“Remember them, and let that memory urge you on to be better Americans.”
C. Wayland Brooks
If you had the chance to take a trip back in time, would you do it?
That opportunity recently presented itself to me, and I said a resounding “Yes!”
One of the features at the BCHS’s Veterans Exhibit in the Newell Bryant Museum in Princeton is an expertly assembled collection of more than 100 computerized oral interviews with local World War II and Vietnam veterans, some of which were conducted about 30 years ago.
I chose to listen to the Robert Eidenmiller interview. Bob was an Ohio farmer who married my first cousin, once removed, Ramona Fitzpatrick Eidenmiller. I knew Bob had served in the Army Air Force during World War II, but I didn’t know much else.
The interview started, and it was like I was sitting in a room next to Bob in 1994 as he told of his induction, training, the assembly of his 10-man crew, and the flight of their brand new B-24 bomber to Newfoundland, Africa, and finally to its new base in Foggia, Italy, where it was sent out with others on bombing missions over Nazi-occupied Europe.
Bob, a tail gunner, told of bombing raids on oil refineries. He told of raids in southern France. He told of a crash landing at his base. Most interesting were stories of his 10 days on the run in Yugoslavia after being shot down. Partisans helped the American crew escape to Italy. The casualty rates were sobering. Bob said air crews had a 41 percent fatality rate. About 80 percent suffered casualties of some sort. Wow!
BUREAU COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OFFICERS
President – Jim Dunn
Vice President – Dan Martinkus
Treasurer – Lexi Mecum
Secretary – Eliott Wolfe
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Steve Bouslog
Bill Bouxsein
N. Dana Collins
Stephanie Foes
Curt Johnson
Becky Kramer
Ann Lasson
Jon McCutchan
Joel Quiram
Herb Rhees
Tori Yepsen
Bob admitted he did not expect to survive the war. later he organized regular
It was good to hear Bob’s voice. I’m glad I took that everyone to check the list of oral interviews and do
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Lex Poppens
MUSEUM ASSOCIATES
Jessica Gray – Curator
Mike Hult – Research
Pam Pratt – Sales/Sponsorships
2023 has been an amazing year for the Bureau County Historical Society. We invited people to explore their history and they have!
Thanks to our members and donors, we opened our Getting to Know Grace exhibit in March. Then, we celebrated National Military Awareness month in May with a new Veterans Exhibit. The latter has been so successful that we are extending it through the end of the calendar year.
In this issue, we continue our exploration of county veterans. Jim Dunn takes a look at former U.S. Senator C. Wayland Brooks. Curator Jessica Gray discusses those soldiers who died in the Andersonville Prison, a notorious prisoner of war camp. How exciting it is to know that one of the Wright Brothers’ planes landed here while on a national tour.
Our goal this year has been to make our exhibits and stories about and relevant to the people of our entire county. Exhibit plans are already underway for 2024 and beyond.
If you haven’t been to the museum recently, you should stop by! The Newell Bryant underwent a dramatic freshening up in April for our wellreceived military exhibit in May. We have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming the public to view the exhibit, now extended through the end of the year.
We loved welcoming students touring the exhibit and telling them stories they’ve never heard about the brave men and women from communities throughout the county. Definitely the highlight of our time with them was giving them the opportunity to hold the 6-pound solid cannonball shot picked up by none other than Owen Lovejoy at the Second Battle of Bull Run. While preparing the exhibit, I came across 171 letters written by 142
As an organization, we have started the process to give the Sash/Stalter/Matson building a new purpose and plan for the future. We are excited to be unveiling a new Civil War Monument in front of this elegant building in September. In preparation for that, the former library will be getting a fresh coat of paint and some exterior maintenance.
There are so many unknown treasures in our county, and we intend to continue to discover them. As a private non-profit, we are completely funded by our members and donors. Your donations and memberships will help keep this thriving organization on track into the future. Our past is our future and we thank you for being a part of it!
Explore your History!
Lex Poppensdifferent servicemen and women during the course of World War II. The letters were written to a Princeton chapter of a national organization called The Mothers of World War No. 2. The Bureau County men and women, serving across the nation and around the world during the war, gratefully acknowledged the receipt of care packages and birthday cards sent by the mothers’ group. It was easy to become emotional reading the letters from these individuals, imagining them so far from home and lonely for their own mothers, assuaged by a care package sent by caring and thoughtful women from their hometown.
Realizing that most families were probably not aware these letters were in our possession, I decided
to include excerpts from some of them as part of our World War II exhibit, and we are now preparing to make copies of them available to family members. The letters are being diligently transcribed and scanned by our college intern, Brynn Hieronymus. The list of names of the letter writers will be available on our website and we encourage family members to reach out to us should they like a copy. We ask that you please make a donation for a copy of the letter so as to support our work preserving Bureau County’s history.
We hope to see you soon and we thank you for your support of the Bureau County Historical Society.
C. Wayland Brooks was a United States senator, public servant, orator, politician and war hero who was born in 1897 in Bureau County and died in 1957 in Chicago. Until about half a year ago, I had never heard of him.
“What’s wrong with me?” I thought, as curiosity drove my research into his remarkable but nearly forgotten career.
The more I found out about Brooks, the more I wanted to share those findings with the public. That led to me to write a 6,600-word lecture on Brooks, a Bureau Township native who as a grade schooler lived on a farm near Neponset, and deliver it May 6 at the Princeton Public Library during National Military Appreciation Month.
Let me share a condensed version in a slightly different order.
What impressed me first about Brooks was how serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I brought out his finest qualities – courage, intelligence and athleticism.
He was 20 years old, finishing his freshman year at the University of Illinois when Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917.
Brooks wasted no time. He finished his freshman year and then announced to his family that his next stop would be a Marine Corps recruiting station.
His older brother, Russell, told him to wait until he could join him in Champaign so they could enlist together, and they did.
Brooks was gifted athletically and academically. He’d won the 440yard dash in the DuPage County track meet as a high school senior. He’d also won the county oratorical contest. His summer job was to carry loads of bricks to a brick
layer, which required strength and stamina.
The Marines were getting quite a specimen, and they put him to work in France during the crucial Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918 as the Marines stepped in front of a relentless German advance on Paris. Brooks was ordered to maintain communications between commanders in the rear and four Marine Corps companies in the front. His athleticism and smarts were on full display on the timberfilled battlefield.
As the Chicago Tribune later reported:
“Brooks’ job (he was then a corporal) was to hold the liaison, to keep four companies in contact with each other, to see that none got ahead of the others, to carry
orders to company commanders, whose names he had to know, and to pick up a gun from a dead Marine now and then and pick off a Hun for himself.”
Brooks helped the Marines stop the German advance, which was deemed a turning point in the war. What an accomplishment for a son of Bureau County!
The Marines’ next battle, Soissons, would be Brooks’ last. On July 19, he was wounded seven times in less than an hour by shrapnel and machine gun fire, including a severe injury to his foot.
While a patient at Base Hospital No. 13 at Limoges, France, Brooks learned of the death from influenza of his brother, Russell.
Brooks’ work for the war effort did not end after the armistice. After recovering from surgery at a naval base near Chicago, Brooks volunteered to give speeches to promote the war effort. Using his oratorical skills, he gave more than 50 speeches that encouraged donations to the Red Cross, YMCA and Victory Loan bonds between December 1918 and August 1919.
As he spoke in towns across Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, Brooks made sure he told his audiences of the bravery of America’s fighting men in France. He urged continued support for the troops, and he called on the public to never forget those who died.
“Remember them, and let that memory urge you on to be better Americans,” he said.
Brooks, remember, was only 21 and 22 years old while on his successful speaking tour. I remain in awe of that effort.
After the war, Brooks married, fathered a son, earned a law degree, worked as assistant state’s
BROOKS, continued on page 6
Working at a museum affords one the interesting opportunity to tell untold stories, or rather, unearth stories that have been forgotten –this is one.
In the Museum’s collections is a newspaper clipping dated May 30, 1865 from the Chicago Tribune with the headline “The Andersonville Martyrs: List of Illinois Troops Who Starved in Prison at Andersonville, Ga., from March 7, 1864 to January 1, 1865.”
“Prison” is a loose term –Andersonville was a 26.5 acre walled camp with minimal shelter, contaminated water, and rampant disease. 45,000 Union prisoners were held there; 12,920 died and were buried in a cemetery just outside its walls.
I was surprised to see in the article the names of nine men from Bureau
County who served in the NinetyThird Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
The book History of the Ninety-Third Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, written by Aaron Dunbar of Dover and Harvey Trimble of Princeton, is a treasure trove of information. It extensively details the regiment’s movements throughout the war and lists every man and what happened to him, including whether he was taken prisoner and died under Confederate control.
There also exists online the invaluable resource “A List of The Union Soldiers Buried at Andersonville,” in part compiled by the efforts of famous nurse, Clara Barton. The list of names is organized by state, and Illinois’ list of dead is 5 pages long.
ANDERSONVILLE, continued on pg 11
Princeton old-timer H.C. Cook could hardly believe his eyes.
Cook, 90, was one of thousands of wide-eyed area residents who held their breath as a Wright brothers airplane took off from the Princeton fairgrounds, flew around the city, returned and landed safely on the racetrack’s infield.
The date was July 4, 1911. It was only seven and a half years after Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first manned flights of a motor-powered flying machine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Airplanes were then in their infancy. Many Americans knew about them but had never seen one in flight. Because of their novelty, there was intense public interest in the invention.
The Wright brothers decided to capitalize on that interest. Back home in Dayton, Ohio, they trained young pilots, equipped them with
new Wright airplanes, and sent them out across the country to give flying exhibitions that people paid to watch – an early version of the air shows that remain popular to this day.
Along with others in the crowd –men wearing slacks, white shirts with the sleeves rolled up, and straw hats, and women attired in summer frocks and light-colored hats –the elderly Cook walked from the fairgrounds grandstand on the city’s west side to a nearby exhibition tent.
There, the airplane, a winged contraption made of rubberized canvas imported from France, poles and slats made from spruce, wires, a gasoline engine and two push propellers, awaited public inspection, as did its pilot, James Clifford “J.C.” Turpin.
WINGS, continued on pg 6
‘Birdman’ J.C. Turpin made four successful flights in Wright brothers
attorney in Cook County, then entered politics. He ran for statewide office as a Republican unsuccessfully three times (for state treasurer, congressman-at-large and governor), then in 1940 he was elected U.S. senator from Illinois. He served in the Senate for eight years before Democrat Paul Douglas upset him in 1948.
Senate. Often wounded he returned to battle. He gave much for his country.”
C. Wayland Brooks is a Bureau County native of courage and achievement who gave much for his country. His life story deserves to be rediscovered, respected and retold, lest we forget.
Note to readers: Dunn, who retired as editor of the Bureau County Republican, is president of the Bureau County Historical Society Board.
Cook approached the airplane and gazed at it. Only a short time before, it had been flying high above the ground. Now, he could actually reach out and touch it.
“For many minutes, he stood beside it lost in wonder,” according to a story in the July 6, 1911, issue of the Bureau County Republican newspaper. As Cook, who was born in 1820, turned to leave the fairgrounds, he could be heard saying, “I never thought I would live to see it.”
The Republican writer observed, “To many, the flying machine was the most marvelous sight they ever saw.”
How that machine and its pilot came to be in Princeton is a story in and of itself.
THE PILOT
J.C. Turpin, also known as Clifford Turpin, was a handsome, brave 24-year-old when he arrived in Princeton to give four flight
exhibitions over two days in July 1911.
Turpin, like the Wright brothers, hailed from Dayton, Ohio. After earning an engineering degree from Purdue University in 1908, he initially worked for his father’s gasoline engine company. However, the lure of flight soon captured his imagination.
Turpin left his father’s business in 1909 to help Wilbur and Orville Wright improve their airplane engines. Then he took flying lessons from the Wrights’ flying school in 1910, successfully soloed, and joined the Wright Exhibition Team.
Turpin and other Exhibition Team members spread out across the land, performing at state fairs and other large public gatherings. Community promoters in Princeton heard about the flying shows in Springfield, Joliet and Peoria in the spring of 1911. They decided to try to attract one to Bureau County.
WINGS, continued on page 12
Over the past year, we’ve been evaluating nearly every aspect of the Bureau County Historical Society. Founded in 1911, the Society has successfully managed its resources for 112 years. In May, the board began a long-range planning committee which is charged with looking towards the future of our campus. We all believe it is bright!
With an eye to the future, this summer, we have engaged contractors for maintenance to keep our buildings in good working order. The Newell Bryant Museum is 170 years old; the Clark Norris Museum is 123 years old; and the Sash Stalter Matson Building is 111 years old. All three buildings on our campus have had general maintenance over their first hundred years and are in relatively good condition. Maintenance, however, is an ongoing practice.
The long-range planning committee is evaluating a
new purpose for the former library. The Sash Stalter Matson building is an iconic building with a long history of service to Bureau County residents. With a new purpose, we can create a renovation and construction plan that adds positive impact to the community and will create a facility with access for all.
We are also evaluating our finances. Previous boards and staff have been good stewards of our resources. Our goal is to strengthen and expand our assets. There are many historic events in Bureau County that are not yet discovered or well known. A strong historical society will guarantee the stories of the past to be preserved for future generations.
Through the historical society, our communities have benefitted from the generosity of our donors and members, including Grace Clark Norris who donated our first building in 1948. Those commitments made in the past and present have provided programs for young people and
museum patrons and created a facility to store artifacts from as far back as the Revolutionary War. Our long-term goal is to fund museum operations, maintenance and programming for future generations.
We would like your feedback. Send us your thoughts on how we can better serve our county community to museum@ bureauhistory.org.
Maintaining all the structures is an important part of our museums. We are starting the process of giving it a new purpose as part of the historical society campus.
Before the paint goes on, there are window frames, soffits and fascia that need repair. The colors will be the same as the original. Our next project for exterior maintenance is most likely tuck pointing. There are areas that just need restoration. For the interior maintenance, we received bids for getting the electric service inspected and up to date, lighting, interior
painting and repair from water damage several years ago. The door to the former children’s library also needs to be replaced.
For a building that was constructed in 1912, it is very solid. These maintenance projects will help keep it that way. We’d like to prepare it for the next 111 years!
Paint the trim and outside
Replace the two north entrance doors
Renovate the first floor for public use
Plaster repair and painting the west stairwell
Plaster repair and paint the third floor
Install elevator and new bathrooms
Clark Norris Museum
Tuckpoint the exterior
Paint exterior trim
Repair second floor exterior railing (east side)
Install central air conditioning
Gutter repair
Replace the driveway and south sidewalk
Replace door to research room
Research room lighting
Repair or replace the disabled door
Repair interior walls in research room
leaching/paint peeling
Paint the first floor
General needs
Museum quality exhibit boxes
Network level computers
Exterior landscaping
These are some of the capital projects that will need to be addressed over the next three to five years. The BCHS Board Building and Grounds Committee will be reviewing these and creating a comprehensive list for the future. If you are interested in funding any of these projects, give us a call at 815.875.2184.
Please make check payable to: Bureau County Historical Society,
or pay online using our “Membership” tab on our website, www.bureauhistory.org/Membership. For donations, visit www.bureauhistory.org/donate.
It is from these sources the following list was compiled: Pvt. Michael Batdorf, Neponset, Co. H, died Aug. 3, 1864, fever; Sgt. David Bear, Dover, Co. B, died Aug. 23, 1864, scorbutus; Corp. William Coddington, Dover, Co. I, died May 18, 1864, dysentery; Pvt. Thomas Craig, Princeton, Co. K, died Sept. 30, 1864, scorbutus; Pvt. Delos W. Darling, Princeton, Co. B, died June 10, 1864, scorbutus; Corp. Howard D. Gibbons, Clarion Twp., Co. K, died May 27, 1864, diarrhea; Pvt. Thomas B. Mason, Ohio, Co. B, died May 3, 1864, dysentery; Pvt. Michael McMahon, Arispie Twp., Co. E, died Aug. 4, 1864, diarrhea; Corp. John Nelson, Walnut, Co. K, died Sept. 22, 1864, scorbutus.
Scorbutus is a Civil War-era medical term for scurvy, a lack of Vitamin C. Victims experienced weakness in their limbs; their hamstrings contracted, drawing up the legs so the sufferer could not walk, while their legs and feet swelled. Sores appeared all over their body, their mouth and gums became tender. If they had any wounds received in battle, they did not heal well. In short, it was a miserable death. Interestingly, the nine men were captured on the same day— November 25, 1863 at the Battle of Mission Ridge, Tennessee. What happened on that day?
From the History of the NinetyThird, in the accounting of the battle, the 45,000 Confederate forces on the crest of Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain greeted the 60,000 federal soldiers who sought to claim it.
The brigade of the Ninety-Third Illinois on the left, the Tenth and Fifth of Iowa in the center, and the Twenty-Sixth of Missouri on the right, were ordered to cross an open field and move approximately halfway up the Ridge to a white house and rail fence, where they were to stop and engage the Confederate forces from that position. Unfortunately, that is not what happened:
“The line advanced… and then began the ascent of the Ridge. Under a deadly fire, the line of the white house and rail fence was reached—and passed—and on and up, and still on, and still up, without halting, that bleeding brigade still climbed and rose and fought its way to the very crest of the Ridge, nay, to the very jaws of certain death, to the very summit of those embattled heights bloodred with flames of fire from hostile guns and swept by shot and shell and fairly trembling beneath the surges of the conflict. And there, within twenty paces of the enemy’s lines, with only the very crest of the mountain between, baptized in blood, and falling and dying here and there and everywhere, for two hours and a half, the battle is maintained. It was a most desperate struggle, if not a useless one. Why the brigade went up to that position, exceeding its orders, was never very clearly told.” (Dunbar/Trimble, 67).
In fact, General Ulysses S. Grant, from his position on nearby Orchard Knob, observed the brigade pass the line of the white house and move up the Ridge. He reportedly exclaimed “Who ordered that? Who ordered that? They cannot go up there!” (Dunbar/Trimble, 67) and then later, watching the fight through his viewing glass said, “When those fellows get started, all hell can’t stop them.” (The Fight for Chattanooga, Jerry Korn, 145.) They fought in an area known as Tunnel Hill where Colonel Holden Putnam of Freeport, commander of the Ninety-Third, was shot in the head on horseback while reaching for the flag to rally his men onward. This battle-scarred flag is in the collection of the Museum. It was brought home December 24, 1863 by Lt. Col N.C. Buswell of Neponset who led the regiment after Putnam’s death.
The Battle of Mission Ridge was eventually won by the Union, but the Ninety-Third paid a steep toll:
20 killed, 8 mortally wounded, 20 missing who died in prison or were never heard from again, 41 wounded, not mortally, and 8 missing who returned. The total loss was 97 while 293 went into the battle. (Dunbar/Trimble, 78).
Beginning in 1861 to mid-1863, both the Union and Confederacy participated in a parole exchange system for neither had the means for housing large numbers of captured troops. A paroled prisoner promised not to fight again until his name was “exchanged” for a similar man on the other side. The exchange system collapsed in mid1863 when the Confederacy refused to treat Black prisoners the same as white prisoners, claiming they were likely ex-slaves who ought to be returned to their slave masters, rather than the Union Army. As a result, from 1863 to late 1864, the number of prisoners held on each side rose dramatically.
It is at this point, a few months after the exchange system collapsed, that the fates of the captured men of the Ninety-Third were held in the balance.
Andersonville Prison first accepted prisoners February 24, 1864. The men from the Ninety-Third were captured three months before, which means they were held elsewhere before being transferred to Andersonville, but where?
The list of dead at Andersonville tells one story, but there were men, very few, who survived that infamous place, one being George White of Princeton. White enlisted Aug. 15, 1862 with the 93rd, Co. K, and was captured at Mission Ridge. In the Museum’s collection are White’s prisoner of war medals and his two journals, wherein lies the clue.
One of White’s final journal entries, written in Princeton January 18, 1898, states: “was taken prisoner…
Led by A.C. Carlson, Sam Evans and H.W. Hanson, a Princeton group set out to bring an air show to town as the top attraction for Princeton’s big Fourth of July festivities. They signed a contract with Walter Brookins, an aviator who managed the Wright Exhibition Team, for two days of flying exhibitions on Monday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 4, 1911.
It was considered quite a feather in Princeton’s cap to secure such a deal with the Wright flying team. Now came the crucial efforts to promote the historic event among the public.
And promote the dickens out of it they did.
For two consecutive weeks prior to July 3 and 4, large ads in the Bureau County Republican touted the unprecedented appearance of a Wright flying machine. These weekly newspapers were distributed to more than 5,000 households.
For adults, admission for the flights and races at the fairgrounds was pegged at 50 cents, with children between 8 and 12 only 25 cents. Kids under 8 were let in for free. “All rigs and automobiles” had to pay 50 cents. Grandstand seats were free, but they were first come, first served.
So how did the aerial exhibition turn out? Quite well, based on July 6 coverage in the Republican.
“Turpin Flies Over Princeton,” the first headline read.
“Daring aviator makes four successful aeroplane flights Monday and Tuesday in Wright machine; Thousands witness exhibition at fair grounds,” additional headlines stated.
The Republican devoted more than half its then-massive broadsheet front page, including four photographs by “Dunham,” to coverage of the festivities.
The Republican took pains to describe each of Turpin’s flights. What the public saw was a brand new Wright brothers biplane built especially for exhibition purposes. It was 32 feet long, weighed 680 pounds, had a 35-horsepower, four-cylinder, water-cooled engine, and was used for the first time in Princeton.
In it, Turpin, clad in a jacket, pants and a front-brimmed hat worn backwards, made four total flights over two days, ranging in length from eight to 16 minutes. With both hands gripping separate flight control sticks, the young pilot demonstrated his mastery of the aircraft.
“The smooth, graceful movements of the machine as it glided through the air, responsive to the slightest movement of the aviator, excited intense admiration in the thousands of spectators, and when the daring Turpin sprang from the tiny perch beside the engine after landing safety at the end of each journey, he was greeted with a volley of cheers,” a BCR story stated.
“At a distance, when the noise of the engine and propellers became lost in space, the flying machine resembled a giant bird in passage, like an eagle with set wings.”
Local organizers were absolutely thrilled with the results of the 1911 exhibition. “The aviation meet was the most successful attraction ever offered in Princeton,” according to a story in the Republican on July 6.
An estimated 12,000 people paid to see the flights. Another 2,000 stationed themselves outside the fairgrounds to watch.
Total expenses had been $4,250, and the big event earned a small profit of $74.69.
Could the successes of 1911 be duplicated in 1912? Promoters billing themselves as the Bureau County Commercial Club gave it their best shot.
An Aviation Meet was slated as part of Princeton’s 80th Anniversary on July 1-4. Two airplanes, not just one, were slated to appear. Four flights each day were planned, as well as a big baseball tournament, a parade, and music by three bands. However, Turpin’s flawless flights of 1911 would not be repeated in 1912. One pilot overshot the fairgrounds and came down in a hayfield half a mile away. Later the same pilot crashed into a tree at the fairgrounds. The other pilot crashed into a fence at the fairgrounds and wrecked his machine. Both pilots survived.
While a Bureau County Republican story stated the large crowds were still “thoroughly satisfied” by the aerial performances, the bloom might have been off the rose as far as early local air exhibitions were concerned.
And what of H.C. Cook, the awestruck 90-year-old air show spectator from 1911?
Cook, who raised and exhibited prize-winning chickens at local poultry shows, had never thought he would live to see an airplane fly. But he did, and he lived three more years after being astonished by J.C. Turpin’s aerial exploits in the skies above Princeton.
After falling and fracturing his hip on July 31, 1914, Cook died in his Princeton home on Aug. 18. He was 93.
Ironically, Cook’s death came at the same time as World War I was breaking out in Europe. This cataclysmic conflict ushered out the entertaining civilian air shows of the recent past and ushered in the deadly use of airplanes in modern warfare.
Author’s note: Sources for this article are Bureau County Republican archives, Bureau County Tribune archives, Lansing State Journal archives, “Clifford Turpin, King of the Air,” an article by Paul Glenshaw, Smithsonian Magazine, February 2016, and Wikipedia.
Note to readers: Jim Dunn, a retired editor of the Bureau County Republican, is president of the Bureau County Historical Society Board.
and was taken to Belle Island prison Richmond Va and starved through the winter of 1863 and 1864. Was taken to Andersonville Prison early in the spring of 1864 and was parolled [sic] Nov. 20, 1864.”
Belle Isle was a 54-acre island located in the James River in Richmond. It was meant to be a temporary solution for housing prisoners so no actual structures were built. Although its intended capacity was 3,000, there were only 300 prisoner tents for shelter, with ten men to a tent. At its peak, 10,000 men were held there.
Likely White and his comrades in the Ninety-Third were all kept together, and were all first sent to Belle Isle prison. According to prison records provided by the National Park Service, during the cold winter of 1863 up to fourteen people froze to death each night. Almost 1,000 died at Belle Isle during its 18 months of operation. It is here that Conrad Bode of Buda of the 93rd, Co. C, died February 1, 1864, of unknown causes, although dysentery, typhoid, pneumonia, and smallpox took most men. Bode is buried there in an unmarked grave.
In early February 1864, Belle Isle closed and all its prisoners, including the nine men from the Ninety-Third, were relocated to Andersonville. According to the National Park Service, “The men who left Belle Isle were dirty, poorly clothed, and almost all of them weighed less than 100 pounds.”
All nine would be dead by the end of September 1864. And still the list of prisoners of war from Bureau County is not complete. Pvt. James Daley, Neponset, Co. H, captured at Mission Ridge, died Dec. 17, 1863, at an unknown prison somewhere in Atlanta from wounds received in battle.
Pvt. James Gibson, Clarion Twp., Co. K; Pvt. Charles P. Johnson, Princeton, Co. K; and Pvt. Michael McCarthy, Arispie Twp., Co. E, were all captured Oct. 5, 1864 at Allatoona, Ga., and all were thought to have died in prison, location unknown.
Pvt. Nathan Lathrop, Manlius, Co. C, was lucky. Although captured by Confederate forces, he survived, though the prison where he was held is unknown. He mustered out June 23, 1865 and his last known address was New Bedford.
Lewis J. Listener, Berlin Twp., Co. B, captured at Mission Ridge, survived in prison nearly five months before dying April 10, 1864, somewhere in Richmond.
The firm stance against prisoner exchanges was softened between the Confederacy and the Union in late 1864. As a result, two men from Princeton were released from Confederate custody during this time only to face the same fate.
Pvt. Edgar Phillips of the 93rd, Co. K, was captured at Mission Ridge, and outlived his comrades at Andersonville, but only by a few months. He died Dec. 26, 1864, shortly after he was exchanged.
Pvt. David R. Reynolds of the 93rd, Co. I, was captured Sept. 3, 1864 near Allatoona, Ga., while on a foraging expedition under orders for that purpose. He was released on exchange March 15, 1865, only to immediately die at Annapolis, Md., where he’s buried.
After cross-checking the list of 3,117 names from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Princeton to the list
of dead at Andersonville, four more names were found, though as yet it is unknown where and when they were captured.
Recruit William Boles, Neponset, 89th IL Inf., Co. E, died Sept. 27, 1864, scorbutus; Pvt. Osley A. Booream, Princeton, 64th IL Inf., Co. B, died July 7, 1864, diarrhea. In a particularly poignant detail, Cal D. Edwards, Berlin Twp., 51st IL Inf., Co. K, and Charles A. Farnham, Mineral, 51st IL Inf., Co. D, died on the same exact day—August 7, 1864—of the same cause, dysentery.
This here ends the list of prisoners of war from Bureau Count—23 men —that we know of. There were no known records of prisoner names kept at Belle Isle, or at the 32 major Confederate prisons located throughout the South. It is to be noted however, the Confederacy was not alone in its harrowing prison camps—there were at least 13 Union prison camps, the worst of which was Camp Douglas in Chicago. 26,000 Confederate prisoners were held there and 4,000 died, mostly of starvation, execution, or exposure.
All told, around 56,000 soldiers died in prisons during the war, accounting for 10 percent of all Civil War fatalities.
John McElroy, prisoner of war for 15 months, wrote in his book Andersonville the following words, which today carry the force of all those who died in prison on both sides of the line: “The country has heard much of the heroism and sacrifices of those loyal youths who fell on the field of battle; but it has heard little of the still greater number who died in prison pen. It knows full well how grandly her sons met death… and but little of the sublime firmness with which they endured unto the death, all that the ingenious cruelty of their foes could inflict upon them while in captivity.”
Brynn Hieronymus was welcomed as an intern this summer at the Bureau County Historical Society. She is the daughter of Kevin and Kami Hieronymus of Princeton. She will be a junior this fall at Cedarville University in Cedarville, OH as a history and education major. Upon completion of her degree she will be certified to teach 7th12th grades. While at the museum, Hieronymus will be helping to input and catalog artifacts in an online database, transcribing original letters, and refreshing exhibits.
Did you know there are tunnels under main street in Princeton IL?
We’ve been there! Here is the entrance under the Knox Hotel that led to the current Sophisticuts building.
12 Questions with new board member
1. College Alma Mater – Illinois State University
2. Last show you binge watched – S.W.A.T.
3. Favorite place for a business meeting –Downtown Pub
4. We’ll find you on the weekend doing? Attending my son’s concerts at VanderCook College of Music and shopping
5. Any pets? 3 cats and 3 dogs (anyone want to adopt an 8 year old rat terrier named Reigo?)
6. Last book you read? A teaching method book
7. Most famous person you’ve ever met? Illinois Governor James Thompson
8. People would be surprised to know that you: teach bilingual 1st grade
9. Favorite candy? Laffy Taffy
10. Favorite exhibit at BCHS? I’m looking forward to seeing Getting to know Grace
11. Favorite childhood memory? Attending Homestead festivals every year
12. Words of advice? Live your life to the fullest, you aren’t guaranteed tomorrow.
Savage – A Brief History of the Reintroduction of the Native Americans into Illinois
Birthday Kathryn Hays
Joseph “Joe” Ruklick
& Comedy featuring Author Vicki Quade
Founding Anniversary (112th Anniversary)
