By Sandy Vasko In the southwestern part of Will County spring means one thing – fishing. Most avid fishermen have already wet a line by…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko Summer on the battle fronts for Will County troops was uneventful. The boys had been through a type of hell, and had…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko When I was growing up a wooded area of Homer Township, a local farmer would let his hogs run loose. In the…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko Shiloh is a Hebrew word; it means “place of peace.” And so it was, until April 1862, when it came to mean…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko The two sides were ready, the Illinois Militia was armed, the miners probably were armed. Gen. Ducat sent pickets ahead of the…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko When we last met, it was Monday, July 23, 1877. Sheriff Noble and his posse had just been “thrown out of town”…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko It is the spring of 1877. Once again, the coal companies propose to reduce the wages of the miners. But the miners…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko In the last few years, many have lost their jobs, many saw inflation take them into poverty, many saw hard times. These…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko We are back to the Civil War. It is early in the war, and most of the men had not really “seen…
Read MoreBy Sandy Vasko Set the way-back machine for June, 1877; place Mokena. From the Joliet Weekly Sun: “Mokena is a good-sized village. Seven hundred is…
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