Local Landmarks Let History Buffs Relive the 'War Between the States'

When the bus stopped outside the tiny Settlers Cottage Museum, Barb Peck and Pat Torrance were the only ones not marveling at how an entire family could live inside what was once a cramped little house.

The women knew only too well. It was the sisters' home during the Depression, which they shared with their parents and four other siblings. But its historic pedigree goes must deeper than that, said Debbie Buchanan, one of several guides for Saturday's History Without Borders Civil War and Architecture Tour.

The house was built in 1840 and is the oldest remaining structure in the Montgomery area. It sits across the Fox River from the former site of Camp Hammond, where Civil War soldiers in the 36th Illinois Volunteer Infantry trained, drilled and camped before shipping out to Cairo, Ill. 

“The Civil War touched every household," Plainfield historian and librarian Tina Beaird said. “You wanted to do your duty. You wanted to serve.”

There are dozens of local connections to the "War Between the States" scattered all over the towns of Plainfield, Oswego, Montgomery and Aurora, as about 50 people learned on the all-day bus tour that took them to many of them.

It was a day of stories, as the bus cruised along the banks of the Fox River, past freshly plowed fields and through modern neighborhoods. History Without Borders is a regional group of historical society members from Aurora, Montgomery, Oswego and Plainfield.

“Every word you hear today is true,” said tour guide Stephenie Todd, chairman of the Kendall County Historical Society. "None of this is fiction.”

One story was of Andrew Brown, who opted not to travel from Newark to Joliet with his company on May 11, 1861, because his clothes were dirty. Instead, the next day the 17-year-old hiked 30 miles on his own to join his group; at that point, he was farther from home than he’d ever been in his life, Todd said.

Another was that of 13-year-old Robinson Murphy, who in 1862 joined the 127th Illinois Volunteer Infantry with this father and served as the drummer boy. Two years later, the Oswego teen would voluntarily lead two reinforcement regiments to the frontline of the Battle of Atlanta, where he had his horse shot under him, a feat that would earn him a Congressional Medal of Honor.

As the bus headed toward Plainfield, Beaird told the tale of Plainfield’s Capt. Edward McAllister, who led the First Illinois Light Artillery Company D of Plainfield, one of the first called to duty at the start of the Civil War.

McAllister’s men saw action at the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg and on Sherman’s March to the Sea. After the war, McAllister farmed family land near what is now Interstate 55 and U.S. 30, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

Plainfield historian and architect Michael Lambert narrated the chronicle of abolition en route to Plainfield Congregational Church, whose members wavered between the moderate anti-slavery stance of the Presbyterians and the radical abolitionist stand of the Congregationalists. The Congregationalists prevailed in 1843, and it was there that McAllister first gathered his men after the fall of Fort Sumter in 1861.

The route passed by several houses that are known or believed to be stops on the Underground Railway, including the Bliss House on Lockport Street and the Dennison Green house on Main Street.

“A lot of what we know about abolitionists comes from verbal accounts,” Lambert said. “At one time, it was treason to be an abolitionist. A lot of history isn’t recorded because of the nature of the movement.”

The final stop of the tour was the Plainfield Historical Society, where the 36-star flag McAllister carried into battle is displayed.