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Honors Projects History Department

1987

Lincoln's Boys: The Enlisted Men of the Illinois Infantry in the Civil War

Peter R. Wells Illinois Wesleyan University

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Recommended Citation Wells, Peter R., "Lincoln's Boys: The Enlisted Men of the Illinois Infantry in the Civil War" (1987). Honors Projects. 46. https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/history_honproj/46

This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. LINCOL N'S BOYS

The Enlisted Men of the Il linois Infantry

in the Civil Wa r

Peter R. Wells

April 27, 1987 Hi s tory 450 Dr . Michael Young Dr . Ro bert Bray Mr . Robert Frizzell Dr . John Heyl Tabl e of Contents

Ackn owl edgments v

Introduction 1

1. Te nting on the Ol d Camp Gr ound 5

2. Hard Cracker s 19

3. We eping Sad and Lonely 30

4 . Gay and Happy Still 41

5. Shoul ders traps, Pimps and Skunks 51

6. Tramp, Tr amp , Tramp 63

7 . The Last Ful l Measure 7 8

8. The Union Foreve r 92

9. A Br others' War 108

10. State Sovereignty , National Unity 124

Endnotes 134

Gl ossary 165

Bibliography 167 v

Acknowledgments

I woul d like to thank the members of my pr oject committee, Dr . Michael

Young , Dr. Robert Bray , Mr. Robert Frizzell, and Dr. John Heyl, for their help in suggesting sources, reading drafts and offering criticism and advice as the project took shape. Special thanks are in order for the committee chair, Dr .

Young , for ag reeing to supervise a project outside of his own area of expertise. Thanks are also in order for several persons no t directly involved in the pr oject. Mr. Paul Bu shnell helped make the necessary arrang ements for my research in Springfield and Chicago. Dr. Jack Fields offered muc h-needed assistance with the wo rd processing used in the project. Mr . Baxter Fite III of Peoria, Illinois, brought Levi Ross to my attention and also provided other th useful insights concerning the 86 Illinois Infantry . Finally , I would like to thank my pa rents for allowing me to pursue my interest and letting me drive around Illinoi s doing research during January .

Peter R. We lls Bloomington, Illinois April 12, 1987 1

Introduct ion

"Co. B are all Old Ab es Boys," wr ote Frank Cr owe ll about the 1864 election. 1 Frank and his comr ades were also Lincoln's boys in another sense.

They we re the soldiers wh o enforced Lincoln' s authority. This is a study of the enlisted men who served in the Illinois infant ry reg iment s during the

Civil Wa r. The boys we re the ones wh o faced the Confederates on the field of battle. Wit hout them, all the speeches Lincoln ever made would be me aningless. This study att empt s to explain how the boys lived and at e, marched and fought , and died . It also looks at their opinions on the impo rtant subjects of the issue s involved in the wa r, their leaders , their enemies and themselves.

Th is is not a study of nameless ma sses, though. Th e boys I use as sources have name s and personalities. They were all boys, too , regardless of ag e. Day Elmore told his brother and sister about an informal asso ciation of soldiers , called a "mess," to which he belonged. "[T]here is 10 of the best boys in our me ss I Ever got in with, thay are not all boys. [T]hare is one 4 0 years of ag e • • • and Another 35. ,, 2 Consequently, I refer to the enlisted men as "the boys" throug hout the paper.

A number of the boys are excellent sources and are used wit h great frequency throug hout the paper. Pe rhaps the best is Levi Ro ss, wh o wa s a school master from Princeville, Illinois. Levi wrot e numerous letters and also ke pt a detailed diary . Furthermore, he gave clear, logical explanations of his feelings on many issues.

Ot her excellent sources are Ed and Frank Cr owe ll , two farm boys from

Marion township in Og le County. Both men were extreme ly open and straight forwa rd in their letters to their parents. They wrote about att it ud es and behaviors that most other soldiers would not want to discuss with their 2

families. Also both possessed a good sense of humor, wh ich makes them very

pleasant to wo rk wi th. Frank Cr owe ll wa s determined to enj oy himself despite

the wa' r. Consequently he is indespensible to Chapter 4 , "Gay and Ha ppy

St ill."

Lyman Needham is another frequently cited soldier. Wh ile there is nothing particular about him, he wrote many letters on a broad variety of

subjects. Lyman had some thing to say about almost every subject discussed in

my paper. Allen Geer wa s a good-natured young teacher who wa s very observant

and noted much of wh at he saw and did in his diary. Like Ly man, Al len is

cited in almost eve ry chapter.

Day Elmore is another fantastic bu t un fortunately tragic source. He wa s

incredibly patriotic and dedicated to the cause of the Union. He enlisted at ' ag e seventeen as a drumme r. By eighteen he wa s a corporal , by nineteen a

sergeant . By the ag e of twenty he wa s another num ber on the long list of

casualties. He wa s mortally wo unded at the battle of Franklin, Te nnessee.

A number of other sources were also used . In fact, the boys represent a

small sampl e company , wi th Levi Ro ss as the first sergeant , Ed Crowe ll as the

teamster, and John Tallman as the drummer. A number of other sergeants,

corporals and pr iva tes round out the company . Al l of the boys in my paper

were enlisted me n, but three did become officers when the war was essentially

over. On April 20, 1865, both Levi Ro ss and Al len Ge er we re commissioned as a

captain and first lieutenant, respect ively . 3 Ano ther, Joseph Ward, was 4 promoted to second lieutenant on October 16, 1865, after the wa r wa s over.

Mo st of the manuscript sources came from two archive s which I visited

dur ing January 1987. The Illinois State Hi storical Library in Springfield has

a nu mber of interesting and useful collections of soldiers' documents,

includ ing the collections of Levi Ro ss and Lyman Needham . Day Elmore' s 3 letters are located at the Chicago Historical Society , which has a smaller

collection of manuscripts concerning Illinois soldiers than does the Illinois

State Historical Library . The Crowell letters are part of my personal

collection.

Throughout the paper, I have left the soldiers' eccentric spellings

intac t in the quotes. However, I have frequently modified the punctuation in

order to make the passages easier to read . These modifications are not

indicated in the paper. Other modification are indicated by brackets. The

soldiers' capitalization of letters wa s random at best, and often wo rds wh ich began sentences had to be modified .

Finally , I would like to address the similarities between my study and

Bell I. Wiley's The Li fe of Billy Yank. Wiley's classic wo rk wa s the

inspiration fo r my pr oject, but there are several important differences. My

study is much more limi ted in scope than Wiley' s. I deal only with soldiers

who served in the Illinois infantry regiments. (Mounted infantry , wh ich we re

essentially highly mobile infantry and distinc tly different from cavalry , are

included.) Also, all of my sources are enlisted me n. Na turally some

similarities do exist. Soldiers from Illinois ate the same rations as other

Union troops, for example. However, I have tried to approach these similar

topics from a different angle. Regarding the topic of food, for exampl e, I

did not itemize what the boys foraged b� t concentrated , instead , on how they

rationalized their foraging .

I have also tried to explore di fferent topics. Wi ley did not includ e

/ chapters on attitudes about officers, marching or the soldiers thoughts about

the issues involved in the wa r, althoug h these topics did receive some

attention in various chapters. One great difference exists between Wiley 's 4 findings and my own . He claimed that mo st Federal soldiers disliked the

South--i ts peopl e, climate and land . I have found just the opposite.

My study focuses on the enlisted men of Illinois and how they experienced the Civil Wa r. I hope it does these brave men justice. The Il linois boys were volunteers, and the war in which they fought was the bloodiest in

American history . They spent may hours at the tedious routines of drill and _ � ? picket duty while they endured the �� ' monotonous life of the army camps. While in the army they ate poorly , and many of the soldiers became sick and died . The soldier s had to serve under officers who frequently knew no mo re about wa r than the enlisted me n. Many of ficers we re mo re concerned about themselves than the welfare and morale of the troops. These officers led the me n on long marches and into battl e, where many of the boys fell in combat. The boys volunteered for all of this because they loved their nation.

They viewed their Southern brethren as traitors attempting to destroy the

Union. The Illinois boys were willing to sacrifice all for their beloved

Union, and they performed their du ties wi th courage and a good measur e of humor.

Many historians like to write about the movers and the shake rs. The boys moved miles carrying heavy loads, and when they clashed with the enemy the earth shook. The boys we re the ones wh o fought the Civil Wa r. Be cause they volunteered to fight in this terrible wa r, their vi ews of it are more important than the opinions of those who did not serve . That is why I chose to look at the wa r from the bottom ranks. 5

CHAPTER 1

Tenting on the Ol d Camp Ground

"Times dull , news sc arce , ma il seldom, Rations bad , rumors false & hope s disappo inted . Nothing happens to di stur b the du ll mo notony of camp li fe . .. 1

This is the synopsis of camp li fe given by Allen Geer; and mo st soldiers, if not al l, woul d have ag reed wi th him . Be fo re Sherman's sustained campaign in

Georgia in 1864, most of the Illinois troops spent their time in camp , only occasionally ventur ing ou t to fight the Confederates. Life in these camp s wa s frequently incredibly boring ; the day- to-day routine wa s rarely varied .

Because the soldiers spent so much time in camp , an examination of their camp life is an appropriate place to start.

Camping impl ies some fo rm of shelter, and whenever the soldiers we re camped for mo re than a night or two , they pitched tents or built other shelt ers. Du ring the first ye ars of the wa r, the mo st pr evalent tent wa s the

Sibley tent. The Sibley tent wa s des ign ed before the wa r by Major Henry

Si bley , wh o later became a Confederate general. It wa s a conical tent, twe lve feet tall and eighteen and one-half feet in diameter , an d could accomodate 2 twe nty so ldi ers and their gear.

The so ldi ers generally found the Sibley tents to be quite comfortable.

David Ki ng lived in one wi th nine other me n, even though it wa s des igned for twe nty . He and his tent-mat es spread straw on the ground , put their knapsacks 3 ar ound the edges of the tent and slept wi th their feet towards the center.

Levi Ro ss's tent wa s not completely filled, either. Sixteen men shared that tent, and they took ad vantage of an opening at the top of the tent to have a 4 f �r° e �ns ° � °d e. William Ma rsh shared a tent wi th ten others . They fixed it up by ad ding a cook stove, for which they paid fifteen dollar s, and made a bed 6

S tick out of an old tent filled wi th straw. John Tallman' s stove wa s less

impr essive , it being an old ke ttle wi th holes pun ched in it wi th a bayonet. 6

Although the Sibley tents we re comfortable, they we re large and difficult

to transport. Conseq uently , in the spr ing of 1863 many regiments received

shelter tents. The shelter tent came in two pieces wh ich were buttoned 7 toge ther to make the tent. Ea ch ma n wa s to carry his own half. Ed Crowe ll,

a teamster in the 92nd Illinois , gave a de scription of a his new shelter tent

in April 1863.

We ll Mo ther, they have taken our tents awa y from us and given us

the shelter tent , but we call them dog kennel [s] •••• I will describe the tent to you so you wi ll kn ow wh at our houses are like. We ll it would be just the same as taking a common sheet only a little wi der and tie a rope in the middle of each side and then take two stakes and drive [them] into the ground about two feet and a half high and stick into the ho les wh ere the ropes go in and then stake down the four corners and you have a shelter tent wi th both ends open so that the wi nd and rain can blow in at its leasure, but still its only a soldier that haves t0 lay in 8 them. [T ]hat [ 's] all that wh at we ge t for being brave .

As alluded to by Ed Cr owell, the shelter tents we re not always well

'received. In the fall of 1862, John Given feared that his regiment woul d be

issued the shelter tents, which he did not want to carry . 9 (Sibleys we re

moved by wa gons.) Levi Ross called the open-ended shelters, "a me ar apology

10 th to protect one fr om wind & we t.,, The 129 Illinois did not receive shelter th tents un til January 1864. Curtiss Judd, the sergeant-major of the 129 ,

thought that the shelters ruined the appearance of his regiment's camp , noting

in his diary: "Tents to be struck at 9am, 'Shelter' to be issued--Boys 11 rapid ly putting up the 'Dogs , --our beautiful camp in ruins. "

Other soldiers, however, found the shelters to be useful tents. George

Marsh , a sergeant in the 104th Illinois, said that shelter tents provided a 12 good shad e from the sun and that they ke pt ou t the rain rather we ll. In the 7

19th Illinois, Joseph Johnston noted that , "The pup-tents still flourish and 13 are growing in favor. ,,

Al though Ed Crowe ll compl ained about the openness of the shelter tents, he and others in the 92 nd accepted the tents wi th humor . Ed used his "dog kennel" as an ex cu se for stay ing up late, wr iting , "Why , I slept in one last night, and it made me feel so dogy I couldent sleep if I wa s to be darned but

, 1 4 I wa s up doging round camp mo st all night. • • • , Ed also noted the fun the boys in his regiment had wi th the "dogs ," writing , "it is laughable to hear the boy s in the Reg when they go to bed; they wi ll all set up the damdest

5 barking and howling you ever heard in your life. .. 1 The transition fr om

Sibleys to shelt ers wa s easier wh en the soldiers ke pt their sense of humo r.

Whenever they had the chance, the soldiers gathered material to build more permanent shelt ers. These construc tions we re usually called "shebangs ."

Shebangs we re huts with walls made out of boards, pole s, and clay and roof s 16 fashioned ou t of several $h elt er halve s. Shebangs we re usually built by an association of me n called a mess when they believed that they would stay in one pl ace all wi nter. While camped near Chattanooga , Tennessee , in October

1863, the boys of the 86th Illinois began to construct shebangs for the wi nter. He nry Nu rse repo rted on the bu il ding: "The boy s are most all bu ilding log houses and putting in fire places and chimneys. They are very comfor.table. I have not got one yet. We (that is our me ss) talk of putting 1 7 up one soon . ,,

Like Nur se, a number of the boys described their shebangs as comfortable .

When the 122nd Illinois wa s camped near Corinth, Mississippi, the boys mad e cabins wh ich Wi lliam Peter claime d we re eighteen feet square . Fourteen me n 18 lived in William's shebang , and he said they were all comfortable there.

Th e me n in Wil liam Ma rsh's me ss ad ded bunk s and a brick fireplace to their 8

9 shanty . 1 Austin And rews and his friends insulated their cabin by bu ilding it

partially un derground. He informe d his sister that, "our shebang now is about

..2 0 half unde rgroun d whic h ma k]e[s �t. very wa rm .

Wh ile the soldiers we re pr obably sincere wh en they wr ote about the comfort of their shebangs, their standards of comfort we re most likely low.

Frank Cr owe ll gave an exampl e of a so ldier' s concept of comfort wh en he told his father about the shebangs his regiment found when they occupied the forme r th camp of the 6 Kentucky (U. S.) Cavalry . "Our me ss wa s very fo rtunate and got

'" a very nice lit tle house as we call it, but probbaly you would term it a small 21 Pig pen . .. The cabins may have been wa rm, but, consid ering the wi de va riety

of materials which we re' thrown together, they probably did look like pig pens.

When a regime nt wa s suppo sed to stay in one place for an ex tended peri!) d

of time , the camp wa s generally set up in an orderly fashion. George Ma rsh th gave a detail ed desc ription of the camp of the 104 Illinois near Gray svi lle,

Ge orgi a. The parade ground wa s on the north and wa s separated from the rest

of the camp by a drainag e di tch, ten inches wi de and about six inches deep.

Immediately south of the ditch we re the soldiers' quarters. These we re

organized by company wi th Company A on the ex treme east and Company K on the

extreme we st. Each company had a row of shebangs , running fr om north to

south. In Ge orge 's company (D), there we re ten shebangs wi th four me n in each

shebang. Behind each company row and perpendicular to the main ditch we re

smaller di tches. South of the soldi ers ' quarters wa s another di tch, an open area, yet another di tch, and then the tents of th e company officers. Further

south we re the regimental of ficers ' tents, the regimental hospital and the 22 commissary . th The parade ground to the north of the 1 04 ,s camp wa s a frequently used

feature wh ich could be found in any regiment's camp . Wh ile in camp the men 9

perfo rmed various fo rms of drill to prepare them for battle. Drill often

th began early in the mo rning . In the 1 04 , a 4 : 00 am roll call wa s immediately ' followed by two hours of drill. 23 In the 36th Illinois, John Sackett reported having battalion drill at 4 : 00 am on Tue sd ays, Thur sd ay s and Saturdays.

Br igade drill, wh ich involved mo re troops, began at 4 :30 am on Mondays ,

Wedne sd ay s and Fridays. The half-hour delay wa s presumably due to the fact

that mo re men had to be assembled. Finally , the 36th had company drill Monday 24 through Saturday at 4:00 pm. The amoun t of time spent dril ling va ried wi th

the experience of the troops. When the 86th Illinois had been in the servic e

for about one mo nth, Levi Ross wr ote that he spent eight hours a day

th dri11 ing.25 John Tallman, in the 7 6 Illinois, said he only spent four hours

a day at dril l after his regiment had been in servi ce fo r a number of 26 months.

The so ldi ers learned a number of forms of drill in camp . At the lowe st

level wa s the School of the Soldier. This consisted of movements which a

soldier could practice by hims elf and included the manual of arms (Order Arms ,

27 Shoulder Arms , �) and facings . Company drill involved a small number of me n mo ving toge ther and acting as one body . Bat talion drill consisted of the

coordination of two or more companies, and was the type of drill that a

regime nt coul d practice as one body . Brigade drill drew on all the lowe r

fo rms of drill and combined the movements of several regiments.

Many of the soldiers di sl iked dril l and saw it as nothing bu t hard work .

John Given wa s busy wr iting to his sister when he was summoned to drill. "The

dru m has just beat fo r the battalion dril l, but I'll not go if I can help it,

for I have enough to do without drilling , and battalion drill is the hardes t 28 wo rk I ever did . ,, Writing his remi niscences ye ars after the wa r, Robert

Burdette recalled that "The soldier did not love to drill. On the other hand , 10 his colonel wa s perfectly infatuated with the game of wa r. And brigade drill!

This is the delight of the general . • • • It is an inspiring spectacle to mounted officers. To the infantryman , down in the dust and stubble of old

29 cotton and corn-fields • it is indesc ribably dul l and tiresome . ,,

Others did not like the idea of havi ng to drill after they had been in

the servi ce for awh ile. Lyman Needham thought it wa s a wa ste of time to drill

soldiers who had been in the army for over a year . "I don't see much use in drilling old so ldiers , for we migh t drill our three ye ars ou t and not do any better than we do now . ,,30 Henry Nurse shared Lyman's opinion, wr iting af ter

the fall of Atlanta, "there is no use of drilling now; we have been in the service too long to drill to learn anything, for we dont take an y interest in 31 1't • ,,

Wh ile regular fo rms of drill may have been dul l, the soldiers tended to find skirmish drill and sham bat tles to be interesting. In ski rmi sh drill

soldiers we re taugh t the techniques of open-order fighting . Levi Ro ss once noted in his diary that the 86th Illinois wa s "Practicing in the ski rmi sh 32 drill, wh ich is more interesting that solid drill. ,, Allen Geer described 33 h'1S S k'1r ID1S'h d r1'II s as b'e1 ng I'1ve 1 y.

Sham battl es we re just that--mock figh ts betwe en several regiments , occasional ly from different branches of the service. Levi Ross participated

in a sham battl e and wr ote that his regiment "Made a doub le quick bayo net charge on our own Illinois battery and took it. This breaks the monotony of 34 camp life and is real enjoyable. ,, Joseph Johnston also noted the pleasant change of pace afforded by sham bat tIes. "I mus t not forget the lit tI e

excitement of to day , a sham battle wh ich is just over. There wa s a few bruises, a few blunders, & a few laughable inc idents, at least laughable to a 35 lot of camp-confined soldi ers. ,, Sham battles we re some time s confused wi th 11 the real thing by non-participant s. A sham bat tle in wh ich George Ch ildress participated alarmed other Un ion troops camped near by and resulted in the 36 arrest of the officer who organized the fight.

Th e pr of iciency wi th wh ich drill was performed va ried wi th different regiments. The 129th Il linois wa s apparently poorly drilled . In April 1864,

Cur tiss Jud d made the fo llowi ng notation in his diary : "Once mo re commensed a 37 • ,, cour se of Tactics. 20 mo s. in U.S. A[rmy ] & don't Know Shoulder Arms . th On the ot her hand, the 36 Illionis received praise for their drill from

General Rosecrans. Day Elmore reported an in cident which occurred in November

1862:

Maj . Gen. Ro secrans, after the Revi ew wa s over, he Rode up to our Regt and sayed this is supposed to be the best drilled Regt now in the servi ce. [T ]he Re st of the Brigade we r then all brought fronting us; we then went through the man ul of arms . [A]fter we we r through he turned to the new troops and sayed thare wh en I 38 Revi ew you Ag an I want to see you beat that , but thay never Can.

A we ll drilled regiment coul d look very impressive , and some soldiers we re pr oud of their regiment's skill. When he wa s a recruit at Camp Bu tler, near Springf ield, Illinois, in the spring of 1864 , Napolean Bartlett saw the recently replenished 8th Il linois drill and wa s ama zed by their precision.

"[W] hen they we re at shoul der arms [the c olonel] woul d give the order 'Order 39 ,, Arms ,' and with on[e] click & chug the who le 1000 guns would come d own .

Frank Cr owe ll expressed pr ide in his own regiment's performance . "[O ]ur

Bat tallion dril ls eve ry day and they do it finely . I tell you, when the band is pl aying and the Battallion is moveing , it looks fine to see every man step 40 to the time , and they do it an d do it good • ,,

Th e parade grounds we re also used for dress parades. Dress parades we re revi ews of reg iments or brigades conducted by the commanding officer of the unit being paraded . Almost all of the so ldiers wr ote about participating in dress parades at least on ce a week when they we re in permenant camps. Howeve r 12 they said little more ab ou t them ot her than that they participated in them, indi cat ing that dress parades we re perfun ct ory duties in wh ich they took lit tle interest. Dress parades were shows for of ficers, not for the troops.

Another act ivi ty besides drill wh ich occu pied the soldiers ' time was pi cke t du ty. Pi cketing involved guarding the camp. The frequen cy of picke ting varied and so did the size of the un it used as gu ar ds . A small camp mi ght have been guarded by a comp any , whereas an entire briga�e might have been put on pi ck e t ar ound a large ca mp . Wh en camped ne ar Murfreesb oro,

Tennessee, in the spring of 1863, the 36th Illinois picketted on e day ou t of every eight, and it performe d this duty wi th the rest of its brig ade . Day

Elmore of the 36th expl ained how the pi cket line was op erated. His regiment picke tted stations 8, 9, la, and 11. Hi s station consisted of 3 ou tposts.

The soldiers we re on pi cket for twenty-four hours, walking their beats for two hour s an d then going of f duty for four hour s before returning to their beats.

At Day's station twenty-s ix pr ivates, three corpor als an d three sergeants we re on duty at a time . 41 De spite ot her differences in picke t duty in ot her commands, al l seem to have been on pi cket for twenty-f our hour s and had cy cles of two hours on an d four of f.

Pi cke t duty was a seri ous matter, for the camps had to be pr otected fr om sudden at tacks. Th e 36th Illinois even had a picke t reserve . Th e reserve consisted of five me n fr om each comp any wh o we re to be reinf orcements in the event that the pi ckets we re at tacked. 42 Pi cke ts we re to prevent any un authorized cr ossing of their lines. Th omas Miller wr ot e of his duty as a guard , "if any person at temp ts to brake guard, we are or dered to Either 43 bayonet or Sh oot them. "

Not on ly we re the picke ts to pr ev ent an un authorized entrance into a camp ; they we re al so supposed to prevent soldiers fr om le avi ng . Soldiers in 13 camp we re of ten confined wi thin the pi cket line s. Th omas Miller mus t have realized that his fellow soldiers might want to try to bre ak guard an d get ou t of camp . "[W]e are under Extreme ly Strict or de r an d Confining Rules. [W]e ar e not al lowe d to go ou t of Camp wi th ou t a pass fr om head quarters an d then it

4 is to go af ter provisions," he wrote. 4 Aus tin And rews wrote that "we cann ot go a mi le fr om camp wi th ou t a pass signed by the brig ade an d division

4 5 commanders and that is not easily obtained. • ,, Once , a special guard . th was pl aced ar ound the 124 Illinois because the general commanding the post 46 believed th at they we re re sponsible for a series of thefts.

Dril ling, pi cke tting , sl eeping an d eating made for a rather dul � life in camp . The soldiers ' letters are full of descriptions ab ou t the bored om of camp life, and a recitation of their compl ai nts would be just as dul l as they cl aimed camp life was . The boredom, however, was made worse by the lack of news. "Camp life is a ignorant life; we kn ow nothing of wh at ,i s going on on ly what we do ou r Selfs," wrot e Th omas Miller.47 Lyman Needh am was not sure if they ev en kn ew wh at they did themselves, writ ing "we do not kn ow on e minute 48 what we shall do the next . ,,

Since they we re ke pt in ignorance ab ou t most events, the soldiers we re thr illed to receive news fr om ou tside. Re ad ing materi al of any ki nd was greatly pr ized. Af ter Wi lliam March re ceived a package of magazines, he de scribed the effect of the gift to his father. "Reading mater is something that we feel the want of , Mor e than Most any thing else. If you coul d have seen how those Magazines we re seized hold of Wh en I op ened the package & he ard the questions, May I take on e of th em, you woul d have seen how your 4 9 present was ap pre c1a. ted • ,,

Newspapers we re a ve ry popul ar sour ce of informat ion. Some soldiers we re ab le to ob tain rath er current papers. Aus tin Andrews was ab le to get papers 14 fr om Cin ci nn ati, Chi cago an d St. Louis wh i ch we re on ly three days late an d 50 cost ten or fifteen cents each . Wh ile at Murfreesb oro, Tennessee, Joseph

Johnst on was ab le to get the Chicago Tribune fr om a newsb oy the second morning 51 af ter it was issued.

Newspapers we re treasured items am ong the soldiers. Camped ne ar Nat ch ez ,

Mis sissippi, John Tallman had diffi cult y getting news papers. Wh en he did get a copy of the Northwe stern Adv ocate, he re ad it un til he al most had it memorized . 52 Like Willi am Marsh and his magazine s, soldiers usually shared their papers wi th others. Au stin An drews explained, "When on e in the Co. gets

, 53 a paper �t general 1 y pass the rounds . ,,

Th e news wh ich interested the soldiers the most was news about home .

Ge org e Marsh compl ained ab ou t the inadequacy of ci ty newspapers, writing , "The

Nashville papers ar e not worth a cent, for they cont ain not mu ch war news & no family news at al l. ,, 5 4 Many soldiers as ked for home-t own papers, but the best sources of news we re letters fr om friends an d family at home . "Mother wr ite to me qui ck an d tell me al l the news and all the little af fairs that have happened, for them ar e the ones that I like to hear," wr ot e Frank Cr owe ll, , 55 express�ng a desire common to most soldiers for news ab ou t t h'e�r f a�'1' �e s.

No soldi er- Joseph Ward expressed every re ceived enough mail fr om home . soldier's thoughts wh en he wr ote, "Eve ry mail I think, why don't they 56 wr ite? ,, Many soldiers ag itated their fami lies for more letters thr ough out the war . "But why in the world don't you wr ite to us on ce in a wh ile that is if you are a live and ab le to wr ite, if you an int wh y just say so and we wi ll ex cuse you. But as it is, we don't kn ow wh eather you ar e de ad or not," wr ote 57 Ed Cr owe ll on behalf of himself and his brother Fr ank . Earlier in the war ,

Ed had st ag ed a "strike," refusing to wri te during most of the spring an d summe r of 1863, pr otesting the lack of mail . Fr ank expl ained , "he says they 15 dont wri te to him, and he wont wri te to an yb ody. ,, 58 When Ed finally br oke his silence, he cl os ed his letter by informi ng his mother that he woul d wr ite, 59 " on 1 y when I am 0 bl1ge" d . ,,

Th e scarcity of news led to an abundance of rum or s in the camps. Some of the rumors edged cl os e to the border of ridicul ousness. When Gr ant began his first thrusts towards Vi cksburg, William Ross told his father, "I understand that President Je fferson Davis of the Young Confederacy is in Command at 60 Vi cx bu rg in Person. ,, Al len Geer repeated the same rum or wh ile the siege of

Vi cksburg was in pr og ress, showing that some rumors died hard . 61 Rumor s ab ou t other events ch an ged quickly , however. Following the Seven Days Battles ne ar

Richmond in July 1862, Allen Geer, wh o was camped near Jackson, Te nne ssee, first heard ru �or s of a Un ion defeat ne ar Ri chmon d. The next day, however, the ru mor wa s that "The rebles ackn owledge a sad defeat. McClellan occupying 62 more ad vantage ous position. ,, Wh ile General Lee did lose the battle of

Malvern Hill, on the whole, the first rumor was cor rect.

Early in their servi ce , some soldiers believed rumor s wi th a great degree of gullibility . In June 1862, Joseph Ward and his comrades heard, wh ile they we re on picke t, that Ri ch mond had fallen; so they we nt back to camp an d beg an to turn ove r their equipment to the government . 63 Eventually, the soldiers

came to di sregard most, if not al l, rumors. "If we believed half of the camp reports, we should be at home in two or three days, and then ag ai n we woul d stay in the army for a life time ," wr ote Lyman Needh am af ter a ye ar an d a half

of servi ce . 64 Richard Puffer of the 8th Illinois told his sister th at "the

camp is .al l the time filled wi th the most ab surd rumers, & we do not believe ,6 5 , any 0 f them until we see them in the papers & hard 1y then.

Th e on e piece of news wh ich alway s pr odu ced ex citement in camp was news

of a vis it fr om the paymaster. "A little excitement is now got up ab ou t the 16 paymaster, Major McD owell, wh o has vis it ed the camp & is expected to 'set tle

F' ,I) up' pretty soon, " wr ote Joseph Johnstor.• John Sa cke tt described his first pay day , writ ing "Saturday the 9 in st was a happy day for this reg iment as we

we re marched company after company to headquarters and re ceived ou r pay . • •

.. 67

Wh ile everyone is pl eased by pay day , the soldiers appre ciated the ir

scant pay even more because pay days we re irregular. The sold iers' pay wa s quite low--only thirteen dollars a month for a pr ivate at the beg inn in g of the 8 wa r. On May 1, 1864, the ir pay was raised to sixteen dollars a month. 6 By

�ompar ison, before the wa r, Day Elmore earned ten dollars a we ek working as a farm hand . 69 The pay wa s also late, dreadful ly late. The soldiers of ten had six, eight, or even ten months'back pay due them. Rega rd ing the late pay ,

Lyman Ne edham concluded, "When they have money that they don't know what to do 7 0 w�. t h'�t, Th ey may pay us. ,,

Even wh en the soldiers we re pa id, they some time s did not re ceive the ir

fu ll amoun t. Soldiers wh o drew more cl oth ing than they we re all owed had the ir pay reduced. Also many soldiers we re in debt to the reg imental sutler and had that bill taken ou t of the ir pay . (Sutlers we re merchants licensed by the gove rnmen� to sell good s to the soldiers.) Joseph Wa rd described how many soldiers had their wages disappear before they received the ir pay when he wr ot e about on e pay day in September 1863. "Many of the boys had bu t litte to take after settl ing wit h the Government for cloathing and the Sulter for

thin gs received fr om him. Th is seemed hard, to see some take a few dollars 71 and some a few ce nts wh il e others we re actually in debt to th e Gove rnment . ,,

Even wh en they did re ceive ca sh for the ir pay , ma ny soldiers had

diff iculty holdin g on to it for long . "A great many have spent half of their money although they we re pa id bu t ye sterday , and a boy of ou r company . 17

lost al l last night gambleing . [A]nother was robbed of the last cen t; in fact 72 I think a great many woul d be the better of no pay," wr ot e Au stin Andrews .

Gambling was ramp an t among the boys af ter they re ceived their pay. Sh ortly th before the battle of Shil oh, when the 20 Illinois was camped ne ar Pi ttsburg

Landing , they received two months' pay. Allen Geer reported: "Gambling 7 3 comme nced at on ce : many started for the [Tennessee] rive r to have a spree."

Fr om Vi cksburg, Napolean Bartlett wr ote , "The men got 6 months pay today, & 74 they ar e gambling here in my tent now.,,

Aus tin Andrews al so mentioned th at on e of the boys was rob be d of hi s money . While theft was far less common than gambling , it did occur , an d some theive s would take anything . Ed Crowell told of an experience he had with a

theif on ce in Ge orgi a. "Nigh t before last there was some mi dnight thief we �'1t

ar oun d through this detachment to every tent and pi cked eve ry man's pocket, wh ile he was asl eep, of wat ches, money , and every thing of value that they

coul d get hold of . I found my pocket[book ] laying in my bunk op ened an d the

money gon g Bu t I on ly had $2 .50 ••••th ey even took my stockens ou t of my 7 boots. ,, 5 Ed estimated th at the theif stole money an d goods totalling over fifteen- hundred dollars in value .

Th ose me n wh o did not gamble their money aw ay or did not have it stolen frequently sent much of their pay home to their families. Some sent the money

to be used for specific purposes. Wi lliam Peter decided that his pay shoul d be used to pr ovide his sisters wi th mu sic lessons. 76 Ge orge Marsh had hi s 77 brother invest the money he sent home in farm land. Others al lowed their families to use their money as they wished. Fr ank Cr owell wr ote to his mother, "you said you wanted to take some of my money to by a bonnet. Pi tch righ t in. [Y]ou are welcome to al l you want ; buy a nice on e Mother if it 78 costs 20 dollars. ,, 18

Af ter they received an d dispensed wi th their pay, the boys settled back

int o the dul l ignorant drud ge ry of their camp routine. However, there was

something ab ou t camp life, perhaps the fact th at they were aw ay fr om home ,

that seemed at tract ive to some of the boys. Au stin Andrews was not al on e wh en he voi ced his op ini on that , "If I shoul � le ave the army tomorr ow, it would be 7 9 wi th regrets ••••in a great many respects, I really like camp life. ,, 19

CHAPTER 2

Hard Cr acke rs

"[S]oldiers eat a great de al more than they fight ," cl aimed Robert l Bur dette, and his statement is ce rtainly true . Eating was an act ivity that the men tried to perfo rm at least three times a day. The numerous re ferences to their cu rrent fare found in most of the soldiers' letters indi cate th at they were rather pre occuppied wit h wh at they at e. Since eating was a common

activi ty of the boys, it is ap pr opriate to describe wh at an d how they at e wh il e in the army .

Th e principl e ration in the soldiers' diets was hard bread, better kn own

as hardt ack or hard cr ackers. Occasionally, it was referred to as pilot bre ad

or simply called cr ackers, but the name s did not mat ter. Hardt ack by any

other name was just as un appetizing. Soldier accounts le av e li ttle doubt as to the ap tness of the word hard . Rob ert Burdette called it a "concrete bre akf ast sl ab," an d Lyman Needh am referred to his cr ackers as

"Breastpl at e�. ,, 2 Besides being hard, hardt ack was occas ionally infested wi th

as sorted ve rmin. "[S]ome say the cr ackers have magets in them, but I dont 3 th look for them, " reported John Tallman. Wi lliam Marsh of the 13 Illinois

. 4 Infant ry described his cr ackers as 'Wormy . ,,

Wh atever the soldi ers thought of their hard cr ackers, these we re a

stand ard portion of the daily fo od ration. Hardt ack was the basic ration; al l

else was considered ad ditional. Napolean Bartlett reve aled its regul ar use in

the menu he described to his brother. "For breakfast we have coffee &

hardt ack ; for Dinner we some time s have Be an s & sometimes Pe as & hardt ack ; for

supper we have coffee & me at wi th the hardt ack. ,, 5 It was not just that they

had hardt ack al l the time ; it is imp ortant to notice that al l else was served

wi th the hardt ack. Hardt ack was the basis for every me al . 20

Napolean Bartlett mentioned ot her it ems in his diet in ad dition to hard cr acke rs an d, indeed, the soldiers some time s at e quite a variety of food .

Willi am Pe ter, whi le encamped at Corinth, Mississippi, said his fare "consists of cr ackers as a basis to wh ich may be ad ded bakers bread as a luxury , beans , rice, tea & coffee, sugar, con centrated potatoes & mixed vegitables. • We have beef ab out on ce a we ek the rest of the time we ge t a tolerable good th ar ticle of side me at."6 Other soldiers reported similar diets. Wh en the 86

Illinois was in wi nter quarters during Fe bru ary 1864, Private Henry Nu rse gave a list comp ar abl e to Willi am' s, wi th sever al ex ceptions. The 86t h had soft bread at the time , and re ceived on ions and "sour cr out" instead of mixed 7 veget ables.

Ap ar t fr om hardt ack, the ot her mos t common foods appe ar to be pork an d coffee. Pork was issued to the boys salted or pi ckled or in the form of 8 bacon. Th e ration of pork was not greatly appreciated by the men, an d Levi

Ross noted in his diary th at, "One ve ry un pleasant duty required of al l soldiers is to di spose of ab out three fourths of a pound of ol d, rusty, salt bacon, eve ry time the earth revolves. "9 Several others commented that the 1 0 pork wh ich was issued was fat. Coffee was typi cally drunk black an d in large quantities. Henry Nurse cl aimed to drink two or three pints at each ll me al .

Th e Illinois soldiers may have had a number of it ems to eat wh en in camp , but on a march, of ten al l they had was hardt ack, pork and coffee. On hi s first march int o enemy territory in Janu ary 1862, Th omas Mi ller wr ot e that he had "n o thing to Eat but Some ol d fat bacon and hard cr ackers that is not 12 postivily fit for a dog to Eat •••.,, Au stin An drews had on ly hardt ack an d coffee on on e mar ch thr ou gh Tenn essee in De cember 1863. 13 Other soldiers made 21 simil ar cl aims . Th ey might fare we ll in camp , but on a camp aign their stomachs suffered .

Wh ile hardtack coul d be ingested as issued and pork was frequently consumed raw, other parts of the soldiers' diets had to be cooked . To facilitate cook ing an d the related ch or es of fetching fire wood an d water, the soldiers formed small gr oups called "messes." Sometimes, messes we re formally created by the of ficers of a comp any . Napolean Bartlett' s comp any was divided int o four messes of thirteen men each , while Ge orge Marsh's comp any initi ally 1 4 had three messes of thirty men each . Ot her me sses we re based on volun t ary as soci at ion. Ju st before the battle of Shiloh, Allen Geer noted the form at i on of a new me ss in his di ary . "A revolution brought ab out in the co oking 15 ar rangement; 5 of us formed an independent col ony wi th B.F. Noll for cook ...

Some soldiers had mu ch fun wi th their me sses, giving them name s an d cr eating

"formal" or ganizations. James Snell of the 52nd Illinois was the president of his "Hye na Me ss. " Each member of the group had a nickname and a position as shown below.

Soldie r Ni ck name ( s) Position

Snell Eleph ant Pres ident Mur ray Bul ldog, Correspondent Clipper Ellis Gr eyhound Gr and Scribbler Barne s Rhinocer os Re porter (Shorthand) Lesl ie Pi ss-ant Artist Murphy Spaniel Fry-master Harringt on Jackal Hi storian Ku tcher We as el Absent, in his hole, asleep Lane Buffalo In spect or-General Swanson Tiger Scout & For agemas ter Simpson Monkey Acrobat & Tumbler Sanderson Fox Ch esterfield gef� . Miller (cook) Chi cken Caterer Gener al

Regardless of a me ss's or ganization, its main purpose was to cook the members' rations. Wi thin the fr am ework of a mess, the soldiers found sever al 22 way s to accomplish this task. The men of Willi am Marsh's me ss paid on e of

In ot her me sses, th e1r. memb ers f·1 f teen d 0 11 ar s a mont h to d 0 t h e cook· 1n g. 17 such as thos e of Napo1ean Bartlett an d Day E1more� each man took his turn 18 cooking for on e we ek . Still ot her gr oups hired ou tsiders, principally 1 9 blacks, to do their cooking .

Th e quality of the cooking done by the me sses could vary greatly fr om mess to mess. John Given said that his mess's black cook had be en a cook al l

20 of his life an d cooked we 11. Wi lliam Marsh said his me ss' s cook , Hyde, was the best cook in the regiment an d baked cake s, pies an d ap ple dumplings .

Hy de' s pork an d beans received pr ai se fr om his brig ade commander, General

Wyman, when he joined the mess for dinner.21 Most ot her soldiers did not eat

as we ll. Th e most common me thod of preparation was frying . Consider the

culinary skills of Day Elmore when confronted wi th cooki ng dinne r. " [W]hat 22 shall we have is the question. Wh y some good Pi ckled Porck Fr yed. ,,

Henry Nurse wrot e that, "When we can get any corn we grate it and make kake s 23 fried in grease. ,,

Many of the boys we re at a loss as to how to use rations of fl our. Hyd e may have turned it into cake s and pies, but more typical was the preparation given by Joseph Ward. Hi s me ss mixed the fl ou r wi th salt and water to make a batter. "This we fry on a tin plat e with a little greese. Thi s make s very unwh ol esome food that rocks round in on es stomack like rock s an d is not at al l binding . ,, 24 Allen Geer's mess wr apped their batter ar ound sticks an d baked it 25 ove r a fire.

Th e poor quality of cooking, coupled wi th the poor quality of the food

issued caused many of the soldiers to compl ain ab ou t their fare. One of the th most eloquent disparagers of army food was Lev i Ross of the 86 Illinois .

"The boys say that ou r 'grub ' is en ough to make a mul e desert an d a hog wish 23 he had neve r been born," wr ot e Levi ab ou t the food in gener aL Ross al so compl ai ned ab out the ag e of his rations of bacon and hardt ack . "Some of the boys say they saw the date 1776 on the bacon an d 'b.C.' on the hard tack . I

.. 27 woul d jud ge that it al l belonged to the an tedeluvi an ag e . John Tallm an

28 referred to his bacon an d hardtack as "sow belly and magets . .. Bee f, wh i ch usually ar rived salted or pickled, was given a number of irreverent

.. 00 2 9 euphemisms , such as salt horse, "old bul1", an d"em bIa med bee f • ..

Be sides the quality of their rations, the soldiers al so compl ai ned ab ou t the quantity they re ceived . Wh ile most conceded that they usually had en ough to eat, the "Cr acke r line" woul d occasionally fail to me et their demands .

Allen Gee r noted a time when his regiment's rations we re drastical ly cu t, wr iting , "We draw 28 cr ackers today for 36 men for two days rations." The day before the boys in his comp any picke d up a few navy beans that some commi ssary 30 had carelessly spilled on the gr ound.

Des pite the complaints ab ou t the food , most of the soldiers became accustome d to it, and did not grumble ab ou t the quality as long as the quantity was sufficient. Af ter returning fr om his first long mar ch , Th omas

Mi ller ap pr eciated the impr ovement in di et . "[O]ur fare is not the best in

the world but it [is] good En ou gh when we ar e not marching •••wh en we ar e in ou r Camp s we fare as we ll as I wish to a present but I dont kn ow how long good times wi ll last I have Seen the time th at I woul d give considerable

. 31 to [have ] had as mu ch as I Coul d Eat ..... Th omas was satisfied wi th his standard fare, but he al so re alized that feast could qui ckly give way to famine . One day they might eat we ll; the next they might scramble for a few beans left on the gr ou nd .

A few soldiers wi th questionable tastes came to like the st and ard issue bacon an d hardt ack. "Bacon raw an d hard Bre ad wi th a cu p of Coffee is good 24

En ou gh for A soldier," wr ot e Day Elmore, the same boy wh o enj oyed fried 32 pickl ed pork . Joseph Ward was at least temporarily satisfied wi th the stand ard issue wh en he was ch as ing Stonewall Jackson's elus ive Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley . One of his suppers consisted of "A hard cr acker, a canteen of water, an d a piece of raw pork , an d I tell you the truth when I 33 tell you it went good . • • • ,,

Good, bad, or indifferent, the army fare was dul l and monot onous. "[W]e get pl enty but Eating on e kind of diet al l the time we get tired of it," wrote

3 4 Thomas Mi ller fr om his cam p at Cairo, Illinois. Wh ile in the defences ar oun d Washingt on, D. C. , in the summe r of 1862, David King gave his sister a description of his comp any 's menu. Br eakfast consisted of co f fee, bread an d fat pork ; dinner was water , bre ad and fat pork; and supper br ou ght tea, bre ad and fat pork . For a ch an ge of pace "instead of bre ad & fat pork we have fat

,,35 the por k & bre ad. The day af ter day samene ss of the army food led men to suppl eme nt their rations wh enever possible.

.. I expe ct we would get a little hungry some times if we didn' [t] steal pr ovi sions fr om the rebels . We don' t ex actly steal, but go in br oad daylight an d don' t care wh o sees us at it."36 This is how Pr ivate John Give n th of the 124 Illinois described foraging--the taking of pr ovi sions fr om

Southern ci tizens. Most of the soldiers did not feel guilty ab ou t robbing from the Southerners. "I have no conscientious scrupl es ab ou t thus taking what we wan t to eat, for if it is rebel property it virtually be longs to uS by righ t of forfeit on their part, and if it be the pr operty of Un ion Me n, then the self-s acrificing men who ar e defending their homes are , in justice, entitled to it, " wr ot e Levi Ross wh ile he was in Kentucky--a state wi th 37 greatly divided loyalties. 25

Th e boys also rationalized their taking of food on more humo rous bases. th Hhen the 20 Il linois wa s camped by a pl antation near Pi nson Station,

Tennessee, the boys of Al len Geer's company quickly began foraging . "Our boys are learning the ways of the pl ace: hogs are savage have to be ki lled in self-defence, sheep get mistook for wild deer and get shot, sweet potatoe s 38 grow wi ld. " Geer himself shot two hogs or "slow deer" as he called them .

Rebel anima ls that refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Union forfeited their lives. "1 had some [chicken] for di nner the other day , but they was secesh ch idkins and would not take the oath so we killed them. [W]e get a pig ev ery little wh ile in the same wa y ," reported John Tallman from

Tennessee. 39 After his comr ades brought in a variety of me at, fruit and vegetables from surrounding farms , Levi Ro ss admitted that, "Everything that 40 will not give the countersign has to surrender at the po int of the bayonet ."

Wh en foraging wa s pr ohibited by a comma nding officer, some soldiers would trade wi th the Southern citizens rather than risk punishment for disobeying orders. Th e major pr oblem facing the boys wa s finding a way to pay for the food they wanted to purchase. Allen Geer wa s probably the mo st formal of the soldi ers. He exchanged his " greenbacks" for Confederate money , receiving five dollars Confederate for eve ry United States do11ar. 41 Lyman Needham asked hi s brother to send him any Southern or worthless money he had , noting that "most anything will go here. ,,4 2 Joseph Wa rd and his comrades swindled the inhabitants of the Shenandoah Valley by pur chasing food from them wi th 4 3 coun terfeit Confederate bonds, which they bought for five cents per dozen.

Frank Cr owe ll had the mo st di rect approach to solving the currency problem, which he di sclosed in a letter to his mo ther. "1 went to buy a cake from a darkey the other day . 1 asked him the pr ice; one cent he said . 1 handed him 26 a cent , no cant take that Master says it ant good. I ke pt the cake and told 44 him to tell his ma ster to ki ss my ass ...

So ldiers coul d also suppl ement their rations by purchasing food fr om sutlers. John Given gave a list of the va riety of food offered by his regimental sutler in the fall of 1862. Pies could be brough t for twenty-f ive cents each, and biscuits coul d be had at a cost of fifty cents per dozen.

Cheese cost thirty cents per pound , and bacon was twenty cents per pound .

On ions we re a bargain at three for a nickle. Fresh, dried and canned fruit could be purchased, the canned frui t (pineapple, strawberries and peache s) 45 cos ting one dollar per quart. The privates, however, we re paid only thirteen dollars a month, and they we re usually short of cash. Consequently, they tended to vi sit sutlers infrequently .

The boys usual ly would purchase food for special dinners on hol idays.

Fo r the Fourth of July in 1862, Lyma n Needham bought gingerbread, candy , ma ple sugar, dried beef and lemonade.4 6 In the 36th Illinois, the boys of John

S-:lcke tt' s me ss celebrated Christmas of 1861 with six pints of oy sters , two 47 pounds of crackers and one pound of candy, all purchased fr om the sutler. th Th e soldiers of the 76 illinois also treated themselve s to an oys ter dinner 48 for Chris tmas 1863, and their officers donated wh iskey to the feast .

On e wa y in wh ich soldiers coul d afford to purchase fo od wa s by selling unused rations back to the government. William Marsh explained how his mess used this program to advantage . "We do not eat all our rations, we are intitled to pay from Governme nt for What rations We do not eat, and will get

it if the quarterma ster does not cheat us our of it •• our Me ss saves

Coffee anough in a We ek to buy 2 bushels of potatoes, still we have coffee

. . 49 nd tw�ce a d ay . • • • . In the 92 Illinois, Fr ank Cr owell' s me ss also saved 2 7

their co ffee to buy po tatoes.50 This me thod did no t necessarily provide any mo re fo od, but it did increase the va riety in the so ld iers ' diets.

Finally , a soldier might be fortunate and receive a box containing food

from his family . Boxes from home we re highly pr ized and generally contained deserts and delicacie s, not regular food. "1 rece ived your kind letter & a box of cake week before last, for Wh ich I am ve ry much obliged to you ; the

Cake Wa s of a quality Which is seldom Seen by a soldier. It did not last a

great While for there Wa s only eleven of us to eat it; the boys in our Me ss are ve ry Much obliged to you," wrote Willam Marsh to his mo ther. 5 1 Boxes from

home we re true treasures, and soldiers frequently shared the contents wi th

their messes.

Many choice edibles found their way to the soldiers packed in boxes sent

by their familie s. Levi Ro ss received one which contained , amo ng other

things , cheese, five ·pounds of bu tter, three pecks of dried fruit, one quart

of cherry wine, two cans of honey , and one can of preserves.5 2 Robert

B(lrdette once received a va riety of cakes, including fruit cake , gingerbread,

cookies and jelly in a box from his mo ther. 5 3 Napolean Bartlett once received 54 a ve ry rare item--chewing gum .

Foraging, sutlers and boxes from home did bring va riety to the soldiers'

diets, but their effect was limited. Boxe s we re highly prized items in part

because they we re so rare. Ro bert Burdette received bu t one in three ye ars of

service.55 Also, families could not afford to send their soldier sons every

me al by ma il. The high pr ices of the sutlers compared to the soldiers ' low

wage s prevented them fr om patronizing the sutlers mo re frequently . The

cur rency pr oblem prevented them from buying much from Southerners when they

coul d not forage. Fruits and vegetables could only be effectively foraged

when in season. Al l provi sions became di fficult to forage wh en a large number 28 of troops were concentrated in an area. Wh ile mo st soldiers mentioned alternative sour ces of fo od, they mostly wr ote about mi litary rations , wh ich is wh at they generally had to eat .

Th e di et of the Illinois infantry soldiers wa s determined by several limi tations. Limited time affected both the variety of food and .its preparation. Fo raging took time and coul d only be indul ged in wh en the soldiers we re not very busy. Wh en the soldiers we re on a march, they did no t have time to pr epare much food, and camp activities prevented mo st me sses from attempting any extravagant me als. It is of little wonder that some soldier s ate their bacon raw .

Th e boys we re also faced wi th limi ted resources. Co oking utensils we re generally at a min imum in camp and almost non-exi stent during a march. Even if they had utensils , the army rations did not lend themselvs to many means of preparation. The mo st often me ntioned foods we re hardtack, pork, usually either pickled or heavily salted , coffe, beans, rice and po tatoes. The boys simply did no t have much wi th wh ich to create interesting me als.

Th e third limi tation concerned the so ldiers' lack of cooking skills . A few like Hyde, the cook in William Marsh's mess, we re competent cooks who

coul d pr epare decent me als . Ot hers we re like Day Elmore and Joseph Wa rd . 5 6 Na polean Bar tlett had to write to his mo ther to learn how to make pancakes.

Ap parently he and the others in his company did not know how to make this rather simple food. Essentially , the soldiers had three pr ima ry choices about what to do wi th their fo od. They coul d eat it as issued, fry it in grease, or roast it on a stick held over a fire. Coffee, of course, wa s bo iled in a po t,

bu t few items were ever baked or stewed.

Finally , the boys we re limi ted by their own tastes. By enj oying raw

bacon and fr ied pickl ed po rk , Day Elmore ma y have been in a mi nority , but 29 other soldiers we re certainly satisfied by rather plain fair. William Marsh, wh o paid fo r the servi ces of the best cook in the regiment, held po rk and beans to be his favorite dish.57 The boys we re basically satisfied wi th bread, meat, po tatoes and other vegetables. Even if they complained about their fare, they admitted that they usually had enough to eat. Lyman Needham summed it up best, saying , "We have enough to eat such as it is, so you need 58 not fear of us starving to death. ,, 30

CHAPTER 3

We eping Sad and Lonely

"I can hardly keep back the tears as I think of him, lying cold in 1 death, " wr ote Wi lliam Ma rsh about the death of his friend Wi lliam Radcliff.

Radcliff was one of the many soldiers who became ill and died in camp .

Di sease wa s a mess-ma te of the soldiers dur ing the wa r, and death wa s an

eve r-present spectre in camp . In addition to the mi sery of illness and death, accidents tragically claimed the live s of other so ldiers. He althy soldiers also suffered from homesickness, and we re distressed because events at home we re beyo nd their control. Li fe in the camps coul d be truly heartbreaking .

During the wa r, disease raged through the reg iments. Almost every

soldier wa s 'seriou sly il l dur ing the wa r, and a number of them died of the diseases. Illness could quickly de plete the ranks of a regiment. Duri ng an nd outbreak of jaundice in the 92 Illinois, Fr ank Cr owe ll informed his father that, "there aint only 35 men in our co. fit for duty. ,, 2 While mo st of the

sick wo ul d recover, repeated incidents of di sease perma nently lowe red a regiment's strength. William Ro ss described the cumulat ive effect of illness th in the 40 Illinois. "[W]e can not mu ster over three hundred for duty in our

Regt . now ; we have lost a good many men by sickness. " 3 Although the 40th had

los t some men in battle, Wi lliam implied that most of the deaths had been due

to illness.

Wh en di sease struck a regiment, many men could di e in a short period of

time . During the first winter of the 92nd Illinois's service, Ed Crowell wr ote that, "there is one dies almost every day now from the Reg .. It has

4 been ve ry Sickly for some time past .•••,, Austin Andrews wro te of an even th greater rate of deaths in the 12 Illinois dur ing its first wi nter in the

field . "There are two or three funerals and somet ime s more daily. One of our 31

Co wa s burried ye sterday , & the Capt says there are two more that he don't 5 think can ge t we ll, " wr ote Au stin. A regiment' s first few months in service appear to have been mournful times.

Al though Au stin' s captain believed he coul d determine wh o could not

recover, other times deaths could come as quite a suprise to the boys. Joseph

Wa rd reported the death of one of his comrades which occurred while he wa s on

picket. "When we return[ed] to camp we we re very much suprised to learn one

of our comr ades wa s dead . He had been sick some time bu t none thought

dangerously so , but he is no more now. ,, 6 Indeed, sickness and death coul d

come quite quickly . Wh en telling his father about deaths in his regiment,

William Marsh desrcibed the swift fate of one recruit. "One of them [was] a

strong healthy looking young man came here from Sterling , Ill. only 3 weeks

ago, & after being here 2 weeks he was taken sick; last friday he wa s taken 7 h ome a C orpse. ,,

Wh ile it wa s difficul t and saddening to wa tch ailing comrades in camp ,

b�ing sick was eadr dful . When the soldiers we re ill, they usually wa ited

un til they we re well befo re writing a letter informi ng their family that they

had been sick. Fortunately, Ed Crowell managed to write two letters to hi s 8 In fami ly while he wa s sick wi th "the Ague , Rheuma tism and fever Combined ."

these letters he describ ed the effects of his illness. At first he re ported,

"I have been wa iting to get better, but I dont see as I gain muc h. I get

we aker every day . I have no apatite at all, and eve ry thing that I eat ma kes

me sick to my stoma ch, and I throe it up. I have not eat any thing for three

day but wh at I throwed up. " 9 Ab out two weeks later, he attempted to write

again but told his parents, "you mu st excu se the writing; I am so we ak and my

10 hand trembles so that I can heardly wr ite at al \ . • ,, The trembling may t", t,C, ',, 1<., J7 d'"-"'� have been due to his ague--the Civil Wa

Some of the soldiers believed that their food wa s responsible for the poor health of their regiments. Joseph Johnston thought that the poor quality of the rations caused sickness. "The rations which the soldiers we re compelled to live on were Bakers Bread made from condensed flour & always sour

& fresh meat. Allot her rations we re not to be had . There wa s consequently a great deal of sickne ss wh ich, since hard cracker s made of good flour is now 11 issued, is daily decreasing . ,, Frank Cr owe ll believed that the preparation of the food affected the health of the soldiers. When he heard that a friend wa s considering enlistment, Fr ank ur ged his father to tell him to join the

92nd, writing , "a new Re cruit is much less liabl to get sick for the reason we 12 Kn ow how to cook . ,, In light of the pr evious chapter' s discussion on food and its preparation, both men we re probably right ; poor food and poor cook ing produc ed po or health.

Regardless of the causes of il lness, sick soldiers we re often sent to a hospital for recove ry . The army hospitals we re generally regarded with a combination of dread and di srespect . Af ter learning of a friend's death in a hospital, Joseph Wa rd wro te that an "army Ho spital is wh at eve ry soldier 13 dreads far wo rse than the boom of cannon and the din of mu sketry . ,, Thoma s

Miller feared the hospitals because of a perce ived lack of attention given to

soldiers • . "[A] Sic man is no mo re cared for here than if he wa s a hog ," wr ote 4 Thomas , ";i.f a man gets Sick and goes to the hospi tIe he [is] shure to die ."1

Wi lliam Ro ss wa s certain that he woul d have died had he remained in the hospital when he was suffering from a fever. Fortunately, the lieutenant comma nding his company rescued him from the hospital , and he recove red. He 33

described the inc ident to his brother as such : "1 came ve ry neare to going to the grave and woul d have di ed , 1 expect, had Li eut Ge lvin not take n me out of the hospital . [H]e took me to his tent and gave me up his cot and got a new

Doctor, and now 1 am abel to walk around. 1 will always remember him for 1 5 tah t. ,,

Wi lliam Ro ss did not like hospitals at all. Ab out a year after the last episode he began to suffer from chronic diarrhea. He lived wi th the condition for three months, giving the expl anation: "1 do not like to go in a hospital .

They is so ma ny goes in that neve r comes ou t. ,, 1 6 After finally entering a hospital , he recalled that he had been, "a po or dirty soldier haul ed along in an army waggon by Six muels , not able to help myself ," and concluded that,

1 "Now 1 am here wa shed and cleaned up, and 1 f eel like another person. ,, 7 He survived and was able to continue service until the end of his term.

Lyman Ne edham did not have any compl aints about army hospitals in general , bu t he greatly disliked the doctors. Once when he wa s ill, he wrote,

"I do not doctor any , for 1 do not like ou r doctors . [T ]he me dicine they give ma kes a person sick if he is ever so well. " 18 Ab out a month later, he had such a severe cough that he coul d not lie down . "1 have given up all hope of eve r getting home alive ," he told his brother and sister , " . • • The Surgeon 19 thinks there is not much the matter wi th me. (He is an old fool.) ,, Lyman recovered from his illness, but he never got home alive . Wound ed and captured at Chickamauga, he di ed at Andersonville.

Other soldiers shared Needham' s distrust of doctors and took to im pr ovi sing their own remedies. Jo seph Wa rd described a rather questionable practice of his as follows : "Last night 1 wa s rather sick, bu t, after applyi ng a cloth we tted wi th cold wa ter to the pit of my stomach, 1 wa s 20 [relieved] , and this morning 1 felt right smart. ,, Curtiss Judd treated his 34

headache wi th mo rphine--a rather powerful pain killer. 21 Allen Geer noted that he had "Checked the dy sentery by dieting on scant me als of cheese & light 22 b rea d • ,,

Wh ile mo st soldiers feared sickn ess and hospitals , a few regarded illness as a mere nuisance. Frank Crowell was one of these soldiers. In March 1863, he informe d his father that, "I have got the ear ache to day , and it ma ke s me pretty cross. ,, 23 Later, he wa s not wo rried about havi ng the mump s. "I have got the mumps the Doc says, but I dont think they are. [M ]y face is swelled up pretty hard , but it isent sore. And I think if I dont catch cold I will be 24 all right, dont you? ,, Frank's attitud e only made him mo re ill. Hi s brothe r, Ed , later in fo rmed their father, "Frank is not we ll at this time ; he caught cold befo re he got fairly well over wi th the mumps. I think he wa nted 25 to show his spunk and exposed himself when he was not obliged to."

Re turning to du ty before one wa s we ll wa s not advisable.

Day Elmore also felt that illne ss wa s an inconvenience and not always an excuse to av oid du ty . When he was recovering from a wound received at

Ch icakama uga, he became impatient and wanted to rejoin his regiment. He also became disgusted wi th the sick and wounded men around him who we re not so eager.

Th e question Wh at become s of the or many of the Soldiers that sutch and sutch states sent out is very easy answered now. Look at Evry town that has a U.S. Ho spital and particularly An napolis; you will see hundreds of them struting arround wi th thare

convalesent gown s on putting on mo re styl e than any Major Gen. • •

• In fact thay show that thare i A soft spot some whare in thare � 6 heads . I am di sgusted wi th them.

In ad dit ion to illness, accid ents also claimed the lives of some of the

soldiers. Lyman Needham saw several deaths caused by carelessness. One

soldier ki lled hims elf wh en he tried to remove his loaded gun from a stack of rifles.27 Ano ther was killed wh en his comr ades chopped down a tree, and it 35

fell on him . 28 A soldier in George Marsh's company wounded hims elf because of his carelessness wi th his rifle. While on picke t, the man rested the bu tt of hi s loaded ri fle on a railroad track and placed his hand over the muz zle. The rifle slipped off the track , causing the hammer to be struck against the rail.

The hammer struck the percussion cap, and both the bullet and the tompion (a wo oden plug used to keep moisture ou t of the barrel) we re sent through his 29 hand .

Ac cidents wi th firearms were apparently common. John Tallman once told hi s brother that , "a man in Co mpany C shot his fore finger of his right hand ye sterday wh ile on picke t, but that accur se [occur s] so of ten that no body thinks any thing of it any more . ,, 30 The soldier's action may not have been accidental . By shooting his forefinger--his trigger-finger--he could avoid further servic e. Th e accidents did not decrease over time . Wh ile the incid ents described by Needham occurred shortly after his regiment we nt into service, those describ ed by Marsh and Tallman happened after the regiments had some exp erience.

"When a person is sick in the army it is enough to make any one home sick

• bu t if I could be healthy , I would not go home for considerable; I woul d just like to calI on you and ge t a me al of vi ctuals ," wr ote Lyma n Ne edham to his brother and sister. 3 1 Illness apparently did lead to homesickness among the soldiers. When he wa s seriously ill around Christmas 1862, Ed Cr owe ll told his parents , "Tell Mary [his sister-in-law] I should like to have one of

her turkeys we ll baked for dinner, and I shoul d like to be there to eat it to •

• "32 Henry Nurse also noted the relationship between health and home sickn ess. "There is no danger of my getting home sick as long as I keep my health, for we can ke ep up some excitement all of the time . So if any one has any spunk he need not get homesick," wr ote He nry . 33 36

Although mo st soldiers were able to avo id real homesickne ss, many we re distressed by ev ents that happened at home . On e of the mo st discouraging pieces of news that a soldier could receive was that a friend or relat ive wa s a Southern sympathize r--a "Coppe rhead ." Coppe rheads in general we re despised by the soldiers, who considered the sympathizers to be traitors. (The subject of Coppe rheads wi ll be discussed in mo re detail in chapter 8.) Copperheads at home were the most annoying , howeve r, for the soldiers felt betrayed . Cyru s nd Eyster of the 92 Illinois expressed the sentiment best, writing , "I think we might all be at home to day had it not been for Northern traitors. We left loved home s, sacrificed all the endearments and comforts of that circle, and come forth to face the enemy little thinking that we had left friends and 34 relatives at home who are now ready to strike the dagger in our backs. ,,

Henry Nurse me rely wro te off his Copperhead relat ives. He once wrote, "I understand that Theadore is a coppe rhead . If that is so , I do not consider 3 5 , h·1m any re1 at if on 0 m1' ne. ,

Re lations wi th Coppe rhead friends and relatives coul d be severed, but

some associations could not be dismi ssed ve ry easily . Imagine Austin Andrew' s

consternation when he learned that his sister, Sophia, had gone to a picnic wi th a Copperhead . "I hope all we nt right at your Picnic last Saturday ," he

told her, "but I dont kn ow that I wi sh you a particular good time wi th your

Copperhead escort." Austin went on to lecture her about her poor choice of

companions. "I think such company woul d be my last resort, and then it would

only be with the hope of converting them to the true faith. I know that I woul d be loud in the denunciation of Sympathize rs if the subject wa s brought up wh ile in their presence. ,, 36 Austin gives the impression that he woul d

denoun ce Copperheads , even if he had to bring up the subject himself. 37

Th e one subject wh ich caused the soldiers the mo st distress wa s women--o r

"gi rls" as the boys called them. Th e boys we re interested both in specific girls and women in general . Wi th regards to women in general , the soldiers we re afraid that there woul d be none left for them when they returned. Th is fear was manifest in a list of re so lutions wr itten by Thomas Miller which he wanted the gi rls of his home county to ad opt. Several resolutions we re as follows .

Re solved: that we will now and forever withhold our favor, friendship, and Love from Every ablebodied young man who will no t Enlist at his Country s, Call. [O]n the other hand , to those wh o vo lunteer we pr ofer our mo st act ive Service to Re lieve their wan ts and pr omise them our brigh test Smiles and hiest [highest] Esteem for Ever. Re solved: that not one of us wi ll Ever mary during this bloody Struggle. Re solved: that when the goal is past and a peaceful Calm Settles down on our triumphant and glorius Republic, Should any young man not havi ng ben Engaged in this wa r have the pr esumption to of fer us his Co�rdly heart we will Say un to him no neverl !! never! !! never! ! ! !

At least one woma n let a soldier believe that she might behave in a

Ih'lnner similar to that which Thomas Miller desired. In the spring of 1863, nd the boys of the 122 Illinois drew the name s and ad dresses of young women who wo ul d correspond wi th the soldier s. Wi lliam Peter drew the name of �tl ss Fanny

Ho lliday , and she told him , "I think we wi ll va lue [the soldiers] muc h mo re when they return, for now we know their worth. The merits of the home guard wi ll not be thought much of , wh en the defenders of our muc h loved coun try return. Although they may be disabled and maimed by their hardships they have 38 to endur e, each scare wi ll make th em much dearer to us. ,,

Other women were no t as comforting to a soldier as Mi ss Ho lliday wa s.

Several soldiers experienced hear tache at the hands of a woman they had left at home . In the spring of 1863, Ed Crowell ended a relationship he had wi th a woma n named Mag gi e. Maggie continued to attend parties and dances in Ed 's 38 absence, and he refused to tolerate her behavior. Ed wro te to hi s mo ther and

. expl ained what happened. . [A] bou t our corrispondence, she wr ote to me about her going to the dances and I answered it, and then she wrote and begged pardon but said she had been to an other, but she woul d not do so again. Bu t

I wrote to her and told her if she wanted to corrispond with me as a friend

39 that I shoul d be happy to do so bu t as nothing mo re. ,,

Ed recovered fr om the break up quite well. He later began wr iting to

Mag gi e again and wr ote to his perpl exed mo ther about his activities.

[Y]ou seem to think I am trying to work into Maggie's affections

again, and also you give me quite a cu rtain lecture about it in a mild way . • •• I have a good many idle hours, and I have to have some thing to amuse my self about, and I think I might as we ll do it in that way as any other, dont you? [A]nd then there is policy in wa r, you know. I think I migh t as we ll blarny to Maggie as any one else, for she can return the com�biment, you know , wi th out galling her consciense in the least.

Ed 's sarcastic sense of humo r helped him through the trials of wa r. He knew that he coul d lie to Maggie because she woul d just lie to him anyway.

Ed Cr owell's relationship fell apart during the wa r; Lyman Ne edham carried the pieces of a broken one wi th him . Ea rly in his service he wrote to his brother and sister about his relationship wi th a woman named Lovina.

You may write and think as you wi ll of me fo r still thinking of

one I have pr ofessed to love . I canno t help i�erhaps I am foolish and will rue the money &c that I spend wr iting to her, I cannot tell, neither do I care. She has been very dear to me , and feeling as I have every moment since I first saw her, Sh e ever

wil l be. • •• I think she has used me wrong , but love-will go wh ere-rt is sent, an d true love wi ll stay there . Th ink of me as you �i l. isown me . Call me a fool� bu t cannot do : 4� I otherw1 se.

Wh il e Lyman ad mi tted that some might find him foolish, he refused to give up on Lovina. A year later he wrote, "1 am ve ry sorry if 1 did not do as I ag reed to wi th Lovina, but just ask her for me , if she knows of any body else that has no t done as they bound themselve s to do, by all the ties of honor, 39

before God and ma n. [A]sk her who broke those ties first, but I sup pose I did 4 2 as I wa s not wea1thy . ,,

Frank Cr owe ll, wh o wa s usually in ve ry good spirits, wa s also subject to

depression caused by women. Frank's relationships are difficult to follow

because two women he knew were both named Ch arlotte (Lo ttie) . He apparently

corre s ponded wi th both women, one of whom did housewo rk for his mo ther. In

Oc tober 1864, Fr ank became despondent wh en he faced losing both women. "I am

no t Fe eling ve ry well since .!.. heard of !!. late marriage in Iowa," he wrote,

"[W]hen I go to bed and ge t to thinking of Lo ttie, I cant hardly Sleep for

some cause or rather, I can not tell wh at. [A]nd my other Lottie is sick. I 43 wa s a f ra1'd so for the reason that I h a d hent d f er rom h'er 1n some t1,me . ,,

Illness was deadly for civilians, too, and , wi th one Lottie suddenly married ,

he was afraid he woul d lose the other.

Wh en Frank Cr owe ll wr ote that last letter, his spirit wa s the lowe st it had been during the wa r. Ano ther pas sage in the same letter expressed hi s

disgust with being removed fr om home life . Hi s outburst wa s trigge red by the

news that his older brother, Put ney (Put) , and his wi fe, Mary, had a new son.

Frank's exact commentary wa s, "Put has a Boy . Bu1 1ey for Pu t may he �

wave . hand Mary han hi s Married his Sh e? Hextend my best wi shes to them, han

to the late Repub lican Hunc1e Turner Hand Hant Ha rriet Ro bert and all the

Family and all Ding1edary . ,,44 The quote should probably read , "Put has a boy .

Bu1 1ey fo r Pu t, may he ever wave! And Ma ry is ma rried , is she? Extend my

best wi shes to them and to the late Republican Uncle Turner and Aun t Harriet ,

Ro bert and all the family and all ding1edary ." The miserable spelling and

strained coherence of the original quote wa s not characteristic of Frank's

wr iting. He was un der great em otional stress wh en he wr ote the letter. Af ter

losing one Lo ttie and facing the risk of losing the other, Frank wa s 40 un impressed by the new addition to his brother's family . Frank 's service wa s a three-ye ar ho le in his life, dur ing wh ich he gave up friends , fami ly and the opportunity to live a normal life. In late Oc tober 1864, his jovial personality could no longer pr otect himc. from the fact that he wa s mi ssing ou t on much at home .

Li fe in the Civil Wa r camps coul d be saddening indeed. Di seases spread through the ranks, killing young me n at an alarming rate. Even if one survived the ordeals of sickness, separation from home coul d be difficult.

Some friends and family members who we re looked to for support turned their backs on the soldiers' dear cause. Ot her so ldiers lost women because they chose to go to war and fight for their coun try , and all lost an opportunity to live the life which soC;::;\ at home took fo r granted. Richard Pu ffer wa s quite '-.'" -' correct wh en he told his sister , "if there is any truth in the old adage that

'misery love s company ' then I have the consolation of kn owi ng that I have 45 , pI enty 0 f l.t.· , 41

CHAPTER 4

Gay and Ha ppy Still

"[S]o let this wide wo rld wag as it will, I'll be gay and happy still ," 1 wr ote Ed Cr owell, quo ting a popul ar song of the wa r. De spite the boredom and routine of camp life, and despite the sickness, death and tears, many soldiers tried to enj oy themselves. Considering their scant resour ces, the soldiers found many entertaining ways to occupy their idle time.

Ed Crowe ll had a rather easy time remaining entertained, for his younger brother, Frank , wa s full of humor and practical jokes. One of Frank IS comrades once noted in his diary , "It has been cheerful in Company B to night.

Frank Crowell is a natural clown , and his presence is always we lcome .

, ,, 2 He soon mak es eve ry t h'�ng merry �n a company . Frank described himself as

"mi schi evou s" and gave this example of his character. "[T]his morning the

Li ut went to put on his coat and found a Chicken' s leg in his Po cket, and the first thing I Knew he had me by the Knap of my ne ck and wanted to Know what I done it fo r. [B ]ut he wa s mi staken that time ; it wa sent me , but if their is 3 any Joke played on the Boys I get the chokeing whether I done it or not ."

No t only wasFr ank an irrepressible pr actical joke r, but he coul d also find humor in rather uncomical events. Ed , a teamster, once had a serious accident with one of his mul es. "The other day wh en I wa s saddling my mule it undertook to put its hind foot in my pocket but mi ssed its mark a little and 4 hit me wh ere I don' t dare to tell of it. ,, Frank , however, thought the inc ident wa s rather funny , writing "the mul e kicked [Ed] the other night in rather a particul ar Spot to talk about. I told him it woul d [make a] Splended 5 scar for a Veteran to Wear."

On e did not need to be a pr actical joke r or be full of humor in order to have a good time , though. Whenever possible, the soldiers took to sports for 4 2 entertainme n t. Perhaps the favorite sport of the boys wa s baseball. "While in camp the regt has its pl ays, and I have been brightening up my base-bal l play ," wrote Joseph Jonhston in the spring of 1863 . 6 As soon as the weathe r permitted, so ldi ers turned their parade grounds into ball diamonds. In the

South, baseball commenced rather early . The 129th Illinois began playing ball 7 on February 10, 1864, wh en they we re camped near Na shville, Tennessee.

Baseball was not limited to the enlisted me n. Lieutenant Colonel Be njami n nd 8 Sheets of the 92 Il linois joined his boys in the game .

Besides baseball, the boys participated in a few other sports. In the th 104 Illinois, the captain of Company D bought some boxing glove s fo r his troops, and they had some matches.9 Other soldiers competed in pitching quales--a game similar to ho rseshoes. Bo th Levi Ro ss and Frank Cr owe ll 10 commented about the playing of this sport.

Other sports involved competitions betwe en anima ls instead of the so ldiers. Allen Geer noted that , "Some boys spent their time in buying ll th fighting cocks and matching them." In the 12 Illinois , some soldiers once captured three raccoons and had them fight dogs . Au stin And rews de scribed the scene to his sister. "You can imagine how a lot of school boys woul d enjoy such sport; then add six or eigh t years on an ave rage to their age, and consider them the roughest and mo st reckl ess set you ever saw. [T ]hen yo u 12 h ave some id ea what sport is W1· t h t h e so ld1e· rs. ,,

Al l so ldier entertainment did not involve physical activity; they already had enough of that. A number preferred to pass their time wi th mental game s rather than physical sports. The mo st po pul ar game s among the soldiers we re card games. "You wanted to know if we played cards. I don't know what a

So ldier wo ul d do if it wa s not fo r cards , but there is little playing for money ," wro te Lyman Ne edham to his brother and sister . 1 3 Although there wa s 43

much gambling after the soldiers we re paid , pay days we re rare, and playing for mo ney wo ul d not last long. Jo seph Johnston was an avid card pl aye r and played whist, seven up, and solo.14 Besides cards , Jo seph also enjoyed 1 5 pl aying chess, which wa s also po pular in Frank Cr owell' s company .

Ano ther favorite pass-t ime of the boys wa s reading . Reading material of any ki nd wa s scarce and books we re quickly snatched up wh en they we re available. Af ter receiving some books Curtiss Judd wrote in his diary , "An opportunity to devote mo re time to Li terature & less to Ladi es--good logic bu t perhaps sown in waste soil."16 Allen Geer's mind , however, wa s quite fertile.

Al len wa s constantly reading books on ma ny varied subjects such as: law, Latin grammar, the Constitution, religion, history and French, in addition to 1 7 novels.

Ge er, wh o had been a teacher before the wa r, pr obably read mo re than other soldiers, but mo st soldiers seemed to enjoy some reading . Geer once purchased some books from Confederate citizens so the me n in his company could have something to read . 18 Day Elmore once received some books fr om the 19 American Tr act Society , but he did not say wh at sort of books they we re.

Frank Cr owell liked to keep current and once re ported reading a book titled

Th e Po lice Re cord of Spies and Smugglers and Re ble Emi ssaries of the Army of the Cumberland. He claimed that it could be obtained at any book ZO establishment.

When the op po rtunity pr esented itself , so ldiers woul d pr oduc e their own readi ng material . Soldier newspapers we re published at various times by several regiments. "Our boys took charge of a pr inting of fice and started a

Soldier newspaper , noted Allen Geer shortly after the ZOth Illinois arrived Z1 nd in Oxford, Mississippi. Af ter the 9Z Il linois captured a pr inting press,

Frank Crowell told his mo ther, "we are a going to hav a paper; there will be 44

cons id erable reading matter in it . " 22 The 19th Illinois published the Zouave th Gaze tte, and the 9 6 (//-Il�-<\lioni s -- had their So ldier' s Letter. The Soldier's

Le tter was read outside of the 9 6th; the first issue consisted of 2,500 2 3 copies.

An other fo rm of entertainment wh ich the soldiers enjoyed when they had the opportunity was the theater. While camped near Na shville, Tennessee ,

Se rgeant Ge orge Ma rsh spent fifty cents to go to the theater. He informed his brother that he "Saw Booth act Shylock , also 'Tami ng the Shrew '--a ve ry funny 2 4 thing. Bo th were Shake speare, as you doub tless we ll kn ow . ,, Wh ether he saw

Edwin Booth or John Wilkes Booth is no t known. Other soldiers did no t have a chance to see famous actors perform Shake speare, but they enjoyed themselves anyhow. Some theatrical productions we re put on by the soldiers themselves.

At Co rinth, Mi ssissippi, Austin An drews wr ote that "There is a theater in town 2 5 in full blast carried on pr icipally by the soldiers of different reg1. ments . ,,

Ot her times, the perfo rme rs we re blacks wh o put on mi nstrel shows . Fr ank

Crowell attended one of these "nigger shows" at Franklin, Tenne ssee in April 26 1863.

Mu sic wa s another form of entertainment enjoyed by the boys. Some :&:. '. '\ regiments had egular bands to provide music. The 92nd Illinois had a band /{ 2 7 wi th silver instrume nts wh ich accompanied the troops as they ma rched. The

19th Illinois probab ly had more music than any other regimen t. They had a fife and drum corps, a brass band and a choir. Al l of these groups we re led by a mus ic teacher hired by the colonel, who wa nted to keep the boys away from less wh olesome pur suits.28

Vo cal mu sic wa s more popular than instrume ntal because mo re soldiers could participate in it. Most singing consisted of rather informal sing a1ongs . Al len Ge er' s me ss once spent an entire evening singing va rious songs 45 togethe r.29 Other singing wa s much more organized. Joseph Johnston belonged th to the 19 Illinois' s "Zouave Glee Club" wi th about fifty other soldiers.

They pr acticed every night at a Masonic hall and had great fun together .

Joseph told his mo ther about one of the groups capers.

The first time they me t, they explored the building & found about 30 gowns of the defunct "Sons of Malta." They we re donned doub le quick , &, head ed by the Grand Master in wh ite & your humble servant in blue, a long black string of figures vi sited the ho tels Anythin & printing office making the night hideous generally. §O for fun, fo r as the song says "A So ldiers life is always gay ."

A few musically inclined soldi ers even wrote their own songs . Allen Geer wr ote a song called "Ame rican Re bellion" , wh ich he had pr inted , and sold copies of it in his camp . 31 Un fortunately , a copy of his song is no t available. One soldier' s song which is still in exi stence is "I'm Of f For

Char1ston," written by Frank Crowell in 1864. The lyrics are as follows :

1 st

My Massa and my Mi ssus day both am gon away Day gone down to Su1pher Spr ings de summe r months to stay And wh ile dey'r off togeder on dis little kind of spree I'll go down to Char1s ton the Pretty Girls to see

Chorus :

I'm off for Char1s ton early in de morning I'm of f fo r Char1s ton a li ttle wh ile to stay; Give my respects to eve ry pretty ya11er Gal , I'm of f to Char1s ton befor de break of day . nd 2

My Ne lly waved her handkerchief when she seed me go , Floating down the river wi d de old banjo,

As I stood and gazed upon her I wiped away a tear , And de last I said to her wa s fare you we ll my dear rd 3

It begin to rain a little the night was very dark , An d when my Nelly said "Good by" the dog begun to bark De dog he scart de bu zzard de buzzard scart de coon Dey all maid a nigge r run till next day noon th 4 46

De Coon begin to tire , de dog he tire too De Nig ger he got tireder, and he dident know wh at to do, De Buz zard kept a flyi ng till de Chickins begin to crow De n he came down to here me pl ay the old banjo. th 5

Charlston is a Pretty place de Gals dey Kiss so sweet Dey am so sl ender bout de wa ist and dress so very neat But I'd radder Kiss my Nell dan all de Gals I eber see 32 Ka se her tress is like an Orange Blossom hangin on a tree

Apart from being entertaining by itself , music wa s also used as an impo rtant part of dances. "Old Bartlett of Co . G is Fiddling, and they are having a dance. I must close and go; you can hear them halloo ten miles ," 3 3 wr ote Frank Cr owe ll to his brother Pu tney . Dances we re a common form of recreation for the soldiers. Af ter receivi ng their pay in Septemb er 1863, the th va rious companies of the 12 Illinois had their own dances. Au stin An drews claimed , "our compani e' s party was much the best; we had the most ladies and ; 3 4 the best order of ladies ••.•. No t all companies we re as fortun ate as

Austin's; some had to have dances wi thout the assistance of ladie s. Lyma n

Ne edham participated in one such dance. "Last night we had a dance in our

Barracks, had a good dance as could be expected , wi thout the help of the fair 3 5 sex. There is to be another at Co . B to night; think I shall go ove r ...

Even if the soldiers had to dance with each other, such parties we re a we lcome change of pace fo r the boys.

Bl acks were a great source of entertainment for the boys. Many blacks,

"contrabands" as they were called , came into the regimental camps, and ma ny wo rke d as servants, cook s and laundresses. Many soldiers we re amused by the blacks and often had fun at their expense. "We had a good deal of fun wi th the nig ge rs wh o are all contrabands and have some good ya rns to tell," wrote

John Given. 36 Frank Crowell enjoyed playi ng on the gullibility of the recently freed sl aves, and told of one conve rsation he had wi th a contraband 47 in camp . "I asked him how much they threshed here, and he said about 100 bu shels ; then I told him they threshed a 1000 up [north] . Je sus, he says, and stuck out his eyes."3 7 Some soldiers we re rather cruel in the way they used blacks for their own enj oyment. Na po lean Ba rtlett wrote of the evening entertainment in the 76th Illinois wh ile it was camped at Vi cksburg . "We have got 1/2 dozen darkies in the company . Evry night the darkies of the regiment get together and have a general good time scuffling & fighting. The boys get 38 them to fight ing just for the fun."

Black chur ch services aroused the cur iosity of some of the soldiers, and the boys who saw a service thought they we re quite funny . "Attended a right out & ou t Ethiopean religious me eting for the first time . Wa s amu sed and interested," wro te Allen Geer about his experience.39 Levi Ross described his vi sit to a black chur ch in mo re detail:

Never be fore saw such a "pow-wow" since I wa s born. About four hundred of both sexes all prayed, sang , screamed, bellowed, yelled, shouted, puffed, snorted , jumped , danced, hugged, kissed, tumbled down, rolled ove r, jumped up, shook hands , embraced and sang and danced and stunk until they we re completely exhausted ! Th is they call true wo rship of Almighty Go d. The un tutored Afric an is impuls ive and sincere, and he sees not impropriety in this wo rse than BtBel confusion, but deliver me from another such fandango as this.

Wh ile they found the blacks' religious services amusing , the soldiers we re greatly delighted by black dancing. "I wa s at a nigger dance last nigh t 41 and saw some of the big dancing ," John Given told his brother. John Tallman told his sister about a black child who danced for his regimen t. "[W]e have got a li ttle tame darkey here in camp , a real little wo oly pate. [H ]e is so black his face shines like a piece of black glass; he is about six years old,

42 and the way he can danse is a caution. ,, Al though the boys wa tched the black men dance, occasionally they joined the black women. Frank Crowell participated in one of these dances in Ge orgia. 48

MOther you must excuse my poor wr iting as I attended a Nigger dance last eavning , and a great time we had . [W]e got them to dancing Pretty Br iskly and than some of the Boys spred Red Pepper on the fl oor and the da mdest Sneezing ensued tha t you ever saw. [T]han the wenche s got mad and wouldent dance, and one of the Boys run and caught the candle and left them in the dark , and the Boys made for the We nches and they for the doa3' and they all piled up togeather. [D ] ont you think. we had fun?

Some unique forms of entertai nment do no t fit in wi th the mo re common th forms , and these compr ise the "other" category . Company K of the 8 6

Illinois once had a sham courts martial, and the boys amused themselve s by 44 th practicing their legal rhetoric. In the 20 Il linois, Al len Geer once gave painting lessons to a group of his comrades. Ano ther time , when they camped th near a lake , the boys of the 20 we re able to go boating in their free 45 time .

Au stin Andrews had desc ribed his comrades as being like a rough set of school-boys, just a little older. There fore, it is not surprising that snowb all fights erupted dur ing wi nter. Th e fights, however, we re not those

fought by schoo l-boys. When the camp of the 92nd Illinois wa s split in

several parts because of terrain, a fight occurred which had a ve ry martial spirit. Frank Crowell described the combat to his mo ther.

I mu st tell you about the Snow ball match •••ye sterday Comp anies E, H and A and G came marching up in line of battle wi th their colors flying (which wa s a Re d [handke rchief] ), and they ordered our Camp [Companies B, C and F] to surrender, and we all pitched in. [A]fter one hour 's hard fight ing drove them back to their Quarters . [W]e went through the reg battle movements-­ Ch arged, flanke d and every other way. [W]e took three Pr isoners; it was quite exciting times. [S]ome of the Boys got black eyes and bl�gdy Noses, and some got mad and throwe d stones in the Balls . th Th e last incid ent in the "other' category occurred in the 12 Illinois.

Some of the boys in Austin Andrew' s regiment became bored and began to raid

Southern home s. Austin repo rted the results.

[T ]he men would come in to camp with their caps trimmed wi th the costliest ki nd of artificials twi sted up to their [letter torn] 49

calling them badges of "the Knights of the Golden Circle ." One morning one of our men (Tom Short) came in we aring a ladies gown wi th a long blue pigeon tail coat over it and his cap trimmed as above mentioned, calling himself a "Kn ight of the Go lden Circle." All such wo rk �s aga!�st orders, bu t the Company officers woul d not repo rt thel.r men.

Th e Knigh ts of the Golden Circle had been an organization of Southern

secessionists before the wa r, and during the wa r, they were alleged to be 48 spies and saboteur s. Consequently , the boys we re also ridicul ing their enemies wh ile havi ng fun.

"Hugh Massey was tight & wa nted whiskey ," wr ote Jo seph Johnston in his diary one day in March 1863 . 49 Getting drmllC�� parlance--wa s the favorite activity of some troops. Wh en all else failed,

when even me n in women's dresses could not produce mi rth, one coul d always

turn to the bottle. Fr om Memphis, Te nnessee, Ri chard Pu ffer wr ote his sister,

"the soldiers spend their time to suit thems elves. Some (& they are not a 50 ve ry sma ll class) go to the city & ge t drunk •.•.,,

Sometimes liquor was rather eas ily obtained by the soldiers, even though

officers usually tried to pr ev ent drinking . When in Mi s souri, Lyman Needham

wr ote , "Liquor dont cost anything here. Whis key only 60cts � pint. I haven' t 5 1 bought much ye t, but don' t know bu t I shall soon. ,, Au stin Andrews , wh o did

no t drink, noted that in Corinth, Mississippi , "Nearly every stable left is 5 2 occu pied as a saloon. . . ,,\ ,,

Ot her times, however, alcohol coul d not be pur chased. Wh en the me n ran

out of money , the drinking stopped . "The boys are mo st all out of money ;

consequently there is not muc h liquor drank , and we have much civiler time s

than usual ," wro te Austin Andrews . 53 Restrictive orders or lack of money did

not pr event Jo seph Wa rd and his comr ades from getting tight. Ne ar Suffo lk ,

Virgini a, they went out on a scouting expedition and destroyed a railroad

brid ge . "Af ter that we found a dis tillery. He re we found all the apples, 50 apple brandy we could drink. We got back to camp at midnight. A good many of 54 the boys felt pretty fine , so much that they woke up all the camp . ..

While a number of soldiers drank frequently , drinking was really a las t resort for those wh o coul d not find another kind of fun. Themo st consistently cheerful soldiers, such as Frank Crowell, Allen Gee r, Austin

Andrew s, and Joseph Jo hnston, did not drink. In stead , they and others relieved the heartache in the camp s wi th humo r and enjoyed many diverse pursuits like sports, game s, reading, music, dances and a few other act ivities. In fact, the soldiers we re limi ted only by their imaginations, and a few imaginations seemed to have had no limi t. The Civil Wa r wa s not always terrible, and in the spring of 1864, Ed and Frank Crowell realized 55 "what good times we we re having and dident know it . .. 5 1

CHAPTER 5

Shoul ders traps, Pimps and Skunks

"Col At kins has resigned; bul ly for him, I say . Now if Lt. Col Dunham nd shoul d die, I think the 92 woul d [feel] as though they had been relieved of all the drunken pimp s of Freeport," wro te Ed Crowell, expressing the un iversal disgust the enlisted men had for mo st officers--" shoul derstraps" as they we re called . 1 The soldiers disliked mo st of their officers, from the lieutenants and captains in their companies, through the colonels of their regiments, to the commanding generals. The soldiers held grudges against both specific officers and of ficers in general, though some of f icers we re we ll liked. Since their live s we re controlled by the officers, the enlisted soldiers' attitudes towa rd them mprco ise a significant po rtion of their Civil Wa r experiences.

Disrespect for the officers wa s widespread amo ng the soldiers, who doub ted their abilities and hated their pr ivileges. Levi Ro ss claimed, "it is a fact that the majority of our officers high in rank are no more fit to lead an Army onto the battle field than the horses on wh ich they ride. ,, 2 William

Marsh displayed a more general dissatisfaction for officers, wr iting , "Gen

Cur tis is not ve ry po pular among his so ldiers; they lack confid ence in him. I pity the soldiers Who serve under Just Osgood , he is nothing but a low lived skunk anyway . 3

On e reason for the boy's dislike of of ficers stemmed from the fact that the majority of the officers had no mo re military training than the boys thems elves. As Levi Ro ss put it, "The of ficers of our regt are nearly all green, just from the prairie plow. "4 The young farmers in the Illinois regime nts had difficulty accepting the fact that some me n, who we re their legal equals in civilian life, we re their superiors in wa r. This wa s manifest in their di staste for the of ficers' privileges. 5 2

One pr ivil ege, indeed duty , of an officer wa s to give orders. While mo st soldi ers obeye d orders they received, they we re occasionally provoked by particularly un popular edicts. Jo seph Ward called General Te rry a tyrant after he "issued some of the mo st foolish orders," wh ich required the soldiers to pack up all of their gear and take it wi th them when on picket.

Jo seph saw this as perfectly ridicul ou s since the picket line at the time wa s within speaking distance of their camp . 5 John Given was no t particularly pl eased wi th orders pr ohib�ing the app r opriation of Southern civilians' pr operty for the benefit of the soldiers. He stated his intention to ignore the commands , telling his aun t, "I say 'Hang all the officers wh o wo n' t let us steal from the rebel property ,' an[d] I will steal it whenever I get a chance , 6 regardless of all rul es and regulations to the contrary . ,, So much for the military disci pl ine in the 124th Illinois.

An other pr ivilege and responsibility of officers wh ich upset the soldiers wa s the ability to disci pline their troops for infractions of rules and crders. Ex cessive punishment aroused the antipathy of the officer' s me n. One un popular general who was extr eme ly harsh wa s General Gordon Granger. John

Sacke tt desc ribed him as "a me an, old sc oundrell," and related an incident that occurred in his brigade. Granger had issued orders to the effect "Tha t if any soldi er shoul d be found taking the pr operty of any citizen he shoul d be s eve rly punished ." Several me n of the 47th II-linois were caught taking a few ears of corn apiece from a farmer' s field. Ge neral Granger, "tied one of them up by the thumbs , his hands above his head , and ke pt him six hours in the ho t

sun; wh en he released him he was taken to the hospital and died in 4 hours. •

[T ]he Col of the 47th is now und er arrest for trying to get this man 7 released . ,, 53

Earlier in their service, the boys of the 36th Illinois rioted when a

comp any comma nder inflicted a less severe punishme nt on one of their comrades.

Wr iting from Rolla, Mi ssouri, in December 1861, John Sackett told his fathe r

wh at happened. " Capt Smith • • • did buck and gag a ma n as wa s repo rted and had to leave this place or he would have been dragged all over Camp Ro lla by his heals ; however he is back now . [He ] we nt into his tent, in a few minutes two third of the regt was around his tent pelting him wi th stones, 8 hisses [and ] groans, and he sought Protection from the Col." Ca ptain Smi th wa s compelled to leave camp a second time and did not return for over a 9 month. Ap parently , the soldiers coul d influence the behavior of their company officers better than that of their generals .

Most of ficers di sciplined their me n for di sobeying commands , but a few seemed to enjoy punishing their me n out of sheer spite. Henry Nur se told what his brigade commander, Co lonel Da niel McCo ok, did to a soldier of the brigade.

"There was one of the fifty-second Ohio boys got married to a widow night befo re last, and Da n McCo ok tied hfm up to a tree ye sterday because he did not

get his consent. Old McCook had been caught in close connection wi th her

,, 1 0 several tfmes, and I suppo se it made hfm a little grouchy about it. Along with General Grange r, Colonel McCook wa s one of the mo st despised commanders

in the Un ion army . "The Ge n commanding our brigade is Mc Cook , wh o is held in utter cont emp t by all who know him," wrote Levi Ro s s, "so much so that the

boys say that if ev er they get into battle he is the first ma n wh o will fall

by their own lead. • • • " 11 Mc Cook wa s finally killed, along wi th many of his 12 me n, wh ile charging up Ke nnesaw Mountain in Ge orgia. He wa s mo st likely

killed by the Confederates, bu t his me n did not mourn his loss.

Co lonel McCo ok wa s not the only of ficer whom some boys wa nted to shoot in

battle. Ed Crowell told a story about how one soldier, who wa s punished on a 54 march, swore revenge . "[Y ]esterday morning there wa s a coble of men got to fighting in Co . H, and the Col said they shoul d cary there kn apsack , and one of them wo uld not do it, and they tied his hands behind him and tied him to one of the wagons and led him all day . [H]e swo re he woul d shoot the Lieut of the Co .s and the Col also." Ed did not like officers at all , but he though t that the man' s vows were ext reme , adding , "I dont kn ow what they wi ll do wi th 13 him. ,,

Th e soldiers did not ge t upset abou t the harsh punishment of comrades if they felt that it was needed. In the 92nd Illinois, Lieutenant Light struck a soldi er in Company I wi th his swo rd, tearing a hole in the ma n' s ear. Ma jor

Wo odcock wa s ang ry wi th Light, but Frank Crowell did not mind, saying "I would like to have him strike some of the boys in the co [B] that I coul d pick

, 1 4 ou t • , Th e boys real i zed that some amount of disci pline wa s necessary to ma intain order.

"We have to many band box of ficers in the army ," claimed Wi lliam Marsh, expressing the belief that officers were too concerned about their appearance

1 S and style. Of ficers had their equipment mo ved by wa gons , and they generally had several uni fo rms . Many had fancy dress uniforms with polished brass bu ttons, good braid and silk sashes wh ich they wo re fo r parades and revi ews .

The soldiers frequently held such manifestat ions of pomp and pageantry in complete contempt. Ed Crowe ll told his mo ther, "I think our Of ficers are mo re for show than for fight; I think if it wa s not for dre ssperade that mo st of 16 the Of f icers wo ul d resign and go home . ,, Ed wanted to associate officers with leadership, but his officers we re more interested in fancy uni forms .

Contempt for style was not necessarily limi ted to off icers.

Occasionally , some soldiers put on more pomp than their comrades believed wa s appropriate. Ge orge Ma rsh told of Henry Cl ark , the fourth corporal in his 55

comp any , who was un popular with the boys because he affected too much styl e 1 7 for his po sition. Some so ldi ers we re very impr essed by the displays their

officers mad e, howeve r. Day Elmore told his brother , "If you could see us on

dress parade it wo ul d make your Eys stick ou t. We have the best Col and Li u 18 Col and major you Ever see. ,,

Ed Crowell said that he believed that, we re it not for dress parade, the

officers would res ign and go home . The ability of officers to res ign their

commi ssions made many soldi ers envi ous of their shoul derstraps. Th e enlisted me n were enlisted for a period of three year s (execpt for the three month

troops of 1861 and a few rare cases) , and of ficially leaving the army in good health be fore one's time was over was probably imp ossible. Lyman Ne edham

aske d a question which must have cros sed the mi nds of many enlisted men: "Why

Couldnt I have been a Lieut so I could res ign and go home? ,, 19 George Marsh, a

sergeant, hoped to be pr omo ted into a po sition that he coul d resign. "I will

soon be Order ly Sergt ," he told his brother , "& then the next change will be 2 0 Lieut & can then resign & go home when I please. ,, Th e jealousy over

commissions only further harmed the soldiers' attitudes towards their

comma nders.

Mo st of ficers did not resign their commi ssion and go home , and the

soldiers kn ew why--they we re getting rich in the army . While the soldiers

though t of a number of ways in which the officers we re ge tting we althy , one

thing was certain: the officers we re paid much more than the enlisted me n.

In May 1864, Day Elmore told his parents that he made $17 a mo nth as a

sergeant, but a second lieutenant , just one grade higher, mad e $105 per

21 month. Al though of ficers we re required to pay fo r their own uniforms and

food , this was still an excessive difference. Also, sergeants had more

responsibilities than lieutenants, who basically wa ited fo r some thing to 56 happen to their captains.22 Levi Ro ss also noted the inequities in pay .

Af ter receiving several mo nths pay in April 1863, Levi me ntioned that the boys in his comp any received between $70 and $80 apiece, but the captain had been

23 paid $860. Th e di fferences in pay could be considerable wh en accumul ated over time .

Th e higher an of ficer' s rank was, the higher his pay . Consequently , many soldiers we re convinced that the high ranking officers we re getting excessively rich. Day Elmo re believed that they we re purposely pr olonging the wa r in order to ge t mo re we alth.

[T ]hare is no honesty in the army ; it wa s got up fo r to make them high Officers Rich , nothing mo re . [T] hay seem to delight in laying sti1l� and line thare po cke ts with Go ld, wh are if thay woul d let us go on we could clean them [the Confederates] out in a short time, but no, thay have som Ex cu se fo r Ke eping us Id le. [T ] hay do not ��nt the war to End , for thay have no t got quite Enough Riche s ye t.

Levi Ro ss said the same , and mo re, about the officer he and others loved to hat e, Daniel McCook . During a time in wh ich the soldiers of the 86th Illinois

�� re on ve ry short rations, Levi wrote "Br ig . Gen. Dan Mc Cook had biscuit and

bu tter, ham, potatoes, chickens, fresh fish and honey for dinner. • Our generals don' t want the war to end. They are living like Ki ngs and becoming 2 5 r�c. h • ,,

Some so ldi ers we re convi nced that the officers we re ge tting we althy through illegal activities. William Marsh wa s certain that the generals made money c§confiscated Southern cotton. "Our Ge ns are ge tting rich Stealing Co tton; the 33 III In. , 11 Wi s. In . & the 13 Ill. Cavalry have ben used fo r that purpose. • Th e line of ficers & privates did not like the bu siness very We ll; I do not suppose this Army will do any thing While there 26 is any Cott on to Steal. ,, Ri chard Pu ffer accused some of swi ndling the gove rnment out of money . He told his sister about a soldier who wa s dismissed 57

fr om the service for forging an order and then wa s re-hired as a civilian

clerk. "The servi ces of a di shonest clerk cannot be dispenced wi th among ' 27 o ff icers t hat ma k'e Lt a b'USLness to p I und er t h e Government. ,,

Be sides fo rtune, some soldiers believed that the wa r wa s prolonged

because officers were concerned with fame . Af ter being marched around

Virginia for several mo nths by men trying in va in to ou t-wi t Ge nerals Le e and

Ja ckson , Joseph Wa rd became disgusted with his generals . "There is too much

useless sacrifise fo r ambitious men' s glorry . I am about tired being run ' round enough to kill a mule, just to make a general a large name or try his

ability in manauvering troops befo re the enemy . Th is wa r is to make many a 28 man kill thousands to make them great, damned raskles. ,,

If of fic ers tried to ga in glory in the war, the boys tried their best to

take it away . Lost battles and poor performances we re easily blame d on the

officers. Af ter a fight-in Georgia, He nry Nur se told his father, "we had a

pretty short fight here last night. • [W]e had to give back at first, bu t 29 it wasmore the faul t of our Of ficers than anything else. ,, Of cour se,

victories could be credited to the valor of the soldiers. An interesting th exampl e is pr ovided by Day Elmore. Day 's regiment, the 36 , had been part of

Br igadier General Ph il Sheridan's divi sion at the battle of Stone's River. Th e th 36 perfo rmed va liantly , and Sheridan wa s pr omo ted to major general fo r

saving the right flank of the Army of the Cumberland . Af ter Sheridan wa s sent

Ea st, Day commented , "they took the man the old 36 ma de and put him on the

Po tomac in command of the cavalry; that is Phil Sheridan. We put the 2nd star

3 on his shoul der at Stone River. ,, D

Th e one thing an of ficer coul d do to ensur e the disrespect of his me n wa s

to drink. Regardless of their own behavior, naerly all soldiers detested

officers wh o drank , especially those wh o got drunk . "I have as po or an 5 8

opinion of General Mcarthe r as I have of General Dennis; he is known amo ng the

boys as the wh iskey comma nder from his ke eping him self so we ll soaked in that artical ," wrote John Tallman to his father. 31 Officers who drank were

laughable and received irreverent nicknames. As John indicated, the so ldiers did have a low opinion of such officers. Joseph Wa rd once wrote, "I was

detailed fo r camp guard. We had a ve ry pl easant day bu t a tyrant fo r an

officer who wa s and always is so drunk he knows no t which end his head is on. 32 Th ese kind of of ficers are the only thing I disl ike about the army ."

Wh ile a few officers, like the one mentioned by Ward, we re habitual

drunk s, ma ny only drank occasionally . Th is wa s stil l enough to anger some

soldiers. Ed Crowell wasperfe c tly disgusted when some officers had a party ,

followi ng the fall of Atlanta, at wh ich they got drunk .

Our Br ig Commander, wi shing to present the officers wi th his thank for their conduc t in this campaign invi ted them all to his Head Qr for a sociable, and in compliance wi th his wishes they met at his Qr night befo r last and had a beautiful drunken spree that is tho s belonging to the [Kentucky] Regs. the Officers from the na All 92 wi th the exceptions of one conduc ted themselves wi th sobriety. [T]hat one was a member of the church at home and the leader of the class, also He wa s from Polo. It was the mo st

inhuman thing I have seen since I have been in the army . [A] fter they had got set up pr etty we ll and began to be noisy they commensed drinking toasts and our Brigade Com (I am sorry to say) preposed the toast to be drank by that drinking rabble (for you cant call it any thing else) In memo ry of the fallen braves of our Br igad in the recent Campaign. Bu t some one had respect enough for the dead to pre pose to have it drank in silense. It wounded up like all other southern sprees in a fight by the M3 or of the rd � 3 [ ] Ky striking the Ad jutant of the same Reg ••••

Ed 's strong wo rds and the amount of space he devoted to the incid ent show how

indignant he was at the though t that his officers we re getting drunk wh ile

some of his comrades we re still fresh in the grave.

Officers in other regiments also had parties where alcohol caused a

pr oblem. Austin An drews found it amu s ing that the of ficers coul d not get some

Southern women to attend their partie s when the same women would go to the 59

soldiers' dances. "The citizens will no t allow the girls to go to an officers ball which pl ague s some of the of ficers considerably . The last one they had

( the 4th of July) broke up in a drunken row, and sinc e the ladies will no t

." 3 4 th attend t h e i r part1es, wrote Aust i n. Th e boys of the 104 Illinois once broke up one of their officers' drinking parties which had gotten noisy. At

1:00 am the boys complained to the of ficer of the guard, Lieutenant Jones of

Company D, and he sent an armed guard led by Sergeant Hu tton to disperse the officers. Af ter the men surrounded the of ficers wi th bayonets fixed on their ri fles, Se rgeant Hutton told them, "Gentl emen : my orders are to arrest every one of you , to take you to the guard house, if this disturbance is not quieted

& the company dispersed in 5 minutes ." The major tried to get the soldiers to join ttie officers, but the boys refused, and the party dispersed. Af ter that

George Marsh said , "The officers are down on Li eut Jones for it , & the boys

35 upho ld him., , Wi th the authority of a responsible of ficer, the boys coul d di sci pline their own officer s.

Wh ile drinking in camp may have been considered humorous or embarrassing, drunken behavior by officers during combat wasno t tolerated in the least. th The86 Illinoi� wa s disgraced by the actions of its major at Chickamauga.

He nry Nurse told his father , "I suppose you have heard how our major acted on that day . He was drunk and we nt around giving orders, and he gave his sword a slap around a little sapling , and it broke it in two in the middle. He has been di scharged fo r the good of the service and gone home . And our Br igade

Commander [Daniel] McCook wa s no t much better. ,,36 Of course , the boys of the h 86t probably did not expect much ou t of Co lonel Mc Co ok anyway .

Obviously , no t all officers were unpopular and disliked by their me n; in fact, some were respected and even regarded wi th reverence. Of ficers wh o we re competent in their duties and performed them wi th responsibility , like the 60

104th,s Lieutenant Jone s� had the trust and support of the men und er them.

Of ficers wh o had pr evi ou s mi litary training and experience tended to be mo re

popular than volunteers who knew no mo re than their me n. Even if an officer

lacke d mi litary experience, he could still win the support of his men by being brave in battle and friendly in camp .

Levi Ro ss said that mo st of his of ficers were fresh "from the prairie

plow." They had no mo re knowledge of military matters than the privates did , and th�bOYS coul d nnt easily respect a superior commander wh o wa s ignorant of his duties. The 86th Illinois provides a good example of the difference th that exp erience could make . The 86 ,s firs t colonel wa s David Ir ons, a vo lunteer who knew no thing of war, and their first lieutenant colonel wa s

David Magee, a trained 'officer and ve teran of the Mexican Wa r. Although Irons commanded the regiment, Magee was the officer who drilled it.37 Colonel

Ir ons's lack of knowledge caused him to lose the respe ct of his men. Levi 38 Ross said of Magee , "We este em him mo re highly than we do Col. Irons . ,,

After he fo rced the regiment to elect his son ad jutant, Irons's sagging

popularity broke ; Levi noted , "Magee is a 'Trump ' and is ve ry highly esteemed 39 as an officer, while, on the other hand, Co. Ir ons is very unpopul ar. ,,

Henry Nurse displayed his lack of respect for Colonel Irons with wi t, writing ,

"Old Co lonel Ir on' s wi fe got here last night. I don' t expect he slept much

last night ; so we have got the old man and woman and son in the regiment, so 40 we are mo st iron clad. ,,

Regul ar of ficers we re po pul ar fo r a number of reasons, but principally

they were liked because they mad e the boys feel like soldiers and no t a mo b.

Ro bert Burdette once had a regular army officer for a colonel. "He ma de us

dress better, stand better, keep neater, behave more soldierly and jump more 61 pr omp tly at an order ." Furthe rmore, they we re also better supplied with food 41 and clothing under him.

Re gardless of their pr evi ou s experience, brave officers we re we ll liked by the men. Of ficers were expected to physically lead their men in bat tle , th like Colonel Sc ott of the 19 Illinois who staye d in front of his regiment and led the charges at Stone's River. 42 Colonel Roberts of the 42nd Illinois wa s such an of ficer. Lyman Ne edham said of him, "'we all' think everything of him as a commander. When we go to meet the enemy , he does not get in ther rear and say Boys go and do this or that, but he goes in 'front' and says Boys

Come , and there is but few in the Regt but that delight in going where he 4 3 says. ,, Brave of ficers we re an inspiration to their me n, wh o fo llowe d the examples set by their officers. Robert Burdette wrote of his favorite colonel, John McClure, "Under fire, his calmness wa s contagious. Hi s courage . 44 rose above exc1tement . ,,

An other attribute that woul d make an of ficer po pular wi th the boys wa s friendliness. William Marsh was thrilled wi th his brigade commander, General

Wyman. When camped near He lena, Arkansas, General Wyman' s tent wa s only about five or six steps away from William' s mess arbor, and Wyman would occasionally join the boy s fo r dinner. Wyman wa s good natured; Wi l liam told how "He some t imes in going along through the Reg . will stop & laugh & talk with [the 4 soldiers] ; he Se ems to treat a pr ivate better than an officer. ,, 5 Another popular officer wa s Colonel Wilder, the commander of the famou s "Lightening

nd Brigade." Wh en the 92 Illinois was in his brigade, he treated them wi th food he brought from the North for Christmas. "[W]e gave him three harty

46 cheers," said Frank Cr owe ll.

Th e mo st po pul ar of ficer among the Il linois troops wa s their ve ry own

General Ulysses S. Grant, "whose greatness every we stern soldier held in 62 unq uestioning reverence. ,,47 Although Grant had been born in Ohi o, he wa s living in Illinois wh en the war started , and he began his Civil Wa r service as the colonel of the 21st Illinois . 4 8 Consequently , the Illinois soldiers 49 claimed him as one of theirs. Richard Pu ffer repo rted an incid ent wh ich occurred during the siege of Vick sburg that illustrates the down-to-earth qualities of Grant wh ich the boys admi red. "Gen Grant came along the line last night ; he had on his old clothes & was alone . [H]e sat down on the ground & talke d with the boys wi th less reserve than many a little puppy of a

Lieutenant. "50 Grant wa s a soldier's general: no ceremony or style , jus t s traigh tforwa rd.

The Illinois troop s dema nded much of their of ficers , and many did not live up to these expectations. The boys wanted their officers to be brave , friendly , experienced and sober. In stead, they received many wh o we re concerned more wi th pomp and ceremony , their own wealth, and glory . Others mi sused their authority and issued un popul ar orders and di sciplined the me n wl.th unwarranted cruelty. The boys ad just ed to the reality by turning the th th tables on the of ficers as the soldiers in the 3 6 and l 04 did . Finally , they looked up to and respected those commanders who did confo rm to their expectations. 6 3

CHAPTER 6

Tr amp , Tr amp , Tr amp

During the early years of the wa r, the soldiers spent much of their time

in camps. Longing for a change from camp life, many soldi ers looked forward

to a march, which would take them to a battlefield or, quite likely , another

camp-ground. However, they quickly found out that marching wa s ve ry difficult

wo rk , and that life on the march wa s greatly different from life in camp .

Th e firs t harbingers of a coming march were orders to prepare several

days ' rations and a load of ammunition. Common orders we re like those given

th to the 29 Illinois wh en they we re pr eparing to leave Suffolk , Vi rginia. The

soldiers were to have three days ' rations in their haversacks and fifty rounds 1 of cartrid ges in their cartridge boxes. Ma rching orders we re not standard ,

and occasionally larger allowances of food and ammunition we re called for .

Al though he though t that the load wa s too heavy , the five days' rations and

eight,Y ro�.m!is carried by Thomas Miller on his first march we re not as heavy as 0/.) //Yl/L tcl'_ /'v'fco_L_o; i'LC- a.4 2 � other so ldiers we re required to carry . Joseph Johnston wa s once

required to carry eight days' rations, which did not all fit in his haversack , th and Ge orge Childress in the 66 Illinois wa s once ordered to carry the 3 un believable amount of two-hundred rounds .

Preparing to march coul d be a group effort. Wi lliam Ma rsh reported ho w

his mess wo rked together to get ready for a campa ign . The cook, Hyde,

prepared the rations for the group, while two others repaired the me ss' s tent .

Other members converted knapsacks (which were for carrying blankets and

clothes on one' s back ) into haversacks (which we re slung over one' s shoul der

and held food) . 4 Despite the best coordinated efforts, the soldiers we re

still fo il ed by the pr incipl e of "hur ry up and wa it." Mo re than a we ek after 5 Marsh's preparation s, his reg iment was still in their camp . 6 4

Eventual ly , however, the regiments would commence to march. Their

destination was generally a my stery to the enlisted me n. Ma rching so ldi ers

we re as uninformed as camping soldiers. John Tallman explained , "we dont eve r kn ow ev en wh are we are ag oin when we commence to march; we just fo llow the

Colonel whareve r he goes, and when he tells us to stop we stop . .. 6 When

ma rching , the soldiers ma rched in columns, four men abreast. In the country ,

the troops did no t keep straight columns, did no t keep step, and carried their 7 th arms at will. Wh en they came through a town, though, the 104 Illi nois

would have their band play . The soldiers would then keep step and carry their

rifl es at right shoul der shift (high on the right shoul der, wi th the lockpl ate 8 level with the right ear) .

Wh en close to the enemy , the troops woul d move in a mo re defensive manner. John Tallman was on an expedition once in Mi ssissippi wh ich was th attacke d by Confederates. Af ter the Southerners we re beaten back , the 1 5 th Illinois de pl oyed in front as ski rmi shers. The 1 4th Illinois and the 76

Illinois both fo rme d in line of battle, each on one side of the road . Cavalry

were placed on both flanks, and the group marched in that fashion for some 9 time.

Re gardless of how they ma rched, the soldiers found the ma rching to be

to ilsome . William t1arsh described what marching was like to his younge r

brother, writ ing :

[D ]o yo u think yo u coul d even take yo ur rifle & wa lk fr om 1 5 to 2 0 miles a day With No thing to eat but a peice of Wo rmy Cracker & 2 or 3 Cups of Coffee in 2 4 hours, Say nothing about Sleeping on the ground often Without anything but a blanket to protect you from the rain. If yo u Shoul d eat nothing bu t bred & wa ter for 2 or 3 days & a little fat pork , take a blanket and lay out in the grass under the appl e trees, if iforains all the better, then yo u can imagine what Soldiering is.

Wi lliam wa s trying to di ssuade his brother from joining the army wh en he wr ote

hi s de scription, but his image s are no worse than those pre sented by others. 6 5

If marching during the day wa s bad , marching after dark could be a nd nigh tma re. Cyrus Eyster described some of the marching done by the 92

Illinois to his cousin:

We done a great deal of our marching after night, dark as pitch, through swollen streams wa ist deep, over logs, stumps, and brush, and then pell me ll into holes and di tches, and when we laid down in wet clothes on the we t ground to bivoac for the remainder of the nigh t, we could sc arcely refr ain from casting a hurried wi sh or though t after a once comf�rtable home be fore yielding to the claims of our taxed Na ture.

Sometimes the soldiers had to march dur ing the day and into the night. Wh ile

General Buell wa s organizing a defence against General Bragg's invasion of

th Ke ntucky in the autumn of 1862, the 36 Illinois ma rched so much that their supply wag ons could no t keep up with the troops. Day Elmore wro te about his experience: "nigh t after night we have marched so far that the [supply wagon s] coul d no t keep up wi th us on the account of the bad Roads . [T]hen we woul d bu ild a fire and dry the snow off the ground; as soon as that wa s don we wo ul d Ro ll up in our Blankets, one half of a blanket at that, nothing to eat . , , 12 [""'L ]he t eams wo uld ge t aroun d'�n t im e orf star t'�ng ou t �n' t h e mo rn�ng . ,

Marching was distasteful during both day and night, and it wa s mi serable in all kinds of we ather. In the summer, when mo st campaigning wa s done, the soldiers sweltered in the heat. As if that was not bad enough, the columns of ma rching menki cked up cloud s of du st from the di rt roads . "Cloud s of du st went searching [for] a place to enter us, and filled eyes; noses , mouths, and ears in the attempt," wr ote Joseph Johnston about the march wh ich led to

Chickamauga . 13 In the South, marching could be ho t wo rk even in the winter. th Wh ile in Te nnessee, John Ta llman told his sister, "the 24 of De c I marched about fifteen mile s, and it wa s so ho t that I sweat like a ma n in the harvest field. . . • ,, 14 66

The winter could be quite cold in the South, and winter campaigns we re often sl owe d by snow . Th oma s Miller' s firs t ma rch wa s in January 1862 through snow and rain. "[U]pon the hole, it wa s the damdest time that I Ever Seen ," 1 S nd he conclud ed. In January 1863, the 9 2 Illinois ma rched through Ke ntucky , and it snowed constantly for two days. This turned the pike into a river of 16 mud , which then froze and thawe d ou t again.

Li fe during a march was significantly different from life in a camp .

Fo od, fo r example, changed greatly , as wa s mentioned in chapter two . Levi '\ Ro ss was di�pPointed and puz zled by the change of diet which occurred on his first campaign. "Ha rd bread , bacon and coffee is all we draw . Ar e En titl ed

,,1 7 to rice & beans, but for some reason we have not had them on our march .

Sleeping arrangements also changed, but the soldiers ad justed to the new conditions. "I have got so that I can lay down and sleep almost any place," wr ote Jo hn Ta llman, " •••I use to pitty the ho rses to ' stay in sush a pl ace as I did last night, after raining ye sterday and night before last, the water 18 run through our tent ankl e deep once. ,,

Because of the change in diet and the exhaust ive effort required by ma rches, ma ny soldiers coul d not ke ep up wi th their regiments. Straggling seemed to be a problem largely encountered by new troops. On a march of th twe ntly-f ive mi les through the spr ing mud of the Shenandoah Va lley , the 29

Illinois lost half its force because of straggling . 19 Thomas Miller de scribed the stragglers he saw on his first ma rch. "[I]t wa s a hard Sight to See hundreds of Stout young me n that was give out a Sitting and lying along by the

Ro ad , and Some of them a Crying and we eping because they Coul d not ke ep up

,, with the [column]. 20 As t im.e wore on, the troops became accust omed to the pace of the marching , and strag gling wa s reduc ed . 67

Some regiments tried to reduce straggling by stopping for rest along the th march. John Given told his sister that the lZ4 Illinois wo uld march one mil e and then rest for fifteen minutes.Z 1 This wa s done fairly early in the regiment' s service and may have changed later in the wa r. Wh ile officers may have ordered rests for new troops, experienced soldiers sometime s took matters th into their own hands . After the 86 Illinois had been in service for nearly one ye ar, He nry Nurse told his father , "They cannot make us kill our selves by ma rching , for wh en we ge t tired we sit down and rest and then come up like the cows when we get ready . That is the way we come the shenanigan on them Z s houl der-str aped fellows . " Z

Another wa y to pr event straggling and to ease the burdens of the soldiers on the march was to keep up the morale of the troops . "[W] e have a deal of

fun on the road • • • as long as we ke ep fun ag oing we wi ll do first rate, " wrote Henry Nurse.Z3 The responsib ility for boosting morale fell upon the soldiers, and those who led the fun in camp also led the fun on the ma rch.

Joseph Jo hnston claimed that the 19th Illinois "kept up a continual chaffing wi th the regiments they passed," and told of some of the exchanges they had on the Ch ickamauga campaign.

Th e of t repeated question "What regiment is that? " showe red on us as we passed by me t wi th a different set of answers from what it woul d have done "two ye ars ag o. " Then when the question wa s aske t it was answered by a dozen voices " gth Illinois;" now it me ts h s t wi th answe rs like the fo llowi ng- -" Z Presbyterian regt," "1 Ohio Con scripts: Hurrah for Vallandingham ," "1st Ut ah ," "4�h Loyal t Ea st Te nnessee nig ge r regiment, " "Our regiment, " "gg Ingy-army regimen t--from Ho op-pole County , Po sey Township," "N-i-nth A- rmy Co rpse, Burnside' s Fo rty-second M-a2�-sachesetts. It take s the Po tomac A-r-my to clean out Bragg ."

Th e soldiers had mo re fun saying who they we re not than wh o they we re . Also,

Jo seph showed that the me n enjoyed making fun of some of their least favorite peopl e, such as blacks, Oh ioans, Cl ement Vallandingh am, General Ambrose 68

Burns ide and anyone else connected wi th the Army of the Po tomac. The se disl ike s wi ll be di scussed in detail in later chapters.

Ju st as they we re a source of amusement in camps , blacks we re also comi cal fo r the soldiers to wa tch wh ile on the march. Frank Cr owe ll told of an inc iden t which occurred as the 92nd Illinois (as mounted infantry) marched through northern Alabama in De cember 1863. "[W]hile on the march down here we we re passing a large Plantation, and the Band struck up and Played 'Get out of the wilderness, ' and their wa sent a Nigger even to those that we re cu tting teeth but what we nt dancing (or rather shuffling) . [S ]ome Big We nches that 2 5 woul d we igh at least thre hundred we nt righ t in on the rerd . ,, (A rerd is a noisy cry or a roar .) By Frank 's description of the sight, the soldiers probably had a good laugh as they watched the "shuffling."

Laughter on a march could be infectious. �he wa r, Ro bert Burdette th recalled an incid ent in the 47 Illinois wh ich happened on a ma rch through rain and mud . "A tired soldier sought an easier footway up on the sloping roads id e, and pul led off both shoes, one after the other, in the sticky clay bank--an insult in the face of misery. The men who saw him roared wi th pitiless mi rth. The next company , wh ich coul d not see, howled in sympathy wi th the laughter they could no t understand ." The la ughter wa s passed down the column and ga ined in volume . According to Ro bert, incidents such as this were common ; the appearance of a general or a rabbit could cause a large cheer 26 which grew loud er as more and mo re soldi ers joined in.

Besides high morale, another ingredient for a successful movement was supply . Su pply wa s pr incipally pr ovided by the army wa gons. Every regiment had several wagons, and most had one per company . The wagons we re driven by soldi ers specially appo inted as teams ters. Th e wa gons we re pul led by six mul e s, hitched in three pairs, called, from front to back , the lead , swing and 69

wh eel teams .27 The driver rode one of the wheel mule s, and this apparen tly nd ma de a comi cal sigh t. Ed Cr owell, the teams ter fo r Company B, 92 Illinois, said of his first experience driving his team, "I gue ss you would of laughed to of seen me the first time of all the pictures you ever saw I gue ss 28 that it would of beat them all . ,,

Th e wagons we re supposed to carry items wh ich the soldiers coul d not carry wi th them. Some of the equi pment to be hauled in the wagons we re:

Sibley tents, cooking utensils , ext ra rations and ammunition. Occasionally the wagons also carried the soldiers' knapsacks. Other times, however, the wa gons wo ul d not carry all that wa s needed by the men. "The wa gons wi ll have only the officers tent & the cooking utensils, and a full load will be mad e , 29 out fo r them with rations," wr ote Jo seph Johnston befo re one march .

Frequently , the wagons could not keep up wi th the soldiers on the march . nd The Crowe ll letters show that when the 92 Illinois wa s moving , Frank and Ed were rarely together. The failure of the wag on trains to keep pace with the ffien led to shortages of fo od. While marching through Arkansas, Day Elmore said of the un predictable supply , "some time the wagons would get up ; some 30 time we wo ul d have to march on our empty stoma ch. ,, On the Tullahoma campaign, Day 's regiment wa s on quarter rations because of the lack of 31 supply .

An other result of sl ow supply wa gons was the absence of large tents on the march. In the first years of the war, when Sibley tents we re the common shelt er, marching so ldiers we re of ten wi thout them. Wh ile pur suing Bragg' s army after the battle of Perryville, Kent ucky , the 86th Illinois was without tents. Four inches of snow fell one nigh t, and all the me n had fo r pr otection wa s one blanke t apiece, wh ich they had carried with them.32 In September nd 1862, the 42 Illinois arrived in Na shville to find that all railroad 70 connections to the city had been cut by the Confederates. Since they were ahead of their wa gons , they had no tents, and the lack of rail connections 33 pr evented them fr om rece iving mo re rations.

Dr iving the wa gons was a difficult, po tentially dangerous, and thankl ess job. Although he did no t have to march, Ed Crowell put in many hard hour s nd trying to ke ep his company suppl ied . When the 92 Illinois wa s ma rching ove r the mountains in eastern Tennessee, the teams ters we re cut off from the regiment for three days, and they put in many long hour s trying to catch the regiment. Ed discribed the effort to his sister-in-law : "the second night I drove un till one O'clock at nigh t, and it was darke r than a stack of black cats, and the roads we re as bad as you ever traveled and how we ever got through wi th six mul es is more than I can tell, but at last we got into a mud hole and had to stay unt ill mo rning ." Af ter freeing his wagon fr om the mud the next mo rning , Ed continued to drive his team un til late in the evening .

. 34 On t h e f ourt h d ay t h e wagons f ina11 y me t up with t h e rest 0 f t h e reg1me nt.

�� en mo vi ng through Al abama in 1864, Ed wo rke d from four in the mo rning un til 35 ten at n i g h t to keep h·1S company suppl' 1e d •

Dr iving mul es wa s not wi thout danger, either. Ed wa s still obligated to perfo rm picket du ty when not on the march. 36 Te amsters were also exposed to attacks wh ich the Confederates frequently made on Federal supply lines. Ed described a close call he had wh ile hauling rations to his company on the

Atlanta campaign:

[W]e have to haul all our grub betwe en 10 and 1 5 miles. I came very near getting captured the other day again. I wa s going down to the Re g wi th a lode of fo rage and passed wi th[in] a few rods of

a squad of rebs • • • [they hid] supposing that I had an escor t wi th me , but it wa s not so ; they coul d of gO�fled me if they had no t been afraid that there wa s more with me .

Given the danger and long hour s of his job, Ed felt that he had a thankl ess position and complained , "they work the mule drivers like the devil , yet they 71 act as though they thought we had no feelings at all because we drive 38 mul es. ,,

Anything which wa s not transpo rted by the wa gons had to be carried by the soldiers themselves. Just their uniforms alone could be quite a load to take wi th them. John Sacke tt described the first un iform he wa s issued in 1861:

We have received all our uniform. It consistest of a blanke t 5 x 1 4 feet, 2 pair sky blue pants, a blouse, a tight fitting round about of dark blue , a dark blue cap, a black hat trimmed wi th a sky blue cord wi th tassels in lieu of a band a brass trumpet on the front of the crown and the letter of our company , the left side turned up and fasened wi th a brass pinsion and a black feather on the other side, two pair of socks, two pair of cotton flanel drawe rs, two shirts, a pair of army shoes, an sky blue overcoat which reaches below the knee, a cape on the ��me reaching to the elbow , [and] an India rub ber blanke t 5 x 7 ft.

The black hat which John described in detail was a Hardee hat, wh ich wa s only 4 0 used in the early part of the wa r. Th e cap wa s a forage cap. Fo rage caps were different fr om the sporty kepis wh ich are frequently and incorrec tly associated wi th Union troops. The forage cap had a taller crown than the ke pi, and it generally slouched forward, sometime s being almost perpendicular to the viso re

Al though the Ha rdee hats and fo rage caps we re official governme nt issue, the soldiers soon discovered that both we re of little use. The Ha rdee hats we re too decorative fo r regul ar we ar. Fo rage caps did not pr otect one's face

fr om the sun, nor did they keep rain off one's neck. Consequently, the troops

obtained better, more useful hats from sutlers or from home . Be fo re the

Atlanta campaign commenced , Day Elmore wrote to his parents and asked for a

ligh t-we igh t, black "low crowned, broad rimed, fine wo olen hat." He told his parents about other soldiers' hats , "The Boys get them in most Evry make , and

it is ve ry warmhear . I have nothing bu t my Cap •••se nd [the hat] as soon

as yo u get this as my face is burning up . ,,4 1 Allen Geer also stated that mo st 72

of his comr ad es wore a variety of hats but no ted that caps we re required for 4 2 dressparad e .

Two other im portant articles me ntioned by John Sa cke tt we re the blouse and the roundabout. The blouse wa s the dark blue fat igue jacket or sack coat, wh ich all soldi ers we re to have fo r info rma l we ar. As the term "sack coat" implies, these we re loose fitting jackets wh ich came down below the wearer's wa ist, muc h like a mo dern sport jacke t. The roundabout wa s the dress coat for the 36th Illinois. It wa s a shell jacke t--c omi ng just down to the waist.

Mo st regiments, however, had a frock coat fo r their dress coat . Fr ock coats we re tapered and buttoned to the wa ist and then extended to just above the kn ee. While soldiers were to have both a fatigue jacke t and a dress coat , mo st soldiers appear to have only worn one of the two . Photographs of the th 86 Illinois indicate that, dur ing 1863, most of the enlisted men wo re frock coats wh ile a few wo re fat igue jackets. By 1864, about half wo re frocks and 43 half had sacks.

Th e first un iform issue was pr ovided by the gove rnme nt, but subsequent reissues of clothing we re at the soldier's expense. The troop s were given an allowa nce of fo rty-two dollars a ye ar ($3.5 0 per mo nth) for clothing . If a soldier drew mo re than his allowance, the difference wa s deduc ted fr om hi s pay. On the other hand, the soldier recieved a bonus at the end of the ye ar if -he drew less than his allowance. Requisitions for more clothes had to be ma de at the beginning of a mo nth. Day Elmo re expl ained, "we have to put in what we want at the first of the month, &, if we do no t, we wate untill the 44 first of next mo nth. ,, Repl acing an entire un iform coul d be quite expensive for the soldiers. Some of the prices they had to pay for government un ifo rms. and equipme nt were as fo llows : $5 .00 for a rub ber blanke t, $2.95 for a wo ol 73 blanket, 63 cents for a forage cap, $2.00 for pants, $4.00 for army shoes, and 45 $7.20 for an overcoat.

Ju st as they obtained hats from other sour ces , the soldiers also got clothe s from sutlers and from their families at home . The clothing which the sutlers so ld wa s more expensive than the government' s clothing, and the soldiers only bought from them in eme rgencies. After failing to requisition clothing at the first of the month, Day Elmore wa s once compelled to pay fifteen dollars for a hat, a fatigue jacket and some wo olen shirts. 4 6 Whe n the army had a shortage of shirts, Wi lliam Marsh paid a sutler five dollars 47 for two of them.

Some time s soldiers obtained items of clothing from their families.

Al though shirts could be obtained from ·the government or from sutlers, soldiers seemed to prefer shirts wh ich came from home . Lyman Ne edham once as ked for two colored woolen shirts made of "pretty cloth ... 4 8 The army issue shirts were white, and, apparently , the soldiers wa nted mo re va riety . Other common items sent to the soldiers by their families we re socks , boots, hats , 49 handke rchiefs, and gloves, for the wi nter. Occasionally , more significant portions of a soldier's uni form came from home . Joseph Johnston once received

5 0 a pair of pants from his mo ther. Joseph wa s not the only so ldier wh o did no t wear uniform sky blue pants; one man in Au stin Andrew's company had 5 1 captured Confederate pants.

In additions to his clothes, a so ldier on the march had a numhe r of other items to carry wi th him. Day Elmore gave his brother a list of the equipment he carried on a march:

[Y]ou have 3 days Ra tion in your haversack; you can Ea t it up in one or make it last, for you will get no more untill the three days are up. [B ] esides your board, yo u have your Bed to carry ; you can take as mu tch as you think will keep you wa rm , also cartrig Box wi th 5 0 rounds in each Round we ighing one ounce, your 74

Belt and Bayonet, Cap Box, Canteen. ut thare is nothing you have 5 � to carry But your gun & Equiptments.

Except for one po int of variance, all the soldiers (who we re combatants)

carried the equipment on Day 's li st. The one po int of difference wa s the bedding . Day was right; one could carry as much as one wanted to carry .

Mo st so ldiers carried only a limi ted amount fo r bedding . On the

Chi ckamauga campaign, Lyman Needham carried only a rubber blanket. 5 3 Earlier

that summer, he had carried a shelter half in ad di tion to the rub ber blanket.54 On one expedition in Mississippi, the boys of the 76th Illinois 55 took only one blanke t apiece. Al though shelter tents we re intended to be easy to carry , it appears as if many soldiers did not carry them. During the action around. Chattanooga, Te nnessee, pr ior to Chickamauga, Frank Cr owe ll 5 6 claimed that " I have slept in a tent twice in 3 4 days .',

A soldi er wa s supposed to carry his bedding on his back in a kn apsack , but the knapsack wa s an un popular and useless item. Ed Crowell, who did no t have to carry a knapsack , feared being returned to the ranks and having to march with one on his back. "I could not stand it to carry a knapsack five 57 mi les to save my neck," he told his mo ther, "and I wont try . ,, Since many

soldiers travelled light, a knapsack was general ly not needed to carry their

equipment. Robert Bur dette wrote about the knapsacks wi th contempt. "My

regiment wa s a marching and fighting regiment, and knapsacks we re luxuries of 58 ,, e ffem1· nacy , i n d u 1 ge d·1n on1· y 1n mn . ter quarters . Since he and others only carried a blanke t or two and perhaps a shelter half , they rolled up their 59 blanke ts and carried them over their shoul ders.

A few soldiers, however, kept their knapsacks and loaded themselve s down

wi th muc h ext ra equipment. Af ter he had been in the army fo r mo re than a

yea r, William Peter carried one wo olen blanket, one rubber blanket, one

shelt er half , one dress coat, two shirts, two pairs of socks, a pair of 75 drawers , and "a few trinkets" in his knapsack . 60 Joseph Wa rd carried , amo ng 61 oth er t ho1n gs , a revo I ve r 1n° 1S ° knapsac .k Mo st soldiers woul d have cons idered this "imped imentia"--useless extra we ight .

Ea rly in the war, many soldiers, like Pe ter and Wa rd, we re loaded with imped imentia. However , much of the excess equi pment wa s thrown away on the first long march. Jo seph Jo hnston described what happened on the firs t major march of the 1 9�h Illinois:

The day was so ho t on our march from Birds Po int that the soldiers threw eve rything away wh ich they could. They would not care about any fl annel bandages as they woul d not use them much & woul d throw them away the first thing. Very little care has been taken of any thing , & they h��e so li ttle baggage that they are emphatically light Infantry .

On a march which woul d lead them to their firs t battle at Pe rryville,

Kentucky , the recent recruits of the 86th Illino is relieved themselve s of excess baggage. "Wagon loads of clothing wa s thrown away by the new recruits who started wi th full knapsacks. Thousands of over coats, extra pants, shirts, socks, etc. were scattered all along our line of march by the tired and nearly exhausted boys," wrote Levi Ro ss.6 3 A few days later, wh ile on the same march, Levi noted, "nearly all threw away their knapsacks and

('. lo thing . ,, 6 4 The knapsacks, which had been issued in September , lasted less th 65 than a mo nth in the 86 Illinois.

New so ldiers were not the only ones to throw away clothing and equipme nt.

Ve terans would often accumulate articles of clothing during the inact ive months of wi nter which would be thrown away during the first ma rch of the followi ng spring . In May 1862, Lyman Ne edham wrote , "I have thrown away two shirts and one pair of drawe rs since I came, and if we march much mo re I shall throw away all but my Blanket, for I cannot carry them. I have seen thousands of Over coats and eve ry ki nd of clothing thrown away , and a great many have burnt their extra clo thing . ,,66 The 20th Illino is repeated the shedding 7 6 process aga in in the spring of 1863 . On the Port Gibson Ro ad on the march 6 7 towa rds Vi cksburg, the boys threw away their knapsacks and their contents.

"It is no t the stile for a soldier to think of past troubles or future danger, but live in the present fo r all it is wo rth, " wr ote Jo seph Wa rd, and this was the mentality behind the discarding of extra equi pment and

68 clothing . Th eir disregard for the future allowe d soldiers to have a lighter load , bu t the lack of spare clothes led to raggedness. .. Soldiers here do no t look much as they do in 111. ," Wi lliam Ma rsh cautioned his brother, "here they look rough & many of them ragged . Wh en our Reg . reached this Place there wa s 69 hadly a man in it, that had a Wh ole pair of pants. ,, Ma rching wa s rough on clothes, and replac ements we re not always available. During She rman's Atlanta th campaign, He nry Nurse said of the 86 Illinois, "the boys are pretty ragged.

That is about the seat of their pants. Some have not got any seat to their pants. " 7 0

Be sides pants, another item which wo re ou t wa s shoes. Since few , if any , s()ldiers eve r intended to carry an extra pair of shoes, the condition of soldi ers' shoes can not be blamed on waste. Nevertheless, a lack of shoes had a serious effect on the troops' performance. As a campaign continued , soldiers ' shoes wo uld we ar ou t, and many of the boys woul d be barefo ot by the end . The experiences of the 86th Illinois serve as a good exampl e. By the 1 end of the Tullahoma Campaign, three hundred men we re wi thout shoes. 7 Af ter they had been resupplied , they wore out their shoes around Chattanooga , and 7 2 we re barefoot by the battl e of Mi ssionary Ridge. Af ter the fall of Atlanta, 73 the boys of the 86th we re once again wi thout shoes.

To attempt to summarize the gear of a typical Illinois soldier is difficult because of the great dif ferences between individuals and regiment s.

If a "typical" Il linois so ldier did exist in a "typical " company , some general 77 comments could be mad e about his appearance on a campaign. On his head woul d be perched a black , wi de-brimmed, wo ol felt hat. He would we ar either a dark blue frock coat or a fatigue jacket, und er which he wore a shirt made by his mo ther. His sky blue pants woul d be tucked into his grey wo ol socks, wh ich separat ed his feet from his black, we ll-worn , leather brogans. 74 On his left side hung his black haversack , wi th a tin cup hanging on its closure strap, and his canteen.75 On his right side, his leather cartridge box hung by a strap over his left shoul der. Hi s belt held a bayo net on his left side and a cap box on his righ t. Over his le ft shoulder a rolled up wo olen or rubber blanke t was hung and the ends tied together on his right. In this bed-roll, he carried an extra shirt, a pair of socks, a pair of drawers and a few personal items . Most importantly , in his hands he carried his rifl e.

Other soldiers in his company looked a little different. Some wore a dress coat wh ile others had a sack coat. A few kept their forage caps , and some still used their knapsacks. One or two of his comrades might have had n0n-regulation pants, obtained from home or po ssibly from his enemy . Th is is a generic picture of Illinois troops as they looked when they marched off to face their enemy in battl e. 78

CHAPTE R 7

The La st Ful l Me asur e

"[A] Soldier's Duties and Ententions are to kill or get killed ," wrote

Thoma s Mi ller, compl etely describing a so ldier' s reason fo r existence in a few choice wo rds . 1 The sole purpose of the soldiers wa s to close with the enemy in combat. Th is is wh at the marching wa s for. Th is is wh at the drill wa s for. This is what they enlisted for. Combat wa s a new experience for the va st maj ority of the boys. It was some thing they eagerly awa ited at first and later came to regard as a loathsome task. Since the soldiers we re in the army to fight, combat wa s an important part of their mi litary experience.

Initially, the soldiers impatiently waited for their first battle, and th ma ny feared that they would never be in one. When he wa s in the l O Il linois

(3 months ) In fantry in the spring of 1861, David King told his mo ther , "the boys are so impatient fo r a figh t that they woul d leave their dinne r any time to figh t .,, 2 The longer the boys had to wait, the mo re impatient and eager th tney became . Wi lliam Ma rsh had been in the 13 Illinois for almost nine months and not been in combat when he marched through the battlefield at Pea

Ri dge (Arkansas) . Af ter surveying the damage, he wr ote, "When our troops have ,, 3 anot1ler f·19 h t I h ope I s h a 11 b e t h ere to tak e part 1n. t h e f un .

As Marsh indicated, the new troops had no id ea abo1)wh at they we re going to experience in battle. When he was green, John Given wa s afraid that he woul d not have the "good fo rttme" of being in an anticipated battle.4 Some soldier s had rather fanciful and romant ic ideas about what battle would be like . Jo seph Jo hnston repo rted his regiment' s intentions to his father. "In a battle the colonel will have the fife & drum, the brass band & bugles, & the regimental choir wi ll sing a national air to inspire enthusiasm in the ranks, at least so he says ."S Others believed that their bat tle would be the one to 7 9 end the war. Lyman Ne edham, when camped near Pittsburg Landing (Tennessee) and exp ecting an attack , wrote, "We are just fo olish enough to think that this 6 battle will dec ide the who le thing . ,,

As the eagerly awa ited battl e began to approach, some of the soldiers would loose their enthusiasm to fight. Late in December 1861, the soldiers in th the 29 Illinois exp ected to go on an expedi tion to take Columbus, Kentucky.

Camped at Cairo, Illinois, Thomas Miller wrote , "there will undoubtedly be

Several men to have to di e, but they all appear to be willing to go and Ri sk it. ,, 7 Ap pearances changed when orders finally came requiring them to prepare to leave camp . "[A]bout four 0 clock this Evening the orders Came from he ad

Quarters that we must be Re ady to march at nine 0 clk in the morning . [I]t made Some of the boys look very Se rious, and in fact Some of them [were] taken ve ry Sick and De parted them Selve s unable to march and will be Excused from 8 du ty and left in Camp . ,,

Af ter the troops left camps and we re final ly about to enter a battle, they had to spend a few agonizing hours wa iting for the "ball" to be opened .

At first, soldiers acted di fferently dur ing the hours preceding a battle.

When the 86th Illinois had been in the field for less than a fortnight, they expected to be attacke d in their camp in Ke ntucky . As they formed in line to me et the enemy , Levi Ross noted the disposition of his comrades. "Some of the

9 boys look pale; others are jesting , swe aring, and pl aying cards . .. Af ter the

86th had been baptized by fire, the boys began to act alike. While waiting to receive an attack at Chickamauga, Levi repo rted "I glanced along the files of men to no te their appearance in this mo st trying ordeal to any and all soldiers--the suspence just befo re the battl e opens . Some we re pale as death; 10 some trembled; all we re as silent as the tomb . • • • ,, 80

Levi Ross noticed the fr ightening ordeal of wa iting to receive an enemy attack ; Ro bert Burdette showe d that wa it ing to attack wa s just as bad .

Wr iting after the war, Robert de scribed wha t might happen during the "awf ul quiet before the battle."

As you lie on the ground to hide the position of the regiment from the enemy and to keep underneath the searching shell-fire and the ski rmi sh shots that ge t past your skirmishers, a man is talking to you, wi th his face turned toward your own , a foot away . You are listening to him wi th interest, because he is asking you about something that happened in your own town , in the Lincoln campa ign . As you start to answe r him , some thing fearful blots ou t his face wi th a smear of blood, and he is a shuddering thing without voice or breath or soul , hud dled there at your side. A shell has burst above your company and a piece of it struck that n in the face Tt like an angry specter that resented his question.

Lying on the ground wi th no thing to do but think about the comi ng fray wa s terrible, but it was wo rse wh en comrades were killed befo re retaliation wa s possible.

Finally , all the dril l, all the marching and all the wa iting would have their purpose, and the troops would engage in combat. As the me n rose to ti1eir feet to receive the enemy attack or to charge the enemy po sition, cartridge boxes we re brought forward so they we re more accessible, and 12 bayo nets were fixed on the ends of their rifles. The soldiers we re now ready for battle, and the moment of reckoning had come .

Th e so ldiers had spent hour s upon hours drilling in pr eparation fo r battle. While drill had taught the soldiers how to use their rifles and instilled a sense of confidence in them, it did not depict the confusion and di sorder that usually accompanied a battle. Occasionally , the regiment al lines we re ke pt in good order. After a small battle in Georgia, Henry Nurse claimed that "Our line was as stra ight as though we were on parade. ,, 1 3 Other time s, the regimental and even brigade fo rmations completely disintegrated . 81

William Peter described an attack on a Confederate fort during the siege of

Mo bile, Alabama .

Our Re gt was placed in reserve of the brig , but wh en we got across the swamp and the line started for the wo rks The 122d was not to be held back . Th e wild sc ene which fo llowe d cannot be depicted. • When the Order to charge was given every man went on his own hook , no such a thing as ke eping lines. [W]hen the first ones reached the wo rks it was as if the brig had been scattered all over the ground from where we started . • Altho we we re in the rear �t starting some of us got into the wo rks mo st as soon as any.l

Th is was not the performance of green troop s. The men we re ve terans wi th over

two and one half years of experience .

Sometimes, a regiment' s organiza tion wo ul d change several times dur ing a

nd bat tle. At Parker's Crossroads, the 122 wa s initially de ployed lying behind

a r�il fence. Wh en they we re informed that the enemy wa s in the timber behind

them, they charged into the woods "each man fighting on his own hook." Af ter

driving the Confederates from the wo ods , they halted on the op posite side and

fo rmed in a line. Before they could do much else, Federal reinforcements 1 S ar.rived, and the Confederates wi thdrew.

Generally , on the battlefield , confusion wa s the rule. Sometimes

confusion wa s caused by the terrain. Wo oded areas spread ranks and coul d

cause chao s, and so could streams and rivers. Joseph Johnston recalled a

charge across Stones River. "The banks we re steep & rocky , & going down it

the whole divi sion was mixed up & every man had to act fo r himself. Wi thout 16 wa 1.t. 1.ng. to form 0 f t h e ot h er s1.°d e, t h ey rus h e d forw ard on t h e enemy . ,, At

Ch ickamauga the 92nd Illinois was disrupted when the brigade they we re

supporting routed and ran into them. Fr ank Cr owe ll explained what happened,

"the brigade that we r in front of us wer driven, and than they piled in to us

and we had to fight falling back , and if they [the Confederates] dident sent 1 7 in the bullets than I dont Know . ,, 82

Part of the confusion in battle wa s due to the fact that the soldiers did not see all of wh at was happening around them. Soldiers never actually saw a battle; instead , they saw the small parts in which they participated. Whe n wr iting about the May 22, 1863 assaul t on Vicksburg, Robert Burdette told his readers, "You know more about it than I do, because you have read its many histories, and I wa s only in one little corner of it, very small, exceedingly ho t, and extremely dangerous, so that my personal observations, being much 18 concerned wi th my self , we re limi ted by distracting circumstances. ,, Some soldiers became so distracted that they did not even reali ze wh at the me n next to them we re doing. Al len Ge er reached this level of detachment at the battle of Raymond, Mississippi. "After firing some minutes from our first po sition I 19 looked around and saw l:!.ll gone on either side except T. Johnson." He had been so absorbed by the fighting that he did not notice that his regiment had fal len back to a new ·position.

One devi ce used to try to prevent such compl ete distraction wa s the r<:!giment's flag . The flag did muc h mo re than identify the regiment ; it was the ve ry heart and soul of the regiment. The banner bore the regiment's name and the bat tles in which it had participated honorably . The soldiers took great pr ide in their fl ags and the honor badges on them. "Every time Ho nor wr ites a new battle name in gold on the fl ag she blots the names of a few men off the regimental roll, in blood. That's the pr ice of battle inscriptions.

Th at's what makes them so precious. The inscriptions are laid on in gold ,

20 underlaid and made indelible wi th blood," wr ote Ro bert Burdette. Since the fl ag was the symbol of the regiment, the soldiers glanced at their banner to see where their regiment wa s. "I can' t see how men could go into battle wi thout the Flag to glance at now and again ," wro te Ro bert Burdette.21 The consequences of not carryi ng a fl ag coul d be tragic. Al len Ge er reported 83

that, during a battle on the road to Vicksburg, the "20th got fired into by 22 our own men fo r not having our colors wi th us. ,, In the smoke of battl e, blue could no t be easily distinguished from gray and butternut.

Smoke , caused by the black powd er used by the we apons, covered the bat tlefields of the Civil Wa r, obscuring the enemy positions and making rifle fire wildly inaccurate. Th e rifle fire wa s inaccur ate to begin wi th; the soldiers had a tendency to fire too high. Perhaps the mo st frequently heard command on the battl efield wa s "Aim low! " Th e sergeants continually repeated this order. Robert Burdette recalled that , "The repeated expostutation of the 23 sergeants is, 'Fire low boys; fire low ! Rake ' em ! Sh1.n. , em", . , The obscuring smoke concealed the enemy and made aiming impossible once a battle wa s un derway . Ge orge Ma rsh admi tted that he just shot at the smoke ; it wa s all he could do. 2 4 Consequently , the men did no t know the effect of their fire. Of the soldiers used in this study , only one, Allen Ge er, stated that he knew he hit a Confederate. That occurred wh ile skirimishing and no t during a large battl e.25

As the battl e continued, the soldier' s senses we re bombarded and irritated by a variety of stimulii. � became blinded and choked by the 26 cloud s of smoke which hung ove r the battlef ields . As they fired, the barrels of their rifles would heat up and become difficult to hold . 2 7 Their ears Were assaulted by many sounds : the roar of the cannons, the rattl e of musketry , the profanity of their comrades and the cries of the wound ed. Then one terrible sound woul d rise above the rest--the Re bel Ye ll. Wh en the

,, 28 Confederates charged they rushed , "yelling like so many demons from hell.

Ma ny so ldi ers remarked about the Confederates ye lling as they attacked.

Thomas Miller, writing about Shiloh, said that the Confederates charged , "as 29 though the En tended to Scare us ou t. ,, Confederate attacks coul d 8 4 indeed be fr ighteni ng . Robert Burdette claimed that nothing could stop them dur ing the first day at the battle of Co rinth (Mississippi) . They pr essed on, , 30 "like a human torren t , " wh ich, "drove through all opposition. ,

So terrible were the Confederate attacks that ma ny of the boys grossly overest imated the size of the Confederate forces. At Shiloh, William Ross was 31 certain that the Confederate army wa s twi ce the size of the Federal one. In fact the Federals had the advant age, having about 75,000 men to the 3 2 Confederate 44,000. Wr iting after the Seven Days' Battles around Ri chmond,

Jo seph Wa rd estimated Le e's army to number 200,000, when it wa s, in reality ,

33 less than half that size . Th e engagements wh ich pr oduced the mo st ridiculous estimations of Confederate strength we re Chickama uga and the subsequent siege of Chattanooga. Part of the confusion wa s caused by the fact that General Lee had sent five brigades of his Army of Northern Virginia to 34 assist Ge neral Bragg' s Army of Tennessee. Levi Ro ss claimed that Le e had sent half his army (a huge exaggeration) to Georgia and , from Chattanooga , told his parents that "the wh ole Confederacy is concentrated here, except a portion of Le e's Army , and the Charleston forces. ,,35 Frank Crowell gave an even mo re incredible repo rt of Ch ickamauga, claiming that "the wh ole Suthern

Confederacy were fighting us ••••,, 36 The few additional troops from

Vi rginia un doub tedly caused some confusion in this case, but, in general , the boys inflated the number of their opponents. Perhaps they could not accept the fac t that they we re roughly handled, and some times defeated , by a smaller army.

Th e troop s we re indeed handled roughly ; casualties we re a sad fact of the battle s. Of the twenty-s ix soldiers in this study for whom complete military records exi st, more than one-third became battl e casualties. Six , Cyrus

Eyster, Henry Nurse, Allen Ge er , Jo seph Johnston, William Marsh and Ge orge 85

Marsh, we re wound ed in combat. Four gave their lives. Day Elmore, Samue l

Pe ter and John Sackett were ki lled in battle, and Lyman Needham wa s captured at Ch ickama uga and died at Andersonville Prison . 37 Casualties in a single battle coul d be stag gering. Af ter Chickamuaga, Fr ank Cr owe ll listed the casualties of the 92nd Illinois for his family :

[S lome of our boys we r shot. I will tell you wh o they we r. Jame s J. Gu thrie wounded in the arm slightly , William F Campbell through the heal (slight) , Ed ga r S. Lent through the breast seriously . [H]e is in Ho spital probbaly in Na shville. John D. MCSherry was shot through the breast and is Mi ssing and pr obbaly is dead. Cyrus Eyster from White Ro ck was shot though the mouth, & he is wi th the reg . [Illegible] Preston Ki lled--the fellow Ed and I threshed for in White �%ck . [T ]hose we r all the killed and wounded that you kn ow . nd Th e last sentence betrays the suffering of the 92 Illinois.

No amount of drill or any kind of instruc tion could have prepared the soldie rs fo r the horrible carnage they wi tnessed on the battlefield. Wi lliam

Peter had the sad misfortune to witness the deaths of both his brother and a good fr iend in their first battle, Parke r' s Crossroads . The friend, Ge orge

Finch, was the first to die.

[A]fter we had been at the fence abou t 15 mi nits a shell struck the bottom rail about 3 feet from where I wa s standing . [I]t came thro & exploded under Ge orge Finch who wa s lying on his hands & knees just behind me . I turned around , raised him up and carried him back ; the shell had torn his legs of f above the kn ee. while I was lyi ng by �orge, Sammy cralled up to him and exclaimed, Oh my Go d!

Afterwards , wh ile fighting in the wo ods , Sam wa s wounded in the leg . Wi lliam did not get to him until the battle was over. .. [B ]ut, Oh, I wa s too late.

[H]e wa s to far gone too recognize me; I cound but fall beside him and we ep bitter tears. • [H]e wa s struck by a shell • • • it exploded about 20 feet from wh ere he wa s lying . [I]t struck his legs above the knee, severing 40 th em both almost fr om his body ... 86

Those who we re hit but not killed outright in bat tle frequently had to

endur e the surgery of the field hospitals . He nry Nur se, wh o wa s un able to fight at Kenne saw Mountain (Georgia) , described a hospital during a battle.

"I never wa s at a field hospital in the time of battle before. It is awf ul .

The doctors cut and slash amo ng the wounded just as though they we re 1 butc h er i ng hog s . ,, 4 Wh ile mo st of the wo unded would survive, the soldiers did no t think the wounded had much of a chance and spoke of them in the past

tense. Jo seph Wa rd pr ovides a good example of this attitude, ". • • a shell

burst in the head of the collums , a fragment of wh ich struck Sergeant Smith

Co . A 39th Ill. in the leg below the knee, fractur ing it badly . It has since . 4 2 been amputated . He was a f1ne fe 11 ow . ,,

Those who we re not wounded still experienced a number of close calls wh en

the bullets fl ew thickly . "So far I have not ben tuched with a bullet ye t,

bu t I ashur e you that they have Sang Some mournful Songs around my Ea rs that

mad e me feel like I was hardly Safe in being there , but they wa s no t Entended

for me,"wr ote Thoma s Miller. 43 Several men had pieces of equipment wh ich

they were carrying shot up by the firing . "I had A good ma ny close-calls ;

thay spoilt my little Coffee po t that wa s hung on my Belt that di spleasd me

ve ry mu tch to have A Bullet through the middle of it," wrote Day Elmore after 44 the battl e of Pe rryville. Af ter giving a li st of the casualties suffered at

Chi ckama uga, Frank Cr owell also told about a number of near mi sses. "Ruben

Edgar wa s struck wi th a spent BalI an the right breast John Ki ng [sho t]

through the back of his coat ; R B Lo ckwood through canteen, R J O'Conner and

Wm Ni cholas through Ca rtridge box, F H Wa genor a Bayonet shot of f and lots of

others just the same . ,,45 I1any soldiers must have been shocked when they

discove red that a bul let had just mi ssed them and hit their canteen instead . 87

Ba ttles we re not always deadly or serious ; occasionally , the boys go t into some situations wh ich we re rather humorous when they looked back at them .

Cons ider the "battle" that the 7 6th Illinois had near Bo liver, Tennessee.

Jo hn Ta llman described the action which took pl ace on one ma rch:

[W]hen the regiment wa s about twelve miles out the cavelry a head saw three rebles scouts and sent wo rd to col. mack that the enemy wa s in line of battle right a head . [S]o the col brought the boys up on the doub le quick after a wh ile wh en he could get them into line, but, by the time they had got thar, the scouts had got so far of f that the cavelry coul d not catch them. [S]o our boys charged on a picke t fence that some said there was rebles behind bu t they found non . • • you will no doub t hear of this battl e and that we we re half kill�% , but thare is nobody limping around here from the effect of it.

Even dur ing actual combat a few humorous scenes we re observed. Several mo nths after the battle , Joseph Johnston vi sited the field at Stones River and recal led some of the events that happened. "There we re ammusing scences

ami ds t the ho ttest fire. Then men we re half crazy--One man went to Col.

Ro ffin & gave him an embrace as a tribute to his bravery ," he told his brother . 47 Other times, humor was caused by the grotesque . Robert Burdette,

recal ling a time he saw a ma n wh o did not realize that his fingers we re shot off try to pick up his rifle,. explained , "Sometimes a tragedy has a ghastly 4 8 sense 0 f wo n d erment t h·at 1S ne ar to gr im umoh �. r. ,,

Other events in battle we re both humorous and discouraging at the same

time. Every regiment, and pr obably every company , had its own shirks and

cowards who wo ul d not fight. While the ways some played the cowa rd we re

amu sing, the boys we re disappo inted when those in po sitions of lead ership

re fused to stand and fight. One excellent example is provided by William

Pe ter.

I wr ote home that all our Co behaved we ll at the battle. Since that I have herd some things which are rather di scredible to our va lient Ord. Sg "Carter." It seems that he had obtained a wr ong no tion as to his duty in a fight and had set down just back of the Co un der cover of the house. One of the boys, Wm Young , asked him 88

wh at he was doing there, told him not to act the cowa rd , and to come and fight like a man. Ca rt told him it wa sent his pl ace to shoot, but to see that the others done it. I supposed he finally conclud ed that it wo ul dent do to set their, and commenced shooting round the corner. It was mentioned to the Capt, and he said it shoul d be !�vestigated and if it was so he shoul d be reduced to the ranks.

Most battl es lasted a day or two , or perhaps even three, and then the fighting would be over for awhile. Howeve r, several times during the Civil

Wa r, the troops we re in continual combat for pr olonged periods of time .

Illinois soldiers we re greatly involved in two of these operations--Grant's siege of Vi cksburg, Mi ssissippi, and Sherman' s Atlanta campaign. Dur ing these con flicts, the soldiers we re in almost continual contact with the enemy , whether it was a series of battles and skirmishes or trench wa rfare.

Although the daily casualties during the operations were not as high as dur ing mo st battles, the steady drain of life greatly reduced the ranks. "For nearly three months the Army of She rman's has been Exposed to the life destroying missiles of the Enemy--night and day , almost incessantly�" wr ote

L�vi Ro ss from near Atlanta in July 1864 , "and the daily drain has de pleted our ranks and added a surprisingly large list of casualties to the 'Roll of

Honor '."50 A few we eks later, on of Levi's comrades in the 86th Illinois ,

He nry Nur se, wrote that "The boy s are ge tting picked off one at a time in the

Regiment ; we have lost one eve ry day out of our Regiment since we have been 1 here. ,, 5

Th e siege of Vi cksburg wa s just as deadly ; the me n we re continuously und er fire. Sitting in the trenches around the city , Richard Puffer described the situation to his sister:

[A] continual cracking is ke pt up all around the line ; the rebs also keep firing & if a man showes hims elf in range he is sure to get shot at. [S ]hots are continually flying over us & sticking in the bank opposite; men are daly wounded by exposing themselves . [O]ne man wa s killed last night abou t 300 yds to our right by 89

careles sly getting in sight , & a �� from our reg was shot through the leg near the same pl ace today .

At Vi cksburg , Al len Geer no ticed that as the siege progressed, the firing 53 decreased, but it became mo re accurate.

The firing in Georgia in 1864 wa s constant, though. Fr om the trenche s around Da llas, Georgia, Day Elmore wr ote "Day times it is one continued Bang,

Bang, Bang, Mixed wi th the hoarce boomi ng of artillery . ,, 5 4 The rifle fire was so frequent that some so ldiers began to ignore the sounds made by the flying bullets. Levi Ross noted "one become s indifferent to the sound of these

o 01 55 m1 SS1 es, even t h oug h h e may bOe 1n 1mO mi nant dan ger. ,, Others became so ac customed to the sound, that they were disturbed when the firing ceased .

Cur tiss Jud d wr ote in his diary , "bul lets whizzing past have become a regular

5 6 occurance; am lone some when de prived even for a few muintes of their song . ,,

Perhaps he was being sarcastic, or perhaps he felt that some thing wa s wr ong when the firing stopped .

Be sides the rifl e-fire, the siege operations we re accompanied by cannons , especially the large siege guns and mortar s. Although the large guns may have looke d and sounded terrible, the soldiers discovered that their effects we re minimal. While writing to his parents near Atlanta, Day Elmore noted , "just from Atlanta a thirty two pounder [shell] a creaching and Howling but passes over wi th out doing any damage. • ,, 5 7 Richard Puffer told his sister,

"La rge shells are not so dangerous as most people imagine. The rebs have thrown 250 or 300 shells over our camp from that one morter in the last we ek & only ki lled two men & wounded two or three. On e can see a Mo rter shell

5 8 & dodge it. ,,

Re ga rdless of their respective lengths, all battles eventually ended, and the survivors we re le ft to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the fight.

"Those who we re in the battle can po int ou t pl aces of interest," Jo seph 90

Jo hnston told his brother , "but there are places that speak for themselves: wh ere the trees are barked by bul lets and cu t down by cannon balls , wh ere a row of mounds with a rude board markes the grave s of the fallen. " 59 Af ter a battle, the dead , the dying and the wounded we re left all over the ground.

Af ter the battle of Shiloh had ended, the we ary men of the 20th Illinois laid down to sl eep, "but the groans of the dying & wounded we re so loud that sl eep wa s almost impossible. ,,60 Sometimes, a battle wo uld end in such a way that the casualties lay in a deadly no man' s land, and special arrangements had to be mad e to remove them. Af ter the repulse of the Federal assault on Kenne saw

Moun tain, Henry Nur se wrote, "We had a cessation of hostilities today wh ile our men went to get off our dead , for they sme lt so bad that they couldn' t ,61 stand it any longer. ,

Af ter the dead had been buried and the wounded removed to hospitals , the soldiers re flected upon their experiences. Generally , after their first battle, the soldiers co mme nted that it had been nothing like wh at they expected. "It didn't look like any picture of a battle I ever saw in a book," 62 said Ro bert Burdette. Levi Ro ss gave a mo re detailed account of his impressions:

I have read of bloody battl es and of all th e horrors of wa r, but I must acknowledge that my preconceived id eas of a battle wa s far short of the reality . Th e half had never been told me , and I know now that no one can have any true conception of the horrors of wa r unless they are eye wi tnesses of the mo rtal strug gle on the ensanguined field , and see wi th their own eyes th carnage, and 6 3 hear wi th their own ears the groans of the dying .

Although he was a teamster, Ed Cr owell became ve ry familiar with the horrors of the battlefield. Af ter he had been in- the service for about eight months, he had seen enough to bec ome disgusted wi th those politicians and rabble-rousers wh o spoke of wa r in roma ntic and idealistic terms . He expressed these feelings to his mo ther in a beautiful passage : 91

[Y]ou know there is a great many eloquent speakers that keep thems elve s as far from the sc ene of action as they po ssibly can and preach up to the poore deluded devils about there laying there lives at the fo ot of there coun trys alter and spil l the last drop of blood in defense of that noble old fl ag the embl em of all that

is noble and great Bu t d-m them I tink you pl ace them where they could hear the boom of the thirty two pounder[s] as they [belch] forth there deadly shot and shell and the rattle of the mu ske try as they discharge vol1y after volley of there leaden hail and as they me ssengers of death come whistling round there heads I think they would drop that brilliant crest and curl there tail[s] betwe en there legs and sneak of to some save covert wh ere they could meditate and ponder upon the horrors of wa r for it �� no t quite so funny when yo u come to the reality of the thing .

Af ter a soldier participated in his first battle, he was no t eager to be

in another one, although mo st woul d continue to serve wi th devotion and cour age. Thomas Miller, writing after the fall of Fort Done lson , expressed his feelings . "Since I have ben in a battle and afterwa rds wa lked over the bat tlefield field and Seen hundreds of men 1ieing dead and wounded on the

ground it has a bout Satisfied me to live in Peace at home . ,, 65 Levi Ro ss no ted similar responses amo ng his comrade s. "[S]ince they have 'seen the

Elephant' they are anxi ou s to return again to the lived ones and the swe et

. 66 endearments 0 f t h·e�r prar�e h ome s. ,,

Al though they longed to go home after their first battle, most of the

soldiers remained in the ranks. Many endured the choking smoke, wild

confusion and terrible carnage of nume rous battles. Th eir desire for combat

disappeared , but their desire for victory let them continue fighting. Levi

Ro ss spoke fo r ev ery so ldier wh en he wrote, "how ful ly I can appreciate the

blessings and enjoyments of home and peace. God grant wa r and rumors of wa r

6 may soon end , and the awful wa ste of blood and life be stopped fo rever. ,, 7 92

CHAPTER 8

Th e Un ion Forever

Af ter considering the boredom of camp life, the poor food, the long, hard ma rches, and the horrors of combat, it is appropriate to ask wh y the soldiers endured the hardships they did . It certainly was not because they could play baseball and cards . Th e boys had a deep devotion to a cause wh ich they believed was worth the sacrifices they mad e--the preservation of their beloved

Un ion. On the wh ole, the boys were not concerned wi th freeing the sl aves--the cause traditionally assigned to the Union troops. Some we re amb ivalent about aboli tion, ang many strongly oppo sed it. Since they we re the ones wh o set aside their civilian lives, left families and friends, and faced the storm of fire and metal in battl e, their opinions about the reasons for the wa r we re, and still are , mo re important than those of the politicians and newspaper edi tors wh o remained safely at home .

Th e mi sconception that the soldiers we re fighting to free the slaves has been around for many years. Such a suggestion would have puz zl ed some of the boys and angered many others. Be fo re President Lincoln issued the

Emancipation Proclamation, the boys did not even associate sl ave ry with the wa r. In July 1862, Allen Geer noted in his di ary , "Had earnest di scussions upon the po licy of armi ng negroes to fight our battles for us. I am conscentiously op posed to it in every manner. 1s t because it is inhuman, 2nd un precedented , and 3d because it would be selfish and cowardly on our part to bring a peopl e into this wa r to figh t our battl es and lose their lives wh o have no interest in the result."l After Lincoln gave the blacks a reason to be concerned about the war, most soldiers we re opposed to the goal of abolition. Of the twenty-nine soldiers examined in this study , only one ,

Joseph Wa rd, ful ly suppo rted ema ncipation as an objective of the wa r. In 93

October 1862, he told his parents, ". • • I have no wi sh to stay untill this once happy land shall be wh at it never wa s befor--free and there shall be no 2 mo re sl aves, no never. ,,

The other soldi ers di sagreed wi th Wa rd' s po sition. Many disliked abolitionism and hated abolitionists. William Marsh expressed his position, wr iting, "If the Wa r po licy advocated by the New York Tr ibune & Chicago

Tribune was adopted, I for one should give up in dispair. I do despise & hate 3 and Ab olitionist almost as bad as a secess. ,, He hated the "secess" the mo st because they we re attempting to destroy the Union. Al though he opposed slavery , Levi Ro ss also hated abolitionists , wh om he saw as people trying to destroy the nation. "I believe Slavery to be a great curse to any country, , and abs tractly speaking a huge mo ral evil and a crime against humanity . Bu t I wo uld no t sacrifice my count ry most dear, and her fair temple of Libery , for the exclusive benefit of the black race." Levi wa s glad that he wa s at wa r, 4 suppressing the rebellion, wh ile the abolitionists stayed home and ranted .

Th e Emancipation Proclama tion wa s very upsetting to mo st of the boys.

Allen Geer pronounced it a "fearful experiment ."5 Frank Crowell claimed tha t it "played the devi l wi th the wa r," and he was certain that the action would prolong the war. 6 Willi am Ro ss of the 40th Illinois gave a detailed account of his reactions, and those of others, to the me asur e from the time it wa s issued in September 1862, until after it went into effect in 1863.

Initially the soldiers reacted with muc h anger to the Proclamation, for they we re opposed to freeing the sl ave s. Wr iting to his brother shor tly after

Lincoln announced his Pr oclamation, Wi lliam Ro ss tried to dissuade him from enlisting , telling him, "But for Gods sake do not vo lunteer til this negro question is settled, for the Devil is going to bee ki cke d up be for long fo r the soldiers are Swaring that they will stack there arms , Desert; or go to the 94

7 confedert a rmy or any thing be for they will f igt to free the negros ."

Wi thin a few weeks, however, the soldi ers had decided not to desert the cause.

"The Pres ident's negro Proclamation is getting to bee an old thing . [S] ome of the soldi ers is in favor of it, but a great many of them is not, but they can no t help them selves. [T ] hey are sworn to stand to Ab ryh am , and what he says 8 mu st bee law and gospel. ..

By November 1862, the so ldi ers had come to a grud ging acceptance of the

Proclamation. Di scussion of the matter declined , and the soldiers decided that they wo ul d have to accept the new wa r aims . "The Ne gro quetion is about droped , bu t I think a majority of the Vo lunteers is against the President s

Pr oclima tion, bu t they have about come to the conclussion that they wi ll have 9 to submi t to what ever old Ab e says ," wrote William Ro s s.

Th e Emancipation Pr oclama tion rema ined a dead issue throughout the remainder of 1862. The emotions rose again in 1863 when it we nt into effect, th starting wi th the mu tiny of the 109 Illinois. Lincoln had stated that the th Fr.oclamation wo uld go into effect on January 1, 1863. That morning the 109

Illinois mutinied. Wi lliam Ro ss saw wh at happened. "The 109 Illinois Regt •

. • wa s arrested thi s morning for mu tiny . [T]hey Stacked arms and swor they woul d not fight to free ,the negroes, and I heare other Regts talk the same way . " 10 Later, William re ported that the 109th was in Memphis, under guard.

"I can not blame the Boys much. I wa s at Ho lly Springs when they Stacked there arms ; they Sa id that they wa s deceived and that they never would fight 11 to free the Negroes. ,, Ac cording to Wil liam, many other soldiers felt deceived . They had enlisted to save the Union and we re then told to free the slaves, which they did not want to do. th Th e 109 wa s the only Illinois infantry regiment to mu tiny because of the Emancipation Proclamation. If , as Wi lliam Ro ss claimed , other soldiers 95

we re so upset by the measure, why did others not mutiny or desert? William answe red that question himself . In February 1863, he told his father, "There is a great many Soldiers deserting our of the army now, but never shall a man looking in my face tell me I wa s a deserter. I had rather di e a thousand death than to have that throwed up to me . ,, 12 Most of the soldiers had deep senses of personal integrity, honor and duty; they woul d not desert the army when they had voluntee rd to fight. Furthe rmore, they could still accomplish their original and major objective , restoring the Un ion, even though they had been handed, what was in their minds, an offens ive task. Of the twenty-nine , only one, Thoma s Miller, deserted, and he apparently did so because of the privations of army life.

Wh ile Wil liam Ro ss pr ovides the best narrative of the soldiers' reactions to the Emancipation Procl amation, he was certainly no t the only one to notice the lack of support fo r it among the so ldiers . Levi Ro ss told his father,

"you can judge how we feel here in the 86th when I tell you that only 8 men in

C') . K [his company ] approve the po licy and pr oclamation of Mr. Li ncoln.

Many of the boys here are in favor of a compromise; some are of the opinion that the Southern Confederacy wi ll soon be recognized by the U.S. Al as, for beloved Re public! ! .. 1 3 Levi wa s concerned for his count ry , and , although he hated sl avery , he opposed the Pr oclamation because it fur ther divided the separated nation.

In regard to my own vi ews I will say Ame n to this or any measur e if I though t it would facilitate in supressing this unholy rebellion, restoring the grand old Un ion, and punishing treason. Bu t it seems to us soldiers now, that it will have the opposite effect. It will un doub tedly tend to divide the No rth and mo re strongly unite the South, hence it will be and element of weakne ss to ur and our cause. Fo r these reasons I deem it an inexpedient ac t. 4

Levi clearly shows that restoring the un ion and abolishing slavery we re two separate and po ssibly op posite goals . 96

Levi Ro ss was not the only soldier who se reaction to the Emancipation

Pr oclama tion wa s surprising . Thoma s Mi ller, wh o op posed aboli tion, suppo rted the me asure because he felt it we akened the South's ability to resist. Thomas expl ained his po sition in detail in a lengthy passage:

[T]his Emancipation bill of old Abraham has Caused in Some parts of the army Cbnsiderable di s turbance and is Called the Lincoln Negro Proclimation. [A]s for my part I Consider it a wa r Proclimation. I dont think that old abe Ever Entended to - free the negroes or Even propose Such a thing . I look at the affair in this wa y. [H]e considers himself at the head of the Government and that he is Compelled to addopt all Plans that will be Calcul ated to Re store Peac to our distracted Government. So I think that th[e] President had after So long a time arrived to the Conclusion that the ting that Caused this Gr eat troub le wi ll have to be Removed be fore this thing Can or will be Settled . I dont

think that it is the De sire or wi sh of Mr. Li ncoln to Emancipate the Sl aves, but he Sees, and that Plainly to, that we Canno t whip th[e] South and let them ho ld there Slaves. [I]t is to much like holding them up wi th one hand and fighting them with the other. I have long Since ben convinced of this fact and have often wo ndered what wood be done wi th the negros and havent ye t decided

Sa tisfactory in my own mind what wo od or Could be done with them. I am So far as mys elf Concerned as much opposed to the Emancipating of the Siaves as any man in th[ e] army or out of it if the Constitution of the United States Could be Restored wi th out, but at th[e] Present Stage of the Game I am willing to free the last negro that is in the Southern Confederacy but what we Sha1 Crush ou t this Re ad ho t Re bellion a Give to all traitors nfS there Just dues and Recompense of Reward .

Thoma s claims that slavery caused the wa r; however, the causes of the wa r are beyond the scope of this study . Certainly , the boys we re no t interested in freeing the sl aves, so it is difficult to conceive of sl avery as some thing they would identify as a cause. What is interesting about Thomas's assessment of the Pr oclama tion is that he showe d the same concern for the Un ion as did

Levi Ros s, but he arrived at an opposite conclusion. Apparently, the boys ' reactions to the measur e we re based on how they believed it wo ul d affect the cause of the Union , regardless of their opinions on sl avery .

Mo st of the boys did not wa nt to free the sl aves for one simple reason: they did not like them. In fact, some of the boys hated the blacks and did 7 9 not want to see them free. William Marsh wa s one of those soldiers. Fr om

He lena, Arkansas, he wrote to his father, "There are 2 or 3 thousand Ne groes in this town . Most of the officer s & a great Many privates have Niger servants. I would not have a Ne gro around me for 10 dollars a month; I almost hate them. If they only Knew anough to stay With their Masters it would be better for them. I can not help be glad that the Ne groes are exclud ed fr om the state of Ill . ,,16 Na polean Bar tlett wa s in complete ag reement with

Wi lliam. "Do any new niggers com into town now," he asked his brother, "I hope tha.t they never will see the day that they will be allowed to roam freely over the north. I am for colonizing them & not have a mo thers son of them

1 7 there. I perfec tly Detest the sight of them. ,,

Ot her soldiers, wh ile they might not have hated the blacks, believed that they were somewhat less than human. John Given described one as looking like 18 "a recently impo rted mo nkey .,, Au stin Andrews wa s not certain if the blacks we re even comparable wi th monkeys. "Sometimes one can see 30 or 40 little black brats ranging from two to ten ye ars old all pl aying together wa llowing around in the dirt like pigs with the exception that pigs always seeks a shade when the Sun Shines hot bu t wh ere the Sun Shines hottest they are always to be

Au stin found . ,, 1 9 Having determined that they we re less intelligent than pigs, wa nted to amuse his sister wi th one. He consid ered taking a small black child; then he would "box it up with some Po tatoe peelings , old shoes and other trash and send it home to see what you woul d call it. ,, 20 Au stin wa s certainly joking about mailing one home , but his attitudes are clear.

Some of the boys we re di sgusted by any suggestion that blacks we re equal to whites. When George Marsh's frien� , George Houghton, received a letter from a mu tual acquaintance back home , Marsh told his brother about the contents of the letter. "He also mad e some ve ry affectionate inquiries about 98 the negro we nches here. Houghton showed it to several of us & it nearly 21 spo il e d our dol.n ner. ,, Black wome n we re almost always referred to as

"wenches," indicating that the soldiers did no t vi ew them as real women.

Wi lliam Marsh had mentioned that a number of soldiers had black servants, bu t these servants were not ne cessarily liked . Some found their blacks to be nd abomi nably lazy. Many of the me sses in the 122 Illinois hired "contrabands" to cook for them; Samue l Peter described the one his me ss had,: "we have one that is wo rth about as much as if he wa s blind , for he hardly ever gets his eyes open. " 22 Even Levi Ro ss noted the laziness of the blacks. When detailed to un load a boat at Na shville, he claimed that fo rty men from his company did mo re work in one hour than sixty blacks did all day . 23 John Given wa s even less impressed by the blacks wh o wo rked in his company . "[So me ] of the niggers we have confiscated are real sharp fellows, wh ile others, and the greater part of them, have not enough sense to live if they we re turned loose, except that they could steal a living . They are exceedingly good at that and 24 practice it a great dea l."

Jo hn Given' s claim that mo st blacks coul d not ear n a living if they we re free wa s a common claim, and a number of soldier s believed that the blacks we re better off as slaves. The slaves that some soldiers saw bore little or no res emblance to those depicted by abolitionists. For instanc e, they describe the sl aves as being we ll fed. Fr om He lena, Arkansas, Wi lliam Ma rsh wrote, "the Nigers all look fat & hearty . ,,25 Frank Crowell wrote about the 26 three-hundred pound black women he saw in Ala bama . Ins tead of rags , Al len

Geer said he saw sl ave s wearing "gaudy dresses . "27 George Marsh described 28 slave quarters he saw as being comfortable wh ite-wa shed shanties. Wh en he wa s in Alabama , Lyman Ne edham said , "I have learnt more about sl ave ry wi thin 99 the last month than I ever knew before. A great many of them are better off than they wo ul d be if they wa s free. ,, 2 9

Ri chard Pu ffer, whose vi ews on sl avery are not clear, also felt that the blacks we re best left in slave ry , because no one would accept them as free peopl e. "The question in my mind is wi ll the people of the north like or treat them any better than their southern bretherin, but I do not propose to 30 discuss that question now," he told his sister. He also po inted out the fact that those who wanted to free the slave s had made no plans for bringing them into society . "[N]ot the first thing has been done fo r their future we lfare , but they are left to shift for themselves. [1]f they stay here , they wi ll be made sl aves of or wo rse; if they go north, the same prejudice me ets them there. ,,31 By recogni zing the prejudice, Ri chard appears to be we ll-disposed towa rd s blacks; however, he detested the radicals wh o brought about emancipation.

Wh ile mo st of the boys ag reed that the sl aves shoul d not be freed, they w�re mo re divided on the issue of arming blacks. Au stin Andrews wa s surprised and impressed when he saw a black regiment. He told his sister, "they have an aptness for drill that is astonishing and it give s them a bold , manly

3 2 appearance wh ich I never expected to see those Southern negroes assume. ,,

William Peter supported the idea of black regiments and described the reactions wh en General Thoma s told the soldiers around Corinth, Mi ssissippi, about plans to arm the freed slaves. "At this some began to curse the nigger , bu t as he pr oceeded the hearty cheers which rent the air we re proof conclusive that the heart of the Army at Corinth was with him. [W]e never hear the old troops say anything against this measure; eth opposition come s from those who have 'nt marched far enough or fought the rebels long enough to cure their 33 prejudice. ,, 100

Wi lliam Ros s, who had vo lunteered a year be fore William Peter, described a much di fferent reaction. In February 1863, Ro ss first heard about pl ans to have black soldiers. "I understand they are going to armthe negroes now , but the first Negro that ever I see caring a Mu sket I am going to shoot him as shoore as they is a god," he wrote. 34 About two weeks later he told his father:

Fa ther I bleave I now my duty , but it is heard for me to do it,

and now I have to go in to the field and fight bes ide a Negro. [Clan I do it? [Clan any wh ite man do it? I do not bleave he can wi thout he has got a black heart, and under these sircums tances I can not tell hardly what is best to do. I have some time s a notion to take my gun to the Captain and tell him I will fight no more , and I coul d ge t pl enj� more to go wi th me bu t then I woul d be arrested for mutiny .

Obviously , the majority of the boys we re not fighting to emancipate the

sl aves. They were not fighting , as is occasionally suggested, for the money either. Th e enlisted men' s pay wa s low compared to wh at they coul d have ma de in civilian jobs . As previously mentioned , Day Elmore earned ten dollars a we ek as a farm hand befo re he enlisted. Lyman Ne edham felt that he coul d have earned even more . "I spend a good deal, probably more than I ought to ," he

told his brother and sister, "but I did not come into the army to make money , and if I had, I should have certainly found out that it is no place to make $ 00 money , although if I wa s not a soldier, I believe I coul d av erage 5 per day . ,,36 Although the Panic of 1859 had created some un employment in the north, ma ny of the boys pr obably never considered wo rking fo r someone else.

Most came into the army fresh off the family farm.

On e thing the soldiers did want to accompl ish in the wa r wa s the

restoration of peace. Af ter the war was effective ly over, Ed Crowell told his

mo ther, "we can return home happy and content, knowi ng that Peace, wh ich has

37 cost so much precious blood reigns throughout our beloved coun try . .. As

strange as it may seem, peace wa s a goal me ntioned by so ldiers even as they 101 marched off for war. Shortly after he enlisted, Samue l Peter informed his sister, "I am glad today that I am a Soul di er, that I among the ma ny am 8 · ,,3 willing to 1 eave Home and fr�end s for the purpose 0 f h e 1 ping restor peace.

Wh ile going to wa r to restore peace sounds mo re like 1984 than 1861, the soldiers did not want just any kind of cpeace. They desired an honorable peace, which coul d only be obtained by a victory over the Confederacy . Henry

Nur se longed for an end to the war, wr iting , "War is a dreadful thing . It separates friends of all kinds , never to meet again, but I hope peace wi ll soon come and war will be no more . ,, 3 9 However, when he learned that his uncle favored a cessation of hostilities wi th the Confederates, He nry wr ote, "If

Uncle Jimmy don't like my opinion of the peace meetings he must not listen to them, but if they shoul d come down here with such me etings , they woul d get blowed out in a hurry . There is more treason than loyalty in them. ,, 40 The boys were not interested in peace wi thout a restored Un ion.

One of the greatest non-military threats to an honorable peace wa s the

1864 presidential election. Pr esident Lincoln wa s challenged by General

p. George B. McClellan, a democrat who proposed that the Union negotiate a peace wi th the Confederacy . Day Elmore, who volun teered at the age of 1 7 , wa s appalled by Mc Clellan's peace program and was outraged by his supporters. To

Day , support fo r such a pl atformwa s inexpl icable. Wr iting wi th mo re emo tion than clarity , Day nevertheless conveyed his feelings to his parents on the day of the election. Hi s exact wo rds and punctuation were:

[A] s I think of it to day is the day that decides the fate of our "Coun try." Ye s in a few ortsh days we wi ll Know Whether we have been fighting three long years for nought but shame and disgrace , or wh ether we are to be honored fo r so doing ! Bu t if George B. MCLellan be elected & acts as his "Chicag Platform" directs if he does I say then wi ll we the "so ldiers" take the rains of this Government in our own hands and "Go on wi th the war" until that dear old fl ag whoes fo rtun es we have followe d since the fall of "Sumpter" is floating from every house top and all the lesser buildings in the so called "Confed" States! No we wa nt no such 102

"peace" as "Lit tIe Mac" and his "Chicago Platform" would give us and now I do not see why citizens in the No rth enjoying al l the

comforts of civil life I do not see I say why it is that they continue to Grumble and complain as long as we Soldiers me n wh o do the fighting and endure the hard ships wi th out complaint Now why is it that they wi sh to disg race us by a di shonorable peace are they "blind or cant they see" the wall of human Bodies standing between them and there comfortable Home s deprived of all the comforts that they daily enjoy and yet they Cry for "Peace" no ma tter how dishonorable of disgraceful . Oh if they could only see it as we see it and if they only loved their Country as we love our s "George !1 Mac" woul d be wh ere a last ye ars snow storm is to day no where.

Levi Ro ss shared Day Elmore's emo tion and hated the notion of a dishonorable peace. Levi wa s ashamed that twenty-two me n in his company vo ted for McCl ellan. Th is wa s particul arly shameful , since only eighteen other men in the rest of the regiment voted for McClellan. Like Day , Levi wa s also perpl exed by such a choice for Pr esident.

Is it po ssible that a soldier after serving in this victorious army nearly three ye ars can cast his vote for men wh ose pl atform declars that we have fought and struggled in vain, and just as we are about to realize the great rewa rd of our labors and sacrifice, they cry for our "immediate cessation of hostilities ." Shame on

such party wo rshiping "patriots" . • • • They are cowards , fools , traitor s, strictly , jus tly truthfully speaking . I cond emn them.

I despise their principl es. Pe rhaps I'm too enthusiastic , but I can't help it when men feign so much loyalty and love of coun try , and then go deliberately and vote fo r every thing that is corrupt, treasonable, and destructive of all that a free a�� enlightened peopl e shoul d hold sacred and pr eserve un sul lied.

Thr oughout the war, southern sympathizers in the north posed a threat to the chance of an honorable peace. The soldiers hated these "Copperheads" who they believed prolonged the wa r. Cyrus Eyster described his hatred for the

Copperheads , telling his cousin:

It is them that adds fue l to the fl ame s of rebellion. It is to them that the South now looks for help as a last and declining ray of success. Bu t we will attend to them when our wo rk is done

here. Mark my word for it • • • there is a fearful retribution

awa iting them . Go wh ere you wi ll among the soldiers in the Army of the Cumberland and you can hear them swear an avow vengence � 3 upon the "Copperheads" or northern peace make rs. 103

The Copperheads , and especially their cheif spoke sman, Cl ement Vallandingham, we re the peopl e mo st despised by the boys.

Wh ile Cyrus Eyster and other s vowed vengeance on the northern traitors , some other soldiers believed that time in the army woul d cure the Copperheads of their mi staken vi ews of the war. Conscription wa s the cure for

Copperheads . At least Frank. Cr owe ll believed so. "[D ]ont this conscript act make some of them stick their eyes out ," Frank asked his father , "wouldent it make me feel good to see some of them Copperheads ma rching along wi th a good old 60 pound Knapsack , 60 rounds of cartridge , 2 days rations, canteen, and

44 gun on their Backs. I gue ss they woul d change their tune.,, Lyman Ne edham shared the same sentiments. He wro te to his brother and sister and told them ,

"I hope ere long they [the Copperheads ] wil l be obliged to Shoulder a Mu sket and pace the Sentine l's beat, or face battle in its most fierce array , and I rather gue ss they wi ll be sorry fo r the prolongation of the wa r, wh ich they alone have caused . [T ]heir talk does not discourage the soldiers so much, but it encourag es the Rebels . ,, 45

Levi Ro ss believed that drastic events we re required to cure the

Copperheads of their treason. When General Robert E. Lee and his Army of

No rthern Vi rginia invaded Pe nnsyl vania in June 1863, Levi applaud ed the movement, hoping that the realities of war would turn the Copperheads against

the Confederates. He explained his vi ews to his parents, writing :

I will say that I rejoice & hope Lee will invade all the Copperhead territory of those border free-states. I think. a little smell of gun powder & a good taste of the bitter realitie s of warwi ll have a salutory effect upon their treason loving b souls. I want no innocent women & children to suffer, ut those God-provoking, hell deserving "Copperheads"-­ "Vallandingh ammers", I fain would see welteri�% in their own gore,--The Devil ought to be ashamed of them.

\� ile the soldiers wi shed various fates upon Vallandingham and the

Copperheads , they we re of ten confused when southern sympathizers we re actually 104 punished. General Burns id e's suppression of the Chicago Times, a Copperhead paper critical of the Lincoln administration, is an example. Although the boys hat ed the position of the Times, Allen Geer repo rted that they we re

"pained to see arbitrary military powe r subverting Civil Law in Illinois. ,, 4 7

Such action was alien to the fo rm of government the boys were fighting to preserve . They might have detested the Copperheads, but they knew that the

Copperheads had rights, too. The boys became even more confused when Lincoln repealed Burnside' s order and allowe d the Time s to continue publishing . "1 don't see why 'Abe' saw fit to revoke that order of Burnside, suppressing the publication of that rotten sheet the Chicago Time s, but 1 dare say it is all 48 right , or he wo uld not have done so," concluded Lyman Needham. Th e reason fo r desiring an honorable peace wa s to restore the Un ion and make it who le again. The vast we ight of the evidence indicates that the goal and concern of the soldiers wa s the restoration of the Un ion and the preservation of what they held to be the best government in the world. After h� reinlisted as a ve teran, Day Elmore expressed his goals and rietermination to his father. "No, Pa, wh ile the Old and tryed 36 are in the field fighting for that fl ag and this Good old Un ion Wi ll Day Elmore give up the contest if

Go d S pares My l"f� e. ,,4 9

Th e so ldiers believed that the Confederates we re assailing the government and threatening to destroy the Union and the Constitution. While se rving in a three mo nth regiment in the summe r of 1861, David Ki ng told his sister, "1 ought to go to school next winter , but if the rebbles still persist in overthroughing our country , 1 think it is my duty to throw my st rength against them ••••,, 50 William Pe ter told his sister, "1 dont think any one loves home and fr iends better than 1 do, and this is the reason 1 am fighting--to save our Government, for it is by its protection that we are to enjoy home & 1 05

friends . .. 5 1 The boys felt that their entire way of life would be changed if

the Confederates succeeded .

Th e boys we re not just fighting to preserve their wa y of life and their government ; they wanted it to be preserved for future generations. Thoma s

. Mi 11er stated t h at h e wa nte d t h e .. government [ to] b e perpetuated f or Ever . . 52

Levi Ross explained his feeling with greater detail . " We can conquer the

south and we wi ll do it if it costs eve ry last dollar and the flowe r of the loyal Ame rican people! This is a duty that every philantropist and patriot

owe s to po sterity . Wi th the death of our proud republic, and the overthrow of

this Gove rnme nt dies the sacred liberties and constitutional freedom of the

. Ame rican Pe opl e . . 5 3 The Union and the wa y of life it pr otected wa s to be

preserved at all costs.

Th e boys were strongly devoted to the preservation of their beloved

Un ion, and they hated all who appeared to threaten it. No t only we re they

opposed to aboli tion because they did not like the blacks, they also detested abolitionists who seemed to be destroying the nation. After discussing the

issue of emancipation with his sister, Ri chard Pu ffer sarcastically conclud ed ,

" fanatacism must have its say if it destroys the country . " 5 4 Other soldiers

also denounced the abolitionists as fanatics. Even though he hated sl avery ,

Levi Ross hated the abolitionists even more . "We know that ther are many 'one

ideaed' fanatics who fain would sacrifice every last wh ite man (save

themselves) and eve ry dollar in the country and sometime s I think they woul d

even throw the country in too, if they coul d thereby secure the equality of

the black race. "55 While Levi believed that all should be sacrificed to save

the Un ion, he felt that emancipation was not ve ry important. In fact he felt

that the issue of sl ave ry should be dropped if the Union could be preserved . 106

Politically, the boys we re moderate. They did no t trus t either extr eme , and felt that both Copperheads and aboli tionists we re dangerous. "I have no sympathy for the fanatics of either party ," Levi Ross told his sister , "Thank

He aven I belong to the Union party and beli eve it my duty to denounce the

Extreme El ements as disloyal and dangerous men. ,,5 6 Henry Nur se mad e a ve ry interesting comment wh en he heard a rumo r that John Fremont, an abolitioriist, might run for President in 1864. He told his father, "There is some talk of old Fr emont running fo r Presid ent--any one that wo ul d vote for him woul d vote for Vallandingham . " 57 Although Fremont and Vallandingh am represented opposite ends of the po litical spectrum , He nry's comment ma de sense. The ext reme el ements we re equally dangerous and threatening to the Union.

As the wa r dragged on, some soldiers began to feel that they wo uld not succeed in restoring the Union. In De cember 1862, after a number of federal reverses, Lyman Ne edham expressed his doub ts. "[N]ow there is no prospect of

[the war] ever ending , except by a concession that would not be satisfactory to us al l that have been in the field fo r nearly 18 months. [Wje have sacrificed a great deal , and are ready and willing to do more if we can only 5 8 feel as though it wasdoin g any good.,, A few became ve ry disillusioned wi th the army and felt like giving up. Richard Puffer told his sister, "I will no t attemp t to discribe my disgust fo r the army; it is one great swindle. 59 Thare is no such thing as patriotism in t h is army . ,,

Ot hers we re mo re dedicated to their cause and did not give up hope so easily. Willi am Peter told his parents, "I cannot we igh, as some of the boys 60 do, my own happiness ag ainst the happiness and De stiny of my Country . ,,

Day Elmore was another self-sacrificing soldier wh ose patriotism never failed .

Re enlisting befo re his first term of service wa s over, he wrote, "I can not expre ss my self so I will only say that my whole soul is wrapt up in this our 107

Countrys Caus. I ought to be at school, but I feel that I am only doeing My 61 du ty to my self and You Pa ."

Wh ether their patriotism wa s we ak or strong , the boys we re determi ned to achi eve an honorable peace for the Union. Although the maj ority we re not interested in, or we re even angrily op posed to, the emancipation of the sl aves, they we re dedicated to a cause which they believed wa s of vastly greater importance: the preservation fo r all time of the Constitution of the

United States and the Union it formed . Their commander-in-chief expressed their goals best wh en, in dedicating the cemetery at Ge ttysburg, he said ,

"that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall no t 6 2 perish from the earth. ,, 108

CHAPTER 9

A Br others' Wa r

The soldiers we re fighting to preserve the Union. Con sequently, they vi ewed the Confederates as vile traitors wh o we re bent on destroying the Un ion and all that went wi th it. However, for the boys, the Confederates we re unlike the enemi es faced by most soldiers . The Southerners we re Americans, too, and they all shared a common language and national herit age . "We were brethern a little while estranged," wa s how Robert Burdette described the situation. 1 The hatred and loathing the boys felt for traitors wa s mixed wi th the respect they held for brave foes. No r coul d the Il linois boy s hate the who le South. They generally liked the climate and the land , and they we re infatuated with the pretty belles. Th ese confused emotions led to a confused but terribly bloody war.

Some of the boys did display a great amount of hatred for the

Confederates. Joseph Wa rd wa s one such soldier. He referred to the

C')nfederates as "the cu rsed of Go d's creation, " "inhuman devils ," and

"infernal rebels . " 2 Joseph was particularly upset by the Confederates' use of land mines dur ing the siege of Ch arleston. "[T ]hey had burried powder barrels filled with combustical mater and it so arranged that to step on a peice of board di rectly above it, it woul d explode thus blowi ng the un fortunate one up

Such combat in the air to come down a disfigured shape of flesh & bones. ,, 3 wa s deemed un ethical and caused Joseph to think of the Southerners as less than human.

Levi Ro ss was not ve ry complimentary in his assessment of his enemy , either. He called the Confederates "our implacable, desperate, blood-thirsty 4 enemy ," and claimed that they were on the side of the Devil. Wh en Sherman' s army reached Savannah, Georgia, in Decemb er 1864, Levi wa s eager to cross the 109

Savannah River into South Carolina and punish the birth-place of the

Confederacy . "We woul d carry the bayo net in one hand and the torch in the other , leaving root nor branch until the parent state of disunion and secession felt the just retribution fo r her manifo ld crime s. ,, 5

Some soldiers did no t display a real hatred for their enemy , but did show contempt and regarded the Confederates as inferior. When guarding some prisoners, John Given said , "They are [the] most mi serable, cont emptable set 6 of men that I ever looked on. " Ed Crowe ll initially had a low opinion of the me n he wo uld later come to respect. Af ter a failed Confederate attempt to retake Fort Donelson in 1863, Ed wr ote, "It was a pretty heard sight to see them drag the dead Rebbles and throw them into a hole four and five togeather, 7 but I think. it is as good as they deserve . ,,

One of the reasons for the contemp t the boys had for the Southerners wa s the perceived ig norance and backwardness of the Southern people. Jo seph Wa rd called the inhabitants of the Shenandoah Valley , "the mo st ignorant set of men 8 in this little wo rld. ,, Wh en camped near Brid geport, Al abama , Day Elmo re noticed the lack of education amo ng the citizens. "[T]he people, what few thare is left, are ve ry Ignorant . I have not seen A school house in the state, and I have talked wi th men of what is called higher and lower classes & thay all have the same odd expressions, do not seem to know any thing Ab out wh at is going on Around them." 9 Day's observations are amusing, for the

Southerners mu st have thought that he had some odd expressions too.

Some of the other soldiers were amazed at the lack of initiative among

the Southern people. Wi lliam Peter was pl eased to learn that, in 1863, some people in Tennessee we re beginning to think about rejoining the Union, but he wa s dismaye d by their slow moveme nt. "Tennisee needs men to take the lead, and then they could do some thing , but the men who used to lead are all in the 110 reb army , and their people here as a class are ve ry ignorent, and they dont 10 kn ow to act for thems elves like the people in the No rth. ,, Levi Ro ss believed that the ignorance and lack of initiat ive amo ng the Southerners caused them to be backwa rd and behind the north in development. He thought that Tennessee was a wonderful state wi th many resources, but it was 100 years 1 behind the northern states. 1

At least one soldier disagreed wi th the notion that the Southerners we re ignorant and inferior. Allen Geer, who spent much time talking with

Southerners near his va riou s camps, wa s impressed with the people of Dixie.

Of the citizens of Oxford, Mi ssissippi, he said , "They are a refined , educated

, 12 peop I e. , Th ey offered to loan him some books, but he declined because he did not know when he would be required to leave town and did not want to take

13 any of the books with him. Another time, he and some others found a deserted house near Corinth, Mississippi, and took some books and culinary articles from it. "The peopl e we re well informe d as the books show ," he 14 n0ted .

Another cause fo r contempt wa s the belief that the Confederates we re cowards . Initially , many of the boys thought that the Confederates would no t fight bu t wo uld run away at first sight. Be fore he had been in any ma jor engagement, Joseph Wa rd claimed that the Confederate soldiers did not fight 15 "like men but they run at the first fire like cowa rd[s].,, Confederate partisans who used hi t-and-run tactics gave some soldiers their impressions of

Southern courage. When trying to catch some partisans in Mi ssouri, Edwin

Sackett told his family , "they are a pack of cowards ; they are like a theif in 16 the nigh t. [I]f they are persued by troops the cu t & run . ,,

The belie f that the Confederates we re cowards did not last long among mo st soldiers. Af ter being in a hard fight and hearing the spine-chilling 111

Reb el Yell, the boys would learn that their foes we re no cowards. Many of the boys ackn owl edged the courage of the Confederates and came to respect them as tough opponents. Af ter fighting at Shiloh, William Ro ss told his father,

"neve r did I see Such me n to fight (When ever you heare a ma n say they wo nt fight tell him he knows nothing about them) for we n our canons would mow them down by hundreds , others wo ul d fall in and take there pl ace and fight like demons . ,, 17 Even Levi Ro ss had to admit "The Rebel Army is heroic and 18 powe rful , and the Re bel Ge nerals are skillful and determi ned. ,, Levi may have hated the Confederates for their opinions, but he respected their courage and determi nation.

Ro bert Burdette and one of his comrades had an exp erience after the battle of Corinth which convinced them of the courage and devotion of the

Confederate soldiers. They were detailed to bury the Confederate dead that were left on the ground , and they found a Texan who had only a handful of roasted acorns fo r rations. Robert's partner looked at him and said , "And

he's been fighting like a tiger for two days on that ho g' s forage ••• •

19 [T]his is what I call patriotism . .. Ro bert desc ribed how this experience affected him.

I never changed my opinion of the cause of the Confederacy . I wa s mo re and mo re devoted to the Union as the war went on. But I never questioned the sincerity of the men in the Confederate ranks. I realized how dearly a man must love his own section wh o woul d fight for it on parched acorns. I wished that his love and patriotism had been broader , reaching from the Gulf to the Lake s-­

a love fo r Un ion rather than for a state. Bu t I unders tood him . I hated his attitude toward the Union as much as ever, bu t I admi red the man. And after Corinth, I never coul d ge t a prifBner half-wa y to the rear and have anything left in my haversack.

Al though the boys detested the attitudes and pr incipl es of their enemi es, they learned to respect the Confederates as brave fighters who we re strongly devoted to their cause. 112

An important reason for the respect and understanding between the two

sides wa s the fact that they were all Americans . They spoke the same language and had similar cultural backgrounds. As Robert Burdette said , they were

brothers . Some of the opp osing so ldiers we re brot hers in the literal sense.

Richard Puffer de scribed an incident that occurred at Vicksburg when the

figh ting stopped while Pemberton sent a me ssage to Grant. "[H]undreds of the

boys on both sides met between the line s & had quite a sociable •• several 2 1 brothers me t & any quantity of cosins. It wa s a strange scene . ,,

While Richard Puffer may have thought that such a me eting wa s strange ,

the boys wo ul d occasionally me et wi th Confederates wh en they had a chance.

The Confederate soldiers pr ovided the boys wi th a chance to me et new people

and perhaps to trade fo od and other articles. Henry Nur se told of a gathering

of troops in Georgia. "Their skirmishers and ours had a great time the other

day . [A]bout two hundred of them from each side me t in the middle of an oat field and stacked their arms and sat down and had a good long talk . [O]ur men

tr.aded coffee for tobacco and hardtack fo r cornbread; some traded hats and had

a good time generally . " 22 While the Confederate soldiers we re good

conversation and trading partners, not all of the boys necessarily liked them.

Day Elmore told his parents about so me gatherings during the Atlanta campaign

and ad ded, "I do not love them so I coul d not take them by the hand as some of

t he Boys did . ,,2 3

Sometimes, obs tacles pr ev ented the boys from ge tting together wi th the

Confederates, but if they we re wi thin shouting distance they would still be

able to talk . Fr equently the two op posing sides woul d ke ep up a good natured banter , joking about the war. While at Br idgeport, Alabama , wa iting for a

brid ge to be bu ilt across the Tennessee River to replace the one the

Confederates had burned, the boys of the 36th Illinois spoke wi th the 113

Confederates on the other side of the stream. Day Elmore reported , "we have 24 nd g r ea t tim es t a1ki ng W1"t h them an d many a R1C" h JO" k"e 1S pa ssed • .. The 42 wa s present wi th the 36th, and Lyman Ne edham told what some of the joke s we re like . "We asked the Re bs where Bragg wa s, and they answe red Safe in Virginia.

We asked them who burned the bridge, and the answer came Some damn fool. They wa nt to change papers wi th us, and when asked if they wo uld give us the

'Rebel' for the 'Union' , the[y] answered , no damn the Union , give us a Chicago 25 Ti me so ..

Some times all the talking and ' joking would replace shooting. Frank

Crowell de scribed the situation that developed along a stretch of the

Tennessee River in the wi nter of 1864. .. [W]e are joust on the shore of the

Tenn , and the rebs are on the opposite shore, plenty of them. [W]e do no t

shoot; it is the best way . [W ]e talk wi th them all we wa nt to. [A] Liut

(Rebel) Ha1100ed over and says you hadent shoot Cannons at us. • [W]e aske d them why not. [H ]e said we wo ul d shoot through the Confederacy and Ki ll

O!.lr own men . .. 26 During the winter, when there was little act ivity , such

behavi or wa s not damaging to the wa r effort, but officers had to prevent

fraternization during act ive campaigns. During the siege of Vicksburg , orders 27 we re issued that prohibited talking wi th the Confederates.

Since the boys we re not always eager to fight the men they joked wi th

across the lines, officers tried to prevent their men from socializing wi th

the Confederates. While they could keep their troops from speaking with

active Confederates, officers coul d not stop them from talking with the

prisoners they captured. Ed Crowell spoke wi th some the 92nd captured in

Ke ntucky and found them to be "sausy." He said that the Confederates claimed

that they could not be defeated , and , at that point in the war, Ed wa s 2 8 inclined to ag ree wi th them. Ri chard Pu ffer talked wi th some Confederates 114

captured near Jackson, Tennessee, and both sides admitted that they we re tired 29 of the wa r.

Li ke Ro bert Bur dette, a number of the boys felt sorry for their pr isoners

and often shared rations wi th them. Henry Nur se told his father that he

"woul d rather feed than fight them" and hoped that the Confederates wo ul d

� surrender more quickly so that the war would end . 30 Even Lf1vi Ro ss, who

despised the Confederates, took pity on hungry pr isoners. Wh en he wa s in

Na shville, he saw some prisoners captured at Stones River, and he divided his 31 rations among them.

Re gardless of their opinions of the Confederate soldiers and citizens,

most of the boys loved the Southern land. Dixie had a climate which the

Illinois boys found quite ag reeable especially in the fall and winter. The

winters in the South were generally much milder than those in Illinois. Even

in late No vember 1862, Jo hn Given and his comrad"es we re able to go about their

camp in Tenne ssee without jackets. 32 Levi Ro ss was ama zed to see green grass

a�d fl owe rs in bloom in January and told his parents, "Three days is all the

winter we have had in Tennessee . ,,33 Ed Crowell wrote about the Southern

winter in glowing terms . "Oh Mo ther, yo u never saw as pretty we ather as we

have been haveing the past we ek . [I]t is the most deliteful weather I eve r

saw, and the birds are make ing the wo ods melodious wi th ther songs. [I]t is

so warmthat I am seting out doors to write in my shirt sIeve s and never wa s 34 mo re comfortable in my life . ,,

Th e Southern spr ing wa s considered pl easant in terms of temperature;

howeve r, the boys we re not pleased with all the rain. "You wa nted to know how

the weather is here," Ed Crowe ll wr ote to his mo ther in Ma rch 1863, "it is

very nice when it dont rain , but is rains a good deal of the time . When we 35 have a wa rm day it is as wa rm as may in Illinois.,, Ed 's brother, Fr ank , 115

concurred . He told hi s father, "it is very pl easant we ather down here when it 36 dont rain, bu t it rains considerable."

Dixie' s s r me t mixed revi ews from the Illinois boys. umne 4 Al len Ge er

described the summer weather as "extr eme ly ho t and suffocating . "37 Joseph

Johnston di sliked the heat and claimed that it made him lazy and also gave him

prickly heat. 38 The southern heat could be deadly at times. Several men in

Levi Ro ss's brigade died of sunstroke during a review parade ordered by

Colonel Daniel McCook in September 1862. Levi said "our northern Illinois 39 boys sunk under the burning blaze of a Ke ntucky sun. "

A few of the boys did find the summers ag reeable, however. In June 1862, th when the 36 Illinois wa s near Corinth, Mi ssissippi, John Sacke tt told his 40 brother that "Th e hot weather of t h e GuIf States agrees WLt. h me f 1rst. rate. ,,

As the summe r wo re on, the Mi ssissippi heat began to get un comfortable fo r

John , and in August he told his brother that it wa s "hot enough to roast 41 niggers. ,, Ge orge Ma rsh enj oyed the South' s clima te ye ar-round and wr ote,

"Dixie is a grand place to stay during the winter & suits me first rate in the . 42 summer.. .

"[T ]his is the hansome st pl ace you ever see," wr ote Jo hn Tallman about La

Grange, Tennessee. 4 3 The boys were frequently very impressed wi th the towns

and pl antations of the South. Wh ile pl antations we re new to them, the town s

in Dixie must have been different from those of Illinois. Joseph Johnston, a

native of Ch icago, wa s enchanted by the town of At hens, Alabama . "It is a

place of home-like-contented looking beauty , a perfect garden of roses &

flowe rs wh ose delicate perfume fills every corner of the place. You wa lk the

streets and eve ry garden sends out its peculiar scent according to the kind &

quantity of fl owe rs • Take n all together, At hens is the pr ettiest & best

looking town I have ye t seen. ,,44 Likewise, Ed Crowell wa s cha rmed by Chapel 116

Hill, No rth Carolina. Camped there at the wa r's end, Ed described the town's beauty to his mo ther:

[T ]he pl ace that we are now camped in is adapted as we ll to the comfort and pleasure of a tired and wo rnout soldier as coul d of been selected . [1]t is located on a high trac t of land sur rounded by a beautiful and fertile country and the town is ke pt clean and tidy . The houses are all(set back from the street and completely sheltered from the scorching sun by the wide spreading branches of the fo rest oak and elm which constitutes the principl e shade trees of the town . And then the yards are all tastifuly layed out and decorated by every specie and kind o pl ant, fl owe r and shrub that £S can be raised in this country. • • •

Mo st of the boys had pr obably never seen a plantation un til they we nt

South as soldiers. Th ey generally reacted positively towa rd the plantations, although some were awe-struck wh ile others thought that they we re me rely quaint. William Marsh simply thought that they were beautiful and wa s fasc inated by their abundance. "Yes terdays March Wa s through a beautiful

Country," he told his father, "large plantations, beautiful houses, We re to be 4 6 seen all along the road . ,,

Jo seph Johnston thought that the pl antations he saw around Athens,

Alabama , looked p.eaceful and relaxing . "[E]ven round some of the most elegant houses, the fence is only white·wa shed; this gives the pl ace the appearance, as if it would say 'here we all are at home , in our eve ry day dress, no t caring if the neighbors see us so because they are just as we are and not in vi siting trim' . ,,47 Frank Crowell , on the other hand , wa s dumbfound ed by a large pl antation he saw in Tennessee. "[W]e are camped on a plantation of IS hundred acres; there is IS Nigger houses and the Old man s that ownes it .

[H ]is house cost 6S thousand dollars. I wont try to discribe it because I cant find language to do so, and the garden is about ten acres and is a perfect ead en. [I] t is laid off in walks and so many flowe rs and plants it

4 8 WJ.·1 1 make your [eye s ] st�c . k out . ,, 1 17

The gardens, whether on plantations or around small houses, we re we ll liked by the boys. John Ta llman repo rted to his sister about the ga rdens he saw while in Dixie . "I wish you could come down to Memphis and see all the pretty hou ses and ga rdens and dore ya rds , with flowe rs and evergreens of all kinds in them. ,, 4 9 Ano ther time , he described a garden he saw near Natchez ,

Mi ssissippi and pronounced it "one of the handsome ist ga rdings I think that ther is in the United States. ,,50 Frank Crowell told his mo ther about a rose he saw in Frankl in, Tennessee. "Mo ther there is a rose I saw in town ; it is called the seven sisters. [I]t is a creeping vine , and it is the prettiest thing that I ever saw. [T ]he roses grow in clusters and one wi ll be wh ite and one red , blue and every color you can think of. I will try and Bring home a 51 ' root. ,, Al though their comments about gardens we re almost always directed to mo thers or sisters, the boys seem to have been genuinely interested in them.

A stroll through a ga rden provided a pl easant departure from soldier life.

Given the agreeable weather and pleasant surroundings found in the South, it is not surpr ising that a number of soldiers declared that they would like to live in Dixie after the war. George Marsh called Tennessee a "splendid ma gnificent country" wh ich he wo uld never leave if he had been born there.

However, he did not like the inhabitants of the state, finding them all to be

"aristocrats or slaves." He would have preferred living wi th a "better kind of fo lks . ,, 52 Ed Crowell shared George's views on Tennessee. "Mother, I tell you Dixey is not the wo rst pl ace in the wo rld if the secesh do own it. [I]t is a beautiful country , and they have fine buildings here to, and I like the clima te better than I do in Ill. I think I shoul d like living here if the 53 people we re such as they are in the northern states, but they are no t.,,

John Given, however, disagreed. He found Tennessee to be better than Illinois 54 and said that anything could be grown there. 118

Although his brother did no t like the inhabitants of the state, Frank

Cr owe 11 decided that he shoul d live in Tennessee. "Mo ther Te nn. is a splendid c ountry. I think I shall mary and settle here when the wa r is over ; there is 55 some pretty Gi rls down here and darned fine Land . ,, Lyman Needham wa s ano ther who considered living in Tennessee . When camped near Na shville, he wr ote, "I think. I shall make it my home in Tenn or Al a. as I have perfectly fell in love with the Country , as we ll as the young ladies. ,,56 Ed Crowell like d Tennessee but did not like the id ea of living wi th Southerners .

Howeve r, when he came to Georgia, he dec ided that such ne ighbors would not be terrible. "Mo ther, We are in as pr etty country now as I have seen since I left home . I think I should like to live here in peacable time s and I woul dent mind haveing some of these little Re bs to ke ep house fo r me ," he

5 wrote from northern Georgia. 7

A few soldiers had some reserva tions about living in the South. Jo seph

Wa rd liked the Shenandoah Valley , but he said he would live there only if the 58 gove rnment pr ovided him wi th a farm. Day Elmore was one wh o did not like 59 Dixie at all and would not live there under any condition.

Bo th Frank. Cr owe ll and Lyman Ne edham mentioned women as a reason for wanting to live in the South, and , ihdeed, the boys we re cha rmed by the lovely

Southern belles. Fr ank. Cr owe ll, who ke pt an eye out for attractive women eve rywhere, was particularly delighted with the girls of Cha pel Hill, No rth

Ca rolina. He told his mo ther that there we re "some of the Pretiest Gi rls their you ever saw. [T]hey all seem to be very rich. [I]t is quite amusing 60 to see them talk ; they do it so fast . ,, Ap parently these women did not speak wi th the famous Southern drawl .

A number of the boys liked to vi sit with the Southern girls wh enever they had the time . When his regiment wa s stationed at Nashville, Curtiss Judd made 1 19 acquaitances with several of the city's belles. Curtiss wa s sad when he had

to leav e the city and wr ote in his diary , "a long farewe ll to Na shville- -oh

Tenn , my Tenn--how I love the[e] & thy fair maidens. ,, 6 1 Ed Crowell managed to me et wo men who lived along the routes he took wi th his wa gon, haul ing food to hi,s company . Once, during the Atlanta campa ign, he told his mo ther , "I was out about six mi le ye sterday . I got al l the swe et mi lk I could drink and all the apples and wa termelons that I could eat besides haveing a pleasant chat wi th a number of pretty girls , so you see soldiering is not as bad as it might be after all. ,,62 Frank once became at tracted to a woman he me t in Ge orgia who

sold pies to the boys and looked like his sister-in-law . "Father, you Mu st tell Pu t [his brother] that their is a little Widow down here that looks just

like Mary. I never Saw Si sters loo k so near alike . Sh e is quite takative and

Smart. I have to go and See her every day . ,, 63 Wh ile she may have reminded

Frank of home , he was no doub t pr ima rily interested in the fact that she wa s a woman.

Th e soldiers took particul ar notice of blonde women--"yellow girls."

Wh en near Courtland, Alab ama , Lyman Needham re ported , "There is some very

pretty ye llow girls near here." 6 4 "Yellow girls" we re occasionally sub jects of soldier s' songs. Frank Crowell wro te about them in his song "I'm Off Fo r

6 Charlston" (see Chapter 4 for the lyr ics). 5 He nry Nur se once includ ed the

following verse in a letter to his father:

Oh de ya ller ga ls de gal for me De gal dey call susanna Oh she' s de gal dat got my heart 66 Way down in Alabama .

Since He nry had not been to Alabama , he was not referr ing to any particular

woman, but the verse shows his interest in blondes.

Some boys became so enamour ed wi th particular Southern belles that they

married during the wa r. Austin Andrews said that two men in his reg iment 120

married women from Corinth, Mi ssissippi , despite the efforts of their officers to stop the we ddings . Th e officers felt that the boys woul d not claim their wive s when the regiment had to leave town.6 7 Austin never said wh at did occur

• after the weddings .

, Of cour se, there were those soldiers wh o we re not impressed by Southern women , and , in all fairness, there probably we re some belles who were no t impressive . Wi lliam Peter did not think much of the women he me t at a dance.

"Co C are having a dance today ," he re ported to his sister, "there are fifteen or twe nty of the fair sex who have come in to the dance ••••Ther e are none 68 of them ve ry good looking or intelligent either in my opinion . ,,

On e habit wh ich the boys di scove red wa s sometimes engaged in by Southern women wh ich disappointed them was the use of tobacco. He nry Nur se claimed 69 that smoking and chewi ng wa s commo n among both sexes and all ages in Dixie.

John Tallman found the use of tobacco disgusting and told his sister :

[T ]hare are some nice looking gi rls , but they will chew tobacco, Sweet little things . Dont you think that "1" for instance would look or rather make a nice show riding along in a carrage wi th a young lady , me spiting tobacco juice out of one side of the carrage and she ou t of the other. [T ] hen we would each of us take a cigar and have a Veal old fashoned smoke to gether; wa ll aint 7 that nice, Oh Cow .

Au stin An drew s wa s compl etely my stified by another fo rm of tobacco consumption practiced by the women. He described the procedure , called "dipping ," to his sister.

Th e ladies of The Sunny South has a habit of using tobacco that heads anything tha�r 1 wi tnessed. They take Scotch, Snuff or fine cu t tobacco (1 never examined it) and mix it wi th water in a basin (a small tin box which they carry in their pocket) for the express purpose, and then wi th wh at looks like a stick wi th a rag wrapt on the end of it they dip into the mixt ure and put it in to their mouths apparantly wi th the same relish that one woul d a stick of sugar candy . [A]fter sucking it for awh ile and rolling it around in their mouth as a child woul d a chickin bone, they re place it it the basin and spit around over the floor with as muc h gu sto as an old rpbacco chewe r; in a short time the same old swab is sucked again . 121

Some soldiers had rather extens ive contact with the people of the South.

Th ose who did me et wi th the Southerners found that the famous Southern

Ho spitality wa s the rule. Henry Upton of the I04th Illinois wro te to his friend, Jo hn Ma rsh, the brother of Ge orge Ma rsh, and told him about his impressions of the Southerners . "I have been much deceived in them. Instead of finding them Barbarous in their cu stoms and especially in their treatment of their sla ves; I find them courteous & friendly . ,, 72 A number of the boys spent time vi siting wi th the yo ung ladies of Dixie, but a few took time to me et wi th other citizens as well. Levi Ro ss, for one , visited the widow of

President Jame s K. Polk when he was in Na shville. He enjoyed her company and said that she possessed "dignified bearing and considerable personal 73 beauty ."

Al len Ge er wa s one who readily availed himself to the hospitality he wa s offered. When he was stationed at Jackson, Tennessee, he befriended the Hur t family and called on them frequently . Th e Hur ts we re not northern sympathizers or Unionists, but we re ardent Confederates. Allen wa s sociable none-the-Iess and wa s impressed wi th Mrs. Hurt. He once noted in his diary ,

"Called on Mr s. Hurt, an acomplished lady ; she maintained her position for 74 Southern Rights wi th ability . ,, Al len also found the citizens of Oxford,

Mississippi, to be hospitable towards the Illinoisans. "The people here are 75 ve ry f r i endl y and ye t d ev o t e d to t h e reb e I cause, " h e wr ote. As wi th the

Hurts of Jackson, Allen liked to visit the families of Oxford. One time he wr ote in his diary , "Visited a very respectable Southern fami ly and wa s we ll treated. Had a discussion over the war, all in a good humor although we 7 differed greatly in op inion. " 6

Ot her so ldiers we re fo rced into contact wi th Southerners less voluntarily , bu t they still found the people to be friendly . In the first 122 years of the war, be fore the horrors of Andersonville and Rock Island we re endur ed by pr isoners, captured soldiers we re treated in a muc h mo re civil manne r. Pr isoners we re generally paroled and sent back to their own lines .

Pa roled prisoners we re un der honor not to fight until they we re formally exchanged . 77 This policy led to some rather strange events. Allen Geer wa s once captured at Raymond , Mississippi, when he wa s in a hospital , recovering from a wound . The 20th Mississippi Mounted Infantry rode in to town , captured the hospital, paroled their pr isoners, and rode back ou t wi thout firing a 78 shot.

Mo st of the prisoners generally spent a little time wi th their captors before they were paroled , and the boys said they we re we ll treated . When much th of the 104 Illinois wa s captured by John Mo rgan' s Co nfederates, He nry Upton managed to miss being taken. He later spoke with his paroled comrades and repo rted their experiences. "All of the pr isoners speak of [Morgan] as being cour teous and friendly . ,, 7 9 William Marsh wa s wounded and left on the field at the battle of Ch icasaw Blu ffs. The Confederates sent him to one of their hospitals, where he wrote to his family , "Have been as Well treated as I coul d have been in our own hospitals. We have good Wh eat bread, Beef & Pork , Te a & 80 COLcf ee, p1 enty to eat. T.Twe h ave goo d Nur ses . ,,

Fa ced with an enemy who could invite their foes into their home s and treat them as guests, some soldiers wondered if war was the way to settle the problems dividing the nation. Levi Ro ss once expressed his thoughts on the uselessness of war. "Father, if this war is ever ended, it will not be effected by fighting. You kn ow not the spirit of our enemy . We may over run and conquor the would be Confederacy , but we � can whip or coerce the 8l peopl e back to friendly feelings and relations wi th us. ,, William Pe ter disagreed . Shortly after the wa r had ended, he told his mo ther , "I wi sh I had 123 a paper to send you that you might see how the Ed's talk about 'One Country ,'

'Our Flag' &c . It shows how false have been the predictions that if we did conquer the South they never could be reconciled . [W]hy it is just like

.. 82 whipping a child till it is conquered. It loves you all the better .

Whether or no t the wa r settled the problems is open to debate, but the problems dividing No rth and South were arbitrated by wa r--a ve ry bloody wa r.

De spite feelings of respect, despite admiration of the South's climate and land, and despite the hospitality , the mo re than 600,000 casualties attest to the great animosity between the two sides. The Civil War was often strange and confusing; the two sides hated each other dur ing battle bu t could talk , joke and trade when the shooting stopped .

Th e Illinois boys were all individuals . Some like Jo seph Wa rd hated the

Southerners; others like Allen Geer could not hate them. Mo st others fell in betwe en these two attitudes. In general, the Illinois boys found the South to be a beautiful land wi th a pl easant climate. Dixie wa s inhabited by pretty girls and kind citizens. It wa s the home of the brave and honoLable soldiers the boys faced in battle. It was also the home of secession, division and, in the mi nds of the boys, treason, and this they hated. 124

CHAPTER 10

State Sovereignty , Na tional Un ity

"Well Father, it takes III to make soldiers and fighting me n," wrote Day 1 Elmore to his father in New York . The boys we re not just Un ion soldiers;

they we re Illinois soldier s. They displayed a deep pr ide in their state and

regiments and held some other parts of the No rth in contempt. Al though they

were fed and clothed much the same as any other. federal troop s, the Illinois boys saw themselves as different from, indeed better than, other Un ionists.

Since this is a study of Illinois soldiers, an examination of their

distinguishing characteristics , both perceived and real , is necessary .

To begin with, the Illinois boys were no t Yankee s, regardless of what

Southerners called them. Yankees we re from the No rth East, and the boys

referred to Easterners as Yankee s. Jo seph Ward wa s in one of the very few

Il linois regiments to se rve ou t east, and he of ten called the eastern troops around him Yankee s. 2 After enduring the pre sence of some New York regiments

f0r a few weeks, Wi lliam Peter wa s glad to see them leave. He told his mo ther, "some boats are going out today ; they are going to take all the 3 Yanke es a way wi th them. ,,

Th e Illinois boys pr eferred to av oid Ea sterners wh enever po ssible, and

they believed that the Easterners coul d not fight. The Illinoisans felt that

the greater part of the wa r effort was being borne by the We stern troops, and

they po inted to the repeated defeats of the Army of the Pot omac as evidence.

Af ter hearing of the Army of the Po tomac's defeat at Chancellorsville, Lyman

Ne edham moaned , "Oh, why is it that they cant do anything there , but get 4 defeated in everything they undertake ? ,, In February 1863, Wi lliam Ro ss

summed up the progress of the wa r to date, telling his father, "we have gaind 125

some ground [in the] we st here , but in the east they have done nothing bu t get 5 thou sand[s] of brave me n bu tchered up. ,,

Some boys wh o we re not certain that the Ea stern troops we re brave had an answer for Lyman Needham' s question. It wa s commonly believed that the

Ea s tern soldiers coul d not fight as well as the We stern boys. Af ter hearing about the Confederate victory at the Second Manassas, Allen Geer noted "am

fast comi ng to the conclusion that the eastern troops are not as good fighting me n as the We stern boys . ,,6 The subsequent Confederate invasion of Maryland wa s take n as fur ther pr oof of the Easterners' inability to fight. "The news causes general indignation among the We stern troops," wro te Allen about the

invasi on, "They impute it all to lack of soldierly courage in officers and

men.,, 7

Some of the boys did not ag ree that the Eas terners could not fight, but

their pro tests showed that many of the boys thought the Eastern troops were

cowa rds . After the battle of Ch ancellorsville, Day Elmore reported, "The

S?ldiers hear think that it is A fault of the troops and not the Gen , or thay

men to say that Ea stern troops wi ll not fight as we ll as We stern, and that I

do no t beleav so we have some quite spirited arguments about it. " 8 Levi Ross th repo rted about a debate wh ich wa s held in the 86 Il linoiO "The boys indulged in quite a debate today on the question : 'Resolved that the

soldier' s of the We stern De partment are better, in every respect, than those

of the Eastern Department .' Nearly all of the prairie boys spoke on the 9 affirma tive . I took the negative. ,,

Even after the Army of the Po tomac finally defeated the Army of Northern

Vi rginia at Getty sburg , the Illinois boys we re reluctant to acknowledge an

Ea stern vi ctory . Many appl aud ed the We stern vi ctory at Vi cksburg on Ju ly 4 ,

1863, bu t few mentioned the battle of Gettysburg which wa s fought on July 1-3, 126

1863. Some did not think that Lee had real ly been defeated and believed that they wo ul d have to go and defeat him, too. "I think we have got some heard fighting to do ye t for Le e's army is good ye t ," wrote Ed Crowell after 10 Ge ttysburg.

Wh ile Le e' s Army of Northern Virginia was a tough army to fight, the boys noticed that the Eastern troops did no better when they came out We st to figh t. "Banks fights as none bu t an Eastern man can fight and gets wh ipped ," wro te Allen Geer about General Nathaniel Banks's assault on Port Hudson, 11 Louisiana. He nry Nur se claimed that the Eas tern troops present on the

Atlanta campaign were impressed wi th the courage of the We stern boys. "The

Po toma c boys say they never saw fighting carried on the way the we stern boys do . [T]hey say that we go right out on the skirmish line and cook just as i 2 though there was no rebs in fo rty miles of us. "

Eastern troops who were sent out We st were no t generally we ll received by the boys, who resented the thought that they might have needed Eastern help to f.ight the Confederates. Occasionally there wa s con flict between the two nd group s. Fr ank Cr owe ll told about how the 92 Illinois related to the

Easterners:

[T]heir is some of the Eastern troops here, and we bother them almost to death--tell them they cant fight . [O]ne of them wa s guarding a rich old Farme rs Go ods , and some of our Boys came along and was agoing to take some corn, and the guard stept out to stop him, and the boys took and held him while the rest took eve rything . [H13 said we did [not] know any rules, but we do and dont like them .

Some of the conflicts we re serious, and the boys claimed they wo ul d take drastic action against Easterners . Henry Nur se reported the fury in his

brigade ove r the behavior of the Eas tern XX Corps. "I know they have killed

three men belonging to our Br igade since we came to this place wh ile they were

putting on their stile in [Atlanta] , but if our brigade shoul d get to doing 127

Patrol duty in town and any of the twentyeth corps boys come round they will 14 get po ped over as sure as the wo rld stands ."

The boys also saw themselves as more virtuous than the Easterners. Levi

Ro ss thought the Ea stern troops wasted Gove rnment supplies. During a time when the 86th Illinois was on short rations and suffered from a lack of clothing , Levi indignantly reported that "The boys from the Po tomac say that they always wasted more than they have drawn fr om the Commissary for the last lS four months. " Ro bert Burdette recalled an occasion when he wi tnessed the execution of three men of the 3rd New Jersey Cavalry who had been convicted of raping two Southern women. "I can remember so we ll how many of the me n congratulated one another and themselves that the offense had been committed by an eastern regiment; for we insisted that the native chivalry common to the 16 western men would have held them back from the commission of such a cr ime . ,,

Clearly the boy s saw themselves as being better, in every respect, than the

Eastern troops.

Wh il e the Illinois boy s felt that the We stern troops we re better than the

Eastern troops, not all We stern troops we re equal. The boys also held Ohio and Oh ioans in contemp t. Th eir dislike fo r Ohio began at Shiloh, wh ere Al len

Geer reported , "Hany of the Ohio regts fled disgracefully from the field of 1 7 action. ,, Th e boys never forgot the behavior of the Ohioans at Shiloh.

Ab out a month later, the 19th Illinois and the 18th Ohio became engaged with th some Confederates outside of Athens, Al abama . Jo seph Johnston said , "The 18

Ohio regiment showed the spirit of the Ohio regiments at Shiloh and retreated 18 from a far inferior fo rce. ,,

Having to fight alongs id e Ohio troop s was always a good excuse for losing a battle. Henry Up ton described what happened to the 104th Illinois when they th and the 106 and 108th Oh io In fantry regiments fought John H. Mo rgan' s 128

Confederates near Hart sville, Tennessee . "The infantry then advanced until they came in musket range and opened fire, but no sooner had two volleys been exchanged than the two Ohio regs broke and ran , leaving the 104th Ills to 19 th contend ag ainst 5 times its own number. ,, Consequently , the 104 wa s captured .

Most of the boys had a fierce pr ide and we re quick to defend the honor of their regiments. Imagine Lyman Needham' s dismay when the newspapers claime d th that the 39 Ohio wa s the first regiment to raise their flag over Corinth,

Mi ssissippi, when he claimed that the 42nd Illinois had been the first. He told his brother that both regiments had gone in to town at about the same time; however , "The 42d went into Corinth in good order, wh ile the 39th Ohio 20 we re sc attered all ove r . ..

No t only we re the Ohio troops thought of as po or soldiers, the Il linois boys questioned their loyalty . Ohio wa s the nat ive state of Cl emen t

Va llandingham and was thus associated wi th Copperheads and opposition to the war. Joseph Johnston and his comr ades ridiculed Ohio when they sarcastically st told other regiments that they were the "I Oh io conscripts: Hu rrah for

Vallandingham." 21 Some soldiers' suspic ions of Ohioan s were confirmed when

He nry Nur se di scove red a forme r member of his brigade serving in the

Confederate army . "There was one of them fifty second Ohio boys that wa s captured at Peachtree Creek came over last nigh t. He had taken the oath of

22 all egiance and was bearing arms for the Rebs•••• ,, While there were undoub tedly Copperheads and cowa rds from eve ry state , Ohio wa s the only one that the Illinois boys singled out for such ridicul e .

On e of the reasons the boys detes ted cowardice and Copperheads wa s because they saw themselves as volunteers. They had volunteered to fight and we re di smaye d by those who refused to do their du ty. Th e Illinoisans we re 129 vo lunteer troops; less than one and one-half percent we re conscripts . 23 Those

soldi ers who we re am ong the firs t to enli st--those wh o enlisted in 1861--felt a sense of superiority over those who did not volunteer un til later. In the

summer of 1862 when Li ncoln called fo r mo re volunteers and Congress threatened

to have a draft, many more Illinois regiments we re raised. The old soldiers th we re prone to ridicul e the late come rs. John Sacke tt of the 36 Illinois

told his brother , "I wa s glad to hear that so ma ny of the cowa rdly portion of

the popul ation have enlisted (to esc ape drafting I suppo se) bu t still there is

some mo r that might go and no t hurt themselves. ,, 24 Bounties, bonuses for

enlisting, were given to the new troops, and Day Elmore conclud ed "it looks

[a] little to me as if the larg Bounty Brought a good many in not thare 2 5 Patriotic feelings . ,, St ill, Day was glad to see the new troops coming in

such large numbers. "We the soldiers of Illinois are feeling good to see them

turn ou t. [T ]he town ship that Miner [a friend] lives in wi ll not have A man 26 to draft."

Al though rumors of consc ription began in August 1862, a law wa s not

passed un til the spring of 1863, and it did not go into effect un til that

summer. By that time , the volunteers of both 1861 and 1862 were eager to see

me n drafted to perfo rm the duty they had vo lunteered to do. Aus tin Andrews of th the 12 Illinois told his sister, "We are all anxious to hear of them

drafting in Illinois ; we would like to see our regiment full again. ,, 27 Frank

Cr owe ll wanted to see some of his neighbors drafted and told his mother, "I

hope to god they will draft. I want to me et some of them in the ranks and see 28 if they have a soldierly appearance. ,,

Th e boy s were not pl eased wi th the Conscription Ac t, however. Th e Ac t

allowed draftees to pay a sum of money instead of going into the army. This 1 30 provision infuriated the soldiers. Levi Ross explained his feelings on the issue:

Fa ther how do you like the Conscription Ac t? I approve all except the exemption for the small sum of $300, or less as the Secretary of Wa r may determi ne. I believe that a po or man' s life is as dear as a rich man's. The blood of of a poor-man is as precious as that of the wealthy . The rich have mo re at stake in the issue now pending , there fore should sacrifice more in suppressing this infernal Re bellion and in restoring he Union, and thereby save 2 � their property , homes, and liberty .

Frank Cr owe ll ag reed with Levi and told his mo ther, "I know Me n up their that you would think was bursting with Patriotism that would pay their last red

[cent] befo re they wo ul d inlist, and those are the ones I want to see 30 drafted . ,,

Lyman Ne edham did not like the Conscription Ac t because he feared there would be entire regiments composed exc lusively of consc.ripts. He felt that it woul d make mo re sense to put the conscripts in wi th the ve terans . He explained his position as follows :

I think this Conscript law is a good thing, but I am afraid they will Consolidate the old Regts and organize new one 's of the drafted me n. [T ]hey shoul d fill up the old Regts and keep them full. They would learn a great deal faster than they would-OY­ thems elves, and their off icers woul d be mo re experienced, and besides 5�ey should no t have a higher position than that of a pr iva teo

Lyman wa nted to be an officer, and consolidated regiments wo ul d make it more difficult to advance because there would have been more competition among veteran troops for po sitions. Also, he wa s chagrined by the thought that he, a ve teran volunteer , might remain an enlisted man, wh ile some new conscripts migh t be made officers. Lyman did not have to wo rry , though ; the conscripts were placed in the old regiments as pr ivates.

Be cause they were volunteers, the boys had much pr ide in their own regiments. Robert Burdette enlisted in the 47th Illinois after the regiment had been in the field fo r a ye ar. Wh en he joined it near Corinth he wa s 131 di smayed at its tattered appearance. "I never dreamed, when first I looked

upon it in the field, how pr oud I wa s going to be of it. • •• In my dreams it had always looked like a re plica of the Old Guard at Marengo. Now it 32 looked mo re like the retreat from Moscow. Save that it never retreated ...

Joseph Jo hnston expected that his regiment would always receive compliments th from officers wh o reviewe d it. "The 19 wa s reviewed a few days since be

Gen. Buell & received as usual the highe st praise from that officer," he told 33 his father. Day Elmore wa s convinced that his regiment wa s capable of anything . In the summe r of 1862 he told his father , "A private in Company B nd wa s pr omo ted to 2 Li eutenant of one of the company s in the new Re giments.

I am glad of it, for evry Boy in the 36 III Regt is fully comp ident to 0nd hold any 2 Le-- of any company in the new Regt , fo r we have ben tryed, and 34 thay all know what we did and can do . ..

No t surpr isingly , some of the boys felt that their regiment wa s the best in the service. John Sackett said of his 36th Illinois, "This is eve ry where spoken of as the biggest and best reg in the we st so yo u see we feel quite proud of our success so far . " 35 Day Elmore claimed even mo re for the 3 6th, saying "This Regiment is sayed to bee the best in the U.S. service by goo[ d] judges ... 36 Lyman Ne edham topped both. Of the 42nd Illinois he said , "We have 37 the name of being the best Re giment in -- anywhere . ..

The boys were quick to claim victories for their regiments. Both Day

Elmore and Joseph Johnston credited the "victory" at Stones River (it wa s more of a bloody draw than anything else) to their respective regiments.

Illinois wa s in Sheridan' s Division which stub bornly resisted the Confederate attacks on the first day while the rest of the Federal right flank collapsed.

Day reported, "We hur d Ro scrans say that the 36 of sherid en Division saved his

th army ••••"38 Since the 19 Illinois spear-headed the last charge of the 1 32 battle, Joseph concluded , "I suppose the success of the bat tle will be th 39 nd credi ted to the 19 • ,, Ed Cr owe ll claimed that the 9 2 Il linois carried the rest of their division through the Atlanta campaign and did mo st of its figh ting. "[T]hey had the brunt of the battl e to fight for the wh ole division. It mad e no odds wheather it wa s in the rear or front that the d figh ting wa s to be done, the 92 had to go and do it, and fo r that reason they 40 lost heavy . ,,

Because of the boys' pride for their regiments, inter-regimental rivalries developed. Napolean Bar tlett told about the rivalry between his own th nd 76 Illinois and the 7 2 Illinois:

Th ere is a regiment in Vi cksburg doing guard du ty ; the No . of it is the 7 2nd Il ls. They are called the soft bread regiment [because] of their havi ng so much to say about getting home wh en they are on the march. When the 7 6 or 46 pass the 7 2 you can hardly hear for the hooting and yel ling . When we we nt ou t & had that fight the 72nd staid in town & after we came in The 7 2 went out & the Co l of the 72 told his boys that the 7 6 come back picking balls out of their butts, ��t he wanted the 72 to bring their balls back in their breasts.

Th e 4 2nd wanted the honor of being the first regiment to enter Tullahoma ,

Te nnessee, which had been abandoned by the Confederates. Lyman Ne edham said that, in order to be the first, they raced the 51st Illinois to the city and 4 2 wo n.

Al though the boys we re proud to be Il linois soldiers, many we re not native s of the state. Day Elmore said that only one man in his company wa s a 43 native of Illinois. Of those soldiers used in this study , only one, Jo seph

Johnston, is kn own for certain to have been born in Illinois . 44 Two , Day 45 Elmore and Levi Ro ss, are known to have been from New York . Three of the soldiers we re born in New England . Lyman Needham was from Vermont , and Ed and 46 F ra nk roC we 11 we re b orn i n New Hamp s h"�re. Jo seph Wa rd was an immigrant ; he 47 wa s born in Norfolkshire, England and came to Illinois in 1850. 1 33

Even though they we re born elsewhere, the boys we re ve ry attached to

Il linois. Al though he had been born in New Yo rk and his parents still lived

there, Day Elmore would no t think of serving in a New York regiment. "I woul d

not belong to a NY Regiment; they do not look like our We stern Boys. [O]ne

thing I know , they are A great deal more loaferish • I got di sgusted with · New York So ldi ers • • • all they coul d talk about wo ul d be some drunken

spree. ,,48 Levi Ro ss also preferred the Prairie State over the Empire State, 49 exclaiming "Lovely Illinois! I am much attached to thee. ,, Joseph Wa rd was

fond of Illinois and wa s glad to get a chance to me et some of the few other th Il linois regiments ou t East. In July 1862, he got a chance to vi sit the 8

Illinois Cavalry in Virginia. " I have seen some of the 8th Ill. Cavalry .

These are the only Ill. boys I have seen since we left St. Louis. They we re glad to see us."S O Life could be lonely for a few prairie boys lost among a

sea of Yankees.

Ro bert Burdette best expressed the boys' love fo r Il linois wh en he told

about a time when his regiment was sent by boat up the Mi ssissippi Rive r to

St . Louis. This was the closest he had been to Illinois since he had

enlisted. "And one day from Cairo to St. Louis we steamed up along the

pleasant panorama of the Illinois shore of the Mi ssissippi. I think there wa s

also a shore on the Mi ssouri sid e--there is now , I know, and it is quite

probable there may have been a bank in that direction in 1864. I never saw 5 1 1t. . ,, 134

ENDNOTES

In troduc tion

1Frank Crowell, letter to hi s mo ther, Oc tober 26, 1864 , in the author's personal collection. 2 Day Elmore, letter to his brother and sister, October 15, 1861, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 3 Brigadier General J.N. Reece, Adjutant Ge neral, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois (Springfield, Illinois: PhilliprB Bros . State Printers, 1901)-.- For Al len Geer, see Vo lume II, p. 158. For Levi Ro ss, see Vo lume V, pp. 212-213. 4 D. Du ane Cummins and Da ryl Ho hwe iler, eds. , An Enlisted Soldier' s Vi ew of the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana : Belle Publications , 1981) , p:-xii . The Ad jutant Ge neral's Re po rt states that he wa s mu stered out as a first sergeant. See Volume III, pp . 124 -126.

CHAPTER 1

Tenting on the Old Camp Ground 1 Ma ry Ann Andersen, ed. , Th e Civil Wa r Diary of Allen Mo rgan Ge er, Twentieth Regiment, Illinois VOIUnteerS (Denver:- Ro bert C. Ap pl eman, 1977), p. 83. 2 patricial L. Fa ust, ed. , Hi storical Time s Il l ustrated Encyc lopedia of the Civil Wa r (New Yo rk: Ha rper & Row , Publishers , 1986), pp . 687-688. -- 3 David Ki ng , Jr ., letter to his mo ther, August 8, 1864, in the Ki ng family collection (Box #4 ) at the Illin ois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 4 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r Ja nuary 15-2 0, 1863, in the Levi Ro ss collection at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois . 5 Wi lliam Marsh, letter to his mother, Fe bruary 18, 1862, in the Wi lliam Marsh collection (SC 1002 ) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Il linois . 6 John Ta llman, letter to his sister, Fe bruary 20, 1863, in the Jo hn Tallman collection at the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois. 7 Be ll I. Wi ley , The Li fe of Billy Ya nk (Ba ton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1986), p:-56-.------8 Edwa rd Cr owe ll, letter to his mother, April 2 4, 1863, in the author' s personal collection. 135

9John Given , letter to his mo ther, November 26, 1862, in the John Given collection (SC 562) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Sp ringfield, Illinois. 10 Levi Ro ss, letter to his parents, November 18, 1863.

11Curtiss Judd , diary entry for January 30, 1864 , in the Curtiss Judd collection at the Chicago Hi s torical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

12George Marsh, letter to his brother, April 19, 1863, in the George Ma rsh collection (SC 1000) at the Il linois State Hi s torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 13 Joseph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, May 10, 1863, in the Jo seph Johnston collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois . 1 4 Edwa rd Cr owell, letter to his mo ther, April 2 4 , 1863.

15Ib id •• 16 Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his brother, Fe bruary 4 , 1864.

17Henry Nurse, letter to his mo ther, October 2 5 , 1863, in the Henry Nurse collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Springf ield, Illinoi s. 18 Wi lliam Peter, letter to his mo ther, October 1 1, 1863, in the Wi lliam and Samue l Peter collection (SC 11 66) at the Illinois State Hi storical Li brary , Springf ield, Illinois. 19 Wi lliam Marsh, letter to his mother, November 1 5, 1862 .

20Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, December 2, 1862, in the Aus tin Andrews collection (SC 1706) at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 21 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his father, December 6, 1863, in the author's personal collection. 22 Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his brother, April 3, 1864.

23Ge orge Marsh, letter to his brother, June 22, 1863. 2 4 Jo hn Sacke tt, letter to his brother, Se ptember 4 , 1862, in the John Sackett collection (SC 1318) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 25 L eV1. R oss, 1 etter to hi s f at h er, Septem erb 9 , 1862 •

26John Tallman , letter to his brother, March 3 , 1863. 2 7 th Ro bert Burdette, Th e Drums of the 47 (Indianapo lis: Th e Bobbs-Herrill Company , 191 4 ):-P:-10 9 .- - 136

28John Given, letter to his sister, November 13, 1862. 29 Burdette, Drums , p. 31. 30 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, De cember 1 7 , 1862, in the Lyman Needham collection (SC 1094 ) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 31 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, September 23, 1864.

32Levi Ross, diary entry for November 27-29, 1862. 33 Andersen, Geer, p. 6 9 .

34Levi Ross, diary ent ry for March 12, 1863. 35 Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mother, Oc tober 14, 1861-

36George Childress, diary entries for Augus t 2 and 4, 1862, in the George Ch il dress collection (SC 283) at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 37 Curtiss Jud d, diary entry fo r Ap ril 13, 1864.

38Day Elmore , letter to his father, November 24, 1862, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

39Na polean Bartlett, letter to his father, Apr il ?, 1864, in the Na polean Ba rtl ett collection at the Chicago Hi s torical Society , Ch icago, Il linois .

40Frank Crowell , letter to his father, March 2, 1863. 41 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, May 24, 1863.

42Jo hn Sackett, letter to his brother, July 30, 1862. 43 Th oma s Miller, letter to Mr . Benjamin Newt on, Ja nuary 8, 1862, in the Thomas ltiller collection (SC 1050a) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 44 Th oma s Miller, letter to Mr . Benjamin Newt on, December 30, 1861.

45Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, July 1, 1862. 46 John Given, letter to his sister, November 13, 1862.

47 1862. Thomas Miller � letter to Mr . Benjamin Newton , June 3, 48 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his friends , May 25 , 1862.

49William Marsh, letter to his father, January 10, 1862. 5 0 Au stin Andrews, letter to his sister, August 11, 1862. 137

5 1Jo seph Johnston , letter to his mo ther, May 23, 1863. 52 John Ta llman, letter to his brother, November 4, 1863.

53Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, August 11, 1862. 5 4 Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his fami ly , October 4 , 1863.

55Frank Crowell, letter to his mo ther, March 5, 1863. 56 D. Duane Cummi ns and Da ryl Hohwe iler, eds. , An Enlisted So ldier' s Vi ew of the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana : Be lle Publications, 1981), p.""""63":" 57 Edwa rd Crowe ll, letter to his parents, July 2 2, 1864.

5 8Frank Crowell , letter to his mo ther, June 9, 1863. 59 Edwa rd Cr owe ll, letter to his mo ther, August 9, 1863.

60William Ro s s, letter to his father, January 12, 1863, in the Wi lliam Ro ss collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Il linois .

61Andersen, Geer, p. 105. 62 Ib id. , p. 42. 63 Cummi ns and Ho hwe iler, Enlisted, p. 22.

64Lyman Ne edham , letter to his friends, February 3, 1863. 6 5 Ri chard Pu ffer, letter to his sister, De cember 20, 1863, in the Richard Puffer collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 66 Joseph Johnston, letter to his mother, October 14, 1861 .

67John Sackett, unaddressed letter, November 12, 1861. 6 �iley, Yank , p. 49. 69 Day Elmore, letter to his brother and sister, October 1 5, 1861.

70Lyma n Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, Oc tober 3, 1861. 7 1 Cummi ns and Ho hwe iler, En listed , p. 5 8.

72Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, January 29, 1862. 73 Andersen, Geer, p. 24. 74 Na po lean Bartlett, letter to his mo ther, May 2 4, 1864.

75Edward Crowell, letter to his parents, August 30; 1864. 76 Wi lliam Peter, letter to his fami ly , Fe bruary 20, 1864. 138

77George Mar sh, letter to his brother, May 19, 1863. 78 Fr ank Cr owell, letter to his parents, May 18, 1863.

79Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, August 11, 1862.

CHAPT ER 2

Hard Crackers

1 th Ro bert Burdette, The Drums of the 47 (Indianapo lis: The Bobbs-Me rrill Company , 1914), p. 133. 2 Ib id. , p. 131; and Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sist er, Oc tober 20, 1861, in the Lyman Needham collection (SC 1094) at the Illin ois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois.

3John Tallman , letter to his brother, October 18, 1862, in the John Ta llman collection at the Chicago Hi s torical Society , Ch icago, Il linois.

4William Marsh, letter to his brother, September 1 5 , 1862, in the William Marsh collection (SC 1002 ) at the Il linois State Hi storical Li brary , Springfield, Illinois. 5 Na polean Bartlett, letter to his brother, May 24, 1864, in the Na po lean Bar tlett collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois . 6 Wi lliam Peter, letter to his sister, March 18, 1863, in the Wi lliam and Samue l Peter collection (SC 1166) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield Illinois. 7 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, Fe bruary 9, 1864, in the Henry Nur se collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield , Il linois. 8 Fo r example, see Wi lliam Marsh, letter to his mo ther, March 2, 1862 and Day Elmore , letter to his brother, March 18, 1863, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicago Hi s torical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

9Levi Ross, diary entry for February 16, 1863, in the Levi Ross collection at the Il linois State Hi storical Library , Spr ingf ield, Il linois.

10David King , Jr. , letter to his sister , July 27, 1862, in the Ki ng fami ly collect ion (Box #4); and Thoma s Mi ller, letter to Mr . Benjamin Newton, January 23, 1862, in the Thomas Miller collection (SC 1050a) , both at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Spr ingf ield Illinois.

11Henry Nurse, letter to his father, February 9, 1864; and Burdette, Drums , p. 43. 12 Thoma s Mi ller, letter to Mr . Benjamin Newt on, January 23, 1862. 139

13Austin Andrews , letter to his brother, December 30, 1863, in the Au stin An drews collection (SC 1706) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 1 4 Na po lean Bartlett, letter to his brother, June 28, 1864 ; and Ge orge Mar sh, letter to his brother, September 2 5 , 1862, in the George Marsh collection (SC 1000) at the Il linois State Hi s torical Library , Spr ingfield, Illinois.

l -\Ja ry Ann Andersen, ed. , The Civil Wa r Di ary of Al len Morgan Ge er, Twentieth Regiment , Illinois VolUUteers-(Denver:--Robert C. Ap pl eman:-I9 77), p. 24.

1 6 No tation in the back of the diary of Jame s Snell in the Jame s Snell collection at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 1 7 Wi lliam Ma rsh, letter to his mo ther, August 1 4, 1862.

18 Na polean Bar tlett , letter to his brother, May 2 4 , 1 864 ; and Day Elmore , letter to his parents, De cember 8, 1861. 19 John Given, letter to his sister, November 13, 1862, in the Jo hn Given collection (SC 562) at the Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield , Illinois . 20 Ibid •• 21 . Wi lliam Ma rsh, letter to his mo ther, August 1 4, 1862, and letter to his father, August 14, 1862. 22 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, April 1 4, 1863.

23Henry Nurse , letter to his father, October 20, 1863. 4 2 D• Duane Cummi ns and Daryl Hohwe iler, eds. , An Enlisted So ldier' s Vi ew o� the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana: Belle Publications , 1981), p.-z2: 25 Andersen, Geer, p. 98. 26 Levi Ro ss, letter to his father, Oc tober 26, 1862.

2 7Levi Ro ss , diary entry for December 16, 1862. 28 Jo hn Ta llman, letter to his brother, Oc tober 18, 1862.

29Cummins adn Hohweiler, Enlisted, p. 4 1; Na polean Bartlett , letter to his father, April ?, 1864 ; and Burdette, Drums , p. 28.

30Andersen, Geer, p. 74. Each cracker was approximately three inche s square. (He nry Nur se, letter to his mo ther, Oc tober 25, 1863. )

31Thomas Miller , letter to Hr . Benjamin Newton, January 23, 1862. 32 Day Elmore, letter to his father, October 2 5 , 1862. 140

33Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted , p. 7. 34 Th oma s Mi ller, letter to Mr . Be njami n Newton, Ja nuary 23, 1862.

35David King , Jr. , letter to his sister, July 2 7 , 1862. 36 John Given, letter to his parents, October 23, 1862.

3 7Levi Ros s, diary entry for October 2, 1862.

38 An dersen, Geer, pp. 6 5-66. 39 John Ta llman, letter to his sister, November 14, 1862.

40Levi Ros s, diary entry for May 1 5 , 1863. 41 Andersen, Geer, p. 72. 42 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother, June 6, 1862.

4 3Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted, p. 26. 44 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mother, December 2, 1862, in the author' s personal collection. 4 5 Jo hn Given, letter to his sister, November 13� 1862.

46Lyman Ne edham , letter to his friends, July 4, 1862. 47 John Sacke tt, letter to his brother, January 2, 1862, in the John Sackett collection (SC 1318) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 48 John Ta llman, letter to his brother, January 4, 1864.

49William Marsh, letter to his mo ther, March 2, 1862. 5 0 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mo ther, April 29, 1863.

5 1William Marsh, letter to his mo ther, February 18, 1862. 5 2 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r Ma rch 4, 1863 .

5 3Burdette, Drums , p. 143. 5 4 Na polean Bartlett, letter to his brother, August 2, 1864.

55 Burdette, Drums , p. 139. 56 Na polean Bartlett, letter to his mother, June 14, 1864.

57William Marsh, letter to his mo ther, March 2, 1862. 5 8 Lyma n Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, November 20, 1861. 1 4 1

CHAPTER 3

We eping Sad and Lonely

1Wi11iam Marsh, letter to his mo ther, November 15, 1862, in the William Marsh collection (SC 1002) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 2 Frank Cr owell, letter to his father, March 2, 1863, in the author's personal collection.

3 6, Wi 11iam Ro ss, letter to his father, Oc tober 1 862, in the Wi lliam Ro ss collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 4 Edward Crowe ll, letter to his parents, January 3, 1863, in the author' s per sonal collection. 5 Au stin Andrews , letter to his sisters , November 20, 1861, in the Au stin Andrews collection (SC 1 706) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Spr ingfield, Illinois. 6 D. Du ane Cummi ns and Da ryl Ho hwe i1er, eds. , An Enlisted So ldier' s Vi ew of the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana: Belle Publications, 1 9 81) , p:-62 . 7 Wi lliam Ma rsh, letter to his father, Se pember 22, 1861.

8Edward Crowell , letter to his parents, January 3, 1863. 9 Edwa rd Crowe ll, letter to his parents, December 21, 1862.

10Edward Crowell , letter to his parents, January 3, 1863.

1 1Jo seph Jo hnston, letter to his father, November 10, 1862, in the Jo seph Jo hnston collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chi cgao, Illinois . 1 2Fr ank Cr owe ll, letter to his father, Fe bruary 1, 1864.

13 Cummins and Hohwei1er, Enlisted, p. 2 7 . 1 4 Thoma s Miller, letter to Mr . Benjamin Newt on, March 29, 1862, in the Thomas Miller collection (SC 10s0a) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 1 �i 1liam Ro ss, letter to his brother, September 30, 1862.

16William Ro s s, letter to his father, October 26, 1863.

1 7 Wi lliam Ro ss, letter to his father, December 11, 1863.

18Lyman Needham, letter to his friends, December 1 5 , 1861, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 19 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, January 12, 1862. 1 42

20Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted, p. 5 2. 21 Cur tiss Jud d, diary entry fo r April 16, 1864, in the Curtiss Jud d collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois . 2 �ry Ann Andersen, ed. , Th e Civil Wa r Di ary of Allen Morgan Ge er, Twentieth Regimen t, Illinois Vo1Unteers-(Denver:--Robert C. Ap pl eman:-T97 7 ), p. 7 7. 23 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his father, March 2, 1863.

2 4Frank Crowell, letter to his mo ther, April 7 , 1863. 2 5 Edwa rd Crowell, letter to his fat her, April 1 5, 1863.

26Day Elmore , letter to his parents, November 26, 1863, in the Day Elmore collection at the Ch icago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

2 7Lyman Needham , letter to his brother and sister, October 30, 1861. 28 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his friends , De cember 6, 1861.

29George Marsh, letter to his brother, May 1 9 , 1863, in the George Marsh collection eSC 1000) at the Il linois State Hi storical Library , Sp ringfield, Illinois. 30 Jo hn Ta llman, letter to his brother, March 3, 1863, in the John Tallma n collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 3 �yman Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, November 20, 1861.

32Edward Crowell, letter to his parents, December 21, 1862. 33 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, November 30, 1862, in the He nry Nurse co llection (SC 204 8) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 34 Cyrus Eyster, letter to his cousin, April 6, 1 863, in the Lyman Ne edham collection eSC 109 4 ) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 35 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, July 25 , 1863.

36Austin Andrews , letter to his sister , June 2, 1863. 37 Thoma s Mi ller, undated manuscript . 38 Fanny Ho lliday , letter to Wil liam Peter, April 1 8, 1 863, in the Wi lliam and Samue l Peter collection (SC 1166) at the Illinois State Hi's torical Library , Spr ingf ield, Illinois. 39 Edwa rd Crowe ll, letter to his mo ther, April 2 4, 1863.

40Edward Crowel l, letter to his mo ther, Janua ry 23, 1864 . 143

41Lyman Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, Oc tober 30, 1861. 4 �yman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, November 28, 1862. 43Frank Crowell, letter to his mo ther, October 26, 1864. 44 Ibid •• 45 Ri chard Pu ffer, letter to his sister, Oc tober 17, 1862, in the Richard Puffer collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois.

CHAPTER 4

Gay and Happy Still 1 Edwa rd Crowe ll, letter to his mo ther, April 24, 1863, in the author' s per sonal collection. 2 General S.D. At kins, General B.F. Sh eets, and Ma jor R.M.A. Hawk , Ninety-Second Illinois Vo lunteers (Freeport, Illinois: Journal Steam Pub lishing House and Bookb indery , 1875) , p. 166.

3Frank Crowell , letter to his parents, undated, presumably winter , 1864, in the author' s personal collection.

4Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther , July 9, 1864. 5 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mother, July 6, 1864.

6Jo seph Johnston , letter to his brother, June 6, 1864, in the Joseph Johnston collection at the Chicag o Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

7Curtiss Judd, diary entries for February 10 and 11, 1864, in the Curtiss Judd collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Il linois.

SEd Crowell, letter to his parent s, December 21, 1862.

9 Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his brother, April 19, 1863, in the Ge orge Ma rsh co llection (SC 1000) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, I1linois. 10 Levi Ro ss, letter to his parents, January 25, 1863, in the Levi Ro ss collection at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinois; and Fr ank Cr owell, letter to his mo ther, December 13, 1862.

11Mary Ann Anderson, ed. , The Civil Wa r Diary of Allen Morgan Geer, Twe ntieth Regiment , Illinois Vo�teers (Denver: Robert C. Ap p1ema�977 ), p. 67. 12 Au stin Andrews, letter to his sister, July 14, 1863, in the Au stin Andrews collection (SC 1706) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Spr ingf ield, Il linois. 1 44

13Lyman Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, March 3, 1863, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Il linois State Hi storical Li brary , Springfield, Illinois. 14 Jo seph Jo hnston, diary entries fo r Ha rch 4 , 12, and 16, 1863.

1 5Joseph Johnston , letter to his father, November ?, 186 1 ; and Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his father, November 23, 1862.

16Curtiss Judd , diary entry for January 4 , 1864 . 1 7 Ander sen, Geer, pp. 20, 34, 49, 78, 130, 133.

18Ib id., p. 7 8.

19 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, March 15, 1863, in the Day Elmore collection at the Ch icago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 20 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his father, December 6, 1863.

21Andersen, Ge er, p. 71. 2 ;rank Cr owe ll, letter to his mother, November 5 , 1862.

23Joseph Johnston , letter to his father, November ?, 1861 ; and Bell I. Wi ley , TheLi fe of Billy Ya nk (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Pr ess, 1986) , p.-1� ------2 4 Ge orge Marsh, letter to his brother, Fe bruary 1 4, 1864.

2 5Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, December 2, 1862. 26 Frank Cr owell, letter to his mo ther, Ap ril 29, 1863.

2 7Frank Crowell , letter to his mo ther, December 2, 1862, and letter to his father, March 2, 1863. 28 Jo seph Jo hnston, letter to his father, November ?, 186l .

29Anderson, Geer, p. 11. 30 Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, De cember 4 , 1861.

3 1Andersen, Geer, pp. 43-4 6. 32 Fr ank Cr owe ll, "I'm Of f Fo r Charls ton," January 23, 1864, in the author's personal collection. 33 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his brother, March 3 , 1864.

34Austin Andrews , letter to hi sister, Se ptember 9, 1863. 35 Lvman Np pdham, un addressed fragment, un dated . 1 45

36John Given , letter to his brother, Oc tober 1 4 , 1862, in the John Given collection (SC 562) at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 37 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mo ther, November 5 , 1862.

38Na polean Bar tlett, letter to his brother, July 22, 1864, in the Na polean Bartlett collection at the Chigaco Hi storical Society, Ch icago, Illinois. 39 Andersen, Geer, p. 60.

40Levi Ros s, diary entry for March 1 5 , 1863. 4 1 Jo hn Given, letter to his brother, October 1 4, 1862.

4 2John Tallman , letter to his sister, Apr il 21, 1863 , in the John Tallman collection at the Chicag o Hi s torical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

43Frank Crowell, letter to his mo ther, October 11, 1864. 44 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r December 9, 1862.

45Andersen, Geer, pp. 1 5 and 81. 4 6 Frank Cowe ll, letter to his mother, March 2 4, 1 864.

47Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, January 29, 1862. 4 8 patricia L. Faust, ed. , Hi storical Times Illustrated En cyc lopedia of t:� Civil Wa r (New Yo rk: Harper & Row , Publishers, 1986) , p. 420. 4 9 Jo seph Jo hnston, diary entry fo r March 16, 1863.

5 0Richard Puffer, letter to his sister, February 12, 1863, in the Richard Pu ffer collection at the Chicago Hi s torical Society , Chicago, Il linois.

51Lyman Needham , letter to his friends, December 1 5 , 1861. 52 Au stin Andrews , letter to his sister, July 1, 1862.

53Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, June 12, 1863. 54 D• Duane Cummins and Da ryl Ho hwe iler, eds., An Enlisted So ldeir' s Vi ew of the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana : Belle Publications, 1981), p.:387 55 Edwa rd Crowell, letter to his parents, undated , presumably wi nter, 1864 .

CHAPTER 5

Shoulderstraps, Pimp s and Skunks 1 46

1Edward Crowell, letter to his mo ther, June 3 0, 186 4 , in the author' s personal collection. 2 Levi Ro ss, letter to his father, Se ptember 16, 1862, in the Levi Ro ss collection at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 3 Wi lliam Ma rsh, letter to his father, August 1 4, 1862, in the Wi lliam Marsh collection (SC 1002) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 4 Levi Ro ss, letter to his father, Se ptember 16, 1862.

5D. Duane Cummins and Daryl Hohweiler, eds., An Enlisted Soldier's View of the Civil Wa r (We st Lafaye tte, In diana : Be lle Publications , 1981), p:-66.

6John Given, letter to his aunt, October 11, 1862, in the John Given collection (SC 562) at the Il linois State His torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 7 John Sacke tt, letter to his brother, August 17, 1 862, in the John Sackett collection (SC 1318) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 8 . Jo hn Sacke tt, letter to his father, December 8, 1861. "Bucking and gagging" consisted of gagging a soldier by tying a bayonet in his mouth. 9 Jo hn Sacke tt, letter to his brother, January 14, 1862 .

10Henry Nurse, letter to his father, April 20, 1864 , in the Henry Nur se collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 11 Levi Ro ss, letter to his father, Se ptember 16, 1862. Mc Cook wa s only a colonel. It is not known why Ro ss calls him a general. 12 Ve lma Griffen, ed. , "The Tr ibe of Dan ••.an d Martha," Blue ! Gray Magazine , II, 4 , (March 1985), pp. 28-29. 1 3 Edward Crowell, letter to his mo ther, January 30, 1863.

1 4Frank Crowell , letter to his father, July 9 , 186 3 , in the author' s personal collection. 1 5 Wi lliam Ma rsh, letter to his father, August 1 4, 1862.

16Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther , January 12, 1863. 17 Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his brother, June 22, 1863, in the Ge orge Ma rsh collection (SC 1000) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springifield, Illinois. 18 Day Elmore, letter to his brother, October 2 5, 1861, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois . 147

19Lyman Needham, letter to his brother, June 18, 1862, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Il linois State Hi s torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 2 ° Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his brother, April 19, 1863.

21Day Elmore , letter to his parents, May 1, 1864. 22 George Ma rsh, letter to his brother, April 2, 1863, and tfitter to his brother, May 1 9, 1863 ; and Robert Burdette, The Drums of the 47-­ -- (Indianapo lis: The Bobbs-Me rril l Company , 1914), pp. 111-1 12.

23Levi Ro s s, diary entry for April 20, 1863. 24 Day Elmore, letter to his sister, January 2 7 , 1862.

2 5Levi Ro s s, diary entry for entry Oc tobe r 26-27, 1863. Again, Ros s refers to McCook as a general. 26 Wi lliam Ma rsh, letter to his father, October 14, 1862.

27Richard Puffer , letter to his sister, October 1, 1863, in the Richard Pu ffer collection at the Chicago Hi s torical Society, Ch icago, Illinois.

28Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted, pp. 41-42. 2 9 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, May 18, 1864.

30Day Elmore , letter to his parents, June 1, 1864. 3 1 John Ta llman, letter to his father, May 25, 1864, in the Jo hn Tallman collection at the Chicago Hi storical . Society , Chicago, Illinois. 32 Cummi ns and Ho hweiler, Enlisted, p. 58.

33Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther, Se ptember 11, 1864. 34 Au stin Andrews, letter to his sister, Se ptember 6, 1863, in the Au stin Andrews collection (SC 1706) at the Illinois State Historical Society, Springf ield, Illinois. 35 George Ma rsh, letter to his brother, August 2, 1863.

36Henry Nurse, letter to his father, Oc tober 20, 1863. 37 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r November 27-2 9 , 1862.

38Levi Ro ss, diary entry for October 8, 1862. 39 Lev� . Ro ss, diary entry fo r April 13, 1863.

40Henry Nurse , letter to his father, July 5, 1863. 41 Burdette, Drums , pp. 163-1 64. 1 48

4 2Jo seph Johnston , letter to his mo ther, January 1 4 , 1863, in the Joseph Jo hnston collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

4 3Lyman Needham , letter to his friends, November 9, 1862.

44 Burdette, Drums , p. 162 . 45 William Ma rsh, letter to his father, August 1 4 , 1862.

4 6Frank Crowell , letter to his father, December 2 7, 1863. 47 Burdette, Drums , p. 1 4 1. 4 8 patricia L. Faust, ed. , Hi storical Time s Il lu strated En cyc lopedia of the Civil Wa r (New York: Harper & Row , Publishers, 1986), p. 320. 49 Levi Ro ss, letter to his parents, June 26, 1863.

50Richard Puffer , letter to his sister, May 28, 1863, in the Ri chard Pu ffer collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Il linois.

CHAPTER 6

Tramp , Tr amp , Tr amp

1D. Duane Cummins and Daryl Hohweiler , eds. , An Enlisted Soldier's View of the Civil Wa r (We st La faye tte, Indiana: Be lle Publications , 1981) , p�.

2Thomas Miller , letter to Mr. Benjamin Newton, January 8, 1862, in the Th oma s Mi ller collection (SC 1050a) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 3 Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, June 8, 1863, in the Jo seph Johnston collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois ; and Ge orge Childress, diary entry fo r May 6, 1862, in the Ge orge Childress collection (SC 283) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield , Illinois.

4 Wi lliam Marsh, letter to his father, Se ptember 26, 1862, in the William Marsh collection (SC 1002 ) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Spr ingf ield, Illinois. 5 Wi lliam Marsh, letter to his father, Oc tober 4 , 1862.

6John Tallman , letter to his brother, November 2 7 , 1862, in the John Ta llman collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

7George Marsh, letter to his brother, November 29, 1862, in the George Ma rsh collection (SC 1000) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois; John Given , letter to his sister, November 2, 1862, in the John Given collection (SC 62) at the Illinois State Hi stor al Library , 5 tR Springfield, Illinois; and Robert Burdette, The Drums of the 47-­ (Indianapo lis: �e Bobbs-Me rril l Company , 1914)�200.--- -- 149

8George Marsh, letter to his brother, November 29, 1862. 9 John Ta llman, letter to his father, March 5 , 1864.

lOwilliam Marsh, letter to his brother, September 1 5 , 1862. 11 cyrus Eyster, letter to his cousin, July 4, 1863, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 1 10ay Elmore, letter to his parents, September 29, 1862, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society, Chicago, Illinois. 13 Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, Se ptember 5 , 1863.

14John Tallman, letter to his sister, February 3, 1863. 1 5 Thoma s Hi ller, letter to Mr . Be njami n Newton, January 23, 1862, in the Thomas Miller collection (SC 1050a) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 16 Edwa rd Crowell, letter to his mo ther, January 30, 1863, in the author's personal collection. 17 Levi Ro ss, letter to his father, Oc tober 26, 1862, in the Levi Ro ss collection at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 18 John Ta llman, letter to his brother, January 14, 1863.

19Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted, p. 11. 20 Th oma s Mi ller, letter to Mr . Benjami n Newton, January 23, 1862.

21John Given , letter to his sister, November 2, 1862. 2 �enry Nur se, letter to his father, August 16, 1863, in the He nry Nur se collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield , Illinois. 23 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, Oc tober 3 0, 1862.

24Joseph Johnston , letter to his mother, September 5 , 1863. 25 Frank Cr owell, lett er to his father, December 27, 1863, in the author' s per sonal collection. 26 Bur dette, Drums , pp. 32-33. 27 Na polean Bartlett, letter to his brother, June 28, 1864, in the Na polean Bartlett collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago , Illinois. 28 Edwa rd Crowe ll, letter to his parents, Oc tober 11, 1862. 1 50

29Jo seph Johnston , letter to his mother, May 23, 1863. 30 D ay EI mo re, I etter to h'1S parents, May 41, 862 •

31Day Elmore , letter to his parents, July 1 7, 1863.

3 �evi Ro ss, letter to his father, October 26, 1862.

33Lyman Needham , letter to his brother and sister, September 1 4 , 1862, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Hi storical Society , Springfield, Illinois. 34 Edwa rd Crowe ll, letter to his sister-in-law, August 23, 1863.

35Edward Crowell , letter to his mother, January 23, 1864. 36 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his father, June 5 , 1863.

3 7Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther, August 10, 1864. 3 �dward Crowe ll, letter to his mo ther, January 23, 1864. 39John Sackett, letter to his brothers, November 6, 1861, in the John Sa cke tt collection (SC 1318) at the Illinois State His torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 40 patricia L. Fa ust, ed. , Hi storical Time s Illustrated Encyc lopedia of the Civil Wa r (New Yo rk : Ha rper & Row , Publishers, 1986), p. 338. 41 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, May 1, 1864.

42Mary Ann Andersen, ed., The Civil Wa r Diary of Allen Mo rgan Gee r , Twe nti eth Regiment, Illinois Vo lun teers (Denver: Robert C. Ap pl eman, 1977), p. 88. 43 Th is information was provided by Mr. Baxt er Fite III, of Peoria, Illinois. All discriptions of uni form jackets assume that the coat fits the soldier. 44 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, May 24, 1863.

45George Marsh, letter to his brother, April 19, 1863 ; and Lyman Ne edham , letter to his friends , December 6, 1861, letter to his brother and sister, July 26, 1863, and letter to his brother and sister, November 28, 1862. 46 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, May 24, 1863.

47William Marsh, letter to his father, October 4, 1862. 48 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, August 26, 1863.

49See : Au stin Andrews , letter to his sister, August 16, 1863, in the Au stin Andrews collection (SC 1706) at the Il linois State Hi storical Library , 1 51

Springfield, Illinois ; Frank Crowell , letter to his mo ther, November 5 , 1863; and Edwa rd Cr owe ll, letter to his parents, un dated, presumably winter 1864.

5 0Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, August 16, 1862. 5 1 Au stin An drews, letter to his father, March 2 7 , 1862.

5 2Day Elmore , letter to his brother, March 18, 1863. 53 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, August 26, 1863.

54Lyman Needham , letter to his brother and sister, July 18, 1863. 55 John Ta llman, letter to his brother, March 13, 1864.

5 6Frank Crowell, letter to hi s family , Septem,ber 1 5 , 1863. 57 Edward Crowell, letter to his mother, Janurary 30, 1863.

5 8Burdette, Drums , p. 43. 59 Ibid.; Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r February 25 , 1864; and Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, March 3, 1863. 6 0William Peter, letter to his mother, November 8, 1863, in the Wi lliam and Samuel Peter collection (SC 1166) at the Illinois State Historical Li brary , Springf ield, Illinois.

61Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted, pp . 37-38. 62 Joseph Johnston, letter to his father, August 8, 1861.

63Levi Ros s, diary entry for October 1, 1862. 64 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r October 6, 1862.

6 5Levi Ro s s, diary entry for Se ptember 10-13, 1862. 66 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his fr iends , May 6, 1862.

67Andersen, Geer, p. 95. 68 Cummi ns and Ho hwe iler, Enlisted, pp. 11-12.

69William Marsh, letter to his brother, September 1 5, 186 2 . 70 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, July 8, 1864.

7 1Levi Ro s s, letter to his parents, September 13, 186 3. 72 LeV1 . Ross, d·1a ry entry f or Novem b er 30, 1863•

73Henry Nurse, letter to his father, October 13, 1864. 1 52

74Burdette, Drums , pp. 15-1 6. 7 5 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mo ther, Ap ril 29, 1863.

CHAPTER 7

Th e La st Ful l Measur e

1Thomas Miller, letter to Mr. Be njamin Newton, May 2, 1862, in the Thomas Mi ller collection (SC 1050a ) at the Il linois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 2 David King , Jr ., letter to his mother, May 10, 1861, in the King family collection (Box #4 ) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 3 Wi lliam Marsh, letter to his father, 11a rch 21, 1862, in the Wi lliam Marsh collection (SC 1002) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 4 John Given, letter to his mo ther, November 9, 1862, in the Jo hn Given collection (SC 562) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Il linois. 5 Joseph Jo hnston, letter to his father, November ?, 1861 , in the Jo seph Jo hnston collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois . 6 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his fr iends , Ap ril 23, 1862, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 7 Th oma s Mi ller, letter to Mr . Benjamin Newt on, December 30, 1861.

8Thomas Miller , letter to Mr . Benjamin Newton, January 8, 1862.

9 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r September 23, 1862, in the Levi Ro ss collection at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 10 Levi Ro ss, diary entry for September 19, 1863.

11Robert Burdette, The Drums of the 4 7th (Indianapolis: Th e Bo bbs-Me rril l Company , 1914)� 91-93. -- 12 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r September 19, 1863; and Burdette, Drums , p. 204. 13 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, Fe bruary 29, 1864, in the He nry Nurse collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 14 . W1 11iam Peter, letter to his family , May 10, 1865, in the Wi lliam and Samuel Peter collection (SC 11 66) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 153

1 5William Peter , letter to his family , January 4 , 1863. 16 Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, Ja nuary 1 4, 1863.

1 7Frank Crowell, letter to his family , September 29, 1863, in the author' s personal collection.

18 Burdette, Drums , p. 7 9 . 19 Ma ry Ann An dersen, ed. , The Civil Wa r Di ary of Al len Mo rgan Ge er, Twentieth Regiment, Illinois VoIUnteers-(Denver:--Robert C. APpleman;-T97 7) , p. 99. 20 Burdette, Drums , p. 63.

2 1Ibid . , p. 6 4 . 22 An dersen, Ge er, p. 95.

23Burdette, Drums , pp. 26-2 7. 24 Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his brother, August 2, 1863, in the Ge orge Mar sh collection (SC 1000) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois .

25Andersen, Geer, p. 18. 26 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r September 20, 1863.

2 7John Sackett, letter to his brother, Oc tober 16, 1862, in the John Sa cke tt collection (SC 1318) at the Il linois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 28 Levi Ro ss, diary entry fo r September 20, 1863.

29Thomas Miller, letter to Mr . Benjami n Newton, April 20, 1862. 30 Bur dette, Drums , pp. 123-124. 3 �i lliam RO �S, letter to his father, April 10, 1862, in the Wi l liam Ro ss collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 3 2 patricia L. Fa ust, ed. , Hi s torical Times Illustrated Encyc lopedia of the Civil Wa r (New Yo rk: Harper & Row , Publishers, 1986), p. 684 . -- 33 D• Du ane Cummi ns and Da ryl Ho hwe iler, eds. , An Enlisted Soldier' s View of the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana: Belle Publications, 1981), p. 35; and Faust, Encyclopedia, p. 667 .

3 4Faus t, Encyclopedia, p. 137 . 35 Levi Ro ss, letter to his parents, October 6, 1863.

36Frank Crow'ell , letter to his family , September 29, 1863. 154

37Th is informa tion can be found in : Br igadier General J.N. Reece, Report of Th e Ad jutant General of the State of Il linois (Springf ield: Phillips Br os . Sta�Pr inters, 1901), volumes I-VI. -- Fo r Wi lliam Ma rsh, see volume I, p. 603. Fo r George Marsh, see volume V, p. 649. Fo r Day Elmore, see volume III, pp. 25-2 7. For John Sackett, see volume III, p. 26. Fo r Samuel Pe ter, see volume VI, p. 379. For Lyman Needham, see volume III, p. 23 7. See also, Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his family , Se ptember 29, 1863; Andersen, Geer, p. 9 9; Henry Nurse, letter to his father, March 28, 1865; and Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mother, October 1, 1863. The information on Edwin Sackett, David King , and James Snell is inadequate. 38 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his family , Se ptember 29, 1863.

39William Peter , letter to his family , January 4, 1863. 40 Ibid •• 4 �enry Nur se, letter to his father, June 29, 1864.

42Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted , p. 63. 43 Thomas �1i ller, letter to Mr . Benjami n Newton, May 2, 1862.

44Day Elmore , letter to his father, October 25, 1862, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicag o Hi s torical Society, Ch icago, Illinois.

45Frank Crowell, letter to his family , September 29, 1863.

46 John Ta llman, letter to his family , October 31, 1862, in the John Tallman collection at the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois� 47 Jo seph Jo hnston, letter to his brother, June 7, 1863.

4 8Burdette, Drums , pp. 94-9 5. 49 Wi lliam Peter, leter to his mo ther, August 10, 1864.

50Levi Ro ss, letter to his parents, July 21, 1864. 51 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, August 10, 1864.

52Richard Puffer , letter to his sister, May 28, 1863, in the Richard Pu ffer collection at the Chicag o Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

53Andersen, Geer, p. 104. 54 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, June 1, 1864.

55Levi Ro ss, letter to his parents, May 11, 1864. 155

56Curtiss Judd , diary entry for Augus t 7, 1864, in the Curtiss Judd collect ion at the Chicag o Hi s torical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

57Day Elmore, letter to his parents, July 26, 1864. 58 Ri chard Pu ffer, letter to his sister, June 23, 1863.

59Joseph Johnston , letter to his brother , June 7, 1863. 60 Andersen, Geer, p. 25. 61 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, June 29, 1864.

62Burdette, Drums, p. 50. 63 LeV1 . Rdoss, 1ar' y entry fObor cto er 8 , 1862 •

64Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther, April 24, 1863. 65 Thoma s Miller, letter to Mr . Be njamin Newt on, Fe bruary 18, 1862.

66Levi Ross, diary entry for October 10, 1862. 67 Levi Ross, letter to his father, Oc tober 26, 1862.

CHAPTER 8

The Un ion Forever

1Mary Ann Andersen, ed. , The Civil Wa r Diary of Allen Mo rgan Geer, Twe ntieth Re giment , Illinois Vo lunteers (Denver: Ro bert C. Ap pleman, 1977), p. 43. 2 D. Du ane Cummins and Da ryl Ho hwe iler, eds. , An Enlisted Soldier' s Vi ew o� the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana : Belle Publications, 1981), p:-45. 3 Wi lliam Ma rsh, letter to his mo ther, August 14, 1862, in the Wi lliam Mar sh collection (SC 1002) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 4 Levi Ro ss, diary entry for February 3, 1863.

5Andersen, Geer, p. 56. 6 Frank Cr owell, letter to his mo ther, December 20, 1862, in the author' s personal collection. 7 Wi 1liam Ro ss, letter to his brother, Se ptember 30, 1862, in the Wi lliam Ro ss collection at the Chicago His"torica1 Society , Chicago, Illinois . 8 Wi l liam Ro ss, letter to his father, Oc tober 15, 1862.

9Wil1iam Ro s s, letter to his father, November 2, 1862. 1 56

l Owilliam Ro ss, letter to his father, January 1, 1863.

l �-1i lliam Ro ss, letter to his father, Fe bruary 18, 1863.

12William Ro ss, letter to his father, February 2, 1863. 1 3 Levi Ro ss, letter to his father, Fe bruary 3, 1863.

1 4Levi Ros s, diary entry for November 30, 1862. 15 Thoma s ltl ller, letter to Mr . Benjami n Newton, Fe bruary 21, 1863, in the Thomas Miller collection (SC 1050a) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 16 wi lliam Marsh, letter to his father, August 1 4, 1862. The Il linois State Constitution during the war prohibited blacks from residing in the state. 1 7 Napo lean Bartlett, letter to his brother, August 2, 1864, in the Na polean Bar tlett collection at the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago , Il linois. 18 John Given, letter to his sister, November 13, 1862 , in the John Given collection (SC 562) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield , Il linois. 1 9 Au stin Andrews, letter to his sister, De cember 2, 1862, in the Au stin Andrews collection (SC 1 7 06) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois.

20Ib id • •

21 Ge orge Marsh, letter to his brother, December 2 5 , 1863, in the George Marsh collection (SC 1000) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 22 Samuel Pe ter, letter to his brother and sister, Oc tober 2 7 , 1 862, in the William and Samuel Peter collection (SC 1166) at the Illinois State Hi stor.ical Li brary , Springf ield, Illinois.

23Levi Ro s s, diary entry for March 23, 1863.

2 4John Given, letter to his sister, November 13, 1862.

2 5William Marsh , letter to his father, July 15, 1862. 26 Frank. Cr owe ll, letter to his father, December 2 7 , 1863.

2 7Andersen, Geer, p. 26. 28 Ge orge Ma rsh, letter to his brother, Se ptember 25, 1862. 157

29Lyman Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, August 20, 1862, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Il linois State Hi s torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 3 0 Ri chard Puffer, letter to his sister, Oc tober 17, 1862, in the Richard Puffer collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 3 �ichard Pu ffer, letter to his sister, Fe bruary 12, 1863.

32Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, June 2, 1863. 33 wi lliam Peter, letter to his sister, August 27, 1863, in the Wi lliam and Samue l Peter collection (SC 1166 ) at the Illinois State Historical Li brary , Springf ield, Illinois. 34 wi lliam Ro ss, letter to his father, Fe bruary 2, 1863.

35William Ros s, letter to his father, February 18, 1863. 36 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, Ma rch 6, 1863.

37Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther, May 1, 1865, in the author's personal collection. 38 Samuel Pe ter, letter to his sister, Oc tober 6, 1862.

39Henry Nurse, letter to his father, November 30, 1862, in the Henry Nu rse collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 40 He nry Nurse, letter to his father, April 3, 1863.

41Day Elmore , letter to his parents, November 8, 1864, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicag o Hi s torical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

4 2Levi Ros s, letter to his parent s, November 3, 1864. 4 3 Cyrus Eyster, letter to his cousin, April 6, 1863, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 44 Frank. Cr owe ll, letter to his father, March 2, 1863.

45Lyman Needham , letter to his brother and sister, Apr il 3, 1863. 46 Lev� . Ross, 1 etter to h' �s parents, June26 , 1863•

47Andersen, Geer, p. 106. 48 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, June 13, 1863.

49Day Elmore , letter to his parents, February 3, 1864. 158

50David King , Jr. , letter to his sister , June 16, 1861, in the King fami ly collection (Box #4) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 51 Wi lliam Peter, letter to his sister, Se ptember 23, 1863.

52Thomas Miller, letter to Mr. Benjamin Newton, February 10, 1862. 53 Levi Ro ss, diary entry for April 12, 1863.

5 4Richard Puffer, letter to his sister, October 17, 1862.

55 Levi Ross, diary entry for November 30, 1862.

56Levi Ro ss, letter to his sister, March 3, 1863. 57 Henry Nur se, letter to his father, March 30, 1864.

58Lyman Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, Decemb er 17, 1862. 59 Ri chard Pu ffer, letter to his sister, December 20, 1863.

60William Peter, letter to his parents , January 8, 1863. 61 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, February 3, 1864.

62Roy P. Basler, ed. , The Collected Wo rks of Abraham Li ncoln, VII (New Brunswi ck , New Je rsey: Rutgers Un iversity Pres� 1953), p. 23.

CHAPTER 9

A Br other' s Wa r

1Robert Burdette, The Drums of the 47th (Indianapolis: The Bo bbs-Merrill Company , 1914) , p. 22. 2 D• Duane Cummins and Daryl Ho hwe iler, eds., An Enlis ted Soldier' s Vi ew of the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana : Belle Publications, 1981), p�, -- - 4 8,63'. 3 Ibid. , p. 48.

4 Levi Ro ss, letter to his parents, Oc tober 6, 1863, and letter to his parents, May 4, 1864, both in the Levi Ro ss collection at the Illinois State Hi s torical Library , Springf ield, Illinois.

5Levi Ross, letter, letter to his parents, December 16, 1864. 6 John Given, letter to his mother, November 9, 1862, in the John Given collection (SC 562) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Il linois. 1 59

7Edward Crowell, letter to his mo ther, February 1 0 , 1863, in the author' s personal collection. 8 Cummi ns and Ho hwe iler, En listed , p. 5.

9Day Elmore , letter to his parents, August 7, 1863 , in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Il linois.

10William Peter, letter to his sister, August 2 7 , 1863, in the William and Samuel Peter collection (SC 1166) at the Il linois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 11 Levi Ro ss, diary entry for December 3, 1863.

12Mary Ann Andersen, ed. , The Civil Wa r Diary of Allen Morgan Geer, Twe ntieth Regiment , Il linois VolUnteers-(nenver:--Ro bert C. Ap pl ema�9 77) , p. 7 1- 13 Ibl.. d. , p. 7 2.

1 4Ib id. , p. 33. 1 5 Cummi ns and Ho hwe iler, Enlisted , p. 9 .

16Edwin Sackett , letter to his family , December 27, 1861, in the John Sa cke tt collection (SC 1318) at the Il linois State Hi storical Li brary , Springfield, Illinois. 1 7 Wi lliam Ro ss, letter to his father, Ap ril 10, 1862, in the Wi lliam Ro ss collection at the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois . 18 Levl. . Ros s, I etter to hi s parents, July 21,1 86 4 •

19Burdette, Drums, p. 128. 20 Ib id., p. 129. 1 2 Ri chard Pu ffer, letter to his sister, May 28, 1863, in the Richard Puffer coll ection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicag o, Illinois. 2 �e nry Nurse, letter to his father, June 20, 1864, in the He nry Nur se collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Il linois. 23 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, July 2, 1864.

2 4Day Elmore , letter to his parents, Augus t 7, 1863. 2 5 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, August 3, 1863, in the Lyman Ne edham collection (SC 1094 ) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Il linois. 26 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his father, Fe bruary 1, 1864, in the author' s per sonal collection . 160

2 7Andersen, Geer, p. 105.

2 Bgdwa rd Cr owe ll, letter to his mother, January 12, 1863.

29Richard Puffer , letter to his sister, October 1 7 , 1863. 30 He nry Nurse, letter to his father, June 15, 1864.

3 1Levi Ross, diary entry for January 2, 1863. 32 John Given, letter to his mother, November 26, 1862.

3 3Levi Ross, letter to his parents, January 25, 1863. 34 Edward Cr owe ll, letter to his mother, January 23, 1864.

3 �dward Crowell, letter to his mo ther, March 4 , 1863. 36 Frank Crowe ll, letter to his father, March 2, 1863.

3 7Andersen, Geer, p. 4 1. 38 Joseph Jo hnston, letter to his mother, March 31, 1862, and letter to his mother, August 16, 1862, both in the Jo seph Johnston collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Ch icago, Illinois.

39Levi Ros s, letter to his father, September 16, 1862. 0 4 Jo hn Sacke tt, letter to his brother, June 10, 1862, in the John Sackett c0llec tion (SC 1318) at the Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Il linois. 4 1 Jo hn Sacke tt, letter to his brother, August 17, 1862.

4 2George Marsh, letter to his brother, January 1 4, 1864 , in the George Ma rsh collection (SC 1000) at the Il linois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinoi s. 4 3 John Ta llman, letter to his brother, November 27, 1862, in the John Tallman collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois .

4 4Jo seph Jo hnston, letter to his mother, May ?, 1862.

45Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther, May 1, 1865 . 4 �i lliam Ma rsh, letter to his father, July 1 5, 1862, in the Wi lliam Marsh collection (SC 1002) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Spr ingf ield, Illinois. 47 Jo seph Jo hnston, letter to his mother, May ?, 1862.

4 8Frank Crowell , letter to his father, June 5 , 1863.

4 9 John Ta llman, letter to his sister, Ma rch 25, 1863. 161

50John Tallman , letter to his sister, October 25, 1863. 51 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mo ther, Ap ril 29, 1863.

52George Marsh, letter to his brother, May 19, 1863. 5 3 Edwa rd Crowell, letter to his mother, March 4, 1863.

54John Given, letter to his brother, October 14, 1862. 55 , Frank Crowell, letter to his mother, April 7, 1863.

56Lyman Needham , letter to his friends, November 9, 1862. 57 Edwa rd Crowell, letter to his mo ther, May 23, 1864.

58Cummins and Hohweiler, Enlisted , p. 8. 5 9 Day El mo re, 1 e tter to his parents, Apr il 14 , 1863 •

60Frank Crowell , letter to his mo ther, April 23, 1865. 61 Cur tiss Jud d, diary entry fo r January 31, 1864, in the Curtiss Judd collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 62 Edwa rd Crowe ll, letter to his mo ther, July, 22, 1864.

63Frank Crowell , letter to his father , June 26, 1864. 64 Lyman Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, August 20, 1862.

65Frank Crowell , "I'm Off For Charlston ," January 23, 1864. 66 He nry Nur se, letter to his father, November 30, 1862.

67Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, December 2, 1862, in the Au stin Andrews collection (SC 1 706) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 6 Bwilliam Peter, letter to his sister, August 27, 1863.

69Henry Nurse, letter to his father, November 30, 1863. 70 John Ta llman, letter to his sister, April 12, 1864.

7 1Austin Andrews , letter to his sister, December 2, 1862. 7 �enry Up ton, letter to Mr . John Marsh, December 16, 1862, in the George Marsh collection (SC 1000) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 73 Lev� . R oss, d iary entry for November 8 ,1863 •

74Andersen, Geer, pp . 37�38. 1 62

75Ib id. , p. 72. 7 6 1 b id ., P • 7 3 • 77 Patricia L. Fa ust, ed. , Hi storical Time s Il lustrated Encyc lopedia of the Civil Wa r (New York: Ha rper & Row , Publishers, 1986), pp. 603-604. 7 8 Andersen, Geer, p. 102. 7 9 He nry Up ton, letter to Mr . John Ma rsh, December 16, 1862.

80William Marsh, letter to his family , February 17, 1863. 81 Levi Ro ss, letter to his father, January 6, 1863.

82Wi11iam Peter , letter to his mo ther, May 11, 1865.

CHAPTER 10

State Sovereignty, National Unity 1 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, September 1 7 , 1862, in the Day Elmore collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 2 D. Du ane Cummins and Da ryl Ho hwe il er, eds. , An Enlisted Soldier' s Vi ew of the Civil Wa r (West Lafayette, Indiana : Belle Publicaltions, 1981), PP:-9 - and)2. -- 3 Wi lliam Peter, letter to his mother, November 23, 1863, in the Wi lliam and Samuel Peter collection (SC 1166 ) at the Illinos State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Il linois. 4 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, May 10, 1863, in the Lyman Needham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 5 Wi lliam Ro ss, letter to his father, February 18, 1863, in the Wi l liam Ro ss collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 6 Ma ry Ann Andersen, ed. , The Civil Wa r Diary of Al len Mo rgan Ge er, Twentieth Regiment, Illinois VOIUnteera (Denver:- Robert C. Ap pl ema-U:-1 977), p. 52. 7 Ibid., p. 53. 8 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, May 24, 1863.

9Levi Ro ss, diary entry for May 6, 1863, in the Levi Ross collection at the Il linois .State Hi storical Library , Spr ingf ield, Illinois.

10 Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther, Augus t 9, 1863, in the author' s personal collection. 163

llAndersen, Geer, p. 113.

l �enry Nur se, letter to his father, June 7, 1864, in the Henry Nur se collection (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield , Illinois. 13 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mo ther, November 5, 1863, in the author' s personal collection. 14 Henry Nu rse, letter to his father, September 10, 1864.

15Levi Ros s, letter to his sister , Janurary 24, 1864. 16 th Ro bert Burdette, The Drums of the 47 (Indi anapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company , 1914):-p:-176.--- -- 17 Andersen, Geer, p. 25. 18 Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mother, May ?, 1862, in the Jo seph Johnston collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois . 19 Henry Up ton, letter to Mr . John Ma rsh, December 16, 1862, in the Ge orge Marsh collection (SC 1000 ) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 20 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother, June 6, 1862.

21Jo seph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, September 5, 1863. 2 �enry Nur se, letter to his father, December 1 7, 1864. 23Patricia L. Faust, ed., Historical Time s Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil Wa r (New York : Ha rper & Row , Publishers , 1 986) , p . 378.

24John Sackett, letter to his brother, September 4, 1862, in the John Sacke tt collection (SC 1318) at the Illinois State Hi storical Society, Springfield, Illinois. 25 Day Elmore, letter to his parents, Se ptember 29, 1862.

26Day Elmore , letter to his father, August 23, 1862. 27 Au stin Andrews , letter to his sister, August 16, 1863, in the Au stin Andrews collection (SC 1706) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinois. 28 Frank Cr owe ll, letter to his mother, January 15, 1864.

29Levi Ross , letter to his father, March 25, 1863. 30 Fr ank Cr owe ll, letter to his mo ther, Ja nuary 15, 1864.

31Lyman Needham , letter to his brother and sister, Ma rch 6, 1863. 164

32Burdette, Orums , p. 13. 33 Joseph Jo hnston, letter to his father, November 3, 1861.

340ay Elmore , letter to his father, August 23, 1862.

3 5 John Sackett, letter to his brothers, November 6, 1861.

360ay Elmore , letter to his brother, Oc tober 25, 1861. 37 Lyman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, September 24, 1861.

380ay Elmore , letter to his parents, January 8, 1863. 3 9 Joseph Johnston, letter to his mo ther, January 14, 1863.

40Edward Crowell , letter to his mo ther, September 11, 1864. 41 Na po1ean Bartlett, letter to his brother, July 22, 1864, in the Na po1ean Bartlett collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois. 4 �yman Ne edham, letter to his brother and sister, July 18, 1863. 430ay Elmore , letter to his parents, May 24, 1863.

4 4Th �s, ifn ormat�' on was provided in t h e co 11ect �on. at the Chicago Historical Society . He wa s born February 2, 1843 at State and Lake in Chicago. 45 0ay Elmore' s discharge fo r his first term, issued April 28, 1864, stated that he wa s born in Truman sburg , New York . In his application for membership in the Mi litary Order of the Loyal Legion, dated January 19, 1903, Levi Ro ss stated that he wa s born in Eden, New York. Both manuscripts are part of the respective collections. 46 ' Lyman Ne edham , letter to his brother and sister, August 4, 1861; and United States Census of 1860, state of Illinois, Ogle County , Marion Township . 4 7 Cummi ns and Ho hwe i1er, Enlisted , p. xix.

480ay Elmore, letter to his brother, April 3, 1864. 49 L ev� . Ross, 1 etter to hi s parents, Ja nuary 25 , 1863•

50Cummins and Hohwei1er, Enlisted, p. 34. 51 Burdette, Orums , pp. 1 3 6-1 37. 165

Glossary

Army : (1) Al l of the land fo rces of a nation, such as the Un ited States Army . (2) The largest form of millitary organization. Large armies contained several corps . Federal armies, such aas the Army of the Po tomac, were commanded by major generals . Important armies in wh ich Illinois soldiers served we re: the Army of the Tennessee, the Army of the Cumberland , the Army of the Ohio, and the Army of Georgia.

Ba ttalion: (1) Informal,. a collection of two or mo re companies . (2) Fo rmal, an infantry unit consisting of fewe r than ten companies. All regiments were battalions (informal) ; not every battalion was a regiment (formal). See : Regiment, Company .

Ba ttery: Th e basic un it of organization fo r artil lery . Fo r Federal field artillery, usually six guns, plus the required limb ers and caissons.

Br igade (abbreviated Brig.): An organization of two or mo re regiments , usually about three to five regiment s. Federal brigades were commanded by colonels or brigadier generals.

Captain (abbreviated Capt .): A commissioned officer, above a lieutenant , and below a ' major . Companies we re supposed to be commanded by a captain. See: Company .

Cavalry : Mounted troops trained to fight on horseback . They we re armed wi th sabers, pistols, and carbines. Mounted infantry rode horses but we re trained to fight on foot. They we re armed wi th rifles and bayonets.

C0lonel (abbreviated Col .): A commissioned officer in rank above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general . Co lonels we re to lead regiment s and frequently commanded brigades . See : Regiment, Br igade.

Company (abbreviated Co .): Vo lun teer regiments had 10 companies, lettered

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K. Companies we re supposed to contain 100 me n: one captain, two lieutenants, five sergeants , eight corporals , and 84 privates. After deaths from combat and disease, and di scharges due to po or health, most companies had much less than 100 men. Many companies never began full. Recruits enlisted for a specific company of a regiment and almost always remained in that company . See: Regiment.

Corps: An organizat ion of two to four divisions . Co rps we re the second largest unit of organization after armies. Federal corps were given a Roman nume ral to identify them and we re usually commanded by major generals .

Corpo ral : A non-commi ssioned officer betwe en a private and a sergeant . Identified by two chevrons on the sleeve.

Divi sion: A unit consisting of two or mo re (usually three) brigades . Federal divisions were usually commanded by brigadier generals . 166

General: The highest officer rank consisting of three grades in the Federal Army . The highest wa s lieutenant general and wa s signfied by three stars. (Grant wa s the only lieutenant general .) The middle grade , ma jor general, wa s signified by two stars.. The lowe st we re the brigadier generals . They wore one star. Regardless of grade, all were addressed as "general ."

Li eutenant (Abbreviated Li eut., Lieu. , �): The lowe st rank of commissioned officers. Each company was to have a first and a second lieutenant.

Lieutenant Colonel: Each regiment wa s to have a lieutenant colonel as a second in command . If the colonel of a regiment wa s lost, the regiment woul d be commanded by the lieutenant colonel, wh o frequently was not promoted to colonel.

Ma jor: Ea ch regiment had one ma jor, wh ose du ties we re obscure. Ma jors assisted the colonel .

Picke t: (1 ) Noun,' an advance guard of a larger fo rce. Pi cke ts we re to prevent surprise attacks. (2) Verb , the act of being a guard , eg "picketting a camp."

Pr ivate: The lowest grade of the enlisted men .

Rpgiment (Abbreviated Re g. or Regt.): The basic un it fo r Civil Wa r

organization. Volunteer (as opposed to U. S. Regular) infantry regiments we re to have ten companies. each of 100 men. Most regiments we re muc h smaller once they had been in service for a wh ile. Veteran regiments usually numbered betwe en 200 to 400 men. Th e mo st important aspect of regiments is integrity . The soldiers of a regiment were kept together. Brigades , divisions , and corps may have been rearranged, but

regiments stayed as one unit. A soldier might serve in a number of brigades, divis ions and corps, but be in only one regiment. Regimen ts we re organi zed by states and given a number. A Federal regiment wa s kn own by its state and number.

Se rgeant: Th e highest non-commi ssioned officer id entified by three chevrons on the sleeve. Sergeants were responsible for much of the drill. First sergeants performed the administrative du ties of a company . Captains led a company in battle ; the sergeant s, in practice , ran a company wh ile in camp .

Skirmishers: Tr oops who formed a loose, open-order line in advance of the main battle line. Generally used by the attacker to determine the enemy's strength befo re large quantities of troops we re committed to action.

Straggler: A soldier wh o did not ke ep up wi th his regiment on a march.

Sutler : l� rchants licensed by the government to sell food , clothing and other goods to the soldiers. Generally , each regiment had its own sutler who would extend credit to the members of that regiment . 167

Bibliography

Prima ry Sources

Manuscript Sources th An drews, Corporal Au stin S. , (12 Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the Austin Andrews collection (SC 1 7 06) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield, Illinois. . th Ba rtlett, Private Na po lean B., (76 Illinois Infantry) , letters , in the Na polean Bartlett collection at the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois. th Ch ildress, Private Ge orge L. , (66 Illinois Infantry) , diary , in the George Childress collection (SC 283) at the Illinois State Hi storical Li brary , Springfield, Illinois.

Crowell, Private Edward W. , (92nd Illinois Infantry ), letters, in the authors' s personal collection. nd Crowe ll, Private Francis G. , (92 Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the author's personal collec tion. th Elmore, Se rgeant Day, (36 Illinois In fantry) , letters , in the Day Elmore collec tion at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Illinois. nd Ey ster, Pr ivate Cyrus, (92 Illinois In fantry) , letters, in the Lyman Needham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois.

th Given, Private John G. , (l24 Illinois Infantry) , letters , in the John Given collection (SC 562) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. th Jo hnston, Corporal Joseph S., (19 Illinois In fantry) , letters and diary , in the Joseph Johnston collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. th Jud d, Se rgeant-Major Curtiss, (129 Illinois Infantry) , diary, in the Curtiss Judd collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society, Chicago , Illinois.

th King , Pr ivate/ Sergeant David, Jr ., (lO Illinois (3 months) Infantry/ 68th Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the King family collection (Box #4) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois.

Marsh, Se rgeant Ge orge, (104th Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the Ge orge Marsh collection (SC 1000) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. th Ma rsh, Private Wi lliam, (13 Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the Wi lliam 168

Marsh collection (SC 1002) at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. th Mi ller, Pr ivate Thoma s F., (29 Illinois Infantry) , letters , in the Thomas Mi ller collection (SC 1050a) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield, Illinois. nd Ne edham, Sergeant Lyman H. , ( 4 2 Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the Lyman Needham collection (SC 1094) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Spr ingf ield, Illinois. th Nu r se, Pr iva te He nry H. , (86 Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the Henry Nurse coll.ec tion , (SC 2048) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. nd Pe ter, Pr ivate Samuel, (122 Illinois Infantry) , letters , in the Wi lliam and Samue l Peter collection (SC 1166 ) at the Illinois State Hi storical Li brary , Spr ingf ield, Illinois .

Peter, Pr ivate William H. , (122nd Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the Wi lliam and Samuel Peter collection (SC 1166) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springfield , Illinois. th Pu ffer, Pr ivate Ri chard R. , (8 Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the Richard Puffer collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. th Ro ss, Se rgeant Levi A. , (86 Illinois Infantry) , letters and diary , in the Levi Ross collec tion at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. th Ro ss, Co rporal Wi lliam H. , (40 Illinois In fantry) , letters , in the William Ro ss collection at the Chicago Hi storical Society , Chicago, Illinois. nd Sa cke tt, Pr ivate Edwin C., (52 Il linois Infantry) , letters, in the John Sackett collection (SC 13 18) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Spr ingf ield, Il linois. th Sacke tt, Pr ivate John, (36 Illinois Infantry) , letters, in the John Sackett collection (SC 1318) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. nd Sn ell, Pr ivate James P. , (52 Illinois Infantry) , diary, in the James Snell collection at the Illinois State Historical Library , Springfield , Illinois. th Ta llman, Pr ivate-Musician John, (76 Illinois Infantry), letters, in the John Tallman collection at the Chicago Historical Society , Chicago, Il linois. th Up ton, Sergeant He nry , (104 Illinois Infantry) , letter, in the Ge orge lfursh collection (SC 1002) at the Illinois State Hi storical Library , Springf ield, Illinois. 169

Published Sources

An dersen, Mary An n, ed. , The Civil Wa r Di ary of Al len Mo rgan Gee r, Twentieth Regiment, Illinois Vo lunteers, Denver : Robert C. Ap pl eman, 1977. th Burdette, Robert, The Drums of the 47 , Indianapo lis: Th e Bobbs-Merrill Comp any , 191� --

Cummi ns , D. Duane, and Ho hwe iler, Da ryl , eds., An Enlisted Soldier' s View of the Civil Wa r, We st Lafayette, Indiana: Belle Pub lications, 1981-.--

Secondary Sour ces

At kins, General S.D. ; Sheets, General B.F.; and Hawk , Major R.M.A. , Ninety­ Se cond Il linois Vo lunteers , Fr eeport, Illinois: Journal Steam Publishing House and Bookbindery , 1875.

Ba sler, Roy P. , ed. , The Collected Wo rks of Abraham Li ncoln, VII, New Brunswick , New Jersey: Rutgers university Press, 1953.

Faust, Patricia L. , ed. , Hi s torical Time s Il lustrated En cyc lopedia of the Civil War, New York: Harper & Row , Publishers , 1986.

Gr iffen, Ve lma , ed. , "The Tribe of Dan ••• and Ma rtha," Blue ! Gray Magazine, II, 4, (March 1985), pp . 26-29.

Reece, Br igadier .General J.N. , Ad jutant Ge neral, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, Springfield , Illinois: Ph illips Bros . State-Pr inters , 1901.

United States Census of 1860, State of Illinois, Ogle County , Marion Township.

Wi ley , Be ll 1. , The Li fe of Billy Ya nk, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Un iversity Press, 1986.