Mattoon Public Library to Host Presentation on Mattoon and the Civil War

For Immediate Release – July 5, 2022

MATOON – The adult programming focus on Mattoon and the Civil War continues at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 10, 2022, at the Mattoon Public Library with a presentation by park ranger Shawn Williams. The program will be in the Community Room in the library’s lower basement.

Williams is a guide at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, a home known as White Haven where Grant met his wife Julia and lived with her and her family from 1854 to 1859. Williams’ presentation will focus on Grant’s time in Illinois early in the Civil War. “I will be talking about how he was just a clerk working in his dad’s leather goods store in Galena in April 1861 when the war began,” Williams wrote of his Grant presentation. “By August, just 4 months later, he is a Brigadier General.

Before he became a colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, he was working as an aid for Governor Richard Yates. He was helping to raise regiments for the war effort, and swearing the regiments into service.” The 21st Illinois was raised from the congressional district around Mattoon. Williams said the 21st Illinois was a regiment with many discipline issues when Grant took command.

“He whipped them into shape as a fighting unit. Grant trained the 21st in Springfield before they moved into Missouri to go after Confederates who were destroying railroads and property in Missouri. Grant would eventually be placed in charge of southeastern Missouri, and set up his headquarters in Cairo.”

The library’s Local History Center which includes its new Civil War display will be open after the presentation. The display curated by volunteer Chris Suerdieck features the Mattoon regiment and includes important artifacts.

This is the third Civil War-related presentation during the launch of the Civil War room. The library hosted a “songs of the Civil War performance,” and a one act presentation on Grant’s life in May.

“Our history center including the Civil War items are becoming a destination that attract interest from local residents, former residents, people from the region and sometimes beyond,” said library Director Carl Walworth. “This is another program that highlights the important role Mattoon played in the Civil War. Programs like this help create understanding and appreciation of significant historical events.”