Glen Ellyn Historical Society to honor the village's Civil War dead

It is July 1, 1863. The place is a field in southern Pennsylvania where members of the 8th Illinois Cavalry are guarding the approaches to a stone bridge. Through the early morning haze they see a line of Confederate troops advancing toward their position. The captain in command picks up his sergeant's carbine, takes careful aim, and fires the first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg.

That man was Capt. Marcellus Ephraim Jones. His hometown was Danby, Illinois, which today goes by the name of Glen Ellyn.

Today, there are few reminders of the role played by the village of Danby in the Civil War. But Danby offered up most of its fit males over the age of 17 to fight in that war, a total of 70 in all. To put this number in perspective, it would be the equivalent today of sending more than 4,500 young Glen Ellyn citizens off to fight a war.

One of the 70 volunteers was William H. Churchill, grandson of Winslow and Mercy Churchill, the first settlers in what later became Glen Ellyn. Along with several of his cousins, William Churchill enlisted with the 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment in September, 1861, and fought in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.

He was wounded on three occasions. At Antietam his horse was shot out from under him and he was captured, after which he spent time in a Confederate prison camp before being released in a prisoner exchange.

Churchill, who died in 1927, is one of 62 Civil War veterans buried in Forest Hill Cemetery at the corner of St. Charles and Riford roads in Glen Ellyn. Members of the Glen Ellyn Historical Society will place flags on those 62 graves beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 19. Anyone interested in Glen Ellyn's Civil War history is encouraged to participate.

For information, call the Glen Ellyn Historical Society at (630) 469-1867.