The Illinois delegation, which had contained a large majority of Democrats in the Thirty-eighth Congress, now returned strongly Republican,--Mr.
Lincoln's victory of 1864 having, with three exceptions, carried with it every Congressional district.

Four men of marked characteristics were among the new members of the delegation, one of whom was already widely known: the three others were destined to become so in different degrees--John Wentworth, Shelby M.Cullom, Burton C.Cook, and Jehu Baker.

Wentworth had been in the House as a Democrat prior to the war, having represented the Chicago District continuously from March 4, 1843 to March 4, 1851; and again from March 4, 1853 to March 4, 1855.

He was endowed by nature with a mind as strong as his body, and that was of Titanic proportions.

He was an ardent partisan in behalf of any cause he espoused; was willful, aggressive, and dominating.