Saturday, September 21, 2013

Robert C."Bob" Hume, 4th, Illinois Cavalry.

Robert C. Hume.

Birth: 1829,, England.
Death: February 6, 1862, Tennessee.

Wife: Delia Harper Hume.

Married August 4, 1851, Kane, Illinois.

Children: Frank Hume.

Civil War.

Robert C. Hume, enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, Co. I., as a Private, on February 2, 1862.  His residence Earl, Illinois.  Killed in action February 6, 1862, at Fort Henry, Tennessee.

Illinois Fourth Cavalry, Regimental History.
By Phineas O. Avery, published 1903.
 
PAGE 55., The advance vedettes, Bob Hume, Hiram Moulton and Myron Hare advanced in the road and overtook a lone rebel and they supposed he would surrender as the others had done, but instead, he whirled and shot Hume near the heart who fell from his horse dead. I did not go with the dismounted men but held the horses. While thus engaged I saw a rebel not very far off in the woods so I gave my halters to another man and went out and took him in. As soon as I came up he begged me not to shoot, saying that we had killed his father and "for God sake don't kill me. " I assured him that I would not shoot if he surrendered.

The other two boys, Moulton, and Hare had killed the rebel that shot Hume, both fired the same instant and both balls took effect. This rebel was the father of the one I took. Boyd Simison and I then went down the road about one-fourth of a mile where Hume's body lay and put it on his horse and brought it back.

Bob Hume had only been enlisted just a week when he was killed. He was station agent at Earlville and had gone down to Cairo to visit the boys and when the regiment left his enthusiasm got the better of him and he enlisted and was the first to fall . He had not been mustered into the United States service consequently, I am told, his widow has been unable to procure a pension.

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