Mexican War
When the United States engaged in war with Mexico, Greenville was again
in the front. The Protestant Monitor states that on June 4, 1846, citizens
of the county assembled in Greenville to respond to a call from the Governor
for three regiments of volunteers to go to the front. Although the day was
unfavorable the meeting was large and eighty-five citizens, chiefly young
men, enrolled and elected Wilson W. Willey captain; James M. Hubbard, first
lieutenant; Benjamin E. Sellers, second lieutenant; Matthew Harvey, John A.
Washburn, James I. Adams and Josiah F. Sugg, sergeants; Richard Roberts,
Lemuel Washburn, Larkin Jackson and Allen Harris, corporals. The privates
who volunteered were:
Samuel G. McAdams, John M. Smith, R. B. Alexander, John C. Mackey, R. O.
White, Samuel J. Ewing, Stephen White, Thomas A. Ewing, N. D. Higinbotham,
Robert Patterson, George P. Etzler, John Patterson, William Alderman, Henry
D. Rhea, William Wood, Nelson H. Elam, Joseph A. Jay, Sowel Smith. Joel H.
Sherrob, Robert Booth, Henry C. Thacker, James Blankenship. Thomas L. Smith,
Henry H. Hill, George A. Reed, John C. Gaston, Nathan McCracken, Daniel
Royer, John P. McCracken, Elias Coleman, Samuel Roberts, Thomas Weldon,
James Hignight, Peter S. Lyttaker, James Kuykendall, Theophilus Short, James
W. Alderman, Charles Hilllard, David Phipps, John Alexander, John Little,
William Ray, Isaac Redfearn, Nathan B. Willis, Alexander McCollum, Isaac N.
Reed, William Madray, John Holland, John A. Laws, Thomas J. Jett, Felix
Gower, William M. Hunter, Robert Arnold, Andrew Gilbert, Henry B. Alexander,
Hardin Elmore, Henry Cruthis, William Lucas, Samuel Gray, Robert Willeford,
Milton F. Neatherly, Francis Webster, William Allen, Calvin Brown, John H.
Gilmore, Andrew J. Steel, Calvin Denson, James C. Cruthis, Hampton Cruthis,
Enoch M. Noland, H. W. Jarvis, George Allen, Michael Tucker, John Spratt,
and Joseph W. Grigg.
The above list is taken from the Protestant Monitor of June 19, 1846.
These volunteers departed from Greenville June 19, 1846 for Alton. Before
departing they were addressed in the court house by Rev. Mr. Stafford. The
company was given a dinner at the home of John West, four miles west of
Greenville and after the meal speeches were made by Mr. West, J. M. Davis
and Judge M. G. Dale. The Protestant Monitor says: "The amateur musicians,
Messrs Garland, Lane, and Humes, with martial music, and the Greenville
band, in their spacious band carriage, drawn by four bays, kindly furnished
by our enterprising citizen Mr. F. Berry, accompanied the volunteers to
Alton."
The ladies of Greenville aided in equipping this company and the volunteers
passed resolutions thanking the ladies for their generous assistance and
kindly feeling. The company left Alton July 22 for New Orleans.
When the war was over and the veterans returned in 1848 from conquering the
Montezumas on the plains of Mexico, they were given an ovation in a grove
about a mile and a half southwest of Greenville.
William M. Hunter, who lives on his farm about four miles west of
Greenville, was one of the veterans of the Mexican war. The others of the
company named above have all passed away.
Extracted 28 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from 1905 Historical Souvenir of Greenville, Illinois: Being a Brief Review of the City from the Time of its Founding to Date by Will C. Carson, pages 35-36.
