Galena History

Reflections of a Grant's Home Tour Guide: Year one

2012-04-16T10:41:00.002-07:00

I have been interested in Galena History since I was very young. Living in a town where history surrounds you is a dream for many history students, but for me it is a reality. This past summer I had the opportunity to volunteer as a tour guide at Grant's Home in Galena, which I will once again partake in this summer.

Last summer went by so fast and filled with a lot of great people who have the same love for Galena and General Grant that I do. Terry Miller, Director of the Grants Home State Historic Sites (which includes Washburne House and the Market House along with Grants Home) has done a fantastic job of restoring Grant's Home and creating an attraction that allows people to learn the history of one of the nation's greatest generals. Jamie Loso, the curator of Grants Home State Historic Sites has also done a fantastic job and regularly gives tours as well.

The tour guides at the home are some of the most knowledgeable people I have known. Vinetta Stevenson, Ellen Bussan, Randa Stewart, Georgiann Wasmund (which happens to be my great-great aunt), and many others each add their own twist to their interpretation of the lives of the Grant family. These women have been working at the home for many years and have great knowledge that all visitors are amazed at. The three months I ahve spent at Grant's home last summer have inspired me to continue to volunteer at the Home and continue to give tours to those who have a wide range of knowledge on the subject. There have been guests who are history professors, and there have been some that know nothing about Grant, but each leaves the house with a new appreciation of General Grant.

If you are from outside of Galena and want to visit, I would strongly urge you to visit Grant's Home if you want a true and accurate account of the life of General Grant. Each worker strives to be factual on the life, unlike many other 'tour companies' that fabricate lies and tell their patrons how much Julia despised Galena (untrue!), the 'ghost' at Grant's Home (no one died in the house), and many other myths told by museums and tour companies in Galena. Also, Grant's Home does not throw away artifacts (I won't touch on this subject in this post) and 90% of the house contains artifacts of the Grant family, a lot more Grant memorabillia is kept at the Market House. Grant's Home is a excellent destination and I hope you take a tour there this summer.

Blogger's Note: This was not produced by Grant's Home and had no affiliation with them while writing this post, this is purely my views. If you do not agree with a sentence or two please contact me at behlkeb@uwplatt.edu.

Reflection on Grant

2012-04-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

This reflection on General Grant can be found at http://www.granthomepage.com/intburke.htm. Melancthon T. Burke was a former employee of the Grant leather shop and his reflection is a very interesting depiction of the General from Galena.

Melancthon T. Burke (1831-1919)

Burke was one of the few people who knew Grant well during his year in Galena. Burke worked at Jesse Grant's leather store and was the son-in-law of Ulysses Grant’s aunt Mary. Grant biographer Hamlin Garland repeatedly tried to get Burke to write down his recollections, and after three years finally succeeded, though with the stipulation that they "not be published." Below are Burke's remarks, written in 1896:

The fact is that I am the only survivor of the few who were associated with Grant in the old Grant leather store, and this is the reason why I should now record my knowledge of Grant's Galena life before it is too late. I have often been tempted to publicly contradict many of the absurd Grant stories that have appeared since 1865, but I was always governed by Grant's own view expressed to me on many occasions that it was wise to pay no attention whatsoever to idle fabrications which, though annoying, were beneath his notice. To those of us who really knew Grant in Galena, we know of the utter absurdity of many of the stories told about him.
I first met Grant during the summer of 1841 in my native town of Bethel, Ohio, when he spent his furlough from West Point. He attracted some attention. At that time he was muscular but slim, indifferent and shy, but very friendly to those who knew him. He was "fairish," with sandy hair, stocky and active. He was rather unconscious of his appearance, as if he did not care or think how he looked. Young Grant made many visits to his lady friend, Kate Lowe. He made the ride on horseback 12 miles from Bethel to Batavia. Grant had known Kate Lowe as a cadet, because she was sometimes in New York. I remember distinctly his neat uniform, his erect carriage, pleasant face and his graceful horsemanship.
He made a lasting impression on the village boys principally because he was polite and a very nice young man without a trace of vanity. When on the street he was usually surrounded by a crowd of listeners to whom he freely talked about West Point. He was shy with strangers, but among his friends he was always known as being a very good talker. Jesse R. Grant, his father, was not a popular man at all in the village. He had many enemies, some of them justified. He was loud and bragged a good deal about his son. But there were also many small minded neighbors who were filled with jealousy and envy at Jesse's material wealth. He was the richest man in town, had a piano in the house, had gold spectacles and sent his son to college.
I saw Grant in Bethel again upon his graduation from West Point and when he brought home his bride in 1848. Throughout this time I knew his family well. Most of his family always expressed the opinion that Grant was careless with his salary and ought to be saving his money. I have heard his mother say in her quiet way that "Ulysses would cheerfully give his last garment to a needy friend." She may have seen at that time what it is now a matter of history that Grant's sympathy and generosity were not the least of the elements of his greatness.
Jesse Grant's leather business began in Galena in the early 1850's, and his second son, Simpson, was in charge. In the Spring of 1856 I was sent to the Galena store to take change of the office and in 1859, the youngest Grant brother, Orvil, arrived. I cannot go further without saying that Simpson possessed nearly as many manly qualities as Ulysses. Orvil did not possess them to the slightest degree. Simpson died, a victim of consumption, in the Fall of 1861.
Owing to Simpson's protracted illness, the conduct of the business fell mainly upon me and Orvil. Captain Grant's arrival in April, 1861, was a welcome addition to the store force. It has frequently been stated that Captain Grant occupied an inferior position in the Galena store and at a salary that did not enable him to live comfortably or pay his debts. Nothing could be further from the truth. He lived in a nice house and was able provide the essentials for his family. The Captain's work at the store was of a general nature. He waited on customers, filled orders and occasionally drove out to visit our country customers. He was favored mostly because he was able to weigh and handle the hides, some of which were in excess of 250 pounds. Grant was of great physical strength and I have seen him many times lift a hide that no ordinary man could manage. After tossing and weighing the hides, he would calmly walk over and wash his hands. Then he would resume his common position of reclining in a chair, feet on the counter. He was very relaxed in his habits and stance.
It has been said that Grant had no business sense, and in a way, this is true. He possessed such a high sense of honor himself that he was inclined to trust others. Some customers told him the wrong price of goods and Grant believed them when they were deliberately misleading him. A few experiences, however, along these lines, tended to remedy this virtuous fault. Once when a customer came in to collect a bill, Orvil made an excuse and said, "I wish you hadn't come." Grant was upset that his brother admitted this. "Did you intend to pay the bill?" he asked Orvil. "Yes,' Orvil answered. "Then why do you expose your weakness by saying you wished they hadn't come?"
Orvil's family did not like Mrs. Julia Grant, the Captain's wife. There were many little remarks and acts that I was witness to and which manifestly hurt Grant. He was devoted to his wife and his four children and I have seen him in his home environment on many an occasion. We played cards sometimes and also chess together. Grant always spent his evenings at home. He would eat supper with his family, put on his slippers, play with his children and smoke his clay pipe. He was like a boy himself with his sons and to his daughter, Nellie he was touchingly tender. He read aloud to Mrs. Grant a great deal. He was very sensitive about his wife and children. Most of the friction between Grant and Orvil and Grant and his father came from the fact they did not approve of Mrs. Grant. I have seen the Captain flare up when they made a remark about her that he regarded as disrespectful.
It was in 1860 that Grant made the acquaintance of his greatest friend and later his chief of staff, John A. Rawlins. Rawlins came to the store expressly to meet Grant because he had a pronounced interest in the Mexican War. He knew the Captain was a veteran. Grant was initially shy, but Rawlins seemed attached to Grant immediately, and with his customary zeal. They soon manifested feelings of mutual respect and admiration. Grant's quiet intensity were in marked contrast to Rawlins impetuosity, but they were both deep thinkers and had much in common. Grant's unusual conversational powers easily made him the prominent figure among those who frequented the leather store for the purpose of discussing politics and the turmoil in the southern states. Grant had a certain refinement of manner, even though he was rough in appearance. Rawlins was attracted to Grant from the beginning for his shy charm, his intensity and his background. It is safe to say that no man ever heard Grant utter an oath or repeat an obscene story. He tolerated and sometimes laughed at Rawlins language, which was frequently peppered with many an oath.
Rawlins made his great war speech at the big Galena meeting on April 18, 1861, at which Grant presided. It was probably this speech more than any other thing that influenced Grant to offer Rawlins a position on his staff after he was made Brigadier General. Rawlins came to the store to talk the matter over with me and he expressed his strong belief in Grant's great ability and he predicted he would advance rapidly if given the opportunity. I held the same opinion and being aware of Grant's admiration for Rawlins I urged him to accept Grant's offer of being a member of his staff. Rawlins' belief in Grant's military greatness began before Grant had even been tested, but this should silence the critics who profess to believe that "Rawlins made Grant." As a matter of fact Grant made every Galena man he touched and kept the good old town itself from sinking into oblivion.
After the war ended and Grant visited Galena, he was still the same modest, affable man. He was disinclined to visit the store however and did not come in frequently. He said to me, 'I like Galena, but there is nothing for me to do here. I must have something to do." After all he had outgrown the town and he had but little privacy here. He was always very approachable however, and I have seen him sign many an autograph and smile, a little weary, with a far-away look in his eyes, when people approached him.

I think this reflection is interesting because it shows the rarely known life of General Grant during his days in Galena prior to his second military career.

Post in the Galenian

2012-04-16T10:00:00.002-07:00

I would like to the staff of the Galenian for putting an article of mine from this blog into their publication. The article mentioned was the first of two on Grant that I published on this blog in December. You can pick up your copy at various retail outlets around Galena and the immediate area.

Thanks for reading!
Brandon Behlke

Pearl Rush: Galena's craze of 1889

2012-04-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posts...I have been busy with school work.

While working in the Southwest Wisconsin Room I came across the Wisconsin magazine of History Spring 2012 edition. In this magazine I saw a article from a newspaper regarding Galena and people looking for pearls in our town in 1889 during the "Pearl Rush". Here is what it says "Galena, Ill, Aug. 20- The craze for pearl hunting has reached this section and bid fair to be as general as it has been in Southern Wisconsin during the past ten days or more. At the present time investigations are confined to the smaller tributaries of the Galena River, which abound in the shells in which gems are found, and many farmers and their families, excited by the stories of suddenly acquired wealth, have left their fields and are industriously searching for pearls, not a few being rewarded by really vulnerable discoveries. Galena river, which is really low, is said to be a prolific field for pearl hunters, and a large party are arranging to in invade that stream a few miles above the city. News reached here to the effect that at Darlington and vicinity the total value of pearls found will aggregate $10,000". This pearl rush took Wisconsin by storm in 1889 and many people flocked these small streams to try to hit the jackpot. Throughout southern Wisconsin the pearl rush allowed many to cash in big. This affected Milwaukee as well where the Sentinel reported on July 18, 1890 that in the Albany vicinity totals reached $300,000, almost $7,000,000 today!

Charles Hempstead, First Mayor of the Incorporated City of Galena

2012-02-22T09:56:00.000-08:00

The home of Charles Hempstead at 611 South Bench Street.

The following is a historical sketch written by Congressman Washburne at the time of Hempstead's death. Hempstead and Washburne were law partners for many years in Galena. I copied this article from the following website, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa&cc=moa&sid=95e3f6e828e116b80d4cccd93c806bc1&view=text&rgn=main&idno=ABT3917.0001.001. I apologize for some possible typos as this was transcribed from an earlier manuscript by the University of Michigan
"LETTER OF HON. E. B. WASHBURIE, UNITI/ED STATES MINISTER JANUARY 15 1875. to captain Daniel Smnith Harris, President of the Early Settler's Association, Galena, Jo Daviess Co., Illinois.

MY DEAR SIR:-We have intelligence of the death of Mr. CHARLES S. HEMPSTEAD, which occurred at Galena on tha 10th of December last. My personal, professional, and political associations with him for more than a third of a century impel me to write you some notice of his life which may go into the archives of your Association. At the timne of his death he was probably the oldest member of our Association, and there are few living twho settled in Joe Daviess Counlty at as early a period as Mr. Hempstead. lie had seen so much of the settlement and development of the country, was so intimately identified with all that pertained to its progress and improvement, and iad himself done so much to advance its interests, that there seems to be a propriety in addressing you, as the President of the Association, the paper which I propose. In illustrating the incidents of Mr. Hempstead's career, 1 may have o(casion to weave in notices of many persons with whom he was associated and which may add a certain interest to this sketch. Mr. HemIpstead was the son of Steplhen Iempstead, a native of New London, Connecticut, belonging to a family of the earliest settlers of that colony. On the breaking out of the revolution, the father joined the patriot army with the greatest ardor, and was with the first troops which assembled at Boston after the battle of Lexington, on tile 19th of April, 1775. lhe was with Washington and arrived at New York in July, 1776, when the Declaratioll of Independence was read to the troops. He witnessed the pulling down of the royal insignia when the words, " free sovereign and independent States" were repeated and acclaimed. In the sarme year lie was one of the forlorn hope sent on a perilous expedition in the' fire ships' that attacked the British frigates in North river. He was attached to the same company as Captain Nathan Hale, the "1 Martyr Spy," was his steadfast friend and accompanied him on his fatal mission. In 1811, he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, where three of his sons had preceded him, and settled on a farm a few miles from the present city..He was a man of great intelligence, of the strictest probity, of the purest character, and died universally respected and venerated by all classes of the community.
IIe and his whole family were always the firm fiiends of Col. Benton, and their friendship was filly reciprocated by that distinguished man down to the last day of his life. It was my fortune to serve in the House of Representatives with Co'. Benton in the Thirty-fourth Congress, and knowing nmy relationship by marriage both to the Hempstead and to the Gratiot families, who were equally his friends, as a young member of Congress, he always treated me with the utmost kindness and consideration. I recollect a call th;lt I made upon him on the evening of New Year's day, in 1856. I found him quite alone and in excellent spirits. lie commenced at once to speak of the Hempstead's aind the Gratiot's, and of the olden times in St. Louis. Of Mr. Hempstead, the father, he spoke in the most expressive and beautiful language. He said: "Mr. Hempstead was a true and brave man, a man pure and without reproach, fearing God and discharging every public and private duty with scrupulous exactness; he united benevolence with true ipiety, alld in him patriotism was sublimated to the highest degree. In the words of Scripture, he "has been blessed in all his generation." Missouri met with an irreparable loss when his son Edward Hempstead died. No man could have srood higher in public or private estimation, and had he lived hie would have received every honor that the State could bestow, and would certainly have been the first. United States Senator. He lost his life in serving a friend, Mr. Scott. I was with him the, night of hi;s death " Here he paused a moment, as if in thought, and then continued abruptly, " Sir, how we did things in those days i After being up with my dead friend all night, I went to my office in the morning to refresh myself a little before going out to bury him five miles from the town. While sitting at mny table writing, a man brought me a challenge to fight a duel. I told the bearer instanter, " I accept; but I must now go and bury a dead friend; that is mlly first duty, after that is discharged I will fight, tonight, if possible; if' not, to-morrow morning at day-break. I accept your challenge, sir, and Col. lawless will write tihe acceptance and fix the terms for me." 1 was outraged, sir. thlat the challenge should have been sent when 1 was burying a friend. I thought it might have been kept a few days, but when it came, I was ready for it." In this interview with Col. Benton, 1 was so strongly impressed by his forcible language, the touching tribute he paid to his friend and his characteristic manner, that when I returned to my room I put down his words in writing as I quote them to you now. The remark of Col. Benton that Edward Hempstead died in serving a friend, referred to the fact that while as (3 sisting his friend, Hon. John Scott, of St. Genevieve, then a candlidate for Congress. in a campaign, he fell from his horse and received a fatal injury. The challenge of which he spoke was from Capt. Charles Lucas. The duel grew nominaliy out of political differences, but really out of jealousy on the part of Lucas toward Col. Benton.
At the time of an election, Lucas, without cause, challenged the vote of Benton. Upon this, Benton turned to the judges of election and said, "Gentle!nen, if youi~ave questions to ask, I am prepared to answer, but I do not propose to answer charges made by any puppy who may happen to run across my path." Lucas challenged Benton, and they fought on Bloody Island, opposite St. Louis. Judge Lawless acting as second to Col. Benton. I do not know who was the second of Capt. Lucas. Lucas wan wounded at the first fire. Supposing the wound more dangerous thlan it proved, the seconds arranged for a cessation of the combat. Col. Benton acceeded with the understanding that Lucas should hold himself in readiness to again take the field whenever he, Benton. might demand it. It was believed that the matter would have dropped there, had it not been for the impudence of Lucas and some of Iiis friends who talked loudly and accused Col. Benton of taking an unfair advantagoe of Lucas' inexperience as a duelist. Shortly afterwards Col. Benton again called Lucas into the field, when Lucas fell dead at the first fire. -Mr. Charles S. Hempstead was born at Hebron, Tolland County, Connecticut, Sept. 10, 1794. His eldest brother, Edward Hempstead, who will be referred to hereafter, having removed to the then province of Louisiana, and settled in the little French village of St. Louis, in the fall of 1804. in 1809, when only fifteen years old, he and his brotler Thomas Hlempstead, determined to join their brother Edward. Up to this time, he had received the advantages of edtcation which could be had at the New London Academy.
There were at that time but two principal routes from the Atlantic States to St. Louis-the one by sailing vessels to Philadelphia, thence in Conestoga wagons over the mnountains to Pittsburg, thence by keel, flat-boat, or canoe down the Ohio river to its mouth, and thence up the AMississippi to St. Louis. The other, and the route that Mr. Hempsteadi and his brother took, was iby schooner to Alexandria, Virginia, thence overland by Conestoga wagons to sortic point on the Ohio river. They left New London in a schooner for Alexandria, in the latter part of August, 1809. From Alexandria they traveled via. Winchester and Romney, Harrison County, to Clarksburg, in Mresterll Virginia. Upon arriving at Clarksburg tlhey ascertained that the Ohio river was so low as to render navigation difficult, in consequence of which they were obliged to stop for a short time on their journey. A rise in the river having taken place, the two travelers took a canoe at Marietta. laid in the necessary supply of provisions and started for Shawneetown, Illinois, where they arrived safely in the latter part of O.ctober. Arriving at Shawneetown, neither saddle horses nor con. veyances of any kind could be obtained, and the only way the travelers could get forward was on foot, and they walked from Shawneetown to Kaskaskia, traversing the breadth of what is now the State of Illinois, a distance of 150 miles. On the 3rd of February, 1809, the same year, Illinois had been organized as a territory, with Kaskaskia as the seat of the territorial government, and Judge Nathaniel Pope, one of the territorial judges. The Judge warmly welcomed the two young travelers, for he was a warm friend of their brother Edward. Arriving at St. Louis in October, 1809, Mr. Hempstead immediately went into the office of his brother as a law student. At that time St. Louis contained a population of only about 1,500 souls, of whom not more than sixty families were English speaking. There was not even a single brick house, not even a brick chimney in the place. The town was then almost as thoroughly French as any provincial town of France to-day, with the French language, with French usages, habits and manners. The early French settlers were men of enterprise, intelligence and energy, an] preserved much of the polish and grace characteristic of their nationality. In that remote western village there were many families whose manners exhibited the refinement and polish of the most elegant French society. Edward Hempstead, the brother who has been alluded to, was one of the earliest and most distinguished settlers of the province of Louisiana. He had studied law and been admitted to the bar of Connecticut, his native State, in 1801, had afterwards removed to Newport, Rhode Island, where he became the law partner of Hon. Asher Robbins, a distinguished member of the Rhode Island bar, and sul)sequently one of the Senators of that State in Congress.
No sooner had our Government acquired thle province of Louisiana from France, than Mr. Heinpstead determined to remove to the west side of the Mississippi river. He finally settled at St. Louis. and entered at once into an extensive and successful practice of law in the counties of upper Louisiana adjacent to St. Louis, and in the counties of "the [llinois Country," on the Mississippi river opposite. le was appointed in 1804 by General Wm. 1H. Harrison, thep Governor of the Territory of Inldiana, and ex-officio Governor of Upper Louisiana, to several important positions in the latter territory. In 1812, when the territory of Louisiana was admitted to the grade- of territorial government and became entitled to a delegate in Congress, it was justly considered a most honorable distinction to be the first delegate from the west bank of the Mississippi, and Mr. Hempstead had the good fortune to be the choice of his fellow-citizens for that position. He served through one term of two years, and having obtained the passage of some laws of great importance for the adjustment of land claims, and for the defence of the exposed posts of Missouri Territory, he declined a re-election and returned to the practice of the law.
It was in 1817 he met with the accident before alluded to-falling from his horse-which put an end to his life. After pursuing his studies in the office of his brother Edward, Mr. Hempstead was admitted to practice law in the territory of Missouri by a license dated St. Charles, Missouri, Sept. 13th, 1814, signed by Alexander Stewart and John B. C. Lucas, Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri Territory. At very nearly the same time, he was admitted to practice law in the territory of Illinois by a license signed by J. B. Thomas and Stanley Griswold, Judges of the District Court of said territory. After remaining in St. Louis about one year after his admission to the bar, he removed to St. Genevieve and entered upon the practice of his profession, and the discharge of the duties of Attorney General of the southern circuit of Missouri, to which position he had been appointed by the then Governor of Missouri Territory. St. Genevieve at that time was almost as important a point as St. Louis and was as completely a French settlement. It was the residence of imany distinguished men of the earlier days. Here lived John Scott, the distinguished lawyer, who was the first Representative in Congress from Missouri. General Dodge, afterwards the Governor of Wisconsin Territory, and the first United States Senator from Wisconsin, lived here at that time. Dr. Linn had already settled there as a young physician. The village was then the headquarters of the celebrated duelist, John Smith "'IT," whose nalne was for years the terror of the whole country. It is said that lihe killed during his life in duels and personal reneontres no less than fourteen men.
Remaining there until 1817, he returned to St. Louis in consequence of the death of his brother Edward, to take charge of his legal business and the settlement of his estate. In 1818-19, he was elected to fill a vacancy in the Missouri territorial legislature, which was the only legislative position he ever held-this not from want of opportunity and repeated solicitation, but from a decided aversion to political life. He continued to practice law in Missouri firol that time until the spring of 1829. During his residence in Missouri, Mr. Hempstead was the associate of many of the distinguished men of his time, and between him and them there existed the strongest ties of friendship. Among them were some of the most eminent statesmen, lawyers and politicians. There was Col. Benton, of whom I have spoken. There was David Barton, who was his colleague in the Senate —a man of extraordinary talent and eloquence, whose i)ame is cherished as a part of the history of Missouri. There were also Joshua Barton, his brother, an eminent lawyer; Josiah Spaulding, Henry S. Geyer,Iafterwards United States Senator; Edward Bates, Attorney General tinder Mr. Lincoln, who sprang into a national reputation by his single speech at the Chicago Convention in 1847; Hamilton Gamble, who became Provisional Governor of Missouri in 1861; Rufus Easton, a man of such unrivaled conversational powers, that none who ever met him forgot the fascinating flow of his words; Spencer Pettis, afterwards a i-iember of Congress, who fell in the dreadful duel with Biddle, when both were killed; Dr. Lewis F. Linn, of St. Genevieve, so long the colleague of Benton,.in the Senate. Dr. Linn was but a practicing physician in the remote and unimportant village of St. Genevieve, and was no ordinary man. To ripe learning and rare intelligence he united the most captivating personal qualities.
Of splendid presence, agreeable manners and genial disposition, he was a universal favorite, and would have graced the most polite circles of the world. The year 1829 witnessed a heavy emigration to the Fevre River lead mines. Large discoveries of lead ore had been made a year or two before by Col. Johnson and others, and the tales of fabulous mineral wealth in that country had induced a great influx of population, mostly from middle and southern Illinois and from Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee; some from Ohio and Indiana and a few from the Eastern States. The name Galena (lead ore) which happily gives an idea of the country, had been adopted some tine before. It was at this time that Mr. Hempstead removed from St. Louis to enter on his profession in a field which offered great encouragement to a man of his ability, character and business habits. It is sad to reflect how few of the men, even those then under middle age, who settled in the country at that time are still alive. You and your brother Scribe, who were boys then, were there; Mr. Wann, Captain Hathaway and Mr..Soulard are still with us-types of a large class of men who by their probity, intelligence and honorable lives have illustrated the annals of our early settlement.
At the time Mr. Hempstead settled in Galena, the whole northern part of our State was included in two counties. One was the county which bears the name of Daniel P. Cook the second member of Congress from Illinois, who for six years represented the State with distinguished ability in that body, and though a representative from one of the most remote States during that period rose to the high position of Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. He was a mall of talent, endowed with rare powers of eloquence and was regarded as one of the rising statesmen of the age. His brilliant career was cut short by his death at the early age of 32 years. His iame has been properly perpetuated by being given to the most populous and wealthy county in the State. The other county was Joe Daviess (of which Galena was the county seat,) and which then embraced the northwestern part of the State. It was named in honor of Col. Joseph Hamilton Daviess of Kentucky, one of the great lawyers of his time, whose rude eloquence at the hustings and in the forum made him a great name, and who fell gallantly fighting, at the head of his regiment, at the battle of Tippecanoe. It is often said that Joe Daviess was a strange name to be given to a county, but it perpetuates the name of a man whose memory was dear to a large class of our early settlers who knew him and always called him "Joe Daviess." After the county was named by the Legislature, various efforts were made to strike out the prefix "Joe " but they always failed; and to-day a proposition to change the name would receive the protest of every loyal son of tlhe county. To an old settler there would be nothing in the name "Daviess" county to recall the bluff and impulsive Colonel Joe, who was the popular favorite half a century ago. At the time of his death, Mr. Hempstead was probably the oldest member of the Illinois bar. For firty-six years he had been a member of that bar. There were but few lawyers who preceeded him at Galena. Among them were Thomas Ford, afterwards Governor of the State, who had practiced law there for a short time; Jesse B. Thomas, afterwards a distinguished Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and a MAr. Morrow of the State of Missouri, who afterwards became a Judge in that State had also been a member of the Galena bar for a short time previous. Those who were residing and practicing law in Galena in 1829, were Win. Smith, Colonel James M1 Strode, Benjamin Mills and John Turney.
William Smith was a sound and well read lawyer and a highly educated man, bult imnpaired by his health, he had settled at an early period in that far off country. Colonel Strode was a man who aft terwards became well known, not only as a lawyer, but as the Colonel of the 27th regiment of the Illinois militia in the Black Hawk War. Benjamin Mills was from Massachusetts. There has scarcely been his equal at the bar in Illinois since his time. He was profoundly read in his profession and was gifted with a remarkable eloquence. According to my recollection he was the National Republican candidate for Congress against William L. May in 1834, and was defeated by only a small majority. The cause of that defeat was a cruel one. At the time of the Black Hawk war, when terror had seized all the inhabitants of our section of the country, Mr. Mills as a man of the highest character, ability and influence, was selected to go to Washington to lay the state of affairs before the authorities and hurry forward relief to the terror stricken settlers of the frontier.
In the canvass it was made a point against him that instead of remaining at home, and sharing the dangers of the hour with his people, he had seized the pretext of going to Washington. I well recollect the account which was given to me by Squire Clarkes of a speech made by Mr. Mills at this time to the miners in one of our mining settlements. They had gathered in large numbers from the neighboring diggings, for his gifts as an orator were well known. Taking his position on a pile of mineral dirt he commenced amid the profoundest attention and proceeding with his defence when in eloquent tones he exposed the cruel slanders that had been heaped upon him, lihe excited his hearers to the highest degree of indignation, for that auditory, though rough and impulsive in manner, had a strong sense of justice that sternly resented the wrong done to Mr. Mills. His health failing him a few years afterwards he returned to Massachusetts to die. John Turney was a Tennessean, a sound lawyer and able man who resided at Galena up to the time of his death. He was one of the Government Commissioners to settle the title to lots in Galena.
In the winters of 1830-31, Mr. Hempstead visited Washl ington and was a witness in the impeachment case of James H. Peck, U. S. District Judge for the State of Missouri, a trial which excited the highest degree of public interest, both on account of the character and position of the party accused, and the great ability and reputation of the managers on the part of the House and the counsel for Judge Peck. The array of legal talent on both sides was surpassingly brilliant. The managers were Hon. James Buchanan afterwards President of the United States, Hon. George McDuffie, the inlpetuous representative from South Carolina, Hon. Ambrose Spencer who had been Chief Justice of New York, Hon. Henry R. Storrs, the great lawyer of that State, and Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe of Kentucky, afterwards Postmaster General. The counsel for the defence were Hon. Winm. Wirt, late Attorney General of the United States, who for twenty years stood in the very front rank of the American bar, and Hon. Winm. IM. Meredith, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Hempstead attended the trial and listened to all the arguments which were made in the case. Luke E. Lawless, one of the early lawyers of St. Louis, was the main man in the prosecution. He had been stricken from the roll of lawyers in Judge Peck's court and imprisoned for writing a communication in a newspaper criticising one of the Judge's decisions.
The first time I visited St. Louis which was in the spring of 1840, I saw Judge Lawless on the bench of one of the higher courts of the State; a man whose striking personal appearance could not be effaced froin one's memory and who presided with -great ability and dignity. -Mr. Hempstead was most fortunate on the occasion of his visit to Washington. Not only was Judge Peck on trial before the Senate as a high court of impeachment, but the same body was the theatre of the greatest debate ever heard withirn its walls. This was the celebrated discussion on Foots resolution, to all of which he listened. It is no exaggeration to say that at that time the Senate of the United States was in point of intellect, statesmanship and eloquence, a deliberative body unequalled in the world. The nmeintion of tlhe names of some of the Senators recalls the great days of the Republic —Webster in the prime of his intellectual and physical power, Hayne, his famous opponent, Peleg Sprague, of Maine, Clayton, of Delaware, and Tazweli and Tyler, of Virginia, Forsythe of' Georgia, Hugh L. White and Felix Grundy of Tennessee, Poindexter of Mississippi, King of Alabama, afterwards Minister to France and Vice President, Benton and Barton of Missouri, Edward Livingston of Louisiana and othlers. More than once he recounted to me the incidents of that debate and the effect of the speech of Webster, which will stand out in all time as a master-piece of eloquence, power and logic, never surpassed in ancient or modern times and which stamped the Senator from Massachusetts as the intellectual giant of the age.
Since the death of Mr. Hempstead I take it no man lives in Illinois who heard that debate, or was present and heard the trial of Judge Peck. At this time General Jackson was President, and John C. Calhoun was Vice President, Andrew Stevenson was Speaker of the House of Representatives and the illustrious John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, Elias Kent Kane and David J. Baker were the Senators fromr Illinois Baker was there only a short time, by the appointment of the Governor to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. John MItcLean, who died Oct. 4 1830. MrMcLean was the first member of Congress from 1he State, Daniel P. Cook was the second. Kane was an able and accomplished man, devoted to the interests of the State, and rose to a high position in the Senate. His memory will be perpetuated by the rich and prosperous county that bears his name. He died of a malignant fever at Washington on the 11th of January 1835. Taking advantage of his being at Washington, Mr. Hempstead made a visit of a few days to Richmond, Virginia, and enjoyed the great privilege of seeing in session the celebrated Virginia Constitutional Convention, comnposed of the greatest men of the old Dominion, whose discussion, the work of unrivaled genius and learning, have been a storehouse of information in political science and a manual of reference of similar bodies in the United States since that time. The fame of manv of the mnemnbers had extended beyond Virginia to the farthest limits of the country.
There were men of all parties and all shades of opinion-James Madison and John Marshall, side by side, Giles and Monroe, John Randolph of Roanoke, Littleton W. Tazwell, Garnett, Watkins Leigh, and Chapman Johnson, John Taylor of Caroline and Charles Fenton Mercer-old F'ederalist and old Democrats, and modern National Republicans When I settled at Galena, in April, 1840, 3Mr. Hempstead was the oldest member of the bar with a very large and lucrative practice. With a reputation for unswerving honesty and fidelity, foreign clients entrusted hiin with their collections through that whole section of the country. He had more cases on the calendar at that time than all the members of the bar had twenty years afterwards. At that period the Galena bar was composed of Messrs. Hempstead, Turney, Hoge, Drummond, Thompson Campbell, John Stark, Allan Tomlin, and Artemas L. Holmes. Col. Strode had left a year or two before, and located at Little Fort, now Waukegan, Lake County. The late Hon. Dan. Stone was then Judge of the Circuit Court. Of these members of the bar at that time, all are dead except Hoge, Drummond and Tomlin. Mr. Hempstead having a partial paralysis of the fingers of his right hand, could only write with much difficulty, and in the fall of 1840, finding me a new comer in the country and practically a briefless young lawyer, he proposed that I should take a desk in his office, board in his family, and in return assist himn in his writing. This not only was not to prevent me from doing business on my own account, but he was to turn over to mne certain small business that had been entrusted to him. I remained with him a year, when my own business had so much increased that it became my interest to take an office by myself.
It was in 1841 that Galena was incorporated as a city, and Mr. Hempstead was elected first Mayor. The year that I was with him passed most pleasantly, and from that time comlnenced a friendship with him and his family which has ever since existed without change or shadow of turning. in 1845, we associated ourselves as law partners, and contintled as such for some time after I was elected to Congress, in 1852. At the bar, Mir. Hempstead was regarded as an able lawyer, a man of sound legal judgment and the highest professional honor. He was not a fluent speaker, but his addresses to the jury were always effective, for his high and dignified character added to his forcible presentation of his case. His intercourse with the bar and the bench was always marked by the utmost dignity and courtesy; and no man ever saw him betrayed into any wrangle with the opposing counsel or the court when trying a case. He was never a fermenter of litigation, never made the Court of Justice an engine of oppression; but on the other hand, he endeavored, whenever it was possible, to harmonize disputes without resorting to the courts. When Mr. Hempstead settled in Galena in May, 1829, Ninian Edwards was Governor, Joseph Duncan, Representative in Congress, and Elias Kent Kane and John McLean, Senators. The latter gentleman died the next year. Smith, Wilson, Lockwood and Browne were Judges of the Supreme Court.
General Jackson had been elected President the Fall before, and so uncertain were the boundaries between Illinois and what was then Michigan Territory, that a poll was opened at what is now Platteville, Wisconsin, and the settlers voted for President as being residents of our State. Illinois gave three electoral votes to kGeneral Jackson. Richard M. Young, afterwards United States Senator, John Taylor and Alexander M. Houston were the electors. Who these two last named gentlemen were I do lnot know. Scarcely a prominent public man of that day in Illinois is now alive. One who survives is the venerable Judge Breese, of the present Supreme Court of the State. He was a very early settler. I do not know the exact year when he came to the State. At any rate, it. is satfe to say that there is not now a man in the State who knows as much of its early history as he does. No man living there has been so thoroughly identified with all its history; has been so much a part of it, and who, at the bar, in the Senate House, and on the bench has so long and so ably illustrated its annals. The reports of the Supreme Court attest his profound knowledge of the law, the vigor of his intellect, the ripeness of his scholarship and the peculiar grace of his diction No Judge who ever sat on the bench could touch the very heart and soul of a lawsuit with more unerring certainty, and his opinions will live as long as the jurisprudence of the State shall exist. At this time there was immense activity in the lead mines. Col. Wm. S. Hamilton, the son of Alexander Hamilton, so well known to all our early settlers, was smelting at "Hamilton's Diggings," now Wiota, Wisconsin.
The Gratiots were running no less than nine log smelting furnaces at Gratiot's drove, where there was then a most bustling and busy village of some 1,500 people, and where now scarcely a vestige of a habitation can be seen in the neighborhood. Uncle Jimmy Bennett once told me that he went there with a load of mineral from the old Allenwrath diggings up Fevre river, and had to wait from imorning until night in order to have his mineral weighed, so great was the press of business. Parker, Tilton & Co. had a big establishment at what was then called "Ottawa," three miles above Galena, on Fevre river, now disappeared; and Captain M. C. Comstock had just put up that large and unsightly frame building on the levee, as a warehouse. In the summer and fall of 1829, Mr. Hempstead was the Secretary of the Commission, composed of Gen. John McNeil, UI. S. Army, Caleb Atwater and Col. Pierre Menard, whicll treated at Prairie du Chien, then in NMichigan Territory, with the Pottowatomie and Winnebago Indians for their lands, now comprised in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. In the same year he was appointed by Lewis Cass, then Governor of Michigan Territory, District Attorney for the Eleventh District of said Territory. He was re-appointed in 1834 to the same office by Stevens T. Mason, then acting Governor of Michigan Territory, but he declined the appointment. The courts that he then attended were held at Mineral Point and at Prairie du Chien. In 1833, he was present at Chicago when the treaty was made by Governor Porter, of Michigan, with the Potowatomie Indians-an occasion long to be remembered for the thousands of Indians then assembled at the treaty grounds on the north side of the river, near the old Lake House.
Mr. Hempstead was one of the most public spirited of men. He was always first and foremost in every enterprise which affected the general interest, and ever ready to contribute time and money to advance the public prosperity. He was one of the most prominent men in that great pioneer enterprise, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, of which he was a director in the first Board, and served in that capacity for many years. Though in no sense a politician he always took a great interest in political affairs, and was thoroughly patriotic and devoted to the public welfare. Desiring to be useful to his country in its hour of peril, soon after the breaking out of the rebellion he accepted the office of Assistant Paymaster of the Army, voluntarily tendered him by Mr. Lincoln, and no officer ever served more faithfully and satisfactorily than he did up to the close of the war. But it was as a citizen and in private life that the virtues of Mlr. Hempstead shone out moost conspicuously. Associating himself early with the Presbyterian Church, during his whole life he was an example of the highest type of the christian gentleman.
Under all circumstances and in all times, in the roughest society of those early days, lie invariably preserved the bearing, dress and manners of a gentleman. Knowing what. was due to himself, he always appreciated what was due to others and never in my life did I know of an indignity being offered to him. His evenness of temnper was remnarkable, and in all my intercourse with him I scarcely ever saw him ruffled or disturbed. I think he was the most just man I ever knew. No man was ever more scrupulous and exact in all his dealings, and I believe it can be truly said that he never wronged a single human being. No one was ever more kind to the poor, no man had more consideration for the lowly. In his own family, he was the most charming of meni, and for forty years his house was the seat of the most refined and generous hospitality. Strangers fromn distant cities who found themselves his guests in the earlier times, in our thbn remote town, were equally surprised and delighted at the elegance and grace with which they were entertained. have thus sketched hurriedly and imperfectly, some of the incidents in the life of our deceased friend. I have felt it to be fitting that a tribute should be paid to the memory of a man who was a connecting link with the age gone by, and whose career was so interwoven not only with the history of our immediate locality, but with the earlier settlement of the west and northwest, who lived to witness such changes and progress as has never been recorded in history and who brought to us the recollections of a period in the history of our country which have an interest rarely paralleled in the annals of the nation.
I am, very truly, your friend,
E. B. WASHIBURNE.

Text is from the following website:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa&cc=moa&sid=95e3f6e828e116b80d4cccd93c806bc1&view=text&rgn=main&idno=ABT3917.0001.001

Part 2: Sheean and Johnson, Prisoners of War

2012-02-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

The previous account was of Madison Johnson. The biography listed below is that of David Sheean, the other prisoner of war.

"The life history of this gentleman - one of the most able attorneys and criminal lawyers of Northern Illinois - possesses unusual interest. A man of strong traits of character and decided views, he is also possessed of great courage, fearless in the denunciation of wrong, and steadfast in upholding the right. He is in fact one of the comparatively few men ahead of his time; and in consequence has thought and studied much over the problem of life. Like all men of any consequence, he has suffered from the malice and envy of enemies; but, more fortunate than some, has been permitted to witness their defeat through his own vindication. He has abundant reason to remember the issues of the Civil War, and during that period was brought prominently before the public, charged with misdemeanors, acquitted by default, and justified by the withdrawal of the charges against him. This epoch in his life forms a chapter which has taken its place among the National records. Since coming to this county, more than fifty years ago, Mr. Sheean has made the practice of law his business and his study. A native of Boston, Mass., he was born July 3, 1833, of parents who were natives of County Cork, Ireland. His father, James Sheean, emigrated to America when a young man, locating in Boston, where he was married to Miss Mary Lorden, who had crossed the Atlantic from Ireland with her parents, Jeremiah and Johanna (Crowley) Lorden, when a mere child. Mr. Lorden had been a strong man physically, was industrious and frugal, and a loyal inherent to the faith of the Catholic Church, in which he had been trained from boyhood. His wife survived him a number of years, came to Galena and made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Sheean, for a time. Later she took up her abode with her daughter Catherine, Mrs. Galvin, and died there when ninety-eight years of age. She was to the last smart, bright, and active.

The father of our subject lived in Boston until after the birth of three children - David, Jeremiah L., and John; then coming to Illinois, took up his residence in Galena as early as 1837, when it was a mere hamlet. After reaching the Ohio River they embarked on a Mississippi steamboat, by which means they reached this county. The spring following (1838) they located on land in Guilford Township, where the father filed a "squatter's" claim and held it until the land came into market. He then purchased it and began making improvements, sojourning here until his death, which occurred April 18, 1857. He was then fifty-five years old. He had become widely and favorably known to the people of this region as a man honest and industrious, and one who assisted in maintaining law and good order in his community. His wife is yet living with her son, Thomas Sheean, who, with his brother James, was born in this county. Thomas is now in partnership with David, our subject; while James owns and operates the old homestead in Guilford Township.

Mrs. Mary (Lorden) Sheean was born March 10, 1812, and although now aged, is strong in mind and body, her faculties being preserved to a remarkable degree. She was reared in the doctrines of the Catholic Church, to which she steadfastly adheres. David Sheean lived with his parents on the farm until a youth of eighteen years, and in the meantime had been a student two years at Galena Academy. Later he taught school during the winter season, and in 1851 started for California via the Isthmus of Panama and arrived in San Francisco on the 8^th of January, 1852. He afterward visited different places in the Golden State and finally operated in the placer mines, remaining in that region until March, 1856. He was quite successful, and returned home by way of the Isthmus and the Island of Cuba and New Orleans, thence up the Mississippi, arriving home in May, 1856. This experience, the sea voyage, and his sojourn in the Far West, were the source of a rich knowledge with which he would not willingly part. He came in contact with all kinds of men from different parts of t he world and gained much useful information.

Immediately after his return home, Mr. Sheean entered the law office of John A. Rawlins, Secretary of War under President Grant, and formerly on the staff of Gen. Grant. He was in his boyhood days a schoolmaster with our subject, and with him young Sheean remained until he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Illinois. This was then presided over by Judge John D. Caton, Chief justice; Sidney Breese, and Pinkney H. Walker. After his admission to the bar Mr. Sheean commenced the practice of his profession with his former preceptor, Mr. Rawlins, and the partnership existed until January, 1862. In the meantime Mr. Rawlins became an aide on the staff of Gen. Grant, and after he withdrew from his law practice, Mr. Sheean conducted it until 1867. He then associated himself with his cousin, Philip J. Galvin, and later took into partnership his brother, Thomas J., with whom he is still associated. The Sheean brothers have been extremely successful in their law practice.

Fort Delaware, the other prison these men
were taken to during there time as prisoners.

During the progress of the Civil War our subject had an experience similar to that of M. Y. Johnson, which is detailed in the biography of that gentleman elsewhere in this volume. Both were arrested and imprisoned, failed to obtain a hearing although making the most earnest efforts to do so, and were finally released without even knowing the charges, by reason of which they were deprived of their liberty. The same judgment was rendered by the Supreme Court in Mr. Sheean's case, as in Mr. Johnson's.

The following is a copy of the letter written by Gen. Rawlins to Mr. Sheean concerning this matter:

Holly Springs, Miss., Jan. 1, 1863

Dear Sheean: - I see by the Chicago Times of the 27^th, which I received this afternoon, that you have been released from your arbitrary and unjustifiable imprisonment. Let me assure you nothing has occurred in a great while that has pleased me more than to know, as I now do, that one whom I have known from earliest recollection has been restored to liberty, and the rights which every American citizen is entitled to enjoy; feeling as I do that your arrest was but the result of the personal malice of --------- seeking revenge their cowardly and craven souls failed to find in their attempt at personal violence against you.
Soon after my return from home I made a statement of your arrest and accompanied it with letters from Gen. Grant, Hurlburt and Logan, and one from Rowley and Maltby, and forwarded to the Secretary of War, copies of which I sent to (brother) Lemon from Jackson, Tenn., on the 3^rd of November last, the day we moved from that place. Subsequently I wrote to the Hon. E. B. Washburne, calling his attention to the subject of your imprisonment and to my statements to the Secretary of War in your behalf. Whether it was ever read I can not state, or if it had been, it had any effect I do not know. Of one thing, however, I am sure there was nothing in it but what was true and would meet with the approval of yourself and family I am as firm to-day in the support of my Government and yours as ever. I believe that if the war is properly conducted it must finally end in the triumph of the government established by our fathers, and whether it ends in one year or ten, I am for its vigorous prosecution; but to the arrest of loyal citizens and imprisonment without trial I am opposed and shall be opposed to the end of life. For the maintenance of my country's honor and the upholding of the Constitution I am willing to take my chances on the field, but for the destruction of individual liberty - never. We can have but one Government on this Continent, north of Mexico and south of the St. Lawrence, and that must be the United States of America. There is little if any difference of opinion in the army - all are for the success of our flag, and little is said of proclamation.
I will in a few days be troubling you to attend to my private affairs. Write me on receipt of this. Give my love to all the folks and my friends. I remain yours, Fraternally, John A. Rawlins

The marriage of David Sheean and Miss Cora L. Spare was celebrated it the bride's home at Galena, Sept. 21, 1876. Mrs. Sheean was born Mary 25, 1850, at Utopia, Ohio, and is the daughter of John C. and Hettie (Gallagher) Spare, who were natives respectively of Wilmington, Del., and Harrisburg, Pa. The father was born March 7, 1818, and the mother Nov. 29, 1822. They were married in the latter State and emigrated to Illinois as early as 1840, settling in Galena, where the father was engaged in various business enterprises. The mother died in Aug. 18, 1884 at the age of fifty-six years; she was a very estimable lady, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Spare contracted a second marriage with Miss Gilson, and they are now living in Chicago, Ill., where he is engaged in the coal, wood, and feed business on State street. Mr. Spare is a liberal-minded citizen and warmly interested in the temperance work.

Mrs. Sheean was reared and educated in Galena and is a lady of many accomplishments, refined and cultivated tastes. Mr. Sheean, politically, is a Jackson Democrat, and although keeping himself thoroughly posted upon the march of State and National events, has never sought office, preferring to give his time to his profession in which he takes and honest pride. He is held in high respect by his fellow-citizens, who elected him to the office of Mayor, and he has served two terms as City Attorney. In Galena he enjoys the confidence and esteem of its best people. In religious views he is liberal-minded and stands upon the broad platform advocating the liberty of religious thought, believing that each man should be governed by the dictates of his own conscience. As a lawyer he has participated in some of the most important Causes Celebre which have shed lustre on the bar of Northern Illinois. As an advocate he is eloquent and forcible. We invite the attention of the reader to a fine portrait on a preceding page."

These men were the forgotten men of the Civil War, an example of the paranoia this nation faced. Also, it shows us an example of a time in our history when our nation's fear was superior to our nation's law.

David Sheean and Madison Y. Johnson, Prisoners of War

2012-02-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

David Sheean and Madison Y. Johnson's story is one that is almost forgotten in the history of the town and one that has always stunned me. These two men were imprisoned during the Civil War because of their loyalties to a political party and their opposition to the war. Listed below are their biographies as mentioned in the 1889 Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess County. Note that a majority of these biographies were written by the men themselves. First we will begin with Mr. Johnson, who in his biography, wrote extensively about the ordeal, unlike Mr. Sheean.

Few words of introduction are needed in presenting the name of the subject of this sketch -a name familiarly known, not only throughout the State of Illinois, but most of the Northern States east of the Mississippi. He has not only made himself illustrious among the members of the legal fraternity of the Northwest, but during the late Civil War underwent an experience illustrating to what extent malice and jealousy will proceed to gain its ends. His broad experience of life in its various phases has contributed grandly to the development of a character naturally strong, and has been a school from which he has learned deep lessons - those lessons by which men have been enabled to give to the world its finest examples of strength and courage. The personal appearance of Madison Y. Johnson strikes the beholder at once as that of a man of no common abilities. From the glance of his eye - deep-set, dark, and penetrating - the coward invariably slinks away. The other features of his countenance are strongly marked, and firm almost to sternness - the reflection of an indomitable will and unswerving adherence to his convictions. He involuntarily reminds one of those sturdy spirits of Revolutionary days, who placed life lightly in the balance against injustice, and who embraced death in preference to subjecting themselves to tyranny. In his political life Mr. Johnson has from early manhood been a stanch supporter of Jeffersonian Democracy, and later on in this record will be noted the manner in which he suffered for his principles, and his final vindication from the charges of his calumniators.

In noting the events of a long and varied career we go back to the birth of our subject, which occurred in Xenia, Greene Co., Ohio, Jan. 7, 1817. When a child he removed with his parents to Kentucky, where he developed into manhood, entered upon the study of law, and in due time was admitted to practice in the courts of the Blue Grass State, making his headquarters in the city of Louisville. Naturally studious, and an extensive reader, he, while a young man, gave promise of a future career of more than ordinary success. He had been, as a student, associated with the renowned Chief Justice Dewey, of Indiana, and at the same time met with many other eminent men, whose friendship and the intercourse attendant thereupon proved to be to him of great assistance.

About 1841 Mr. Johnson resolved to change the scene of his operations to the newer State of Illinois, and established an office at Shawneetown, where he carried on a practice until his removal to Galena, in 1844. It may be proper here to note that he is the scion of an excellent family, being the son of Joseph Johnson, M. D., a native of Lynchburg, Va., and whose family had been widely known throughout the Old Dominion for several generations. They were originally of Quaker stock, possessing all the strict and correct principles of that peculiar sect. They were collaterly (sic) related to the families of those men, who, at a later day, made themselves famous - Joseph E. and Sidney Johnson - whose names are intimately associated with the history of Kentucky and the late war. The father of our subject was carefully reared and well educated, and chose for his profession the practice of medicine, which he entered upon early in life, and was for some time a student of Prof. Jennings, of the city of Baltimore. Later he became a practioner (sic) and professor in Louisville, of the Medical College there. Upon leaving Kentucky he removed to Illinois, and died in Galena of apoplexy, about 1847. He was a man of high principles and great courage, and transmitted these qualities in a marked degree to his son.

Joseph Johnson was married in Rockbridge County, Va., to Miss Hannah Adair, a daughter of one of the leading families, and whose father had done good service as a patriot during the Revolutionary War. The mother of our subject was highly educated, a lady of fine accomplishments, a faithful wife, and a devoted mother. She accompanied her husband to Galena, and remained, after his decease, in this county, where her death took place, about 1855.

The people of Jo Daviess County, after the settlement of Mr. Johnson in Galena, soon began to recognize in him a man calculated to be an important addition to the ranks of its intelligent and capable men. So faithful was he to the interests of his clients, and so successful in securing to them their inalienable rights, that he at once entered upon a very lucrative practice, and it was not long until he had acquired a competency. At the same time he signalized himself as a liberal and public-spirited citizen - one wholly devoted to the interests of his adopted county. He made himself master of the various questions arising in the development of the new section; the introduction of new laws, and the various subjects constantly coming under discussion by the legal fraternity. He interested himself in railroad matters, and upon the organization of the Galena & Southern Wisconsin Railroad Company was made President of the road, and was instrumental in building forty miles of this from Galena north. This project was begun in 1872, and Mr. Johnson was connected with the road until its absorption with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company.

There have been few enterprises connected with the local history of Galena in which Mr. Johnson has not borne an active part. Always on the side of the people, he gave his uniform support to those projects calculated to insure their welfare and happiness. In politics, he, for a time, bore an important part, and was frequently sent as a delegate to the Congressional and various other conventions. He interested himself in the improvement of the Mississippi River along the western border of the State, and for three winters was the delegate to Washington of the River and Harbor Conventions, when, in 1881, Commissioners were appointed to take charge of further work in this direction. He became considerably interested in the lead mines of Galena, and other business enterprises in this direction, but has given his best thoughts and efforts to perfecting himself as a law practitioner. His career has been unmarked by the desire for official preferment, he having devoted himself closely to the practice of his profession, aiming to excel as an attorney and jurist. There has been no time in his career when he could not have been the incumbent of a lucrative office, as the gift of his party, but he preferred to give his attention to his legitimate calling.

Ft. Lafayette Prison as depicted in Harper's Weekly on April 15, 1865.

Since the summer of 1868, when attending the National Democratic Convention in New York City; which nominated Horatio Seymour for the Presidency, Mr. Johnson has taken little part in politics, but he has retained through all the changes in National affairs his strong adherence to the sentiments of Henry Clay, and during the troubles following the outbreak of the Rebellion, after canvassing all sides of each question, he availed himself of the privileges of a free American citizen, to express his honest convictions in regard to various matters, and this act was destined to bring about the circumstances in connection with his career which have become matters of history.

On the 28th day of August, 1862, Mr. Johnson, while engaged in the defense of a murder trial, was seized in the court-house in the city of Galena and conveyed to the passenger depot, and thence transported to Chicago, where he was confined two days, then taken to New York City, and imprisoned in what is known as the "Inner Temple," on Elm street, where he was confined twenty-four hours, and then taken to Ft. Hamilton. From there he was conveyed on a boat to Ft. La Fayette in New York Harbor, where he was detained as a "political prisoner" two months, when he was removed to the House of Detention, among pirates and thieves, and later he was placed in Ft. Delaware, a military fortification in the Delaware Bay, and there confined for a space of three months. At length he was set at liberty without any trial or examination whatever, or any charge of any offense ever having been preferred against him, and when turned out he was as vindictive as Coriolanus at the head of his Volscians before the walls of Rome.

For this outrage of mind and body, the seperation (sic) from his family, and being prevented from attending to important private affairs, being also at the same time subjected to great expense, and the danger attendant upon bad treatment and unhealthy surroundings, Mr. Johnson brought suit against the instigators of this persecution, which resulted in the following judgment:

Judgment Entered.

STATE OF ILLINOIS
Jo Daviess County
In the Circuit Court of Jo Daviess County, to the May Term, A. D. 1869:
Trespass for False Imprisonment -
Madison Y. Johnson,

vs.
J. Russell Jones,
John C. Hawkins,
Oliver P. Hopkins,
Elihu B. Washburne,
Bradner Smith.
And now comes the said defendants, Jones, Hawkins, and Hopkins. and admit that the said pleas, heretofore filed by them in said case, and the matters and things therein set forth against said plaintiff, are untrue in substance and in fact, and the defendants ask leave of the court to withdraw the same, which is granted by the Court, and the said defendants further confess the wrongful trespass and imprisonment set forth in said declaration, and that the said defendants are guilty in manner and form as therein stated and set forth, and that said plaintiff has sustained great damage thereby, as is alleged in said declaration, and said defendants further confess that the said seizure and imprisonment of said plaintiff was wrongful, unjustifiable and without cause, and that said plaintiff was innocent of the violation of any law, or of doing any act inimical to the Government of the United States, and that said plaintiff did not act, used no expression, or exercised any influence, to the knowledge of said defendants, that was not in support of the Government of the United States, its constitution and its laws. And, inasmuch as said suit was brought by said plaintiff for a personal vindication of his character and conduct as a citizen, he releases the said damages, except as to the sum of one thousand dollars, for costs and expenses incurred by said plaintiff, on account of said wrongful seizure and imprisonment.
It is thereupon considered by the court that the said plaintiff have and recover of and from the said defendants, Jones, Hawkins and Hopkins, the said sum of one thousand dollars and costs of court, and that execution issue therefor.
Filed and entered on record on the 24th of May, 1869.

Such is the finale of one of the most important cases that occurred during the war. After the entry of the confession above, nothing personal to ourself need be said, our interests are canceled, but the principles involved, and the questious (sic) judicially settled, are the common property of all, and will stand as a landmark limiting the powers of the Executive, and congress, in their mad crusade against personal liberty. Had we consulted our personal security, in less fearlessly expressing our opinions, when so many were disposed to falter, we might have avoided the outrage, but we believed then that the fanatical war against slavery would change our form of government, by centralizing power in the federal, to the detriment of the State governments, and unless resisted, and confined within constitutional limits, anarchy and a military despotism would blot out free institutions.

We had no disposition to invite outrage, or to place ourself (sic) in advance of others, as the guardian of public liberty, but being selected as one of the victims, with which to terrify the masses into a compliance with their unlawful acts, we could not, in justice to those that were to come after us, do less than breast the storm of popular fanaticism at the time, looking to the future for a justification of our motives.

It cannot be urged, as an apology or excuse, for the actors in this criminal outrage, that I was either lost sight of or forgotten, but they acted with a full knowledge of all the facts, as set out in the confession of judgment.

It was not only a matter of public notoriety, but a knowledge of the facts were spread before the President, Secretary of War, and Congress, neither of which had the manliness to discharge their duty, protect the innocent, or defend personal liberty.

We herewith copy a memorial addressed to Congress at the time, and spread on the records of the Senate. See Congressional Globe 37^th congress, 3d session, 1st part of proceedings of 1862-63, on pages 664 and 665, as follows:

To the Honorable Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:
The petition and memorial of Madison Y. Johnson, a citizen of the State of Illinois, would respectfully represent, unto your honorable body, that about nine o'clock at night on the 28th of August last, your petitioner was arrested in court while engaged in the defense of a murder case, in the city of Galena, his place of residence. That said arrest was made by authority of a telegraphic dispatch purporting to be by order of the Secretary of War, and signed L. C. Turner, Judge Advocate, in which said dispatch your petitioner was charged with "disloyal practices," and ordered to be conveyed to Ft. La Fayette, in the State of New York, and delivered to the commandant thereof.
Your petitioner was arrested as aforesaid, and remained in custody during the remaining progress of said trial and after the same was completed he was conveyed to the city of New York, to the police headquarters of John A. Kennedy, Provost Marshal, where he was detained a few hours, in what is known as the "Inner Temple," from there conveyed and lodged in Ft. La Fayette, on the 2^nd of September last, without any warrant, process or charge of an offense against the law of the country, except said telegram. Your petitioner here states the fact, that he has never at any time, in word, act or deed, been guilty of any "disloyal practice," or of any disloyal act, at any time, or under any circumstances.
That on the 9th of September the Judge Advocate appeared at Ft. La Fayette and had an interview with your petitioner, when he asked if I knew what I was charged with. I answered I did not know either the charge on which I was held, or who was my accuser, but I stood ready to answer for every act of my life against my country. He asked me if I was not Yankee enough to guess what I was arrested for. I replied I had not a drop of Yankee blood in me, and no disposition to guess, but I desired to know with what I was charged, and who were my accusers. He avoided answering. After a good deal of conversation he asked me if I was willing to take the oath as a loyal man. I answered I had not the slightest objection to take any oath the laws of my country imposed, but I would take no oath prescribed by arbitrary power, that might by implication impeach my integrity as a man, or that cast a suspicion on me, as being guilty of any offense, as a condition of my release.
On the 17^th of September I was removed to the city of New York, by order of the Secretary of War, and placed in the House of Detention (among negroes, pirates, and thieves), and shortly after removed to Ft. Delaware, where I have.remained ever since, held as a political prisoner, restrained of my liberty.
Your petitioner would further represent, that during the last three months he has presented his grievances to the Judge Advocate, the Secretary of War, Maj.-Gen. Wool, who had command of the post, and to the President as follows:

(Copy of Letter to the President.)

"Ft. Delaware, Oct. 28, 1862.
" To His Excellency, President Lincoln:
"Sir: - I addressed a letter to you on the 7^th of September, from Ft. La Fayette, informing you of my arrest in Galena on a telegraph dispatch of the Secretary of War. I was at once transported beyond the jurisdiction of my State and after being detained in Ft. La Fayette I was removed to this place, where I have been detained ever since, and, strange to say, up to this day I have no knowledge of what offense I am charged, or who is my accuser. That the Government has been imposed upon by the machinations of private malice through the representations of a dishonorable member of congress (I am induced to believe from the facts within my knowledge). I have patiently endured all these things, hoping my Government would enquire (sic) into and vindicate me. I have addressed Maj.-Gen. Wool and the Secretary of War respectively, as I was advised at the time I was under their jurisdiction, none of whom have answered. I now appeal to you, as the head of the Nation, whose duty it is to see that personal liberty is protected, to interpose in my behalf. If I am charged with an offense, let me be informed of it, that I can defend myself; if I am not, then, in the name of common justice, do not punish me. It cannot be the object of the Government to punish those who are not guilty of an offense, and from your acquaintance with me, and Washburne, for the last eighteen years, you should be able to determine, with some accuracy, whether I am guilty of an offense against my country; or, under the peculiar times, he has availed himself of his position, to carry out his:i petty malice. In either event it is due to me, to the Government, and yourself, that I either be tried or discharged.

"You, as well as myself, know that the personal liberty of the citizen is of more importance to the country than all other rights, and without which all others are valueless. Believing you should have no other object in view than to see the law duIy administered, and individual liberty protected, I am induced, as a matter of justice to myself, to answer for every act of my life.
"Under these circumstances, with a knowledge that the Government has been imposed upon, and it being both your duty, as it should be your pleasure, to protect her citizens, I will not doubt, when your attention is called to my case, you will take action in the premises. My detention can effect no good to the Government, and does me an absolute injury. In no view can a further detention be justified. Hoping soon to be discharged,
"I am, respectfully yours,
M.Y. Johnson.
"Your petitioner would further represent that his arrest was without warrant, or any of the form of law; was an illegal and arbitrary usurpation of power on the part of the Secretary of War, destructive of all liberty to the citizen. His transportation beyond the State, where the courts are open and uninterrupted for the punishment of crime, is not only an invasion of State sovereignty, but a violation of constitutional guarantees. His incarceration and detention in a military prison, without informing him of the offense charged against him, or his accusers' names, and making it an aggravation of the offense, to employ counsel, and attempt to get a hearing, is an intolerable despotism, only equaled by the dark and mysterious actings of a Spanish inquisition, and last, the entire neglect to hear his grievances, or make any examination as to his guilt or innocence, when he is hopelessly buried in a bastile, and could have no communication with his friends, except by permission of those who have already outraged him, is a degree of tyranny unparalleled in the history of any free government.
"Your memoralist (sic) would further state, lie was t;urned out on the 13^th of December last, by order of the Secretary of War, without any oath, entirely ignorant of the offense charged, or who was his accuser, or why he was detained and removed from fort to fort. Neither has he been able to obtain any information from the President, Secretary of War, or the Judge Advocate, although he has demanded to know what the accusation was, and by whom made.
"Your petitioner therefore prays your honorable body to inquire into the facts, by a resolution of the Senate, as the only means that is left to him to find out who accused him, and of what he was accused, believing an American Senate will grant him the only means of vindicating himself.
"All of which is respectfully submitted.
Madison Y. Johnson."

The Senate, by a party vote, denied all investigation or examination in the case.

With this memorial, protest, and letter to the President, spread on the record of the Senate, Congress passes the acts legalizing the arrest and imprisonment made by order of the President, and indemnifying the guilty parties. Thus shielded, they hoped to escape punishment, if not public condemnation; but, failing in all, they make the humiliating confession.

What a sad commentary on personal liberty and executive justice in a free country! It is with a feeling of holy horror, inspired by the memory of acts of lawlessness, that we recur to such brutal treatment of an American citizen. The charity of silence would screen them from the indignation of posterity, were it not that the truth of history will present the facts of the arbitrary arrests, imprisonments (sic), banishments (sic), and military murders of the Republican administration during the war.

In the mad frenzy of the hour, by the usurpations (sic) of the President and Congress, the judiciary was rendered powerless. An unbridled military power, responsible alone to the Executive, became the arbiter, not only of the liberties, but the lives of her citizens, all rights were disregarded, and the wonder is, in the convulsion of the times, that anything like constitutional government was preserved.

We know that in times of great public excitement there is a disposition on the part of the timid to side with power, as it offers security to them; and it is not until a reaction takes place that they are willing to examine the facts. Were it not so, arbitrary power had not asserted itself so easily. Our own opposition to executive encroachments was honest, as we did not entertain an opinion, nor utter an expression that we did not candidly believe then, and, the same circumstances occurring, would reiterate as firmly now. And, in closing this vindication, we take occasion to urge upon our fellow countrymen the necessity of ceaseless vigilance, and solemnly warn them to rebuke and resist the first abuses of executive power and congressional usuprations, if they wish to maintain for themselves and secure to their children the priceless boon of liberty.

Certainly a vindication both from courts and people which, notwithstanding the sufferings he had endured both mentally and bodily, amply compensated him. The case was decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, wherein Mr. Johnson conducted his own defense, and in connection therewith displayed that acuteness of judgment and knowledge of the laws and Constitution of the United States that his enemies retired abashed from the field, as may be seen from the syllabus of the opinion of the Supreme Court in this case:

OPINION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

MADISON Y. JOHNSON VS. J. R. JONES, ET AL.

A Synopsis of the Decision of the Court.

It has limited the powers of the Executive within legal bounds.

As President he has no power to order the arrest and transportation of any one, and confine them in a military bastile (sic).

As Commander-in-Chief, he has no more power than a general at the head of an army, and that is confined within the lines of the army.
That neither the President, as Commander-in Chief, or Congress, or both together, have any power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, or declare martial law in a district or State not in rebellion.
That the military power can have no control over the citizen, outside of the lines of the army. The civil courts alone have jurisdiction.
Where the courts are open and unobstructed, in a State or district, martial law cannot exist.
Congress can pass no law legalizing the orders of the President or releasing tile damages sustained by reason of an arbitrary arrest. Such acts are unconstitutional and void.
An arrest and transportation of a person by order of the President, without a judicial investigation, is a usurpation by the Executive, of the functions of the other departments, and destroys the whole theory of our Government, so far as relates to the protection of liberty or property.
To call a citizen of a State, not in rebellion (he remaining in the State), a "belligerent," is a contradiction of terms. To be a belligerent he must be subject to a hostile power. His character depends on the community to which he belongs.
To justify the arrest, by assuming he was a prisoner of war, is untenable. If he cannot enjoy the protection of a prisoner of war, he cannot be arrested and made to bear its penalties.
Military law applies only to persons in the military service of tile Government, but martial law is a very different thing. When martial law is once established, it applies alike to citizens and soldiers. It is the arbitrary will of the military commander, and can exist, or be permitted to prevail, only on the actual theater of military operations in times of war, as all unavoidable necessity.
If the President could rightfully arrest, and confine the plaintiff, without process or trial, to a fort in the harbor of New York, he could do the same thing to any other person in the State. A fearful power to be entrusted to one man, in a Government claiming to be free.
As no charge is made, no judicial investigation had, it is left entirely to the caprice of the Government to determine what person shall be arrested. Concede the power and every man in the State, from the Governor down, holds his liberty at the mercy of the Executive. All State governments are overthrown. Such a power cannot be entrusted to any Government and freedom be preserved.

This confession of the defendants was spread upon the court records, and may be seen among the legal documents pertaining to the Court of Illinois.

Mr. Johnson addressed a letter to President Lincoln during his incarceration, and also one to the Secretary of War, appealing to them at least to know wherewith he was charged, and requesting to be either punished or vindicated, and by a memorial to the United States Senate, who, by a party vote, denied all examination into the case. During the trial and the correspondence which followed, both before and afterward, there was exhibited on the part of Mr. Johnson the most thorough knowledge of fundamental law; this, augmented by his natural eloquence and incontrovertible logic, illustrated in a marked degree the great powers with which nature has endowed him. It was an instance when "the pen was mightier than the sword." He retired from the contest no less a hero than those who went boldly to the field of battle and fought for those principles which to the honest man are dearer than his life.

Mr. Johnson was one of the State electors on the Bell and Everett ticket, and canvassed the State in the interest of a united government, as an uncompromising advocate of peace, and when the war came, as expressing his views, he introduced at the State Convention, and had passed, the resolution known as the "Peace Resolution," that made a stir throughout the United States, and by many was regarded as treason, which we copy as a part of the history of the country:

Resolved, That the further offensive prosecution the war tends to subvert the Constitution and Government, and entails upon the Nation all the disasterous (sic) consequences of misrule and anarchy. That we are in favor of peace, upon the basis of a restored union, and for the accomplishment of which we propose a National convention to settle terms of peace, which shall have in view the restoration of the Union as it was, and the securing by Constitutional amendment such rights to the States and the people thereof as honor and justice demands.

He has been nominated for many of the important offices of the State, but has always absolutely declined to be a candidate.

FOR SALE: GALENA HISTORY

2012-02-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

FOR SALE: GALENA HISTORY

The Marine Hospital today.

Galena's Marine Hospital is today hidden from view and not being preserved the way it should, as it is now for sale by its owner. This building is one of a few in the 'town that time forgot' that might be gone forever like the Jo Daviess County Poor Farm. This is one of those buildings that may meet its wrecking ball soon, along with the St. Mary's Catholic School above St. Mary's Church in Galena.

This building was designed by Ammi B. Young, the same architect who designed the Market House, and built in the 1860s. These hospitals were at the heart of many of these communities. Long before the Interstate Commerce Commission, the New Deal, or the military industrial complex, federal institutions such as the marine hospitals provided tangible and necessary services to a vital sector of the American polity. The marine hospitals, with the military, customs service, postal service, patent office, lighthouse service, land office, military pension system, and other institutions, formed the heart of an active, vibrant, and increasingly visible early American state.

Circa 1870 photo showing the Marine Hospital during the period
it was home to the German Normal School.

The owner published this as a historical background of the building, "The nation's Marine Hospital system was created to care for ailing men of the seafaring business. Construction on Galena's Marine Hospital, authorized by an act of congress, began in 1857 and was completed in 1860. Ely S. Parker was appointed superintendent of construction. Parker, a full-blooded Seneca Indian, later became a General on Ulysses S. Grant's staff. General Grant's Galena home is just blocks away.The hospital cost $43,430 to build. The structure was all brick with walls two foot thick. Ceilings were of of brick and I-beam construction. This served as a method of fireproofing, but it also helped to keep the temperature constant.In addition, the floors are able to support tremendous weight. The third floor originally contained two large wards, the apothecary shop, and two full baths. The main floor had a parlor, bedroom, office, sitting room and a full bath. The basement had the kitchen, laundry room, fruit and vegetable storage room, furnace room, dining room, closets,and a full bath. Cisterns having capacity of 30,000 gallons were constructed for water supply. An elaborate sewer system was added, complete with tunnel and branch system. The whole building was heated by a hot air furnace, along with numerous fireplaces and wood stoves. The hospital was closed in 1865, deemed to costly to operate. Patient costs were $3.00 a week, physician fees ran $1.75 a week, and medicine costs ran $.70 a week.

In later years, the hospital was home to the German English Normal school, the Nash Sanitarium, and the Nash Medical company from 1912-1933. It also has had many private owners through the years. This is one of the few remaining Marine hospitals left in the country."

I am going to do more intensive research on this building that I find so fascinating, but when I saw it for sale I figured that now would be a good time to give a brief synopsis of this building before my longer historical research. Here is what the website that is offering the building says:
" Welcome to Galena's Marine Hospital! Just out of downtown, several blocks off the highway, down a gravel bike trail, brings you to the private drive of this wonderful historic edifice. 6,300 square foot of space on three floors. Just waiting for restoration or adaptive reuse as a single family home, corporate retreat, etc. Very private location. A Magnificent, detailed stair-case winds from the basement up to the belvedere, which offers fantastic views of the city and surrounding farms. The upper floors offer large rooms, the largest being 32x17 foot. The ceilings on these floors measure 12 and 14 foot. Doors and windows are man-sized, with the front door measuring 4x9 foot. It is designed for 45 windows in total. The quality of the construction is second to none. It was built on bedrock, and unlike many buildings of this age, virtually no settling has occured. The hospital sits in the middle of approximately eleven, mostly wooded acres, with many black walnut and other trees. There is a 239 year old white oak on the grounds that measures over twelve foot in diameter. There are bluffs, clearings and trails on the property. There are two partial stone foundations on the grounds, one of which is believed to be from the admitting building, as it is down by the river were the steamboats would have docked. The property is fenced, within the city limits, and currently zoned AG. At the present, it is being used for grazing.

           Marine Hospital further details................
All of the non-supporting walls have been removed from the upper floors leaving four large rooms on each floor, not including very large hallways. All walls in the basement, or first floor, are still present. This floor includes the kitchen, laundry room, vegetable storage room, the furnace room, family dinning room, 1/2 bath, and closet as well as a hallway. All of the original plumbing fixtures have been removed. The basement is heated by a oil fired boiler and baseboard units. There is also an operating wood stove in the kitchen. Some of the windows have been replaced, others need repair or replacement. No windows are included in the belvedere. These will be large, measuring over 4 by 8 foot. The porches have been removed but the original stone footings are still on the property. Much of the costly to replace, original moulding and trim is still present. The original staircase is 99% intact. The belvedere was reconstructed sometime ago sparing no expense. A new well was drilled in 1996. The caretaker for the property is willing to stay on. 2010 taxes $4,183. Priced at $849,000. A fraction of replacement cost of the structure alone. PLEASE NOTE : The Marine Hospital IS NOT A "DRIVE BY." It cannot be seen from the road. In addition, it is fenced off with various livestock running about the grounds.  "

Here are some pictures from the present day that shows what potential this has as a possible museum, or other historical preservation.

For anyone who loves history this makes me sick to my stomach and someone should save this building now before it adverts to a buyer who will destroy it.

To see the website for the Marine Hospital please visit: http://www.usmarinehospital.com/Home_Page.html

General Overview of the Old Market House

2012-01-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

The Old Market House was built by the city of Galena to serve as a city hall and enclosed public farmer's market. A rapid increase in population in the Galena area in the 1830s and 1840s, largely a result of the discovery of galena, a kind of lead ore found in the region, had led to a sharp increase in demand for local foodstuffs.
The Old Market House's business plan called for the US$50 per year rents from the twelve enclosed farmer's market stalls to help maintain the building. The $2,500 used for initial construction was obtained through the sale of $5 per share stocks, which was enabled by an 1845 act of the Galena City Council. Sellers who could not rent a stall were allocated space in the market square just outside the building

The Old Market House continued to serve the people of Galena until about 1910. As an increasing percentage of local citizens bought motor vehicles, households began to "shop around" for foodstuffs. Local grocery stores, which paid property taxes to the city of Galena, were not interested in helping to maintain their competitors. In about 1910 the stalls of the Old Market House went out of business.
The city of Galena moved its offices elsewhere in 1938, making the old building redundant. It was given to the state of Illinois in 1947.

Post Office/Custom House

2012-01-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

Galena's Post Office as it appeared on July 2, 1900.

The present Post Office was initiated by Congressman Washburne and appropriated for by Congress on August 18, 1856, after Galena outgrew its original main street store which was established in 1826. Construction on the Post Office/Customs House began in 1857 with the best quality grantie was shipped up the Mississippi from Nauvoo.
The footings and foundation were laid in the fall and pig lead approximately the weight of the completed building was placed on the foundation and left until the following spring when construction began. The Weekly Northwestern Gazette of August 9, 1859 said "the building is so substantial it will last 1,000 years with only two forces capable of destroying it, one being an earthquake and the other a mob."

Ammi B, Young the Supervising
Architect of the Post Office

Two men played major roles in the construction of the Post Office. The first was the Supervising Architect for the Ofiice of Construction, Treasury Department, Ammi B. Young. Some of Young's works include the Treasury Building in DC and the Territorial Capitol Building of New Mexico, he also had what many at the time considered as the leading design for the US Capitol, but eventually lost. The other being a man mentioned in a previous post, Ely S. Parker who held the title of Construction Superintendent. Ammi B. Young had a grandiose vision for the Post Office, including many of today's features, these include the mahogany counters in the lobby and the high solid oak doors on the second floor.
The Post Office has been used for many functions during its 152 year history. In 1859, the 2nd floor, which housed the Customs House was used for many social gatherings including a party thrown for a soldier on November 16, 1861. Also, the second floor was used as the Public Library until the present-day building was built in 1902.
Galena was the nation's first Post Office to be designated by the Smithsonian as "A Great American Post Office". For this distinction a Post Office must meet two of the following three criteria:
1. Outstanding architectural features.
2. Historical significance to the community.
3. Outstanding service to the community.
Galena's met all three.
Today it is the oldest continually owned and operated Post Office in America.

Galena's African-American History: Richard H.Cain, Barber turned Politician

2012-01-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

Galena today has an African American population of less than 1%, but around the time of the Civil War a few influential African Americans called Galena home. Richard H. Cain was one of those influential African Americans.
Cain was born in 1825 to free parents in Greenbrier County, Virginia (Present-day WV). In 1848, Cain joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church, an independent black denomination started in Philadelphia. He opened an AME church in Galena (will be discussed at a later time) around this time while also operating a barbershop in town.
In 1859, Cain left Galena and became an AME deacon in Muscatine, Iowa. In 1861, Cain was called as a pastor in Brooklyn, New York. In 1862, he was ordained as an elder in 1862 and remained at the Brooklyn church until 1865.
After the Civil War, Cain moved to Charleston, South Carolina in 1865 as superintendent of AME missions. The AME Church attracted tens of thousands of converts to its denomination very rapidly.
Cain became active in politics, serving as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1868. He represented Charleston County in the South Carolina Senate from 1868 to 1872. He also edited the South Carolina Leader newspaper (later renamed the Missionary Record).
He was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third United States Congress in a newly created at-large district. He did not run for re-election in 1874 after redistricting, but ran for the 2nd district in 1876. He was elected to the Forty-fifth United States Congress. His major congressional effort was advocating the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
In 1880 Cain was elected and consecrated a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church; he served the episcopal district which comprised Louisiana and Texas. He helped found Paul Quinn College and served as its president until 1884.
He died in Washington on January 18, 1887 and is buried in Graceland cemetery.

Leo E. Allen, A Modern-Era Politician

2012-01-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Throughout the early life of this blog we have reflected on Civil War era history, before I have the chance to research more in-depth, I thought I would give you a few more biographical sketches. This one is on a recent politician, Leo E. Allen.
Leo Elwood Allen (October 5, 1898 – January 19, 1973), American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for fourteen terms, 1933–1961, representing the 13th District of Illinois 1933–1949, and the 16th District of Illinois 1949–1961. He was born in Elizabeth, Illinois and was educated at University of Michigan. Allen was the Jo Daviess County, Illinois Court clerk and also taught school in Galena and practiced law before being elected to the 73rd Congress as a Republican and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1961); chairman, Committee on Rules (Eightieth and Eighty-third Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1960. Leo Allen missed 61 (2%) of 2,461 roll call votes between Mar 9, 1933 and Aug 31, 1960.
In 1941, Allen voted Yes for War with Japan and No for War against Germany. Also, in 1941, he voted no for the amendment to the Neutrality Act of 1940, which would have opened up even greater talks of Internment.
Allen retired to Galena and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery (Galena, Illinois).

J. Russell Jones, Mr. Belvidere

2011-12-27T21:14:00.000-08:00

One man who is forgotten by many Galenians is J. Russell Jones. Everyone in Galena, though, knows of his mansion, the Belvidere.
Jones was born on Febuary 17, 1823 in Conneaut, Ohio. Once his father died, at J. Russell's age of two, the family moved on to Pecatonica, Illinois, up from the Rock River when his mother remarried.
"Taking companionship of Judge Fleming of Rockford and Colonel Broadhead, J. Russell traveled by wagon to see his family before setting out for adventure in Galena. Taking the loan of an old white horse from his cousin, selling some coon skins, he rode. Upon arrival buying a hat with his only remaining dollar. A large merchantile establishment owned by Benjamin H. Campbell finally offered him a means of support. WIth readiness to take on all tasks, made for a grand impression. In a few short years, he became the mainstay of the business. By 1846, at just 23 years of age, he was elected to the position of Secretary and Treasurer of the Galena and Minnesota Packet Line. This fine steamboat company operated "down the Galena River (then still known as the Fever River) the few miles to the Mississippi, and up that great artery of trade to Dubuque, Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Line's northern terminus. It also had connections to St. Louis and the South."
By 1857, married with family, he moved them into a "big Victorian mansion, styled in the fashionable manner of an Italian villa, which he had just built on the east side of the River, now known as 'Belvedere'." Later, after some misfortune, the home itself would acquire the name.
In 1860, his election to the legislature from JoDaviess and Carroll Counties sent him to Springfield and at the tender age of 37, he became the Honorable J. Russell Jones. Becoming tight friends with a Captain Grant, a West Point graduate and once a hero of the Mexican War who had fallen into hard times and had retreated to his father's business in Galena. Undetered, J. Russell saw the potential in this man and enlisted Grant to train the townsmen in the "rudiments of military tactics and discipline" as the country entered its darkest days. Jones was appointed by President Lincoln himself to the office of United States Marshals for the Northern District of Illinois just three weeks before the war broke out.
The likes of friendships with Washburne, Grant and Lincoln did not come without consequence. In the course of his duties, J. Russell seized upon two Galena lawyers (and neighbors) who saw opposition to Lincoln's stand. J. Russell, after open hostility of these two "copperheads," received orders from Secretary of War Stanton to arrest them. Jones acted. Johnson and Sheean were arrested, detained and eventually transferred to Fort Delaware (This will be discussed in a later post). The case eventually was dropped which set to motion a course of litigation against Washburne, Jones and others that lasted years. The sorry consequence after five years of upper court hearings for suit of wrongful imprisonment, eventually awarded damages to the defendants. In the course of all of the proceedings and final judgement of Johnson vs Jones, "Johnson succeeded to the ownership of the Jones mansion in Galena. Known through the years as the Jones House, then the (Henry) Corwith House, and then the Johnson House.

By 1863 J. Russell had gained control of the Chicago West Division Rail Company. He returned a favor to his once mentor, Benjamin Campbell and made him Vice President of his companies. His company grew and remained in tack through the devistation of the Chicago fire with minimal loses. At a value of nearly $6 million dollars in 1886, the company was sold with rewards to investors who believed in its sale.

In the days of Lincoln's presidency, Jones received a telegram from President Lincoln asking that J. Russell pay him a visit in Washington to enlist his advice about the stirrings of Grant's supporters for Grant to run for President two years hence. Lincoln wanted to know more about Grant, being aware that the warrants of impeachment might prevent Lincoln from serving a second term. However, the assassination brought speculation to a halt. "As early as 1866, Jones and Washburne apparently had been among those who promoted the name of Ulyesses S. Grant for President..."

Grant was awarded the Republican nomination and election. Jones "stood at the pinnacle of his career." Washburne would become Secretary of State. J. Russell Jones was named Minister Resident of Belgium as a foreign minister of the diplomatic service. In 1869, at the age of 64, Jones took his post and residence with his family in Brussels.

"Up off the sidewalk of Michigan Avenue" he died on April 11, 1909."

The italicized portion of this blog is from a very informative page on the Belvedire Mansion's website dedicated to the home's original owner.

Christmas/Winter Collage

2011-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

For Christmas the Galena History Blog will not be writing until next week, so our gift to you is a collage of pictures of Galena in the winter. Merry Christmas!!!

Chetlain on Grant

2011-12-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the long break, below is a piece from the Hamlin Garland Papers at USC. It was an excerpt of an interview Chetlain did after Grant's death on his relationship with Ulysses.

Chetlain served under Grant during the Civil War, attaining the rank of Major General, and became a close friend of Grant's. He was one of Grant's card-playing partners in the White House and later spoke about their friendship at length in the following interview:

I was in Galena at the start of the war and I know the facts of how Grant got back into the Army. He was chairman of a meeting there and a Veteran, so naturally they approached him at once to be Captain of the company. Grant took me aside and said: "I hear there is talk of making me Captain of this company, but I cannot take that. I have been graduated at West Point, I have been a Captain in the regular army and I should have a Colonelcy or a proper staff appointment - nothing else would be proper.
Grant went with me to Springfield to see the Governor, but he probably did not make a favorable impression on the Governor. His dress was seedy, he had only one suit and that he had worn all winter; he had a short pipe, a stubby beard, and his old slouch hat did not make him look a very promising candidate for the Colonelcy. Grant was at that time a man of considerable talk, with his friends he was a great talker, talked well, too. He had not a wide command of words, but was vivid. I saw a great deal of him. He took a room across the street from the Chinnery House in Springfield, at $3.50 a week, and me invited me to share the room and bed with him. He was working during the day and I was at the camp, but at night we were always together and he sat and talked. I could write a volume on what the man told me then. He gave me the most valuable instruction.
A few days after I went up to see him in the State House, and was shown into a small poorly furnished room, used as a sort of anteroom to the Adjutant-General's office. Grant sat at a little square table, of which one leg was gone. A book and a pen and an inkstand formed his equipment. He had his hat on and was smoking his pipe. As I came up to him, I said, "Grant, what are you doing here?" He looked up with an expression of weariness and disgust on his face and said, "I am copying orders and I am going to quit and go home. Any enlisted man could do this as well as I, or better." I remember when he camp to my camp at Caseyville he helped my adjutant-general lay out a camp, spent a whole afternoon at it without pay or thought of pay. That was the kind of man he was, always ready to do anybody a service.
After he became famous, I saw Grant at Shiloh about two o'clock of the first say. He was calm and cool, perfect master of himself. He rode over where I was an asked me how I happened to be out that day. He knew I had been ill. I told him I could not help it for my regiment had no one to command it. He saw that I was sick and suffering and said quietly, "Take your regiment and retire to your old position; the enemy has done his worst, he will do no more today. Tomorrow Wallace and Buell will be here and we go finish them up."
Grant was generally just and considerate, but he could be unrelenting. He forgave Baldy Smith who failed him; he forgave Lew Wallace who failed him at Shiloh; he forgave Fitz John Porter, but he did not forgive Washburne. He played a double game in this matter of the third term. Grant did not really want the third term, but entered into it on account of Mrs. Grant. It was perfectly evident that he did not care particularly about it, but having entered into the race, he naturally wanted to go through. After his defeat, Grant said, "My friends have not been kind to me in pressing upon me this third term. I could not afford to go before the convention and be defeated. My friends were not just to me in saying that it was only a matter of form."
Grant was not afraid of Lee. He wanted to get at him. He knew Lee, respected him, but knew his limits as a soldier. He thought highly of Joe Johnston. Grant made mistakes judging men in civil life but not in military life. He got at the characters of his adversaries as well. He loved Sheridan. He introduced him once in Galena as "My friend, General Sheridan." He was as proud as a mother of a handsome son. After the war his friends presented him with a house in Galena all furnished, dinner on the table and the ladies of the town to wait on him at table. Excessive simplicity. He walked down to the little Methodist church the following Sunday. He went about shaking hands.
After the world tour, he was just the same simple man. A close observer, he had stored up a vast amount of facts which he related with great fluency and power. I was with him (in the early 1880's) when someone threw a rotten egg at him in Galesburg, Illinois. He was indignant. "I've been all 'round the world," he said, "and the first indignity I have suffered is in Illinois."

Elihu Washburne, the Radical Republican

2011-12-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

This post is centered on yet another man in which many posts following will be centered around, Elihu B. Washburne. Below is a biographical sketch of this man who was the Representative for NW Illinois for many years.

Elihu Washburne was a member of the first family of Republicans, his brothers Cadwallader, Israel Jr., and William were also politicians, making them the original Kennedys in a way. Elihu was born on September 23, 1816 in Livermore, Maine. Washburne studied law at Kent's Hill Seminary in 1836 and Harvard Law School in 1839. After being admitting to the bar in 1840 Washburne he worked as a lawyer in Galena, Illinois. He married Adele Gratiot, noted as the first white child born in Galena. A member of the Whig Party he failed in his attempt to be elected to the 31st Congress in 1848. However, he was successful in the 33rd Congress and took his seat in March, 1853.

An early member of the the Republican Party, and served as chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Committee on Appropriations. In 1860 Washburne played an important role in persuading radicals such as Joshua Giddings to support the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. He also persuaded Lincoln to appoint Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. However, he failed to stop William Seward (Secretary of State) and Simon Cameron (Secretary of War), entering the Cabinet.

He was known for his courage, and met President-elect Abraham Lincoln upon his arrival in Washington, D.C. on February 23, 1861. An assassination attempt was feared, and other Republican Party leaders were afraid to take on this duty. Washburne and his brothers had hidden the whereabouts of President-elect Lincoln by personally cutting telegraph wires in key locations. Washburne had been the president-elect's confidential informant in the Capital, keeping him informed of developments in Washington and in Illinois when he was there. Shortly after Mr. Lincoln received the Republican nomination for President, he wrote Washburne: "I hope you will write often; and as you write more rapidly than I do, don't make your letters so short as mine."

Unlike Illinois Congressman William Kellogg, Washburne was a strong opponent of any compromise with the seceding states about slavery. Washburne wrote President-elect Lincoln on January 7: "Great commotion and excitement exist to-day in our ranks in regard to a compromise that is supposed to be hatching by the Weed-Seward dynasty. Weed is here and one great object now is to obtain your acquiescence in the scheme to sell out and degrade the republicans. Leonard Swett is the agent to be employed to get you into it. He is acting under the direction of Weed, and it is said writes a letter to you dictated by Weed. No word of caution from me to you can be necessary. If you waver, our party has gone."

Washburne also acted to secure lodging in Washington for the Lincoln family before the inauguration. With the approval of other Illinois Republicans, he arranged for President-elect Lincoln to stay in a private home rather than at a hotel. But on the way to Washington, other Republicans argued that such a residence might compromise Mr. Lincoln and he was better off staying in a hotel. Washburne's views actually proved prophetic: "At the hotel, you would be literally run over, but in your own house these things can be much better controlled."

In Congress, Washburne's strong personality interfered with his ambitions and deprived him of a chance to be speaker. Journalist Noah Brooks described Washburne as "one of the abler men in the House, of indomitable and imperious will; a governing mind, he leads men captive at his will by sheer semibrute force and not by force of logic or sweet persuasion. There is no softness of sentiment about that hard, iron-gray head." But Washburne himself was a controversial figure - often at odds with other Republican members of the House. Brooks wrote that one of Washburne's legislative maneuvers at the end of the 1864 session "was floored once more. Some men never will learn anything."

Elihu Washburne House

Even without such honors Washburne had developed a trump card in his career - he was the primary political sponsor for General Ulysses Grant, who had lived in Washburne's home town of Galena before rejoining the army at the outbreak of the Civil War. In early 1864 Washburne was the sponsor of legislation making Grant a lieutenant general. "Washburne had the pleasure of delivering Grant's commission as Lieutenant General into the hero's own hand; but he might have saved the journey which he took for that purpose, as Grant arrived in this city last evening about dusk," wrote Brooks of Grant's arrival in the nation's capital in March. But Washburne was primarily a Lincoln loyalist, noted Grant's top aide, General John A. Rawlins. About the time Grant was promoted, Rawlins wrote another military officer: "The Honorable E.B. Washburne I am sure is not in favor of Grant for the Presidency. He is for Mr. Lincoln." At one point before the capture of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 even Washburne had wavered on Grant. President Lincoln told Ward Hill Lamon that 'even Washburne, who has always claimed Grant as his by right of discovery, had deserted him and demands his removal."

He was among the original proponents of legal racial equality. As a congressman, he served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction which drafted the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. After the Civil War, Washburne advocated that large plantations be divided up to provide compensatory property for freed slaves. He may be best known for as a leader of the Radical Republicans.
Washburne served as President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of State, replacing William H. Seward, for twelve days in March 1869; it remains the shortest term of any Secretary of State. He then became minister -- head of the U.S. diplomatic mission -- to France, where he was influential in negotiating the armistice for the Franco-Prussian War.
Washburne retired from government in 1876, although he was mentioned as a presidential candidate at the Republican conventions in 1880 and 1884. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, and served as president of the Chicago Historical Society from 1884 to 1887. Washburne's son Hempstead (named after his law partner in Galena) served as mayor of Chicago from 1891 to 1893. Elihu died on October 23, 1887 at the age of 71 in Chicago. Washburne is buried in Galena at Greenwood Cemetery.

Meet the Generals: Ulysses S. Grant, Savior of a Nation, 1861-85

2011-12-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

The quintessential Grant photograph

Grant as General

We left off last post discussing Grant pre-war, and the first year of the war. The next 3 years of his story will not take place in Galena, rather many spots around the nation that he is trying to save.

Grant's first battles during the Civil War centered on Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River runs into the Mississippi River. The Confederate Army was stationed in Columbus, Kentucky under General Leonidas Polk. Grant, who was headquartered at Cairo, was given an open order by Union General John C. Frémont to make demonstrations against the Confederate Army at Belmont. Taking 3,114 Union troops by boat, Grant attacked Fort Belmont on November 7, 1861. Initially taking the fort, his army was pushed back to Cairo by Confederate General Gideon J. Pillow. Though considered a defeat, the battle gave confidence to Grant and the Union Army. Following Beltmont, Grant moved Union forces down the Mississippi River to capture Confederate water fortresses. Grant's troops, in collaboration with the Union Navy under Andrew H. Foote, successfully captured Fort Henry on February 6, 1862 and Fort Donelson on February 16. Fort Henry, undermanned by Confederates and nearly submerged from flood waters, was taken over with few losses; however at Fort Donelson the Union Army and Navy experienced stiff resistance from the Confederate forces under General Pillow. Grant's initial 15,000 troop strength was increased by 10,000 reinforcements. Grant’s first attack on Fort Donelson was countered by Pillow's forces, pushing the Union Army into disorganized retreat eastward on the Nashville road. However, Grant was able to rally the troops; he resumed the offensive and the Confederates forces surrendered. Grant’s surrender terms were popular throughout the nation: “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender.” With these victories, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.

Grant's first picture after being appointed Lt. Gen. in 1864

The Union army, known as the Army of the Tennessee, under Grant had increased to 48,894 men and were encamped on the western side of the Tennessee River. On April 6, 1862 a determined full-force attack from the Confederate Army took place at the Battle of Shiloh; the objective was to destroy the entire Western Union offensive once for all. Over 44,699 confederate troops led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, vigorously attacked five divisions of Grant’s army bivouacked nine miles south at Pittsburgh Landing. Aware of the impending Confederate attack, Union troops sounded the alarm and readied for battle, however, no defensive entrenchment works had been made. The Confederates struck hard and repulsed the Union Army towards the Tennessee River. Grant and Maj. General William T. Sherman were able to rally the troops and make a stand. After receiving reinforcement troops from Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace's missing division, Grant succeeded in stabilizing the Army of the Tennessee. Confederate General Johnston was killed in the battle on the first day of fighting. On April 7, Grant launched a costly counter-offensive and pursuit that forced the Confederate Army, now under P.G.T. Beauregard, to retreat to Corinth.

The battle was the costliest in the Civil War up until this time, having 23,746 combined Union and Confederate casualties. The carnage at Shiloh demonstrated to both Confederates and Unionists that the Civil War was both very serious and extremely costly. Shiloh was the first battle in the American Civil War with tremendous casualties and Grant received much criticism for keeping the Union Army bivouacked rather than entrenched. As a result, Grant's superior Maj. Gen Henry Halleck demoted him to second-in-command of a newly formed 120,000-strong Union Army.

Grant with his prized possession, his horse Cincinnatus

Grant first campaigned to take Vicksburg by an overland route following a railroad in combination with a water expedition on the Mississippi led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. Confederate cavalry raiders Bedford Forest and Earl Van Dorn stalled Grant's advance by breaking communications, while the Confederate army led by John C. Pemberton concentrated and repulsed Sherman's direct approach at Chickasaw Bayou. During the second phase to capture Vicksburg, Grant attempted a series of unsuccessful and highly criticized movements along bayou and canal water routes. Finally, in April 1863, Grant marched Union troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed east over at Bruinsburg using Adm. David Porter's naval ships. Grant previously had implemented two diversion battles that confused Pemeberton and allowed the Union Army to cross the Mississippi River. After a series of battles and having taken a railroad junction near Jackson, Grant went on to defeat Confederate General John C. Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill. After Champion Hill, Grant made two costly direct assaults on the Vickburg fortess and finally settled for a seven week siege. Pemberton, who was in charge of the fortress, surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863.

The Vicksburg Campaign was Grant’s greatest achievement up to this time, having opened the south to Chattanooga and gave the Union army access to the vital grainery supply in Georgia. The fall of Vicksburg in 1863 combined with the Union naval capture of New Orleans in 1862 gave the Union Army and Navy control over the entire Mississippi; having divided the Confederacy in two.
On November 23, 1863 the situation at Chattanooga was urgent. Grant had organized three armies to attack Bragg on Missionary Ridge and Confederate troops on Lookout Mountain. On November 24, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and four divisions of the Army of the Tennessee assaulted Bragg's right flank. Thomas and Army of the Cumberland, under order from Grant, overtook Confederate picket trenches at the base of Missionary Ridge. Maj. Gen. Hooker and the Army of the Potomac took Lookout Mountain and captured 1,064 prisoners. On November 25, Sherman continued his attack on Bragg's right flank on the northern section of Missionary Ridge. In response to Sherman's assault Bragg withdrew Confederate troops on the main ridge to reinforce the Confederate right flank. Seeing that Bragg was reinforcing his right flank, Grant ordered Thomas to make a general assault on Missionary Ridge. After a brief delay, the Army of the Cumberland, led by Sheridan and Wood, stormed over and captured the first Confederate rifle entrenchments.Without further orders, the Army of the Cumberland continued up hill and captured the Confederate's secondary entrenchments on top of Missionary Ridge; forcing the defeated Confederates into disorganized retreat. The victory at Chattanooga increased Grant's fame throughout the country. Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General, a position that had previously been given to George Washington and given to Winfield Scott as a brevet promotion. Grant was given charge of the entire Union Army. Grant gave the Department of the Mississippi to Maj. Gen. Sherman, and went east to Washington D.C. to make and implement an overall strategy in partnership with President Lincoln to finally win the Civil War. Grant was the only General consistently winning victories for the Union. The decisive 1863 Chattanooga battle opened Georgia and the heartland of the Confederacy to Union invasion by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman.

A depiction of US Grant during the Civil War.

In Washington D.C., President Lincoln met with Grant and discussed an overall "total war" military strategy to end the Civil War with a Union victory. The strategy consisted of combined military Union offensives attacking the Confederacy's armies, railroads, and economic infrastructures. The overall strategy was to keep the Confederate armies from mobilizing reinforcements within southern interior lines. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman would attack Atlanta and Georgia, while the Army of the Potomac, led by Maj. Gen. George Meade with Grant in camp, would attack Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler was to attack and advance towards Richmond, going up the James River. Depending on Lee's actions, Grant would join forces with Butler's armies and be fed supplies from the James River. Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel was to capture the railroad line at Lynchburg, move east, and attack from the Blue Ridge Mountains. However, the efforts of both Sigel and Butler failed and Grant was left alone to fight Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles of attrition known as the Overland Campaign that finally ended in a stalemate siege at Petersburg. Lee's objectives were to prolong the war and discourage the Northern will to fight, keep Grant from crossing south of the James River, and protect Richmond from Union attack.

Grant with his council in Virginia during the Overland Campaign. Grant is seated far left on the bench nest to the tree writing a dispatch.

After taking the month of April 1864 to assemble and ready the Union Army of the Potomac, Grant crossed the Rapidan River on May 4 and attacked Lee in the Wilderness, a hard-fought battle with many casualties, lasting three days. Rather than retreat as his Union predecessors had done, Grant flanked Lee's Army of Virginia to the southeast and attempted to wedge the Union Army between Lee and Richmond at Spotsylvania. Lee's army got to Spotsylvania first and a costly and lengthy battle began that lasted 13 days. During the battle, Grant attempted to break through Lee's line of defense at the Mule Shoe, which resulted in one of the most violent assaults during the Civil War, known as The Battle of the Bloody Angle. Unable to break Lee's line of defense after repeated attempts, Grant flanked Lee to the southeast east again at North Anna, a battle that lasted three days. This time the Confederate Army had a superior defensive advantage on Grant, however, due to sickness Lee was unable to lead the battle. Grant then maneuvered the Union Army to Cold Harbor, a vital railroad hub that was linked to Richmond, however, Lee was able to make strong trenches to defend a Union assault. During the third day of the 13-day Cold Harbor battle, Grant led a costly fatal assault on Lee's trenches, and as news spread in the North, heavy criticism fell on Grant, who was called "the Butcher", having lost 60,000 casualties in 30 days since crossing the Rapidan. Unknown to Robert E. Lee, Grant pulled out of Cold Harbor and stealthily moved his Army south of the James River, freed Maj. Gen. Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, and attacked Petersburg, Richmond's central railroad hub.

After Grant and the Army of the Potomac had successfully crossed the James River undetected by Lee and rescued Maj. Gen. Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, Grant advanced the Union army southward to capture Petersburg. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, in charge of Petersburg, was able to defend the city until Lee's veteran reinforcements arrived. Grant forced Lee into a long nine month siege of Petersburg and the Union War effort stalled. Northern resentment grew as the Copperhead movement led by Clement Vallandigham demanded that the war be settled through peace talks. During the Petersburg siege, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was able to take Atlanta, a victory that allowed President Lincoln to be reelected. Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan had also defeated Confederate General Early in the Shenandoah Valley; saving Washington D.C. from capture. Lee had sent Early up the Shenandoah Valley to attack Washington D.C. and draw troops away from Grant's Army of the Potomac. Sheridan's cavalry, after Early was defeated, destroyed vital Confederate supply farms in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant was able to blow up part of Lee's trenches from an underground tunnel, however, the Union troops were disorganized and unable to break through Lee's entrenchments and capture Petersburg. On August 9, 1864 Lieut. Gen. Grant, who had just arrived at his headquarters in City Point, narrowly escaped certain death when Confederate spies blew up an ammunition barge moored below the city's bluffs. The enormous explosion, similar to the Petersburg mine, killed 47 men; 146 injured.

Grant and his son Jesse at City Point, Va. in 1864

As the war slowly progressed, Grant continued to extend Robert E. Lee's entrenchment defenses southwest of Petersburg, in an effort to capture vital railroad links. By August 21, 1864 the Union Army had reached and captured the Weldon Railroad. As Grant continued to push the Union advance westward towards the South Side Railroad, Lee's entrenchment lines became overstretched and undermanned. Finally in April 1865, Grant was able to break through Lee's weakened entrenchments and capture Richmond. Knowing that Maj. Gen. Sherman's army, who had cost vast economic destruction in the south, would eventually link up with Grant's Army, Confederates troops in Lee's trenches deserted to the Army of the Potomac. Disease and lack of supplies also weakened Lee's forces. After an unsuccessful Confederate assault on Fort Stedman, Lee retreated from Petersburg and attempted to link up with the remnants of Confederate General Joe Johnson's defeated army in order to continue the war, however, Union cavalry led by Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan, a close friend of Grant, was able to stop the two armies from converging. Lee and the Army of Virginia reluctantly surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Grant gave generous terms; Confederate troops surrendered their weapons and were allowed to return to their homes on the condition they would not take up arms against the United States. Within a few weeks the Civil War was over.
On April 14, 1865, only 5 days after Grant's victory at Appomattox, President Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater. The President—who had been one of Grant’s staunchest supporters, had consulted with the general on military strategy, and had become a close friend—died the next morning. Grant and his wife were originally invited to accompany Lincoln to the theater, but they declined and instead took a train to Philadelphia. Grant was, at various points, a potential target in the Lincoln assassination plot. An unknown assailant allegedly attempted to break into Grant's railroad car; however, with the car securely locked and protected by porters the assailant fled. Upon returning to Washington, D.C. the following day and having learned that Lincoln was dead, Grant, became enraged and carelessly ordered arrests of paroled Confederate officers. Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, however, was able to calm the growing hysteria in Washington through the use of accurate army intelligence and persuaded Grant to reverse his arrest orders. Attending Lincoln's funeral on April 19, Grant stood alone and wept openly. Grant said of Lincoln, "He was incontestably the greatest man I have ever known."

Ulysses S. Grant was the most popular man in the United States after the American Civil War. After President Lincoln was assassinated in April, 1865, Grant became America's first four-star general. On July 25, 1866, Congress promoted Grant to the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, a form of the rank General of the Armies of the United States. He would also aid Congress, led by the Radicals, in their effort to reconstruct the South. Grant often disagreed with President Andrew Johnson's conservative approach during the Reconstruction Era of the United States. Grant was looked on as a popular national leader who could mend the nations wounds and bring in an era of peace. Elected President twice in 1868 and 1872 Grant's terms in office were filled with federal corruption scandals and sectional violence over the constitutional citizenship rights of African Americans. Grant, as President, supported the efforts of Congress to protect the Civil Rights of African Americans and was able for a few years to legally and militarily defeat the Ku Klux Klan. After Grant retired from the Presidency, he went on an uprecedented World tour visiting Europe, the Mid East, and Asia, returning by ship to San Francisco in June, 1879.

Return to Galena

Grant's Home in Galena, a gift from 13 businessmen to Grant and his family when he returned on August 18, 1865.

Grant and his son Jesse outside their new home in Galena.

Grant became a national hero following the Civil War. In August of 1865, Grant returned to his 'hometown' to a mass hysteria. At the ceremony, held downtown, Grant was deeded a new house on Bouthilier Street. The house was originally built by city clerk Alexander Jackson. 13 business men including Congressman Washburne paid $2,500 for the house, and it was completely furnished! Grant did not live in Galena for an extended period of time. He split his time for the first couple years between Galena and Washington, using Galena as a getaway. In 1868, when he was elected President of the United States, Grant learned of the results at the Washburne House and ran up the street to his house to greet guests to the early hours of the morning. Even though Grant lived in many places throughout his life he always said that Galena was his favorite place to live. The Grants sporadically visited their home in Galena including a visit before their World Tour in 1878. The last time Ulysses and Julia visited the house was in 1881 when they moved to Mount McGregor. Ulysses died in July 23, 1885 of throat cancer. His children would visit on occasion to celebrate the annual Grant birthday celebration in April. Julia died in 1902 in Washington DC, they are both entombed in Grant's Tomb in New York. The children deeded the house to the city in 1904, and the city handed it over to the state in 1931.

More on Ulysses Grant will be coming to this blog including information on his house, his children, his life in Galena, and much more.

Grant writing his memoirs in the final year of his life, 1885.

Meet the Generals: Ulysses S. Grant, Savior of a Nation: 1822- August 1861

2011-12-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Grant as a Brigadier General in 1861

We have finally reached the beginning of the end of the Meet the Generals series. If you know anything about Galena, you know that this man Ulysses S. Grant has played a big role in the community's image. I have actually benefited from Mr. Grant living in Galena, because I am a tour guide at his post war home (which will be discussed in the next section)

General Grant's Birthplace

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. In the fall of the following year, Hiram and his family moved to Georgetown, Ohio so his father could expand his leather business. Unlike his younger siblings, Grant was neither disciplined, baptized, nor forced to attend church by his parents. Grant is said to have inherited a degree of introversion from his reserved, even "uncommonly detached" mother (she never took occasion to visit the White House during her son's presidency). At the age of 17, Grant entered the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, secured by Congressman Thomas L. Hamer's nomination. An opening had been made at USMA when a cadet from Georgetown resigned in October 1838. Hamer mistakenly nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio." In the 1800s it was common to have your child's middle name be its mother's maiden name (Simpson), also it should be noted that Grant was only called Ulysses through most of his childhood. Hamer, as a friend of the family, thought that his first name was Ulysses, and guessed at his middle name, regarding the era's customs. At West Point, he adopted this name with a middle initial only. His nickname became "Sam" among army colleagues at the academy, since the initials "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam". The "S", according to Grant, did not "stand for anything."

The influence of Grant's family brought about the appointment to West Point; he himself did not wish to become a soldier. Grant graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. Part of Grant's demerits were due to his refusal, at times, of compulsorily church attendance; then a West Point policy that Grant viewed as anti-republican. Grant openly stated that he was lax in his studies; however, he achieved above average grades in Mathematics and Geology. At West Point, Grant studied under artist Robert Walter Weir and produced nine surviving artworks. Trained under Prussian horse master, Herschberger, Grant established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman, setting an equestrian high jump record that lasted almost 25 years. Although naturally suited for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster in the 4th U.S. Infantry, achieving the rank of brevet second lieutenant. He helped to manage supplies and equipment.

One of Grant's paintings he did at West Point in 1840, Grant gave this to his girlfriend Kate Lowe.

This painting of a horse was one Grant did in 1842. This large draft animal was an obvious drawing choice for Grant, since he was enamored with horses his entire life. Considered the greatest rider in the army, one of the few instances when Grant became angry was when he saw a teamster mistreating a horse during the Civil War.

Grant in 1843.

Ulysses originally wanted to be a math professor when he attended West Point, but due to the lack of job openings, he decided to stick with a military career. His first military aoppointment was to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Mo. That is where he met up with his good friend, Frederick Dent, Jr. Dent, invited Ulysses to stay at his home, and that is where he met his future wife Julia. Julia and Ulysses were engaged three months later, but due to the Mexcian War their marriage was put on hold for four years, they were finally married on August 22, 1848. Together Ulysses and Julia had four children Frederick (1850-1912), Ulysses (Buck) Jr. (1852-1929), Nellie (1855-1922), and Jesse (1858-1934).

Following his service in the Mexican War, Grant was stationed all over the nation, and due to a growing family he decided to retire from the military and take up husbandry. He struggled through seven financially lean years. From 1854-58, he labored on a family farm near St. Louis he named "Hardscrabble". Following the death of his mother-in-law in 1858, Ulysses had to operate two farms under one income. Grant's father, consistently telling him to quit farming and work in his leather business finally got his promise. Grant decided to move with his family to Galena in 1860. He and Julia rented a house on High Street where they would live during the war. His family would frequently attend the Methodist church in Galena, which sits right below his pre-war home, and right above his place of employment.

Grant worked as a clerk in his father's leather shop (present-day Coatsworth Apartments) which was run by his two brothers Sam and Orville. His brother Sam would die of tuberculosis in 1860, the only member of the Grant family buried in Galena.

Grant was not involved in politics throughout much of his life. In the election of 1856, it was noted that he voted for James Buchanan, a democrat, due to his pledge to keep the Union together. Grant's father was a prominent Republican in Ohio, he never lived for a very long time in Galena because he was still operating his shop in Georgetown. His father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis.

Grant's prewar home

Grant was swayed to the Republican Party and Lincoln after a masterful speech by his future chief of staff, and prominent Galena Republican John Rawlins, which told people to support the Union and fight for the country. Another key friend, and prominent Republican, Elihu B. Washburne (he will be discussed following the two-part series on Grant), would aid the General in his meteoric rise in the Army.

When the war broke out, Grant helped organize a group of volunteers from Galena, originally he did not want to take part in the war, but agreed to help organize Galena's regiment being that he was the only man in Galena with West Point experience. He would accompany it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. He accepted a position offered by Illinois Gov. Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers. Grant, who wanted a field command, was efficient and energetic in the training camps and made a positive impression on the volunteer Union recruits. With the aid of his advocate in Washington D.C.,Elihu Washburne, Grant was promoted to Colonel by Governor Richard Yates on June 14, 1861, and put in charge of the unruly Twenty-first Illinois volunteer regiment. By the end of August 1861, Grant was given charge of the District of Cairo by Maj. Gen John C. Fremont, an outside Lincoln appointment, who viewed Grant as "a man of dogged persistance, and iron will." Grant's own demeanor changed; having renewed energies, he began to walk with a confident step.

To be continued....

Meet the Generals: John Oliver Duer, Transient General

2011-12-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

The General with the least influence in Galena and the one that spent the least time in Galena is our last General before our two part general overview of Ulysses S. Grant. John Oliver Duer is also the youngest of the Generals to have come out of Galena. Not much is noted on John Duer, but listed below are the key points of the story of his brief life.

John Oliver Duer was born on February 12, 1838 in Baltimore, Maryland. Duer did not move to Galena until 1860 right before the outbreak of the Civil War. Duer was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant of Company D of the 45th Illinois Infantry in September of 1861. He was promoted 1st Lieutenant in March of 1862, Captain in April of 1862, Major in June of 1863, Lt. Colonel in January of 1865, Colonel in May of 1865, and finally was brevetted Brigadier General on July 12, 1865.

Following the war Duer moved to Monticello, Iowa where he was the head of the dry goods firm Duer & Estey. Duer was elected mayor of Monticello, and eventually died there on December 11, 1880.

Meet the Generals: William Rueben Rowley, Local Politician

2011-12-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

General William Rowley was born on February 8, 1824 in St. Lawrence County, New York. After teaching in Brown County, Ohio, Rowley moved to Galena in 1843 to continue teaching. Following his teaching career, Rowley held numerous local political offices. These offices include Assessor and Collector, Deputy City Clerk, Sheriff, and Circuit Clerk.

During the war, Rowley was originally comissioned as 1st Lieutenant in Company D of the 45th Illinois Infantry in November of 1861. Four months later, in February of 1862, Rowley was promoted Captain and Aide-de-Camp on the staff of U.S. Grant. He distinguished himself at Shiloh by riding from the thickest of the fight at the Hornet's Nest toward Crump's Landing with orders to General Lewis Wallace to bring his troops to the field, for which service he was promoted major, November 1st, 1862. He served on the staff until the siege of Vicksburg, when he was temporarily detached from headquarters, and acted as provost-marshal-general of the departments of the Tennessee and Cumberland, with headquarters at Columbus, Kentucky. When General Grant was promoted lieutenant-general, Major Rowley was made lieutenant-colonel and military secretary on his staff, which office he held until 30 August, 1864, when he resigned, owing to impaired health. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865.

Following the war, Rowley resumed his post as Jo Daviess County Clerk until 1876. Following his career as County Clerk, Rowley was elected county judge which he held until his death on February 9, 1886, a day following his 62nd birthday. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Galena, IL.

Meet the Generals: John Corson Smith, Freemason

2011-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

Above is a bronze medal with the General's depiction.

As mentioned previously, the next couple of generals will not have two much detail initially, but future posts will delve more into these generals' lives. The first of these "no-name" generals is one who was an Illinois politician following his career in the military.

John Corson Smith was born February 13, 1832 in Philadelphia, Pa. He moved to Galena in 1854, and was an active freemason. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the 74th Illinois as a private, but later he formed Company I of the Illinois 96th Volunteers. He took part in many battles, was wounded, and before being mustered out he attained the rank of General. He was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers on June 20, 1865 for "meritorious services".

Following the war, he served as Illinois State Treasurer from 1870-81 and from 1883-85, and then he served as Lieutenant Governor of the state from 1885-89. In 1876, he served as Commissioner of the Centennial Exposition.

John C. Smith may be best known for his long time service to the Masonic Order. In his New York Times obituary, his service in the Masonry was the first thing to be noted. He was noted as being "one of the most active members of the Masonic order in the United States for many years." He also held many honorary offices in the order. He was also known for his books on Masonic history, including "History of Freemasonry in Illinois", which he wrote in 1903. Another book was entitled "The History of Freemasonry in Galena, IL"

John Corson Smith died on December 31, 1910 in Chicago. He is entombed in Greenwood Cemetery in Galena.

His tombstone in Greenwood Cemetery in Galena. Below his headstone entitled "Father", he left behind three sons at the time of his death.

Meet the Generals: John Eugene Smith, Galena Jeweler

2011-12-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

I understand that this is a very quick turnaround, from my last post, but these next few generals (leading up to Ulysses S. Grant) do not take up to much space, due to the minimal knowledge the amateur civil war historian knows about these men.

The next general I will discuss will be General John Eugene Smith. John E. Smith was born in Berne, Switzerland, on August 3, 1816, to a father who served for Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleanic Wars. His family emigrated to Philadelphia after the downfall of the Napoleanic regime. In Philadelphia, the young Smith was educated to be a jeweler. After operating his jewelry shop for 20 years, he moved to Galena to continue practicing his trade.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Smith served as an aide de camp to Illinois Governor Richard Yates. On July 23, 1861 he was appointed colonel of the 45th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He led his regiment at the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh. On November 29, 1861 he was promoted to brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers. He briefly commanded a brigade before taking command of he 8th Division, XVI Corps. When Ulysses S. Grant began his final campaign against Vicksburg, Smith was placed in command of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XVII Corps. He fought at the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill and in the assaults on Vicksburg. In June, 1863 in the midst of the siege of Vicksburg, Smith was chosen to replace Gen. Isaac F. Quinby in command of the 7th Division, XVII Corps after Quinby became ill and took a leave of absence. In September, 1863 Smith was transferred to command the 2nd Division, XVII Corps and his division was sent with William T. Sherman to aid in the relief of Chattanooga. During the battle of Missionary Ridge, Smith took part in the attacks against the Confederate right flank at Tunnel Hill.
In December, 1863 Smith took command of the 3rd Division, XV Corps which he would command until the end of the war.He saw action during the Atlanta Campaign, March to the Sea and the Carolinas Campaign.

Following the war, General Smith was mustered out of the volunteer service, but chose to stay in the regular army. He was appointed colonel of the 27th U.S. Infantry Regiment. He received a promotion to brigadier general in 1867 and a brevet promotion to major general in 1869. He retired from the army in 1881.
Smith resided in Chicago, Illinois during his final years of life and died there on January 29, 1897. He is buried in Galena.

We are now half way through the general series, this is the 5th general (US Grant will have a two part piece at the end of the series).

Meet the Generals: Jasper Adalmorn Maltby, Gunsmith

2011-12-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

Jasper Adalmorn Maltby was born in Kingsville, Ohio on November 3, 1826. He lived in Ohio until he came back from the Mexican War. He subsequently moved to Galena, Illinois, and became a gunsmith, living in a room above the shop with his wife and son.

Maltby is noted as being one of the first inventors of a telescopic sights for rifles.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Maltby enlisted as a private in the 45th Illinois Infantry (known as the "Lead Mine Regiment") on December 26, 1861. He was elected as the regiment's lieutenant colonel that same day. He participated in the 1862 attack on Fort Donelson in Tennessee, and was wounded in the elbow and both thighs. He was eventually shipped home to Galena to recuperate. After his recovery, he was promoted to colonel.
The following year he commanded his Illinois troops in Ulysses S. Grant's operations against the Confederate defenses of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Maltby was again wounded during an attack on Fort Hill on June 25. Union troops had tunneled under the 3rd Louisiana Redan and packed the mine with 2,200 pounds of gunpowder. The resulting explosion blew apart the Confederate lines, while troops from John A. Logan's division of the XVII Corps followed the blast with an infantry assault. Maltby's 45th Illinois charged into the 40-foot (12 m) diameter, 12-foot (3.7 m) deep crater with ease, but were stopped by recovering Confederate infantry. The Union soldiers became pinned down while the defenders rolled artillery shells with short fuses into the pit with deadly results. Maltby suffered severe injuries to his head and right side and never fully recovered, but was able to continue in the army.
He was promoted to brigadier general on August 4, 1863. On September 8, he took command of the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, of the XVII Corps in the Army of the Tennessee. For much of 1864, his brigade was in the 1st Division of the Department of Vicksburg, but for part of summer was temporarily commanded by Colonel John H. Howe while Maltby recovered from complications from his Vicksburg wounds. Maltby's Brigade remained in Vicksburg throughout the year while much of the army fought in northern Georgia and later in Tennessee.

After the war, Maltby remained in Vicksburg in the Regular Army. He served as the city's military governor from September 6, 1867, until December 12 when he stepped down due to illness. Maltby died ten days later in Vicksburg from either yellow fever or a cardiac arrest. His body was returned to Galena and buried there in Greenwood Cemetery.
His brother William H. Maltby was the captain of a Confederate artillery battery and was taken as a prisoner of war in a skirmish on Mustang Island along the Texas Gulf Coast. Jasper Maltby used his influence to get his brother released and sent to Vicksburg until he could be exchanged.

As noted in the previous blog post, the remaining generals in this series will not have as much information as the previous three we have discussed.

Meet the Generals: Augustus Louis Chetlain, First in War

2011-12-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

General Augustus Louis Chetlain maybe one of the lesser known generals in Galena, but his impact and his accounts on General Grant deem him a valuable resource and an important figure. If you have ever lived in Galena, you have heard of Chetlain Lane, this street is named after this man.
Chetlain was born December 26, 1824 in St. Louis, Missouri. As an infant Chetlian and his family arrived in Galena, by 1852 Chetlain began his business career as a clerk, and eventually became an owner of a local business in Galena. By 1859, it was noted that Mr. Chetlain was very wealthy. That year, he sold his business and began to travel Europe.
By the time war broke out in 1861, he chose the side of the union, and he always said that he was the first man to volunteer in the state of Illinois. On April 16 he was part of a meeting held in Galena to raise a volunteer company, and with Ulysses S. Grant was prominent in its creation. When Grant declined the post (and at his suggestion) Chetlain was elected as the company's captain. In Springfield in late April the 12th Illinois Infantry was organized, and Chetlain's company was added to it. On May 2 he entered the Union Army as captain of the 12th Illinois, and the next day he was elected the regiment's lieutenant colonel.

On April 6, 1862, Chetlain led his regiment with distinction during the Battle of Shiloh. In the fight he lost about a quarter of his men and Chetlain was wounded when both his face and chest were seriously bruised. On April 27 he was promoted to colonel for gallantry during the action at Fort Donelson. That May his command participated in the Siege of Corinth and then the battle there on October 3 and 4, during which Chetlain was again highly praised for his performance. Chetlain was then given command of Corinth, Mississippi, where he began to organize and train black soldiers for Union Army service. This assignment lasted until May 1863, and on December 18 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. On the advice of Grant, Chetlain was given the task of raising black troops in Tennessee and Kentucky, with his headquarters located in Memphis. By October 1864 he had trained a force of about 17,000 men that were "well armed, drilled, and disciplined."
On June 18, 1865, Chetlain was brevetted to the rank of major general. Between 1865 and 1866 he commanded at Memphis and then at Talladega, Alabama. On January 26, 1866, Chetlain was mustered out of the Union Army. His war-time performance has been described as:

"Gen. Chetlain throughout his varied army career had military ardor, and a love for the profession of arms. He proved himself a brave commander in action, a successful organizer, an excellent disciplinarian and tactician, and possessed a high order of administrative ability."

-James T. White, National Cyclopedia of American Biography

After the war, Chetlain was assessor of Internal Revenue for the district of Utah from 1867–69. From 1869–72, he was at U. S. consul in Brussels. During the Grant administration, Chetlain was also noted as beign one of Grant's card playing partners in the White House. In 1872, he established himself in the banking business in Chicago and also as a stock broker. He was president of the Home National Bank, organizer of the Industrial Bank of Chicago, director of the Chicago Stock Exchange, and member of the Board of Education. In 1893 he wrote Recollections of Seventy Years. On March 15, 1914, at the age of 89 he died in Chicago. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Galena.

There will be more added on Chetlain as the blog continues to grow, stay tuned. Including Chetlain's recollections on his close friend U.S. Grant.
Also note that this will be the last long intro for the generals (excluding Gen. Grant), the other four are not as well known as Rawlins, Parker, and Chetlain.

Augustus Chetlain's gravemarker in Greenwood Cemetery in Galena.

Meet the Generals: Ely S. Parker, Engineer of Surrender

2011-12-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

For those thinking I was going to write on US Grant right off the top, you are mistaken. The next general I will be talking about is General Ely Parker. Unlike John Rawlins, Parker was not born in Galena, Parker was born on a Native American Reservation in New York. His story is unlike any who reached the rank of general in the Civil War.

Parker was born in 1828 into a prominent Seneca family. Parker worked in a law firm, but due to his Seneca heritage, he was unable to take the bar exam. Native Americans were not citizens until 1924. Parker began his career in public service by working as an interpreter and diplomat to the Seneca chiefs in their negotiations about land and treaty rights, in 1852 Parker was made sachem (chief) of the Seneca.

His story in Galena, though, does not begin until 1855. He was hired that year to be the supervisor of government projects in Galena, which included the building of the Customs House.

Above is the Old Post Office (Customs House) built by Ely Parker and his staff. This post office is the second oldest continously operating post office in the United States

The two men became friends and during the war Grant made a position on his staff for the able Parker.
He then sought to join the Union Army as an engineer, but was told by Secretary of War Simon Cameron that as an Indian, he could not join. Parker contacted his colleague and friend Ulysses S. Grant, who intervened. His forces suffered from a shortage of engineers, and Parker was commissioned a captain in May, 1863 and ordered to report to Brig. Gen. John Eugene Smith, also from Galena. General Smith appointed Parker as the chief engineer of his 7th Division during the siege of Vicksburg. Smith said Parker was a "good engineer".

When Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi, Parker became his adjutant during the Chattanooga Campaign. He was subsequently transferred with Grant as the adjutant of the U.S. Army headquarters and served Grant through the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. At Petersburg, Parker was appointed as the military secretary to Grant, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He wrote much of Grant's correspondence.
At the time of the surrender Parker was a lieutenant colonel, but received the rank of brevet brigadier general after the Civil War.

Lieutenant Colonel Ely Parker made the formal ink copy of General Grant’s letter that spelled out the terms of surrender. “Having finished it, I brought it to General Grant, who signed it, sealed it and then handed it to General Lee” - Lt. Colonel Ely Parker.
At the surrender meeting, seeing that Parker was an American Indian, General Lee remarked to Parker, “I am glad to see one real American here.” Parker later stated, “I shook his hand and said, 'We are all Americans'.”

Among members of Grant’s staff Parker was known for his fine handwriting, his knowledge of the law, his sense of humor, and as a good fellow to have around in a fight. Parker once described himself as “a savage Jack Falstaff of 200 weight.”

Following the War, Grant appointed Parker as Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1869 to 1871. He was the first Native American to hold the office. Parker became the chief architect of President Grant's Peace Policy in relation to the Native Americans in the West. Under his leadership, the number of military actions against Indians were reduced in the west.
After leaving government service, Parker invested in the stock market. He eventually lost the fortune he had accumulated, after the collapse of 1873. Parker died in poverty on August 31, 1895 in Fairfield, Ct.
There will be more stories on Parker at a later date, this is a brief overview of his life.

Ely Parker (right) and General Grant (left) during the war.