USA > Illinois > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 44
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Renling, Lewis, transferred to V. R. C., Nov. 11, '63.
MUSTER ROLL, COMPANY "1." Recruit.
Hodges, Elvies, deserted, July 12, 1863.
MUSTER ROLL, COMPANY "L." Farrier.
Ralph A. Martin, sergeant, died in Anderson ville prison, June 28, 1864 ; No of grave 1444. Private. Shea, John, deserted, May 10, 1863.
SPRINGFIELD LIGHT ARTILLERY. (Three Years' Service.)
This battery was organized at Camp Butler, Illinois, by Capt. T. F. Vaughn, and mustered into the United States service Aug. 21st, 1862.
On the first of November, 1862, it moved to Columbus, Kentucky, and, on the 8th ult., to Bolivar, Tenn. Moved to Jackson Dec. 18th, with the command of Brig. Gen. M. Brayman. Was engaged in several expedi- tions from Jackson, during the winter. June 6th, 1863, left Bolivar and was situated on "the Memphis and Charleston Railroad -one section at Moscow-, Lieut. Thomas com- manding ; one at Germantown, Lieut. Stillings commanding ; and one at Colliersville, Lieut. Colby commanding. June 20tb, the battery was united, and assigned to Second Brigade, First Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, Col. James M. True commanding Brigade, and started for Little Rock, Ark , and participated in its capture, Sept. 10th, 1863.
Lieut. Colby commanding one section of the battery, was ordered to Lewisburg, where it remained until March 16th, 1864.
MUSTER ROLL, COMPANY "N." Privates.
Clark, Charles, discharged by G. C. M., Nov. 15, '64. Lavilli, Martin, escaped prisoner, discharged, Dec. 12, 1864, as corporal ; disability.
Pierce. James, in continement at Columbus, O., for desertion.
Sullivan, John, died in Andersonville prison, Nov. 1, 1864.
Spencer, George H., deserted, May 24, 1863.
The battery was then assigned to the second brigade, first division, seventh army corps, with General Steele's expedition to Cam- den, Ark., participating in the several skir- mishes of the campaign, and the battles of Prairie D'Ann, and at Jenkins' Ferry, where the battery, being with the rear-guard at mid- night, repelled a cavalry charge with grape and canister.
May 3, 1864, returned to Little Rock, and remained until ordered to Springfield, Ill. Was mustered out June 30, 1865.
First Lieutenant.
Charles W. Thomas, resigned Sept. 17, '64.
Privates.
Barisse, Nicola, mustered out June 30, '65. Blunt, Joseph, deserted Oct. 22, '62.
Case, Clinton M., mustered out June 30, '65. Daumler, Leonhard, mustered out June 30, '65. Duppe, Jacob, mustered out June 30, '65.
Fischer, John, died at Little Rock, Arkansas, April 17, '64.
Gibson, Willism, mustered out May 29, '65. Gott, Charles, discharged March 5, '65; disability. Green, Elijah, mustered out June 30, '65.
Hapke, August, discharged March 22, '65; disability. Harris, John.
Harvey, Isaac, drowned in Arkansas river at Little Rock, Ark., March 12, '63.
Klekener, John, mustered out June 30, '65. Neidiger, Adolph, must'd out June 30, '65 as Corp'l. Reyhn, Martin, deserled Nov. 1, '62. Rhodes, John, mustered out June 30, '65. Schrade, Jobn, mustered out June 30, '65, as Corp'l. Schupbach, John, mustered out June 30, '65. Smith, Benjamin, mustered out June 30. '65. Sidebottom, Henry, mustered out June 30, '65. Spane, Dominic, mustered out June 30, '65 as Bugler. Tschuschte, Ernst, mustered ont June 30, '65. Vernon, George, deserted Oct. 22, '62.
Wilson, John, deserted Nov. 1, '62.
Recruits.
Gelwich, Thomas R., mustered out June 30, '65. Reimenschneider, John, mustered out June 30, '65.
SECOND ILLINOIS LIGHT ARTILLERY. ( Three Years' Service.) MUSTER ROLL BATTERY " C."
Corporals. John B. Stockton, deserted, June 12, 1862. Privates.
Maloney, James, mustered out, Oct. 22, 18€4. Orr, Wm., disch'd for prom'tu in V. R. C., Aug. 3,'63. Smith, David, died at Fort Donelson, Sept. 28, 18 4.
COMPANY "E"
Battery " E." Second Illinois Light Artillery, was organized at St. Louis, Mo., in Aug. 1861, by Capt. Adolp. Schwartz, and was mustered into service Ang. 20th, at St. Louis Arsenal.
Lient. Hanger commanding one section of the bat- tery moved, Sept. 6, to North Missouri, and had an engagement with the enemy at Liberty, Sept. 17th, and returned to Cairo, Ill., Dec. 29, 1861. With Lient. Gumbart commanding, the battery moved to Cairo, Sept. 14th ; to Fort Holt and Jefferson, Ken- tucky, and returned to Cairo. Nov. Ist, Lieut. Gum- bart's section went on an expedition to Bloomfield, Mo., and Jan. 9, 1862, to Columbus, Kentucky, and returned. Moved under Lieut. Gumbart, Feb. 1st, 1862, to Fort Henry, and, on 13th, arrived before Fort Donalson. On the 14th, held position on the right with Col. Oglesby's Brigade. Lieut. Gumbart, was severely wounded on the morning of the 15th ult., and Lieut. Nispel took command. The enemy's charge was three times repulsed. The battery was engaged in the battle of Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, taking six different positions. Participated in the siege of Corinth, and, in June, marched to Purdy, Bethel and Jackson, Tenn. July 28th, Lient. Dengel's section marched from Bolivar, with Col. Lawler's Brigade, and had an engagement at Britton's Lane, on Sept. 1st, in which the section was captured, together with Lient. Deugel and ten men.
Nov. 3d, 1862, the remaining section, First Sergeant Martin Mann commanding, was attached to Fourth Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, Brigadier-General Lauman commanding, and went on the Yocona expedi- tion. On 24th December, marched to Moscow, Tenn ..
arrived January 12, 1863. Battery "E." was con- solidated with Battery " A."
MUSTER ROLL BATTERY "E." Second Lieutenant.
Joseph Hanger, died. Corporal.
Charles St. Clair.
Privates.
Dagne, Adam, discharged, Ang. 26, 1862; disability. Engelhover, John,
Fischer, George, mustered out, Sept. 29, 1864. Fluch, John, vet., mustered out, July 27, 1865. Frick, Peter, vet., mustered out, July 27, 1865. Herpin, Henry, mustered out, Sept. 29, 1864. Heyshon, Henry, died at Cairo, 111., Feb. 2, 1862. Holden, Marony.
Kloer, Nicholas, discharged, Sept. 13, 1861 ; disability. Kempp, Frederick, killed at Ft. Donelson, Feb. 15, '62. Martin, Franz, killed at Fort Donelson, Feb. 15, 1862. Moger, Charles, mustered out, Sept. 29, 1864. Ott, Valentine, vet., mustered out, July 27, 1865. Pister, John, mustered out, Sept. 29, 1864. Raffel, John or Jacob, mus'd out, Sept. 29,'64, as Corpl. Beeb, Conrad, vet, mustered out, July 27, 1865. Reimboldt, George, discharged, Mar. 5, 1862 ; diea'ty. Reimboldt, Math., discharged, Mar. 5, 1862; disa'ty. Renter, George, vet., mustered out, July 27, 1865. Rooney, Mike, vet., mustered out, July 27, 1865. Rust, Christian, vet .. mustered out, July 27, 1865. Seig, Johu, vet., mustered ont, July 27, 1865. Zink, Andrew, vet., mustered out, July 27, 1865.
Veterans.
Nagel, William, mustered out, July 27, 1865. Purcell, John, mustered out, July 27, 1865. Sommer, John, mustered out, July 27, 1865. Schroer, Mike, mustered out, July 27, 1865. Schlueter, William, mustered ont, July 27, 1865. Vogt. Anton, mustered out, July 27, 1865.
FIRST ARMY CORPS.
ENLISTED MEN OF COMPANY NO. 1.
Assigned to Company "A" 2d Regt. U. S. Vet. Vols. Beckham, Joseph M., must'd out Jan. 31,'66 as Corp'l. Deer, John, mustered out Jan. 31, '66. Dougherty, Joseph, mustered out Jan. 31, '66. Fleigge, Henry, mustered out Jan. 31, '66 Hoffhar, Frederick, mustered out Feb. 4, '66. Kebo, or Yebo, John C., must'd ont Jan. 31. '66. Kreuter, William mustered out Jan. 31, '66. Koch, Lewis, mustered out Jan. 31, '66. Levetli, Charles, mustered out Jan. 31, '66. McCowan, Charles, mustered ont Jan. 31, '66. Parker. Henry, or H. H., must'd out Jan. 31, '66. Pister, John, mustered out Jan. 31. '66. Thies, Mathias, mustered out Jan. 31, '66. Weitt, Joseph, mustered out Jan. 31, '66. Weise, Anthon, mustered out Jan. 31, '66.
ENLISTED MEN OF COMPANY NO. 6.
Spitz, Valentine. Blenel, Albert.
Mandall, Lawrence.
Rankin, George.
Meyer, Nicholas.
Augustine, John.
Engesson, Herman.
Haffner, Lewis.
Hoffing, John. Seims. Henry.
Horling, Christ.
Mills, John W.
ENLISTED MEN OF COMPANY NO. 7.
Assigned to Co "B," 5th Regt. U. S. V.t. Vols. Schoenly, Jacob. Hansen, William. Boste, John. Miller, Daniel.
ENLISTED MEN OF COMPANY NO. 8.
Assigned to Co "A," 6th Regt. U. S. Vet. Vols. Marsch, Adam, mustered out March 15, '66. Hunziker, John, mustered out March 26,'66. Sernan, John, mustered out March 12, '66. Pickering, Alfred W., mastered ont March 26, '66. Schafer, Frederick, mustered out March 26, '66.
155
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER XV. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
BY REV. L. HINSSEN.
CARCELY had Columbus steered across the Atlantic, and revealed the western continent to awakened Europe, when the desire of wealth opened at once the floodgates of cmigration to the New World. One expedition followed the other in close succession, and-thanks to the religious spirit of the times-every expedition had some Catholic missionaries to advance the cause of Christianity in all parts of the new continent. There is hardly a district in New Mexico, Florida, Texas, California, Louisi- ana and elsewhere, which is not inscribed in the annals of Catholic Missions, as the theatre of zeal, and often of the martyrdom of her apostles. Our own state of Illinois does not make an exception. The progress of the ancient faith in Illinois forms an interesting and highly suggestive chapter in the history of the state. Indeed, whatever we know of the early history of the state, of the original inhabitants, their manners and customs, their strifes and wars, their final civilization, or their total disappearance from the stage of American history, is most intimately connected with the labors of those Catholic missionaries, who almost 200 years ago first came among them to win them from idolatry, and gain them to Christ. And in this great drama of the religious history of our state, the county of St. Clair forms, for a long time, one of the main centres from whence the first pioneers of religion and civilization com- menced their operations toward the conversion of the Indians, and the surrounding country.
When the first Catholic missionaries made their appearance in the state of Illinois, by the middle of the seventeenth century, it was occupied by two kindred nations, each composed of several clans. These were the Illinois and Miamis-the former made up of the Cahokias, Kaskaskias, Peorias, Tamarois, Moingwenas. They all were very powerful nations. The Illinois lay on both sides of the Mississippi, whilst the Miamis lay around the southern shore of lake Michigan. All were in a state of barbarism. They recognized one Supreme Being, had a faint idea of the fall of man, of the Re- deemer, of the spiritual world above us. Devil-worship prevailed. In private life polygamy existed ; woman was a slave of the hus- band. The country itself presented a thousand obstacles to the missionary. The priest had to struggle with the superstition and vice of the Pagan Indian everywhere. The fickle savage was easily led astray ; the least cause would often induce him to throw away in one moment what the labor of months and years of the priest had been able to build up. Indeed nothing but religion could inspire men to labor in such a field, with so little honor before the world, and still less prospect of earthly reward. "These brave soldiers of the cross," says Bancroft, "faced death, and difficulties in every shape, but they never receded oue foot. As in a brave army new troops press forward to fill the places of the fallen, there was never wanting heroism and enterprise in behalf of the Cross under French dominion."
Whenever the Jesuits undertook the conversion of a nation, their first care was to establish themselves in one settlement, erect- ing chapels and schools, and a residence for themselves. These settlements by and by became the centres whence missionary opera- tions radiated over the country. As the Jesuit Champlain made Quebec such a missionary centre of the north, whence missionary
, operations radiated along the valley of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes of the Mississippi valley, so had the pioneers of Catho- licity in our part of the country their centres in Kaskaskia, Caho- kia, Prairie du Pont, and St. Louis. All these places play a prominent part in the early history of the Catholic Church in the West. From these centres the missionaries commenced their labors, preaching the gospel to the Indians and the French settlers-by and by penetrating more into the interior of the state to preach and administer the consolations of religion. Next to the grace of God, it is to the incessant labors and zeal of the Jesuits, the priests of the foreign missions of Quebec, of St. Louis, Kaskaskia and Cahokia, that many Catholic congregations in St. Clair, Randolph and Mon- roe counties, owe their first establishment, and preservation of the Catholic faith. This is the reason, why, even in a sketch like this of St. Clair county, we cannot avoid speaking of each one of them at some length.
Besides these first missionary centres, the county of St. Clair embraces the following Catholic congregations: - Cahokia, Belle- ville, French Village, Lebanon, New Athens, Freeburg, Fayetteville, Millstadt, Georgetown, O'Fallon, East St. Louis with two congre- gations, St. Patrick's and St. Mary's, Centreville Station, Mascoutah, Paderborn, St. Libory. Of each one of them we would like to give at least the outlines of their history, but we are sorry to say that we have not been able to get the necessary material for writing up a history from the most of them, for the simple reason, there is none We have to limit, therefore, our historical sketch to the fol- lowing Congregations :
CAHOKIA.
We now have to turn to the oldest Catholic congregation in the West, viz., Cahokia. The missionaries there were not of the same order as those who were working in Kaskaskia, Tamaroa and Pe- oria, who were members of the Society of Jesus. Those men whose lives we have to record here, belonged to another religious order, which not very long before had been established in Quebec, Canada, by its first bishop, Laval. The saintly bishop, before coming to Canada, had received his theological education at the Seminary of the Foreign Missions, at Paris, and as soon as he was raised to the episcopacy he determined to found a similar seminary in Quebec for the conversion of the Indians. To the members of this seminary the Catholic church of America is indebted for some of her most learned, pious, and zealous missionaries. As early as 1699 the first fruits of this institution-Fathers Francis Montigny and Antoinne Davion-proceeded to the Mississippi. Reaching Bilox in July, the same year, they proceeded to the Mission of Father Pinet, who had died in the Tamaroa Mission. It was confided to their care. The first of their clergymen sent from the seminary to Cahokia was Father John Bergier, a man of true merit and a most austere life. He arrived in the summer of 1694 in the Illinois country, but very soon after his arrival got into difficulties with the medicine men, and died. His successor was Father Dominic Mary Varlet, a doctor of the Sorbonne. He arrived probably in 1712. For nearly six years he was a zealous and laborious missionary among the Illinois. At the same time with him a Father Philip Boucher labored among them. He was stationed at the Fort St. Louis, at which he died in the year 1719.
Of the other missions, till 1721 nothing is recorded. All we know, is, that not even then the whole Illinois nation was converted yet. But in Cahokia and elsewhere the Christians formed the élite of the nation, and were highly esteemed by the French settlers for their piety and purity of morals. Thus it came that the French settlers so frequently chose wives from the Indian villages, that we must consider the present French families of Illinois, to a great
156
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
extent, as the descendants of the Illinois Indians. As to customs and manners prevailing in the Christian Indian villages in Illinois, Father Marest writes : "Early in the morning we assemble the catechumens in church, where they say prayers, receive instruction, and sing some hymns; then the catechumens retire, and Mass is said for the Christians, who sit, as in all Indian churches, the two sexes on different sides ; then follow morning prayers and an in- struction, after which they disperse to their several avo cations. The missionary's day is taken up by visits to the sick, comforting, con- soling, instructing all. The afternoon is set apart for those regular catechetical instructions by which the truths of religion are repeat- ed and inculcated, till they become a part of their thought, a tra- dition of the tribe. At sunset the chapel is filled again by the village- assembled for evening prayer and a responsive chant. They close the day as piously as it began. Sundays and holidays witness still greater devotion, and each Saturday the confessional is thronged by frequent penitents."
In the year 1721-when Father Charlevoix visited the Cahokia Mission-it was composed of two tribes, who formed one large town. The two priests there were then Father Domenic Thaumure de la Source-the other L. Mercier. He was pastor of Cahokia in the year 1739. He was a Sulpitian Priest. In the year 1740, Father Lawrant, 1754, Forget, 1784 Bernard, 1787, P. Devrins, 1790, Gibault, 1792, Ledu, 1793, Lavadoux, V. G., 1797, Lusson, 1799, Olivier, 1805, Donatian Oliver, 1807, J. B. Didier, 1810, M. Jos. Durand, 1810, Urbain Gillet, 1812, Savine, 1826; Dom. Lam- bier, 1827, J. A. Lutz, 1828, Saussoir, attended the Cahokia Mission. About this year it numbered 160 families, about 800 souls.
A short time after Father Mercier, things changed. When Lou- isiana was formed a colony, Illinois became subject to its govern- ment. About this time the Jesuits established themselves at the mouth of the Mississippi, and their superior at New Orleans had the superintendence of the Illinois Mission. From this time on, therefore, the missionaries for the Illinois came from New Orleans, by way of the Mississippi. Thus in 1725 we find Fathers de Beau- bois and Deville ascending the river to the Illinois Mission. They were followed in 1727 by Fathers Dumas, Tartarin, and Doutreleau. The Superior of the Jesuits of the Illinois Mission was Father Boularger. He had the superintendence of all missions except Ca- hokia, where the priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions at Quebec continued as pastors of the French, and converted Indians. In 1757 Choisaul, Minister of France, surrendered the possessions of France in North America to England and Spain. The Jcsuits, of whom he was a bitter enemy, were driven from their colleges, the centre of the missions, in New Orleans, was suppressed in 1762, and all further reinforcements were cut off from the Illinois Mis . sion. Part of the Jesuit property in Illinois had been sold by the French government, and the means of the missionaries so reduced, that they were scarcely able to support themselves.
Father Peter Potier, the last Jesuit in the west, frequently visited the Illinois mission down to his death, which happened in 1781, at Detroit. Then the few remaining Indians came under the care of other clergymen. Cahokia and the other Indian and French set- tlements in Illinois, were for a long time under the administration of the Bishop of Quebec. The succession of priests who attended these missions, especially in Cahokia, seems never to have been in- terrupted for any considerable time, as the above given list of pas- tors in Cahokia shows. Besides Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher had a resident pastor, who occasionally resided also iu Kaskaskia. From the year 1770 to 1790, these places were under administration of Rev. M. Gibault, who was Vicar General of the Bishop of Quebec for the Illinois mission ; he resided in Cahokia. In the year 1790,
.
Rev. de la Valiniere occupied that position ; aud in the year 1793, Rev. Levadout, who for some time also resided at Cahokia. After the appointment of the first American bishops at Baltimore, the Rev. Gabriel Richard and Rev. John Janin were the missionaries of this region ; and in 1799 the Very Rev. Donatius Oliver, as Vicar General of Bishop Carroll, took charge, and continued to do so till 1827. In 1833 the Episcopal See of Detroit was estab- lished, and embraced within its vast jurisdiction the whole of Illi- nois. Shortly afterwards the see of Vincennes, Indiana, was erected, and this diocese embraced the north-eastern part of Illinois, and continued to do so until the creation of the see of Chicago. The first Bishop of Chicago was the Right Rev. William Quarter, con- secrated March 10th, 1844. He died on the 10th of April, 1848. His successor was the Right Reverend James Oliver Van de Velde. He was consecrated February 11th, 1849. At his first visitation of the diocese, July 25th, 1849, he visited Prairie dn Rocher, Coho- kia, Belleville, Kaskaskia and other places in St. Clair county.
The first National Council at Baltimore, May 9th, 1852, created a new see at Quincy for the southern portion of Illinois ; but on the refusal of the Very Rev. Melchers, the Vicar General of St. Louis, and afterwards Bishop of Green Bay, to accept the new see of Quincy, and the appointment of Bishop Van de Velde to the see of Natchez, the diocese of Quincy remained under the administra- tion of Bishop Van de Velde. In the year 1857 the see of Quincy, Illinois, was tranferred to Alton, which latter see embraced not only the south-eastern portion of Illinois which constituted the late see of Quincy, but also the counties of Adams, Brown, Cass, Menard, Sangamon, Moultrie, Coles and Edwards, in the State of Illinois.
The first Bishop of the See of Alton was the Right Rev. Henry Damian Juncker ; he was consecrated April 26th, 1857, in Cincin- nati, by Archbishop Purcell. In the first year after his consecra- tion he went to Europe, to provide for the wants of his diocese, in which there were only eighteen priests. He succeeded beyond all expectation. Bishop Juncker died, after a long and severe illness, at his residence in Alton, on the Feast of the Guardian Angels, October 2d, 1868. The proudest eulogy on Bishop Juncker and his work is the fact, that at the time of his death, the number of priests was increased from eighteen to one hundred ; the churches from twenty-three to one hundred and twenty-three ; the parochial schools were fifty-six ; two colleges for boys, six academies for girls, two hospitals and an orphan asylum. He made the diocese of Al- ton one of the most flourishing dioceses of the United States, be- cause he was an apostle and father for all and the blessing of God was with him. His successor in the See of Alton is the Right Rev. Peter Joseph Baltes.
Before the creation of the Episcopal See of Chicago, and after- wards, the priests from St. Louis would frequently cross the river to administer the consolations of religion to their brethren in the faith in Illinois, especially in St. Clair county. The last priest from Quebec, residing in Cahokia as pastor, was the above-named Father Savine, who left Cahokia about the year 1823. His succes- sor was the Rev. Father Lambier and then Father Lutz, who re- mained but a very short time. After his departure, Father Saus- soir, and very soon afterward Father Dontreligne a member of tl e Lazarist Fathers, from the Barrens in Missouri, took charge of the congregation. His successor was Father Loisel. After his death Father Dontreligne returned to Cahokia From there he under- took, although advanced in years, the creation of a new church in Centreville Station, about six miles from Belleville. After having completed the church, and a small residence for himself, he moved from Cahokia to Centreville Station, where he spent his time in prayer and meditation until 1873, when he returned to the House
157
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
of the Lazarists in Missouri, where he died the same year. His successor as pastor of Cahokia was Father Landry from Canada, and part of the time Father Jacque, who died in the year 1878 in Centreville Station. His successor as pastor of Cahokia and Centreville Station was the Rev. Father Kemper, who still resides as pastor in Centreville Station.
One of the most prominent priests of Cahokia, who from Prairie du Rocher now and then would come to Cahokia to hold divine service, was Father Oliver-he was a native of Italy. For many
years be labored with great zeal in Prairie du Rocher, Kaskaskia and Cahokia among the Creoles and English settlers. He acquired a great reputation for his sanctity and holiness. Long after his death, which took place about 1827, the author of this sketch happened to come to the former scene of his labors in the cause of religion. Even then his name was kept in veneration by all. Some of the oldest settlers mentioned many extraordinary things about that saintly man, which, if true, certainly could only happen in the life of a saint.
F. LAMPE.
ST. LOUIS"
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