Washington township is in the northwest corner of the county. Population 1910, 581. It was not generally settled as soon as the eastern portion of the county not being located on any line of travel in early days, and bordering on the Mississippi river, it is broken up into hills and valleys and sparsely wooded, but well adapted to stock raising.

There were a few early settlers however, among whom was Mason C. Taylor. He came to Savanna in 1827, and selected land in Washington Township on which he made an attempt to settle, but the Indians being troublesome he went to Galena for a time and returning about 1829 became a permanent resident on his land. His wife Mary Cummings was from Pennsylvania. He was twice coroner of the county and served three terms on the board of supervisors. He was a volunteer in the Black Hawk war. A man of austere character in regard to what he believed to be morally wrong, he was a temperate man in his habits and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-four. (Old Settlers Record page 120.) Another of the first settlers was Milas 0. Robinson who came here in 1833. His son John A. Robinson, married Miss Lydia Hatfield whose father was one of the early settlers in Washington Township, one of his daughters married Frederick Miller, father of John W. Miller, supervisor of Washington Township to whom we are indebted for the following incident.

His father Frederick Miller, enlisted in the 92nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry and was killed in a battle. This left his mother with three small children and with little means. She put up a shanty herself, and lived in it on the farm; the wolves were very ferocious and troublesome, they carried away their only turkey gobbler and would prowl around at night. To frighten them away the children would pour gunpowder in the palms of their hands and set it off with a coal of fire on the end of a stick, the flash through the cracks in the house and the smell of the smoke of the powder would frighten away the wolves.

ARNOLD’S L&NDING

Arnolds landing is in this township on the Mississippi river; in early days it was of almost as much importance as Savanna was at that time. Stephen N. Arnold in 1833 or ‘34, came to this part of the county and gave his name to this landing on the Mississippi river; he was appointed by the county Board of Commissioners to serve on the first grand jury, 1839. The land on which he settled afterward became the property of John Robinson.

PORTSMOUTH

Portsmouth on section eleven near the mouth of Apple river was laid out as a town and “threatened to crowd Savanna off the map” as an old settler expressed it.

MARCUS

Marcus, where the noted train robbery on the Burlington railroad occurred is in this township, about four miles north of Savanna. The train attack occurred on the night of the 5th of August, 1902. Five men were engaged in this robbery. They stopped the train with a red light signal, put the engineer and fireman under guard, uncoupled the express car and engine and ran it up the track, blew open the safe with nitroglycerine and rifled the contents. One of the men was accidentally shot by the discharge of the gun of his companion. They uncoupled the engine from the express car and attempted to make their escape with their wounded companion, but believing him to be mortally wounded they killed him and threw his body from the engine. The dead man was afterwards identified and two of the robbers caught. At Apple river bridge they abandoned the engine letting it run on until it stopped beyond Hanover. The men escaped in a skiff at Apple river.

While in the Carroll County jail the prisoners made several desperate attempts to escape but their efforts were thwarted by the vigilance of sheriff, D. B. Doty. They were convicted of highway robbery with deadly weapons and sentenced to the state penitentiary for life.

From the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Carroll County 1913