JOHN L. HESSER. The later years of the life of this respected citizen of Clear Lake township have been spent in no unusual manner, but he was at one time the hero of experiences whose very telling stirs the blood of all who love their fellow-men. He gave several of the best years of his life to the service of his country during the trying days of the Civil War, and having unfortunately fallen into the hands of the enemy, experienced life in various prisons. More fortunate than many of his comrades, he survived the privations and horrors of months of captivity and was able at last to return to his friends in the North.
Mr. Hesser was born in Winchester, Va., March 16, 1835, and is a son of Samuel L. and Ann M. (Slagle) Hesser, both of whom were likewise born in the Old Dominion. The parents came to Springfield in June, 1836, and the father established his home there. He was a carpenter and builder. After carrying on his business in Springfield until 1849, he removed to Mechanicsburg, and thence to Buffalo Station in 1860. He breathed his last in October, 1871, when seventy-five years old. The mother of out subject is still living and has now reached the venerable age of eighty-eight years. Mr. Hesser was a member of the Christian Church. His family consisted of ten children, seven of whom are now living.
Our subject attended the common schools during his boyhood, then spent two terms in study at Eureka College, Eureka, Ill. When eighteen years old he engaged in the trade of carriage trimming at Jacksonville, remaining there two years. The last year of his stay is remembered as the cholera year and the young man spent five weeks in caring for the sick and burying the dead. Sometimes he would be all alone in his kindly offices. Following his residence in Jacksonville, Mr. Hesser was engaged in trading in Texas ponies and mules, going all over the State with the herds. He and a partner bought and disposed of one hundred and fifty of the animals. In 1859 our subject began farming at the old homestead, continuing his agricultural labors and in connection therewith running a threshing machine until after the war began.
August 7, 1862, Mr. Hesser enlisted in the Seventy-third Illinois Infantry, going as a Corporal and being promoted to the office of First Sergeant of Company A, the following November. He soon became Orderly Sergeant and the following September was raised to the rank of a Second Lieutenant, but was never mustered in on account of his capture. He first smelled the smoke of battle in a heavy skirmish at Bardstown, Ky., on the way to Perryville, in which terrible engagement he took part, October 8, 1862. Other heavy engagements in which he participated were the five days' battle at Stone River and Chickamauga. At the latter place he was taken prisoner at eleven o'clock Sunday morning, September 20, 1863. He was taken to Atlanta, Ga., but in a few days removed to Libby Prison where he remained three months, then was removed to Danville, where he spent the winter. Following this he was immured in prison at Andersonville, Charleston and Florence, S. C., until eighteen months had elapsed, when he was finally paroled at Wilmington, N. C., February 25, 1865.
When Lieut. Hesser left Libby Prison seventy men were crowded into a car which could carry but fifty hogs, and great suffering was endured on the trip to Danville. When they arrived there it was very cold and the large tobacco warehouse in which the prisoners were placed contained but one stove and even this was soon taken down. The men were wet and chilled, and being poorly supplied with covering suffered greatly for many hours. Mr. Hesser traded half of his rations for a ninth part of a thin tent, which partly covered himself and chum, John W. North, who is now deceased. Soon after Lieut. Hesser's confinement there, smallpox broke out and added to the horrors of the place. Those who died of the disease were frequently left in the building two days and nights and so great were the needs of the living that they would tear the clothing off their dead comrades to add a little warmth to their own bodies.
Lieut. Hesser lay on the hard floor until his bones protruded through the skin and blood ran down his leg every morning. His pillow was formed of brickbats which he succeeded in covering with fragments of cloth. Physicians were sent in to vaccinate the soldiers, and out subject came very near losing his arm on account of the impure vaccine. The flesh came off and the bone was exposed to view for some weeks. For some time the only food of the prisoners was cabbage stalks and leaves, which were brought in with ox-teams. Lieut. Hesser was made a Captain and kept the roll of names in the prison. When released from captivity his weight was reduced to seventy-five pounds. He spent a few weeks in the hospital at Florence, S. C.
After his return to the North Lieut. Hesser settled down to farming buying his present estate in November, 1865. It consists of eighty acres of good land from which he derives a comfortable support. It is intelligently and thriftily managed, every rod being made productive of some useful fruit or grain, and is supplied with such farm buildings as are needed, together with a cozy residence. The lady to whose care and affection the neatness and order of the dwelling is due, became the wife of our subject November 1, 1860. She was Miss Mary J. Cromley, was born in Ohio, and accompanied her father, John Cromley, to this county two years before her marriage. The congenial union of Mr. and Mrs. Hesser has been blest to them by the birth of one child - Sarah M.
For several years after becoming of legal age Mr. Hesser voted the Democratic ticket, but he is now to be found in the ranks of the Republican party. He belongs to Stephenson Post, No. 30, G. A. R., in Springfield. In 1889 he made a trip to the South, visiting Southern battlefields and Andersonville, Ga.