Dick Wells' Pioneer Struggles: Neponset's Civil War cannon makes its 1st trip north

NEPONSET− We continue our story from July. Recall Joseph W. Merrill came to Neponset from New England in 1856 and a few months later became the postmaster.

As postmaster, he knew all the local folks and kept up with local and national news. After Fort Sumpter was fired on and President Lincoln made a call to arms to suppress the rebellion, Joseph Merrill spearheaded the recruiting and raised a company of men from Neponset and Annawan. He was elected captain of the Company I, 27^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment and the unit was mustered into federal service on Aug. 10, 1861.

The battle of Belmont, Missouri, was the first test of the Western theater. Both sides had untested leaders and troops with less than four months training using old Mexican War smooth-bore muskets or whatever they brought from home.

The morning of November 7^th, five regiments from Illinois and Iowa clashed with five regiments from Tennessee and Arkansas. It was a draw, until the afternoon when the confederate lines began to collapse. The Neponset/Annawan boys swept around the enemy left flank and charged into the Confederate infantry and artillery. Major Daniel Beltzhoover, commander of Watson’s Battery, was ordered to remove his six guns from the battle line and reposition back to the Mississippi river. Forty-five horses were killed and two guns were abandoned and captured by Union infantry. A captured cannon is not a souvenir you purchase at a battlefield gift shop.

Killed in action were Private Charles Russel, of Neponset, and Private Thomas Aldrich, of Tiskilwa. Wounded in action were Corporal William Bowen and Private Liewellen Bigelow, both off Neponset, and Private Lasley Barton, of Annawan. The 27^th went on to fight in eight major engagements in the next four years.

Captain Merrill proved to be an effective leader and in January 1862 he was promoted to major and transferred to Brigadier General William K. Strong’s Western theater staff. His job was to be the 1^st Provost Marshall of Cairo, Ill. Strong was a very successful wool businessman and was overseas when the war broke out. He negotiated weapons deals in France and England before returning home. That and his anti-slavery/pro-union speeches came to the attention of Lincoln, who appointed him Brigadier General and commander of the St. Louis and Cairo Military Districts.

Cairo lay at the southern tip of Illinois where the Ohio River flows east into the Mississippi River, flowing south. The confluence was the most southern point in Union territory, 215 river miles below St. Louis and over 400 river miles west of Cincinnati. By January 1861, 10 to 20 steamers tied up daily to load and discharge cargo and people. In 1855, the first train arrived from Chicago over the new Illinois Central Railroad, making Cairo a rail hub. But in the summer of 1861, the town between the rivers was becoming a fortress guarding loyal Illinois to the north, and throttling traffic on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. It was a strategic prize for both sides. Border states occupied the opposite banks, Missouri on the left and Kentucky to the right, almost surrounding the narrow Illinois peninsula. Thousands of Union soldiers and artillerymen encamped along the river, in a brickyard, and at the fairgrounds. A training camp was established, forts built and batteries placed.

When Southern sympathizers threatened to blow up the Cairo levees and docks, the mayor deputized 80 loyal citizens. The Army assigned a provost marshal. Our former Neponset postmaster now has a strategic role in the Civil War. Major Merrill organized raids on the Order of the Golden Circle, which was comparable to the KKK, and sent their leaders to Washington, DC for trial. He was also responsible for thousands of dollars of captured and confiscated goods and equipment. This included corn, cotton and captured cannons.

Major Merrill presented an obsolete, six-pounder Confederate cannon to his hometown in the spring of 1862, as a promotion for recruiting. The Bureau County Republican newspaper reported in its Thursday, July 10,1862, edition, that a cannon had severely injured two Neponset boys during a 4^th of July celebration. After another incident resulting in broken storefront windows, the cannon was spiked and later filled with concrete.

The cannon has no foundry identification and no serial number. But through research by the Rock Island Arsenal, an article in the Muzzleloading Artillerymen (summer 1983), reviewing Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War (page 54) and the Neponset Historical Society records, it appears to be a Brennan cannon.

At the beginning of the war, the South had only one working cannon foundry, Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Va. It was imperative for Southern foundries to convert to the production of cannon as soon as possible. In 1860, Tennessee had 10 operating foundries and by 1861, all were converted to cannon production. Fires were common and T.M. Brennan & Company, Nashville, Tenn., suffered several burned buildings that stopped production. There were 6 rough castings, six-pounder iron guns in the ruble. The Confederate government quickly contracted with Whitfield, Bradley & Co, Clarksville, Tennessee to finish the machining. The haste and confusion suggests they may never have been serial numbered. It is obvious the crude carriage was made early in the war without the benefit of time or drawings. The obsolete split-tail design was used in the Mexican War (1846) and is simpler to fabricate than a Civil War type. This is the cannon that arrived in Neponset in 1862.

The cannon served its purpose as a recruiting tool. In August 1862, Nicholas C. Buswell recruited another 100 men from the Neponset area into the newly formed Company H, 93^rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. They fought in 11 major battles and had the distinction of marching in the grand view in Washington, DC, before heading home. They were mustered out in Chicago in 1865.

In three years, the 93rd traveled, 1,703 miles by rail, 2,231 miles by water; and marched 2,631 miles; making the total distance of 6565 miles. As both units returned to civil life, the veterans charted the Neponset Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post #284. The 27^th and 93^rd were front line units who saw major action at Belmont, Chickamauga, Franklin, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta and Sherman’s March through Georgia.

Some returned with their units, some returned from the Andersonville POW camp and 12 never returned. There is no doubt many stories were told and retold around the old cannon, outside or in the firehouse. By the 1920’s, WWI veterans had formed American Legion Post #297 and the firehouse heard new stories from new veterans.

The old civil war cannon, left to the elements, was getting tired. The wooden spokes were soft, and the carriage was dry rotted. According to the Star Courier on Monday, May 30, 1930, it was reported that Neponset village leadership decided the old cannon should live on. Mayor Arthur Robinson approved a concrete pedestal and brass plaque which reads, “Captured at Belmont, Missouri by the 27^th Illinois Infantry, November 7, 1861".

Sitting in front of the Village Hall on Main Street, it has welcomed home Neponset veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf wars, Afghanistan and countless stateside duty stations.

But concrete doesn’t last forever either, and crumbles after 90 years. In 2022, another Neponset village leadership team headed by another mayor decided to step up. Mayor Dave Muller and the current American Legion Post #875 (established 1946) are organizing a re-fitting of the cannon to an 1841 carriage.

Part 3 - Second Trip North - is forthcoming.

LtCol Dick Wells (retired) has an economics degree & master’s degree in military history and is a property owner on the Great Sauk Trail. His great-great-great grandparents came to Annawan Township in the 1840s. He has always been interested in pioneer history and has been reading several first-person accounts and reference materials. This is #13 article in the series - Pioneer Struggles.

This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Dick Wells: Neponset's Civil War cannon makes its 1st trip north