Augustus French, the Ninth Governor of Illinois, Eliminated the Entire State Deficit and Adopted a New Illinois Constitution among his other Successes.

When Augustus Chaflin French moved into his brand new house on Belleville Street in Lebanon, Illinois in 1855, he had already retired from a long sucessful career in Illinois' public service.

French was born on August 2, 1808 in Hill, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. His father died when he was a child, and he struggled to obtain an education, finally leaving Dartmouth College due to lack of funds. Studying at home, he was admitted to the bar in 1823 at the time, law school graduation was not a prerequisite for becoming a lawyer). He then travelled to Albion, Edwards County, Illinois but soon moved to Edgar Courthouse (later renamed Paris, Illinois) in the newly established Edgar County, where he acquired a successful law practice. On his mother's death, he assumed responsibility for his younger siblings.

French entered politics, at 29 years of age, in 1837, first serving a term in the Illinois legislature, then becoming the Receiver of Public Monies (i.e., the receiver of money paid to the U.S. government for land) at Palestine in Crawford County, Illinois, where he took up residence.

In 1844 he was a presidential elector for James K. Polk (the winner in that election), and became popular in Illinois politics through his advocacy of a war with Mexico.

French was nominated for governor by his party and won the election for governor, taking office as the ninth Governor of Illinois on December 9, 1846.

French immediately pushed for the funding to retire the state's debt, an attitude that characterized his entire tenure in office. He saw many of the Mormons leave Illinois in February of 1846 after their city charter at Nauvoo had been revoked the previous year.

Two events significant to the growth of Chicago occurred during French's term of office: the Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed, and the construction of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad had begun. The canal connected the Illinois River (and thus, the Mississippi River) with the Great Lakes, while the railroad connected Chicago with the lead mines in Galena, Illinois (it would be completed in 1853).

A new state constitution was adopted in 1848, and among its changes from the 1818 constitution were new provisions for the election and terms of office for the state governor. French was unanimously renominated for the office by his party, and easily won re-election. He continued his efforts to reduce the state's debt, and by the time he left office on January 10, 1853, the entire deficit had been eliminated.

After his retirement from government, French taught law and would continue his public service as a bank commissioner (appointed to that position by his successor, Governor Matteson), and then relocated to Lebanon in St. Clair County, Illinois, where he became a Professor of Law at McKendree College (thus the new house in Lebanon).

In 1858 he ran for State Superintendent of Public Instruction as the nominee of the Douglas wing of his party, but was defeated. He was a delegate to the unproductive Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1862, which became known as the "Copperhead Convention" for its anti-war stance during the Civil War.

Augustus French died September 4, 1864 in Lebanon, Illinois and was buried there in College Hill Cemetery.

The Augustus French house still stands today at 1213 Belleville Street, Lebanon, Illinois. It received a Landmark Award from the St. Clair County Historical Society in 1984.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Lost Towns of Illinois - Griggsville Landing, Phillips' Landing, Phillips' Ferry, and Phillipsburg, Illinois.

Griggsville Landing was later known as Phillips' Landing or Phillips' Ferry or Phillipsburg, then the landing for Valley City, which was located in Flint Township on the Illinois River in Pike County.

Pike County, Illinois, was surveyed by the United States government in 1817-1819. In 1822, Garrett Van Dusen, the second settler in Flint Township, started a ferry using a canoe, ferrying footmen and swimming horses.

The town was a steamboat stop that began sometime in the mid-1820s. Mr. Van Deusen sold his claim to Mr. Nimrod Phillips, many of whose descendants are still residents of Pike County. By 1832, the site was referred to as Phillips' Ferry.

Steamboat at Griggsville Landing. Photograph by O.W. Taylor 1915.

The great Erie Canal, 365 miles long, completed in 1827, linked the Hudson River with Lake Erie at Buffalo; the Ohio & Erie Canal (1830) took the passenger from Lake Erie at Cleveland to the Ohio River at Portsmouth; and a canal at Louisville, Kentucky, circumvented the rapids on the Ohio River where river pirates had been such a bane to flatboatmen. The route continued down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi and Illinois to Griggsville Landing. What had been a torturous land route over the Appalachians was now a pleasant boat ride by river, lake and canal with plenty of room for household and farming equipment. This water route from Boston to Griggsville in 1834 cost $119 (today; $3,000) for two people and took forty days. It took about 12 days from New Orleans by river steamboat to Griggsville Landing.

Griggsville (4 miles to the west) was platted by David R. Griggs in 1832-33. Phillips' Ferry was used by Hyrum Smith and his family during the Mormon migration from Missouri eastward to Illinois in 1838-1839.

Griggsville Landing Lime Kiln was built around 1850.

The town at Griggsville Landing was home to a boat yard, a lime kiln, a grist mill and a hotel. James McWilliams owned the lumber yard in the early 1840s. In 1844, Captain Samuel Rider designed and built the Olittippa, a paddle­wheel boat of shallow draft (10") powered by horses on deck. The Timelian and Prairie State, steam-powered, were also designed by Captain Rider and built in 1847.

The Griggsville Landing Lime Kiln was built around 1850. Local traditions hold that English stonemason William Hobson used the Griggsville Landing kiln. It is said Hobson used the kiln in conjunction with the construction of homes, barns and stone arch bridges in the area during the 19th century.

The first and only church ever built in the township was erected at Griggsville landing in 1871 and was known as Union Church.

Griggsville Landing was eventually abandoned by the late 1870s.

The little village of Valley City, the only one in Flint township, was founded close to Phillips' Ferry by Wallace Parker in the year 1877. Wallace Parker also ran steamboat ferries from where Griggsville Landing used to be. The post office at Griggsville Landing changed its name to Valley City. The village of Valley City contained one store and post office. Valley City was incorporated in April 1956.

The book "Past and Present of Pike County, Illinois" (1906) states that "Valley City is the only town in the township and is on the Wabash Railroad."

The town was eventually abandoned, rendering it a ghost town due in part because, by Congressional mandate, the United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed levees along the Illinois River, leading to flooding of lower elevation settlements along the river. The annual floods were due to the levees wreaking havoc on Valley City, leading to the decimation of the town's businesses, abandonment of homes, and the eventual death of the town.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Michael Kelly Lawler Saw Action in Two Nineteenth Century Wars; The Mexican-American War and the Civil War.

Michael Kelly Lawler was born in Monasterevin, County Kildare, Ireland, on November 12, 1814, Lawler and his parents, John Lawler and Elizabeth Kelly, moved to the United States two years later and settled initially in Frederick County, Maryland. In 1819, they moved to rural Gallatin County, in southern Illinois. On December 20, 1837, he married Elizabeth Crenshaw.

General Michael Kelly Lawler

Lawler received an appointment in 1846 by the governor of Illinois, Governor Thomas Ford, as a captain in the Mexican-American War and commanded two companies in separate deployments to Mexico. He first led a company from Shawneetown Illinois that guarded the supply route against Vera Cruz to General Winfield Scott's [1] Army. After the fall of Vera Cuz, his company was discharged. He made a visit to Washington after which he was asked by Governor Thomas Ford to organize a company of riflemen. He served in the campaign to take Matamoros, Tamaulipas [2] during the Texas Revolution in 1835-36.

Lawler was a huge man, weighing 250 pounds, usually fought in his shirt sleeves and is said to have sweated profusely. His sword belt was not long enough to go around his waist so he wore it by a strap from one shoulder.

He then returned to his farm in Illinois, where he established a thriving mercantile business, dealing in hardware, dry goods, and shoes. He studied law, passed his bar exam, and used his legal license to help Mexican War veterans claim their pensions. Then in 1861, the Civil War broke out. It's little wonder that he volunteered to command the recruits being mustered from his local Illinois region.

In May 1861 he recruited the 18th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and was initially commissioned a Colonel, Lawler did not suffer fools and had even less patience with his men’s poor discipline. His 18th Illinois Volunteer Infantry unit, training locally at Camp Mound City, developed an unwanted reputation for drunk and disorderly behavior. Lawler, no doubt growing impatient with army procedures, decided to take matters into his own hands.

In August 1861, Lawler introduced supervised fist fighting into the regiment as a manner of resolving disputes and was often heard to threaten to “knock down” any miscreants under his command. He sent a “present” of whiskey laced with a nausea-inducing chemical to some of his men who were in prison for drunkenness. Lawler also appointed a Catholic priest as Chaplin to the regiment despite protests from the majority of his men who were of Protestant persuasion. Probably his most controversial act occurred in October 1861 when he withheld any objection to the summary execution of a soldier in his ranks who had shot dead a colleague in a drunken rage.

Lawler was court-martialled for these acts and convicted but was soon restored to command after he successfully appealed the decision. Mike Lawler had many friends in the military that stood as character references, Ulysses S. Grant included. While not condoning his unorthodox methods, there seems to have been an understanding of his motives among many fellow officers.

Nevertheless, by the time his Illinois men went into combat, Lawler had formed an infantry unit that would become renowned for their fighting capabilities, equally matching the reputation of their commander. At the Battle of Fort Donelson in 1862, Lawler was wounded in the arm and deafened, some say permanently, by an exploding shell. However, within two months, he was back leading from the front and later directed his men during sustained and prolonged attacks on Vicksburg, a Confederate-controlled fortress city.

Having again narrowly missed death on May 16, 1863, the next day was to be Lawler’s finest moment as he led his men in a gallant and rapid advance on Rebel entrenchments. Too overweight to run, Lawler rode on horseback in advance of the charge; he and his men moving with such speed that they broke the entire Confederate line resulting in a famous Union victory. The fight, called the Battle of Big Black River Bridge, sealed Vicksburg’s fate.

Lawler was promoted to Brigadier General but illness plagued him. By 1864, he was declared unfit for duty and returned home to southern Illinois. He spent his retired years buying and selling horses before he died on July 26, 1882, at the age of 68. Kelly Lawler is buried in Hickory Hill Cemetery near Equality, Illinois.

A memorial to Michael K. Lawler stands in Equality, Illinois. 

Dedicated to the memory of MICHAEL KELLY LAWLER
Born in Monabiern County Kildare Ireland. Nov. 12, 1814. Came to Illinois 1819. Served as Captain in 3 "Ill" Inf and as Captain of a Company of Cavalry raised by himself in the Mexican War. Raised 18 "Ill Inf" in April 1861. Being commissioned Colonel on May 20th -- Promoted Brig "Gen" in April 1863. Was wounded at Fort Donelson. Led the assault on Vicksburg on May 22, 1863. Brevetted Maj. "Gen" on April 27, 1866. Died July 26, 1882.

ENGAGED IN BATTLE AT:
Cerro Gordo Mex.,
Ft. Donelson,
Champion Hills,
Big Black River,
Assault on Vicksburg

AND SIEGES AT:
Vera Cruz Mex.,
Corinth,
Vicksburg,
Jackson.

Lawler also was honored with a marble bust in Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Chicago named Lawler Avenue after Gen. Michael Lawler and Lawler Park, near Chicago’s Midway International Airport, is also named for Lawler. There is also a large memorial of stone and bronze erected to his memory near his home in Equality, Illinois.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

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[1] General Winfield Scott - In 1832, President Andrew Jackson ordered Winfield Scott to Illinois to take command of the Black Hawk War conflict. General Winfield Scott led 1,000 troops, to Fort Armstrong, to assist the U.S. Army garrison and militia volunteers stationed there. While General Scott's army was en route, along the Great Lakes, his troops had contracted Asiatic cholera, before they left the state of New York; it killed most of his 1,000 soldiers. Only 220 U.S. Army regulars, from the original force, made the final march, from Fort Dearborn, in Chicago to Rock Island, Illinois. Winfield Scott and his troops likely carried the highly contagious disease with them; soon after their arrival at Rock Island, a local, cholera epidemic broke out, among the whites and Indians, around the area of Fort Armstrong. Cholera microbes were spread, through sewery-type, contaminated water, which mixed with clean drinking water, brought on by poor sanitation practices, of the day. Within eight days, 189 people died and were buried on the island.

By the time Scott arrived in Illinois, the conflict had come to a close with the army's victory at the Battle of Bad Axe. Also known as the Bad Axe Massacre it was a battle between Sauk (Sac) and Meskwaki (Fox) Indians and United States Army regulars and militia that occurred on August 1st and 2nd of 1832. This final battle of the Black Hawk War took place near present-day Victory, Wisconsin.

[2] Matamoros, Tamaulipas: Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas.