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player ready...Historians, people in period garb and an Abraham Lincoln impersonator gathered over the weekend at Antioch Township’s Hickory Union Cemetery to honor the life of Silas Nichols who, 20 years of research confirmed, was Lake County’s last surviving soldier to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War when he died in 1945.
Historians say Nichols, a Lake Villa-Waukegan resident when he died at age 96, actually met Lincoln on several occasions.
A ceremony Saturday at his grave site, complete with artillery cannons and a color guard, paid tribute to the man along with the placement of a bronze plaque and granite marker.
The Camp 1, Department of Illinois, Sons of the Veterans of the Civil War organized the event. The group is the legally authorized heir representing members in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).
Mark Braun, a historian on Civil War veterans in the Chicago area, said it took awhile to track down details of Nichols’ Civil War service and life story.
“The research would lead us to one individual, and then we’d find out about another person, and so on, until it was uncovered, after 20 years, that Silas Nichols was actually the last one (from Lake County),” he said.
Braun noted that 18 Civil War-era soldiers are buried at Hickory Union Cemetery, and more than 53,000 other soldiers are buried throughout the Chicago area.
Nichols was born in Sandusky, Ohio, and lived in Lake County for more than 56 years. Diana Dretske, the Dunn Museum of Lake County’s curator, found his community involvement was a central aspect of his life, along with the military service and memories of meeting Lincoln.
“He mustered into the 145th Ohio Infantry at the age of 16, noting his age as 18 … being sent to Washington, D.C.,” she said. “(He) was among the throngs seeking to meet Mr. Lincoln, and the open door policy brought a crush of people to the White House. They camped outside and crammed into the corridors.
“He recounted being at the White House with others, and asking to see the president,” Dretske said. “A guard went into a room and said, ‘It’s only some old soldiers.’ Nichols remembered hearing Lincoln reply, ‘Never call them that!’ Lincoln himself came to the door and greeted them. Meeting him was an important event for Union soldiers and sailors.”
– Original Credit: News-Sun
Dretske noted that Nichols met Lincoln on three other occasions. After mustering out, he got married and eventually moved west to Lake Villa to live the life of a farmer.
After moving to Waukegan, Nichols distinguished himself as a detective for the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, and served as the Waukegan GAR’s post commander. His maintained his retired military associations, and in 1899 attended the dedication of the Civil War monument, which still stands near the current courthouse in Waukegan.
“For 17 years, Nichols read ‘The Gettysburg Address’ on Memorial Day on Waukegan’s courthouse square,” Dretske said. “Having met the man who wrote (it) made this a great honor. Nichols had a special place in the community as one of the few individuals still living who had met Abraham Lincoln.”
– Original Credit: News-Sun
Dressed as Lincoln Saturday, Max Daniels recited the address during the graveside ceremony.
“It’s what Silas Nichols did at every GAR encampment, and meeting President Lincoln,” said Ainsley Wonderling, the Lakes Region Historical Society’s director. “This is engraved on his stone.”
Cannon salutes, a rendition of taps and retiring the colors closed out the event.
Dretske quoted the Waukegan Gazette’s editor, as he watched men march off to fight in the Civil War: “Let not those who have volunteered be forgotten.”