History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY 183
Richardson came to Dixon and lived for a time with his uucle,
James Hatch, Jr., who was then conducting the only bakery in
this part of the state nearer than Peru. James and Charles Hatch
had the credit of operating the iirst bakery in Dixon, distributing
theii" hand-made crackers and bread to nearby settlements.
At the age of seven years George L. IJichardson was sent to a
select or subscription school taught by a Mrs. Cotton in what was
known as the stone schoolhouse directly west of the Nachusa house.
The lamented Major L. Levanway of the Thirty-fourth Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, who was killed at the battle of Shiloh on the
7th of April, 1862, was the next teacher. He was followed by
Henry T. Noble, who was a member of the Thii'teenth Hlinois
Infantry. In tlie early '50s the demand for a better school system
became imperative and the public schools were established.
With advancing years George L. Richardson passed from one
school to another of higher grade and at the time of the outbreak
of the Civil war in 1861 was a student in the high school which was
then conducted in the building now occupied by Dr. Marion L.
White, on Second street, where Alexander and James Gow were
the efficient instructors. In September of 1861, Mr. Richardson,
who could no longer content himself to remain at home \\ bile the
country was engaged in war, enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Illinois
Infantry in which he served for three years and was then honorably
discharged at Jonesboro, Georgia, September 12, 1864, when
but twenty-two years of age. He went back to Nashville, Tennes-
see, with General Thomas and while at that point in the winter of
1865, the battle of Nashville occurred, the troops of General
Thomas being confronted with the rebel forces under General
Hood. Mr. Richardson was in the service at that time in the Ninth
Regiment quartermaster forces, having been appointed first lieutenant
of Company D of that regiment. During his military experience
he participated in many hotly contested engagements,
including the battle of Shiloh, April, 7, 1862; the siege of Corinth,
Mississippi, in May, 18()2; the battle of Perry ville, Kentucky, in
October of the same year, on which occasion he was recommended
to his superiors for promotion in i-ecognition of gallant conduct
on the field of action, as told in Major General A. McD. McCook's
report of the battle. He was held as a prisoner of war during the
month of December, 1862, having been captured near Nashville,
Tennessee, while acting as,messenger for General McCook. Subsequently
he 'was exchanged and participated in the battle of Chickamauga
in October, 1863, and Lookout Mountain and Missionary