the arms alluded to. Three or four individuals, whose names I do not now recall, having consulted with Governor Yates, arranged a plot, which was executed as follows:

They went quietly to St. Louis and there chartered a fast Alton packet boat and started up the river, and before getting out of sight of the city they made believe that the boat was disabled by some breakage of the machinery, and as they drifted helplessly down with the current past the city, they sent word ashore that they were going to float down to the repair shops at the barracks, as was usual for boats in such condition to do. This disarmed suspicion, and the boat landed at the barracks, where all had been arranged for the occasion. Guards were posted at the gates to prevent egress of any who might give information. Men were on hand with trucks, who in an incredibly short time ran the arm and ammunition chests on board the steamer, together with several pieces of artillery. The boat then, with a full head of steam, to be used in the event of a race being necessary, ran up the river and passed St. Louis without exciting suspicion of what her cargo consisted, and reached Alton, about twenty miles above. There the arms. etc., were landed and at once placed on a train of cars in waiting for them, with a loaded cannon pointed to the rear to repel pursuit if attempted. Within a few

It

hours this precious freight was received by us in Springfield. consisted of 21,000 stand of new Enfield rifles, with a full supply of equipments and ammunition, several field pieces and other arms. Without the delay of a single day enough of these rifles were issued to arm the six regiments then assembled, the greater part of which body, being otherwise in a tolerable state of preparation, were at once despatched to Cairo. Of the remainder of the rifles, several thousand each were shipped to neighboring states, who like our own had but few, if any, serviceable arms available for the emergency.

In view of further call for troops and the necessity for their armament, agents were set to work to hunt up and collect arms belonging to the State, which had been issued in past times to amateur soldiers, or to those who had been called out to suppress Mormon disturbances. These arms were scattered over the State and consisted of old fashioned muskets, rifles, and pistols with flint locks, generally in bad order; also some sabres and a number of pieces of artillery. To put these in serviceable order, and furnish them with ammunition, work shops and laboratories were improvised, in which the small arms were repaired and their flintlocks altered to percussion; and up to the date of the report before referred to, 4,618.000 rounds of ammunition for small arms and 32.570 rounds of fixed ammunition (namely round shot, canister, and shell) had been manufactured. Large quantities of arms and ordnance materials were also purchased by the State and were received and issued to the troops throughout our department.

The Legislature had provided for the appointment of an Auditing Commission by the Governor, consisting of three gentlemen, who were to audit all bills accruing on the part of the State from matters pertaining to the war. The first and most prominent of these gentlemen had acted in some capacity in the Black Hawk war in 1832, and

having taken up the idea that accounting for the present business should be done after the style pursued in that somewhat irregular campaign, he opposed a more systematic and less antiquated method; or rather he assumed to ignore the mode prescribed in the regulations of the U. S. army, and adopt a system of his own. This gentleman took upon himself the principal share of the duties of his office, and is entitled to great credit for the industry with which he devoted himself to the task. The second was a Democratic editor, whose services as an auditor were not very apparent, but he seemed to take pleasure in thwarting the efforts of others to facilitate business. The third commissioner only appeared now and then, when his presence could not be dispensed with. This commission received the bills certified by our department, had them copied and consolidated with other bills due to the same parties, and gave warrants on the Treasurer for their payment. This process destroyed the identity of the vouchers and their correspondence with the property accounts of our department. Indeed they ignored property accounts altogether, contenting themselves with looking into bills for purchases and other expenditures, without troubling themselves to examine further into the disposition of the articles so purchased, or whether they were properly applied or otherwise. My experience with army accounts had shown that the slightest irregularity in money or property accounts were looked into with microscopical exactitude by the Auditing Department at Washington, and any discrepancy was, until corrected or explained, charged to the officer. I had no reason to believe but that our transactions would be as closely scrutinized when the final settlement was made with the United States, and had accordingly prepared vouchers to account for all the vast amount of property which passed through our hands; from which full and regular property returns could have been made up, had I been permitted to do so. The final settlement with the Government was made by others, I supposed, on the presumption that all that was paid for was expended legitimately for our volun

teers.

In the spring of 1862 our department was relieved by officers commissioned by the United States, and the Quartermaster's and other property remaining in our hands was turned over to them.

One object in the foregoing sketch has been to call attention to those laborers, who though not technically in the field, are essential to the formation and maintenance of an army, and without whose services any number of fighting men would prove unserviceable and impotent. The departments of supply seldom receive the consideration and credit to which they are entitled. When, however, movements have been delayed, or a victorious army has been unable to pursue the enemy, the Quartermaster or Subsistence officers are generally remembered in the reports, and are required to bear an undue proportion of the blame. Napoleon's favorite remedy for occasional failures of his army was to hang a commissary now and then. But, when all goes well in the theatre of war, but little is thought of those actors whose part may lie behind the scenes. EDWARD EVERETT, Major and Asst. Q. M. Gen. of Illinois.

EARLY HISTORY

OF THE

DRUG TRADE OF CHICAGO

Compiled from the records of the Chicago Veteran
Druggists Association by

ALBERT E. EBERT, Historian

Continued from page 274 of the Publication No. 8
of the

Illinois State Historical Library

1903

EARLY HISTORY OF THE DRUG TRADE OF CHICAGO.

In continuing our history of the early drug trade of Chicago, we have reached the forties. The village of Chicago has become a city, and the new-born municipality is forging ahead in its phenomenal increase in population and in the erection of modern buildings, in spite of the depressed financial conditions which ensued from the crisis of 1837. This prosperity, however, did not follow the drug business, for we find that of the seven firms of the thirties, but four, viz; Philo Carpenter, Clark & Co.. L. M. Boyce and Dr. Sidney Sawyer, have weathered the financial storm. We find that they left their former locations and followed the shifting of the business center from South Water street to Lake street.

In the thirties business had centered about the forks of the river, this being the intersection of Market, South Water and Lake streets. As business spread it went east on South Water street to Dearborn, then south on Dearborn to Lake street, when it again proceeded west on Lake street toward the forks of the river from whence it had started.

The modern buildings were being located on Lake street. Thomas Church had erected a three-story brick building on this street, just east of Dearborn. The first big fire of Chicago, which occurred October 29, 1839, laid waste the district from Dearborn street on the north side of Lake street, nearly to Clark street, destroying some seventeen buildings, with a loss of nearly $100,000. This space was rebuilt in the early forties and became at once the fashionable shopping center. The drug store of Clark & Co. was located in the Tremont building, No. 102 Lake street, and Dr. S. Sawyer moved his drug store to 124 Lake street, near the corner of Clark street, while the saloon building, No. 113 Lake street, became the home of L. M. Boyce's drug

store.

Philo Carpenter came from South Water street, leaving his own property for rent, and located in William Wheeler's building at 143 Lake street, where he opened what was known as the "checkered drug store," the front of the building being laid off in squares, painted in red, white and black. From the foregoing we see that at the opening of the forties all of the drug stores were grouped together on Lake street within a block of each other.