Monday, November 25, 2013
A Man of Honor and Integrity
The Life and Civil War Service of Albert Eads
Albert Eads was
born in Knoxville, Illinois on April 23rd, 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 51st 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 1st Lieutenant, still
having not reached his 21st 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 31st
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 51st 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 2nd 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 24th of September Eads was part of a train that was bringing
men from the 18th Michigan and the 102nd 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 21st 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 30th,
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 30th,
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 14th 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 32nd 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 9th, 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 10th1922
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 30th, 1864
Macomb, a Pictorial
History John
E. Hallwas
Letter of Luther
Bradley, January 2nd, 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.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
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 10th, 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.
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 1st 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 9th 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 4th 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.
“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.
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
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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.
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