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THE four years of war
were times of stress and anxiety in Decatur. Time after time
the call for more troops was answered by Macon county men until
there were large numbers of them at the front, many of whom never
returned. To the families and friends of these men, the daily
war bulletins were of absorbing interest. These bulletins were
read from the balcony of the building now occupied by the West drug
store. There were scenes of grief and joy, grief when word
came of some life being taken and joy for the victories of the Union
army. The bulletin which stirred Decatur the most, which brought
the most intense feeling and sorrow, was the report after the battle
of Pittsburg Landing, April 6-7, 1862, when the names of Colonel Ansel Tupper and
Lieutenant Willis S. Oglesby and about eighteen
other Decatur men appeared in the list of dead in the Forty-first
Regiment. All Decatur mourned that day.
WOMEN'S WORK
The war brought work, as well as anxiety, to the women at home.
Nobly they took up their task for the cause of the Union. It
would take an entire book to tell of their activities in relief work
for the soldiers Their first work was in aiding the sick soldiers
at Cairo, to whom they sent supplies. But after they learned
that many of the supplies sent never reached the men, they realized
the importance of organized Soldier's Aid Society of Decatur, (the
name later shortened to the Hospital Aid Society) to work in
cooperation with the National Sanitary Commission.
The women had
their first taste of what war meant after the battle of Fort
Donelson, Feb. 15, 1862, when the information came that 2,108
wounded soldiers were waiting for help on the battlefield.
Many of those wounded men were from Macon county.
From the court
house window John Moreland gave the call, through a trumpet, for
workers. Before noon Judge S. F. Greer's home was filled from
top to bottom with women rolling bandages, sorting rags, scraping
lint, and arranging supplies. Drs. W. A. Barnes and E. W.
Moore directed the work. In a few hours several boxes and a
barrel were ready to go. Day after day the
women's hands were busy. When more room was needed to workshop
was transferred to the Masonic hall, and later other rooms were put
to use. Trains filled with wounded soldiers passed through
Decatur constantly, and all were met at the station by the women.
With baskets of delicacies on their arms they made their way among
the sufferers, to whom the words of comfort and encouragement and
sympathy meant as much as the food and drink.
Caring for the destitute families of soldiers was
another phase of the work of the women during the war. With
the breadwinner away at the front, or perhaps killed in battle, many
a family found itself without means of support, and there was much
to do to aid such as these. A dark picture
in the story of relief work at home was the caring for the war
refugees sent up from the south. Filthy, ungrateful,
illiterate, vermin-infested wretches were dumped at various stations
along the railroads, and the first dose which Decatur was given in
August, 1862, was enough to make the women rebel at having anything
to do with them.1.
After one attempt to feed and clean up the unwelcome
visitors, the Aid society insisted on turning the job over to the
county and city authorities and buildings at the county fair grounds
were put to use to provide shelter for the next bunch, which came in
October. Vivid accounts of the task of
trying to do something for these refugees are given in Mrs. Jane
M. Johns' "Personal Recollections". Mrs. Johns was
one of the active members of the Aid society and had a part in the
refugee work. The money needed to carry on
the work of the Hospital Aid society was raised in various and
sundry ways by the women. Entertainments of all kinds and
descriptions, suppers, balls, anything to make money, were tried.
It was for this purpose that the Decatur Musical Union came into
being, and many a dollar was brought in through the activities of
this organization. Mrs. H. C. Johns
was the first president of the Hospital Aid society. Other
officers that year (1861-62) were Mrs. Lockwood, vice president, and
Mrs. Close, treasurer. The next year the officers were
Mrs. S. F. Greer, president; Mrs. Ryan, vice president;
Mrs. Elliott, secretary, and
L. L. Burrows, treasurer. The third year
(1863-64) was the society's busiest year. Officers that year
were Mrs. E. J. Evans, president, Mrs. Ira Barnes,
vice president, Mrs. H. C. Johns, secretary, and L. L.
Burrows, treasurer. Directresses were Mrs. J. Ryan,
Mrs. Locke, Mrs. J. Mansfield, Mrs. T. Hays,
Mrs. S. Smith.
Officers the last year (1864-65) were Mrs. James Millikin,
president, Mrs. S. F. Greer, vice president, Mrs. Jack
Jones, secretary, and Mrs. J. R. Gorin, treasurer.
Directresses named were Mrs. Winholtz, Mrs. S. Smith,
Mrs. Bright, Miss M. Carter and Mrs. S. Packard,
Mrs. Greer and Mrs. Jones resigned their offices.
Mrs. R. H. Murphey was named secretary in Mrs. Jones'
place. The society disbanded Mrs. 19, 1865.
STATE SANITARY FAIR
The Decatur Hospital Aid Society was the organization which
conceived the idea of the state sanitary fair, which was held at the
fair grounds in Decatur on Sept. 12 - 17, 1864, and which netted
$29,736.92 for the Sanitary Commission's work. The fair was
approved by the State Agricultural society and was held under the
auspices of the Sanitary commission. Every county in the state
was enlisted in the undertaking and help was freely given. The
fair was formally opened by Governor Richard Yates on Sept.
13, and for the next few days people poured into Decatur from all
over the state to attend. The Decatur women had a big part in
this undertaking, which turned out to be a huge success in every
particular. Two other big fairs were held
for the benefit of the state sanitary commission. The
Northwestern fair held in Chicago in October, 1863, netted $60,000.
Another fair was held in Chicago in 1865.
PHYSICIANS IN SERVICE
Nearly as important as the fighting itself was the work done during
the war by Decatur physicians in caring for the sick and the wounded
soldiers. Those who did not go to the battle fields aided in
the relief work done at home. One of the
surgeons whose war service was widely recognized was Dr. S. T.
Trowbridge. It was he who was credited with saving the
life of General R. J. Oglesby, after Oglesby had been
wounded at Corinth. General Grant detailed Dr.
Trowbridge to take care of the Oglesby case, and when
Dr. Trowbridge arrived at the wounded man's bedside he found all
hope for his life abandoned. For weeks Oglesby's life
hung in the balance, but at length under the skillful care of Dr.
Trowbridge he began to improve. Dr.
Trowbridge and Dr. Charles Dennison
went into the service with the 8th regiment and served during the
war. Dr. Ira Curtis
and Dr. H. C. Johns volunteered their services after the
battle of Fort Donelson and went to Cairo to care for the wounded
men that had been sent north from the battlefields. Dr. Curtis
suffered a stroke of paralysis while in charge of the hospital at
Mound City, and was crippled for the rest of his life. Dr.
Johns was sent to the battlefields, remaining in the vicinity of
Donelson and Iuka for three months. He was afterwards
commissioned as surgeon of the 129th Illinois and served in that
capacity two years. Dr. W. J. Chenoweth
went into service as the surgeon for Colonel Gus Smith's
regiment, the Thirty-fifth Illinois, and he took care of Colonel
Smith when he was wounded at Perryville. Dr. Chenoweth
resigned his post Dec. 14, 1862. Dr.
William M. Gray, chief surgeon of the
Forth-first regiment, was in service eight months, then was obliged
to resign because of ill health. Later he served a few months
as surgeon for the Sixty-third infantry.
Dr. E. W. Moore was surgeon of the One
Hundred Fifteenth, with Dr. Nelson Blalock of Mt. Zion as his
assistant. He resigned April 17, 1863, and Dr. Blalock
resigned July 27, 1863. Dr. Ira N. Barnes
was surgeon of the One Hundred Sixteenth
Illinois, with Dr. John Heckleman as first
assistant, and Dr. J. A. W. Hostetler as second assistant.
Dr. Addison C. Douglas
of Blue Mound also was in service. He enlisted in the One
Hundred Fifteenth regiment as hospital steward. According to
the record, he was discharged May 1, 1863, to become contract
surgeon. -----------------------
1.
After word came that Decatur was getting a
quota of war refugees, and arrangements were being made to take care
of them, some of the people went to the train to meet them with the
idea of entertaining the visitors in their homes. But when
they saw the 'guests', they changed their mines. One look was
enough!
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