432 



ILLINOIS. 



the calls of President Lincoln prior to Decem- 

 ber 1st, 1864, was 197,360. Prior to October 

 17th, 1863, the State had furnished and been 

 credited with 125,321 men, which was a sur- 

 plus at that time of 8,151. By an adjustment 

 of credits at that time the State gained an 

 additional credit of 10,947 men. The total re- 

 sult to December 1864 is as follows: 



Quotas of the State under all calls prior to Decem- 

 ber 1, 1864 197,360 



Total credits for three years' volunteers, drafted 

 men, and substitutes to December 1, 1864 197,260 



Balance due the Government Dec. 1, 1864. . . 100 



The deficit of 100 men has been more than 

 balanced by enlistments during the month of 

 December, 1864. Of the entire quota 197,360 

 men, the State furnished 194,198 volunteers, 

 and 3,062 drafted men organized as follows : 

 138 regiments and one battalion of infantry ; 

 17 regiments of cavalry; 2 regiments and 

 8 batteries of artillery. In addition to the above 

 the State furnished 13 regiments and 2 compa- 

 nies of hundred day volunteers, amounting to 

 11,323. Five of these regiments, after their 

 term of engagement expired, extended it and 

 marched into Missouri to the aid of Gen. 

 Eosecrans. 



The banks of the State on December 30th, 

 1864, held as securities $175,634 in Illinois 6's, 

 with a circulation of $132,346. 



The election for State officers was held in 

 November. The candidates for Governor were 

 Richard J. Oglesby, republican, and Rob- 

 inson, democrat. The result of the popular 

 vote was: Oglesby, 190,376; Robinson, 158,- 

 701 ; majority for Oglesby, 31,675. 



The Legislature was divided as follows : 



Senate. 



Republicans 14 



Democrats 11 



House. 

 51 



17 



The vote for President was as follows : 

 Lincoln, 189,487; McClellan, 158,349; ma- 

 jority for Lincoln, 31,038. 



Governor Yates, in his last message to the 

 Legislature, thus describes the first appearance 

 of Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant in the 

 military arena of the present war : 



In April, 1881, he tendered his personal services to 

 me, saying " that he had been the recipient of a 

 military education at West Point, and that now, 

 when the country was involved in a war for its 

 preservation and safety, he thought it his duty to 

 offer his services in defence of the Union, and 'that 

 he would esteem it a privilege to be assigned to any 

 position where he could be useful." The plain, 

 straightforward demeanor of the man, and the mod- 

 esty and earnestness which characterized his offer of 

 assistance, at once awakened a lively interest in him, 

 and impressed me with a desire to secure his coun- 

 sel for the benefit of volunteer organizations then 

 forming for Government service. At first I assigned 

 him a desk in the Executive office; and his famili- 

 arity with military organization and regulations 

 made him an invaluable assistant in my own and the 

 office of the Adjutant-General. Soon his admirable 

 qualities as a military commander became apparent, 

 and I assigned him to command of the camps of 

 organization at " Camp Yates, Springfield, " Camp 



Grant," Mattoon, and " Camp Douglas " at Anna 

 Union County, at which the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, llth 

 12th, 18th, 19th, and 21st regiments of Illinois volun- 

 teers, raised under the call of the President of the 

 15th of April, and under the "Ten Regiment Bill," 

 of the extraordinary session of the Legislature con- 

 vened April 23d, 1861, were rendezvoused. His em- 

 ployment had special reference to the organization 

 and muster of these forces the first six into the 

 United States, and the last three into the State ser- 

 vice. This was accomplished about the tenth day of 

 May, 1861, at which time he left the State for a brief 

 period, on a visit to his father, at Covington, Ky. 



The 21st regiment of Illinois volunteers, raised in 

 Macon, Cumberland, Piatt, Douglas, Moultrie, Edgar, 

 Clay, Clark, Crawford, and Jasper counties, for thirty 

 days' State service, organized at the camp at Mat- 

 toon, preparatory to three years' service for the Gov- 

 ernment, had become very much demoralized under 

 the thirty clays' experiment, and doubts arose in re- 

 lation to their acceptance for a longer period. I was 

 much perplexed to find an efficient and experienced 

 officer to take command of the regiment, and take it 

 into the three years' service. I ordered the regiment 

 to Camp Yates, and after consulting Hon. Jesse K. 

 Dubois, who had many friends in the regiment, and 

 Col. John S. Loomis, Assistant Adjutant-General, 

 who was at the time in charge of the Adjutant-Geiie- 

 ral's office and on terms of personal intimacy with 

 Grant, I decided to offer the command to him, and 

 accordingly telegraphed Captain Grant, at Coving- 

 ton, Kentucky, tendering him the colonelcy. He 

 immediately reported, accepting the commission, 

 taking rank as colonel of that regiment from ths 

 15th day of June, 1861. Thirty days previous to 

 that time the regiment numbered over one thousand 

 men, but in consequence of laxity in discipline of 

 the first commanding officer, and other discouraging 

 obstacles connected with the acceptance of troops at 

 that time, but six hundred and three men were found 

 willing to enter the three years' service. In less 

 than ten days Col. Grant filled the regiment to the 

 maximum standard and brought it to a state of 

 discipline seldom attained in the volunteer service in 

 so short a time. His was the only regiment that left 

 the camp of organization on foot. He marched from 

 Springfield to the Illinois River, but in an emergency 

 requiring troops to operate against Missouri rebels, 

 the regiment was transported by rail to Quincy, and 

 Col. Grant was assigned to command for the pro- 

 tection of the Quincy and Palmyra, and Hannibal 

 and St. Josephs Railroads. He soon distinguished 

 himself as a regimental commander in the field, and 

 his claims for increased rank were recognized by his 

 friends in Springfield, and his promotion insisted 

 iipon before his merits and services were fairly under- 

 stood at Washington. His promotion was made 

 upon the ground of his military education, fifteen 

 years' services as a lieutenant and captain in the 

 regular army (during which time he was distin- 

 guished in the Mexican war), his great success in 

 organizing and disciplining his regiment, and for his 

 energetic and vigorous prosecution of the campaign 

 in North Missouri, and the earnestness with which he 

 entered into the great work of waging war against the 

 traitorous enemies of his counry. His first great 

 battle was at Belmont, an engagement which became 

 necessary to protect our southwestern army in Mis- 

 souri from overwhelming forces being rapidly con- 

 solidated against it from Arkansas, Tennessee, and 

 Columbus, Kentucky. The struggle was a desperate 

 one, but the tenacity and soldierly qualities of Grant 

 and his invincible little army gave us the first practi- 

 cal victory in the West. The balance of his shining 

 record is indelibly written in the history of Henry, 

 Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, 

 the Wilderness, siege of Richmond, and the intricate 

 and difficult command as Lieutenant-General of the 

 armies of the Union written in the blood and 

 sacrifices of the heroic braves who have fallen, 



