. e. Nov. 6, '61, disd. Nov. 10, '62, disab.
Copeland Jos. A. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Oct. 17, 1863,
to receive promotion as 2d Lieut, ist Tenn. Art.
Cline D. M. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. May 2, 1862, disab.
Campbell John, e. Sept. 17, '6i, disd. July 25, '62, wds.
Chandler D. C. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Champ Frederick, e. S pt. 17, 1861, died Mch. 10. '62.
Chandler Isaac S. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. M..y 18. 1862.
Davis Albert S. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Drake Thomas, e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. May 2. '62, disab.
Davis Wm. G. e. Sept. 17, i86i,disd. May 10, '62, disab.
Day Lucius S. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Aug. 14, ''12. disab.
Flint Chas P. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet. Jan.
5, 1864, m. o. July 12. 1865.
Follett Geo. L. e. Sept. 17, 1861, trans, to Vet. Reserve
Corps, Oct. 2g, 1863.
Goodlandar H. e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. Sept. 22. '62, disab.
Guiles Milo, e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet. Jan.
5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Gile Thos. M. e. Nov. 6, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet. Jan.
S, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Hard Ciiles C. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Sept. 29, 1864,
term ex.
Holmes Henry H. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Sept. 29, 1864,
term ex.
Henry Geo. e. Sept. 17, 1861, kid. at Shiloh Apl. 6, '62.
Himes Geo. L. e. Sept. 17, 1861, dishonorably disd.
June 7, 1862.
Hayes Wm. H. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Sept. 29, 1862,
term e.x.
Hallenbeck S. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. in 1862.
Hallenbeck Geo. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Sept. 29, 1864,
term ex.
Johnson Norman F. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as
Vet. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Lyman D. J. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet. Jan.
2, 1864, m. o. July 31, 1865.
LaGrange F. W. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 2, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865, as Corpl.
Lamont Thos. J. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. in 1862.
Lagrange Conrad, e. Sept. 17, 1861, kid. at Shiloh, April
7, 1862.
Marchant Lewis, e. Sept. 17, 1861, m. o. Sept. 29, 1864,
term ex.
McMillen R. L. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Martin Gustavus, e. Sept. 17, 1861, died at Vicksburg,
Miss., Sept. 28, 1863.
Mumby Edw. H. e. Nov. 6, 1861, disd. in 1862.
Newton Z. M. e. Nov. 6, i86i, died at St. Louis, April
19, 1862.
Price Chas. N. e. Sept. 17, iS5i,disd. Dec, i2,'62,dissb.
Parker John W. e. Sept. 17, iS6t. re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 4, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Purdon Geo. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. May i, '62, disab.
Passon Wm. H. e. Sept. 17, 1861. re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 4, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Passon H. A. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. July 2, 1862, wds.
Parent E. F. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Dec. 26, 1863.
Phelps Silas M. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5. 1S64, m. o. July 12, 1865, as Corpl.
Rowley Daniel, e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. in 1862, sup-
posed died.
Rowley Edwin, e. Sept. 17, 1861, died at Chicago, Jan.
2, 1862.
Royce Geo. L. e. Sept. 17, i86i,disd. Jan. i2,'62,disab.
Ryan Wm. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Aug. i, 1862, disab.
Richardson R. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1S65.
Stearns L. A. e. Sept. 17, 1861. re-enlisted as Vet. Dec.
19, 1863, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Sutton Edw. e. Sept. 17, 1861, died at St. Louis, .^pril
5. 1863.
Stringer A. e. Sept. 17, 1861, trans, to Invalid Corps,
Sept. 15, 1863.
Sovereign Davis A. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. Nov. 3, '62,
disab.
Travis John, e. Sept. 17, 1861, kid. at Ft. Donelson,
Feb. 15, 1862.
Tripp Tompkins, e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. Aug. i, '62, disab.
Tufts Simeon, e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. April 23, '62, disab.
Vanston Samuel, e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. May i, '64. disab.
Watson Edward, e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. Feb. ii,'64.dlsab.
Watterson James, e. Sept. 17, 1861, kid. at Shiloh,
April 6, 1862.
Webster Hiram, e. Sept. 17, 1861. re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Welch John, e. Sept. 19, 1861, disd. Mch. 2i,'63, disab.
Wilmarth Jos. S. e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. Oct.27,'62,disab.
Washburne I, e. Sept. 17, i86i, wounded by accidental
discharge of gun at battle of Ft. Donelson.
324
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAB KECOED.
Blaisdell J no. D. e. Jan. 5, 1864, disd. Sept. 26, 1864,
Sergeant, disab.
Lyman Wm. M. e. Jan. 5, 1864. Promoted Hospital
Steward.
Fish Daniel W. e. Jan. 4, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Hays Jos. M. e. Jan. 3, 1862, m. o. Jan. 10, 1865.
Lyman Wm. H. e. Dec. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet.
Jan. 5, 1864, promoted Hospital Stewa'-d.
Parker Geo. A. e. Feb. 23, i''J63, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Ryan Wm. e. Nov. 27, '63, Vet. recruit, m.o.July i2,'65.
Ryan John W. e. Jan. 25, 1864, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Squire J as. W. e. Jan. 27, 1865, m. o. July 12, 1865.
Squire Daniel, e. Feb. 24, 1864, m. o. June 12, 1865.
5 2d Ififantry,
The Fifty-Second Infantry Illinois Volunteers was
organized at Geneva, Kane county, Illinois, in Novem-
ber, 1861, by Colonel J. G. Wilson, and mustered into
United States' service November 19th, by Lieutenant
J. Christopher.
November 28th, moved with 945 men to St. Louis,
Mo., and went into quarters at Benton Barracks. Here
Col. Wilson resigned. December 8th, the regimei t,
Lieut. Col. J. S. Wilcox commanding, moved to St.
Joseph, Mo. Jan. 16, 1862, moved to Cairo, via Pal-
mvra, Quincy and Mississippi river. January 24th,
moved to Smithland. February 7th, T. W. Sweeny
was commissioned Colonel of the Fifty-second. Feb.
10, 1862, embarked for Fort Donelson, and arrived 17th;
i8th, was sent with prisoners to Chicago. March 7th,
arrived at St. Louis. March 13th, left for Army of the
Tennessee, and 20th, disembarked at Pittsburg Land-
ing, and were assigned to Third Brigade, Second Di-
vision, Col. Sweeny commanding Brigade and Gen.
Smith the Division.
The regiment look a prominent part in the battle of
Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, losing 170 killed, woumled
and missing — Major Stark commanding first day and
Captain Bowen on the second. The regiment was en-
gaged in the siege of Corinth, May, 1862. Pursued the
retreating enemy to Booneville, Miss., and returned to
Corinth, where the regiment remained until the battle
of Corinth, October 3d and 4th. Was heavily engaged
in this action. Col. Sweeny commanding the regiment —
the loss being 70 killed and wounded. Pursued the re-
treating enemy as far as Ruckerville, and returned 12th.
October 13th, moved to Hatchie river, and returned.
Dec. 9, 1862, moved with an expedition to Alabama.
Met the enemy near Little Bear cieek, drove him 15
miles, and returned to Corinth, arriving 14th. Decem-
ber 19th, under command of Lieut. Col. Wilcox, left
Corinth, with the expedition of Gt-n. G. M. Dodge, to
intercept Forrest. Marched 100 miles, in four and one-
half days, and returned, weary and foot-sore. Jan. 2,
1863, moved to Tefinessee river, to intercept Forrest,
as he had already crossed Crump's Landing. Expedi-
tion returned. January 26th, moved to Hamburg,
Tenn.; embarked on a Jittle steamer, and on the next
day, disembarked and returned to Corinth. Feb. 25,
1863, moved. Major Bowen commanding r-giment. Col.
Sweeny commanding expedition, to Jacinto, Miss.
Arrived 27th. Remained until March 4th, when it re-
turned to Corinth.
On the 15th of April, Lieut. Col. Wilcox command-
ing legiment, moved with an expedition of four Brig-
ades of Infantry, one of Cavalry, and fourteen pieces
of artillery. Brig. Gen. G. M. Dodge commanding, to
Northern Alabama. Marched to BurnsviUe on the 15th;
through luka on the i6th; crossed Bear creek on the
17th — Col. Cornyn's cavalry skirmishing with the
enemy.
April 20th, Col. Sweeny promoted to Brigadier Gen-
eral. 23d, the whole force advanced, driving the enemy.
That night lay in line of battle. 24th, moved forward
and entered I'uscumbia, Ala. April 27th, moved to-
ward Courtland. Met the enemy at Town creek, and
skirmished till night. 28th, gained possession of the
railroad bridge, effected a crossing, and drove the enemy
three miles. 29th, returned, arriving in Corinth, May
2, 1863. August 18th, moved to Germantown, and regi-
ment assigned to guarding railroad. October 29th,
moved to luka; 31st, bivouacked three and a half miles
east of luka. November 6th, the whole Left Wing of
the Sixteenth Corps moved eastward. Arrived at
Eastport and crossed the Tennessee. November nth,
arrived at Pulaski, Tenn. Remained, doing provost
duty. January pth, three-fourths of the regiment hav-
ing re-enlisted, it was mustered as a veteran organiza-
tion. Started for Illinois, and arrived at Chicago,
January 17th. Proceeded to Geneva, Kane county,
and was furloughed, 20th. February 24th, moved for
Pulaski, Tenn., under command of Lieut. Col. E. A.
BoweH, Col. Wilco.x having resigned. Arrived at Pu-
laski, 29th. April 29th, in Col. E. W. Rice's Brigade
(Firs^ Brigade), Gen. Sweeny's Division (Second), Left
Wing, Maj. Gen. G. M. Dodge, Sixteenth Army Corps.
Moved southward, arriving at Chattanooga, May 2d.
May 3d, 1864. commenced the Atlanta campaign. The
regiment participated in the battles of Snake Creek
Gap, Resaca Lay's Ferry, Rome Cross Roads, Dallas,
Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack Creek, Decatur, July
22d and 28th, before Atlanta and Jonesboro, and went
into camp at East Point. September 26th, 1864, the
Second Division, Left Wing, Sixteenth Army Corps,
was transferred to Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army
Corps, moved to Rome, and, by rail, to Cartersville ;
and from thence marched to Ailatoona. Arriving too
late for the battle, it returned to Rome. October nth,
Lieut. Col. Bowen being mustered out. Major Boyd
took command.
The regiment marched with the Division, Brevet
Major General J. M. Corse commanding, to Savannah,
Ga. December i8th, the non-veteran officers were
mustered out, and J. D. Davis, having received a com-
mission as Lieutenant Colonel, took command of the
regiment. December 21st, marched into Savannah.
Jan. 29, 1865, started on the Carolinas campaign. Was
present at the battle of Bentonville, and arrived at
Goldsboro, March 24th. April loth, marched to
Raleigh. Lay at Morrisville during Johnson's surren-
der. Marched, via Richmond and Alexandria, and
was in the grand review at Washington, May 24, 1865.
June 2d, moved to Louisville, Ky. July 5th, mustered
out of United States' service. Moved to Camp Doug-
las, Chicago, 111., and received final payment and dis-
charge, July 12, 1865.
Major Wesley Boyd, com. Captain Co. E Nov. 23, 1861.
Promoted Major March 11, 1863. Term expired
Dec. 18,1864.
Adjutant Edward Brainard, com. First Lieutenant Co.
E Nov. 23, 1861. Promoted Adjutant Sept. 13,
1862. Killed in battle of Hatchie, Oct. 3, 1862.
Company E.
Captain DeWitt C. Hurd, e. as Sergeant, Oct. i, 1861.
Promoted Second Lieutenant June 7, 1862. Pro-
moted First Lieutenant Sept. 13, 1862. Promoted
Captain March 11, 1863. Term expired Dec. 18, '64,
Captain Alex. H. Hartwell, e. as Sergeant Oct. i, 1861.
Promoted Captain Nov. 23, 1863. Mustered out
July 6, 1865.
First Lieutenant Edward B. Spalding, e. as Sergeant
Oct. I, i86r. Promoted Second Lieutenant Sept.
13, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant March 11,
1863. Term expired Dec. 18, 1864.
First Lieutenant Chas. H. Watson, e. as private Oct. i,
1861. Re-enlisted as Vet. Dec. 29, 1863. Promoted
Sergeant then First Lieutenant Nov. 23, 1864. Mus-
tered out July 6, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Henry C. Barker, com. Nov. 23,
1861. Resigned June 7, 1862.
Second Lieutenant Harvey Smith, e. as First Sergeant,
Oct. I, 1861. Re-enlisted as Vet. Dec. 29, 1863.
Commissioned Second Lieutenant July 5, 1865.
Mustered out as Sergeant July 6, 1865.
C'orpl. Jas. E. Buchan, e. Oct. i. '61, m. o. Nov. 23, '64,
Billings Thos. C. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Blakesley N. P. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
4, 1864, died July 15, 1864.
Busbee Thos. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
29, 1863, m. o. July 6, 1865, as Sergt.
Butler James, e, Oct. i, 1861, m. o. Nov. 23, 1864.
Babcock Elias R. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Beard John, e. Oct. i, 1861.
Babcock Chas. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
29, 1863, disd. Feb. 10, 1865.
Connor Jos. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Coyne John, e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec. 29,
1863, m o. JuU 6, 1865, as Corpl.
Chandler Wm. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Cameron Alex. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
29, 1862, m. o. July 6, 1865, as Corpl.
Cole C. F. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec. 29,
1862, m. o. July 15, 1865;
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR RECORD.
325
Clark Ewd. e. Oct. i. 1861, m. o. Nov. 23, 1864.
Dobson Andrew, e. Oct. i, 1861.
Drake Ewd. P. e. Oct. i. 1861.
Eddy James, e. Oct. i, 1861.
Goodin Geo. e. Oct. i, 1861.;
Gamble Peter, e. Oct. i, 1861, m. o. Nov. 23, 1864.
Higgins Wm. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Harper Robert, e. Oct. i, 1861.
Johnson W. J. e. Oct. i, 1S61, m. o. July 6, 1865.
)udd Benj. e. Oct. t, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Use. 29,
1863, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Johnson James, e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
29, 1863, m. o. July 6, 1865, as Sergt.
Johnson R". L. e. Oct. i, i86i.
Kutzer Morris, e. Oct. i, i86i.
Koch Chas. P. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Leroy Chas. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Lawless Albert, e. Oct. i. 1861.
Lockwood Jacob, e. Oct. r, 1861, m. o. Nov. 23, 1864.
Morain Michael, e. Oct. i, 1861.
Muldoor. Patrick, e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Dec. 29, 1863, m. o. July 6, 1865.
McCallam Wm. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
29, 1863, m. o. July 15, 1865.
Murray Chas. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
29, 1863, died Jan. 8, 1864.
Madigan M. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Morey Edw. F. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Ramsdell Winslow, e. Oct. i, I861.
Rich Luke, e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec. 29,
1863, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Rhoades F. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Sayers Henry, e. Oct. i, 1861, m. o. Jan. 6, 1865, to
date Nov. 23, 1864.
Simpson Chas. H. e. Oct. i, i86i, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Steel C. W. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Shott Jas. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Tucker Milton, e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Dec.
29, 1863, m. o. July 6, 1S65, as Sergt.
Truman Alfred, e. Oct. 1,1861.
Van Brocklin A. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Washburn C. e. Oct. 1, 1861.
Washburn H. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Williams Wm. e. Oct. i, i85i.
Barton Robt. e. Oct. i, 1864.
Frints Sam'l, e. Oct. i, 1864.
Guiote A. e. Oct. i, 1864.
Hoople John, e. Feb. i, 1865, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Hickox Geo. T. e. Feb. i, 1865, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Hooker N. P. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Montague H. e. Jan. 30, 1864, m. o. July 6, 1865.
McNeil Wm. e. Sept. 27, 1864.
MandervilleChas. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Runyard Robt. e. Feb. i, 1864, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Rogers Thos. H. e. Jan. 22, 1864, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Sheffield F. B. e. Jan. 4, 1864, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Sheffield E. P. e. Sept. 26, 1864, m. o. June 22, 1865.
Sheffield W. P. e. Sept. 26, 1864, m. o. July 14, 1865.
Tuthill Jacob, e. Jan. 29, 1864, m. o. July 6, 1865.
Zummer Wm. e. Feb. 22, 1864, died at Rockford, 111.,
June 13, 1865.
So til Infantry,
The Fifty-fifth Infantry Illinois Volunteers was or-
ganized at Camp Douglas, Chicago, 111., and mustered
into the United States' service Oct. 31, 1861. Nov. 9th
left Camp Douglas for Alton, 111.; the loth, left for St.
Louis, by steamer; Jan. 12, 1862, ordered to Paducah,
Ky., by boat; March -th, embarked on steamer for
Tennessee River and moved down to Pittsburg Land-
ing, and was soon in camp, east of Shiloh Church— the
Fifty-fifth benig on the left of the Union line. The
opening of the battl;, Sunday morning, found the regi-
ment in position, with an effective force of 873 men.
Col. Stuart was wounded, and nine of the line officers,
three of whom died of wounds. 102 enlisted men were
killed and mortally wounded, and 161 wounded and
taken prisoners. The regiment was with the army in
advance on Corinth, and at Russell's house. May 17th,
lost in skirmish, 8 men, 2 killed and 6 wounded. En-
tered Corinth May 30th; thence westward, along Mem-
phis & Charleston Railroad. With Sherman's Divis-
ion, marched into Memphis, July 21st, and remained,
doing camp duty, until November 25th, when it
marched, with Sherman's Division, for ihe Tallahat-
chie River. Was marched back to Memphis, to de-
scend the Mississippi River to Vicksburg. Embarked
with the e,xpedition, and six companies were cnRaged
in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, December 29th,
losinR I Captain killed and i wounded, i enlisted man
killed and 7 wounded. W.is present and under fire at
battle of Arkansas Post, Jan. 10 and 11, 1863. Moved
from Arkansas Post to Young's Point, La. May 16,
1863, joined army in rear of Vicksburg, and on 17th,
was under fire at Champion Hills. Participated in the
assaults of igth and 22d of May, losing Lieut. Levi
Hill, of Company A, killed; Col. Maln.borg and 2 line
officers wounded, and 4 enlisted men killed and
33 wounded. During the siege, the regiment lost i
man killed and 3 wounded. Was present at the sur-
render, July 4th. July 5th, marched, with Sherman's
expedition, for Jackson, Miss. Participated in th"*
siege, and lost i officer wounded, i enlisted nr.n killed
and I wounded. Embarked at Vicksburg for Memphis,
and moved out with the army, past Corinth, to luka.
On Oct. 30, 1863, marched from East 1 Point, on the
Tennessee River, for Chattanooga. November 25th,
marched with Sherman to the relief of Knoxville, East
Tenn. Returned and encamped at Bridgeport during
the winter, and at Larkin's Landing in the spring, at
which place the regiment veteranized, and returned to
Illinois on furlough of thirty days. June 27, 1864, par-
ticipated in assault upon Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., led
by Capt. Augustine, who was killed on the field. Loss
of regiment was 2 officers killed and 3 wounded, 13 en-
listed men killed and 30 wounded. July 22, the regi-
ment was again engaged, with an effective force of 239
men, commanded by Capt. F. H. Shaw, and came out
of engagement with 180 men — i officer killed, 3 enlisted
men killed, 12 wounded and 17 taken prisoners. In
the siege of Atlanta, the regiment lost i officer and 6
enlisted men killed, and 18 wounded. Aug. 31, 1864,
in battle of Jonesboro, Ga., lost 23 men. In a short
campaign of but little over two months, the regiment
lost about one-half its number. Joined in pursuit of
Hood, through Northern Alabama, and returned to
Atlanta, Ga., where 162 non-veterans were discharged.
The regiment lost, near Bentonville, N. C i man
killed, I wounded and 6 taken prisoners. Marched
with army, via Richmond, to Washington. Partici-
pated in the grand review at Washington. Then
moved to Louisville, Ky. Remained in camp but a
few weeks, when moved, by steamer, to Little Rock,
Ark., where it remained until Aug. 14, 1865, when it
was mustered out of service. Left for Chicago. 111.,
Aug. 19th, and arrived Aug. 22, 1865, where it received
final payment and discharge. During its term of ser-
vice the regiment marched 3,374 miles.
Quartermaster Thaddeus H. Capron, e. as private Co.
C Sept. 9, 1861. Promoted Quartermaster Ser-
geant. Promoted Second Lieutenant Co. C Sept.
4, 1862. Promoted Quartermaster Aug. i, 1863.
Promoted Assistant Quartermaster June 20, 1865.
Company C.
Captain Rhenodyne A. Bird, com. Oct. 31, 1861. Re-
signed June 6, 1862.
Captain Robt. Oliver, e. as Corporal Sept. 9, 1861.
Promoted Sergeant; First Sergeant; First Lieuten-
ant Nov. 26, 1862. Promoted Captain Aug. 11,
1864. Mustered out Aug. 14, 1865.
First Lieutenant Daniel Mcintosh, com. Oct. 31, 1861.
Mustered out Nov. 26, 1862.
First Lieutenant Luther J. Keyes, e. as Corporal Sept.
g, 1861. Re-enlisted as vet. March 31, 1864. Pro-
moted First Sergeant; then First Lieutenant, Aug.
II, 1864. Mustered out Aug. 14, 1865.
First Sergeant Ambrose C Partch, e. Sept. 9, 1861,
disd. Aug. 25, 1862, wounds.
Sergt. Theo. W. Hedges, e. Sept. 9, 1861.
Sergt. John Shields, e. Sept. 9, 1861. ^
Sergt. A. H. Bowen, e.Sept.9,'6i,disd.Jan.28, 63,disab.
Corpl. Orville H. Partch, e. Sept. 9, 1861.
Corpl. Wm. H. Speaker, e. Sept. 9, 1861, died at St.
Louis. Jan. 11, 1862.
Corpl. John Q. A. Curtis, e. Sept. 9, 1861, re-enlisted
as vet. Jan. i, 1864, killed July 28, 1864.
Corpl. Daniel Shields, e. Sept. 9, 1861, disd. Feb. 10,
1863, disab.
Corpl. C. N. Bowen, e. Sept. 9, 1861.
Corpl. H. T. Hickok, e. Sept. 9, 1861, re-enlisted as
vet. March 31, 1864, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865.
Musician H. T. Porter, e. Sept. 9, 1861.
Musician H. A. Hurlbut, e. Sept. 9, '61, prmt. Comsy.
Sergt.
326
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAB KECOED.
Austin Jos. e. Sept. g, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. March
31, 1864, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865, as Corpl.
Anthony E. e. Sept. g, 1861.
Bailey A. W. e. Sept. 10, 1861.
Brooks O. S. e. Sept. g, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Barton Geo. D. e. Oct. 16, 1861, deserted Jan. 21, '62.
Corcoran Edw. e. Sept. g, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
March 31, 1864, m. o. Au?. 14, 1865, as Sergt.
Chase I. G. W. e. Sept. g, 1861, disd. Sept. 14, '62.
Crowder John E. e. Sept. g, 1861.
Cleveland R. L. e. Sept.g, '61, m. o. Oct. 31, '64, Corpl.
Crowell Geo. W. e. Sept. g, i86r, re-enlisted as vet.
March 31, 1864, killed June 27, 1864.
Crowell B. e. Oct. i, 1861. '
Conner M. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 2,
1864, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865, as Sergt.
• Clapp W. e. Oct. 30, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. March 31,
1864, disd. June 30, 1865.
Doolittle A. P. e. Oct. 23, 1861.
Eggert Aug. e. Sept. 12, 1861.
Eggert Martin, e. Sept. 12, 1861.
Frazier Jas. W. e. Sept. g, '61, Corpl., died Mar. 5, '63.
Frazier John, e. Oct. 11, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Goodwin Jas. D. e. Oct. 17, i8fii.
Goakey Aug. e. Sept. 9, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Mar.
31, 1865, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865.
Ganning Myron, e. Sept. g, 1861.
Goodwin E. P. e. Sept. g, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
March 31, 1864, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865, as Corpl.
Garner Jas. e. Oct. 2, 1861, m. o. Uct. 31, r864.
Gaylord Wm. E. H. e. Oct. 8,' i, disd.Jan.28,'63.disab.
Heigerson Nels, e. Sept. g, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Halvurson Ola, e. Sept.g, '61, died at St. Louis, Feb. 3, 63.
Helgeson Oil, e. Sept. g, 1861.
Hanian Robt. A. e. Sept. g, 1861, killed May ig, 1863.
Harris Edw. e. Sept. g, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Johnson Oscar, e. Sept. g, 1861, killed July 28, 1864.
Joslin H. H. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 1,
1864, disd. June 30, 1865, as Corpl.
Johnson Calvin, e. June 23, 1861.
Johnson Chas. E. e. Sept. g, 1861.
Kittleson C. e. Sept. 9, '61, died at Durand, 111., May
22, 1864.
Knapp N. H. e. Sept. 9, 1861.
Knudson Ola, e. Sept. 9, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Mahan M. e. Sept, 9. 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
MeGraw Thos. e. Oct. 2, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Part O. K. e. Aug. 27, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. March
31, 1864, died Sept. 26, 1864.
Patterson J. A. e. Oct. 23, 1861.
Putnam Geo. e. Oct. 16, 1861, died Feb. 11, 1864.
Riley R. [. e. Sept. 9, 1861, m.o. Oct. 31, '64, as Sergt.
Russell Geo. W. e. Sept. g, '61, m.o. Oct. 31, '64, Corpl.
Roland John, e. Oct. 2, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Reese N. e. Oct. 8, 1861, deserted Nov. 7, 1861.
Reese J. E. e. Oct. 8, 1861, deserted Nov. 7, 1861.
Robb P. C. e. Oct. 23, i86i.
Riley W. A. V. e. Oct. 17, 1861.
Reget Henry, e. Sept. 30, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Mar.
31, 1864, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865.
Raup Chas. e. Oct. 6, 1861.
Raup Geo. A. e. Oct. i, 1861.
Snook Wm. e. Oct. 9, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Simcox Jacob, e. Oct. 9, 1861.
Strawn A. e. Oct. 25, 1861.
Sullivan D. e. Oct. 8, 1861.
Turney Chas. G. e. Oct. 8, 1861, disd. Jan. 28, 1863, as
Sergt., disab
Woodring H. e. Sept. 9, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Wilcox R. R. e. Sept. 9, 1861.
Winchester C. A. e. Sept. 9, 1861.
Wright Geo. e. Sept. g, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. March
3t, 1864, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865, as Sergt.
Wright Jas. M. e. Sept. 9, 1861, m. o. Oct. 31, 1864.
Wright Asa S. e. Sept, g, 1861, rL--enlisted as vet. Jan.
3, 1864, m. o. Aug. 14, 1865, as Sergt.
Westbrook R. W. e. Sept. 25, 1861,
Bodine Geo.W.e. Jan. s,'64, died in Tenn., Feb. i4,'64.
Bishop Isaac, m. o. May 16, 1865.
Curtis H. C. e. Dec. 14, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. March
31, 1865, kid. June 27, 1864.
Elliott Geo. W. e. Dec. 14, 1861, in. o, Dec. 31, 1864.
Flint Jas. P. e. Dec. 6, 1861.
Gookey Thos. e. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. Aug. 14. 1865.
Pitts Phillip, e. Nov. i, 1861, died Feb. 14, 1863.
Riley Jas. W. e. Dec. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Jan. 3,
1864, m. o. Atig. 14, 1865, as Corpl.
Company E.
First Lieutenant Josiah E. Keyes, e. as Sergeant Co.
C, Sept. 9, 1861. Promoted First Lieutenant March
13, 1862. Mustered out Nov. 26, 1862.
67th Infantry (3 inos).
Company A.
Captain Chas, B. Hull, com. June 13, 1862. Mustered
out Oct. 6, 1862.
First Lieutenant King H. Millikin, com. June 13, 1862.
Mustered out Sept., 1862.
Second Lieutenant Judson Ellison, com. June 13, 1862.
Mustered out Sept., 1862.
Sergt. Jas. H. Reynolds, e. June 2, 1862.
Sergt. Jno. D. Williamson, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. Geo. Burns, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. Wm. H. Compton, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. L. F. Babcock, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. Frank Harvey, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. J. A. Phelps, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. F. Wheeler, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. W. B. Cushman, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. Jos. Panell,e. June 2, 1S62.
Musician Calvin Marsh, e. June 2, 1862, prmt. Princi-
pal Musician.
Musician Jesse Clark, e. June 2, 1862.
,Avary H. J. e. June 2, 1862.
Bruce Wm. e. June 2. 1862.
Burnham Oliver G. e. June 2, 1862.
Boden James, e. June 2, 1862.
Beerer E. e. June 2, 1862.
Bennett Eugene, e. June 2, 1862.
Burnes Lewis, e. June 2, 1862.
Bronson A. V. e. June 2, 1862.
Colburn F. e. June 2, 1862.
Cram Buel B. e. June 2, 1862.
Dane Dexter, e. June 2, 1862.
Dufoe Geo. E. e. June 2, 1862.
Fanning John, e. June 2, 1862, deserted.
Ferguson J. A. e. June 2, 1862.
Fry Chas E. e. June 17, 1862.
Goncolus John F. e. June 2, 1862.
Goodsell Geo. D. e. June 2, 1862.
Giett Albert, e. June 2, 1862.
Hansen L. e. June 2, 1862.
Holmes Geo. e. June 2, 1862.
Harvey P. J. e. June 2, 1862.
Hope Chas. E. e. June 2, 1862.
Jones Benj. e. June 2, 1862.
Kesler Aaron, e. June 17, 1862.
Kessler Thos. e. June 2, 1862.
King Oscar, e. June 2, 1862.
Kums Frank, e. June 2, 1862.
Mulford Edw. e. June 2, 1862.
Mesler Wm. C. e. June 2, 1862.
McKay Wm. H. e. June 2, 1862.
Miller O. e. June 2, 1862.
Miller Benj. e. June 2, 1862.
Newton C.llins, e. June 2, 1862.
Pritchard M. e. June 2, 1862.
Rittenhouse Amos, e. June 2, 1862.
Robinson F. e. June 2, 1862.
Rosecrans Miles, e. June 2, 1862.
Roberts C. N. e. June 2, 1862.
Rutledge Jos. e. June 2, 1862.
Smith P. D. e. June 2, 1862.
Steers Solon, e. June 2, 1862.
Squires Wilson, e. June 2, 1862.
Shumway Roland, e. June 2, 1862.
Stiles Richard, e. June 2, 1862.
Trogwood Oscar, e. June 2, 1862.
Trogwood R. e. June 2, 1862.
Wood Chas. B. e. June 2, 1862.
Ward Vernon, e. June 2, 1862.
Wood Henry, e. June 2, 1862.
Company C.
Captain Hiram R. Enoch, commissioned June 13, 1862.
Mustered out Sept., 1862.
First Lieutenant Jas. B. Keer, commissioned June 23,
1862. Mustered out Sept., 1862.
First Sergt. Chas. W. Steele, e. June 2, 1862, absent
without leave since Sept. i, 1862, reduced to ranks.
4
DURAND TP
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR RECORD.
329
Sergt. H. M. Bales, e. June a, 1862, promoted ad Lieut.
Sergt. Jos. G. 'I'ylord, e. June a, 1862, sick at m. o. of
regt.
Sergt. H. J. Bcales, e. June 2, 1862, reduced to ranks.
Sergt. John Abraham, e. June 2, 1862.
Corpl. Jos. Slade, e. June a, 1862.
Corpl. Kobt. Hunt,e. June a, 1862.
Corpl. Geo. L. Stearns, e. June 2, 1862, on furlough at
m. •■. of regt.
Corpl. Chas. \V. Vaughn, e. June a, 1S62, reduced to
ranks.
Corpl. M. 1. AUworth, e. June a, 1862.
Corpl. L. H. Stoais, e. June a, 1862.
Corpl. Geo. K. Steele, c. June a, 1862, reduced to ranks.
Musician V. 1. Richert, e. June 2, 186a.
Musician E. Washburne, e. June 2, 1862.
Wagoner Jos. Blackburn, e. June 2, 1862.
Allen Titus W. e. June 2, 1862, deserted Sept. 14,
1862 — second desertion.
Bates Geo. E. e. June 2, 1862, promoted Corpl.
Beales Samuel, e. June 2, 1862.
Bridgeman H. c. June 2, 1862.
Bryan W'm. H, c. June 2, 1862.
Blair A. I. c. June 2, 1862.
Corwin O. H. e. June 2, 1862.
Collins A. e. June 2, 1862.
Crawford L. L. e. June 2, 1862. died Sept. 4, 1862.
Collins Geo. e. June 2, 1S62.
Cook Peter, e. June 2, 1862.
Davis O. L. c. June 2, 1862.
Ebersole John, e. June 2, 1862.
Eaton Chas. H. e. June 2, 1862, absent without leave.
Faukner John, e. June 2, 1S62.
Fitzsimmons Chas. e. June 2, 1862.
Foltz Harwood, e. June 2, 1862.
Goodhue W. S. e. June 2, 1862, promoted Corpl., then
First Sergt.
Guthrie Horace H. e. June 2, 1862.
Houseworth Jas. J. e. June 2, 1862.
Hicks Chas. e. June 2, 1862.
Hatch A. A. c. June 2, 1862.
Hunt W'm. J. e. June 2, 1862.
Halsted S. L. e. June 2, 1862.
Halsted J no. F. e. June 2, 1862.
Howell D. H. e. June 2, 1862.
Hicko-K C. B. e. June 2, 1862.
Hagar J. W. e. June 2, 1862.
Jacobs O. e. June 2, 1862.
Kerr \Vm. e. June 2, 1862.
Lamont H. e. June 2, 1862.
Moore E. B. e. June 2, 1862.
Martin H. D. e. June 2, 1862.
Martin A. e. June 2, 1S62.
Mar>hall \. e. June 2, 1863.
Matthews Wm. H. e. June 2, '62, disd. July 2,'62,disab.
Mc-Vftee Edwin, e. June 2, 1862.
Miller W'm. H. e. June 2, 1862.
Mcintosh Henry, e. June 2, 1862.
Pate Merwin, e. June 2, 1862.
Perley Benj. e. June 2, 1862.
Per'iey F. e. June 2. 1862.
Ruth Samuel F. e. fune 2, 1862.
Robertson T. e. June 2, 1862,
Shinn F. -M. e. June 2, 1862.
Shiiin Elias H. e. Ju/ie 2, 1862.
Spencer Jas. W. e. June 2, 1862.
Spencer Nathan, e. June 2, 1862, promoted Sergt.
Stimps Jas. e. June 2, 1862.
Sawyer Willis, e. Juns 2, 1862, on furlough at m. o.
Shufeldt A. e. June 2, 1862.
Swan A, G. e. June 2, 1862.
Stickney Geo. e. June 2, 1862.
Smith H. e. June 2. 1862.
Thompson Geo. e. June 2, 1862.
Thompson Henry, e. June 2, 1862.
Tuttle H. B. e. June 2, 1862.
Upright Chas. e. June 2, 1862.
Waller \\ m. H. e. June 2, 1862.
Wells A. S. e. June a, 1862.
Wheeler M. e. June 2, 1862.
74th Infantry.
Organized at Rockford and mustered into U. S. ser-
vice Sept. 6. 1862. Companies G and I were from Ogle
and Stephenson Counties ; all the rest were from Win-
nebago County. Left Rockford Sept. 37th for Jeffer-
18J^
sonville, Ind. Arrived there'.Oct. ist, and moved to
Louisville, Ky., immediately. Assigned to Army of
the Cumberland, First Brigade, Second Division, under
Gen. Bui'll. Moved from I.niiisville <Jct. 7ih. and was
in the battle of Chaplain Hills, Ky., Oct. 131I1 ; from
there to Crab Orchard, Ky., pursuing lir.igi;, partii:i-
p.iting in many skirmishes. Keturned from I.ebanon,
Ky., Oct. 25th ; from there it went to Na>hvillc, Tenn.,
where a re-organizaiion was effected, under Gen. Kosc-
crans. Dec. 2^th, receive<l marching orders, with
three d:\ys' rations. Participated in the battle of
Stone River, Dec. 30-31, 1862, and Jan. t, 1863, the
regiment losing 16 men killed and wounded. Went
into winter quarters at Camp Little, south of Mur-
frcesboro, and were engaged in numerous raids in the
surrounding country. Moved from winter quarters July
i5lh ; wasiii battle of Liberty Gap, Julv 20th; one man
killed; was engaged at Tulahoma, Tenn.; from hcrcit
w.as ordeiedlo Winchester, Tenii., where it encamped.
Moved, Aug. 20th, to Stevenson, Ala. Engaged at
Chickaniauga, Sept. i8th, 19th and 20th ; lost 5 men.
The regiment on the latter date was in charge of hos-
pital and supply trains, arriving in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
Sept. 22. While here it had very short allowances un-
til Nov. 22d, when they participated in the fi.;ht of
Mission Ridge, Nov. 25, their colors beir g the first to
pass over the rebel lines, capturing a batter\ of four
pieces at Bragg's headquarters ; loss to regiment, 6 pri-
vates. Col. Jason Marsh wounded, Lieut. Col. Kerr
wounded in the arm.
Returned to Chattanooga on the 26th, and marched
to Knoxville, Tenn., to relieve Gen. Burnside, and
then went into winter quarters about Dec. 15. May 2,
1864, it joined the main army of the Cumberland at
Chattanooga, where it arrived on the 3d ; on the 5th
marched under orders and t/3.=, in the battle of
Rocky Face, or Buzzard Roost, Ga.; was at Re-
saca, Ga., May 14th and 15th ; Calhoon, May
17th; Adairsville, Ga., ALiy 18th; Dallas, Ga., May
25th to June 5th ; Lost Mountain, Ga., June i6ih ;
was in the battle at Kenesiw Mouiit;nin, Ga., June 20th
and June 27th; lost 52 men, 6 commissioned officers;
Lieut. Col. J . B. Kerr being among the number. Battle
of Smyrna, Camp Ground, Ga,, July 41I1, lost 16 men ;
was also at Peach Tree Creek, July 20lh; Atlanta, July
22d, and was continually engaged until the battle of
Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. i, 1864, and Lovejoy Station,
Sept. 2d ; then returned to Chattanooga, 1 enn., where
it was assigned to the army of the I'ennessee. En-
gaged the enemy, Nov. 28th, at Columbia, Tenn.;
Spring Hill, Nov. 29th; Franklin, Tenn., Nov. 30th ;
Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 15th and i6th, following Hood
to Huntsville, Ala., fighting him all the time until he
cro.ssed the Little Tennessee; and then went into winter
quarters. March 26, 1865, it marched to Bulls Gap,
'I'enn., to intercept Lee, leaving there April 17th for
Nashville, Tenn., where the regiment was mustered
out June 20, 1865. Returned to Rockford with 157 en-
listed men and 13 officers. Col. Jason Marsh was at the
head of the regiment until about January i, 1865, when
Lieut. Col. Thos. J. Bryan took command.
Colonel Jason Marsh, commissioned Sept. 4, 1S62. Re-
signed Aug. 24, 1864.
Colonel Thomas J. Bryan, e. as Sergeant, Co. H, Aug.
6. 1862. Promoted Captain, Sept. 8, 1862. Pro-
moted Lieutenant Colonel, Aug. 3, 1864. Promoted
Colonel, May 10, 1865. Mustered out (as Lieut.
Col.) June 10, 1865.
Lieutenant Colonel Jas. B. Keer, commissioned Sept.
4, 1862. Died of wounds, at Atlanta, Ga., Aug.
3< 1864.
Major Thos. J. L. Remington, commissioned Captain
Co. A, Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted .\Lijor, March 2,
1863. Mustered out June 10, 1865.
Adjutant Andrew ^L Potter, e. as First Sergeant, Co.
K, July 30, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant,
March 25, 1863. Promoted First Lieutenant, Oct.
21,1863. Promoted Adjutant, Jan. 7, 1865. Mus-
tered out June 10, 1865.
Quartermaster Lewis Williams, commissioned Sept. 4,
1862. Died at Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 26, 1862.
Quartermaster J no. H. Nye, commissioned Second
Lieutenant, Co. D, Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted First
Lieutenant, March 20, 1863. Promoted Quarter-
master, May 2, 1864. Mustered out June 10, 1865.
First Assistant Surgeon Henry Strong, commissioned
Sept. 28, 1862. Resigned March 24, 1863. Re-
entered the service as Surgeon 90th Regt.
330
WIlSnSTEBAGO COUNTY WAR RECORD.
Chaplain Timothy B. Taylor, commissioned Captain,
Co. H, Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted Chaplain, Sept.
8, 1862. Resigned.
Sergt. Maj. Rudolphus W. Peake. prmt. First Lieut.
Co. K.
Sergt. Maj. William Cain, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Q. M. Sergt. George E. Dunbar, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Comsy. Sergt. Gardner S. AUe.i, re-tr.msferred to Co.
D, died Dec. 4, 1862.
Comsy. Sergt. David Kugg, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Hospital Steward Ambrose Woodruff, trans, to U. S.
Army.
Hospital Steward Geo. N. Dickerson, m.o.June 10, '65.
Prin. Musn. Asher Miller, m. o. March 27, 1863.
Prin. Musn. Shepard Norcross, m. o. March 26, 1863.
Prin. Musn. Charles W. Gerham, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Company A.
Captain Josiah W. Leffingwell, commissioned First
Lieutenant, Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted Captain,
March 2, 1863. Resigned Nov. 16, 1864.
Captain Sylvester Clement, e. as First Sergeant, Aug.
6, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant, March 9,
1863. Promoted First Lieutenant, March 2, 1863.
Promoted Captain, Nov. 16, 1864. Mustered out
June 10, 1865.
First Lieutenant Jas. S. Cowan, e. as private. Pro-
moted Second Lieutenant, March 2, 1863. Pro-
moted First Lieutenant, Nov. 16, 1864. Mustered
out June 10, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Alfred Barker, commissioned Sept.
4, 1862. Resigned March g, 1863.
Second Lieutenant Jno. Vance, e. as Sergeant, Aug. 5,
1862. Mustered out June 10, 1865. Commissioned
Second Lieutenant, but not mustered.
Sergt. William S. Leffingwell, e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to
Invalid Corps, Nov. 21, 1863.
Sergt. Norman S. Robinson, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m.o. June
10, 1865, as private.
Corpl. James Hunter, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Dec. 5, 1862.
Corpl. Robert J. Coulter, e. Aug. 9, 1862, kid. at Ken-
esaw Mt., June 27, 1864.
Corpl. Edward Dufoe, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 10,
186^, as Sergt.
Corpl. John N. Smith, e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10,
1865, as private.
Corpl. Amasa Hutchins, e. Aug. 5, '62, m.o.May 25,'65,
Corpl. John M. Edes, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Lebanon,
Ky., Nov. 14, 1862.
Corpl. William H. Hitchcock, e. Aug. 5, 1862, disd.
April 2, 1863, wds.
Musician Richard W. Smith, e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd.
March 18, 1863, disab.
Musician James H. Potter, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June
10, 1865.
Waconer Robert Parker, Jr., e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd.
"March 18, 1863, disab.
Atkinson Brown C. e.Aug. g, '62. disd. Feb. 18, '63, disab.
Atkinson D. E. e. Aug. 6, '62, disd. Feb. 25, '63, disab.
Atkinson Geo. P. e. Aug. 6, 1862, missing in action at
Kenesaw Mt., Ga., June 27, 1864.
Anderson Augustus, e. Aug. 15, 1862, m.o.June 10, '65.
Allen Titus W. e. Aug. 15, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Baker Luke, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Murfreesboro,
Feb. 6, 1863.
Barker Reuben G. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865,
as Corpl.
Black Edward, e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 6s,Corpl.
Benjamin David L. e. Aug. 15, 1862, died near Mur-
freesboro, Tenn., Feb. 10, '63, wds. rec'd in action.
Bird Pierson, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Gallatin, Tenn.,
Jan. II, 1863.
Binn Bruce B. e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to Invalid Corps,
March — , 1S64. .
Briggs Thomas, e. Aug. 12, 1862, died at Louisville,
Ky., April 5, 1863.
Carj' J. W. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865, Corpl.
Clay C. H. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Nov. 5, 1862, disab.
Clay G. G. e. Aug. 6, 1862. m. o. June lo, 1865.
Cherry John D. e. Aug. 12, 1862, died at St. Louis,
April Q, 1863.
Cook Henry, e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Dec. 30, 1S62.
Catton George W. e. Aug. Si 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Nov. 13, 1862. > ^
Christman Henry, e. Aug. 14, 1862, m. o. June 10, 65.
Chubb Joseph W. e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June lo, 1865.
Dobson Daniel, e. Aug. 15, 1862, trans, to Invalid
Corps, Nov. 2o, 1863.
Dunbar George E. e. Aug. 14, 1862, piomt. Q.M. Sergt.
Ellis Adam, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died March 4, 1865, wds.
Ellis H. U, e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Oct. 22, 1863, disab.
Gile Elias B. e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Gallatin, Tenn.,
Feb. 5, 1862.
Gillispey James M. e. Aug. 12, 1862, m. o. June 10,
1865, as Corpl.
Griffith Thoma , e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Bowling
Green, Nov. — , 1862.
Goff John Q. e. Aug. 12, 1862, disd. Sept. 8, '63, disab.
Halsted Samuel B. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Harris Wm. C. e. Aug. 8, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Hastings Gustavus A. e. Aug. 11, 1862, m. o. June 10,
1865, as Sergt.
Hatch D. R. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Dec. — , 1863.
Henry John Y. e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Nashville
Tenn., Dec. 17, 1862.
Holer Matthew, e. Aug. 9, 1862, trans, to V. R. C,
Ma'-ch 15, 1865.
H:gby Edwin G. e Aug. 6, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Dec. 7, 1862.
Hill Lorenzo, e. Aug. 15, 1862, disd. Nov. 5, 1S62.
Jenkins John, e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. May 25, 1865.
Jordan Robert, e. Aug. 8, 1862. disd. Feb. 2, '64, disab.
Kewi-h Wm. D. e. Aug. 12, 1862, trans, to U. S. En-
gineers, July 27, 3864.
King Gilbert, e. Aug. 6. 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Leffingwell Bird, e.Aug. 6, '62, disd. Mch. 23, '63, disab.
Martin Clarence, e. Aug. 12. 1862, died at Dallas, Ga.,
May 27, 1864, wds.
Morgan 1 heron H. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Morse Samuel N. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
wounded.
Morris E. G. e. Aug. 6, '62, disd. Mch. 7, '65, wds.
McCormick Hugh, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., July 11, 1863.
O'Rourke Matthew, e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Parker William, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., July 10, 1863.
Parker Wm. R. e. Aug. 9, '62, disd. Mch. 9, "63, disab.
Parkhurst Edmund F. e. Aug. 5, 1862, disd. May 6,
1863, wds.
Phagan Wm. I. e. Aug. 9, 1862, deserted Sept. 28, '62.
Palmer Nathaniel P. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Feb. 6, '63.
Rice Harvey, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Bowling Green,
Ky., Nov. 23, 1862.
Riddle Samuel M. e. Aug. s- 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Roffe Arthur, e. -•^ug. 6, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Rogers John, e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Rummelhart John, e. Aug. 11, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Ruir.elhart Joseph, e. Aug. 11, '62, m o. June 10, '65.
Streeter Charles A. e. Aug. 13, 1862, m. o. July 22, '65,
was pris.
Sweet Sylvester, e. Aug. 15, 1862, trans, to Invalid
Corps, Sept. I, 1864.
Samuel Smith, e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Scott Cyrus, e. Aug. 6, '62, m. o. Jnne 10, '65, wounded.
Taylor Henry P. e. Aug. 14, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Ufford Andrew W. e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to U. S. En-
gineers, July 27, 1864.
Urquhart James E. e. Aug. 4, 1862, disd. Feb. — . 1863.
Vanarsdale Samuel, e. Aug. 14, 1862, died at Lebanon,
Ky., Oct. 30, 1862.
Wattles William W. e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to Invalid
Corps, Aug. I, 1863.
Webster Isaac, e. Aug. 9, 1862, died at Big Shanty,
Ga., June 30, '64, of wounds received June 27, '64.
Woodle Allen, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Resaca, Ga.,
May 14, 1864, wds.
Dell Geo. M. e. Feb. 22, 1865, trans, to 36th I. V. I.
June 7, 1865.
Hasicins Amos, e. Feb. 22, 1863, died at Huntsville,
Ala., March 27, 1865.
Marshall Alexander, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Urquhart Wm. H. died Dec. 31, 1862, wds.
Weaver Geo. W. disd. Dec. — , 1^62, disab.
Company B.
Capt.iin David O. Buttolph, commissioned Sept. 4, 1862.
Killed in battle, June 27, 1864.
Captain Augustus W. Thompson, commissioned First
Lieutenant, Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted Captain,
June 27, 1864. Mustered out June 10, 1865.
First Lieutenant Edwin Swift, commissioned Second
Lieutenant, Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted First Lieu-
WINNEBAGO CO0NTV WAR RECOKD.
331
ten.int, June 27, 1864. Honorably ciischarged (as
Second i.icut.) May '5, 1865.
First Sergt. James H. lliittorl, wounded at Adairsville,
Ga., trans, to V. R. C.,disd. April?, 1865,
Sergt. Wilson H. Moullon, flied at Murfreesboro, May
4, 1863.
Sergt. James P. Barker, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Sergt. Edward Thoujson, trans, to TJ. S. Engineers,
in 1864.
Sergt. Edg.ir Swift, m. o. June 10. 1865.
Corpl. George Rugg, e. .\ug. 8, 1862, Sergt., kid. at
Kenesaw .Mt., )une27, 1864.
Corpl. .■Mfred Williams, kid. Kenesaw Mt., June 27, '64.
Corpl. Benj.unin C. Brown, died at Nashville, 'I'cnn.,
Dec. 12, 1862.
Corpl. William E. Lowe. Sergt., missing in action at
Franklin, Teun., Nov. 30, 1864.
Corpl. William Wall.ice, m. o. July 13, 1865, private.
Corpl. Frank Flynn, disd.
Corpl. Henry A. Stebbins, disd. March 17, 1863, as
private, disab.
Corpl. Frank Chapman, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Musician Manciias C. Goucher, disd. Dec. 20, 1864.
Musician Thomas T. Boyen, died at Nashville, Tenn.,
Dec. 22, 1862.
Anderson Wni. P. e. .\ug. 9, 1S62, ni. o. June 10, 1865,
was pris.
Anderson John Y., m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
Anderson Chas. e. Aug 22, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Billick l.uman, died at Winchester, Tenn.. Aus. g,'63.
Billick Alonzo, died at Nashville, Tenn., June 10, '63.
Billick Hiram, kid. at Kenesaw Mt,. June 27, 1864.
Brennan Richard H. disd. in 1863, disab.
Brown Isaiah, e. Aug. 21. 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Brennan Jos. S. died at Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 29, '63.
/Brown Frederick, trans, to Invalid Corps, May 9, '63.
Cole Alden R. disd. P'eb. 6, 1863, disab.
Chapel Joshua L. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. May 31, 1865.
Carpenter Komeo, m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
Corwin Ezra W. m. o. June 10, 1865, as Sergt.
Collins Erastus, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Cullin Patrick, disd. Sept. 11, 1863.
Clark Isaac B. e. Aug. 22, 1862, died at Chattanooga,
July 8, 1864.
Canady Joshua, m o. June 10, 1865.
Daniels Chas. disd. Dec. 27, 1862, disab.
Davenport Asa A. disd. Feb. 26, 1865.
Day Wm. G. trans, to U. S. Engineers in 1864.
Delp Frartlim, trans, to Invalid Corps in 1863.
Ewell Halb rt, disd. April 27, 1863, disab.
Fryman Osca, m. o. lune 10, 1865.
Gates Stephen, died at Chattanooga, Sept. 30, 1864.
Gustavison CaKridrick, m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
Graham John, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Goucher Wm. M. disd. March 4, 1863, disab.
Gerricks John R. disd. Jan. 15, 1863, disab.
Hemphill Lewis L. died at Gallatin,Tenn., Mch.27,'63.
Hulse Jos. m. o. June 10, 1865.
Hay Jas. B. died at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. i, 1862.
Henderson Gilson, kid. at Kenesaw Mt., June 27, 1864.
Hess Erastus W. disd. Feb. 15, 1865.
Harrell John A. e. .\ug.22,'62, trans. Co. I, Sept. 17, '62.
Imholz Jos. e. Aug. 22, 1862, wounded at Adairsville,
Ga., trans, to V. R. C, disd. April 10, 1865.
Kilburn Ancil D. e. Aug. 7, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Dec. 19, 1862.
Kidder Benjamin F. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Kipp David G. m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
Kenady Frederick, trans, to Invalid Corps in 1863.
Kelley Lewis M. trans, to Invalid Corps in 1864.
Kinney Jos. trans, to Co. 1, Sept. 17, 1862.
KinglJeo. L. m. o. June 10, 1865.
Lock Horton, e. Aug. 9, 1862, died at Valley Head,
-■Ma., Sept. 5, 1863.
Leahy James, m. o. June lo, 1865.
McGure James C. disd. Dec. 27, 1862, disab.
Murchant P ter, m. o. June 10, 1865.
McGuire Daniel, died at Chattanooga, July 4, 1864.
Miller John B. died at Edgefield, Tenn., Nov. 22, '62.
Moon Cornelius, deserted Sept. 6, 1862.
Martin Hugh, m. o. June 10, 1865.
• Manuel Geo. D. died at Murfreesboro, June 18, 1S63.
Pettebone Kdward D. m o. June 10, 1865.
Pierce Fred. H. died at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 16, '62.
Powers Saml. E. disd, March 9, 1863, disab.
Rhinehart Hiram, kid. at Resaca, Ga., May 14, 1864.
Rhinehart Jonas, m. o. June 8, 1865.
Rugg David, prmt. Commissary Sergeant.
Seaton Wm. L. disd. -'Vug. 22, 1863, disab.
Sperry Angus J. m. o. June 10, 1865.
Smith Or.-i N. deserted Sept. 6, 1862.
Sargent Jas. A. m. o. June 10, i86s.
Shaw Kdward S. m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
Simmons Uriah, ni. o. June 10 1865.
Stevens Chas. M. died at iMurfreesboro.T., Jan. 12, '63.
Sumner Irvin S. disd. Jan. 6, 1865, disab.
.Swift Rodolphus, kid. at D.dlas, Ga., May 30, 1864.
Tryan Otha J. e. Aug. 21, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Walters Sanl. m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
Wells Chester A. disd. March 23, 1863, disab.
Wyatte Nicholas H. tr.ins. to. U. S. £. in 1864.
Wallers Jas. W. disd. May 24, 1865.
Worden Heman, disd. May 18. 1863, disab.
Woodruff Oliver H. dest-rted at Chicago, in 1863*
Welker Valentine, disd. Dec. 30, 1862, disab.
Wills Edwin, m. o. June ic, 1865.
Swift Samuel, e. Dec. 11, 1863, trans, to 36th I. V. I.
June 7, 1865.
Company C.
Captain Hampton P. Sloan, com. Sept. 4, 1862. Re-*
signed April 25, 1863.
Captain Christopher M. Brazee, com. First Lieutenant
Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted Captain April 25, 1863.
Resigned Dec. 14,1863.
Captain John F. Squier, com. Second Lieutenant Sept.
4,1862. Promoted I irst Lieutenant April 25, 1863.
Promoted Captain Dec. 14, 1863. Mustered out
June 10, 1865.
First Lieutenant Hosmerl'. Holland, e. as First Sei-
geant, .'^ug. 8, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant
April 25, 1863. Promoted First Lieutenant Dec. 14,
1863. Resigned Nov. 17, 1864.
First Lieutenant Ale.x. H. Beatie, e. as Sergeant, Aug,
6, 1862. Promoted First Sergeant then First Lieu-
tenant Nov. 17. 1864. Mustered out June 10, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Robl. Simpson, e. as Corporal, Aug.
6, 1862. Promoted First Sergeant. Mustered out
June 10, 1865. Commissioned Second Lieutenant,
but not mustered.
Sergt. Ezra J. Grippin, e. Aug. 6,'62, m.o. June io,'6s.
Sergt. Bradlord A. Champlin, e. Aug. 7, 1862, kid. at
Kent-saw Mt., June 27, 1864.
Sergt. Chas. H. C. Dogwell, e, Au.g. 7, '62, m. o. June
10.1865.^
Corpl. Francis H. Fairman,e.Aug.7,'62, disd. Feb, 19,63.
Corpl. Robt. Simpson, e. Aug. 6. '62, m.e. June lo, '65,
as ist Sergt., com. 2d Lieut, but not mustered.
Corpl. Cyrus Miller, e. Aug. 7. '62, disd. May 29, '65.
Corpl. Saml. W. Washburn, e. Aug. g, '862, disd, July
20, 1863, as private.
Corpl. David H. Saeia, e. Jnly 30, 1862, m. o. May 15,
186s, as private.
Corpl. John A. Holland, e. Aug. 11, '62. m.o. June 10, '65.
Corpl. Thos. P. Treadwell, e.Aug. 7. '62, disd. Jan. 2, '63.
Corpl. Geo. R. Heigley, e. Aug. 7, 1862, reduced and
trans, to Miss. Marine Brigade, Feb. 6, 1863.
Musician Asher G. Miller,e.Aug.7,'62, m.o. June 10, '65.
Musician Chas. W. Gorham, e. Aug. 7, '62, pimt. Prin-
cipal Musician.
Wagoner Lyman Patten, e. Aug 8, '62, trai :<;. to 17th I.
V. C, Sept. 12, 1862.
Allen Ephraim J. e. Aug. 9, 1862, disd. Uec. 7, 1862.
Allen John, e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. Dec. 28, 1862.
Allen Thos. e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. June i, 1863.
Anderson Lewis P. e. Aug. 7, 1862, trans, to Invalid
Corps, Jan. 15. 1864.
Bayles David, e. Aug. 11, 1862, m. o. June 10, i86<;.
Brown Humphrey A. e. Aug. 9, '62, trans, to 5th Wis.
Battery. Nov. 12, 1862.
Baker Elijah, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Carrington Chas. e. Aug. 6, 1S62, disd. Jan. 22, 1863.
Cordiner John, e. Aug. 7, 1862, kid. at Resaca, Ga.,
May 14, 1864.
Davis Adam H. e. Aug. 11, 1862, disd. March 28, 1863.
Davis Anaus M. e. Aug. 11, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Davie Hall. e.Aug. 7, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, as Sergt.
Delling Luther, e. Aug. 15, 1862. disd. Jan. i, 1863.
Develin Thos. e.Aug. 9. '62, trans, to U.S.E., July 27, '64.
Dobson Abram, H. e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o, June 10, 1865.
Dobson Edward, e. Aug. 7, '62, kid. at Kenesaw Mt.,
June27, 1864.
Donkersley Jas. H. e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Elliott Jno. e. Aug. 3, '62, died at Nashville, Jan.15,'63.
332
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR KECOBD.
Elliott Jos. e. Aug. 3, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Farnham Earl, e. Aug. 5, '62, died at Nashville, Tenn..
Dec. 9, 1862.
Ferguson Duncan H. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m.o June 10, '65.
Fillmore Cyrus A. e. Aug. 9, 1862, disd. Feb. 7, 1865.
Gillman Jos. \V. e. .^ug. 6, 1862, disd. Feb. 23, 1863.
Hudson Richmond L. e. July 28, '62, m.o. June 10, '65.
Hall Jarvis.e.Aug.ii, '62, trans. Inv. Corps, Junei8,'64.
Hall loshua, e. Aug. 7, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, as Corpl.
Hallenbeck Almarin, e. Aug. 9, '62, m. o. June 10, '65.
Hallenbeck John H. e. Aug. 9, '62, deserted from Ben-
ton Barracks.
Heigley Merritt L. e. Aug. 9, '62, trans, to Inv. Corps,
Sept. 30, 1863.
Heiglev Noah D. e. Aug. g, '62, disd. Nov. 20, '63, or-
der Col. Mundy.
Knapp John D. e. Aug. 6, '62, trans, to 5th Wis. Batt.,
Nov. 12, 18-2.
Kellogg EHj.ih, e. Aug. 7, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Sergt
Kellogg Washington H. e. Aug. 7,'62, m.o June 10, '65
Lawrence Newton F. e. Aug. n. 1862, disd. Feb. 14, '63
Magoon Chas Aug. g,'62. trans. Inv. Corps, June 18, '64
Mandeiville Isaac, e. Aug. 6, 1862, ,m. o. June 10, 1865
Merchant David O. e. Aug. 9, 1862, m.o. June 10,1865
Marsh Wallace T. e. Aug. 6. '63, trans, to Inv. Corp^,
June 16, '63, mo. Sept. 4, '65, as Sergt. Major V.R.C.
McMaster T. Schuyler, e. Aug. 7, 1862, trans, to 5th
Wis. Batt., Nov. 16, 1S62.
Miller Alba, e. Aug. 7 . 1862. m. o. June 10, 1865.
Miller J. Henry, e. Aug. 11, 1862. disd. Feb. 27, 1865.
Miller Wm. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Mills Maurice 1^ e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10. 1865.
Merchant Geo. W. e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to U. S. E.,
Aug. 8, 1864.
Nelson Chas. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Oliver Jas. e. Aug. 9, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, as Corpl.
Phelps Wm. R.e.Aug. 6, '62, m.o. June io,'65, Music'n.
Robertson Wm. . e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o, June 10, 1865.
Robison Wm. A. e. Aug. 12, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Jan. 11, 1863.
Rockwell Lucius D. e. Aug. 6, '62, disd. March 16, '63.
Russell Dexter, e Aug. 7, '62, m.o. June 10, '65. Corpl.
Rusterholtz Levi, e.^Aug. 8, 1862, m. o. May 18, 1865.
Salsbury Jas. L. e. Aug. 9, '62, died at Murfreesboro,
Tenn., March 14, 1863.
Sands John, e. Aug 6, '62, trans. V. R. C. Jan. 16, '65.
Sealv David K. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Feb. 28, 1865.
Sloan Quincy A. e. Aug. 14, 1862. m. o. June lo.- 1865.
Scott Hiram, e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Smith John D. e. Aug. 4, 1862, disd. April 25, 1865.
Stevenson Lansing R. e. Aug. i, '62. m. o. June 10, '65.
Stewart John W. e. Aug. 7, '62, Corpl., kid. at Spring
Hill, Tenn., Nov. 29, 1864.
Thrall Chauncy T. e. Aug. 9, 1862, died at Gallatin,
Tenn., )an. 18, 1863.
Titus Addison, e. Aug. 6, 1862; disd. Feb. 26, 1863.
Treadwell Chas. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o, June 10. 1865.
Two Samuel, e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Twogood Albert, e. Aug. 6. 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Titus John. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Underbill Saml. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Warner Geo. W. e. Aug. 15, 1862, disd. Oct. 7, 1863.
Washburn John I', e. Aug. 8, 1862. disd. ^larch 23, '63.
White Aaron J. e. Au^. 9, '62. m.o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Woollery Henry W. e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. Aug. 20, 1863.
Woollery John, e, Aug. 5, 1862, trans, to Inv. Corps,
April 28, 1864.
Dobson Chas. disd. March 2, 1863.
Company D.
Captain Jonathan H. Douglass, com. Sept. 4, 1862.
Resigned March 20, 1S63.
Captain Robert H. Hatch, com. First Lieutenant Sept.
4, 1862. Promoted Captain March 20, 1863. Mus-
tered out June 10, 1865.
First Lieutenant John Beatson, e. as First Sergeant,
Aug. 7, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant March
20, 1863. Promoted First Lieutenant May 2, 1864.
Mustered out June 10, 1865.
Sergt. Thos. W. Cole, e. July 20, 1862, wounded at
Resaca, Ga., m.o. June 10, 1865, as ist Sergt.
Sergt. Wm. C. McCaughey, e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. June
30. 1863, disab.
Sergt. Omri J. Cummings, e. July 28, '62, disd. Jan. i,
1863, disab.
Sergt. |ohn G. Morgan, e. Aug.7, '62, m.o. June i,'65.
Corpl. Rily Van Patten, e. Aug. 18, '62, m. o. May ii,
1865, as Corpl.
Corpl. Jas. Crane, e. Aug. 8, '62, m.o. June io,'65, Sergt.
Corpl. Henry Gilchrist, e. July 27, 1862, died at Nash-
ville, Tenn., Feb. 13, 1863.
Corpl. Edgar G. Day, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Louis-
ville, Ky., Nov. 26, 1862.
Corpl. Otis G. Sanderson, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June
19, 1865.
Corpl^ Chas. E. Gcodspeed, e. July 24, 1862, m.o. June
10, 1865, as Musician.
Corpl. Henrj' W. Smith, e. Aug. 8, 1862, m.o. April 19,
1S65, as Sergt. disab.
Corpl. Peter C. Campbell, e. Aug. 6, '62. m. o. June 10,
1865, as Sergt.
Musician Shepherd Norcross, e. July 26, 1862, prmt.
Drum Major.
Musician Chas. R. Jones, e. July 26, 1S62, died at
Murfreesboro, April 17, 1863.
Allen Gardner S. e. July 18, 1862, prmt. Com. Sergt.,
died at Rockford, 111., Dec. 4, 1S62.
Allen Sam'l, e. July 22, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Atwood Hiram, e. July 26, 1862, trans, to U. S. E.
July 27, 1864.
Beale Jos. e. Aug. 7, 1862, left sick at Louisville, Oct.
29, 1862.
Barsby Sam'l, e. July 23, 1862, died at Knoxville,
Tenn., Dec 18, 1863.
Brainard Jared H. e. Aug. 9, '62, disd. Sept. i6,'63, disab.
Babcock Almon, e. Aug. 14, '62, m.o. June 10, '65. Sergt.
Bliss Geo. W. e. Aug. 14, 1S62, m.o. June 10, 1865.
Crowley Levi, e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Nashville, Tenn.,
Dec. 21, 1862.
Corbin Amasa M. e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Feb. 17, 1863.
Cleveland Geo. C. e. Aug. 6, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Conant Naroy. e. Aug. 7. 1862, trans, to Inv. Corps,
Aug. 9, 1863.
Connor Jas. H. e. Aug. 8, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Sergt.
Cook Wm. e. Aug. 8, '62, disd. Feb. 7, '63, disab.
Castner David, e. Aug. g, 1862. m. o. June 10, 1865.
Compton Sam'l C. e. Aug. g, 1862, Corpl., kid. at Mis-
sion Ridge, Nov. 25, 1863.
Compton Wortman,e.Aug.9,'62, m.o. June io.'65, Corpl.
Crane Richard H. e. Aug. 14, 1862, m.o. May ig, 1865.
Elliott Chas. H. e. Aug. 7, 1862, trans, to U. S. E.
July 27, 1864.
Ferguson Allen M. e. Aug. 7, '62, m.o. May 24,'65,wds.
Fox Thaddeus, e. Aug. 8, '62, di=d. Oct. 26, '63, disab.
Guilford Andrew J. e. July iS, 1862, m.o. May 20, '65.
Gilbert Eiiw. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o May 12, 1865.
Geanonng Wm. \\ . e. July 25, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Giett Wm. e. Aug. 7, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, as Corpl.
Goldy Benj. D. e. Aug. 7, '62, disd. May 8, '63, disab.
Gustin John H. e. Aug. 8, 1862, died at Reseca, July
6, 1864, wounds.
Gilson Wm. e. Aug. g, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Gustin Geo. E. or S. e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. May 15, 1865.
Hines Elisha W. e. July 28, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Hurdy Hiram, e. Aug. 6, '62, ra. o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Herrick Oakly, e. Aug. 6, '62. disd. Feb. g, '63, disab.
Harrod Wm. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. March 15, '63, disab.
Hall Wm. F. B. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o, June 10, 1865.
Hecox Lewis, e. Aug. 14, 62, m 0. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Hopkins Th s. e. Aug. 14, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Dec. 2, 1862.
Ingalls Harvy, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Kervish John, e. Aug. 6,1862, died at Nashville,Tenn.,
l)ec. 28, 1862.
Kilburn Edmond B. e. Aug. 7, 1862, died at Murfrees-
boro, Feb. 24, 1863.
Leahy Jerry, e. Aug. 7, 1862, trans, to 5th Wis. Bat.,
Nov. 13, 1862.
Luce Jas. G. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Love Thompson W. e. Aug. 8, 1862, died Chattanooga
July 12, 1864, wds.
Lillie Francis B. e. Aug. 8,'62, disd. March i, '65, wds.
Maynard Rdw. C. e.Aug. 7, '62, disd. May 2o,'63,disab.
Milliard Wm. R. e. Aug. 7, '62, disd. May ii,'63, disab.
Mather Horace F. e.Aug. 12, '62, disd. Feb. 8, '63. disab.
Manning Sam'l H. e. Aug. 14, '62, absent sick m.o. regt.
Manning Isaac D. e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. May 7, '63, disab.
Pryse David, e. Aug. g. 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Pettibone Amos, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m.o. June 10, 1865.
Pett t Henry, e. Aue. 7, '62, disd. May 26, '63, disab.
Rowley Walter, e. July 26, 1S62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Ronbeck Azure C. e.Aug. 8, "62, disd. July 13, '63, aisab.
Rogers Wm. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Russell Hiram J. e. Aug. 8, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Dec. 29, 1862.
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR RECORD.
333
Ray Chauncy, e. Aiig.9,'62, 111. o. June io,'6s, as Corpl.
Roiish John M. e. Au;;. 9, 1862, m. o. June 22, 1865.
Saunders Henry, e. Auc;. 6, 1S62, m.o.June 10, 1865.
Smith Gei'. c. Aug. 7, 1862, ni. o. June 10, 1865.
Stilwell Hiram, e. Aug. 7, 1862, kid. at Kenesaw Mt.,
June 27, 1864.
Steele .•Mnier C. e. .Aug. 7, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Stone Wm. A. e. Aug. 7, 1862, trans, to Inv. Corps,
Sept. 30, 1863.
Schermerhorn Geo. C. e. Aug. 7,'62, m.o. June 10, 65,
wounds.
Strowd Miles, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Seaion Wm. W. e. Aug, 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Shores Franklin, e. Aug. 8, 1862, trans, to Inv. Corps.
Sept. I, 1863.
Stevens Geo. e. Aug. 8, '62, disd. Dec. 23, '62, disab.
Stroh Gustavus, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. May 26, 1865.
Talbot Henry T. e. Aug. 7, 1862, kidj at Mission Ridge
Nov. 25, 1863.
Thoiijpson Otha, e. Aug. 14, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn.. Jan. 3, 1863.
VanAlstine \V'aller, e. Aug.6. '62, dis I.May 6,'63,disab.
Welch Wm. C. e. Aug. 6, 1862, kid. at Pleasant Hill,
Ga., May 17, 1864.
Welch Carner E. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m.o. June 10, 1865.
Wheat Chas. H. e. Aug. 7. '62, disd. June 13, '63, disab.
Wheat Geo. T. e. Aug. 7, '62, m. o. June 22, '65, wds.
Webb John H. e. Aug. 8, 1862. Corpl., died at Chatta-
nooga, Tenn., June 2s, 1864, wds. rec'd at Reseca.
Welsh Fred'k, e. Aug. 8, 1862, trans, to V. R. C, Jan.
15, 1865.
Warfield Geo. W. e. Aug. 8, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Williams Wm. H. e. Aug. 7, '62, disd. Feb. 27, '63. disab.
Wemple Edwin H.e. Aug. 8, '62, absent sick at m.o. regt.
Woodruff Ambrose P. e. Aug. 14, 1862, prmt. Hospital
Steward.
Young Walters, e. July 23, '62, disd. June 17, '63, disab. '
Young Andrew J. e.Aug.8,'62, disd. July 29/63, disab.
Bedell Lyman P. e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Crangle Henry J. e. March 15, 1865, trans, to 36th I.
V. I. June 7, 1865.
Cunningham Jos. e. Feb 27, 1865, trans, to 36th I.V.I.
^une 7, 1865.
Fellows Nicholas S. e. Sept. 29,'64, m.o. June 10, '65.
Goldy B-nj. D.e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Gustin Whitman E. e. Dec. 25, 1863, died at Reseca,
June 4, 1864, wds.
Hardy Rufus, e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Hull Warren W. e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. June 10, 1S65.
Hardy John D. e. Feb. i, 1865, trans, to 36th I. V. I.
June 7, 1865.
Manson Jas. e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. June lo, 1865.
McCaiighey Thos.M.e Dec. 28, '63, disd. May i8,'65,wds.
Morgan Josiah, e. Jan. 4, 1864, trans, to 36th I. V. I.
June 7, 1865.
Stroud Martin, disd. Oct. 20, 1864, disab.
Steel Oringe J. e. Sept. 29, 1864, died at Chattanooga,
Nov. 5, 1864.
Sweezy Edw. e. Feb. i, 1865, trans, to 36th I. V. I.
June 7. 1865.
Stroud Sylvester, e. April 5, 1865, trans, to 36th I. V.I.
June 7, 1865.
Taylor John G. e. Sept. 30, 1864, m. o. June'io, 1865.
West Horatio, e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. May 15, 1865.
Warner Alex. B. e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Company E.
Captain Elias Casper, com. Sept. 4, 1862. Resigned
Dec. 4, 1863.
Captain Alpheus W. Hlakesley, e. as First Sergeant
Aug. 13, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant Sept.
4, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant Dec. 20, 1862.
Promoted Captain Dec. 4, 186 ,. Mustered out
June 10, 1865.
First Lieutenant Wm. Powell, com. Second Lieuten-
ant .Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant
Sept. 4, 1862. Resigned Dec. 20, 1862.
First Lieutenant Chas. A. Allen, e. as private. Pro-
moted Sergeant, then First Lieutenant, Dec. 4,
1863. Mustered out June 10, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Wm. P. Sherman, e. as Sergeant
Aug. 7, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant Dec.
20, 1862. Resigned May 7, 1863
Second Lieutenant Jas. C. Babbett, e. as Corporal
Aug. 13, 1862. Promoted First Sergeant, then
Second Lieutenant, May 7, 1863. Mustered out
Oct. 29, 1863.
Second Lieutenant Morgan J. Conradt, e. as private
Aug. 9, 1862. Mustered out June 10, 1865, as First
Sergeant. Com. Second Lieutenant, but not
mustered.
Sergt. Wm. K. Lippitt, e. Aug. 13, 1862, reduced, de-
serted Nov. I, 1863.
Sergt. Jas. McAffee,e. Aug. 13, 1862, disd. Jan. 7,'63,
disab.
Sergt. Ebenezer P. C. Webster, e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd.
Feb. 18, 1863, as private.
Corpl. Edw. H. Cook, e. Aug. 11, 1862, died at Nash-
ville, Tenn., March 16, 1863.
Corpl. Dwight B. Holdridge, e. Aug. 11. 1862, died at
Miirfreesboro, Tenn., Slarch 20, 1863.
Corpl. Jos. L. Grout, e. Aug. 13, 1862, prmt. Sergt., m.
o. June 10. 1S65, as private.
Corpl. Lewis T. Sweezey, e Aug. 14, 1862, disd. Jan.
19, 1863, disab.
Corpl. Jas. L. Sherman, e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. Dec. 29,
1862, disab.
Corpl. Bartley F. Butler, e. Aug. 9, 1862, disd. Feb. 9,
1863, disab.
Corpl. Norman Clothier, e. Aug. 9, 1862, private, pa-
roled prisoner, m. o. June 9, 1865.
Musician Franklin M. Needham. e. Aug. 22, 1862,
trans to g2d I. V. I. Sept. 4, 1862.
Bat3s Levi,.e. Aug. 11, 1862, disd. Feb. 22, 1863.
Brown Elbridge.e. Aug. 11, '62, disd Jan. 27, '63, disab.
Brown Francis C. e. Aug. 13, '62, disd. Jan. 15, '63, disab.
Blo's Wm. R. e. Aug. 13, '62, disd. Feb. 18, '63, disab.
Brown Franklin, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Banks Horatio, e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Banks Reuben, e. Aug. 8, 1862, trans, to Inv. Corps,
March 16, 1864.
Braner Augustus, e. Aug. 15, 1862, Coipl., transferred
to Inv. Corps, May 15, 1864.
Bacon Chas. e. Aug. 14, 1862, wounded May 14, 1864,
m. o. |une 3. 1865, as Sergt.
Crosby John, e. Aug. 11, 1S62, disd. Jan. 14, '63, disab.
Christian John, e. Aug. 11, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Craig William, e. Aug. 13, 1862, died at Chattanooga,
Dec. 10, 1863, wds.
Carey Lewis M. e. Aug. 12, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., April 13, 1865.
Creller Lafayette, e. Aug. 12, 1862, died at Atlanta,
G.T., Sept. 26, 1864.
Cliiie David M. e. Aug. 14, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Collins Michael, e. Aug. 13, '62, disd. Jan. 15, '63, disab.
Carman Chauncy, e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. Dec. 4. '63, disab.
Corey Hiram F. e. Aug. 12, 1862, trans, to V. R. C,
Jan. g, 1865.
Chandler John S. e. Ai g. 1% 1862, wounded May 17,
1864, m o. June 10, 1865, as Sergt.
DavLs John Henry, e. Aug. 15, '62, disd. Oct. 13, '62, disab.
Dawson David, e. Aug. 15. '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Dillingham Nathaniel, e. Aug. 14, '62, m.o.June 10, 05.
Ewing Cyrus, e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. Mar. 5, '63, disab.
Franklin Elijah, e. Aug. 13, '62, dijd. Feb. 21, '63, disab.
File William. N. e. Aug. 15, 1862, Corpl., died at Big
Sha' ty, Ga., July 2, 1864, wds.
Grammon Sidney, e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. Feb. 14, '63, disab.
Goodier George, e. Aug. 15. '62, m. o. June i, 1865.
Harley John W. e. Aug. 12, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Henry John W. e. Aug. 13, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Hollem Jones, e. Aug. 14, 1S62, died at Lhattanooga,
July 8, 1864, wds.
Hilton Ellis, e. Aug. 14, 1862, trans, to Invalid Corps,
July I, 1863.
Hubbard Wilmington J. e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. May 18,
1863, disab.
Holdridge Charles H. e. .'Vug. 7, 1862, died at Gallatin,
Tenn., Feb. 4, 1863.
Hapgood Howard, e. Aug. 15, '62, deserted Sept., '62.
Hartwell Peter A. e Aug. 15, 1862, trans, to Invalid
Corps, Sept. 1, 1863.
Hardy Frank S. e. Aug. 8, '62, disd. Mar. 19, '65, disab.
Inman William J. e. Aug. 7, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Jewell John, e. Aug. 13, '62, trans, to Invalid Corps,
Sept. I, 1863.
Jarvis Myron H. e. Aug. 14, '62, m. o. June 22, 1865.
Jarvis Harrison, e. Aug. 22, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Jan, 30, 1863.
Kellner Amos, e. Aug. 15, 1862, disd. Jan., 1863, disab.
Lovitt Benjamin G. e. Aug. 13, 1862, Sergt., died at
Marietta, Ga., July 5, 1S64, wds.
McEwen James, e. Aug. 7, '62, m. o. June io,'65, Sergt.
Miles Hiram A. e. Aug. 14, 1862, wounded Dec. 15, '64,
m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
334
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR EECORD.
Moon Camillus, e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. Feb. 8, '63, disab.
Murray William J. e. Aug. 15, '62, m. O.June io,'65,wds.
Mulford Eli H. e. Aug. 15, 1862, Corpl., died at Chat-
tanooga, Tenn., Doc. 10, 1863, wds.
Prescott Edward, e. Aug. 12, '62, m.o. June io,'65, wds.
Peverill William, e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. Mar. 15, '63, disab.
Parish Lawson L. e. Aug. 14 ,"62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Perry Marion L. e. Aug. 14, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Feb. 15, 1863.
Rogers William, e. Aug. 14, 1S62, wounded Majr 14,
1864, m. o. June 10, 1865, as Corpl.
Shaw James, e. Aug. 11, 1862, trans, to Inv. Corps,
Sept. I, 1863.
Smith Julius \. e. Aug. 11, 1862, Sergt., wounded
IMov. 25, 1863.
Schoonmaker John, e. Aug.n,'62,disd.Jan.7,'63, disab.
Stringer Lewis, e. Aug. 13, '62, m. o. May ig, 1865.
Snider Daniel, e. Aug. 13, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, wds.
Smith James M. e. Aug. 14, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Sheldon Daniel M. e. Aug. 15, '62. m.o. June 10. '65, Corpl.
Tr.ivis David, e. Aug. n, '62, disd. April 20, '63, disab.
TurnbuU Adam, e. Aug. 13, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
'Tilbury George, e. Aug. 14, 1862, died at Big Shanty,
June 12, 1864, wds.
Woodworth Henry, e. Aug. 11, 1862, died at Nash-
ville, Tenn., Dec 4, 1864.
Woodruff Levi E. e, Aug. 14, '62, disd. Dec.18,'62, disab.
Weaver William, e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Wilson Philetus A. e. Aug. 9, 1862, trans, to 36th 1. V.
L, June 7, 1865.
Williams Nathaniel L. e. Aug.13,'62, m.o. June 10, '65.
Webster Watson E. e. Aug. 14, '62, disd. Jan. 7, 1863.
Wheeler Sterling J. e. Aug. 8, 1862, trans, to Pioneer
Corps, Sept. 6, 1864.
Zimmerman James T. e. Aug. 7, '62, m.o. June 10, '65.
Jewell Leiand A. disd. Feb. 5, 1863, disab.
Smith Cyrone, m. o. June 10, 1865, as Musician.
Vandercook William, e. Feb. 27, 1865, trans, to 36th 1.
V. L, June 7, 1865.
Washburn Wm. H. H. disd. Oct. 13, 1862, disab.
Company F.
Captain Henry C. Barker, com. Sept. 4, 1862. Killed
in battle, June 27, 1864.
First Lieutenant Jerome E. Andrews, com. Sept. 4,
1862, Resigned Jan. 19, 1862.
First Lieutenant Edwin L. Simpson, e. as Sergeant
Aug. 5, 1862. Promoted First Sergeant; then
First Lieutenant, June 27, 1864. Mustered out
June 10, 1S65.
Second Lieutenant Jno. Hartwell, e. as private
Aug. 4, 1862. Mustered out June 10, 1865, as First
Sergeant. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, but
not mustered.
Sergt. Henry Heagle, e. Aug. 8, 1862, died at Laverne,
Tenn., Feb. 16, 1863, wds.
Sergt. Rudolphus W. Peake, e. Aug. 5, 1862, promoted
Sergeant Major.
Sergt. Charles Burpee, e. Aug. 5, 1862, disd. May 20,
1863, disab.
Corpl. Robert B. Archibald, e. Aug. 5, 1862, disd. July
I, '64, to accept promotion in U.S. Colored Troops.
Corpl. Sylvanus O. Troxell, e. Aug. i, 1862, Sergt.,
killed at Kenesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864.
Corpl. Floyd Smith, e. July 25, 1862, disd. Oct. 29,
1864, as Sergt., disab.
Corpl. Amasa Work, e. July 3o,'62,disd.as private,disab.
Corpl. Jacob N. Hoffman, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o.
June 10, 1865, as Sergt.
Corpl. George W. Rise, e. Aug. 5, 1862, disd. Nov. 6,
1863, disab. •
Corpl. George W. Blakely, e. Aug. 14, 1862, disd. Apr.
10, 1863, disab.
Musician O. Chauncey Pettingill, e. Aug. 16, '62, died
June I, 1S64, wds.
Wagoner Edward Kelly, e. Aug. 12, 1862, ^eserted
Sept. 4, 1862.
Andrews J. Newton, e. Aug. 4, 1862, m.o. June 10, '65.
Anderson Charles, e. Aug. 11, '62, m.o. June 10, Sergt.
Alexander Lock W. e. Aug. 12, 1862, trans, to U. S.
Engineers, July 30, 1864.
Bixby |. Milton, e. Aug. 5, 1862, ni. o. June 10, 1865.
Rixby Levi, e. Aug j, 1862, disd. Feb. 23, '63, disab.
Brownell Benjamin j. e. Aug. 9, 1862, disd. Feb. 28,
1863, disab.
Ballew Christopher, e. Aug. 8, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Coolidge Eldridge F. e. Aug.5,'62,m.o.June io,'65, Sgt.
Crawford Joseph M. e. Aug. 8, '62, deserted Nov.4,'62.
Christman Andrew J. e. Aug. 11, '62, deserted Oct. 10, '62.
Clark Elias, e. Aug. 11, '62, disd. Jan. 28, 63, disab.
Davis James, e. Aug. 9, 1862, Corpl., died at Murfrees
boro, Tenn., Jan, 16, 1863.
DavidsonR.Anrlrew.e. Aug.i4,'62,disd.Deci4.'62,disab.
Eychawer Richard, e. Aug. 8, 1862, died at Anderson-
ville prison, July 15, 1864, No. of grave, 3,373.
Erichson Charles C. e. Aug. 9, '62, m. o. May 24, 1865.
Fuller Lemuel, e. Aug. 9, 18*2, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Fislier George W. e. Aug. 8, 1862, killed at Mission
Ridge, Nov. 5, 1864.
Fitzgerald Michael, e. Aug. 11, '62, deserted Mar. 3, '63.
Goodwin Benjamin, e.Aug.6,'(i2,disd.Mar.i7,'63,disab.
Greenbaum Job, e. Aug. 6, '62, deserted Nov. 5, 1863.
Hallock Hiram, e. Aug. 4, 1862, killed at Dallas, Ga.,
May 28, 1864.
Houghtan George W. e. Aug. g, 1862, killed at Dallas,
Ga., May 30, 1864.
Jeckies William O. e. Aug.iT,'62, disd.Mar.i5,'63,wds.
John Daniel T. e. Aug. 5, i8')2, m. o. June 10, 1865.
John Cephus D. e. Aug. 5, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Sergt.
Johnson Albert, e. Aug. 4, 1862, died at Nashville,
I'enn., Jan. 3, 1863.
Jones Frank, e. Aug. 7, 1862, trans, to Mississippi Ma-
rine Brigade, March 7, 1863.
Kennedy Henry, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. i, '62.
Keating Hugh, e. Aug. 4, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Kimball Newell, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died Gallatin, Tenn.,
Feb. 10, 1863.
Lagrange Robert, e. Aug. 14, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Lawrence Russell B. e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Nash-
ville, Tenn., Nov. 26, 1862.
Lewis Richard, e. July 22, 1862, taken prisoner, died at
Savannah, Ga., Sept. 30, 1864.
Luce Stephen, c. Aug. 29, 1862, died at Nasliville,
Tenn., Aug. 16, 1863.
Lowe Levi B. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Manson William, e. Aug. 13, 1862, trans, to V. R. C,
Sept. 30, 1863.
Mack Erastus, e. Aug. 11, 1862, disd. Dec. 14, 1862.
Manning Geo. e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. Feb. 16, 1863.
Miles Walter W. e. Aug. 31, 1862, deserted Oct. 15. '62.
O'Brien Henry, e. Aug. 8, 1862, ni. o. June 10, 1865.
Patterson John, e. Aug. 6, '62, trans. U.S.E. July 4, '64.
Rood Homer M. e. July 22. '62, disd. April 6, '63, disab.
Read Marshall, e. Aug. 11, 1862, deserted Oct. 10, 1862.
Smith Jas. e. Aug. 9, 1862, deserted Sept. 4, 1862.
Smith Dan. D. e. Aug. 9, 1862. disd. Sept. 28, '64, disab.
Sanders Levi S. e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Staats Abyrum, e. Aug. i,'62, disd. Dec. 30, '63, disab.
Thomas Jno. C. c. Aug. 14, 1862, m. o. Juufe 10, 1865.
Thomas Orville P. e. Aug. 14, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
as Corpl.
Turner Wm. e. Aug. 11, 1862, deserted Oct. 15, 1862.
Woodruff Orlando, e. Aug. 11, '62, disd. Aug. 15, '63, disab.
Whyciff Wm. e.Aug. 9, 1862, disd. Dec. 30, 1862, disab.
Company H.
Captain Theron R. Hurlbut, e. as Sergeant, Aug. 6,
1862. PVomoted Second Lieutenai't Feb. i, 1863.
Promoted First Lieutenant Nov. 16, 1863. Pro-
moted Captain Aug. 3, 1864. Mustered out June,
10, 1865.
First Lieutenant Samuel Whitmyer, com. Sept. 4, 1862.
Resigned Feb. i, 1863.
First Lieutenant Chas. W . Harvey, e. as First Sergeant
Aug. 6, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant Oct. 10,
1862. Promoted First Lieutenant Feb. i, 1863.
Resigned Nov. 16, 1863.
First Lieutenant Alfred W. Randall, e. as Sergeant,
Ang. 6, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant Aug. 3,
1864. Mustered out June 10, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Andrew J. Belts, com. Sept. 4, 1862.
Mustered out Oct. 10, '62, for absence without leave .
Second Lieutenant Chester A. Weston, e. as private Aug.
8, 1862. Mustered out June 10, 1S65, as First Ser-
geant. Commissioned Second Lieutenant but not
mustered.
Sergt. Horace S. Past, e. Aug. 7, '62, died Jan.s'63,wds.
Corpl. Jno. H. Gettel, e. Aug. 7, '62, m.o. June 10, '65,
as Sergt.
Corpl. Saml. N. Carpenter, e. Aug. 6, '62, disd May 6,
1863, disab.
Corpl. Jacob F. Woodring, e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. May
24, 1863, disab.
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR RECORD.
335
Corpl. Chas. T. Manchester, e. Aug. g, '62, disd. Feb.
7, 1863, disab.
Corpl. Win, R. Heuston, e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Jan. 7,
i86j,di.-ab.
Corpl. Jno. R. McKiiiley, e. Aug. 6, '62, died at Chat-
tanooga, July 21, 1864, wds.
Corpl. And. N. Kockted.e. Aug. 9,'62,m.o. June io,|6s.
Musician Geo. A. Heard, e. Aug 6,'62, prmt. Principal
Musician.
Music'n .Stanley Lockwood,e. Aug. 7, '62,01. O.June io,'6s.
Wagoner .Asa C Upham, e. Aug. 7. '62, disd. April 30,
1863, disab.
Austin Rufus B. e. Aug. 7, 1862, deserted Oct. 4, 1862.
Anderson Halvor 0.e.Aug.9,'62,disd.June i8,'63,disab.
Allen Geo. E. e. Aug. q, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865, Sergt.
Buttertield Alvin J. e. Aug. 6, '62, kid. at Stone River,
Dec. 31, 1862.
Brown .Aseph W.e. .Aug. g,'62,trans. V.R.C. Aug. i, '63.
Branc Abraham, e. Aug. 11, '62, disd. June i5,'63,disab.
Chambers |ohn H.e. Aug. 9/62, trans. V. R.C.Aug. 1,63.
Clark Jas. e. Aug. 11, '62, m.o. June lo, 1865, as Corpl.
Drake Rich'd R. e. Aug. 7, '62, captured Feb. 22, '64.
Dickerson Geo. N.e. Aug. 9, '62, prmt. Hospital Steward.
Duch rme Geo. E. e. Aug. 9, '62, disd. Dec. i6,'62,disab.
Evins Alphonso H. e. Aug. 8, '62, disd. Feb. 22, '63, disab.
Evins Wesley, e. Aug. 9, '62, disd. Feb. i6, 1864, as ist
Sergt., to accept appointment in U. S. C. T.
Elliott Win. J. e. Aug. 11, '62, trans. V.R.C. July 27, '64.
Goodrich Henry J.e. Aug. 9, 1862, died at Chatta-
nooga. Aug. 14, 1864, wds.
Hanson Anderson, e. Aug. ii, 1062, died at Nashville,
1 enn., Feb. 9, 1863.
Landers Timothy E. e. Aug. 6, '62, m. o. May 11, 1865.
Larson Gunder, e. Aug. 11, '62, disd. Feb. 23, '63, disab.
MciMan Patrick, e. Aug. 7, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Miller Edson, e. Aug. 11, 1862, disd. Feb. 16, 1865, wds.
Mullin Wm. e. Aug. 11, 1862, deserted Dec. 31, 1863.
Peck Rich'd R. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. June 5, '64, disab.
Panley Michael, e.Aug. 9, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Pitcher Benj. e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. June lO, 1865, Sergt.
Phipps Saml. e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. Feb. 26, 1863, disab.
Paulson Jno. H. e. Aug. 9, '62, disd March 20. 63, disab.
Putnam Chas.H. e.-Aug. ii,'62. disd. Dec. 17, '63, disab.
Rice Zina, e.Aug. 8, '62, kid. by R.R. accident, Oct. 7, '64.
Ripley Alvara,e. Aug. 8,1862, died at Nashville, Tenn.,
Dec. 30, 1862.
Rocksted Jno. N. e. Aug. 9, 1862, died at Chattanooga,
May 29, 1864, wds.
Reed Edwin S. e. Aug. 9, '62, Sergt., trans, to V. R. C.
Aug., 1863.
Randall W'm. H. e.Aug. 11, '62, disd. Mch. 8, '63, disab.
Simcox Curtis, e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Sherman Edwin M. e.Aug. 9, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
Shay Jno. e. Aug. i^ i8';2, trans. V. R. C. Oct. i, 1864.
Turney And. e. Aug. 7, '62, trans, to V.R.C.lAug.1,'63.
Thomason Thos. e. Aug. 8, '62, disd. Mch. 2, '63, disab.
True Jas. R. e. .Aug. 7, '62, trans, to V.R.C. July — , '64.
Vinton Henry, e. Aug. 6, '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Corpl.
VanvaU enbuig Henry, e. Aug. 6, '62, disd. Dec. 30, '62,
disab.
Webster Minor A. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Weaver Jacob, e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. May 27, 1865.
Wright Franklin G. e. Aug. 7, 186?, died at Gallatin,
Tenn., Dec. 18, 1862.
Larson Peter, e. Dec. 3, 1863, m. o. May 29, 1865.
Petterson Peter A. e. Dec, 3, '63, kid. at Kenesaw Mt,,
June 23, 1864.
Company K.
Captain Butler Ward, com. Sept. 4, 1862. Resigned
March 25, 1863.
Captain Henry N. Baker, com. First Lieutenant Sept.
4, 1862. Promoted Captain March 75, 1863. Re-
signed Oct. 21, 1863.
Captain Albert G. Lakin, com. Second Lieutenant
Sept. 4, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant March
25, 1863. Promoted Captain Oct. 21, 1863. I^Ius-
tered out June 10, 1865.
Second Lieutenant VV m. Cain, e. as Sergeant Aug. 4,
1862. Promoted First Sergeant, Sergeant Major.
Mustered out June 10, 1865. Com. Second Lieu-
tenant, but not mustered.
Sergt. Henry V. Freeman, e.Aug. 6, 1862, First Sergt.,
disd. Aug. 23, 1863, for promotion in Col'd Regt.
Sergt. Daniel Hawn, e. Aug, 6, 1862, First Sergt. trans,
to V. R. C. Sept. 23, 1864.
Sergt, Reuben R. Garlick.e. Aug. 6, 1862, kid. in ac-
tion, Dec. 31, 1862.
Corpl. Thos. W. Sherratt, e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. March
13, 1863, wds.
Corpl. Moses. C, Felmy, e, Aug. 9, 1862, kid. in actirn,
Dec, 30, 1862.
Corpl. Geo. A. Pardee, e. Aug. 7, 1862, kid. at Galla-
tin, Tenn., Jan. 20, 1863.
Corpl. John P., Gaspares, e. Aug. 5, 1862, kid. inaction
Dec. 31, 1862.
Corpl. Lester S. Sweezy, e. Aug. 8, 1862, disd. Dec. 15,
1862, disab.
Corpl. Horace B. Utter, [e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June
10, 1865, a- Sergt.
Corpl. John M. Brooks, e. Aug. 7, 1862, died at Mur-
freesboio Feb. 13, 1863.
Corpl. Edwaro C. Moffatt, e. Aug. g, 1862, m. o. June
8, 1865, as private.
Musician John Lewis, e. Aug. 5, '62, m.o. June lo, '65.
Musician Asher Miller, e. Aug. 6, '62, prmt. Fife Maj.
Wagoner Aug, C. Bushnell, e. Aug. 6, 1861, died at
Huntsville, Ala., Jan 14, 1865.
Addison Wm. e. Aug. 5, '62, disd. Feb. 4, '63, disab.
Agnew Wm. e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. Nov. 19, '62, disab.
Anderson Adolph, e. Aug. 7, 1862, kid. in action Dec.
31, 1862.
Anderson Wesley B. x. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 10, '65.
Baird Abel, Jr. e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Gallatin, Tenn.,
Dec. 23, 1862.
Bander Judson J. e. Aug. 7,'62, disd. Feb. iS, '63, disab.
Blake Buel J. e. Aug, 7, 1862, captured at Kenesaw,
June 27, 1864.
Blomquest Swen John, e, Aug, 7, 1862, disd, March 15.
1863, disab.
Bordwell Wm. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Brown Arthur P. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Oct. 28, 1864,
as Sergt., wounds.
Bryan Richard, e. Aug. 9, 1862, died at Evansville,
Ind., Jan. 8, 1865.
Brydges Wm. H. e. Aug. 8,1862, disd. for disab., at
Bowling Green, Ky.
Burns Thos. e, Aug. 7, 1862, died at Nashville, Tenn.,
Jan. 5, 1863.
Cain Chas. e. /\ug. 8, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Caswell Francis H. e.Aug. 7, 1862, died at Richmond,
Va., Feb. 7, 1863, wds.
Churchill JohnN. e, Aug. 12, '62,disd. Oct. io,'63, disab.
Clay Daniel, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. May 23, 1865.
Clothier Cyrus, e, Aug, 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Cone Chas. M. e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to V. R. C,
March 13, 1865.
Coons Wm. D. e. Aug. 13, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Cotton Chas. L. e. Aug. §,'62, disd. July i6,'64, disab.
Cudner Albert M. e. Aug. 6, 1S62, disd. Nov. 19, 1864,
to accept promotion in 42d Col'd Regt.
FoUett Chas. e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. Feb. 3, '63, disab.
Follett John, e. Aug. 7, 1862, disd. M.y 10, 1863, disab.
Foster Milton D. e. Aug. 7, '62, disd. Feb. 21, '63, disab.
Fountain Horace, e. Aug. 2, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Fraley John M. e. Aug. s, 1862, m. o. June 15, 1865.
Garlick Geo. L. e. Aug. 6, '62, disd, Jan, 19, '63, disab.
Gorham Chas, e, Aug, 5, 1862, Corpl, died July 28,
1864, wounds,
Gould Edmund E, e. Aug. 4, 1862, trans, to U. S. E.,
Aug. 26, 1864.
Haight Sam'l E. e. Aug. 7, '62, disd. Jan. 17, '63, disab.
Harris Stephen N. e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Jan. 6, 1863.
Horton Geo. W. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Hyer Wm. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. April 17, 1863, disab.
Johnson Andrew, e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to V. R. C.
March 16, 1865.
Knison Lewis, e. Aug. 7, 1862, died at New Albany,
Ind., Dec. 23, 1862.
Mabis Hiram C. e. Aug. 6, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Jan. 15, 1863.
McComb John H. e. Aug. 7, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
McGookin Arthur, e. Aug. 6, 1862, m.o. June 10, 1865.
IManderville David, e.Aug. 9, '62, disd. Dec. 15. '62, disab.
Marske Chas. e. Aug. 6, '62, disd. March i5,_'63, disab.
Marsh Leonard, e. Aug. 5, '62, m. o. June 10, '65, Sergt.
Martin Aaron H. e. Aug. 9, '62, trans, to V.R.C. in '64.
Morton Horace W. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m.o. June 10, 1865.
Parland Jas. e. Aug. 7, '62, m.o. J une. 10, '65, ist Sergt.
Parmele Marcus S. e. Aug. 6, 1802, m. o. June 10, '65.
Parmele Marius W. e. Aug. 14, 1862, kid. in action,
Dec. 31, 1862.
Pels Wm. J. e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to V. R.C., in 1863.
Regan Jas. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865, Coipl.
Robinson Alba G. e. Aug. 6, 1S62, m. o. June 10, 1865.
RothwellWm. A. e.'Aug. 7,'62,m.o. June io,'6s,Corpl.
336
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAK EECORD,
Rueer Wm. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Rudherg John Z. e. Aug. 6, '62, m.o. May i3,'65,Corpl.
SchellengerHenry C.e.Aug.6,'62,disd.Apnl 2,'63,disab.
.Shirratt John H. e. Aug. 7, 1S62, Corpl., disd. June
22, 1864, for promotion in Col'd Regt.
Smith Robt. G. e. Aug. 6, 1862, m. o. June 10. 1865.
Sweet Renj. G. e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to. V. R. C.
Nov. 28, 1803.
Tanner Henry, e. Aug. 6, '62, m. o. June io,'6s, Corpl.
Teachout Carlos, e. Aug.12,'62, disd. Nov. 11 '62,disab.
Teachout Gilbert, e. Aug. 6, '62. disd. Dec. 11, '62, disab.
Thoreson John, e. Aug. S,'62, disd. July 30, '63, disab.
Ubbing Ferdinand, e. Aug. 8/62, disd. Uec.i5,'62,disab.
Vail Edward E. e. Aug. 7, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Jan. 19, 1863.
Vail John P. e. Aug. 6, '62, trans, to V. R. C. in 1863.
Walsh Tnos. e. Aug. 2, '62, m. o. June 10, 1865, Corpl.
Ward Anson, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 10, 1865.
Weatherly Alford, e. Aug. 6, 1862, trans, to U. S. E.,
July 27, 1864.
Willis Wm. A. e. Aug. 6, 1862, disd. Aug. I3,'63,disab.
Wilmarth Chas. H. e. Aug. 7, 1862, trans, to V. R. C,
Aug. I, 1863.
Worthly Edw. e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Nashville,
Tenn., Jan 10, 1863.
Wortman Wm.H.e.Aug. 7. '62, m.o. June 10, '65, Sergt.
Wood Gustavus H. e.Aug.6,'62, disd. Feb. 18, '63, disab.
Brown Robt. R. e. Nov. 30, 1863, missing in action at
Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., June 57, 1864.
Goslin Robt. e. Nov. 30, 1863, trans, to 36th I. V. I.,
June 7, 1865.
McKay Wm. H. e. Dec. 29, 1863, trans, to 36th I.V. I.
June 7, 1865
McKay Jas. E. e. Dec. 29, 1863, died at Chattanooga,
June 22, 1864.
Boyce John J. e. Sept. 28, 1864.
Carman John E. e. Feb. 27, 1865, m. o. May 29, 1865.
Hussey Josiah, e. Dec. 29, 1S63.
Morehouse Lewis, e. Aug. 31, 1864.
Ray Marshall, e. March 15, 1865, m. o. June 3, 1S65.
OOtJi Infantry,
The Ninetieth Infantry Illinois Volunteers was or-
ganized at Chicago, Illinois, in August, September,
and October, 1862, by Colonel Timothy O'Aleara.
Moved to Cairo. November 27th, and to Columbus,
Ky., 30th. From thence proceeded to Lagrange, Ten-
nessee, where the regiment arrived December 2d. On
the 4th, ordered to Cold Water, Mississippi, where it
relieved the Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry. On
the morning of 20th December, a detachment of Second
Illinois Cavalry arrived at Cold Water, having cut
their way through Van Dorn's forces, out of Holly
Springs. Soon after, four companies of One Hundred
and First Illinois ca iie in, and were followed by the
enemy to our lines. The demonstr.itions made by the
Ninetieth deterred the enemj' from making any severe
attack, although he was4,oooor 5,ooostrong, and, after
some skirmishing, he withdrew. The regiment was
mustered out of service June 6, '865, at Washington,
D. C, and arrived at Chicago, June 12, 1865, where it
received final pay and discharge.
Major Patrick Flynn, com. Captain Co. A, Aug. i,
1862. Promoted Major, March 6, 1863. Honorably
discharged. May 15, 1865.
Commissary Sergeant, Lawrence H. Bracken, com.
Aug. 5, 1862. M ustered out June 6, 1865.
Company A.
Captain Jas. Conway, com. First Lieutenant, Aug. i,
1862. Promoted Captain. Commission canceled.
Killed in action, Nov. 25, 1863.
Captain Daniel Corcran.com. Second Lieutenant, Aug.
I, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant, March 6, 1863.
Commission canceled. Promoted Captain March
6,1863. Mustered out June 6, 1865.
First Lieutenant Andrew Phinney, e. as First Sergeant,
Aug. 5, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant, March
6, 1863. Commission canceled. Com. First Lieu-
tenant, Nov. 25, 1863. Honorably disd. May 15. '65.
Sergt. Michael Redmond, e. Aug. 5, 1862, disd. Nov.
27, 1862.
Sergt. Chas. Stuart, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865,
as First Sergt.
Sergt M. Hayes, e. Aug. 3, 1862, died March 28, 1864.
Sergt. Owen Smith, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died Oct. 11, 1863.
Corpl. Maurice Kane, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov.
20, 1S62.
Corpl. Jos. Whalen, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, '65,
as Sergt.
Corpl. J. S. O'Brien, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, '65.
Corpl. Robert Gubbins, e. Aug. 5, 1S62, died at Mem-
phi', Oct. II, 1863.
Corpl. Jos. P. Wnalen, e. Aug. 5, 1862, disd. March i,
1864, as Sergt., wds.
Corpl. H. Devine, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Rockford,
111., Sept. 27, 1863.
Corpl. I\I. Lane, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died Sept. 12, 1863.
Musician R. Listen, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, '65.
Bracken L. H. e. Aug. 5, 1862. Promoted Com. Sergt.
m. o. June 6, 1865.
Burns M., Jr., e. Aug. 5, 1862, ileserled Nov. 24, 1862.
Burke John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 27, 1862.
Butler Thos. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, '65, Corpl.
Buckley C. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, '65, Corpl.
CoUighan Jas. Jos. e. Aug. 5, '62, deserted May 31, '64.
Condon Jas. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 22, 1862.
Campbell John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 24, 1864,
pris. war.
Cullen Wm. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 26, 1862.
Conner Eugene, e. Aug. 5, '62, deserted Nov. 26, '62.
Conley Thos. e. Aug. 5, 1862, kid. Dec. 13, 1864.
Corcoran Patrick, e. Aug. 5, '62, disd. May 16, '65, disab.
Cronin Patrick, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 16, 1862.
Dewin M. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 16, 1862.
Dwir'.- Martin, e. Aug. 5, 1S62, m o. June 6, 1865.
Devlin M. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 29, 1862.
Dowd Dennis, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Doyle Thos. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1805.
Donahoe Bernard, e. Aug. 5, '62, deserted Jan. 16, '63.
Devine Henry, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Fitzpatrick Wm. e. Aug. s, 1862, died in rebel prison,
Oct. 25, 1864.
Fitzgerald John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 26, '62.
Fitzgerald Rich'd, e. Aug. 5, 1S62, sick at m. o.
Fitzgerald Wm. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Gaffeny Patrick, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Galvin John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, kid. Aug. 13, 1864.
Harrity Neal, e. Aug. 5, '62, ni. o. June 24, '65, was pris.
Heffernan B. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 65, was pris.
Harrington D. e. Aug. 5, 1862, Corpl., kid. Nov. 25, '64.
Kirby Patrick, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1S65.
Kearns Thos. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 26, 1862.
Kane Hugh, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died Nov. 16, 1S64.
Kane Thos. e. Aug. 5. 1862, deserted Nov. 26, 1862.
Kehoe John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Memphis, Oct.
12, 1863.
Lamb Daniel, e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Lafayette, Tenn.,
April 25, 1863.
Lilas Nicholas, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Lauglmam Thos. e. Aug. 5, 1862, died at Memphis,
Oct. II, 1863.
Londregan John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 26,'62.
Leahey Wm. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 26, 1862.
Lane M. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, '65, as Wagoner.
McGrath Owen, e. Aug. Si 1S62, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Melia John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 20, 1862.
McMahon Hugh, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865,
as Sergt.
Murphy Wm. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Moore Jas. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m o. June 6, 1865.
Murphy D. e. Aug. 5, 1862, trans, to Invalid Corps,
March 10, 1865.
McGarry Thos. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Nov. 25, 1862.
Moran John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted Oct. 10, 1862.
Murphy Jas. e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted June 9, 1862.
McGrath John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1S65.
McLaughlin Wm. e. Aug. 5, 1862, kid. Nov. 25, 1863.
McMahon John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1S65.
McCarthy Edw. e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
O'Donnell John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, trans, to Co. G, 48th
I. V. I.
O'Neil Francis, e. Aug. 5,1862, disd. Mch. 7, '65, disab.
Ricely Owen, e. Aug. 5, 1862, deserted June 9, 1863.
Smith James, e. Aug. 5, 1865, died Miss., Sept. 21, 63.
Sullivan John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
Tovey John, e. Aug. 5, 1862, Sergt., absent wounded
at m. o. of regt.
Vaughn Dennis, e. Aug. s, 1862, m. o. June 6. 1865.
Wood James, e. Aug. 5, 1862, m. o. June 6, 1865.
c^. y^^^z^^-
DURAND
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR KECOKD.
339
Young Geo. e. Aug. s, 1863, died at Jackson, Miss.,
July 23, 1863.
Gray Robert, e. Jan. 24, 1865, trans, to 48th I. \'. I.
Listen Richd. 2d, deserted Sept. i, 1862.
14:1st Infantry (100 days).
Adjutant General gives no history.
Captain King H. Millikin, com. June 16,1864, Mus-
tered out Oct. lo, 1804.
First Lieutenant Jos. H. Burns, com. June 16,1864.
Mustered out Oct. 10, 1S64.
Second Lieutenant Geo. W. Tracy, com. June 16, 1864.
Mustered out Oct. 10, 1S64.
Andrews S. A. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1S64.
Atkinson Jas. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Atkins Walker, e. May 13, 1S64, m. o. Oct. 10, 1S64.
Ashford A. e. ^L1y 14, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Bierer E. H. e. May 10, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Bird Allen T. e. May 17, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Blair J. A. e. NLiy 14, 1S64, m. o. Oct. 10, 1S64.
Brewster John H. e. ^Lay 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Bowman Chas. e. May lo, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Briggs F. F. e. May 13, 1864. m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Corcoran James, e. May 17, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Crawford C. F. A. e. May 17, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1S64.
Cook Ami-s, e. May 14. 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864, Coipl.
Collins Thos. e. ALiy 9, 1S64, m. o. Oct. 10, 1S64.
Campbell E. A. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Conner Jos. e. May 10, 1864, m. o. Oct. to, 1864.
Cook Daniel, e. May 15. 1S64, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
"Campbell Chester, e. May 18, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Cushinan C. \V. e. May 8, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Detrick C. B. e. May 10, 1864, m.o. Oct. 10. '64, Sergt.
Dillon Jno. e. May 13, 1S64, m.o. Oct. 10, 1864, Corpl.
Devondorf L. A. e. RLay 17, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1S64.
Dickerson Jas. L. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Davis Sidney, e. May 10, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Derwent Chas. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
D.ivis Chas. I\L e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Dale E. E. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Doolittle Edwin H. e. May 2, 1864, Oct. 10, 1864.
Dunwell Oliver, e. M.<y 17, 1864, deserted at Elgin. 111.
Eaton Jas. e. May 10, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Forsyth Geo. A. e. May 18, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Ford Patrick, e. May 18,1864, m.o. Oct. 10, 1864, Corpl.
Foote E. H. e. May 17, 1864 m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Fuller E. B. e. May 17, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Gustin H. W. e. May 18, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Goakey Jos. e. May 16, 1864, m.o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Gable \Vm. e. May 9, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Henry Clayton, e. May 18, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Henry Merritt, e. May 10, 1804, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Higely Noah D. e. May 21, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Holmquest A. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Helmer Henj. F. e. May 15. '64, died at Columbus, Ky.,
Aug. II, 1864.
Jones W'm. H. e. May 17, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Kathen W. e. May 16, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Keyser M. e. May 6, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Kesler Jerry, e. May 10, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Lyon H. W. e. May 16, '64, m. o. Oct. 10, '64, Corpl.
Lightheart ^L e. May 15, 1S64, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Lacy \Vm. B. e. May 15, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Lovesee Edwin K. e. May 4, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Lightheart H. J. e. May 15, 1864, ra. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Mowatt J. M. e. May 2. '64, m. o. Oct. 10, '64, Corpl.
Morris Chas. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Madegan Thos. e. May 10, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Palmer \Vm. H. e. May 16, 1864, m. o Oct. 10, 1864.
Pritchard M. J. e. -May 18, '64, m. o. Oct. 10, '64, Sergt.
Post W. \V. e. May 10, 1864, m. o. Oct. lo, 1864, Corpl.
Perry David B. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Pease Warren c. May 15. 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Rowland R. C. e. May 2, 1864, m.o. Oct. 10, '64, Sergt.
Reid John, e. May 12, 1864, m.o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Riddell Eugene, e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Reed Loyal W. e. May lo, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Rh. des K. e. May 16, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Ryan John, e. May 12, 1864, deserted.
Riddell Frank, e. May 12. 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Rogers Hanly, e. May 16, 1864, died at White Rock,
111., Sept. 10, 1864.
Rogers Byron, e. May 17, 1864, never mustered in.
Sabin Melvin, e. May 16, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Stearns Ambrose, e. May 10, '64, m. o. Oct. 10, 64, as
ist Sergt.
19
Stevens Solomon, c. May 12, '64, m.o. Oct.10,'64, Corpl.
Snively Owen D. e. May i, 1864, m, o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Twogood O. J e. May 5, '64, in. o. Oct. lo, '64, Sergt.
Tufts Simeon, c. May u, m. o. Oct. 10. 1864.
Upstone Wm.H. e. May ri,'64, m.o. Oct. 10, '64, Corpl.
VanBrocklin John, e. ftlay 13, 1864, m.o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Warner W. F. e. May 8, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Warner C. H. e. May 18, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Werner Geo. e. May 17, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Youngman A. M. c. May 11, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
Youngman S. W. c. May i6, 1864, m. o. Oct. 10, 1864.
llGth Infantry (one year,)
The One Hundred and Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteers
was organized at Camp Butler, Illinois, Sept. 18, 1864,
for one year, «nd Henry H. Uean appointed Colonel.
Companies C and B were ordered to Brighton, Illinois,
Companies D and H to Quincy, Illinois, and Co.
F to Jacksonville, Illinois, and were assigned to
duty guarding drafted men and substitutes. The
remaining companies were assigned to similar duty at
Camp Butler, Illinois. On 5th July, 1865, the regiment
was mustered out of service at Camp Butler, Illinois.
Colonel Henry H. Dean, com. Captain Co. B, Sept. 17,
1864. Promoted Colonel, Sept. 20, 1864. Mustered
out July 8, 1865.
Quartermaster Gideon V. Carr, com. Sept. 20, 1864.
Died at Quincy, 111., April 21, 1865.
Sergeant Major Abraham M. Manny, com. Aug. 29,
1864. Mustered out July 8, 1865.
Principal Musician Ascher Miller, com. Aug. 29, 1864.
Mustered out July 8, 1865.
Company B.
Captain Frank M. Needham, com. Frst Lieutenant,
Sept. 17, 1864. Promoted Captain, Sept. 20, 1864.
Mustered out July 8, 1865.
First lieutenant Dennis W. Grippen, com. Second
Lieutenant, Sept. 17, 1864. Promoted First Lieu-
tenant, Sept. 20, 1864. Mustered out July 8, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Jno. Barsby, e. as First Sergeant,
Aug. 29, 1864. Promoted Second Lieutenant, Sept.
20, 1864. Mustered out July 8, 1865.
Sergt. N. M. Ackerly, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8,
1865, as First Sergt.
Sergt. E. L. Cochran, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m.o. July 8, '65.
Sergt. Geo. L. Stickney, e. Aug. 29,'64, m.o.July 8,'6s.
Corpl. Chas. H. Birdsell,e. Aug. 29, '64, m.o.July 8. '65.
Corpl. Roger B. Murphy, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July
S, 1S65.
Corpl. Robt. F. Dutton. e. Aug. 29, '64, mo. July 8,"65.
Corpl. R. Peck, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Corpl. Wm. D. Garrett, e. Aug. 29, '64, m.o. July 8, '65.
Corpl. H. E. Hudson, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m .0. July 8, '65.
Corpl. Wm. Atkins, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65.
Musician Ande Norcross, e. Aug. 29,'64 , m.o.July 8, '65.
Abbott A. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865, Corpl.
Bayless D. e. Aitg. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865, sub.
Baicer Edw. F. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65, sub.
Brown Morris, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65, sub.
Brink John H. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 17, 1865.
Brown Geo. W. e. Aug. 29, '64, m. o. July 8, 1S65, sub.
Baker S. F. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Briggs B. W. e. Aug. 29, 1864 m. o. July 8, 1865.
Bulkley A. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 17, i865,disab.
Beecher E. W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Barnes Carson, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Butler Wallace, e. Aug. 29, 1S64, m. o. Jul> 8, 1865.
Bergstresser R. M. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 16, '65.
Bayles Wm. e. Aug. 29, 1864. m. o. July 8, 1865, sub.
Chandler W. S. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. June 8, 1865.
Costello John, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Clogan N. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Cregan M. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Cassidy Geo. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 15, 1865.
Chase S. A. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Clark Jno. M. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8,' 1865.
Chandler A. F. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65, sub.
Cochran Jno. W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Cardwell Jas. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
D.avis H. A. e. Aug. 29, 1364, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Dennison Uriah, e. Aug. 29, 1864, died at Alton, 111.,
April 15, 1865.
Drake Jasper, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
340
WINKEBAOO OOUJ^'fY WAK KECOBD.
Duffy Tlioi. F. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. J uly 8, '65, sub.
Dillon Wm. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Drake Edw. P. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Frazier P.^trick, e Aug. 29, 1864, deserted Sept. 25/64
Glacken Jas. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Goodwin M. O. e. Aug. 29. 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Goddard D. J. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1864.
Garlock Jno. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 13, 1865.
Greenwalt A. e. Aug. 29, '64, m. o. July 8, 1865, sub.
Gunsoles Jas. H. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 15, 1S65.
Garrett B. F. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65, Sergt.
Hart Geo. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July S, 1865.
Holt G. W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Hager Orson, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Hallowell Geo. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Higiley H. H. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. |uly.8. iSts.
Hopkins A. A. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Haddeman H. e. Aug. 29, 1S04, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Hill Harman, e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 17, '65, disab.
Judd C. C. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Johnson T. L. e. Aug. 29, 1864, in. o. July 8, 1865.
Johnson R. M. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Jilson John C. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65, sub.
James Geo. e. Aug. 29, 1864, ™- °' Oct. 8, 1865, sub.
Johnson Chas. H. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m.o.Oct.8, '65, sub
King J. P. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. Oct. 8, 1865.
Lillie J. N. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. Oct. 8, 1865.
Lane S. B. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 17, 1865, disab.
Miles W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Norton Wm. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Needles Geo. E. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Owen Julius, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65, sub.
Patterson J. L. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Peterson J. P. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1863.
Plattner H. M. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Peck Jno. I. e. Aug. 29, 1864, disd. June 17, '65, disab.
Roberts J. W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65. sub.
Robertson S. F. e. Aug. 29, '64, m. o. July 8, '65.
Rourke L. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Russell E. S. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m.o. July 8, 1865, sub.
Steele C. W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Sweet Geo. W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1S65.
Steele Geo. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Smith H. C. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Sanders Wm. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Shea James, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Smith Geo. H. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, '65, sub.
Stillson A. L. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865, sub.
Smith O. F. e. Aug. 29, 1804, m. o. July 8, 1865, sub.
Turney M. J. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Turney D. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Vanston Samuel, e. Aug. 29, '64, m. o. July 8, '65, Corpl.
Wheeler V. M. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Wheeler Wm. E. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Wheeler M. ). e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Wright M. V. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Company E.
Musician Jos. W. Graham, e. Sept. 9, 1864, killed Oct.
9, 1864, by Sergt. Jas. Frost, at Chicago, 111.
Allen John H. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Ames H. B. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Brulin E. G. e. Sept. 9, 1864, m. o. July 8. 1865.
Cleveland Jas. e. Sept. 9, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Carter Amos, e. Sept. 9, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Hanson Walter, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Jewell L. A. e. Sept. 8, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Larsons Lars, e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Millard C. S. e. Sept. 8, 1864. m. o. July 8, 1865.
Tuthill lsa?c W. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Tynan M. e. Aug. 29, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Tynan John, e. Aug. 27, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
147th Infantry (one year).
The One Hundred and Forty-seventh Infantry
Illinois Volunteers was org.mized at Camp Fry, 111.,
by Col. Hiram F. Sickles, and mustered in for one
year, on the i8th and 19th of February, 1865. On the
2ist of February, moved, via Louisville, Ky., to Nash-
ville, Tenn., arriving 25th. On the 28tli, moved to
Chattanooga, and thence to Dalton, Ga., Col. Sickles
commanding post. On March 13th, went en e.xpedi-
tion to Mill Creek, on Cleveland road, and broke up a
nest of guerrillas. On 20th, under command of Major
Bush, went on an expedition to Spring Place. March
iSth, the regiment was assigned to First Brigade, Sec-
ond Division, Army of the Cumbeiland, Brig. Gen. H.
M. Judah commanding. On March 28th, went on an
expedition to Ringgold. On April 23d, moved to
Pullen's Ferry, on Coosawatchie River, and had several
skirmishes with the enemy, killing Major Edmeston,
their commander, and several officers and men. On
May 2d, the regiment moved to Reseca, Ga., and were
engaged in repairing the railroad. On May 12th Wof-
ford, commanding rebel forces in Northern Georgia,
surrendered his forces to Gen. Judah. May 14th, Col.
Sickles took CDmmand of the Brigade. Marched to
Calhoun, June 26th, and July 27th, moved to Marietta.
From thence, ordered to Macon, Ga.. and to Albany,
Ga., arriving July 31st. October 16th, brigade organ-
■ization dissolved. October 2Sth, ordered to Hawkins-
ville, Ga. November 25th, the regiment was ordered
to Savannah, Ga., 7iia Macon, Atlanta and Augusta,
where it remained, Uecember 31st, 1865. Mustered
out January 20th, 1866, at Savannah, Ga., and ordered
to Springfield, 111., where it received final pay and dis-
charge.
Lieutenant Colonel Giles H. Bush, com. Captain Co.
.\, Feb. 18, 1865. Promoted Major Feb. 20, 1865.
Pnmoted Lieutenant Colonel July 13, 1865. Mus-
tered out Jan 24, 1866.
Company A.
Captain Jas. H. Reynolds, com. First Lieutenant Feb.
18, 1865. Promoted Captain March 13, 1865. Mus-
tered out Jan. 20, 1866.
First Lieutenant E. B. Day, com. Second Lieutenant
Feb. 18, 1865. Promoted First Lieutenant March
13, 1865. Mustered out Jan. 20, 1866.
Secona Lieutenant Smith T. Harding, e. as First Ser-
geant Feb. 4, 1865. Promoted Second Lieutenant
March 13, 1865. Absent, sick at muster-out of
of Regiment.
Sergt. Judson A. Ellison, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20,
1866, as First Sergt.
Sergt. Geo. S. Rice, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. May 16,1865.
Sergt. Geo. Brown, e. Feb. 4, 1865. m.o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Sergt. Thos. R. Heald, e. Feb. 4, '65, m. o. Jan. 20, '66,
as private.
Corpl. B. Swarthout, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, '66,
as Sergt.
Corpl. Rainbow Charles, e. Feb. 4,'6s,m.o. Jan. 20, '66.
Corpl. Wm. Pliillips, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, '66.
Corpl. N.C. Haven, e. Feb. 4, '65, m.o. Jan. 20, '66, Sergt.
Corpl. Wm. B. Brown, e. Feb. 4, '64, m. o. Jan. 20, '66.
Corpl. S. L. Austin, e. Feb. 4, 1865, prmt. Com. Sergt.
Corpl. Geo. Thayer, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, '66.
Corpl. R. S. Tucker, e. Feb. 4. 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, '66.
Musician Wm. E. Jayne, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20,
1866, as private.
Musician Stephen Norcross, e. Feb. 4, 1865, prmt.
Principal Musician.
Wagoner Sam'l Tuttle, e. Feb. 4, '65, m. o. May 17, '65.
Alverson H. B. e. Feb. 4, '65, m. o. Jan. 20, '66, Corpl.
Austin John B. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.'
Ashford Alfred, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m.o. Jan. 20, i856.
Ashford Albert, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m.o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Burch Clinton, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Bristol L. D. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Brown Eli, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Bambo John. e. Feb. 4, 1865, ni. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Push Giles H. e. Feb. 4, 1865, !"• o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Chamberlain Albert, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, '66.
Countryman I. J. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Crosley F. L. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Corcoran Jas. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 23,1866.
Cushman Wm. G. e. teb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Cushman Chas. W. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Carr Geo. N. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Collins M.e. Feb 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20. 1866.
Davis Sidney, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Dobson Thos. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20 1866.
Dame Geo. E. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Dicker?,on J. L. e. Feb. 4, 186s, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866,
Earley W- J. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 26, 1866.
Evans Geo. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 26, 1866.
Fitzsimmons C. H. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 26, 1866.
Ford Royal F. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Oct. 30, 1865.
Fairgrieve Jas. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m.o. May 16. 1865.
Fisher Jus. M. e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Gleason S. E. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Giddings Jas. D. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
WINNETJAOO COUNTY WAR RECORD,
841
Graves Thos. e. Feb. 4. 1865, m. '•. Jan. 20, 1866.
Giibbins Wm. e. Ffb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Oilman John R. e. Frb. 4, 1865, deserted Feb 20,1865.
Grijumuit Thos. e. Feb. 4, '65, m. o. Jan. 20,'66, Corpl.
Gray Albert, e. Feb. 4, 1865, ni. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Grnnimon > ieo. H. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Oct. 21, 186^.
Higs;ins Timothy, e. Feb. 4, 1865. in. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
He^ild I. S. e. Feb. 4, 1S65, m. o. Jan. 20. 1866.
Hiuniiibotham Thos. e. Feb. 4, '65, m. o. Ian. 20, '66
Hali Robt. H. e. Feb. 4, 186:;, m. o. Fan. 20, 1866.
Halagus Henry, e. Feb. 4, 1865, in. o. Jan. 20, i866.
IngersoU Chas. H. e. Feb. 4, 1875, "'• °- Jan. 20, 1866.
Jones Wm. e. Feb. 4. 1865. m. o. Jan. 20, i866.
Johnson John C. e. Frb. 4, 1865, ni. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Jones Benj. e. Feb. 4. 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Kesler Jcremiih, c. Feb. 9, 1865, m. o. Jan 20, 1866.
Kellner Amos. e. Feb. 4, 1865 m.o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Ken edy Guy T. e. Feb. 5, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Levitt John, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, i866.
Lamont David, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Lake Geo. W. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
LetTingwell Bird, e. Feb. 4, '65, m.o. Jan. 20, '66. Corpl.
Lipp tt L. C. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Ian. 20, 1866.
Lighthart John H. e. Feb. 4, 1862. ni. o. Jan. 20, 1865.
Liahthart Henry, e. Feb. 4, 1862, m.o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Luther Wm. H. e. Feb. 4, 1866, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Monks Wm. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, iS66.
Murphv A. e. Feb. 4, 1S65, m. o. May. 17, 1865.
Montcrieff David, e. Feb. 4, 1865, disd. Sept. 15, 1865.
McNeles Andrew, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan 20. 1866.
Maynard H. H. e. Feb. 5, 1S65, sick atm. o.of regt.
Norcross L M. e. Feb. 4, '65, m.o. Jan. 2o,'65, Music'n.
Obiatt John S. e. Feb. 4, 1865, abs'nt sick at m. o.
Patterson Jas. H. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Putnam Hosea B. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m.o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Pamull E. C. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m- o- Jan. 20, 1866.
Pearson Chas. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Post W. W. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866, Corpl.
Pearson H. L. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Powers .•\lonzo, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Rhodes F. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Steere D. R. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Spurr Rufus, e. Feb. 5, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Scherer Edw. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. fan. 20, 1866.
Soverin John R. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Tiffany Wm. A. e. Feb. 4, 186^, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Timmins Thos. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Turner Wm. H. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20. 1865.
Upston Henrj-, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Wilson Wm. B. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m, o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Wood Guy, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
Williams John, e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Jan. 20, 1866.
153d Infantry (one year.)
The One Hundred and Fifty third Infantry Illinois
Volunteers was organized at Camp Fry, Illinois, by
Colonel Stephen Bronson, and was mustered in Feb-
ruary 27, 1865, for one year. On March 4th, moved, bv
rail, -Liia Louisville and Nashville, to TuUahoma, re-
porting to Major General Millroy. The regiment was
assigned to the Second Brigade, Defenses of Nashville
and Chattanooga Railroad. Brevet Brigadier General
Dudley commanding Brigade. In the latter part of
March, Major Wilson, with three companies, went on
a campaign into Alabama and returned. On July ist,
moved, via Nashville and Louisville, to Memphis,
Tennessee, and was assigned to the command of Brevet
Major General .A.. L. Chetlain. Was mustered out
September is, 1S65, and moved to Springfield, Illinois,
and September 24th, received final pay and discharge.
Colonel Bronson received appointment as Brevet Briga-
dier General.
Second Assistant Surgeon Amos Scott, com. May 27,
i86g. Mustered out Sept. 21, 1865.
Principal Musician A. M. Thompson, e. Feb. 14, 1865,
m. o. Sept. ai, 1865.
Company A.
CorpL Chas. C. Coon, e. Feb. 16, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21,
1865, as Sergt.
PRIVATES.
Brown Horace, e. Feb. 7, 1865, m.o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Beattie Daniel, e. Feb. 6, 1865, in. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Ballard Benj. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. Aug. 25, 1865.
Benton CJeo. e. Feb. 4, '65, on furlough since Aug. 25, '65.
Clay C. M. e. Feb. 16, 1865, m. o. Oct. 16, i86s.
Dana Jos. C. e. Feb. 7. 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Fackrele H. C. e. Feb. 16, 1865. m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Hobson Robt. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. July 20, 1861;.
Myers Uriah, e. Feb. 2, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Newton .K. J. e. Feb. 6,1865. m.o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Rhodes Henry, e. Feb. 2, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Swiverly Jacob, e. Feb. 20, 1865, m.o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Shaw R. R. e. Feb. 2, 1865, m. o. .^ept. 21, 1865.
Towsley M. D.e. Feb. 6, 1865, sick at ni. o.
Turner H. H . e. Feb. 22, '65, m. o. Sept. 21. '65, Sergt.
Toal .\. H. e. Feb. 16, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Trowbridge H. H. e. Feb. i, 1865. m. o. Sept. 21,1865.
Waddell Walter, e. Feb. 6, 1865, died July 15, 186.;.
Zilley Wm. C. e. Feb. 16, 1S65, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Company C.
First Lieutenant Michael J. Dunne, com. Feb. 27, 1865.
Mustered out Sept. 21, 1865.
Biesterfield Henry, e. Feb. 18, 1865, m. o. Aug. 12, '65.
Company F.
Bishop Albert, e. Feb. 22, 1865, deserted Feb. 26, i86^.
Gordon Charles, e. Feb. 22, 1865, deserted Feb. 26, i86«;.
Company G.
Captain Jonathan E. Brown, com. Feb. 27, 1865. Mus-
tered out Sept. 21, 1865.
First Lieutenant Alanson Fairham, com. Feb. 27,1865.
Mustered out Sept. 21, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Fernando C. Brown, com. Feb. 27,
1865. Mustered out Sept. at, 1865.
First Sergt. Wm. T. Noll, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Sept.
21, 1865.
Se.gt. Jos. W. Oilman, e. Feb. 14, '65, m.o. Sept. 21, '65.
Sergt. Chas. H. Stephens, e. F b. 4, 1865, m. o. Sept.
21, 1865.
Corpl. A. Wormian, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. May 25, 1865.
Corpl. Edw. A. Hartley, e. Feb. 4, 1865, sick at m. o.
Corpl. Geo. Gilbert, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, '65.
Torpl. Wm. M. Newkirk.e. Feb. 4, '65, m.o. Sept. 21. '65.
Corpl. H. F. Stewart, e. Feb. 4, '65, m. o. Sept. 21, '65.
Corpl. R. R. Dowd, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, '65.
Musician A. ^L Thompson, e. Feb. 14, 1865, promoted
Drum Major.
Musician T. V. Dowd, e. Feb. 14, '65, m.o. Sept. 21, '65.
Bates A. N. e. Feb. 28, 1865. m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Banks Ambrose, e. Feb. 8, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Burton Chester, e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Sept. 2i( 1865.
Bennett Horace, e. Feb. 7,1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Bander Geo. M. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Corm.irv Henrv, e. Feb. 17, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Cole Alfred, e. Feb. 18, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Cross A. B. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. Aug. 18, 186;.
Dwan James, e. Feb. 14, t865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Fountain James M. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, '65.
Fassett Louis, e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Flynn John, e. Feb. 14, 186,, sick at m. o. of regt.
Garner John. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. Aug. 30, 1865.
Granger A. E. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Garver M. M. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. June 8, 1865.
Hewett Fdw. e. Feb. 4, 1865. m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Hebanl Henry, e. Feb. 28, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Keys Fred. e. Feb. 8, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Makeaney Wm. H. e. Feb. 14, 186=;, m. o. Sept. 21, '65.
Morrill Dan. e. Ff-b. 8, 1865, m. o.'Sept. 21, 1865.
Matheson A. e. Feb. 14, 1865. m. o. June i, 1865.
Medbery Jos. N. e. Feb. 18, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Putnam iVL K. e. Feb. 14, 1865, on'sick furlough at m.o.
Price Wm. e. Feb. 22, 1865, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Pitts Harris, e. Feb. 14, 1865, sick at m. o.
Rittenhouse Amos, e. Feb. 8,'6s,on sick furlough at m.o.
Randall Wm. H. e. Feb. 14. 1865, m.o. Sept. 2:, 186s.
Simpson Chas. H. e. Feb. 22, 1865, m.o. Sept. 22, 1865.
Shumw,Ty R. e. Feb. 4, 1865, m. o. July 26, 1865.
Shane Juo. H. e. Feb. 7, 186=;, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Seaton Wm. S. e. Feb. 7, i866, m. o. Sept. 21, 1865.
Scott Amos, e. Feb. 28, 1S65, prmt- .-Assistant Surgeon.
Todd Geo. e. Feb. 8, 1865, sick at m. o.
Whipple B. T. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. June 8, 1865.
Company I.
First Lieutenant Philip Carr, com. Feb. 27, 1865. Re-
signed June 7, 1865.
342
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAB RECORD.
First Lieutenant Jacob T. Glenn, com. Second Lieu-
tenant Feb. 27, 1865. Promoled First Lieutenant
June 22, 1865. Mustered out Sept. 21, 1865.
Miscellaneous Infantry.
I7th Infantry.
Major Frank F. Pests, com. Captain Co. B, July 3,
i86i. Promoted Major April 25, 1862. Term e.\-
pired June 18, 1864.
22d Infantry.
Second Lieutenant Edward M. McCarty, e. as private,
June 25,-1861. Promoted Second Lieutenant Jan.
24, 1862. Resigned June 13, 1862.
23d Consolidated Infantry.
First Lieutenant Everitt H. Bierer, com. March 24,
1865. Mustered out July 24, 1865.
Sergt. Dewitt C. Harris, e. Mch. 2, '65, m.o. July 24, '65.
Sergt. Eustice C. Parker, e. Mch. 2, '65, m.o. July 24, '65.
C'orpl. Jno.W.Northcraft,e. Mch. 2, '65, m.o. July iq,'6s.
Hecker Jas. G. e. March 2, 1865, m. o. July 19, 1865.
King Ira A. e. Mirch 2, 1865, m. o. June 12, 1865.
Smith Robt. F. e. March 2, 1865, m.o. July 24, 1865.
25th Infantry.
Surgeon Jos. Blount, com. Jan. 15, 1862, Resigned Dec.
II, 1863.
Surgeon Inter S. Clark, com. First Assistant Surgeon,
March i, 1863. Promoted Surgeon Dec. 11, 1863.
Term expired Sept. 5, 1864.
26th Infantry.
Mcintosh Wm. a. Aug. 115, '62, disd. Apl.16,'65, term ex.
Messinger Jer. e. Jan. i, '64, m.o. July 20, '65, as Sergt.
28th Consolidated Infantry.
Wyatt Wm. e. Dec. 4, 1863, m. o. March 15, 1866.
33d Infantry.
:. Catlin F. A. e. Aug. 21, 1861, re-enlisted as vet., m. o.
Nov. 24, 1865.
Crocker C. M. r, Aug. 21, '61, disd. Aug. 19, '64, disab.
Corwin W. F. i. Aug. 21, 1861, m. o. Jan. i, 1863.
Mur ay F. M. e. Aug. 21, '61, died at home, Dec. 8, '63.
Whitney H. A. e. Aug. 21, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. m.
o. Nov. 24, 1865, as Sergt.
39th Infantry.
Nasson Adam C. e. Nov. 19, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. I, 1864, disd. Jan. 16, 1865.
42d Infantry.
Chaplain G. L. S. Staff, com. July 22, 1861. Resigned
Sept. 15, 1864.
54th Infantry.
Davidson Daniel, e. March i, 1865, m. o. Oct. 15, 1865.
Renow Wm. K. e. March i, 1865, m. o. Oct. 15, 1865.
Winter Jas. B. e. March i, 1865, m. o. Oct. 15, 1865.
55th Infantry.
Captain Nicholas Augasen, e. Oct. 8, 1861. Promoted
Corporal, then Second Lieutenant Co. H.July i,
1862. Promoted Captain Feb. 9, 1863. Mustered
out June 17, 1865.
64th Infantry.
Second Lieutenant Geo. A. Caine, com. Dec, 16, 1861.
Resigned Sept. 3, 1862.
64th Infantry.
Wright Richard, e. Sept. 14, '61, deserted April 14, '62.
65th Infantry (Three Months).
Hervin Wm. e. March 31, 1864, m. o. July 13, 1865.
McLean Locklin, e. March 31, 1864, m. o. July 13, '65.
Shephard Ewd. e. March 31, 1864, m. o. July 13, 1865.
108th Infantry.
Surgeon Azro E. Goodwin, com. Feb. 28, 1863, re-
signed Aug. 7, 1863.
I32d Infantry (100 Days).
Quartermaster Hiram R. Enoch, com. May 4, 1864,
m. o. Oct. 17, 1864.
Corpl. Henry E. Hurd, e. May 17, '64, m.o. Oct. 17, '64.
Corpl. Wm. A. Miller, e.May 19, 1864, m.o. Oct. 17, '64.
Wagoner Hiram H. Hurd, e.Mayi7,'64, m.o.Oct.17,'64.
134th Infantry.
Sergt. H. S. Quackenbush, e. May 20, 1864, m. o. Oct.
25, 1864, as ist Sergt.
Garland Edwin, e. May 12, 1864, m. o. Oct. 23, 1864.
Corpl. Wm. P. Brown, e. Mav 16, '64, m.o. Oct. 25, '64.
Andrews Dexter, e. May 14, 1864, m. o. Oct. 25, 1864.
JJame Geo. E. e. May 26, 1864, m. o. Oct. 25, 1864.
Farnum F. L. e. May 14, 1864, m. o. Oct. 25, 1864.
Fitzsimmons C. H. e. May 14, '64, m. o. Oct. 25, 1864.
Gerber Henry, e. May 11, 1864, m. o. Oct. 25, 1864.
Moore Clement, e. May 20, 1864, m. o. Oct. 25, 1864.
Torrey David, e. May 14, 1864, m. o. Oct. 25, 1864.
I40th Infantry (100 Days).
First Sergt. O-^car L. Davis, e. April 28, 1864, m. o.
Oct. 29, 1864.
Corpl. W. F. Sawyer, e. May 20, 1864, Oct. 29, 1864.
Paddock S. D. e. April 28, 1864, m. o. Oct. 29, 1864.
Thorn A. C. e. May 20, 1864, m. o. Oct. 29, 1864.
I42d Infantry (100 Days).
Mealio Aug. W. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 26, 1864.
Merrill W. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 26. 1864.
Monteith J. D. S . e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 26, 1864.
Murdaugh Thos. e. May i, 1864, died at Chicago,
Oct. 9, T864.
Shields Jos. W. e. May 2, 1864, m. o. Oct. 26, 1864.
Smith Jacob, e. May 24, 1864, m. o. Oct. 26, 1864.
Wilson Cha?. M. e. Mjiy 20, 1864, m. o. Oct. 26, 1864.
I51st Infantry (One Year).
Second Asst. Surg. Frederick Cole, com. March 13,
1865, m. o. Jan. 24, 1866.
I52d Infantry (One Year).
First Asst. Surg. Edward P. Catlin, com. Feb. 25, '65,
m. o. Sept. II, 1865.
154th Infantry (One Year).
Lieut. Col. Mo.ses C. Brown, com. Feb. 22, 1865, dis-
honorably dismissed May 18, 1865.
156th Infantry (One Year).
Kelly John, e. Feb. 24, 1865, deserted March 14, 1865.
Keele Wm. e. March 2, 1865, m. o. Sept. 20, 1865.
Mount Josiah H. e. March 2, 1865, m. o. Sept. 20, '65.
Mount James H. e. March 2, 1865, m. o. Sept. 20, '65.
Mooney Jas. C. e. March 2, 1865, m. o. Sept. 20, 1865.
William Levi M. e. March 2, 1865, sick at m. o. legt.
First Lieutenant Jabez Jennings, e. Feb. 28, 1865,
com. Second Lieutenant, but not mustered. Mus-
tered out Sept. 20, 1865, as First Sergeant.
Second Lieutenant B. G. Jennings, e. Feb. 28, 1865.
Promoted Second Lieutenant June 28, 1865. Mus-
tered out Sept. 20, 1865.
Corpl. A. C. Thorne, e. Feb. 28, '65, m. o. Sept. 28, '65.
Corpl. Enoch Marchant, e. Feb.28,'65, m.o. Sept. 28, '65.
Corpl. T. G. Holcomb, e. Feb. 28, '65, m.o. Sept. 28, '65.
Lane E. F. e. Feb. 28, 1865, m. o. Sept. 28, 1865.
Zimmer Jacob S. e. !< eb. 28, 1865, m. o. Aug. 25, 1865.
Zimmer Wm. W. e. Feb. ,28, 1865, m. o. Sept. 20, 1865
Corpl. Chas. Thomas, e. Feb.27, '65, m.o. Sept, 20, '65
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAK RECORD.
343
Sth Caralrf/.
The Sth Cavalry was organized at St. Charles, Sept.,
i86i,byCol. J. F. Farnsworth. October, moved to
Washington, D. C, and operated in Virginia, and was
in many engagements, incUiding Manasas, battles of
Peninsula, Aiitietam, etc , etc. Was in advance of
Army of Potomac in fall of 1862. Loss, 29 killed ; 71
wounded ; 20 missing. During the campaign of 186^,
was in some 25 engagements and skirmishes. Loss, 2^
killed; 115 wounded ; and 57 missing. Was mustered
out at Benton Barracks, Mo., July 17, 1865.
Company A.
Bucker Geo. W. e. Nov. 6, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Checney H. W. e. Jan. t6, 1864, m. o. June 20, 1865.
Harr J.>hn, e. Dec. 9, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
McManus Chas. e. Nov. 30, 1863. m.o. July 17, 1865.
Milligan John J. e. Jan. 22, 1864, trans, to Co. H, m.o.
Aug. 7, 1865.
Company B.
Andrew Andre, e. Oct. 3, 1864, m.o. July 17, 1865.
Atwood Hiram, e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17. 1865.
Allison Jas. B. e. Dec. 5, '63, disd. May 18, 1865, disab.
Bruner Jos. e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o July 17, 1865.
Collins Geo. e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Coop Peter, e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Chase [ohn, e. Oct. 3, 1S64. m. o. July 17, 1865.
Egaleston Wm. e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Gillespie Jas. e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Hatch A. e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17. 1S65.
Johnson Chas. e. Aug. 3, 1864, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Kent E. e. Feb. 9, 1865, m. o. July 8, 1865.
Ludwig Christian, e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Morse Job, e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Montgomery John. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m. o. July 17,1865.
Peterson Perry W. e. .Sept. 23, 1864, m.o. June 21, '65.
Wiley Jrihn M. e. Jan. 5, 1864, m.o. July 17, '65, Corpl.
Wright Chas. P. e. Oct. 3, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Wood Jas. e. Oct. 3, 1S64, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Company E.
First Lieutenant Amasa E. Dana, com. Second Lieu-
tenant Sept. 10, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant
Dec. 5, 1862. Resigned July 4, 1864.
Company F.
First Lieutenant Edward S. Smith, com. Sept. 18,1861.
Resigned.
Thatcher Wm. H. e. Oct. i, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Nov. 30, '63, died at Washington, D.C., Mch.12,'64.
Company L.
Captain Amasa E. Dana, com. Fir-t Lieutenant Sept.
18, 1861. Promoted Captain Jan. 8, 1862. Re-
signed July 5, 1862.
First Lieutenant Aaron W. Runkle,com. Second Lieu-
tenant Sept. 18, 1864. Promoted First Lieutenant
Dec. 18, 1864. Drowned June 28, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Austin C. Lowry, e. as First Ser-
geant Aug. 31, 1861. Promoted Second Lieutenant
Jan. 8, 1862. Resigned July 15, 1862.
Second Lieutenant Benj. F. Lee, e. as private. Pro-
moted Sergeant, then Second Lieutenant, Dec. 28,
1864. Mustered out July 17, 1865.
Sergt. Job Trenholm, e. Sept. 16, 1861, disd. Nov. 7,
1S61, disab.
Corpl. J. E. Richardson, e. Sept. 17, 1861, Sergt., disd.
Sept. 18, 1863, for promotion in col'd regt.
Corpl. Ltivi Obidere, e. Sept. 17, i86i,disd. Oct. 6, '62.
Corpl. Chauncy Consulus, e. Sept. 12, 1861, re-enlisted
as vet. Nov. 30, 1863, m.o. July 17, 186^, Sergt.
Bugler Jas. H. Ewing, e. Sept. 17, :86i. disd. Sept. 26,
1864, term e.x.
Aikens Henry, e. Sept. 7, 1861. re-enlisted as vet. Nov.
30, 1863, m.o. July 17, 1865, as Corpl.
Bealzler Peter, e. Sept. 14, 1861, re-enlisted as vet. Nov.
30, 1863, m.o. July 17, 1865, as blacksmith.
Calkins Frank, e. Aug. 30, 1861, m. o. Sept. 28, 1865.
Dunham Chas. L e. Sept. 12, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Nov. 30, 1S63, m. o. July 17, 1865, as blacksmith.
Davis John E. e. Sept. 16, 1S61, deserted Sept. i, 1862.
Dodge Sam'l S. e. Sept. 17. '61, disd. Aug. 12. '62, wds.
Evans Jas. e. Sept. 13, 1861, kid. Beyerly Ford, Va.,
June 9, 1863.
Evans David, e. Sept. 13, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Nov. 30, 1863, m.o. July 17, 1865, as Sergt.
Fish Robt. e. Sept. 16, 1861. died Junppt. 1862.
Fish Geo. e. Sept. 16, 1861, di»d. Sept. 86, 1864.
Force A. C. e. Sept 16, 1861.
Horton R. C e. Sept. 7, 1861, kid. Culpepper, Va.,
Nov. 8, 1863.
McLain L. e. Sept. 3, 1861, disd. May 10, 1862.
Piatt Chas. e. Sept. 17, 1861, disd. May 4, 1862.
Peasley Jas. J. e. Sept. 17, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Nov. 30, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Sniveley Wm. R. e. Sept, 17, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Nov. 30, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Armsby Jas. K. e. Sept. 30, 1861.
Archer Geo. e. Sept. 30, '61, m.o. Sept. 28, '64, as Sergt.
Burke Luke, e. Sept. 23. i86i, m. o. Sept. 28, 1864.
Baird Martin L. e. Sept. 26, 1861, m. o. Sept. 28, 1864.
Bennett Eugene S. e. Jan. 26, 1864, m. o. July 17,1865.
Briggs K. J. e. Feb. 26, 1864, died March 15, 1865.
Case Mahlon, e. Feb. i, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Dunning Geo. e. Sept. 26, 1S62, re-enlisted as vet. Nov.
30, 1863, m.o. July 17, 1865.
Greely Chas. F. e. Sept. 26, 1862, m. 6. June 21, 1865.
Hawn Peter, e. Sept. 26, 1S61, re-enlisted as vet. Nov.
30, 1S63, m. o. July I/, 1865.
Mesick Jacob, e. Nov. 10, 1863, m. o. July 17, '65, vet.
McConnell Orlando, e. Dec. 21, 1863, m.o. July 17, '65.
Piatt Augustus, e. Sept. 30, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. I, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865, as Sergt.
Packard James H. e. Jan. 26, 1864, m. o. July 17, '65.
Rumelhart Geo. e. Jan. 20, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Steele O. J. e. Sept. 26, 1861, disd. May 4 1862.
Strail H. A. e. Sept. 26, 1861, m. o. Sept. 28, 1864.
Steele Andrew J. e. Sept. 26, 1S61, m. o. Tune 21, '65.
Welty Calvin, e. Oct. i, 1862, re-enlisted as vet. Jan.
I, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865, as Co. Q. M. Sergt.
Welty Jeff, e. Jan. 20, 1862. m. o. July 17, 1865.
Company M,
Captain John Austin, com. Sept. i8, 1861. Resigned.
Captain Andrew J. Martin, cum. First Lieutenant
Sept. 18, 1861. Commissioned Captain March 2,
1862. Resigned Oct. 24, 1862.
Captain John Sargent, com. Second Lieutenant Nov.
1, 1862. Promoted First Lieutenant April 27, "64.
Promoted Captain July 8, 1864. Mustered out
July 17, 1865.
First Lieutenant Elisha Brown, e. as First Sergeant
Sept. 3, 1861. Proin'ted First Lieutenant March
2, 1862. Dishonorably discharged April 27, 1864.
First Lieutenant Adam C. Fowler, e. as veteran Nov.
• 30, 1863. Promoted First Sergeant ; then Second
Lieutenant, April 27, 1864. Promoted First Lieu-
tenant July 8, 1864. .Clustered out July 17, 1865.
Co. Q. M. Sergt. N. H. Putnam, e. Sept. 3, 1861, re-
enlisted as vet. Jan. i, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Sergt. Robt. Van Sickler, e. Sept. 3, 1861, disd. April
17, 1862, disab.
Sergt. H. M. Skinner, e. Sept. 3, 1861, disd. April 17,
1862, disab.
Sergt. Wm. Putnam, e. Sept. 3, 1861, re-enlisted as vet.
Jan. I, 1864, m. o. Tuly 17, 1865, as Sergt.
Corpl. Wm. H. Skee I, e. Sept. 17 1861, disd. Dec. 14,
1861, disab.
Collins Chas. e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. Oct. 18, '62, disab.
Crawford A. E. e. Sept. 17, 1861, vet., m. o. July 17,
1865, as wagoner.
Deane S. F. e. S pt.17,'61, vet., m. o. July I7.'65. Sgt.
Deane Chester H. e. Sept. 17, '61, vet., m. o. July 17,
1863, as Corpl.
Fuller E. B. e. Sept.12,'61, vet., m.o. July 17, '65, Corpl.
Fader N. e. Sept. 9, 1861, vet., m. o.July 17, '65, Coipl.
Fisher David A. e. Sept. 3, 1861, m. o. Sept. 28, 1864,
as ist Sergt.
John Kimb.-r L. e. Sept. 9, i36i, vet., m. o. July 17,
1865, as ist Sergt.
John Cephas D. e. Sept. 9. '61, disd. Dec 7, 61, disab .
McCulloch Isaac, e. Sept. 11, '61, m.o. Sept. 98, '64, Sgt.
McCasger Tyrus, e. Sept. 3, '61, disd. May.;62, disab.
Morrell Amos, e. Sept. 3, 1861, disd. in 1863, disab.
Pickering G. M. e. Sept. 17, 1861, sick at m. o. regt.
Swan Lyman, e. Sept. 11, '61, disd. Dec. 29, '62, disab.
Stiles Wm. D. e. Sept. 17, '61, disd. Sept. 26,'62, disab"
344
WINNEBAGO COTTNTT WAR RECORD.
Taffemire W. e. Sept. 3, 1861, vet., m. o. July 17, 1863.
Temple Chas. A. e. Sept. 15, '61, disd.Feb.i5,'62,disab.
Young Alexander, e. Sept. 17, 1861, ni. o. July 17, '65.
Boyingtoii Robt.e. Sept. 23, '6i, disd. Mch. 6, '62,Sergt.
Brown Frederick, e. , m. o. .Sept. 28, 1864. Sergt.
Babcock lienj. e. Sept. 23. i86r, disd. Oct. 7, '62, disab.
Burritt Rufiis F. e. Feb. 3, 18^4, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Bryan Wm. N*.e. Dec. 14, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Barber H. E. e. iJec. 3, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865
Brown Hiram K e. Nov 20, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Barnes Horace, e. Feb. 23, 1864, died June 2, 1864.
Burdick Henry, e. Sept. 2, 1863, kid. Nov. 11, 1864.
Bartleit Frank 1'. e. Sept. 2, 1864, m. o. June 21, 1S65.
Clark Jas. M. e. Sept. 25, 1861, m. o. Sept 28, 1864.
Crooker Philip, e. Sept. 25, '63, disd. Oct. 18, '62, disab.
Campbell Frank H. e. Sept. 21, 1861, re-enlistcd as Vet.
Crooker A. E. e. Sept. 23, 18 'i, m. o. Sepr. 28, 1864.
Capp John F. e. Sept. 20, 1861. disd. in 1863, disab.
Carson A. I . e. Feb. i, 1864, Vet., ni. o. July 17, 1865.
Clark Benj. >■. Sept. 5, 1864, m. o. June 22, 1865.
Chamberlain Day W. e. Spt. 5, 1864, m. o. June 21, '65.
Dennison E. A. e. Sept. 25, t86i, disd. Feb. 28, '—, disab.
Davis Wm. H. e. Feb. 8, 1864, disd. May 26, 'es.Ui.ab.
Easterley H. E. e. Sept. 3, 1864, kid. Nov. 11, 1864.
Felmy Wm. S. e. Sept. 23, 1861, disc, in 1862, disab.
Fuller E. B. e. Feb. 26, 1865, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Goodwin Wm., e. Aug. 24, 1864, m. o. June 21, 1865,
Blacksmith.
Hoges Edward, e. Sept. 30, 1861, died in Libby prison.
Dec. 30, 1863, while pri>oner of war.
Hewlett Luke, m.o. Sept. 28, 1864.
Hodges Benj. e. Feb. 20, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Heraenway S. S. e. Dec. 2, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Hays Geo. e. Feb. 22, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Hemenway Jacob C. e. Dec. 2, 1863, disd. Sept. 13,
1864, disab.
Hewett .Samuel, e. Sept. 2. 1864, m. o. June 21. 1865.
Hudson Wm. e. Sept. 23, 1864, m. o. June 21, 1865.
Kesler Michael, e. Sept. 20, '61, disd. Feb. 15, '62, disab.
Knapp Chas. e. Dec. 28, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Kilburn Jas. H. e. Sept. i, 1863, m. o. June 21, 1865.
Luck Christian, e. Sept. 6, 1864, m. o. June 21 1865.
Mills Geo. e. Sept. 22, 1861, m. o. i.Jct. 11, 1S65.
Makepeace Wm. e. Sept. 20, 1861, Vet., m.o. July 17, '65.
Neimier Henry, e. Sept. 6, 1864, m. o. June 21, 1865.
Preston Chas. W. e. Sept. 22, 1861, died at Anderson-
ville prison, March 8, 1864.
Palmer Chas. e. Dec. 8, 1863, Vet., m. o. July 17, 1865,
as Corpl.
Peterson H. e. Feb. 10, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Presc<jtt Chas. e. Jan. 29, 1864, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Page Russell L. e. Sept. 2, 1864, m. o. June 21, 1865.
Redington C. H. e. Sept. i, '64. m. o. June2i, '65, sub.
Redington D. A. e. Aug. 16, 1864, m. o. June 21, 1865.
Skinner M. H., disd. in 1861, disab.
Smith Jos. S. e. Dec. q, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865, Vet.
Smith Wm. H. e. Dec. 21, 1863, m. o. July 17, 1865.
Stile Wm. D. e. Dec. 28, 1863, m.o. July 17, 1865, Vet.
Seaton Willard, e. Dec. 30, 1863, died Fee. 27, 1864.
^chinimelpfliming F. e. Sept. 6, 1S64, m. o. June 21, '65.
Turkington Saml A. e. Sept. 23, '61, disd. Dec. 4, '62.
Wilson Jared, e. Sept. 20, 1S61, Vet., m. o. July 17,
1865, as Sergt.
Wattles Orlando, e. Sept. 2, '64, m. o. June 21, '65, sub.
Baker Jno. W. e. Sept. 28, 1864, rejected.
Dillen Jas. e. Sept. 26, 1864.
Driver M. e. Sept. 6, 1864.
Field Thos. R. e. Sept. 26, 1864.
Fisher Wm. e. Sept. 2, 1864.
Hays Gilbert, e. Sept. 6, 1864, sub.
Lombard Thos. e. Sept. 26, 1864.
Rhoades M. e. Jan. 5, 1864.
11th Cavali'f/.
Company I.
Courson Edwin B. e. Feb. 8, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30. 1865,
as Corpl,
Courson Jno. R. e. Feb. 8, '65, m o. Sept. 30 '65, Corpl.
Frazer Wm. B. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Hopkins Luther S. e. Feb. 8, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Hoffman A. M. e. Feb. 6. 1865, m. o. May 17, 1865.
Latham Henry A. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Levings Thos. G. e. B'eb. 6, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Levings Geo. W. e. Feb. 6, 1865, in. o. May. 27, 1865.
Mohr A. D. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Mayes Jas. O. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Ogilby Edw. L. e. Feb. 6, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Rorebeck C. H. e. Feb. 6. 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, i86s.
Taylor Jas. M. e. March 3, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Wheeler Frank, e. March 3, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Company L.
Atkinson John M. e. Feb'. 8, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Bettis Augustus, e. Feb. 8, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865,
Bryden Jas. W. e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Brown S. e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Briggs Frederick, e Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Barker Hiram A. e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30. 1865.
Collins Henrv, e. Feb. 7, i8fis m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Condon M. A. i. Feb. 27, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30 1865.
Cook Samuel, e. Feb. 6, i86s, m. o. May 18, 1865.
Corcoran John e. Feb. 27, i86s, m. o. Sept. 30. 1865.
Eastman Samuel, e. Feb. 17, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Gokev Jos. e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Henry Merritt,e. Feb. 7. 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Martin Horace E. e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o, Sept. 30, 1865.
Moon Theron, e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. May 24, 1865.
Twogor^d R. B.e. Feb. 7, 1865, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Wishl.u'-n H. C. e. Feb. 7, 1865. ™- o- Sept. 30, 1865.
Whalen Daniel, e. Feb. 27, 1865, m. o, Sept. 30, 1S65.
lltJi Cavalry,
Company M,
McMillan D. L. e. Feb. 14, 1865, m.o. Sept. -^o, 1865.
McRae Martin, e. Feb. 13, 1S65, m. o. Sept. 30, 1865.
Darville John C. e. Jan. 25, 1865, m.o. May 23, 1865.
Eaton Jos. e. Jan. 31, 1S65. disd. May 21, 1865.
Emer.son D. F. e. Jan. 31, 1865, disd. May 21, 1865.
McAvoy Frank, e. Jan. 25, 1865.
Pitney Wm. J. e. Feb. 13, 1865.
12th Cavalry.
Was organized by Col. Aro Voss, in March, 1862, and
mustered into the United States' service Feb. ist, and
proceeded immediately to Virginia and immediately
participated in several minor engagements, in all of
which the Twelfth came out victorious. At Harper's
Ferry, when the pbice was entirely surrounded, the
Twelfth had permission to cut through the enemy's
lines, which it did, and surprised and captured 112
wagons loaded with ammunition and provisions, 100
beef cattle, and 50 prisoners. The loss of the regiment
in this brilliant feat was 50 men. The Twelfth was
constantly on the move, harrassing the enemy and cap-
turing its trains, and picking up small bands of the
enemy. It shared in the following battles : Aldie,
June 20, 1863 : Upperville, June 22d ; Gettysburg,
luly ist, 2d, and 3d ; Boonesboro, July 5th ; Burevola,
July 7th; Funkstown, luly 8th; Williamsport, July
loth ; Jones' Cross Roads, July nth ; Falling Waters,
July 17th; Chester Gap, July 28th; Rappahannock, Aug.
3d ; Culpepper C. H.. Aug. 24th ; Raccoon Ford,
Aug. 27th ; Madison C.H., Sept. 12th ; Germania Ford,
Oct. loth ; Stevensburg, Oct. 13th ; and Brentsville,
Oct. 17th.
At the close of the campaign of 1863, the reg ment
was sent to Chicago, to recruit and reorganize. It im-
mediately filled to maximum, and on Feb. 9, 1864, left
for St. Louis, 1,250 strong. It thence moved to New
Orleans, and joined in the Red River expedition. Was
in action at Alexandria, La., Markville. Yellow Bayou,
and Morgamzia. Returned to New Orleans June ist ;
thence to Napoleonville, La. In October, marched to
Baton Rouge. Was moved to Vicksburg, Memphis,
into Arkansas, and through Northern Louisiana, and
back to Memphis, Feb. 14, 1865, during which time it
had many encounters with the enemy, doing noble ser-
vice for its country. Here 120 officers and 200 men left
the ret;iment. on account of expiration of service, and
the regiment was reduced to eight companies.
The Twelfth continued to do efTective service until
May 29, 1866, when it was mustered out of service.
Company A.
Captain Philip E. Fisher, com. First, Lieutenant Feb.
28, 1862, Promoted Captain Sept. 4, 1862. Dis-
charged for promotion Jan. 27, 1864.
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR RECORD.
345
First Lieuteii.iiit Jos. E. Fisher, c. as private Dec. i,
1861. Prom. -ted Sergeant, then First 1-ieiitenant,
Jan. 27, 1S64. Term expired March 2, 1865.
Second Lieutenant Frederick ISlaisdell, e. as First Ser-
geant Dec. 14, 1861. Promoted Second Lieutenant
Sept. 4, 1862. Resigned Jan. 2, 1864.
Sergt. H. B. Woodruff, e. Nov. 29, 1861, disd. March
10, 1864, disab.
Sergt. E. H. Newton, e. Jan. s,'62, trans. Inv. Corps.
Sergt. Ashley Ale.\ander, e. Dec. 5, 1861.
Sergt. Horace Pomeroy, e. Dec. 13, '61, deserted June
29, 1862.
Corpl. Wni. C. Redline,c Nov. 29, 1861, vet., m. o.
ALirch I, 18(16.
Corpl. Henry .Adams, e. Jan. 8, 1862, vet.
Corpl. F. Hubar, e. Dec. 4, 1861, vet.
Corpl. Fred. Repper, e. Dec. 15, i86i,disd. May, 1862.
Corpl. Edgar Davis, e. Jan. 7, 1862, vet., discharge
not given.
Corpl. .\.B.F.Uohbs, e.Dec.9, '61 .deserted June 27, '62.
Bugler H. C. Schermerhorn, e. Feb. 18, 1862, prmt.
Chief Bugler, m. o. by order War Dep..
Bugler Henry Harte, e. Dec. 15, 1861.
Farrier H. M. Blaisdell, e. Dec. 8, '61, disd. Nov., '62.
.A,ldrich Alva C. e. Nov. 8, 1861, disd. Feb. 19, 1863.
Abbott Jas. e. Dec. 26, 1861, vet.
Bessy Anson, e. Nov. 13, 1861, deserted June i, 1862.
Byers John, e. May 29, i86t, m. o. March 17, 1865.
Collins Wm. e. Jan. 7, 1861, vet., deserted Dec. 5, '65.
Davis Oliver, e. Feb. 28, 1862.
Dyer Edw. e. Feb. 28, 1862. disd. March, 1863.
Gleason Jesse A. e. Nov. 8, 1861, deserted June, 1862.
Hollenbeck T. e. Nov. 16, 1861.
Hollenbeck Rival, e. Nov. 8, 1861, vet.
Handlin Franklin, e. Dec. 4, 1861.
He.ild 1 hos. K. e. Feb. 2, 1862, prmt. veterinary surg.
Henderson Zina, e. Feb. 28, 1862, disd. March, 1863.
Kathan N. H. e. Feb. 28, '62, disd. Mar. 10, '64, disab.
Mother S. V. e. Nov. 8, 1861, disd. May, 1862.
Mitchell Noah, e. Nov. 16, 1861, died Sept. 4, '62. wds.
Murry John, e. Jan. i, 1862.
Perry Geo. W. e. Dec. 21, '6i, vet., disd. Oct. 2,'64, 'disab.
Rodd Wm. e. Jan. 6, 1862. disd. October, .862.
Ready Jos. C. e. Jan. 27, '62, vet., deserted July 22, '65.
Stedsan D. Ll. e. Dec. 23, 1861, m. o. March 20, 1865,
term ex.
Winters Wm. e. Dec. 16, 1861.
Wyman Chas. L. e. Jan. 8, 1862.
Atkins Louis, e. Dec. 24, 1861, disd. Aug. 28, 1864.
Bcown Elliott L. e. Dec. 12, 1863, m. u. Alay 29, 1866.
Cormin Odel H. e. Dec. 12, 1863, died Oct. 8, 1864.
Champaign P. e. Aug. 12, 1862.
Crowel H. C. e. Aug. 9, 1862, m. o. June 16, 1865.
Campbell Wm. A.e. Dec. 11, '63, deserted July 25, '65.
Cutler James, e. Dec. 8, 1S63, m. o. May 29, 1866.
Conger John D. e. Dec. 11, '63, disd. April 13, '65, disab.
Dean Martin, , disd. Dec. i86z, disab.
Davis Isaac F. e. May i, '62, disd. April 30, '65, disab.
Dobson (ieo. e. Sept. 20, 1862.
Dobiron Thos. e. Sept. 25, 1S62.
Eastman Thos. V. e. Dec. 20, 1863.
Elliott Merritt, e. Dec. 12, 1863, m. o. May 29, 1866.
Fisher John L. e. Aug. 12, '62, disd. April 18, '63,di'ab.
Griffin Geo. W. e. April 4, '62, died Aug. 18, 1864, wds.
Grimes Jas. T. e. Aug. 19, 1862, m. o. June 16, 1865.
Goodwin Silas, e. Aug. 19, 1862.
Handlin John, e. May 1,62, disd. April 3o,'6s,term ex.
Haight W. S. e. Aug. 27,1862, disd. March, 1863, disab.
Hill Lorenzo, e. Dec. ii, 1863, drowned Dec. 22, 1864.
Knapp Chas. L. e. March 5, 1863.
Loun Perry, e. June 16, 1862, died at New Orleans,
Jan. 5, 1865.
Lyon Oliver, e. April.
McClintock Robt. e. Sept. i, m. o. June 16, 1865.
Nash Chester, e. Aug. i, 1862, m. o. June 16, 1865.
Patten James, e. Aug. 12, 1862.
Patten Samuel, e. Aug. 29, 1862, in. o. June i6, 1865.
Patten Lyman E. e. Aug. 29, 1862, m. o. June 17, 1865.
Parks |ohn F. e. Nov. 3, 1862, prisoner of war since
May, 1863, no other record.
Proudfit A. J. e. June 16, 1862, deserted March, 1863.
Pittinger Chas. e. Dec. 11, 1863.
Rose 1 hos. C. e. Sept. 29, 1864, m. o. June 16, 1865.
Rogers Oscar, e. Aug. 16, i86?, died April 26, 1864.
Snare Chas. W. e. Nov. i, 1862, m. o. Oct. 31, 1805.
Smith C. e. Oct. 30, 1862, deserted Dec. 5, 1865.
Sanders Thos. e. Dec. 12, '63, disd. July i6, i864,disab.
Townsend Samuel B. e. Aug 16, 1862, died Aug. 11, '64.
Tunison David K. e. Nov. i, 1862, m. o. June i6, 1865.
V.tndyke John C. e. April 25, 1S63.
Ward N. S. e. Aug. 26. 1862.
Williams Lester W. e. June 23, '62, deserted Aug. 20, '64
Company D.
Bouck L. D. e. Dec. 29, 1863, disd. for disab.
Fitzgerald Matthew, e. April 6, '63, m. o. April 5, 1866.
Smith Henry, e. April 5, 1863.
Company K.
Hamlin David P. e. Nov. 21, '63, deserted July 21, 1865.
12th Cavalry.
Hamsil Robt. e. Dec. 17, 1863, m. o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Higgenbottom J. e. Dec. 28, '63, deserted Sepi, 11, '64.
Jenkins Frank, e. March 12, 1863. disd.
Lee Samuel, e. March 12, 1863, deserted.
Maxwell Thos. e. Dec. 9, 1863, m. o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Neil Thos. e. Dec. 9, 1863.
Naylor John, e. Dec. 28, 1863.
Orr F. D. e. Dec. 28, 1863.
Quackenbush Geo. W. e. Dec. 15, 1863.
Randall Jonas M. e. Dec. 29, 1863.
Yotall Moses, e. Dec. 15, 1863.
12th Cavalry (Consolidated.)
Second Lieutenant Robert Canfield, e. as Corporal.
Mustered out May 29, 1866, as Sergeant. Com-
missioned Second Lieutenant, but not mustered.
17th Cavalry.
The Seventeenth Cavalry Regiment Illinois Volun-
teers was organized under special authority from the
War Department, Lssued Aug. 12, 1863, to Hon. John
F. Farnsworth. The rendezvous w.is established at St.
Charles, Kane County, Illinois. By the approval of
the Governor of the State, the Colonelcy of the Regi-
ment was offered John L. Beveridge, then Major in the
Eighth Illinois Cavalry, who assumed the work of re-
cruitment and organization, and opened the rendezvous
Nov. 15, 1863. bight companies were mustered in Jan.
22, 1864. Four other companies were mustered in and
the organization of the Regiment completed, Feb. 12,
1864. The Regiment was sent to Jeffers' n Barracks,
Mo., where 1,100 sets of horse equipments were re-
ceived. From there it moved to Alton, 111., and re-
lieved the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry in guarding the
Military Prison at that place.
Early in June following, the First Battalion was or-
dered to St. Louis, and the Second Battalion followed
immediately. Both being fully mounted were ordered
at onci to North Missouri District. The First Battal-
ion, Lieutenant Colonel Denuis J. Hynes commanding,
proceeded to .^t. Joseph, Mo., where the commanding
officer reported in person to General Fisk, commanding
District of North Missouri. The Second Battalion,
Major Lucius C. Matlack commanding, was assigned
by General C. B. Fisk to the post ot Glasgow, Mo.
From this period, for four months, the three battalions
were separate and remote from each other, and so ex-
tended were their movements, that it is impossible to
follow them in this brief sketch. They seem to have
been all over Missouri after Price's and Jeff. Thompson's
Guerilla Bands, following them into Kansas and Arkan-
sas., doing most efficient service.
Major Philip E. Fisher, com. Jan. 27, 1864. Resigned
Feb. 18, 1864.
Company B.
Corpl. Mat. Decota, e. Nov. 17, 1863, m. o. Dec. 15,
1865, Farrier.
Company D.
Hunt Wm. J. e. Sept. 28. 1864, m. o. July s, 1865.
Hunt Robt. e. Sept. 28, 1864, m. o. July 5, 1865.
Vascoy Van Rennsalaer, e.Sept.28,'64, m.o. July 21, 65.
346
WINNEBAGO COUNTY WAR KECOED.
Company E.
Henry Jas. e. Sept. 24, 1864, m. o. Julj- 21, 1865.
Murray John, e. Oct. 7, 1864, m. o. Oct. 14, 1865.
Turner J. e. Oct. i, 1864, m. o. Oct. 5, 1865.
Walze Geo. e. Oct. i, 1864, m. o. Oct. 5, 1865.
Company F.
Smith J. R. e. Dec. 29, 1863, m. o. Nov. 13, 1865.
Brock Geo. e. Sept. 24, 1864, disd. term expired.
Isbell H. H. e. Sept. 24, 1864, m. o. May 15, 1865.
Orr F. D. m. o. Dec. 18, 1865, blacksmith.
Company H.
Captain .\Vm. Hebard, com. Jan. 22, 1864. Resigned
Dec. 9 1864.
First Sergt. Alvin S. Butler, e. Nov. i, 1863, m. o.
Dec. 15, 1865, Sergt.
Com. Sergt. Chas. H. Simpson, e. Nov. i, 1863, disd.
Dec. 24, 1864, Sergt.
Laird Albert G. e. Dec. 15, '63, m.o. Dec. 15, '65, bugler.
Young Chas. Hen. y, e. Dec. 12,63, deserted Sept. 22, '65.
Yoxall Moses, died May 2, 1864.
Company K.
Captain Gen. Stratton, com. Jan. 25, 1864. Resigned
May 17, 1865.
Second Li> utenant Albert S. Phelps, e. as Sergeant.
Promoted Second Lieutenant June 29, 1865. Mus-
tered out Dec. 22, 1865.
First Sergt. Sidney G. Smith, e. Dec. ii, 1863, m. o.
Dec. 22, 1865, Sergt.
Q. M. Sergt. Wm. Whitbeck, e. Dec. i, 1863, First
Sergt., disd. for promotion in Col'd Troops.
Com. Sergt. Egbert Phillips, e. Dec. 30, 1863, m. o.
Dec. 22, 1865, Co. Q. M. Sergt.
Sergt. John G. Willis, e. Jan. 4, '64, m.o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Sergt. Frank R. Hill, e. Jan. 2, 1864, disd. lor promo-
tion in Colored Troops.
Sergt. Parker D. Smith, e. Dec. 9, 1863, m. o. Dec. 22,
1865, private.
Sergt. Edwin C. Carpenter, e. Jan. 2, 1864, m.o. Dec.
22, 1865, private.
Corpl. Van Buren DaLee, e. Jjn. i, 1864, m. o. Dec.
22, 1865, private.
Corpl. Edward Dyer, e. Jan. 4, 1864, m.o. Dec. 22,
1865, Corpl.
Blacksmith M. M. Wyllys, e. Dec. 30,1863, shot by
City Marshal at Ft. Scott, Kan., while trying to
arrest him.
Bugler John M. Clark, e. Jan. 2, '64, m. o. Dec. 22, '65.
Saddler John Taylor, e. Jan., ,prmt. Regt. Saddler.
Allen Jas. M. e. Jan. i, 1864, deserted Sept. ii, 1864.
Bryden E. P. e. Dec. 25, 1863, m. o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Babcock B. F. e. Dec. 11, 1863, m.o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Handy Sam'l A. died at Marengo, 111., Feb. 21, 1864.
Higgenbottom John, deserted Sept. 11, 1864.
Keeney Don A. m. o. Dec. 22. 1865.
Morey L. Austin, f. Jan. i, 1864, m. o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Mill Wm. E. e. Jan. 2, 1864, m.o. Dec. 22, 1865, Sergt.
Maxwell Thos. e. Dec. 9, 1863, m.o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Matthews H. L. e. Jan. 2, '64, m.o. Dec. 22, '65, Corpl.
Moore E. B. e. Jan. 2, 1864, detached m. o. regt
Orr F. D. trans, to Co. F, m. o. Dec. 18, '65, bl'ksmith.
Pells Sam'l E. e. Jan. 2, 1864, m.o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Quackingbush Geo. W. m. o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Randall J. M. m. o. Dec. 22, 1S65.
Strong J. D. e. Jan. 2, '64, m.o. Dec. 22, '65, Wagoner.
Squire Wm. H. e. Jan. i, 1864, m. o. Dec. 22, 1865.
Wood C. B. Jan. 2, 1864, m. o. Dec. 22, 1865, Sergt.
Wood Henry G. e. Jan. 2, 1864, m.o. Dec. 22, '65, Sergt.
Burmore H. H. e. Oct. 6, 1864, m. o. Nov. 8, 1865.
DeGroff L. e. Oct. 6, 1864, m. o. Oct. 14, 1865.
Ehrler Adam, e. Oct. i, 1864, m. o. Oct. 14, 1865.
Company L.
Neil Thomas, e. Dec. 9, 1863, disd. Jan., 1866.
Hoover Jacob O. e. Sept. 23, 1864, rejected.
Seal Peter, e. Sept. 6, 1864, m. o. May 23, 1865.
Miscellaneous Cavalry,
2d Cavalry.
Mack John P. e. Aug. 8, '61 , re-enlisted as Vet., Jan. 5,
1864, m. o. Nov. 22, 1865, as Farrier.
Prescott Wm. e. Aug. 8, '61, re-enlisted as Vet., Jan. 5,
1864, m. o. Nov. 22, 1865.
Taylor Geo. e. Aug. 8, 1861, re-enlisted as Vet., Jan. 5,
1864, m. o. Nov. 22, 1865, as Sergt.
14th Cavalry.
Robbins H. M. e. Oct. 5, 1862, m. o. July 8, 1865, was
prisoner of war.
15th Cavalry.
Captain Oscar H. Huntley, com. Captain Co. K, ist
111. Cav., Dec. 9, 1861. Transferred to this Regi-
ment. Resigned Dec. 8, 1862.
First Lieutenant Thos. A. Stevens, com. Frst Lieuten-
ant Co. K, 1st 111. Cav., Dec. 9,1861. Transferred
to this Regiment. Mustered out at consolidation.
Second Lieutenant Wm. Hebard, com. Second Lieuten-
ant Co. K, ist 111. Cav., Dec. 9, 1861. Transferred
to this Regiment. Mustered out at consolidation.
1st Artillery,
Company A.
Chandler Geo. e. Auff. 31, 1864, m. o. July 10, 1865.
Eaton C. B. e. Sept. 28, 1864, m. o. May 21, i 65.
Parson F. L. e. Sept. 28, 1864, m. o., May 21, 1865.
Rudd A. M. e. Sept. 27, 1864, m. o. July 10, 1865.
Rockwell Jos. e. Sept. 28, 1864, m. May 21, 1865.
Company B.
Anderson John L. e. Jan. 4, 1864, m. o. July 10, 1865.
Burns Geo. B. e. Dec. 23, 1863. m. o. July 10, 1865.
Crampton F. e. Dec. 23, 1863, m. o. July lo, 1865.
Crampton N. e. Dec. 23, 1863, m. o. July 10, 1865.
Cammon F. D. e. Dec. 23, 1863, m. o. July 10, 1865.
Hall Melville, e. Dec. 23, 1863, m. o. July 10, 1865.
Lake L. F. e. Dec. 23, 1863, detached at m. o. of regt.
Rising H. C. e. Dec. 23, 1863, m. o. July 10, 1865.
Rudd Henry, e. Jan. 5, 1864, m. o. May 19, 1865.
Company H.
Abrahamson John, e. Feb. 25, '62, disd. Oct.7.'62,disab.
Buckland J. J. e. Jan. 15, 1862, vet., m.o. June 14, 1865.
Benson Henk, e. Feb. 15, 1862, vet., m.o. June 14,1865.
Giefer Henry, e. Jan. 28, 1S62, disd. Oct. 20, 1862, disab.
Johnson John A. e. Jan. 13, 1862. deserted.
Oberg P. A. e. Jan. 15, 1862, vet., m. o. June 14, 1865.
Peter John, e. Feb. 25, 1862, vet., m. o. June 14, 1865.
Wallburg Lewis, e. Jan. 15, '62, vet., m.o. June 14, 1865.
.Anderson Henry, e. March 4, '62, deserted April 6, '62.
Linwall Aug. e. March 5, 1862, deserted.
Pearson Olof, e. March 5, 1862, disd. Oct. 20, '62, disab.
Company I.
McRee James, e. Feb. 3, 1862, disd. Feb. 10, 1863.
Peters Wm. e. Jan. 9, 1862, vet., m. o. July 26, 1865.
Ramsdell D. H. e. Jan. 19, '62, vet., m. o. July 26, '65.
Allen Benj. e. Oct. 4, 1864, m. o. July 26, 1865.
Smith Anthony, e. March i, 1862, vet., m.o. July 26, '65.
Atwood H. C. e. Jan. 5, 1864.
Fenton S. e. Sept. 28, 1864, rejected.
Linds H. e. Sept. 28.
2cl Artillei^y.
First Assistant Surgeon Giles P. Ransom, com. March
18, 1862. Resigned Jan. 23, 1863.
Company G.
Fiist Lieutenant Wm. C. Whitney, com. Second Lieu-
tenant Oct. 5, i8bi. Promoted First Lieutenant
Dec. 31, 1861. Mustered out Feb. 22, 1863.
Forbes Wm. e. Sept. i, 1861, m. o. Oct, 4, 1864.
Goold Thos. G. e. Sept. i, 1861, m. o. Oct. 4, 1864.
Hall Alfred, e. Sept. i, 1861, as vet. m. o. Sept. 4, 1865,
artificer.
Holland Chas. e. Sept. i, '61, disd. Jan. 20. 1862, disab.
Kingsbury Wm. e. Oct. i, '61, disd. July 29, '62, disab.
Gould G. F. e. Dec. 2.'6l,vet., prmt. Regt. Q. M. Sergt.
Mcintosh H. e. Jan. 20, 1864, m. o. Sept. 24, 1865.
Scoonmaker John, e. Jan. 20, 1864, m. o. Sept. 24, 1865.
'•j.s<(»#*
CHERRY VALLEY
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 34:9
The war ended, peace concluded and the union preserved in its integ-
rity, those sons of Winuebag-o who had vohinteered tlieir lives in defense of
the unity of the government who were spared to see tlie triumph of patriot-
ism over treason, returned to their homes to receive grand ovations of wel-
come and tributes of honor from friends and neighbors who had eagerly and
zealously followed them wherever the fortunes of war directed. Exchanging
their soldiers' uniform for citizens' dress, they fell back to their old voca-
tions — on the farm, at the forge, the bench, in the shop, and whatever else
their hands found to do. Brave men and honorable always; and no class of
Winnebago's citizens are entitled to greater respect and consideration than
the volunteer soldiery, not only because they were soldiers in the hour ot
the country's peril, but because in their association with their fellow-citizens
their walk is upright, and their honesty and character without reproach.
HISTORICAL RECORD— Continued.
OLD settlers' association. /
oil ! a wondertnl stream is the river of Time,
As it runs tlirougli the realm of tears,
With a faultless rhythm, and a musical rhyme,
And a broader sweep, and a surge sublime,
As it blends in the ocean of years.
—B. F. Taylor.
Forty-three years have come and gone since white men began to exercise
dominion in the Rock River Valley — erst the home of the Winnebagoes
and their kindred. These years have been full of changes, and the visitor
of to-day, ignorant of the Past of the county, could scarcely be made to re-
alize that within these years there has grown up a population of about
3(>,00(>, that, in all the accomplishments and acquirements of life, are as far
advanced as are the people of the counties of the older States. Schools,
churches, colleges, palatial-like dwellings, beautiful grounds, large, well-cul-
tivated and productive farms, as well as cities, towns and busy manufact-
ories, have grown up and occupy the hunting grounds and camping places
of the Winnebago tribe of red men, and in every direction there are evi-
dences of wealth, comfort and luxury. There is but little left of the old
land-marks. Advanced civilization and the progressive demands of revolv-
ing years have obliterated all traces of Indian occupancy, until they are only
remembered in name.
The beginning of these changes was made in August, 1834, when
Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake landed their little canoe at the
mouth of Kent creek. In June of the following year, the entire population
numbered only eleven persons, but during the remainder of that year, and
notably during 1836 and up to 1840, immigration was rapid. All the
arrivals up to and during the year 1840, are classed as "Old Settlers," and
as such are recognized by the "Rockford Society of Early Settlers." When
the census was taken in 1840, the population had increased to 4,609, while
the election returns for that year show that a total of 1,114 votes was cast
for President. [Of these votes, 789 were cast for General Harrison, 321 for
Martin Van Buren and four for the candidate of the Abolition party.]
Of the voters and heads of families representing the population of
1840, many removed from the county to find homes in other states, while
the spirits of others were called to join the immortal throng gathered.
19K ■
350 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
around the great white throne in the far-away realms of eternal life and
light. Others preferred to remain in the homes they commenced in the
lands of the Winnebagoes, and, by the goodness and mercy of God, have
grown in wealth, wisdom and nsefnlness, nntil in their declining years, they
are respected and honored patriarchs in the community that owes much of
its character to the influences they established in pioneer times.
It; is not strange that among the pioneer settlers of any new country a
deep-seated and sincere friendship should spring up, that would grow and
strengthen with their years. The incidents peculiar to life in a new coun-
try — the trials and hardships, privations and destitutions — are well calcu-
lated to test not only the physical powers of endurance, but the moral,
kindly, generous attributes of inanhood and womanhood. They are times
that try men's souls and bring to the surface all that there may be in them
of either good or bad. As a rule, there is an equality of conditions that
recognizes no distinctions. All occupy a common level, and as a natural
consequence, a brotherly and sisterly feeling grows up that is as lasting as
time, for "a fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind." With such a com-
munity, there is a hospitality, a kindness, a benevolence and a charity un-
known and unpracticed among the older, richer and more densely popu-
lated commonwealths. The very nature of their surroundings teaches them
to ''feel each other's woe, to share each other's joy." An injury or a wrong
may be ignored, but a Mndly^ generous^ charitahle act is never forgotten.
The memory of old associations and kindly deeds is always fresh. Raven
locks may bleach and whiten ; full, round cheeks sinken and hollow ; the
tires of intelligence vanish from the organs of vision ; the brow become
wrinkled with care and age, and the erect form bowed with accumulating
years, but the true friends of the "long ago" will be remembered as long as
life and reason endure.
The surroundings of pioneer life are well calculated to test the "true
inwardness" of the human heart. As a rule, the men and women who first
occupy a new country — who go in advance to spy out the land and prepare
it for the coming of a future people — are bold, fearless, self-reliant and
industrious. In these respects, no matter from what remote sections or
countries they may come, there is a similarity of character. In birth, edu-
cation, religion and language, there may be a vast diflerence, but imbued
with a common purpose — the founding and building of homes — these dif-
ferences are soon lost by association, and thus they become one people,
united by a common interest, and no matter what changes may come in
after years, the associations thus formed are never buried out of memory.
in pioneer life there are always incidents of peculiar interest, not only
to the pioneers themselves, but which, if properly preserved, would be of
interest to posterity, and it is a matter to be regretted that the formation
of "Old Settlers' Associations" has been neglected in so many parts of the
country. The presence of such associations in all the counties of our
common country, with Avell kept records of the more important
events, such as dates of arrivals, births, marriages, deaths, removals, nativ-
ity, etc., as any one can readily see, would be the direct means of preserving
to the literature of the country, the history of every community, that, to
future generations, would be invaluable as a record of reference, and a
ready method of settling important questions of controversy. As impor-
tant as these Associations are admitted to be, their formation has not yet
become general, and there are many counties in the Western country whose
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 351
earlv history is entirely lost because of such neglect and indifference. Such
ori^anizations would possess facts and figures that could not be had from
any other source. Aside from their historic importance, they would serve
as a means of keeping- alive and further cementing old friendships, and
renewing among the members associations that were necessarily interrupted
by the innovations of increasing population, cultivating social intercourse,
and creating a charitable fund for such of their members as were victims of
misfortune and adversity.
Actuated by the purposes suggested in the last ])receding paragraph,
the pioneers of Winnebago County organized a society in 1870, that is
known as the Rockfokd Society of Early Settlers. The first formal
meeting was held in the City Council rooms, January 10, 1870, when a con-
stitution and by-laws were adopted, and signed by such of the old settlers
as were then present. Some other preliminary arrangements were perfected,
when the Society adjourned until the foUowiug Saturday, January I5th,
when the following officers were elected:
President — Thatcher Blake; Vice President — David S. Penfield;
Seeretari/ — Duncan Ferguson; Treasurer — A. C. Spafford; Directors —
John Lake, Thomas D. Robertson, and David D. Ailing.
At the time of this election twenty-six of the Old Settlers had signed
the constitution and thus become members of the society. A residence in
the county of thirty years, and the payment of three dollars as an initiatory
fee, and one dollar per year as annual dues, are qualifications of member-
ship. If at any time a further sum is needed for any specific charitable
purpose, the Board of Directors are clothed with power to levy an assess-
ment upon the members. The object of the Society is thus defined in
article two of the constitution:
''It is designed to be a moral and benevolent association for the pur-
pose of cultivating social intercourse among its members, and creating a
fund for charitable purposes in their behalf. To collect and preserve
information connected with the early settlement and subsequent history of
Winnebago County; and to perpetuate the memory of those whose sagacity,
energy and enterprise, induced them to settle here and to encounter the
toils and privations incident to tiiose who first settle in a new country."
Article three provides that "this Society shall be composed of those
male residents who settled in this county previous to the year 1840, and
who are now residents of the town of Eockford and vicinity. That here-
after thirty years residence in the town of Rockford or vicinity, will be a
suffici(!nt qualification for any such settler becoming a member of this
Society."
There are now (October, 1877) ninety-two members, whose names,
date and place of birth, and date of arrival in the county, are given below:
Thatcher Blake, Turner, Maine, March 16, 1809; August, 1834.
Ephraim Wyman, June 26, 1809, Lancaster, Mass.; Sept. 20, 18S5.
Chas. Works, Nov. 24, 1803, Westmoreland, N. H.; Feb. 20, 1836.
Henry W. Loomis, Deckertown, N. J.; May 15, 1836.
Alonzo Carey, Onondaga Co., N. Y.; March 17, 1836.
Chas. P. Brady, Dec. 14, 1814, Bucks Co., Pa.; November, 1836.
Wm. P. Dennis, Ipswich, Mass.; March 14, 1837.
D. D. Ailing, April 27, 1813, Westfield, Conn.; Oct. 10, 1837.
John Fitch, April 18, 1804, Groton, Mass.; Nov. 23, 1838.
John Lake, March 20, 1821, England; Nov. 1, 1887.
362
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
H. H. Silsby, Nov. 1, 1817, Ackworth, IS^. H.; April 27, 1837.
Asa W. Weldon, Yarmoiitli, Mass.; July 11, 1838.
Wait Talcott, Connecticut; Oct. 1, 1888.
Thomas D. Robertson, March 4, 1818, Scotland; December, 1838.
E. II. Baker, Ferrisburg, Vt.; Oct. 6, 1838.
*David S. Penlield, April 3, 1812, Pittsford, Vt; April 12, 1839.
S. C. Fuller, Hawksborough, Canada; May 9, 1839.
James Gilbert, Ts'ew York City; May 20,'l839.
Jason Marsh, Woodstock, Yt; June 22, 1839.
H. N. Baker, Ferrisburg, Yt.; Oct. 6, 1838.
*Willard Wheeler, Yermout; Oct. 6, 1839.
Wm. J. Cole, Richmond Co., N. Y.; July 31, 1839.
Phineas Howes, Sept. 25, 1817, Putnam Co., N. Y.; June 26, 1839.
A. C. Spafford, Adams, N. Y.; October, 1839.
Austin Colton, Jan. 30, 1817, Northampton, Mass.; May, 1839.
Duncan Ferguson, Nov. 15, 1809, Glasgow, Scotland; Nov. 3, 1839.
Bethuel Houghton, Cheshire Co., N. H.; Nov. 1, 1836.
*Chas. I. Horsman, Boston, Mass.; Dec. 1, 1836.
Thos. Jefferson Jewell, Oct. 24, 1816, Genesee Co., N. Y.; Oct. 1, 1838.
* William Twogood, Rensselaer, N. Y.; July 3, 1837.
William R. Wheeler, May 31, 1810, Onondaga Co., N. Y.; Sept., 1835.
Nathaniel Wilder, June 30, 1794, Lancaster,"Mass. ; March, 1837.
Isaiah Lyon, Woodstock, Conn.; June, 1838.
A. I. Enoch, July 24, 1819, Davton, O.; Sept., 1835.
Homer Denton, Dec. 19, 1812, Otsego Co., N. Y.; May 1, 1837.
Elias Martin, Oct. 21, 1796, Peacham, Vermont; Jan. 20, 1839
William Jones, May 18, 1811, Monmouth, Wales; June 30, 1837.
: R. K. Town, June 3, 1802, Granville, N. Y. ; June, 1842.
William H. Higbee, June 30, 1826, Shipton, Lower Canada; Oct, ,1839.
Selden M. Church, March 4, 1804, East Holden, Conn.; Nov., 1836.
Alfred Hart, March 19, 1797, Huntington, Suffolk Co., Long Island,
N. Y.; June 6, 1839.
John Spafford, Nov. 26, 1821, Adams, Jefferson Co., N. Y.; May, 1839.
Richard Montague, August 2, 1799, Hadley, Hampshire Co., Mass. ;
July 1, 1835.
*Spooner Ruggles, August 1, 1795, Hardwick, Worcester Co., Mass.;
Mav 1, 1836.
' Thomas B. Talcott, April 17, 1806, Tolland Co., Conn.; July 4, 1835.
William Peters, Sept. 14, 1809,County Antrim, Ireland; Oct. 10, 1837.
Hiram R. Enoch, Jan. 2, 1828, Warren Co., Ohio; May 10, 1836.
Duncan H. Ferguson, Sept.. 1835, Scotland; Nov. 3, 1839.
Henry P. Reddington, April 6, 1814, Walpole, N. H.; May, 1836.
Benjamin Franklin Cunningham, Feb. 3, 1820, Petersborongh, N. H.;
May, 1839.
Samuel Cunningham, August 15, 1815, Petersborongh, N. II.; July
11, 1839.
Goodyear A. Sanford, August 28, 1814, Ilamden, Conn. ; Aug. 31, 1837.
James M. Wright. June 1, 1809, Norwich, Mass.; Sept., 1838.
Ephraim A. Herrick, April 28, 1817, Andover, Mass.; June 6, 1836.
John II. Thurston, March 8, 1824, Glens Falls, N. Y.; March 12, 1837.
*Eliphalet Gregory, April 23, 1804, Danbury, Fairlield Co., Conn.;
June 17, 1835.
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 353
Ephniim Snniner, Feb. 9, 1808, Windham, Vermont; Oct. 19, 1835.
^Jonathan Wilson, Sept. 2, 1795, Yarmoutli, Mass.; Feb. 18, 183G.
Eichard 8. Stiles, Aug. 15, 1811, Nelson, N. H.; March 29, 1837.
Karris Barnum, Sept. 8, 1819, Danbnry, Conn.; Jnne 9, 1838.
Nathaniel Belknap, March 4, 1805, Worcester, Mass.; August, 1838.
Jesse Blinn, Angiist 9, 1809, Bennington, Vermont; July, 1838.
Elijah L. llerrick, Sept., 1820, Andover, Essex Co., Mass.; May, 1838.
Asa G. Spalding, August 10,1809; Sheshequin, T>radford Co., Pa.;
April 1836.
Anson S. Miller, Sept. 24, 1810, Lee, Oneida Co., N. Y.; July 15, 1840.
Daniel Dow, March 16, 1816, Perthshire, Scotland; March, 1841.
^Michael Burns, Oct. 31, 1818, Ireland; Aug. 10, 1840.
^Robert J. Cross, Oct. 1, 1803, Newbure^h, N. Y.; August, 1835.
Alfred Hart, Jr., Dec. 13, 1835, Torapkms Co., N. Y.; Sept., 1839.
Lewis S. Swezey, Aug. 5, 1812, Oneida Co., N. Y.; Sept., 1839.
"•■'Reuben Barrett, Oct. 1, 1798, Barre, Worcester Co., Mass.; Oct.l, 1839.
Mowry Brown, Jan. 29, 1814, Burrillville, Providence Co., R. I.;
April 28, i838.
Louis Jackson, July 15, 1815, Cecil Co., Maryland; July 28, 1839.
John Piatt, March 8, 1813, New Haven, Conn.; May 11, 1837.
'-■'M. H. Regan, Cobourg, Canada West; March 1, 1840.
Cyrus F. Miller, Feb. 13, 1815, Lee, Oneida Co., N.Y.; April 23, 1841.
*Henry O. Brown, Aug. 18, 1812, Madison, N. Y.; July, 1840.
G. Tullock, July 4, 1815,Rothiermay,P)anffshire, Scotland; Dec. 1,1841.
William Halley, June 4, 1818, Fifeshire, Scotland; June 12, 1838.
Darius Fish, Aug. 30,1800, Washinirton Co., N. Y^; Sept. 30,1839.
*John W.Dyer, Aug. 22, 1813, Sto^ckton, Chautauqua Co., N. Y\;
April, 1838.
C. H. SpofFord, Jan. 6, 1819, Adams, N. Y.; May 30, 1839.
Eli Hall, Nov. 5, 1803, Wallingford, Conn.; 1837.
Levi M. Taft, Nov. 12, 1817, Cortland Co., N. Y^.; June 4. 1837.
Geo. S. Haskell, Oct. 4, 1838, Jiockford, Winnebago Co., III., Oct.
4, 1838.
Hiram Richardson, Aug. 24, 1818, Orange Co., Vermont; Oct. 10, 1837.
Let'i Moulthro'p, March 16, 1841, NeiD MiJford, Winnehago Co.,
III.. March 16, 1841.
M. H. Trainer, Sept. 30, 1818, Riga Town, Monroe Co., N. Y.; June 25,
1838.
J. Taylor, Sept. 13, 1808, SaHsbury, Hillsboro Co., N. H.; April, 1836.
Sylvester Talcott, Oct. 14, 1810, Rome, Oneida Co., N. Y.; Feb. 26,1836.
Elijah B.Guilford, April 21,1824, Spencer, Worcester Co., Mass.;
Oct. 19, 1835.
James B. Martyn, Dec. 28, 1801, Parish of Provus, County of Corn-
wall, England; April, 1836.
Two of the members whose names appear in this list, George S. Has-
*Since the organization of this Association of Old Settlers, thirteen of them, those
whose names are marked with an asterisk (*), have passed away. D. S. Peulield died May
20, 1873; Willard Wheeler, April 24, 1876; C. I. Horsman, March 2, 1875: William Two-
good, April 18, 1874; Spooner Ruiro-les, March 7, 1874; E. Gregory, February 16, 1876; J.
Weldon, March 16. 1874; M. Burns, May 16, 1877; K. .T. Cross, February lo, 187;l; R.
Barrett, Nov. 30, 1872; M. H. Regan, February 27, 1875; H. O. Brown, February 27, 1875;
J. W. Dyer, November 11, 1875; George S. llaskell, August 23, 1876; Peter Grimes, Feb-
ruary 16, 1876.
354 HISTOflY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
kell and Levi Moulthrop, were born in the county, but as will be seen by
reference to article three of the constitution, already quoted, are fully
entitled to membership. A lars^e majority of the others came here before
1840, and ha\ e seen the wild prairies disappearino; year by year before the
well-directed iiidustries of themselves and their followers. Nearly all of
those whose names appear in this catalogue are well preserved intellectually
and physicalh^, and surrounded by all the necessarj- comforts of life, and in
their declining years are enabled to take life easily — to sit beneath their own
vines and fig trees, and enjoy the accumulations of the industry and econ-
omy of their pioneer days.
RIVER IMPROVEMENT.
For many years the improvement of Rock River so as to render it nav-
igable was an enterprise that enlisted a good deal of attention from the
people, not only of Winnebago, but of all the counties along the banks of
this beautiful tributary of the Mississippi. In Winnebago, and especially
among the people of Rockford, a river improvement fever would break out
every once in a while, meetings would be called, resolutions adopted, com-,
mittees appointed, petitions drafted, signed and forwarded to Congress,
and great plans inaugurated for this purjjose. And indeed, it seems almost
a pity that after so much time, money and labor spent in this direction, the
efforts were not rewarded as the people hoped. But then, there is this con-
solation — what they failed to accomplish by these efforts and expenditures
was at length compensated by damnxing the river, building up large man-
ufacturing establishments, and securing railway communication with every
part of the country.
Failing to obtain assistance from the national government to aid in the
improvement of Rock River, the Legislature of Illinois was invoked, and a
special law passed by that body, about 1845-6, to enable the people of the
several counties along the river, from Rock Island to the Wisconsin State
line, to vote for or against the assessment of a river improvement tax. The
measure carried in all the counties, a tax was assessed and collected, and
the work commenced. At Rockford, a part of the money so collected was
expended in 1846, in attempting to cut a channel through the rapids where
the dam has since been built. Work was also commenced at Sterling and
other points, but was hnally abandoned. What money remained on hand was
paid back jpro rata to the counties from whicti it had been collected, and
public attention generally turned to railroad enterprises. Kow the river is
dam'd from Milan, near its confluence with the Mississippi, far up into
Wisconsin.
EDrCATIONAL.
The first schools taught in the county were family or subscription
schools; the first house erected especially for school purposes ^^as built in
Guildford township, in the spring of 1837, and was a round log structure,
12x20 feet in size, and in which a school was commenced in May of that year,
by Miss Charlotte Greggs, of St. Charles, Kane County. The house was
built and the school sustained by five of the settlers : A. R. Dimmick,
Theopholis Watkins, Powers, Jacob Enoch and Henry Enoch, all of
whom are now dead. There was neither loft nor ceiling in this school
house, which stood one and a half miles east of the present school house in
District No. 1, in that township. The next school was commenced in Rock-
HISTORY OF WINNEliAGO COUNTY. 355
tbrd the same year, by Miss Eunice J^rown, wlio subsequently married Mr.
J. G. Lyon, lier school liouse was a loo^ cabin on the East Side. About'
the same time, JVIiss Frances Bradford also commenced a school on the
West Side. The building she occupied was a small log cabin belonging to
the late William E. Dunbar, and stood a short distance south of the resi-
dence of S. C. Withson, in South Rockford. In 1838, Miss Sarah A. Dan-
forth taught on the West Side. In 1889, Miss Wood was a West Side
teacher. In the winter of 1838-9, James M. Wight taught in a building on
the corner of Main and Market streets, East Side, on the ground now occu-
pied by the American House. In 1839, Miss Hyde taught in the same
building. In the same year ('39), Andrus Corbin taught in a house owned
b}' himself, on the West Side. But it is unnecessary to continue a detailed
mention of the names of those who engaged in " teaching the young idea
how to shoot," in the pioneer days of Rockford or Winnebago County, for
their name is legiou. But it is due alike to them and their patrons to say
that they all made good records as educators. To name all of those who
engaged in the honorable profession of teachers from the date of the open-
ing of the first school, in 1837, to the time when lands became taxable, thus
enabling the people to sustain free public schools, would be a work of
su})ererogation. As the population increased in town and country, schools
increased in like proportion. As the years increased, and the people in-
creased in wealth, the old log school houses, with their mud and stick chim-
neys, puncheon floors, and puncheon seats, greased paper windows, and
other primitive accommodations, went down before those more in keeping
with the progressive march ot time. But the old school houses and the old
teachers are kindly remembered by many of the leading men of the county.
In them the foundations of usefulness were laid that have enabled many of
their scholars to go out in the world and make honorable records among
the learned men of nations.
In no one interest of the country have forty years marked such wonder-
ful and gratifying changes as in the educational. Forty years ago a knowl-
edge of the higher branches could only be obtained at the colleges of the
older States — Yale, Harvard, Amherst, Dartmouth and their cotemporaries.
Xow, there is not a school in Winnebago County that does'not furnish ad-
vantages almost e(jual to those ofl'ered at the beginning of the last half cen-
tury by the colleges named. All over the Winnebago prairies neat and
comfortable school houses are to be seen, w^hile the teachers are proficient
and competent to impart instruction in any of the branches necessary to
any of the ordinary pursuits of life. In reality, they are the people's col-
Jegef(, and no system is dearer to the people than the system that supports
and maintains them. To make war upon this system would only be making
war upon our nation's life.
The following is a statistical exhibit of the school interests, as shown
by the Superintendent's report for the year ending Sept. 30, 1877 :
jS'umber of males under 21 years of age, 7,070; number of females do.,
7,287; total, 14,357. Number of males between 6 and 21 years, 4,893 ;
females, do., 5,155; total, 10,048. Number of school districts, 130. Num-
ber of districts having school five months or more, 128; average number of
months school sustained 7.7. Number of male pupils enrolled, 3,451;
females, do., 3,549; total number of pupils enrolled, 7,000. Number of
male teachers employed, 63 ; females, 221 ; total number of teachers em-
ployed, 284. Grand total number of days attendance, 790,677 — equal in
356 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
school time, /. e.^ nine months of four weeks each, and five days to a week,
to 4,392 years and 117 days. Highest wages paid any male teacher, $150;
do. paid any female teacher, $80; lowest wages paid any male teacher, $25;
do. paid any female teacher, $13.50; average wages paid male teachers,
$50.73; do. paid female teachers, $30.31. Total receipts during the year,
^72,600.25; expenditures, $55,114.90; leaving a balance on hand of
$17,575.35. Estimated value of school property, $117,585; apparatus,
$1,987; libraries, $727. Principal of township fund, $41,077.19; county
fund, $5,980.06; total of school assets, $167,356.25. Number of applicants
for certificates examined, 286; number of first-grade certificates issued, 10;
second grade, do., 195; number of applicants rejected, 81. The number of
days employed by, the Superintendent in visiting schools, was 120; in the
examination of teachers and ofiice work, 80 ; total, 200.
The present County Superintendent of Schools is Mary L. Carpenter,
who was one of the ten lady superintendents selected in November, 1873.
December 28-9, 1874, a meeting of the State Association of County Super-
intendents was held in Chicago. Five of these lady superintendents had
been appointed to read papers and lead in their discussions. These ap-
pointments included Mrs. Carpenter, and the manner in which they, acquit-
ted themselves, the ease, grace, fluency and force wilh which they treated
the subjects that had been submitted to them, was highly complimented in
the report of State Superintendent Etter. On the 28-9th of December,
1875. another meeting of this association was held at Rock Island, "when
Mrs. Carpenter read an essay on the '"Best Method of Bringing Directors
up to Their Duty," and submitted the following conclusions: "First, bring-
ing County Superintendents up to their duty. We should be active our-
selves; never dilatory; prompt to meet all engagements; ready to co-operate
with school oflicers in the performance of their duties, thereby inspiring
them with our enthusiasm. Divide the time in supervision between teach-
ers and school oflicers."
County Associations of School Ojficers. — This is a movement in which
Mrs. Carpenter has taken a warm and active interest. A meeting of the
Association was held at Rockford, Feb. 24, 1876, which was' largely
attended, not only by school oflicers and teachers, but by citizens; As
showing the esteem in which Mrs. Carpenter is held, we quote the fol-
lowing resolution from a series adopted by that meeting :
''Resolved, That we, as School Directors of Winnebago County, tender
to the County Superintendent of Public Schools, our hearty thanks for that
energy and zeal which she has manifested in the interests of our public
schools."
The standing of Mrs. Carpenter, and her efficiency as a superintendent,
compared with the other superintendents of the State, is unexceptionably
good, and is thus complimented by State Superintendent Etter, in a letter
to H. R. Enoch, Esq., editor of the Rockford Journal:
'-'■Dear Sir: Yours of September 29th came duly to hand, and in
reply will say :
"1st. The reports that have been made to this department by Mrs. M.
L. Carpenter, the Superintendent of schools of your county, since I have
assumed the duties of the office, have been correct in every particular.
Every item of information required has been freely and correctly given.
The financial statistics balance to a cent, and show ability on her part in
this work. jFor the year ending Sejptember 30, 1875, only two rejports out
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 359
of the one hundred and two were absolutely correct^ and of these two, Mrs.
Carpenter's was one. * * , * * * *
"2cl. So far as I am able to judge from the work I have seen of Mrs. Car-
penter's, both at Teachers' Institutes and Teachers' Association, I am clearly
of the opinion that she is well qualified for the position she now holds. I
consider her one of the best County Superintendents in the State,
"3d. Her standing- among the leading teachers and with the superin-
tendents, so far as I know, is high, and she is regarded as a thorough and
ethcient officer. She has attended three meetings of the Superintendents'
Association, and has been called upon to read a paper at each one of them.
Last year she was elected Secretary of the State Teachers' Association,
which of itself is some evidence of her standing among the class of teachers
who are members of the Association. <^
"Hoping that I have answered your interrogations sufficiently full, I
remain. Yours truly,
"S. M. Ettee.
Instruction.
''Suft FuUioJi
BIOGKAPHICAL.
Mrs. Mary L. Carpenter was born in Greenbush, N. Y., in 1839.
"When (piite young her parents removed to Rochester, and in one of the
public schools of that city, she received her early education. She pursued
a classical course of studj' at the Fort Plain Collegiate Institute, graduating
with much honor at the age of seventeen years. Coming West soon after,
she taught the village school of Waterloo, Iowa. In 1857 she was married,
and has since resided in Rockford. Mrs. Carpenter has ever taken an
active interest in the cause of education, and for several years was a success-
ful teacher in the public schools of this city. In 18*^3 she was elected
County Superintendent of Schools, which office she has filled with much
ability; the 136 schools in the county have been visited by her faithfully;
shQ has studied the wants of each, rooting out objectionable methods of
instruction and introducing new systems. During the past four years she
has also had charge of the Normal department in the Rockford Female
Seminary. In reports to the State Department of Public Instruction, her
promptness and correctness have met the flattering approbation of its offi-
cers. The following we extract from a letter written by one of the promi-
nent educators in this State: "Tne high culture and great energy which
Mrs. Carpenter possesses, eminently fit her for the Suj^erintendency. The
esteem in wliich she is held by her fellow teachers is shown by her election
as Secretary of the State Teachers' Association."
KELIGIOUS INTERESTS
Have been carefully fostered, not only in the city of Rockford, but in all
the towns and villages of the county as well as in the country districts.
In a community so thoroughly alive to educational interests as the people
of Winnebago have always proved themselves to be, it could not be other-
wise. The first religious sermon preached on Kent creek (near Rockford)
was rendered by Rev. Aratus Kent (brother of Germanicus), a Congrega-
tional minister, of Galena, on the second Sunday of June, 1835, on which
occasion the log house of Germanicus Kent was converted into a temple of
worshij). Commencing in January, 1870, a local historian furnished the
Rockford Gazette a series of articles on early events, and among ofher inci-
20
360
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
dents referred to this meeting. He said: '-The city was more Godly and
righteous then than it is now, and i;pon this occasion every one came out
to church. There were no backsliders in those days, and when the minister
began his prayer on that bright Sabbath morning, he had the entire village
for an audience. They mustered eleven in all, including three ladies — Mrs.
Kent, Mrs. Haight and her sister, and eight gentlemen — Germanicus Kent,
Thatcher Blake, Albert Sanford, Daniel 8. Haight, his hired man, and a Mr.
Yanzandt (Kent's millwright). The sermon was an impressive, though not
a learned one. Aratus Kent was a thoroughly good man, although not an
eloquent preacher, and his simple, missionary way of exhortation suited the
pioneers better than faultless rhetoric. This gentleman died a few years
ago in Galena."
This primitive meeting was the beginning of better thino^s — the dawn-
ing of that religious sentiment that has grown with increasing years, until
Kockford has become pre-eminently a city, and AVinnebago a land, of
churches and religious light. In the city of Rockford there are eighteen
church editices, as folio w^s: *First Methodist Episcopal, First Congrega-
tional, First lA)tist, Emmanuel, Church of the Christian Union, Second
Congregational, St. James Catholic, Court Street Methodist Episcopal, First
Presbyterian, Sw^edish Evangelical Lutheran, Westminster Presbyterian,
State Street I3aptist, '-^Third Street Methodist Episcopal, Swedish Methodist
Episcopal, Woodruff's Addition Methodist Episcopal, South Rockford
J^ethodist Episcopal, Disciples, and German Lutheran — IS.
In the outside districts there are twenty-six church edifices, represent-
ing as many different religious organizations. They are distributed as
follows :
Cherry Yalley, 3; N'ew Milford, 3; Harlem, 2; Roscoe, 2; Eockton,
2; Shirland, 2; Harrison, 2; Owen, 1; Burritt, 2; Durand, 2; Pecatonica,
2; Winnebago, 3; Seward, 1 — 26. Added to the Rockford churches makes
a grand total of 44 church edifices in Winnebago County.
The Rockford church edifices are handsome, substantial buildings, and
in style and finish well in keeping with the character o± the people by
whom they were built and by whom they are maintained. The country
church edifices are for the most part frame buildings, Ijut neat and tasty in
finish. The Scotch Presbyterian church, erected at Argyle during the sum-
mer of 1877, is one of the best in the country, and its stjde, architecture
and finish would do no discredit to aristocratic congregations of large cities.
This temple ot worship is built of handsomely dress.ed stone, and will cost
about $12,000.
The seed sown by Rev. Aratus Kent, in his brother's log cabin on the
bank of Kent creek, on the second Sunday in June, 183.5, grew and ripened
into the fullness of a plentiful harvest. Until then the stillness of the
country of the Winiiebagoeshad never been broken by the voice of prayer
and praise, unless the songs the birds sang were offered as a tribute to the
glor}' of the Great Architect whose hand unfolded these rich prairies and
reared their grove-covered hill-sides. Since Rev. Aratus Kent preached to
the Rockford population of eleven persons, all told, a population of 30,000
has grown up in Winnebago County, who
" sing of God, the mighty source
Of all things, the stupendous force
On which all things depend ;
*United in 1877 as the Centennial Church'of Rockford.
flISTOBY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 361
"From whose right arm, beneath whose eyes,
All period, power, and enterprise
Commence, and reign, and end."
Methodism was established in the county when the Enochs settled in
what is now Guilford townshij), in 1835. Preaching, however, was unknown
until the following June, in the early part of that month. Rev. Mr. Pills-
bury, a very prominent Methodist divine in those days, came along in the
discharge of the duty assigned him by the annual conference, and stopped
with the family of Henry Enoch, the father of Abraham I. and Hiram R.,
now well known and prominent business men of Ilockford. Pour o'clock
p. m. was set for preaching, and the neighbors (what few there were) noti-
fied. Abraham 1. and Richard H. Enoch were hauling rails to fence their
broken grounds, and their father was building the fence as the rails were
delivered. When four o'clock came the teams were turned out to graze on
the prairie, and the family assembled for worship. Style and fashion and
dress were not so elaborate in those days as at present, and it may be readily
assumed that that lirst Methodist meeting was a rather primitive affair in
all its cliaracteristics, but it will be casting no reflection on the Methodism
of the present to remark that a more earnest meeting, of any kind, was
never held on any part of the Winnebago prairies. If the congregation was
small and plainly dressed, as compared with the present, what they lacked
in numbers was more than compensated in their zeal and earnestness.
About earl_y Methodism there was never any half-way work. Every pro-
fessor and believer gave his whole soul to it, and to the zeal of the founders
and pioneers of that faith can justly be attributed the great work accom-
plished through it in later years — the reclamation of untold thousands from
the paths of sin and moral degradation— the founding of theological schools,
seminaries and colleges, and the j^erfecting of that system of work that not
only challenges the admiration of civilization and intelligence everywhere,
but which has carried light and hope and peace to multitudes of people
even in the remotest ends of the earth. Early Methodists never stopped to
measure the size of church edifices, the heighth of church steeples, to look
for cushioned pews, to see what their neighbors wore, nor its ministers to
reckon what lield would pay the most in dollars and cents. They only
sought those lields where the Master's work needed most to be done, and
thitJier they went, regardless of all else. And so came Rev. Mr. Pillsbury,
peace and honor to his memory, to the pioneer home of Henry Enoch in
June, lb36.
The sermon of Rev, Pillsbury on that occasion was an earnest and
devoted one, and the foundation of a society that, in later years, became
the First M. E. Church of Rockford, being organized at the house
of Henry Enoch, in August, 1836, with five members: Samuel Gregory and
wife, Daniel Peers and wife, and Mary Enoch, the wife of Henry Enoch.
Rev. William Royal was the first regular pastor or circuit rider. Thus were
the seeds of Methodism planted in Winnebago County. The first preacher
(Rev. Mr. Pillsbury) and probably the second (Rev. Mr. Royal), Henry and
Mary Enoch and Mrs. Samufel Gregory, have gone
Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet,
Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet ;
While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll.
And the smile of the Lord is the life of the soul —
But their works live after them a monument to their memory.
362 HISTOKT OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
A. I. Enoch, who was present at the first sermon, related to the writer
that, after preaching, the entire congregation, the preacher iuchided, remained
to supper at the invitation of his mother. Aside from the eight members
of Henry Enoch's family, only two others — Mrs. Jacob Enoch and another
lady whose name is forgotten — were present, making a congregation of ten
persons to listen to the first Methodist sermon preached in Winnebago
Coimty. There are now, perhaps, half as many thousand, as there were then
individual, members of this branch of the Christian church.
THE NEW COURT HOUSE.
The first county business was transacted in a private residence on the
East Side. The first Circuit Court was held in Haight's Rockford Hotel,
also on the East Side, and the first court-house was also erected on that side,
but in April, 1843, the County Commissioners entered into a contract with
G. Haskell, Charles I. Horsman, H. W. Loomis, M. Burns, Charles Hah,
Thomas D. Eobertson, G. W. Dewey, D. D. Ailing, H. R Maynard, Dr. A.
Thomas, Skinner G. Barrows, J. Fisher, D. Harper and D. Dow, for the
erection of the old frame court-house building on the public or county
square on the West side — the old building that is now overshadowed by the
finely finished and towering walls of the grandest court-house in the State.
The one whose front bears the figures " 1492," was completed and accepted
.by the county authorities, in JSTovember, 1844. Then it was considered a
model .of excellence and convenience, and the pride and credit of the county.
In the fall and winter of 1S45-0, one Julius P. Bolivar McCabe (that's the
way he wrote his name) compiled a history of Winnebago County, and
among other things gave a description of this new temple of justice. As
the subject of his description will soon be torn away, we will preserve its
memory in these pages as Julius P. Bolivar McCabe saw it:
"The court-house stands on State street, on the west side of the river.
It is a handsome and well finished frame building of one story, measuring
about 56 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 17 feet high. It is crowned with a
magnificent ;ind well proportioned cupola, which rises 15 feet above the roof
of the building. The front is finished with a tastefully executed pediment,
supported by four fluted columns, and forming a portico which projects
nine feet from the body of the building, and having a wing on either side,
in which the county offices are held.* The court room measures 54x32 feet;
9 feet of the building in the rear of the bench being partitioned oft' into the
jury rooms. Two rows ot slips, made in the style of those erected in
churches, fill up tlie portion of the court-house without the bar, and are
capable of accommodating 300 persons. The whole of this edifice', including
the pediment and columns, is built in the Grecian Doric order of architec-
ture, and speaks much for the skill of the architects, Messrs. Beattie and
Harper, both citizens of Rockford."
But grand as it may have been considered thirty-three years ago (the
date of its completion), it had to give way before increasing population,
wealth, and public business, and at the February session, 1875, of the
Board of Supervisors, Messrs. Duncan Ferguson, C. A. Hemenway, A.
Haines, F. E. Latham, and A. C. Gleason, members of the Board, were ap-
pointed a committee to examine and report to the Board what kind of a
Court House would be suitable for this county. Monday, April 19, 1875,
this committee reported as follows:
In Ibol a stone building was creeled near tliis building, into which the county records
were removed, and in which all the county business has since been transacted.
HISTOET OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
363
" That we have examined the court-liouses at Janesville, Wis., and at
Freeport, Macomb and Princeton, in Illinois, and got such information as
we considered essential to enable us to arrive at a correct decision as to the
size, materials, general construction, and probable cost of such a court-
house as will be recpiired by this county. That accompanying are sketches
of the ground-plans of the offices, court room, etc., on tlie first and second
floors of said buildings, and a detailed statement of the same as we found
them, and what we thought necessary in reference to each of them. After
making the said examinations, and fully considering the matter given in
charge, to us, we have unanimously come to the conclusion that a court-
house nearly similar to the one in Freeport, with the alterations men-
tioned in our detailed statements, constructed of like materials, both ex-
ternally and internally, and of the same or nearly the same kind of work-
manship, would in our opinion be such a court-house as is required by
this county.
" In reference to the manner of raising the sum that would be required
for building such a house, we may suppose that the amount necessary for
building it will be raised by tax in four years in equal amounts (that being
the longest time that any of the counties referred to took to pay for the
same). It is probable that the taxes would be raised for the first three
years in nearly sufficient amounts to meet the outlay, as it is likely that the
house would not be finished until the third year, and there would then be
no difficulty in the county borrowing what money they needed at 8 per
cent, to pay for finishing the building, should money be as plenty then as
it has been for the past two years.
" Accompanying this report is a statement showing the proportion of
tax that each town in the county would have to raise, to make the sum of
$101,000 in tour equal annual payments, on the basis of the assessment of
1874, as fixed by the State Board of Equalization, and adding to said valu-
ations the proportion of i-ailroad taxes to which they were entitled.
" Respectfully submitted : Duncan Ferguson, C. A. Hemenway, A.
Haines, F. E. Latham, A. C. Gleason, Committee."
Table slwwing the amount that each town in the county would have to pay to make up
$100,000 in one year, and also by dividing it into four years; assuming as a basis the
valuation fixed by the State Board on the assessment of 1874, and assigning to each town, as
near as may be, its share of the railroad tax.
TOW?^.
Valuation as
fixed by State
Board— 1874.
Am't re-
quired to
raise
$25,000.
Am't re-
quired to
raise
$100,000.
Rockford . .
$3,509,575
591,995
584,730
616,953
487,J25
512,041
483,314
275,386
206,401
529,196
594.661
541,303
333,051
352,965
391,537
493,254
$8,774
1,480
1,462
1,542
1,317
1,280
1,308
688
516
1,333
1,487
1,353
830
633
979
1,233
$35,096
Rockton
5,930
Pecatonica
5,847
Winnebago
6,169
Duraud
4,870
Cherry Valley _
Roscoe
5.130
4,833
Harrison j..
3,754
Shirland
3,064
Harlem . ..
5,293
Guilford .
5,947
Seward
New Milford
5,413
3,320
Laona
2 529
Burritt .
3,915
Owen , , ,.
4,933
Total
$10,402,378
$26,004
$104,022
364
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
After the reading of the above report, a motion was made to postpone
the further consideration of the question of building a court-house until
the next meeting of the Board, which elicited considerable discussion, in
which most of the members of the Board participated. Finally, at the re-
quest of Mr. Herring, of Durand, the question was laid over for one day.
On Wednesday, the 21st of April, the question again came up, when, on
motion of Mr. Budlong, the report of the committee appointed at the last
session of this Board, to investigate in relation to building a court-house,
was adopted, and the committee discharged.
Mr. Budlong submitted the following resolution and moved its
adoption :
^'"Resolved, That the Board of Supervisors appoint Duncan Ferguson
as chairman, and Anthony Haines, J. B. Merritt and Hugh Mackey, as a
committee to be known as the Court House Building Committee."
Mr. Herring moved the following as an amendment to the foregoing
resolution :
^^Hesolved, That this Board do now appoint 3, committee consisting of
five members to be knoAvn as a special Court House Building Committee,
that Duncan iFerguson be one and chairman of that committee, and that he
as chairman of this Board appoint the other four members of it."
On which the ayes and nays were called, with the following result:
Ayes — Whittlesey, Fiance, Herring, Bowley, Cowles, Hemenway and Der-
went — 7. Kays — Perguson, Atkinson, Sweet, Haight, Budlong, Haines,
Scoville, Smith, Manny, Barnum, Latham, Merritt, Mackey, Kirk, Fabrick
and Bhoades — 16. Mr. Herring moved to amend the original resolution so
as to make Mr. Hemenway a member of said committee, and Whittlesey
seconded said motion, on which the ayes and nays were called, with the fol-
lowing result: Ayes — Ferguson, Herring, Bowley, Scoville, Smith, Bar-
num, Latham, Merritt and Whittlesey — 9. Nays — Hance, Cowles, Atkin-
son, Sweet, Haight, Budlong, Haines, Derwent, Manny, Mackey, Kirk,
Fabrick and Bhoades — 13. Lost.
Mr. Herring then made a motion to adjourn, which was lost by a
vote of 8 for and 13 against. Then upon a vote being taken upon the orig-
inal resolution, offered by Mr. Budlong, same was carried. On motion the
Board adjourned until two o'clock in the afternoon.
At the afternoon session of the same day, the following resolution was
adopted :
" Resolved^ That the Building Committee on the Court House are
hereby instructed to give notice, by advertising or otherwise, that plans for
building a court-house in Winnebago County will be received at any time
previous to the first Monday in July next."
At the July meeting, on Tuesday, the 13th, the Building Committee
was instructed by resolution to examine all the .plans submitted by com-
peting architects for the proposed court-house for this county, to select such
number of said plans as they may think advisable, and la}' the same before
the Board, either for the Board to make a selection, or to take such fui-ther
steps in the matter as they may think the best interests of this county
require.
On Wednesday evening, July 15th, the Board adjourned until Monday,
the 26tli, at which session of the Board the Building Committee reported
thit eighteen ditfsjrent plans and specifications had been received from arch-
it33fcs o}' Illiujis aad other States, and that they had given the architects an
HISTORY OF WESnsrEBAGO COUNTY. 366
opportunity of explaining to tlieni all the points to which they (the archi-
tects) wished to call the committee's attention, and of answering any ques-
tions the committee wished to submit to them, and that from the eighteen
plans submitted, they had selected the designs offered by E. E, Myers, of
Detroit, Mich.; Henry L. Gay, Cass Chapman, J. 0. Cochrane, and Alex-
ander Kirkland, of Chicago; and David S. Dory, as the most likely to meet
the demands of the contemplated building. Accompanying this report was
a condensed statement of the most important points in each of the plans
submitted. The committee also reported that in the plans rejected they
had found many points that they could freely recommend, etc. On Friday,
July 30, 1875, the Board passed the following resolution:
'■'■ Resolved^ That the Court House Building Committee of this Board
be and are hereby instructed to adopt the design or plan submitted by
Henry L. G-ay, Architect, for a court-house for the county of Winnebago,
to be erected on tlie Court House Square, in the city of Rockford, on the
west side of Rock River, when the following conditions and stipulations are
fully complied with by the said Henry L. (Say, to-wit : That such modifi-
cations or alterations shall be made in his plans as shall seem to said com-
mittee necessary and expedient; and that the committee and the said Gay
shall agree u})on the amount that the said alterations shall either increase or
decrease the sum which the said Gay has stated that this building will cost
(whicli sum was S10'i,000), and provided, further, that one or more respon-
sible contractors, giving bonds to the county, to the safisfaction of this
Board, for the erection of the proposed court-house, agreeably to the proposals
tor letting, advertised by said committee, shall agree to do the work of
erecting and completing the said building within, or very near the estimate
of the said Gay, and as the same may be agreed to by the committee after
the proposed alterations in said plans ; and should there be no satisfactory
bid, as above stated, at or near the said sum, then the said committee may
reject the plan of the said Gay, and he shall not be entitled to any compen-
sation from this County Board, or Building Committee, for any labor or
expense that he may have incurred in preparing or altering the said plans
or specifications; and this Board shall have the right to make another selec-
tion of any of the plans that have been submitted to the Board by compet-
ing architects; and also provided, that this Board preserve the right of
appointing a superintendent for the constrnction of the proposed building.
" And, provided, further. That, when the plans and specifications are
all completed to the satisfaction of the said Building Committee, that they
are hereby instructed and directed to advertise in such newspapers as may
seem to them best, giving at least three weeks' notice, for sealed proposals
for the erection of the said building, the said proposals to be lodged with
the clerk of this Board, at such time as shall be specified in the said notice,
at which time an adjourned meeting of the Board will be held, when the
said proposals will be opened and examined by the Board, who may then
award the contract, should they consider it for the interest of the county to
do so. The notice above referred to shall distinctly set forth that the
Board reserves the right not to accept the lowest offer, but may reject any
and all proposals for the erection of said building. The said bids to be
accompanied by bonds, to be executed by the party offering to contract for
the building of said court-house, and by one or more sufficient sureties, to
be approved by the Board, in the sum of $100,000; that all the stipulations
and conditions that may be entered into by the proposed contractor with
366 HI8T0KY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
the Board of Supervisors for building said court-lioiise, shall be faithfully
carried out and complied with by the party contractino;.
"And provided, further, that the amount that would have to be paid to
Mr. Gay as his commission for plans and specifications, shall be paid in
sums in proportion as the work progresses."
'On motion of Mr. Cowles, a resolution was adopted instructing the
Building committee, that when they advertised for bids for the erection of
the new court-house, they advertise that they would receive bids on the
proposition that the exterior walls of the same he built of Rockford stone.
At the September session (Sept. 14th) the County Clerk was directed
to levy such rate of tax on the taxable property as would raise a revenue of
$65,000 for county purposes. A subsequent resolution provided that "from
the amount ot county tax which shall be raised under the foregoing resolu-
tion, on the taxable property of the several towns of this county, as entered
on the assessment rolls for 1875, there be appropriated the sum of $30,000,
to be used in paying part of the expense of the erection of a court-house, in
the city of Rockford, for said county; and that the said sum be set apart as
a separate fund, to be known as the Court House Fund, and to be used for
the purposes above stated, and none other."
Wednesday, November 24th, the Board went into Committee of the
Whole to consider the bids for erectino^ the court-house. At three in the
atternoon, the committee rose and reported progress, when, on motion of
Mr. Hemenway, a further consideration of the subject was laid over to an
adjourned meeting of the Board, to be held at 2 o'clock p. m., on Monday,
the 6th of December.
At that meeting of the Board, Mr. Ferguson presented the bid of E.
C. Roberts for building the court-house, which M^as referred to the Building
Committee, when the Board adjourned until Tuesday morning.
Tuesday morning Mr. Merritt offered the following resolution which
was adopted:
'■'■Resolved, That the Board does hereby reject all bids or proposals
made to the Board for the building of a court-house for the county of
Winnebago, under a resolution of the Board passed at the last July session
of the Board, and that were lodged with the Clerk of the Board on or pre-
viously to the 23d of last November."
After which the Board adjourned until two o'clock in the afternoon,
when Mr. W. D. Richardson presented the following:
Proposal for the erection of a court-house, to he located at Roclford, Winnebago County, III.,
made to the Board of 8uj)ervisors, of the County of Winnebago, by William D. Richard-
son, of Springfield, Sangamon Co., III. Dated at Rockford, Dec. 7, 1815.
I will furnish all ot the materials and complete the building according to plan and
specification, using stone for all cornices, balustrades and papier mache work over entrance
to front door, for the sum of one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars ($165,0(t0).
For the above work I propose to use Illinois lime stone of the best quality.
W. D. Richardson.
I will deduct from my bid $9,000 for the following items (should your building com-
mittee require it) :
For change in foundation $2,000
" " " rear steps - 2,000
For steam heater 5,000
I will furnish and put in place all tin and iron pipes required to be built in walls, at
the above total amount. W. D. Richardson.
And Mr. Henrj L. Gay, architect, submitted the following proposition :
FLORA tP BOONE CO.
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, 369
RocKFORD, Dec. 7, 1875.
Mr. Dttncax Ferousox, Cliairman of Buildinc; Committee:
I propose to do all architectural work, furnish all drawings, specifications and details
for 2 per cent, upon a cost of $104,000, and $10 per day and traveling expenses when called
to Rockford to consult, examine and superintend work upon the proposed new court-house.
. Henry L. Gay, Architect.
After the reading of these propositions, Mr. Cowles oifered the fol-
lowing:
''" Resolved, That tlie building committee be authorized, and are here-
by directed to accept the bid of W . D. Richardson for the building of the
court-house in accordance with the plans and specifications of lienry L.
Gav, architect, with substitution of stone for cornices, etc., in place of iron,
as providetl in his bid. and that they be atithorized and directed to enter
into contract with said W. D. Kichardson for the building of the said
court-house at the price bid, $165,000, to be paid as the work progresses,
and in the manner provided for in the plans and specifications, until the
building is completed, when the balance appearing to be due the contractor,
shall be paid him at par in Winnebago County orders or bonds, bearing
7 per cent, interest and running not to exceed ten years — at the option of
the board as to the length of time the bonds shall run, or to pay the cash as
they may elect. In case the committee think it advisable to reduce the
cost of the building by not putting in the steam heating, and substituting
straight steps for rear of building, they are authorized to do so by the
proper amount for same being agreed upon.
'"The committee are also instructed to provide in the contract that the
walls of the building may be put up and the building enclosed during the
season of 1ST7 so as to be completed in ftill by the first day of March, 1878,
and that the county shall not be called upon to pay any faster than in the
ratio as to time.
"In case there should be any disagreement as to details in making con-
tracts with the contractor that are not arranged satisfactorily to the com-
mittee, then the acceptance of the bids shall be null and void."
On Monday, March 6, 1876, on motion of Mr. Hemenway, the Board
adjourned to the City Council rooms where, after the regular order of
meeting had been disposed of, the following provisional bond, presented by
Mr W. I). Richardson, was approved and ordered to be spread upon the
records of the Board:
"Know all men by these presents, that Mr. William D. Richardson, of
the city of Springfield, Illinois, as principal, and Thomas S. Ridgway and
George M. Brinkerhoff, of the same place, as sureties, are held and firmly
bound unto the county of Winnebago, in the State of Illinois, in the penal
sum of one hundred thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States,
to be paid to the said the county ot Winnebago, or its assigns, to which
payment we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, jointly
and severally, firmly by these presents. Witness our hands and seals, this
7th day of December, A. D. 1 875.
"Whereas, the above, William D. Richardson, has entered into con-
tract bearing even date herewith, with the county of Winnebago above
mentioned, for the erection of a court-house at Rockford, Illinois, for the
said county, upon the terms of the character and within the time of said
contract expressed; and in consideration of the making of said contract,
the said Richardson has agreed to make and deliver to said county, his
bond with sufficient security, in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars,
370 HISTOEY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
to secure and make certain the full and faithful performance of said con-
tract, and of each and every provision thereof, on his part; an-d this instru-
ment is made and executed and delivered to said county, pursuant to such
a_o;reement.
"Xow the conditions of this obligation are such, that if the said Wil-
liam D. Richardson shall in all things on his part, faithfully keep, observe
and perform the said contract, and each and every provision thereof, then
this obligation to be void; otherwise to remain in full force. Audit is
expressly understood and agreed that no change, alteration or modification
of the plans, drawings or specifications in the contract mentioned, or the
terms of said contract, shall invalidate this bond, but the obligation of this
bond shall extend to and embi'ace any such change, alteration or modifica-
tion, as though the same had been incorporated in the plans, drawings,
specifications or contract, at and before the execution of this bond.
"W. D. RiCHAEDSON, [seal]
"Thos. S. Ridgway, [seal]
"Geo. M. Beinkerhoff. [seal]"
Wednesday, March 8, 1876, the building committee submitted to the
Roard of Supervisors a ver}^ elaborate report of their action in the prem-
ises, setting forth that thej had found it to the interest of the county to
employ an attorney to assist them in preparing a good and sufiicient con-
tract, that all parties in interest might fuUy understand their duties and
responsibilities; that, after a good deal of time spent in the examination ot
points presented for consideration, a contract had been agreed upon, and
was therewith submitted for the approval or rejection of the Board. That
it was thought proper that one or more of the committee should go to Joliet
to see the quality of the stone intended for the court-house, and A. Haines
and D. Ferguson, with Mr. Gray, went there on the first of February, and
met Mr. Richardson, who pointed out the kind of stone he intended using
in the building, a large amount of which he had on hand. The archi-
tect and committee were satisfied that the stone pointed out would be
satisfactory.
The building committee also reported that they had contracted with
Stephen Inman for the removal of the old court-house from the site it had
occupied, so that it should front on Court street, for the sum of §220, the
said Iniiian agreeing, on his part, to place the building in good shape for
occupation by the county by the 8th of March. That the committee after
consultation with the architect and builder, had determined to have the
specifications printed, as a number of copies would be required, and it
would cost no more to have a few written than it would to have fifty printed.
The report was signed by Duncan Ferguson, A. Haines, J. B. Merritt, Hugh
Mackey, F. E. Latham, Committee.
The following is the contract in brief, the details of which are familiar
to many of our readers:
This agreement, made and entered into this 7th day of December, A. D. 1875, by and
between the county of Winnebago, in the State of Illinois, paity of the first part, and Wil-
liam D. Richardson, of the city of Springtield, in the county of Sangamon, and State of Illi-
nois, party of the second part, Wttnensetli:
That said party of the second part, in consideration of the promises and agreements,
hereinafter expressed, on the part of the party of the first part, to be kept and performed,
has, and hereby does promise and agree, to prepare the foundations, furnish all the mate-
rials, build, erect, and complete, for the party of the first part, a court house, in all respects
according to the plans, drawings, and specifications therefor, furnished and provided by
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 371
Henry L. Gay, architect, and the terms of this contract. All of the materials for said build-
ing, and all the work thereon, shall be done and furnished under the direction of, and to
the satisfaction and approval of tiie architect, who may at the time be in charge of said
work. Said plans, drawings, and specitications, above mentioned, are rel'erred to, and
made a part of this agreement. That all work performed under this agreement shall be
lirsi-class mechanical work of its kind; and all materials for and used in the erection of
said building, shall be of the best quality and ciuantity sufficient for the purpose intended.
That the stone used in the construction of said building (save as in the specitications other-
wise provided) shall be of the best quality of Illinois limestone, to be taken from the quarry
of E. 8. Walker, or from some other quarry of the same color, and of as good quality. The
said building shall be completed and finished on or before March 1, 1878, and at that time
ready for delivery to the party of the first part. The building shall be inclosed and the
roofon, on or before December 1, 1876, but the plastering shall not be put on before the
spring of 1877, and shall be completed on or before Nov. 1, 1877.
On the same day (March 8th) the Board passed a resolution providing
as follows:
" That this Board elect by ballot-, some suitable and qualified person,
to act as superintendent of the building of the court-house for Winnebago
County. The duties of said superintendent shall be as specified in the con-
tract and specifications, for building said court-house, and shall be under
the control of the building committee, and shall be subject to removal at
any time hj the building committee; subject to the approval of the Board.
Said superintendent to receive for his services, the stun of three dollars per
day, for the time actually employed. Said superintendent shall not com-
mence work until the building committee shall direct; the superintendent
shall only receive pay for such time as they may direct and approve of
when the work is in progress, and he shall devote his whole time when the
committee direct."
ivlr. F. E. Latham was appointed Building Superintendent.
Very soon after the completion of these preliminary details, active
operations were commenced by the contractor, the preparation of the
ground for the foundation walls and the delivery of the material being first
in order. On the 23d of June the corner-stone was laid, with great eclat,
and was participated in by the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders of the sur-
rounding country. Grand Master DeWitt C. Cregier, of the Grand Masonic
Lodge of the State of Illinois, conducting the ceremonies, which were wit-
nessed by thousands of people. On this occasion the Rocktord people
spared no efibrt to preserve and maintain, and, if possible, to add ,to their
ah-eady well established reputation for hospitality and excellence of taste in
welcoming visitors. Alm'ost every door was thrown open to their invited
guests, and everybody was invited. The city was handsomely decorated.
Flags were suspended across the streets, private residences, business houses
and public buildings were handsomely festooned with flowers and ever-
greens, and every face wore an expression of happiness and pleasure. It
was the great gala day in the history of Rockford and Winnebago County.
The new court house building is a model of architectural beauty, and
is known as the French A'^enetian, with American treatment. It is 82x113
feet on the ground, covering an area of 9,266 square feet, and three stories
high, with the main front on State street. The foundation walls are sunk
seven feet and six inches in the ground below the grade line, and rest on
footing courses of solid Joliet limestone six feet in width. The lower or
basement walls are built from eight-inch stone, backed by sixteen-inch
brick lining, making twenty-four-inch walls. Above this, the wall-stone is
six inches in thickness, with fourteen-inch brick backing, making twenty-
inch walls. [The stone used in the exterior walls was brought from
372 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Walker's quarry, at Joliet. The brick used previous to the disaster of the
11th of May, IS 77, was from Brown & Gow's kilns, about five miles above
Rockford. Those used after that disaster were brought from the kilns of
the Chicago Bridewell.]
The basement and first story are divided into four sections each, by cor-
ridors running north and south and east and west. The cori'idors or halls
running from the front to tlie rear, are twelve feet in width, and those run-
ning from east to west, fourteen feet six inches in width. The basement
•story is twelve feet in heighth from fioor to ceiling, and is divided into
rooms for offices, fire-proof vaults, boiler department, storage room, water
closet, etc., there being ten rooms and two vaults,
Tlie first story proper, is 16 feet from fioor to ceiling, and is reached
from the State street entrance by a double flight of stone steps of 21 steps
each. This story is arranged and divided into rooms for the use of the
county offices. The ofiices or roo)ns on the right are assigned to the Clerk
of the Circuit Court, the general ofiice being 21x21 feet, and the room for
the recording department 13x21 feet. These departments are provided with
a fire-proof vault 14x32 feet, for the preservation of records.
The Sherifi"'s ofiice is in the west side of the building, and immedi-
ately south of and adjoining the Recorder's ofiice, but has no communi-
cating door therewith. The entrance to this ofiice is by the west corridor.
The ofiices of the County Clerk and Treasurer (in one) and County
Judge are located on the left of the main entrance. The Clerk and Treas-
urer's ofiice is 21x35 feet, and tlie room assigned to the County Judge, 12x15.
These departments are also supplied with a vault 14x32 feet.
The rooms designed for the use of the County Court and Board of
Supervisors are on the right and left of the rear or Elm street entrance, are
22x42 feet each, and are reached by a double flight of stone steps, of 19 steps
each, from the Elm street side.
The second story is 35 feet froin the floor to the center part of the dome.
The main part of it is designed for the use of the Circuit Court, and is 72x76
feet. On the right is the Judge's private room, 12x21 feet; a room for the
use of the State's Attorney, 15x17 feet, and the grand jury room, 12x21
feet. On the left the petit jury room, 12x21 feet; a retiring room for mem-
bers of the bar, 17x21 feet, and a law library room, 12x21 feet. Stairs lead
to this story from the bisecting corridor in the first story. The building is
lighted by six large French plate glass windows in front and rear, and eight
on each side.
A large dome 30x30 feet and 119 feet in height from the ground line
to the top of the finial, rises over the front entrance. The south side of
this dome is supported by two stone piers,'" rising to a height of 37 feet,
seven feet six inches at the base, and three feet six inches at the top. These
piers are surmounted by two Corinthian iron columns, 18 inches in diam-
eter, 2j- inches thick, and 23 feet 8 inches in height, on which rests the main
box girder, weighing five and a half tons, which in turn supports the south
wall of the dome.
In a circular panel immediately over the semi-dome, in large raised
letters is the latin word Lex, meaning law. In the semi-dome, in richly
carved bas-relief work, are three medallion panels, in which are figures rep-
resenting Spring, Summer and Autumn.
*Tliese stone piers were introduced as strengthening supports in tlae reconstruction of
he building after the fall of the dome, May 11, 1877.
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 373
Within tlie dome's pediment, with win<^s extended, an exqnisitely carved
American Eagle will look down and out upon State street. A stone tablet
on one side of the arched entrance will bear the date of the settlement of
the county, date of organization, date of building of first court-house, do.
of present court-house and its cost. On the other tablet will be inscribed
the name of each township and date of its settlement, etc.
From the :23d of June, 1876, the day the corner stone was laid, until
Friday, May 11, 1877, the work progressed without interruption. On that
day, however, a disaster occurred that not o 
