Iroquois County, Illinois - Chapter 23: Gen. Clark's Conquest of "the Illinois., 1880 (part 3 of 6)

The First Regiment Illinois Artillery

Battery D was among the very first troops organized, and was commanded by Capt. E. McAllister, of Plainfield, Illinois, and the battery is perhaps better known among soldiers as " McAllister's Battery." In the three-months service the battery formed one of the companies of the Tenth regiment, commanded by Col. Morgan, of Quincy, and was stationed at Cairo during its term of three months. The battery was reorganized for three years by Capt. McAllister, and made its first campaign under Gen. McClernand. At Fort Donelson its guns were the first ones that opened upon the enemy. It took a very prominent part in the battle of Shiloh, after which it was transferred to Gen. John A. Logan's Division of the Seventeenth Corps. About the time of its transfer to Logan's division, its commander, Capt. McAllister, in consequence of ill-health was forced to resign, and he was succeeded in command by Capt. H. A. Rogers, who continued to be its leader during the campaign of Gen. Grant down the Mississippi, and back again to Memphis, then to Milliken's Bend, and round to the rear of Vicksburg, also during the battles of Raymond and Champion's Hill, up to May 29, in the siege of Yicksburg, where the gallant captain was shot dead by a minie ball. Capt. E. H. Cooper, formerly of Springfield, on the death of Capt. Rogers, was promoted captain and commanded the battery during the rest of the siege of Yicksburg. In the winter of 1864 the battery reorganized as a veteran organization at Camp Fry, Chicago, and soon afterward it returned to the front, and, joining Sherman's army, it left Vicksburg in April, 1864, and proceeded to Georgia and took a prominent part in the march to, and capture of Atlanta. July 22, the day on which its corps commander, the lamented Gen. McPherson, was shot, the battery was handled with a skill, and behaved with a coolness and bravery unsurpassed. Capt. Cooper that day, never left his horse, but was tireless and fearless during the entire battle, and showed himself worthy to be the commander of such a battery. After the fall of Atlanta the battery was ordered to Nashville, and formed a part of Gen. Thomas' army, and participated in the battle of Nashville. After the defeat of Hood the battery was stationed at Clarksville, Tennessee, and remained there up to the date of its muster out. Capt. Cooper, in recognition of his bravery and abilities as an artillery officer, was promoted major of his regiment - the First Illinois Artillery ; and Lieut. George P. Cunningham, of Middleport, Illinois, became captain of the battery. The battery was mustered out at Chicago, July 20, 1865. This county was represented by Lieut. Cunningham and eighteen men, among whom we might mention Sergeant Bushrod D. Washington as a capable non-commissioned officer, and Daniel Torbet, of Texas, in this county, as one of the most proficient gunners in the artillery service. Sergeant Washington, as a scout for Gen. Rousseau, rendered good service in helping to secure the capture of Buck Smith's guerrillas in Tennessee.

Battery E, more familiarly known as " Waterhouse's Battery," was organized at Chicago in October, 1861, and in the original company there were about twenty-five men, as near as we can learn from Leander Cadore, of Martinton, a former member of the company. These men are not credited to the county on the adjutant-general's rolls, but are well known to have been residents of Papineau, Martinton and Chebanse townships in this county, and several of the survivors still live there, and as will be seen from the roll of honor, a sergeant and four privates of the squad from this county died in the service. The writer has sought to get in correspondence with Col. Waterhouse and obtain material for a good historical sketch, but thus far has failed to acquire the desired information, and can only give an incomplete and imperfect sketch. As far as we have been able to learn the battery was engaged at Shiloh, and Capt. Waterhouse was there wounded. The battery took a part in the siege of Corinth, and soon afterward moved to Memphis, and from that time up to its muster out we are ignorant of its history, except that it took a part in the disastrous expedition to Guntown, under Gen. Sturgis. The battery was mustered out July 15, 1865. There were also in Battery I two men from Iroquois county.

The Second Regiment Illinois Artillery

In Battery L, Second regiment Illinois Artillery, commonly called " Bolton's Battery," there was quite a large number of men recruited from this and Ford counties; and these men, including the orderly sergeant and several other non-commissioned officers, were enlisted by Uriah Copp, Jr., Esq., of Loda, in this county, and in the first organization of the battery Copp was elected lieutenant and acted in that capacity for several weeks at Camp Douglas and Benton Barracks, and in fact up to within a few days after the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, when he discovered to his surprise, that the rolls under which he had been mustered in had been, as he alleges, " tampered " with, and his name obliterated therefrom, not only as a lieutenant but even as a member of the battery, and he returned to Illinois to have the matter adjusted and his commission issued, but found his enemies in the company had destroyed the proper rolls and substituted fraudulent ones, and filed the same as genuine in the adjutant-general's office of this state; and, to add insult to injury, had drawn his pay for recruiting the men he had enlisted and brought to the battery. After several vain attempts to get his rights, Copp gave up his military aspirations and resumed his duties as a citizen of Loda, but Sergeant Hammond and the other men that he had enlisted continued in the battery, and we herewith present a brief sketch of the same : The battery left Chicago in March, 1862, soon after organization, and went to Benton Barracks, Missouri. From there it proceeded by steamer to Pittsburg Landing, and took the field at Shiloh, April 9, 1862, being assigned to Gen. Hurlbut's division. It participated in the siege of Corinth, and after its evacuation proceeded with Gen. Sherman's command to Memphis, Tennessee, where it remained in camp until August. It was engaged at Nocomo Creek in October following, and was selected to make the attack upon the enemy in the battle of the Hatchie, by Maj.- Gen. S. A. Hurlbut. At this battle the battery took a stand of rebel colors that were given to the city of Chicago. The battery marched with Grant, in Logan's division, on his campaign through Mississippi, by way of the Tallahatchie and Water valley, in December, 1862. After the capture of Holly Springs and destruction of federal supplies, Battery L returned to Memphis, and afterward accompanied Gen. Grant to Lake Providence, Louisiana, and Milliken's Bend. It crossed the Mississippi and engaged in the Yicksburg campaign, being employed in siege operations forty-seven days. After the fall of Yicksburg it again commenced the campaign in Louisiana under Brigadier- Gen. Leggett, and marched after the rebel general, McCullongh, to Monroe, from where it returned to Yicksburg. Here the old guns being worn out Maj.-Gen. McPherson supplied it with new armament, and everything new and complete. In June, 1864, it fought under McArthur at Benton and Deasonville, and in July under Maj.-Gen. Slocum, at Clinton and Jackson, Mississippi, which ended its active operations in the field. From that time until its muster out, about August 1, 1865, it was assigned to the defenses of Yicksburg. It was at last mentioned date sent to Chicago for final payment and discharge.

Dead Heroes

THOMAS D. WILLIAMS was born at Ormskirk, in Lancashire, England, 011 March 8, 1826. But little is known of his parents further than that they were respectable laboring people. Nothing is known of the boyhood of our subject, or how he became possessed of a faileducation, which he appears to have acquired while yet a boy. At fourteen, like many an English lad of a free spirit and intrepid nature, young Williams determined to visit America, the famed land of freedom and prosperity. Accordingly he crossed the Atlantic to the shores of the New World, whether as a runaway sailor lad, or with the permission of his parents, we are not able to say; but are tolerably reliably informed that young Williams was early thrown upon his own resources, and for aught we .have been able to learn of his early life and career, one or both parents may have been dead at the time he made his first voyage to this country. After spending some months in this country Williams returned to his old home, but not content there he again returned to the United States in 1845, and found employment in the mining regions of Pennsylvania as a clerk in one of the offices, but at what precise point in the mining regions we are unable to say.

When the war with Mexico began, young Williams accompanied some of his chums, who had enlisted, to Philadelphia to see them off for the war, and while there he became seized with a desire to try the life of a soldier, and he also volunteered, enlisting in the Rocket and Howitzer Battery, commanded by Captain (afterward general) Reno, and in a little time won promotion to the position of a non-commissioned officer, and behaving himself in such a manner as to call from Lieut. Gorgas, who was commanding the battery at his muster out, the following recommendation : lt The bearer, Thomas D. Williams, has served during the recent war with Mexico in the Rocket and Howitzer Battery. In the course of the campaign he won for himself the grade jof a rion-commissioned officer. As he possesses all the qualifications requisite for a

Armed with this ^flattering indorsement from his commander, Williams started to New York city, intending to apply for a position in a large mercantile concern, but changed his mind, and September 15, 1848, enlisted in the regular army as a sergeant in Company A of the United States Engineer Corps, and for five years did faithful duty as a sergeant of engineers, so winning the esteem of Capt. George B. McClellan (afterward general), at one time his commander, and also of Capt. P. T. Beauregard, a prominent general of the confederates, as to be regarded by both, and particularly by McClellan, as a warm personal friend. At the conclusion of his five-years service Sergt. Williams received an honorable discharge, with the following indorsement on it as to character :

"Sergt. Thomas D. Williams served in the ordnance company during the campaign in Mexico, in the army commanded by Maj.- Gen. Scott. As an engineer soldier he is considered intelligent and quick in the performance of his duties, and a good soldier. The commandant of the engineer company (A) at West Point, New York, under whom Sergt. Williams served at the time of reporting to me for duty on the Mexican frontier, concurs in the above character of Sergt, Williams. PJCH'D DELAFIELD,

Sergt. Williams reenlisted at Fort Brown, Texas, in September, 1853, and continued in service as sergeant of engineers up to September, 1855, when he was mustered out at his own request, made to the secretary of war, - he having married, and decided to adopt some civil profession, and his certificate of honorable discharge, under hand of Maj. Barnard, as to his character, is summed up in the simple but expressive word "excellent."

At the date of his final discharge from the service, Sergt. Williams was stationed at West Point, and was presented, with a handsome non-commissioned officer's dress-sword, on the scabbard of which is engraved: "Presented to T. D. Williams by his comrades of the U. S. Corps of Engineer Soldiers, West Point, N. Y., Nov, 1, 1855," - which testimonial from his comrades shows that he was as highly appreciated by the rank and file as by his officers.

riage with Miss Mary A. Gleason, of Troy, New York, at the city of Troy, and his young bride went with him to West Point, and staid there nearly a year, when she prevailed on him to ask for a discharge from the service. After he left the army, Williams and his young wife went to Camden, Alabama, where he became instructor of mathematics in the Wilcox Military Institute. He filled this position one year satisfactorily ; and then, at the instance of several wealthy friends, who were contemplating taking the contract from the government to improve Corpus Christi bay by dredging, he went to the bay, and, as an engineer, examined into the feasibility of the work and its probable profitableness to the contractor undertaking it, and he reported so unfavorably upon the project that his friends at once abandoned their intention to bid ; and the same parties being owners of vast tracts of wild land in Texas, proposed to Williams to stock a large ranche for him, but Mrs. Williams refused to quit civilized haunts and take up a home in the Wilderness, and that project was also abandoned. Meeting soon after this in New Orleans city his old West Point associate and friend, Gen. Beauregard, then a captain of engineers in the regular army, Williams applied to him for something that he could do as a civilian in the United States service, and was sent to Fort St. Phillip, at or near the mouth of the Mississippi river, to aid in its repair, as assistant superintendent of the work, if we are not mistaken. While at Fort St. Phillip, Williams was taken severely ill, and, under the advice of his physician, left there in the early fall of 1857 for Chicago. At Chicago, soon after his arrival, Williams fell in with his old captain of engineers, George B. McClellan, then vice-president of the Illinois Central railroad, who at once offered Williams employment, and sent him to Chebaiise station as agent for the company in the fall of 1857.

Pleased with our broad, fertile prairies and the promising young village of Chebanse, Williams bought property there and erected a home, and became one of the early and prominent business men of the village, transacting easily and efficiently his duties as the company's agent, and carrying on a grain and stock-shipping business besides; and was thus employed when the old fiag he had served eleven years under was fired on at Sumter. Surrounded by the comforts of home, and enjoying the society of a young wife and his babes; and having served his adopted country eleven long years, two of them in active service with Gen. Scott, in Mexico, in which he had participated in every battle in the campaign, from Vera Cruz to the capture of the Mexican capital, except one ; and having been wounded at the battle of Contreras, our hero felt impelled to hold in subjugation his strong desire to again nnsheath his sword in defense of the old flag he had followed so long and so well over so many bloody fields, on account of his wife and young children. But when the old flag he so fondly cherished went down in the dust, smoke and defeat at Bull Run, it roused this 41 man of war," and he set about recruiting men for the regiment then being raised by Col. Coler, of Champaign, and on its organization was very properly placed in command of Company Gr, Twenty-fifth regiment, and continued in command until the resignation of Col. Coler; when, at the urgent request of some of the best offi- cers in the regiment, who had discovered that he was the true, brave and competent man to lead them, he was commissioned colonel by Gov. Yates a short time before the battle of Stone River. And, us is usual, when the field officers are ignored and a ranking captain promoted to the command of the regiment, offense was given to those who were "jumped"; and consequently the new colonel went into the struggle that cost him his life without the 'presence or assistance of either the lieutenant-colonel or major.

Col. Williams had given proof of his ability as a company commander at Pea Ridge and luka, and the most of his men recognized and respected his soldierly qualities. Up to the time that lie met his death, the regiment had been ably handled by its new colonel, and he was winning the love and confidence of every true soldier in his command by his readiness, tact and courage. When Woodruff's brigade was left isolated and alone on the field, by the falling back of troops on the right and left during the fiercest onset of Bragg' s army on December 31, 1862, at Stone River, the Twentyfifth regiment was flanked by the enemy, and Col. Williams found it necessary to "change front," and in doing so his men became the least bit demoralized ; and fearing that they might fall back in a panic, as other regiments had done, on the color-bearer being shot down Col. Williams seized the colors himself, and advancing in front of the center of his regiment, while preparing to plant the colors, said: "WE WILL PLANT IT HERE, BOYS, AND RALLY THE OLD TWENTY-FIFTH AROUND IT, AND HERE WE WILL DIE." At this point he was shot through the left breast, and reeled backward, still holding the colors. He was taken to the field hospital, and lingered a number of hours, and died, saying to Surgeon Brown : "I have done my duty."

Col. Williams, on the day preceding the one on which he received his death-wound, was severely wounded by a piece of shell tearing a ghastly wound in the fleshy part of his thigh, but binding his handkerchief over it, he continued on the field. Men less determined and of less nerve would have left the field, and felt that with such a wound they were amply justified in so doing. In his report of the battle his brigade commander referred to the death of Col. Williams in the following words: "Amid the glorious results of a Battle won, it gives me pain to record the names of the gallant men who offered up their lives on the altar of their country. But we must drop the tear of sorrow over their resting places, and offer our heartfelt sympathies to their relatives and friends, trusting that God will care for them and soothe their afflictions. And while we remember the noble dead, let us pay a tribute of respect to the gallant Col. T. D. Williams, Twenty-fifth Illinois regiment, who died in the performance of his duty. He fell with the regimental colors in his hands, exclaiming : ' We will plant it here, boys, and rally the old Twenty-fifth around it, and here we will die.' Such conduct is above all praise, and words can paint no eulogiums worthy of the subject."

Col. Williams and two of his children were buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, New York, by his wife. And she has marked the tomb of her hero by a beautiful monument. The other child born to them is buried at Camden, Alabama, and only the wife of the gallant soldier still lives. Mrs. Mary A. Williams has a cosy home at Chebanse, bearing within its walls many evidences of the culture and refinement of its owner, and with tender hands she has placed oa the walls of her parlor pictures of her heroic husband, and also of the loved little ones that, with their brave, noble-hearted father, await her corning on the. golden shores of that " bright and better land." To Williams Post, No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic, located at Watseka, Mrs. Williams has presented a magnificent silk banner suitably inscribed.

From a newspaper published in Troy, New York, under date of January 25, 1863, we clip the following, in reference to the burial of Col. Williams. His remains were sent from the battlefield to Chebanse, and there taken in charge by his bereaved wife and taken to Troy, and buried as here described :

" Yesterday our city was the scene of one of those sad reminders of the stern realities of war, from which, thus far in the contest, Troy has been comparatively free. The spectacle presented yesterday, at the funeral of the brave Col. Williams, was one calculated to arouse the deepest feeling, - in fact, we know no more sad public demonstration than the pageant of a military funeral. The led horse of the fallen warrior, the country's flag drooping on the coffin, the mournful miner music, and the sword he has wielded in many a good fight, but for which he has no longer any use, - all conspire to make it an impressive occasion. The remains arrived in the city on Saturday, and were laid in state at the armory of the Citizens' Corps, until yesterday noon, when the funeral procession moved thence to Oakwood Cemetery, Brig. -Gen. Allen, with a portion of his staff, Capt. McConihe and Capt. W. F. Calder, acting as pall-bearers. A detachment of twenty-five regulars, from the Watervliet Arsenal, under command of the veteran Sergt. Smith, acted as mourners. The escort consisted of the artillery, the German Rifle Company, the Republican, Jackson, Wool and Columbian Guards, - the whole being under the command of Lieut.-Col. Lawton. Sullivan's band furnished the music. At the grave the usual salute was fired, and every mark of respect was paid to the warrior who had ' gone to his long home.' '

Iroquois county may well feel a pride in the fact that from all the brave, true men whom she sent from her broad prairies to do battle for the "old flag," no nobler martyr shed his blood than the gallant Col. Williams, of the old Twenty-fifth regiment.

Col. Williams was a magnificent specimen of manhood, standing six feet one and a half inches in his stocking feet, and being well proportioned. In uniform he looked the soldier he proved himself to be. His face wore a thoughtful look, and was kindly, except when it showed the seal - of determination. Though pleasant and sociable generally, he was rather modest and retiring in disposition. Had he lived to the close of the war, Iroquois county would doubtless have been the home of one union general, for the bravery and abilities of the soldierly Col. Williams would have been recognized.

It is known to be a fact that, after the battle of luka, Capt. Williams could have had a general's commission in the confederate forces, had he seen fit to turn his back on the flag he loved so well. Like the noble Gen. George H. Thomas, who also knew and respected Williams as an excellent soldier in Mexico and at West Point, whose bones now repose in Oakwood Cemetery, only a few feet from those of Col. Williams, he had the courage to say No to comrades and friends he loved, who, in their madness, had dared assail the " old flag " and entreat him to do the same ungrateful act. All honor to the brave and noble soldier who laid down his life in defense of his adopted country, and may its chivalric sons emulate his courage and cherish his memory. ,

JAMES H. JAQUITII was born near Buckfield, Maine, on June 18, 1837. He resided in his native state until 1855, when he set his face westward, and settled in Lake county, near Waukegan, Illinois, and at once cast about for a means of obtaining a livelihood, and finally decided to learn the carpenter's trade, working at that trade in Lake county for several years until he became a competent and skillful mechanic. A year or two before the outbreak of the rebellion Jaquith removed to Chebanse, and worked at his trade there and at Kankakee city. Soon after the fall of Sumter, young Jaquith enlisted in Company G of the Twentieth Regiment of Infantry, and was made third corporal, and afterward promoted sergeant, and he was an active, faithful soldier, until struck down by a rebel bullet at Shiloh with a terrible wound. He was shot through the right leg, six inches above the knee, and lay four days upon the field with his wound undressed and uncared for. In a letter to his brother he speaks of these four days of suffering in the following language: ". . . It was trying to body and soul. . . . On the fourth day I was conveyed to a boat and laid on a tick of straw, the softest bed I had laid my bones on for eighteen months ; my bed had usually consisted of a knapsack for a pillow, and a pil« of sticks or stones for a bed." And upon this bed of straw the gallant sergeant, who had done manful duty at Donelson and escaped unscathed, and felt himself a veteran, waited patiently for his ugly and painful wound to heal ; but it was slow in healing, and he was declared to be too badly hurt for further service to his country, and

September 30, 1862, the maimed soldier was honorably discharged, and returned to Kankakee city, and in a little time resumed work at his trade. During the year 1863, Jaquith married, at Kankakee city, Miss Irene E. Merrill, a resident then of Lake county, and removing to Chebanse with his young wife began housekeeping there, and continued to reside at Chebanse until the spring of 1865, when responding to the last call for volunteers for one year, Sergt. Jaquith recruited and led to the field as its captain, Company H of the Fiftyeighth regiment, and while stationed at Montgomery, Alabama, he died in hospital of chronic dysentery, October 15, 1865, sadly mourned by his company, a loving young wife and little daughter. His wife and daughter reside at Chebanse. Captain Jaquith is described as being a tall, dark complexioned, fine looking young man, loved and respected as a soldier and as a man.

REV. PETER I. WILLIAMS, an itinerant preacher of the M. E. church, was assigned to Milford circuit in 1861, and little was known then or now by his parishioners of the antecedents of their excellent pastor. He was an earnest, active, Christian gentleman, and soon won the hearts of his little flock at the then country town of Milford. He busied himself in getting the present church edifice built, which, by the way, was a pretentious building in those days. He also preached the dedicatory sermon, and was regarded as an eloquent and earnest minister of the gospel, - a man wonderfully zealous and earnest in his religious faith. He was a man of some thirty years of age, and an earnest advocate and supporter of the union cause ; and when Company E was being recruited for the Seventy-sixth regiment, Rev. Peter I. Williams enlisted and used his influence in securing enlistments to the company ; and abandoning the comforts of home, a young wife, and a congregation of Methodist people that loved him as their pastor, he went to the front to help put down the unholy rebellion, and his comrades all bear testimony to his excellent character and behavior in camp, on the march, and in battle, as an earnest, God-fearing, union-loving, Christian soldier. While on duty with a squad of eight of his men, in a rifle pit on the skirmish-line, close to the fortifications of Yicksburg, Lieut. Williams was mortally wounded by a ball from the rifle of a sharpshooter in the rebel works, the same bullet also wounding private George Devore, one of his men, in the rifle pit with him at the time. This brave Christian soldier was borne to the hospital of his command, but lingered only a few hours, and June 21, 1863, mourned by comrades, who had learned to love him, this brave, good man yielded up his life upon the altar of his country, - another victim to the fury of the slaveholders' unholy and wicked war. In the death of Lieut. Williams, Iroquois county lost one of its purest patriots, truest soldiers, and most worthy citizens ; the church lost a young, ardent, eloquent, warm-hearted and promising teacher and preacher. We have vainly sought to learn something of the early life of this earnest Christian and valiant soldier, who laid down a life full of golden promises, as an officer of one of the gallant companies of volunteers, sent into the field by this county, but have only been able to learn that he came to this county from the west part of the state, and was probably a native of this state. The most reckless and roughest boys of his company respected Lieut. Williams for his piety, bravery and kindness of heart ; and though no stone may mark his grave, in the hearts of those men who faced death and danger with him, as their leader and friend, his name is sacredly enshrined, and to the end of their days will they venerate their gallant fallen comrade, as the true soldier, Christian and patriot.

LIEUT. CHARLES TAYLOR, one of the slain heroes of this county, came to Middleport a year or two before the beginning of the late war, and up to the time of his enlistment in the old Twentieth he followed his trade, that of a carpenter and joiner. His friends all bear testimony as to his being a skillful mechanic, and a young man of fine intellect and generous impulses,, but unhappily addicted to the vice of intemperance. And like the noble "war governor" of our state, his pernicious habit which had grown upon him while a resident of Philadelphia, did much to hide the noble qualities of head and heart possessed by this honest, frank and adventurous young man. When Sumter was fired upon, young Taylor was among the very first, if not the first, to enlist in the company that was quickly formed at Middleport, immediately on receipt of the President's call for volunteers, and was very active in securing the enlistment of others. Lieut. Taylor's soldierly conduct and generous nature won for him favor among his comrades of Company I, of the Twentieth regiment, and many of his friends at home (that is, his adopted home), admiring the bright, generous and courageous young fellow, watched his conduct in the field with some little pride, as "Charlie" gave new proofs of his gallantry. At Britton's Lane, a battle in which the Twentieth and Thirtieth Illinois regiments were attacked by an overwhelming force of rebels, and yet, by dauntless bravery and pure western pluck, held their ground and gave the enemy a good sound whipping, despite the disparity of numbers, Lieut. Taylor was in the thickest of the battle, and his saber scabbard was struck close to the hilt, and scabbard and saber so battered and twisted by the shot as to render it impossible to draw the blade from the scabbard. The lieutenant sent it as a relic of the fight to his friend, Hon. C. Secrest, of this city, who still retains it. After participating in numerous battles, Lieut. Taylor was finally struck down, after over three years' continuous exposure to dangers seen and unseen in the ranks of his gallant regiment, by a rebel bullet in the ankle, during the hottest of the fierce struggle, on the banks of Peach Tree Creek, a few miles from Atlanta. He was helped to the rear by his friend and comrade, John S. Vemmm, who staid with him until he died from the effects of his wound, which he received June 21, 1864. His death occurred on the 24th, and he was buried by Vennum on the banks of Peach Tree Creek, where he sleeps the sleep of the gallant and true soldier.

Among the knightly young heroes who fell on the crimsoned field of Shiloh, no nobler youth died the death of a brave and true defender of the union than Corporal PIIILO P. VENNUM, of Company I, Twentieth regiment. He was a young man of about twenty-two years, when the rebel bullet shattered the precious casket, and was a fine-appearing and promising young man ; and had he lived, no doubt his family and the country would have been honored by him. He was the son of C. C. Yennum, deceased, one of the pioneers of Milford township, and for many years its supervisor and most honored and trusted citizen, and the brother of Hon. Thomas Yennum and Capt. J. F. Yennum. Early in the first day's battle, young Yennum was struck by two rebel bullets, one of which cut off the forefinger of the right hand, and the other tore through the muscle of the same arm, near the shoulder, and penetrating the right side of the fearless joung warrior, brought his tall form to the earth ; and a few moments after the trampling horde of traitors passed over him in pursuit of his retreating regiment, that, unable to stand the simoon of destruction, had been forced from that part of the field. His body was found, and buried by his cousin, John S. Yennum, and his comrade, Joseph Leeds. Many of his comra'des will, doubtless, feel a pang of grief seize the heart, even at this late day, as they read this brief tribute to a noble soldier who died with his face to the foe.

SERGT. CHARLES BARD, of Chebanse, and one of the first settlers of that neighborhood, after farming several years sold his farm, moved into Chebanse and went to merchandising. He enlisted in Company H, Fifty-eighth regiment, under Capt. J. H. Jaquith. Bard was made second sergeant of his company, and did his duty faithfully until seized with chronic dysentery at Montgomery, Alabama, where he died September 23, 1S65. His widow and daughter reside at Chebanse.

Killed Or Died

Iroquois county is bounded on the north by Kankakee county, on the east by Indiana, on the south by Vermilion, and on the south and west by Ford county. It is about thirty-five and one-half miles from north to south, and thirty -two miles from east to west/ It comprises seven ranges, two of which are fractional. By reference to the map it will be seen that five are reckoned west from the second principal meridian, and two east from the third principal meridian. All the townships in the county are numbered north from the base line. Starting at the south side with number twenty-four and finishing at the north with twenty-nine, we have six townships ; a strip two miles wide on the north side of the last lying in Kankakee. The county is divided into twenty-five political townships.

The face of the country has few natural diversifications. Originally, Iroquois county was well wooded, and much valuable timber grew on the borders of the streams; but the woodman's ax with thoughtless care and speculative industry long ago thinned it out and consigned the choice growth to the uses of improvement far and near. The surface is well elevated and gently undulating. The southern border of the county rests upon the summit of the water-shed from which streams flow in opposite directions to the Illinois and the Wabash* rivers. Iroquois county lies on the northern slope of this great ridge, a tract of country superb in every feature, and of rare fertility, whose superior advantages for dairying and agriculture, added to a fine geographical position in relation to markets, renders it possible to become one of the richest regions in the Northwest. The soil is a black vegetable mold, varying from one and a half to two feet in depth, and is nearly uniform throughout the county. The quadrilateral formed by the Iroquois river and comprising the northeast quarter of the county contains several sandy tracts, which possess but little fertility. These do not constitute more than five per cent of the whole area.

The principal streams are the Iroquois river, Sugar, Mud, Fountain Spring, Prairie, Langham, Pike and Beaver creeks. The chief feeders to these, which have recognized names, are Rush, Coon and Pigeon branches ; Miller's, or the west branch of Spring creek ; Shave Tail, or Jefferson ; and the Ashkum and Gilrnan ditches. These streams are generally sluggish and turbid. The Iroquois river, from Sugar Island (just over the county line) to its mouth, is shallow and rocky. Along this whole distance silurian limestone abounds ; but above the island the tide is deep and slack, and navigable for flatboats nearly to the state line. Fish are tolerably abundant in the river and larger creeks, but less so than a few years ago. Artificial obstructions interfere with their running. The most common kinds found are pike, catfish, bass, suckers, dogfish, red-horse, some buffalo and a few eel. The River, Sugar, Mud, Spring, Langham and Beaver creeks are skirted by considerable timber belts. Some of the others have woodlands near their mouths, and a few spontaneous groves in the vicinity of watercourses are seen. Planted ones are becoming numerous and meet the eye in every direction. The choicest part of the natural timber has been cut and sent to market. In some places the land has been entirely cleared to improve it for pasture, as well as to feed the saw-mills. The most common varieties of timber are red, white and burr oak, black walnut, butternut, ironwood, wild cherry, swamp beech, ash, sugar maple, soft maple, hickory, elm and honey locust. Crab apple and plum bushes abound in certain localities.

The geological facts are too meager to furnish much popular information. The county was once covered by the waters of lake Kankakee. It is supposed that this lake had a southeastern outlet into theWabash valley before the present channel of the Kankakee river was worn through the sand ridges above and the deposits of rock below. The ancient southern outlet of lake Michigan through this county was grooved out by the glacier which crossed the present route of the Kankakee a little above Momence, and whose width at that point has been set down at seven miles. Continuing not far from the state line, the glacier bore southwest from the north line of the county, until it reached the Spring Creek valley, where its course was changed again to a more southerly direction. No rock is near the surface, and no other minerals of any value exist. In boring for water, coal has been found on several occasions in the eastern, central and northern sections of the county. It is reported that in sinking a well recently near^the mouth of Langham creek, a vein of coal two feet thick was struck at a depth of fifty-eight feet ; and twenty feet lower another three feet thick. It is further stated that on the farm of Alexander Sword, Jr., in Iroquois township, coal was found two and one-half feet in thickness, ninety-two fe&t below the surface. It is said that east of Watseka coal has been discovered, but not in available quantity.

The artesian water found in this region is an interesting feature of the geological formation of this part of the country. Wells are obtained at a depth varying from twenty-five to 150 feet. Though his reasoning concerning the water-supply was limited to a comparatively small area, Thomas Lindsey, of Onarga township, was the first to bore with an intelligent theory and distinct purpose. Until 1854 none but surface wells were made. These customarily failed in the summer season, and the deprivation suffered was always serious, especially as cattle had to drink from stagnant pools, and, swallowing leeches, were attacked with what people called ' ' bloody murrain," a disease which popularly covers a multitude of disorders. Much stock was lost every year ; and more than this, the health of the country was greatly affected. Lindsey bored in the bottom of two wells with so much success as to set others to thinking that they could get water by boring from the top. The first to experiment in this way was Solomon Sturgis, whose farm lies just west of Gilman. A man named Hook, from Zanesville, Ohio, did the boring. He obtained water at a depth of 100 feet. It rose to the top of the ground, but did not flow. He next bored in the railroad well at Onarga, and at something over 100 feet a vein of great strength was reached. Samuel Harper, two miles east of Onarga, not long afterward got the tools to his place, and obtained a stream at eighty-five feet. This was the first flowing well in Iroquois county. A reservoir was excavated eight and one-half feet deep, and five feet in diameter, in the bottom of which the augur was sunk. Mr. Harper states that it filled in eight minutes. The roaring of this well introduced grateful sounds and substantial music to the ears of the family. It was regarded with curiosity and wonder, and attracted people from far and near, by stage and by rail. The newspapers spread word of it, for it harbingered not relief alone, but great possibilities also. The tools next went to Hamilton Jefferson's, and a good well was made on his farm. The third, obtained for Addisoii Harper, was remarkable for its force. John Oxford's, in the same neighborhood, was also very strong, "yielding," according to the editor of "Emery's Journal of Agriculture," who had visited it during the period of greatest interest, "some five or six barrels per minute." He adds, concerning Addison Harper's, that " the water had gradually found its way up the outside of the pipe, coming up with great force, excavating a hole some thirty feet deep and wide, the pipe sinking down into it. So threatening was it that, fearing for the safety of his house near by, he removed it some distance off. Its fury subsided, and it now flows quietly as usual from the large pool made." All this occurred in the summer and fall of 1855. Probably there are now not fewer than two thousand of these wells in the county. The artesian region is about twenty miles wide, and not far from forty miles long. Its direction is northwest and southeast, and extends from Ford county across Iroquois into Indiana.

M. H. Messer, Esq., ex-county surveyor, has contributed the following facts in regard to the United States surveys in Iroquois county : Townships 24, 25, 26 and 27, except range 10, east of the latter, were surveyed by the United States' surveyor in 1822. "William S. Hamilton, Elias Rector, and Enoch Steen were three of the surveyors. Townships 28, 29, and range 10 in 27 were surveyed in 1833 and 1834. William Lee, D. Ewing, J. B. McCall, Edward Smith and Dan Beckwith were engaged in this work. Some of the townships were erroneously surveyed by McCall, and he resurveyed them, erecting new corners, but neglecting to demolish the first ones, though he had been directed so .to do. This accounts for the double corners. Some of the town and range lines were surveyed twice, resulting in the discovery that many of the corners were not properly located, but no corrections were made. Range 10 west, along the state line, was surveyed by Perrin Kent, in 1834 and 1842. The state line was surveyed in 1834, by Sylvester Sibley, and resurveyed in 1842 by Julius Hulanicki. The mile mounds made by Sibley were found by the last survey to be from six to twelve rods over a mile apart. Ewing was a major in the Black Hawk war, afterward a major-general of militia, and governor of Illinois during the last fifteen days of November, 1832.

Iroquois county was first settled in the winter of 1821-2 by Gurdon S. Hubbard, an Indian trader, then in the employ of the American Fur Company (John Jacob Astor & Co.). He was accompanied by Noel Vasseur, who was in his service, and continued so to be for twelve years. Hubbard came from Mackinaw, coasting Lake Michigan in a batteau of ten tons burden, and ascending the Chicago river, crossed the portage to the DesPlaines. Floating down this and ascending the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers, he reached the present site of Old Middleport. On the north side of the river, about one mile above this point, at the east end of the bend, where there was a small Indian village, he fixed his headquarters and established a trading-post./ He stopped at this point but one winter, when he removed up the river the next fall to a place afterward called Bunkum,* at the same time extending his operations over a wide territory. Besides the post at Bunkum, he had one on the Kankakee, ten miles above the state line, one on the Embarrass, another on the head waters of the Little Wabash, and two others still farther south. His custom was to open his trading house at the beginning of the hunting season - about the first of October - and to close it at the beginning of May. The Indians hunted on the Iroquois and its tributaries during October and November, and then went off south on the Vermilion, Okaw, Embarrass and Wabash rivers, where otter, bear, mink, deer, beaver, raccoon, muskrat and panther were more plenty. In the spring they returned. With Indian packing horses Hubbard transported his furs to Chicago, and from that place by boat to Mackinaw, where he spent the summer, returning in the fall with goods for traffic.

As early as 1826 he preempted a tract of land at Bunkum, and inclosed and cultivated 80 acres. This he entered when it came into market in 1831. It is now known as the Dunning farm, from the next owner, and was the first one improved in Iroquois county. He had a farmer named Allen Baxter, who after the first year got married in Indiana. His wife was the first white woman who settled the county. Hubbard himself wedded an Indian princess called in Wach-e-kee, the daughter of a Pottawatomie, chief of the Kankakee band (name unknown), by an Indian mother of Illinois Indian descent, named Monoska. She was a niece of the chief Tamin. She was dignified and intelligent, and declined to mingle with the common herd of red-skins, and was anxious to learn the manners and customs of her more favored pale sisters. Her complexion was light, and her form small, lithe, slender and comely. A romantic story is told of how she became endowed with royal distinction, but it is only a tradition. By this union Hubbard greatly strengthened his relations with the Indians, and secured their favor and protection. He acquired unbounded influence among them, and it is known that he placed more reliance on the fidelity and friendship of the Pottawatomie chief, Was-sus-kuk, than on that of any white man. By the influx o/ white population Hubbard found himself confronted with the alternative of divorcing his Indian wife or of losing caste

* In a letter to B. F. Shankland, Esq., dated December 21, 1878, Mr. Hubbard said that he transferred his post to Bunkum in the fall of 1825. This was probably an inadvertence. He has since stated to the writer, and repeated the same in a letter to M. H. Messer, Esq., that he was located at Middleport but one winter.

with his own civilized race. He could but choose, and his choice was such as most men would have made under the circumstances. He has said that she was his constant delight, and that it was not done without a struggle between affection and expediency. Sometime after their separation she became the wife of Noel Vasseur. Hubbard had some Frenchmen in his service at Bunkum. Tonssaint Bleau was one, and probably Isadore Chabert another. Bleau displayed in a marked degree the volatility of the French character. He married a daughter of Dr. Asa R. Palmer, of Danville, and sister to the late Rev. Charles R. Palmer, so long a resident of this county. Bleau was thrown from his carriage near the old McCormack House in Danville and killed.

Hubbard followed his trafficking as described until 1832, when he discontinued all his posts except the one at Bunkum. He had a store at Danville where he kept an assortment of goods, mostly for the whites ; but in 1834 he closed up his business at both places and settled permanently in Chicago, where he is now living in full health and abundant prosperity. Hubbard's pack-trains made a standard route (known as Hubbard's trail) from Danville to Chicago, which gathered the travel for many miles on either side, as far south as Yincennes. It entered the county on the south at the line between sections 34 and 35, town 24, range 12 (Lovejoy township), and kept due north to a point one mile south of the north line of Milford township ; there it made an angle and bore straight to Montgomery (Bunkum) ; from thence it went in a less direct line to Momence. Speaking of this himself in a letter to B. F. Shankland, Esq., Mr. Hubbard says : " The legislature of Illinois caused a state road to be laid out in 1834, and designated by milestones, from Yincennes to Chicago. The commissioners who located it and planted the stones tried hard, so they informed me, to get a straighter line and better ground than the 'Hubbard trail,' but were forced to follow with slight deviation my old track, which was on the dividing ridges between the waters flowing into the Wabash on the east and the Illinois on the west. Though mile-stones were planted, yet Hubbard's trail kept the principal travel until both it and the state road were abandoned and fenced in, new county roads being laid out to take their place."

'The actual permanent settlement of Iroquois county was simultaneously begun at two points - Milford and Bunkum - i« the spring of 1830. The Conrtright brothers (Isaac, George and Richard) and John H. Miller, all from Fountain county, Indiana, formed one party and came and settled at Bunkum. Hezekiah Eastburn came from Ohio. William Hanan, Elijah Newcombe, and the widow McCulloch came with their families. Benjamin Fry, Benjamin Thomas and James

University Of Illinois

Crozier, single men, came with the Newcombes and McCullochs. Additions were made to the community in the fall. Prominent among those who came the next year were John Hougland and Reuben Critchfield. A tavern \vas kept at this place on the south side of the river by Dr. Timothy Locy, in 1831. Probably this was the first house of entertainment opened in the county. Montgomery was laid out for the proprietor, Richard Montgomery, May 9, 1835, by James II. Rees, who was deputized by Dan. Beckwith, county surveyor of Vermilion county. It was situated on the south side of the river. Concord was surveyed also by Mr. Rees as deputy of Jonas Smith, surveyor of Iroquois county, in May, 1836. Henry Moore was the proprietor. Tin's was on the north bank opposite Montgomery. The locality, including these two places, has always been known as "Bunkum." The origin of the name is traced to nothing better than an insignificant circumstance, from which vulgar designations often start, and by use become fixed in every-day speech.7

In the spring of 1830 the following persons settled in the vicinity of Milford : Samuel Rush, Hiram Miles, James Singleton, Daniel Barbee, Abrain Miller, Joseph Cox, Joseph Reading, and a colored man. Miles and Singleton staid but a short time after the departure of the Indians; they retreated also to the primeval solitudes. In the fall Anthony Stanley came from Ohio with a family of four sons : William, John, Micajah and Isaac; and two daughters: Rebecca and Elizabeth. The two first named sons were married. William Cox and William Pickerell arrived with their families ; these and the Stanley's were Quakers. In the spring of 1831 this little congregation of Friends built the first house of worship ever erected in Iroquois county. It was a small cabin made of round logs, and was used as well for a school-house as for a meeting-house. Jefferson Mounts, from Indiana, James Osborne, John Hunnel, Jesse Amos and Lydia Parker, a widow, with herfamilv, came also in the fall. A few new-comers appeared in the spring of 1831 ; Samuel McFall, afterward one of the first county commissioners, being of the number. Shortly after his-arrival Pickerell built a corncracker, dignified with the name of mill, and until laid out in 1836, the place was called Pickerell's Mill - whence the name of Milford.

Early in 1834 a new settlement was begun on Upper Spring creek, in the vicinity of Del Rev. Jesse Amos moved over from Su^ar creek, and was soon joined by John Miller from Covington, Indiana. In the fall Ira Lindsey, James Smith and Abram Lehigh, from Virginia, the latter living at this time on the Wabash, located in the same neighborhood. Lehigh did not bring his family till the beginning of the next year. Ash Grove was settled in 1834 by Lewis Roberts, brother

The population of the county gathered for many years, even down to the building of the Illinois Central railroad in 1853, in proximity to the timber. On the west side of Sugar creek, about three miles above the mouth, was the Longshore settlement. Mahlon and James Longshore, Samuel Keene, Alexander Wilson, William Stanley and David Clanahan were some of the early settlers in this neighborhood. The Rush settlement, further up the creek, was begun by Samuel Rush in 1830. Chauncey Webster, John Body, Samuel Williams and Fleming located in that vicinity. On the Iroquois river, between Middleport and Bunkum, Texas became a place of some importance because of the crossing at that point, and the mill erected there by Isaac Courtright at a later day. The Pierce settlement, three or four miles below Middleport, had among the first settlers the Pierce brothers (William, John and David) Andrew Layton and James Wilson. The Flesher settlement was commenced on Lower Spring creek, in the spring of 1835, by Levi Thompson, who had come from Indiana and located on Sugar creek, below Milford, in the fall of 1831. Jedediah Darby settled there a little later in the season. In the fall John Flesher came with his family. Next year William Huckins, Jacob O. Feather, David Wright and Jefferson Mounts, - the latter from Sugar creek, - joined the advance settlers. Still farther down the river the town of Plato was surveyed and platted in May, 1836. This was when the internal improvement craze was at meridian height. Extravagant and delusive expectations were formed concerning this enterprise. It was advertised in glowing colors in the Chicago and La- Fayette papers ; immense maps and posters were distributed in eastern cities, showing the whole landing at " Harbor Creek" lined with boats unloading and receiving merchandise. Lots were sold at fabulous prices; many persons in New York city investing in them. The proprietors nearly realized their ambition to secure the county-seat when it was removed from Bunkum. James Smith, an accomplished gentleman, having energy and capacity of a high order, who lived on Upper Spring creek, was the chief promoter of this scheme. He died suddenly in September, 1839, at the age of thirty-two. The death of Smith was likewise the death of Plato.

The Jones settlement, in the south angle of the river and Beaver creek, was begun in 183T by Henry and Seth Jones. These, with Robert Hester and family, who soon joined them, were from Meigs county, Ohio. Shobar, Elliott, Peter Lowe and Simon Maybee located afterward in that section.

A colony of Norwegians, consisting of some thirty families, settled on the north side of Beaver creek about 1835. Their cabins extended three or four miles up stream from section 22, in range 12. The leading man lived and died on the J. S. Oxford place. Two family names were Oleson and Waity. They not being seasoned nor careful in their habits, sickness broke out among them to an alarming extent, and before two years as many as fifty had died. The diseases were mostly ague and bilious fever. One burying-place was near Clark's, on the west side of a small branch running south ; and the other in a round grove a mile northeast of the Vankirk crossing. Most of the survivors moved to Fox river, Wisconsin.

Before passing further it will be well to give briefly the origin of the second great highway which traversed the county. As once all roads led to Rome, so in the early history of this county all roads led to Chicago. In 1830 Ben Butterfield, living on Stony creek, near Danville, went by way of Bunkum to Hickory creek and the Des- Plaines river, and made a selection for a home near Lockport, just above Joliet. Two families had recently settled in that section. He returned for his family, and in company with the two men living on Hickory creek, who had come back to Danville for supplies, he started December 7. It rained and snowed, and was very cold during the trip of nine days. He sent his ox-teams back to Danville to winter, keeping only a horse and three head of cattle ; the latter he wintered on browse. They came through the winter in very poor condition. The next April he went back for his stock, this time trying a new route, driving a yoke of oxen and accompanied by two men and a boy. At Bourbonnais Grove he was advised by an old Indian that, as the Iroquois river " was a fool river that did not know enough to go down when it was once up," to go around it till he struck Spring creek, then to follow that until he could find a crossing. Near the Barden place, on Lower Spring creek, they were beset with a severe snow storm. The stream was high and they could not cross to the woods beyond, so they lay three days sheltered by the bank of the creek, suffering much from cold and hunger, waiting for the storm to abate and the water to subside. Finally after much difficulty they got over, and made their way to Stony creek without further incident. On the journey back he kept the same way, driving six yoke of oxen, two horses, twenty-five sheep, and twenty head of cows and young cattle. His son writes that " this was when he made what was called Butterfield's trail." When the Sac war broke out, the next spring, he moved back to Stony creek, where he remained till the following spring, when, the war having ended, he returned with his family to his home on the DesPlaines.

The track thus made became the route for an immense travel all the way from the Okaw river. This trace diverged from Hubbard's at Bicknel's Point, and crossed the south line of this county at a point some three miles west of Hoopeston. It passed through Pigeon Grove and crossed Spring creek at a place called by the early settlers " the Gap," about two miles northeast of Buckley. It followed the general course of the creek to a point half a mile east of the Barden Farm, where it turned north, east of, but nearly on, the range line; then proceeded east of north, leaving Plato about a mile to the right. It passed Prairie creek half a mile west of L'Erable, and in a direction nearly north from there struck Langham, which was then called " White Woman." On account of high banks it followed up and crossed that stream near the head of the timber, about a mile east of the Central railroad. From here in a northeast course it ran to Sammon's Point, a mile and a half below the county-line. After improvements were begun at Plato a detour was made to that place. The Kankakee was forded at Hawkins', which corresponds to the lower end of Bourbonnais Grove. From here it went to Bloom's Grove, Twelve Mile Grove and Hickory creek ; at the latter point it forked, both trails leading to Chicago, one of them by way of Cooper's Grove and Blue Island, intersecting Hubbard's trace; the other by way of Joliet. Later travel made several other routes from the Kankakee. Butterfield moved to Hadley, and after that to a place called Bloom, on the Chicago and Vincennes state road, where he kept a " Hoosier tavern " twenty-one years. He died in Franklin count}7, Iowa, April 28, 1878, aged eighty-three.

"In May, 1832, the mail carrier from Chicago, when this side of the C Kankakee, saw some Indians pursuing him (which proved afterward A to be only for a friendly purpose), and being prepared by the hostilities ^7 now commenced in the Rock river country to take fright on the merest occasion, fled to Danville, passing through Bunkum and Milford. He dashed into the latter settlement hatless and with panting horse, stopping only long enough to get something for himself and animal to eat, when he pressed on spreading the alarm as he went. The settlers on Sugar creek were panic-stricken and started at once for the Wabash. About fifty were in the party. When they had gone two or three miles a halt was made, and a council held to decide on the best course. It was near night, and one woman, it is said, more self-possessed than the rest of the crowd, proposed that they should wait in a plum thicket near by until morning, when they could know with more certainty whether Indians were really in pursuit, and have daylight for travel. But she was overruled, and the journey continued through the night. After they passed the creek at the regular cross- ing, four miles above Milford, the darkness seemed to accelerate their flight. A limited number of horses and wagons were in the company. The sloughs were full of water, the ground wet, and the grass tall and tangled. The men and women carried the smaller children in their arms, and tried hard to keep their families together as they hurried along through the darkness; but there was a good deal of confusion, and their anxiety was greatly excited as they were continually getting separated. There were ten of the Webster family. The oldest daughter, giving out with fatigue, was taken on behind by a peddler who had abandoned his wagon in the settlement. Sometime in the night it was discovered that the Webster family were missing, except the daughter riding with the peddler, and a younger child carried by Clement Thomas. It was easy for imagination to picture them massacred, and that became the general belief as word of their absence was passed around. The fleeing party reached Parish's "Grove next morning early ; some stopped there, some went to Pine creek, others to the Wabash. Mrs. Webster had fainted, and while the family tarried to restore her, the others, not knowing what had transpired went on, so they became separated. Others coming up the Websters fell in with them, and another company thus formed went to Williamsport. It was sometime before the family were again united.

Micajah Stanley, then a single man, was in his field planting corn. When he quit work at night and went into the settlement he found it abandoned ; the cabin doors were open and everything gave evidence of a hasty departure. Mr. Stanley met one of the neighbors, and the two went about together and closed the doors of the houses, and let the calves out of the pens to the cows. Samuel Rush and Samuel McFall were away on a trip to Danville, and the latter on returning followed the refugees and overtook them at Pine creek, with word that there was no occasion for their flight. The men returned in a week to give attention to their crops, but the women staid about two months.

The settlers around Bunkum gathered at that point for mutual protection. No incursion was made by the hostiles into the county, but a party of Pottawatornies taking advantage of the chance to commit depredations when they would be charged to the enemy, entered the dwelling of John Hougland, when his family was away, and destroyed the bedding. George Courtright, Henry Endsley, and two other young men discovered their work and reported it to the tradingpost. They and about twenty Pottawatomies set out in pursuit of the marauders. They followed down the river to the mouth of Pike creek - losing the trail before they reached there - and crossing the river camped for the night. Next day, traveling along the west side to Spring creek and up that stream to the site of Del Rey, they bivouacked in a deserted Indian camp. On the third day they returned home, having had no sight of Indians during the scout. About this time Bunkum was made a rendezvous when the troops were concentrating to march to the Fox river country. Col. Moore's Danville regiment lay there a few days until joined by volunteers and a few regulars from Indiana, whence the command went directly to Hickory

At that time the latter extended as far north as the Kankakee river, which was the dividing line between Vermilion and Cook counties. On the minutes of a meeting of the county commissioners court at Danville, on the first Monday of September, 1830, is. the following entry : " This day Gurdon S. Hubbard presented a petition of sundry inhabitants praying for an election district for one justice of the peace, and for one constable ; and that all elections therein be held at the house of Allen Baxter. Ordered, that Isaac Courtright, Allen Baxter and Isadore Chabert be, and they are, appointed judges of the above election district, and that an election be held in said district on the 15th day of November next." It will be remembered that Allen Baxter was Hubbard's farmer and lived at Bunkum.

At the June term, 1831, of the commissioners court it was again " Ordered, that all that tract of country on the waters of Sugar creek and the Iroquois, and their tributary waters, be an election district to be known by the name of Iroquois; and that elections therein be held at the house of Toussant Bleau. Ordered, that Robert Hill, John Hougland and Hezekiah Eastburn be, and they are, hereby appointed judges of election in Iroquois district." The same persons were again appointed judges of election for Iroquois district at the June term, 1832, of the county commissioners court. This was for the general August election. The polling place was changed to the house of Timothy Locy. This man kept an inn at Montgomery. Isaac Courtright served as judge in place of Hill. Jesse Moore and Lemuel John were the clerks of this election. On the first Monday of November of this year was the presidential election at which Andrew Jackson was re-elected, and Martin Van Buren was chosen vice-president. William John, James Cain and John S. Moore were the judges, and Lemuel John and Jesse Moore the clerks. Judge John Pearson and Squire James Newell, of Danville, canvassed the Iroquois district in the interest of " Old Hickory." A special election was held Monday, August 5, 1833, for one justice of the peace, at which Robert Hill received 37 votes.

It is said that a year or two before this an election had been held for two justices, but it was not understood at the time that more than one was to be chosen. Isaac Courtright and Hill were the candidates ; the former received the larger number of votes and qualified. When the latter was elected as above stated he had to take his commission dating from the first election.

In 1832 and 1833 Gurdon S. Hubbard was representative in the general assembly from Yermilion county. At that session he procured the passage of an act, approved February 12, 1833, establishing Iroquois county with its present territory and that part of Kankakee county which lies south of the Kankakee river. The law made it the duty of the judge of the circuit court of Yermilion county, whenever he should be satisfied that the new county contained three hundred and fifty inhabitants, to grant an order for the election of three county commissioners, one sheriff, and one coroner to fill those offices until successors should be chosen at the next general election ; to fix the day and place for the election, and to designate the judges. We were unable to find this order either on the records or among the papers in the offices at Danville, where, if extant, it ought to be preserved.

The special election for first officers was on Monday, February 24, 1834. Samuel M. Dunn had thirty-three votes for sheriff, and was chosen over Henry Enslcn, who had twenty. For county commissioners, John Hougland received fifty-one votes, William Cox forty-seven, Samuel McFall thirty-one, and John S. Moore twenty-four. The first three were elected. Micajah Stanley had forty-four votes for coroner. On March 17 the county commissioners court convened at the house of Robert Hill, below Milford. In pursuance of the act to organize the county they fixed the temporary seat of justice, selecting their present meeting-place. Hugh Newell, a young man from Yermilion county, son of James Newell, twent3T-four years of age, who had served under Amos Williams in all the offices at Danville, was on hand, at the suggestion of Williams, when the county was organized, to obtain the appointment of county clerk. He possessed firstclass business talents, and by his special training was well qualified for the office. He forthwith received the appointment, gave bond, qualified, and entered upon his duties. It was a most favorable circumstance for the county. At the same term, Samuel Rush having offered to assess the taxable property of the county for the year 1834 for $5, he was appointed assessor and treasurer with that salary, and thereupon gave the necessary bond. He had the same office the next year, and was allowed $10. The county was then divided into three road districts. The first embraced all that part lying south of the line between townships 26 and 27, which runs through the cities of Gilman and Watseka. The second contained all between this line and Beaver creek, and a line from its mouth due west through the county. The third comprised the remainder of the count}7 which extended to the Kankakee river. At the June term in 1834 three election precincts were established, with the same boundaries. The south one was designated "Sugar Creek Precinct," and the polling place was fixed ''at the house of John Nilson, late residence of Robert Hill." The north one was called " Kankakee Precinct," and elections were to be held at the house of William Baker, near Kankakee. The middle one was named "Iroquois Precinct," and the house of David Meigs, at Montgomery, the place for holding the elections. The bounds of the districts and of the precincts did not long remain as at any one time established, but were changed or subdivided at short intervals as population increased. At the general election, August 4, 1834, the same county officers were elected as in February, except that William Thomas displaced Micajah Stanley as coroner.

By an act approved February 10, 1835, William Bowen and Joseph Davis, of Vermilion county, and Philip Stanford, of Champaign county, were appointed commissioners to locate the permanent seat of justice of Iroquois county, and to give it a name ; for this purpose they were to meet at the house of Col. Thomas Vennum ; but they failed to perform any of the duties required of them by this law, and accordingly the representative, Isaac Courtright, who lived close to Bunkum, and was figuring for that locality, procured new legislation on the subject. An act was passed naming Noel Yasseur, of Will county, and George Scarborough and George Barnett, of Vermilion county, as commissioners to make a selection. In case their choice shoulo! fall on private land they were required to exact a donation of twenty acres; and in the event of refusal they were then to locate the county-seat on the nearest eligible public land, and to purchase a quarter of a section for a site. Agreeably to the act Barnett and Yasseur met at the house of William Armstrong, in Montgomery, April 11, 1837, and made their report to the county commissioners court on the 15th, selecting 20 acres adjoining Montgomery on the southeast, which was surveyed and platted for the commissioners in August, by James Smith, deputy county surveyor, assisted by Andrew Ritchey, Blewford Davis and Esock Hecock, all under the superintendence of Henry Enslen, county agent. In consideration of the location of the county-seat thereon, this tract was conveyed by warranty deed to the county commissioners and their successors, by Amos White and William Armstrong. The locators called the situ u Iroquois." Yasseur was allowed compensation for ten-days service, and Barnett $28 for fourteen days. Isaac Courtright, a stirring and influential man, having an eye to his private interest, had been maneuvering from the beginning to get the location at Montgomery, and when at last it was done, the count}' commissioners had been meeting at his house, three-fourths of a mile south of Montgomery, since June 1, 1835 - nearly two years - having at that date transferred their sessions from Nilson's. The seventh term of this court was held at Courtright's. The county-seat having been now established, after much anxiety and labor on the part of those personally concerned, was destined by the location itself to be of short continuance in that place. The site was without buildings for the use of the county, and none were ever erected ; but offices were rented in Montgomery, and there courts were held and business transacted until a removal became imperative. A frame building on lot 10, owned by William Armstrong, was at first rented for the clerk's office, for which he was paid $2 per month, but afterward Charles M. Thomas furnished an office on the same terms. A room was furnished at different times by Benjamin Lewis and by John and Amos White for sessions of the circuit court. One of the Whites kept the tavern.

The notable event in the judicial history of this period was the first trial for murder, and the hanging of Joseph Thomason, who gave the alias Joseph F. Morris. The trial took place on the 16th, 17th and 18th days of May ; and the execution on June 10, 1836.

On December 20, 1836, occurred the most remarkable change of weather ever recorded. Its suddenness and severity are fully attested by many living witnesses. The water that everywhere covered the ground froze sufficiently in five minutes to bear a man. Many assert that the change was even more sudden, and that, improbable as it may seem, the "strong wind threw the water into waves, which froze as they stood." Early in the day nearly a foot of snow lay on the ground. The air turned warm and a slow rain set in and continued several hours, causing a heavy fog. There was a thaw ; in a little while a slush was over all the surface, and the streams were out of their banks. Men were laboring about their homes with left-off coats. About four o'clock in the afternoon a black cloud appeared in the west, and in a few moments overspread the sky. A gale of wind, sharp and piercing, came sweeping over the prairies, and almost instantaneously the face of the country was a solid sheet of ice. This extraordinary event was rendered more signal by a tragic occurrence which was discussed at the time throughout the Northwest, and stirred the profoundest sensibilities of the people. Many accounts have been given to the world of the painful death of Thomas Frame by freezing, and of the exquisite suf- ferings and narrow escape of his companion, James H. Hildreth ; but none that the writer has seen has correctly detailed the circumstances, and few spared Ben Burson, a man wholly innocent, from the odium of the most atrocious heartlessness that could ever disgrace our humanity. Since our version of the affair is to some extent contradictory of what has gone before through the press, it is proper that we should state the sources of our information. The principals are dead, but if actors in the later events, who had every opportunity to learn directly from the survivor himself all the earlier facts, are trustworthy and authoritative, then our relation cannot be wholly devoid of credit. Clement Thomas, of Ash Grove, whose recollection of remote history is not excelled, if equaled, by that of any other person whom we have met, lived at the time near Milford, and was one of four young me*n who removed Frame's body from -the place on the prairie where he perished. While Hildreth was under care at Robert Williams', he saw him nearly every day and attended him frequently at night for several weeks. Dr. A. M. C. Hawes, of Georgetown, rendered Hildreth surgical treatment. To these gentleman we are indebted for the personal features of this narrative.

Thomas Frame was a son of Col. James Frame, who lived on Spring creek in the present limits of Onarga township, about five miles northeast of the village. He had been to the registrar's office at Danville, where he entered the N.W. ^ of the S.W. \ of Sec. 15, T. 26, R. 14, on the 19th. Returning home on the morning of the 20th, he left Bicknell's, on the north fork of the Yermilion, in company with the fellow-traveler just named. The latter lived near Georgetown and was going to Chicago. There was a striking contrast in the amount of clothing worn by these two men. Frame was thinly clad - a most singular circumstance, considering the length of his journey and the season of the year. Fortunately for Hildreth his prudence had supplied him with an exceptionally large outfit of garments. Both rode mettled horses. Frame's had some reputation for speed. They journeyed along during the day through the misty rain, imbibing freely from a flask which they had brought with them to enliven their spirits and reduce the discomforts of their travel. They were proceeding on the Ash Grove road when the change already described took place. They urged forward with all possible haste and reached Burson (now called Fountain) creek about sundown. The banks of the creek were overflown ; the stream was deep and broad ; and much ice had formed along the sides. Finding it impossible to cross the}7 decided to return to Bicknell's, and began to retrace their way. They had not gone far when darkness came on. The cold was growing more and more intense. They were stupefied by their potations and bewildered by their situation. The labor and difficulty of travel kept on increasing, and the prospect of reaching any house becoming more and more gloomy, and at last altogether hopeless, they turned away from the road, leaving it to the right, and wandering off a short distance, halted on a pond in the midst of the prairie. From this place they did not stir. The storm raged. Increasing cold lashed into cutting and stinging tongues of frost by the pitiless blast, to be endured through a night longer than life, was an extremity to make the stoutest heart quail. The fading out of hope followed close upon the deepening shades. Shelter must be found or the men perish. They agreed to kill their horses. Hildreth was first to kill Frame's, and when that became cold Frame was to kill Hildreth's. They had but one knife, and that belonged to Hildreth. Accordingly Frame's horse was killed by severing a vein in the neck. The carcass was opened but not disemboweled. Frame lay next it with his arms and legs thrust into it, and Hildreth "snug behind him with his hands and feet also inside. As the night wore on Hildreth, recovering from the effects of the strong drink, became convinced that Frame must perish, and began to reason that as he himself was freezing, he, too, would perish if he should not save his horse to bear him to a habitation when the morning should appear. His knife was in his pocket and he determined not to sacrifice his horse. At last, the carcass becoming cold, Frame suggested that the other horse be killed. Hildreth inquired what he had done with the knife,. and Frame replied that it was not about him. Hildreth added that it must be lost. After this Frame lay still and said no more. About sunrise he expired in great agony. Hildreth, now badly frozen, after much difficulty succeeded in mounting his horse, and descrying a house distant about a mile and three-quarters to the northeast, started in that direction. The place where they had passed the night lies between Burson creek proper, and a branch which diverges from the east side about two and one-half miles above the mouth. Ben Burson lived on the east bank of the branch, which placed this tributary between his house and Hildreth, who was approaching from the southwest. The stream was about 300 yards wide ; the current deep and running swiftly ; and the sides were frozen over. Hildreth rode up and hallooed. Burson came out but was powerless to assist him. The current was full of anchor-ice and forging down in a heavy torrent. So he advised him to try to get to Robert Chess' on the south side of Mud creek. Burson creek, which had turned the two back the night before, traversed the route to that place. On reaching it he searched along up the stream for a crossing place, which he at last found where there was an ice jam, over which he forced his horse, the animal being rough-shod. Instead then of striking for Chess', he followed downstream through the woods, where he found, some distance below the junction of the branch with the main stream, another ice jam on which he crossed to the other side. He had by no means now far to go to reach Burson's house. Once there, Burson helped him in, and then the latter rode to Asa Thomas', about a mile south of Milford, and gave notice of what had transpired. Clement Thomas, Daniel and Benjamin Mershon, and Levi Williams, all young men, set out for Burson's. Arrived there, they found the creek fro/en clear across. The ice was not strong in the middle, but with the aid of a slab they got over. Taking a hand-sled from Burson's, they had no trouble to follow Hildreth's track, and were soon at the spot which witnessed the sufferings of that terrible night. Frame's body was taken to Burson's house; next day word was sent to Col. Frame, and on the second day he removed it home. Robert Williams, living near Milford, knowing that Burson had no conveniences for taking care of Hildreth, sent a team the next day and brought him to his house, where he was kept four or five weeks. His mother came up from Georgetown as soon as the news could reach her by mail. Dr. A. M. C. Hawes, of the same place, amputated all his toes, and all his fingers and thumbs, except one of each of the two last named extremities. The locality of this event is in the northeast corner of Fountain Creek township, on or near section 1, town 24, range 13.

Alvan Gilbert, from Ligget's Grove, on the north fork of the Vermilion, was driving hogs to Chicago. When the storm came up he was about four miles south of Milford, or near the place since known as the " Old Red Pump." He left his drove, and with his hands was able to reach Asa Thomas'. Many of the hogs froze. It was a week before he could resume the drive.

In 1838 an interesting contest occurred for representative to the general assembly. Isaac Courtright had served one term, having been elected in 1836. Montgomery being within three miles of the county line, and far removed from that section whose physical features would for many years (and as was then supposed, would forever), make it the center of population, it was understood from the outset that a removal could not long be deferred. This year the issue was made by the people. The democrats were in a large majority. Courtright, next to Hugh Newell, was the chief of the party. In this campaign he was a candidate for reflection. But his known hostility to the removal of the seat of justice to any other place than Texas, where lie owned property, arrayed his political associates generally with his opponents in the support of Squire Lewis Roberts, of Ash Grove, who was a whig, and deservedly popular. The latter was elected, and procured an enabling act for the relocation of the county-seat. As there will be no further occasion to refer to Mr. Roberts' public life, an incident connected with his service in the legislature may be recorded here. At the session of 1836-7 an internal improvement bill was passed. To satisfy the counties which did not directly share the benefits of the measure by having a canal or railroad built through them, an appropriation was made to such counties, to be paid to their agents by the fund commissioners. The total amount credited to Iroquois county was $3,133, a handsome sum at that time for a new county. Mr. Roberts was appointed to receive the money and execute vouchers for the same. On March 22 he paid over $2,833 of these funds, leaving a balance of $300 still to be transferred. He was asked by the fund commissioners to draw the remainder, and he did so, while having yet several weeks to stay at the capital. For want of a better place for keeping the money he put it into a small box and concealed it under his bed, from which place it was stolen. At the December term of the commissioners court, he not having accounted for the deficit, the clerk, Hugh Newell, was directed to employ an attorney to bring suit against him for the recovery of the money. It was finally considered that he was not liable for the loss, and the matter was dropped.

In 1836 the people lost their heads in the rage for speculation., A great system of public improvements had been devised, and chimerical private schemes, on a grand scale, were pressed and advertised. Paper towns were platted upon eligible sites, and the proprietors confidently wrote up immense fortunes. All this prosperity was only apparent, and the Hrst contrary breath burst the bubble. Iroquois county did not escape a certain development of this lunacy. Much enterprise was displayed by several in their efforts to pocket the county town. The seat of justice was the great prize. During the year eight towns were laid out, and in the following spring one other. Two of these - Concord and Milford - had a prospect for settlement ; for the latter, and perhaps the former, was actually begun. Plato, Savanna, Middleport, Point Pleasant and Iroquois ( 'ity were laid out in season to receive the golden egg. Elsewhere is shown the location of Plato and the ado that was created in its name. Savanna was situated about two miles north of Milford, on the state road, "'in the heart of a tine, rich country." and (as the term 'savanna' imports) "on beautiful, gently rolling, dry and rich prairie,"' so we are informed by the certificate attached to the plat by one of the owners, Hugh Newell. This was even so ; but with these advantages there were not attractions enough to build a city in a day ; nor to lay a stone until the child of great hopes - the countyseat - should first be rebaptized 011 that spot. Newell was, without doubt, the projector, and Solomon Barbee the proprietor, as he owned the land on which the town was surveyed. After Middleport was selected for the county town this plat was vacated by act of the legislature. Burlington fully answered the description of what was for years afterward synonymous in the east with any project having no real foundation, but conceived in fraud - a "western enterprise." James Davis, of Indiana, discovering an "eligible site" about two miles south of Milford, on land belonging to Asa Thomas, suggested the propriety of making a fortune while fortunes were to be made, seeing it was so easy of accomplishment as the laying out of a town. Accordingly, it was surveyed and platted. Davis went to New York and sold lots, representing that the town was building and in a thriving condition. Afterward some of the purchasers came to view their western property, doubtless reckoning high on its advanced value, especially such as held " corner lots." Asa and William Thomas were the only occupants of the " village." When the expectant lot-owners beheld the naked area of this " peg town" of 60 acres, they were covered with stunning surprise and chagrin. Waiting just long enough to call down a shower of anathemas on the rascally head of Davis, they returned to New York " wiser, if not better men." Iroquois City was an heir-expectant to the county town ; it was laid oif on the north bank of the Iroquois, opposite Texas, by Hiram Pearson. When the proprietor failed of a fruition of hope the plat was vacated. Texas was also a competing point. Point Pleasant was laid out at the confluence of Spring creek with the Iroquois river, in the acute angle formed by those streams, by Nelson K. Norton and Smith Northrup. Norton was the " solid " man in this venture in which there was nothing to lose, and his partner was the procurer. At that time it was impossible to see that this would not at an early day be a center of commerce and the civilized arts. It had every advantage of water communication ; was below Middleport and Bunkum, and, of course, would take the cream of every thing that came up the river. It was fertile with aboriginal associations, having been the seat of an Indian village ; even the rude contrivances over the graves were yet in complete order and preservation. These, however, were not to be blindly relied on for drawing a teeming population. The county-seat was also coveted by the proprietors, and all the possibilities of this paper town were staked on this grand object. But it failed. Middleport was more fortunate. Hugh Newell having his attention first directed to the subject by Micajah Stanley, for a long time kept this point, as well as the adjacent country, an object of deliberation and careful personal inspection. He entered the E. \ N.E. J Sec. 31, T. 27, R. 12, August 27, 1836 ; and his means being limited, he interested Jacob A. Whiteman to join him in entering the N.W. J N.W. J Sec. 32, which was done September 29. Austin Cole, of Danville, had entered on the 21st the S.W. J of the same quarter section. Some transfers took place before the county-seat was removed there. It was laid out by Newell and Whiteman in December, 1836.

As before related, Lewis Roberts had procured the1 passage of an act enabling the county to relocate the seat of justice. Merritt L. Covel, John Moore and Cheney Thomas, of McLean county, were named as commissioners charged with this duty. They were to meet at Middleport on the first Monday in June, 1839, or within thirty days thereafter, and to fix upon .a location. If they .selected private property, they were required to obtain from the owner at least 2<> acres of land as a donation to the county ; but if the selection was in a town or village, then not less than fifty lots of an average value with the remaining ones, for which, in either case, they should take a deed in fee-simple to the county. On the 13th Messrs. Moore and Covel met at Middleport. and after subscribing the required oath, entered upon their labors. On the 17th they rendered their report to Jonathan Wright, Adam Karr and Samuel McFall, county commissioners, declaring the county-seat removed from Montgomery and permanently located at Middleport. For their services each of the commissioners was allowed s33. They obtained from Hugh Newell Jacob A. Whiteman. Jacob Troup and James Smith a deed to 100 town lots. Most of these were subsequently sold and conveyed by Micajah Stanley, and after him a few by George B. Joiner, for the county, at prices ranging from *5 to s4<>. They furnished a much needed revenue, and contributed toward the erection of county buildings.

The growing necessities of the public business dictated the building of a court-house- and a jail, but the county was too weak financially to accomplish much in that direction. The commissioners decided to begin the jail first, as that was more urgently demanded. Hugh Newell was appointed agent to let the contracts, but this had not been done when he died, May 8, 1841, and his place as agent was supplied by the appointment of Micajah Stanley. Meantime the offices had been removed to Middleport, and sessions of the circuit court held there. The last term of this court, as probably that of the county commissioners, held in Montgomery, was in September, 1831). A frame building in Middleport, belonging to Newell, had been rented by the county. The second floor was used for a court-room. Office rooms were also rented of Garrett Eoff. James Crawford took the contract for building the jail. It was a hewed log structure, about 16x20 feet square, and cost $159.30 when ready for the reception of occupants. It was finished in the winter of 1842-3, nearly two years having transpired from the letting of the contract. The door was fastened on the outside with an ordinary padlock. The floor was made of square timbers laid together, on which the walls of the house were raised. After becoming seasoned some of them were loose, and it was only necessary to slip one either way to have a place of egress. The breaking of this jail was rather a pastime. It is told that the prisoners used facetiously to complain that the swine worked their way under the floor after the crumbs of bread that fell through, and rooted them out of jail. Pancake, a faithful infractor of the law, charged "Garry" Eoif, the keeper, one night when he was leaving, to prop the door well, as thje hogs were in the habit of rooting it open and getting his corn-bread. It is not said which this sarcasm reflected against most - the jail or the bread. No other place for the confinement of criminals was provided in Iroquois county until 1858.