USA > Illinois > Pike County > History of Pike County, Illinois : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens > Part 10
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OTHIER HONORED NAMES OF THIS WAR.
Other bright names from Illinois that shine as stars in this war are those of Shields, Baker, Harris and Coffee, which are indissolubly connected with the glorious capture of Vera Cruz and the not less famous storming of Cerro Gordo. In this latter action, when, after the valiant Gen. Shields had been placed hors de combat, the command of his force, consisting of three regiments, devoled upon Col. Baker. This officer, with his men, stormed with unheard-of prowess the last stronghold of the Mexicans, sweeping everything before them. Such indeed were the intrepid valor and daring courage exhibited by Illinois volunteers during the Mexican war that their deeds should live in the memory of their countrymen until those latest times when the very name of America shall have been forgotten.
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THE WAR FOR THE UNION.
On the fourth day of March, 1861, after the most exciting and momentous political campaign known in the history of this country, Abraham Lincoln-America's martyred President-was inaugu- rated Chief Magistrate of the United States. This fierce contest was principally sectional, and as the announcement was flashed over the telegraph wires that the Republican Presidential candidate had been elected, it was hailed by the South as a justifiable pretext for dissolving the Union. Said Jefferson Davis in a speech at Jackson, Miss., prior to the election, "If an abolitionist be chosen Presi- dent of the United States you will have presented to you the question whether you will permit the government to pass into the hands of your avowed and implacable enemies. Without pausing for an answer, I will state my own position to be that such a result would be a species of revolution by which the purpose of the Government would be destroyed, and the obser- vances of its mere forms entitled to no respect. In that event, in such manner as should be most expedient, I should deem it your duty to provide for your safety outside of the Union." Said another Southern politician, when speaking on the same sub- ject, " We shall fire the Southern heart, instruct the Southern mind, give courage to each, and at the proper moment, by one organized, concerted action, we can precipitate the Cotton States into a revolution." To disrupt the Union and form a government which recognized the absolute supremacy of the white population and the perpetual bondage of the black was what they deemed freedom from the galling yoke of a Republican administration.
ABRAIIAM LINCOLN DID NOT SEEK THE PRESIDENCY.
Hon. R. W. Miles, of Knox county, sat on the floor by the side of Abraham Lincoln in the Library room of the Capitol, in Spring- field, at the secret caucus meeting, held in January, 1859, when Mr. Lincoln's name was first spoken of in caucus as candidate for President. When a gentleman, in making a short speech, said, " We are going to bring Abraham Lincoln out as a candidate for President," Mr. Lincoln at once arose to his feet, and exclaimed, "For God's sake, let me alone! I have suffered enough!" This was soon after he had been defeated in the Legislature for United States Senate by Stephen A. Douglas, and only those who are
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intimate with that important and unparalleled contest can appre- ciate the full force and meaning of these expressive words of the martyred President. They were spontaneous, and prove beyond a shadow of doubt that Abraham Lincoln did not seek the high posi- tion of President. Nor did he use any trickery or chicanery to obtain it. But his expressed wish was not to be complied with; our beloved country needed a savior and a martyr, and Fate had decreed that he should be the victim. After Mr. Lincoln was elected President, Mr. Miles sent him an eagle's quill, with which the chief magistrate wrote his first inaugural address. The letter written by Mr. Miles to the President, and sent with the quill, which was two feet in length, is such a jewel of eloquence and prophecy that it should be given a place in history :
HON. A. LINCOLN :
PERSIFER, December 21, 1860.
. Dear Sir :- Please accept the eagle quill I promised you, by the hand of our Representative, A. A. Smith. The bird from whose wing the quill was taken, was shot by John F. Dillon, in Persifer township, Knox Co., Hls., in Feb., 1857 Hav- ing heard that James Buchanan was furnished with an eagle quill to write his Inaugural with, and believing that in 1860, a Republican would be elected to take his place, I determined to save this quill and present it to the fortunate man, who- ever he might be. Reports tell us that the bird which furnished Buchanan's quill was a captured bird,-fit emblem of the man that used it ; but the bird from which this quill was taken, yielded the quill only with his life,-fit emblem of the man who is expected to use it, for true Republicans believe that you would not think lite worth the keeping after the surrender of principle. Great difficulties surround you ; traitors to their country have threatened your life ; and should yon be called upon to surrender it at the post of duty, your memory will live for- ever in the heart of every freeman ; and that is a grander monument than can be built of brick or marble.
"For if hearts may not our memories keep, Oblivion haste each vestige sweep, And let our memories end."
Yours Truly,
R. W. MILES.
STATES SECEDING.
At the time of President Lincoln's accession to power, several members of the Union claimed they had withdrawn from it, and styling themselves the "Confederate States of America," organ- ized a separate government. The house was indeed divided against itself, but it should not fall, nor should it long continue divided, was the hearty, determined response of every loyal heart in the nation. The acenrsed institution of human slavery was the primary canse for this dissolution of the American Union. Doubtless other agencies served to intensify the hostile feel .. ings which existed between the Northern and Southern portions
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of our country, but their remote origin could be traced to this great national evil. Had Lincoln's predecessor put forth a timely, ener- getic effort, he might have prevented the bloody war our nation was called to pass through. On the other hand every aid was given the rebels; every advantage and all the power of the Government was placed at their disposal, and when Illinois' honest son took the reins of the Republic he found Buchanan had been a traitor to his trust, and given over to the South all available means of war.
THE FALL OF SUMTER.
On the 12th day of April, 1861, the rebels, who for weeks had been erecting their batteries upon the shore, after demanding of Major Anderson a surrender, opened fire upon Fort Sumter. For thirty-four hours an incessant cannonading was continued; the fort was being seriously injured; provisions were almost gone, and Major Anderson was compelled to haul down the stars and stripes. That dear old flag which had seldom been lowered to a foreign foe by rebel hands was now trailed in the dust. The first blow of the terrible conflict which summoned vast armies into the field, and moistened the soil of a nation in fraternal blood and tears, had been struck. The gauntlet thus thrown down by the attack on Sumter by the traitors of the South was accepted-not, however, in the spirit with which insolence meets insolence-but with a firin, determined spirit of patriotism and love of country. The duty of the President was plain under the constitution and the laws, and above and beyond all, the people from whom all political power is derived, demanded the suppression of the Rebellion, and stood ready to sustain the authority of their representative and executive officers. Promptly did the new President issue a proclamation calling for his countrymen to join with him to defend their homes and their country, and vindicate her honor. This call was made April 14, two days after Sumter was first fired upon, and was for 75,000 men. On the 15th, the same day he was notified, Gov. Yates issued his proclamation convening the Legislature. IIe also ordered the organization of six regiments. Troops were in abund- ance, and the call was no sooner made than filled. Patriotism thrilled and vibrated and pulsated through every heart. The farm, the workshop, the office, the pulpit, the bar, the bench, the college, the school-house,-every calling offered its best inen, their lives and their fortunes, in defense of the Government's honor and unity.
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
Bitter words spoken in moments of political heat were forgotten and forgiven, and joining hands in a common cause, they repeated the oath of America's soldier-statesman: " By the Great Eternal, the Union must and shall be preserved." The honor, the very life and glory of the nation was committed to the stern arbitrament of the sword, and soon the tramp of armed men, the clash of musketry and the heavy boom of artillery reverberated throughout the continent; rivers of blood saddened by tears of mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and sweethearts flowed from the lakes to the gulf, but a nation was saved. The sacrifice was great, but the Union was preserved.
CALL FOR TROOPS PROMPTLY ANSWERED.
Simultaneously with the call for troops by the President, enlist- ments commenced in this State, and within ten days 10,000 volunteers offered service, and the sum of $1,000,000 was tendered by patriotic citizens. Of the volunteers who offered their services, only six regiments could be accepted under the quota of the State. But the time soon came when there was a place and a musket for every man. The six regiments raised were designated by numbers commencing with seven, as a mark of respect for the six regiments which had served in the Mexican war. Another call was antici- pated, and the Legislature authorized ten additional regiments to be organized. Over two hundred companies were immediately raised from which were selected the required number. No sooner was this done than the President made another call for troops, six regiments were again our proportion, although by earnest solicita- tion the remaining four were accepted. There were a large number of men with a patriotic desire to enter the service who were denied this privilege. Many of them wept, while others joined regiments from other States. In May, June and July seventeen regiments of infantry and five of cavalry were raised, and in the latter month, when the President issued his first call for 500,000 volunteers, Illinois tendered thirteen regiments of infantry and three of cavalry, and so anxious were her sons to have the Rebellion crushed that the number could have been increased by thousands. At the close of 1861 Illinois had sent to the field nearly 50,000 men, and had 17,000 in camp awaiting marching orders, thus exceeding her 'all quota by 15,000.
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
A VAST ARMY RAISED IN ELEVEN DAYS.
In July and August of 1862 the President called for 600,000 men-our quota of which was 52,296-and gave until August 18 as the limits in which the number might be raised by volunteering, after which a draft would be ordered. The State had already fur- nished 17,000 in excess of her quota, and it was first thought this number would be deducted from the present requisition, but that could not be done. But thirteen days were granted to enlist this vast army, which had to come from the farmers and mechanics. The former were in the midst of harvest, but, inspired by love of country, over 50,000 of them left their harvests ungathered, their tools and their benches, the plows in their furrows, turning their backs on their homes, and before eleven days had expired the demands of the Government were met and both quotas filled.
The war went on, and call followed call, until it began to look as if there would not be men enongh in all the Free States to crush out and subdue the monstrous war traitors had inaugurated. But to every call for either men or money there was a willing and ready response. And it is a boast of the people that, had the supply of men fallen short, there were women brave enough, daring enough, patriotic enough, to have offered themselves as sacrifices on their country's altar. On the 21st of December, 1864, the last call for troops was made. It was for 300,000. In consequence of an im . perfect enrollment of the men subject to military duty, it became evident, ere this call was made, that Illinois was furnishing thous- ands of men more than what her quota would have been, liad it been correct. So glaring had this disproportion become, that under this call the quota of some districts exceeded the number of able-bodied men in them.
A GENERAL SUMMARY.
Following this sketch we give a schedule of all the volunteer troops organized from this State, from the commencement to the close of the war. It is taken from the Adjutant General's report. The number of the regiment, name of original Colonel, call under which recruited, date of organization and muster into the United States' service, place of muster, and aggregate strength of each organization, from which we find that Illinois put into her one hun- dred and eighty regiments 256,000 men, and into the United States
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army, through other States, enough to swell the number to 290,000. This far exceeds all the soldiers of the Federal Government in all the war of the Revolution. Her total years of service were over 600,000. She enrolled men from eighteen to forty-five years of age, when the law of Congress in 1864-the test time-only asked for those from twenty to forty-five. Her enrollments were otherwise excessive. Her people wanted to go, and did not take the pains to correct the enrollment; thus the basis of fixing the quota was too great, and the quota itself, at least in the trying time, was far above any other State. The demand on some counties, as Monroe, for example, took every able-bodied man in the county, and then did not have enough to fill the quota. Moreover, Illinois sent 20,844 men for one hundred days, for whom no credit was asked. She gave to the country 73,000 years of service above all calls. With one-thirteenth of the population of the loyal States, she sent regu- larly one-tenth of all the soldiers, and in the perils of the closing calls, when patriots were few and weary, she sent one-eighth of all that were called for by her loved and honored son in the White House. Of the brave boys Illinois sent to the front, there were killed in action, 5,888; died of wounds, 3,032; of disease, 19,496; in prison, 967; lost at sea, 205; aggregate, 29,588. As upon every field and upon every page of the history of this war, Illinois bore her part of the suffering in the prison-pens of the South. More than 800 names make up the awful column of Illinois' brave sons who died in the rebel prison of Andersonville, Ga. Who can measure or imagine the atrocities which would be laid before the world were the panorama of sufferings and terrible trials of these gallant men but half unfolded to view? But this can never be done until new words of horror are invented, and new arts dis- covered by which demoniacal fiendishness can be portrayed, and the intensest anguish of the human soul in ten thousand forms be painted.
No troops ever fought more heroically, stubbornly, and with bet- ter effect, than did the boys from the " Prairie State." At Pea Ridge, Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Inka, Corinth, Stone River, Holly Springs, Jackson, Vieksburg, Chicamanga, Lookout Moun- tain, Murfreesboro, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, Chattanooga, and on every other field where the clash of arms was heard, her sons were foremost.
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
CAPTURE OF THE ST. LOUIS ARSENAL.
Illinois was almost destitute of firearms at the beginning of the conflict, and none could be procured in the East. The traitorous Floyd had turned over to the South 300,000 arms, leaving most arsenals in the North empty. Gov. Yates, however, received an order on the St. Louis arsenal for 10,000 muskets, which he put in the hands of Captain Stokes, of Chicago. Several unsuccessful attempts were made by the Captain to pass through the large crowd of rebels which had gathered around the arsenal, suspecting an attempt to move the arms would be made. He at last succeeded in gaining admission to the arsenal, but was informed by the com- mander that the slightest attempt to move the arms would be dis- covered and bring an infuriated mob upon the garrison. This fear was well founded, for the following day Gov. Jackson ordered 2,000 armed men from Jefferson City down to capture the arsenal. Capt. Stokes telegraphed to Alton for a steamer to descend the river, and about midnight land opposite the arsenal, and proceeding to the same place with 700 men of the 7th Illinois, commenced loading the vessel. To divert attention from his real purpose, he had 500 guns placed upon a different boat. As designed, this movement was discovered by the rabble, and the shouts and excitement upon their seizure drew most of the crowd from the arsenal. Capt. Stokes not only took all the guns his requisition called for, but emptied the arsenal. When all was ready, and the signal given to start, it was found that the immense weight had bound the bow of the boat to a rock, but after a few moments' delay the boat fell away from the shore and floated into deep water.
" Which way?" said Capt. Mitchell, of the steamer. "Straight in the regular channel.to Alton," replied Capt. Stokes. "What if we are attacked ?" said Capt. Mitchell. "Then we will fight," was. the reply of Capt. Stokes. "What if we are overpowered ?" said Mitchell. "Run the boat to the deepest part of the river and sink her," replied Stokes. "I'll do it," was the heroic answer of Mitchell, and away they went past the secession battery, past the St. Louis levee, and in the regular channel on to Alton. When they touched the landing, Capt. Stokes, fearing pursuit, ran to the market house and rang the fire bell. The citizens came flocking pell-mell to the river, and soon men, women and children were tugging away at that vessel load of arms, which they soon had deposited in freight cars and off to Springfield.
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
LIBERALITY AS WELL AS PATRIOTISM.
The people were liberal as well as patriotic; and while the men were busy enlisting, organizing and equipping companies, the ladies were no less active, and the noble, generous work performed by their tender, loving hands deserves mention along with the bravery, devotion and patriotism of their brothers upon the Southern fields of carnage.
The continued need of money to obtain the comforts and neces- saries for the sick and wounded of our army suggested to the loyal women of the North many and various devices for the raising of funds. Every city, town and village had its fair, festival, picnic, excursion, concert, which netted more or less to the cause of liospital relief, according to the population of the place and the amount of energy and patriotism displayed on such occasions. Especially was this characteristic of our own fair State, and scarcely a hamlet within its borders which did not send something from its stores to hospital or battlefield, and in the larger towns and cities were well-organized soldiers' aid societies, working systematically and continuously from the beginning of the war till its close. The great State Fair held in Chicago in May, 1865, netted $250,000. Homes for traveling soldiers were established all over the State, in which were furnished lodging for 600.000 men, and meals valued at $2,500,000. Food, clothing, medicine, hospital delicacies, reading matter, and thousands of other articles, were sent to the boys at the front.
MESSAGES OF LOVE AND ENCOURAGEMENT.
Letters, messages of love and encouragement, were sent by noble women from many counties of the State to encourage the brave sons and brothers in the South. Below we give a copy of a printed letter sent from Knox county to the "boys in blue," as showing the feelings of the women of the North. It was headed, " FROM THE WOMEN OF KNOX COUNTY TO THEIR BROTHERS IN THE FIELD." It was a noble, soul-inspiring message, and kindled anew the intensest love for home, country, and a determination to crown the stars and stripes with victory :
" You have gone out from our homes, but not from our hearts. Never for one moment are yon forgotten. Through weary march and deadly conflict our prayers have ever followed you; your snfferings are our sufferings, your victories onr great joy.
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" If there be one of you who knows not the dear home ties, for whom no mother prays, no sister watches, to him especially we speak. Let him feel that though he may not have one mother he has many; he is the adopted child and brother of all our hearts. Not one of you is beyond the reach of our sympathies; no pieket- station so lonely that it is not enveloped in the halo of our prayers.
" During all the long, dark months since our country called you from us, your courage, your patient endurance, your fidelity, have awakened our keenest interest, and we have longed to give you an expression of that interest.
" By the alacrity with which you sprang to arms, by the valor with which those arms have been wielded, you have placed our State in the front ranks; you have made her worthy to be the home of our noble President. For thus sustaining the honor of our State, dear to us as life, we thank you.
"Of your courage we need not speak. Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Stone River, Vieksburg, speak with blood-bathed lips of your heroism. The Army of the Southwest fights beneath no defeat-shadowed banner; to it, under God, the nation looks for deliverance.
" But we, as women, have other cause for thanks. We will not speak of the debt we owe the defenders of our Government; that blood-sealed bond no words can cancel. But we are your debtors in a way not often recognized You have aroused us from the aimlessness into which too many of our lives had drifted, and have infused into those lives a noble pathos. We could not dream our time away while our brothers were dying for us. Even your suffer- ings have worked together for our good, by inciting us to labor for their alleviation, thus giving us a work worthy of our womanhood. Everything that we have been permitted to do for your comfort has filled our lives so much the fuller of all that makes life valua- ble. You have thus been the means of developing in us a nobler type of womanhood than without the example of your heroism we could ever have attained. For this our whole lives, made purer and nobler by the discipline, will thank you.
"This war will leave none of us as it found us. We cannot buffet the raging wave and escape all trace of the salt sea's foam. Toward better or toward worse we are hurried with fearfui
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haste. If we at home feel this, what must it be to you! Our hearts throb with agony when we think of you wounded, suffering, dying; but the thought of no physical pain touches us half so deeply as the thought of the temptations which surround you. We could better give you up to die on the battle-field, true to your God and to your country, than to have you return to us with blasted, blackened souls. When temptations assail fiercely, you must let the thought that your mothers are praying for strength enable you to overcome, them. But fighting for a worthy cause worthily ennobles one; herein is our confidence that you will return better men than yon went away.
" By all that is noble in your manhood; by all that is true in our womanhood; by all that is grand in patriotism; by all that is sacred in religion, we adjure yon to be faithful to yourselves, to us, to your country, and to your God. Never were men permitted to fight in a cause more worthy of their blood. Were yon fighting for mere conquest, or glory, we could not give you up; but to sus- tain a principle, the greatest to which human lips have ever given utterance, even your dear lives are not too costly a sacrifice. Let that principle, the corner-stone of our independence, be ernshed, and we are all slaves. Like the Suliote mothers, we might well clasp our children in our arms and leap down to death.
"To the stern arbitrament of the sword is now committed the honor, the very life of this nation. You fight not for yourselves alone; the eyes of the whole world are on you; and if you fa'l our Nation's death-wail will echo through all coming ages, moaning a requiem over the lost hopes of oppressed humanity. But you will not fail, so sure as there is a God in Heaven. He never meant this richest argosy of the nations, freighted with the fears of all the world's tyrants, with the hopes of all its oppressed ones, to flounder in darkness and death. Disasters may come, as they have come, but they will only be, as they have been, ministers of good. Each one has led the nation upward to a higher plane, from whence it has seen with a clearer eye. Snecess could not attend us at the West so long as we scorned the help of the black hand, which alone had power to open the gate of redemption; the God of battles would not vouchsafe a victory at the East till the very foot- prints of a McClellan were washed out in blood.
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