This unit took part in the capture of Fort Donelson, was in the battle of Shiloh, and in the campaign against Corinth. It was in this affair, that the regiment's second in command, Lt. Col. William McCullough of Bloomington, was killed, the occasion for the "Dear Fannie:" letter of President Lincoln to the soldier's daughter in Bloomington. The regiment was united in the occupation of Vicksburg after it fell.

Company G, 17th Illinois Infantry, commanded first by Capt. O. A. Burgess of Metamora, later by Capt. J. H. Rowell of Eureka, was composed almost entirely of Woodford County men. It was this unit that hired a colored boy named Dave Strother as a cook. (See Chapter 17.) Jeremiah Ray of Panola, Alex Manor of Secor, James T. Reed and John Stevenson of Kappa were in Co. G, Reed dying of wounds.

Albert Dorsey, who settled in El Paso after the war, had some of the most interesting Civil War service. Albert enlisted from Pennsylvania and was captured at Gettysburg, being imprisoned on Belle Isle and in Libby prison in Richmond. Finally being exchanged with eligibility for further service, he rejoined his colorful French Zouaves Regiment, an outfit famed for its gaudy, bright uniforms and tough fighting qualities.

He saw nothing again as bad as Gettysburg, for his unit was to guard President and Mrs. Lincoln when they lived temporarily City Queen which was tied up at the pier in City Point, Virginia during the closing days of the war. Dorsey often recalled one night when guards who were off-duty were making so much noise below decks where they bunked, that Mrs. Lincoln sent word that they were to quiet down. They did, only to become noisy again a little while later. Suddenly they all looked up to see the tall form of the President of the United States slowly coming down the companionway toward them. The soldiers snapped to attention and Dorsey related, "We really quieted down." But Mr. Lincoln only grinned at them, looked around and said, "Go on with your music boys, I'm glad YOU can have some fun."

Dorsey outlived all his comrades in his G. A. R. Post save one, Edwin Somers, who passed away in California in 1944, but who is interred in Evergreen Cemetery here. Dorsey died at Alhambra, California in May of 1938, and was buried there. The final two G. A. R. veterans to live in El Paso were S. H. Worthington and Abraham B. Turner; the former died August 23, 1932, and Turner three months later on November 20. They had been photographed together at Memorial Day Service on May 30, 1930, but their autographed picture burned in the Legion room fire of 1946.

Turner had one of the finest combat records of any local man, fought in twenty- two major engagements of the Civil War, being wounded twice. He was a Sergeant in Co. A of the 17th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, and the monument to that unit atop Missionary Ridge marks

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