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WILLIAM S. ENOS. Too much cannot be said in praise of those brave soldiers and devoted patriots who have rushed to the defense of their country, and whose martial honor is a priceless heritage for their descendants. To them we owe our Union, and but for them the "Old Flag" would not float from every public building, with its stars and stripes proclaiming to the passing breeze that our Union has not been disrupted. The portrait on the opposite page represents a veteran of the late war and a valued citizen of Buffalo Heart Township. Since the close of the Rebellion he has done much good service as a practical, intelligent farmer and stock-raiser and caries on an extensive business in that line. He comes of an early pioneer family and was born in this county December 4, 1832, to Abner and Annie (Sudduth) Enos, natives respectively of New York and Kentucky, and who came here at an early day in the settlement of the county.

Our subject enjoyed only limited school advantages, but he was ambitious to have a better education and attended school after he had attained the age of twenty-five years. He was bred to the life of a farmer, and the breaking out of the war found him busily engaged in that occupation. In October, 1862, he laid aside his agricultural implements to take up arms in defense of his country, becoming on that day a member of Company B, One Hundred and Thirtieth Illinois Infantry. He went with his regiment to Memphis, Tenn., and in the winter of 1862-63 did provost duty at Ft. Pickering. Early in the spring of 1863 he went down the Mississippi River with his fellow soldiers and engaged in the Vicksburg campaign. He fought at Port Gibson, Champion Hills and Black River, and saw the enemy return into the fortifications. During the great siege that followed he was wounded in the foot but not seriously. After his recovery he remained a short time on the Mississippi River and was then transferred to the Gulf Department.

In February, 1864, Mr. Enos and his fellow soldiers started on the Red River expedition, and after many skirmishes and long marches helped to fight the battle of Mansfield. On that field our subject was captured by the enemy and taken to Tyler, Tex., where he experienced all the sufferings endured by the prisoners at the hands of the rebels for fourteen long and weary months. At the close of the war he was honorable discharged and returned to civil life, resuming his occupation as a farmer.

Mr. Enos has been deservedly prospered in his enterprises as a farmer and stock raiser, and holds a leading place among the agriculturists of Buffalo Heart Township. He owns a valuable homestead of four hundred acres of farming land of exceptional fertility, whose broad, well-tilled fields yield him abundant returns in payment for the care and toil bestowed upon their cultivation. His place is under substantial improvement and in that regard compares favorably with others in the vicinity.

An important step in the career of our subject was his marriage, in 1865, to Miss Jane Dunn. They are happy in their marriage relations, and the pleasant home circle is completed by their four children - Annie, Janette, John A. and Georgie Anna. Mr. Enos is a sociable, genial man who is true in his friendships and is always kind and obliging to others, so that he stands high in the estimation of his neighbors and all with whom he comes in contact. He is a member of the Masonic order and of Stevenson Post, G.A.R., and also belongs to the Prisoners of War Association. He is a School Director and Highway Commissioner, and a wide-awake, public-spirited civic official.