Civil War generals bring history to life in Elgin

Few people who drive along Lynch Street in Elgin know it was named for William Lynch, an Elgin-raised Civil War general who turned from die-hard Lincoln opponent to die-hard Lincoln fan after being shot in the face and spending years in a harsh Confederate prison camp.

Pretty much every American has heard of Ulysses S. Grant, the top Union Army general who went on to become a two-term president. But do they know the often amusing stories behind this eccentric man's storied career?

Dressed in the carefully reproduced blue uniforms of generals from the 1860s, the two Civil War commanders came back to life side-by-side at a recent "brown bag lunch" program at the Elgin History Museum.

Lynch was portrayed by Elgin building contractor James Zingales, Grant by retired manufacturing consultant Larry Werline, a former Sycamore resident who now lives near Springfield.

Though the stories they told involved the worst bloodshed in American history - they noted that more soldiers were killed in the two-day Battle of Shiloh in 1862 than in the entire eight-year Revolutionary War - the audience of 50 was left chuckling more often than cringing.

"You should bring history to life, not just read facts in an encyclopedia," Werline said afterward. "You want people to learn a little. But speaking as a historical character, you can also show what that person's opinion would have been about something."

Zingales and Werline said they got to know each other years ago as both participated in Civil War re-enactments and were members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Werline said he has been portraying Grant for 20 years.

"I go to events in Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan. I am Grant 50 or 60 times a year," he said. "Before I started doing that I portrayed a lieutenant in the artillery during re-enactments."

Zingales, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer to playing William Lynch. After finding out that this young Elginite served under Grant in the first battles of 1861-1862, Zingales volunteered to portray Lynch in last September's Bluff City Cemetery walk.

He researched the general's life by reading information gathered about him at St. Mary Catholic Church of Elgin, which the Irish-American Lynch family had helped found. More information came from Elgin Civil War expert Ken Gough.

After the cemetery walk, Zingales portrayed Lynch at the Elgin Civil War Encampment June 10. And when Elgin Area Historical Society held a "Civil War Walk" fundraiser through the city's near West Side May 21, Zingales stood in uniform outside the house where the real Lynch had lived and spoke about "his" life.

While Grant had been a career West Point-trained officer, Lynch's prewar experience was limited to drilling with an Elgin militia group called the Washington Continentals. When war broke out in 1861, he was just 22 and was attending college at Notre Dame.

He rushed back to Elgin and began recruiting Irish Catholic Elginites to form what would become the 58th Illinois Regiment, with himself as its very young colonel.

After participating in victories presided over by Grant early in 1862 at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee, Lynch's Elginites were in the heart of the fighting when the Confederates counterattacked at Shiloh. More Elgin men died there than in any other battle in any war. Lynch was shot in the mouth and ended up in a rebel prison camp.

While Grant was president, he visited Elgin in 1872, toured the watch factory (where he used precision equipment to measure the width of one of his hairs) and visited old war buddy Lynch in Lynch's home. Lynch would die just five years later at age 38.

Little-known facts about Grant and the North

Actor Larry Werline shared the following anecdotes as he played Ulysses S. Grant:

• "I never really wanted to be a soldier." But his father forced him to go to West Point as a way to get a free college education, and during the Mexican-American War in the 1840s he discovered a natural talent for leading men in combat.

• His real name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. But since that made his initials H.U.G., "I could have been known at West Point as Lt. Huggy," Werline said. Since the congressman who had nominated him to the academy mistakenly had listed his name as "Ulysses Simpson Grant" anyway (Simpson was his mother's maiden name), Grant just went along with the mistake.

• Chronically a sloppy dresser, Grant once encountered a group of lawyers gathered around a stove. They told him, "You look like you've been to hell and back. What's it like in hell?" Grant answered, "Same as here, except the lawyers are closer to the fire."

• When 300 overexcited mules stampeded through Confederate lines, Grant issued an order promoting those mules to horses.

• Though notorious for boozing, the pretend Grant said the general really never drank much. "Lincoln reportedly said, 'Find out what brand of whiskey he drinks so I can send it to my other generals.' Lincoln denied ever saying that. But I wish he had."

• Both sides entering the Civil War thought their side would win in one or two battles. "But each side underestimated their opponent," Werline said. "They both forgot their enemies were Americans. We don't like to lose. We're a stubborn people."

• Grant and Lincoln were gracious to the surrendering Confederates, letting them take home horses to work their farms and warning that if the North hanged Gen. Robert E. Lee for treason, Southerners would start a guerrilla war. But Werline/Grant said Lincoln's assassination hardened Northern hearts and "turned the attitude toward revenge."