Epilogue 375 
dub to assist in its collection. In the summer of 1858, having 
returned to Wheaton, Illinois, where the family had settled in 
1854, he joined the Illinois State Natural History Society, then 
engaged in conducting a natural history survey of the State 
through the voluntary labour of its members. To Powell was 
assigned the department of conchology. This work he entered 
upon with his usual application and made the most complete 
collection of the mollusca of Illinois ever brought together by 
one man. Incidentally, botany, zoology, and mineralogy re¬ 
ceived attention, and in these lines he secured notable collections. 
With the broad mental grasp which was a pronounced trait, he 
perceived that these studies were but parts of the greater science 
of geology, which he then announced, to at least one of his in¬ 
timate friends, was to be the science to which he intended to 
devote his life. The next year was given to study, teaching, 
and lecturing, usually on some topic connected with geology. 
In the spring of i860, on a lecturing tour, he visited some 
of the Southern States, and while there closely observed the 
sentiment of the people on the subject of slavery, with the re¬ 
sult that he expressed the conviction that nothing short of war 
could settle the matter. In the summer of i860 he became 
principal of the public schools of Hennepin, Illinois. These 
he organised, graded, and taught with a vigour which was char¬ 
acteristic, yet never forgetting his geological investigations in 
the neighbouring country, where, on Saturdays and at other 
times when the schools were not in session, he made botanical 
and zoological collections. 
Convinced that war was inevitable, the winter of 1860-61 
found him studying military tactics and engineering. When 
the call came for troops, he was the first man to enroll, and 
largely through his efforts Company H of the 20th Regiment, 
Illinois Infantry, was raised in Putnam County. When the 
regiment was organised at Joliet, Illinois, he was appointed 
sergeant-major, and in this capacity went to the front. When 
the force was sent to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, his prescience 
in studying military engineering made him invaluable. He 
was practically given charge of planning and laying out and 
constructing the fortifications at that place, a work h^ executed 
