Beardstown, Illinois

City: Beardstown

County: Cass

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.0167, -90.4167

Beardstown is a town on the eastern bank of the Illinois River, just south of the confluence of the Sangamon River with the Illinois River. Beardstown was the county seat of Cass County from 1837 to 1839, and again from 1844 to 1872. In 1858, it was the site of Abraham Lincoln’s famous Almanac Trial.

William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Cass County, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882), 95; People v. Armstrong, 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/Details.aspx?case=135794; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 7 May 1858, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-05-07.