The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 26

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932

USA > Illinois > Peoria County > The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc. > Part 26

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he then with the same deliberation gave the command, "Face to the rear, battalion. about face ; forward march," which was executed with the regularity of veterans to a point beyond the peril of being outflauked. Again, in obedience to command these brave men halted, faced about, and under a murderous tempest of bullets from the foe, resumed their well-directed fire. The conduct of no troops could have been more ad- mirable ; and, too, until that day they had never been under fire, when, within less than half an hour eighty of their comrades dropped by their sides. How different from the Arkansas regiment, which were ordered to the platean, but after delivering their first volley gave way and dispersed.

SADDEST EVENT OF THE BATTLE.

But now we have to relate the saddest, and, for Illinois, the most mournful, event of that battle-worn day. We take the account from Colton's History of the battle of Buena Vista. " As the enemy on our left was moving in retreat along the head of the plateau, our artillery was advanced until within range, and opened a heavy fire upon him, while Cols. Hardin. Bissell and MeKee, with their Iilinois and Kentucky troops, dashed gallantly forward in hot pursuit. A powerful reserve of the Mexican army was then just emerging from the ravine, where it had been organized, and advanced on the plateau, opposite the head of the southernmost gorge. Those who were giving way rallied quiekly upon it ; when the whole force, thus increased to over 12,000 men, came forward in a perfect blaze of fire. It was a single column, composed of the best soldiers of the republic, having for its advanced battalions the veteran regiments. The Kentucky and Illinois troops were soon obliged to give ground before it and seek the shelter of the second gorge. The enemy passed on, arriving op- posite the head of the second gorge. One-half of the column suddenly en- veloped it, while the other half pressed on across the platean, having for the moment nothing to resist them but the three guns in their front. The portion that was immediately opposed to the Kentneky and Ilinois troops, ran down along each side of the gorge, in which they sought shelter, and also circled around its head, leaving no possible way of escape for them except by its month, which opened upon the road. Its sides, which were steep-at least an angle of 15 degrees-were covered with loose pebbles and stones, and converged to a point at the bottom. Down there were our poor fellows, nearly three regiments of them ( 1st and 2d Illinois and 2d Kentucky) with but little opportunity to load or fire a gun, being hardly able to keep their feet. Above the whole edge of the gorge, all the way around, was darkened by the serried masses of the enemy, and was bristling with muskets directed on the crowd beneath. It was no time to pause. Those who were not immediately shot down rushed on toward the road, their number growing less and less as they went, Kentuekians and Illinoisans, officers and men, all mixed up in confusion, and all pressing on over the loose pebbles and rolling stones of those shelving, precipitous banks, and having lines and lines of the enemy firing down from each side and rear as they went. Just then the enemy's cavalry, which had gone to the left of the reserve, had come over the spur that divided the mouth of the second gorge from that of the third, and were now closing up the only door through which there was the least shadow of a chance for their lives. Many of those ahead en- deavored to foree their way out, but few succeeded. The lancers were fully six to one, and their long weapons were already reeking with blood. It was at this time that those who were still back in that dreadful gorge heard, above the din of the musketry and the shouts of the enemy around them, the roar of Washington's Battery. No music could have been more grateful to their ears. A moment only, and the whole opening, where the laneers were busy, rang with the repeated explosions of spherical-case shot. They gave way. The gate, as it were, was clear, and out upon the road a stream of our poor fellows issued. They ran panting down toward the battery, nud directly under the flight of iron

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then passing over their heads, into the retreating cavalry. Hardin, McKee, Clay, Willis, Zabriskie, Houghton - but why go on ? It would be a sad task indeed to name over all who fell during this twenty minutes' slaughter. The whole gorge, from the plateau to its mouth, was strewed with our dead. All dead ! No wounded there - not a man ; for the infantry had rushed down the sides and completed the work with the bayonet."

VICTORY FOR OUR ARMY.

The artillery on the plateau stubbornly maintained its position. The remnants of the 1st and 2d Illinois regiments, after issuing from the fated gorge, were formed and again brought into action, the former, after the fall of the noble Hardin, under Lieut. Col. Weatherford, the latter under Bissell. The enemy brought forth reinforcements and a brisk artillery duel was kept up; but gradually, as the shades of night began to cover the earth, the rattle of musketry slackened, and when the pall of night was thrown over that bloody field, it ceased altogether. Each army, after the fierce and long strug- gle, occupied much the same position as it did in the morning. However, early on the following morning, the glad tidings were heralded amidst our army that the enemy had retreated, thus again crowning the American banners with victory.

OTHER 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, developed upon Col. Baker. This officer, with his men, stormned with unheard-of prowess the last stronghold of the Mexicans, sweeping every- thing before them. Such indeed were the intrepid valor and daring conrage 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.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

Presidential Campaign of 1860- Lincoln and the Presidency - An Eagle's Quill from Knox County - Lincoln's Inaugural Message - Southern States Resolve to Secede - Fall of Fort Sumter-Call for Troops - The Call Promptly Answered - Illinoisans in the Front - General Summary - Capture of the St. Louis Arsenal - Liber- ality and Patriotism - Messages of Love and Encouragement - Sherman's March to the Sea -Character of Abraham Lincoln - Triumph of Freedom - The Union Maintained - The " Prairie State " Boys in Blue- A Glorious Record - Death of Lincoln - Schedule Tables of Volunteer Troops organized in the State for the Great Rebellion.

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 inaugurated 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 President of the United States you will have presented to you the question whether you will permit the govern- ment to pass into the hands of your avowed and implacable enemies. Without pausing

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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 a 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 subject. " 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 Republican administration.

ABRAHAM 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 Springfield, at the secret caucus meeting, held in January, 1859, when Mr. Lincoln's name was first spoken of in caneus as a candidate for President. When a gentleman, in making a short speech, said. " We are going to bring Abraham Lincoln ont as a candidate for President." Mr. Lincoln at once arose to his feet. and exelaimed, "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 Senator by Stephen A. Douglas, and only those who are intimate with that important and unparalleled contest can appreciate the full force and meaning of these expressive words of the martyred Presi- dent. They were spontaneous, and prove beyond a shadow of doubt that Abraham Lin- coln did not seek the high position of President. Nor did he use any trickery or chica- nery to obtain it. But his express 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 vietim. 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 cloquence and prophecy that it should be given a place in history :

Hox. A. LINCOLN .

PERSIFER, December 21, 1560.

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 quilt was taken, was shot by John F. DWon, in Persifer township, Knox county, Ilfi- nois. in February, 1857. Having 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, whoever 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 thos quill was taken, yielded the quiff only with his life - fit emblem of the man who is expected to use it, for true Republicans believe that you would not think life worth the keeping after the surrender of principle. Great difficulties surround you ; traitors to their country have threatened your life ; and should you be called upon to surrender it at the post of duty, your memory will live forever 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," organized a separate government. The house was indeed divided against it- self, but it should not fall, nor should it long continue divided, was the hearty, deter- mined response of every loyal heart in the nation. The accursed institution of human slavery was the primary cause for this dissolution of the American Union. Doubtless other agencies served to intensify the hostile feelings which existed between the northern

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and southern portions of our country, but their remote origin could be traced to this great national evil. Had Lincoln's predecessor put forth a timely, energetic 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 Govern- ment was placed at their disposal, and when Illinois' honest son took the reins of the Re- public 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 firm, determined spirit of patriotism and love of country. The duty of the President was plain under the consti- tution 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 Presi- dent 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. He also ordered the organization of six regiments. Troops were in abundance, and the call was no sooner made than filled. Patriotism thrilled and vibrated and pulsated through every heart. The farm, the work shop, the office, the pulpit, the bar, the bench, the college, the school-house - every calling offered its best men, their lives and their for- tunes, in defense of the Government's honor and unity. Bitter words spoken in mo- ments 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 con- tinent ; 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, enlistments 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 ser- vices, 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 anticipated, 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

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again our proportion, although by earnest solicitation 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 vol- unteers, 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 inen, and had 17,000 in camp awaiting marching orders, thus exceeding her full quota by 15,000.

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 furnished 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 de- mands 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 enough in all the Free States to crush out and subdue the monstrous war traitors had inaugurated. But to every eall 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 them- selves 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 imperfect enrollment of the men subject to military duty, it became evident, ere this eall was made, that Illinois was furnishing thousands of men more than what her quota would have been, had 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 hundred and eighty regiments 256,000 men, and into the United States army, through other States, enough to swell the number to 290,000. This far ex- ceeds 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

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the population of the loyal States, she sent regularly 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 suffer- ing 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 discoved 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 better effect than did the boys from the " Prairie State." At Pea Ridge, Donelson, Pittsburg, Landing, Inka, Corinth, Stone River, Holly Springs, Jackson, Vicksburg, Chicamauga, Lookout Moun- tain, Murfreesboro, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, Chattanooga, and on every other field where the clash of arms was heard, her sons were foremost.

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 Capt. 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 commander that the slightest attempt to move the arms would be discovered 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 Jeffer- son 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 di- vert 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 the rock, but after a few moments' delay the boat fell away from the shore and floated into deep water.

" Which way ?" said Capt. Miller, 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 the vessel load of arms, which they soon had deposited in freight cars and off to Springfield.

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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, gen- erous 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 necessaries for the siek and wounded of our army suggested to the loyal women of the North many and various de- vices 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 hospital 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 bam- let within its borders which did not send something from its stores to hospital or battle- field, and in the larger towns and cities were well-organized soldiers' aid societies. working systematically and continuously from the beginning of the war till itsclose. 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 82,500,000. Food, clothing, medicine, hospital delicacies. reading matter, and thousands of other articles, were sent to the boys at the front.

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The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 26

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company Number of Pages: 932

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932