Click a topic below for more information:
Christopher
C. Bullar House Walking Trail
Samuel H. Dalton House
Sheley House
Hughes Gallery
General John A. Logan Birthplace Site
Bostick Cemetary
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The General John A. Logan Museum is located within the Christopher C. Bullar House. The neatly displayed exhibits on the first floor tell the story of General John A. Logan through the use of photographs, portraits, maps, political memorabilia, Logan family antiques, and Civil War weapons. |
Walking
Trail:
There is a walking trail around the grounds of the museum. Along the
trail are interpretive signposts highlighting historic points of interest.
Included along the trail is the Samuel Dalton house and the site of
General Logan’s birthplace.
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Samuel H. Dalton was born a slave in November 1839. When he was freed under the Emancipation Proclamation, Dalton enlisted in the Union Navy and was assigned to the U.S.S. Juliet, a gunboat patrolling the Mississippi River. After the war, he moved to Cairo, Illinois, and then to Carbondale, Illinois, where he married his first wife, Mary Stanton, |
in 1870. Sometime around 1887, he moved to Murphysboro and purchased this small home for $150 from the John A. Logan estate. In October 1891 Dalton became a charter member of the Murphysboro Post #728 (colored) of the Grand Army of the Republic. Dalton married his second wife, Lumisa Hall, in this house in 1892. The small home was shared by the Daltons, Lumisa’s sister, and two small nephews. Dalton died on June 7, 1920.
The home is in the process of being restored by the museum. Assisting the museum in this project are local Eagle scouts. In 1996 local sixth-grade students participated in an archaeological dig on the Dalton house grounds as part of the museum’s Kids Dig It educational program.
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The Sheley House is the headquarters of the Murphysboro Tourism Commission. It was once the home of the Frank Sheley, a printer, and his Family who resided in the home during the early 20th century. Today, the Sheley House hosts a small exhibit on the history of Murphysboro and is open on special days and by request. Please inquire at the museum's front desk. |
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The Hughes Gallery opened its doors in December 2007. Like the other houses on the block, the house was fully renovated by the museum to take it back to its original look and feel. At the turn of the century, the home was inhabited by William Hughes, a surveyor, and his wife Haley and their children. The Hughes House now serves as gallery space for local artists. Many items are for sale. |
| Hours vary depending on whether artists are in residence. If you would like to see the Hughes Gallery please inquire at the front desk of the museum. |
General John A. Logan Birthplace Site:
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The two-story frame house that resided on the museum grounds from 1824 to the late 1870s is now an archaeological site. General John A. Logan was born in this house in 1826. Archaeologists from Southern Illinois University, in addition to local sixth-grade students participating in the museum’s Kids Dig It educational program, have been excavating the site over the past several years. With the |
support of an Illinois FIRST grant, archaeologists were able to fully uncover about 20 percent of the foundation of the Logan home for the first time during the Fall 2000 excavation season.
In December 1865 Dudley Bostick, Hardin Bostick, and Issac Morgan arrived in Murphysboro and established the city’s African-American community. All three men were former slaves and had become friends after joining the Union Navy on Emancipation Day (January 1, 1863) at Memphis, Tennessee, and being assigned to the U.S.S. General Bragg, a steamer in the Mississippi Squadron of the U.S. Navy. Stephen Bostick, Hardin’s brother and also a Bragg crew member, joined them by January 1866.
Stephen, who had been wounded at Tunica Bend in 1864 and had received a disability discharge and a pension, lived in Cincinnati to that point. The Bosticks, all from Williamson County, Tennessee, became successful farmers and established a loose knit community, the Bostick Settlement, about 51/2 miles southeast of Murphysboro. This community grew and prospered and attracted other related families from Williamson County. In time the Bostick Settlement had its own school, church, and cemetery.
When denied membership in Murphysboro’s Worthen Post #127 Grand Army of the Republic, the Bosticks became charter members of Murphysboro’s Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 727 (Colored). By 1900 Post No. 727 had disbanded and its members integrated with Post No.127 where Stephen Bostick would even serve as an officer as the aging Civil War veterans realized that there was more that connect the old comrades than separated them.
As time passed and families grew but farm income did not the children of the original settlers began to move out to seek better lives. Today the descendants of the Bostick Settlement’s families have spread across the nation living from Massachusetts to California and from Michigan to Florida. The only memorial to these pioneer families whose courage allowed them to strike out into the unknown to better their lives and the lives of their families is the settlement’s cemetery. The museum has worked with many groups since 1994 to clean and interpret this historic site and while it is not yet finished it is well on its way.
To visit the Bostick Cemetery…take Hwy 127 south from Murphysboro. Turn right on Orchard Hills Road and follow the Shawnee Wine Trail. The cemetery is located on the left, on a private lane about 1/4 mile past the Murdale water tower. Click on thumbnail to the left to view larger image.
To learn more about these men and their fellow Civil War veterans the museum has for sale:
Forgotten Soldiers: Murphysboro’s African-American Civil War Veterans, 92 pages
Forgotten Soldiers: a 30 minute video
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General John A. Logan Museum
1613 Edith St. PO Box 563,
Murphysboro, IL 62966
(618) 684-3455 johnaloganmuseum@globaleyes.net
©2001-2004 The General John A.
Logan Museum. All rights reserved.