Teetotaler, Abraham Lincoln of the Long Nine, Really Enjoyed a Good Party.

A notable shindig took place in Vandalia on February 28, 1837. Vandalia had been the state capital since 1819, but it never really worked very well. It was too small, too hard to get to, and some thought it was too far south in a state that was growing rapidly to the north and west.

Among these detractors were the "Long Nine,"[1] a group of legislators from Springfield. Called the Long Nine because of their abnormal height, their main objective in the 1837 legislative session was to bring forth legislation to move the capital to Springfield.

Abraham Lincoln was among the Long Nine, and he was the de facto floor leader of the Whigs in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Abraham Lincoln toasts the legislative win. Seven of the Long Nine are present.

After the February 28th vote, the victorious Long Nine immediately staged a celebration at Ebenezer Capps' tavern, near the statehouse, and invited the entire legislature. Most of the members came and partook generously of free champagne, cigars, oysters, and other delights. The bill for the celebration was paid for by the wealthy Ninian W. Edwards.

Supporters of Vandalia attempted on several occasions to reverse the February 1837 vote. The last such effort was a meeting held in Vandalia in July of 1838.

There was long speculation that the support for the move was tied in with an internal improvements scheme that would benefit Springfield. Some have also accused Lincoln and the Long Nine of "logrolling[2]." The vote on the removal of the capital no doubt involved the usual horse-trading and political wrangling. However, most historians agree that it did not involve any illegal or improper acts.

The bill for the party was $223.50 ($5,330 today), and the bottles of champagne would be $46 each today.

Bill for the affair.

To be fair, there was a reason to celebrate. Springfield had bested Alton and Jacksonville, contenders for a new location for the state capital, and the Whigs scored a major political victory in the process.

Colonel Matthew Rogers' General Store was also used as the Athens, Illinois Post Office. Surrounding the building are friends of Abraham Lincoln. A flag is in the upper left window, where Representative Abraham Lincoln and the other Long Nine members attended the banquet on August 3, 1837.

When the Illinois General Assembly approved moving the state capital to Springfield, it prompting grateful citizens of Athens (pronounced locally as "A-thens") to honor the "Long Nine" members at a public banquet which was held on August 3rd on the second floor of this building, with about 100 people attending.

According to the Sangamo Journal, Lincoln led the group in a toast, saying, "Sangamon County will ever be true to her best interest and never more so than in reciprocating the good feeling of the citizens of Athens and neighborhood."

The good feelings somewhat diminished two years later, when the boundary of Sangamon County was re-drawn, leaving the town of Athens in the new Menard County. 

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

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[1] The delegation from Sangamon County for the 1836-1837 Session of the legislature quickly became known as the “Long Nine.” The seven representatives and two senators were all six feet or taller. Five were lawyers, three were farmers, and one was an innkeeper. Seven were originally from the South and two from the North.

The representatives included: Abe Lincoln who at age twenty-seven was the youngest of the group; John Dawson, the oldest at age forty-five; William F. Elkin who was forty-four; Ninian W. Edwards the aristocratic son of the former Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards who was twenty-nine; Andrew McCormick, age thirty-five, who weighed almost three hundred pounds; Daniel Stone who was a college-educated lawyer, a native of Vermont and a former Ohio legislator; and Robert L. Wilson, thirty-one, who was a one-term member of the legislature. The senators were: Job Fletcher and a resident of Sangamon County since 1819 and Archer G. Herndon, a businessman and the father of William Herndon, who later became Lincoln’s law partner.

[2] Logrolling is the trading of favors, or "quid pro quo," such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member. 

In Illinois, the Underground Railroad began in Cairo (at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers), Illinois' southern most point.

This house, which stands on Nashville Road between Oakdale, Illinois and Coulterville, Illinois in Washington County was a stop on the Underground Railroad... or maybe it wasn't... or it might have been, but we just cannot be completely sure. In studying the past, one must prepare oneself to accept ambiguity in the face of a lack of solid evidence.

The John Hood House - a Stop on the Underground Railroad.

What we do know about this house is that it was built in 1843 by a man named John Hood.

John Hood belonged to a Presbyterian movement referred to as the Covenanters. Originally hailing from Scotland, the Covenanters came to North America beginning in the early 18th century. There were settlements of Covenanters in northeastern Randolph County (near Sparta, Illinois) and in Washington County. The Covenanters strenuously opposed slavery and often aided escaped slaves on their journey.

Of the Underground Railroad routes in Illinois, there was one that passed through Washington County. Starting in Chester in Randolph County (on the Mississippi River), the route traveled northeast through Randolph, Washington, and Marion Counties.

John Hood's house would have been on this route. So, what can be said of its connection to the Underground Railroad? It is likely, even very likely, that John Hood and his family sheltered slaves in their house as they made the exciting yet dangerous journey to freedom.

Primary evidence related to the Underground Railroad is difficult because the activity of the former slaves and "conductors" was at the time illegal. The stories of the route to freedom often cross the line between history and folklore. Still, this does not lessen the impact of sites like the Hood House. It likely had its role to play in the movement of formerly enslaved people to the north during the 19th century.

THE ILLINOIS UNDERGROUND RAILROAD EXPLAINED
The Underground Railroad was a system designed to assist those held in bondage to escape slavery.

Four Generations of Slaves.

It was not a single route, but a multitude of routes from the southern states to Canada. Though caves and other underground places were sometimes used as hiding places, the Underground Railroad was not underground. It was not a railroad either. Some escapees used railroads as part of their transportation north, although wagons, closed carriages, boats, and on foot were more common.

The origin of the term Underground Railroad cannot be precisely determined, but by the 1830’s the term was used in reference to runaways and the network, which aided their escape. Abolitionists and friends of human liberty operated the Underground Railroad. Stations, usually homes of abolitionists, were safe places where the escaped slaves could rest. Operators and conductors were people who helped the escapees to the next station. These stations were dangerous to the operators and conductors because the fugitives along the Underground Railroad were considered property in the South and contraband in the North.

While most runaways began their journey unaided and many completed their self-emancipation without assistance, each decade in which slavery was legal increased the network and persons willing to give aid to the runaway. With the Underground Railroad’s success, came more restrictive laws on slaves in the south and free persons of color everywhere. To slow the tide of runways, southern states relied on a system of patrols and slave catchers. When these tactics failed, slave owners would use advertisements and rewards to catch runaways.

Illinois played an important part of the Underground Railroad system. Illinois went further south than any other free state and bordered two slave states, Missouri and Kentucky. Illinois’ rivers also played an important role, slaves would have to cross either the Mississippi or Ohio rivers to enter Illinois. Rivers were a vital avenue north to Chicago and the Great Lakes.

In Illinois, the Underground Railroad contained liberty lines; two known lines began in Southern Illinois. One point was at Cairo in Alexander County and the other at Chester in Randolph County. These two lines merged at Centralia and extended north through Vandalia, Pena, Decatur, Bloomington, Joliet, and into Chicago. Another line began in Alton and went up the Illinois River to Chicago.

Once they reached Chicago, they boarded a boat to Canada, the "Promised Land." The Illinois Anti-slavery Society was organized in 1837 and printed papers pleading their cause. One of the best known was Rev. Elijah Lovejoy, who operated the Alton Observer.

The public became incensed with Lovejoy and his anti-slavery writings and destroyed his press. He continued to order new presses to print his paper. The next two were destroyed and thrown into the Mississippi River.

Another one of Lovejoy's printing presses smashed.

His friends begged him to stop because they feared for his life. The fourth printing press purchased by Lovejoy was hidden in a warehouse. The pro-slavery men attacked the warehouse killing Lovejoy.

Although these actions may have frightened abolitionists and escaping slaves, they did not stop their commitment to freedom. One of the most important aspects of the Underground Railroad is the number of attempted and successful escapes. The manner in which it consistently exposed the grim realities of slavery and that it refuted the claim that African Americans could not act or organize on their own behalf does not measure its importance. It also encouraged men and women of both races to set aside assumptions about the other race and to work together on issues of mutual concern.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

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.