The Veterans Legacy Center at the Morris American Legion Post 294, run by the previously featured Carter Corsello, has uncovered the colorful past of many Grundy County Veterans, but few were as colorful as Robert Huston.

Corsello shared on the blog an article originally written for the Joliet Herald Tribune by John Whiteside some time in the 1980s.

“With only one good leg to hold erect his tall frame, Robert Huston was a tough ol’ one-legged sheriff during some rough-and-ready days in Will County,” Whiteside wrote. “And he kept peace that day in Braidwood with the striking coal miners without firing a shot.”

Huston was a Civil War veteran before this, born in New York City to Irish immigrant parents who traveled west and settled in Grundy County. His family settled in Braceville in 1850.

According to Corsello’s blog, Huston was 17 when he enlisted as a private in Company I of the 58th Illinois Infantry, fighting in battles from Fort Donelson in Tennessee to Pittsburgh Landing. He was captured by Confederates in Pittsburgh and held as a prisoner of war at Libby Prison. He was eventually returned as part of a prisoner exchange.

He returned home at 20 years old a veteran missing one of his legs. From there, he moved to Fulton to take part in a government program for providing education to disabled veterans. He returned to Grundy County afterward, teaching for a few years before moving to Braidwood for a job weighing coal that had been removed from the mines.

Huston spent 17 years working his way up, according to Corsello’s blog. He speculated in coal, making enough money to purchase a general store before getting elected Alderman in Braidwood in April 1879.

“He dominated the city council proceedings, with the other alderman following behind so much so that the Braidwood City Council became known as Huston’s wax figures,” the blog post reads, citing Whiteside’s work.

He was appointed postmaster of Braidwood in 1882, and he purchased a building to move the post office into and opened another general store.

“We also know that he held the mortgage on the local newspaper, the Braidwood Republican, and when the paper fell behind in payments, Huston had the printing press and effects seized by the sheriff,” reads the blog post. “He soon became the owner and publisher.”

He’d run for other positions and lost, losing an election for Will County treasurer before his time as postmaster and losing a bid for Reed Township supervisor in 1885. After that, though, he ran for Will County sheriff as a Republican. By April 1886, the one-legged man from Braidwood was the new sheriff of Will County.

Corsello wrote that during his time as sheriff, he earned his reputation as a peacekeeper. It was a time of many strikes and hostilities, and 200 of the 1,300 troops ordered by the Illinois governor were camped in Braidwood.

“Shortly after taking office, a nasty strike situation developed once again in Braidwood,” Corsello wrote. “A mob of strikers threatened to destroy the mines. There was blood to be spilled that day, but the mob was greeted by the county’s new one-legged sheriff with a double-barrel shotgun laying across his arm.”

He settled that mob down without a single shot fired.

Huston passed away in 1894 at the age of 49, four years after he left office. He chose to end his own life by taking a lethal dose of poison.