USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 33
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Company F, Captain W. I. Bridges, of Belinont, commanding, was composed wholly of Iroquois county men, from Middleport, Belmont, Iroquois, Concord and Beaver townships inainly, and the recruits after- ward sent to the company were nearly all from this county. Capt. Bridges resigned in February, 1863, and was succeeded by Lieut. George E. King, who had seen service in the old Twentiethi as a lieu- tenant, resigned and enlisted in Company F, and was promoted to the captaincy from the first-sergeancy. Capt. King was captured at Gun- town, Mississippi, and sent to Andersonville prison, thence to Macon, Georgia, and Charleston, and put under fire to prevent our troops firing on their forts, and was sent to Columbia, where he made his escape and reached the union lines, and on his return, at the close of the war, he was breveted lieutenant-colonel for meritorious services. Lients. Alfred Fletcher and Jolin E. Leatherman, of Company F, are well known farmers of Iroquois and Middleport townships, respectively, and Lieut. Leatherman was captured at Guntown and a prisoner at Andersonville and other Southern prisons. Jolin S. Darrough, Esq., of this city (Watseka), and Wesley Warren of Woodland, were ser- geants of this company. T. S. Arnold, the well known druggist of Watseka, Adam Jacob, the tailor, and Capt. B. Braderick, of the Cres- cent City Gnards, Company F, Ninth Regiment I. N. G., were all
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members of this company, and we might name inany more of our sub- stantial citizens that used to march and figlit in its ranks.
Company I was made up entirely of Iroquois county soldiers, and went into the field under command of Capt. George West, a well known and well-to-do farmer of Middleport township, who in conse- quence of ill health resigned May 25, 1863, and his second lieutenant, Aaron F. Kane, of Concord, became captain, and Sergeant William C. Shortridge, the well known shorthand reporter of this county, became second lieutenant. First Lieut. Anderson Tyler, then as now a resi- dent of Iroquois village, filled the above position for nearly three years, and until mustered out with his company. Daniel Weston, the well known druggist of Wellington, was a sergeant in Company I of the One Hundred and Thirteenth.
In Company H, Iroquois county was represented by Lieut. Harri- son Daniels, of Chebanse, the orderly, one duty sergeant, and fifteen privates.
Of the non-commissioned staff of the One Hundred and Thirteenth, Sergeant-Major Hezekiah Storms, was from Onarga, in this county, as was also Commissary-Sergeant Charles A. Newton. The quartermas- ter-sergeant, William H. Taylor, who was after promoted quartermaster, was from Middleport.
The records show that over eighty men from Iroquois county lost their lives while in line of duty as members of the One Hundred and Thirteenth, several of whom starved to death in Andersonville. This was about one-fifth of all the men that went out from Iroquois county in the ranks of the regiment; and fully as many more were seriously wounded or enfeebled for life by disease, many of whom have since died. Such is the record of this band of upward of 400 brave-hearted patriots. A mere statement of the facts is all the eulogium needed.
Forty recruits from Iroquois county, serving in the One Hundred and Thirteenth at the date of its muster out, June 20, 1865, were transferred to the One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment at that date, and afterward were mustered out with the latter organization at Mem- pliis, Tennessee, September 10, 1865.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
ONE-HUNDRED-DAYS MEN.
This regiment was organized at Camp Fry, Chicago, and mustered on the last day of May, 1864. Company B, Capt. N. B. Petts, was from Iroquois county, and was made up of young men principally
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between fifteen and twenty-one years of age, many of whom belonged to the very best families, and left pleasant homes, and though the service was not so arduous as that required of the veterans at the front, yet it was of such a character as to so impair the constitutions of some of the patriotic youths as to bring them to early graves. These one-hundred-days men relieved veterans needed for active service. And they did good service in garrisoning important posts and guarding prisoners. The regiment, three days after its muster in, was sent to Columbus, Kentucky, where it did garrison duty until ordered to Paducah, and thence to Mayfield; at which last named post it erected a fort, and served to hold in check unruly spirits in that section by its mere presence. On its return to Chicago for muster out, Price was giving the unionists trouble in Missouri, and at the request of President Lincoln the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth went to Missouri, and did garrison duty at several points until ordered home for discharge; the regiment being mustered out October 25, 1864.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
The One Hundred and Fiftieth regiment, one-year troops, was organized at Camp Butler, Illinois, February 14, 1865, under Col. George W. Keener, and proceeded to Nashville, Tennessee, arriving February 21, and moved from there to Bridgeport, Alabama, where, up to March 25, 1865, it did post duty in the block-houses, extending from Bridgeport to Chattanooga, along the line of the Nashville & Chatta- nooga railroad. In March it was assigned to the brigade of the Prince Salm Salm, and March 25 was sent to Cleveland, Tennessee, where it did post duty until the first week in May, when it was stationed at Dalton, Georgia, and continned nntil July 8, when it moved to Atlanta, and there quitted the brigade and did garrison duty at Atlanta, and other towns near Atlanta, until mustered out January 16, 1866. Chauncey H. Sheldon, the adjutant, and the whole of Company D, Capt. H. B. Vennum commanding, was from this county. One man of the company died during the term of service. Richard Carroll, former supervisor of Sheldon, and a resident of Watseka now, was second lieutenant of D, and received a brevet commission in recogni- tion of his efficiency as an officer.
The Thirty-seventh, Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, Sixtieth, Sixty-sixth, Sixty-seventh, Sixty-ninth, Seventy-first, One Hundred and Twenty- fourth, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh and One Hundred and Forty-seventh Infantry regiments were also represented from Iroquois county by from one to six men.
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HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.
THE EIGHTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS CAVALRY.
This gallant regiment, under the command of Col. (afterward gen- eral) John F. Farnsworthı, entered the United States service in Sep- tember, 1861, and was active from the time it joined the Potomac army until the cessation of hostilities. Six companies of the regiment stubbornly contested "Stonewall " Jackson's advance at Mechanicsville for several hours. The Eighth took an honorable part in the battles of Gaines' Hill, Malvern Hill, Poolsville, South Mountain and Boones- boro, and also in the terrible struggle at Antietam. The regiment led the van of the army of the Potomac most of the time up to the battle of Fredericksburg, in which it also participated with credit. During the campaigns of 1863, the regiment was ever on the alert, and almost universally rendering, in the heavy battles and numerous pitched bat- tles with the enemy's cavalry, a good account of itself. In 1863 the regiment was in twenty-six different engagements, including the bloody battle of Gettysburg, and sustained a loss of twenty-three killed, and over 150 wounded and missing. Up to the close of the war tlie regi- ment continued to render effective service and cover itself with glory, and when there was no longer a foeman left in the field with which to try the temper of their sabers, the dashing fellows of the Eighth Cav- alry returned to their prairie homes to enjoy the peace their distin- guished valor had helped to conquer. The regiment was mustered out at St. Louis, July 17, 1865. Old Iroquois was represented in the Eighth Cavalry by Capt. Joseph Clapp, Lieut. Charles W. Sprague and Private Henry Weaver, all of Loda township. Lieut. Sprague now resides in Artesia township, and is engaged in farming, and several years ago represented his township on the board of supervisors.
THE NINTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS CAVALRY.
The Ninth Regiment of Illinois Cavalry, Col. Albert G. Brackett, commanding, was organized at Camp Douglas, October 26, 1861. The regiment was composed of twelve companies and divided into three battalions of four companies each, with a major and adjutant to each of tlie battalions.
The regiment left Chicago in February, 1862, for the seat of war, going first to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, where it remained until the last of the month, when it moved to Pilot Knob in the Iron Mountain district, and from thence marched,-after considerable cam- paigning in Missouri,-to the command of Gen. Steele at Reeve Sta- tion, on the Big Black, afterward marching to Jacksonport, Arkansas,
1
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IROQUOIS COUNTY IN THE WAR.
where it engaged in a number of lively skirmishes in the country adja- cent to the last named place. During the month of May, 1862, the Ninth Regiment, formning a part still of Gen. Steele's division of Gen. Curtis' army, engaged in a couple of brisk skirmishes. In one of these skirmishes, at Stewart's plantation, Col. Brackett and Capt. Knight (of Onarga), the commander of Company M, and Adjt. Blackburn were wounded, and two men killed and thirty-three wounded ; at Wad- dell's plantation the regiment lost twelve men wounded.
On June 26 the Ninth started on a march to Helena, where it arrived July 14, after a most fatiguing march, in which the command suffered greatly on account of the scarcity of rations, and the impossi- bility of procuring water to drink. Five men sank under the hard- ships of the march, and died at different points along the line of march, and many others died afterward, no doubt principally on account of the hardships endured on this march. The regiment remained at Helena doing outpost duty and skirmishing with the enemy until it joined Gen. Washburne's expedition into Mississippi ; but previous to starting, two twelve-pounder mountain howitzers were assigned to the regiment, and were manned by a detail from the regiment under the command of Lieut. E. G. Butler, of the Ninth. Lieut. Butler, with his volunteer artillerymen and howitzers, at LaGrange successfully repulsed a charge of two regiments of Texan Rangers that essayed the capture of the gallant Butler and his little detachment; but after losing fifty men killed they concluded they didn't want the plucky lieutenant's "bull dogs," and withdrew .. The loss to the unionists in the affair was twenty killed and wounded.
The Ninth participated with Washburne's forces in the engagements at Okolona and Coffeeville, Mississippi, November 6 and 7, 1862. In January, 1863, the regiment took a part in the expedition of Gen. Gor- man, up White river in Arkansas, marching to Clarendon, on White river, and then marched back to Helena, arriving January 23, at which place it remained until April 7 following, when it moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and on the 12th of the month moved to Germantown, and was there assigned to the cavalry brigade of Col. McCrillis attached to the Sixteenth Army Corps, remaining in the brigade until the follow- ing fall, participating in the engagements at Coldwater and Grenada, Mississippi. In the latter part of August the regiment took post at LaGrange, and spent several weeks in skirmishing and reconnoitering, and again skirmished with the enemy at Coldwater, October 6, and also engaged in a keen fight at Salem, Mississippi, in which the rebels were forced out of their position after a very spirited resistance. At Wyatt, Mississippi, the regiment fought the enemy all day on October
20
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13, forcing him to steal away from the battle-field that night as a measure of safety. After the figlit at Wyatt the regiment returned to LaGrange, and remained there till the first week in November, when it moved to Corinth, but soon after returned to its old post at LaGrange, and moved from there to Colliersville, Tennessee, the last of Novem- ber, where it was assigned to the Second Brigade of the Cavalry Divi- sion of the Sixteenth Army Corps, and December 3 and 4, under the command of the daring Grierson, the cavalry division engaged and whipped the rebels at Saulsbury and Moscow, Tennessee. The Ninth behaved gallantly at Moscow.
The Ninth, under Grierson, took a part in an expedition into Mis- sissippi in the month of February, 1864, and fought and defeated the enemy at West Point on the 20th of the month, and was engaged at Okolona and Mount Ivy on the 21st and 23d. The Ninth went into camp at Germantown on the 24th. During this raid into Mississippi the Ninth did its full share of the hard marching and fighting, and at one time after the battle at West Point the Ninth, while acting as rear guard for the army, was beset by Forrest, and successfully hurled back his charging troopers.
The regiment, or a greater portion, reënlisted March 16, and received thirty days furloughi, returning to the front toward the close of April, and rendezvousing at Memphis, Tennessee. A detachment consisting of 160 men were with Gen. Sturgis on the ill-starred Gun- town expedition, and did effective service during the disastrous retreat as a rear guard, losing five killed, twenty-three wounded and twelve taken prisoners, while protecting the rear of Sturgis' army after the bat- tle of Tishomingo creek, June 10, 1864. The regiment formned a part of Generals Grierson and A. J. Smith's expedition to Tupelo, Missis- sippi, and at Pontatoc, being in advance did lieavy skirmishing with the enemy, and succeeded in driving him back at all points. The Ninth took an active part in the two-days battle at Tupelo July 14 and 15; also at Old Town Creek. The regiment accompanied Grierson during August in his Oxford, Mississippi, raid, engaging the enemy at Talla- hatchie, Oxford and Hurricane creek, losing four men killed and a num- ber wounded in the latter engagement. The regiment was absent on this raid thirty-two days, and returned to camp near Memphis, at White Station, September 4. Taking the field again as a part of Gen. Hatch's cavalry division September 30, marching to Clifton on the Tennessee river, and thence to Florence, through Waynesboro, and returning to Clifton, it watched the forward movement of Gen. Hood in his advance upon Nashville after the fall of Atlanta. At Shoal creek ford, on the Tennessee river, the Ninth fought the advance of
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IROQUOIS COUNTY IN THE WAR.
Hood's army and drove it back. While watching Hood at Shoal creek Gen. Hatch received orders to push the former's cavalry from the fords, and to develop the strength of the enemy in his front; and accordingly Hatch crossed and attacked Hood's cavalry and drove it back on his infantry, the Ninth Cavalry leading the attack. The rebels threw two divisions against the division of Gen. Hatch, and drove it back and across the creek. A part of the Ninth regiment having been sent on a detour to the right to strike the enemy's cavalry in the flank and rear by the driving back of Hatch's division, was cut off, and the battalion of the regiment thus entrapped cut its way through the rebel line at night, and recrossing the creek, rejoined its brigade the next day after the fight. After Hood crossed the Tennessee Gen. Hatch's division, to which the Ninth belonged, skirmished almost daily witlı his advance, and sought to hold him in check by so doing until Thomas could collect his scattered forces and insure the safety of Nashville and the ultimate defeat of Hood. At Campbellsville, November 24, the Ninthi was engaged in a hotly contested fight with a part of Hood's forces that attempted to capture the wagon train of Gen. Schofield. The regiment fought overwhelming odds, but pluckily held its ground and drove the enemy back until the ammunition of the Ninth was exhausted, and nothing daunted, the bold troops of the Ninth, still reluctant to yield their ground, engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter, fighting with clubbed carbines. At Franklin the cavalry under Hatch hield the roads leading to the fords, and prevented the enemy's cavalry from crossing the river and getting between the beleaguered and fight- ing army of Schofield and Stanley at Franklin and Nashville. As a part of Gen. Wilson's cavalry corps the Ninth regiment behaved hand- somely in the assaults upon Hood's left at Nashville, December 15 and 16, which so successfully resulted in doubling back the whole confed- erate left upon its center on the Franklin Pike, near Brentwood Gap.
On the fifteenth Col. Coon's brigade, of which the Ninth formed a part, was ordered to move against a strong rebel redoubt mounting five cannon, and dismounting the gallant troopers, under Hatch's order to " go for the fort," charged up a high and very steep hill, and in three minutes from the time they started were in possession of the fort and 200 prisoners, and finding themselves under a terrible fire from another fort, about 500 yards to their right, the tired but eager cavalrymen dashed against that in an irregular, straggling but determined body, and after a sharp fight possessed themselves of that also, and had they been five minutes earlier would have captured the rebel chief Gen. Hood. Only a few moments before Hatch and his daring trooper> made the assault upon the works, Gen. Thomas had declared it impos-
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sible for cavalry to "storm and capture a fort," but the boys taught the old hero that Western troopers could capture a rebel fort when they made up their minds to. After the ront of Hood, the Ninth and other cavalry regiments hung upon and harrassed Hood's rear, and had some lively little encounters and one particularly deserves mention. Gen. Knipe pressed Hood's train so close that the latter was obliged to make a stand to save his train from capture on the banks of the Little Har- peth creek, a few miles from Franklin, and Gen. Hatch moved forward to Knipe's support; the two divisions then charged grandly forward in the face of a galling fire, presenting a line a mile and a half from right to left, and crossing the creek soon closed with the enemy's infantry in a hand-to-hand struggle, and as many of the rebels were dressed in blue uniforms, our boys often mistook them for friends, and either fell into their hands or cut their way out. It was so difficult on account of the mist and smoke that Gen. Hatch at one time could not distin- guish his own forces, and he sent an aide and his orderly to ride up to the forces and inquire who they were; his aide, Lient. Crawford, rode up to them and tapped a man on the shoulder and asked him, "What command ?" "Nineteenth Tennessee, Bell's Brigade, rear guard," was the answer. He now knew they were rebels, and slipped out of their ranks and rode back to Hatch, who opened on them with cannon. At this point Capt. Foster, of the Second Iowa cavalry, galloped a little to the right to see if the flank of his brigade (Gen. Coon's) was safe, when he came face to face with the head of a rebel column, and was greeted with "surrender you d-d yankee." Foster swung his saber and shouted "don't you fire on this column," when, thinking him a rebel, they took down their arms, and the daring unionist put spurs to his horse and escaped to our lines in the midst of a shower of rebel bullets. The brigade was thus suddenly attacked, and at first repulsed, but Gen. Coon and his A. A. A. G. Capt. John H. Avery, of the Ninth Illinois, quickly rallied the men and moved forward with their horses on a walk, firing with steady aim as they advanced, until the rebel lines gave way and ran, leaving their artillery unsupported. The gallant Hatch, with but nine men, charged forward and captured the battery. The Ninth Illinois, under Col. Harper, then moved up to the battery, and then the rebels rallied and made several desperate attempts to retake it, but the boys of the old Ninth fired several deadly volleys into their ranks, and night coming on the rebels desisted and moved on, leaving three brass pieces in the hands of the cavalrymen. The Ninth was warmly complimented for its gallant and stubborn defense of the captured guns. The Ninth still harrassed Hood's rear, engag- ing him again several times before he crossed the Tennessee river.
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IROQUOIS COUNTY IN THE WAR.
After Hood had been driven out of Tennessee the regiment went to Huntsville, Alabama, and from there to Florence, in the same state, and thence to Eastport, Mississippi, and again returned soon after to Florence, and went into camp at Gravelly Springs, January 10, 1865, where it remained until February 9, when it again moved to Eastport and encamped there until June. During the latter part of the month it moved, to Iuka, and from there to Decatur, Alabama, and afterward went to Montgomery and Selma, also to Gainesville, all in the state of Alabama. Finally, returning to Selma, it was mustered out of the . service the last day of October, 1865, and soon after returned to Springfield, Illinois, for final payment and discharge.
Company M was composed almost wholly of. Iroquois county men, and recruited principally from Onarga and the immediate neighbor- hood. Capt. Eliphalet R. Knight, of Onarga, commanded the com- pany from November 30, 1861, to November 30, 1864, when his term expired, and Lieut. John H. Avery assumed command as captain, and continued in command to the close of the war. Capt. Knight, after · the close of the war, removed to tlie state of Arkansas and died there recently. Capt. John H. Avery entered the service as fourthi sergeant of Company M, and was successively promoted second and first lieu- tenant, and finally to the captaincy. He served, during the last year of the war, upon the staff of his brigade commander, Gen. Coon, in the capacity of acting assistant adjutant general. The captain was a dash- ing and efficient young officer, and won his promotion by good con- duct in the field. After the close of the war Capt. Avery served a number of years as assistant assessor of internal revenue, with his office at Loda in this county. He occupied this position under both Gen. Carnahan and Judge Blades, while they were assessors for this district, and always proved himself a vigilant, careful and efficient officer. Capt. Avery is at present a resident of the state of Arkansas. First Lieut. Jacob C. Shear, who saw nearly three years' service in Company M, held the office of sheriff of this county from 1876 to 1878, and resides at present on his farm near Thawville, in this county. Sergeant John B. Lowe is at present editor of the Onarga " Review," and is also captain of tlie Onarga Rifles, Company E, Ninth Regiment Illinois National Guards. We might mention among others who acquitted themselves creditably, Serg .- Maj. Curtis, L. Knight, now of Arkansas, and B. F. Price, of Loda, who lost an arm, and a host of good solid citizens now residing in and around Onarga, whom we have not the space to mention individually. Eighteen of the Iroquois soldiers in this company lost their lives fighting for the uirion.
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HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.
THE TENTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS CAVALRY.
The Tenth regiment of cavalry was organized at Springfield, Novem- ber 25, 1861, with Col. James Barrett commanding. Col. Barrett resigned in the spring of 1862, and Lieut .- Col. Dudley Wickersham, of Springfield, was commissioned its colonel. The regiment left for the front in April, 1862, and moved to Springfield, Missouri, and soon after was engaged in the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and subsequently participated in the battles of Little Rock, Van Buren, Milliken's Bend and Vicksburg. Col. Wickersham for a considerable space of time was in command of a cavalry brigade of which the Tenth formed a part; meantime the regiment was commanded by Lieut .- Col. James Stuart, a dashing and brave officer. The regiment took a very con- spicuous part in the engagements above mentioned, and also behaved nobly at Richmond, Louisiana, and Bayou Metre. Unfortunately we are not able to give an account of the numerous skirmishes and expe- ditions in which this grand body of men participated. They were not only a splendid cavalry force, but were well drilled in infantry tactics, · and even fought on several occasions a part of them as artillerists. In the siege and assault upon Vicksburg they participated as dismounted cavalry, and did their whole duty. They were, as an organization, a fine body of men, and ready and willing in the face of all difficulties and dangers to perform their part and do it well. On their reënlist- ment Gov. Yates, in a speech to the regiment, among other things, said : " It is well known that cavalry regiments cannot always be to- gether, but whether you have been placed on duty as a regiment, in companies, in battalions, or in squads, the Tenth cavalry was always where danger was nearest, and wherever duty called you. * * * Now on your return I can say justly that I am proud of you. You have con- ducted yourselves as patriots and you have never disgraced the noble flag under which you have fought." The regiment operated mainly in Arkansas and Louisiana, and usually formed a part of Gen. Steele's command, and saw a great deal of disagreeable and arduous service.
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