Scraps of Wood that Fueled a Vision

The Career and Civil War Service of Robert H. Avery

     Andersonville, the notorious Confederate prison camp, broke a lot of men and killed far too many others.  How some men coped with the hunger and the brutal conditions that wore a man down both physically and mentally makes for interesting reading.  Robert Avery’s survival and subsequent career is a testament to his determination, ingenuity and triumph of the human spirit.

     Robert Avery’s parents (George Avery and Saraphina Princess Mary Phelps) were among the brave pioneers that accompanied Reverend George Washington Gale from New York to Illinois in 1836.  They were among the second group of settlers that the Reverend brought to Galesburg.  These settlers resided first in the appropriately named “Log City,” in Knox County, but soon went on to be instrumental in founding the city of Galesburg and Knox College.  The two young adults mentioned above that come with their families to the Illinois prairie soon found that proximity eventually led to attraction, then love.  The couple married in Knoxville in January of 1939.  The first of their seven children, Robert, was born a year later in 1840.

     Young Robert began to attend the Academy of Knox College (high school) in 1854, but chose not to go on to Knox College when he graduated in 1859.  Instead he chose to teach school.  He might have gone on to college eventually, but the Civil War broke out.  Robert followed the news passively for some time, but eventually he felt the urge to take part in the struggle to save the Union, and he enlisted in August of 1862, giving Galesburg as his place of residence.  He was assigned to Company A of the 77^th Illinois Infantry.  The regiment camped in Peoria until October 4^th, when they were shipped to Covington, Kentucky.  From there they were moved by steamboat to Memphis where they remained until mid-December.  They were sent further downriver, and Robert and his regiment participated in the Battle of Milliken’s Bend, in Louisiana, then in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, Jackson and Shreveport.

     In April of 1863, Robert Avery was promoted to the rank of Corporal.  In July of that year he became a partner in a farm of 160 acres in Knox County; this 24 year old young man was wise enough to be looking to his future.  On May 7^th of 1864 he earned his Sergeant’s stripes.  At the end of July of 1864 his regiment left Baton Rouge, Louisiana and were disembarked on Dauphine Island, Alabama to be part of an expedition sent to capture Mobile Bay and the forts surrounding it, an engagement best remembered by Admiral David Glasgow Farragut’s order of “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” after he had just witnessed one of the vessels in his fleet fall victim to an underwater explosive.  The 77^th Illinois was landed on the west end of Dauphine Island.  The water was so shallow near the shore that the ships hauling their cargo of troops had to anchor some distance out, then use skiffs to safely row the troops ashore.

     Fort Powell was the first of the forts to fall.  The rebels, finding that bombardment from the Union fleet and the advance of troops was making their position impossible to hold, opted to retreat to Cedar Point, a small banana-shaped island on which Fort Gaines was situated.  Union forces moved forward against the fort, which eventually fell to Union forces on August 8^th.

     A series of skirmishes and movements the next couple of weeks led to counter-attacks and fighting in the Cedar Point area and the area around the last fort to hold out; Fort Morgan.  Somehow in one of these firefights Robert Avery was taken prisoner by the rebels.  Avery was sent first to Andersonville Prison, then to other prisons in Georgia, and finally back to Andersonville, where he spent five and a half months of an eight-and-a-half month captivity before he was finally released on April 18^th of 1865.

     Robert Avery was lucky to have survived the horrors of the worst of the rebel prison camps.  His niece, Mrs. Estelle Avery Lampe reminisced that “many were the times when I heard the stories of his experiences.  How he determined that ‘if any one man comes out alive, I will be that man.’  How he never used any utensils belonging to anyone else, and never loaned his one cup to another person, using it not only as a dish, but for washing and bathing as well.  To maintain his sanity, he occupied his mind with planning pieces of machinery.  He would sketch plans for his mechanical inventions in the dirt, and with the scraps of wood which he could gather within the walls of Andersonville, he constructed the model of the corn-planter he planned to build when he would be released.”

      His daughter, Cornelia Avery Plowe, in a letter to the editor of the Knox Alumnus also remarked on her father’s time in that infamous prison camp.  She wrote that “He was a prisoner at Andersonville for about 11 months.  I have the spoon that he ate his wormy beans with while in prison.  The handle had been broken and he riveted on a section of wagon tire for a handle.”

     Two other sources substantiate the above account.  Avery’s daughter Sadie describes the Andersonville survivors, including her father, as looking like” poor, gaunt skeletons,”  and an 1899 county history states that “It was while being confined…that Mr. Avery, from sheer lack of mental occupation, first directed his thoughts to those improvements in the implements of farm work.”

    Robert Avery returned to Galesburg in 1865, weak, exhausted and ill.  To make matters worse, upon his return, he immediately came down with typhoid fever.   The Avery farm was on West Main Street, and the Cedar River, which flowed nearby, could have been the culprit.  Well –water was frequently tainted by seepage during these early years and occasionally led to outbreaks of typhoid.  For a time young Robert’s very survival was an issue, and it took him a long time to recover from the ravages of both Andersonville and the fever.

     After his recover he went to work with his brother John Thomas on a farm in Rio, Illinois, north of Galesburg.  By January of 1867 he felt financially secure enough and restored to health sufficiently to marry Sarah Ayres.  Soon Robert rented a farm a mile from Galesburg and for the next 6 years he farmed and tinkered with his ideas, working in a machine shop during the winter.

     During the 1870s Robert and his family bounced between Galesburg and Kansas as he struggled to raise the capital to bring his ideas into practical form. Homesteading cheap land in Kansas allowed him to accumulate some capital and credit to work on his projects.  He also entered into a partnership with the Brown Corn-Planter Works in Galesburg.   In 1878 his corn-planter patent was granted.  He bought into the Frost Manufacturing Company, which was built near the public square in Galesburg, in the hope that when the railroad was pushed through it would come to their location.  It didn’t.  This eventually left the Frost Company isolated.  Outgoing shipments had to be hauled by wagon to a location where they could be loaded upon a train.

     Henry Ayres, Robert’s brother-in-law and former Civil War comrade, urged him to relocate his growing firm to Peoria.  Eventually he did.  By 1883 the Avery Agricultural Works had built a large factory on 15 acres of ground in the upper part of the City.  He also purchased 40 acres to build lodging for his employees.  This extension of Peoria would eventually become known as Averyville. 

     The company became known worldwide for their farm tractors, and their logo of a pugnacious bulldog on their tractor’s smokehouse door became well known.  After World War I, the company employed 4000 employees.  Eventually, the depression and fierce competition combined to do them in,   and the Avery Company, after a couple of bankruptcies and reorganizations, ceased to exist shortly before World War II.

     Robert H. Avery, the guiding force behind the company, did not live to see its demise.  He had promised his family that when he became worth $10,000 he would take them on an extended tour of the West.  By the time he reached that financial goal though, he was too busy to keep his promise.  Finally, in 1892, around his 52^nd birthday, he was laid low by an illness that apparently prompted him to reflect that the time to honor his commitment to his family was running out.  A special railroad car, The Pickwick, left Peoria on August 26^th.  It contained Robert and 19 other members of his family.

     Ill health, which his family said had always clung about him because of his Andersonville ordeal, claimed him during this vacation that was supposed to be a time of rest and rejuvenation for him.   The September 14^th Los Angeles Express reported his demise in, “The Last Journey, a Sad Finale in the Life of Robert Avery.”

     “Robert Avery, a wealthy manufacturer of Peoria, Illinois, died quite suddenly yesterday at the Westminster Hotel.  He left home with his family for a pleasure trip to California.  At Salt Lake City he was attacked by peritonitis, but kept on for this city.  He arrived Saturday and rapidly grew worse, heart failure ensuing.  The remains will be embalmed and taken back home as soon as possible by the grief-stricken family.  Mr. Avery was a maker of agricultural implements and his income last year from a patented corn planter was $45,000.”

       Robert H. Avery is interred in Peoria’s Historic Springdale Cemetery.  The 1899 Historical Encyclopedia of Knox County pays this tribute to him…”He was a man of rare, and thoroughly original, inventive genius; strong in conviction, yet modest and unassuming; kindly, generous and just.  It was said of him after his death, by one who knew him well, that ‘to have known him was an education, while it was an honor to have been called his friend.”

 

 

Bibliography

1899 Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Knox County

Peoria’s Civil War Heroes             peroiamagazines.com

Letter from Cornelia Avery Plowe            Knox College archives

Avery Company                          Wikipedia article

Civil War Veterans of Knox County       usgennet.org

Peoria Yesterdays  by Bill Adams, 1993

Chase the Prairie Wind, A biography of Robert H. Avery         Marvin Litvin, 1975

 

    

 

Captain William H. Reynolds of Abingdon

CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. REYNOLDS OF ABINGDON

A Notable Military Record

     Farmer, Lawyer, and above all, a man of forthright independence, William H. Reynolds, like so many others of his generation, began his life elsewhere.  He was born on December 23^rd, 1829, in Park County, Indiana.  At the age of seven he accompanied his father Samuel, and his mother, Ann Jane, to Illinois, where his father purchased a farm of 160 acres near Berwick, Illinois.  Samuel applied himself industriously to farming and to the acquisition of land, and at one time owned 2000 acres of land in Warren County.  He lived to the ripe old age of 88, and sired, 12 children, 9 of whom reached maturity.

     Young William grew up on the home farm, and received a solid education in the local schools and then at Abingdon College, an educational institution that opened in 1853.  He studied law and practiced the legal profession for four to five years, but gave it up to concentrate on farming.  It was a struggle; he ran into debt and eventually sold a farm of 360 acres in Warren County, but eventually he prospered and soon was able to afford a farm of 1000 acres in Orange Township, near Knoxville. 

     In 1855 he married Martha Bundy in Orange Township.  Their family eventually included a son and 2 daughters. 

     William enlisted as a private in Company D of the 7^th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry in August of 1861.  His unit was mustered into service in October of 1861.  He soon was made 1^st Lieutenant, and soon took over the duties of the Captain of the regiment due to the inefficiencies of his superior officer.  He went on to see action in the Western theatre of the war, serving with General Pope at Island No. 10 and New Madrid, and fighting along the Tennessee River.  He led his command ably at the Battle of Corinth, and shortly afterwards was promoted to the rank of Captain, the duties of which he had already taken the responsibility for.

     After the defeat of Van Dorn and the rebels at Corinth, the 7^th participated in the pursuit of the retreating rebel army, and was the first Union regiment to march into Tuscumbia, Alabama.  Reynolds and the 7^th saw hard fighting again at the Battle of Iuka when they were engaged for seven hours, and in September through November performed a series of assignments during which they covered some 800 miles, destroying railroads and bridges.  On November 26^th the 7^th routed 300 Confederates under the command of Colonel Richardson.  In early December Reynolds and the 7^th pursued General Price into Mississippi, but on the 5^th of December the rebels turned on their pursuers and defeated them in an engagement near Coffeeville, Mississippi.  William Reynolds was among the Union troops who were unfortunate enough to be taken prisoner, and he was held as such in Jackson, Mississippi and then Vicksburg for about two months.  He was exchanged and sent to St. Louis, where he recuperated for a bit before he returned to his command on the 5^th of March in 1863.

     William was back in the regiment when it made a grueling campaign that culminated in the capture of Baton Rouge.  This campaign had taken the men some 800 miles and had resulted in the capture of a thousand enemy prisoners.  The regiment and William Reynolds went on to assist in the Capture of Fort Hudson, eventually making its way back to Memphis in July of 1863.  It also was the 7^th that pursued Confederate General Jeff Thompson, a very able cavalry commander known as “the Swamp Fox of the Confederacy,”  16 miles though a quagmire pf swampland to the safety of a rebel fort, and then were able to extricate themselves after running up against superior numbers, only though after a  firefight that lasted for 7 hours.

     William Reynolds had an independent streak that manifested itself in a couple of notable instances.  At one point Union General Grant issued an order to General William Rosecrans to have all horses branded and turned over to the United States government.  Captain Reynolds protested, and succeeded in preventing the breaking of the contract that allowed the men of 7^th to retain their horses as “unbranded” throughout the war.  In another instance, while on detached duty in Memphis due to illness, General Benjamin Grierson ordered him to take command of the 9^th Illinois Cavalry, a regiment that had the reputation of being harder to discipline than any other regiment sent out of Illinois.  Captain Reynolds wanted nothing to do with the regiment, whose reputation was well known to him as well.  He promptly refused the order to take command of it.  For this act of insubordination he was placed under arrest.  General Grierson though, was no martinet.  Approaching Reynolds as a friend rather than as a commanding officer, he sat down with William Reynolds and eventually convinced him that it would be in the best interests of both his career and the cause to withdraw his objection, apologize for his stubborn refusal, and accept the responsibility of handling the regiment.  He did so, but was soon laid low by illness and was sent to Memphis to recuperate.  Upon doing so, he served for several months as a special detective in Memphis under the command of General   C. C. Washburn.  This was an assignment that required the utmost nerve and courage, initiating and pursuing investigations regarding suspected rebel spies, smuggling of contraband and rounding up deserters.  Reynolds performed his duties in this responsible position well enough to please his superiors.

     Williams Reynolds served until the close of the war, but due to some bureaucratic oversight, never received his discharge papers.  Those in charge of processing them however, claimed that they were issued properly to all of the men in the regiment when the regiment was mustered out of service.

      After the war William returned to Knox County and resumed his life as a farmer.  In addition to his holding in Orange Township, he purchased 600 acres of land in Knox County and a 400 acre model stock farm in Norton County, Kansas.  His wife Martha having died in 1873, he remarried later that year in Knoxville, a Miss Margaret Wallace, a native of Scotland.  Two sons and two daughters resulted from their union.

     Politically William Reynolds considered himself an independent.  He served as a County Supervisor, School Director and Road Commissioner.  In 1880 he was prevailed upon by the fledgling Greenback Party to run for Congress.  He gave it an honest attempt, and although defeated, he gave 90 speeches and impressed his neighbors and opponents both by his oratory and campaign efforts.

     The old farmer and Civil War Patriot died in April of 1919, and is interred with other member s of his family in the mausoleum at the Abingdon, Illinois cemetery.

Bibliography

1899 Historical Encyclopedia of Knox County

Civil War Veterans of Knox County, Illinois website

Find A Grave    William H. Reynolds

Abingdon College, Wikipedia entry

Jeff Thompson, Wikipedia entry

Albert Eads’ Gravesite at Oakwood Cemetery In Macomb, Illinois

 

A Man of Honor and Integrity

The Life and Civil War Service of Albert Eads

     Albert Eads was born in Knoxville, Illinois on April 23^rd, 1842, the son of John and Mary Anderson Eads, who had made their way to Illinois from Kentucky and North Carolina respectively.  Any thoughts of a stable and happy family life in Knoxville were shattered when Albert’s mother died when he was three years old, a tragedy that necessitated his being sent to live with his grandfather’s family in Morgan County until he turned twelve.  He then rejoined his father in Knoxville, and there attended school and received his education until 1860, when he travelled to attend school in East Hampton, Massachusetts for a year before he returned home to Illinois.

     War fervor affected him as it did many of the young men in Illinois, and in the fall months of 1861 he began to raise men in Knox County to serve in Waters McChesney’s “Rock Island”  Regiment.   When that regiment was moved, still in its formative stages, to Camp Douglas in Chicago, the 225 men that had been raised were distributed to other regiments.   December of 1861 he was formally enlisted in Company C. of the 51^st Illinois Infantry.  His height is given as 5’6 ½’, a dark complexioned young man with brown hair and hazel eyes.  His comrades, recognizing his latent leadership abilities so amply demonstrated by the number of men that he was able to recruit to the cause, elected him to the position of second lieutenant.  Performing those responsibilities well, he was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant, still having not reached his 21^st birthday. 

       During the Battle of Stone’s River, a bloody contest that was waged near Murfreesboro , Tennessee, young Albert Eads performed nobly.  It was a hard fought battle, the ferocity of which is best described in a letter written by the regiment’s colonel, Luther Bradley, the day after it ended.

     “I write you a letter from the battlefield to assure you of my safety.   We have had three days hard fighting, in 2 of which my regiment has been engaged.  We have suffered severely, but by God’s mercv I have been preserved.  Our loss is 65 killed and wounded and is smaller than any other Regiment in the Brigade.  The Brigade fought splendidly and lost a third of its number.

     On the morning of December 31^st we formed a line of battle at daylight and were hotly engaged ‘till noon.  For the first hour we drove the Rebels, but finally they outflanked us, owing to the division on our right giving way.  They were new troops and could not stand the fire.  From this time our division had the whole right to protect & for three hours we fought Hardee’s whole “Army Corps,” holding our position until our ammunition was expended and we had lost a third our number.  Every colonel in the brigade fell except myself.  My good horse, Charley, was killed by a shell which burst at his side and carried off his leg and hip.  I was on his back at the time but was not touched.  Major Davis lost his right arm, Lt. Keith was killed, and 2 Captains and 3 lieutenants of the 51^st were wounded.  Both my color bearers were killed, & a shell passed through the Regt. Flag.”

     During the hard fought battle, with vision obscured by smoke and one’s position hard to ascertain at times due to the ebb and flow of the fighting, Albert Eads, his 2^nd Lieutenant and 16 men managed to cut off and capture Lieutenant Dunlap of the Confederate Army along with 35 of his men.  The Rebel officer surrendered his sword to young Albert Eads, who for many years treasured it as a souvenir of the battle.  Many years later,  when he was travelling in the south, he was invited to a gathering of Confederate veterans.  He introduced himself to the gathering and shared his reminiscences about the war with his former foes.  During the course of the evening, Mr. Eads recounted his story of the capture of the sword and stated that if he ever could learn the whereabouts of the officer to whom it had formerly belonged, he would be glad to return it to him.  This generous offer touched the Confederate veterans who were present, and they made certain that the story went out to local newspapers.  Eventually the news of  the generous offer got back to Lieutenant Dunlap, who contacted Mr. Eads and was sent the sword.

     In his gracious acknowledgment of the swords return, Lieutenant Dunlap urged the Eads family to call on him if they ever journeyed to Mississippi.  Eventually Albert made a trip down to Blue Springs in the Magnolia State, and there had a cordial visit with his former foe.  This was before the ready access to automobiles or telephones, which was regrettable, because Lieutenant Dunlap later wrote Albert Eads that many of his neighbors heard of his visit and wanted to meet and pay their respects to the Yankee who returned the sword to its owner, but by the time they had arrived at Dunlap’s home, Eads had already left to resume his travels.

     Returning to the war years:  In June of 1863 Eads fell ill enough to have to take leave to enter a hospital in Nashville.  He returned to the regiment in September of that year, the day after the bloody battle of Chickamauga.  He assumed the role of regimental adjutant, replacing an officer who had been severely wounded the previous day.  His first task was to painstakingly record each of the regiment’s 149 casualties from that battle, and the nature of the casualty, fro, “wounded slightly,” to “seriously wounded,” to “missing,” or “killed.”

     In March of 1864 Albert fell prey to illness again.  He returned to Illinois during the February/March re-enlistment furlough of the regiment and was allowed to remain in the Prairie State to help recoup his strength and to aid in recruiting more men to help to put down the rebellion.  He returned to his regiment in July, and given the toll his illness had taken upon his health he was assigned to light “non-field” duty as a “military conductor.”  This was supposed to be a”non-combatant” job, but it was a responsible job.  He would be responsible for security and order on military trains.  It was a job that called for good judgment, good administrative skills and at times, the ability to make quick decisions.

     In September of 1864 Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men made a foray into the region and began to do their best to disrupt the Union lines of communication.  They tore up railroad track, burned bridges, and destroyed rolling stock whenever they could.  On the 24^th of September  Eads was part of a train that was bringing men from the 18^th Michigan and the 102^nd Ohio to relieve the current Union garrison at Athens, Alabama.  By this time Forrest and his men had surrounded the garrison and were demanding its surrender.  The train that Eads was on pulled up near a blockhouse along the tracks and began to attempt to fight their way to reinforce the besieged Athens garrison.  They met fierce resistance from troops led by Confederate General Abraham Buford, taking over 100 casualties, a quarter of their force.  Still they persevered, and were within sight of the beleaguered fort when the flag was lowered.   An after action report filed by the officers that were surrendered to Forrest (including the troops who fought so gallantly to relieve the fort) addresses most vehemently their opposition to the decision to surrender.

     Colonel Campbell, after reviewing the forces of the enemy, returned to the fort saying “the jig is up.  Pull down the flag,” thus surrendering the best fortification on the line of the Nashville and Decatur Railroad.  We also feel that it is our duty to make mention of the bearing and disposition of the soldiers in the fort, both white and black.  It was everything that any officer could wish of any set of men.  So far from there being any disposition to surrender or to avoid a fight, it was just the reverse.  Officers had to exert all their authority, even to threatening to shoot their own men, to restrain them from exposing themselves.  The soldiers were anxious to try conclusions with General Forrest, believing that in such a work they could not be taken by ten times their number.  When told that their fort had been surrendered, and that they were prisoners, they could scarcely believe themselves, and in tears, demanded that the fight should go on, preferring to die in the fort that they had made to being transferred to the tender mercies of General Forrest and his men.  Another thing should be taken into consideration, which is that we were on the point of receiving reinforcements.  While the truce was in operation and during the time occupied by Colonel Campbell in viewing the enemy’s force, firing was heard on the Nashville and Decatur Railroad.  This came from a force of our troops sent to our relief from Decatur……These brave men had forced their way through three lines of the enemy, and were within musket range of the fort when our flag was lowered.  The surrender of the fort allowed General Forrest to throw a portion of his force between the fort and them, thus compelling them to surrender after a hard fight of three hours’ duration, during which they lost one-third of their number in killed and wounded, and after they had arrived almost at the gates of our fort…….In conclusion we do not hesitate to say over our signatures that the surrender was uncalled for by the circumstances, was against our wishes, and ought not to have been made.  We also respectfully request that a thorough and immediate investigation of the above statements be made, that our names may not be placed on the list of cowards in general summing up of our Nation’s history…….Very respectfully, OFFICERS THAT WERE SURRENDERED

     General Forrest paid tribute to the bravery and determination of the reinforcements in the report that he filed shortly after the battle.

     The reinforcements…..fought with great gallantry and desperation.  They pressed on, but found the 21^st Tennessee, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Forrest, between them and the fort.  This gallant regiment opened fire upon the advancing enemy, and it was during this engagement that Lieutenant Colonel Forrest fell severely wounded.  I ordered Colonel Nixon and Colonel Carter, with their respective commands to move rapidly to the aid of Colonel Wilson.  They did so, and after a short engagement the reinforcements surrendered and marched up just in time to see the garrison march out of the fort and stack their arms.

     By the terms of the surrender as dictated by General Forrest, all “white soldiers” were to be treated as prisoners of war and “the negroes returned to their masters.”  Commissioned officers (including Albert Eads) were to be sent to Meridian, Mississippi until formalities could be worked out to release them on parole at Memphis.  After his parole, Eads immediately reported to Benton Barracks parole camp in St. Louis, and from there was granted a furlough to return home until a prisoner exchange could be worked out.  This arrangement worked to the benefit of the Confederacy, as it removed able-bodied men from combat without having to spare precious and dwindling resources to guard and feed them.

     The November 30^th, 1864 issue of the Knox Republican reports of Albert Ead’s return home in time to join his family to give thanks, and talks of his capture at Athens and the parole agreement that allowed him to return home until he was formally exchanged.  The article went on to quote Eads at length about what he saw and experienced during his time as a Rebel prisoner.

      While confined in the stockade at Meridian, our men were much annoyed at being exhibited to the populace, who would crowd the gates in great numbers for the purpose of viewing what they termed to be Northern vandals.  The most bitter of these visitors were ladies, who would laugh at and make sport of our brave men in the true style of the chivalry.   Our men soon, however, hit upon a way to rid themselves of this nuisance in grapevine.  They selected the best singers in the stockade, and when the ladies again appeared, they were greeted with the “Star Spangled Banner” sung as only prisoners in Dixie can sing it.  This was an unexpected proceeding, and so exasperated one fair damsel that she seized the musket of the guard, making threatening demonstrations with it, and declaring that it would give her great satisfaction to run the bayonet through their Yankee bodies.  But the ladies soon left in the greatest disgust and did not again annoy our men. 

     Our prisoners managed to live well, notwithstanding the poor quality and quantity of the rations issued to them.  Some of the prisoners had a few greenbacks which they managed to keep from the robbers.  Lieutenant Eads had two watches, the two costing here $100, which he sold for $1000 in Confederate notes.  Extra provisions were bought when wanted.  Sweet potatoes first sold at $10, but afterwards went down to $5 per bushel.  Beef; $1.50 per pound; bacon, $3  per pound; ham, $5 per pound; cotton hose; $15 per pair; flannel shirts such as our issued by our government at 99 cents, $75 apiece.  Greenbacks brought them $5 and $10 for one and gold $20 for one.

     The article went on to say that Lieutenant Eads noted a great deal of dissatisfaction existing among the people in the region of the South that he was in, and he believed that if a referendum was put forth to them at this point in the war offering them a chance to return to the Union, that it would be adopted by an overwhelming majority. 

     Albert Eads was formally exchanged for a Confederate prisoner of equal rank on December 30^th, 1864, after which he returned to his regiment.  By this time the fighting days of his regiment were over.  His term of service expired in early January of 1865, and on the 14^th of that month he was mustered out of the service in Huntsville, Alabama.

     After the war Albert Eads returned to Knoxville, but in the hopes of getting an education that would serve him in good stead left for New York, where he studied in Eastman’s Business College.  During 1866-67 he opened a mercantile store in Topeka, Kansas.  In early 1868 he returned to Macomb and married Mary Tinsley whose father operated a packinghouse in the early 18 in what is now Chandler Park before the city fathers passed an ordinance in 1852 that prohibited slaughter operations within the city limits.    He later owned two steam powered mills and after the Civil War founded and was chairman of the Union Bank.  Albert’s tie to such a powerful and wealthy family made it easy for him to assimilate into his adopted community.

     Albert opened a dry goods store in Macomb and also devoted himself to farming for the next few years.  In 1876 he entered his father-in-law’s bank as a bookkeeper.  He soon earned a promotion to cashier, and eventually worked his way up to becoming the President of the bank; he also was appointed President of the banks at Colchester and Industry as well. 

     Albert Eads also left his mark upon education in Macomb.   He was one of the leaders in the effort to locate the Illinois State Normal School in Macomb.  According to his obituary this was one of the most bitterly contested effort that he’d ever undertaken and was always a great source of pride to him.  At one point the school was seriously overcrowded, and a 1904 appropriation for its enlargement that had been passed by the state legislature was vetoed by the governor.  Mr. Eads and several other public-spirited citizens came to the rescue by donating generously. Their efforts enabled the struggling young educational facility to add six new rooms to the complex.  Eads’ contribution is said to have been $1000, a hefty sum in 1904.  Western Illinois University’s success and continued presence in Macomb owes much to Eads and his fellow citizen’s support of its early predecessor.

     In 1904 Albert Eads, his wife, a daughter and a grandson made a trip south.  His typewritten account of the trip is held in the WIU Library archives.  It was a moving experience for the old soldier.  Upon arriving at Nashville they toured Andrew Jackson’s home, the Hermitage, and drove out to the national Cemetery, where he left carnations at the graves of soldiers from his Company.  He also saw the burial site of Mrs. James K. Polk on the Capitol grounds, and reminisced about visiting with her on several occasions when he was stationed in Nashville.  He travelled to Stone’s River and visited the battle sites and the cemetery which held the hallowed remains of 11 casualties from his regiment, then to the battlefields at Chattanooga and Chickamauga.  From there they followed the same railroad that he was captured on while he was serving as a conductor, and it was at a meeting with some Confederate veterans, including the Bank’s President, a Mr. C.C. Harris at the First National bank in Decatur, Alabama that he again recounted the story about the sword that he had been given as a token of surrender.   He also had the opportunity to meet with F. L. Mitchell, of Memphis, Tennessee, a Confederate veteran who had been present in Athens the day Eads was captured by Forrest’s men.  Mr. Eads gave a talk about his journey, the people that he met, and his impressions of the old battlefields at a Grand Army of the Republic meeting that he attended later that year.

      When one walks in tranquil Chandler Park today (hard to believe it was once the site of a thriving packing house), one can pause at another legacy that Albert Eads left for his community.  On the hundredth anniversary of the Battles of Plattsburgh and Lake Champlain, Albert Eads donated the funds to erect a monument to honor the naval commander, Thomas Macdonough, for whom the county is named, and Alexander Macomb, the commander of the American forces at Plattsburgh, for whom the city is named.  This monument will celebrate its century on the square and the battles their bi-centennial, in 2014.

     Mr. Eads always identified with the Democratic party until 1896, when he opted for the fiscally conservative business-backed William McKinley rather than for what some felt were the radical views of the then progressive William Jennings Bryan.  Mr. Eads never voiced any desire to hold a political office.  In religion he was a member of the Presbyterian Church.  He was a very active Mason, serving as the Master of the Blue Lodge for 11 years and achieving the 32^nd degree.  He was also a member of the Mystic Shriners of Chicago (Medinah Temple) and of the MacDonough County Post of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion.  His life was one that included many instances of service to his community.

     Albert Eads died on May 9^th, 1922, 60 years to the day after he first faced enemy fire during a small skirmish with the rebels outside of Farmington, Mississippi.  His death was sudden, but his constitution had been weakened by a fall that fractured his hip about 3 ½ months earlier.  For those of you who might wish to make a pilgrimage to the old warrior’s grave, he is buried in Macomb’s Oakwood Cemetery.  The tall grey granite monument that dwarfs his little GAR stone is a tribute to both the Eads family and the Tinsley family that he married into.  Both families left a rich legacy of accomplishment in their wake and deserve to be remembered.

Bibliography

Here to Stay, Reflections on the Dead in a Small-Town Cemetery              John E. Hallwas

1904 Civil War Account by Albert Eads                           Western Illinois University Library Archives

May 10^th1922 Macomb Journal                                        Albert Eads Obituary

Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois & McDonough County 1907         Bateman and Shelby

1895 McDonough County History

The Campaigns of Lt. Genl. Nathan B. Forrest & Forrest’s Cavalry           Jordan and Pryor

http;//www.51illinois.org/eads.html

Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls Database

The Knox County Republican, November 30^th, 1864

Macomb, a Pictorial History                               John E. Hallwas

Letter of Luther Bradley, January 2^nd, 1863

Orders of the Rebellion: The Stone’s River Campaign

I also have to acknowledge a debt, and thank very much Kathy Nichols from the Western Illinois University Library, who was very gracious, diligent and enthusiastic about sending me material she thought might be useful.  She seemed to embrace the subject as her own, and her assistance was much appreciated.  Also to the George Hartmann of the WIU Visual production Center who provided me with an excellent picture of Mr. Eads to use with the article.

    

Eleazer A. Paine Gravesite at Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul

Not All Who Donned the Uniform Were Heroes

 

The Controversial Career of General Eleazer A. Paine

     "Entirely unfit to command a post."  U.S. Grant.  "Heartless Tyrant, " Alice Williamson.  "he is somewhat of a politician and not always discreet," G.W. Cullum; these are but some of the more printable epithets that were hurled in the direction of Monmouth's "Hanging General," a man who brought a reign of terror to Tennessee that in many ways emulated Robespierre's in brutality.  This series of articles on General Paine will attempt to shed some light on the man and why his name is still uttered with hatred and contempt in Tennessee.

      Eleazer Paine was born in Parkman, in Geauga County, Ohio on September 10^th, 1815, where his parents lived for 4 to 5 years after their marriage. He was a first cousin to future Civil War General Halbert E. Paine.  Young Eleazer applied for and received an appointment to attend West Point.  He graduated from that prestigious institution in 1839.  He got his first actual military experience while serving on General (future President) Zachary Taylor’s staff in Florida, but left the sweltering humidity and fruitless pursuit of the Seminoles to pursue a career as a lawyer in Ohio. He also became active in the Ohio militia and rose to the rank of Brigadier General, which he held from 1845 to 1848.  During his tenure as Brigadier General he also found the time to compose and publish a military manual that provided instruction for militia and volunteers.   In 1848 he moved west and settled in Monmouth, Illinois, where he hung out his shingle and developed a law practice that kept him busy until 1861.  He evidently arrived in Monmouth with ample funds, as he was able to purchase a lot on the north side of the 300 block of East Broadway.  He then borrowed money in 1851 to build a home which stood in Monmouth until 1963, when it was razed to make room for the construction of the Warfield Apartment complex.  Lawyer Paine became active in Whig politics and during 1853-54 he served in the Illinois legislature as a representative from his district.  He must have served as a Justice of the Peace as well, as he is on record as having married a number of couples at the Mansion House during 1856-57.

      His involvement in Whig politics led him into a friendship with another rising young Illinois lawyer, Abraham Lincoln.  Paine supported Lincoln in his campaign to become a member of the legislature, and a letter from 1858 exists in which the future President asks lawyer Paine for assistance with some legal services for a friend, Dr. Anson Henry.

      “Inclosed you find a letter and inclosure from my old friend, Dr. A. G. Henry- now of Lafayette, Oregon Territory.  Please look after the matter and write him or me.

     Well, the election is over; and, in the main point, we are beaten.  Still, my view is that the fight must go on.  Let no one falter.  The question is not half settled.  New splits and decisions will soon be upon our adversaries; and we shall [have} fun again.  Yours in haste.

A.     Lincoln”

         Another interesting tidbit of history that ties Monmouth to a future President during this time also concerns the Paine family.  A friend of theirs from Ohio, a young man by the name of James Abram Garfield was visiting the Paine family when the battle of 1^st Bull Run took place, a disastrous defeat for the Federal army.  Garfield resolved shortly afterwards to head east to see if he could be of assistance in quelling the Rebellion.  His path from Monmouth led him to a distinguished military career, the rank of Major General, and a political career afterward that led him to a Presidency that was tragically ended by a demented assassin’s pistol. 

     Given his West Point education and his experience with the Ohio militia, Eleazer Paine was called to active duty in April of 1861, and was commissioned as Colonel of the 9^th Illinois in July of 1861.  He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General USV in September; he then travelled to Cairo, where he commanded a brigade of militia during the first couple months of 1862.  He then was assigned to lead the 4^th Division of the Army of the Mississippi which he did until April of 1862,

being posted at New Madrid Island Number 10, Fort Pillow and Memphis.  He participated in the Battle of Corinth, under General Rosecrans.  Already suffering ill effects from camp life, he was assigned to take charge of the District of Western Kentucky, where his responsibility was to guard the railroads to keep the civilian population in line.  Headquartered at Paducah, Kentucky, a critical supply center, he soon developed a reputation for cruelty and instituting harsh measures against the civilian population.  He issued orders that all guerrilla fighters caught within his territory be summarily executed.  From the testimony of citizens who ran afoul of his wrath, apparently he judged any citizen who was actively supporting the Confederate cause to be a “guerrilla,” and thus liable to be executed.  Apparently the executions weren’t done according to military protocol either.  All General Paine wanted to see was the result, a dead rebel sympathizer.  He had had similar issues when he was stationed in Cairo.  In response to a report that five union soldiers had been murdered by rebel cavalry near Bloomfield, Missouri, he had responded with orders to hang one of the rebel cavalry for each Union soldier murdered.  After that, two for each.  He exhorted his command to continue to scout, capture and kill.

      The rigors of campaigning became too much for General Paine’s constitution.  He resigned on April 5^th, 1862, but reconsidered his decision and shortly after that, re-enlisted.  He was present on duty but ill from June through August.  Replacing him was considered, but in General Cullum’s judgment he observed that he did not think that it would be wise to supersede Paine in command. “though he is somewhat of a politician and not always discreet, he is energetic, full of zeal, has pluck and knows localities.  If Pope is put in command it will deeply mortify and exasperate Paine, who is burning for a brigade in the field.”  The Monmouth Review Atlas of June, 13^th, 1862 reported that the General had returned home for a leave to attempt to recoup his health.  He brought home a trophy, a seseech flag that had been taken from an Alabama regiment, and during his time on leave hung it proudly from a flagpole in front of his home.  By September he was bedridden.  In October, when he could be moved, he was granted sick leave.  He was placed on a bed in an ambulance and was transported to a steamer, which took him back to Cairo.  From there he was taken with a surgeon in attendance to his home in Monmouth, Illinois.  The attending physician reported that the General was suffering from general debility and irritation of the bowels consistent with an attack of bilious remittent fever of a typhoid character.

      The seriousness of his fever and the havoc it can raise with one’s mind is best illustrated by an account written by J. H. Sherman in an Ithaca, New York, newspaper…
 
      “My friend, General Paine of Monmouth, Illinois, when campaigning in Tennessee during the war was stricken with malarial fever, and under the inspiration of quinine had a vision or dream of hell and damnation.  He thought he was on the shore of an infinite ocean flaring with flames and murky with smoke.  Upon its face was revolving a wheel, the edge of which swept the shore while its circumference extended an unknown distance away into the lurid darkness.  It was thickly weighted with human beings, (whether in the body or out of the body he couldn’t tell). Each revolution occupied a thousand years in which period all in their turn were brought in the shore where Jesus stood viewing the horrible panorama.  Toward him the victims as they passed stretched their arms and cried
“How long, Lord, how long?”
And he shouted out “Forever” as they were carried on into the fiery gloom.

      From November of 1862 when he returned from his sick leave to April of 1864 he held command of the railroad guard, making his headquarters in Gallatin, Tennessee.  He ordered construction of Fort Thomas, an edifice that overlooked the town, and during that time exhibited a ruthless bent of vindictiveness that earned him the contempt and hatred of the civilian population whose rights he seemed to take pleasure in violating.  One of the best primary sources for this period of oppression is the diary of Alice Williamson, whose entries drip with a venomous contempt for the Union General.

      Feb 19^th, 1864 What a negligent creature I am.  I should have been keeping a journal all this time to show to my rebel brothers.  I have been studying all the morning and talking all the evening seeking and sighing for rebels.  Our King (old Payne) has just passed.  I suppose that he has killed every rebel in twenty miles of Gallatin and burned every town.  Poor fellow!  You had better be praying, old Sinner!  His Lordship left Tuesday.  Wednesday three wagons loaded with furniture came over.  I do not pretend to say that he sent them.  No!  I indeed, I would not.  I would not slander our king.  Any old citizen can see by going to his (Paynes) palace that his furniture was not taken from Archie Miller’s house & other places near by.  He always goes for rebels but invariably brings furniture.  I suppose his task is to furnish the contraband camp, i.e. the camp of his angels (colored).

      March 2^nd  Our king left Monday with a few soldiers in the direction of Hartsville.  All the stores are closed by his order and no passes given till his return.  Mr. D. has come to get Pa to go and hear what he says to his negroes as he is going to drive them off & he has been so ill used by old Payne that he is afraid to speak without a witness to prove what he said.

      March 3^rd  Gen. Payne rode out this evening to look at the stock, in his last trip he killed only one man (citizen, he always kills citizens when he can’t find soldiers) swears he will kill every man in Gallatin and Hartsville if bushwacking isn’t stopped shortly.

      March 11^th  I learn today that Gen. Payne had no charge against Mr. Dalton, so he told his (Dalton’s) father.  After killing him he rode back to the house and told Mr. D. that his son was in sight- that he could bury him if he wished.  Today a gentleman (Col. E.) was in Payne’s office when he was trying a young man about sixteen years old and the only support of the aged father who was with him.  His crime was being a rebel.  Payne sent the young man to jail telling the guard to bring him out at 7 o’clock.  The father actually fell upon his knees before the heartless tyrant but was heartlessly bidden to rise and go home.  The young man has not been heard of since.

      March 12^th  Old Payne dined at Mrs. Hales today; every one despises him but are afraid to show it.  Yesterday he went up the country a few miles to a Mr. Dalton’s whose son came home from the Southern Army the day before and on the same day had taken the amnesty oath.  Riding up to the door he inquired of Mr. Dalton if his son was at home but before he answered his son came to the door.  Old Nick then told him to get his horse and go with him.  After insulting the father he carried his son a half mile away and shot him six times.  One of Payne’s escort, hearing the young man groan with pain placed a pistol to his temple and remarked, “I will stop that Sir.”  He shot him again.  But this is nothing new.  This is the fifth man that has been shot in this way, besides numbers that have been carried off.

 April 6^th  Payne is himself again.  A few days ago he went to Mr. Prince’s with a young gentleman of elegant appearance and demanded said gentleman’s baggage.  Mrs. Prince told him that it was not there and that she had never seen the man before.  The stranger vowed he had never seen the house or lady before.  Payne said he would carry the “feller” back to jail…..He has not been seen since. 

 April 7^th  Another soldier was shot yesterday.  The Yankees went to jail and brought him while a citizen was standing near.  He said the soldier was very poorly clad but his countenance was that of a gentleman.  When the guard brought his horse to him (a broken down nag from the camp) he asked what they were going to do with them.  On being told to “mount the horse and say no more”…he did so remarking that he supposed that they were going to shoot him.  They took him to the river to shoot him, but finding some gentlemen there- Mr. H. & Mr. M., they said that they had gone into a hornet’s nest to shoot and went somewhere else.  When they carry them out to shoot them they give them a worn-out horse and tell them that if they can escape, they may:  they say they “have fun chasing the boy with fresh horses.” 

      During 1863 General Paine continued to tighten his despotic grip over the Gallatin region.  He took great personal pleasure in giving patriotic speeches and demanding support from the local newspapers.  His men were urged to scour the region looking for rebels and suspected bushwackers.  An example of this was a raid that he led eastward into Kentucky, using cavalry to round up suspected rebels who were often summarily executed without the benefit of legal counsel or the due process of a trial.

      By April of 1864 reports of General Paine’s Reign of Terror had filtered back to headquarters.  General Grant, always one to deplore needless cruelty, voiced the opinion that General Paine was entirely unfit to command a post.”  However, he remained in his position until the end of the month, when he was transferred to Tullahoma, Tennessee by orders of General William Tecumseh Sherman.

 General Rousseau,

Nashville, Tennessee:  Order General and the regiment now at Gallatin to Tullahoma, and give him charge of defense of the road, embracing Duck and Elk Creek Bridges, Replace Paine’s troops by some guard at the bridges.  The road north of Nashville is not important to me but the south road is vital.  Remember to place gun racks and muskets in all the forts and strong buildings, so that the citizens may, if necessary, assist in the defense of Nashville.  But there is no danger now and cannot be for a month to come.

W. T. Sherman

      Removed from Gallatin to a different locale, General Paine continued his harsh treatment of civilians and intemperate talk.  He was transferred to the Military District of Illinois, a backwater command and one in which he could do little harm.  Having returned  to Monmouth  in September, again in ill-health and accompanied by his wife and a personal physician, he remained in that position, "awaiting further orders," until he finally resigned in November of 1864.   By this time, additional complaints that had surfaced from his time in Paducah, coupled with the old accusations, led to a formal investigation.  Twenty seven charges were eventually brought against him.  This Congressional based inquiry into his actions found him guilty on only one count though, that of allegedly denouncing a superior officer in public.  He had denounced Major General Henry Wager Halleck as "A God-damned coward and a damned rascal." He probably could have been found guilty of other charges as well. but the war was grinding to a victorious finish for the North, (by this time it was March of 1865) and the General had already resigned, so there was little interest in levying a harsh sentence. The only punishment he received was a formal reprimand, which was later remitted. Out of consideration for his ill health, his date of resignation was later adjusted to April 5^th, 1865.

      After the war he resumed his practice of law in Monmouth.  He is noted in the 1870 Warren County census as a lawyer, owning land worth $5000 and property worth $520.  During their later years General Paine and his wife Charlotte alternated their residence between their two daughters.  It was while staying with the daughter who lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, the daughter who had lost her husband to typhoid fever a few months earlier, that General Paine took ill.  By the time a doctor was summoned, the illness had worsened to pneumonia.  He died on December 16^th, 1882.

      For many decades it was thought that General Eleazer A, Paine had been buried in the Old Bergen Churchyard in Jersey City in the same plot as his recently deceased son-in-law..  Since the grave was unmarked and the cemetery records had disappeared over the years, it was believed that General Paine’s final resting place was “lost to history.”  In the 1980s though, a diligent Civil War researcher discovered his records and located his burial site in Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul, Minnesota.  When I visited the cemetery I found it to be a toppled GAR stone that the surrounding earth was slowly creeping over, like grass re-occupying an abandoned sidewalk.   Despite the high rank he achieved during the war, given the man’s contempt for due process and the pleasure he seemed to derive in making a sport of executing suspected rebels, the neglected condition of the stone probably equates to the kind of memorial that he deserves.

 Not all who don a uniform are heroes.

 
BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Generals in Blue    Ezra Warner, Louisiana University Press, 1964

Medical Histories of Union Generals    Kent State University Press, 1990

General Eleazer Arthur Paine    Steve Payne homepage

Eleazer A. Paine    Wikipedia entry

Eleazer A. Paine     Find A Grave

Eleazer A. Paine-The Man, The Myth, The Hair   Meg Thompson

Ralph Eckley Papers    Warren County Library

Alice Williamson Diary   online,   courtesy of Duke University.