Biography - JOHN SKINNER
John
Skinner, a retired and highly respected citizen of Newman, was born in
Vermillion county, Indiana, April 4, 1831, and is a son of Joseph and Mary
(Gaston) Skinner. His father came to the county in 1839 as a renter, but
afterward owned a tract of land of eight hundred acres. The city of Newman
is located on part of this land. He took stock to the value of four hundred
acres of land and one thousand dollars cash in the construction of the I. D.
& W. R. R., from which he realized nothing. He was an enlisted soldier in
the Black Hawk war, and died in 1857 (for further ancestry see sketch of his
brother, Isaac Skinner).
John Skinner grew up on the farm and has always been identified with farming
interests. He has held the office of township commissioner, and has always
identified himself with the best interests of Newman and Newman township. He
owns three hundred and seventy acres of valuable and well-tiled land, which
comes almost to the corporation line of Newman.
In 1859 our subject was married to Miss Hannah J., a daughter of Dr.
Ringland, one of the first physicians of Newman, who emigrated from
Pennsylvania to the neighborhood of Kansas, Edgar county, later removed to
Newman in 1857, and thence back to Kansas, where he died. The death of the
wife of our subject occurred within six weeks after her marriage to Mr.
Skinner; he has remained unmarried ever since.
In 1862 he volunteered in the Seventy-ninth Illinois Infantry, and
participated in the battles of Stone River, Liberty Gap and Chickamauga. He
and his brother Anson were captured at the latter place on September 19,
1863, and were placed in Libby prison for three days. They were placed in
the Pemberton building, just across the street from Libby, and kept there
for six weeks. They were afterward taken to Danville, Virqinia, and kept in
an old tobacco factory through the winter of 1863 and 1864 with sixteen
hundred other prisoners, and were made to sleep on the bare floor without
bedding or lights in the building. They were taken from this place in April,
1864, and sent to Andersonville, Georgia. This prison contained about
twenty-three acres, being enclosed with logs standing on end, making a wall
around about fourteen feet high. This prison had about thirty-five thousand
men in it. In September, 1864, they were taken to Charleston, South
Carolina, and remained there four weeks, thence to Florence Stockade, in
February, 1865. They were kept prisoners here for about four months, when
they were removed to Goldsboro, South Carolina, and back to Wilmington,
where they were mustered out after enduring a prison life of seventeen
months and nine days. In these prisons they were reduced in flesh by
starvation to less than half their natural weight. Mr. Skinner was with his
regiment all the time after being mustered in until he was captured,
excepting two weeks sickness at Stone River. After being captured he was ten
days on his way to Libby, where general starvation began. He issued rations
to a squad of twenty men about one year. There were seventeen members of his
company captured at the same time and he had charge of them in prison and
kept them all in his squad except Lieutenant Albin, who was wounded and
taken from this place. Joseph Harvey and William Ritter were left sick at
Richmond, Virginia: Ritter died and Harvey was paroled. D. N. Howard, Aaron
Briton and Wm. Stillwell, of his company, died in Andersonville. These were
all that died of the seventeen who were captured.
After they left Danville, Virginia, there was never a vessel of any kind
issued for them with which to eat, drink or cook. All they had was old cans
that they could pick up that had been thrown away.
Our subject got hold of an old iron hoop and made a saw and a pocket knife,
these being the only edge tools he had. With these he began making buckets
out of cordwood. He could make one bucket a day and sold them for from one
dollar to one dollar and a half. This was his occupation while in
Andersonville. While he was in the Florence stockades he mended shoes and
made from two dollars to two dollars and fifty cents per day. At Danville he
got a job of keeping the back yard clean, for which be received four rations
per day; he divided these rations with his company and by so doing saved the
lives of six or eight men. In November, 1864, he went out to the commissary,
where he had plenty to eat, taking his squad along, besides several members
of other companies. While he was in Andersonville prison he was starved down
to the weight of eighty-five pounds, but when he left the commissary at
Florence, in February, 1865, he had gotten back to his natural weight, one
hundred and ninety-seven and one-half pounds, so it can be seen how
starvation had reduced him. He was mustered out of service June 5, 1865. at
the city of Springfield, Illinois.
Anson Skinner's death occurred in February, 1896. William, another brother,
now residing in Newman, was a member of the same regiment; they were all
sergeants. John Skinner's friends are legion in the community in which he
resides. He lives a quiet, contented life, and enjoys the highest confidence
of all who know him.
Extracted 08 Sep 2018 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, pages 171-173.
