While he would have been old enough in 1861, Joseph Bastien
did not join the Union Army until August 1862. This was just after
Lincoln’s call for 300,000 additional volunteers and the start of
rumblings that a national draft might be established.
His muster records show that he was 19, single and born in eastern Canada, which was settled by the French. Like the majority of Union volunteers, he worked as a farmer.
Despite being born in a French-speaking region, Bastien spoke English. He had dark hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion. At 5 feet, 4 inches he was about two to three inches below the average height for that time.
When Bastien was 8, his family moved near Kankakee, and shortly before the Civil War, moved again to the Oraville area, about seven miles north of Murphysboro. By 1862, Bastien lived in Murphysboro, where he worked for John A. Logan and his brother, Tom Logan.
On Aug. 30, 1862, Bastien and 30 other Murphysboro residents joined the 31st Illinois Infantry. Before the end of 1863, this initial group of volunteers would be joined by another 10 Murphysboro men.
He was recruited by Tom Logan, who enlisted in the 31st at same time. Why Bastien, not even a citizen, chose to join the fight is unknown. He served for two and a half years. Over this time, he marched well over 1,000 miles and took part in five major battles. His days as a soldier ended June 27, 1863. As he charged up Kennesaw Mountain, a bullet struck his right leg, which had to be amputated. While he was no longer an active soldier, he remained in the service until being discharged May 31, 1865, in Washington, D.C.
After his discharge, Bastien returned to Murphysboro, where he applied for and received a veteran’s pension for his war injury.
He married in 1867 only to lose both his young wife and their child within a year. Bastien married again in 1869. By 1900, he was a naturalized citizen, a successful harness maker and grocer and the father of six.
One must wonder what Bastien thought about the man who had persuaded him to join the army.
Tom Logan was a Murphysboro leader, the city’s former mayor and a member of local high society.
Just 20 days before he had enlisted Bastien, Tom Logan had proclaimed that he supported Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. Did Bastien know this at the time? Did he wonder even then why Tom wanted to join the Union cause?
Comparing the two men’s military records makes one wonder if Bastien might have even hated Tom Logan, for while Bastien gave two and a half years of his life and lost a leg, Tom gave six months, got drunk, repeated his Jefferson Davis speech in camp, resigned — as an officer he could do this — and went back home.
If there was any resentment toward Tom Logan, or for that matter any of the other eight men who had deserted — enlisted men they could not resign — it was far eclipsed by the pride he had in his service to his adopted country. He was active in Murphysboro’s Grand Army of the Republic post and even served as its commander.
By the 1920s, he was respected as one of the few remaining Civil War veterans and well loved by Murphysboro’s citizens. He was retired and part of his daily ritual was to converse with the men who gathered at Charlie Stricklin’s Newsstand.
This was a place where a thick skin was definitely needed. No matter how respected one was, practical jokes were a part of many visits. Dr. Hrabick, who had served in World War I, also frequented Strick-lin’s.
One day the good doctor and his cohorts decided to target Bastien. Hrabick told the old veteran that he had performed many amputations during his time in France. He went on to say that it was a common practice to sew the skin flap of men who had been running from the fight toward the front and for those who were gallantly charging the enemy in the opposite direction.
Bastien’s friends goaded him to let Hrabick check out his leg. He took off his wooden leg and the doctor examined it declaring that sadly it showed Bastien had been running from the fighting.
This was too much for the normally good natured vet. He jumped up on his one good leg, picked up his cane and chased Hrabick out of the store as his friends roared with laughter.
Pvt. Joseph Bastien, Co. A 31st Illinois Infantry, died May 24, 1929. He received a military funeral conducted by the aged Civil War veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic and the young veterans of the American Legion who had fought in the fields of France only a decade earlier.
Murphysboro mourned as “Uncle Joe’s” cortege traveled from St. Andrew Church to the cemetery while the Legion band played “Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching.”
Uncle Joe and the generation that fought the Civil War and saved the Union were passing into history.
To learn more about Logan and Southern Illinois’ Civil War history, visit the Gen. John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro and view the new exhibit, Caught in the Sweep of History: Egypt in the Civil War. To learn more history, see the museum’s website, Facebook page and YouTube videos.
— Compiled by P. Michael Jones, director of the Gen. John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro.
His muster records show that he was 19, single and born in eastern Canada, which was settled by the French. Like the majority of Union volunteers, he worked as a farmer.
Despite being born in a French-speaking region, Bastien spoke English. He had dark hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion. At 5 feet, 4 inches he was about two to three inches below the average height for that time.
When Bastien was 8, his family moved near Kankakee, and shortly before the Civil War, moved again to the Oraville area, about seven miles north of Murphysboro. By 1862, Bastien lived in Murphysboro, where he worked for John A. Logan and his brother, Tom Logan.
On Aug. 30, 1862, Bastien and 30 other Murphysboro residents joined the 31st Illinois Infantry. Before the end of 1863, this initial group of volunteers would be joined by another 10 Murphysboro men.
He was recruited by Tom Logan, who enlisted in the 31st at same time. Why Bastien, not even a citizen, chose to join the fight is unknown. He served for two and a half years. Over this time, he marched well over 1,000 miles and took part in five major battles. His days as a soldier ended June 27, 1863. As he charged up Kennesaw Mountain, a bullet struck his right leg, which had to be amputated. While he was no longer an active soldier, he remained in the service until being discharged May 31, 1865, in Washington, D.C.
After his discharge, Bastien returned to Murphysboro, where he applied for and received a veteran’s pension for his war injury.
He married in 1867 only to lose both his young wife and their child within a year. Bastien married again in 1869. By 1900, he was a naturalized citizen, a successful harness maker and grocer and the father of six.
One must wonder what Bastien thought about the man who had persuaded him to join the army.
Tom Logan was a Murphysboro leader, the city’s former mayor and a member of local high society.
Just 20 days before he had enlisted Bastien, Tom Logan had proclaimed that he supported Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. Did Bastien know this at the time? Did he wonder even then why Tom wanted to join the Union cause?
Comparing the two men’s military records makes one wonder if Bastien might have even hated Tom Logan, for while Bastien gave two and a half years of his life and lost a leg, Tom gave six months, got drunk, repeated his Jefferson Davis speech in camp, resigned — as an officer he could do this — and went back home.
If there was any resentment toward Tom Logan, or for that matter any of the other eight men who had deserted — enlisted men they could not resign — it was far eclipsed by the pride he had in his service to his adopted country. He was active in Murphysboro’s Grand Army of the Republic post and even served as its commander.
By the 1920s, he was respected as one of the few remaining Civil War veterans and well loved by Murphysboro’s citizens. He was retired and part of his daily ritual was to converse with the men who gathered at Charlie Stricklin’s Newsstand.
This was a place where a thick skin was definitely needed. No matter how respected one was, practical jokes were a part of many visits. Dr. Hrabick, who had served in World War I, also frequented Strick-lin’s.
One day the good doctor and his cohorts decided to target Bastien. Hrabick told the old veteran that he had performed many amputations during his time in France. He went on to say that it was a common practice to sew the skin flap of men who had been running from the fight toward the front and for those who were gallantly charging the enemy in the opposite direction.
Bastien’s friends goaded him to let Hrabick check out his leg. He took off his wooden leg and the doctor examined it declaring that sadly it showed Bastien had been running from the fighting.
This was too much for the normally good natured vet. He jumped up on his one good leg, picked up his cane and chased Hrabick out of the store as his friends roared with laughter.
Pvt. Joseph Bastien, Co. A 31st Illinois Infantry, died May 24, 1929. He received a military funeral conducted by the aged Civil War veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic and the young veterans of the American Legion who had fought in the fields of France only a decade earlier.
Murphysboro mourned as “Uncle Joe’s” cortege traveled from St. Andrew Church to the cemetery while the Legion band played “Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching.”
Uncle Joe and the generation that fought the Civil War and saved the Union were passing into history.
To learn more about Logan and Southern Illinois’ Civil War history, visit the Gen. John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro and view the new exhibit, Caught in the Sweep of History: Egypt in the Civil War. To learn more history, see the museum’s website, Facebook page and YouTube videos.
— Compiled by P. Michael Jones, director of the Gen. John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro.
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