WHO ARE THE NINE GENERALS?

Augustus Louis
Chetlain
John Oliver
Duer
Ulysses Simpson
Grant
Jasper Adalmorn
Maltby
Ely Samuel
Parker
John Aaron
Rawlins
William Rueben
Rowley
John Corson
Smith
John Eugene
Smith

Information provided by the Galena-Jo Daviess County Historical Society.

AUGUSTUS LOUIS CHETLAIN

  • Born Dec. 26, 1824, St. Louis, MO to Swiss parents; family settled in Galena in 1826
  • Educated in local schools; established a successful mercantile business
  • Married Emily Tenny in 1847; she died during the birth of their first child. Married Annie Smith of Rockford, IL 18 year later
  • Assisted in raising Galena’s first volunteer company, the “Jo Daviess Guards,” April, 1861
  • Commissioned Captain, Company F, 12th Illinois Infantry, April 1861; promoted Lieutenant Colonel, May 1861
  • Promoted Colonel, for Gallantry at Fort Donelson, April 1862; Commanded Federal Post at Corinth, Mississippi
  • In charge of raising 17,000 black troops in Tennessee and Kentucky, for which given rank of brevet Major General, June 1864
  • Commander at Memphis, Tennessee and Talladega, Alabama, 1865-1866
  • Appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue for the District of Utah, 1867
  • Appointed U.S. Consul to Belgium, 1869; returned to Chicago, 1872; engaged in banking business
  • Died in Chicago, March 15, 1914; buried in Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery

JOHN OLIVer DUER

Upon his return to Galena with the 45th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment on July 22, 1865, General John Duer addressed a group of celebratory citizens: “We went forth to fight the battles of our country with the single purpose of doing our duty, and if we have succeeded in convincing our friends at home that we have never fallen short of this, our happiness is indeed complete.” Galena Daily Gazette Saturday July 23rd 1865.

  • Born February 12, 1838, Baltimore, Maryland; moved to Galena in 1860 at the age of 22
  • Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Company D, 45th Illinois Infantry, September 1861; promoted 1st Lieutenant, March 1862
  • Promoted Captain, April 1862; promoted Major, June 1863; promoted Lieutenant Colonel, January 1865; promoted Colonel, May 1865
  • Promoted brevet Brigadier General, for war service, July 12, 1865; mustered out the same day
  • Removed to Monticello, Iowa, as head of dry goods firm of Duer & Estey; elected mayor of Monticello; died 1880; buried in Monticello, Iowa

ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT

  • Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, April 27, 1822, Point Pleasant, Ohio
  • Graduated U.S. Military Academy, 1843, an average student who excelled only in math, art and horsemanship
  • Served in the Mexican War; garrisoned at western posts; attained rank of Captain
  • Married Julia Dent from St. Louis in 1848; they had four children, three sons and one daughter
  • Resigned from U.S. Army, 1854. Farmed near his father-in-law’s plantation (White Haven) in St. Louis, MO; built “Hardscrabble” log cabin
  • Came to Galena, April 1860; employed with his two brothers, Orville and Simpson, in the family leather store
  • Commissioned Colonel of 21st Illinois Infantry, June 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War
  • Promoted Brigadier General, August 1861; Promoted Major General, February 1862
  • Promoted Lieutenant General, March 1864; Made General in Chief of All U.S. Forces, March 1864
  • Named Secretary of War, August 1867
  • Elected President of the U.S. in 1868; ran his campaign from the DeSoto House Hotel. Re-elected in 1872
  • Conducted Around the World tour, 1877-1879; met heads of state in more than a dozen countries
  • Sustained financial losses in 1884; recouped by authoring his widely successful “Personal Memoirs,” finished just days before his death
  • Died at Mt. McGregor, New York, July 23, 1885, of throat cancer; buried in New York City’s Riverside Park

JASPER ADALMORN MALTBY

  • Born 1826, Ashtabula County, Ohio; saw service in Mexican War; wounded at Chapultepec
  • Moved to Galena in 1850, opening a gunsmithing and sporting accessories business
  • Married Melvina James in 1852; had one son, Henry
  • With fellow Galenian John E. Smith, instrumental in forming the 45th Illinois Infantry, the “Washburne Lead Mine Regiment”
  • Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 45th, September 1861; wounded at Fort Donelson
  • Promoted Colonel, November 1862; wounded at Vicksburg; promoted Brigadier General, August 1863
  • Mustered out, January 1866, entering mercantile business in Vicksburg, Mississippi
  • Appointed military mayor of Vicksburg, and head of registration bureau, enrolling black voters
  • Died in Vicksburg, December 12, 1867; buried in Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery, March 1868

ELY SAMUEL PARKER

  • Born in 1828 into the Seneca Indian nation on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation in western New York (his grandmother was white)
  • Like most of his tribe, he had two names; he became Do-ne-ho-ga-wa, or “Open Door”, as an adult, but his white name was Ely (rhymes with freely) Parker, a name he readily adopted
  • As a teenager, was one of three chosen to meet President James Polk to discuss grievances over the sale of reservation lands to a land developer.
  • Trained to become a lawyer, but New York State law prohibited aliens from being admitted to the bar (Indians were not considered citizens)
  • Ely next turned his attention to engineering, dealing mainly with the construction and maintenance of canals
  • In 1857 received an appointment from the Treasury Department to superintend the construction of a custom house and marine hospital in Galena; it was during his time in Galena that he became acquainted with U.S. Grant.
  • By 1863, two years into the Civil War, Parker found himself on Grant’s personal staff. A year later he became Grant’s military secretary and served at the General’s side until Appomattox, where he penned the terms of surrender given to Robert E. Lee
  • Grant appointed Parker Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Indian ever to hold the office. It was a short-lived career; after two years he was charged with the misuse of federal funds. Although largely vindicated, he resigned and turned his attention away from government
  • He married a white woman young enough to be his daughter, Minnie Sackett; they would eventually have one daughter
  • He made a small fortune on Wall Street, only to lose it a few years later; slid into an engineering post with the New York City Police Dept., a position he held until his death in 1895; buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, NY

JOHN AARON RAWLINS

  • Born February 13, 1831, in Jo Daviess County, IL, the son of Scotch-Irish immigrants
  • In 1849, his father migrated to California during the Gold Rush and stayed there for three years. Rawlins had to take care of his mother, his sister, and six brothers. Rawlins blamed his father’s lack of attention to his family on strong drink, so he abstained from alcohol. Likely tried to influence his close friend, Grant, to do likewise
  • Attended local schools in the area and a year-and-a-half at Rock River Seminary at Mt. Morris, Illinois. Then studied law under Isaac P. Stevens of Galena, Illinois; admitted to the bar in 1854
  • Married Emily Smith in 1856; they had three children. Emily died of tuberculosis in 1861, shortly after Rawlins began his military service
  • Served as Galena City Attorney (1857), and Presidential Elector for Stephen Douglas (1860)
  • Commissioned Captain and Assistant Adjutant General on staff of U.S. Grant, August 1861
  • Promoted Major, May 1862; Promoted Lieutenant Colonel, November 1862
  • On December 23, 1863 Rawlins married Mary Emma Hurlburt; they had three children
  • Promoted Brigadier General and Chief of Staff (USA), March 1865
  • Received brevet ranks of Major General (USV), February 1865; and Major General (USA), April 1865, for war service
  • Accompanied Dodge Expedition over proposed Union Pacific RR route, 1867; gave name to Rawlins, Wyoming
  • Appointed U.S. Secretary of War, March 1869
  • Died in Washington, September 6, 1869; buried in Arlington National Cemetery
  • A statue, General John A. Rawlins was erected in Washington, D.C. in 1874. The town of Rawlins, county seat of Carbon County, Wyoming, is named for him, as well as Rawlins County, Kansas.

WILLIAM RUEBEN ROWLEY

  • Born February 8, 1824, Lawrence County, New York; came to Jo Daviess County in 1843 to teach
  • Married Elizabeth Miller in 1847; they had four children. Held succession of county governmental positions
  • Commissioned 1st Lieutenant, Company D, 45th Illinois Infantry, Nov. 1861; promoted Captain and Aide-de-camp on Grant’s staff Feb. 1862
  • Detailed as Provost Marshal General of Departments of Tennessee and Cumberland, 1863
  • Promoted Lieutenant Colonel and Military Secretary to General Grant, March 1864; resigned due to ill health, August 1864
  • Brevetted to ranks of Colonel and Brigadier General
  • Resumed post of Jo Daviess County Circuit Clerk until 1876; elected County Judge in 1877, a position he held until his death in 1886
  • Buried in Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery

JOHN CORSON SMITH

  • Born February 13, 1832, Philadelphia, PA; trained in carpentry and building; moved to Galena in 1854
  • Erected numerous public and private buildings in Galena (including the Methodist Church) and Dubuque, IA
  • Married Charlotte Gallagher of Galena in March of 1856; they had five children
  • Enlisted as Private in Company I, 96th Illinois Infantry; elected Captain; commissioned Major, September 1862
  • Promoted Lieutenant Colonel, for gallantry at Chickamauga, September 1863; wounded at Kenesaw Mountain
  • Held various bureaucratic posts at Nashville, TN until end of war; brevetted Colonel and promoted to full rank, 1865
  • Promoted brevet Brigadier General for war service, June 1865; assessor for Department of Internal Revenue until 1872
  • Commission merchant in Chicago; chief grain inspector for city; elected Illinois State Treasurer in 1878 and 1882
  • Served as IL Lieutenant Governor from 1885 to 1889. Died in Chicago, December 31, 1910; buried in Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery

JOHN EUGENE SMITH

  • Born in Switzerland in 1816; immigrated with his parents to Philadelphia, PA when he was one year old
  • He grew up and finished his apprenticeship in the jeweler’s craft in PA
  • In 1832, at the age of 18, accompanied his family to the St.Louis where he practiced his craft
  • Met and married wife, Aimee; one son born in St. Louis; three more children born after the family moved to Galena in 1836
  • His jewelry store was located on Main Street; as the miners prospered so did he; practiced the jeweler’s trade for twenty-five years
  • Elected Jo Daviess County Treasurer
  • Helped organized the 45th Illinois Infantry, the “Washburne Lead Mine Regiment”; commissioned its Colonel, July 1861
  • Promoted Brigadier General (USV), November 1862
  • Brevetted Brigadier General (USA) for Vicksburg; Major General (USV), for war service; Major General (USA) for gallant service at Savannah, GA; mustered out of volunteer service in 1866
  • Served as United States Assessor for District of Utah
  • Joined the regular army as Colonel of 27th U.S. Infantry Regiment, investigating claims for depredations
  • Transferred to 14th U.S. Infantry in 1870; served until retirement in May 1881
  • Resided in Chicago until his death on January 29, 1897; buried in Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery