Two distinguished Civil War veterans who made postwar homes in Streator will be the focus of a ceremony at Streator's City Park at 1 p.m. Sunday.

A 6-foot tall obelisk — a four-sided tapered monument — will be dedicated to all the Streator-area men who served in the 1861-1865 conflict.

Singled out for special mention on the obelisk are brothers Lyston and Orion Howe. Both were drummer boys whose service qualifies for special recognition: Lyston is credited as the youngest veteran of the Union Army and Orion as the youngest recipient of the Medal of Honor.

The obelisk is a project of the Streatorland Historical Society, which has had the memorial in the works for a year.

"It's always bothered me than we've got this Veterans Plaza in City Park, and all the major wars are recognized except the Civil War," said society president David Reed.

But starting Sunday, the obelisk, located between memorials to the American Revolution and World War I, will eliminate that oversight.

The event — expected to last 30 to 40 minutes — will include patriotic music by the Streator Township High School band and a tent display of hundreds of Civil War artifacts set up by a collector from Indiana.

Comments will include a talk from the Howe family historian, who will be accompanied by a number of relatives, Reed said.

Orion Perseus Howe was born in 1848 and Lyston Druett Howe in 1850 in Ohio. When their mother died in 1852, their father moved them to Waukegan, where his sister could help care for the boys.

Their father, William, was a Mexican War veteran. After the war began, he would play his fife at recruiting events and taught his boys to play the drum.

When Lyston first enlisted with his father in the 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in 1861, he was only 10 years and 9 months old. In 1906, the federal pension office determined that made Lyston the youngest soldier.

Later during the war, all three served in the 55th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

At the battle of Vicksburg in 1863, Orion, then 14, wounded and exposed to heavy enemy fire, insisted on staying on the battlefield until he reported to Gen. William T. Sherman the correct caliber of cartridges needed by troops low on ammunition.

The medal was not awarded until 1896, but in recognition of Orion's bravery, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him to the U.S. Naval Academy because he was too young to attend West Point.

"After the war, Lyston got a job in Morris working for a railroad," said Reed. "Then when they brought the railroad through Streator they transfered Lyston here about 1871 and made him the yardmaster."

Lyston married a Streator girl and started a family.

"He stayed with the railroad for a while, but realized he could make more money with the coal mines, so he took a job there. He was a bright young man and he realized there was a lot of coal being thrown away. So he invented a coal washer. He sold the patent for that and it gave him enough money to start up a hardware store, and he ran a hardware store in Streator for the rest of his life."

Lyston died in 1937 and was buried in Streator.

Orion did not graduate from the Naval Academy, but served with the Merchant Marine and then ended up in Streator, Reed said.

"For a while, Orion operated a saddle and harness shop here where he made harnesses."

At some point, Orion graduated from the New York University dental school and began working in that profession. He also married a Streator girl and for many years had his practice there, Reed said.

But Orion was not as consistent a Streator resident as his brother.

"Orion was a wanderer," said Reed. "He'd leave for years and then come back and settle in Streator for four or five yeas, then he'd leave again.

"When his second wife passed away, his daughter who lived in Missouri came and got him and he passed away down here a few years later."

Orion died in 1930. He rests in the Springfield National Cemetery in Springfield, Mo., beneath a special marble headstone for Medal of Honor recipients.

The story of the Howe brothers is told in a 1998 children's book, "Diary of a Drummer Boy" by Marlene Targ Brill.

Brill told The Times once she learned the details of the Howe brothers story, she realized there was more material than she needed for her book "Extraordinary Young People" and wrote the separate fictionalized account of their Civil War service.

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