THE POPE COUNTY (IL) ROBINSON CRUSOE.
Gen. Green B. Raum writes to the Inter-Ocean a few particulars of the romantic story of Henson
E. Rains, of Golconda, Pope County, a member of the Fifty-fifth Regiment of Illinois
Volunteers. Ten years ago, the steamer Gen. Lyon was overtaken by a storm off Cape Hatteras. When the storm was
at its height, the vessel took fire and burned to the water's edge. Less than thirty of all those on board were
saved. Among the passengers were two hundred and five members of the Fifty-fifth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers,
returning home to be mustered out of the service. The brave fellows who had escaped the vicissitudes of war, became
the victims of the fire and blood. Two hundred of them found graves in the bed of the ocean, and only five picked
up by the steamer Sedgwick, returned to tell the tale of the disastrous fate of their comrades. Among those supposed
to have been among the lost was Henson E. Rains. For ten years his family and friends had mourned his unhappy fate.
A few weeks ago, their sorrow was turned into rejoicing by the receipt of a letter written by Rains himself; he
is now an inmate of Guy's hospital, London, England. He informs his father that when he discovered the steamer
to be on fire, he leaped into the ocean and with a companion, clung to a cabin door. For four days, without food
or drink, they floated on the waves, finally reaching an island, where Lieutenant Butler died. Rains lived on the
island until March last, when the British man-of-war, Vengeance, took him off, conveyed him to London, and placed
him in Guy's Hospital. Through the intervention of friends, the secretary of war has advised Minister Schenck to
furnish Rains transportation home, where it is expected he will arrive in a short time. His strange adventures
have made him something of a hero, and the occasion of his return will be one of interest to the people of his
locality as well as to his own family.
Source: The Cairo (IL) Daily Bulletin, May 21, 1875; transcribed by Darrel Dexter.
(NOTE: Henson G. Rains was listed in the muster roll of Company K, 56th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, as a corporal.
He enlisted on 7 Nov 1861, at Golconda. His residence was Pope Co., Ill., and he was born in Lincoln Co., Tenn.
The records state "lost on steamer Gen. Lyon, burned at sea March 31, 1865."—Darrel Dexter)
STONE, GEORGE WASHINGTON, lawyer, was
born October 24, 1811, in Bedford County, Va., and died March 11, 1894, in Montgomery; son of Micajah and Sarah
(Leftwich) Stone, of Bedford County, Va., who removed to Lincoln County, Tenn., in 1818; grandson of Micajah Stone,
a native of England who emigrated to America and settled in Bedford County, Va.; grand nephew of Jabez Leftwich
(q. v.). Judge Stone was educated in the common schools of Lincoln County, Tenn., later attending the village academy.
He studied law in the office of James Fulton, of Fayetteville, Tenn.; removed to Alabama; was admitted to practice
his profession in that State, May, 1834, and opened an office in Talladega; entered into partnership with William
P. Chilton, later chief justice of the supreme court of Alabama; appointed judge of the circuit court, August,
1843; elected to the same position for a term of six years by the legislature, in December, 1843; resigned in January,
1849, and removed to Hayneville, L owndes County, practicing in succession with Nathan Cook, T. J. Judge, and S.
Perry Nesraith. He was elected associate justice of the Alabama supreme court bench, January, 1856, re-elected
in 1862, and upon the reconstruction of the State government after the War of Secession retired from the bench
and again took up the practice of his profession in Montgomery. He formed a partnership in 1866 with David Clopton
and Gen. James H. Clanton. Upon the death of General Clanton the firm was continued under the name of Stone and
Clopton. Judge Stone was again appointed in March, 1876, as associate justice of the supreme court by Governor
Houston to fill an unexpired term; elected by the people in 1880 for a term of six years; appointed chief justice
by Governor O'Neal in 1884; and elected to the same office for a term of six years in 1886; after which he returned
to his practice. He served on the supreme court bench for nearly a quarter of a century and delivered over two
thousand a nd one hundred decisions. These decisions are to be found in the twenty-eight to the thirty-ninth, and
fifty-third to the eighty-ninth volumes of the Alabama State reports, inclusive. Married: (1) December 16, 1834,
to Mary, daughter of George and Martha (Morgan) Gillespie, of Franklin, Tenn.; (2) September 4, 1849, to Emily,
daughter of William and Dolly (Rutherford) Moore, of Lowndes County; (3) February 8, 1866, to Mrs. Mary E. (Harrison)
Wright, daughter of Paschal and Elizabeth (Phillips) Harrison, of Georgia, later of Lowndes County. He left numerous
descendants. Last residence: Montgomery.
[History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 4 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen,
1921 - Transcribed by AFOFG]
