Full Text of History of Vermillion County Illinois -- Chapter XIX

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CHAPTER XIX. 

VERMILION COUNTY DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

PUBLIC SENTIMENT IN 1860-VOLUNTEERS TO THE SERVICE-REGIMENT FORMED FROM 
VERMILION COUNTY MEN WHOLLY OR IN PART--WHAT THE WOMEN DID-NEWCOMERS FROM 1860 
TO 1864-RIOTS IN DANVILLE DURING THIS TIME. 

	To a reader of history who studies causes and effects, Vermilion County, 
at the beginning of the Civil war, presents interesting conditions. The entire 
country was in an unsettled state, none the less was this section. Nearly a 
hundred years had passed since the founding of the new government in America, 
and the people subscribing to -the constitution by which it should be enforced 
had yet the same disagreement in the interpretation of this organ which met it 
at first and they were not satisfied. The country was extensive and conditions 
of living differed in different sections. One part of the country was rich in 
natural products and another facilities for manufacturing. Little means of 
transporting the raw product from the southern part of the country, or of 
intercourse, each section with the other; ideals of all sorts diverse and 
strong, and constantly growing more intense; all these things tended to separate 
the states on the geographic lines. Such were the conditions which naturally led 
the United States toward sectionalism. Below the Mason and Dixon line there was 
but one expressed opinion. The institution which their neighbors to the north 
hated, seemed to them of absolute importance to their life. Anyone who did not 
like the system of slavery must leave that section; and people with these 
sentiments developed in rising generations, did leave, coming often to the 
nearest free state, which was either Indiana or Illinois. That a state had a 
right to do anything it desired, was accepted doctrine in the South. Above this 
imaginary line of division a man held more independent ideas. Generally 
speaking, the majority agreed that the government of the United States was for 
each and every citizen equally; that slavery was unconstitutional, as well as 
subject to a higher standard of judgment, and protested against its extension. 
The wealth of the South came as the result of another's labor, while that of the 
North came as the reward of each man's efforts. Sectionalism increased 
constantly, the Southern states carrying the matter of state rights so far as to 
the right to dissolve the union of all states at the will of any one. This the 
people of the North would not admit, even to the length of taking up arms in 
defense of the existing government. In the Eastern states the people were, by 
descent as well as other conditions, liberty-loving and independent of thought, 
and the views of the South were appalling to the majority of them. In the 
Western states, or rather, those which at the time were the Western states 
(particularly Indiana and Illinois), the people had such a recent inheritance of 
these same views, that the position of the South to them was different. Southern 
Illinois was settled from the Southern states. This was true of the central part 
of the state. Vermilion County, it has been seen, was settled largely from 
Kentucky, Virginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. While some of these people came 
to get away from the institution of slavery, more of them came with prejudice in 
favor of the Southern ideas and institutions. During the fifties immigration 
came from the East, and northern Illinois was dominated by the ideas of that 
section. A close observer of settlements in Vermilion County will see this new 
force coming in, like the entrance of a different stream into a flowing river, 
and like the onrush of a second mighty stream, where the meeting took place, 
there were turbulent waters. The land of central and southern Indiana and 
Illinois was a perpetual battlefield. Public sentiment in Vermilion County was 
not all given to either side without conditions. This warfare was not without 
its advantage, however; such opposition always makes the individual opinions the 
stronger.

	When the struggle actually came on, when the flag of the country was fired 
upon and the President of the United States called for volunteers, the men and 
boys of Vermilion County responded in a goodly number, ready and willing to 
defend the honor of their land, even with their lives. Business interests were 
laid aside, family obligations were suspended, and there was no waiting to be 
forced into the service of their country on the part of the men of Vermilion 
County. The many belonging to the Society of Friends who had largely come into 
this county from Tennessee to get away from the institution of slavery were, of 
course, kept from taking up arms by reason of their faith, yet many enlisted and 
of those who remained at home their help was freely given to their neighbor who 
could go to the battlefield, and his family was sure of friends while he was 
gone. The first call for men was to service for three months. To this call many 
made response, and when the time passed and their term of service was over they 
reenlisted. There were several regiments in which many of the volunteers were 
men from Vermilion County.

	A history of Vermilion county was published in 1879, while yet many of the 
returned soldiers were living who could tell the story of those years of Civil 
war, and lengthy reports of .the various regiments were available from the pen 
of participants. This history was written by Mr. Beckwith, and has now been out 
of print several years. Because it is out of reach of so many, it is deemed best 
to quote these reports directly from its pages with additions or changes where 
the writers are yet living. The regiments under consideration were the 25th, the 
37th, the 73d and the 125th Illinois Volunteers. Of the writers of these 
reports, Capt. Achilles Martin and Col. William Mann are dead. The others are 
living.

TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS.
[Contributed by Captain Achilles Martin.]

	The 25th Ill. Vol. Inf., three companies of which (A, B and D) were from 
Vermilion County, was organized in Vermilion County, June 1, 1861, and mustered 
into service at St. Louis, Missouri, August 4, 1861, and from there transported 
by rail to Jefferson City, Missouri, and thence to Sedalia, Missouri, and 
marched to Springfield, Missouri, under General Fremont, in pursuit of General 
Price's army, and from thence to Rolla, Missouri, where, with a portion of 
Fremont's army, it spent the early part of the winter of 1861 and 1862, but 
returned to Springfield, Missouri, in February, 1862, under command of General 
Siegel, and pursued General Price's army to Bentonville, Arkansas, where, on the 
6th, 7th and 8th of March, 1862, the memorable battle of "Pea Ridge" was fought. 
The 25th Reg., having been held in support until early morn of the third day, 
took the front under the immediate command of General Siegel, in support of the 
artillery, which opened the engagement. After a fierce contest with grape, 
canister and shell at short range, the enemy's batteries were silenced, and the 
memorable 9rder, "Up, 25th, Minutes! Col. Minutes!" was given by General Siegel 
in person, and the next moment the regiment, under the most terrific fire of 
musketry, with other troops, charged the enemy in a thick wood, where, after a 
fierce and deadly contest, the enemy's lines gave way, and the whole army was 
soon in full retreat, and thus was victory brought out of what but a few hours 
before was considered, by the general commanding, a defeat. The regiment was 
highly complimented for its gallantry in this (its first) engagement. Then, in 
connection with the army, it took up the line eastward, where, after a long and 
tedious march, it arrived at Batesville, in Arkansas, and was there detached 
from the army, and, with nine other regiments under command of Gen. Jeff. C. 
Davis, marched eastward to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a distance of two hundred 
and fifty miles in nine days, having made an average of about twenty-eight miles 
per day. The regiment then, by river transportation, joined Gen. Halleck's army 
in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, which place was soon evacuated by the 
enemy; and after a short stay in Mississippi marched eastward under command of 
Gen. Buell by way of Nashville, Tennessee, to Louisville, Kentucky, a distance 
of nearly five hundred miles in the month of August, in the most extreme heat 
and drouth. Here a few days were spent in reorganizing the army, when it was 
ordered in pursuit of Gen. Bragg's army, then invading Kentucky. Later, the 
battle of Perryville, or Chaplain Hills, was fought between a portion of the two 
armies, wherein the 25th Reg., and more than sixty thousand other well-equipped 
soldiers were compelled to act as spectators in the slaughter of a portion of 
our army under command of Gen. McCook, because the general commanding said that 
McCook had brought on the engagement without his orders. After this battle the 
regiment returned to Nashville, Tennessee, and Gen. Rosecrans was put in command 
of the army, then known as the Army of the Cumberland, which remained at 
Nashville until the last of December, 1862, when it was advanced to 
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and met the enemy under command of Gen. Bragg at Stone 
River, Tennessee, on the 30th of December, 1862, and at the dawning of the 3ist 
the enemy attacked in great force. The 25th Reg., being in the unfortunate right 
wing of our army, was soon sharply engaged, when the charge grew fierce and 
deadly. The line on the left of the 25th gave way, and being fiercely assailed 
in front and left, the regiment was compelled to change front under a most 
withering fire. Here the color-bearer was stricken down and the flag lay on the 
ground, when Col. Williams, of the regiment (than whom no more worthy patriot 
has died), raised the colors with his own hands, and having indicated the new 
line to be formed, he planted the flag firmly, and uttered in loud tones his 
living and dying words: "Boys, we will plant the flag here and rally around it, 
and here we will die!" The next moment, with flagstaff in hand, he fell. The 
regiment, after twice repulsing the enemy in front, finding itself flanked on 
both right and left, retired from its position and fell to the rear, leaving 
more than one-third of its number dead and wounded on the field. The enemy was 
finally checked, and the battle continued sullenly until the 2d of January, 
1863, when Gen. Breckenridge made his celebrated assault on the left wing of our 
army. The charge was brilliant beyond comparison. The shock of battle was 
terrific. Our left was broken, defeated and driven back. Fresh troops were in 
like manner swept away like chaff before the wind. Fifty pieces of artillery 
were brought to bear on the enemy's right. The earth trembled and shook as a 
leaf in the storm beneath the iron monsters, as they poured their storm of death 
into the advancing column, and yet their onward march was as the march of 
destiny, until the shout from Gen. Negley rang out, "Who'll save the left?" "The 
19th Ill.," was the reply-the 25th Ill. being close in their support. They did 
save the left, and the 25th held the front thus carried until the retreat of the 
enemy, while the heaps of the enemy's dead testified to gallantry worthy of a 
better cause. The regiment, in connection with the army, next marched south in 
pursuit of Gen. Bragg's army till it reached the Tennessee River, near 
Stevenson, Alabama. To cross this river in the face of the enemy and lay the 
pontoon bridge was given in charge of this regiment alone; consequently, at 
early morn our shore was lined with skirmishers and a battery of artillery, 
while the regiment embarked in pontoon boats and rowed away to the opposite 
shore a mile distant, drove the enemy back, laid the bridge and was crossing the 
entire army over by eleven o'clock A. M. The sight of this little circumstance 
was extremely grand, but the danger great. The regiment next crossed over Sand 
Mountain and Lookout Mountain and entered into the valley, again engaging the 
enemy in the terrible battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, where it left more than 
two-thirds of its number among the dead and wounded on the field, all of whom 
fell into the hands of the enemy. This battle, for severity, stands second to 
none in the history of the war, and no regiment in the engagement suffered 
greater loss than the Twenty-fifth Illinois. The regiment was next called to 
meet the enemy at the battle of Chattanooga, under command of Gen. U. S. Grant, 
and when the order came to storm Mission Ridge, the Twenty-fifth Regiment was 
assigned the front, or skirmish line, where it advanced slowly until within a 
few rods of the enemy's guns, when, with a simultaneous charge, in connection 
with the Thirty-fifth Illinois, carried the enemy's works, captured their 
batteries, broke their lines on Missionary Ridge, and made way for a magnificent 
victory. Along the entire line here again the carnage was great, but the 
achievements brilliant in the extreme. The regiment was then ordered to east 
Tennessee, where it spent the winter in various unimportant campaigns, and in 
the spring of 1864 rejoined the Army of the Cumberland, near Chattanooga, under 
command of Gen. Sherman, and started on that memorable campaign to Atlanta, 
Georgia, at which place it terminated its service and returned home to be 
mustered out.

	During the months of this campaign, the endurance of both officers and men 
of the regiment was taxed to its utmost-it was one long and tedious battle, 
often violent and destructive, then slow and sullen, both armies seeking 
advantage by intrenching, manoeuvering, flanking and by sudden and by desperate 
charges, the Twenty-fifth Illinois, bearing its equal burden of the toils, the 
dangers and losses, as will more fully appear from the following order or 
address, delivered by Col. W. H. Gibson, commanding the brigade, on its taking 
leave of the army, at Atlanta, Georgia, August 20, 1864, to wit:

	"Soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteers: As your term of three 
years' service has expired, and you are about to proceed to your state to be 
mustered out, it is fitting and proper that the colonel commanding should 
express to each and all his earnest thanks for the cheerful manhood with which, 
during the present campaign, you have submitted to every hardship, overcome 
every difficulty, and for the magnificent heroism with which you have met and 
vanquished the foe. Your deportment in camp has been worthy true soldiers, while 
your conduct in battle has excited the admiration of your companions in arms. 
Patriotic thousands and a noble state will give you a reception worthy of your 
sacrifice and your valor. You have done your duty. The men who rallied under the 
starry emblem of our nationality at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Champion Hills, Stone 
River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Noonday Creek, Pinetop Mountain, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Chattahoochee, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, having made history for 
all time and coming generations to admire, your services will ever be gratefully 
appreciated. Officers and soldiers farewell. May God guarantee to each health, 
happiness and usefulness in coming life, and may our country soon merge from the 
gloom of blood that now surrounds it and again enter upon a career of progress, 
peace and prosperity."

THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS.
[Contributed by Gen. J. C. Black.]

	The regiment was recruited in the counties of Lake, La Salle, McHenry, 
McLean, Cook, Vermilion and Rock Island, and was organized at Chicago, and 
mustered into the United States service on the i8th of September, 1861. Its 
colonel was Julius White, since major-general; its major was J. C. Black, now of 
Danville, Illinois, who recruited and took to camp Company K. from Vermilion 
County. The muster role of Company K showed representatives from many of the old 
families of Vermilion County: Fithian, Bandy, English, Morgan, Clapp. Brown, 
Henderson, Allison, Conover, Black, Culbertson, Johns, Canaday, Lamm. Myers, 
Payne, Songer, Thrapp, Delay, Folger, Gibson, Liggett, and others. Some of these 
representatives died in service; some returned home full of the honors of a well 
rendered service, and are today prominent among our business and professional 
men. Peter Walsh, the late prosecuting attorney; William P. Black, of Chicago; 
William M, Bandy, editor of the "Post," Danville; W. H. Fithian, of Fithian, 
Illinois; George H. English, and many are farming in this vicinity. These are of 
the living. Among the dead we recall Fitzgerald, Marlatt, Reiser, Snider, 
Adkins, Barnard, Hyatt, Henderson, Stute, Brewer, Conover, George Johns and 
James Culbertson. These died without fear and without reproach.

	Company K was distinctly the boys' company; its recruits were most of them 
under age at the time of enlistment. In the Memorial Hall at Springfield, 
Illinois, are found only two captured flags, one was taken from the Mexicans at 
Buena Vista, the other was taken from the rebels at the battle of Pea Ridge by 
the Thirty-Seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry. "The boys" did their share 
wherever they went. Mustered into service on the i8th of September, they entered 
the Department of the Missouri the next day, and took part in Hunter's campaign 
against Price in southwestern Missouri, marching to Springfield and back to 
Laurine Caulmint. In the dead of winter, breaking up their encampment, they 
joined in Pope's campaign against the guerillas. In the spring of 1862 the 
Thirty-seventh set out on the route for northwestern Arkansas, and participated 
in the bloody battle of Pea Ridge on the 6th, 7th and 8th of March, which raged 
with especial fury on the 7th near Lee town, when the Thirty-seventh received 
the charge of McCullough's and McIntosh's column, and when in thirty minutes it 
lost one hundred and twenty men out of an effective present force of seven 
hundred and fifty; but the charge was broken, and the enemy withdrew.

	After this battle General Custer was ordered to Batesville and Helena with 
the entire force, except the Thirty-seventh Illinois, one battalion of the First 
Missouri Cavalry and one section of the Peoria battery; and until June this 
force was kept in the extreme front in the enemy's country, fifty-five miles in 
advance of any assistance, feeling the pulse of rebeldom beating daily in this 
its farthest extremity. Marching and counter-marching over one hundred miles 
frontage of mountainous region, ambushed and bushwhacked day and night, it kept 
the flag at the front, and always flying. In the summer of 1862 the Thirty-
seventh joined the larger forces. It bore its share in the marches and 
skirmishes in southwestern Missouri, and finally, on the 7th day of December, 
assisted in the terrible fight and brilliant victory at Prairie Grove, where, in 
the capture of a battery and the assault upon the enemy in their chosen 
position, the Thirty-seventh, reduced to three hundred and fifty men, lost 
seventy-eight, killed and wounded; but they took the battery. It returned to St. 
Louis from there, and was sent to Cape Girardeau, whence it started after Gen. 
Marmaduke, overtaking him on the banks of the St. Francis River at Chalk Bluffs. 
The fight at this point freed southeast Missouri of all rebel forces, and won 
for the Thirty-seventh high praise in the reports of the commanding general. 
They then returned to St. Louis, and joined the forces under Gen. Grant, and 
participated in the siege of Vicksburg.

	From this time on, the path of the Thirty-seventh was away from its 
Vermilion County comrades, the Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fifth, Seventy-ninth, One 
Hundred and twenty-fifth Infantry, Fourth Cavalry, and the old Twelfth Regiment, 
some of whom swung across the continent, via Chattanooga and Atlanta, to the 
sea. The Thirty-seventh marched to the south; it fought and beat the rebels at 
Yazoo City, joined in the campaign after Forrest from Memphis, and after chasing 
him out of Tennessee via Mississippi, returned and took part in the Red River 
campaign; in the meantime bearing a light share in the fight near Morganzia 
Bend. From Duvall's Bluff the regiment was sent, via New Orleans, to Barrancas 
and Pollard; thence to Mobile and participated in the last great siege of the 
war, and in its last great battle; for Lee surrendered at 10 o'clock A. M., and 
at 5:45 P. M. of the same day the federal troops assaulted and captured the 
Blakeley batteries. The time occupied from the firing of the first gun until 
they were in possession was ten minutes; the loss was six hundred men on the 
Union side; captured, three thousand prisoners, forty-two cannons and the city 
of Mobile. In this charge the Thirty-seventh was the extreme left regiment, and 
Company K was the extreme left of the entire line, which advancing in a 
semicircle, struck the rebel works almost at the same instant along the whole 
front, the right and left being a little in the advance. After this engagement 
the Thirty-seventh was removed to the Department of Texas, where it remained 
until August, 1866, being among the last of the United States Volunteers 
discharged from service.

	The Thirty-seventh veteranized in 1864. It was in the service five years 
from the time of recruiting; it marched and moved four times from Lake Michigan 
to the gulf; it moved on foot nearly six thousand miles, and journeyed by water 
and land conveyance nearly ten thousand miles more; it bore its part in thirteen 
battles and skirmishes, and two sieges. The survivors of Company K are in 
Oregon, California, Texas, Missouri and Illinois. They, like the vast mass of 
their fellow volunteer soldiers, are, most of them, respected and useful 
citizens.

SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS.
[Contributed by W. H. Newlin and W. R. Lawrence.]

	Under the call of the President for three hundred thousand volunteers, 
July 6, 1862, Illinois was required to furnish nine regiments. Upon this call 
the Seventy-third regiment was organized, of which companies C and E were from 
Vermilion County. Six days after the call, Patterson McNutt, Mark D. Hawes and 
Richard N. Davis began to recruit a company of infantry in and about Georgetown, 
and, soon after, Wilson Burroughs, Charles Tilton and David Blosser commenced 
raising a company near Fairmount. McNutt's company, consisting of eighty-five 
men, were assembled on the 23d at Georgetown, where they were sworn in by Squire 
John Newlin. After this ceremony, McNutt, Hawes and Davis were elected captain, 
first and second lieutenant, respectively. The next day the men went to the Y, 
the present site of Tilton, where they were furnished transportation to Camp 
Butler, arriving there the next morning. With the exception of a few squads, 
this was the first company in this camp under that call. Early in August twenty-
one recruits arrived from Georgetown, making the total number one hundred and 
six. About this time Capt. Burroughs, having organized his company, arrived with 
seventy men, which, being recruited from Captain McNutt's company, made their 
complement.

	The first military duty done at this camp was guarding about three 
thousand prisoners, who had been captured at Fort Donelson. 

	Toward the latter part of August steps were taken to organize the 
regiment, and this was accomplished on the 2ist, the regiment numbering eight 
hundred and six men; James F. Jaques being chosen colonel, Benjamin F. 
Northcott, lieutenant-colonel; Wm. A. Presson, major; R. R. Randall, adjutant, 
and James S. Barger, chaplain. This has been known as the "preachers' regiment," 
on account of the fact that all of the principal officers were ministers of the 
gospel. The regiment was the second mustered into service under the call. Of 
this regiment McNutt's company was designated C, and was the color company, and 
Burrough's company, E. On the 27th the regiment was ordered to the field, and, 
without arms, they were transported to Louisville.

	The first camp was in the outskirts of Louisville, near the L. & N. R. R. 
depot. After awhile the regiment was armed, and in the early part of September 
the camp was moved to a point some four miles from the city, where a division 
was formed with the Seventy-third and One Hundredth Illinois and the Seventy-
ninth and Eighty-eight Indiana as one brigade, under the command of Col. Kirk. 
While in this camp, great commotion was caused by the defeat of the Union troops 
at Richmond, Kentucky, and the division was ordered under arms, and made a rapid 
advance of near a day's march, when, meeting the retreating forces, they 
returned to camp.

	About the middle of September the Seventy-third was sent to Cincinnati, to 
assist in defending it against the threatened attack of Kirby Smith. The 
regiment returned to Louisville in the latter part of September. A 
reorganization of the army now caused the Seventy-third to be brigaded with the 
Forty-fourth Illinois and the Second and Fifteenth Missouri, making a part of 
the division under General Phil_Sheridan. On the 1st day of October the army of 
one hundred thousand, under Gen. Buell, moved from Louisville to meet Gen. 
Bragg, who with Kirby Smith was overrunning the country in that vicinity. The 
weather was very hot and dry, and here the experience of all new regiments, of 
disposing of superfluous accoutrements such as overcoats, knapsacks, etc., 
began, and the line of march was strewed with a variety of handy, though 
dispensable articles. On the 8th Sheridan's division neared Doctor's Fork, a 
fine stream of water near Perryville. The Union soldiers were anxious to reach 
this point, and the rebels were determined to check their advance, and, from a 
skirmish, this grew to be a desperate battle. Through some blunder the Seventy-
third was advanced nearly a quarter of a mile in front of the main line, up to 
the very jaws of a rebel battery, and near the columns of the main rebel 
infantry. In the nick of time it was ordered to fall back, and the rebel battery 
immediately opening upon them, they obeyed with alacrity, and gained the main 
line without serious loss. In the fight that ensued the Seventy-third was in the 
front line. Company C had in this fight about seventy men engaged, of whom John 
J. Halstead, Zimri Lewis, Josiah Cooper, James E. Moore, Samuel Boen, John S. 
Long, F. M. Stevens and D. W. Doops were wounded, Cooper and Lewis subsequently 
dying of their wounds. In Company E, John Murdock lost his life, and J. M. 
Dougherty and John L. Moore were dangerously wounded.

	From here the army was marched to Nashville, which place was reached on 
the 7th of November, and the army went into camp. By this time Gen. Buell had 
been succeeded by Gen. Rosecrans. The campaign through Kentucky and part of 
Tennessee, though but of five Week's duration, was an eventful one to the new 
troops. It had been almost a continual round of marching, counter-marching, 
skirmishing and fighting through a rough country that had already been stripped 
of almost everything in the shape of forage. This sudden baptism into the rugged 
experiences of war told sadly upon many whose lives had been passed in the quiet 
scenes of the village or farm. During the six weeks' encampment at Nashville and 
Mill Creek, eleven men of Company C died and thirteen were discharged for 
disability; and of Company E, ten died and ten were discharged for disability. 
Hawes and Davis, of Company C, resigned on account of sickness, and T. D. Kyger 
and W. R. Lawrence were promoted to the vacancies. Lieut. Blosser, of Company E, 
resigned, and one Presson was promoted from another company to fill the vacancy. 
Less than three months had elapsed, and the two companies had lost fifty-four 
men.

	On the 26th of December the camp at Mill Creek was broken, and the march 
for Murfreesboro' was begun in further pursuit of Bragg, who had greatly 
reinforced his army. On the 30th the vicinity of Murfreesboro was reached, and 
almost immediately skirmishing began. This was a most hotly contested field, in 
which, however, the Federal troops proved victorious. The Seventy-third lost in 
this severely, and the two companies from Vermilion were sufferers, John Dye and 
James Yoho being killed, Lieutenant Lawrence and Daniel Laycott taken prisoners, 
and George Pierce severely wounded. Rosecrans was proud of this victory and of 
the men under his command, and made a special order providing for a roll of 
honor, to be composed of one name from every company, to be selected by the 
members of the company. Company C selected Sergeant William H. Newlin.

	In June our regiment came in contact with the rebels at a point near 
Fairfield, and Alexander Nicholson, of Company C, was wounded. In August, 
Captain McNutt resigned, and Lieutenant Kyger was promoted captain, Second 
Lieut. Lawrence to first lieutenant, and David A. Smith succeeded to the second 
lieutenancy. Lieut. Lawrence had returned in May after a five months' absence in 
Libby Prison.

	On the 10th of September, the army again advanced toward Chattanooga, to 
dislodge Bragg from that position. In the many engagements in the vicinity of 
Chattanooga the Seventy-third took active part, but in the one at Crawfish 
Springs, on the 20th of September, the brigade to which the Seventy-third 
belonged played a most important part, and displayed a degree of bravery seldom 
equaled; contending with and holding in check the massed columns of the rebels 
at a most critical moment. Companies E and C suffered severely. Sergeant John 
Lewis, of C, and color bearer, fell, but held the flag aloft. It was taken by 
Corp. Austin Henderson, of Company C, but he carried it only a few steps, when 
he was wounded. Each of the color-guard, who took the flag, was either almost 
instantly killed or wounded. In this engagement at least a fourth of the brigade 
had been left on the field, either dead, wounded or prisoners. Lieut. D. A. 
Smith, Artemus Terrell and Enoch Smith, of Company C, were killed. Lieutenant 
Lawrence, Sergts. John Lewis and Wm. Sheets, Corp. Henderson, privates John 
Burk, Samuel Hewit, John Bostwick, Henderson Goodwine and H. C. Henderson were 
wounded. Sergf. W. H. Newlin, Enoch Brown, W. F. Ellis and John Thornton were 
taken prisoners. All of these prisoners, except Newlin, died at Andersonville 
prison. Newlin was taken to Danville, Virginia, and about six months later made 
his escape to the Union lines. Of those of Company C who went into this battle, 
more than one-third were killed, wounded or captured. Company E lost Wm. C. 
McCoy, killed, and H. Neville, wounded. The activity of battle was not the only 
hardship our heroes had to bear, for at this time, on account of scarcity of 
rations, and the long continued foraging by both armies on the surrounding 
country, the soldiers were not only often hungry but in many cases half starved. 
On the 24th of October Lieut. Lawrence resigned, leaving Capt. Kyger the only 
commissioned officer in the company.

	In November the fights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge took 
place, and as usual the Seventy-third was in front. The flag of the Seventy-
third again fell from the hands of the new color-bearer Harty, to be snatched up 
by Kyger, and by him and Harty, who had risen, was one of the first planted on 
the heights of the mountain. In this engagement Stephen Newlin and Nathaniel 
Henderson, of Company C, and Wm. Hickman, of E, were wounded. In March the 
Seventy-third marched to Cleveland, Tennessee, where it remained in camp until 
called into the Atlanta campaign. The movement of Sherman's army on the 
memorable campaign began with the month of May, 1864, and that part to which the 
Seventy-third belonged broke camp at Cleveland on the 3d of that month. It is 
safe to say that from this date until September 4, the Seventy-third was under 
fire eight days out of ten, Sundays not excepted. It was a continuous fight from 
Caloosa Springs to Lovejoy Station. During the Atlanta campaign, and until the 
end of the war, the Seventy-third was in the First Brigade, Second Division and 
Fourth Army Corps. In the battles of Buzzard Roost, Dalton and Resaca, the 
regiment wlas engaged and suffered some loss. At Burnt Hickory, Dallas and New 
Hope Church, the regiment was also engaged. The actions at Big Shanty, Pine and 
Lost Mountains, brought the regiment by the middle of. June in full view of 
Kenesaw Mountain. The enemy's works at this place were very strong, and well-
nigh impregnable; but when the order came to advance and take them, the lines 
swept forward and occupied them with comparative ease, but just as the federal 
soldiers were fairly in possession, the rebels were strongly reinforced, and the 
Union forces, embracing the Seventy-third, fell back to their original position. 
In this engagement, though this regiment was in the line of the heaviest firing, 
but being on the lowest part of the ground, the shots from the enemy passed 
harmlessly over their heads. On the 17th of July the regiment crossed the 
Chattahoochee River, and on the 20th was engaged in the battle of Peach Tree 
Creek. In this battle the Seventy-third occupied a very dangerous position, and 
did most splendid execution, having but one man killed and a dozen slightly 
wounded. Shortly after this the army had settled down in front of Atlanta. After 
the capture of Atlanta, a siege of six weeks, the army marched toward 
Chattanooga, arriving there about the 20th of September. From Chattanooga the 
line of march lay through Huntsville and Linnville, arriving in due time at 
Pulaski, where the skirmishers began to come in contact with those of Hood's 
army. In the vicinity of Columbia the Seventy-third took an active part, in one 
instance sustaining the shock of cavalry. This was about the 24th to 28th of 
November. All the way to Columbia, whither the Union forces were retiring, 
followed closely by Hood and his army, there was continual fighting, in which 
the Seventy-third was almost constantly engaged. This was the last stand of any 
consequence made by the rebels in Tennessee. It was an obstinately contested 
field, and seemed to be the destruction of the last hope of the rebels to 
maintain their cause in this part of the country. The hardships endured by 
Thomas' army in the last few days of this struggle were extreme, but not more so 
in the actual conflict than in the forced marches, hunger and loss of sleep; and 
to accord equal bravery and endurance to the Seventy-third, is only to repeat 
what has already been written by some of the most critical historians of the 
country. A few days later the regiment made, in the assault on the enemy at 
Harpeth Hill, in the vicinity of Nashville, their last charge, which proved to 
be one of the most splendid in their experience. As if indicating that the 
Seventy-third had reaped sufficient glory, the remnants of the rebel army 
withdrew from Tennessee, and left our heroes in possession of the state and 
twelve or fifteen thousand prisoners.

	The Union army marched now to Huntsville, Alabama, arriving there on the 
5th of January, 1865; the Seventy-third remaining here until the 28th of March, 
at which time it left by railroad for East Tennessee. While encamped near Blue 
Springs the war closed, and the regiment was ordered to Nashville, where, on the 
i2th of June, it was mustered out, and in a few days started for Springfield, 
going on the same train with the Seventy-ninth Illinois. Two trains conveyed the 
Seventy-third as it was going to the theater of war; the war over, one train, no 
larger than either of the two mentioned, conveyed both the regiments from 
Nashville to Springfield, indicating that the hardships of army life had dealt 
severely with their ranks. At Springfield the boys received their final pay and 
discharges, and dispersed to their several homes, having been absent from the 
county within a few days of three years. The heroic dead of this regiment, whose 
absence was most notable on the home trip, lie buried, some in graves dug by 
friendly hands; but were tombstones erected for those whose bodies were hastily 
pushed into the unwelcome soil of "Kentucky and Tennessee, they would almost be 
equivalent to the milestones to mark the road of the army through the country, 
which they fought to retain in the Union. Twenty-six men of the Seventy-third 
were made prisoners, and of these sixteen died of hunger and ill-treatment.

THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

	This regiment, nearly five companies of which were from Vermilion County, 
was organized at Decatur on the 3d of July, 1861, and was one of the very first 
to go forward to defend the country from the rebel hordes who were not only 
threatening the life of the nation, but whose grasp seem to be already 
encircling it.

	Companies D, E, F and I were almost wholly from this county, and also a 
large number of Company A, the last named being under the command of Captain 
Philip D. Hammond, of Danville. Company D was raised in Catlin, and had for its 
officers William Timmons, captain; U. J. Fox, first lieutenant, and Josiah 
Timmons, second lieutenant. Company E was officered by William L. Oliver, L. J. 
Eyman, and George C. Maxon, captain, first and second lieutenants, respectively. 
This company was raised in the townships of Georgetown and Carroll. Company F 
was a Danville company, and had for captain, A. C. Keys; first lieutenant, John 
Q. A. Luddington, and second lieutenant, J. M. Sinks. Company I was raised in 
the vicinity of Catlin and Fairmount. Of this company, A. B. B. Lewis was 
elected captain; Joseph Truax, first, and Joseph F. Clise, second lieutenant.

	In the organization of the regiment, W. P. Chandler, of Danville, was 
elected lieutenant-colonel; and, by the disabling of Col. Smith at the battle of 
Pea Ridge, Colonel Chandler was put in command, and was afterward promoted to 
the office.

	On the 23d of July the regiment was accepted as Colonel G. A. Smith's 
Independent Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and on the 4th of August left 
Decatur for the theater of war. The regiment arrived at Jefferson barracks, 
Missouri, the next day, where it remained one week, and then removed to Marine 
Hospital, St. Louis, where it was mustered into service. On the 5th of September 
it was transported by rail to Jefferson City, Missouri, and from thence, on the 
15th of October, to Sedalia, to join Gen. Sigel's advance on Springfield, 
arriving at that point on the 26th of October. From November 13 to 19 the 
regiment was on the march from Springfield to Rolla. From January 24, 1862, the 
army to which the Thirty-fifth was attached was in pursuit of Gen. Price, and 
here our regiment began to experience a taste of real war. At the memorable 
battle of Pea Ridge the regiment took active part, and lost in killed and 
wounded a number of its bravest men, among the wounded being Col. Smith. At the 
siege of Corinth the regiment took an important part, and was at that place upon 
its evacuation on the 30th of May. At Perryville and Stone River the regiment 
was also engaged, at the later place losing heavily in killed and wounded. This 
was during the first three days of January, 1863. The regiment wlas the first on 
the south side of the Tennessee River, crossing that stream on the 28th of 
August. At the battle of Chickamauga, September 20, the regiment was engaged, 
and again suffered severely. By the 22d of September the regiment was at 
Chattanooga.

	In the battle of Missionary Ridge, on November 23-5, the regiment was 
placed in a most dangerous and important position, being in the front line, and 
displayed great valor and coolness, being led to within twenty steps of the 
rebel works on the crest of the hill. In the assault all of the color-guard were 
shot down, and Col. Chandler carried the flag into the enemy's works, followed 
by his men. By December 7 the regiment was at Knoxville, from which point it was 
sent on various important and dangerous expeditions. The regiment was assigned 
to duty next in the Atlanta campaign, and to recount all of the incidents, 
skirmishes and fights in which the Thirty-fifth took part would be only to 
repeat what has been said over and over again in regard to other regiments. The 
reader will simply turn to the story as related elsewhere, and appropriate it 
here. Suffice it to say that at Rocky Face, Resaca, Dallas, Mud Creek and 
Kennesaw the regiment was fully tested in coolness and bravery, and never 
disappointed its commanders. On the 31st of August the regiment started to 
Springfield, Illinois, where it was mustered out on the 27th of September, 1864.

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
[Contributed by Col. William Mann.]

	The One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteers was raised 
under the call by President Lincoln, and was organized and mustered into the 
service of the United States on the 3d of September, 1862, at Danville, 
Illinois. It was composed of seven companies, (A, B, C, D, G, I, K) from 
Vermilion, and three companies (E, F and H) from Champaign.

	The regiment was organized by the selection of the following officers; 
Oscar F. Harmon, Danville, colonel; James W. Langley, Champaign, lieutenant-
colonel; John B. Lee, Catlin, major; Wm. Mann, Danville, adjutant; Levi W. 
Sanders, chaplain, and John McElroy, surgeon. The principal officers of Company 
A as organized were: dark Ralston, captain; Jackson Charles, first lieutenant, 
and Harrison Low, second lieutenant. Of Company B, Robert Steward was captain; 
William R. Wilson, first, and S. D. Conover, second lieutenant. Of Company C, 
William W. Fellows was captain; Alexander Pollock, first lieutenant, and James 
D. New, second. Company D had for captain, George W. Galloway; James B. Stevens, 
first, and John L. Jones, second lieutenant. John H. Gass was captain of Company 
G, Ephraim S. Howells, first and Josiah Lee, second lieutenant. Company I was 
officered by Levin Vinson, John E. Vinson and Stephen Brothers as captain, first 
and second lieutenants, respectively. The officers of Company K were: George W. 
Cook, captain; Oliver P. Hunt, first lientenant, and Joseph F. Crosby, second.

	Immediately on its being received into the service, it was sent to 
Cincinnati, where it was placed in the fortifications around Covington, 
Kentucky, but was in a few days sent to Louisville, Kentucky, which at that time 
wlas threatened by Bragg, and upon his retreat was connected with the pursuing 
forces, and received its "baptism of fire" at the battle of Perryville, 
Kentucky, assisting in driving the rebel army out of the state. After the battle 
above named it took up the line of march for Nashville, Tennessee, which will 
long be remembered by its members as being the most severe campaign of their 
service, owing to their inexperience in such duties, and many of the regiment 
contracted diseases that resulted in death or complete disability. During the 
winter following the regiment did duty in the fortifications, and on patrol and 
picket service in and around the city. Owing to the ignorance of camp life and 
the scarcity of supplies, this period was more disastrous to the organization 
than any of its subsequent battles. Severe picket duty, tiresome drills, and the 
dull routine of camp life, made up the sum of the regiment's duties until they 
were ordered to report to Gen. Rosecrans, who was about to take up the gauntlet 
thrown by Bragg at Chattanooga.

	Proceeding by a circuitous route through western Tennessee and northern 
Alabama, driving the enemy at Rome and other minor points, the brigade to which 
the regiment belonged, then connected with Gen. Gordon Granger's Reserve Corps, 
the command found itself in position in front of the enemy on the eve of what 
proved to be a disastrous battle to the federal forces, the day of Chickamauga. 
In that battle the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth took a prominent part, by 
defending and holding positions of importance. On the retirement of Rosecrans to 
Chattanooga after his comparative defeat, the brigade, then commanded by Col. 
Dan McCook, was placed to defend Rossville Gap, an important pass, while Gen. 
Thomas collected the remnants of the army, to resist the farther advance of the 
victorious foe. In the defense of this important position the regiment was under 
a severe fire, and met with loss; but held its ground through the day, and 
checked the enemy in its front. After nightfall it was ordered to retire, and 
was among the last to leave the field, marching to Chattanooga, where it took 
part within the fortifications, and awaited the approach of the enemy. Here it 
remained until it was determined that Bragg did not intend to push his successes 
farther, when the regiment was sent to a point up the Tennessee River known as 
"Caldwell's Ford," at the mouth of Chickamauga Creek. Here it experienced an 
incident which was one of the most startling and trying of its career. The camp 
was pitched about one half mile back from the river, on the hillside, an exposed 
position, but rendered necessary by the nature of the ground. On the opposite 
side of the river was a rebel picket post, and a hill of some dimensions. The 
opportunity to attack was deemed so favorable by the rebels, that, on the night 
of the i6th of November, 1863, they placed a heavy battery of eight guns in 
position, and at the break of day opened fire on the camp. The bursting of 
shells and the crack of solid shot through the tents was the first sound heard 
by the command in the morning. It was truly a grand reveille, and certainly the 
men never responded more quickly than they did on that memorable morning to 
roll-call. Amid the thunder of the rebel guns, and the quick and gallant 
response of our battery (two guns placed to assist the regiment), the command 
was formed in line of battle, expecting the river to be crossed and the camp 
attacked. The execution of our guns, however, soon informed the enemy that they 
had undertaken a difficult task, and as was afterward learned, finding that they 
were experiencing loss, retired. The only loss sustained by the regiment was the 
death of the chaplain, Levi W. Sanders, who was struck by a round shot in the 
head and instantly killed.

	At Caldwiell's Ford the regiment remained until the advance was made which 
culminated in the battle of Missionary Ridge, and the defeat of the enemy. In 
this battle it did not take an active part until the enemy was in full retreat, 
assisting in driving him beyond reach. Learning of the threatened attack of 
Knoxville by a portion of the forces from the eastern army, it was sent to the 
relief of that post. Accomplishing that object, it returned and went into camp 
on Chickamauga Creek, at a place known as Lee and Gordon Mills, Georgia. Here it 
awaited the reorganization of the army, and was placed in the Third Brigade, 
Third Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, Gen. Jeff C. Davis commanding. And 
now commenced the most vigorous part of the regiment's career. On the advance of 
the grand army on what is known as the "Atlanta campaign," it was under fire 
many times, and participated in several battles in approaching that city. In the 
battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Tennessee, and other engagements, 
the regiment suffered severely, and at the end of that campaign nearly or quite 
one half of the command that entered upon it were numbered among the dead or 
wounded. At Kennesaw Mountain, on the fatal 27th of June, 1864, it lost one half 
of the command. Just previous to the order to charge being given, the regiment 
mustered two hundred and forty guns. After the charge, and when the list was 
made of the casualties, it was found that over one half had been killed or 
wounded. Here fell Col. Harmon, Capt. Fellows, Capt. Lee, Lieut. McLean, and 
many a brave private, whose names are embalmed in the hearts of friends, and 
referred to with sadness after a lapse of fifteen years. Col. Harmon had been 
chiefly instrumental in raising the regiment. He had left honors and a lucrative 
profession at home, to respond to his country's call and gave his life in its 
defense. His name will be remembered so long as a member of the command lives, 
and venerated by them.

	This campaign ended in the battle of Jonesboro, in which the regiment 
suffered severe loss, as they did at Peach Tree Creek, and the subsequent 
capture of Atlanta.

	At Atlanta a reorganization of the army occurred, and the concoction of 
the great campaign known in history as the "March to the Sea," under Sherman. 
With that army the regiment took up the line of march toward the coast, and 
without any startling incidents aside from skirmishes, etc., reached Savannah 
about the 20th of December, 1864, and participated in the honor attending the 
capture of that important post. It lost many men in this campaign, through 
capture, sickness, etc. Crossing the Savannah at Sister's Ferry, at the 
commencement of the campaign which culminated in the surrender of the 
Confederate forces and the suppression of the great, rebellion, after the 
evacuation of Richmond, it advanced with the left wing of the army and 
participated in its last battle at Bentonville, a small town in North Carolina, 
losing quite heavily. On the surrender of Johnston it marched to Washington, 
where it remained several weeks, and was then sent to Chicago, where it was 
mustered out, paid and discharged from the service of the United States after 
nearly three years of active service, with hardly one-half of those who had 
started with it from Danville remaining. Many had died or had been killed in 
action, others had been discharged from disability arising from wounds or 
disease contracted by exposure and the severity of campaign life, and a few, a 
very few, had been lost by desertion. And thus ended the services of the One 
Hundred and Twenty-fifth regiment Illinois Volunteers in the "Great Rebellion."

	The statement has often been made that the people of the South were all 
who suffered during the years of the Civil War; that the people of the North 
hardly knew there was any conflict going on. There never was a greater mistake 
of the conditions of the times. While there were no battles and no burning 
homes, there was not a village of the northern states where the life was not 
decidedly changed by reason of the conflict going on in the south. Almost every 
home had some one in the service and the first question when neighbors met was a 
query about the news from the army. Business was in changed conditions and 
social life was influenced by the friends being in the hardships of war.

	The women and children were not idle. Danville was not an exception to 
other towns. One company after another had been recruited from the men of 
Vermilion county, and news of a battle brought anxiety and a desire to help on 
the part of all. The necessity for help was urgent. All the appliances for care 
of wounded which can now be bought without trouble, were unknown at that time. 
The women of Danville would gather in the basement of the old North Street 
church and spend days in making bandages, scraping lint, and sewing on garments 
needed in the hospitals.

	All the old tablecloths and linen sheets and anything made of that 
material were donated and the children busied themselves scraping the lint from 
this cloth. When the linen was used up, cotton was brought into use. Many were 
the yards of cloth cut up into strips and wrapped into bandages. New cloth was 
bought and dipped in scalding water to shrink, and then wound carefully to make 
the desired rolls of bandages. Then there were the garments needed to put on the 
men as they lay in the hospitals tossing with fever or groaning in pain. Life 
was serious in those days and men, women and children vied with each other in 
plans to help those who were "at the front."

	There were but few new comers to the county in the years from 1860 to 
1864. It was not a time men were looking for new homes. The large part of those 
at the sections which had hitherto turned their faces to Vermilion County were, 
during these times, engaged in the war on one side or the other. Virginia and 
the Carolinas, together with Tennessee, all had their attention taken with the 
great struggle, and Ohio, whence the large immigration had before this time 
come, was sending her men to the front. There were a few families, however, came 
into this section, during these years and some of these made a deep impression 
on the life of the county. Among these can be named Dr. Winslow, Mr. D. Dale, 
Detective Hall, Mr. Freeman, Alexander Bowman, Judge Evans and others.

	Dr. J. C. Winslow, a native of Vermont, located in Danville in 1860. He 
was a man of rare knowledge and perhaps was attracted to this section by the 
geological wealth along the Vermilion river. When he first left home he was a 
maker of musical instruments but he was a man of science before he was of trade 
and he left that mechanical work to others. He taught music and later was 
attracted to railroading. This led him to be a Master Mechanic. He came to 
Vermilion County to accept the position of assistant Master Mechanic on the 
Wabash (Great Western) Railroad. But he tired of that employment and took up the 
study of dentistry, and in 1886 he came to Danville to practice that profession. 
He found congenial companionship in the way of Mr. Will Gurley, who although but 
yet a boy was authority on all geological matters. Dr. Winslow established the 
Vermilion County Historical Society.

	It is a great pity that this society was let to disband so completely as 
to leave no trace. Dr. Winslow was the first Mayor of Danville, being elected in 
May, 1868. Dr. Winslow was identified with everything of public improvement and 
was a great force toward making Danville and Vermilion County. Dr. Winslow died, 
and was buried in Springhill cemetery.

	John J. Dale, the father of John W. Dale, who has been identified with so 
many affairs of Vermilion County, came to Vermilion County in 1860 and located 
about six miles south of Rossville. Mr. John W. Dale enlisted in the army from 
his home going as a private in Company B, Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteers. He 
was wounded in the elbow at the battle of Chickamauga, and lost his arm in 
consequence. Mr. Dale has held many offices of responsibility in the county and 
city of Danville. Mr. Dale married Miss Hicks of Perrysville, Indiana.

	The life of the detective T. D. Hall has always seemed to be of unusual 
interest. He has a good record of success in ferreting out crime and its doers. 
Mr. Hall is an Englishman, but when he came to Danville in 1861 he came directly 
from Indiana. He found his ability as a detective first, when he filled the 
office of deputy sheriff under Joseph M. Payton in 1865. Mr. Hall has spent much 
of his time in the employ of the railroads. An account of his experiences would 
make a fascinating book to read.

	Mr. A. C. Freeman was one of the newcomers to Vermilion County in 1871. He 
came from Edgar county at that time, but was a native of Pennsylvania and had 
come west but a short time before that time. Mr. Freeman was in the employ of 
the Wabash Railroad, both at Fairmount and State Line for eleven years. He came 
to Danville, and in 1874 was elected city clerk. He held that office for many 
years and was released only when failing health compelled him to give it up. Mr. 
Freeman was a very popular man and had a host of devoted friends. He was twice 
married. His first wife was Miss Newkirk, and his second wife was Miss Mary W. 
Dustin of Enfield, N. H. Mr. Freeman was too ill to attend to business for a 
long time before his death. He was the father of seven children. The first wife 
was the mother of two children, only one of whom lived.

	Other newcomers in the sixties were: S. B. Holloway, in 1862; J. A. Lewis 
and L. B. Wolf, in the same year, and D. D. Evans and Alexander Bowman in 1864. 
M. A. Harrold came in 1861, and S. R. Tilton and G. W. Tilton and W. J. 
Henderson came in 1862. Of these, Mr. S. B. Holloway was connected with the 
omnibus line for many years. He came from Ohio, where he was born and where he 
married his wife. Mr. Holloway had run steam sawmills in various towns before he 
came to Danville, and came here directly from Indianapolis. Mr. Holloway lived 
in Danville the remainder of his life.

	Mr. Lewis came from England and was a contractor and builder. His home has 
always been in South Danville. L. B. Wolf came to Danville and for some time 
kept a bakery, but in the course of time became one of the Danville Lounge 
Factory Company, where he is at present.

	D. D. Evans, school teacher, editor and attorney, was always a credit to 
Danville. After practicing law for some time he was elected county judge, and 
after that known as Judge Evans. Mr. Evans married Mrs. Elwilda (Cromwell) 
Fithian and their home was a pleasure to enter.

	Alexander Bowman came to Danville from Champaign. So intense was the 
public feeling when he came that when he was looking around on the public 
square, he was very near to being arrested as a political spy. Mr. Bowman laid 
out more towns in Vermilion county than any other man.

	M. A. Harrold settled in Ridge Farm in 1861.

	The Tilton brothers came to Catlin in 1862 from Indiana. Samuel came 
first, but enlisted in the service and was severely wounded in the battle of 
Kenesaw Mountain. A ball entered his right breast and it was some time before it 
came out of his back. He was incapaciated for service, but he returned to his 
regiment and remained until the close of their term of service. Then he went to 
his parents' home in Indiana and later came back to Catlin. Mr. Tilton married 
Miss Vance, the daughter of Maj. Vance.

	George Tilton came to Catlin about the time his brother did, but he 
remained there all the time. He taught school, was bookkeeper and salesman, and 
then formed a partnership with J. C. Sandusky under the name of Sandusky & 
Tilton. They sold general merchandise. The Tilton Bros. have been associated 
together in the mercantile line during all the years they have lived in 
Vermilion County.

	The great amusement at Conkeytown in the later fifties and early sixties 
was the debating club, which held its meetings at the Cass school house. There 
were some eloquent and convincing debates, in which William Milton and John Lee, 
Samuel Rawlins, Hiram and Alex. Catlett, William Davis and Z. C. Payton took 
part.

	An interesting document was not long ago discovered by Mr. Hole, the 
postmaster at Ridge Farm. It evidently belonged to his father and bears date of 
August 23, 1862. It is the charter of the Union League of America; number of 
local chapter, 1054. The eight charter members who signed are as follows : Jonah 
Hole, E. Goodwin, A. B. Whitney, James Price, Elisha Hamilton, T. D. Weems, D. 
J. Hunt and Thomas Henderson. This organization was a counter one to the Knights 
of the Golden Circle, and the fact that such a council existed is proof of an 
organization of the latter in the county. It is well known that over the state 
line in Indiana the Knights of the Golden Circle were strong. This Union League 
of America had passwords, signs, and the grip, and the members were oath bound. 
This charter is printed on parchment and is signed by Mark as G. Pres., and 
George H. Harlin as G. Sec.

	There were two riots in Danville which tell the state of public feeling 
better than multiplied words could do. While the state of sentiment was intense 
all over the country, yet on the borders, as it might have been called, the 
conditions were a little different. Danville was near to the people who felt 
most keenly the ravages of war and at the same time it was in touch with those 
who felt as intensely the necessity of the struggle to preserve the Union. Other 
localities let men wear a butternut pin unmolested and had men mustered out of 
service and go about their business without arousing the desire to kill.

	The first riot was on August 24, 1863, and was a disgraceful as well as 
lamentable affair. John Payne was the father of several boys and was himself a 
man who sympathized with the South. On the other hand his son-in-law was a 
stanch upholder of the Union. One of his sons wore the emblem of the Northern 
sympathizer in the shape of a pin on his coat that was made from a butternut. 
Such an ornament was not unusual to see on men's coats at this time. Lyman 
Guinup, a business man of Danville and Colonel Hawkins, a soldier from 
Tennessee, were together. Mr. Guinup was himself a soldier. Seeing this pin when 
particularly impatient with the ornament, these men snatched it from the coat of 
John Payne. A fight followed, and in the struggle Payne was shot. Later a 
preliminary investigation was held in a magistrate's office on West Main street, 
about where the King block is now located. A crowd assembled, and William M. 
Payne, who was the sheriff, hastened to the scene. As he passed the store of 
William M. Lamm, which stood where the Danville National Bank now stands, or on 
the southwest corner of the public square, he called Mr. Lamm, who was at the 
store door, to go with him and assist in quelling the disturbance. They hastened 
on together. This was about one o'clock p. m. As they came within bullet range, 
a shot was fired and Mr. Lamm fell mortally wounded. No demonstration was then 
made, although the Southern sympathizers gathered on the corner of Hazel and 
South streets. The reports were circulated that the friends of John Payne of the 
same views were intending to burn the town that night. The next morning the 
courthouse grounds were full of horses which had been ridden into town during 
the night by the farmers who had strong Union sentiments. George Barker was 
arrested, tried and convicted for shooting Mr. Lamm, and was sent to the 
penetentiary. William Lamm was one of the leading business men and a member of 
the board of trustees of the North Street Methodist Church. His death was a 
severe loss to the community. His sons, John M., Stamper Q. and Edward C. Lamm 
are living in Danville now and are among our prominent citizens.

	The other riot in Danville occurred on the evening of October 1, 1864. 
This was on the evening of the day of a big republican rally. The election, 
which was to give President Lincoln a second term, was not far away, and 
politics ran high in Vermilion county, as elsewhere in the country. It was but 
the day before this that the Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry was 
mustered out of service in Springfield. The soldiers had come home and not yet 
put aside their suits of blue, and of course were very conspicuous in the 
streets. Among these returned soldiers were three of the sons of Thomas 
McKibben, Capt. Jeff McKibben, George McKibben and Henry McKibben. George 
McKibben was not an aggressive young man, but rode into town that morning with 
his friend Francis Gundy in good health and spirits. They put up their horses in 
the Pennsylvania House, says Mr. Gundy who lives in Bismark, in Newell township, 
and went about town. The day passed without any disorder, although many threats 
were reported to have been made. About half past five o'clock, Mr. Gundy went to 
the place where the horses were in waiting and took them both out, riding his 
own and leading that of George McKibben to the public square. Finding his 
friend, Mr. Gundy told him it was time to go home. But George McKibben excused 
himself with the remark of having anxiety for his brother Jeff, and said he 
thought he would not go home that night, but look out for his brother. He did 
not seem to be in the least uneasy for his own safety. So it was, Mr. Gundy took 
George McKibben's horse back to the stable and went on home by himself. This is 
the story as told by Mr. Gundy, the friend of George McKibben.

	The story is taken up at this point by Mr. Hiram Ross, who was an eye 
witness of the shooting. Mr. McKibben and Mr. Ross, together with George 
McKibben and Henry McKibben, were all standing about six o'clock p. m., on the -
southeast corner of the public square across the street from where the 
Interurban station is now located and they were called across the street by Dr. 
Paris and Dr. Lemon, who were on the opposite side of the street. The men called 
to them to come over and shake hands and make up friends. The boys went over 
without thought of fear, and the men backed into the store, the boys following. 
No sooner did they get in than the door was closed behind them and the two men 
stepped behind the counter and the shots began to fly in the direction of the 
McKibben boys. The air was full of smoke and all was confusion for a minute, 
when Henry McKibben called out that he was hurt. The men who did the shooting 
made their escape through the back window and Mr. Ross looked about for George 
McKibben to find him shot dead with a bullet in his temple and Henry McKibben 
sure he was mortally wounded. Mr. Ross hurried Henry McKibben to Dr. Fithian's 
office, and does not know anything about what happened afterward, excepting as 
hearsay. An examination of Henry McKibben showed the bullet had not penetrated 
his body, but was lodged in his clothing and fell to the floor when his body was 
badly bruised on the left side where the ball had struck him in the region of 
the heart.

	Mr. Hiram Ross who lives in Danville, tells this story, as nearly as 
possible, as it is here given: Mr. J. W. Giddings was at that time a young man, 
the son of William Giddings whose home was on South Hazel street almost opposite 
the home of Dr. Lemon. He takes up the account at this place, telling of the 
distressing scene he witnessed. He tells how he was at the gate of his home and 
saw men running down the alley, among whom was Capt. Jeff McKibben, with others 
of the returned soldiers. He was at the gate of Dr. Lemon's home when the crowd 
reached there and he saw Capt. McKibben with some other man go into the house 
and appear presently with Dr. Faris between them. Dr. Faris had their promise to 
protect him until he could have the benefit of the law. That this promise was 
made in all good faith there could be no doubt in the minds of those on the 
outside of the house. That Jeff McKibben thought he could give this protection 
is equally as certain to anyone who heard him speak that night. But Capt. 
McKibben was not dealing with his company of disciplined soldiers; it was a mob 
he faced and a mob growing more and more furious every minute. A mob that could 
not reason, nor yield obedience to orders if these were in the direction of law, 
and a consideration of another's rights.

	Before the act could be prevented, the helpless prisoner was struck, and 
the mob had closed around him and hastily fired shot after shot into his body, 
thus taking another life to pay for the one already lost, and all done in blind, 
unreasoning passion. How far this mob would have gone will never be known had 
not Mr. Thomas McKibben, the father of the dead boy, held them in check as no 
other man could have done. The mob would listen to him, and it is well they 
would. He stepped on a box on the street so that all could see him as he 
reminded them that his loss of a son was greater than could be that of any of 
them; and he pleaded with them and demanded that the men forming the mob would 
disperse and do no more harm.

	Captain Jeff McKibben, who is yet living, tells the story of the scene at 
the home of Dr. Lemon in his own words as follows:

	"It was the evening of Oct. 1st, 1864. There had been a big republican 
rally in Danville on that day. In the evening I had just ordered my horse from 
the barn of the old ----Hotel to start home when some person (can't call to 
memory who) called, "Captain, your brother is shot." I says, "I haven't heard 
any shooting." This man pointed down the street on the public square. I 
immediately ran down to where the crowd was gathering. As I came up to the 
crowd, my brother Henry and Hiram Ross came forward and met me. Hiram Ross said, 
"George is killed." They were on their way to Dr. Fithian's office. I saw that 
Henry was shot. I asked him who shot him. He said, "Dr. Ferris and don't let him 
get away." I says, "Where did he go?" Some person called out that he went down 
to Dr. Lemon's house. I said that I would get him. I immediately started for Dr. 
Lemon's house. A large crowd followed. When I arrived at Dr. Lemon's home, I 
went to the south entrance. Dr. Lemon opened the door with a revolver in his 
hand. He told me to halt. I did so. I says, "Dr. Lemon is Dr. Ferris in your 
house ?" He said that he was but I could not enter his house. At that I stepped 
forward and told him that I would give him just ten minutes to deliver me Dr. 
Ferris or down would come him and his house. He said that he would deliver to 
me, Dr. Ferris in ten minutes. I told the people that were there not to molest 
Dr. Lemon nor his property, that he had agreed to deliver me Ferris. While 
standing there some one supposed to be Dr. Ferris opened the upstairs window and 
fired a shot down at me. The bullet went into the ground close to my left foot. 
In a few moments Dr. Lemon came down stairs to the front door and called for 
Capt. McKibben. I immediately answered him. He said that Dr. Ferris wanted to 
see me up stairs alone. I ran up stairs and Ferris met me at the head of the 
stairs, jammed his gun against my chest. I knocked it aside and grabbed his arm 
with my left hand and my gun was against his head in a second. I told him to 
surrender. He dropped his pistol on the floor and commenced to beg for his life 
as I started down the stairs with him. I told him he had forfeited his life but 
that he should have a hearing in his case. When I got to the foot of the stairs 
out on the porch some person struck him with a piece of wood and he fell forward 
on the walk. As he fell a number of shots were fired into the body. I called out 
to them to cease firing- not to shoot a dead man. The firing stopped and someone 
called out to haul the d-- rebel up the street and some parties grabbed him by 
the legs and up the street they went.

	I immediately crossed the street and met my father standing there alone. I 
said, "Father, I thought you had gone home." He said, "I had started and heard 
of this trouble so came back." At that moment some person came up, (can't call 
to mind who) and said, "Capt. your brother is dead." I said, "I think not, that 
was only a flesh wound." At that father says, "Poor George is dead." That was 
the first knowledge of my brother's death. I am glad that I did not know he was 
dead at the time. If I had known it, I would probably have killed Dr. Ferris. I 
did not kill him nor I did not shoot at him. Now I have given the account of the 
killing of Dr. Ferris as I remember it. I think it is correct."

	Dr. Ferris had been taken through the streets and left on the side of the 
walk by the courthouse, and no one went to him, although he was yet living, 
until near midnight, when he was taken into the courthouse -dead. Dr. Faris was 
a Virginian, and he felt very bitterly the results of the war. It is now claimed 
that he had served in the Union army, but this claim has not yet been proven, 
and though he might have once been pledged to the cause of the union, that can 
make the circumstances of his death in the way it was only the more sad.