THE CAIRO EXPEDITION;
Illinois First Response in the Late Civil War
The Expedition from
Chicago to Cairo.
by
Hon. AUGUSTUS HARRIS BURLEY.
Read before the Chicago
Historical Society,
at its Annual Meeting,
Tuesday Evening, November 19, 1890.
Re-read before the Chicago Literary Club, Monday, March 11, 2002,
by Francis A. Lackner, Jr.
Copyright © 2002 by Francis A. Lackner,
Jr.
Introduction to the Author
Augustus Harris Burley, the
author of this paper, was born in Exeter,
New Hampshire, on March 28, 1819,
the second of three children. He was educated at the Derry
School and later at Phillips Exeter
Academy. He worked
briefly in Boston.
In 1837 he moved to Chicago,
working for his half-brother, Stephen Gale, with whom he was associated in S.
F. Gale & Co. until 1838. In that year he and his brother Arthur C. bought
out Gale; Augustus later bought out Arthur. In 1855 he retired from commerce
and became a trustee of the Merchants Loan and Trust bank, a position he
occupied until his death a half century later.
A newspaper interview later in life may serve to sum up his pre-war career:
"From a clerkship in the
bookstore of S.F. Gale & Co. Mr. Burley rose to be a member of the firm.
The firm prospered, but after a time he withdrew from it, when his recognized
talents and expertness at figures recommended him as the right man to settle
the accounts of bankrupt firms and individuals and have charge of solvent
estates. His integrity in these capacities stood for all that was required by
courts or heirs in interest.
"Of course a man so endowed and circumstanced was bound to be more or less
in politics. Mr. Burley was of a Whig family, but he made his first appearance
in Chicago
politics as a Republican. He was elected to the Common Council as a Republican
the first year that party was in formidable existence. Next he was chosen a
town and then a ward supervisor, and in the county board he was extremely
useful. He was a member of the board and its chairman of finance at the
outbreak of the civil war."
It is at this point that the
narrative in the paper commences.
Burley was later elected to the state legislature in 1871, in the first session
following adoption of the new constitution; at the time of the Fire, Burley was
the Commissioner of Lincoln Park. He was twice appointed Comptroller of the
City of Chicago,
once by Mayor Medill during a financial crisis, and again by Mayor Heath in
calmer times.
Burley died at his home at 254 North Dearborn
on November 27, 1903. The street that runs in front of the old South Works is
named for him, as is a school in the Lakeview neighborhood on the north side.
His son, Clarence Augustus Burley, was a staunch member of this Club for 52
years and President in 1902-03.
This paper was originally delivered to the Chicago Historical Society at its
annual meeting in 1890, less than three decades after the events described.
Those present would have had common assumptions that are not as clear to us
today. Transportation by water, by river and canal, was the highway of commerce,
as vital then as the interstate highway system is now. Steamboats were in their
heyday; railroads were a developing phenomenon, the high- tech marvel of the
day, changing the culture and the economy just as computers are now.
Thus, the confluence of two major river systems at Cairo,
Illinois, the Mississippi
and Ohio, was
a point of major tactical military importance. The narrow peninsula extending
between them as they join naturally controls both, and the flow of goods and
men on them. Up to that time, however, lacking a conflict, it was primarily a
muddy swamp, never developed commercially. A rail causeway served to bridge the
swamp to a point where the river could be crossed by ferry, but nothing more.
Southern Illinois was then, as now, more Southern than Northern, bordered by Kentucky and Missouri,
and not far from Tennessee.
As the Secession took shape, there were substantial groups in each of those
states with secessionist sentiments. There was a distinct possibility that
those of similar mind might welcome military action in southern Illinois, splitting Illinois
as Virginia
was split in the East. Clearly, the Secessionists had their eye on Cairo, as Burley remarks
in his paper.
The Cairo
Expedition
by
Hon. AUGUSTUS HARRIS BURLEY.
As the years go by, and one by one the actors in and spectators of the scenes
of the war of the Rebellion pass away, it seems necessary and proper that all
of us should make some record of what we saw or knew of the anxious and trying
times in the spring of 1861.
The general history of the war has been written by a number of able authors, I
wish, only, to add what came within by own knowledge, as to the part taken by Chicago at the beginning
of the war.
From the time when the steamer Star of the West was fired upon, January
9, 1861, and driven to sea from the entrance to Charleston harbor, the people
throughout the North were uneasy and excited, but no one could believe that a
serious attempt would be made to disrupt the Union of the States or destroy a
government that had existed for nearly a century, and which had been
consecrated by the deeds and lives of so many noble men.
April 12, 1861, when the citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, opened fire on
Fort Sumter, and the gallant Maj. Robert Anderson, to save the lives of his
soldiers, struck the Flag of our Country, the news went through the North like
an electric shock; quickly recovering from the stunning blow, the people felt
that war had actually come and though cheeks paled, lips were firmly set, and eyes
flashed, showing the determination by all patriots to stand shoulder to
shoulder and preserve the Union and the Government at any cost of life and
treasure.
Friday evening, April 19, a mass-meeting of citizens was held in Bryan Hall
(now the Grand Opera House [ca. 1890]) at which patriotic speeches were made
and resolutions were adopted to sustain the government, suppress the rebellion,
and maintain the Union.
A subscription of thirty thousand dollars was immediately made, and a committee
appointed to carry out the wishes of the people as expressed, and to use the
money in assisting the government.
The following named citizens were appointed as such committee:
|
Edward H. Hadduck
Laurin Palmer Hilliard
Benj. F. Carver
Fred'k Letz
George Armour
Hiram E. Mather
John L. Hancock
Robert Law
Alexander White
Redmond Prindiville
Edward Ilsley Tinkham
Roselle Marvin Hough
Nelson Tuttle
John Gage
|
Julian Sidney Rumsey
Orrington Lunt
Philip Conley
P.L. Underwood
John James Richards
F. Granger Adams
Horatio Gates Loomis
George W. Gage
Chas. Gustavus Wicker
Gurdon S. Hubbard
Thomas J. Kinsella
Eliphalet Wood
Homer E. Sargent
U.H. Crosby (1)
|
Mr. Hadduck declining to act as chairman, I was requested to take his place.
Samuel Hoard was secretary.
The Hon. Julian S. Rumsey gave the use of his building, 44 and 46 LaSalle Street,
without charge, and the committee was in session daily from early morning until
late at night.
Reports were constantly made to the committee of traitors and treason, of
threats to burn elevators, to blow up the powder-magazines, and to do other
mischief, and thus aid the so-called confederacy. The committee had guards
placed to watch all important and threatened buildings.
Not a keg of powder was permitted to be taken from any of the magazines without
the consent of the committee, who, before issuing a permit, had to be satisfied
that it went into loyal hands, for a legitimate purpose. The arbitrary powers
assumed by the committee could only be justified by such an exigency, but all
loyal citizens united in submitting to their restrictions and sustaining their
acts.
April 19, the following despatch was sent by Gov. Richard Yates to Gen. Richard
Kellogg Swift, the then commander of the militia of this military district:
"As quick as possible
have as strong a force as you can raise, armed and equipped with ammunition and
accouterments, and a company of artillery, ready to march at a moment's
warning. A messenger will start to Chicago
tonight.
"Richard Yates, Commander-in-Chief"
The morning of April 20, Mr.
John W. Bunn appeared, as the governor's messenger, and announced to Gen. Swift
and the committee, that all diligence should be used in raising and equipping
the force, and that its destination must be kept a profound secret.
Gen. Swift issued his orders for the militia to muster, but with the exception
of a few independent companies, small in numbers, his force was composed of
volunteers all told to the number of 400, as per Gen. Swift's telegram to Gov.
Yates, dated April 21 the adjutant-general's report says 595, but he included
some companies that did not arrive in time. The force included four cannon and
forty-four horses.
The war-committee borrowed from a Milwaukee company fifty muskets, but the
force was largely armed with squirrel-rifles, shotguns, single-barreled
pistols, antique revolvers, and anything that looked as if it would shoot, that
could be obtained from the gun stores, second- hand and pawnshops.
The State having neither money nor arms, our committee borrowed or bought the
arms and commissary stores, and advanced from its funds the money necessary for
the purchase of everything required that could be obtained on such short
notice.
At eleven o'clock at night, April 21, the expedition started from the
Illinois-Central Railroad station, amid the cheers of the people and the
screaming of steam-whistles.
An expedition starting, as this did, for an unknown destination, you may
conceive, was a source of anxiety to all and especially to those whose sons,
brothers, and husbands had gone. Gen. Swift was without military training or
knowledge, but he had with him the late Gen. Joseph Dana Webster, then captain,
as aide, and to whom the governor gave the authority to supercede Gen. Swift at
any time should it become necessary.
After providing the force, the next thing was to get it to its destination
before any advice could be given of it to the people of the southern part of
the State. Some of our excited citizens wished the committee to take possession
of the railroad and telegraph, but cooler counsel prevailed, and the railroad
and telegraph companies' officers patriotically aided the authorities in every
way, thus preventing any knowledge of the expedition being sent in advance.
To this end, no telegrams were permitted to go over the lines, and the regular
train on the Illinois-Central railroad was started at the usual hour, 7 p.m.,
but with orders to stop at a certain place, until the military train had
passed, giving to passengers, as an excuse for such delay that some unavoidable
accident, or other cause, prevented their going on. With this arrangement, the
military train passed unheralded the length of the State, and rolled into Cairo to the astonishment
of all and rage of many of its citizens.
It seems strange that such secrecy should have been necessary in any northern
state, but we were surrounded by traitors in Chicago, and a large proportion of
the people of Southern Illinois sympathized with the South, and to the late
Hon. Stephen A. Douglas and the noble Gen. John A. Logan, we owe the salvation
of our State from civil war within its borders.
Knowing the sentiment of the people, the fear was that they would destroy the
long, wooden trestle-work across the Big Muddy River,
which they could have rendered impassable, in an hour, by burning it. There was
also fear that the rebels would seize Cairo,
as being a point of great strategic importance. It was afterward learned that Cairo would have been
seized in forty-eight hours, had its occupation been delayed.
Preparing the expedition to Cairo brought us
face to face with the fact that the State of Illinois had not, within its control, guns
enough for one regiment. Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa sent
agents here asking for arms; Michigan,
in reply to the committee's request for a loan of arms, said they had none that
could be spared, not having enough for their own men.
The committee, in view of the condition, decided to send East for arms, and
gladly accepted the offer of Stephen Francis Gale to go in search of guns, and
I have the pleasure of giving you his own account of the mission:
"A.H. Burley, Esq.,
President of the Citizens' Committee of the City of Chicago:
"On the 20th of April, 1861, you informed me that I had been selected by
your committee to proceed East for the purpose of procuring arms and ammunition
for the troops of the State of Illinois.
"Arrangements were quickly made for my departure, by obtaining, through
R.N. Rice, Esq., superintendent of the Michigan-Central Railroad, a free and
unobstructed track to Detroit;
and in one hour was on my way.
"Wired the governor of Michigan to meet
me at the station at Jackson for the purpose of
obtaining if possible a temporary supply from the arsenal at Dearborn. His answer was We can not let you
have a single musket, our State has called for more men than we can arm.'.
"Reached Detroit in six hours and thirty
minutes; wiring on my way to Mr. Rice to meet me on my arrival at the station,
and meantime to make arrangements with the Great- Western Railway for an engine
to take me to Niagara Falls; also to put me in
communication with some one in high authority in Canada.
"Mr. Rice at once prepared a letter to Hon. H. C. R. Beecher, the queen's
counsel at London, who said he would lay my request before the government
without delay and make answer to my request as soon as he could get a reply. On
the 22nd instant, I received a despatch, care of Erastus Corning, Albany, as follows:
" Application unsuccessful,' and evidently to explain delay adds:
Government does not take the telegraph as a means of communication. Why not try
Lord Lyons?'
"In my brief conversation with Mr. Beecher, I inferred that however well
disposed the government might feel, a want of precedent or want of authority
might prevent the granting of my request.
"My time through Canada
was five hours and forty minutes. Mr. Rice, at my request, wired
New-York-Central Railroad to hold east-bound express as long as possible, for
special on its way.'
"The regular express was held for one hour; arriving forty minutes after
its departure, I took a hot engine and overtook the express at Rochester.
"On my arrival at Albany,
called at once upon Mr. Corning who promised every assistance in his power. He
introduced me to Gov. Morgan, who said there is an abundance of arms in the
arsenals; every State can get them; and you can get all you want. If Gov. Yates
will send a special to Washington
it might expedite matters. The Springfield Arsenal sent us eight thousand
yesterday.'
"Tried to communicate with Washington,
but found it impossible, as the wires were all cut, and the only means left was
by special messenger to accompany troops, either from New
York or Philadelphia.
"Left a telegram for the secretary of war to be sent as soon as the line was
in order.
"The saving of time seemed so important, I hastened to Springfield, and after an interview with the
superintendent of the arsenal, he said: I see your necessities and will gladly
do anything in my power to aid you in your efforts, but I have no authority to
deliver arms except by an order of the secretary of war.' To this I answered: I
understand your position fully, and will give you a guarantee from the best men
in your city that such an order shall be forthcoming within a reasonable time.'
At this point, friends came forward, and it was arranged that I should have
five thousand stand of arms for the State of Illinois, a temporary receipt to be given,
and proper vouchers to be furnished to the superintendent in the near future.
The arms were boxed at once and delivered at the railway station.
"While in superintendent's office for the purpose of obtaining special
time-table to run west to Albany, I received despatch from A. H. Burley,
Chicago, saying: Our State has twenty-one thousand arms from St. Louis this
morning,' also a second one from the same, saying: We are supplied, do nothing
more.' Both of these despatches were under date of April 26, and on the same
date received answer to my despatch to the secretary of war, saying:
" An order has been issued and sent to the governor of Illinois for the required arms. Simon
Cameron, Secretary of War.'
"My application to the commanding officer of the Watertown arsenal was successful, and on the
26th wired him as follows: Send the ammunition, caps, etc.., as soon as
possible by Boston & Albany Railroad, arrangements are made with the
company to forward with dispatch. Mark Chicago, Ill.'
"S.F. Gale
"My application was for two hundred thousand rounds for smooth-bore
muskets of the Springfield
pattern. Advices from Chicago
under date of May 2, informed me that the ammunition was received."
While our committee's
messenger was scouring the East for guns, Gov. Yates was trying to get the
United States arms from Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, but as the barracks
were surrounded by rebels, who were determined to take the arms for their own
use, several gentlemen, some in high military positions, declined to undertake
it, but Gen., then Capt. James H. Stokes offered to try and was successful, and
I here give you his own account of his expedition, which he kindly
prepared, at my request:
"Chicago,
Ill., May 7, 1889.
"Augustus H. Burley,
"No. 618 Opera House Block, Chicago.
"My dear Sir: In answer to your kind letter of the 4th inst., I
take much pleasure in making the following statement:
"Immediately following the fall of Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, I was
called to Springfield by letter from Gov. Yates of Illinois, as his military
adviser. A few days after my arrival there, Gov. Yates stated that he had
received a warrant from the war department at Washington,
directing the ordnance officer at the St. Louis
arsenal, to turn over to the governor of Illinois,
eight thousand muskets (8000) and ammunition. Gov. Yates stating at the time
that he had in camp three thousand volunteers without arms that he had offered
the warrant to an officer of the regular army, who declined serving it, stating
that it was impossible to execute it, as the arsenal grounds were surrounded by
rebel troops. So strong was the apprehension that the rebels would frustrate
this effort to relieve the arsenal, that I was sent from Springfield by special railroad train, no one
being permitted on the train but the conductor and necessary employees.
"Before leaving Springfield, I made arrangements
with Mr. Mitchell, one of the owners of the Alton & St. Louis Steamboat
Company, to meet me on the outskirts of St.
Louis, on the evening of the second day thereafter. On
reaching St. Louis,
I walked down to the arsenal unobserved. Finding the outer gate of the arsenal
choked by a great crowd of people, principally rebels, I met a picket guard and
induced the sergeant to force an opening through the crowd, landing me inside
of the arsenal gates.
"Directed by the inside guard to the ordnance-officer's quarters, I gave
him the warrant. After reading it, we went to Capt. [Nathaniel] Lyon's
quarters, commanding post, who, after reading the warrant, expressed a decided
opinion that it was impossible to move the arms in the face of the large rebel force
then surrounding the arsenal, which was said to be about eight thousand strong,
expecting daily to capture the arsenal and war-material. Capt. Olcutt, of the
ordnance corps, U.S.
army, urged and assisted me in my efforts to convince the commanding officer
that the arsenal and its contents would surely be captured by the rebel troops,
therefore, it would be better to make the effort to remove, if possible, the
ordnance stores. After a long and urgent appeal, Capt. Lyon consented to comply
with the demands of the warrant. Thereupon I started back to St. Louis, to meet Mr. Mitchell by
appointment, and settled upon the plan, and the time for sending his steamer to
the arsenal, which was to be at 2 o'clock a.m., the following night, returning
to the arsenal under cover of the night, and thereby escaping all notice. Our
time was employed in trying to mislead the rebels. To this end, Capt. Olcott
the next day, sent several boxes of old flint-lock muskets to the railroad
depot, in St. Louis,
as if for shipment. The boxes were greedily seized by the rebels, with great
exultation, and much glorification was made on account of so important a
capture.
"While preparing the guns for shipment, as ordered by warrant from the war
department, with the aid of Capt. Olcutt, we were much occupied in trying to
convince Capt. Lyon, that the call for only eight thousand guns would not
relieve the arsenal from the intended attack of the rebels, and that it would
be better for the country to remove all the guns in the arsenal to a safe place
in Illinois, and leave the rebels nothing to fight for. Before the end of the
day, Capt. Lyon accepted our view of the case, and consented that I should
remove the larger portion of the arms, retaining only what was necessary to arm
and equip the volunteers under his command.
"The same night the steamer City of Alton
from Alton
quietly floated down to the arsenal dock, reaching it about 2 o'clock a.m.
"With a force of about four or five hundred volunteers, two thousand boxes
of muskets, with the necessary ammunition, a complete light-artillery battery,
with its ammunition were quietly placed on board the steamer. In all there were
about twenty-three thousand (23,000) stand of arms.
"During the evening and night of the shipment, seven or eight of the rebel
spies were captured inside of the lines. After a satisfactory loading of the
arms on the steamer was made, orders were given by the captain to cast off, and
an attempt was made to start the steamer, but it was found to be hard upon a
rock, and all efforts failed to move her by steam. It was then that Capt. Lyon
under the pressure of great excitement, backed by his expressed unwillingness
to permit the arms to be taken away, accused me of treachery, with the
intention of delivering the arms to the rebels. He knew that I was a Southerner
by birth and education, and supposed me to be liable to any of his suspicions.
"I bore his apprehensions as well as I could, and employed my efforts in
having the boxes and guns moved from the bow, where the pressure was the
greatest. In the course of an hour of hard work by the soldiers, the steamer
was relieved. It again floated, and we started for Alton without noise from escaping steam, the
captain directing the steam to be discharged in the coal-hole.
"About two miles up the river, after leaving St. Louis, the channel of the
river made a turn close up to its west bank, where there was stationed a rebel
battery, with their camp-fires burning, apparently all asleep, so that the
steamer passed unnoticed, reaching Alton about six o'clock a.m., finding Mr.
Mitchell on the dock awaiting our arrival.
"So soon as he learned that we had on board twenty-three thousand stand of
arms, he started for the fire-alarm bell, and rang it heartily, raising all the
town, under the apprehension of a fire. The mayor of the city, with a large
crowd of citizens collected round him, and when he had related to them the
cause of his ringing the bell, and calling for volunteers to help in unloading
the steamer, each four taking a box of guns, and soon transferred all to a
freight-train already standing on the track near the wharf.
"In the course of an hour, everything was moved to the cars, and in safety
we escaped to Springfield,
reaching there about 2 o'clock p.m., where we were met by Gov. Yates, and a
large portion of the legislature.
"The end of this little effort to obtain the twenty-three thousand stand
of arms to arm the volunteers already in camp in the State of Illinois, as well
a portion of the volunteers in Wisconsin and Indiana, was received and
acknowledged by a vote of thanks to myself, passed by the legislature of the
State of Illinois, and approved by the governor of this State.(2)
"It may not be out of place to repeat a remark made by a citizen of the
State of Missouri, that by the early removal of these arms from the arsenal at
St. Louis, it destroyed the supremacy of the rebel forces, and smothered their
intended invasion of the State of Illinois, also keeping the rebels from taking
the State of Missouri out of the Union, by a vote of secession then
contemplated.
Very respectfully,
"Jas. H. Stokes."(3)
The
arms obtained by Mr. Gale, after being placed on the cars at Springfield,
Mass., were stopped and returned to the United States
arsenal as soon as the success of Capt. Stokes' expedition was known. The
ammunition from Watertown for the arms from Springfield came through in due time, and was forwarded to
Springfield, Illinois.
Much credit was due to the officers of the Michigan-Central and the
Great-Western railroads for the assistance and dispatch given to Mr. Gale, and
for the service so rendered no bill was ever presented to the committee.
In order to correct history and the statement of the adjutant-general of the
State, who says in his report: "that the batteries were unprovided with
shot, shell, or cannister, but slugs hurriedly prepared"; I wish to state,
that our esteemed citizen, the late Philetus Woodworth Gates, started the fires
in his foundry at eleven o'clock Sunday morning for the purpose of casting cannon-balls,
and the artillery started that evening with four hundred rounds of fixed
ammunition for its four guns.
The first shot of the war fired in the West, was a shot cast in Mr. Gates'
foundry on that Sunday morning, and fired from a gun trained by Lieut. John
Rudolph Botsford, of Capt. James Smith's company, of Chicago Light Artillery.
The shot was fired across the bow of a steamboat passing down the river,
bearing ammunition from St. Louis
for the rebels. The whizzing of a shot was too pointed an invitation to come
ashore to be declined, and the steamer's stock of munitions of war was taken
for use in our own army.
To show the great prudence of the general, commanding the expedition, and his
consideration for the safety of his soldiers, I will mention what was stated,
by those near to him; "that when approaching the Big Muddy River he
proposed that the platform cars, on which the cannon were, should be placed in
front and the locomotive in the rear of the train, so that in case of being
attacked, they could use the guns at long range, and retreat if found
necessary," but as the other officers of the command did not agree with
him, the train proceeded in the usual way.
When the Milwaukee muskets were being cleaned and put into order for returning,
Mr. George T. Abbey found many of them with more than one cartridge in the
barrel and some had five or six; showing how little the boys knew of fire-arms
or their use, having reloaded without discharging the guns.
To Gen. Joseph Stockton thanks were due for his valuable assistance in
obtaining horses for the artillery he furnished several from his own stock;
also to Col. Roselle Marvin Hough, who was very earnest at that time as he was
subsequently all through the war.
The Cairo
expedition was hastily prepared, and as before stated, furnished with such arms
as could be obtained. The men, mostly in their everyday clothes, some with
overcoats, but more without, a few blankets, fewer tents, and comparatively
without camp-equipage of any kind. The starting for an unknown destination,
ostensibly for Springfield, the tears of mothers, wives, and sisters; the
fervent blessings of friends, the screech of steam-whistles at 11 o'clock that
dark Sunday night made an impression ineffaceable from the memory of all those
who were present.
The money expended for the Cairo
expedition and for fitting out two regiments, was mostly refunded by the
government, and then used in assisting the families of those in the army.
Cook County, by its board of supervisors,
appropriated $30,000 to assist the government, and the speaker was chairman of
the war-committee, but as of the first committee, all the records were
destroyed in the fire of 1871.
The first citizens' committee continued to serve through 1861 and 1862, and was
succeeded by a new and larger committee, but as I resigned from it, I can only
say that it devoted its energies mostly to assisting Gen. John Charles Fremont
in his Missouri
campaign. Of the doings of the last committee all record was burned.
It must seem strange to the young people of today, that a war came upon the United States
twenty-nine years ago, and that neither the Federal or State government had
money to pay men or to buy arms. The general government had but few arms, and
the states still less.
Secretary-of-War John B. Floyd, had gradually depleted the northern arsenals,
removing the arms to southern points, from which they were taken by the rebels.
It should be remembered and made a matter of history that the first money
raised in Illinois for the war was subscribed
by citizens of Chicago.
The first armed force sent out in the West was that sent to Cairo,
and it was sent from Chicago.
The first general in command in the State of Illinois
was Richard Kellogg Swift, a citizen of Chicago.
The first shot fired in the West for the Union was a Chicago
shot, from a Chicago cannon, trained by a Chicago boy, of the
Chicago Light Artillery.
Thanks are also due to our esteemed citizen E.W. Blatchford for the assistance
he rendered to Mr. Gates on that memorable Sunday.
Let us hope that the horrors of war may never be brought upon our country, and
that peace and harmony may henceforth be the results of the treasure expended
and the sacrifices made in the name of Liberty
and Union.
With the foregoing, I have the pleasure of filing a copy of an address
delivered by Capt. John Conant Long, a member of the Cairo expedition, at a meeting held to
celebrate the twenty-seventh anniversary of its starting.
Postscript by the reader:
The subsequent history of Cairo
itself in the Civil War was militarily uneventful. The quick action of the
citizens of Chicago prevented a key position at
the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the railroad links
that crossed them, from falling into the hands of the Confederacy, and no
further action by them was attempted later in the conflict.
As time went by, Cairo
became a military junction of great importance. Cairo
was the base from which Grant started his river campaign, beginning at Paducah, Kentucky,
through Shiloh and other battles, culminating at the victory at Vicksburg, thus fulfilling the vision of the Chicago citizens
committee of the early days of the war.
Following the war, lacking further military purpose, Cairo declined. Railroads displaced water as
the primary means of transport. Cairo
retreated to the status of backwater, and with it our understanding of the
events of the early days of the war.(4) Let us not forget the timely action of
an earlier generation of Chicagoans, when citizens took a free government as
their responsibility as well as their right, and defense of it as their duty.
FOOTNOTES
(1) These names were
obtained from the Chicago Tribune.
(2) See official account of the expedition of Capt. Stokes in the "Report
of the Adjutant-General of the State of Illinois,"
Vol. I, page 241.
(3) James Hughes Stokes, born at Havre de Grace, Md., July 11, 1816; was
appointed from Maryland a cadet at West Point, N.Y., Military Academy, July 1,
1831; graduated July 1, 1835, and promoted in the U.S. army to brevet second
lieutenant, and assigned to 2d Artillery; transferred to 4th Artillery, Aug.
14, 1835; served in garrison at Ft. Hamilton, N.Y., 1835-6; promoted second
lieutenant, 4th Artillery, June 11, 1836; in operations in Creek Nation, 1836;
in the Florida war against the Seminole Indians, 1836-8, being engaged at the
battle of Okee-cho-bee, Dec. 25, 1837; in the Cherokee Nation, 1838, while
transferring the Indians to the West; in garrison at Ft. Columbus, N.Y., 1838;
promoted first lieutenant, 4th Artillery, July 7, 1838; on quartermaster duty,
purchasing horses 1838-9; at New York, 1839-40; promoted captain, staff
assistant- quartermaster, May 21, 1839; in Winnebago country, 1840; in Florida
war, 1840-1; at Buffalo, N.Y., 1841-3; resigned, Sept. 30, 1843. Proprietor
Clyde Glass Factory, N.Y., 1843-53; treasurer and secretary of New York and Boston
railroad Company, 1856-8; auditor and local treasurer of Illinois Central
Railroad company, 1858-61. Served during the rebellion of the seceding States,
1861-5; in the removal of the small arms from St. Louis arsenal, Mo., to
Springfield, Ill., to equip Illinois volunteers, April , 1861 (for this
military service he received, May 2, 1861, the thanks of the legislature of Illinois);
as State commissioner to purchase arms for Illinois volunteers, May, 1861;
captain, Illinois Artillery Volunteers, July 31, 1862; in command of Chicago
Board of Trade Battery; in Maj.-Gen. Buel's campaign in Kentucky, Sept.-Oct.,
1862, being engaged in the battle of Perrysville, Oct. 8, 1862; in command of
regiment of pioneers and battery in Maj.-Gen. Rosecrans' campaign in Tennessee,
Oct., 1862, to Sept., 1863, being engaged in the battle of Stone's River, Dec.
31, 1862, to Jan. 3, 1863, in several skirmishes in pursuit of the enemy;
capture of Chattanooga, Sept. 9, 1863, and battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 19-20,
1863; against the rebel Gen. Wheeler's raid in Middle Tennessee, Oct. 2-19,
1863, in the action of Farmington, Oct. 8, 1863, and several skirmishes; in the
Chattanooga campaign, in command of artillery division, Oct.,1863, to Feb.,
1864, being engaged in the battle of Missionary Ridge, Nov. 23-4, 1863;
promoted lieutenant-colonel, staff, U.-S. Volunteers, Feb. 10, 1864; inspector
of the quartermaster department of the Military Division of the Mississippi,
Feb. 1 to Aug. 22, 1864, being engaged in making inspections, chiefly at New
Orleans; mustered out of service Aug. 22, 1864. Reappointed in the U.-S.
Volunteers, with the rank of captain, staff assistant adjutant-general, U.-S.
Volunteers, Aug. 22, 1864; promoted brigadier-general, U.-S. Volunteers, July
20, 1865; served in the defences of Washington,
D.C., Aug. 22, 1864 to Aug. 24,
1865, when he was honorably mustered out of service. Commissioner of Illinois, May 3, 1861,
for establishing a State arsenal. Became blind in 1888 from disease contracted
in Florida war, and died in New-York City,
Dec. 27, 1890.
(4) Additional material may be found on the Internet, of which a selection is
listed below:
http://www.angelfire.com/wi/wisconsin42nd/cairo.html
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/misc/civilwar/civilwar.htm
http://www.altonweb.com/history/civilwar/1861-2.htm
http://www.illinoishistory.com/cairopersmap.jpg
Return to PAPERS
Return to Main Menu
