Francis M. Long, born October 21, 1837, worked as a hotel keeper in Taylorville at The Long House, owned by his brother Thomas W. Long, before enlisting on July 26, 1861, as a 23-year-old single man. He recruited about 100 men from Christian County for Company G of the 41st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was mustered in at Decatur, and he was elected captain of Company G before later being promoted to major of the regiment. The 41st Illinois fought at Forts Henry and Donelson and Shiloh in Tennessee, and at Vicksburg and Jackson in Mississippi. In March 1863, a dispute among the generals over the best drilled regiment in the corps was settled by a prize drill before more than 10,000 citizens and soldiers, with three United States Army officers as judges, and the 41st Illinois won the award of superiority. After the victory at Vicksburg, the 41st was ordered to Jackson on July 12, 1863, and then sent to assault enemy fortifications as part of a small brigade that included the 3rd Iowa, 28th Illinois, 53rd Illinois, and the 5th Ohio battery of artillery. Facing overwhelming odds and without other support, the brigade was nearly annihilated. In the charge, the 41st Illinois suffered 202 casualties out of 338 men engaged, and Major Frank Long was mortally wounded, captured by the enemy, had his leg amputated in a hospital in Jackson, and died three days later. After Confederates evacuated Jackson on July 16, his comrades recovered his body, and in the spring of 1868 his remains were returned to Taylorville and reinterred in Oak Hill Cemetery. Long's name appears on the Soldier and Sailor's Memorial Monument at the entrance to Oak Hill Cemetery, and Taylorville G.A.R. Post 392 bears his name.