Title
Details of Chicago Board of Trade Battery Plan to Construct Monument
Description
Excerpt from Chicago Tribune with information on Chicago Board of Trade Battery plan to construct a monument. Also includes brief history of the Battery.
Source
"To Redeem Pledges," Chicago Tribune, June 14, 1892.
Date
June 14, 1892
Original Format
Newspaper
Text
TO REDEEM PLEDGES.
TRADERS ASKED TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARD A MONUMENT.
The Board of Trade Battery at Last to Be Honored with a Fitting Memorial Over Those Who Fell in the Civil War – Mrs. Hart Saved from Drowning by the Heroic Efforts of the Rev. William Peirie – Other Local News of More or Less Interest.
The Chicago Board of Trade Battery Memorial Association thinks it about time that the members of the board kept their ante-rebellion pledges and erected a monument to the men who enlisted from the board and lost their lives during the Civil War, and tomorrow a committee, consisting of Charles T. Dwight, S.M. Randolph, James H. Hildreth, B.F. Nourse, John B. Hall, and H.B. Chandler, members and directors of the association, will go upon change and solicit contributions to a monument fund. The action of the committee has the full sanction of the Board of Trade directors, who feel that the debt of gratitude should be discharges. The following have lent their names to the committee’s appeal for money: Charles D. Hamill, Lloyd J. Smith, M.C. Mitchell, H.F. Dousman, John R. Rawleigh, E.A. Beach, J.A. Edwards, R.S. Lyon, R.G. Chandler, W.S. Booth, Williams F. Bartlett, John Hill Jr.
The occasion that called forth the pledges of the Board of Trade members is of deep interest. President Lincoln issued a call July 6, 1862, for 300,000 volunteers to defend the union. The boys on the board were among the first to respond, and July 23 following a telegram was sent to the President stating that within the last forty-eight hours the Board of Trade of this city had raised $15,000 bounty money and had recruited a full company of artillery. The telegram was signed by J.S. Hancock, William Sturgis, George Armour, C.H Walker, H.W. Hinsdale, and S.H. Stevens. The next day the batter was mustered into service as the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, Illinois Volunteers, James H. Stokes, Captain. It was mustered out of service July, 3, 1865.
During its service the battery marched 5,268 miles, traveled by rail 1,231 miles, was in all of the fiercest battles fought in the Army of the Cumberland, was in twenty-six other battles, and was in action forty-two times while on scouts, reconnaissances, and outposts. By special order the battery was permitted to carry the flags presented by the Chicago Board of Trade, and by subsequent special order Stone River, Elk River, Chickamauga, Farmington, Dallas, Decatur, Atlanta, Lovejoy, Nashville, and Selma were inscribed upon the flags. When mustered out the flags were returned to the board and by that bog placed in the vaults of the Chamber of Commerce and were destroyed in the great fire of 1871.
One of the pledges made to the battery when it was recruited was that the board at the close of the war would gather the remains of the men who might fall in battle or die in hospital from wounds or disease, purchase a lot in a Chicago cemetery for their burial, and erect a monument thereon. The lot has been purchased in Rosehill Cemetery, the remains of the soldiers have been placed there, but no monument tells the story of their sacrifices or bears their names.
That no steps have thus far been taken to erect the monument is deplored by a great many members of the board. The directors would have promptly voted the necessary fund for this purpose if it could legally have done so. Counsel, however, advised the board that it had no authority to so appropriate that organization’s money. No other way seemed open than to make appeals individually to the members, and in this the directors heartily concurred. Action is now taken owing to the fact that during the next year or two hundreds of thousands of people will visit the city, and it is desired that the sport where the Board of Trade soldiers sleep shall be appropriately marked.
TRADERS ASKED TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARD A MONUMENT.
The Board of Trade Battery at Last to Be Honored with a Fitting Memorial Over Those Who Fell in the Civil War – Mrs. Hart Saved from Drowning by the Heroic Efforts of the Rev. William Peirie – Other Local News of More or Less Interest.
The Chicago Board of Trade Battery Memorial Association thinks it about time that the members of the board kept their ante-rebellion pledges and erected a monument to the men who enlisted from the board and lost their lives during the Civil War, and tomorrow a committee, consisting of Charles T. Dwight, S.M. Randolph, James H. Hildreth, B.F. Nourse, John B. Hall, and H.B. Chandler, members and directors of the association, will go upon change and solicit contributions to a monument fund. The action of the committee has the full sanction of the Board of Trade directors, who feel that the debt of gratitude should be discharges. The following have lent their names to the committee’s appeal for money: Charles D. Hamill, Lloyd J. Smith, M.C. Mitchell, H.F. Dousman, John R. Rawleigh, E.A. Beach, J.A. Edwards, R.S. Lyon, R.G. Chandler, W.S. Booth, Williams F. Bartlett, John Hill Jr.
The occasion that called forth the pledges of the Board of Trade members is of deep interest. President Lincoln issued a call July 6, 1862, for 300,000 volunteers to defend the union. The boys on the board were among the first to respond, and July 23 following a telegram was sent to the President stating that within the last forty-eight hours the Board of Trade of this city had raised $15,000 bounty money and had recruited a full company of artillery. The telegram was signed by J.S. Hancock, William Sturgis, George Armour, C.H Walker, H.W. Hinsdale, and S.H. Stevens. The next day the batter was mustered into service as the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, Illinois Volunteers, James H. Stokes, Captain. It was mustered out of service July, 3, 1865.
During its service the battery marched 5,268 miles, traveled by rail 1,231 miles, was in all of the fiercest battles fought in the Army of the Cumberland, was in twenty-six other battles, and was in action forty-two times while on scouts, reconnaissances, and outposts. By special order the battery was permitted to carry the flags presented by the Chicago Board of Trade, and by subsequent special order Stone River, Elk River, Chickamauga, Farmington, Dallas, Decatur, Atlanta, Lovejoy, Nashville, and Selma were inscribed upon the flags. When mustered out the flags were returned to the board and by that bog placed in the vaults of the Chamber of Commerce and were destroyed in the great fire of 1871.
One of the pledges made to the battery when it was recruited was that the board at the close of the war would gather the remains of the men who might fall in battle or die in hospital from wounds or disease, purchase a lot in a Chicago cemetery for their burial, and erect a monument thereon. The lot has been purchased in Rosehill Cemetery, the remains of the soldiers have been placed there, but no monument tells the story of their sacrifices or bears their names.
That no steps have thus far been taken to erect the monument is deplored by a great many members of the board. The directors would have promptly voted the necessary fund for this purpose if it could legally have done so. Counsel, however, advised the board that it had no authority to so appropriate that organization’s money. No other way seemed open than to make appeals individually to the members, and in this the directors heartily concurred. Action is now taken owing to the fact that during the next year or two hundreds of thousands of people will visit the city, and it is desired that the sport where the Board of Trade soldiers sleep shall be appropriately marked.