18 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
topic connected with geology, in 1860 he visited the south- 
ern states and closely observing the sentiment of the peo- 
ple on the subject of slavery, he became convinced that 
nothing short of war could settle the matter. In the win- 
ter of 1860-61 as principal of the public schools of Hen- 
nipin, becoming convinced that war was inevitable, he 
began studying military tactics and engineering, and in 
the spring of 1861, when the call came for volunteers he 
was the first man to enroll in Co. H., 20th Regt., Illinois 
Infantry. When the regiment was organized at Joliet, 
Illinois, he was appointed Sergeant-Major and as such 
went to the front. With his mind thus stored with mili- 
tary science he could not be kept down and became at 
once invaluable to the military authorities. He was 
placed in charge of planning, laying out and constructing 
the defensive fortifications of Cape Girardeau, Mo., doing 
the work so thoroughly that he received the unqualified 
commendation and approval of Gen. Fremont, command- 
ing the department. 
He was now commissioned as First Lieutenant of Co. 
H, and after a few weeks’ service with his Company, 
was put in charge of the fortifications he had constructed. 
During the winter of 1861-62, he recruited a battery of 
artillery composed of loyal Missourians, which was mus- 
tered into the U.S. Army as Battery F, 2nd Regt. Illinois 
Artillery with John Wesley Powell as Captain. His bat- 
tery was ordered soon after to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., 
and he took part with it in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862, where in directing his battery in firing he lost an 
arm. On account of imperfect surgery, a second opera- 
tion was necessary, leaving only a stump below the elbow, 
which caused him pain most of the time in future years. 
Returning to his command as soon as the wound had 
healed, as Division Chief of Artillery, he took part in the 
siege of Vicksburg and the Meridian Raid. Then he 
served on detached operations at Vicksburg, Natchez and 
New Orleans, until the summer of 1864 when he was 
returned to his former command in the Army of the Ten- 
nessee, and bore an active part in all the operations after 
the fall of Atlanta. When Sherman started on his march 
to the sea, Major Powell was sent to General Thomas at 
Nashville and was placed in command of a brigade of 
