So ended the last of Captain Burkhalter's entries.
The men of Company F and Captain Burkhalter, along with all the
other officers and enlisted men in the army of General Sherman,
remained for a few days longer, in Washington. On the evening
of June 6, 1865, the 86th Illinois Infantry was mustered out of
United States service.
Two days later, the boys boarded the cars at the depot in Washington
and departed for Chicago, where they would be paid, disbanded
and sent home. From Washington, the train passed through Baltimore
via Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, arriving in Chicago at noon on
June 11th. At Cap Fry, near Chicago, the regiment pitched its
tents and remained until June 21st, waiting for pay and discharge.
The 86th and the 125th Illinois were given a banquet at the Sanitary
Fair dining rooms and General Sherman turned up to make a speech.
The speech was not unlike those made by other victorious officers,
except that mention was made of Colonel Daniel McCook's death
at Kenesaw Mountain, in Georgia.
On the morning of June 22, 1865, the boys of the 86th Illinois
Infantry departed from Chicago for their homes. Company F and
Captain Burkhalter headed for Maquon. Some travelled via Peoria,
others via Galesburg, but they all reached the same place.
For many years after, the G.A.R. posts around the State of Illinois
and other locations in the country, had members who were formerly
part of the 86th.
Elmwood's G.A.R. Post was named for Dan McCook.
On March 9, 1903, nearly forty years after his death in that bitter,
senseless charge at Kenesaw Mountain, Colonel Daniel McCook's
friends gathered and formed the Kenesaw Memorial Association.
The boys who turned up for the rally were by then men in their
late 60s and early 70s. Nearly all were grandfathers, and one
or two were great-grandfathers.
Some lived to see new wars occur.
Now, of course, the Kenesaw Memorial Association is forgotten,
and has been for nearly fifty years.
An interesting sub-plot in Captain Burkhalter's narrative is the
part which deals with the ex-slave, Chester Ewing. On the basis
of Captain Jim's meticulous bookkeeping entries, it is apparent
that the young Negro boy travelled north with the 86th as far
as Washington, possibly further. Perhaps Chester's Uncle Tom was
present, perhaps not. Tom's name does not appear in the Burkhalter
records for that particular period.
Captain Jim and the boys of Company F went off to war for many
reasons, a likely one being that slavery was wrong. It was inevitable
that Confederate defeat should end forever the buying and selling
of people whose skins are black. Chester worked his way North
as Captain Burkhalter's man-servant, and probably earned every
cent that he was paid. He wore the same military clothes as the
lads from Maquon, and no doubt, he contributed a share of effort
everytime the muddy Carolina roads hampered progress. Yet, the
historical fact is, that in the Spring of 1865, when Captain Burkhalter
paid the boy for the last time, Chester was free, in the North,
and young. He owned the clothes on his back and had $31 in his
pocket.
Some people have started with less.
However, that's another story.
By taking the boy North, though, Captain Jim fulfilled a personal
responsibility that is a part of Galesburg's and Knox County's
tradition, something which had its origins several years before
the War began. That was when Underground Railroad "conductors"
aided Negro ex-slaves to reach freedom, the freedom to make a
new beginning.