Gilmer, Daniel H.

Born: 1814-09-10 Christian County, Kentucky

Died: 1863-09-20 Georgia

Flourished: Pittsfield, Illinois

Known to his friends as "Dick," Gilmer was an attorney and soldier who lived most of his life in Pittsfield, Illinois. He became acquainted with Abraham Lincoln in 1839, the first year Lincoln had cases in the Pike County Circuit Court. When in Pittsfield, Lincoln often visited the Gilmer home and law office, which were across the street from the Pike County courthouse. In October 1845, Gilmer married Louiza Quinby, with whom he had several children. In 1847, Gilmer ran as a Whig for the position of probate judge, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent. In 1852, he was elected as a state's attorney. He was prosperous enough that, by 1860, he possessed real estate valued at $5,000 and had a personal estate valued at $1,000. In 1860, Gilmer was again elected as a state's attorney, but, in April 1861, he mustered into Company H of the Tenth Illinois Infantry of the Union Army. He achieved the rank of colonel before being killed in action while leading Company HQ of the Thirty-Eighth Illinois Infantry during the Battle of Chickamauga.

Roll of Attorneys of the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, 4 Ill. (3 Scammon) (1843), v; "Tablet Erected in Court House Park, Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois, In Commemoration of Lincoln and Douglas, and Nicolay and Hay," Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 18 (October 1925), 732-33; Leroy H. Fischer, "Lincoln's 1858 Visit to Pittsfield, Illinois," Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984) 61 (Autumn 1968), 351; 355-56; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Pike County, 9 October 1845, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; History of Pike County Illinois (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman, 1880), 392; 880-81; Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Pittsfield, Pike County, IL, 20; Roger D. Hunt, Colonels in Blue--Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin: A Civil War Biographical Dictionary (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017), 57-58.