Commissioning In Illinois

Lincoln Statue In Illinois

Illinois republicans showed dissatisfaction, too, with the slight honor conferred upon the state in the matter of higher military appointments. By the summer of 1861, after Illinois had raised ten regiments of regular troops, not a single colonel, lieutenant-colonel, or higher officer had been selected from the state.  Meantime the republican state officials at Springfield from Governor Yates down had been making recommendations for the commissioning as brigadier-generals of such Illinoisans as John Pope* and John M. Palmer. When finally Lincoln did acknowledge these claims. Palmer was overlooked, in spite of the fact that Senator Trumbull regarded him as "one of the bravest & in my opinion the coolest, most sagacious & ablest of them all." [Source]

*6th Cousin 4x removed through his mother's Backus lineage

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