en
the recipients.

"His personal integrity was beyond question, and it may truly be
said of him that he ably and faithfully discharged every public
duty. He died at the early age of thirty-nine, the period when,
to most public men, a career of usefulness and distinction has
scarcely begun. Upon the occasion of the announcement of his death
to the Senate his colleague, Senator Kane, paid an eloquent tribute
to his lofty character, his ability, and his worth, and deplored
the loss his State had sustained in his early death.

"He lies buried in the State that had so signally honored him, near
the beautiful river upon whose banks he found a home when Illinois
was yet a wilderness. Such, in brief, was the man McLean, whose
honored name this good county will hand down to the after times.
No higher tribute need be paid to his memory than to say, his name
was worthy of this magnificent domain to which it was given.

"In no part of this broad land has there been more prompt response
than in this to the authoritative call to arms. In the largest
measure McLean County has met every requirement that patriotism
could demand. Full and to overflowing has been her contribution
of means and men.

"In almost the last struggle with the savage foe, as he burned his
wigwam and disappeared before the inexorable advance of civilized men;
in the War with Mexico, by which States were added to our national
domain; in that of the great Rebellion, where the life of the nation
was at stake, and in our recent conflict with Spain--four times
during a history that spans but a single life, McLean County has
sent her full quota of soldiers to the field. Few survive of the
gallant band who stood with Bissell and Hardin at Buena Vista,
or followed Shields and Baker through the burning sands from the
Gulf to the City of Mexico. And at each successive reunion of
comrades in the great civil strife, there are fewer, and yet fewer,
responses to the solemn roll-call.

"'On Fame's eternal camping-ground,
Their silent tents are spread.'

"And what a record is that of this glorious county during the
eventful years of '61-'65! With a population of but forty per cent
of that of to-day, more than four thousand of her brave sons marched
gallantly to the front. They gathered from farm, from shop,
from mart and hall--to die, if need be, that their country might
live. On many fields now historic, where brave men struggled
and died, soldiers from