1862

The Battle of Shiloh occurred in Tennessee in April.  Many local boys were involved, including Dennis Sheppard.  In his own words Dennis recounts what he saw returning to his camp when the battle ended:

One of the dead men that lay outside of my tent was a union soldier, the other a confederate. The union soldier was a young man of about 18 years of age. The inside pocket of his coat contained a small pocket Bible and between the lids of the Bible there was a letter written to him by his mother in Wisconsin and dated about a month before. On the fly leaf of the Bible, in a feminine hand, was the writing “Dear Robert, carry this with you always and may God protect my boy. Your mother.” The letter was written from some town up in Wisconsin. After giving all the news at home, the letter closed as follows: “My dear boy, I pray to God night and morning to spare the life of my darling, and bring him back to his loving mother.” The dead confederate was a boy of 16 or 17 years of age, and in his pocket we found a small gill-edge pocket Bible. On the fly leaf of this Bible was written: “To George, Keep this book with you always, and may God protect you. Mother.” In another pocket of this boy we found a letter directed to him from a town in Alabama. The letter informed him of what was going on at home, and how good the colored people were doing in their work, etc. The letter closed as follows: “I earnestly pray Heaven that the south will gain her independence, and that God will spare the life of my darling son, Your mother.” 

The next morning I had a wide grave dug near my tent and the two dead soldiers were buried in the same grave side by side. Tears were shed over the two boys as they were buried. These were not the tears of a mother, but the tears of a man that pictured in his imagination the homes of these two boys, and fancied he could see these mothers watching and praying for some tiding from their darlings that might never come. And if it did come, it would be that their boys filled an unmarked grave on the battlefield of Shiloh. The reading of those two letters affected me more than anything else that occurred to me during my 3 years and 8 months service in the army. And as I looked on the boys as their bodies were placed in the grave, tears from my eyes coursed down my cheeks, and I am not ashamed to own it. The similarity in those two letters, from widely separated mothers to their sons that were enemies in a war for the preservation for our country, might have had something to do in calling up my sympathies in the case. Yet the incident has caused me more thought and study than anything else since coming to manhood.

1862 known Washington businesses

Taken from State of Illinois Commercial Register, 1862

Banker – AH Danforth & Co
Boots & Shoes – Fish Clement
Cabinets – O. Morris
Dry Goods – R.D. Smith
Druggist – E. Wanger
General Store – Andrews, Miles, & Co
General Store – JW Dougherty
General Store – JW Parish
General Store – NB Sickler
General Store – Tobias & Brown
Hardware – T. Birkett
Hardware – Tobias & Co
Hardware- J Sickler
Hardware – J Smith & Sons
Harness – J Frazer
Miscellaneous – N. Harlan