Dr. James A. Black served in Civil War
James A. Black was born July 2, 1835, eight miles east of Salem, the son of Willis and Emilla Hensley Black.
After finishing his schooling, he taught school for a while in Marion County, and began to study medicine. In 1860, now Dr. James A. Black, he established a medical practice at Keensville in Wayne County.
Then the drums of war sounded. James postponed his practice in the fall of 1861 and returned to Salem to enlist in the Union Army. He was assigned to Company D of the 49th Illinois Infantry, and mustered in on Dec. 31, 1861. The next day, Black started a diary that he kept for the next four years.
Benita Moore of Galesburg has transcribed the diary, and recently published it in soft-cover book form. In a telephone conversation, Ms. Moore asked if I would be interested in reading her book.
My immediate response was, “I would be interested if there is a Fayette County connection.” She replied, “How about at least 20 men from Company D giving Vandalia as their home?” That would do it.
Benita sent me an eight-page alphabetical listing of the soldiers in Company D, and those from Fayette County included: Harrison Austin, John Baggett, Albanus M. Bishop, John Bullard, John W.D.F. Ca(u)sey, James W. Cheney, Silas Dickson, Frederick B. Ervin, John Hook, John Jenkins, Nathen Lever, Jesse Luster, John Mason, John Q. Maybry, Carlin L. Mitchell, Franklin and William C. Musgrave, Frederick A. and Orville Niles, William Peters, Charles W. Roedecker, William J. Smith and Mathias Washburn.
Most of the men were from Vandalia, with three from Hickory Creek (Ervin, Mitchell and Peters) and William Smith of Ramsey among the Fayette County enlistees. The company trained for one month before being sent into battle at Fort Donelson.
Though Black had been a practicing physician, he entered the service as a private. Within two months of his enlistment, he was quickly promoted to corporal and then sergeant.
Black was first assigned to the regimental hospital as an orderly, and it was a year before he was allowed to practice medicine. He first had to successfully complete the Army medical exam for surgeons, for which he received a commission as assistant surgeon of the 49th Infantry.
The 49th was made up of 10 companies, plus field and staff officers. They saw 1,362 days of active service, and participated in the battles at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Tupelo and Nashville.
Seven officers and 72 enlisted men were killed in action, with five officers and 170 enlisted men dead from disease.
Through Black’s diary, he comes off as a very caring man. An entry for June 22, 1862, tells that Orville Niles’ discharge had come through – a relief because he had been unfit for service for a long time. On Aug. 5, Black noted that Niles had headed home.
The password on July 26, 1862, for picket duty was "Maine," with "Curtis" as the countersign. Throughout the diary, he records interesting details, such as the passwords for the nights he stood watch.
He writes of baking biscuits on Captain Cheney’s stove, and of buying a revolver from the captain, who had ordered a half-dozen cartridge revolvers from Worchester, Mass. He sold then, along with 100 cartridges, for $14.
On July 31, 1862, camped near Bethel, Tenn., Black wrote, "Tevis Greathouse of Vandalia, in camp pretending to take the vote of soldiers – for or against the adoption of the new Illinois state constitution. It is conducted illegitimately: boys of 15 years of age are permitted to vote…Copperheads and Rebel sympathizers at home will learn by it that their friends in the Army are not very numerous, if our regiment could be taken for a criterion."
This is not the first time this writer has heard Tevis Greathouse referred to as a Copperhead.
He noted a "dull" Christmas on Dec. 25, while still at Bethel, Tenn. That year, the real party was Dec. 31, when he helped decorate the room with evergreens.
One notation that surprised me a little was when he spoke of attending church services in the area they were quartered, and that their Confederate adversaries were also in the congregation.
Black returned home a couple of times during his three-year enlistment. On one such visit, on March 15, 1865, he married Missouri Jane Moody of New Middleton, in a simple church wedding. The next day, he boarded the train and headed back to his unit.
After his service, Black practiced medicine in Fillmore, Montgomery County, and he mentions many local residents, such as Lane, Whitten, Bost and Harris, as he treated their illnesses and conducted business with them.
Black tells about taking the train from Sandoval to Ramsey on Oct. 16, 1865, and hearing men in Ramsey yell "Hurrah for Jeff Davis."
The diary ends on Sunday, Dec. 31, 1865, at Salem. He attended church with his wife, and writes of feeling unwell. His final entry on that day reads, "This is the first time I have spent the holidays at home for four years."
Next week I will tell you about the Fayette County men of Company D, comrades of Dr. James A. Black. Many of these men are mentioned in the daily entries, allowing us a tremendous insight into their lives as soldiers during the Civil War.
