Alphonso Clark Linn, as photographed by E.R. Gard of Chicago.
My middle name, Linn, commemorates my maternal grandfather Sherman Linn Shaw II, whose grandmother was Mary Rebecca Linn. One of Mary Rebecca's older brothers was CAPTAIN ALPHONSO CLARK LINN, whose love of country and personal convictions moved him to volunteer for military service in the Union army during the Civil War. Alphonso was born 4 Sept. 1836 in Windsor, Maine, the seventh child of George Russell and Abigail (Stinson) Linn. The Linns are a Scots-Irish family who had settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in the first half of the 1700s, probably coming to New England from Ulster, Ireland, and likely originating from the Linns of County Ayr in the Lowlands of Scotland. Alphonso's family left Maine in 1840 and settled in Lee County, Illinois, where Alphonso grew to manhood.
Alphonso Clark Linn, as photographed by E.R. Gard of Chicago.
In his youth, Alphonso attended Lee Center Academy and Mount Morris Seminary. When he was 21 years old, in 1858, Alphonso was accepted as a student at Northwestern University in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. He graduated in 1860 and was awarded a bachelor of arts degree. After graduation, Alphonso continued at Northwestern as an instructor or tutor in mathematics and Latin, also pursuing graduate studies and earning a master of arts degree in 1863. Around those years, Alphonso became engaged to one of his fellow Northwestern students, Jennie Wheeler (Northwestern, Class of 1863). However, the Civil War also erupted during that time, and many of Alphonso's friends and classmates volunteered to enlist in the Union Army. One of those classmates was William A. Spencer (Northwestern, Class of 1861), who served as a chaplain in the 8th Illinois Cavalry and survived the war, later earning his doctorate in divinity and becoming a Methodist minister (see Colonel James Montgomery Rice's 1912 Peoria City and County, Illinois for information on Spencer's later career). While in the service, Will sent Alphonso the following photo of himself in his military uniform:
This photo of William A. Spencer was taken at Wolft's Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, and is dated 22 April 1862. The photo was preserved in the collection of the late Eleanor Shaw Baylor (1909-1974) and a copy of it was provided me by Eleanor's daughter Ardath Baylor Chapman. Eleanor's grandmother Mary Rebecca Linn was a younger sister of Alphonso C. Linn. Evidently Will Spencer sent it to Alphonso in 1862 after Will had enlisted in the Union Army. On the back of the photo, written at the top is "A. C. Linn," which probably was written by Will, but perhaps was written by Alphonso to indicate that the photo belonged to him. Much less likely given the obvious age of the ink, Alphonso's name perhaps was written after Alphonso's death by one of Alphonso's relatives who did not know what he looked like and mistakenly assumed it was a photograph of Alphonso.
Written on the back of this photo of William A. Spencer are the following lines in English, Greek, and Latin:
"Green dyeing, Blue dyeing & Indigo dyeing but the tallest kind is the Illinois stand up and die for your country. Of many enjoyments there must needs be an end, & nought can be enduring -- Theos Patria Aletheia / Decus ['Dulce' written faintly above] et decorum est pro patria mori -- Your old chum, Will A. Spencer, Alexandria, April 22 '62."
The Greek words mean "God, Fatherland, Truth," while the Latin is an oft-quoted epigram from the classical Latin poet Horace's Odes (III.2.13) that means, "It is good/sweet and fitting to die for one's fatherland." These lines express the patriotic and noble, self-sacrificing sentiments that motivated so many young men to volunteer for the Union and Confederate causes during the Civil War. Many students at Northwestern University answered the call to military service, most volunteering for the Union Army while two students from Southern states went home to fight for the Confederacy. Before long Alphonso himself, moved by his sense of honor and patriotism, also volunteered. We may perhaps see somewhat of the deep feelings and thoughts that impelled him to this decision in his words, "It is a glorious thing to lose all thought of self in the pursuit of a great and noble purpose," which he wrote in his journal less than a month before he volunteered. Also no doubt playing a role was the lasting influence of Alphonso's father George Russell Linn, a pious and staunch slavery abolitionist and steadfast supporter of Abraham Lincoln. In explaining his reasons for volunteering for the Union cause, Alphonso told his father, "I consider the perpetuity of this government of more consequence than my life."
Alphonso Clark Linn's signature, from the cover page of his 1864 journal, which was preserved by Alphonso's family and handed down to Eleanor Shaw Baylor (1909-1974), granddaughter of Alphonso's younger sister Mary Rebecca Linn Shaw.
The story of Alphonso and his fellow volunteers is told in the following excerpt from Arthur Herbert Wilde's Northwestern University: A History, 1855-1905, vol. II, pages 365-366:
"In the spring of 1864 a company known as 'University Guards' consisting of twenty-five students was organized and mustered in for one hundred days' service as part of Company F of the 134th Illinois Infantry. This company did military service for one hundred and forty-eight days. The faculty formally approved the application of students to be excused from College for the remainder of the term in order to enlist. The officers of the new company were:
"Alphonso C. Linn, '60, captain,
Milton C. Springer, '64, first lieutenant
George E. Strobridge, '64, second lieutenant,
Freegift Vandervoort, '67, first sergeant,
Thomas R. Strowbridge, '67, corporal.
"The response to the call for the one hundred days' men brought into the field thousands of young men to do guard duty at camp and prison and thus set free an equal number of veterans for active service at the front."
Josiah Seymour Currey's Chicago: Its History and its Builders, 1918, vol. II, page 341, lists both Alphonso and his friend Will Spencer. Currey's book, page 342, also provides the following details about the University Guards:
"The One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunters, in which many of the students enlisted later in the war, was formed in 1864 for a service of one hundred days. It remained in actual service, however, one hundred and forty-eight days before it was mustered out. It was assigned to duty in holding territory from which the Confederates had been driven, thus releasing a large number of veterans for service at the front. Company F of this regiment contained at least eighteen students and one professor in the University, and was locally known as the 'University Guards.'"
The "one professor" was none other than Alphonso C. Linn, who in fact was an instructor or tutor rather than a full professor. It was in May of 1864 that the University Guards were mustered in, and Alphonso personally organized and trained the University Guards on campus before they were deployed. Alphonso enlisted on 4 May 1864 and was mustered in on 31 May 1864. The University Guards were assigned to garrison duty in Columbus, Kentucky.
Lamentably, Capt. Linn's service to his country lasted less than two months. While stationed in Columbus, Kentucky, he contracted typhoid fever and died on Sunday, 10 July 1864. Capt. Linn was one of two members of the University Guards who died during their term of service, the other being Private Edgar E. Wead. Capt. Linn's body was brought back to his parents and siblings in Lee Center, Lee County, Illinois, where it was buried with honor in Woodside Cemetery on 13 July 1864. Evangeline Linn Halleck's 1941 Descendants of George Linn, page 74, gives the following summary of Alphonso's life:
"Alphonso Clark Linn; b. Sept. 4, 1836; d. Sunday, July 10, 1864, Columbus, Ky. Funeral at Lee Center, Ill. July 13 -- Rev. Luke Hitchcock, D.D., officiating. Unmarried, was engaged to Jennie Wheeler. Graduated from Northwestern Univ. Chicago, about 1859 and obtained his M.A. there. Prof. of Mathemathics, Northwestern. Capt. of Company F 134th Ill. Volunteers, among whom were many of his Univ. pupils. From remarks at his funeral: 'He entered the service, conscious of its responsibilities and dangers, remarking to his father that he "Valued the perpetuity of the govt. more than he did his life." His example as a Christian, student, teacher and patriot, is worthy of imitation by all who knew him.' His niece, Etta Jackman, wrote Mrs. Foster that 'Fathers youngest brother Alphonso, made the family record from which she copied and had good opportunity to get the facts.'"
Shown at right is the Linn grave monument that marks the graves of Alphonso C. Linn and his parents in one of the northern sections of Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois. Shown at left is a close-up of the monument's inscription commemorating Alphonso's life and death. The inscription erroneously says Alphonso served in Company "A," which is a mistake for Company "F." The epitaph is adapted from words that Alphonso told his father when he announced his decision to volunteer to fight for the Union cause during the Civil War.
Capt. Linn's resting place in Woodside Cemetery is today marked with an obelisk that also bears the inscriptions of his parents, who are buried next to him. With the obelisk are small, simple headstones. This was, however, the second marker for Capt. Linn's grave, the first apparently having been broken and replaced. The original gravestone was then used as a stepping stone for the back steps of the old stone house in Lee Center where Alphonso's sister Rebecca (Linn) Shaw lived for several years in the latter 1800s. According to Alphonso's grand-niece Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor, the Sheehan family, who later owned the old stone house, discovered Alphonso's old gravestone while remodeling the house. Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor wrote that the Sheehans --
". . . upheaved an old flat stone that had done duty as a stepping stone at the bottom of the back steps for as far back as Chris Ullrich could remember. It proved to be a tombstone for Alphonso C. Linn, a Civil War veteran, a brother of Mrs. Mary Rebecca Linn Shaw. Since it was broken in two, and since there is one in Woodside Cemetery for Capt. Linn, it is presumed that the original one broke, was replaced, and the thrifty New Englanders used the broken stone for another purpose! When the Sheehans had their sale, the stone was put up for sale and O. S. Baylor paid $7.00 for it for me!"
After Capt. Alphonso C. Linn's death, the lamented hero's personal effects were returned to his family, who treasured them and preserved them through the subsequent generations. Among them was a private journal that Alphonso began in the Spring of 1864, less than three months before he enlisted in the Union Army. The journal was inherited by Eleanor Shaw Baylor, older sister of my grandfather Sherman Linn Shaw II, and copies of its pages have graciously been given me by Eleanor's daughter Ardath. The journal affords a rare and insightful glimpse into Alphonso's inner life during the months and weeks leading up to his decision to put his life at the service of his nation. It is, however, very brief, consisting merely of nine pages -- but two journal entries -- in Alphonso's own handwriting, and breaks off before Alphonso's decision to volunteer for the Union Army. An additional two pages written in a mature and serene hand -- most likely his father's -- records the tragic event of Alphonso's untimely death, with several possible gravestone epitaphs. Those last two pages evidently were a part of the funeral arrangements and the plans for Alphonso's gravestone.
With the permission, and thanks to the generosity, of Ardath Baylor Chapman, Capt. Linn's journal may be viewed and read in its entirety here.
The following chart shows that I am a great-great-great-nephew of Captain Alphonso C. Linn:
John Linn=Rebecca Anderson
1754-1834| 1759-1834
|
George Russell Linn=Abigail Stinson
1800-1886 | 1799-1880
_____________________|_____________________________
| |
Capt. ALPHONSO CLARK LINN Corp. James Monroe Shaw=Mary Rebecca Linn
1836-1864 1838-1876 | 1841-1917
|
Sherman Linn Shaw
1864-1942
|
Sherman Linn Shaw II
1912-1973
|
Joseph Olar=Dolores Frances Shaw
| 1936-2007
|
Jared Linn Olar
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