Born in Ireland in 1814, Michael K. Lawler came to Gallatin County in 1819. After serving as a captain in the Mexican War, he lived on his farm near here until the outbreak of the Civil War. In May 1861 he recruited the 18th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment and became its colonel. He was wounded during the siege of Fort Donelson, was commissioned brigadier general in November 1862, and fought gallantly in the Campaign of Vicksburg in 1863. He became a major general in 1865, returned home the next year, and died in 1882.