Civil War Days in Hainesville, Illinois, This Weekend

This weekend, a Civil War Encampment and Battle will be held at the Northbrook Sports Club in Hainesville, Illinois.

It will be Saturday, Oct. 15 from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday, Oct. 16, from 9 am to 3 pm.

Admission and on-site parking is free.

Event highlights include:

**  Narrated military battles with infantry, cavalry and artillery  (They will be doing the Battle of Shiloh.)

**  Military and civilian bivoaucs and encampments

**  Period-dressed military, civilian & presenters

**  Special guests:  Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln,  Elijah Haines (founder of Hainesville), General Grant,  William Irving Kirk & Thomas Morris Chester.

**  There will be food and souvenir vendors on site.

See You at the War.  --Old Secesh

The Hainesville Civil War Encampment: Elijah and Me

October 16, 2021

As usual, most of the attendees were whites.  I usually don't see many Blacks at one of these, unfortunately.  I also don't see U.S. Colored Troops re-enactors very often which is also too bad.  They have a very interesting history and had a lot to do with the final defeat of the Confederacy.

Walked past U.S. Grant's tent and he was sitting outside it in conference with a Union officer.

I was especially looking to meet with Elijah Haines, the person Hainesville is named after.  The person playing him is my old friend and fellow teacher Bob.  We go back to my first year at Magee Middle School, 1973.

I soon came across him regaling others about little-known aspects of Elijah's life and the early history of the region.  Actually, Elijah owned land where Hainesville was and some of his family lived there, but he spent most of his time in Waukegan and is buried there.

He had already given his talk in the open barn earlier in the morning.

It was sure good to see so many people there.  I think this would be a good place for our Civil War Round Table to "recruit" new members as we are getting a bit long in the tooth.

--Old Secesh

Schedule of Events at the Hainesville (Illinois) Civil War Event Saturday, October 16

Public entry begins at 10 am.

10:15 to 10:45:  Military Drill

10:50 to 11:20:  Elijah Haines  (Hainesville Founder)

11:25 to 11:55:  Mary Todd Lincoln  (A Day in the Lincoln White House)

12:00 to 12:30:  William Irving Kirk  (A Southern Abolitionist Clergy)

12:40 to 1:10:  General Grant  (The Final Days)

1:15 to 2:00:  President Lincoln  (Finishing the Work)

2:10 to 2:40:  Thomas Morris Chester  (Battle of New Market Heights)  Thomas Morris Chester  was te only black reporter for a major newspaper during the war.

2:10:  Officers Call

2:45 to 3:15:  Battlefield Surgery 

3:15 to 3:30:  Assembly of Troops

3:30 to 4:00:  Narrated Battle featuring the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina.  The last major battle of the war.

4:00:  The event closes to the public

SUNDAY follows the same schedule, but one hour earlier in all times.

Looking forward to being there.

--Old Secesh

George Clarke Rogers-- Part 1: Captain With the 15th Illinois Infantry

While researching Elijah Haines, I came across this man who is also buried at Waukegan's Oakwood Cemetery.

From Find A Grave.

Born  22 November 1839 in Piermont, New Hampshire.

Died 28 February 1915 lake Forest, Illinois

Buried in Waukegan, Illinois, Oakwood Cemetery

Civil War Brevet Brigadier General.  Born in Piermont, New Hampshire.  At the start of the Civil Warm he was a lawyer in Lake County, Illinois, where he enlisted and was commissioned  a 1st lieutenant with the 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

As a captain at the Battle of Shiloh, he received four wounds, but refused to leave the field and led his company in the final charge.

Promoted to lieutenant colonel for his gallant conduct at the battle.

--Old Secesh

John Charles Haines, Mayor of Chicago 1858-1860 and Brother of Elijah Haines

From Wikipedia.

John Charles Haines was the brother of Elijah Haines, who I have been writing about since last month.  He was a one term mayor of Chicago in 1858, the eve of the Civil War.

The Haines family was fairly powerful in Illinois politics, with Elijah serving in the Illinois General Assembly's House of representatives at the time.

Born May 26, 1818, in New York.  Died July 4, 1896, and is buried at Rosehill Cemetery.  Served as democratic mayor of Chicago 1858-1860.

He arrived in Chicago on May 26, 1834 and took on a job as clerk for George W. Merrill.  By 1846, he had formed a partnership with Jared Gage and acquired several flour mills.  Haines also organized the Chicago waterworks as the city was growing very fast.

In 1848, he was elected to his first of six terms in the city council.  Elected mayor in 1858 as a Republican and won reelection the following year.

Became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and elected for two terms to the Illinois State Senate in 1874.  After he left that, he retired and lived near Waukegan in Lake County, to the north of Chicago.  His brother Elijah also lived there.

He is buried in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Elijah Haines Tasted the Ups and Downs of Politics

From the August 7, 1994, Chicago Tribune by Marc Davis.

This was one really busy man in the early days of Lake County, Illinois.  He was a lawyer, writer, book and newspaper publisher, surveyor, school teacher, politician, justice of the peace, state legislator, speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and Founder of lake County's first village, Hainesville (named after him).

He was also a historian and author of scholarly  volumes, including "The Past and Present of Lake County, Illinois, Illustrated," published in 1877.  Another of his books, "The American Indian," published in 1888 is a book on their character, languages and traditions which he studied extensively.

He also founded one of Lake County's first weekly newspapers, The Patriot, and one of the state's first legal newspapers, The Legal Advisor, were published by him.

Elijah Haines was born in Oneida County, New York, April 21, 1822,  and came with his family in 1835 to Chicago and then moved to Lake County a year later.  Admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1851, he practiced law in Waukegan and in 1860 opened an office in Chicago, but continued living in Waukegan.

Among his earliest publishing efforts was a compilation of Illinois township laws.  Elected to the legislature originally as a Republican in 1858,  he drifted from them and served several terms as an independent.  Served as Speaker of the House in Illinois in 1875 and 1885.

At that point, his political star began to fall with once-ardent supporters accusing him of "arbitrary and unjust"  decisions.  He died in Waukegan in 1889.

--Old Secesh

Elijah Middlebrook Haines, His Wife and Son

From Find A Grave

ELIJAH MIDDLEBROOK HAINES

Born 21 April 1822  Oneida County, New York

Died 25 April 1889  Libertyville, Lake County, Illinois

Burial Oakwood Cemetery, Waukegan, Illinois

His gravestone mentions that he was the founder of Hainesville, Illinois.

************************************

Also buried at Oakwood, and by him, his wife, MELINDA GRISWOLD WRIGHT HAINES

Birth:  18 February 1825  Herkimer, New York

Death:  28 June 1881, Waukegan, Illinois (age 58)

Burial:  Oakwood Cemetery, Waukegan, Illinois

*************************************

JOHN CHARLES HAINES, son

Birth:  14 February 1850  Illinois

Death:  2 January 1892 (age 41)  Seattle, Washington

Burial:  Lake View Cemetery  Seattle, Washington

I am so glad that Elijah and Melinda were not buried in the lost cemetery named Cranberry Lake Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Oakwood Cemetery in Waukegan, Illinois

From Find A Grave

I looked up this cemetery to see what the site had to say about Elijah M. Haines being buried there.  He is not listed in Famous Memorials, which is surprising after what I have learned about him.

As of 2012, a photograph has been taken of every headstone in the cemetery.

The cemetery is located on the shores of Lake Michigan in Waukegan and has a wonderful view of it.  It is owned and maintained by the City of Waukegan and also shares land with St. Mary's but they are two separate cemeteries.

The four people listed as famous::

Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck--  (1882-1936)  U.S. Congressman

William Ernest Mason--  ( 1850-1921)   U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senator.

George Clarke Rogers  (1839-1915)  Civil War brevet brigadier general.  I will write about him in this blog.

Alson Smith Sherman  (1811-1903)  Chicago mayor.

--Old Secesh

Some More on Elijah M. Haines

I got together with my buddy Bob earlier today and figured this would be a good time to ask him about what he knows about Elijah Haines (he has played Elijah, the founder of Hainesville, Illinois and quite an important person in the early history, including Civil War, of Lake County, Illinois).

Elijah Haines never had a permanent home in Hainesville and lived in Waukegan where he taught school and studied law.  When he was in Hainesville, he stayed at his mother's.

He did meet Abraham Lincoln in Chicago where they both attended a meeting about improvements to Illinois harbors and rivers.  It is very likely that Lincoln stayed at Elijah Haines' home twice.

I wasn't sure about Haines' role in the Andrew Johnson movement and could find nothing on the internet about this movement.  However, I know there was a move to impeach Johnson that fell just barely short.  So this most likely was what that statement was about.  Since I knew that Haines was no longer a Republican by then, because of his dislike of the Radical Republicans, he would have been with the people opposing his impeachment.

Also, Haines is not buried at the lost Cranberry Lake Cemetery but at the Oakwood Cemetery in Waukegan, Illinois, which would have made sense since this is where he lived most of the time.  This is still there.  I couldn't find out any information about his grave though.

--Old Secesh

Hainesville, Illinois: Abraham Lincoln Slept Here?

From Wikipedia.

Village in Avon Township, lake County, Illinois.  1.88 square miles, 2010 population:  3,597.

I will give information not previously recorded in this blog.

It is reported that Elijah Haines  met Abraham Lincoln in 1847 and they became friends.  It is even mentioned that Lincoln spent the night in Hainesville a few times.

In 1847, construction on the Lake-McHenry Plank Road began and by 1851 was completed to Squaw Creek, west of Hainesville.

The village became a thriving community, but all but disappeared from the map until recent years.  In 1899, the Milwaukee Road railroad expanded to Lake County and provided convenient transportation from there to Chicago.

Local land owner and general store proprietor George Battershall asked for a lot of money for the railroad to built a station in Hainesville, but Amarias M. White, an early settler in what would become Round Lake (to the west of Hainesville) knew that a station would spark growth and attracted the station with free land.

This caused Hainesville businesses to move to Round Lake and neighboring Grayslake.  The Hainesville Post Office closed in 1919 and the school became part of the Round Lake system.

Hainesville essentially became little more than a crossroads.  However, in the last 30 years there has been a huge amount of suburban subdivision growth and the village is, as they say, back on the map.

So, Did Abe Sleep in Hainesville?  --Old Secesh

Hainesville History: Elijah, Abraham, Plank Road and the Lost Cemetery

From the Hainesville Village Site.

In 1847, through special efforts by Elijah M. Haines,  a charter was granted to the town of Hainesville.  In 1902 an election was held and Hainesville was changed from a town to a village.  Elijah Haines made the first plat map of Lake County while working as a school master in the first county school at Little Fort, now Waukegan.

Hainesville's first school house was a wooden cabin built in 1846, in which church services were also held.  Hainesville also once had a post office and train station.

In 1847, Elijah Haines met Abraham Lincoln at a convention in Chicago.  In 1848, Hainesville became a toll road stop on the predecessor of  Belvidere Road (Route 120) between Waukegan and Belvidere, Illinois.  It was later called Old Plank Road.

Hainesville once had a small private cemetery on the south side of Cranberry Lake.  There have been many attempts to locate it, but all have been unsuccessful.  Village founder Elijah Haines is buried there.

--Old Secesh

Elijah M. Haines-- Part 3: Into Politics

Elijah Haines continued to be a popular person in the state of Illinois and was elected as an independent delegate in the 1870 Illinois Constitutional Convention.  There, he galvanized opposition to the Republican Party to such an extent that minority parties were able to to influence legislation as a combined majority.

He was reelected to the Illinois House in 1870 and again in 1874.   During the latter term he was elected to Illinois Speaker of the House.  later he was reelected to the House in 1882 and was Speaker of the House in 1884 and served until 1886.

During this term he served over the contentious Illinois 1885 U.S. Senate election.  This pitted Republican John Logan a Civil War Union general against  Democrat William Ralls Morrison and later Lambert Tree.

He was once again elected to the Illinois House in 1888, but died before his term was over on April 25, 1889.

He is buried in Cranberry Lake Cemetery.  This cemetery is no longer there.

Quite the Man of Illinois Politics.  --Old Secesh

Elijah M. Haines-- Part 2: Lawyer, Politician, Republican, Not-A Republican

Born April 21, 1822, in Oneida County, New York. At age 12, he and his brother John Charles Haines, moved west and settled in Lake County, Illinois.  In 1846, he surveyed and platted and named the town Hainesville in the western pert of the county.

He taught school in Waukegan, by Lake Michigan, and began studying law., admitted to the bar in 1851.    Opened a law office and began writing about the law.  From 1855 to 1860, he wrote three books on law and eventually two others after the war.

Early in his life, Haines was a Democrat, but in 1859 left that party and joined the Republicans because of slavery.  He was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1858 and reelected for two more two-year terms later

During this time he increasingly found himself at odds with the party and in 1865, joined the Andrew Johnson movement and became involved in the anti-monopolists against large chains of warehouses.

I am not sure if the Andrew Johnson Movement was people supporting President Johnson or wanting him impeached.

ELIJAH HAINES IN THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

All of his 6 terms were in the House of Representatives where he also served twice as Speaker of the House (SoH)

The first number is of the General Assembly and second the year elected:

21st   1859   As the nation was careening toward the Civil War.
27th   1871
29th   1875  (SoH)

33rd  1883
34th  1885  (SoH)
36th  1889

--Old Secesh

Elijah M. Haines of Lake County, Illinois--Part 1: Founder and Namesake of Hainesville

I wrote earlier this week about my friend Bob's playing the role of Hainesville founder Elija Haines.  He had a role in the Civil War as well.

From Wikipedia.

Elijah Middlebrook Haines (April 21, 1822 - April 25, 1889)  American politician and author.  Born in New York, he came to Illinois with his brother John Charles Haines (future mayor of Chicago)  Elijah established one of the first villages in Lake County, Illinois, Hainesville.  Admitted to the bar in 1851, he wrote several notable law books.

He was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1858 and served eight intermittent terms, including two as Speaker of the House.

Staunchly independent after 1865, Haines was a leader of the movement against the Republican Party in  Illinois until his death in 1889.

--Old Secesh

Met My Good Buddy Bob at the Hainesville Civil War Re-enactment: His Ed Bearss Story

Since the event advertised Elijah Haines, founder of Hainesville as being there, I figured that my good buddy and long time teacher friend, Bob, was there portraying him.  He was.

Sadly, almost the only time I get to see Bob these days is at this event.  We taught together at Magee Middle School in Round Lake, Illinois, for  31 years.  I usually taught 7th grade social studies and he 8th grade social studies.  He just turned 75 and has been retired 15 years.   Much of his time now is spent in theater.  Until this year he was the king at the famous Renaissance Faire on the Illinois/Wisconsin border.

He still belongs to The Civil War Round Table as the Chicago Civil War Round Table calls itself, but rarely attends meetings any more because they are at O'Hare and you have to drive your car.  He used to take the train downtown to Chicago before they moved meetings to O'Hare.

I told him about the McHenry County Civil War Round Table which I belong to and he says he might just get out to a meeting.

However, he has gone a lot of the Chicago Round table's Battlefield Tours and quite often Ed Bearss has been tour director.  A favorite story of Bob's is one time they were at a battlefield and it started raining and continued to get harder until everyone had retreated to cover, but there stood Ed out talking and pointing and gesturing with his arms, completely oblivious that he was the only one out there.

However, he soon had a new audience.  There was a cow pasture there and pretty soon, the cows all had meandered over to the fence and paying rapt attention to Ed.

Good Story.  --Old Secesh

Hainesville Civil War Days-- Part 2

Hainesville, Illinois, will be trying to upset all the Civil War Days setbacks we've been having this summer in the Illinois area.  First, the annual Civil War Days at Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda, Illinois, was cancelled because of the black man who is president of the Lake County Forest Preserve District because he didn't like the sight of Confederate soldiers with the Confederate flag.

Then, the big re-enactment in Naperville, Illinois, was cancelled because of declining attendance, or at least that is what they said, but I kind of doubt it.

Anyway, here is the schedule of events for tomorrow, Saturday, October 19.

10 a.m.--  Public entry
10:15-10:45--    Military drill
10:50-11:20--  Elijah Haines, Hainesville founder speaks

11:25-11:55--  Mary Todd Lincoln--  A day at the Lincolns' White House
11:30-1:00 p.m.--  Guided cooking tour of the Union and Confederate camps
12:00-12:30--  William Irving Kirk--  Southern abolitionist minister

12:40-1:20--  General Grant--  Rise of a general
1:15-2:00--  President Lincoln:  1864 Year of Destiny
2:10-2:40--  Clara Barton, Civil War nurse and founder of the Red Cross

2:10-2:40--  Officers call
2:45-3:15--  Battlefield surgery
3:15-3:30--  Assembly

3:30-4:00--  Narrated Battle  Prelude to Atlanta

4:00--  Event closes

Sunday, October 20 is essentially the same thing, only everything is an hour earlier.

Maybe See You There.  --Old Secesh

Hainesville (Illinois) Annual Civil War Event and Battle-- Part 1

Relive the Civil War at Hainesville, Illinois's annual Civil War Encampment and Battle where knowledgeable re-enactors, both civilian and military, will recreate the war in the rural setting of Hainesville, Lake County's oldest village.

There will be narrated battles, military and civilian camps, and presentations by such historical figures as Elijah Haines (founder of Hainesville), Abraham Lincoln, and others.  There will be souvenirs, period food, and music as well.

Admission is free, but there is a $10 per vehicle charge for parking.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and  Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m..

Hey, you can still catch Da Bears game at 3:20 p.m..

I am thinking of going to one of these days, depending upon the weather and whether I can getv started on my massive burn pile.  We can only burn on weekends in October and November here in McHenry County, which is just west of Lake County where Hainesville is located.

--Old Secesh

Hainesville's Civil War Encampment-- Part 4: Elijah Haines

SEPTEMBER 10, 2016

I also saw a person portraying the founder of Hainesville (and namesake), Elijah Haines.  Born 1822 died 1889.  Elijah Haines came to Lake County in 1838.  Much of the village's land once belonged to him and Hainesville might have become even a bigger town, except nearby Round Lake got the train station when the railroads came through.

I was unable to find out what Mr. Haines did during the Civil War, but he likely was too old to serve as he would have been 39 years old when it started.

When the actor spoke, I knew I had heard that voice before.  But, wearing a beard, as Elijah had, the face wasn't too clear until I got closer.  It was my good friend and fellow teacher Bob who used to teach U.S. History to 8th graders at Magee Middle School.

I had a nice time visiting with him as we have lost touch.  He is also retired and big-time into acting.  Every year he plays the role of the king in exile at the nearby Renaissance Faire just over the border in Wisconsin.

We've agreed to get together for a Civil War Round Table meeting as some future date.

--Old Secesh