A piece of Dixon history: The struggles of Civil War soldiers in Dixon 

Editor’s note: This is Part 3 of a series about Dixon’s remarkable role in the Civil War. For parts 1 and 2, see our April 11 and 25 issues.

DIXON – On May 9, 1861, hundreds of eager Civil War recruits streamed into Dixon for training as they formed the 13th Regiment of the Illinois Infantry. Their initial training grounds were at Camp Dement on the east side of Oakwood Cemetery.

By nightfall, “in spite of all our patriotism and disposition to sacrifice for our country,” everyone soon realized that they forgot something.

Food.

No one had made provision to feed the men. So, the officers took the men to the Nachusa House for supper. It was indeed a special treat.

After that day, food quality and availability became unreliable throughout their military life. For years after the war, “the Nachusa” was the soldiers’ favorite dining place and the preferred venue for the regiment’s frequent reunions.

Lodging lean-tos

Lodging for the soldiers in Dixon also became an ongoing problem. Fortunately, since the camp had been used previously as the county fairgrounds, the property was already equipped with “sheep pens and cattle sheds.”

In time, the soldiers regarded these crude lean-tos as “luxurious quarters” compared to their sleeping arrangements during three years of marching to battles throughout the South.

Sick of sickness

Over the years of the war, disease and sickness killed more soldiers than bullets. No one died of sickness while in Dixon, but the problem quickly reared its ugly head.

“We had hardly got into camp at Dixon,” wrote the regiment’s surgeon, “when sickness began to show itself among the men, on account of the change from the comforts of home to the exposure of camp life.”

Specifically, “measles and fever came so soon and became familiar, and continued with us to the end of the three years,” he said.

Boys will be boys

One of the natural consequences of 1,000 young men living together is the occasional outbreak of misbehavior. So, a guard house was built at Camp Dement as “a general resort for malefactors.”

The 1892 chronicle of the regiment’s days in Dixon mentions various punishments. For example, one troublemaker had to be gagged. One was tied to a tree. And another was “made to stand on a barrel some hours for refusing to attend religious services.”

[ The Evening Telegraph, May 21, 1892: Thirteenth Illinois volunteers ]

Then there was the case of “one wild, young Irishman who had never controlled himself nor been controlled.” After his repeated insubordination, the drillmaster loaded weights into the scoundrel’s knapsack and sent him on a double-quick march.

After a half hour, “He grew tame … and deemed it wise to fall in with the rules.”

Moms in camp

With a training camp right here, many of the regiment’s soldiers from Dixon had fathers, mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts who often came to visit “in picnic fashion, with well-stored baskets.”

Only 10% of the regiment’s 1,000 soldiers were from Dixon. While the Dixon boys loved the visits of family and food, the other soldiers came to resent “the favored ones” from Dixon.

The blue and the gray?

Local mothers sewed many of the uniforms for the Illinois 13th. For example, Dixon mothers made the uniforms for all of Company A, which was primarily filled with Dixon boys. Sterling mothers made the uniforms for Company B, comprised mostly of recruits from Sterling.

[ Dixon Evening Telegraph, May 26, 1886: The Thirteenth, a grand reunion ]

As the 13th Illinois regimental history recalled, “the uniform of the United States Army was gray and not blue” in the first months of the war. The Union uniform soon changed to blue to distinguish it from the enemy.

One of the Dixon soldiers recalled, “It is certain that the blue made a more distinct target in battle and on that account is not the best.”

The music of war

The 13th Regiment in Dixon had 10 companies with about 100 men in each. Company I came from Chicago, mostly from Blue Island. Even though the minimum age was 18, this company brought a 12-year-old drummer, William Howard, who came with another small boy who played the fife.

After arriving at the Dixon railroad depot station, these two boys played marching music as the company marched from the depot through the streets of Dixon to their temporary quarters at the courthouse. The company stayed on the courthouse lawn until their permanent quarters were prepared for them at the fairgrounds by the cemetery.

The 12-year-old drummer, who was officially recorded as 18, stayed with the company for the duration of the war, but the young fifer went back home after his unit left Dixon.

The first to die

Each company typically had two musicians: a drummer and a fifer. Seth J. Heaton of Dixon was one of the musicians for Company A. After the regiment left Dixon, it appears that he was the first soldier from Lee County to die in the war, falling victim to disease after the unit reached Rolla, Missouri, in December 1861. He was only 17.

Seth Heaton was one of five related Heatons from Lee County who fought in the Civil War. Three were sons of John Heaton of Dixon, and two were his grandsons. The other four Heatons survived the war, while Seth’s body was returned to Dixon and buried at Oakwood.

Actually, the first fatality in the Illinois 13th occurred here in Dixon on June 12, 1861, when Lt. Cooper Berry of Sterling was shot to death. You can read his bizarre story, and much more, in Part 4 on May 23.

• Dixon native Tom Wadsworth is a writer, speaker and occasional historian. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament.