USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume I > Part 8
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Captain Thomas S. Gelder, then a resident of Greene county, served in the campaign of 1831 and immediately after his return settled with his father on a farm in Chesterfield township.
Among those who enlisted from Macoupin county in Captain Kinkead's com- pany of Greene county were: John Record, Isham Caudle, Isaac McCollum and Isaac Prewitt. There may have been others but these are all the names that we have been able to gather, as no official record has been preserved at Spring- field. Few of the hardy soldiers of this war remain with us. Many after the war was ended moved to other sections of the country and many others have passed over the river and are now in the embrace of the silent sleep of death.
The force marched to the mouth of Rock river, where General Atkinson received the volunteers into the United States service and assumed command. Black Hawk and his warriors were still up on Rock river.
The army under Atkinson commenced its march up the river on the 9th of May. Governor Reynolds, the gallant "Old Ranger," remained with the army, and the President recognized him as a major general and he was paid accord- ingly. His presence in the army did much toward harmonizing and conciliating those jealousies which generally exist between volunteers and regular troops. Major John A. Wakefield and Colonel Ewing acted as spies for a time in the campaign of 1832, to discover the location of the enemy if possible. A Mr. Kinney acted as guide for them. He understood the Sac dialect. On the 14th of May, 1832, Major Stillman's command had a sort of running battle with the Indians at or near what is now known as Stillman's run, a small, sluggish stream. In this engagement eleven white men and eight Indians were killed. Black Hawk and warriors fought with the spirit born of desperation. Black Hawk says in his book that he tried at Stillman's run to call back his warriors, as he thought the whites were making a sham retreat in order to draw him into an ambuscade of the whole army under General Whiteside. The hasty retreat and rout of Stillman and his army was in a measure demoralizing to the entire forces. Undoubtedly the cause of the defeat was a lack of discipline. When Governor Reynolds learned of the disaster of Major Stillman, he at once ordered out two thousand additional volunteers. With that promptitude characteristic of the old "War Governor," he wrote out by candle light on the evening of Stillman's defeat, the order for additional troops, and by daylight dispatched John Ewing, Robert Blackwell and John A. Wakefield to distribute the order to the various counties. The volunteers again promptly responded. However, the
63
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
soldiers from this county did but little fighting. On the Ioth of July the army disbanded for want of provisions. General Scott arrived soon after with a large force at the post of Chicago, to effect, if possible, a treaty with the Indians. Small detachments of Black Hawk's warriors would persistently hang on the outskirts of the main body of the army, thieve and plunder, and pounce upon and kill the lonely sentinel or straggling soldier. On the 15th of July the soldiers were reviewed and those incapable of duty were discharged and returned home. Po- quette, a half breed, and a Winnebago chief, the "White Pawnee," were selected for guides to the camp of Black Hawk and band. Several battles and skirmishes occurred with the enemy, the principal of which was on the banks of the Missis- sippi, where the warriors fought with great desperation. Over one hundred and fifty were killed in the engagement and large numbers drowned in attempt- ing to swim the river. After the battle the volunteers were marched to Dixon, where they were discharged. This ended the campaign and the Black Hawk war. At the battle of Bad Axe, Black Hawk and some of his warriors escaped the Americans and had gone up the Wisconsin river.
The Winnebagoes, desirous of securing the friendship of the whites, went in pursuit and captured and delivered them to General Street, the United States Indian agent. Among the prisoners were the son of Black Hawk and the prophet of the tribe. These with Black Hawk were taken to Washington, D. C., and soon consigned as prisoners to Fortress Monroe. At the interview Black Hawk had with the president he closed his speech delivered on the occasion in the fol- lowing words: "We did not expect to conquer the whites. They have too many houses, too many men. I took up the hatchet, for my part, to revenge injuries which my people would no longer endure. Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would have said: 'Black Hawk is a woman; he is too old to be a chief ; he is no Sac.' These reflections caused me to raise the war whoop. I say no more. It is known to you. Keokuk once was here; yori took him by the hand, and when he wished to return to his home, you were willing. Black Hawk expects like Keokuk, he shall be permitted to return, too."
By order of the president, Black Hawk and his companions, who were in confinement at Fortress Monroe, were set free on the 4th day of June, 1833. After their release from prison they were conducted in charge of Major Gar- land through some of the principal cities that they might witness the power of the United States and learn their own inability to cope with them in war. Great multitudes flocked to see them wherever they were taken and the attention paid them rendered their progress through the country a triumphal procession instead of prisoners transported by an officer. At Rock Island the prisoners were given their liberty amid great and impressive ceremony. In 1838 Black Hawk built him a dwelling near Des Moines, Iowa, and furnished it after the manner of the whites and engaged in agricultural pursuits, together with hunting and fishing. There, with his wife, to whom he was greatly attached, he passed the few re- maining days of his life. To his credit it may be said that Black Hawk remained true to his wife and served her with a devotion uncommon among Indians, living with her upwards of forty years.
At all times when Black Hawk visited the whites he was received with marked attention. He was an honored guest of the old settlers' reunion in Lee county,
64
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
Illinois, and received marked 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 an intense attack of bilious fever, and termi- nated his life October 3d. After his death he was dressed in the uniform pre- sented him by the president while in Washington. He was buried in a grave six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful eminence. The body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting position upon a seat constructed for the occasion. On his left side the cane given him by Henry Clay was placed up- right, with his right hand resting upon it. His remains were afterward stolen and carried away but they were recovered by the governor of Iowa and placed in the museum of the Historical Society, at Burlington, Iowa, where they were finally destroyed by fire.
Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, was the place appointed where a treaty would be made with the Indians but before it was effected that dreadful scourge, the cholera of 1832, visited not only the regular army, depleting its ranks far more rapidly than the balls of the Indians had done, but it also sought out its many victims in the dusky bands of the Black Hawk tribe.
On the 15th of September, 1832, a treaty was made with the Winnebago Indians. They sold out all their lands in Illinois and all south of the Wisconsin river and west of Green Bay and the government gave them a large district of country west of the Mississippi, and $10,000 a year for seven years, besides pro- viding free schools for their children for twenty years, oxen, agricultural im- plements, etc.
September 21, 1832, a treaty was made with all the Sac and Fox tribes, on which they ceded to the United States the tract of country on which a few years afterward the state of Iowa was formed. In consideration of the above cession of lands, the government gave them an annuity of $20,000 for thirty years, forty kegs of tobacco and forty barrels of salt, more gunsmiths, blacksmith shop, etc., six thousand bushels of corn for immediate support, mostly intended for the Black Hawk band.
The treaties above mentioned terminated favorably and the security result- ing therefrom gave a new and rapid impetus to the development of the state, and now enterprising towns and villages and beautiful farms adorn the rich and alluvial prairies that before were only desecrated by the wild bands who inhabited them. Agricultural pursuits, commerce and manufactures, churches and schools, are lending their influence to advance an intelligent and prosperous people.
THE MEXICAN WAR.
In the Mexican war Macoupin county was represented by a number of pa- triotic men and the part taken by them in that controversy at arms is here pre- sented as related in a former history of the county :
"In the war with Mexico in 1846-7, Illinois furnished six regiments of men, as follows: First regiment, commanded by Colonel John J. Hardin; Second regiment, commanded by Colonel William H. Bissell; Third regiment, commanded by Colonel Ferris Forman; Fourth regiment, commanded by Colonel Edward D. Baker: Fifth regiment, commanded by Colonel James Collins; Sixth regiment
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First Christian Church
New Christian Church
SOME CHURCHES OF VIRDEN
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
commanded by Colonel Edward W. Newby. This county furnished about one hundred men.
"The First regiment, mustered at Alton, Illinois, one thousand strong, was transported to New Orleans by steamboat in July, 1846, crossed the gulf and disembarked from the vessel at Port Levaca, in Texas, thence by forced march to Camp Crockett, at San Antonia De Baxar, where they became a part of the main army, thence to Persido, thence two hundred and fifty miles to Mount Clover, thence to Paris and from that point made a forced march to Aqua Aneva. This regiment fought bravely at the glorious battles of Buena Vista, the city of Mexico and Cerro Gordo. In this regiment enlisted, in Company C, James P. Pearson (better known as Captain Pearson), who was wagon master and musician. He was severely wounded in the ankle at Buena Vista; John and Henry Sharp, James Coen, Thomas Joiner, Isaac Hill, Enoch Witt, Richard Mathew, Jefferson Edwards and Thomas Pettyjohn. In Company E, commanded by Captain Newcomb, were John Vincent, who died in the service; William Davis, Snowden Sawyer, S. B. Sawyer, John H. and William C. Purdy, Reuben Skidmore, John Price, James Linton, Andrew Scroggins, Samuel Crowell and James F. Chapman.
"In the Fifth regiment, Colonel Collins, Company C, there were fourteen as follows: B. J. Dorman, William Brown, John Coudel, John Pomeroy, who died in Mexico; James Raffurty, James Colyer, Jackson Edwards, Theodorus Moore, who died in Mexico; Albert Clark, who also died in Mexico; William Larri- more, James Morgan and John Burgess, all of whom died in Mexico. James Green and Andrew Shaw were also members of Company C. Captain Lee, of Fayette county, commanded the company. Several men from the neighborhood of Staunton, were also members of this regiment. They were: D. W. Hender- son, Benjamin Henderson, S. W. Bell, Daniel Grant, who died in service; Drury M. Grant, B. F. Cowell, Thomas Howell, who died in Mexico; James Vincent, who died in Mexico; Jackson Scroggins, who also died in Mexico; Harrison Harrington, Ambrose Dickerson and David R. Sparks.
"They were mustered at Alton in 1846 and were sworn in for duty during the war. Thence they were transported to New Orleans, and from that place were ordered to Tampico, from which place they were transported by vessel to Vera Cruz. They were in Patterson's Division and under General Scott. This regi- ment participated in several skirmishes but was in no general engagement. They marched to the city of Mexico but after its capture they were mustered out at Alton, Illinois, in August, 1847.
"In the Fourth regiment, commanded by Colonel Baker, there were quite a number of boys from Macoupin county. They enlisted in Company B, Cap- tain Elkin, commander, at Carlinville, in the early part of June, 1846, and the next month, at Alton, were sworn into the service. They were: Fuller Smock, Seburn Gilmore, Rush Guy, Lee Graham, Joseph Graham, Elijah Pulliam, Will- iam Dews, Richard Mathews, John Tennis, Marion Wallace, who died at Tampico, Mexico; Jackson Wallace, who enlisted as a private, was promoted to first lieu- tenant and died at Camargo; Sylvanus Seaman, Wilson Mitchell, Felix Hampton, M. Warmack, discharged at Jefferson Barracks soon after being sworn in, on account of sickness ; Alfred and Samuel Hall, both discharged at Matamoras on Vol. 1-5
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
account of sickness; Felix Hall, discharged at Jefferson Barracks; and John Stockton, also discharged on account of sickness. Also in this regiment were Samuel Cowell and Andrew Scroggins. After being mustered at Alton, the regiment was moved to Jefferson Barracks, where they were drilled for about a month, then sent to New Orleans, thence to Brazos Santiago, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, thence to Camp Belknap, on the same river, from there to Camargo, where they laid six weeks; here severe drill was resumed; they then took a steamer to Matamoras and were placed in Patterson's brigade, General Taylor commanding. They were later transferred to the main army under Gen- eral Scott. From Matamoras they went to Tampico, where they embarked for Vera Cruz, to which they laid siege, which, after a heavy bombardment, capitu- lated, surrendering the forts and shipping in the harbor. They then marched to Cerro Gordo, where the Mexicans, under Santa Anna, were defeated. Here General Shields commanded the brigade. They followed the retreating Mexi- cans to Jalapa, where they camped for three weeks. Their term of service had now expired and they were ordered to Vera Cruz, thence to New Orleans, where in August, 1847, they were discharged and paid their own way home.
"Other soldiers from this county in that war were a part of Captain Little's cavalry. In Colonel Hays' regiment of Texas cavalry the regiment had two companies from Illinois-Little's and Stapp's. Their names were as follows: Thomas Bacon, sergeant, John Murphy, John Guison, Edward Miller, Wyatt R. Hill, William Jones, Josiah Jones, Hiram Wood, James Holley, Peter Kuyken- dall, John Wood, William Edwards, Hugh Rice, William F. McWain, Charles Cowden, Thomas Stone and William Hamilton. John Murphy and Thomas Stone were killed in action near Robert's Bridge, Mexico, and William Jones died at Rio Frio, Mexico.
"Others undoubtedly were in the war but their names cannot now be pro- cured. It is pleasing to know that the general assembly of Illinois made an appropriation, in 1878, for the purpose of transcribing the names of Illinois soldiers who were in the Mexican war from the official register at the war de- partment, the same to be placed in the adjutant general's office at Springfield. Governor Cullom appointed Colonel Ferris Forman, of Vandalia, to perform that duty."
CHAPTER II.
GEOLOGY.
PREPARATION OF THE EARTH FOR MAN'S CONVENIENCE-THE ROCKS AND HILLS AS NATURE LEFT THEM-COAL AND OTHER MINERAL FORMATIONS IN THE COUNTY-FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE COUNTY.
Drift Deposits-The quatenary beds of the county consist mainly of drift clays, with some interstratified beds of sand and gravel, and some local deposits of loess along the bluffs of the Macoupin. They range in thickness from forty to two hundred feet or more, their greatest development being restricted to the ancient valleys, excavated anterior to, or during the drift epoch, and subsequently filled with drift accumulations.
Three miles south of Carlinville a shaft was sunk by T. L. Loomis, to the depth of one hundred and sixty feet, without reaching bed rock, all but a few feet at the top being through a blue hard pan. At this point a stream of water broke through, probably from an underlying bed of quicksand and filled the shaft in a few hours to the depth of about eighty feet, and the work was consequently abandoned.
At a coal shaft one mile east of Bunker Hill the superficial deposits were only twenty-eight feet thick, while at a shaft east of Staunton, they were one hundred and ten feet; at the Virden shaft, twenty, and at Girard, about seventy feet. These figures illustrate the variable thickness of the drift deposits in the county, and indicate the irregularity of the original surface of the bed rock, which seems to have been intersected by valleys of erosion quite as deep, if not as numerous as those which characterize the surface at the present time.
Stratified Rock-All the stratified rocks of this county belong to the coal measures and include all the strata from the horizon of coal No. 4, which out- crops on Hodges' creek, just on the Greene county line, to coal No. 10, inclusive, embracing an aggregate thickness of about three hundred and fifty feet. The following section of the coal shaft at Virden will give a general idea of the relative thickness and position of the strata, and includes nearly all the different beds that outcrop in the county.
VIRDEN SHAFT.
Feet Inches
Drift clay
20 0
No. I Sandstone 5 O
No. 2 Bituminous shale O 5
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
Feet. Inches.
No. 3 Coal
O
2
No. 4 Fireclay
5
O
No. 5 Bituminous shale 4
6
No. 6 Coal No. 10
O
6
No. 7 Fireclay or clay shale 6
7
9
No. 9 Bituminous shale
I
4
No. 10 Argillaceous shale
5
6
No. 1I Compact limestone (Carlinville bed)
7
0
No. 12 Bituminous shale, Coal No. 9
I
3
No. 13 Clay shale
6
0
No. 14 Limestone
O
9
No. 15 Sandy shale and sandstone
63
O
No. 16 Soft limestone or calcareous shale.
I
4
No. 17 Bituminous shale
3
IO
No. 18 Coal No. 8 O
IO
No. 19 Sandstone and sand shale 72
3
O
No. 21 Hard calcareous sandstone 8
0
No. 22 Blue clay shale 4
O
No. 23 Variegated shales (Horizon of Coal No. 7) 22
6
No. 24 Sandy shales 26
O
No. 25 Soft bituminous shale
I
6
No. 26 Limestone
3
O
No. 27 Bituminous shale
2
6
No. 28 Coal No. 6
2
9
No. 29 Fireclay
2
0
No. 30 Sandstone 4
I
6
No. 32 Fireclay 2
No. 33 Sandstone and shale IO
O
No. 34 Limestone
7
O
No. 35 Bituminous shale 0
6
No. 36 Coal No. 5 7
8
-
Total depth to the bottom of the coal 320
I
ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY.
Coal-As may be prèsumed from the perusal of the preceding statements coal is by far the most valuable mineral product of this county. Its entire area is underlaid by coal, and the supply from coal seam No. 5 alone is practically inex- haustible ; and its resources from this seam, reckoning its average thickness at six feet, which is believed to be a fair estimate, is not less than 5,184,000,000 tons, and will admit of an annual consumption of one million tons per annum for 5,184 years, before the coal from this seam alone would be exhausted. The underlying beds which have never yet been penetrated in this county may be safely set down
O
No. 31 Coal No. 6
O
No. 20 Shales with ironstone
O
No. 8 Hard gray limestone
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
as capable of affording an amount equally as great as that of No. 5, and hence the entire coal resources of this county may be estimated in round numbers at more than ten billions of tons.
Coal No. 5 may be found anywhere in the county that it may be desirable to inaugurate a coal mining enterprise, as it outcrops at the surface on the principal streams that intersect the western border of the county, and in the central and eastern portions it may be reached in shafts varying from three to four hundred feet in depth.
Coal No. 4 usually lies from thirty to forty feet below No. 5, and the three lower seams, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, will all be found, if developed at all, within one hundred and fifty feet below No. 4, so that a boring or shaft carried two hun- dred feet below the main coal in this county, would penetrate all the coals to be found here, and determine positively the amount of coal accessible at any given point where the experiment may be made.
Coal No. 5 affords a coal of good average quality, tolerably hard, bright, com- pact and usually free from pyrite ; it has a rather uneven fracture, but inclines to. break into cubic forms, the layers rather thick and separated by partings of car- bonaceous clod or mineral charcoal, and contains vertical seams of white car- bonate of lime. An analysis of this coal from the Hodges' creek mines, made by the late Henry Pratten, former chemist of the geological survey, and published in Dr. Norwood's "Abstract of a Report on Illinois Coals," gave the following result :
Specific Gravity
1.2797
Loss in coking
43.48
Total weight of coke
56.52
100.00
ANALYSIS.
Moisture
5.50
Volatile matter
36.98
Carbon in coke
48.72
Ashes (white)
7.80
100.00
Carbon in coal
53.8
In quality this coal will compare favorably with the average of our western bituminous coals. It is a good steam producing coal, hard enough to bear trans- portation, and when carefully selected this seam will afford a good smith's coal.
Building Stone-The coal measure strata seldom afford a good building stone, except for foundation walls, culverts and the more ordinary uses to which a coarse and homely material may be used. The Carlinville limestone is the most valuable rock of its kind to be found in this county, and it has been freely used for the ordinary uses above named. In the vicinity of Carlinville, the beds range from five to six feet in thickness, and occur in quite regular layers from four inches to a foot or more in thickness. When burned, it slacks freely, and makes a tolerably good but dark colored quick lime. It appears to stand exposure well and has proved to be a durable stone where used for foundation walls, bridge
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
abutments, etc., and is the most valuable limestone in the county for economical purposes.
The coarse brownish gray limestone above the Carlinville bed, which is found in the bluffs of the Macoupin, east of Carlinville, is also a durable stone and has been used for abutments and foundation walls in the vicinity of its outcrop, but as the bed is only from two to three feet in thickness the supply from this source is necessarily limited.
Among the sandstones of this county there are at least three distinct beds that will furnish building stone of fair quality if carefully selected. Two of these beds outcrop on Apple creek and its tributaries, in the northwestern corner of the county. These beds are twenty-four and thirty feet thick respectively, and are in part composed of a massive brown sandstone that stands exposure well, has an even texture, and can be easily quarried in blocks suitable for ordinary build- ing purposes. There is also a softer micaceous sandstone outcropping on the Macoupin, below the bridge, on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis railroad, which affords a tolerably good building stone if carefully selected. These sandstones may probably be found outcropping at other points in the western portion of the county, and as a rule, wherever a sandstone is found to present a solid cliff or rock at its outcrop, it may be safely used for all ordinary building purposes.
Iron Ore-A band of very pure carbonate of iron was observed at two or three points on the Macoupin east of Carlinville, intercalated in the shales over- lying the Carlinville limestone, but nowhere in sufficient abundance to be of any economic importance at the present time.
Sand and Clay for Brick Making-These materials are abundant in all parts of the county and may usually be obtained from the beds immediately beneath the soil on the uplands, and where there seems to be a deficiency of sand in the sub- soil clays it may be easily supplied from the beds of the streams, or from the sandbeds interstratified with the drift clays.
REPORT OF J. C. SHANAHAN, COUNTY INSPECTOR OF MINES FOR. 1910.
"To the Honorable President and Members of the County Board of Super- visors, Macoupin County :
"Gentlemen :- I have the honor herewith to present to you my annual report as county inspector of mines, for the year ending July 1, 1910.
"The report will show the number of tons of coal mined, the tons shipped on railroads, the tons supplied to railroad locomotives, tons sold to the local trade and tons used for steam at the mines; the aggregate value of coal at the mines, the number of tons mined by hand and the number of tons mined by machines ; the number and kind of machines used for mining coal and how operated by electricity or compressed air; the number of miners, others employed under- ground, boys employed underground and all others employed above ground, with the total number of employes; the number of kegs of powder used and motors used underground for hauling the coal, the number of accidents both fatal and non-fatal.
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