On May 1, 1855 Alonzo Chamberlain loaded his wife and two children on a stage coach and traveled forty miles to Montpelier. There they caught a west bound passenger train to start a new life on the western frontier in Winnebago County, Illinois, ten miles south of Beloit, Wisconsin. When he arrived he had only $1.75 in his pocket. He bought a $5 cook stove and paid for it in work.1
Alonzo and his family traveled by Railroad from Montpelier Vermont to Beloit, Wisconsin to their new home in Winnebago County on the western frontier in 1855.
Why did Alonzo leave Glover and why was he broke? There are many unanswered questions about Alonzo after he left. However, a sequence of events before he left, may give some insight.
Alonzo Chamberlian
Lydia Blanchard Chamberlain
Alonzo had two children, Amanda and Harry when his wife Betsy died April 25, 1852. His father Spencer was living with him, but moved to his daughter Jeanette’s home sometime between 1850 and before the time Spencer died on December 21, 1853.
Alonzo purchased two adjoining lots in the village of Glover on April 11 and May 5, 1853. Alonzo and his new wife Lydia Blanchard Chamberlain jointly owned this property in town. They sold it to Warren Smith on February 8, 1855 for $500. Then there was a “Transfer of Mortgage” deed from Alonzo to F. M. McLellan for $300 signed on April 12, 1855. This would leave him with only about $200 before he left Glover.23
John Harry Chamberlain
His son Harry wrote that Alonzo had “received letters from some friends who had moved to northern Illinois, thought he saw a chance in that new country to build a home and support his family of a wife and two children more easily than he could on the barren hills of his native state.”3
School Days- Amanda and Harry Chamberlain, Winnebago County.
So, Alonzo packed his belongings into some trunks and loaded his family on a stagecoach and headed for the frontier, which “our people then thought was the land of Indians and untold dangers.”3
They arrived at their new home in Shirland, Winnebago County, Illinois on May 14, 1855. He went to work to support his family. “Wages were seventy cents a day, and twenty-five cents a cord for cutting wood… wealth did not pile up much.”3
In the 1860 census the Chamberlain family of four lived in a structure in Shirland Township, Winnebago County, but no value was shown for the property.
The Underground Railroad in northern Illinois
Alonzo Chamberlain was an abolitionist. He was known to be a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Vermont. Though we know nothing about Alonzo’s personal activities, the UGRR was very active in northern Illinois.
There were well known stops of the UGRR in Byron, Illinois and in Beloit, Wisconsin thirty miles north. Alonzo Chamberlain lived between these locations. Byron has an UGRR museum known as the Read House which was one of three “stations” in town from 1850 to 1862, where fugitive slaves were hidden. According to the museum director, “Byron held a large group of abolitionists during that time. Most were members of the Congregational Church and came here from New England”.4
Newman House Museum, Byron, Illinois
Newman House Museum UGRR cellar room
This is interesting because his son said Alonzo had been corresponding with friends who had moved to northern Illinois. And, Alonzo’s location in Shirland, Winnebago County, twenty miles north of Byron filled a needed gap between Byron and known UGRR safe houses in Wisconsin.
Also, there is an UGRR museum in Milton, Wisconsin called Milton House. It is near Janesville about thirty miles north of Shirland.
It was built in 1844 and has a distinctive hexagon shaped design and a basement where fugitives were hid. There was a 45 foot tunnel from the basement to a nearby cabin.4
This 45-foot long tunnel originally was 3′ high and caved in often. (Jon McGinty photo)
Milton House UGRR museum built in 1844 near Janesville Wisconsin. There is a 45′ tunnel between basement and nearby cabin.
Winnebago County Sheriff John Taylor and Alfred Countryman
The history of Winnebago County can give us great insight into the life and times of the Chamberlain family. As pioneers in this new land, they were certainly affected by both local and national events.
On November 11, 1856, Sheriff John Taylor was nearing the end of his term. A new sheriff of Winnebago County had been elected a few days earlier. Sheriff Taylor was looking forward to spending more time on his farm with his expectant wife and eighteen month old son.6
That day, two brothers, Alfred and John Countryman herded some cattle into Rockford from another county. They offered the cattle for sale at such a low price it raised suspicion. The purchasers withheld payment and notified the sheriff. Upon investigation, Sheriff Taylor arrested the men on suspicion of cattle rustling and searched them for weapons. He found a pistol ball in Alfred’s pocket and asked for the pistol, but said he had none.5,6
Sheriff Taylor assisted by the Constable escorted the prisoners to the jailhouse steps where Alfred broke loose. He leaped the fence on Elm Street and ran down the street to the livery stables. The sheriff pursued and was about to seize him. Countryman drew a concealed pistol and fired behind him striking the sheriff. He staggered a few steps and fell. His last words were “I am shot, catch him!“5
Many infuriated citizens chased him to the woods north of Kent’s creek where John Platt caught him. With assistance, he wrestled away his pistol and subdued him. Amid threats of lynching, they took him to jail. Sheriff-elect Samuel Church secured the captive with irons.
Alfred Countryman went to trial on February 24 for the murder of Sheriff Taylor. The prosecution and the defense presented their case and it went to a jury of twelve men. On Friday March 6 they returned with a verdict: “Guilty”. The judge sentenced him to be hanged.
Winnebago County’s first public execution was scheduled for the afternoon of Friday March 27, 1857. It was a major event. People started crowding into town the evening before, coming from as far as Dubuque, Iowa. Two special trains arrived from the west at daybreak. Rockford was packed solid with horses, carriages and people. An estimated 8000 citizens gathered at Sheriff Church’s farm, a short distance from town. (Other newspapers estimated 15,000 and 20,000 attendees).5,6
The prisoner arrived in a procession of five horse drawn carriages. The last carriage carried the Countryman family, father, brother, and sister. His wife and his mother chose to say their goodbyes at the jail. Two fire companies armed with sabers and carbines accompanied the procession. The armed guard escorted the prisoner safely to the scaffold.5,6
The Reverend Hooper Crews began the ceremony with earnest prayer. The prisoner then made a short speech and expressed repentance and forgiveness for his crime. At seventeen minutes past the hour of two, the bolt was withdrawn. The trap door fell and Countryman was “swung into eternity”.5 The immense concourse of people did not move for some time. Only the sobs of the family were heard above the silence of the multitude.6
Before the body was taken down, Sheriff Church addressed the crowd. He praised and thanked them for their order. Then he spoke these words: “These painful proceedings being now concluded, and the sword of justice is about to be returned to its sheath, I hope never again to be drawn with so much severity”.5
The new anti-slavery party
In the 1850s, the issue of slavery absorbed the minds of the people, and none more so than Alonzo Chamberlain. We can only speculate on the roll politics played in Alonzo’s decision to move to Illinois. There is no doubt, however, that he was now in the center of the action.
Democrat Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill that would allow settlers to choose whether slavery would or would not exist within a territory. He hoped the bill would satisfy the interests of both the North and the South. The Kansas-Nebraska act dissolved the terms of the Missouri Compromise and allowed slave or free status to be decided in the territories by popular sovereignty. This would likely extend slavery into the newly opening territories.
Douglas’ bill sparked outrage and protests in the northern states. A small, dedicated group of individuals came together to pledge to fight against the spread of slavery. In a small school house in Ripon, Wisconsin on March 20, 1854, they organized a new party. They chose the name the “Republican Party”.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”
Abraham Lincoln 1859
On June 16, 1858 in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln accepted the nomination of the Republican Party to oppose Stephen A. Douglas in the race for the U. S. Senate. In his speech accepting the nomination, he paraphrased a passage from the Bible, Mark 3:25: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Lincoln continued:
“I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”
These words obviously made a deep impression on Alonzo Chamberlain as Lincoln’s words from this event were quoted at Alonzo’s funeral forty-four years later. “Like Abraham Lincoln, he (Alonzo) thought and said this nation could not live part slave and part free”2
The Lincoln – Douglas Debates
Alonzo Chamberlain probably attended one or more of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Senate campaign of 1858 involved seven three hour debates between the two candidates. Each debate was held in a different congressional district. The format was that the first candidate spoke for one hour, the second then had one hour and a half, and then the first had an half hour to finish. Spontaneous comments, cheers and laughter from the audience punctuated the debates.
On August 27, 1858 the second debate was held at Freeport, Illinois about twenty miles southwest of Shirland. On a cool, damp day, special trains brought in an estimated 15,000 from all over northern Illinois.7 Freeport is the one debate location, if not more than one, that Alonzo would attend if possible.
At this location, Lincoln spoke first and answered the “interrogatories” which Douglas had raised in the previous debate. Douglas then began by complementing the audience for avoiding “vulgarity and blackguardism” while Lincoln was speaking. Douglas then spoke for an hour and a half, often playing the race card with an occasional racial slur and by repeatedly calling Lincoln’s party the “Black Republican Party”.
Lincoln then began his reponse:
“The first thing I have to say to you is a word in regard to Judge Douglas’s declaration about the ‘vulgarity and blackguardism’ in the audience- that no such thing, as he says, was shown by any Democrat while I was speaking. Now, I only wish, by way of reply on this subject, to say that while I was speaking, I used no ‘vulgarity or blackguardism’ toward any Democrat.” (Great laughter and applause)7
Douglas had long advocated that under popular sovereignty the settlers in each new territory would decide their own status as a slave or free state; and that this would allow northern and southern states to resume peaceful coexistence.
Lincoln, however, responded that the Dred Scott decision sealed the fate of the country with one of only two possible outcomes: the country would inevitably become either all slave or all free. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, a slave who moved to Wisconsin with his master, was not a U. S. citizen even though he was in a free territory. In other words, residence in a free territory did not make Scott free. Also, that Congress had no constitutional authority to prohibit slavery in any territory. The decision effectively overturned the Missouri Compromise, and all of other political compromises negotiated between the North and South over the past 30 years.
At Freeport, Stephen Douglas argued that, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, slavery could be excluded from territories of the United States by local legislation. This became know as the Freeport Doctrine.
The Presidential Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln lost the 1858 Senate race. However, the debates of 1858 gave him national stature. At the Republican convention, May 18, 1860 in Chicago, Lincoln over took William H. Seward of New York on the third ballot and received the nomination for President. Republicans opposed the extension of slavery into the territories.8
Douglas’ Freeport doctrine and popular sovereignty pleased Democrats in Illinois. However, these angered Southern Democrats, and the national Democrat Party was in turmoil. In April at the Democratic Convention at Charleston, SC, delegates from the Southern states pulled out and no nomination could be made. They held a second convention in June at Baltimore, MD. Stephen Douglas got the Democrat Party nomination, but Southern Democrats nominated Vice President John C. Breckenridge, a slave owner from Kentucky. Both Douglas and Breckenridge claimed to be the official Democratic candidates.8
The Constitution Union Party nominated John Bell of Tennessee. They, like the Whig Party before them, believed the best strategy was to ignore the issue of slavery.
1860 U. S. Presidential Election
Lincoln understood the value of unity. He campaigned to keep the Party united. Douglas actively campaigned in both the North and in the South where he gave a passionate defense of the Union and strenuously opposed secession.
On election day, November 6, 1860, Alonzo Chamberlain cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln, as he would for every Republican Presidential candidate for the rest of his life. With about 40% of the popular vote, Lincoln won in all the northern states except New Jersey. This gave him 180 electoral votes, enough to win the electoral college and the election. By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration in March, seven Southern states had seceded, and a month after Lincoln became president, the country became engaged in civil war.8
A complete victory in the battle at Antietam Creek might have decided the war, one way or the other
The rebellion of the Southern states and the Civil War opened the opportunity for Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves. President Lincoln first proposed the Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet in July 1862. However, his cabinet opposed it. Secretary of State William Seward suggested waiting for a Union victory so that it might be credible that the government could enforce it. Lincoln drew up the document and patiently waited for an elusive Union victory.9
In mid 1862, the Union suffered three devastating defeats at Shanandoah, Richmond and Manassas, Virginia. With the War going badly, the Democrats began an anti-war campaign. They saw the opportunity to take over the House of Representatives in the November mid-term election. To make things worse, France and Great Britain were enduring a cotton shortage and were considered legitimizing the Confederacy.10,11
Confederate General Robert E. Lee, recognizing the dissent in the North, hoped a major battle won on Union soil might topple Lincoln’s congressional support and secure complete victory. His Confederate forces moved into West Virginia where Stonewall Jackson captured Harpers Ferry. Lee then moved his army to Sharpsburg, Maryland.
September 17, 1862, General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia met Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac at Antietam Creek. The two armies faced each other across a 30 acre corn field. In twelve hours of battle there were about 23,000 casualties. An estimated 3,650 died. It was the deadliest single day in all American military history.
The next day Lee began the retreat of his ravaged troops back to Virginia. Despite having the advantage, McClellan allowed Lee to retreat without resistance. Lincoln was furious! He believed McClellan missed the opportunity to attack the weakened Army of Northern Virginia and potentially end the war. After refusing Lincoln’s orders to pursue Lee’s retreating troops, Lincoln removed McClellan from command on November 5, 1862.10
The Emancipation Proclamation
Military historians consider the Battle of Antietam a stalemate. However, the routing of the Confederates from Maryland enabled President Lincoln to claim a Union victory. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. If the Southern states did not cease their rebellion, it would go into effect on January 1, 1863.
Lincoln justified this action as a “fit and necessary war measure” intended to cripple the Confederacy’s use of slaves in the war effort. The ending of slavery in the United States now became the focus of the Civil War. Unwilling to appear pro-slavery, England and France decided not to endorse the Confederacy, and the Republicans held the House of Representatives in the mid-term election. Also, over 200,000 African-Americans served in the Union army and navy.9
President Lincoln considered the Emancipation Proclamation to be the crowning achievement of his presidency. “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper,” he declared. “If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.”9
The Proclamation initially freed only the slaves in the rebellious states, but by the end of the war, citizens were more prepared to accept abolition for all slaves in both the North and South. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States on December 6th, 1865.9
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom”
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.
Abraham Lincoln
William Warren in the Civil War
William Warren was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, April 10, 1840. His father died when he was three months old. Therefore, he soon learned to depend on his own resources. He spent his youthful years working on a farm in Winnebago County. There, he not only learned how to work the fields, but also received early lessons on industry, perseverance and integrity. When civil war broke out, he joined the Fourth Battery of the Wisconsin Light Artillery on November 10, 1861.12
Battle of Malvern Hill, water color by Sneden
The Fourth Battery of Artillery participated in the battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. There, Union artillery on the hill dueled with Confederate batteries on both the right and left sides of their lines, inflicting heavy losses. They repelled the Confederate Army, a great tactical victory for the Union. The next day, however, Union General George B. McClellan retreated, ending his Peninsula Campaign to take the Confederate Capitol of Richmond.13,14
On April 11, 1863 the Fourth Artillery defended the Union Garrison at Suffolk, Virginia from the attack of Longstreet, holding until the siege was abandoned.
During encampment at Gloucester Point in August, 1863 the unit experienced a severe bout of sickness. For a while, there were only four enlisted men fit for duty.13
In March 1864, Ulysiss S. Grant was promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all Union armies.15
On May 9, 1864, the Fourth Artillary took position in front of rebel Fort Clifton where Swift Creek meets the Appomattox. There they silenced the enemy guns within a half an hour. Four days later they marched to Proctor’s Run near Drury’s Bluff. There they engaged the enemy’s fortifications, losing one man wounded.13
In June, 1864 William Warren’s artillery unit was attached to General Kautz’ Cavalry Division and on the June 15th they, as part of the U. S. Army of the Potomic, became engaged in the battle of Petersburg, Petersburg was an important supply center for the Confederate capitol of Richmond. General Kautz penetrated enemy lines which left him the dilemma of how to get back out. Under fire from fourteen guns, they escaped with the loss of three men wounded.13
By order of General Butler, the entire Fourth Battery Artillery was converted to a horse artillery, with all cannoniers being mounted. Then, on September 28, 1864, General Kautz’ cavalry, and the mounted Fourth Battery approached Richmond within 1000 yards of the rebel works. On the 29th they moved around the city under continuous rebel fire. The right section engaged a small force of the enemy on Charles City Road and drove them into the city. The next day, September 30th, the battery repulsed a cavalry charge.13
On October 7th, a heavy rebel force attacked the cavalry. The Fourth Battery of Artillery opened fire but could not stop the enemy advance. They then began receiving heavy fire from their left. Another large force of Confederates came at them from the right to cut off escape. They fell back four times while keeping up rapid fire. The rebels continued to press toward them, the order was given to retreat.13
Near a creek, the cavalry and artillery units got jammed together. An artillery piece got stuck in the mud and blocked those who were behind. Four cannons had to be abandoned and forty-five horses were lost. Private Isaacson was killed and Private Brooks, J. Flanders, L. Wells, and W. Warren were wounded.13 A piece of a shell struck William in the right leg disabling him. He had to remain in a hospital in Philadelphia for the rest 1864 and early 1865.12
The Siege of Petersburg from June 1864 to March 1865 led to the surrender of Lee’s army in April 1865 and the effective end of the Civil War.15 William Warren received an honorable discharge on April 14, 1865.12
William Warren married Amanda Chamberlain, Winnebago County, Illinois
Amanda Chamberlain age 19 and William Warren age 20.
William Warren returned to his home in Winnebago County where he spent several months recuperating his health. He then went to work on his farm. William married Miss Amanda Chamberlain February 25, 1866.12
In 1870, Alonzo Chamberlain was a farmer and his son Harry worked as a farm laborer. They owned a small farm in Shirland, Winnebago county valued at $1170. At that time, William and Amanda Warren had two children Nora and Florence. William Warren’s farm in Shirland was valued at $2100 plus he had $595 in personal property. Also, two farm laborers were living in their home.16
To be continued…. Chapter 21 Harry Chamberlain– leaves Winnebago County for Clay County Iowa. Homesteader, teacher, politician, lawyer and family man.
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Thank you! Dennis Chamberlain
© Copyright Dennis D. Chamberlain, The Chamberlain Story, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the written content of this site without express and written permission from the author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that credit is given to Dennis D. Chamberlain and direction to www.thechamberlainstory.com.
References:
1- Harry Ellis Chamberlain, Biography of Alonzo Chamberlain, unpublished family document
2- Sale of Property “Alonzo & Lydia Chamberlain to Warren Smith” and email information from Joan Alexander, Glover Historical Society.
3- Memoir of Harry Chamberlain
4- Local Ties to the Underground Railroad http://northwestchicagoland.northwestquarterly.com/2011/01/local-ties-to-the-underground-railroad/
5- Charles A. Church, The History of Rockford and Winnebago County- From First Settlement in 1834 to the Civil War, Rockford, Ill., W. P. Lamb, printer, 1900.
6- Robert H. Borden, WINNEBAGO COUNTY’S FIRST EXECUTION, Nuggets of History, Vol 18, Number 3
7- Second debate: Freeport, Illinois, National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/debate2.htm
8-The U. S. Presidential Election of 1860, https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1860
9- Civil War Trust, 10 Facts: The Emancipation Proclamation,
https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/10-facts-emancipation-proclamation
10- The Battle of Antietam, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-antietam
11- Civil War Battles Chart, https://www.iss.k12.nc.us/
12- History of Clay County, Iowa page 393.
13- Military History of Wisconsin, http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/quiner/id/17199
14- Michael P. Gabriel, The Battle of Malvern Hill, Encyclopedia Virginia, https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Malvern_Hill_Battle_of
15- The End of the Civil War, LUMEN, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/the-end-of-the-civil-war/
16- 1870 U. S. Census
