Republicans in Williamsville, Sangamon County, organized early and forcefully against slavery, holding caucuses from 1856 onward and building a strong local movement for Abraham Lincoln. In March 1860, the Williamsville Republican Club formed to promote Republican principles and help secure Lincoln’s nomination at the Chicago Convention, and by May 18, 1860, Williamsville was considered the county’s Republican stronghold. On August 8, 1860, a statewide procession estimated at eight miles long passed Lincoln’s home, and Williamsville contributed one of its most imposing displays, with 500 participants in a nearly block-long wagon train led by 23 yoke of oxen. The display included a log cabin, men portraying Lincoln splitting rails, a blacksmith shoeing a Chippewa Indian pony, women spinning and weaving, a tinner at work, and a wheelwright making a wheel, while 32 horsemen disguised as Indians rode alongside. W.F. Constant later recalled that for the two months before the November 1860 election, Williamsville Republicans did little but attend rallies and campaign enthusiastically for Lincoln. The village was named for Colonel John Williams, an early Springfield businessman and close friend of Lincoln who supported major public enterprises, was encouraged by Lincoln to charter the First National Bank of Springfield, served as Grand Marshal of the 1860 Republican rally parade, accompanied Lincoln’s funeral train from Washington to Springfield in 1865, acted as an honorary pall-bearer, and served on the Executive Committee that supervised construction of the Lincoln Tomb.