Dilworth, Caleb J.

Born: 1827-04-20 Ohio

Died: 1900-02-03 Omaha, Nebraska

Alternate name: Dillworth

Caleb J. Dilworth was born in Jefferson County, Ohio. He moved to Illinois, where he read law. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1850, in Havana, Illinois, where Dilworth encountered Abraham Lincoln several times in the Fulton County Circuit Court. In 1850, he was living in Lewistown in Fulton County. In November 1853, he married Emily Phelps, with whom he had at least one child. By 1860, the family was living in Isabel Township, and Dilworth owned $2,000 in real property. In June 1862, he enlisted in the Union Army as a lieutenant colonel of the Eighty-Fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was promoted to colonel in June 1863. He was wounded at Jonesboro in the fall of 1864, and was disabled for about a month, afterwards taking command of a brigade at Chattanooga, Tennessee. In March 1865, he was breveted to brigadier general for gallant and meritorious service during the conflict, mustering out of service in June 1865. After the war, he returned to Illinois, settling in Lewistown for a short time, before moving to Nebraska in 1870, where he practiced law. He was elected as attorney general of Nebraska in 1878.

History of the State of Nebraska (Chicago: Western Historical, 1882), 1063-64; For Dilworth’s cases with Lincoln, search Participant, "Dilworth, Caleb," Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Lewistown, Fulton County, IL, 187; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Fulton County, 24 November 1853, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Fulton County, IL, 120; Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903), 1:373-74; The Sunday State Journal (Lincoln, NE), 4 February 1900, 4:3; Gravestone, Wyuka Cemetery, Lincoln NE.