One can speculate it being possible Col. Franklin could have had family in S. Illinois during his clandestine soujourn. This would have helped facilitate his movement through the State. Like Col. Franklin who was born in Highland Co., OH. of Virginia parantage, my family the Eaglin's in S. Illinois were also from Highland Co., Oh. but of Md.-Ky ancestry. They refused to serve in the Union Army although of military age as I was told. Other families of mine in the Southern part of the State the Leuty's, Dawdy's, Pulliam's had military age men who never served as well, but had brothers, uncles, and cousins in the Confederate Army. My 3rd Great Uncle whose family was in Franklin Co., IL. during the war, was a Confederate Captain killed at Shiloh. It is safe to say Jeff Davis probably heard many reports about the sentiment of the people of that portion of the state. Of 73 known families from S. Illinois I descend from, who lived in "Egypt" in 1861, only one was from a northern state, Massachusetts and all of the rest from the South.