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Macoupin County ILGenWeb - Free Genealogy Resources
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Victor Hicken's Page
Author
Illinois in the Civil War, University
of Illinois Press, 1991.
"Bushrod R Johnson was a Confederate general, first captured at
Fort Donelson, but walked out of prison--escaped. Later, during the Battle
of Chickamauga, he was instrumental in breaking the Union line.
After the war, he had hard times. Years later, a couple of ex-Union generals
were traveling through Macoupin County and asked a farmer for directions.
The farmer was old Bushrod, trying to eke a living.
He stayed in Macoupin County and was buried in the Brighton Cemetery in
Brighton IL. Through the efforts of Mr Noble Wyatt, Bushrod's body was
exhumed from the Brighton Cemetery and moved down beside his wife in Nashville
City Cemetery, Nashville TN. A marker was laid at his resting place in
Miles Cemetery."
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"The 7th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was instrumental in holding the
Union defensive position at Allatoona. Armed with new repeating rifles
and commanded by a sturdy little English born farmer from Carlinville,
Illinois, the 7th along with a few other regiments kept General Sherman's
army, now in Georgia, from being cut off by elements of Gen. Hood's Confederate
army. When the battle grew close, General John Corse signaled from mountaintop
posts to Gen. Sherman that he needed help. Gen. Sherman replied with a
message that journalists corrupted into "Hold the fort, I am coming!"
These lines soon became part of a popular hymn of the Civil War period."
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"John M. Palmer began his political career in Carlinville, Illinois.
As the Civil War approached, he switched his political allegiance to the
Republican Party and, at the commencement of the war, was awarded a officer's
commission. He rose to Major-General but, piqued at failing to get a prized
command, he resigned his commission. After the war he was both a governor
of Illinois and a senator from that state. His correspondence is in Springfield
and is almost impossible to read since he wrote both laterally and vertically
on each page. One of his pet stories concerned a soldier coming home to
Carlinville on leave, only to find his wife in dalliance with another man.
The soldier chased the interloper out the back door and into the outhouse,
whereupon the veteran pushed the outhouse over onto its doorside. It was
the talk of Carlinville, Palmer wrote."
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Other Little Items
"I caught your piece about the bookstore in Carlinville and
the chap there being interested in the Virden-Pana mine riot. I wrote an
article on that back in the fifties for the Illinois Historical Journal.
It was the first done on that incident and has been cited many times. Perhaps
the fellow can find that in his local library. Also it occurs to me that
you may not know that the famous "Mother" Jones (a nationally
known labor union figure) is buried in Mt. Olive. The liberal-radical magazine
now published derives its name from her."
Found articles:
The Virden and Pana
Mine Wars of 1898 article by Victor Hicken
Mine Union Radicalism in Macoupin and
Montgomery Counties (IL) by Victor Hicken
"You mention a Jack Burns. I got a tel. call from a fellow
in Gillespie by that name. Using my book on the CW, he and others had dedicated
a plaque or something to a gentleman from Gillespie who had won the Medal
of Honor in the Civil War."
Growing Up In Coal Town: Main Street -
article by Victor Hicken about Gillespie Macoupin County IL during the
1920s and 1930s.
"I grew up in Gillespie next door to Jack Burns' grandparents. Want
to know if you knew John Russell who came from Gillespie and who became
a judge in Carlinville. Or Leo Brianza who once ran a little store in Carlinville.
John went to high school with me, and Leo attended SIU for a little bit
while I was there.
Grew up in Gillespie in the Middle Ages. People drove Model T Fords. Still
had a livery stable in town. No gangs. The livin' was easy. Fished at the
reservoir. Swam in Mine No.1 pond, which is how I became immune to most
diseases.
Did you know that Howard Keel who was in the movies (Showboat, Seven Brides
for Seven Brothers, Annie Get Your Gun) came from Gillespie. I knew him
as Harold Kiel. He is still around in Hollywood and was in that horror
"Dallas" for a long time. I actually remember him fairly well.
His mother had been widowed and she tried to make a go of it in Gillespie
by peddling Watkins products. Tough during the depression.
I should keep notes on what I send out. I'm beginning to repeat myself.
Is that the beginning of "Oldtimer's Disease." Let'see. What's
the name of this town I'm in?"
DOG GREEN SECTOR - OMAHA BEACH - WORLD
WAR II
US LCT(A) 2227 -
website
"I would like to point out that the landing craft which I commanded
was the first to land on Dog Green Sector, Omaha Beach. We managed to get
off but were so shot up that we had to rebeach. The unit following our
boat was Co.A, 116th Inf., 29th Div.. It was a National Guard unit from
Bedford, Va. and thereabouts, and consisted of brothers, cousins, at least
one father and son. Within fifteen minutes all but six of Co. A were dead
or wounded; only six men untouched. After that slaughter, that sector of
Omaha beach was closed. In the movie, Finding Private Ryan, the landing
takes place on Dog Green and the gist of the story is the search for the
last brother of a family."
I have the American flag which was
taken down just before the boat was sunk in the English Channel. It is
full of bullet holes.
CHRISTMAS AT SEA - WWII
USS
Polk County (LST 1084) - Victor submitted pictures
USS Polk County
(LST 1084) Crew today- (Victor on Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theater (1944-1946)
and in his cabin in northern Minnesota 2001)
"Old LST 1084 was lumbering along at 4 knots an hour, when her engines
were functioning. Date Dec. 25, 1946, time 0400. Place midway between Guam
and Hawaii. Morale of crew low, wanting to get home, and trip taking forever.
Four of us had the morning watch. Over the horizon appears a topmast, then
rising from the sea almost was a huge Essex class carrier. Then signals
from the carrier spelling out M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S. Warming feelings
among the four of us. I have always treasured that moment."
"I really respect the Marines. Our ship took a battalion off Okinawa
after they had been fighting for a month. It was really sad. We asked the
officers if they wanted to sleep in the officers" quarters. They said
"No", we will sleep with the men." That I have always remembered."
Victor's Birthday - Sept 28, 2001 - 80
years old
Mary Hicken's Birthday - 80 years
old
Mary and Victor Hicken on Mary's 80th
Birthday
Mary and Victor Hicken at a university
function 20 Jun 2005
(Permission to copy the following given
by Major Greg Watson to Gloria Frazier)
"Dr. Hicken,
Greetings from one of the grateful who have read your books. I came across
your name on the Macoupin county genealogy home page. Your book was central
to my start in genealogy. Fascinated by the Civil War and raised on stories
of how my Dad used to play with his g-grandafather's musket, I began looking
for his service record in 1976. That same year I found your book, Illinois
In The Civil War, in my school library. With it in hand and the address
for the Archives in Springfield, I found not just service records, but
real history on the 10th and 61st Illinois Infantry Regiments. One of my
g-g-grandfathers has his picture in Stillwell's "Story of A Common
Soldier". I bought the update when it came out in 1991.
Currently I am travelling around the deep south, at the pleasure of the
Air Force, living about thirty miles east of the Bentonville, NC battlefield.
I am rounding out the available information on the 10th, 61st, 97th, 99th,
and 144th Illinois Infantry Regiments. Was there ever anyone who did similar
books for Indiana or Missouri? I am currently trying to develop information
on the the 10th and 49th Missouri Infantry (union). Apparently my wife's
Pike County relation jumped the river to enlist.
Anyway, thank you for a wonderful book which has played such a large part
in my personal history quest.
vr,
Major Greg Watson
About Dr. Hicken: I have great respect and admiration for him and his work.
If the Air Force had an ROTC detachment at Western Illinois in 1981, I'd
have gone there instead of SIUE. I have two copies of the Illinois in the
Civil War book, a pamphlet from the Centennial Commission that he wrote,
and another book called the American Fighting Man which he published in
1973. When I first learned about him I had no idea he was from so near
home. I was thrilled when I learned they had published an update in 1991.
My personal interest lay with Leander Stillwell of the 61st Illinois, oft
quoted in Dr Hicken's book. He grew up in the same township as Enoch W.
Wallace, my ggg grandfather.
I am currently serving as an F-15E Weapon Systems Officer at Seymour-Johnson
AFB, NC. I am a Major with 13 years on active duty. I graduated from Jerseyvile
HS, Lewis & Clark Comm College, SIUE, and have a Master's from Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University.
Please use anything of value I might have written - I too would like to
honor Dr Hicken. He sent a reply to my email, but it was garbled in transmission.
Thanks,
Greg Watson"
Memories of Professor Victor Hicken
From The Western Alumni News, Winter 1998 By Gordon Taylor, Associate Vice
President, Western Illinois University
"Then it was noon and I had one class to go: American History 225
with Victor Hicken. It would be one of the most extraordinary experiences
of my life. Victor Hicken WAS American history. It oozed from every pore
of his body. We lived the American Civil War through the reflective eyes
of this splendid educator. From Bull Run to Vicksburg to the burning of
Atlanta, he took us with him. You could cut the emotion in the classroom
with a knife when he spoke of Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomatox. You
were there. Victor Hicken knew about war: knew about it first hand, as
only a veteran could. You see, a mere 22 years earlier, he had been part
of the original assault force on Dog Green sector, Omaha Beach, D-Day,
June 6, 1944. Vic Hicken knew how to teach history."
In an email to me, Victor wrote:
"I hesitate to tell you this but a new book called Omaha has a number
of references to me and my boat on D-Day, including a little map showing
exactly where I landed. I will not tell you more because you would probably
try to put the whole book on the website."
Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944
Joseph Balkoski
ISBN: 0811700798
Format: Hardcover, 416pp
Pub. Date: March 2004 Publisher: Stackpole Books
From the Publisher noted at the Barnes and Noble site:
"In Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944, Joseph Balkoski picks up where
other historians left off and weaves personal recollections and historical
analysis into a gripping, unforgettable narrative of one of the U.S. Army's
most costly days of World War II. After placing the D-Day preparations
firmly within their diplomatic and strategic context -- from Gen. George
Marshall's early enthusiasm for a Normandy landing to the Tehran conference,
where Stalin's support moved the plan into its final stages -- Balkoski
describes the minute-by-minute combat on Omaha Beach. Using a series of
detailed maps to illustrate the progress of the invasion, as well as a
broad selection of first-person accounts -- many given mere weeks after
the fighting -- Balkoski crafts a seamless story of the action as it unfolded.
He allows both officers and enlisted men to speak for themselves, as they
vividly recount their attempts to maneuver bombers through heavy cloud
cover, the claustrophobic terror of manning a tank aboard a landing vessel,
and the relentless fire that greeted them as they inched their way across
the beach.
A concluding section recognizes Omaha's Medal of Honor and Distinguished
Service Cross recipients and lists the minute details of the landings,
such as the order of battle, unit-by-unit casualties, and the equipment
the men carried. Equal parts oral history and meticulous reconstruction,
Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the
Normandy landings firsthand. It is a fitting tribute to the veterans and
an indispensable history of one of America's -- and, indeed, the world's
-- most important days."
Oct 2006
I remember Frank Fries and when a small boy, saw Mother Jones. I worked
at mines No.1 and 2. During the early thirties, the town of Benld was called
by the Post Dispatch "the wickedest sin city in the U.S." The
people there ignored prohibition and booze flowed freely. There was a constant
war between the Newman gang and the Shelton gang. Benld had a beautiful
ballroom called the Tarro Showplace. But by 1935 the leading Tarro was
in the pen. At one time Benld had something like 40 saloons and houses
of prostitution. We in Gillespie always thought of our town as being "clean".
Perhaps its was just because everybody was going to Benld. Gloria, I am
so old that I remember people writing with chisels. Thanks, vh
The Spirit of Christmas -2006
Two stories from the Hicken family, Mary and Vic. Each is a special
memory of the warmth and glow that Christmas can bring.
Mary’s mother passed away when she and her two sisters were very
young. Her father, now a widower, did the best to hold the family together
with cohesive love and affection. Though Christmas time was hard, it was
made much easier because three or four men from Captain O’Connell’s World
War I regiment would bring a tree and toys as well, decorating the apartment
while three little girls watched, wide-eyed and expectant . Mary has never
forgotten those wonderful moments.
In the Christmas time of 1944, Vic was coming home from the Pacific
theater of war. The ship could only make four or five knots an hour, and
the time passed ever so slowly. On Christmas morning, Vic was officer of
the deck and, as the sky cleared of night, he could see the top of a mast
of an obviously large vessel. It was an aircraft carrier. When its conning
tower hove into sight, its signal light began to blink ,“Merry Christmas,”
was the message. So unexpected, but it gave one a wonderful feeling of
the spirit of Christmas.
Each of us has similar stories to tell. And that is why we cherish
this special time.
Our affection to all,
Vic and Mary
Civil War Main Page
World War II Page
Macoupin County Home Page
Victor Hicken <vhicken@macomb.com>
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