By
1860 Union County was entering a new epoch in its history. However little
development took place in this period until alter the Civil War was completed.
In 1860, instead of having only one means of communicating with distant
points — the river boat, Union County had overnight access to Chicago and
Memphis and New Orleans could be reached in forty-eight hours by mail. Since
this widened the market for the farmer's products, large developments in
agriculture took place. Since the railroads burned wood for fuel, and used
wooden ties and rails, work in timber became a leading industry in the county.
With the widening of opportunity, the people were able to achieve a higher
standard of living, to have better furniture, better clothing and better houses.
Stores carried larger stocks of merchandise and more cash savings were
accumulated by the citizens.
It is significant that while Jonesboro and
Anna were the centers of business, many country stores carried a fairly adequate
stock of merchandise. This was probably due to the face that roads were
difficult to travel in bad weather so that the people in each locality made
their purchases as near their homes as possible.
The merchants who paid a
tax on their stock of goods were William Kinnison, I. M. Randall, Joel Ragsdale,
L. Hauser, N. C. Meker, Adam Buck, J. N. Albright, A. B. Agnew, Robert Biick, J.
P. Bohanan, J. M. Brisbin, D. D. Cover, E. Cover, S. B. Carut'i, A. N.
Dougherty, F. M. Davidson, Winstead Davie, Frick and Lamer, Frick and Glasscock,
Moses Goodman, J. Howitz, Moses Hutson, R. Johnson, Charles Clutts, G. A.
Kirchner, Gore & Co., McElhaney and Bro., E. McKeeby, G. W. Mumaugh, Marks &
Dodds, John E. Naill, James I. Provo, B. W. Sitter, Edward Terpenitz, Silas C.
Toler, Thomas Watkins, C. H. Williford, J. H. Williams, Willard & Co., John E.
Winn, Williams & Co., Adam Cruse, David Green, John MacConnell, S. P. Whittaker,
L. Misenheimer & Co., Moses Fisher, S. E. Davis, A. Aden, Buck Welch, G. W.
Frogge, E. MacKinder and Marschalk & Cruse.
Of these merchants, nine
carried a stock of less than one hundred dollars, five between two and three,
five between three and four, one between four and five, four between five and
six, two between six and seven, five between one and two thousand dollars, two
between two and three thousand, one between four and five, one between five and
six, one between six and seven, one ten thousand dollar stock and one twelve
thousand. There were thirty-three stores with a stock of less than one thousand
dollars and twenty over one thousand.
In 1860 horses, cattle, mules and
asses, sheep, hogs, wagons and carriages, clocks and watches, pianos,
merchandise, manufactured goods, moneys and credits, stocks and bonds, and
unenumerated properties were assessed. The acreage under cultivation was also
recorded. These assessments reveal that the county was decidedly an agricultural
county with 2848 horses, valued at $134,645; 7987 cattle valued at $71,968; 334
mules and asses, $19,433; 5406 sheep, $5448; 16,694 hogs, $18,773; having a
total value of $250,287. This stock was mortgaged for $15,047, which means that
six percent of the livestock was under mortgage.
Other assessments
included 1127 carriages and wagons valued at $29,897; 1239 clocks and watches,
$9169; ten pianos, $1635; merchandise, $78,802; manufactured articles, $3,390;
moneys and credits, $140,339; stocks and bonds, $11,000; unenumerated property,
$98,951.
19,704 acres of land were producing wheat, 22,207 acres
producing corn and 39S7 acres other products, making a total of 45,898 acres or
less than one-fifth of the total area of the county in cultivation.
It is
interesting to notice that more cash was assessed than any other item, horses
coming second. Apparently only $15,047 of this cash had been loaned with
mortgages for security and only two persons in the county had anything invested
in stocks and bonds, Willis Willard, $10,000 and Charles M. Willard, $1,000. The
Wheat Growers Bank, the only bank in the county, was listed as having $5602 in
cash.
Pianos were owned by E. Harwood, Willis Willard, Charles M.
Willard, John Daugherty (then Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois),
John Humphrey, E. McKinder, P. Baxter, J. L. Freeze and Allen Bainbridge.
J. N. Albright, M. Krentz, Adam Miller & Co., Amos W. Barnum, Paul Frick,
Jacob Green, Goodall & Co., Finch and Shick, Ignatius Brooks and Daniel L.
Nusbaum were assessed for manufactured articles. Most of the manufacturers owned
saw and grist mills. Finch and Shick owned what is now the Anna Stone Co.
There were 2149 taxpayers.
There were thirty-two persons in the
county who had more than $1,000 cash in addition to their real estate and other
personal property.
By 1860 Union County was divided on the question of
slavery. Jonesboro had been the site of one of the famous Lincoln and Douglas
debates and John Daugherty who owned the Jonesboro Gazette and his editor
Marschalk had broken their partnership and Marschalk had started the Democrat in
Anna because of their difference in view regarding slavery. In 1824 when the
question of slavery had been submitted to the people of Illinois for a vote
regarding the Illinois stand on the question, Union County was evenly divided.
However there were few colored people in the county.
The people who had
come before the railroad had not been wealthy. Most of them had settled less
than eighty acres of land at a cost of $1.25 per acre and few had more than the
wagon in which they had come with a horse, cow, sheep and pig and a few personal
belongings.
The Willards who had become the wealthiest family in the
county had arrived with little more than their bare hands, a meager education
and much foresight. The persons running ferries were the first to accumulate
more wealth than two or three hundred dollars. Then business men prospered next
but no great amount of speculation in land, etc. took place until after the
established fact that the railroad would be built.
The pioneers lived a
rugged life and accumulation of personal belongings was gained only through hard
work and perseverance.
The land was always poor because it was thought by
the earliest settlers that they would be able to stay only two or three years
and move on because the fertility of the soil would be depleted by that time but
they found that by a system of crop rotation they could make the soil continue
to produce. For this reason we see Union County develop into a predominantly
agricultural area. However, because the soil was and is not the highest type of
soil in the state, after the more fertile regions were accessible on account of
railroads, the county has not grown in population as several other agricultural
counties have, in spite of the fact that it began its growth early.
Union County from the beginning to the
end of the Civil War gave about 3000 men to the Union Army. This county at all
times filled their quotas by using enlisted men and not resorting to drafting
soldiers. This county sent five hundred more men than the average county.
This is a remarkable record for the county since it was definitely shown in
the poll of 1824 that one half of the votes were for slavery. There is evidence
however that there were many southern sympathizers in the county which is not at
all strange since the settlers in the county before 1850 were entirely of
southern extraction. However it was not the wealthy cotton planter but the poor
man who came to southern Illinois to make his home. In looking over the entries
it is evident that the average settler came with seldom over $100 in his pocket
and settled less than one hundred acres of land. A study of the population shows
that there were comparatively few colored people ever came to the county.
When it is considered that the population of Union County in 1860 was
11,181, there could not have been many more men in the county available for
service. About three-fifths of the 3000 soldiers or 1800 of them were killed in
action or died in hospitals or prison camps. This means that Union County lost
between one-sixth and one-seventh of its total population during the Civil War.
This, of course, was no greater loss than that of other counties. It was at this
time that women appeared in business and professions, largely teaching and
millinery.
The records show that Union County in addition to the full One
Hundred and Ninth Regiment furnished Captain Mack's company as well as a number
of men to the Eighteenth Regiment, one company, Captain Reese, to the
Thirty-first Regiment. A portion of the Sixtieth Regiment was enlisted here.
This regiment rendezvoused in this county and filled its vacancies with Union
County men. The county also furnished a large number of men to the Sixth
Calvary, in addition to Captain Warren Stewart's Company. Many Union County men
were enlisted in the Thirty-first Infantry which was organized at Cairo under
John A. Logan.
The battle which was nearest to Union County was the
battle of Belmont, Mo. Many of our citizens were inspired with patriotism and
rushed to the defense of their homes when battle came within hearing distance of
the residents of Union County. Following is an account of the part of the
Thirty-first Regiment played in the war.
With less than two month's
drill, the Regiment took part in the battle of Belmont, Mo., November 7, 1861,
cutting its way into the enemy's camp, and with equal valor, but less hazard,
cutting its way out again. On the 7th of February, 1862, the Regiment was at
Fort Henry, Tenn., and after emerging from the muddy environments of that
stronghold, it traversed the hills of Fort Donelson, and there, amid whiter
snows, on the 15th of the same month, it lost 260 men killed and wounded — the
Regiment having performed, in this engagement the difficult evolution of a
change of front to rear on tenth company in the heat of the battle, among
tangled brush and on uneven ground. From Donelson, the Regiment was transported
by steamer to Shiloh, Tenn., and thence it moved towards Corinth, Miss., with
the main body of the army, and reached that place only to find it evacuated by
the enemy. From Corinth, the 31st marched to Jackson, Tenn., and the summer of
1862 was spent in guarding railroads, skirmishing in the country of the Forked
Deer River, and scouting in the direction of Memphis, to Brownsville and beyond.
Ordered to the support of General Rosecrans, at Corinth, the Regiment reached
that place in time to follow the retreating foe to Ripley, Miss., where the men
fed on fresh pork, without salt, or crackers, or coffee. On this expedition it
was engaged in the skirmishes of Chewalla and Tuscumbia, ending the 6th of
October, 1862. The Regiment was with Grant in the first campaign against
Vicksburg, sometimes called the Yokona expedition, and passed through Holly
Springs to Coldwater, at which place the men, destitute of rations in
consequence of the capture and destruction of supplies at Holly Springs by the
enemy, showed their characteristic adaptability by carrying out at once the
suggestion of Logan to convert the timber into ashes, and by means of the ashes,
the corn of the surrounding country into hominy.
Upon the termination of
this campaign the regiment, with the army under Grant, was transferred to a new
field, that of the operations which finally resulted in the downfall of
Vicksburg. On the 15th of January, 1863, it set out for Lagrange, Tenn., and
thence went to Memphis, by way of Colliersville. Leaving Memphis March 10, 1863,
it embarked for Lake Providence, La.; and after assisting in the attempts to
open a route by water to a point below Vicksburg, in moved, upon the abandonment
of these attempts to Milliken's Bend, and thence to Wanesborough. Having crossed
the Mississippi below Grand Gulf, April 30, 1863, the next day the Regiment,
without waiting for rations, though hungry and weary enough, hurried forward to
the support of the comrades then engaged in battle at Thompson's Hill, near Port
Gibson, and quickly forming on McClenand's left, under the eyes of Generals
Grant and Logan, it moved up the right wing of the enemy at the charge step,
routing him completely, and helping to secure a speedy victory. Governor Yates,
in civilian garb of swallow-tail coat and high shirt collar, and overflowing
with enthusiasm and patriotism, witnessed this charge. After crossing the Bayou
Pierre, the 31st again met and dispersed their foes at Ingram Heights, May 3,
1863, and pushed on to Raymond where on the 12th the Regiment hunted from its
front the fragments of a brigade which the enemy had thrown against the advance
of Grant. Moving onward in almost ceaseless march, it took part in the battle of
Jackson, Miss., May 14, 1863, and thence at midnight, on the 15th, through
drenching rain, it marched toward Vicksburg, to meet the enemy anew. About ten
o'clock in the morning of the 16th the men spread their cartridges to dry in the
sun, in an old field about five miles from Champion Hills, from which latter
point was soon heard the sound of battle. The men hastily gathered up their
ammunition and seized their muskets, and the Regiment followed the head of the
column at double-quick effecting a formation with its brigade on the right of
our embattled line where it rested for a moment, the men lj on their faces while
the hostile shells whistled and shrieked and exploded above them. At the command
"Attention," the line stood erect, with bayonets fixed; the Brigade Commander,
General John E. Smith, gave the word; McPherson said with a smile, "give in
Jessie!" and Logan shouted: "remember the blood of your mammies! give 'em hell!"
and then the brigade sprang forward, broke and routed the two column formation
over which waved the Confederate flag, capturing the opposing battery, turned
its guns upon the retreating enemy, and took as many prisoners as there were men
in the charging brigade. In this encounter there was crossing of bayonets and
fighting hand to hand. Sergeant Wick of Co. B used his bayonet upon his foe and
Sergeant Hendrickson of Company C, clubbed his musket in a duel with one of the
men in gray.
From this point the Regiment, with the main army, followed
the retreating enemy to his entrenched lines at Vicksburg, where it took part in
the bloody assaults of the 19th and 22nd of May; its gallant Lieut. Colonel
Reece, meeting death by the explosion of a hand grenade while planting the
Regimental Colors upon the ramparts. Here the flag received 153 bullets and the
staff was shot asunder in four places.
During the siege the Regiment took
a prominent part in the operations against Fort Hill; and when the Fort was
blown up, on the 25th of June, by the explosion of a mine beneath it, there came
a time that tested the stuff the men were made of. Hero is the night, in that
crater remembered as the "slaughter pen" the soldiers fighting by reliefs, and
within an arms-length of the enemy — some had their muskets snatched from their
hands — under a shower of grenades and of shells lighted by port-holes, while
the voices of Pearson, Goddard, Morningham and others rising at times above the
terrific din of combat, cheered on their men — were deeds of valor performed
which would adorn the heroic page.
On the morning of July 4, 1863, the
place of honor having been assigned to the Brigade, the Thirty-first Regiment
marched proudly across the rents and chasms of Fort Sill into Vicksburg.
Having made the expedition to Monroe, La., under General Stephenson, the
Regiment went into camp at Black River, Miss., the scene of Lawler's splendid
victory, and here, on the 5th of January, 1864, three-fourths of the men again
enlisted in the service. That night the men, formed in line, with lighted
candles held in the shanks of their bayonets, marched to the quarters of General
Force, commanding the Brigade, who appeared before his tent and catching the
splendor from the candles full in his face, cried out with enthusiasm, "Three
cheers for the 31st!" But the "boys" were not going to cheer for themselves and
there were no others present to do it, so they stood in their ranks silent and
with military air, and cheered not nor stirred; whereupon the General shouted,
"Cheer yourselves boys, hip! hip!" and then the cheers were given with a will,
followed by a "tiger" for the Union, and three groans for the Confederacy.
The Regiment was with General Sherman in the campaign against Meridian,
Miss., after which the re-enlisted men, the "veterans", took their furloughs,
starting for home the 19th of March, 1864. Having returned to the front, by way
of Cairo, the Regiment camped from the 6th to the 15th of May at Clinton, on the
Tennessee River, and thence marching by way of Rome, Georgia, sometimes
collecting, herding and driving beef cattle, and sometimes skirmishing with the
enemy, it joined Sherman's army at Ackworth Station. It was in the skirmish at
Big Shanty, and at Brush Mountain, the assault upon Kenesan on June 27, 1864;
also in the battles around Atlanta on the 21st, 22nd, and 28th of July, of which
that on the 22nd was the most terrible, the men fighting sometimes on one side
of the earthworks, sometimes on the other. The Regiment was also engaged in the
battles of Lovejoy Station and Jonesborough, and was with Sherman in the mock
pursuit of Hood upon his invasion of Tennessee. Retracing their steps, the
Regiment reached Atlanta on the 13th of November and the 15th it there began
with Sherman the triumphant march to the sea, and on it marched with that
magnificent army, cutting roads through tangled forests, bridging streams for
the passage of troops, tearing up railroad tracks, twisting the rails "as
crooked as ram's horns," discovering and devouring sweet potatoes and other
provender surging over the country from Atlanta to the sea, "shouting the
battle-cry of freedom," and proceeding by way of Millen, it arrived on the 10th
day of December, 1864, at Savannah. Here the regiment went into camp on the rice
plantation of Dr. Owen, where the rice was consumed for food, the husks being
beaten off by means of wooden mortars and pestles appropriated from the slave
quarters nearby. One of the incidents of the day was the encountering of a
battery mounted on a flat car, pushed along the railroad by a locomotive.
On the 4th of January, 1865, the 31st bade farewell to Savannah, and shipped
on the steamer Harvest Moon, and after the novel experience and sights of a sea
voyage, disembarked at Beaufort, S. C., where it remained enjoying the luxury of
fresh oysters at low prices until the 13th. To this succeeded some skirmishing
of Fort Pocotaligo — "Poke-'em-till-they-go," as the men called it which was
evacuated by the enemy. On the 30th of January the march began thru the
Carolinas, by way of Salkahatchie, Orangeburg — which was captured, after some
fighting by the Regiment's skirmishings — Columbia — scourged by destroying
flames — Winsborough, Cherau, Fayetteville, captured by foragers — and
Bentonville — scenes of the last great struggle of Johnston's army, and the
Regiment came out of the swamps, out of the pine forests, "out of the
wilderness," the men ragged, dirty, and many of them barefooted, to Goldborough,
N. C., where it arrived the 24th of March, 1865, and when letters from home and
news from the world were received. These and the prospects of the nearing of the
end were cheering and refreshing to the men who for 54 days had been without
communication with home or the world, and were weary with long marching and
fighting.
On the 14th of April, 1865, the Regiment was with the army at
Raleigh, N. C. Signs of the ruin of the Confederacy and the dispersion of its
armed forces were apparent on every hand. Soon came the surrender of Johnson's
army, the only force which could oppose the onward march of the Union troops to
Richmond, and the Regiment formed a part of the host to which that army
surrendered.
On the 9th of May the Regiment was at Richmond, on the 19th
at Alexandria; and on the 24th of May, with faded and tattered uniforms, but
with martial step and bearing in column of company, eyes front, it marched
through the principal avenues of the capital, in that grand review of the
returning armies in presence of the great leaders, civil and military, of the
Republic, the most magnificent and imposing spectacle ever witnessed by the city
of Washington. The end had been attained!
Soon afterwards the Regiment
moved to Louisville, Ky., arriving at that place on the 11th of June, when it
was assigned to provost-guard duty. On the 19th of July, 1865, it was mustered
out of the service, by Lieut. Aug. P. Noyes, A. C. M., 3rd Div. 17 Corps. It was
then moved to Springfield, Ill., where it arrived on the 23rd of July, 1865; and
there on the 31st of the same month, the men received their final discharge and
separated for their homes — those who were left of them.
At the time of
the discharge there were present 25 officers, and 677 enlisted men. When first
organized, the Regiment numbered 1,100 men. It had recruited 700. The
casualties, including men discharged before final musterout, amounted to 1,128.
In the course of its existence the Regiment had been commanded by four Colonels,
and had had five Lieut. Colonels and six Majors. Of the 25 officers discharged
at the final muster-out, all save the chaplain had risen from the ranks.
In the campaigns of Sherman this Regiment had marched 2,076 miles. This part of
its history is included in that of the Brigade to which it belonged — the 1st
Brigade, 3rd Division, 17th Corps, Army of Tennessee. The Regiment marched 2000
miles under Grant and on expeditions other than those of Sherman. It served in
the hostile states of Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Virginia. Before January 1, 1863 the history of the Regiment is
comprised in that of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Reserve Army of Tennessee.
Always efficiently commanded, and evincing soldierly qualities in its first
battle, the Regiment became in the days of its veteran existence one of the best
drilled in the service. It was while encamped at Black River, Miss., after the
Vicksburg campaigns, that the regiment under the skillful management of
LieutColonel Pearson, attained that high degree of discipline and proficiency in
drill for which it became known, and toward which it had been directed under
Logan and White in the earlier days of the war. The latter fell at Donelson and
deserved the title "the bravest of the brave."
Col. Pearson had been in
service under General Prentiss before the organization of this Regiment, and
early showed an aptitude for tactics and drill which made him a favorite with
the field and staff, while his soldierly qualities displayed at Henry and
Donelson endeared him to the rank and file. Hence he rapidly rose from the
ranks, being promoted to Commissary Sergeant March 1, 1862; to Adjutant, May 16,
1862; to Major February 4, 1863, by the unanimous vote of the officers; to
Lieut. Colonel July 1, 1863, and to Colonel September 26, 1864. On the 13th of
March, 1865, he was breveted Brigadier General of Volunteers, for gallantry
during the war.
Many of the soldiers and officers of the Regiment deserve
special mention and lasting remembrance, but the space allotted forbids a more
extended account. To some of the men were awarded medals for gallantry; among
them Sergeant George C. White of Company C, who, severely wounded in the battle
of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, resolutely and persistently refused to be carried to
the rear.
The fighting qualities of this Regiment were displayed in 14
battles and 25 skirmishes of various degrees of importance. It witnessed the
surrender of Buckner and the garrison at Donelson, the capitulation of Pemberton
and his army at Vicksburg, the humiliation of Johnson and his force at
Bentonville, and their final surrender near Raleigh. And a brilliant gem in its
crown of glory is the fact of its organization as a "veteran" Regiment, at a
time when the Union cause stood so much in need of trained and tried soldiers to
complete the overthrow of armed rebellion and to establish upon the ruins of
anarchy and slavery a "government of the people, by the people and for the
people."
Contributed 11 Sep 2017 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Union County, by Lulu Leonard, published in 1941.
| Jackson | Williamson | |
| MO |
 |
Johnson |
| Alexander | Pulaski |
