Books by IllinoisHistory.com

The Counterfeiter's Son | Death Rides the Sky | Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw | The Boy of Battle Ford | Inside the Shelton Gang | Warring 20s of Southern Illinois (poster) | Secrets of the Herrin Gangs | The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois | Gallatin Co., Ill., Slave & Emancipation Records | Handbook of Old Gallatin County | Lincoln: Fresh from Abraham's Bosom | History, Mystery and Hauntings of Southern Illinois

Books by Other Publishers

The Untold Story by Ruthie Shelton | The Untold Story - Vol. 2 by Ruthie Shelton | Killer Tornado Hits Coal Mining Village (1925 Tri-State Tornado) by James T. Carrier | Them Good Old Wild Greens by James T. Carrier | Wilderness Survival by James T. Carrier | Killer Mine Disaster by James T. Carrier | A Little Bit of Heaven by James T. Carrier

ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS
Order online on this page by clicking the "ADD TO CART" buttons and proceeding with the checkout process, or send a check or money order to IllinoisHistory.com, PO Box 1142, Marion IL 62959. For shipping and handling costs, please add $2.50 for orders under $10; $3 for orders between $10 and under $25; $4 for orders between $25 and under $50; $4.50 for orders $50 to under $100; and $5 for orders over $100. Illinois residents please add 8.5% sales tax. For mail order please include a phone number and/or e-mail address for better communication.

Persons with questions regarding the books, or on Jon Musgrave's upcoming book projects, can contact Musgrave at jon.musgrave@mchsi.com or by phone at 618-889-5091.


The Counterfeiter's Son
New for 2018 - Historical Fantasy novel

The Counterfeiter's Son
ISBN 978-0-9891781-6-7
352 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback - $18
By Jon Musgrave
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com.
Available July 27, 2018
Cave-in-Rock. A nice place to take the kids... today. A couple of centuries ago? Not so much. In the spring of 1799, river pirates and their ilk infest the biggest landmark along the Ohio River. It’s not a safe place, not for beast nor man. Yet for Silas Hawkins cutthroats and counterfeiters pale against the ancient evils that lurk among its crevices and in the wilderness outside. After years of Indian captivity Silas just wants to find his family. He wants to go home. What he finds instead he can’t believe in this tantalizing mix of historical fantasy and true crime.
Death Rides the Sky
New 2nd Edition

Death Rides the Sky
Incredible Survival Stories of America's Worst Tornado

ISBN 978-0-9891781-5-0
352 pages. 6" x 9"
2nd Ed. Paperback - $24.95
By Angela Mason
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com.
Fully indexed
On an ordinary Wednesday in the pre-spring days of 1925, folks in the Midwest were going about their business as they usually did: children attending school, farmers preparing the fields, coal miners underground and merchants in their stores, each with their own concerns and cares about their lives and the events in it. Little did they know that between 1 and 4:30 p.m. on March 18, those lives were going to be changed irretrievably and forever in an event that defined the weather in the central U.S. From the hills of the southeastern Ozarks to the plains of the Hoosier heartland and across the developing communities of southern Illinois, the Tri-State Tornado, the most deadly tornadic event on record, destroyed cities, devoured whole farms, and set the record for the most deaths, injuries, and damage monetarily, a record which remains standing to this day. This is the story as told directly by nearly four dozen survivors or those involved in the aftermath of the mighty storm, in the most comprehensive account of the Tri-State Tornado ever to be compiled. Much of it is told through the eyes of children, as many of them were when a killer swept down from the skies and carved a path through the lives of thousands of individuals linked by this singular event.vBut more than accounts of what happened in the communities and villages of the nation's heartland on March 18, 1925, this is the story of the resolve and the spirit of the American people, who, with little in the way of organized relief, emerged from this great disaster and pulled together for themselves, their families, their neighbors and complete strangers-many of whom were left with nothing, not even the clothes on their backs-and who left an example of endurance in the face of hardship, and an inspiration for all in the decades to come.
Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw
New 3rd Edition!

Pre-Order Special — Get a free Lincoln book with each Old Slave House book pre-ordered before the books arrive back from the printers (est. 10/26/2015)

Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw:
The Real Story of the Old Slave House and America's Reverse Underground R.R.

ISBN 978-0-9891781-3-6
608 pages. 6" x 9"
3rd Ed. Paperback - $32
By Jon Musgrave
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com.
Fully indexed
The 3rd edition (2015) is the new paperback version of the 2005 expanded and revised hardcover edition of Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw: The Real Story of the Old Slave House and America's Reverse Underground R.R. It has everything that the hardcover edition contained — more pages, photographs and details from the original 2004 paperback version. 96 more pages, additional historical details as each chapter has been tweaked and improved, and many more photographs, now totalling more than 65. The 3rd Edition includes additional genealogical information in three of the appendices in the back as well as a historical timeline for the house that runs into the 21st Century. This is the most complete history of the Old Slave House available. Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw tells not only the story of John Hart Crenshaw and his plantation manor, but also the stories of his victims, the ones he kidnapped and sold into slavery. It's also a history of the saltworks in southeastern Illinois that served as the state's first industry as well as the major excuse to allow slavery in its various forms to operate within its borders. The house has long been recognized for its ghosts — some have called it one of the most haunted sites in America. It's been recognized for its architecture — that's why it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and in September 2004, it was finally recognized for its history as a station on the "Reverse Underground Railroad" — the network of kidnappers that terrorized free residents of color in the border states with the ever-present threat of capture and sale into slavery. The author Jon Musgrave cover the closing of the Old Slave House in the fall of 1996 as a journalist for The Daily Register of Harrisburg, Illinois, the closest daily newspaper to Equality. A week after it closed he joined the research team of Ron Nelson and Gary DeNeal that uncovered source after source of evidence that showed that the general stories long in circulation about the house were based on solid evidence.
History, Mystery and Hauntings book front cover
History, Mystery and Hauntings of Southern Illinois
ISBN 978-0-9891781-2-4
320 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $23.95
By Bruce Cline, with Lisa Cline, Kale Meggs and Tracey Todd Braggs.
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com
Fully indexed
History, Mystery and Hauntings of Southern Illinois pull straight from the case files of the Little Egypt Ghost Society led by founder Bruce Cline. The book covers their investigations and research of the supernatural through the 618 region. This expanded and revised edition combines the first three volumes of Bruce's books into one.
The Boy of Battle Ford book front cover
The Boy of Battle Ford
ISBN 978-0-9891781-2-4
240 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $18
By W. S. Blackman; Jon Musgrave, ed.
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com
Fully indexed
The Boy of Battle Ford by W. S. Blackman has served as a classic when it comes to descriptions of antebellum Southern Illinois and as well as life as a soldier during the western campaigns of the Civil War. Blackman turned 21 just weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter and the start of the American Civil War. More than four decades later he used his war journals as the basis of his autobiography. From his boyhood years on the Battle Ford farm in Southern Illinois to his own life and death experiences on the battlefield, Blackman finds the lessons of life in his own struggles for bothy physical survival and spiritual faith.

For more Civil War stories check out Lincoln: Fresh from Abraham's Bosom.


Inside the Shelton Gang book front cover
Inside the Shelton Gang
ISBN 978-0-9707984-8-0
256 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $18.95
By Ruthie Shelton and Jon Musgrave
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com
Fully indexed
Inside the Shelton Gang tells the true story of what happens when a father’s wall of secrets begin to crumble and a family’s lost heritage of violence erupts from the front pages of history. For daughter Ruthie it’s a discovery that will forever change her life as she learns what it meant to be a Shelton in the days of Prohibition and the decades following, to be a member of a crime family that rivaled Al Capone’s for control of Illinois.

For more Bloody Williamson-related materials, check out my Warring 20s of Southern Illinois poster as well as my books Secrets of the Herrin Gangs, and for the prequel of story of how Williamson County first became known as "bloody," The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois.

For a fictional account inspired the second generation of Sheltons, check out The Untold Story by Ruthie Shelton, my co-author of Inside the Shelton Gang.


The Warring Twenties of Southern Illinois (poster)

The Warring Twenties of Southern Illinois (poster)
18" x 24" poster
Paperback. $18
Photograph by Alvis Mitchell
Poster design by Jon Musgrave
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com

The Warring Twenties of Southern Illinois poster shows the Charlie Birger and his gang at his notorious Shady Rest hideout at the height of the Gang War between the Birger Gang and the Shelton Brothers in October 1926. The picture has been restored and greatly enlarged. All the gangster are identified and a timeline of the important events of the decade are included. Posters are printed on heavy paper and are shipped rolled up in a tube.

For more Bloody Williamson-related books, check out Inside the Shelton Gang, Secrets of the Herrin Gangs, and for the prequel of story of how Williamson County first became known as "bloody," The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois.

For a fictional account inspired the second generation of Sheltons, check out The Untold Story by Ruthie Shelton, my co-author of Inside the Shelton Gang.


Secrets of the Herrin Gangs
Secrets of the Herrin Gangs
ISBN 0-9707984-6-6
96 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $9.95
By Ralph Johnson & Jon Musgrave
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com.
Fully indexed
Secrets of the Herrin Gangs tells the account of Ralph Johnson, an insider with the Shelton Gang who also worked with Charlie Birger at one time. Originally published in newspapers across the country at the end of the Gang War during the Bloody Williamson years in January 1927, all 10 segments are compiled now for the first time in one volume. In addition, Jon Musgrave reveals the mystery of Johnson’s true identity and his life of crime in the second half of the book.
The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois
The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois
ISBN 978-0-9891781-0-5
2nd Ed. 240 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $18.95
By Milo Erwin & Jon Musgrave
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com.
Fully indexed
The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois covers the deadly family feuds and Ku Klux Klan activities during the decade following the Civil War focused in the counties of Franklin, Jackson and Williamson. Milo Erwin wrote the first major account of the Vendetta during its immediate aftermath in 1876 as part of his History of Williamson County, Illinois. Now, Jon Musgrave takes Erwin's account and expands upon it with additional material from surrounding counties and further research into the characters who left such a mark on the region.
Handbook of Old Gallatin County and Southeastern Illinois
Handbook of Old Gallatin County and Southeastern Illinois
ISBN 0-9707984-1-5
464 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $24.
Hardcover — SOLD OUT
Jon Musgrave, editor.
Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com. Fully indexed
The new Handbook of Old Gallatin County and Southeastern Illinois is a compilation of mostly 19th and early 20th century sources on Gallatin County's fascinating history. In other words you're reading the biography your ancestor wrote probably in his own words and syntax. The complete version of the 1887 History of Gallatin County as published by Goodspeed Publishing Company taken from their five-county history of southeastern Illinois. Everything's included as in the original, with the only changes of additional section headings and paragraph breaks as desperately needed. Not only are the original footnotes still there, but also new ones noting any corrections or addition comments as needed.
  • Miscellaneous Anecdotes of Early Gallatin County - a collection of writings on everything from the early saltworks to a sketch of the 1891 grand jury.
  • Military History of Gallatin County - a collection of writings on the military actions of Gallatin County residents from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War with a special focus on the frontier Indian battles in southeastern Illinois during the decade that centered around the War of 1812 as well as some of the actions taking place in the county during the Civil War. Also included will be complete rosters (as best as can be determined) of Gallatin County soldiers in the Black War, Mexican, Civil and Spanish-American Wars.
  • Gallatin County Biographies - More than 250 biographies will be included here pulled from the 1876 State Atlas of Illinois, the 1883 History of White County (which included chapters on the northern two townships of Gallatin), the 1887 History of Gallatin County, the 1905 Memoirs of the Lower Ohio Valley and the 1912 History of Southern Illinois. Also included are a handful of other miscellaneous biographies from a scattering of sources.
  • Plus... and probably most important of all to researchers... a full name and subject listing Index in the back of book. Every name is listed, women twice many times, once under their married name and again under their maiden name (if known).
    In addition to the new annotated footnotes in the 1887 history portion, all the stories included in the Anecdotes and Military History are printed verbatim from the original source and are footnoted with the source. The idea has been to take all the good stories and original source material that's scattered and put it into one volume. The cover is full-color with a striking picture of the Bank of Illinois building in Shawneetown taken during the Depression.
    Lincoln: Fresh from Abraham's Bosom
    Lincoln: Fresh from Abraham's Bosom
    ISBN 0-9707984-3-1
    80 pages. 5.5" x 8.5"
    Paperback. $6.95
    Special 2004 Election Edition
    Jon Musgrave, editor.
    Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com.
    Fully indexed
    Lincoln is a collection of anecdotes and stories told by and on America's 16th President. First compiled during Lincoln's re-election effort the stories paint a picture of a wartime leader who never lost the common touch of his roots. Especially poignant are the tales when you realize that they were compiled in the darkest days of the Civil War when victory was not assured, or even Lincoln's own re-election. In addition to the numerous examples of the president humor, Lincoln: Fresh from Abraham's Bosom also shows Lincoln at his most eloquent and includes his first and second inaugural addresses as well as the famous Gettysburg Address. This 2004 edition comes complete with a new introduction, index, as well as detailed footnotes that help identity names and events long forgotten from the reader's school days.
    Gallatin County, Illinois, Slave & Emancipation Records, 1839-1849
    Gallatin County, Illinois, Slave & Emancipation Records, 1839-1849
    250-plus pages. 8.5" x 11"
    Spiral-bound. $28.
    Hardcover. $45.
    John W. Allen, transcriber;
    Jon Musgrave, editor.
    Publisher: IllinoisHistory.com.
    Hardcover - SOLD OUT Spiral-Bound - SOLD OUT
    Gallatin County, Illinois, Slave & Emancipation Records, 1839-1849, are all that's left of the second volume of slave records in Gallatin County. Though the first of three original volumes remain in the courthouse, the second volume (1839-1849) and the third volume (1849-1862) disappeared sometime after the 1937 flood. SIU-Carbondale historian John W. Allen found himself in possession of at least the second volume and transcribed those records in 1950. Since then that book has been lost and only the type transcriptions in the John W. Allen papers in Special Collections at SIU Morris Library have remained. Special Collections has given Jon Musgrave permission to publish photocopies of the transcriptions. He's included an introduction explaining how to best use the records as well as a full name and first name only indexes for the book. The records include emancipations of slaves, mulatto apprentices and indentured servants who either lived in, or was brought to, Gallatin County, as well as freedom papers filed with county officials by free residents of African ancestry who came to Southern Illinois. These records include the names of slaves or free persons, as well as those of owners, friends and public officials who vouched for the various claims. The records are priceless for African-American genealogists as they often provide names and locations of previous residences where they lived prior to moving to Illinois. They also provide significant genealogical information in regards to listing mothers, as well as children. Many of the records give detailed descriptions of the subjects involved. Up until 1847, Gallatin County included all of present-day Gallatin and Saline counties as well as the eastern third of Hardin County. Also included in the book are miscellaneous records concerning three early antebellum schools for African-American children and the last entry from the third slave registry, which was published elsewhere before the volume disappeared.
    The Untold Story front cover
    NEW!

    The Untold Story
    ISBN 978-0-9862139-0-8
    104 pages. 5.5" x 8.5"
    Paperback. $12
    By Ruthie Shelton
    Privately Published

    The Untold Story is based on Ruthie Shelton's true crime book, Inside the Shelton Gang: One Daughter's Discovery, and her family known as the Shelton Gang, this is the story that couldn't be told in non-fiction, even decades after the events which now make up our history. Can a family forced into hiding because of their criminal past survive? Willr evealed secrets tear them apart? Will they even reunite with those left behind? Read about the Callahan family, forced into hiding. Find out who is trying to wipe out the entire family in order to take control of the empire they spent decades building. Hidden treasure, a secret hatch discovered and yesterday's crime all shape the tomorrows of this family.

    For more Bloody Williamson-related materials, check out Inside the Shelton Gang, the Warring 20s of Southern Illinois poster as well as Secrets of the Herrin Gangs, and for the prequel of story of how Williamson County first became known as "bloody," The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois.


    NEW - James T. Carrier's Books!
    Killer Tornado Hits Coal Mining Village | Them Good Old Wild Greens | Wilderness Survival | Killer Mine Disaster | A Little Bit of Heaven

    Buy all 5 for $48, get 20 percent off!


    Killer Tornado book front cover
    Killer Tornado
    ISBN 0-9705471-0-2
    112 pages. 5.5" x 8.5"
    Paperback. $9.95
    By James T. Carrier
    © 1998 2nd ed. 3rd printing. E.U.L.A. Publications
    Killer Tornado Hits Coal Mining Village tells the story of how the world's largest tornado -- the Tri-State Tornado of March 18, 1925 -- caused deaths, injuries and destruction in a rural coal mining village of Caldwell, in Franklin County, Illinois, with firsthand accounts of survivors. The book also includes a story of the 1912 tornado that struck near Pershing, Illinois.

    Killer Mine Disaster book front cover
    Killer Mine Disaster: The Story of the Most Deadly Methane Gas Coal Mine Explosion in the State of Illinois
    ISBN 0-9705471-7-X
    130 pages. 5.5" x 8.5"
    Paperback. $15.00
    By James T. Carrier
    © 2002 E.U.L.A. Publications
    Killer Mine Disaster tells the story of the December 21, 1951, West Frankfort mine explosion, the most deadly methane explosion in the State of Illinois.

    A Little Bit of Heaven book front cover
    A Little Bit of Heaven and a Whole Lot of Hell
    ISBN
    160 pages. 5.5" x 8.5"
    Rev. ed. 2nd printing Paperback. $9.95
    By James T. Carrier
    © 1998
    E.U.L.A. Publications
    A Little Bit of Heaven and a Whole Lot of Hell covers the story of a coal mining village and its people with emphasis on the Great Depression years.

    Them Good Old Wild Greens book front cover
    Them Good Old Wild Greens
    ISBN
    100 pages. 5.5" x 8.5"
    Paperback. $9.95
    By James T. Carrier
    E.U.L.A. Publications
    Them Good Old Wild Greens tells the story of "Hard Times" in the mining settlement of "18 Patch" in Franklin County, Illinois.

    Wilderness Survival book front cover
    Wilderness Survival
    ISBN
    110 pages. 5.5" x 8.5"
    Paperback. $9.95
    By James T. Carrier
    E.U.L.A. Publications
    Wilderness Survival is a story of how sons of unemployed miners avoided starvation and survived the Great Depression of the 1930s.


    Updated July 23, 2018 by Jon Musgrave
    ©2018 IllinoisHistory.com