Was born in Montgomery County, Illinois, May 22d, 1837. He was appointed Route Agent on the Terre Haute, Alton and St. Louis Railroad, June 26th, 1856. Resigned in May, 1857.
He read law with the Hon. James M. Davis, of Hillsboro, Illinois. He was admitted to the bar in the Spring of 1860, and opened an office in Hillsboro, the county-seat of Montgomery County, Illinois. He was prosecuting his practice when the first call was made for volunteers to serve for three months.
In politics, he was a Breckenridge Democrat. Had stumped it, for Breckenridge, in 1860. He had had a strong desire to engage in a military life. When the call was made, he at once -went to work to raise a Company. Raised his Company, and was elected Captain, April 17th, 1861. The Company was accepted and ordered to Springfield, Illinois, on the 23d of April, 1861.
On the organization of the 9th Regiment Volunteer Infantry, for the three months' service, he was elected as Major of the Regiment. He acted in the capacity of Major in the Regiment during the three months' service. At the expiration of that service, he was mustered out, and immediately mustered in again for three years, unless sooner discharged, retaining still the rank of Major.
He received a commission as Lieutenant Colonel in the 9th Regiment Illinois Infantry in December, 1861, which position he still occupies. He had charge of a detachment of the Regiment, which made a successful expedition from Paducah to Saratoga, Ky. This was the first fight in which our boys were engaged. He was with the Regiment as Lieutenant Colonel, through the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. At Shiloh, he received a very severe wound from a schrapnel. He was wounded in the hand and leg. The wound in his hand was a very painful one. He was unfitted for the service by it, for several months. At the battle of Corinth, on the 3d and 4th of October, he had not yet been able to join his Regiment. He joined it soon afterward, although still suffering much from the pain caused by his wound.
During the Fall of 1862 and Winter of 1863, he was much of the time in command of the Regiment, Col. Mersy being called to the command of the Brigade. In March, 1863, he made application to have the Regiment mounted for scouting purposes. The Regiment was mounted on the 20th of March, 1863. During the year that the Regiment has been mounted, he has led it through 23 battles and skirmishes.
He has frequently been placed in command of a Brigade of mounted forces, and in one or two instances, of a Division. He had command of two Brigades of Cavalry and Mounted Infantry, with which he made a raid in August, 1863, to Grenada, Mississippi. It was one of the most successful raids of the war. From $8,000,000 to 10,000,000 worth of public property was destroyed; 2,000 negroes, and a large number of horses and mules were brought in. But little was said about it at the time. Many a less brilliant raid has brought forth a star.
He was in command of the post at Athens, Alabama, for two or three months during the past Winter. He has lately been assigned to the command of all the mounted forces at Decatur, Alabama. There is a great amount of dash and daring about the Colonel, and yet he always manages to get his boys out of any place, into which he leads them.
SOURCE: Marion Morrison, A History Of The Ninth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 90-1
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