The fact he wasn’t legally old enough to fight in the Civil War did not keep young John Davidson from joining the army. He gave his age as 18 when he enlisted in the 12th Illinois Volunteer Infantry on September 1, 1861, at Cairo. Perhaps he told the recruiter he was over 18, as some under age boys did. To do that truthfully they wrote the number 18 on the sole of their shoe.
His birth date was reported as August 9, 1846, in the cemetery record when he was laid to rest on March 2, 1931, in Oakwood Cemetery. That would have made him 15 years old when he enlisted, but his son-in-law, Mont Fox, said John was only 14 when he joined the regiment. He became a member of Company C of the 12th.
Vermilion County men, and boys, made up a majority of the three year enlistments in that company. The regiment replaced a 3 month regiment that had finished its service on August 1, 1861.
Young Davidson spent three years with the 12th, part of the time as a drummer boy. There were many battles fought and survived before he finished his service in 1864.
John and the other Vermilion County men received their final pay and were discharged at Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois. He returned to the county with the others and became a farmer.
In 1869 he married 18 year old Martha Willoughby, she had arrived in Catlin Township in a covered wagon when she was 5 years old. The young married couple continued to take advantage of the rich Vermilion County soil and raised their children in the county.
Eighty-two years after Martha married John, she was the first person I interviewed as I began what would become a life-long hobby of collecting people’s memories of the Illinois prairie.
My teacher, who knew I had an interest in history, had suggested the interview. I was 13 years old and she was 100. I was too young to fully appreciate the treasure sitting in the wicker rocker that long ago winter day. I did not know she was the widow of a Civil War veteran.
Her longevity had gained her the title Grandma Davidson by then and she wore the mantle well. She was sharp as the proverbial tack and had a sense of humor that put one at ease.
As I scribbled with a lead pencil in a tablet, she answered my questions about the prairie she knew when she was young. Wildlife was abundant on the waterlogged prairie then. She told me about a time when the roads were little more than trails and prairie chickens were so abundant they nearly jumped in the frying pan.
I was visiting with a person who had lived in Vermilion County when Abraham Lincoln came to court here and I was asking about prairie chickens and wildlife. I still smile when I think of that long ago day and the time I spent with an amazing lady.
One thing she told me has proven all too true. She said I would be surprised at how fast the decades slip away. How true that statement was.
History is what we build on. It has been said all is based on what went before, and there is a lot of truth in that statement.
I am truly grateful to all the people who have shared their experiences and memories with me. There have been hundreds though the years, but on a winter afternoon in 1951, Grandma Davidson was the first.