History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 102

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 102
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 102

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FIFTY-NINTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

In Co. B of this regiment were twenty or more soldiers from Henderson county. It was designated during the first six months of its service as the 9th Missouri. In the early stage of the war the gen- eral government checked enlistments by refusing to accept the eager volunteers who were determined to render service. The companies composing this regiment showed their ardent patriotism by crossing over to St. Louis, where the organization was finally completed as a Missouri regiment. In February, 1862, the designation was changed by order of the war department. John C. Felton, formerly a captain in the regular army, but lately first assistant adjutant general on Gen. Fremont's staff, was commissioned colonel. The regiment was mus- tered for United States service on September 18, 1861. For some time prior to this the various companies had been working on fortifica- tions and doing guard and picket duty at St. Louis and Cape Girardeau. September 21 the regiment was ordered to Jefferson City, and was in constant activity until March 7 and 8, 1862, when it fought gloriously at Pea Ridge. Lieut .- Col. Frederick and Major P. Sidney Post were severely wounded. The latter, on the resignation of Col. Kelton three weeks afterward, was commissioned colonel. May 22, the regiment embarked from Cape Girardeau for Hamburg Landing, and participated in the siege of Corinth. It marched to various places, skirmished some, and on August 18 crossed the Tennessee river at Eastport. Col. Post took command of the brigade at this time, and continued to act in this enlarged sphere until again seriously wounded at the battle of Nash- ville, just anterior to the close of the war. The 59th reached Florence, Alabama, the 24th, and marching thence via Lawrenceburg, Columbia and Franklin, arrived at Murfreesboro September 1. It moved north with Buell's army on the 3d, and reached Louisville on the 26th. Out of 361 men who went into action at Perrysville October 8, 113 were

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either killed or wounded. It was in a severe skirmish at Lancaster, Kentucky, on the 14th. On November 7 it arrived at Nashville, and went into camp at Edgefield. It belonged to Gen. Jefferson C. Davis' division and Gen. A. McC. McCook's corps. It fought with its old- time gallantry at Stone River, and lost heavily. When retiring with the shattered right wing on that terrible Wednesday, it brought off safely by hand a battery whose horses had all been killed. It served continuonsly with Gen. Rosecrans until he was relieved of his com- mand in October, 1863. On the Chattanooga campaign it was away up the Lookout range so far to the right, under McCook, as to excite a trembling uneasiness for the safety of the army. During the battle of Chickamauga, Post's brigade had charge of the wagon train, and was not in the engagement. In the assault on Missionary Ridge, November 25, the 59th led the brigade. Pursuing to Ringgold, it attacked the enemy in position and drove him successfully. Novem- ber 30 it was sent to aid in burying the dead at Chickamauga. Jan- uary 12, 1864, it was mustered as a veteran organization. It returned from its furlough reorganized, and went on the Atlanta campaign, fought at Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, King- ston, Ackworth, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Smyrna Camp Ground, Rough and Ready, and Lovejoy. It followed Hood back to Tennessee, skirmished at Columbia, on November 29 attacked the rebel army in flank as it was marching on Spring Hill, and fought all day; it marched that night and the following day without rest, and reached Franklin in time to take part in that bloody battle. It was in the thickest of the fight at Nashville, December 15 and 16; on the first day opening the engagement and planting the first colors on the rebel works, and on the second day leading the successful assault on Over- ton's Hill. In March, 1865, the regiment went to East Tennessee, and in April into North Carolina. Returning to Nashville the last of the month, in June it went to New Orleans, and in July arrived at India- nola, Texas. It marched to San Antonio, and was stationed at New Braunfels till December 8, when it was mustered out and sent to Springfield, Illinois, for final payment and discharge.

SEVENTY-EIGHTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

This regiment was organized at Quiney by Col. Wm. H. Benneson, in August, 1862, and mustered into the United States service Septem- ber 1. In Co. H were thirty-three enlisted soldiers, and at least one officer, second lieutenant, Samuel Simmons, from the southwest corner

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

of Henderson county, about Dallas, besides a few men who were scattered through other companies. The regiment left Quincy for Louisville September 20. 934 strong. October 5 it was ordered to Shepardsville to guard the railroad bridge across the Rolling Fork, and on the 14th was stationed on the Lebanon branch railroad, for its protection. Remaining there till January, it ascended the Cumber- land river to Nashville, and joined Rosecrans' army at Franklin, whence it moved forward on the Tullahoma campaign as far as Shelby- ville, where it stayed till September 6. Meantime it had been assigned to Gorden Granger's corps, and moved on Chattanooga, crossing the Tennessee river and reaching Rossville, Georgia, the 14th. At Ring- gold it skirmished on the 17th. On the 20th it did heavy fighting at Chickamauga and lost fifty-eight, killed and wounded, and fifty-six prisoners. It was confined in Chattanooga during the two months' siege, and assisted in carrying Missionary Ridge, November 25, with slight loss. Having marched to the relief of Burnside at Knoxville, it returned and went into winter quarters at Rossville, from whence it started on the Atlanta campaign May 2, 1864. Besides almost constant skirmishing, it fought heavily at Resaca, Rome, Peach Tree creek and Jonesboro. At the latter place its loss of eighty-three was the result of charging a six-gun battery, which it captured. On September 28 it moved with the rest of the division into northern Alabama, in chase of Forrest's forces, and at Gaylesville rejoined the army which had followed Hood, and returned to Atlanta. From there it marched through the heart of Georgia to Savannah, and turning northward swept through the Carolinas, continuing its destruction of property in its course, and fought at Bentonville March 19, repelling the successive and fierce charges of the enemy, and sustaining a loss of forty-four. It was with Sherman's grand army until its disbandment at Washing- ton after the national review. It brought to Chicago, where it arrived June 10, 1865, and was discharged, 373 men and twenty officers.

GREENVILLE TOWNSHIP.

Greenville precinct comprises all of T. 11, R. 4, which lies north of Smith creek, and that portion of T. 12, R. 4, which is south of Hender- son river and Cedar creek, which is near thirty-nine sections or about 25,000 acres. It is bounded on the north by Henderson river and Cedar creek, on the east by Warren county, on the south by Biggsville precinct and Smith creek, and on the west by T. 11, R. 5. Its princi- pal streams are those which bound it on the north and south with Fall

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creek and Rust creek. all of which trend in a southwesterly direction. Its general surface is gently rolling with a border of abrupt hills around the north, west and a portion of the southern boundary. The streams and the broken portions of the precinct are skirted with a fine growth of timber, which is utilized for many practical purposes. It consists of shag bark hickory, red hickory, red and white elm, white, blue and prickly ash, box elder, sycamore, basswood, white and black walnut, sugar and soft maple, red, white and burr oak, cottonwood, honey locust, American aspen, mulberry, red bud, and wild plum. The soil of the uplands is a deep black loam, the subsoil being of brown clay. Bitumi- nous coal has been found in very small quantities, but not sufficient to be of any utility. A calcareous deposit is found along Fall creek, which would make an excellent body for painting purposes. Along the hill- sides of Rust creek and Fall creek are found outcroppings of Burlington limestone, that of Rust creek having a brownish cast caused by its being tinetured largely with oxide of iron, that of Fall creek being of a lighter cast, containing more calcareous matter. Here many kinds of crinoidea are found, all of which are identified with the upper Burling- ton period ; and nowhere, perhaps, have the stone-lilys been found in greater abundance and in a better state of preservation. Other fossils are abundant, especially brachiopods. Bryozoa is also found, mostly in the Keokuk strata.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first man who, with his family, found a home in Greenville pre- cinet was Capt. William Beaty, who came from Bartholomew county, Indiana. He settled on the S. W. } of Sec. 17, T. 11, R. 4, in May, 1830, and made the first erop of any kind in the precinct. Here he built a cabin of lewn logs, a remnant of which still remains. At this time there were many Indians in the vicinity who paid almost daily visits to the Beatys. For four years there was not another white person in the precinct, the nearest neighbors were the Pences, living in T. 11, Sec. 5. During the hostilities with the Indians, which began in 1831, Mr. Beaty moved his family to Pence's Fort, which stood on the west bank of Henderson river, in T. 11, Sec. 5. They remained here until the close of the Black Hawk war, with the exception of a few months in the fall and winter of 1831. September 9, 1831, Ezra Beaty, the first white child, was born in the precinct, and first saw the light on the 14th of the same month Mrs. Beaty died. Then there were but twenty-five persons within reach to attend the funeral. Sadly they lowered the mortal remains of this pioneer woman into the first grave ever made for a white person in the township. Mr. Beaty

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

married Miss Jane T. Russell, of the Jemison settlement, on South Henderson, June 27, 1833. The marriage occurred in what is now Biggsville precinct, but this was the first union in which any one from the precinct was a contracting party.

The Indian troubles had come to an end and Black Hawk with his warriors had bid a sad farewell to Illinois, and gone beyond the Mississippi to return no more forever. People became fully assured of quiet possession of their lands and homes, and emigration headed toward the military tract, and Greenville received her portion.

In 1834 Hercules N. Roney came from Ohio and settled on the same section with Mr. Beaty. He did some blacksmithing, which was the first done in the precinct, but soon tiring of the outlook for the future he returned to his former home at Dayton, Ohio. The same year came Jacob Rust, and settled on section 9, where B. F. Frysear now lives. The next year, in company with S. S. Phelps, he com- meneed the erection of a grist-mill, near his residence, but on account of a misconstruction of some of its parts it was a failure, involving Mr. Rust financially. He is still living and has his home in Potta- wattamie county, Iowa.

In the spring of 1836 the Rice brothers, James F., Thomas H., George P. and William C. came. James H. has long since been dead ; Thomas H. and George P. now live in Monmouth ; William C. is now, and has been for many years, county judge of Henderson county. In the same year John Hopkins settled on Sec. 35, T. 12, R. 4. In the autumn of this year occurred the first marriage in the precinct, that of James Scott and Anna Hopkins, sister of John. They lived on the farm now owned by John Holliday. In the spring B. C. Coghill, William P. Toler and Thomas Ellett came from near Rich- mond, Virginia, on a tour of inspection. The next year they came and located permanently. Mr. Coghill, who had been a large slave owner, manumitted them, bringing two with him, who, under contract, were to work for a certain time and gain their absolute freedom thereby. They bred trouble for him and were sent back. He com- menced the erection of a mill, on a site which is still used for that purpose, on the south side of Henderson river. Thomas Ellett, the friend of Coghill, who had come with him on the weary tramp from Virginia, settled on section 9. July 4, 1836, he raised his cabin and named the grove in which it stood Independence Grove. Mrs. M. H. Mills has in her possession a piece of moss-grown shingle which was a part of the original roof of this house.

William H. Mills wended his weary way from Dearborn county, Indiana, and settled near the bluff on section 18. He now lives on

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section 16, and although old can tell a story of the hardships of those pioneer days with the zest of a boy. Prior to Mr. Mills' coming, Anderson Davis and W. H. Davis, his brother, came from Virginia. This was in 1836. They were both moral, upright gentlemen, and did much for the material and social upbuilding of the community. Mr. W. H. Davis taught perhaps the first school in the county, in the winter of 1836-7.

The same year came Robert Taliaferro and his four sons, Robert, Benjamin C., J. Brooke, and C. Walker. The father and mother have long since been dead. Robert and J. Brooke have found homes in the west. Benjamin C. is a prominent attorney and politician at Aledo, Mercer county. C. Walker runs and operates the Fall creek mills, near where they first settled.

Texas Grove, the name of a farm not far from here, was settled by a man named Rhodes who afterward went to Texas, hence the name. This is on section 9.

At the south end of the precinct the first settler was Maj. James C. Hutchison, with his wife and four sons, Samuel, Robert M., Ben- jamin, Thomas H., and Elizabeth and Sarah, his daughters. They came from Ohio, journeyed down the Ohio and up the Mississippi by steamboat. They landed at Oquawka at sunrise, on the morning of June 2, 1833, when there were but four resident families in the town. They settled on section 36. This was just north of the Jemison settle- ment, on South Henderson. Samuel now lives in Monmouth ; Robert lives at Walla Walla, Oregon ; Thomas H. died in Polk county, Ore- gon, in 1850 ; John W., who was born soon after their arrival here, was killed by the cars at Hornellsville, New York, in 1863 ; Benjamin lives at the old homestead. The subsequent year Jolin Glass, with his family, settled near the Hutchisons, on section 34, and Charles Sar- geant, a soldier of the war of 1812, came in 1835, and settled on the same section with Glass. The next persons who came were Joel Haines and family, in 1837, settling on ti.s south side of what is now the Oquawka and Monmouth road. Amos Haines came in 1840 and settled near. John Reed came in 1841 and opened a farm on section 24, and Isaac Woods settled near in the same year. These people nearly all came from Ohio, and were industrious and frugal and have made life a success by the accumulation of plenty. John Welsh, who now lives in the same vicinity, came in 1835 from Buffalo, New York, and looked into and saw the advantages of the country. He returned to New York, and in 1840 came with his family and first had his home on section 17. Just east of Mr. Welche's the first permanent blacksmith-shop was erected in 1843 by J. B. Wheeling.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

Among those who came at a later date to the north part of the precinct were Amos Morris, in 1840. Israel Stockton and his sons, Edwin and James B .. in 1841. In 1846 J. J. Hulburt, M.D., the first disciple of Esculapius in the vicinity, purchased B. C. Coghill's interest in section 3 and commenced the practice of medicine. William C. Toler settled, in 1838, at Coghill's mills. William L. Stockton, who for many years followed school teaching, came the same year. Greenup Stillwell came from Indiana in 1839, and settled in the north end of the precinct. He was one of the millwrights who rebuilt the Rust mill. He is still living on his farm where he first settled. Among those who came at a later date are the Matthewses and Holli- days, the Campbells and the Fairs, all of whom, themselves or some of their descendants, are living in the vicinity.

IMPROVEMENTS.

The first mill built in the precinct was the one by Jacob Rust and others in 1834, which was a failure. In 1835 Benjamin C. Coghill commenced the erection of a mill on Henderson river for the purpose of cutting lumber. To this, in 1839, he added a flouring mill, which went into successful operation. This mill site is now owned and oper- ated by Richard Foulkes, Esq., a man of ripe experience in the busi- ness. The original building has been replaced by one more substantial, fitted with all modern improvements. The machinery of the mill, built by Jacob Rust, was bought by Joseph Hollingsworth and removed to its present site, on Fall creek, in 1846. He built a large four-story frame structure, putting in first class complements for those days. It is now owned and operated by Mr. C. Walker Taliaferro. This is the mill where, on that fatal night of January, 1859, officer David Welsh was smitten by the hand of a murderer. The dark stains of gore yet remain to show the spot where he met his fate.

CRIME.

The precinct of Greenville is as free from the imputation of crime as any other in the county. In its fifty years of history only one life has been lost by violence, that of officer David Welsh, murdered by Enoch Hollingsworth and Jacob Yeider on the cold and bleak morning of January 11, 1859. The shooting, the death, and subsequent arrest of Enoch Hollingsworth and Yeider, as principals, and Joseph Hol- lingsworth as accessory, perhaps created more excitement than any other event of a similar or any other nature which ever occurred in the county. The facts of the case are, in the light which time sheds on such occurrences, about as follows: Joseph Hollingsworth was at

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that time the owner of the Hollingsworth flouring mills, situated on Fall creek. He rented the mill to his son. Addison, for the year 1859, the lessee taking possession at the beginning of the year. Some diffi- culty ocenrred soon after, and the father, with his agents, forcibly and without due process of law, ejected the son. Enoch and his family moved into the mill, and Yeider with them, determined to keep pos- session. In putting Addison out of the mill they had made an infrac- tion of the law by committing an assault and battery. This was Addison's hope to get possession, and smarting under the indignity, he went to Oquawka and filed an affidavit based on this. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Enoch and Yeider, and placed in the hands of David Welsh. In the meantime the elder Hollingsworth, owner of the mill, had gone away and left orders with Enoch and Yeider to allow no one to enter the mill. Mr. Welsh, in company with Addison Hollingsworth, Orrin Burr, James Fryrear, N. S. and E. F. Barnum, proceeded to the mill, which is about five miles northeast of Oquawka in a gloomy ravine, surrounded by the high bluff's which border on Henderson river and Fall creek. Arriving there about two o'clock in the morning of January 11, he summoned the occupants to open the doors and allow him ingress, at the same time telling them he had snfli- cient anthority for commanding them to do so. He was refused, with the remark that "the first man who put his head in at the door would get a hole through it." He saw that further parleying was useless, and sent one of the posse to get an axe, with which he forced the door and fearlessly walked in to do his duty as an official, followed by the others. Those within were on an upper floor, which was reached by ascending a stairway. He calmly climbed this and walked into the face of death. The moment he reached the landing Yeider fired on him with a rifle. He fell to the floor, his thigh horribly shattered by the force of the ball. Surgeons were immediately called, and decided that amputation was necessary to life. He died the next day between the hours of two and four o'clock. Enoch Hollingsworth and Yeider were immediately arrested and brought before justices Richey and Waterhonse on a charge of wilful murder. Johnathan Simpson, James H. Stewart, and D. B. Waters for the prosecution, and B. C. Talia- ferro, James D. Wolfe, and Eleizar Paine for the defense. The exami- nation was long, tedious, and hotly contested. The charge was sus- tained, and the defendants sent to jail to await the action of the grand jury. Tuesday, February 1, Joseph Hollingsworth was arrested on a charge as accessory, had his preliminary hearing, and went to jail. March 7, a writ of habeas corpus was sued out before Judge Thompson, who decided that Enoch and Yeider could not be admitted to bail.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

Joseph Hollingsworth was recognized in the penal sum of $3,000. At the meeting of the grand jury in May a true bill was returned against Enoch and Yeider for murder, and against the elder Hollingsworth as an accessory. The matter came up for hearing at the current term. A motion for a change of venue was made, and the case was sent to Mercer county for trial. It came on for hearing at the September term of the same year. A nolle prosequi was entered in the case of Joseph Hollingsworth. Enoch and Yeider were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years.

During the autumn and winter of 1878 the people of Greenville and adjacent country began to miss various articles from among their chattels. During the hours of night they would disappear, and whither they went and where they were was not a problem of easy solution. But there were those within the burglarized district whose bosoms held the secret. Silently, mysteriously, at the dead, dark hours of night rode a secret clan who pillaged the country of anything of value which came in their way. To the uninitiated the mystery grew more and more incomprehensible. A vigilance committee was organized, but they were not successful in bringing the midnight plunderers to the bar of justice. Silently, enveloped in an insoluble mystery, which vailed them from detection, they continued to plunder. But a silent agency was at work, and the unerring hand of justice was weaving for the seemingly chimerical clan a robe of retribution. Jolin Lunney, Jacob Henderson, Wm. Van Pelt, David Mitchell, and Charles Hen- derson, were arrested on a charge of burglary and larceny in January, 1879. This fell like a thunderclap amid sunshine on the people of the vicinity, as most of them belonged to the best families of the neighbor- hood, but the mystery was solved. The grand jury indicted them at the March term. Lunney, Jacob Henderson and Van Pelt went to the penitentiary for two years each. Some one connected with the affair turned state's evidence, and during the summer, while lying sick abed at night, three disguised men entered his room with bludgeons in hand to repay him for his inconstancy. They beat him severely. Eugene Hunt, Timothy Page and Jasper Jones were indicted at the August term for burglary with intent to murder, were tried. Hunt being found guilty, and the others acquitted.

EDUCATIONAL.

The first school-house in the precinct was built in the autumn of 1836, on Sec. 18. Here the first school in the precinct was taught during the winter following, by N. H. Davis. Mr. Davis relates an amusing incident that occurred during the term. One evening near

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the hour of closing, he was disturbed by some one imitating the call of turkeys, but he did not succeed in discovering the culprit. On looking out, however, he saw the house surrounded by a flock of these birds. A young man by the name of Pence the master's rifle, which in those pioneer days was not infrequently a part of the school furniture, and succeeded in bringing down a fine turkey, which he presented to the master.

The people in building the school-house had done it voluntarily, . cutting the timber from their land and bringing in common. They concluded to locate the house on a piece of land belonging to one Wein, a non-resident, and in consideration of this cut none of his timber. Wein visiting the neighborhood, and seeing the school-house, concluded to move in, and commenced preparations to do so. The people hear- ing of this concluded that it might not be best to allow him to get into possession. They soon hit upon a plan to thwart his caleulations. There was a mustering of the clans, and in Mr. Wein's absence they in a few hours tore down the building, and raised it on another man's land ; this being easily done as it was constructed of logs. Wein re- turned, saw what had been done, and made up his mind to have recourse to law. He accordingly brought suit for trespass. Archie Williams and John H. Mitchell appearing for the complainant, Judge Ivory Quinby, and O. H. Browning, afterward a United States senator, appearing for the defense. The matter was tried before Stephen A. Douglas, at that time district judge. Mr. Wein lost his case, and was muleted for the costs of the action. This school was kept up for some time, but was finally succeeded by the Liberty school. This old building is now a part of a dwelling, which may be seen about a half mile west of Rosetta postoffice. The first school-house at number one was built of logs, some distanse from where the present house stands, which was erected in 1858. This was the first district organized in the precinct.

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 102

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424