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 4th, 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 37th
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 37th 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 37th. Barnes was ordered
to Boonesville to restore order, and did so, but the enmity between the Home
Guards and the 37th’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 37th 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 20th 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.”
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 37th 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 20th 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 18th, 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 140th
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 140th,
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 3rd, 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
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