The Swan Family and the Civil War
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The Swan Family and the Civil War |
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This page is not an attempt to glorify the family name, and I'm certainly not trying to glorify war either. But the person I'm writing about was a relative of mine who laid down his life for the Union, and this is probably the only tribute he'll ever have -- so here it is.
Adam Clark Swan, my great-great uncle, was born on a farm in Ringwood, Illinois on June 27, 1842. His parents, George and Eliza (nee Hutchins) were pioneers in McHenry County and were the first in the family to move west of New York state. Adam joined the Grand Army of the Republic on August 9, 1862.
The military noted his age as 21 but if the birth records we've found are correct he would have been just 20. He also enlisted under the name Alonzo C. Swan. No knows why anymore, though he had an uncle named Alonzo who he might have admired.
Adam-Alonzo's
unit, the 95th Infantry, Illinois Volunteers, was organized near
Rockford and mustered into service in September of 1862. They traveled
from Chicago to Cairo, Illinois to Columbus, Kentucky and then Jackson,
Tennessee, where they became part of Grant's army and headed down to Oxford,
Mississippi. After the Union disaster at Holly Springs, the regiment ended
up at Lake Providence, Louisiana, where it became part of Grant's ill-fated
attempt to dig canals for his gunboats, so they might bypass Vicksburg and take
the more open terrain south of the town.
Though Grant evidently believed this scheme could work, some think he also saw it as a way to keep his men busy while he prepared to attack Vicksburg. According to the records, Alonzo was detailed as a "teamster" on March 12, 1863, by order of Major General James B. McPherson, who was in charge at Lake Providence.
General McPherson (courtesy Library of Congress) |
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The local historical society says the 20,000 Union soldiers in the area had a pleasant life and high morale, with good water, beautiful country, horseshoes and baseball for recreation. But like most army camps in that war, theirs was full of sickness. The faded military documents tell a sketchy but eloquent story -- Name: Alonzo C. Swan. Rank: private. Age: 21. Occupation: farmer. Marital status: single. Died of disease at Lake Providence, April 19, 1863.
The canal was abandoned around the same time. It was an open ditch in the middle of Lake Providence and a sore point for the townspeople until the 1950s, when it was finally filled in. Looking at the lake today, you'd never know it had been there.
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Alonzo and some of his comrades were buried at Lake Providence and
reinterred after the war in the cemetery at Vicksburg, but by then, their names were
unknown but to God. The historian at the battlefield says the original graves
at Lake Providence probably had wooden markers, and times were so hard in those days that
the local people took them for firewood.
Uncle, I know you can't see or hear this, but it's 142 years later and you haven't been forgotten. Not long after they lost you, your outfit went on to the big battle in Vicksburg, which helped change the course of the war and the country's history, and they were right in the thick of it. Their names, and yours, are on the wall of the Illinois memorial at Vicksburg National Military Park . Some of them are buried there, and when I walked into the cemetery I felt that you were there too, even if your grave doesn't bear your name.
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The town of Lake Providence is still around but the years haven't done much for the people. A few years ago, it was called the poorest place in America.
The city of Elgin, Illinois where some of your relatives settled and still live, is in much better shape, and the folks there still remember your brother, Henry Clay Swan. He was a courier and spy, often working behind enemy lines and sending back special dispatches. Nowadays, when the local history buffs stage re-enactments, a local police sergeant portrays Henry, talking about who he was and what he did.
But I wish you'd come back too. You might have sat in the living room of the farmhouse in Ringwood or the big white house on Commonwealth Street in Elgin, telling Adin's boy Hoyt or Hoyt's boy Don, my father, what it was like -- the mud and backbreaking work on that damned canal. You might also remember the rebel yells, the blast of the cannons and stench of the gunpowder, the smoke and the screaming.
Now, thanks to my amazing Aunt Ro, who dug up most of this information and volumes more, your story is going out all over the world. And the Union is still in one piece. Rest easy.
Only By Accident -- The story of one of Alonzo's "brothers in arms," who was later found to have been a woman (one of many) who disguised her sex in order to enlist and fight.
Friends and Descendants of Johnson's Island (this organization is trying to buy and preserve the site of a prisoner of war camp in Ohio, where hundreds of Confederates were held and some are still buried).
