USA > Illinois > Union County > History of Union County > Part 7
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In May, 1858, Amus Bulin and Moses Land moved into Cob- den and later in the summer Col. Bainbridge came and bought the Bell farm on Bell Hill east of Cobden. Henry Ede lived in a house built in the Buck Addition and Jerry Ingraham, foreman of the re- pair shop of the railroad lived next to his shop. Thomas Baker built a house which was occupied by Isaac Phillips and later became known as the Roth Hotel.
The first store, kept by William Henry Harrison Brown was opened early in 1859. He sold out to Adam Buck because he had been indicted by the grand jury for selling a deck of playing cards. The second store was opened by John Davis and the next by Frick and Lamer. Mathias Clemens came during the time of the con- struction of the railroad and ran a boarding house for the workers. LeBar and Davie built a mill about 1860.
The first school built in the town was a brick building cost- ing $10,000. This was one of the first brick schools in the county.
Cobden was incorporated as a village April 15, 1859. The first board of trustees were I. N. Phillips, John Buck, Henry Frick, David Green, Mathias Clemens, Dr. F. A. Ross and John Pierce.
The Presbyterian, the Congregational, the Methodist Episcopal and the Catholic were the first churches established in Cobden. The Masons and Odd Fellows organized Cobden Lodge No. 466, A. F. and A. M., October 3, 1861 and Relief Lodge, No. 452, I. O. O. F. October 10, 1871.
By 1860 four other villages which were never incorporated had been established: Saratoga, Lick Creek, Mt. Pleasant and Preston.
Lick Creek had a postoffice and store and five or six dwell- ings. Mangum and Gourley were the first storekeepers and Gourley was the first postmaster. The first school was built near A. J. Man- gum's home.
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Mt. Pleasant village was laid out in 1858 by Caleb Musgrave and Abner Cox. A few lots were sold but the town did not grow much. The plat was recorded April 9, 1858. There were a church, a store, a postoffice, a saw mill and a few residences there in the beginning. The first store was kept by Thomas Boswell on his farm before the town was laid out. A man named Black opened the first store in Mt. Pleasant and sold it to Leavenworth and Little who sold to John Stokes. Mr. Stokes built a two story brick building for the business.
The village of Saratoga was laid out by Dr. Penryer, No- vember 6, 1841, on the northeast quarter of Section 1, Township 12, Range 1 West. A mineral spring was the cause of the location of the town here. Dr. Penryer thought the place could be made into a health resort. A boarding house was built near the spring which entertained summer guests for several years but the business grad- ually died. This was owned by Caleb Cooper. Elijah Beardsley owned a saw and grist mill and A. W. Simmons and William Reed opened stores.
The old village of Preston was laid out as a town October 27, 1842, by John Garner and for a time was a shipping point but the Mississippi gradually moved in on the town and finally covered the spot where it once stood.
There were many country stores scattered through the county and several mills, but the leading business centers by 1860 were Jonesboro, Anna, Cobden and Dongola.
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CHAPTER XIX PERSONAL TAXES IN 1860
By 1860 Union County was entering a new epoch in its history. However little development took place in this period until after the Civil War was completed.
In 1860, instead of having only one means of communicat- ing with distant points-the river boat, Union County had overnight access to Chicago and Memphis and New Orleans could be reached in forty-eight hours by mail. Since this widened the market for the farmer's products, large developments in agriculture took place. Since the railroads burned wood for fuel, and used wooden ties and rails, work in timber became a leading industry in the county.
With the widening of opportunity, the people were able to achieve a higher standard of living, to have better furniture, better clothing and better houses. Stores carried larger stocks of mer- chandise and more cash savings were accumulated by the citizens.
It is significant that while Jonesboro and Anna were the centers of business, many country stores carried a fairly adequate stock of merchandise. This was probably due to the fact that roads were difficult to travel in bad weather so that the people in each locality made their purchases as near their homes as possible.
The merchants who paid a tax on their stock of goods were William Kinnison, I. M. Randall, Joel Ragsdale, L. Hauser, N. C. Meker, Adam Buck, J. N. Albright, A. B. Agnew, Robert Blick, J. P. Bohanan, J. M. Brisbin, D. D. Cover, E. Cover, S. B. Caruth, A. N. Dougherty, F. M. Davidson, Winstead Davie, Frick and Lamer, Frick and Glasscock, Moses Goodman, J. Howitz, Moses Hutson, R. Johnson, Charles Clutts, G. A. Kirchner, Gore & Co., McElhaney and Bro., E. McKeeby, G. W. Mumaugh, Marks & Dodds, John E. Naill, James I. Provo, B. W. Sitter, Edward Terpenitz, Silas C. Toler, Thomas Watkins, C. H. Williford, J. H. Williams, Willard & Co., John E. Winn, Williams & Co., Adam Cruse, David Green, John MacConnell, S. P. Whittaker, L. Misenheimer & Co., Moses Fisher, S. E. Davis, A. Aden, Buck Welch, G. W. Frogge, E. Mac- Kinder and Marschalk & Cruse.
Of these merchants, nine carried a stock of less than one hundred dollars, five between two and three, five between three and four, one between four and five, four between five and six, two between six and seven, five between one and two thousand dollars, two between two and three thousand, one between four and five, one between five and six, one between six and seven, one ten thou- sand dollar stock and one twelve thousand. There were thirty- three stores with a stock of less than one thousand dollars ard twenty over one thousand.
In 1860 horses, cattle, mules and asses, sheep, hogs, wagons and carriages, clocks and watches, pianos, merchandise, manufac- tured goods, moneys and credits, stocks and bonds, and unenumerat- ed properties were assessed. The acreage under cultivation was
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also recorded. These assessments reveal that the county was de- cidedly an agricultural county with 2848 horses, valued at $134,- 645; 7987 cattle valued at $71,968; 334 mules and asses, $19,433; 5406 sheep, $5448; 16,694 hogs, $18,773; having a total value of $250,287. This stock was mortgaged for $15,047, which means that six percent of the livestock was under mortgage.
Other assessments included 1127 carriages and wagons valued at $29,897; 1239 clocks and watches, $9169; ten pianos, $1635; merchandise, $78,802; manufactured articles, $3.390; moneys and credits, $140,339; stocks and bonds, $11,000; unenumerated prop- erty, $98,951.
19,704 acres of land were producing wheat, 22,207 acres producing corn and 3987 acres other products, making a total of 45,898 acres or less than one-fifth of the total area of the county in cultivation.
It is interesting to notice that more cash was assessed than any other item, horses coming second. Apparently only $15,047 of this cash had been loaned with mortgages for security and only two persons in the county had anything invested in stocks and bonds, Willis Willard, $10,000 and Charles M. Willard, $1,000. The Wheat Growers Bank, the only bank in the county, was listed as having $5602 in cash.
Pianos were owned by E. Harwood, Willis Willard, Charles M. Willard, John Daugherty (then Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois), John Humphrey, E. McKinder, P. Baxter, J. L. Freeze and Allen Bainbridge.
J. N. Albright, M. Krentz, Adam Miller & Co., Amos W. Bar- num, Paul Frick, Jacob Green, Goodall & Co., Finch and Shick, Ignatius Brooks and Daniel L. Nusbaum were assessed for manu- factured articles. Most of the manufacturers owned saw and grist mills. Finch and Shick owned what is now the Anna Stone Co.
There were 2149 taxpayers.
There were thirty-two persons in the county who had more than $1,000 cash in addition to their real estate and other personal property.
By 1860 Union County was divided on the question of slavery. Jonesboro had been the site of one of the famous Lincoln and Douglas debates and John Daugherty who owned the Jonesboro Gazette and his editor Marschalk had broken their partnership and Marschalk had started the Democrat in Anna because of their dif- ference in view regarding slavery. In 1824 when the question of slavery had been submitted to the people of Illinois for a vote regarding the Illinois stand on the question, Union County was evenly divided. However there were few colored people in the county.
The people who had come before the railroad had not been wealthy. Most of them had settled less than eighty acres of land at a cost of $1.25 per acre and few had more than the wagon in which they had come with a horse, cow, sheep and pig and a few personal belongings.
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The Willards who had become the wealthiest family in the county had arrived with little more than their bare hands, a meager education and much foresight. The persons running ferries were the first to accumulate more wealth than two or three hundred dollars. Then business men prospered next but no great amount of speculation in land, etc. took place until after the established fact that the railroad would be built.
The pioneers lived a rugged life and accumulation of per- sonal belongings was gained only through hard work and persever- ance.
The land was always poor because it was thought by the earliest settlers that they would be able to stay only two or three years and move on because the fertility of the soil would be de- pleted by that time but they found that by a system of crop rota- tion they could make the soil continue to produce. For this reason we see Union County develop into a predominantly agricultural area. However, because the soil was and is not the highest type of soil in the state, after the more fertile regions were accessible on account of railroads, the county has not grown in population as several other agricultural counties have, in spite of the fact that it began its growth early.
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CHAPTER XX
UNION COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
Union County from the beginning to the end of the Civil War gave about 3000 men to the Union Army. This county at all times filled their quotas by using enlisted men and not resorting to drafting soldiers. This county sent five hundred more men than the average county.
This is a remarkable record for the county since it was definitely shown in the poll of 1824 that one half of the votes were for slavery. There is evidence however that there were many southern sympathizers in the county which is not at all strange since the settlers in the county before 1850 were entirely of south- ern extraction. However it was not the wealthy cotton planter but the poor man who came to southern Illinois to make his home. In looking over the entries it is evident that the average settler came with seldom over $100 in his pocket and settled less than one hundred acres of land. A study of the population shows that there were comparatively few colored people ever came to the county.
When it is considered that the population of Union County in 1860 was 11,181, there could not have been many more men in the county available for service. About three-fifths of the 3000 soldiers or 1800 of them were killed in action or died in hospitals or prison camps. This means that Union County lost between one- sixth and one-seventh of its total population during the Civil War. This, of course, was no greater loss than that of other counties. It was at this time that women appeared in business and profes- sions, largely teaching and millinery.
The records show that Union County in addition to the full One Hundred and Ninth Regiment furnished Captain Mack's com- pany as well as a number of men to the Eighteenth Regiment, one company, Captain Reese, to the Thirty-first Regiment. A portion of the Sixtieth Regiment was enlisted here. This regiment rendez- voused in this county and filled its vacancies with Union County men. The county also furnished a large number of men to the Sixth Calvary, in addition to Captain Warren Stewart's Company. Many Union County men were enlisted in the Thirty-first Infantry which was organized at Cairo under John A. Logan.
The battle which was nearest to Union County was the battle of Belmont, Mo. Many of our citizens were inspired with patriotism and rushed to the defense of their homes when battle came within hearing distance of the residents of Union County. Fol- lowing is an account of the part of the Thirty-first Regiment played in the war.
With less than two month's drill, the Regiment took part in the battle of Belmont, Mo., November 7, 1861, cutting its way into the enemy's camp, and with equal valor, but less hazard, cutting its way out again. On the 7th of February, 1862, the Regiment
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was at Fort Henry, Tenn., and after emerging from the muddy environments of that stronghold, it traversed the hills of Fort Donel- son, and there, amid winter snows, on the 15th of the same month, it lost 260 men killed and wounded-the Regiment having per- formed, in this engagement the difficult evolution of a change of front to rear on tenth company in the heat of the battle, among tangled brush and on uneven ground. From Donelson, the Regi- ment was transported by steamer to Shiloh, Tenn., and thence it moved towards Corinth, Miss., with the main body of the army, and reached that place only to find it evacuated by the enemy. From Corinth, the 31st marched to Jackson, Tenn., and the summer of 1862 was spent in guarding railroads, skirmishing in the country of the Forked Deer River, and scouting in the direction of Memphis, to Brownsville and beyond. Ordered to the support of General Rosecrans, at Corinth, the Regiment reached that place in time to follow the retreating foe to Ripley, Miss., where the men fed on fresh pork, without salt, or crackers, or coffee. On this expedition it was engaged in the skirmishes of Chewalla and Tuscumbia, end- ing the 6th of October, 1862. The Regiment was with Grant in the first campaign against Vicksburg, sometimes called the Yokona expedition, and passed through Holly Springs to Coldwater, at which place the men, destitute of rations in consequence of the capture and destruction of supplies at Holly Springs by the enemy, showed their characteristic adaptability by carrying out at once the suggestion of Logan to convert the timber into ashes, and by means of the ashes, the corn of the surrounding country into hominy.
Upon the termination of this campaign the regiment, with C .. e army under Grant, was transferred to a new field, that of the operations which finally resulted in the downfall of Vicksburg. On the 15th of January, 1863, it set out for Lagrange, Tenn., and thence went to Memphis, by way of Colliersville. Leaving Memphis March 10, 1863, it embarked for Lake Providence, La .; and after assisting in the attempts to open a route by water to a point be- low Vicksburg, in moved, upon the abandonment of these attempts to Milliken's Bend, and thence to Wanesborough. Having crossed the Mississippi below Grand Gulf, April 30, 1863, the next day the Regiment, without waiting for rations, though hungry and weary enough, hurried forward to the support of the comrades then en- gaged in battle at Thompson's Hill, near Port Gibson, and quickly forming on McClenand's left, under the eyes of Generals Grant and Logan, it moved up the right wing of the enemy at the charge step, routing him completely, and helping to secure a speedy victory. Governor Yates, in civilian garb of swallow-tail coat and high shirt collar, and overflowing with enthusiasm and patriotism, witnessed this charge. After crossing the Bayou Pierre, the 31st again met and dispersed their foes at Ingram Heights, May 3, 1863, and push- ed on to Raymond where on the 12th the Regiment hunted from its -- 65-
front the fragments of a brigade which the enemy had thrown against the advance of Grant. Moving onward in almost ceaseless march, it took part in the battle of Jackson, Miss., May 14, 1863, and thence at midnight, on the 15th, through drenching rain, it marched toward Vicksburg, to meet the enemy anew. About ten o'clock in the morning of the 16th the men spread their catridges to dry in the sun, in an old field about five miles from Champion Hills, from which latter point was soon heard the sound of battle. The men hastily gathered up their ammunition and seized their muskets, and the Regiment followed the head of the column at double-quick effecting a formation with its brigade on the right of our embattled line where it rested for a moment, the men lying on their faces while the hostile shells whistled and shrieked and exploded above them. At the command "Attention," the line stood erect, with bayonets fixed; the Brigade Commander, General John E. Smith, gave the word; McPherson said with a smile, "give in Jessie!" and Logan shouted: "remember the blood of your mammies! give 'em hell!" and then the brigade sprang forward, broke and routed the two column formation over which waved the Confederate flag, capturing the opposing battery, turned its guns upon the re- treating enemy, and took as many prisoners as there were men in the charging brigade. In this encounter there was crossing of bayonets and fighting hand to hand. Sergeant Wick of Co. B used his bayonet upon his foe and Sergeant Hendrickson of Company C, clubbed his musket in a duel with one of the men in gray.
From this point the Regiment, with the main army, followed the retreating enemy to his entrenched lines at Vicksburg, where it took part in the bloody assaults of the 19th and 22nd of May; its gallant Lieut. Colonel Reece, meeting death by the explosion of a hand grenade while planting the Regimental Colors upon the rampants. Here the flag received 153 bullets and the staff was shot asunder in four places.
During the siege the Regiment took a prominent part in the operations against Fort Hill; and when the Fort was blown up, on the 25th of June, by the explosion of a mine beneath it, there came a time that tested the stuff the men were made of. Here is the night, in that crater remembered as the "slaughter pen" the soldiers fighting by reliefs, and within an armslength of the enemy-some had their muskets snatched from their hands-under a shower of grenades and of shells lighted by port-holes, while the voices of Pearson, Goddard, Morningham and others rising at times above the terrific din of combat, cheered on their men-were deeds of valor performed which would adorn the heroic page.
On the morning of July 4, 1863, the place of honor having been assigned to the Brigade, the Thirty-first Regiment marched proudly across the rents and chasms of Fort Sill into Vicksburg.
UNION COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
Having made the expedition to Monroe, La., under General Stephenson, the Regiment went into camp at Black River, Miss.,
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the scene of Lawler's splendid victory, and here, on the 5th of January, 1864, three-fourths of the men again enlisted in the ser- vice. That night the men, formed in line, with lighted candles held in the shanks of their bayonets, marched to the quarters of General Force, commanding the Brigade, who appeared before his tent and catching the splendor from the candles full in his face, cried out with enthusiasm, "Three cheers for the 31st!" But the "boys" were not going to cheer for themselves and there were no others present to do it, so they stood in their ranks silent and with military air, and cheered not nor stirred; whereupon the General shouted, "Cheer yourselves boys, hip! hip!" and then the cheers were given with a will, followed by a "tiger" for the Union, and three groans for the Confederacy.
The Regiment was with General Sherman in the campaign against Meridian, Miss., after which the re-enlisted men, the "veterans", took their furloughs, starting for home the 19th of March, 1864. Having returned to the front, by way of Cairo, the Regiment camped from the 6th to the 15th of May at Clinton, on the Tennessee River, and thence marching by way of Rome, Georgia, sometimes collecting, herding and driving beef cattle, and sometimes skirmishing with the enemy, it joined Sherman's army at Ackworth Station. It was in the skirmish at Big Shanty, and at Brush Mountain, the assault upon Kenesan on June 27, 1864; r'so in the battles around Atlanta on the 21st, 22nd, and 28th of July, of which that on the 22nd was the most terrible, the men fighting sometimes on one side of the earthworks, sometimes on the other. The Regiment was also engaged in the battles of Love- joy Station and Jonesborough, and was with Sherman in the mock pursuit of Hood upon his invasion of Tennessee. Retracing their steps, the Regiment reached Atlanta on the 13th of November and the 15th it there began with Sherman the triumphant march to the sea, and on it marched with that magnificent army, cutting roads through tangled forests, bridging streams for the passage of troops, tearing up railroad tracks, twisting the rails "as crooked as ram's horns," discovering and devouring sweet potatoes and other pro- vender surging over the country from Atlanta to the sea, "shouting the battle-cry of freedom," and proceeding by way of Millen, it arrived on the 10th day of December, 1864, at Savannah. Here the regiment went into camp on the rice plantation of Dr. Owen, where the rice was consumed for food, the husks being beaten off by means of wooden mortars and pestles appropriated from the slave quarters nearby. One of the incidents of the day was the en- countering of a battery mounted on a flat car, pushed along the railroad by a locomotive.
On the 4th of January, 1865, the 31st bade farewell to Sa- vannah, and shipped on the steamer Harvest Moon, and after the novel experience and sights of a sea voyage, disembarked at Beaufort, S. C., where it remained enjoying the luxury of fresh oysters at low prices until the 13th. To this succeeded some
skirmishing of Fort Pocotaligo-"Poke-'em-till-they-go", as the men called it which was evacuated by the enemy. On the 30th of Janu- ary the march began thru the Carolinas, by way of Salkahatchie, Orangeburg-which was captured, after some fighting by the Regi- ment's skirmishings-Columbia-scourged by destroying flames- Winsborough, Cherau, Fayetteville, captured by foragers-and Bentonville-scenes of the last great struggle of Johnston's army, and the Regiment came out of the swamps, out of the pine forests, "out of the wilderness," the men ragged, dirty, and many of them barefooted, to Goldborough, N. C., where it arrived the 24th of March, 1865, and when letters from home and news from the world were received. These and the prospects of the nearing of the end were cheering and refreshing to the men who for 54 days had been without communication with home or the world, and were weary with long marching and fighting.
On the 14th of April, 1865, the Regiment was with the army at Raleigh, N. C. Signs of the ruin of the Confederacy and the dispersion of its armed forces were apparent on every hand. Soon came the surrender of Johnson's army, the only force which could oppose the onward march of the Union troops to Richmond, and the Regiment formed a part of the host to which that army sur- rendered.
On the 9th of May the Regiment was at Richmond, on the 19th at Alexandria; and on the 24th of May, with faded and tattered uniforms, but with martial step and bearing in column of company, eyes front, it marched through the principal avenues of the capital, in that grand review of the returning armies in presence of the great leaders, civil and military, of the Republic, the most magnificent and imposing spectacle ever witnessed by the city of Washington. The end had been attained!
Soon afterwards the Regiment moved to Louisville, Ky., arriving at that place on the 11th of June, when it was assigned to provost-guard duty. On the 19th of July, 1865, it was mustered out of the service, by Lieut. Aug. P. Noyes, A. C. M., 3rd Div. 17 Corps. It was then moved to Springfield, Ill., where it arrived on the 23rd of July, 1865; and there on the 31st of the same month, the men received their final discharge and separted for their homes -those who were left of them.
At the time of the discharge there were present 25 officers, and 677 enlisted men. When first organized, the Regiment num- bered 1,100 men. It had recruited 700. The casualties, including men discharged before final musterout, amounted to 1,128. In the course of its existence the Regiment had been commanded by four Colonels, and had had five Lieut. Colonels and six Majors. Of the 25 officers discharged at the final muster-out, all save the chaplain had risen from the ranks.
In the campaigns of Sherman this Regiment had marched 2,076 miles. This part of its history is included in that of the Brigade to which it belonged-the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 17th
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Corps, Army of Tennessee. The Regiment marched 2000 miles under Grant and on expeditions other than those of Sherman. It served in the hostile states of Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Before January 1, 1863 the history of the Regiment is comprised in that of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Reserve Army of Tennessee.
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