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The Civil War cannon sitting on the front lawn of the Montgomery County Historic Courthouse is one of only three known Confederate bronze 12-pounder Howitzers manufactured in 1862 by the Noble Brothers & Company of Rome, Georgia. The foundry where it was made was destroyed by General Sherman’s troops two years later, and the remaining two cannons are at the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania. 

The “Trophy Cannon” is so called because it was captured from the Confederates and has a straight, heavy barrel capable of firing 12 pound projectiles, including both solid and gunpowder filled cannon balls. The cannon was donated by F.D. Hubbel to the Women’s Relief Corps of Hillsboro by an Act of Congress on December 12, 1930. 

The cannon was originally mounted on a concrete pedestal, pointing westward, on the southeast corner of the courthouse lawn. The Lincoln Tablet, containing the Gettysburg address, is embedded in the platform below. The cannon was dedicated for the ?rst time on Memorial Day, 1931. During World War II, many trophy cannons were donated and melted down, their bronze used primarily as war ship propellers. However, this cannon survived intact and remained in place for six decades. 

In early 1997, a Civil War buff from Missouri contacted the Montgomery County Board and offered to purchase the cannon for $45,000. Upon investigation, county officials learned that Civil War experts at the Smithsonian and the Watervliet Arsenal Museum appraised its value at $50,000-$70,000, and recommended it be placed in safe storage. Montgomery County Board members debated where the cannon should be located, and eventually it was placed back on the Historic Courthouse lawn, firmly secured onto a replica Civil War gun carriage built by Paulson Brothers Ordnance Company of Rend Lake, Wisconsin. 

The Lincoln Tablet was again placed below the Cannon. The cannon was formally rededicated in May 1999 during a ceremony conducted by members of the 8th Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infantry US Civil War re-enactors. The regiment camped overnight and marched to the Courthouse from the Beckemeyer School grounds, where Abraham Lincoln spoke on September 9, 1858.

A smallpox virus spread rapidly through the Alton Prison in 1863, killing more than 1,435 incarcerated soldiers. The soldiers are laid to rest here and each of their names is commemorated at the Memorial. The Alton Prison and Confederate Cemetery are some of the rare northernmost monuments to the Confederate Soldier.

Note: This home on this site no longer exists.

Of all the friends who Abraham Lincoln counted in Hillsboro, Joseph Eccles was.his closest. Joseph was born in Kentucky on January 7, 1807. He and his wife, Jane were married in 1829, and the next year they moved to a farm just outside Vandalia, Illinois. 

There, Joseph Eccles farmed, taught school and operated a mercantile business. The Eccles family later moved to Hillsboro, where Joseph was a justice of the peace, assistant assessor, deputy collector of U.S. revenue, and a recruiting officer for Union troops in Hillsboro. 

When traveling through Hillsboro, Lincoln often stayed at Joseph and Jane’s home on the corner of Berry and Water streets. Lincoln was known to sit on the Eccles' staircase and stretch out while telling stories to folks who came by to visit with him. Prior to the demolition of the Eccles' home many years later, the wooden step that Lincoln favored was removed from the house, and it is in the collection of the Historical Society of Montgomery County. E

ccles and Lincoln corresponded numerous times, most often on political matters and local issues important to Lincoln. Eccles was also a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1848. Letters between Lincoln and Eccles are well documented and show their true friendship. Lincoln considered Eccles an important advisor. 

It was Eccles who convinced Lincoln to come to Hillsboro to make a speech while campaigning against Stephen Douglas for the U.S. Senate on September 9, 1858. Douglas had spoken here just a month earlier, onAugust 2nd. "Uncle Joe" and "Aunt Jane”, as their Hillsboro friends affectionately called them, visited President Lincoln in Washington at least two times. 

So much more could be written about the relationship and friendship of these two men. Eccles died in Hillsboro on July 12, 1888. Both he and Jane are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsboro.

In the 1840s and 1850s, the Franklin House was one of the largest and finest hotels in Alton. Spectators of the debate came by train and steamboat from all over Illinois and the nearby slave state of Missouri to witness the last of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in Alton. Lincoln used the Franklin House as his campaign headquarters where supporters gathered for the day.

Carthage Jail is a historic building built in 1839.  It is best known as the location of the 1844 killing of Joseph Smith and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and his brother Hyrum, by a mob of approximately 150 men.  The site is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a historic site with an adjacent  visitors' center.

In 1848, Illinois was a very different place! Prairies covered much of the state, settlers used wagons, stagecoaches & boats for transportation and to ship goods, and LaSalle, IL was bigger than Chicago!

Visit the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Area & take a journey back in time aboard the “Volunteer,” a mule-pulled 1840’s replica canal boat, as it coasts gently up and down the Illinois & Michigan Canal.

The only I&M Canal toll house in existence, The Ottawa Office offers a unique glimpse of what life was like in the 1800’s. As only one of four stops for the collection of tolls, these houses once stood in LaSalle, Lockport and Chicago with the LaSalle office closing in 1876.

The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections (IHLC) preserves and provides access to both print and manuscript materials documenting the history of Illinois as well as Abraham Lincoln’s life and legacy. Approximately 35,000 printed volumes and 1,000 manuscript collections as well as numerous maps, photographs, ephemera, and other materials provide rich resources for researchers in a many fields. 

James K. Magie was the owner of the Macomb Daily Journal and a supporter of Abraham Lincoln. He was with Lincoln in his hotel room in the Randolph Hose when the “Freeport Question” was devised and persuaded Lincoln to have his famous ambrotype image taken that in now in the collection of the Library of Congress.

James Magie was also the father of Lizzie Magie who became the inventor of Monopoly.

To learn more about Monopoly and Macomb, visit:

https://www.visitforgottonia.com/macombopoly/

Visitors can pick up the Lincoln & Civil War Legacy Trail guide at the Alton Visitor's Center, located at 200 Piasa Street (across from Argosy Casino) in Downtown Alton. While some of the sites are within walking distance of each other, most will require some mode of transportation. The trail is self-guided, and visitors can explore the sites in any order they wish.

Lincoln's first visits to Alton can be traced back to the early 1840s. Experience the life of young Lincoln as a lawyer, duelist and orator. It was here that the final Lincoln-Douglas Debate took place, with the issue of slavery on the minds spectators. It was here that Confederate soldiers were held captive, died and were buried. It was here that Alton resident and U.S. Senator Lyman Trumbull authored the 13th Amendment, putting an end to slavery in the United States. 

 Walk in the footsteps of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Civil War soldiers from both North and South, as you explore the lasting legacies of Lincoln in Alton.

The new trail connects ten historic sites in Alton relating to Lincoln's time spent here and the city's connections to the Civil War. The journey begins with Lincoln & Douglas in Lincoln-Douglas Square. Subsequent sites include: Ryder Building, Smallpox Island and Lincoln-Shields Duel sites, Lovejoy Monument, National Cemetery, Lyman Trumbull House, Confederate Cemetery, Alton Prison and Franklin House. At each of the sites, visitors will find interpretive panels that further tell the story of each site and Alton's connections to American history.