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 53

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 53

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Eli Lyon.

Chas. Cooper

Pekin, Ill.

J. G. Hammer

Pekin III.

Henry Heincke

Secor, Ill.

John Ropler Eaton, Mo.

Edward Kane

Gridley, Ill.

John Drury

Fon du Lac, Tazewell Co., Ill.

Wm. B. Shaw Co. H., 2d Penn. Vol.

Capt. Adam Stuber Col. I., 15th Ohio Vol.

Matthew Langston Co. H. Ist Ill. Vol.

C. H. Washburne Co. G., 5th Ill. Vol.

Henry Heincke .... Co. B., Ist U. S. Drag .; Col. Sumner. George A. Wilkins, Major. Co. S., Ist U. S. Inf.

D. W. Magee. Co. F., Ist Ind. Vol. Inf.

W. J. Gardner Co. A., Ist Ohio Vol. Inf.

George Clark .Co. I., 9th Conn. Vol. Inf.

Miles Bosworth

Thos, H. Tamplin Co. K., Ist U. S. Inf.

Henry Shofe. .Co. H., 2d Ohio Vol. Inf.

Henry Washhousen Co. B., Ist Mo. Mounted Vol.

Wm. Petefish Ist III. Vol. Inf.

Henry Wiltz Co. A., 4th Ohio Vol. Inf.

Wm. A. Thornton Co. A., 6th Ill. Vol. Inf.

Banner, Fulton Co., III. Francis Putnam

Hilton, Tazewell Co., Ill.

Harvey Wilson Lacon, III.

Frederick Bulson Victoria, Knox Co., Ill.

John Brechbeller Bloomington, Ill.

IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

If there is any one thing more than another of which the people of the Northern States have reason to be proud, it is of the record they made during the dark and bloody days of the War of the Rebellion. When the war was forced upon the country, the peo- ple were quietly pursuing the even tenor of their ways, doing whatever their hands found to do - working the mines, making farms or cultivating those already made, erecting homes, founding cities and towns, building shops and mannfactories - in short, the coun- try was alive with industry and hopes for the future. The people were just recovering from the depression and losses incident to the financial panic of 1857. The future looked

CARROLLTON, Carroll Co., Mo., June 10, 1879.

360

HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY

bright and promising, and the industrious and patriotie sons and daughters of the Free States were buoyant with hope. Immediately surrounded with peace and tranquillity, they paid but little attention to the rumored plots and plans of those who lived and grew rich from the sweat and toil, and blood and flesh of others - aye, even trafficked in the offspring of their own loins. Nevertheless, the war came, with all its attendant horrors.

While the people of the loyal and freedom-loving North were thus engaged, the Southern press, pulpit and rostrum were busy fomenting and disseminating sentiments of treason and disunion. Union sentiment, where it existed, was suppressed by violence. Proclamations of Governors, acts of Legislatures, ordinances of conventions, followed in rapid succession. Military companies were formed and drilled : Southern members of Congress resigned and returned to their constituents, and State after State declared itself out of the Union.

In 1860 there were four candidates for President. Two of these candidates, Abra- ham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, came from Illinois. Mr. Lincoln was the candi- date of the Republican party, and Mr. Douglas the candidate of the National Democratie party. The other two candidates, John C. Breckiuridge and John Bell, came from the Southern States. Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, was the candidate of the pro-slavery interests, and Mr. Bell, of Tennessee, was the American or Know-Nothing candidate.

The contest was an exciting one, and resulted in the election of Mr. Lincoln, who received one hundred and eighty electoral votes. Mr. Breckinridge seventy-two, Mr. Bell thirty-nine, and Mr. Douglas twelve, giving Mr. Lincoln a majority of fifty-seven. Of the popular vote Mr. Lincoln had 1,857,610 ; Mr. Douglas, 1,365,976 ; Mr. Breckin- ridge, 847,953 ; Mr. Bell, 590,631. The election of Mr. Lincoln was the direct result of the refusal of the Southern States to support Mr. Douglas and of their faetious support of Mr. Breekinridge.

Early in the campaign there were threats of secession and disunion in the event Mr. Lincoln was elected, but the people were so accustomed to Southern bravado that but little heed was given to the bluster.

On the 20th of December, 1861. South Carolina, by a convention of delegates, de- clared " That the Union now existing between South Carolina and other States of North America is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the earth, as a free, sovereign and independent State, with full power to levy war and conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other aets and things which independent States may of right do." On the 24th, Gov- ernor Pickens issued a proclamation, declaring that . South Carolina is, and has a right to be, a free and independent State, and, as such, has a right to levy war, conclude peace, negotiate treaties, leagues and covenants, and to do all acts whatever that rightfully up- pertain to a free and independent State."

On the 26th, Major Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie, and occupied Fort Sumter. Two days previously he wrote President Buchanan's Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, as follows : " When I inform you that my garrison consists of only sixty effective men, and that we are in a very indifferent work, the walls of which are only fourteen feet high, and that we have, within one hundred and sixty yards of our walls, sand hills which command our works, and which afford admirable sites for batteries, and the finest covers for sharpshooters, and that, besides this, there are numerous houses, some of them within pistol shot, you will at once see that, if attacked in force, headed by any one but a sim- pleton, there is scarcely a possibility of our being able to hold out long enough for our friends to come to our suceor." His appeal for reinforcements was seconded by General Scott, but unheeded by President Buchanan, and entirely ignored by John B. Floyd, the Secretary of War.

On the 28th, South Carolina troops occupied Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney and

361

HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

hoisted the Palmetto flag on the ramparts. On the 29th, John B. Floyd resigned his place in Buchanan's cabinet, charging that the President, by refusing to remove Major Anderson and the troops from Charleston harbor, designed to plunge the country into civil war, and added : "I can not consent to be the agent of such a calamity." On the same day the South Carolina Commissioners presented their official credentials at Wash- ington, which, on the next day, were declined. On the 2d day of January, 1861, Geor- gia declared for secession, and Georgia troops took possession of the United States arse- nal in Angusta and Forts Pulaski and Jackson. Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, seized the forts at Beaufort and Wilmington, and the arsenal at Fayetteville. On the evening of the 4th, the Alabama and Mississippi delegations in Congress telegraphed the conven- tions of their respective States to secede, telling them there was no prospect of a satisfac- tory adjustment. On the 7th, the conventions of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee met in secession conclave. On the 8th, Secretary Thompson resigned his seat in the cabinet on the ground that, contrary to promise, troops had been sent to Major Ander- son. On the 9th, the Star of the West, carrying supplies and reinforcements to Major Anderson, was fired into from Morris Island, and turned homeward, leaving Fort Sumter and its gallant little band at the mercy of the rebels. On the same day the ordinance of secession passed the Mississippi convention. Florida adopted an ordinance of secession on the 10th, and Alabama on the 11th. The same day (the 11th), Thomas, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and the rebels seized the arsenal at Baton Rouge, and Forts Jackson and St. Philip at the mouth of the Mississippi river, and Fort Pike at the Lake Ponchartrain entrance. Pensacola Navy Yard and Fort Barrancas were surrendered to rebel troops by Colonel Armstrong on the 13th. Lieutenant Slemmer, who had with- drawn his command from Fort McRae to Fort Pickens defied Armstrong's orders, and announced his intention to "hold the fort" at all hazards. The Georgia convention adopted a secession ordinance on the 19th. On the 20th, Lieutenant Slemmer was be- sieged by a " thousand allied troops " at Fort Pickens. Louisiana adopted an ordinance of secession on the 25th. On the 1st of February the rebels seized the United States mint and Custom House at New Orleans. The Peace convention assembled at Wash- ington on the 4th, but adjourned without doing any thing to quiet the disturbed ele- ments. On the 9th, a provisional constitution was adopted at Montgomery, Alabama, it being the constitution of the United States "reconstructed " to suit their purpose. Jef- ferson Davis, of Mississippi, was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Geor- gia, Vice-President of the " Confederate States of North America." Jeff. Davis was in- augurated on the 18th, and on the 25th it was learned that General Twiggs, commanding the department of Texas, had basely betrayed his trust, and that he had surrendered all the military posts, munitions, arms, etc., to the authorities of Texas.

Abraham Lincoln, the president elect, left his home at Springfield, in this State, on the 11th of February, 1861, and from that city to Baltimore was one long ovation. Advised and alarmed at the condition of affairs herein quoted, the loyal people of the North were anxious for an outline of the policy the incoming president would pursue toward the disloyal element of the South. At all of the principal cities - at Indianapolis, on the evening of the 11th ; at Cincinnati, on the 12th; at New York, at Trenton, at Philadelphia - large crowds of excited people were present to hear from his own lips some declaration that would give them courage to hope that no means delegated to him as President, by the constitution and the laws, would be spared to suppress the rebellion and maintain the Union in its integrity. And they were not disappointed. However cautiously and guardedly he spoke, he said enough to convince his hearers that they were not mistaken in their estimate of the man and his inflexible purpose to exhaust every means within the power of the constitution and the people to suppress the rebellion ; that, while he deprecated the shedding of blood and desired peace, he would maintain the unity of the States at any and every cost.

2.4

362

HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY

At Baltimore. he eluded the vigilance of scheming conspirators, and reached Wash- ington on Saturday morning, the 23d - twelve days after he left Springfield -and in ad- vanee of all expectation. Threats had been made of a forcible prevention of his inauguration, but the thorough preparations of Lientenant General Seott prevented any ontbreak and seeured the utmost quiet.

The inauguration ceremonies took place in front of the Capitol, and were witnessed by a vast concourse of citizens. Before taking the oath, Mr. Lincoln pronounced, in a clear, ringing voice, his inaugural address, to hear which there was an almost painful solicitude, to read which the whole American people and the civilized world awaited with irrepressible anxiety. With that address and the administration of the oath of office, the people were assured. All doubt, if any had previously existed, was removed. In the hands of Abraham Lincoln, the people's president, and himself of the people, the government was safe- peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary.

Traitors were still busy plotting and planning. Troops were mustering in all the seceded States. Friday, April 12, the surrender of Fort Sumter, with its garrison of sixty effective men, was demanded and bravely refused by the gallant Major Anderson. Saturday morning, the 13th, about four o'clock, fire was opened upon the helpless garrison by the rebel forces, numbered by thousands. Resistance was useless, and at last the National colors were hauled down and trailed in the dust. Sunday morning, the 14th, the news of the surrender was received in all the principal cities of the Union. That was all, but that was enough !

A day later, when the news was confirmed and spread through the country, the patriot people of the North were startled from their dreams of the future -from under- takings half completed - and made to realize that behind that mob there was a dark, deep and well organized purpose to destroy the government, rend the Union in twain, and out of its ruins ereet a siave oligarchy, wherein no one would dare question their right to hold in bondage the sons and daughters of men whose skins were black, or who, perchance, through practices of lustful natures, were half or quarter removed from the color that God, in his wisdom, had given them. But they " reekoned without their host." Their dreams of the future - their plans for the establishment of an independent con- federacy - were doomed from their inception to sad and bitter disappointment.

Everywhere north of Mason and Dixon's line the voice of Providence was heard :-

" Draw forth your million blades as one ; Complete the battle now begun ! God FIGHTS WITH YE, and overhead Floals the dear banner of your dead. They and the glories of the Past, The Future, dawning dim and vast, And all the holiest hopes of Man, Are beaming triumph in your van.

"Slow to resolve, be swift lo do ! Teach ye the False how fight the True ' Hlow bucklered Perfidy shall feel In her black heart, the l'atriol's steel ; How sure the bolt that Justice wings ; llow weak the arm a traitor brings ; llow mighty they who steadfast stand For Freedom's Flag and Freedom's Land "

On Monday the 15th dny of April, President Lincoln issued the following :

PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, the laws of the United States have been for some time past and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Alabama,

363

HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals : Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the constitution and the laws, have thought to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate num- ber of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed.

The details for this subject will be immediately communicated to the State authori- ties through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long endured. I deem it proper to say that the first services assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to re-possess the forts, places and property, which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country ; and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peace- ably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occa- sion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and Representatives are therefore, summoned to assemble at their respectative Chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States, the eighty-fifth.

By the President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

The last word of this proclamation had scarcely been taken from the electric wires before the call was filled. Men and money were counted out by hundreds and thousands .. The people who loved their whole government could not give enough. Patriotism thrilled, and vibrated, and pulsated through every heart. The farm, the workshop, the office, the pulpit, the bar, the bench, the college, the school-house-every calling offered its best men, their lives and fortunes in defense of the government's honor and unity. Party lines were, for the time, ignored. Bitter words, spoken in moments of political heat, were forgotten and forgiven, and, joining hands in a common cause, they repeated the oath of America's soldier statesman : " By the Great Eternal, the Union must and shall be preserved !"

Seventy-five thousand men were not enough to subdue the rebellion. Nor were ten times that number. 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 call, for either men or money, there was a willing and a ready response. And it is a boast of the people that, had the supply of men fallen short, there were women brave enough, daring enough, patriotic enough, to have offered themselves as sacrifices on their country's altar.

The gauntlet thrown down 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 constitu- tion and the laws, and above and beyond all, the people from whom all political power is

364

HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

derived. demanded the suppression of the rebellion, and stood ready to sustain the author- ity of their representative and executive officers to the utmost extremity.

In the apportionment of troops covered by President Lincol.i's proclamation, it was found that the quota of Illinois would be six regiments, of which fact Governor Yates was advised by telegraph under date of

" WASHINGTON, April 15, 1861. " Ilis Excellency, Richard Yates :

"Call made on you by to-night's mail for six regiments for immediale service. " SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War."

The sentiments and position of Governor Yates were well known. His convictions were well settled, and there was no room to doubt that he would use every means to maintain the unity of the States. Immediately upon receipt of the above dispatch he is- sued the following proclamation :

" SPRINGFIELD, Ill., April 15, 1861.

" I. RICHARD YATES, Governor of the State of Illinois, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Consti- lution, hereby convene the Legislature of the State, and the members of the twenty-second session of the General Assembly are hereby required lo be and appear in their respective places, at the Capitol, on TUESDAY, the Iwenty- third day of April. A. D., 1861, for the purpose of enacting such laws and adopting such measures as may be deemed necessary, upon the following subjects : The more perfect organization and equipment of the militia of the State, and placing the same upon the best footing to render assistance to the General Government in preserving the Union, enforcing the laws and protecting the property and rights of the people ; also, the raising of such money and other means as may be required to carry out the foregoing objects ; and also, lo provide for the expenses of such session. " In testimony whereof. I hereunto set my hand, and have caused the Great Seal of the Stale to be hereunlo af- fixed at the city of Springheld, the 15th day of April, A. D., 1861. RICHARD YATES.

" By order of the Governor :

"O. M. HIATCH, Secretary of State."

Judge Allen C. Fuller, of Boone county, was appointed Adjutant General. General Order No. 1 was issued on the 15th, from head-quarters at Springfield, directing all com- mandants of divisions, brigades, regiments and companies to hold themselves ready for actual service ; and on the 16th, Order No. 2 provided for the immediate organization of the six regiments, and within ten days more than ten thousand men had offered their services ; and in addition to the force despatched to Cairo, more than the full quota was in camp at Springfield.

The readiness with which the first call was filled, together with the embarrassments that surrounded President Lincoln in the absence of sufficient laws to authorize him to meet the unholy, unlooked for and unexpected emergeney -an emergency that had never heen anticipated by the wisest and best of America's statesmen - together with an under-estimate of the magnitude of the rebellion and a general belief that the war could not, and would not last more than three months, checked, rather than encouraged, the patriotic ardor of the people. But very few of the men, comparatively speaking, who volunteered in response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers for three months, were accepted. But the time soon came when there was a place and a musket for every man. Call followed call in quick succession, until the number reached the grand total of 3,839,748, as follows:

April 16, 1861, for three months. 75,000

May 4, 1861, for five years.

64.748

July. 1861. for three years. 500,000

July 16, 1862, for three years. - 300,000

August 4. 1862, for nine months - 300,000

June, 1863, for three years

- 300,000

October 17. 1863, for three years. - 300,000

February 18, 1864, for three years.

500,0x00

July 10, 1864, for three years.

. 200,000

July 16, 1864. for one, two and three years.

500,000

December 21, 1864 for Three years.

300,000-3.339,745

THE WAR SPIRIT AT HOME.

The toesin of war was sounded. Meetings were held in all the townships, at which

365

HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

stirring and spirited addresses were made, and resolutions adopted that admitted of but one interpretation. The spirit of the people in the early days of the war is clearly re- flected in the following preamble and resolutions :

WHEREAS, It becomes American citizens to know no political law but their country's welfare; and whereas, the flag of our country has been insulted, and the laws set at defiance by formidably organized bands of lawless men, whose avowed purpose and overt acts are high treason against the government, therefore,

Resolved, That in the present endangered condition of the country, all true patriots will ignore all party differ- ences and distinctions, and will unite in rendering all the aid within their power to the Federal Executive in execut- ing the laws and defending the honor of their national flag.

2. That we recognize the form of government formed by our fathers and baptized in their blood, the best ever offered in sacred cause, the birthright of citizens, and to be given up but with their lives.

3. That we are unalterably for the Union of the States, one and inseparable, now and forever.

THE FIRST WAR MEETING.

There is some difficulty in fixing the date of the first war meeting in Peoria. The newspaper offices were consulted, but without result. The Transcript was the only daily newspaper published here at that time, and the file of that paper for the first six months of 1861 is not to be found in the office, and thus we are left to the memory of men.

As to the time and place of the first war meeting, accounts differ. Some assert that the first meeting was held at Rouse's Hall ; others, that it was held in the court-house. Mr. D. J. Calligan and others maintain that the first meeting was an impromptu one, and that it was held in the public square on Sunday, the 13th day of April. These authori- ties say that as the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter spread through the city, the people came together by a common impulse. All accounts agree that the meeting was a large one, that the corner of the square and the streets adjacent were packed with men who were wild with excitement. There was no formal organization, no recognized leader. The friends of the administration were confirmed in patriotism, and enthusiastic in their determination to stand by the Union, the constitution, the enforcement of the laws, and the administration in the suppression of the rebellion, cost what it might.

Those who were opposed to coercion, and they were not wanting in numbers in the early days of the rebellion, were equally determined and expressive in action, and per- sonal collisions were momentarily imminent. It was a boisterous meeting, but happily for all, the better sentiments of the disturbed elements prevailed, and there were no serious breaches of the peace. As the war advanced the force of the anti-coercionists weakened in number, and before a year had passed there was scarcely a corporal's guard of them left. Prominent men, whose position was not positively known when the war commenced, wheeled into line, and almost as one man the people of Peoria county, with- out distinction of party, gave their support and offered their lives and their money in defense of the Union.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 53

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