USA > Illinois > McLean County > History of McLean County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 11
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From Camp Benton, Mo., its first rendezvous, the regiment was or- dered to Williamsport, Md., to be armed and equipped, then crossed the Potomac river to guard the B. & O. railroad. It was attacked Jan. 3, 1862, by 15,000 rebels under Stonewall Jackson, and for several days carried on intermittent fighting with the enemy. Finally it recrossed the Potomac and took up position on the Maryland side. In March it took a hand in the brilliant fight at Winchester, and went down the Shenandoah valley and was afterward at Harrison's landing and the second battle of Mal- vern Hill. The regiment in 1863 was in North and South Carolina in active service, and was the first to mount the walls of Fort Wagner at its cap- ture. At Newburn, N. C., Col. T. O. Osborn of this regiment was placed in command of the first brigade. Here a flag was presented to the regi- ment from Gov. Yates, and afterward was carried in all its engagements.
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The Thirty-ninth took part in Gen. Hunter's expedition against Charles- ton and assisted in the taking of Morris Island.
In January, 1864, the regiment left for the north on veteran furlough, being given a great send-off. Arriving in Chicago in the middle of Jan- uary, it received a great ovation and recruited up from a strength of 450 men to 750. It then returned to Washington and was sent to George- town, Va., as part of the First Brigade, First division, Tenth army corps. It was in Gen. Butler's famous expedition up the James river in May, 1864, and when at one time was completely surrounded by the enemy, cut its way out with a loss of nearly 200 men. On the 2nd of June another fight was carried on at the same place, when Lieut. Albert W. Fellows was killed and Capt. Al. C. Sweetser lost a leg. From June 16 to 18 the regi- ment fought day and night against Longstreet's corps, losing 35 men, in- cluding Capt. O. F. Rudd. On Aug. 15 this regiment charged the enemy works at Deep Run, losing 104 men. In October another charge on Dar- lington Road, seven miles from Richmond, 60 men of the 250 in the regi- ment fell. The regiment had lost its officers until there remained only one first and one second lieutenant and one adjutant. During the winter it was recruited and took part in the desperate fight at Fort Gregg, April 2, 1865. Its depleted forces scaled the ditch and the walls of the fort and captured the garrison after a deadly hand to hand conflict of a half hour. The regiment was presented with a magnificent brazen eagle for its color staff, and Col. Thomas O. Osborn was made brigadier general. From this time the Thirty-ninth headed the Army of the James in pursuit of Gen. Lee until the latter surrendered at Appomatox.
In the early part of 1862, Co. K of the Twenty-sixth Illinois, 60 men, went out under Capt. Ira J. Bloomfield, who had resigned from the high school. Bloomfield later became brigadier general. The Twenty-sixth saw service in twenty-eight hard fought battles, ending at Bentonville, N. C., and taking part in the grand review at Washington.
There were 87 men from McLean County in Company D, of the Sixty- third regiment, Capt. A. E. Cherrington. This regiment was in the Vicks- burg campaign, the march to the sea, and in numerous engagements. The regiment was mustered out in 1865.
There were many McLean County men in the regiments enlisted for thirty days in 1862, among them being the 67th, 68th, 69th, 70th and 71st. Col. Owen T. Reeves, after Judge Reeves, went out in charge of the
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70th regiment, a three months regiment. J. H. Scibird was major of this regiment. These short-term enlisted men were used mostly for guard duty.
Company H of the 62d was made up of McLean County men; Capt. Samuel Sherman; Lieuts. Foley and Wilson. Organized in April, 1862; veteranized in 1864 and mustered out in 1866.
This county contributed Co. D of the 63rd, Capt. John W. Champion, mustered in at Camp Dubois in April, 1862; was at Vicksburg, Mission Ridge, northern Mississippi campaign, Atlanta to the sea, and in May, 1865, was at Richmond. Mustered out in July, 1865, at Camp Butler.
Company F of the 68th Illinois was from McLean County ; captain, John W. Morris; lieutenant, John R. Larimore; and Company G, captain, James P. Moore ; lieutenants, Harvey C. DeMotte and John H. Stout. This was a three-months regiment.
McLean County furnished part of Company E of the 82d, Capt. Robert Sender. This regiment was at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, at Gettys- burg, losing heavily of its men in the latter two battles. It was trans- ferred to the Army of the Cumberland and fought at Lookout Mountain; mustered out in 1865.
The Ninety-fourth regiment was more than any other a McLean County regiment. Its muster was started in the summer of 1862 under the president's call for 600,000 men. It was a very popular movement, men rushing to sign the muster roll in all parts of the county; within a week, 1,200 men had been signed. The regiment was completed and two full companies were left over and joined other regiments, one company from Cheney's Grove joining the 116th as Company F, and one from McLean becoming Company A of the 117th. The military history of these two companies was mostly lost. The Ninety-fourth was mustered into the U. S. service in Bloomington and left on the 25th of August in box cars for St. Louis. By Sept. 10 it was on its way to Rolla, Mo. It received its baptism of fire Dec. 7 at Prairie Grove, Mo., where one man was killed and twenty-six wounded. It remained at Lake Spring, Mo., from January to June, and about this time Col. W. W. Orme was made brigadier general, and Capt. John McNulta and Capt. Laughlin advanced one grade; Capt. Briscoe was made major; Sergt. A. L. Heywood made adjutant. The regiment arrived at Vicksburg June 13, and from that time to the surrender bore its part in the siege. It lost one man killed
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and five wounded. The regiment took part in many other engagements during its two years and fifty weeks in the service, but lost comparatively few men from wounds or disease. The make-up of this regiment was as follows: Co. A, Capt. A. S. Lawrence, Bloomington; Co. B, Capt. Tim- othy Freeman, Heyworth; Co. C, Capt. John Franklin, Lexington; Co. D, Capt. George W. Brown, Padua, Danvers, Bloomington and Towanda; Co. E, Capt. John L. Routt, Bloomington; Co. F, Capt. Aaron W. Walden, Padua, Bloomington, Danvers and Towanda; Co. G, Capt. Aaron Buckles, Leroy ; Co. H, Capt. Joseph P. Orme, known as the Irish company, Bloom- ington; Co. I, Capt. W. H. Mann, Normal, Money Creek, Twin Grove and Gridley ; Co. K, Capt. James M. Burch, mustered from Danvers and other townships.
The first colonel of the Ninety-fourth was William W. Orme, who was made a brigadier general in 1862, and confirmed by the U. S. Senate April 4, 1863. He was followed by Lieutenant Colonel John McNulta, who served as colonel to the end of the war. Part of the time Col. McNulta com- manded a brigade, and at the close of the war was made brigadier general.
One of the two companies left over after the Ninety-fourth regiment was formed and captained by Lemuel N. Bishop of Cheney's Grove, from which section most of the men enlisted. This company became Co. F of the 116th, a Macon County regiment. This regiment first fought at Chickasaw Bayou in December, 1862, and on Jan. 11, 1863, took part in a great defeat of the rebels at Arkansas Post. Company B lost all but 25 men at this battle, coming out under command of a fifth sergeant, after- ward Lieutenant and Captain C. Riebsame, who lived many years after the war in Bloomington. In camp along the river opposite Vicksburg in 1863, the 116th lost one hundred men from disease, a record of fatality rarely equalled. Fourteen of the McLean County company died of dis- ease.
Mt. Hope and Funk's Grove get credit for the enlistments in Co. A of the 117th regiment, another overflow from the Ninety-fourth. S. B. Kinsey was the first captain, followed by Charles S. Beath. The 117th regiment was at Vicksburg, also in the Red River expedition, at Nashville during the bitter cold weather of December, 1864, and in all engaged in six battles and thirty-three skirmishes.
A reunion association of the Ninety-fourth regiment was formed many years after the war, and holds annual meetings in Bloomington on
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or about Aug. 25th, the anniversary of its muster. The number of mem- bers attending these reunions grew smaller as time passed.
Recruits to the number of 2,000 men had enlisted in the army during the year 1862, and the quotas from McLean County were well filled. Con- . sequently as the year 1863 came on, recruiting fell off in numbers and en- thusiasm, only a few men here and there offering themselves for service. People in general were anxiously awaiting the end of the war, which they thought would come soon. In the subsequent Illinois regiments number- ing from the 97th to the 115th, there were a few recruits in each from McLean County. A company of forty Germans under Capt. Robert Lender made up a company recruited into the Army of the Potomac, this being the second company made up here for service in German regiments.
Forty McLean County men were members of Companies I, K, L, and M of the Sixteenth Illinois cavalry, the last cavalry regiment organized in the state. These men, recruited late in 1863, had some of the most trying experiences encountered by any McLean County men in the war. The regiment was captured in an early engagement, and the prisoners were cast into the notorious prison at Andersonville, where many of them died and from which many others finally were released physical wrecks.
An incident of peculiar and sensational, though not of tragic moment, was the midnight alarm which aroused Bloomington on May 25, 1863, when it was announced that immediate recruits were wanted by hundreds to suppress an outbreak of rebel prisoners in Camp Butler in Springfield. Before morning a company of 475 men in all kinds of uniforms and carry- ing all kinds of arms, were on their way to Springfield. Their arrival was a surprise to the capital, for no one there had heard of an uprising of rebel prisoners, and affairs at Camp Butler were calm enough. The sud- denly recruited company contained most of the men of Bloomington, young, old, rich, poor, cripples and every other kind.
There was a very great slacking up of recruiting in McLean County during the year 1863, as the people considered that they had done their share of sending men into the army. The county had offered a bounty of $50 for each man enlisted in 1862 for a period of three years. The in- fantry quotas were filled, there were but few enlistments for the artillery and considerably more for the cavalry. Men from McLean County were among those making up Companies I, K, L, and M of the Sixteenth Illi- nois cavalry.
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The general feeling in the north had undergone a change during the year 1863 from what it had been one or two years previous. A feeling of uncertainty as to the outcome of the war gave way in certain sections to one of actual opposition to its further prosecution. The people opposed to Lincoln's war policies became known as "Copperheads" and the opposi- tion to the war culminated in New York City in riots as a demonstration against the drafting of soldiers for the service. A secret society known as "Knights of the Golden Circle," came into being, with many branches in Illinois. It gave secret and sometimes open comfort to the enemy and rejoiced at victories by the rebel arms.
In opposition to the Knights of the Golden Circle and other organiza- tions opposing the war, a counter movement of a secret nature became organized known as the Union League. This society had many adherents in McLean County.
Late in 1863 a call for 300,000 more men was sent out by the govern- ment, and these recruits were to be used mainly to replace men killed, wounded or sick in the regiments already in the field, rather than to form- ing new regiments. The board of supervisors of McLean County, to stim- ulate enlistments, offered a bounty of $150 for each recruit, this offer superseding one of $50 in 1862.
The year 1864 witnessed one phenomenon in the military situation which encouraged the north and correspondingly disheartened the south. This was the veteranizing of the regiments in the field by the re-enlist- ment of the men who had entered the service in 1861 for three years. More than 100,000 of these veteran soldiery were enrolled, those that ex- pressed a willingness to so re-enlist being granted a 30-days furlough before entering on their new term of service. The county board voted money to entertain these veterans on their return home for their furlough, and hundreds of them enjoyed this hospitality. The Thirty-third Illinois, the Normal regiment, was one of the regiments which returned home in- tact, having been veteranized as a whole and retaining its regimental for- mation. The Thirty-ninth also kept its organization practically intact, although its men did not get their furloughs all at one time.
The number of McLean County men re-enlisted as veterans in the different regiments to which they belonged, ranged from 95 men in the Thirty-third to 89 in the Thirty-ninth, 30 in the Twenty-sixth, 18 in the Twentieth, 27 in the Third cavalry, 28 in the Fifth cavalry, 18 in the Four-
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teenth infantry, 18 in the Twentieth infantry, down to 6 in the Second cavalry, 11 in the Twenty-third, 7 in the Sixty-second, and smaller num- bers in the Seventh, Eighth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Nineteenth, Fifty-first, Fifty-second, Fifty-fifth, Sixty-first, Sixty-sixth infantry and the Fourth cavalry.
Owing to serious defects in the forms of enlistments of the earlier years of the war, the quotas required of McLean County were very heavy in 1864, resulting in protest and threats of united action compelling the board of supervisors to offer large rewards, as was done in other counties, Lee County offering $1,000 bounty for each volunteer. The highest figure here, however, was $300, and there were sufficient enlistments under this bounty, together with the volunteers of the years 1861 to 1864, to com- pletely fill all the quotas required of McLean County, and 160 men in addition. This county acquired the reputation of having raised a larger super-quota than any other county in Illinois. The state raised 13 regi- ments of 100-day men between June and October, 1864, these troops be- ing used to guard rebel prisoners, railroads and supplies, the regiments being numbered from 132 to 145. Col. George W. Lackey took with him 100 men from McLean County for the 145th infantry, they forming parts of Companies B, D, E, I and K. P. B. Keays was captain of Company I. Major I. W. Wilmeth and 70 volunteers joined the 146th regiment, en- listed for one year and kept in service after the close of the war.
By the year 1864, the United States Sanitary Commission was in full running order, and great collections of supplies and moneys were made here for the use of the soldiers in the field. No statistics were kept as to the exact amount of such relief work performed in this county, but it was large. Money in 1864 was mostly in greenbacks or paper money, gold dollars having gone up to the price of as high as $2.85 in greenbacks. However, the latter was legal tender and circulated freely. The war boun- ties and other public expenditures were paid in paper money. The women and children of the county were the ones on whom fell the burden of this relief work. They gave fairs, bazaars and other kinds of entertain- ments and donated all the proceeds to soldier relief work. This kind of work was continued in behalf of the families of soldiers until and even after the soldiers returned from the army and until they became again self-supporting.
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The presidential election in the fall of 1864 took first place in interest even above the military operations of our armies. The Democrats nom- inated Gen. George B. McClellan to oppose Abraham Lincoln, and adopted a "peace plank" in their national platform, calling for immediate efforts to end the war. Lincoln, of course, was triumphantly elected, receiving a majority of 110 electoral votes, which constituted a majority over the 21 votes given to McClellan and the 81 electoral votes which belonged to the seceded states. Lincoln carried McLean County by a good sized majority in spite of the absence of thousands of soldier votes, the figures in his favor being 1,419.
With the end of the war near, according to all indications, a call came near the end of 1864 for 300,000 more volunteers. Early in the year 1865, McLean County mustered in two companies of one-year men for the 150th Illinois infantry. Among its officers were Lieut. Col. G. W. Keener of Old Town; Capt. J. H. Stout of Company A, and Capt. W. B. Lawrence of Company B. Then Capt. I. P. Strayer of Lexington and 35 men joined the 154th regiment, and 20 men enrolled for the 155th. The county's quota for the December call was 576 men, and when the enlistments were checked up it was found that the county had overenlisted by 160 men. It was estimated that the county sent all told into the service 3,500 men.
Soon after the war, a movement for the building of a monument to those who had died in the service was started, and in 1869 a tall shaft was erected in Franklin park in Bloomington. This shaft contained the names of 700 men who had met death in the war. But its record was in- complete and even more than that number had died.
After being subjected to the elements for many years, this monu- ment began to crumble. A movement for the building of a larger and better memorial to the soldiers of the county was begun about 1911, and in consequence the board of supervisors voted a fund of $50,000 for this purpose. After two years of diligent work, the names of every soldier who had served in the Civil and the Spanish wars was compiled by Capt. J. H. Burnham and J. Dwight Frink, who had been employed by the board to collect the names for the new monument. Mr. Frink was the designer of the shaft, a gigantic piece of Georgian granite which was erected at the entrance to Miller park in Bloomington. On bronze tablets within this monument are the names of the soldiers compiled by Messrs. Burnham
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and Frink, over 6,000 names being perpetuated each with his regiment and company and rank. This great monument was dedicated with impos- ing ceremonies on May 30, Decoration Day, in the year 1913.
Spanish-American War.
McLean County was again called to arms, along with other parts of this state and the nation, in April, 1898, when the United States govern- ment, under the leadership of President William McKinley, declared war against Spain as the result of her continued brutalities against Cuba, in which she had ignored the repeated warnings of our government. The misrule of Spain in Cuba was brought to a climax, so far as our interest in the matter was concerned, when the U. S. Battleship Maine was blown up in the harbor of Havana on the night of February 15, 1898. Feeling was so aroused in this country that on March 21 congress passed a reso- lution demanding that Spain withdraw and relinquish her authority over the island of Cuba, and authorizing the president to use the armed forces of the United States to enforce this demand.
The Governor of Illinois was called upon for seven regiments as the state's quota. The state militia was first called into service and offered to the federal government. Bloomington had two companies in the state military service, Company D of the Fifth infantry and Troop B of the First Illinois cavalry. Soon after the call, Troop B was divided and re- cruited to the strength of two full troops, known as Troop B and Troop G. Capt. Edward Y. Miller was commander of the infantry company, Capt. W. P. Butler of Troop B, and Capt. Edward Butler of Troop G.
There was also later a company of colored troops organized here, which became Company G of the Eighth Illinois regiment. It was commanded by Capt. Julius Witherspoon.
The three units of the militia proceeded to the state fair grounds in Springfield, on April 27. Prior to its departure, Troop B was presented with a flag by the members of the D. A. R. The women friends and rela- tives of Troop G also gave them a flag, while the members of Company G were given a flag by the colored women of the city. At Springfield the troops were mustered into the federal service and on May 14 departed for camp at Chickamauga, Tenn. The cavalrymen remained in camp at Chick- amauga during the summer. The troops at that place suffered much from disease due partly to the kind of food they had. Several members of the
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two McLean County troops were among the sufferers. The cavalry regi- ments were finally sent to Fort Sheridan after the close of the war, and on Oct. 11. were mustered out. The flags which the two troops carried dur- ing their encampment became the property of the McLean County His- torical Society.
The Fifth regiment, with its McLean County company, on Aug. 3, set out for Newport News to embark for Porto Rico. They boarded the transport Obdam, but before they sailed the word went out that no more troops were needed. The Fifth disembarked on Aug. 18 and went to Lex- ington, Ky., thence to Springfield to be mustered out Oct. 16th.
The organization of the colored company in this county was in re- sponse to a call for a colored regiment for duty in Porto Rico, where the climate is unsuitable for white men. The regiment was mustered into the federal service and sailed from New York for Porto Rico on Aug. 18th. It landed at Santiago, where it did garrison duty until March 11, 1899, when it returned to the United States and was mustered out April 3, 1899.
CHAPTER XI.
SCHOOLS.
PIONEER TEACHERS-FIRST SCHOOLS-FREE SCHOOL LAW-SCHOOL LANDS- PROMINENT EDUCATORS-PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS-OTHER SCHOOLS-ERA OF DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTY.
The first school teacher in McLean County was Delilah Mullin, after- ward Mrs. William Evans. The first school was held in the home of John Dawson at Blooming Grove. It was a subscription school. Miss Mullin herself drew up a paper and went around among the families living near Blooming Grove in 1825 and those who signed could send their children to her school at $2.50 each. The school began May 1, 1825. John Dawson gave the free use of his house for the purpose, it being a new log house which he had just built, and he continued to use his old one for a home. Four of the teacher's own brothers and sisters were among her pupils at the start. She had taught the school for a short time when she was married to William Evans, but the day following the wedding she went back and resumed her school. The school numbered about 17 scholars in all. Text books were scarce and an almanac served the purpose. William Evans, the husband of the pioneer teacher, afterward built the first cabin in the tract of land which became the original town of Bloomington. James Allin, the "father of Bloomington," afterward bought out the claim of the Evanses and they moved to the Mackinaw timber near Lexington. The Evans family later moved to Missouri, then to Texas, where Mr. Evans died. Mrs. Evans died in Texas in 1888.
Dr. Tribue, a Frenchman, taught the second school in the winter of 1825-26, and the next teacher was William Hodge. In these latter schools,
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reading, writing and arithmetic were taught. Home-made ink and goose quills for pens were used.
The earliest report of public money being used for school purposes was in 1836-7, when Bloomington and Danvers townships were credited with payments for tuition to teachers. James Lincoln is on record as having taught a school in 1839 near Leroy, and Vickers Fell a school in Randolph in 1840.
Mrs. Virginia Graves taught a school southwest of Bloomington in 1845. The tuition was one dollar a scholar, and the trustees were Dr. Johnson, Isaac Mitchell and a Mr. Kitchel. Mrs. Graves said she got $10 and ague for the first four months. In 1847, she taught at Selma, in this county. In the years following, the teacher was paid part of the salary from public funds, according to schedule of days taught and number of pupils attending. The free school act of 1855 authorized the raising of school funds by taxation.
Along in the late '30s, Lemuel Foster built a school house of his own in Bloomington, to which students were admitted on payment of tuition. This building stood many years after Foster's death. He was succeeded by George W. Minier and he by Dr. Finley. In 1856 Rev. Robert Conover established a female seminary in Bloomington, which he successfully con- ducted for many years. Another attempt to maintain a private girls' school was made by Elder William T. Major, who erected a building in the north part of town, which became known as Major's College. It con- tinued until many other institutions arose and it could not keep pace. The property finally fell to the Wesleyan University and was sold for resi- dence purposes.
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