Dennis Sheppard

Dennis Scovel Sheppard was a Civil War veteran, mustered out as a Major.  He served in the 11th Illinois Cavalry and participated in the Battle of Shiloh, among many others.  After the Battle of Shiloh, the 11th Cavalry spent three more years in the field.  In December of 1862, at the Battle of Lexington, Dennis was taken prisoner and paroled in March of 1863.  He remained in the field and joined up with General William T. Sherman at the beginning of 1864.  On October 28, 1864, Dennis developed a bad fever, and he complained of an acute pain in and around the heart and an unusual heartbeat.  This was a bad time for the unit, as around 20% of its population was reporting sick with various fevers, colds, and venereal diseases.  Dennis was treated and told by assistant surgeon Josiah L. Wilcox to go lie down in his tent, which he did, but the issues did not go away, and he convulsed.  He was taken to McPherson Hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Bernard Wagner, then Lieutenant Colonel in the 11th Cavalry, visited Dennis twice in the hospital.  After the first visit, Wagner reported that Dennis was “very flighty in mind, his conversation at the time being disconnected.”  The opinion then was that Dennis would not survive the infliction.  He was going to die.  However, under Edwin Powell's care in the hospital, he began to improve.  Later on, in November 1864, Wagner returned to check on his soldier and found him much improved, although the heart pains persisted.  His total hospital stay was around six weeks.   By the beginning of 1865, Dennis was back in the field in charge of Company F and led them in the Gaines Landing Expedition.  On March 28, 1865, Dennis was promoted to Major due to the resignation of Major Wagner. A major was the commander of a battalion, which numbered about 300 men.  The war was wrapping up at this point, and the Cavalry’s expeditions were much less common.  In just a few weeks after his promotion, the confederacy surrendered.

Upon his return to Washington, he worked as a traveling salesman for many years before settling down.  He became an outspoken political presence in the town for approximately twenty years. A staunch democrat, his letters in the newspaper in the late 1800s were numerous and loquacious, and he never knew a topic he didn’t have a strong opinion on.  His first political office was as a Government Gauger (inspector) for four years starting in 1885.  In 1890, he was elected Washington Township Supervisor, defeating 20-year incumbent J.H. Anthony.  In 1892, Sheppard was elected both City Supervisor and Justice of the Peace for Washington and served as postmaster in Washington from 1894 to 1897.  He resigned that post when a republican (William McKinley) was elected President.  The post office at that time was in a building that Sheppard constructed on South Main Street, adjacent to where Parish’s Pub now sits.  It was demolished years ago in the area which is now the Heartland Bank parking lot.  In 1897, Dennis was appointed Police Magistrate for Washington and served in that role for several years.  As the century ended, the enthusiastic old Major, now pushing 70 years old, ran for several more offices in the city, coming up short in these final efforts.  

Dennis could sell ice to an Eskimo.  As a Washington merchant, he sold many different things, including farm implements, ice, brick, tile, coal, & hay.  He also helped his son John with his bricklaying business.  The Major was a catalyst behind the reunions of the 11th Illinois Cavalry after the war ended and was a close friend of Colonel Robert Ingersoll of that unit. Dennis and his wife, Mary Jane (Young), had several children, most of whom moved away from Washington to raise their families.  The only child who remained in Washington was Hattie, who married Harry Zinser.  Harry and Hattie had two sons, Robert and Samuel, who both moved away from Washington.  As a result, even though Dennis and Mary have over 1,100 descendants, very few of them call Washington home.  Dennis died in 1915, and he and his wife, Mary, are buried on a corner of the eastern section of Glendale Cemetery.