Welcome to Illinois IL7
In 1673 the areas of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers were explored by Frenchmen Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette. Their voyages resulted in French claims on the area until 1763 when, by the Treaty of Paris, France ceded the land to Great Britain. During the American Revolution the Illinois Territory was won for the Commonwealth of Virginia by George Rogers Clark and his army. In 1784 it became part of the Northwest Territory and on December 3, 1818 Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state. U.S. Route 24 enters Illinois on the west at Quincy, site of the sixth debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. It extends east towards the Illinois River cutting diagonally across the Military Tract, an area used as bounty land for veterans of the war of 1812. It passes near Dickson Mounds, a buriel site of the Mississippian culture circa 1100 A.D. Route 24 crosses the Illinois River at Peoria, a center of agricultural equipment manufacturing, and near the site of Fort Creve Coeur erected by the French explorer Sieur de LaSalle in 1680. It bisects Eureka, site of the college attended by Ronald Reagan the 40th President of the United States and the only one born in Illinois. The route continues due east through some of the richest farm land in the nation. In the years between 1840 and1890 huge herds of cattle were raised for sale to eastern markets. Corn and beans are the main crops today. Route 24 exits Illinois east of Watseka near the Old Hubbard Trace a fur trade route which linked the Wabash River area with the settlement of Chicago in the north. Along its approximate 260 mile length Route 24 passes through eleven of Illinois' 102 counties and seven of its county seats.

---

Peter Cartwright OQ6
(1 Sept. 1785 - 25 Sept. 1872) Known for helping to develop Methodism as a circuit rider in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. Peter Cartwright was born three miles southeast. His library, which he carried in his saddlebag, included a Bible, a hymnal, and The Book of Discipline. Lacking formal education himself he encouraged it in others; several Midwestern colleges count him as a founder. In 1828 he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly. In 1832, he was one of four candidates elected in a field of thirteen; Abraham Lincoln ran eighth and lost. In 1846, Lincoln defeated Cartwright for Congress.

---

McClellans' Farewell C9
After President Abraham Lincoln relieved Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan of command of the Army of the Potomac on 7 Nov. 1862, the general composed a farewell order. It was read to the army by divisions on 10 Nov. when the new commander, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, held a grand review of the army about half a mile north of here. Both Burnside and McClellan attended, and the three- mile-long line of soldiers cheered McClellan heartily, many weeping. This closed McClellan’s military career. He returned home to Trenton, N.J., and ran unsuccessfully against Lincoln on the Democratic Party ticket in 1864.

---

Fredericksburg Campaign C55
Because he had moved too slowly to attack Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was relieved of his command of the Army of the Potomac by President Abraham Lincoln. McClellan was replaced by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. Determined to act boldly, Burnside reorganized his army and marched it to Fredericksburg, where he planned to strike south around Lee’s right flank toward Richmond. Delays in crossing the Rapphannock River enabled Lee to confront Burnside there, then defeat him in a bloody battle on 13 Dec. 1862 -- a battle neither general had intended to fight.

---

Historic Port Conway J66
The site of Port Conway is located five miles south on the Rappahannock River. Francis Conway laid out the town in 1783, and the next year the Virginia General Assembly passed an act establishing it. James Madison, Father of the Constitution and fourth president and United States, was born at the Conway house on 16 March 1751. On 1 Sept. 1863 Brig. Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick’s Federal cavalry shelled two Union gunboats at Port Conway that had been captured by Confederates. John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, fled across the river there on 24 Apr. 1865. Little remains of the town today.

---

Stuart and Bayard B30
After the Battle of Antietam on 17 Sept. 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia recrossed the Potomac River into Virginia. After President Abraham Lincoln’s constant urging, the Union Army of the Potomac, led by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, pursued them. Lee ordered part of his army south to Culpeper Court House. To screen Lee’s march, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s troopers fought a series of engagements against the probing Federal cavalry. On 31 Oct., Stuart attacked Brig. Gen. George D. Bayard’s command near Mountville, drove it southeast through Aldie, and discovered the Union army’s left flank.

---

Pope's Army of Virginia J29
On 26 June 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. John Pope to command the Union army that operated in Virginia. The Corps led by Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel, who had recently replaced Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont, posted around Sperryville, was consolidated with those of Maj. Gens. Nathaniel P. Banks and Irvin McDowell under Pope and named the Army of Virginia. Pope led the army through the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) on 30 Aug. 1862. he was relieved his command on 2 Sept., and the Army of Virginia was absorbed into Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac.

---

Fredericksburg Campaign N4
Frustrated by the Army of the Potomac’s lack of progress, President Abraham Lincoln replaced army commander Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan with Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, who assumed command on 9 Nov. 1862. Within a week, he ahd the army marching from its camps near Warrenton toward Fredericksburg along this road. Burnside hoped to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg by pontoon bridges and march on Richmond, but a delay in the arrival of the pontoons thwarted his plan. By the time the bridges arrived, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army blocked his path. Burnside forced a crossing of the river on 11 Dec. but was defeated two days later at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

---

The Mud March N6
In Jan. 1863, after the Federal defeat at the First Battle of Fredericksburg on 13 Dec. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside sought to restore the army’s morale by crossing the Rappahannock River at Banks’s Ford two miles south and attacking the rear of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army. The march began on 19 Jan.: that night a warm front thawed the frozen road with 48 hours of pouring rain. Confederates across the river taunted the sodden Federals with large signs: This Way to Richmond and Burnside STuck in the Mud. Burnside canceled the march on 23 Jan., and two days later President Abraham Lincoln replaced him with Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

---

Black Hawk War Encampment WI408
During the Black Hawk War of 1832, General Atkinson camped near this location on two occasions. On July 7th, Atkinson led his entire militia, including future President's Abraham Lincoln and Zachary Taylor here. On July 19th, Atkinson returned briefly with a smaller contingent, but left soon after he heard that General's Henry and Dodge had located Black Hawk's trail.

---