Lewis H. Kay's grandparents came to the United States from England in 1849. Richard and Ann (Tutlow) Kay had farmed in Lancashire and emigrated to Peoria, Illinois, with their eleven children. A short time later, the family settled near Maquon.

 

Robert Kay was one of their English-born children. He enlisted in the 77^th Illinois Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. He was just seventeen years old. Earlier in the war, the regiment had been part of General U.S. Grant's army surrounding Vicksburg. Afterward, the unit served in Louisiana and Texas. At Sabine Crossing in Louisiana, the regiment was decimated by a rebel attack. The surviving 175 soldiers, including Robert Kay, was transferred to the 130^th Illinois Infantry.

 

After returning from the war he made his home on a farm in Salem Township. Some years later he bought a farm in Section 8 of the township which is located near the southeast corner of Knox County. He married Samantha West on December 25, 1867. She was the daughter of John K. and Elizabeth (George) West, pioneer settlers of Knox County.

 

Robert and Samantha Kay had seven children, only one of whom, was a boy. He was named Lewis. The boy attended school and worked on the family farm, as did many young males in those days.

 

Young Lewis, knowing that his father had served in the Civil War, may have wanted to find out if he was as brave as his father, or simply to see what war would be like.

 

He was a student at Lombard University in the spring of 1898. Lewis enlisted in Company C, Sixth Illinois Infantry, just as Carl Sandburg had done. They were two of the company's eighty-five members. The newspapers were full of articles about President William McKinley and the Congress deciding what to do about the treatment of the native people in Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Spanish occupiers had detained many of the natives in concentration camps where hundreds died of disease and malnutrition.

 

Company C went to Springfield, Illinois, for training and outfitting, and then to Falls Church, Virginia, for more training. The soldiers boarded a ship, the Rita, at Charleston, South Carolina, on July 11^th for the Caribbean. On July 22^nd the ship landed  at Puerto Rico. A few days later some of the young men were very sick. The tropical heat, frequent rain and mosquitoes as well as poor food had weakened them. Several of the soldiers contracted yellow fever which was endemic to the islands.

 

The men of Company C returned to Galesburg on September 21, 1898, and received a huge welcome from the citizens of Galesburg. Some of the young men, too weak to stand, were helped from the train. Several were taken to the hospital.

 

Lewis H. Kay was one of the sick soldiers. Apparently he had contracted yellow fever. He died October 12, 1898. The funeral was held from the family home three miles west of Yates City. It was probably the largest funeral ever held in the area. The Chaplain of the Sixth Infantry conducted the  service. Lombard University was represented by two students, John Bartlett and Earl Watson. Six privates of Company C men were pallbearers. Other members of the company, including Captain T.L. McGirr and First Lieutenant C.A. Byloff, were also in attendance. Carl Sandburg was not present. It is possible he was busy arranging to join the Galesburg Fire Department.

The funeral escort to the cemetery was nearly two miles long. The school children of the village formed two lines for the hearse and escort to pass through on the way to the grave. A firing squad discharged three volleys. “Taps” was played by trumpeter Tom Thompson and the burial was at an end.

 

It was a fitting ceremony. How much consolation it provided to his parents, who had buried their only son, is hard to say.