The Illinois National Guard was not yet 10 years old in name when the Adjutant General issued Special Order # 29 on March 1, 1886. SO # 29 appointed a Board of Officers to select a permanent camp and rifle range for the Illinois Guard. Adjutant General J.W. Vance, Brigadier General Jasper N. Reece (2 nd Brigade Commander) and Colonel J.A. Shaffer (Inspector of Rifle Practice) were the officers appointed to this board. The board inspected nine locations from Chicago to Quincy. The board was unanimous in nominating a 160-acre tract of land in Springfield as the site for a permanent training camp.

    The tract was available to the State for the sum of $18,100. The citizens of Springfield agreed to put up $3,100 to defray the cost to the State. Governor Richard Oglesby accepted the board’s recommendation at the end of March.¹ The State was not able to acquire the acreage until mid May. This left just 60 days in which to prepare the grounds for the encampments of 1886.

    The northern half of the land would be used as the rifle range. The southern half of the camp would be used for encampment and parade grounds. A complete system of tile drainage was emplaced. Timber and brush were cut to provide tent space and drilling areas for the infantry. Water mains were run to the camp from the city lines at the expense of the City of Springfield.²

    The rifle range had to be constructed; grading, target butts for 20 targets, rifle pits at various ranges and backstop were all started. A bathhouse and sinks for officers, sinks for enlisted men, and stables for cavalry horses were soon being erected. The State had earlier authorized roughly $8,000 for a quartermaster’s house, an icehouse, and the stables.³ For enlisted bathing, a pool was constructed. The pool was created by damming the north and south ends of the easternmost ravine of the grounds. The bottom was lined with rock.

However, not all of the initial construction projects were completed before the first encampment occurred in mid-July.⁴ “A franchise was granted on July 15, 1886, to Henry Schuck and Frank Reisch to extend the Springfield Street Railway to the camp boundaries.” In just three days, more than a mile of track was laid. However, the first troops arrived for camp before it was completed.⁵ On July 6, 1886, the Adjutant General issued General Order # 14, designating the camp at Springfield, Camp Lincoln.⁶

    The first unit to conduct its summer encampment was the 1 st Brigade. The 1 st Brigade arrived at Camp Lincoln on Saturday July 17 th, by train from Chicago. After marching from the depot to Camp Lincoln, the brigade commenced drill and rifle practice for the next six days.⁷

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas C. Clarke, 1 st Brigade’s Inspector of Rifle Practice, declared Camp Lincoln’s range “excellent.” He stated telephonic communications between the firing points and the target pits existed; providing the firer with his hit or miss at the greater ranges. However, Brigadier General Charles Fitzsimons, Commander of the 1 st Brigade stated “that Springfield is too distant for either economical or profitable encampments for [his] Brigade.⁸

In spite of General Fitzsimons’ reservations, the July 18 th edition of the State Journal Register applauded the selection of Camp Lincoln for summer encampments: “Altogether, the grounds are admirably adapted to the purpose [of encampments]. They combine a fine plateau for parade, abundant shade, perfect drainage and an admirable rifle range.” During the encampment of the 1 st Brigade, the gatling gun section of the 1 st Regiment “was given an opportunity to demolish a target or two, and did it in fine style."⁹

The next unit to utilize Camp Lincoln was the 2 nd Brigade, composed of central and southern Illinois regiments, commanded by Brigadier General Jasper N. Reece. The 2 nd Brigade trained from August 2 nd through August 8 th.

General Reece stated Camp Lincoln was an excellent campground, “and with sufficient time to complete contemplated improvements [ Camp Lincoln] will be all that could be desired by the troops.” In fact, Camp Lincoln was so admired by the officers of the brigade they adopted several resolutions of praise and thanked the State General Assembly for appropriating the money for its purchase.¹⁰

The officers and men of the 1 st and 2 nd Brigades slept in tents with permanent floors (much like accommodations at the Marseilles Training Area), five men to a tent, on straw filled mattress sacks, with one blanket per man.¹¹

Lieutenant Colonel Gaines Lawson, Regular Army, was detailed to inspect both brigades at Camp Lincoln in 1886. He noted that the 1 st Infantry, 2 nd Infantry and 1 st Cavalry “were very proficient in their drill,” although the cavalry was dismounted. Light Battery (D) conducted daily artillery crew drill on its four 12-pounder guns.

Lawson described the mess facilities as adequate, even supplemented at personal expense by the soldiers. Most cooking was done on gasoline stoves “by servants brought from Chicago” in the case of the 1 st Brigade. He noted that company drill of one hour preceded battalion level drill. Some regiments practiced skirmish drill at company and battalion level as well.¹²

In mid-August, after encampment of the two brigades, work continued on improvements to the Camp Lincoln grounds. A ravine on the parade grounds was filled to add seven or eight acres to that area. A canal was cut into Spring Creek to take out a bend and increase the current, and the bottom of the swimming pool was lined with stones.¹³

Eventually the pool grew to be a rough rectangle; 170 feet long by 90 feet wide, narrowing to 40 feet wide. The depth was four feet at the narrow end and dropped to 17 feet at the other end. A diving platform was erected at the deep end also. A three-foot wide sidewalk surrounded the pool; complete with drainage ditch, to prevent the dirt embankment from silting the pool. As the pool was literally used as a bathtub for the enlisted soldiers, it was drained once a day and refilled by city water, piped to Camp Lincoln.¹⁴ Total cost of the swimming pool was just over $500.¹⁵

The best physical description of the Camp Lincoln grounds during the late 1880s comes from Major Jacob Kline, 18 th U.S. Infantry. Major Kline was detailed to Springfield to assist the Illinois National Guard with drills, inspections, ceremonies and schools. His description is as follows:

The site of the post is owned by the State, is two miles from the public square of Springfield and just [outside] the city limits, covers 160 acres in the “form of a parallelogram,” being one-fourth of mile wide by one mile long. The camp was pitched with reference to the convenience of the men and for water supply--a water-main extending throughout the whole camp between the mess tents and the kitchens, with a hydrant to each division. The Artillery was camped to the east about 125 yards. The pieces and caissons were parked in front of the camp; the enlisted men’s tents faced each other; horses were stabled. In the rear of the kitchen tents barrels were placed for [refuse], emptied twice a day and daily disinfected. The tents were pitched by hired labor and floored. The officer’s tents provided with tables, camp-stools, and woven- wire cots. Tents were pitched for hospital, but were not used. A twisted- wire fence surrounded the camp on three sides. The camp was lighted with thirteen electric lights. On the east side of the south eighty acres are two stables, each 110 feet long, with stalls for eighty horses. Near the stables is the commissary building of three rooms, used for office, receiving, and issu- ing rooms. Adjoining is an ice-house, capacity 120 tons. Four hundred and fifty feet north of the stables is the swimming pool, 170 feet long by 90 feet at its widest, narrowing to 40 feet. Its shallowest depth is 4 feet, increasing to 17 feet. The entire pool is surrounded with a flag-stone walk 3 feet wide, laid on stone curbing and cemented, making it solid. The reservoir is flagged with stone; a concrete ditch carries off water that drains from the banks; the pool is supplied by means of a feed-pipe from the city reservoir. A 10-inch overflow pipe carries off surplus water; its delivery is 70 feet from the north dam of the pool. The pool was drained once every twenty-four hours during the encampment [of 1887]. The [drainage] is some 600 feet into Spring Creek by means of a 12-inch pipe into a concrete ditch. About 300 feet [west] of the stables, in a ravine, is a bath-house with twelve rooms, shower and tubs in each; two 12 by 32 framed buildings for enlisted men’s sinks, and one 14 by 20 for officers. The [sinks are a] box or trough, lined with zinc. Water is conveyed by 2-inch pipes, and the reservoirs kept filled. They were emptied by means of 6-inch valves three or four times a day into a sewer. The [drainage] is 800 feet into a natural ditch, and by it conveyed entirely outside of [ Camp Lincoln]. A plank walk connects the camp with the sink. The roads in and around the camp are macadamized.¹⁶

Another Regular Army officer, Captain James Halloran, 12 th U.S. Infantry, gives other clues to Camp Lincoln’s layout. Halloran states the whole camp was lit by electric lights, and “[a] very handsome and substantial picket fence surrounds the whole camp ground.” He claimed the pool was used to gather ice in the winter to supply the encampments the following summer.¹⁷ Another officer reported the bridge on the main westerly road over Spring Creek was housed; in other words, a covered bridge.¹⁸

The 1886 encampment was held by brigade. In 1887, the Illinois National Guard encamped by regiment. That year the regiments sent advanced parties to Camp Lincoln to arrange the camp, draw equipment and prepare the evening meal prior to the troops’ arrival. Each regiment policed the camp prior to its departure to ensure the next regiment could move in and begin training immediately. However, the commander of the 4 th Regiment expressed to the Adjutant General that the cleanliness of the 5 th Regiment left much to be desired. “The cook and mess tents were in especially filthy condition, it being necessary to use a hoe to remove the mud from the floors of some of the cook tents.”¹⁹

Colonel Bennitt informed the Adjutant General he had 80% of his officers and 72% of his men present for instruction. He was at a loss to explain the low percentage but ensured the Adjutant General that it was “safe to say that the demands of employers was the cause of the failure of men to respond. This of course can be remedied through public opinion…”²⁰

Since the first encampment in 1886, it appears Camp Lincoln and the summer training activities of the soldiers had become a Springfield social event. Various State and local dignitaries often visited the camp to inspect the troops and observe training. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor rarely missed an opportunity to visit the troops. Citizens of Springfield often visited the camp grounds as well. Special trains from Chicago were brought down with loads of enthusiastic citizens, eager to observe the soldiers in training. Numerous articles appeared in the Springfield paper whenever the Guard had an encampment to keep the citizens informed about the activities of their “boys in blue.”

At encampment, each regiment was afforded the maximum opportunity to utilize the range at Camp Lincoln. Most companies were able to fire every soldier twice during their 6-8 day encampment. Battalion and company drill was conducted daily. Guard duty was conducted during the day and night. However, infantry, cavalry and artillery tactics and drills were not the only training conducted. In 1888 a Regular Army Hospital Steward conducted a “school of stretcher drill.”²¹

As the training and proficiency of Guard companies and regiments progressed, one commander decided to up the ante. Colonel Charles R.E. Koch, 1 st Infantry, planned a night alert for his men. At 1:10 in the morning on their third night in camp, he awoke his adjutant and instructed him to quietly assemble the band. Ten minutes later a shot was fired and the band played “to arms.” “Company E and the Gatling [gun] section reported in three minutes from the time the first note sounded, and the entire command was turned over to me in eight minutes.”²² This drill acknowledged that the Guardsmen of the 1880s were upholding the tradition of the Minutemen of the Revolutionary War.

Though the Illinois National Guard was proving its worth to the State in its training at Camp Lincoln and active service during labor troubles throughout the State, the General Assembly provided no funds for an encampment in 1890.²³

Another innovation was introduced at the encampments of 1891 and 1892. Each regiment had organized a bicycle corps that was used “for messenger service in the field, and at encampment or on the range.”²⁴ The bicycle was even incorporated into tactical training; being used to communicate between the flanks of attacking units over rough terrain.²⁵ The bicycle was proving its worth over longer distances as well. A rider from the 2 nd Regiment rode from Camp Lincoln to the Capitol, delivered a message, and returned to camp in under twenty minutes.²⁶

In 1891, Camp Lincoln played host to a State Rifle Team competition between Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The object of the competition was the Washburn Trophy. Senator W.D. Washburn of Minnesota donated the trophy, a weighty, sterling silver sculpture of an Indian on horseback, lancing a buffalo, to the Northwest Military Rifle Association. The first competition was held the previous year at Camp Douglas, Wisconsin and was won by the Minnesota team. In a closely fought match, Illinois won the trophy by a mere eight points. In 1892, the competition was held at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. Again the Illinois State Rifle Team was victorious; by just 137 points. According to the rules established for the trophy, the state to win the competition three times shall keep the trophy.²⁷

Competition for the trophy was not conducted in 1893 due to the World’s Fair, held in Chicago. That year the regiments participated in various ceremonies and escorts during the fair and no encampment was held. In 1894, the Illinois National Guard was involved throughout the year with labor strikes. For the next several years the problem was coordinating the schedule of five state teams to compete at a single location. The Spanish-American War 1898-1899, canceled competition for those years, and the state did not fund the competition again until after the turn of the century. In 1903 the rifle match was again won by the Illinois team. During the skirmish firing, the team led the match by over 200 points to secure the overall win. The Washburn trophy was awarded to the State of Illinois at the end of the competition. It is now on display in the Adjutant General’s Headquarters and is a reminder of both the competition and of Camp Lincoln’s history.

It was 1895 before the Illinois Guard held its next encampment at Camp Lincoln. That year, four of the seven field days were used for a field exercise. The location for the exercise was not specified but covered a six by ten mile area. The exercise consisted of marches and night bivouacs. Tactical exercises were conducted on a 500-acre plot and involved a “red” and “blue” force; one defending and the other attacking.²⁸ Also that year, “[m]ore stables and sinks, and many small repairs and improvements [were] made at Camp Lincoln.” It was also recommended a permanent hospital be built on the grounds.²⁹

The role of the Signal Corps grew in 1895 also. The 2 nd Regiment used signal flags and heliographs (mirrors) to send messages from the command tent area on the central ridgeline of Camp Lincoln, to the target butts on the range. At night, torches were used to send signals. Communications were also established between the parade grounds and the dome of the State Capitol with signal flags. Torches were tried but the winds on the deck around the capitol dome were too great. Signal stations were also established at various one-mile distances around Camp Lincoln. Communications were maintained daily. On Thursday, July 11, 1895, a signal team was sent to Carlinville, 42 miles south of Springfield. Intermittent flashing signals could be seen between the capitol dome and the Carlinville courthouse dome. This experiment, while successful, was not practicable due to the smoke from the coalmines between Springfield and Carlinville. The telegraph line passing Camp Lincoln was also “tapped” by the signalmen, allowing telegraphic communications from the capitol to Camp Lincoln.³⁰

The bicycle was still being used as a communications tool as well. During the July 6-13 encampment of the 2 nd Regiment, a Signal Corps Private named E.R. Vader probably set a record. Vader carried a message from the 1 st Regiment’s armory in Chicago, to Camp Lincoln by bicycle. He covered the 195 miles in 33.5 hours.³¹ This was an incredible feat when one considers the state of the road system in Illinois just before the turn of the century. There were very few motorized vehicles at the time and paved roads were nearly unheard of.

 

Camp Lincoln hosted a first in the nation in 1895 as well. “The first open-air military mass in the United States was held at Camp Lincoln on July 21, 1895 and drew a crowd of 10,000 people, among them Governor and Mrs. John P. Altgeld. The altar, an elevated platform with a canopy, was set up in the grove [trees] north of the tenting area; mass books were held in place by [bayonets].” The 7th Regiment’s band and two local choirs provided the music for the spectacular religious event.³²

The encampments of 1895 would end on a sad note. On July 24 th it was reported Private Daniel Madden of Company I, 7 th Regiment drowned in the Camp Lincoln pool.³³

In 1896 the Illinois Guard encamped by brigades, and in 1897 by regiments. The Adjutant General’s report for the later year included a report by Captain Ben Eick. Captain Eick was the officer in charge of the reloading station at Camp Lincoln. He reported that in 1897, his section had reloaded 527,850 rounds of carbine and rifle ammunition in a period of five months. He reported the ammunition was produced at a cost of $8.50 per 1000 rounds. This beat the government cost by $10.00 per 1000 rounds. According to Eick’s calculations, his section had saved the State of Illinois $5,000.³⁴

During the encampment of the 9th Battalion in July 1897, one soldier nearly drowned in the swimming pool. Private Ramsey of Company A was receiving swimming lessons from another soldier when he sank twice before being rescued. Ramsey was later reported recovered well enough to enjoy the downtown sites of Springfield that very evening.³⁵

In 1898 the entire Illinois National Guard was called into federal service for the Spanish-American War. The only exception to this was Battery B of Galesburg. The total strength of the Guard (about 8,000 men) precluded the use of Camp Lincoln as an assembly point; therefore, the Illinois State Fairgrounds were used as an encampment. The fairgrounds were renamed Camp Tanner in honor of the Illinois Governor. Most of the regiments found comfortable quarters in the large exhibit buildings and the horses of the 1 st Cavalry were stabled there as well.

The Illinois Guardsmen returned to camp at Camp Lincoln by regiment in 1899. During this period work on the Camp Lincoln range continued. The range now had a 50-foot tall berm. Still, rifle practice was interrupted this year by farmers’ complaints to the north of the camp.³⁶ Range firing had been a constant source of frustration to the farmers near Camp Lincoln since the camp was created. The worst incident occurred in 1889. A farm hand on the Lee Hickox farm just north of Camp Lincoln had been wounded in the leg by a stray bullet. Hickox and the farm hand were awarded $400 and $1000 respectively through a court settlement. In 1891, Adjutant General Jasper N. Reece asked Mr. Hickox and his family to vacate their farm during the encampment period. A board of officers set his compensation at $10.00 a day for a total of $230. A large wooden wall had been erected on the range backstop in 1895 “to prevent marksmen from throwing hot lead into the next county.”³⁷ Evidently, the wooden wall had not been enough, as ten years later, the farmers were still complaining.

1.Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, “Report of Board of Officers on Location of Permanent Camp Grounds,” pp. 209-211. Also, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 34, # 3, “Camp Lincoln,” Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, September 1941, p. 283.
2. Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, p. 9.
3. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 34, # 3, “Camp Lincoln,” Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, September 1941, p. 283.
4. Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, pp. 9-10.
5. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 34, # 3, “Camp Lincoln,” Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, September 1941, p. 283.
6. Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, G.O. # 14, dated July 6, 1886, p. 303.
7. Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, Report of Brigadier General Charles Fitzsimons on Encampment First Brigade, 1886, pp. 123-125.
8. Ibid.
9. Mike Cochran, “ Camp Lincoln, 1886--when pride was the order of the day,” State Journal Register, ( Springfield, IL), June 17, 1974, (article begins on p. 6A).
10. Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, Report of Brigadier General Jasper N. Reece, on Encampment Second Brigade, 1885 and 1886, pp. 126 and 131.
11. Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, Report of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Gaines Lawson, U.S. Army, of his Inspection of the First and Second Brigades, I.N.G in 1886, pp. 198-208.
12. Ibid.
13. Report of the Adjutant General, 1885-1886, p. 10.
14. Report of the Adjutant General, 1887-1888, p. 98.
15. Various expenditure charts, from the 1885-1886 and 1887-1888 Adjutant General Reports.
16. Report of the Adjutant General, 1887-1888, Report of Major Jacob Kline, Captain 18 th U.S. Infantry, on encampments, 1887, pp. 96-98.
17. Ibid, Report of Captain James Halloran, 12 th U.S. Infantry, on the encampments of 1888, p. 105.
18. Report of the Adjutant General, 1891-1892, letter from Lieutenant Colonel W.D. Hotchkiss to Colonel L.S. Judd, (both of 2 nd regiment), p. 113.
19. Report of the Adjutant General, 1887-1888, Report of Commanding Officer Fourth Regiment, p. 83.
20. Ibid., p. 86.
21. Ibid., p. 93.
22. Report of the Adjutant General, 1889-1890, Report of Colonel C.R.E. Koch, First Infantry, I.N.G., p. 58.
23.Ibid., p. 4.
24. Report of the Adjutant General, 1891-1892, p. 1.
25. Ibid., Report of Colonel C.R.E. Koch, First Infantry, I.N.G., p. 108.
26. Ibid., Report of Colonel L.S. Judd, Second Infantry, I.N.G. p. 111.
27. Ibid., p. 5.
28. Report of the Adjutant General, 1895-1896, p. 5.
29. Ibid., p. 9.
30. Ibid., Report of Colonel George M. Moulton, Second Infantry, p. 16.
31. Ibid., p. 17.
32. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 34, # 3, “Camp Lincoln,” Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, September 1941, p. 300.
33. Ibid., Report of Colonel Francis T. Colby, 7 th Infantry, p. 41.
34. Report of the Adjutant General, 1897-1898, Report on Reloading Department, p. 664.
35. The Journal, ( Springfield), July 11, 1897, p. 5.
36. Ibid., pp. 57-58.
37. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 34, # 3, “Camp Lincoln,” Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, September 1941, pp. 294-295.