I am a Confederate uniform made in Sheffield, England, many years ago.
The Confederate people did not have enough factories to supply their
army with clothes so I happen to be one of the uniforms which came from abroad.
I was made in Sheffield and sent to Liverpool by the ship canal.
Upon
arriving there I was put on a steamer and sent to London by way of the Irish Sea
and St. George's Channel. Here we were loaded on a ship and sent across the
Atlantic ocean to Cape Fear, at the southeastern coast of North Carolina.
Upon our arrival at this port we were sent to Richmond, the southern
capital. I was then given to Robert Fullerton to wear. I was badly torn in the
battle of Gettysburg, as my master received some serious wounds in this battle.
I then went back home to Vicksburg, Miss., and remained there for some
time.
During my stay there I saw men returned to find their homes
destroyed and women and children dead from starvation and suffering.
If
I could have talked I would have thanked the people who finally put an end to
this trouble.
I remained here until 1866, when my master died from
wounds. His son then packed his trunk and sailed up the Mississippi river to the
Illinois river. We sailed up the Illinois river until we reached Ottawa.
My new owner worq me in helping to cultivate the soil and build a home in
Wallace township. Although I was gray, and some of the people working near me
wore blue, it didn't make any difference. We were both made for the same
purpose, only to be worn on different sides, and now we were worn side by side
as the people were to be like brothers now.
I have often heard my master
relate his story of the hardships endured by the people of the South.
After my master had made enough money to buy clothes, I was laid away in an old
mohair trunk, which is at least a century old. Many years have elapsed since I
was laid away in the trunk, but last year when La Salle county was celebrating
its centennial year, the people who live in the house where the trunk is, took
me from my hiding place in the old mohair trunk and, although the other old
relics that were in the same trunk were exhibited at the celebration, I was not,
because of mv threadbare condition. I was placed back in the trunk after the
other relics were put back, and I still remain there.
Many people have
seen me since my appearance in Wallace township and I am beginning to think if
times don't change I may be taken out for use again.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 39.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
 |
Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
