History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 44

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Globe Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 704

USA > Illinois > Clay County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 44
USA > Illinois > Wayne County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 44

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berlin, Auger Campbell, Levi Daniels. A. S. Fitzgerald (broke down and returned home), Joseph Lethcoe, Russell Logan (furloughed by Maj. Campbell), Hugh MeDaniel (dis- charged by Gen. Scott), Robert McDaniel John McGrew, James McKenny, Bennett W. Moseley, Perkey Morton, John G. Nicholson James Nelson (furloughed by Col. Sam Leech), Isaac Rogers, Thomas Rogers, Jesse Sceif, Abram Songer, Lockhard Stallings, David Simcoe, John Sutton, John Speaker. Fredrick Tartar, James Van Cleve, Isaac Walker, James L. Wickersham, Martin Whiteley.

The company took up its line of march from Sutton's Point June 2, 1832; were mustered into the service June 16. The Third Regiment was commanded by Col. Sam Leech, of Wayne County.

This company was in the second campaign of the Illinois soldiers to the Rock River country. A previous expedition had driven Black Hawk's army across the Mississippi River, and a treaty had been entered into stipulating he would stay there. But not- withstanding this treaty in April. 1832, Black Hawk recrossed the river and com- menced his march up Rock River Valley, ac- companied by about 500 warriors on horse- back, while his women and children went up the river in canoes. Gen. Atkinson, stationed at Fort Armstrong, warned him against this aggression and ordered him to return, but he continued forward to the country of the Winnebagoes, with whom Black Hawk made arrangements to make a crop of corn. The Winnebagoes and Pottawatomies, however, refused to accode to his propositions, or to join him in a war against the whites. There- upon Gov. Reynolds called for 1,000 troops from the central and southern parts of the State, to rendezvous at Beardstown; 1,800 men met at Beardstown and were formed into

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

four regiments, a brigade, and an "odd" and a "spy" battalion. Another call from the Governor was soon made for 1,000 more men. This last call was caused by the skirmish at Kellogg's Grove, which came very near being a massacre by the Indians.

June 6, Black Hawk with 150 warriors made an attack on Apple River Fort, situated a quarter of a mile north of the present village of Elizabeth, and twelve miles from Galena

On the 17th day of June, Col. John Dement, with his spy battalion of 150 men, was ordered to report himself to Col. Zach Taylor at Dixon. The main army was soon to follow. On arrival at Dixon, he was ordered to take position in Kellogg's Grove. A trail of about 300 Indians who were reported by scouts as discovered "hovering near the grove was found, and Dement was ordered to take fifty picked men and reconnoiter. They sallied forth at daylight, and soon discovered several Indian spies. The raw soldiers at once became excited, and breaking all semblance of order, and despite the command and cries of Col. Dement, they gave chase. The In- dians fled and the pursuit was reckless, and as Dement and Casey suspected, the foolish men were led into an ambush, when they were suddenly confronted by 300 howling, naked savages under the command of Black Hawk in person. A panic among the soldiers at once followed, and each man struck ont for the fort, with all the speed he could command.

In the confused retreat, five whites, who were withont horses, were killed, while the others reached the fort, dismounted and en- tered, closely pursued by the enemy. The fort was vigorously assailed for two hours, when the savages were repulsed and retired. Several were wounded in the fort, but no one was killed. The next day Gen. Posey started

in pursuit of the Indians, but their tracks showed the usual savage tactics of dispersing in squads and going in different directions. It was ascertained that they had fled in the direction of the Mississippi River.

On the 21st of July, Gen. Henry. in com- mand of the American forces, after pursuing Black Hawk, overtook his army on the bluffs of the Wisconsin River. and at once attacked. A gallant charge drove back the enemy with great loss. This was the first important ad- vantage over the Indians gained in this war. The Indians left 168 dead upon the field, and twenty-four more dead were found the next day on the trail, while Gen. Henry had only one man killed and eight wounded.

On the 25th, the whole army was again put in motion, to try to find the Indians. Two days were spent in crossing the Wisconsin River. On the 28th they fonnd the trail of the fleeing enemy. On the morning of the 2d of August, the army reached the bluff's of the Mississippi, some distance however from the stream. The Indians had reached the river and were making active preparations to cross. Some had already crossed, and some of the women and children had started down the river in canoes to Prairie du Chien, which they afterward reached in a starving condition. In this condition the Indians were attacked by a force under command of Capt. Throck morton, who was on the steamer Warrior, and who, with a six-pound cannon, loaded with canister, destroyed many of the luckless fugitives, although they had displayed a white flag, which he refused to recognize. The fuel of the steamer having failed, the boat dropped down to Prairie du Chien. Although he had killed twenty-three Indians and wounded many more, he intended to re- turn when wooded up, and finish the re- mainder. Before. however, he could return. Gen. Atkinson had fallen on the savages

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where they were oncamped, at the mouth o the Bad Axe, and had commenced a general battle, in which the Indians were completely ronted, and suffered a loss of 150 killed. be- sides many drowned and many wounded. A large number of women and children lost their lives owing to the fact that it was " im- possible to distinguish them from the men." The American loss was seven killed.

This battle ended the Black Hawk war, and the boys came home and were paid off, and this money was the first great flood of money that ever was poured into the county. Several of the men entered their first land with their soldier money and thus laid the little foundations for their future farms and homes.

The Rebellion. -- We have no doubt that the present race of small demagogues will have long put away their little slippers and cease to convert these soldier re-unions into electioneering camps and thinly veneered po- litical stamping grounds or vote factories in the always coming elections, before the real historian who will tell the history of that cruel war will be around taking notes to print the terrible story and giving the world the truth and nothing but the truth, without prejudice or passion. Such histories are only finally written by those who were born long after the event happened. and who had no friends who could have any interests in them directly or remotely. He will topple over many an idol of foolish worship. per haps, and upon the vacated pedestal place the now obscure hero, and thus undo much, and make heroes of many that this genera- tion has idolized or condemned. This is the routine course of all history. It exem- plifies the struggle between truth and error, that goes on from generation to generation, and from century to century. In the end perhaps truth triumphs after her long and

many defeats, but the coming of that blessed end, who can foretell ?

The early people of Clay County were by nature more or less belligerent. The majori- ty of men wore the Irishman's long-tailed coat, which they were always politely asking. often begging, some one to please tread on. They met on election days, shooting matches and other social places, and every man had his arms full of fight. It was a more ele- vated humanity than the modern prize fight- er and sneak thug; that essence of cowardice, pick-pocket and blood-tub. The pioneer must fight when his word was questioned or his honor in any manner impugned, and if one man told another that he lied, he knew he had to back his assertion with a fight. There was no exception to this rule. If the person insulted was physically unable to fight his insulter, he could and would get his friend to take up his quarrel, and the aggressor had to fight whoever he might be. Often when he went into the fight with a proxy, he knew he was going to be whipped; still he had to fight. Thus you can see it was no particular advantage always to insult a cripple or a man physically unable to defend himself. In fact, this was generally the most danger- ous man to assail, because the assailant was almost certain to be soundly thrashed. The moral effect of all this was good. A man who learns thus to cherish and defend his honor and character, will eventually learn to guard and protect it by his own actions.

The spirit of patriotism has ever burned brightly upon the altars of the people of the county. They had no lot nor parcel in the vicious agitation that plunged the country in civil war. There was not, at least years ago, an agitator in the county-not a man but that his patriotism taught him that all good citizens respected the laws, loved the consti - tution of our fathers, and whose blood was

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

quickened with an impulse of patriotism at the sight of the flag. They were not agita- tors, but when the Government's sore trial cause came, and the country called upon its sons to come to its rescue, they responded to that call, and with their lives in their hands and through flood and field, fought it out to the bitter end, and many of her heroic sons yielded up their lives upon nearly every bat- tle ground, and sleep in the long trenches where they fell. The people of Clay County were an unpretentious people. They could not understand the fire-eating idiots of the South, nor the canting agitators of the North. They simply loved freedom and jus- tice, and in their eyes there was no divided interests in this country. It was all their country, and the wise government adopted, fought for and established by our Revolution- ary heroes, was good enough as they had transmitted it. They were content to let well enough alone. and they could see no cause for war and the butchery of brothers over the imaginary woes of a few "d-d stumped-tailed niggers," as John Logan put it about the time of the breaking-out of the war, or rather after he had made up his mind not to compel the Northern abolition army to march over his cold corpus down about the Big Muddy.

The part of Clay County in the late war is a chapter that some day will honor the name and fame of her people incomparably above that of some of the loud localities that now so plume themselves that they brought about the war that freed the slaves. The people of Clay never were the echo of that savage sentence of Johnson's that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." While prominent people of other localities, whom posterity may con- clnde that patriotism was not only their last but their first refuge, were denouncing this

portion of Illinois as the land of ignorance and traitors, the people were organizing, and their sons, husbands and fathers buckled on their armor, and in person went to the front with muskets in their hands, at a time when Massachusetts in her loud super loyal way was sending her rich emissaries even to Cairo, Ill., for negro substitutes. The peo- ple of Clay County did not grow bloated in wealth over the calamities of the country, or in coffins and headstones for the unknown soldier graves -- they did not even proclaim they were the only saints and patriots of the earth, and then stay at home to steal, rob, speculate. grow rich and fill all the offices with fat salaries, and multiply fat places for their families and friends, to be quartered upon the bounty of the Government. They heard not, heeded not the lying taunts of their "loyal" slanderers, but above the wails of their families, and the sobs of the broken- hearted, they heard their country's call, and to this they responded like the true heroes and patriots that they were.

The incontestible proofs of all this are abundantly furnished in the statistics of the war. as they are found in the Adjutant Gen- eral's office of this State.

In 1860, at the breaking-out of the war. the population of Clay County, as given by the United States census report, was 9,309. Her total quota under all the calls of the Government for troops was 1,462; her total credits were 1,482, or an excess of twenty men over and above all demands made upon the county.

In the 102 Illinois counties, there were only thirty-six counties that furnished any men in excess of their quotas, and these range from one to 160 per county. The total of excess over the quota in the thirty-six counties was 819. In sixty-six counties, there was a deficit that had to be filled by draft.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

The total deficit in the sixty-six counties, was 5,715, the largest being Cook County, with a deficit of 1.633: the second was Adams County, 326. Union County and Clay Conn- ty furnished the largest excess, and they were the continual targets for more slanders and vituperation than any other portions of Illinois. It is only some of these public in- justices that so often come of that clamor of simpletons when they are led by demogognes and scoundrels.

The conspicions figure in the war from the county was, of course, Maj. Gen. L. B. Parsons, who filled with wonderful executive ability the responsible position of Master of Transportation for all the armies of the West and South. His resources were equal to the most sudden and extraordinary demands that the exigencies of the army over domanded. He had to bear about on the tips of his fin- gers the entire system of railroads and the capacities in rolling stock, etc., as well as the rivers and the steamboats that plied their waters. To take charge of all these vast resources and bring them at once into a vast system and order, so as to serve best the great and often sudden exigencies of the army, was a task within the power of few men to successfully accomplish. In this po- sition Gen. Parsons fixed his reputation far and wide as one of the ablest organizers and executive officers developed during the late war.

Capt. W. R. Westfall was in command of Company B, Eighteenth Regiment Illinois Infantry. Captains, Jacob L. More, Wood- ford L. Blocklidge. Robert F. Davidson and Isaac Creek. The First Lieutenants of this company were Blocklidge, Davidson, and Isaac Creek. The Second Lieutenants, Jo- seph Figg, Howlet H. Cook, Davidson, James B. Smith and George A. Miller.

Capt. Francis JI. Loller was in command

of Company F, Forty-sixth Regiment. In the Forty-eighth Regiment was Maj. Will iam J. Stephenson, who died in St. Louis August 10, 1863. He was succeeded by Benjamin F. Reynolds. Charles D. Monroe and John W. Farris were at different times Adjutant of this regiment. Maj. W. J. Ste- phenson had gone out as Captain of Com- pany B in this regiment. Afterward Ferdi- nand B. Stephenson, Simeon H. Neff and Adam E. Hoffman were Captains in this company. The First Lieutenants in this company were Stephenson, Elbert S. Apper- son, S. H. Neff, Adam E. Hoffman and An- drew Fender. The Second Lieutenants in this company were William Sneed, E. S. Apperson, Christian C. Monroe, Adam S. Hoffman and David F. Wattles. In the Forty eighth Illinois Regiment, Capt. Ben- jamin F. Reynolds commanded Company K, and after him Capt. Noah Webster. The First Lieutenants were Jefferson Farris, William Berkley, Webster and John Kenner. Second Lieutenants, William N. Berkley, Webster, Farris and John W. Colburn.

In the Ninety-eighth Regiment was Com. pany A, Capts. Enoch P. Turner, John Funkhauser and Anstin W. Standford. First Lieutenants, George W. Foster, Silas Jones, Anstin W. Standford and James B. Maxwell. The Second Lieutenants were Joseph B. Gadd, James B. Maxwell and James B. Finnell. Company F was also in this regi ment. The Captains were A. F. LeCrone and Thomas J. Smith, and the First Lieuten- ants were Wyatt Cook, George W. Hobbs, Thomas J. Smith and Francis Harman, and Second Lientenants, George W. Hobbs, Smith and John T. Kerr.

In the One Hundred and Eleventh Ilinois Regiment, William T. Monical and Fredrick W. Songer were First Lientenants; and Com- pany D, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Regi.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

ment, Charles J. Pershall and James Mains were First Lieutenants. The Second Lieu- tenant was James Lewis.

In the Fifth Illinois Cavalry, Capt. Robert N. Toler was in command of Company D.

To conclude the chapter, we need only

mention the fact that J. W. Westcott was one of the prominent figures in Clay County during all the late unpleasantness, and to his prudent forethought and wise counsels is due the fact of the county standing in the front rank of all the patriotic counties of the land

CHAPTER IX .*

HARTER TOWNSHIP AND FLORA.

WHO CAME, AND ABOUT THEM-THOMAS ELLIOTT, MATTHIAS MISENHEIMER, SETH F. HINKLEY, RUSSELL T. LOGAN, ROBERT BRYANT, JAMES JACOBS, WILLIAM NICHOLS AND OTHERS-

LAND ENTRIES, FIRST SCHOOLS, TEACHERS AND CHURCHES-FLORA AND ITS

HISTORY - ANECDOTES- RAILROADS - BUSINESS, ETC., ETC., ETC.

"Take away the sword; States can be saved without it ; bring the pen."

- Richelieu.

E X-SENATOR ROSCOE CONKLING once said that population, wealth and intelligence move on lines of longitude and not on lines of latitude. The reverse of this proposition is true of Clay County; the sur- plus of population and wealth is south of the center and is rapidly increasing every year. Appearances indicate that from the earliest settlement of the county, Harter Township, or that part of the county which now forms Harter Township, was destined to take the lead. The old State road leading from Vincennes to St. Louis, was the great highway by which many reached this part of the State to make their future homes. This, conpled with the advantages of soil and cli- mate, gave us a class of settlers, who for sobriety, industry and intelligence is not ex- celled anywhere.

The days of yore in this township were very like the same days elsewhere-a time of home-made clothing and limited educational facilities, and hardships such as the present

generation know but little about. Six yards was considered an extravagant amount to put into one dress, which was made plain with two widths in the skirt, the front one cut gored; the waist was up under the arms with a draw-string between the shoulders behind, with "sheep shank " or "pillow " sleeves, and graceless young rascals would speak of kissing the girls at parties as "squeezing the pillow." Bonnets were made from splits, and occasionally, among the more aristocratic, leghorn hats were seen. When a girl could succeed in getting a little indigo blue in her dress she was considered as "putting on airs." The clothing of the women were hung upon wooden pegs around the walls of the house, and one could see their stock in this line at a glance. They had none of the ruffles, silk hats, curls and jewels that now adorn the young lady of this period. "Reared in simplicity, surrounded by poverty, cared for by brave parents, their lives were one long dream of sunshine, unbroken by a single storm cloud poured out as a shameful liba- tion to dim the horizon of their happiness."

Corn bread and wild game constituted the

*By G. W. Smith.

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few and far between, and at one time the nearest flouring mill to the people of this county was at Lawrenceville, to which most of our people had to go to get their wheat ground, often being gone a week. The old State road was the great outlet for commerce, and the only substantial route of travel. Old traders now living in our midst speak of starting to St. Louis (ninety-six miles dis- tant) on Monday morning, and arriving there on Thursday or Friday. When the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad was constructed through this township, and people were told that a man could eat breakfast at home, ride to St. Lonis, transact his business, and get back in time to take an early supper with his family, the statement was received as something too absurd for sensible belief. Even when such rapid transit was verified, there were plenty of old folks who predicted no good from such fast manners, and sighed for the " good old days" of slow coaches and almost absolute safety. These were the days when it took weeks to travel from Pittsburgh to Shawnee- town, and a person leaving the East to go to Illinois or Missouri was regarded in about the same light as we now view the man who is about to depart for China or Australia.

While we may have degenerated somewhat from the sturdy manhood of those early days, we have certainly gained in intelligence, variety and easy living to compensate for it.

Harter Township lies in the southern and central part of Clay County, and has a geo- graphical area of fifty- four square miles, comprising the north half of Township 2 north, Range 6 east, and all of Township 3 north, Range 6 east, of the Third Principal Meridian. It is bounded on the north by Lonisville Township, by Stanford on the east, by Songer and Xenia on the west, and

principal articles of food. Wheat bread was by Wayne County on the south. It is a luxury which few possessed. Mills were | drained by Raccoon Creek, which enters the township near the northwest corner of Sec- tion 7, flows in a southeasterly direction to the southeast corner of the township. South 'of this is Bear Creek, which traverses the southeast corner of the township. Elm Creek has its source in Section 28, just west of the residence of J. A. Gerheart, Esq .. flows north and east, and leaves the township in Section 13. The north part of the town ship is drained by Buck Creek, which enters the township in Section 5 and leaves it in Section 12. These streams, with their smaller tributaries, afford sufficient drainage for the entire township, and furnish an al- most inexhanstible supply of good timber, consisting of oak, hickory, ash, walnut, etc .. which is found along their banks. A large portion of the township is a beautiful roll- ing prairie, which for fertility is not sur. passed anywhere. The soil is well-adapted to agricultural purposes, and produces large crops of wheat, corn, oats, flax and barley without the aid of fertilizers. With proper management the land could be cultivated for centuries without seriously impairing its pro- ductive qualities.

When the first settlers came here, they found these silent virgin plains unclaimod, untouched, untilled, hedgeless, free to all, awaiting the civilizing influences of man. The prairies in their nainral state were cov- ered with a dense growth of grass, the best range man ever saw, so high that a person riding through on horseback would be com- pletely hidden from view, and so thick that the sun's rays were entirely excluded from the soil beneath. As a result of this, the ground was always damp and slushy, and served as a breeding place for myriads of green-headed flies, the common enemy of man and beast. They were so bad at times

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that farmers were compelled to plow at night to avoid them. These pests, together with the miasma that was generated in the decay- ing vegetation, induced the early settlers to avoid the prairies, and to select sites for their homes along the streams and in the wood- land. Some of the best and most valuable farms in the township are made from lands the pioneer believed to be worthless. There is but little land in the township which cannot be cultivated. A large portion of the tim- bered land, which lies mostly along Raccoon, has been cleared, and is now in a high state of cultivation. Its productive qualities in inost things, especially that of wheat, ranks with the prairie lands.

During the time since the first settlement of the township, agriculture seems to have been the leading employment of the people, but of late years some of our progressive, wide-awake citizens have turned their atten- tion to stock-raising, which is rapidly com- ing to the front as one of the leading indus- tries. Recently much attention has been given to fruit culture. Experience has proven this to be a paying investment in Southern Illinois, and that the business can- not be overdone. It is said by those who have accurate information upon the subject, that 25,000 apple trees were put out in this township alone in the fall of 1883 and spring of 1884.

The first permanent settlement within the present limits of Harter Township dates back to the year 1818. If any were made previous to this time we have been unable to ascer- tain the fact.

In the above year, Thomas Elliott, a brother of the venerable Isaac Elliott, came here with his family from Washington County, Ind., and settled on the southwest quarter of Section 27, where he erected a log house which is believed to be the first dwelling

house built in the township. In 1822, he built a two-story brick adjoining the log house, where he kept a country hotel or tav- ern, as they were popularly called in those days. Being situated on the old Vincennes & St. Louis State road, the house was a con- venient stopping place for the large number of travelers who passed along this road in an early day seeking homes in the far West, as Illinois and Missouri were then called. The buildings are still standing where they were first built, and are now owned and oc- cupied by John A. Gerheart.

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History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 44

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : Globe Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 704

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Globe Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 704