A Study in Disappointment

The Curious Civil War Career of Myron S. Barnes

Myron Barnes was another young man who ventured west in search of opportunity.  He was born in Bangor, in Franklin County, New York, on March 4^th, 1824.  His parents were William and Margaret Barnes of Vermont.  They made certain that he received a good education, he attended the Attica Academy and the Alexander Seminary; learning establishments in New York. He also mastered  the printer’s trade and became an editor at the age of 16. 

He served as a private in the Second Illinois Regiment (Company E.) during the Mexican War and was wounded during the Battle of Buena Vista.  Upon his return he headed up the Southport American, a Wisconsin publication, but in 1849 he returned to New York to become owner and editor of the Independent Watchman, an Ithaca, New York newspaper, where he remained until 1856.  Originally a Democrat, he switched party allegiance and used his paper as an organ to sound the virtues of the new Republican party.  In 1856 he was chosen as one of the delegates to the National convention that nominated the famous explorer, John Charles Fremont.  Barnes moved to Chicago shortly after to edit the Chicago Daily Ledger, but shortly afterward moved to Rock Island County to partner with Robert H. Graham to edit the Moline Independent, but by the time the war broke out, he had moved to Rock Island to become editor of the Rock Island Daily Register.

During his time in the Windy City, he’d become acquainted with Julius White, Lincoln’s appointee as customs collector in Chicago.  He teamed with White to raise a regiment which would be mustered in first as the "Fremont Rifles," and later as the 37^th Illinois.  Barnes was elected Lieutenant Colonel by the men of the regiment.  The troops were put to use quickly; organized in the summer, by September the regiment was stationed in Missouri where it immediately ran into problems with the Missouri Home Guard over control of government property and how to handle the thorny issue of runaway slaves.  At one point the enmity between the Home Guards and the 37^th erupted into gunfire when the regiment was sent to Boonesville, Missouri to arrest a Home Guard major for corruption, and the unit resisted, wounding 3 members of the 37^th.  Barnes was ordered to Boonesville to restore order, and did so, but the enmity between the Home Guards and the 37^th’s officers remained and would surface again.

When the regiment got the chance to prove itself in battle rather than the mundane tasks of railroad-guarding and chasing guerillas, it acquitted itself with honor.  During the battle of
Chandler's Mills, Barnes received a several shell fragment wound in the side. By the time the savagely fought Battle at Pea Ridge took place the editor's wound had not fully healed.  He  was present for duty though, and during the conflict his wound reopened when his horse was shot from under him, throwing him heavily onto the ground.  This is one of the reasons cited for his having to leave the army.   Julius White was promoted to brigadier general shortly before this time, and Myron Barnes had assumed the rank of full Colonel. This might have been a written explanation to save face however as another incident rears its head as a more convincing reason.  Colonel Barnes had a run in with the Missouri Home Guards again. again.  Two officers of the 37^th were arrested by one of the militia officers, perhaps as payback for the arrest of their major, and Barnes evidently in the vehemence of his protest overstepped military protocol, as he was charged with “Disobedience of Orders, Disrespect to Superior Officers, and Conduct Prejudicial to good Order and Military Discipline.”  A court-martial upheld the charges, and Colonel Barnes was dismissed from the service on November 20^th 1862.  The count that he was convicted of alleged that Barnes “did behave himself with contempt or disrespect towards his superior officer, Brigadier General E. G. Brown, commanding officer of the Southwestern Division, by using the following language: “Who was General Brown, He is nothing but a state militia general.  I don’t care a damn for him.” or words to that effect.”

Myron Barnes immediately went to St. Louis to seek to have his conviction and dismissal overturned.  Unsuccessful, he returned to Rock Island to resume his former occupation, becoming publisher of The Rock Island Union, an organ that Barnes used to support the Republicans and the war effort.  The war of words became heated, as the Democratic leaning editor of the Rock Island Argus referred to the Union as “that poor old nigger-league organ.”  Barnes responded in kind, charging that the Argus was ‘in the devil’s service.”

  During this time though, he continued campaigning to have the blot on his military record removed, and Congressman Isaac M. Arnold became an advocate on his behalf.  On April 18^th, 1864, President Lincoln set aside the conviction and said that Barnes could be recommissioned. Shortly after the War Department forwarded him his exoneration, Barnes received paperwork from the adjutant general’s office “authorizing and requesting” him to recruit a hundred day regiment.  Barnes helped to organized the 140^th Illinois Infantry, but he never did follow the regiment into the field. 

In August of 1864, he sold his Rock Island newspaper, probably in the hopes of joining the 140^th, but the new owner was unable to come up with the funds to finalize the transfer of it, so it reverted back to Barnes’s control in November of 1864. It had to have been a frustrating time for Colonel Barnes, who know doubt was eager to return to duty to redeem his reputation.    Financial concerns dictated his actions though, so he remained at the paper’s helm through the end of the war, finally finding a buyer for it in December of 1866. 

From that time until his death, Myron Barnes was a newspaper nomad, finding it hard to stay in one location for long.  From 1866 to 1872 he either owned or operated three newspapers, moving from Rock Island to Dubuque, Iowa, where he published the Daily Times, then to Aurora, Illinois where he operated the town’s Daily Herald.  By this time he had returned to the Democratic fold, and in 1871 he helped set up the Daily News, a paper in Chicago the was set up exclusively to serve to serve as a mouthpiece to tout Horace Greeley’s run for the Presidency in 1872.  After Greeley was soundly trounced by president Ulysses S.Grant, Myron Barnes shut down the newspaper and relocated to Galesburg, Illinois, where he purchased and ran the Free Press until age and ill health finally forced him to retire from the newspaper business in February, 1883.  By his retirement he was in years of service one of the oldest newspaper men in the State of Illinois.

Myron S. Barnes died in Galesburg on November 3^rd, 1889, and is buried in Galesburg’s Mt. Hope Cemetery.   His wife Charlotte, who lived until 1904, is also buried in their plot.  His impressive stone references his rank as Civil War Colonel, despite the brevity of his service and the circumstances surrounding his dismissal.  Evidently his exoneration meant much to him, as did the right to be addressed as “Colonel Barnes.”  He must have carried a lifelong burden of regret for the flash of temper that led to his dismissal and his failure to  rejoin his men and perhaps earn honor and later political preferment for gallant and meritorious war services as so many of his contemporaries did. 

Bibliography

Colonels in Blue Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, by Roger D. Hunt 2016

 Duty, Honor and Country, the Civil War Experiences of Captain William P. Black  Camp Pope Books, Iowa City, IA, 2006

Jottings from Dixie, the Civil War Dispatches of Sergeant Major Stephen F. Fleherty, Phil Reyburn and terry Wilson, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 1999.

Portraits and Biographical Album of Knox County, Illinois, Chicago, IL 1886

Find a Grave:  Computer website entry for Myron S. Barnes, Illinois

 

 

 

An Illustrious Career Dissipates into Acrimony

The Life and Brief Civil War Service of Colonel William McMurtry

        A few miles north of Galesburg, Illinois, in a rural cemetery accessible only by a rough pasture road, rests William McMurtry, a man who had all the qualities for greatness save for one character flaw.

     Born in Mercer County, Kentucky, on February 20^th, 1801, a descendant of a grandfather who was an  pioneer in Kentucky along with Daniel Boone and its earliest settlers, and was killed in a fight with Indians there in 1790.  Young William travelled with his family to Indiana in 1818, and his parents settled in Crawford County.  Young William grew up there and met Ruth Champion there, whom he married in 1826.  In 1829 William and Ruth travelled to Knox County, Illinois, along with his father, and his brother James and his wife.  The family settled in what would become Henderson Township.  They purchased  a farm of one hundred sixty acres, upon which was a small log cabin.  Seeing to their safety immediately, the McMurtrys and their neighbors erected a small fort, a block house that could be used as a refuge and defensive position to protect themselves from raids by hostile Indians; fortunately, the uprisings they feared and often heard rumors about, never materialized.

     During the short-lived Black Hawk War, the families that lived in the area raised a company of Rangers to help assist in quelling the Indian uprising.  William McMurtry was chiefly responsible for assembling the force, and was elected its Captain.  His brother James, along with two of his neighbors, Thomas McKee and F. Freeman, went to Rock Island to procure weapons for the settlers in their little community, returning with a hundred rifles, which they distributed upon their return.  The company of mounted Rangers pursued rumors mostly, never actually engaging any of the enemy in battle.  Still, it was a testament to their high regard for William McMurtry that they elected him to lead them as Captain.  His brother James held a Sergeant’s rank in the same company.

     William McMurtry, as described in the 1899 Historical Encyclopedia of Knox County, was “one of the most remarkable men of his time.  He was strong intellectually, and was a thorough student of human nature, and was an adept in the art of leading and controlling men.”  He quickly rose politically, as his neighbors recognized these virtues.  In 1830 he was appointed in Knox County’s first ever election the responsibility of being foreman of the grand-jury of the Circuit Court.  In 1832 he was elected as the County’s first School Commissioner.  This post entailed selling the school section in each township, and distributing interest money to the teachers from the school fund.   From 1836 to 1840 he served in the state’s House of Representatives, and in 1842 he moved up into the Illinois State Senate, where he remained until 1849.  At that time, the current Lieutenant-Governor, Joseph Wells, decided that he would not run again, so William McMurtry was added to the Democratic ticket to fill that post, with Augustus French serving as governor.  McMurtry held this post into 1853. 

     According to the Knox County Historical Encyclopedia, “McMurtry was an uncompromising Democrat, and a particular friend of Stephen A Douglas…He was one of the most conspicuous political figures in Illinois, and on account of his tenacity of opinion and firm adherence to democratic principles, he was regarded as a “wheel horse’ in his party.  His natural powers were great.  He was a great reader and had a well-stored mind.  He was entertaining and agreeable in conversation, a good neighbor and a constant friend.  He performed the duties of citizenship faithfully, and was regarded by everyone as a conscientious and upright citizen.”  These attributes he attained through his own intellectual persistence since, like so many men of his time, he had little formal education.

     During his tenure as Lieutenant-Governor, a new State Constitution was adopted and the construction of the Galena and Chicago Union railroad was completed.  He also took an active part in the organization of Henderson Township, in 1853. 

     In 1854, his term as Lieutenant-Governor having ended,  he ran for United States Congress, but was defeated by Opposition/Republican party candidate James Knox.  This defeat signaled the end of William McMurty’s attempts to seek elective office, but he remained a prominent voice in the State’s Democratic Party up to the beginning of the Civil War.

     After the onset of the Rebellion and the bloody battles of Shiloh and the fighting around Richmond, it became apparent that the war would not be over quickly.  President Lincoln called for an additional 300,000 men to quell the rebellion.  William McMurtry asked for and received permission to recruit a regiment from men of Rock Island, Knox and Mercer and Warren Counties. The respect that he had earned over the decades won him election to Colonel of the newly formed 102^nd Illinois Infantry.  By this time he was 61 years old.  Soon the newly formed regiment was on its way to Kentucky.

     Heavy drinking was prevalent at that time, and some politicians such as Stephen A. Douglas were as noted for their attachment to alcohol as for their oratory.  Colonel McMurtry was no exception.  The conviviality and good fellowship expected of a politician led many of them to become too acquainted with liquid solace.  Soon rumblings of discontent were heard coming from some of the men about their venerable Colonel.  Heavy drinking no doubt took its toll on his health as well.  In a November letter home, one of the 102^nd soldiers, Stephen Fleharty,  addressed the Colonel’s resignation.

     “You have no doubt heard of the resignation of Colonel McMurty.  It is possible that the Colonel has been, to some extent, the victim of jealousy; but, independent of any such influence, both officers and privates had become convinced that the interests of the regiment required a change; and that the resignation was tendered only after the will of the regiment had been publically expressed.  That the colonel is brave, no one can doubt, but there are other qualities essential to a good commander.  He must be able to command himself.  Alas, how many of our best officers have ruined their best prospects by being subject to a domineering vice! And how much our poor soldiers have suffered from that worst of all commanders, Mr. Double-barreled Canteen!”

    The argument that this was a long-standing problem of William McMurtry’s is buttressed by a reference to his drinking in an otherwise praise-laden tribute that the Galesburg Republican-Register ran on April 17^th, 1875. 

    “Governor McMurtry was a genial, large-hearted man; and; like too many men of generous impulses and public prominence, was not free from the besetting social curse of intemperance.”  The same obituary went on to say that one of the Colonel’s oldest friends had observed sadly that “had it not been for this habit he might have today have held a place in the hearts of the people of the entire nation.”

    Colonel McMurtry was honorably discharged in 1863 from the service for reasons of poor health (“in consequence of long continued disease of the liver, lungs and the organs of digestion”) attributable to his advanced age.  His discharge was dated October of 1862 when he left the regiment to undertake recruiting duties.  It was a kind way to release a man whose decades of service deserved such consideration.  Franklin C. Smith took over leadership of the regiment and survived charges of drunkenness levelled against him as well to lead the regiment ably and emerge the war with a fine reputation.   The elderly patriot, William McMurtry, lived on until April of 1875.  He rests, almost forgotten now, in the rural Rice-Blue Cemetery referenced at the beginning of this article.  He cannot help but remind one of a chapter from Plutarch’s Lives, a man who could have attained greatness save for the character defect that kept him from it.

Bibliography

William McMurtry           Wikipedia

“Jottings from Dixie” the Civil War Dispatches of Sergeant Major Stephen F. Fleharty, U.S.A, Edited by Phillip J. Reyburn and Terry L. Wilson      LSU Press, 1999

“Colonels in Blue:  “Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin”  Roger D. Hunt,  McFarland Press, 2017

William McMurtry        Find A Grave   online site

Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and Knox County,  1899