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They were eager, and for the most part youngsters, those from Kendall County who have marched off to war during the last 190 years.
Circumstances forced some to defend their homes; others volunteered to fight in foreign places from Mexico to the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean.
They all put personal considerations aside to do what they felt was right, starting with the bedraggled refugees who fled their homes up and down the Fox River in May 1832. The Sauk warrior Black Hawk brought the band of about 1,500 men, women and children he held so much influence over back across the Mississippi from Iowa to Illinois. Locally, the resulting war cost the lives of 14 men, women, and children when nearby Potowatomis, angry over a string of slights, used the confusion and consternation caused by Black Hawk’s arrival in Illinois to attack the Hall cabin on Indian Creek, just south of today’s Kendall-LaSalle County line.
The settlers who were squatting on rich prairie claims along the Fox River fled their homes to either Ottawa or Chicago, whichever was closer, for safety. Several Kendall County settlers subsequently joined ad hoc militia groups formed to defend northern Illinois against attacks that, in any case, never came. But they didn’t know the eventual outcome at the time and their willingness to make important sacrifices – even their lives – for their community set a precedent that has endured.
When the war with Mexico broke out in 1846, men in the new county of Kendall (then just five years old) were willing to do their part. During a rally at the old school in Oswego – then the county seat – a company of volunteers was recruited and mustered in as Company E, 2nd Illinois Infantry. The local boys arrived at the front in time to participate in the fierce Battle of Buena Vista.
The Civil War, too, proved Kendall County was willing to do its part. Secessionist forces attacked and Fort Sumter surrendered at noon on Saturday, April 13, 1861. A meeting was held at the county courthouse in Oswego that same evening during which local politicians and gray-haired veterans of the Mexican War spoke. A company of 80 volunteers quickly signed up. But, by the time they had organized, Illinois’ quota had already been filled, and so the county’s first volunteers had to wait. But not for long. Eventually, volunteers equaling 10% of the county’s total 1860 population served in the Civil War, ranging from schoolboys to middle-aged professional men.
Illustrative was the father and son team of Wright Murphy, a local lawyer and Republican Party power, and his 13 year-old son, Robinson B. “Bob” Murphy. Both Murphys enlisted, young Bob as a drummer boy and his father as a private, when the 127th Illinois Infantry was formed, with companies coming from Oswego, Lisbon, and other Kendall County towns. Bob eventually found himself reassigned as an aide and courier on a brigadier general’s staff during the crucial Battle of Ezra Church in Georgia. Young Bob, given the task of guiding reinforcements to stop an overwhelming Rebel assault on the left of the Union lines – a position held by his old regiment, the 127th – did so in the face of heavy fire, having his horse shot out from underneath him. One wonders how many 15 year-olds would be able to complete that task today. In appreciation, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by Congress. Today, an Oswego junior high is named after the brave teenager.
Compare his fate with that of another teen from Oswego who also volunteered for the 127th, Alfred X. Murdock. In that same battle around Ezra Church, Alfred was killed in action, his body buried on the battlefield before being brought back to Oswego after the war. And what of Bob Murphy’s politically connected father? He was stricken by disease while serving, and was escorted home by his young son to die. It is an interesting comparison with the way powerful politicians view their duty to the nation in this day and age.
Kendall County sent more of its sons to fight the Spanish in the late 1890s, and when World War I broke out among European powers, it was clear the nation would be involved one way or another. When the U.S. finally entered the fight, Kendall County men and women answered the call. One young man, Arthur “Archie” Lake, originally from Oswego, decided to join the U.S. Marines. Making a stop back in Oswego before heading overseas outfitted in his Marine dress blues, Lake made a strong impression on his young cousin, Slade Cutter, during a visit to the family farm. Archie, like Alfred X. Murdock, ended up making the supreme sacrifice for his country. But it wasn’t on a battlefield in Georgia, it was in the dense woods of the Argonne Forest where a German bullet took Lake’s life.
An armistice ended the Great War, but it didn’t end the conflict. A generation later, as if after a time out to catch their breath, the Europeans were at war again, this time assisted by their Japanese allies in the Pacific. By that time, Slade Cutter who had been so impressed by his cousin Archie Lake was a U.S. Navy officer in the submarine service. By the time World War II ended, the Japanese learned that Illinois farm boys made implacable enemies – as a sub commander, Cutter earned the Navy Cross, the arm’s highest honor, along with three stars in lieu of additional Navy Crosses, for his heroism and effectiveness attacking Japan’s seaborne lifeline.
It still didn’t end there, of course. The frozen battlefields of Korea, the jungles of Vietnam (where Kendall County soldiers added their names to that black granite memorial in Washington, D.C.), the bleak sands of Desert Storm, and the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have all seen the heroism of our people. It’s a heritage we ought to think about as we observe this year’s Veterans Day.
Help recognize the sacrifices so many local men and women have made through the decades by visiting the Little White School Museum’s free “Remembering Our Veterans” exhibit. It opens today, Nov. 7, at the museum, 72 Polk Street, Oswego, and runs through Nov. 26. Hours from 2 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and 4 to 9 p.m. Mondays. The museum is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
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