The Real Lincoln Highway: The Forgotten Lincoln Circuit Markers

Imagine a bright, crisp autumn day in Central Illinois, September 26, 1852. A party of travelers pauses on a ridge, surveying the sweeping view to the west, miles of prairie grass as far as they can see. The grass is almost as tall as their horses, russet in its fall color, spotted with the yellows of late-season blooms, some as tall as the grass. The long ridge, made of enormous deposits left by ancient glaciers as they retreated ten thousand to fifteen thousand years earlier, will someday be known as the Eureka Moraine. The scene is unbroken but for the track they are following. The riders are on the road from Metamora, the seat of Woodford County, to Bloomington, seat of McLean County. They are in the vicinity of the county line. Other than an occasional farmstead and a rare passing rider, they have seen no other sign of settlement for some time. As they ride, their conversation is accompanied by the whistle of quail, interrupted by the flushing of grouse. They have seen retreating wolves keeping their distance, and they have frequently startled deer from their grassy hiding places.1The group had ascended the ridge from the ford on the Mackinaw River, several miles back. Benign and gently flowing in this drier season, the river could be treacherous when they cross it in the spring. The road descended down the bluffs of open timber with huge, wide, bur and white oaks, twisted chinquapin oaks, and shagbark hickories, to the firm gravel of the ford. This prairie stream, its waters cleansed and filtered by thousands of acres of wetlands along its course, is teeming with fish, including small-mouth bass, northern pike, and countless species of mussels. The river bottoms are guarded by giant cottonwoods.The men are lawyers riding from the semi-annual court session in one county to that in the next. The counties of Illinois were organized into circuits by the legislature. As population increased, not only would counties be divided, but the number of counties in each circuit would change to reflect the changes in population.2 These lawyers were traveling the Eighth Judicial Circuit, consisting of fourteen counties containing an area of over ten thousand square miles—more than twice the size of the state of Connecticut (Figure 1). The population of those counties in the census of 1850 was approximately one hundred thousand.3 Each spring and fall, court was held in consecutive weeks in each of the fourteen counties, a week or less in each. The exception was Springfield, the state capital and the seat of Sangamon County. The fall term opened there for a period of two weeks.4 Then the lawyers traveled the fifty-five miles to Pekin, which replaced Tremont as the Tazewell County seat in 18 5 0.5 After a week, they traveled the thirty-five miles to Metamora, where they spent three days. The next stop, thirty miles to the southeast, was Bloomington, the second-largest town in the circuit. Because of its size, it would generate more business, so they would probably stay there several days longer. From there they would travel to Mt. Pulaski, seat of Logan County, a distance of thirty-five miles; it had replaced Postville as county seat in 1848 and would soon lose out to the new city of Lincoln, to be named for one of the men in this entourage.6 The travelers would then continue to another county and then another and another until they had completed the entire circuit, taking a total of eleven weeks and traveling a distance of more than four hundred miles.7Riding in a carriage drawn by two horses was the judge, David Davis of Bloomington.8 He is said to have weighed three hundred pounds, too heavy to ride a horse.9 Davis was born in Maryland, matriculating at Kenyon College and the New Haven School of Law. He practiced law briefly in Pekin before moving to Bloomington in 1836, where he practiced until his election as circuit judge in 1848. Prior to that the presiding judges in the circuits had been Illinois supreme court justices, each assigned to a particular circuit. Davis was the only circuit judge for the entire circuit and would hold the position until his appointment to the United States Supreme Court in 1862.Davis was one of the principal architects of Lincoln's nomination for the presidency in Chicago in 1860. Davis amassed a fortune in land, the 'gold' of Illinois at the time, building a huge mansion in Bloomington in 1872 that today stands as a state-operated museum. He was nominated for president by an obscure third party in 1872. In 1877 he resigned from the Supreme Court after Democrats and independents in the Illinois legislature elected him United States senator. There he served as an independent, eventually being elected president pro-tem.10Davis not only ruled the circuit's courtrooms but also its social hierarchy during the numerous evenings in country inns, taverns, and hotels along the route. He was the monarch of this traveling society.11 Riding along with him was Abraham Lincoln on his horse, 'Old Tom.'12 Lincoln had defended a slander case before a jury the preceding day, with Judge Davis presiding. Though Lincoln's client had lost, the verdict was only $13, though the plaintiff had sought $5,000.13 Suits for slander were fairly common in those days. Lincoln had been riding the Eighth Circuit since his admission to the bar in 1837, other than his years in Congress in 1847 and 1848, and would continue to do so until his election to the presidency in 1860. Most of the lawyers rode only a portion of the circuit; others went home between sessions. Lincoln, on the other hand, was one of the few who made the entire tour without interruption as a general rule.14 He was arguably the most prominent lawyer on the circuit, handling a wide variety of cases, mostly civil as opposed to criminal.15 Many of the local lawyers would refer cases to the visiting Lincoln. He was perhaps the lawyer closest to the Judge; this closeness was apparently not resented by other lawyers.16Leonard Swett of Bloomington may have been included in the traveling party of attorneys. He was a Mexican War veteran from Maine who found his way to Bloomington in the late 1840s. Younger than Davis and Lincoln, Swett would become a close confidant of Lincoln's from the years of traveling together along these roads. They associated on many cases. He also played a major role in Lincoln's victory at the Republican convention of 1860.17 He was influential in persuading Lincoln, as president, to appoint Davis to the nation's highest court.18 After the Civil War, he would move his practice to Chicago where he became a nationally renowned criminal attorney, handling cases that included the appeal of the conviction of the Haymarket anarchists in the late 1880s. Swett generally joined Lincoln in riding the entire circuit.19Usually, David Campbell of Springfield, the state's attorney and prosecutor for all of the circuit, was also along. Campbell, a native of New Jersey and a Democrat, had defeated Davis in seeking this post in 1848. He served in that capacity until his untimely death in 1855.20 His lively fiddle playing helped pass the long evenings on the circuit.21 Campbell frequently engaged the services of private practitioners, including Lincoln, to assist in the prosecution of important cases.22 No doubt others would have also been part of this cavalcade of talented, colorful, intrepid professionals as they made their way along this ridge, first heading for the village of Oak Grove and then on to Bloomington on that September day.Imagine a similar September day one hundred and fifty years later in the same area. An automobile traveling U.S. Route 150 enters the village of Carlock, which didn't exist in 1852. On the other hand, the village of Oak Grove is no longer, the former a beneficiary of the coming of a railroad, the latter a victim. Metamora is no longer Woodford's county seat, having been replaced by Eureka in 1896. The nearby Mackinaw River is no longer clear, its waters now muddy with silt from farm fields and lacking the cleansing of the long since converted wetlands. Grouse are no more and quail are unusual. In fact, deer numbers are probably higher because of the extirpation of the predators. The population of those fourteen counties in the 2000 census was more than one million. Each county has its own state's attorney, each with a number of assistants. The total number of circuit judges in all of those counties in 2003 is thirty-nine.23 Slander suits are rare.The car turns north and soon is on a lightly traveled county blacktop, the same path that group of lawyers had traveled so long ago. The road ascends the same ridge from the opposite direction the lawyers had been going. The same vista to the west exists, except that the prairies have been replaced with corn and soybeans, and the landscape is dotted with farmhouses, grain elevators, and other outbuildings.There, at the county line, on the west side of the road, is a rather strange monument that resembles an eight-foot-tall chess piece. It bears an artfully designed bronze plaque on its face with a profile of Lincoln and the legend: 'ABRAHAM LINCOLN / Traveled this way as he rode / The circuit of the / Eighth Judicial District / 1847 1859 / Erected 1922.' The plaque has the symbol of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in the left lower corner and the symbol of a newly formed organization, the Lincoln Circuit Marking Association, opposite. On the right side of the base is a bronze plate labeled WOODFORD, and on the left side, McLEAN.This marker is one of nineteen placed on the county lines of each of the counties of the Eighth Judicial Circuit in 1922 and 1923. In addition, a monument bearing a slightly different profile of Lincoln with the same legend was placed on the face of a rectangle of granite at every county seat of the circuit. The creation of this collective memorial to Lincoln and the circuit's role in his life began in 1914 when the Alliance Chapter of the DAR in Champaign-Urbana invited Judge Joseph O. Cunningham of Urbana to speak.24 The appearance was apparently sparked by the creation of the proposed Lincoln Highway, a coast-to-coast highway that ultimately became U.S. 30, crossing Illinois further north.Cunningham was eighty-three years old and reputed to be the last surviving attorney who had practiced with Lincoln. He grew up in Ohio, studying law at Oberlin College. He arrived in Urbana in 1853, first purchasing the Urbana Union, a newspaper, before commencing the practice of law. He practiced in Urbana from his admission in 1856 until his retirement in 1905, including service as county judge from 1861 to 1875. Lincoln spent time with Cunningham in Urbana and in Danville; he was present at Lincoln's 'Lost Speech' in Bloomington in 1856. That year, his paper delivered the news to Lincoln during the spring court session in Urbana that he had received votes for vice president at the Republican's national convention in Philadelphia. Lincoln wrote him a lengthy letter about the first Douglas debate from Ottawa. He authored an authoritative history of Champaign County published in 1905. He died three years after the DAR speech.25Cunningham's speech opened with a discussion of the development of early roads in that part of the circuit, which had evolved from Indian and buffalo trails.26 He urged that '... An additional and historical dignity may attach to what I shall claim and insist had perhaps the highest claim to be designated and treated as 'The Real Lincoln Highway of Illinois.'' Citing Henry C. Whitney's reminiscences of riding the circuit with Lincoln, Cunningham described an incident that occurred on the way to Danville. The muddy, narrow, deeply ditched road passed through timbered river bottoms. As it became dark, Lincoln and Whitney stepped out of the two-seated carriage they were sharing with Leonard Swett and his wife and piloted the by as they on through the and other road has been by his in a for a so as a Lincoln The In the supreme of this the the local the to the state the and the of the a the of the Daughters of the American Revolution of was in Lincoln Circuit Marking The for thirty two and the there was also an Each county of the circuit had a local with two and one were two for and one for The was and it elected and with the of a for that first president was Judge of Lincoln, of a history of Logan County published in of the Illinois would as from that first election in until death in was important in the the years its Davis of Bloomington, the of David Davis who had accompanied his on the circuit. They also included Judge of Joseph the from who served years as of the Joseph of Bloomington, elected of Illinois as in and of Illinois from to and an for the Republican nomination in the most influential and was of Danville. A of the was as the first of the in and served until death in was the in is and is of every of the the of the for was Danville. The that the be held in Danville. to the to move it to a more were defeated by several over the The held in every until It was by in passed in in in with to in where the of several at Illinois became a then was known and the state and was an on the history and of the wrote several including a history of County, published in A history of the county described as but rather for what it not but not in the of the the with which its and the occasional of those who with the of was to on surveying the roads traveled and the for the for the had engaged a landscape from He to Illinois in and the two traveled the entire circuit, on the of the old many long since by the settlement and of the of local the circuit, as Judge C. of of and Judge In now have the Circuit without a but of four of of the Lincoln Circuit Marking and of on the In that to counties of the circuit. The the of the in each county and in the roads. It a that '... The of the Lincoln Circuit has been was also the the and of the The was to the circuit in three different was the marker at each county was the marker to be placed at the where the traveling lawyers each county line. was a of and to the symbol on and along the route. This part of the was and fairly It became that these would not was or over and it that was not and architects to for wrote to and without the ultimately a renowned Henry A native of he grew up in He for a at the of Illinois before to in for the firm of and in New as an in He in for several years and his own firm in He was the for the Lincoln in at the of went to and was a tour of the memorial by him in His for the marker included a of the granite 5 by and The face of the granite was for the of a plaque (Figure to this monument as 'The of the New designed the plaque and the in The total for all the was of the marker was the of state for the of and The from several is more (Figure It is made of with a bronze plaque on the The is the and the of the two The of the of the marker it is of three different the the and the that bears the This plaque is of a different profile of Lincoln than that of the It is not who designed this The base two each the county of the so that each county marker is the marker was at the there was a as to which side of the road each marker would be in to the county on the side of the the base it could be the direction on before the portion was The a in the of the for the the that the be with were by Joseph of the of the do not the of the it that it was A native of he to Chicago in a of He was an A of his is in the of the of the of and in the of Joseph Chicago The there is of a similar to the marker It to be of of the on the died in The of the nineteen was for the for nineteen and each for county The total of the nineteen was The DAR a total county of at which included the of The DAR from each with the Circuit Marking the there was as each county the County was the only one to to That was that it was only in the circuit for a period of were placed in and 1923. The was generally by a of An of one of the The is the of the a the counties and the and and what to be the of and of all the the circuit. The by two a and other of some in the The of the and the included the of the of the of the marker was held on 1923. The at nearby Grove before moving to the marker for the It included and by several including the president, Judge of Joseph and of course, The monument was and to the two counties and by the of the of of each including Joseph of the Illinois Supreme and at the Urbana Judge was the at the of the His Judge that speech in a of this marker in In the of the County marker was by a at The served and the were the of the Lincoln Circuit Marking with the to in After that year, the to to on other to the circuit with to an tour were for was in the of the of and the last for which there are The was in Marking memorial Lincoln's Eighth Judicial Circuit the old circuit. of the several have been or Most are at the Lincoln These are of Lincoln's to these but they what or could This is not the case with the The and of in these roads and the is the of the Lincoln Circuit Marking and all those who the the roads then in the years after the a now another years later is almost as of the refer to that were made as the during the but the do not these They do the of the Judge Cunningham in his speech the of the settlement of Illinois on the of roads. and creation of the roads from the frequently to on the some of the in the about the with local it was of the and They a by and that as of the several roads that the lawyers would have the of these had to on local and own It several years and to each of the counties of the circuit. The was to nineteen or four only in The Henry Lincoln in the Illinois a plaque from one of the from marker to marker a of what it was to travel these roads during the time of Lincoln and his The roads are some are not are from the of Each is so that it is almost Though have replaced the one the the of the land, and the of its It is the same where Abraham Lincoln grew from a newly attorney to a with the that The and their roads the Illinois of that traveling these roads between a of the that these men so long of these is in the same that in of This also the counties in the that the circuit riders traveled from county to county from 1847 to 1853, and a of the by marker is on a of on the side of the This is not the of this the marker was at the Sangamon County now as the The of Lincoln's day was the at the corner of and marker is as on the north side of the present This is the of the Lincoln in marker is on the of the as This is one of only two Lincoln in in the circuit. The county seat has been Eureka since marker is as on the side of what is now the McLean County the McLean County This is the of the Lincoln in were placed at county Mt. and Lincoln. In Mt. it is at the corner of the and in Lincoln, on the west side of the the of the Lincoln in Lincoln. Mt. is the other Lincoln that marker is on the corner of the Lincoln which is no longer the of the marker is on the west side of the This is the of the Lincoln county marker is at the north side of the the of the Lincoln marker is not at the of the Lincoln in which is the of the The marker is to the on the same at the of Route 150 and Logan marker is on the corner of the which is the of the Lincoln was in the Eighth Judicial Circuit, Lincoln had a of in this county during his in the Lincoln Circuit Marking it that County be part of the The marker is on the side of the which is at the of the Lincoln marker is in a known as Lincoln the to the from the present which is the of the marker is at the corner of the the of the marker is not at the of the Lincoln in which is different than A bronze of the Lincoln stands on the corner of Lincoln the of the Lincoln The marker is on in There is a which of the Lincoln building at the County marker is on the corner of the which is the of the Lincoln The Lincoln a has been to the County in the corner of marker is at the corner of the of the Lincoln marker is on the west side of the

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