Southern Illinois’s true heritage
15 hours ago • P. Michael Jones
... groups in Marion and Carbondale had called for secession or at least neutrality and even John A. Logan, fueled by old John Barleycorn, was ready to defend Marion from an army of occupation. These feelings, after “sober” consideration, soon passed.
By June, Logan gave a pro-Union speech in Springfield which Ulysses Grant said “breathed… loyalty and devotion to the Union.” A month later, U.S. Rep. Logan joined a Union regiment at the First Battle of Bull Run. In August, Col. John A. Logan raised a Union regiment in his 9th Congressional District. This district contained all of the 16 southernmost counties except Randolph, Edwards, Wabash and Wayne ...
While 29 percent of Illinois’ eligible men served in the Union army, Logan’s District averaged 42 percent. From 1861-1865, 3,660 men, about a quarter of those who enlisted, lost their lives. This would mean a loss of 8,492 lives based on today’s population. No estimate has been made on the number of widow’s and orphans resulting from these deaths or on the number of men who returned physically or emotionally disabled ...
Southern Illinois, despite its southern roots, did not support the Confederacy. Only 35 men from Logan’s district joined the Confederate Army. This is not even one percent of the men who died defending the Union and ending slavery ...
http://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/editorial/guest/guest-view-southern-illinois-s-true-heritage/article_310433a2-574e-5f06-abe6-03a3b23a827d.html
