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 THE 
 
 CAIRO EXPEDITION 
 
 Illinois' first l^espo^se 
 '9 tl?<? \aty Qiuil u/ar 
 
 Expedition from 
 to C^airo 
 
 BY 
 
 A. H. BURLEY
 
 THE 
 
 CAIRO EXPEDITION; 
 
 ILLINOIS FIRST RESPONSE IN THE LATE CIVIL 
 
 WAR THE EXPEDITION FROM 
 
 CHICAGO TO CAIRO. 
 
 HON. AUGUSTUS HARRIS BURLEY. 
 
 READ BEFORE THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AT ITS ANNUAL 
 MEETING, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 19, 1890. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 FERGUS PRINTING COMPANY. 
 1892.
 
 9X5. 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 By Hon. AUGUSTUS HARRIS BURLEY. 
 
 AS the years go by, and one by one the actors in and 
 spectators of the scenes of the war of the Rebel- 
 lion pass away, it seems necessary and proper that all of 
 us should make some record of what we saw or knew of 
 the anxious and trying times in the spring of 1861. 
 
 The general history of the war has been written by a 
 number of able authors, I wish, only, to add what came 
 within my own knowledge, as to the part taken by 
 Chicago at the beginning of the war. 
 
 From the time when the steamer Star of the West was 
 fired upon, January 9, 1861, and driven to sea from the 
 entrance to Charleston harbor, the people throughout 
 the North were uneasy and excited, but no one could 
 believe that a serious attempt would be made to disrupt 
 the Union of the States or .destroy a government that 
 had existed for nearly a century, and which had been 
 consecrated by the deeds and lives of so many noble 
 men. 
 
 April 12, 1 86 1, when the citizens of Charleston, South 
 Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter, and the gallant 
 Maj. Robert Anderson, to save the lives of his soldiers, 
 struck the Flag of our Country, the news went through 
 the North like an electric shock; quickly recovering from 
 the stunning blow, the people felt that war had actually 
 come and though cheeks paled, lips were firmly set, and 
 eyes flashed, showing the determination by all patriots to 
 stand shoulder to shoulder and preserve the Union and 
 the Government at any cost of life and treasure. 
 
 Friday evening, April 19, a mass-meeting of citizens 
 was held in Bryan Hall (now the Grand Opera House) at
 
 2 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 which patriotic speeches were made and resolutions were 
 adopted to sustain the government, suppress the rebel- 
 lion, and maintain the Union. % 
 
 A subscription of thirty thousand dollars was imme- 
 diately made, and a committee appointed to carry out the 
 wishes of the people as expressed, and to use the money 
 in assisting the government. 
 
 The following named citizens were appointed as such 
 Committee : 
 
 EDWARD H. HADDUCK, JULIAN SIDNEY RUMSEY, 
 LAURIN PALMER HILLIARD, ORRINGTON LUNT, 
 
 BENJ. F. CARVER, PHILIP CONLEY, 
 
 FRED'K LETZ, P. L. UNDERWOOD, 
 
 GEORGE ARMOUR, JOHN JAMES RICHARDS, 
 
 HIRAM E. MATHER, F. GRANGER ADAMS, 
 
 JOHN L. HANCOCK, HORATIO GATES LOOMIS, 
 
 ROBERT LAW, GEORGE W. GAGE, 
 
 ALEXANDER WHITE, CHAS. GUSTAVUS WICKER, 
 
 REDMOND PRINDIVILLE, GURDON S. HUBBARD, 
 EDWARD ILSLEY TINKHAM, THOMAS J. KINSELLA, 
 
 ROSELLE MARVIN HOUGH, ELIPHALET WOOD, 
 
 NELSON TUTTLE, HOMER E. SARGENT, 
 
 JOHN GAGE, U. H. CROSBY.* 
 
 Mr. Hadduck declining to act as chairman, I was 
 requested to take his place. Samuel Hoard was secretary. 
 
 The Hon. Julian S. Rumsey gave the use of his build- 
 ing, 44 and 46 LaSalle Street, without charge, and the 
 committee was in session daily from early morning until 
 late at night. 
 
 Reports were constantly made to the committee of 
 traitors and treason, of threats to burn elevators, to blow 
 up the powder-magazines, and to do other mischief, and 
 thus aid the so-called confederacy. The committee had 
 guards placed to watch all important and threatened 
 buildings. 
 
 * These names were obtained from the Chicago Tribune.
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 3 
 
 Not a keg of powder was permitted to be taken from 
 any of the magazines without the consent of the com- 
 mittee, who, before issuing a permit, had to be satisfied 
 that it went into loyal hands, for a legitimate purpose. 
 
 The arbitrary powers assumed by the committee could 
 only be justified by such an exigency, but all loyal citizens 
 united in submitting to their restrictions and sustaining 
 their acts. 
 
 April 19, the following despatch was sent by Gov. 
 Richard Yates to Gen. Richard Kellogg Swift, the then 
 commander of the militia of this military district : 
 
 "As quick as possible have as strong a force as you 
 can raise, armed and equipped with ammunition and 
 accoutrements, and a company of artillery, ready to 
 march at a moment's warning. A messenger will start 
 to Chicago tonight. 
 
 "RICHARD YATES, Commander-in-Chief." 
 
 The morning of April 20, Mr. John W. Bunn appeared, 
 as the governor's messenger, and announced to Gen. 
 Swift and the committee, that all diligence should be 
 used in raising and equipping the force, and that its desti- 
 nation must be kept a profound secret. 
 
 Gen. Swift issued his orders for the militia to muster, 
 but with the exception Of a few independent companies, 
 small in numbers, his force was composed of volunteers 
 all told to the number of 400, as per Gen. Swift's telegram 
 to Gov. Yates, dated April 21 the adjutant-general's 
 report says 595, but he included some companies that did 
 not arrive in time. The force included four cannon and 
 forty- four horses. 
 
 The war-committee borrowed from a Milwaukee com- 
 pany fifty muskets, but the force was largely armed with 
 squirrel- rifles, shotguns, single-barreled pistols, antique 
 revolvers, and anything that looked as if it would shoot, 
 that could be obtained from the gunstores, second-hand 
 and pawnshops.
 
 4 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 The State having neither money nor arms, our com- 
 mittee borrowed or bought the arms and commissary 
 stores, and advanced from its funds the money necessary 
 for the purchase of everything required that could be 
 obtained on such short notice. 
 
 At eleven o'clock at night, April 21, the expedition 
 started from the Illinois-Central Railroad station, amid the 
 cheers of the people and the screaming of steam-whistles. 
 
 An expedition starting, as this did, for an unknown 
 destination, you may conceive, was a source of anxiety 
 to all and especially to those whose sons, brothers, and 
 husbands had gone. Gen. Swift was without military 
 training or knowledge, but he had with him the late Gen. 
 Joseph Dana Webster, then captain, as aide, and to whom 
 the governor gave the authority to supercede Gen. Swift 
 at any time should it become necessary. 
 
 After providing the force, the next thing was to get it 
 to its destination before any advice could be given of it 
 to the people of the southern part of the State. Some of 
 our excited citizens wished the committee to take posses- 
 sion of the railroad and telegraph, but cooler counsel 
 prevailed, and the railroad and telegraph companies' 
 officers patriotically aided the authorities in every way, 
 thus preventing any knowledge of the expedition being 
 sent in advance. 
 
 To this end, no telegrams were permitted to go over 
 the lines, and the regular train on the Illinois-Central 
 Railroad was started at the usual hour, 7 p. m., but with 
 orders to stop at a certain place, until the military train 
 had passed, giving to passengers, as an excuse for such 
 delay that some unavoidable accident, or other cause, 
 prevented their going on. With this arrangement, the 
 military train passed unheralded the length of the State, 
 and rolled into Cairo to the astonishment of all and rage 
 of many of its citizens. 
 
 It seems strange that such secrecy should have been 
 necessary in any northern state, but we were surrounded
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 5 
 
 by traitors in Chicago, and a large proportion of the 
 people of Southern Illinois sympathized with the South, 
 and to the late Hon. Stephen A. Douglas and the noble 
 Gen. John A. Logan, we owe the salvation of our State 
 from civil war within its borders. 
 
 Knowing the sentiment of the people, the fear was that 
 they would destroy the long, wooden trestle-work across 
 the Big Muddy River, which they could have rendered 
 impassible, in an hour, by burning it. There was also fear 
 that the rebels would seize Cairo, as being a point of great 
 strategic importance. It was afterward learned that 
 Cairo would have been seized in forty-eight hours, had 
 its occupation been delayed. 
 
 Preparing the expedition to Cairo brought us face to 
 face with the fact that the State of Illinois had not, 
 within its control, guns enough for one regiment. Indi- 
 ana, Wisconsin, and Iowa sent agents here asking for 
 arms; Michigan, in reply to the committee's request for 
 a loan of arms, said they had none that could be spared, 
 not having enough for their own men. 
 
 The committee, in view of the condition, decided to 
 send East for arms, and gladly accepted the offer of 
 Stephen Francis Gale to go in search of guns, and I have 
 the pleasure of giving you his own account of the 
 mission: 
 
 "A. H. BURLEY, Esq., President of the Citizens' Com- 
 mittee of the City of Chicago: 
 
 "On the 2Oth of April, 1861, you informed me that I 
 had been selected by your committee to proceed East for 
 the purpose of procuring arms and ammunition for the 
 troops of the State of Illinois. 
 
 "Arrangements were quickly made for my departure, 
 by obtaining, through R. N. Rice, Esq., superintendent of 
 the Michigan-Central Railroad, a free and unobstructed 
 track to Detroit; and in one hour was on my way. 
 
 " Wired the governor of Michigan to meet me at the
 
 6 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 station at Jackson for the purpose of obtaining if possible 
 a temporary supply from the arsenal at Dearborn. His 
 answer was 'We can not let you have a single musket, 
 our State has called for more men than we can arm.' 
 
 "Reached Detroit in six hours and thirty minutes; 
 wiring on my way to Mr. Rice to meet me on my arrival 
 at the station, and meantime to make arrangements with 
 the Great- Western Railway for an engine to take me 
 to Niagara Falls; also to put me in communication with 
 some one in high authority in Canada. 
 
 " Mr. Rice at once prepared a letter to Hon. H. C. R. 
 Beecher, the queen's counsel at London, who said he 
 would lay my request before the government without 
 delay and make answer to my request as soon as he 
 could get a reply. On the 22d instant, I received a des- 
 patch, care of Erastus Corning, Albany, as follows: 
 
 " 'Application unsuccessful,' and evidently to explain 
 delay adds: 'Government does not take the telegraph as 
 a means of communication. Why not try Lord Lyons?' 
 
 " In my brief conversation with Mr. Beecher, I inferred 
 that however well disposed the government might feel, a 
 want of precedent or want of authority might prevent the 
 granting of my request. 
 
 " My time through Canada was five hours and forty 
 minutes. Mr. Rice, at my request, wired New-York- 
 Central Railroad to 'hold east-bound express as long as 
 possible, for special on its way.' 
 
 "The regular express was held for one hour; arriving 
 forty minutes after its departure, I took a hot engine and 
 overtook the express at Rochester. 
 
 "On my arrival at Albany, called at once upon Mr. 
 Corning who promised every assistance in his power. 
 He introduced me to Gov. Morgan, who said ' there is an 
 abundance of arms in the arsenals; every State can get 
 them; and you can get all you want. If Gov. Yates will 
 send a special to Washington it might expedite matters. 
 The Springfield Arsenal sent us eight thousand yesterday.'
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 7 
 
 "Tried to communicate with Washington, but found it 
 impossible, as the wires were all cut, and the only means 
 left was by special messenger to accompany troops, either 
 from New York or Philadelphia. 
 
 " Left a telegram for the secretary of war to be sent as 
 soon as the li-ne was in order. 
 
 "The saving of time seemed so important, I hastened to 
 Springfield, and after an interview with the superintendent 
 of the arsenal, he said: 'I see your necessities and will 
 gladly do anything in my power to aid you in your 
 efforts, but I have no authority to deliver arms except by 
 an order of the secretary of war.' To this I answered : 
 ' I understand your position fully, and will give you a 
 guarantee from the best men in your city that such an 
 order shall be forthcoming within a reasonable time.' At 
 this point, friends came forward, and it was arranged that 
 I should have five thousand stand of arms for the State 
 of Illinois, a temporary receipt to be given, and proper 
 vouchers to be furnished to the superintendent in the 
 near future. The arms were boxed at once and delivered 
 at the railway station. 
 
 " While in superintendent's office for the purpose of 
 obtaining special time-table to run west to Albany, I 
 received despatch from A. H. Burley, Chicago, saying 'Our 
 State has twenty-one thousand arms from St. Louis this 
 morning,' also a second one from the same, saying: 'We 
 are supplied, do nothing more.' Both of these despatches 
 were under date of April 26, and on same date received 
 answer to my despatch to the secretary of war, saying: 
 
 " 'An order has been issued and sent to the governor of 
 Illinois for the required arms. 
 
 ' SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War.' 
 
 " My application to the commanding officer of the 
 Watertown arsenal was successful, and on the 26th wired 
 him as follows : ' Send the ammunition, caps, etc., as 
 soon as possible by Boston & Albany Railroad, arrange-
 
 8 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 merits are made with the company to forward with 
 dispatch. Mark <^G^ Chicago, 111.' 
 
 " S. F. GALE. 
 
 " My application was for two hundred thousand rounds 
 for smooth-bore muskets of the Springfield pattern. 
 Advices from Chicago under date of May 2, informed me 
 that the ammunition was received." 
 
 While our committee's messenger was scouring the 
 East for guns, Gov. Yates was trying to get the United 
 States arms from Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, but as 
 the barracks were surrounded by rebels, who were deter- 
 mined to take the arms for their own use, several gentle- 
 men, some in high military positions, declined to under- 
 take it, but Gen., then Capt. James H. Stokes offered to 
 try and was successful, and I here give you his own 
 account of his expedition, which he kindly prepared, at 
 my request: 
 
 "CHICAGO, 111., May 7, 1889. 
 "AUGUSTUS H. BURLEY, 
 
 "No. 618 Opera House Block, Chicago. 
 
 " My dear Sir :- -In answer to your kind letter of the 
 4th inst, I take much pleasure in making the following 
 statement: 
 
 "Immediately following the fall of Fort Sumter, in 
 April, 1861, I was called to Springfield by letter from 
 Gov. Yates of Illinois, as his military adviser. A few 
 days after my arrival there, Gov. Yates stated that he 
 had received a warrant from the war department at 
 Washington, directing the ordnance officer at the St. 
 Louis arsenal, to turn over to the governor of Illinois, 
 eight thousand muskets (8000) and ammunition. Gov. 
 Yates stating at the same time that he had in camp three 
 thousand volunteers without arms that he had offered 
 the warrant to an officer of the regular army, who 
 declined serving it, stating that it was impossible to 
 execute it, as the arsenal grounds were surrounded by
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 9 
 
 rebel troops. So strong was the apprehension that the 
 rebels would frustrate this effort to relieve the arsenal, 
 that I was sent from Springfield by special railroad train, 
 no one being permitted on the train but the conductor 
 and the necessary employes. 
 
 "Before leaving Springfield, I made arrangements with 
 Mr. Mitchell, one of the owners of the Alton & St. Louis 
 Steamboat Company, to meet me on the outskirts of St. 
 Louis, on the evening of the second day thereafter. On 
 reaching St. Louis, I walked down to the arsenal unob- 
 served. Finding the outer gate of the arsenal choked by 
 a great crowd of people, principally rebels, I met a picket 
 guard and induced the sergeant to force an opening 
 through the crowd, landing me inside of the arsenal 
 gates. 
 
 "Directed by the inside guard to the ordnance-officer's 
 quarters, I gave him the warrant. After reading it, we 
 went to Capt. [Nathaniel] Lyon's quarters, commanding 
 post, who, after reading the warrant, expressed a decided 
 opinion that it was impossible to move the arms in the 
 face of the large rebel force then surrounding the arsenal, 
 which was said to be about eight thousand strong, expect- 
 ing daily to capture the arsenal and war- material. Capt. 
 Lyon was strong in his opposition. Capt. Olcutt, of the 
 ordnance corps, U. S. army, urged and assisted me in my 
 efforts to convince the commanding officer that the 
 arsenal and its contents would be surely captured by the 
 rebel troops, therefore, it would be better to make the 
 effort to remove, if possible, the ordnance stores. After 
 a long and urgent appeal, Capt. Lyon consented to 
 comply with the demands of the warrant. Thereupon I 
 started back to St. Louis, to meet Mr. Mitchell by 
 appointment, and settled upon the plan, and the time for 
 sending his steamer to the arsenal, which was to be at 
 2 o'clock a.m., the following night, returning to the arse- 
 nal under cover of the night, and thereby escaping all 
 notice. Our time was employed in trying to mislead the
 
 10 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 rebels. To this end, Capt. Olcutt the next day, sent 
 several boxes of old flint-lock muskets to the railroad 
 depot, in St. Louis, as if for shipment. The boxes were 
 greedily seized by the rebels, with great exultation, and 
 much glorification was made on account of so important 
 a capture. 
 
 "While preparing the guns for shipment, as orderd by 
 warrant from the war department, with the aid of Capt. 
 Olcutt, we were much occupied in trying to convince 
 Capt. Lyon, that the call for only eight thousand guns 
 would not relieve the arsenal from the intended attack of 
 the rebels, and that it would be better for the country to 
 remove all the guns in the arsenal to a safe place in Illi- 
 nois, and leave the rebels nothing to fight for. Before 
 the end of the day, Capt. Lyon accepted our view of the 
 case, and consented that I should remove the larger 
 portion of the arms, retaining only what was necessary to 
 arm and equip the volunteers under his command. 
 
 "The same night the steamer City of Alton from Alton 
 quietly floated down to the arsenal dock, reaching it 
 about 2 o'clock a.m. 
 
 "With a force of about four or five hundred volunteers, 
 two thousand boxes of muskets, with the necessary 
 ammunition, a complete light-artillery battery, with its 
 ammunition were quietly placed on board the steamer. 
 In all there were about twenty-three thousand (23,000) 
 stand of arms. 
 
 "During the evening and night of the shipment, seven 
 or eight of the rebel spies were captured inside of the 
 lines. After a satisfactory loading of the arms on the 
 steamer was made, orders were given by the captain to 
 cast off, and an attempt was made to start the steamer, 
 but it was found to be hard upon a rock, and all efforts 
 failed to move her by steam. It was then that Capt. 
 Lyon under the pressure of great excitement, backed by 
 his expressed unwillingness to permit the arms to be 
 taken away, accused me of treachery, with the intention
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. II 
 
 of delivering the arms to the rebels. He knew that I 
 was a Southerner by birth and education, and supposed 
 me to be liable to any of his suspicions. 
 
 "I bore his apprehensions as well as I could, and 
 employed my efforts in having the boxes and guns rrfoved 
 from the bow, where the pressure was the greatest. In 
 the course of an hour of hard work by the soldiers, the 
 steamer was relieved. It again floated, and we started 
 for Alton without noise from escaping steam, the captain 
 directing the steam to be discharged in the coal-hole. 
 
 "About two miles up the river, after leaving St. Louis, 
 the channel of the river made a turn close up to its west 
 bank, where there was stationed a rebel battery, with 
 their camp-fires burning, apparently all asleep, so that 
 the steamer passed unnoticed, reaching Alton about six 
 o'clock a.m., finding Mr. Mitchell on the dock awaiting 
 our arrival. 
 
 "So soon as he learned that we had on board twenty- 
 three thousand stand of arms, he started for the fire- 
 alarm bell, and rang it heartily, raising all the town, under 
 the apprehension of a fire. The mayor of the city, with 
 a large crowd of citizens collected round him, and when 
 he had related to them the cause of his ringing the bell, 
 and calling for volunteers to help in unloading the 
 steamer, the citizens headed by the mayor, went to the 
 steamer, each four taking a box of guns, and soon trans- 
 ferred all to a freight-train already standing on the track 
 near the wharf. ^ 
 
 "In the course of an hour, everything was moved to 
 the cars, and in safety we escaped to Springfield, reaching 
 there about 2 o'clock p.m., where we were met by Gov. 
 Yates, and a large portion of the legislature. 
 
 "The end of this little effort to obtain the twenty-three 
 thousand stand of arms to arm the volunteers already in 
 camp in the State of Illinois, as well as a portion of the 
 volunteers in Wisconsin and Indiana, was received and 
 acknowledged by a vote of thanks to myself, passed by
 
 12 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 the legislature of the State of Illinois, and approved by 
 the governor of this State.* 
 
 " It may not be out of place to repeat a remark made 
 by a citizen of the State of Missouri, that by the early 
 removal of these arms from the arsenal at St. Louis, it 
 destroyed the supremacy of the rebel forces, and 
 smothered their intended invasion of the State of Illinois, 
 also keeping the rebels from taking the State of Missouri 
 out of the Union, by a vote of secession then contem- 
 plated. Very respectfully, 
 
 "JAs. H. STOKES."f 
 
 The arms obtained by Mr. Gale, after being placed on 
 the cars at Springfield, Mass., were stopped and returned 
 to the United States arsenal as soon as the success of 
 Capt. Stokes' expedition was known. The ammunition 
 from Watertown for the arms from Springfield came 
 through in due time, and was forwarded to Springfield, 
 Illinois. 
 
 * See official account of the expedition of Capt. Stokes in the " Report of 
 the Adjutant-General of the State of Illinois," Vol. I, page 241. 
 
 t James Hughes Stokes, born at Havre de Grace, Md., July n, 1816; was 
 appointed from Maryland a cadet at West Point, N.Y., Military Academy, 
 July i, 1831; graduated July (, 1835, and promoted in the U.-S. army to 
 brevet second lieutenant, and assigned to 2d Artillery; transferred to 4th 
 Artillery, Aug. 14, 1835; served in garrison at Ft. Hamilton, N.Y., 1835 6; 
 promoted second lieutenant, 4th Artillery, June n, 1836; in operations in 
 Creek Nation, 1836; in the Florida war against the Seminole Indians, 1836-8, 
 being engaged at the battle of Okee-cho-bee, Dec. 25, 1837; in the Cherokee 
 Nation, 1838, while transferring the Indians to the West; in garrison at Ft. 
 Columbus, N.Y., 1838; promoted first lieutenant, 4tfc Artillery, July 7, 1838; 
 on quartermaster duty, purchasing horses, 1838-9; at New York, 1839-40; 
 promoted captain, staff assistant-quartermaster, May 21, 1839; in Winnebago 
 country, 1840; in Florida war, 1840-1; at Buffalo, N. Y., 1841-3; resigned, 
 Sept. 30, 1843. Proprietor Clyde Glass -Factory, N.Y., 1843-53; treasurer 
 and secretary of New-York-and-Boston Railroad Company, 1856 8; auditor 
 and local treasurer of Illinois-Central Railroad Company, 1858-61. 
 
 Served during the rebellion of the seceding States, 1861-5; in the removal 
 of the small arms from St. Louis arsenal, Mo., to Springfield, 111., to equip 
 Illinois volunteers, April, 1861 (for this military service he received, May 2, 
 1861, the thanks of the legislature of Illinois); as State commissioner to 
 purchase arms for Illinois volunteers, May, 1861; captain, Illinois Artillery
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 13 
 
 Much credit was flue to the officers of the Michigan- 
 Central and the Great- Western railroads for the assistance 
 and dispatch given to Mr. Gale, and for the service so 
 rendered no bill was ever presented to the committee. 
 
 In order to correct history and the statement of the 
 adjutant-general of the State, who says in his report: "that 
 the batteries were unprovided with shot, shell, or cannis- 
 ter, but slugs hurriedly prepared"; I wish to state, that 
 our esteemed citizen, the late Philetus Woodworth Gates, 
 started the fires in his foundry at eleven o'clock Sunday 
 morning for the purpose of casting cannon-balls, and the 
 artillery started that evening with four hundred rounds 
 of fixed ammunition for its four guns. 
 
 The first shot of the war fired in the West, was a shot 
 cast in Mr. Gates' foundry on that Sunday morning, and 
 fired from a gun trained by Lieut. John Rudolph Bots- 
 ford, of Capt. James Smith's company, of Chicago Light 
 Artillery. 
 
 The shot was fired across the bow of a steamboat pass- 
 Volunteers, July 31, 1862; in command of Chicago Board of Trade Battery; 
 in Maj.-Gen. Buel's campaign in Kentucky, Sept. -Oct. , 1862, being engaged 
 in the battle of Perrysville, Oct. 8, 1862; in command of regiment of pioneers 
 and battery in Maj.-Gen. Rosecrans' campaign in Tennessee, Oct., 1862, to 
 Sept., 1863, being engaged in the battle of Stone's River, Dec. 31, 1862, to 
 Jan. 3, 1863, in several skirmishes in pursuit of the enemy; capture of Chat- 
 tanooga, Sept. 9, 1863, and battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 19-20, 1863; against 
 the rebel Gen. Wheeler's raid in Middle Tennessee, Oct. 2-19, 1863, in the 
 action of Farmington, Oct. 8, 1863, and several skirmishes; in the Chatta- 
 nooga campaign, in command of artillery division, Oct., 1863, to Feb., 1864, 
 being engaged in the battle of Missionary Ridge, Nov. 23-4, 1863; promoted 
 lieutenant-colonel, staff, U.-S. volunteers, Feb. 10, 1864; inspector of the 
 quartermaster department of the Military Division of the Mississippi, Feb. 10 
 to Aug. 22, 1864, being engaged in making inspections, chiefly at New Orleans; 
 mustered out of service, Aug. 22, 1864. Reappointed in the U.-S. volunteer 
 service, with the rank of captain, staff assistant adjutant-general, U.-S. volun- 
 teers, Aug. 22, 1864; promoted brigadier-general, U.-S. volunteers, July 20, 
 1865; served in the defences of Washington, D.C., Aug. 22, 1864, to Aug. 
 24, 1865, when he was honorably mustered out of service. Commissioner of 
 Illinois, May 3, 1861, for establishing a State-arsenal. Became blind in 1888 
 from disease contracted in Florida war, and died in New- York City, Dec. 27, 
 1890.
 
 14 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 ing down the river, bearing ammunition from St. Louis 
 for the rebels. The whizzing of a shot was too pointed 
 an invitation to come ashore to be declined, and the 
 steamer's stock of munitions of war was taken for use in 
 our own army. 
 
 To show the great prudence of the general, commanding 
 the expedition, and his consideration for the safety of his 
 soldiers, I will mention what was stated, by those near to 
 him; "that when approaching the Big Muddy River 
 he proposed that the platform cars, on which the can- 
 non were, should be placed in front and the locomotive 
 in the rear of the train, so that in case of being attacked, 
 they could use the guns at long range, and retreat if 
 found necessary," but as the other officers of the com- 
 mand did not agree with him, the train proceeded in the 
 usual way. 
 
 When the Milwaukee muskets were being cleaned and 
 put into order for returning, Mr. George T. Abbey found 
 many of them with more than one cartridge in the barrel 
 and some had five or six; showing how little the boys 
 knew of fire-arms or their use, having reloaded without 
 discharging the guns. 
 
 To Gen. Joseph Stockton thanks were due for his valu- 
 able assistance in obtaining horses for the artillery he 
 furnished several from his own stock; also to Col. Roselle 
 Marvin Hough, who was very earnest at that time as he 
 was subsequently all through the war. 
 
 The Cairo expedition was hastily prepared, and as 
 before stated, furnished with such arms as could be 
 obtained. The men, mostly in their everyday clothes, 
 some with overcoats, but more without, a few blankets, 
 fewer tents, and comparatively without camp-equipage of 
 any kind. The starting for an unknown destination, 
 ostensibly for Springfield, the tears of mothers, wives, 
 and sisters; the fervent blessings of friends; the screech- 
 of steam-whistles at 1 1 o'clock that dark Sunday night 
 made an impression ineffaceable from the memory of all 
 those who were present.
 
 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 1$ 
 
 The money expended for the Cairo expedition and for 
 fitting out two regiments, was mostly refunded by the 
 government, and then used in assisting the families of 
 those in the army. 
 
 Cook County, by its board of supervisors, appropriated 
 $30,000 to assist the government, and the speaker was 
 chairman of the war-committee, but as of the first com- 
 mittee, all the records were destroyed in the fire of 1871. 
 
 The first citizens' committee continued to serve 
 through 1861 and 1862, and was succeeded by a new and 
 larger committee, but as I resigned from it, I can only 
 say that it devoted its energies mostly to the assisting 
 Gen. John Charles Fremont in his Missouri campaign. 
 Of the doings of the last committee all record was burned. 
 
 It must seem strange to the young people of today, 
 that a war came upon the United States twenty-nine 
 years ago, and that neither the Federal or State govern- 
 ment had money to pay men or to buy arms. The 
 general government had but few arms, and the states 
 still less. 
 
 Secretary - of- War John B. Floyd, had gradually 
 depleted the northern arsenals, removing the arms to 
 southern points, from which they were taken by the 
 rebels. 
 
 It should be remembered and made a matter of history 
 that the first money raised in Illinois for the war was 
 subscribed by citizens of Chicago. 
 
 The first armed force sent out in the West was that 
 sent to Cairo, and it was sent from Chicago. 
 
 The first general in command in the State of Illinois 
 was Richard Kellogg Swift, a citizen of Chicago. 
 
 The first shot fired in the West for the Union was a 
 Chicago shot, from a Chicago cannon, trained by a Chi- 
 cago boy, of the Chicago Light Artillery. 
 
 Thanks are also due to our esteemed citizen E. W. 
 Blatchford for the assistance he rendered to Mr. Gates 
 on that memorable Sunday.
 
 l6 THE CAIRO EXPEDITION. 
 
 Let us hope that the horrors of war may never be 
 brought upon our country, and that peace and harmony 
 may henceforth be the results of the treasure expended 
 and the sacrifices made in the name of Liberty and 
 Union. 
 
 With the foregoing, I have the pleasure of filing a copy 
 of an address delivered by Capt. John Conant Long, a 
 member of the Cairo expedition, at a meeting held to 
 celebrate the twenty-seventh anniversary of its starting.