The War Years
The settlers in Cropsey Township and southern Belle Prairie Township came from the eastern and northeastern states and were mostly Whigs. The new Republican Party was formed about the time that these people caine to Illinois.
The “War Between the States” started April 12, 1861. No list was ever compiled of people from the Fairview, Belle Prairie, and Cropsey area who served in the war. The record of Belle Prairie was good during the late war. Nonetheless, it was usually termed a Copperhead stronghold. However, one draft did occur during the war, and it was for a half dozen men. Through the energy and enterprise of Ben Walton, one of the leading spirits of the town (township), substitutes were procured in three days for those drafted, and it was at lower figures than any neighboring town had to pay for the same kind of material. While the township claims no major general or very noted or distinguished officers of any rank, it does feel proud of its brave boys who went in at the beginning and fought it out on the line.2
After a search of the nine un-indexed volumes of the Adjutant General's Report of 1886, the records of some of the Fairbury and Belle Prairie men who enlisted were found. The residents of Belle Prairie and northern Cropsey Twp. had a Fairbury address; it is imprecise to know which enrollees were from Belle Prairie. The complete list of men from the Fairbury area assigned to Company G, 69th Illinois Volunteer Infantry (IVI) and Company E, 129th IVI will be found in the appendix. Surnames that are familiar from this area are listed next; within the brackets appear additional comments not part of the cited report.
STEERS, Martin, Company K.; enrolled August 7, 1861;
mustered 24 August, 1861; discharged June 25, 1862;
Disability; private. [Discharged December 1862 per the
1878 Livingston County History.]
17th Illinois Volunteer Infantry4
ARNOLD, J. C., Bloomington, Company G; enrolled
May 25, 1861, mustered in May 25; sent to Peoria; sent
to Alton on June 17, then to Missouri; mustered out June
4,1864; corporal. [J. C. Arnold bought 120 acres in
section 34; moved there after the war.]
BROOK, Matthew M., Fairbury; Company G; enrolled
August 20,1861 at Bloomington. Mustered September 6,
1861. Re-enlisted as a veteran; private.
BROOK, Nathaniel M. Fairbury; Company G; enrolled
at Bloomington for 3 years August 20, 1861. Mustered
September 6, 1861. Re-enlisted as a veteran.
SPENCER, John W., Fairbury; Company G; enrolled
August 20,1861 at Bloomington. Mustered September 6,
1861. Re-enlisted as a veteran.
SPENCER, John W., Indian Grove; Company G; enrolled
March 22, 1864. Mustered in April 17, 1864. Mustered
out November 24, 1865; private.
SPENCER, Nathan L., Fairbury; Company G; enrolled
August 20,1861 at Bloomington for 3 years. Mustered
September 6,1861. Re-enlisted as a veteran. Died at Terre
Boone February 22, 1865; sergeant.
STRAIGHT, Johnson W., Fairbury; Company A.; enrolled
August 21, 1861, Bloomington, mustered into service
September 4, 1861. Discharged September 15, 1862,
wounded. [Johnson W., aka J. Wm. was an attorney and
lived in Bloomington after the war.]
39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry6
Three years’ service. Organization began after the news
of Ft. Sumter. Regiment accepted after the Battle of Bull
Run. Left Camp Mather for St. Louis. The 39th Infantry
Was sent to Hancock, Md; Potomac River; Shenandoah
Valley; Appomattox Court House; Richmond, Norfolk,
and many other locations in the east.
ANDERSON, F. M., Indian Grove; Company C; enrolled
August 12, 1861; mustered in October 11, 1861; discharged
June 1862; disability; private.
COOPER, W. S., Fairbury; Company C; enrolled April
28, 1861; mustered in October 11, 1862; discharged
December 12, 1863; disability; private.
ROBINSON, Hiram, Fairbury; Company H;7 April 5,
1862; mustered April 18, 1862; mustered out May 9,
1865; private.
69th Illinois Volunteer Infantry8
Three months’ service. Company sent to Camp Douglas
at Chicago to guard the camp and the rebel prisoners
held there. Company mustered out September 27, 1862.
VINCENT, Joseph A., Fairbury; Capt., Company G; en
Rolled June 14, 1862; mustered June 14, 1862; resigned
August 8, 1862.
CRABB, Joseph D., Fairbury; Company G; enrolled
June 11, 1862; mustered in June 14, 1862; private.
ROBINSON, Hugh, Fairbury; enrolled June 2, 1862;
mustered in June 14, 1862; private.
WILHOUR, Peter, Fairbury; enrolled June 6, 1862;
mustered in June 14, 1862; private.
71St Illinois Volunteer Infantry9
PHILLIPS, 0. H., Fairbury; Musician, Company G; en
Rolled July 11, 1862; mustered July 26, 1862. Mustered
out October 29, 1862.
129th Illinois Volunteer Infantry10
Organized at Pontiac, August 6, 1862. Five companies
were from Livingston County, four companies were from
Scott County, and one was from Rock Island. [There were
73 privates from Fairbury in Company E, 129th IVI.]
PECK, Darius, Fairbury; Company A; enrolled August 2,
1862; mustered September 8, 1862; mustered out June 8,
1865.
CROPSEY, Andrew J.; Major, Regiment Staff, enrolled
September 8, 1862; mustered September 8, 1862; promoted
May 8, 1863 Lt. Col.; mustered May 15, 1863; resigned
February 27, 1864.
McDOWELL, Win. H.H.; Fairbury; Regiment Staff, Sgt.
Major; enrolled August 9, 1862; mustered September 8,
1862; promoted February 26, 1863 to 2nd Lt. in Company E;
mustered out June 8, 1865.
FITCH, Benjamin F., 2 Lt., Company E; enrolled September,
8,1862; promoted February 26, 1863 to 1st ~ mustered out
June 8, 1865.
STRAIGHT, David E., Fairbury; Company E; August 6, 1862;
September 8, 1862; discharged October 26, 1864; promoted in
U.S. Col. Troops; corporal.
AUSTIN, Robert L., Fairbury; Company E; August 8, 1862;
September 8, 1862; died at Gallatin, Tenn. March 16, 1863;
private. [Son of John Austin from Belle Prairie Twp.]
COAN, Charles H., Company F; August 7, 1862; wounded
May 7, 1864; private.
CRABB, Charles, Company E; August 8, 1862; discharged
November 15,1862; disability; private.
CONN, James T., Company E; August 14, 1862; mustered
out June 8, 1865; private.
DARNALL, Nicholas H., Company E; August 10, 1862;
discharged May 30,1863; disability; private.
DARNALL, John M., Company E; August 10, 1862; died
at South Tunnel, Tenn., March 10,1863; corporal.
EDWARDS, John, Belle Prairie; Company E; substitute,
September 25, 1864; assigned to Company H., 45th IVI.
FITZGERALD, Elhanan, Company E; August 9, 1862;
deserted December 30, 1862; private.
FITZGERALD, James B., Company E; August 13, 1862;
discharged December 29,1862; disability; private.
HILDRETH, Joshua I., Company E; August 10, 1862; mustered
out May 22, 1865; private.
IRVIN, Jesse, Company F; February 25, 1863; mustered
June 9,1863; killed at Atlanta, Ga., August 13, 1864; private.
MOORE, George W., Company E; August 8, 1862; mustered
out June 8,1865; corporal.
MOORE, William F., Company E; August 8, 1862; died at
Gallatin, Tenn., May 12, 1863; private.
STAFFORD, James W., Company F; August 15, 1862;
mustered out June 8, 1865; private.
STODDARD, Simeon A., Company F; August 15, 1862;
killed at Peach Tree, Ga. July 20, 1864; private.
[Son of Stephen A. Stoddard, Cropsey Twp.]
STRAIGHT, Leander L., Company F; August 8, 1862;
killed at Resaca, Ga., May 15, 1864; private.
THOMAS, Chester G., Company E; August 7, 1862;
mustered out May 28, 1865; private.
THOMAS, John R., Company E; August 11, 1862;
mustered out June 8, 1865; private.
VAIL, Hubbard F., Company F; August 11, 1862;
discharged June 11, 1865; disability; private.
William and Isaac Walton, who had been with the Walton and Crum families in Belle Prairie Twp., returned to Ohio and enlisted with the Ohio troops. The exact dates and company information are not known. Isaac Walton enrolled in the 13 Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served three years when he was wounded. He was taken to a hospital where he remained until he recovered. Much later when Isaac became prosperous, he hunted up the surgeon who had attended him, and finding him in straightened circumstances, presented him with a comfortable home and assisted him.11 Isaac Walton returned to Belle Prairie Twp. after the war, but William Walton remained at Hilliard, Ohio.12
Abraham W. Green, who had been living with David S. Crum for some time, went to Clay Co., Illinois and enlisted in the army there. His biography states he was an orderly and 1st Sgt. in the 136th IVI The details for him were: residence of Xenia; Company F; enlisted May 19 1864; mustered June 1, 1864; mustered out October 22, 1864 as 1st Sergeant.13
Amos Alonzo Straight died August 29, 1862, buried at Graceland Cemetery, Fairbury. The biography of A. P. Straight, his father, states he lost two sons in the war, Alonzo and Leander. No information was provided about which company these sons joined, or their dates of service, in the biography or on the marker.
1 During the Civil War, it meant a Northerner who sympathized with the South.
2 LeBaron, op.cit., 1878. p.358
3 J.W. Vance, B.Gen. (ed.), Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder, 1886), vol. 7, p. 566.
4 Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 52.
5 Ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 635-638.
6 Ibid., Vol. 3, pp. 113-116.
7 Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 130.
8 Ibid., Vol. 4, pp. 474-475.
9 Ibid., Vol. 4, pp.510-511.
10 Ibid, Vol. 6, pp. 533-544.
11 Fairbury Blade (Fairbury, IL), August 22, 1913, Isaac Walton’s obituary.
12 Ibid., August 22, 1913.
13 Vance, op.cit., vol. 7, p. 81.