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Blogroll
Category Archives: Military
Grand Army of the Republic parade, 1932 (video)
Aging but still vital, more than 700 veterans of the Union Army marched through downtown Springfield as part of the 1932 national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. Movie cameras captured part of parade, which was held on … Continue reading
Posted in Celebrations, Military, Videos
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Camp Tanner (Illinois State Fairgrounds, 1898)
Ten thousand Illinois militia flooded the Illinois State Fairgrounds less than a week after the start of the Spanish-American War. They left the fairgrounds – renamed “Camp Tanner” for the duration – almost as quickly as they arrived. The operation … Continue reading
Jesse L. McCoy, WWII “daggerman”
Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Jesse L. McCoy of Springfield converted a ceremonial sword once used by a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows into a couple of daggers. By the time he and World War II were finished, … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Media, Military, Prominent figures
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Lithuanian-American war casualties (WW I&II)
A long-vanished plaque inside a demolished Catholic church once memorialized eight Lithuanian-American soldiers who died in uniform during World Wars I and II. The plaque hung in St. Vincent de Paul Church, the last “national church” – churches that predominantly … Continue reading
Posted in Churches, Lithuanians, Military
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Benjamin Stephenson and the Grand Army of the Republic
Somewhere in Mississippi in early 1864, two comrades in the 14th Illinois Volunteer Infantry agreed that, when the Civil War was over, Union Army soldiers ought to organize “some form of association to preserve the friendships and memories of their … Continue reading
Posted in Military, Museums, Prominent figures
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U.S. Grant marches to Island Grove, 1861
In 1927, Benjamin Warfield Brown, the son of agricultural pioneer James N. Brown, published a short memory of then-Col. U.S. Grant’s 1861 visit to the Brown family farm in western Sangamon County. The visit turned out to be, literally, part … Continue reading
Fourth of July, 1921
Springfield residents celebrated the Fourth of July 100 years ago with picnics, sports and reenactment of the World War I battle of Chateau Thierry. There was no single community fireworks show, but a showy sunset, caused by a dust and … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Celebrations, Military, Social life, Spectacles
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Leroy Key, Andersonville hero
Leroy Key made his mark in history as a prisoner of war. Key died in Springfield in 1880, possibly because of aftereffects of the time he spent in the horrific Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, Ga., during the Civil War. … Continue reading
Posted in Military, Prominent figures
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First Civil War combat death
Updated: See “The case for Elmer Ellsworth,” below. The first Sangamon County resident to die as a result of combat in the Civil War was a carpenter from Springfield. Heaton Hill, about 28, was shot during the siege of Lexington, … Continue reading
Posted in Military
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First European buried in Sangamon County
The first European to die in Sangamon County apparently was a U.S. Ranger enlisted to help protect early European settlers from Native Americans during the War of 1812. The man, probably named William Hewitt, was shot in an unprovoked scuffle … Continue reading
Posted in Historic Sites, Histories, Markers, Military, Native Americans, Uncategorized
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