“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: All Marion Content
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
1004 West Main Street sits on the corner of West Main and North Vicksburg, just across the intersection from where C.H. Denison lived and the Marion Memorial Hospital was located later. Continue reading
