His Friends Rest Here

His Friends Rest Here. Looking for Lincoln. , "Here, too, the father of the town, with other men of large renown, are gathered by that reaper stern, who cuts down each and all in turn" (Henry Asbury, Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois". Referring to the leaders from an earlier time resting on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Asbury thus addressed in poetry the historical significance of Woodland Cemetery. The cemetery contains the graves of many of Lincoln's personal and political friends, including notables such as Asbury, Nehemiah Bushnell, Orville and Eliza Browning, Jackson Grimshaw, William A. Richardson, and Archibald Williams. Asbury, Bushnell, Orville Browning, Grimshaw, and Judge Williams all practiced law and knew Lincoln from the early days. The longest female friendship in Lincoln's life was with Eliza Caldwell Browning whose gravestone records their thirty-year friendship. Asbury, Bushnell, Browning, Grimshaw, and Wood joined Lincoln in helping to found the Republican Party in Illinois and later, forwarded his cause in gaining the presidency. Richardson was an early ally who split politically with Lincoln but remained a friend. Here, too, lie many of Lincoln's soldiers.

Woodland is Quincy's oldest active cemetery. Planned in 1846 by John Ward on land he would provide the city. Woodland Cemetery is the final resting place of Wood, Quincy's founder, who also was the twelfth governor of Illinois. The cemetery is unique in that it preserves the topography found here when settlers first arrived and when Lincoln visited Quincy. Located on its grounds were a Civil War hospital and the U.S. National Military Cemetery of Quincy, established in 1858 in the northwest portion of the grounds. Woodland contains the graves of many of Quincy's pioneers, cholera victims, abolitionists, soldiers and leaders---including many of state and national historical significance.

Thousands of President Lincoln's troops trained or were quartered in Quincy. The first army camp, one of three named Camp Wood, was located just east of Woodland Cemetery on the Adams County Fair grounds. The Sixteenth Illinois Regiment, with many well-known local citizens, including their future commander General James Morgan, was organized and mustered into service here in May 1861. The camp was irregular in its formation with headquarters being in the center and the ten companies scattered on either side along the outer limit. Dr. William Githens, first assistant surgeon, drew this diagram of the camp on the back of a letter. Eight additional units mustered in at this camp during the Civil War. many soldiers who left form Quincy camps returned on riverboats to be cared for in Quincy's five military hospitals, on located in Woodland Cemetery.