“Nobody in this county ever dreamed that Abraham Lincoln would be elected President; and though there were less than one hundred Republicans in the county, yet the excitement ran higher than usual. When Lincoln was elected, many of our people felt it their duty to stand by him. John A. Logan openly declared that he would shoulder his gun to have him inaugurated. Continue reading
Category Archives: Military
Though technically not a Marion citizen, it would be remiss not to recount the life of John A. Logan. He was a Williamson County Circuit Clerk, prosecuting attorney, practicing lawyer in the County courthouse and an influential civil war military leader and political figure in the Democratic party of this county for decades and therefore shaped the course of Marion, Illinois and Williamson County history. Continue reading
“I was born in Petersburg, Boone County, Missouri, on the 15th day of August, 1838. The town in which I was born is no more, but in its stead there has arisen the present flourishing town of Sturgeon. I am of Irish-French descent; my mother’s maiden name being La Fontaine, my father’s that of Cunningham. My father was Captain John M. Cunningham. My mother’s maiden name was Elizabeth Hicks La Fontaine. Continue reading
John A. Logan’s Speech Aug 19, 1861
Barely four months after a party of 10 or 15 had gotten together in a Marion, Illinois saloon in 1861 and organized a meeting calling for the secession of Williamson County from the Union. General John A. Logan rode into town and addressed an explosive crowd on the square in a two-hour speech from the bed of a wagon on the Marion Square. Continue reading
For a while the Illinois Department of Transportation thought the concrete bridge on Old Creal Springs Road at Crab Orchard Creek was historic because of its design.
But the design isn’t the only thing historic about that bridge site. Continue reading