When he was growing up, Carl Sandburg knew a number
of veterans of the Civil War residing in Galesburg.
They served in public offices, operated businesses and
made sure to observe Decoration Day on May 30th every
year.
Lansing J. Dawdy was born June 16, 1837 in Marshall
County, Illinois. His parents were Howell and
Elizabeth Ralston Dawdy. In 1838 the family moved to
Indian Point Township in the southwestern part of Knox
County.
Young Dawdy attended Abingdon College for a year and
then taught school for a year along with farming. He
also spent a year in Kansas farming with his brother.
In August, 1862, James L. Burkhalter of Maquon, was
signing up volunteers for service in the Civil War.
The one hundred volunteers became part of Company F,
86th Illinois Infantry. They received their training
at Camp Logan in Glen Oak Park, Peoria. Young Dawdy
was elected sergeant major.
On September 7, 1862, the unit boarded a train for
Camp Joe Holt in Jeffersonville, Indiana. By October
8th the unit experienced its first casualties at the
battle of Perryville, Kentucky. A month later, Dawdy
was elected adjutant and promoted to second
lieutenant. In December, 1863, he reenlisted for three
years at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
During the battle for Kennesaw Mountain, June 27,
1864, Dawdy was shot in the right breast and left for
dead on the battlefield. He lay between the lines for
a day and a night. Rebels found him and he gave the
sign that he was a member of the Masonic Order. He was
taken to a black woman who cared for him. She drew a
silk handkerchief through his wound in order to clean
it.
Dawdy was moved several times during the next six
months to three different Confederate prisoner of war
camps before being paroled. He was a patient at
Columbus, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri, Union
hospitals. He was honorably discharged on May 1, 1865,
and a year later he began receiving an invalid
pension.
On February 8, 1866, he married Alice E. Huber at
Maquon. They had three children, but only one daughter
grew to adulthood.
The family was enumerated in the 1880 federal census
at Maquon. Dawdy was conducting a general store. He
owned several buildings in the village. He was an
active Mason and member of the Grand Army of the
Republic. Local residents elected him to several
village and township offices.
In 1890 Mr. and Mrs. Dawdy moved to Peoria. On
December 26, 1899, Dawdy purchased sixty acres of land
including the “Dead Angle” on which he had fought and
been wounded. The parcel was transferred to the
Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Association in 1904. By
1914 enough money had been donated to erect a monument
dedicated to Illinois soldiers.
In 1916 the property was transferred to the federal
government and it is now part of the Kennesaw Mountain
National Battlefield.
Lt. Dawdy lived with his daughter in Florida after the
death of his wife. He died in her home November 26,
1923, at the age of eighty-six years, five months and
ten days. He was buried beside his wife in
Maquon Cemetery.
There were ninety-three men from Knox County in the
86th. Of that number, five were killed, three wounded,
eight died of disease and three became prisoners of
war. The unit also participated in the Atlanta
Campaign, the March to the Sea and the Grand Review in
Washington, DC.