'Hidden' Fort Donelson: A butcher who returned home in a coffin

Markers for 45th Illinois commissary sergeant John Travis in Greenwood Cemetery
in Rockford, Ill. (Find A Grave)

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John Travis, a 42-year-old butcher from Rockford, Ill., and commissary sergeant in the 45th Illinois, was carrying rations well behind the fighting at the Battle of Fort Donelson (Tenn.) on Feb. 15, 1862. But distance served as no protection. A Confederate grape shot tore through his right arm and chest, killing

him instantly.

“A squad of eight men, under Sergeant Jack Blaisdell, an old messmate, was detailed to bury the body,” the Rockford Register reported. “Upon approaching it, they found it had been rifled by some fiend incarnate of a gold watch and forty dollars in money.” 

A map shows the position of the 45th Illinois
on Feb. 15, 1862. Full American Battlefield
Trust map here.

Travis, much older than most soldiers at Fort Donelson, was born in New York and ran a meat market with a partner on State House Street, opposite the court house. The former Rockford street commissioner had earned the admiration of his neighbors as a man “universally respected for his many sterling qualities,” his hometown newspaper noted.

Wrote 45th Illinois Major Melancthon Smith:

 “Poor Travis fell a victim to this unholy war, but his death was the death of a brave soldier in a noble cause. No man was more respected in our regiment. As commissary sergeant, he performed his duty faithfully and with great satisfaction to both officers and men. His death is one we deeply sympathize with, along with his afflicted family."

Sergeant Travis left behind his wife of nearly 23 years, Amanda, and their three children: William, Hannah and Delphene. Back home in Rockford, rumors swirled — some “utterly destitute of truth” — about who had fallen on the battlefield. “The Rockford Band lost about half of their instruments on the field, but none of the Band were wounded,” the Register reported.

The 45th Illinois, the “Lead Mine Regiment,” saw fierce fighting positioned on the Union army’s exposed right wing — along the left portion of its brigade line. Even amid the chaos, soldiers of the regiment fought stubbornly. An Illinois soldier “fired as deliberately and coolly at the rebels as if he was shooting prairie chickens,” Smith recalled.

Court Street United Methodist Church
in Rockford, Ill. — site of 45th Illinois
commissary sergeant John Travis’
 funeral service following his
 death at Fort Donelson.
(Google Street View)

After confirmation of Travis’ death finally reached town, Rockford merchant Israel Sovereign — a dealer of stoves and hardware on South Main — traveled south to retrieve the body. In mid-March, after an arduous journey, he returned home with the remains. (Sovereign contracted typhoid fever during the trip, leaving him dangerously ill, but he recovered.)

Rockford held Travis’ funeral at the Court Street Methodist Church. The building filled early, and hundreds were turned away. The Rev. John H. Vincent, who ministered to Ulysses Grant himself in his final days, delivered the sermon, remembered as one of his finest. Newspapers described Travis as having died “the death of a brave soldier” and predicted his memory would long be cherished by Rockford’s loyal and patriotic citizens.

The next time I visit Fort Donelson — to search for eagles’ nests or to stand beside the massive guns at the Lower Battery — I hope to also visit the ground where Travis once unloaded rations. A small tip of the cap to the butcher from Rockford.

Fort Donelson claimed 17,000 casualties and is remembered as a major United States victory, but for Rockford, it was an early reckoning. John Travis went south to serve. He returned home in a coffin.

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SOURCES

• Rockford (Illinois) Register, Feb. 25 & 27, March 13 & 20, 1862 
• Rockford (Illinois) Democrat, March 18 & 25, 1862