September 29, 1861---Black Jack Logan

SEPTEMBER 29, 1861:      

John A. Logan, a Democratic Congressman from southern Illinois, has, as many of his constituents do, strong Southern leanings. He secretly travels to Richmond to parley with Confederates to try and take southern Illinois out of the war. The Confederates refuse any compromise, “even though a blank sheet of paper be given [the Confederates] to write their own terms.” Disgusted, Logan reports that the Confederates are indeed rebels bent on destroying the government, and returns home to raise Union regiments. His words stir the locals to enlist enthusiastically, and he becomes known as “Black Jack Logan.”