In 1849 Mr. Logan was elected clerk of Jackson County, and continued his study of law. He took a course of law-lectures at Louisville, and was admitted to the bar. He commenced practice with his uncle, and soon gained prominence. But political life, for one so active, filled with an unbounded energy, had charms for him.
Soon after his return from Louisville, he was elected prosecuting attorney for Jackson County, in 1852, and the same year to the legislature, and re-elected in 1853, 1856, and 1857. In 1854 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the third judiciary district of Illinois, and in 1856 was a presidential elector on the Buchanan and Breckenridge ticket.
It was at this time he began his career as a stump-speaker, and his speeches were regarded as remarkable examples of eloquence, giving him a reputation that sent him to congress in 1858. He was an earnest Douglas man, and being re-nominated in 1860, he stumped the state with great success, and was re-elected by a large majority. This was a transition period. The great contest was coming on, and “the piping times of peace” were angry with the most dread forebodings.
At this point we will let one speak who knows him well:—
“Right here came a critical period in his career, and although there are men who still assert that his sympathy was with the secessionists, there is plenty of evidence that the South had no claim upon him,—that whatever his original sentiments may have been, his public utterances were always loyal, and that when the crisis came he was on the right side. The country he lived in was full of Southern sympathizers, his mother’s family were secessionists, and his surroundings made loyalty unpopular. The story that he tendered his services to Jefferson Davis is contradicted by that gentleman, who says he never heard of Logan until more than a year after the war began.
“There are several witnesses to the fact that in November, 1860, when Lincoln’s election was assured, and threats were freely made that he should not be inaugurated, Logan publicly declared that he would shoulder a musket and escort the ‘Rail-Splitter’ to the White House.
“While he was in Washington, attending the called session of congress in the summer of 1861, he went to the front, as many representatives did, to visit the army in Virginia, and being the guest of Colonel Richardson when the battle of Bull Run took place, he was given a musket and fought through that eventful July day as a private in the ranks.”
When congress adjourned in August, he went home, resigned his seat in congress, raised the Thirty-first Illinois Regiment, was commissioned its colonel, and led them into battle at Belmont, Missouri, ten months after they were mustered into service. One has well said, “Logan was developed by the war. The bugler of the army sounded the key-note of his character, and in an atmosphere of dust and powder he grew great.”
In that first battle at Belmont he had his horse shot under him, while leading a successful bayonet-charge. He fought with General Grant at Fort Henry, and in the siege and terrific contest at Fort Donelson he bore a brave, conspicuous part, and was wounded in the left arm. He was off duty for a while, and refused a re-election to congress, but reported on March 5th to General Grant for duty at Pittsburgh Landing, only about a month after the Fort Donelson engagement, and was at once made a brigadier-general.
Nashville had fallen. Tennessee was largely within the Union lines, and entrance was being effected into Georgia and Mississippi; hence the stubborn resistance of the foe at Pittsburgh Landing. But victory brought them to the siege of Corinth, Island No. 10 falling under the guns of Commodore Foote. Grant and Logan led their armies down to Vicksburg.