Elias Monroe, Postmaster and dealer in dry goods, notions, boots, shoes, etc. (firm of Zimmerman & Monroe), Ashmore; was born in Shelby Co., Ill., Feb. 7 1842, but removed in childhood to Moultrie Co., where he lived until 1861; his mother then removed with her family (the father having died years before) to Hitesville, Coles Co. In December, 1863, he entered the Union army as a member of Co. H, 59th I. V. I.; he participated, among other engagements, in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Resaca (where he received a slight wound), Peach-Tree Creek, Marietta, siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Big Shanty, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, where he was severely wounded in the right leg during the first day’s fight, Dec. 15, 1864, necessitating the amputation of his leg in the field hospital; he was mustered out in June, 1865; recovering from his wound, in 1867, he entered the Soldiers’ College, in Fulton, Ill., where he remained two years, and then came to Ashmore, and was appointed Postmaster in August, 1869. In October, 1877, he became a member of the firm of Zimmerman & Monroe.
