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Henry Eby served as a soldier in
Company C in the 7th Illinois Cavalry during the Civil War. He was born in
Lebanon County, Pennsylvania on September 8, 1841. In 1850 his family
moved to LaSalle County, Illinois and built a house about three miles east
of Mendota.
Eby enlisted for three months in the Union Army, 12th Infantry. He then
re-enlisted in Company C, 7th Illinois Cavalry. He participated in battles
including Stones River and Chickamauga. He was confined to Belle Island
Prison in Virginia but later transferred to Libby Prison and then Smith
Prison. Later, he was again transferred to Danville, Virginia, where he
contracted smallpox. He escaped on January 1864 only to be recaptured 35
miles from he Union lines and was sent back to Belle Island. In March
1864, as a part of a prisoner exchange, he and 400 Union soldiers were
released. In October, at the end of his enlistment, he returned to his
home near Mendota, Illinois. |
