I doubt whether any man did as much as George Watson toward getting up Company K. He was a lawyer at Newark, was a democrat, voted for Bell and Everett in 1860, and was an enthusiastic Union man. He was a fluent off-hand speaker and was the main figure at all the war meetings in Newark. Had been in Pennsylvania militia and Mexican war and was a good drill master. Was elected First Lieutenant. About the first of June, 1861, he withdrew from the Company and joined Mulligan’s Regiment in Chicago. Was captured with that command at Lexington, Missouri, in 1861. After this he served on a gunboat and, still later, had a commission in a Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment. He was gifted with talent of a high order, but an uncontrollable appetite for intoxicating liquor barred all possibility of success in life. It caused his ruin and downfall and death. He made many spasmodic attempts at reformation, and at these times was a successful temperance talker. But all his efforts at reform ended in failure. From the United States Soldiers’ Home at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I have received this: “The records show that George W. Watson served in Company K, 20th Illinois Infantry; Company E, 23d Illinois Infantry; Company F, 2d Pennsylvania Cavalry, and in U. S. Navy. He was admitted here December 15, 1877, and was killed by a railroad train in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at about 3 o’clock p. m., August 21, 1879.”
FAYETTE SCOFIELD, Newark, Illinois.
Born in DuPage county, Illinois, January 25, 1847. Enlisted as a recruit for Company K February 25, 1864. Discharged July 16, 1865. Killed in a railroad wreck in Missouri February 17, 1881.
AMON HEACOX, Lisbon, Illinois.
Born in Oneida county, New York, June 6, 1817. Enlisted in Company K, May, 1861, at the age of forty-four years. Mustered out July 14, 1864. Was the oldest man in the Company. I have been informed that he was slightly wounded at Britton’s Lane, but I have no recollection of it. I remember him very distinctly at Fort Donelson. He was a good man and a good soldier. Was a member of M. E. church. Was one of six, many years ago, to organize a Methodist Episcopal church in Lisbon, Illinois. He died in the Soldiers’ Home at Quincy, Illinois, April 23, 1889, in the seventy-third year of his age. Is interred in the cemetery at Lisbon.
HENRY HAVENHILL, Newark, Illinois.
Born in LaSalle county, Illinois, June 17, 1842. Enlisted April, 1861. Discharged for disability April 27, 1862. Died in Chicago, Illinois, of paralysis, June, 1889.
FRANCIS CROWELL, Newark, Illinois.
Born in Tompkins county, New York. Enlisted April, 1861, at the age of eighteen years. Was wounded in the Georgia campaign July, 1864. Mustered out July 16, 1865. Died at Waterman, Illinois, of a complication of diseases, September 17, 1889. The address of his widow is Mrs. Mary A. Crowell, Waterman, Illinois.
THOMAS GARNER.