USA > Illinois > The story of the Fifty-fifth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1865 > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
Gc 973. 74 IL5ile 1753564
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01083 4205
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012
http://archive.org/details/storyoffiftyfift00illi
W T
THE STORY
OF THE
FIFTY-FIFTH REGIMENT
ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
---
IN THE
CIVIL WAR
1861-1865
BY A COMMITTEE OF THE REGIMENT
1887
---
1753564
34622
Illinois infantry. 55th reg't, 1861-1865.
The story of the Fifty-fifth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1865. By a committee of the regiment. Clinton, Mass., Printed by W. J. Coulter] 1887.
519 p. 231cm.
CONTENTS .- pt. 1. From Chicago to Arkansas Post. October, 18GI to Jan- uary, 1863. By Captain Lucien B. Crooker .-- pt. n. From Young's Point to AHELP CARDAtlanta. January, 1865 to November, INHA. By Captain Henrys. Noure .- pt. II. From Atlanta to Chicago. November, 1564 to August. 1835. By Sergeant-Major John G. Brown. Personal reminiscences of Chaplain Haney. Appendix.
Subject entries : U. S .- Ilist .- Civil war-Regimental histories-Il. ini .- 55th.
.1 4593
F 3349 .16
TO
THE MEMORY OF OUR DEAD COMRADES
OF THE FIFTY-FIFTH'
THESE RECORDS OF PATRIOTIC SERVICE IN CAMP, BATTLE, MARCH AND SIEGE, ARE REVERENTLY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
THE following unambitious pages have been written at the solicitation and for the gratification of a little brother- hood of war-scorched and time-harried survivors of one of the regiments constituting General William Tecumseh Sher- man's first Western brigade; a regiment that followed him from the drill-ground of 1861 at St. Louis, to the triumphal review at Washington in 1865; that earned by sacrifice rarely equalled the right to inscribe upon its banner the names of nearly all the famous battle-fields whereon Sherman had any command, from Shiloh to Bentonville; that left graves of its battle-martyrs in the soil of eight rebellious commonwealths; that during the four years of its service travelled nearly twelve thousand miles, campaigning in every state south of Mason and Dixon's line, save three at the extreme corners of the Confederacy - Delaware, Florida and Texas.
The three comrades detailed to share the composition of this volume are severally responsible for the opinions ad- vanced in, and the fashion of, their own portions only of the narrative, and to each individually belongs the praise or blame due to his special contribution. Their labors have been entirely gratuitous. Their facts have been gleaned from every available source, but chiefly from careful collation of numerous army letters and diaries of soldiers. An ex- haustive research among the war documents in the office of the Adjutant-General of Illinois has been made by Captain
6
PREFACE.
L. B. Crooker, and literal copies of those most material to the regimental story have been obtained. A complete file of the Chicago Tribune has also been examined. Both earliest dispatches and latest official reports have been diligently studied,-but not blindly followed, for those who have helped make the history of which they write, rarely acknowledge newspaper correspondents, or even generals, to be infallible.
The authors have penned these records conscientiously, with an enthusiastic pride in the achievements and fame of their regiment; but they have not, like most regimental his- torians, entirely ignored the fact that in army life antago- nisms rankled and human passions raged, even when not aroused by the frantic charge or in the fume of desperate strife. Some will doubtless deprecate this unreserve-per- haps censure the frank characterization of certain officials. But, standing off at the cool distance of a quarter of a cen- tury from the heat of conflict, it should be safe to abate somewhat of the usual indiscriminate and turgid eulogy of those in high position for the sake of faithful verity, as well as to pay simple justice to the patriotic rank and file. At least, it seems axiomatic to the writers of this volume that the revealing of truth and not its suppression is the proper purpose of history; and that no one, yielding to a timorous sentimentality, should dare, by glossing the short-comings of those who were by chance clothed in a little brief authority, to dim however slightly the bright meed of the unstarred majority. If at certain epochs the men of the Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry were discontent under grave maladministra- tion of their affairs, or dispirited by a sense of wrong done them, and yet did well their whole duty under all trials, they might justly and sternly blame the records that should fail to give them full credit for so rare merit.
The first four chapters, including the period from regi- mental organization in October, 1861, to the victory at Arkansas Post in January, 1863, were written by Captain Lucien B. Crooker of Mendota, Illinois. Chapters five to nine inclusive, beginning with the Vicksburg campaign and closing with the return to Atlanta of Sherman's army after the pursuit of Hood in November, IS64, were contributed
7
PREFACE.
by Captain Henry S. Nourse of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Chapters ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen, telling the story of the march to Savannah and through the Carolinas, and of the subsequent service of the regiment until its muster out in August, 1865, are by Sergeant-Major John G. Brown of Mar- shalltown, Iowa. The closing chapter, by Chaplain Milton L. Haney, was written at the unanimous request of the vet- erans assembled in reunion at Moline, Illinois, November II, 1886. The roster has been prepared by various hands under the advice of Adjutant Francis P. Fisher.
The Committee of Publication, appointed at the first re- union of the survivors of the regiment, held at Canton, Ill., October 31. 1884, were Captains Lucien B. Crooker and John T. McAuley, and Adjutant Francis P. Fisher. Captain Henry Augustine has been treasurer of the History Fund, and Lieu- tenant Joseph Hartsook, secretary of the regimental Associa- tion. Both have rendered faithful service. The generous contributions of certain comrades toward the cost of publi- cation would seem to deserve especial mention, but the diffi -. culty of justly apportioning such credit is happily obviated by their modesty, which shrinks from any publicity.
To J. W. Vance, Adjutant-General of Illinois, thanks are due for uniform courtesy and valuable assistance.
OCTOBER, 1887.
NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
Several comrades have, by their diaries, war correspondence or rem- iniscences, furnished valuable material for the following pages; while many others have by letter supplied items of interest from their recollec- tions. To the following, the Committee of Publication, desire to make due acknowledgment for aid thus rendered: Joseph Hartsook, John B. Ridenour, Curtis P. Lacey, John Averill, Peter Roberts, A. B. Wetzel, Francis H. Shaw, Henry Augustine, Jacob Fink, Milton L. Haney, Robert M. Cox, Robert Oliver, John W. Edwards, Horace T. Healey, James W. Gay, Robert Dixon, John H. Fisher, A. A. Williams, Timothy Slattery, Thomas P. Latimer, Calvin A. Songster, John Sheneman, John Warden, Orion P. Howe, J. H. Myers, C. R. Fluke, W. H. Lowe, C. C. Davis, H. H. Kendrick, Peter Leibundguth, Ezra Witter, Richard Taylor, E. J. Porter, C. M. Browne, Fred Ebersold, N. S. Aagesen, J. C. Garner, Charles B. Wood, H. H. Joslin, H. M. Haney, G. W. Curfman, Robert A. Lower, Albert F. Paden, Charles L. West, J. H. Mills, William H. Barkley, James H. Brazleton, G. M. Burnside, Albert B. Maxwell, Stephen R. Bell, F. H. Sanders, A. Mead, Joseph Hebb, Washington A. Biggs.
The very extensive correspondence, and the wide separation of the authors may, perhaps, have caused others, equally deserving, to be over- looked.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
OCTOBER, 1861, TO JANUARY, 1863.
CHAPTER I.
CAMP DOUGLAS .- BENTON BARRACKS .- PADUCAH .- TENNESSEE RIVER. Old Camp Douglas and the Douglas Brigade. David Stuart. The Forty- second Illinois Infantry departs. Oscar Malmborg appears. A vigilant Sentinel. Colonel Stuart's Energy under Difficulties. Removal to New Camp Douglas. Methodist Ministers as Recruiting Officers. Revolv- ing Rifles and Sharp-shooting. Discipline and Drill. Organization of the Fifty-fifth. Drummed out of Camp. Arbitrary Promotions and Transfers. Running the Guard. The Original Roster of Officers. Farewell to Chicago. Grand Military Ovation. Peculiar Organization of the Fifty-fifth. At Benton Barracks, St. Louis. William Tecumseh Sherman Appears upon the Scene. The Regiment Receives Worthless Arms. Sergeant Kendrick's Protest. Down the Mississippi on the D). A. January: Stuck on a Sand-bar. Arrival at Paducah. The Camp in the Snow. The Orderly-Sergeants and Colonel Stuart's Oration to them. Building a Fort. Fun at the Sutlers'. The Dresden Rifle issued. The Fifty-fifth Delegate at Donelson. The Brass Band Departs. Numer- ous Changes in the Line Officers. Expedition to Columbus, Ky. The Regimental Baggage Train. On the Steamboat Hannibal, up the Ten- nessee. Colonel Stuart Airs his Eloquence. Sundry Promotions. Ex- pedition to Tyler's Landing. Return to Pittsburgh Landing .. . 17-65.
CHAPTER II. THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.
Pittsburgh Landing Described. The Little Peach Orchard at Locust Creek. Camps of Stuart's Brigade. Shiloh Church. Reconnoissance to Monterey. Captain Clay's only Capture. The Grand Left Wheel of
10
CONTENTS.
the Confederate Army. The Friday Night Alarm. The Day before the Struggle. The Union General's Delusion. Opening of the Great Battle of Sunday. The Condition of the Federal Lines. Stuart's Re- port. Comments upon the Report. Vindication of the Fifty-fourth Ohio. Disgrace of the Seventy-first Ohio. General Sherman's Report. "A Section of a Battle." Absurd Tactics. Colonel Stuart's Gallantry. Captain Lockett's Mistake. Chaliners' and Jackson's Brigades De- tached from the Confederate Right to Meet Stuart. A Fearful Retreat. Rally at the Landing. The Confederates' Opportunity Lost. The Massed Artillery Opens. The Last Rebel Charge Repulsed. The Chaplain's Work of Mercy. Monday Morning. The Fifty-fifth in Battle on the Right Flank. The Thicket of Water-Oaks. The Con- flict about Shiloh Church. The Battle Won. General Bragg's Lamen- tation. Personal Incidents. The Postmaster's Return to Camp. Death of Sergeant Bagley. Goodwin's Heroism. Little Joe Awakens in Strange Company. Garner not Killed. The Dead Bugler. The Skir- mishers. Burial of the Slain Heroes. Shiloh Revisited. The National Cemetery. Condition of the Battle-field. The Old Graves. The Cas- ualties on the Left of Grant's Army. The Sanguinary Character of the Battle. Extraordinary Losses ot the Fifty-fifth. 66-134.
CHAPTER III.
AFTER SHILOH .- CORINTH TO MEMPHIS.
The Camp at Shiloh Church. Patriotic Letter of Captain Thurston, etc. The Seventy-first Ohio Sent to the Rear. Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith Supersedes Stuart. "The Prettiest Little Fight of the War." "Hurrah for the Fifty-fifth!" Ebersold's Conclusive Evidence. Building Earth-works. Lieutenant Von Johnson's Arrest. A Forward Move- ment. The Stag Hunt. Corinth Evacuated. Halleck's Barren Vic- tory. Stuart's Cheaply-Won Honor. Marching and Countermarching. Captain Thurston Goes Home. A Burial by Night. The Brigade runs a Bank. The Sixth Missouri's New Hats Disgraced. Company I Steals a Ham. Only the Top Rail. Memphis Entered. Fogarty's Best. A Summer Camp. Novel Guard Duty. Review and Exhibition Drills. Harvesting Sweet Potatoes. Expedition to Hernando. Lieutenant- Colonel Malmborg Heroically Shares in the Privations of the Men. Shelby Depot and the Cotton-burners Visited. Fisher Falls out of the Window. Captain Black and Sergeant Lomax Assaulted in the Rear. Blahs Astonishes the Ladies. Camp Architecture. Oliver Blows up the Cooks. Contrabands. Augustine's Narrow Escape. Promotions but no Commissions. Stuart again in Command of a Brigade. Corres- pondence with Governor Yates. Stuart's Scurrilous Letter. The Offi- cers Vindicated. 135-178.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
TALLAHATCHIE .-- CHICKASAW BAYOU .- ARKANSAS POST.
Leaving Memphis. Shelter Tents. Rations and Baggage. Pigeon-Roost Creck. Inspiring Exhortation of the Chaplain. Across the Tallahatchie. Jim Watkins shifts a Responsibility. Return to Memphis. Loss of Division Train. Down the Mississippi. Vicksburg and the Yazoo. March to the Field. The Battle Cry of Freedom. Skirmishing Begins. "Column py File." The Bayou. Dick Needham's Advance. Bom- bardment of the Southern Confederacy. General M. L. Smith Wound- ed. Heavy Cannonading. Sharp-shooting across the Bayou. Captain Schleich Killed. The Brigade Relieved. Colonel Blood and the Sixth Missouri. The Attack a Failure. Up the River. Copperheads of the North. Arkansas Post. Surrounding the Intrenched Camp. The Ten- inch Gun Speaks. The Gun-boat's Answer. The Battle. Nagleschmidt Disgusted. Capture of the Fort. The Remnant of the Fifty-eighth Ohio. Down the Arkansas. Foraging upon a Rebel General. Deser- tions. 179-206.
PART II.
JANUARY, 1863, TO NOVEMBER, 1864.
CHAPTER V.
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.
Down the Mississippi. The Young's-Point Canal. A Gloomy Period in the History of the Regiment. Numerous Changes in Commissioned Officers. The Sham Iron-clad. Copperhead Newspaper Correspond- ents. Drowned-out. The Expedition to Great American Bend. "Ez many Lords ez Debils." A Leak in the Cominissary's Whiskey Barrel .. Farragut's Visit. Colonel Stuart's Farewell. The Fleet Passes the Bat- teries. Arming the Negro. Feint on Haines's Bluff. General Morgan 1 .. Smith 'Comes to See the Boys.' The Flank Movement Begins. Along Lake St. Joseph. Grand Gulf. Testimonial to Surgeon Roler. Battle of Champion's Hill. Across the Big Black. Assault of May 19. List of Casualties in Assault. The Drummer Boy and Calibre 54. As- sault of May 22. The Storming Party. List of Killed and Wounded. A Truce. Expedition into the Yazoo Valley. Siege Operations. A Leap for Liberty. The Naval Bombardment. Blowing-up a Fort. The Surrender. Casualties of the Regiment during Siege. . . . . . . 209-256.
1 2
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
THE JACKSON CAMPAIGN .- CAMP SHERMAN.
A Hot March in a Thirsty Land. Mississippi's Capital Invested. A Truce and a Rebel Colonel's Close Call. The Orderly-Sergeant's Revolving Rifle. Johnston's Discreet Retreat. The Casualties. Return Towards Vicksburg. Summer Camp upon the Big Black. Dispersion of the Grand Army. Suppressed Charges and Specifications. Sad Incident at Amsterdam Ford. William Tecumseh Sherman has a Namesake. Malaria and its Victims. Quartermaster Janes Promoted. Good-bye to Mississippi. Twenty-five Years after. 257-271.
CHAPTER VII. THE CHATTANOOGA AND KNOXVILLE CAMPAIGNS.
Memphis Revisited. Chasing Chalmer's Cavalry. Sherman and the Sut- ler. Battle at Cherokee Station. Tuscumbia. Forced March through Tennessee and Alabama. Nickajack Cave. Meeting the Paper-col- lared, Brass-mounted Troops from the East. The Fifteenth Corps at last discovers that it Wears a Badge. On North Chickamauga Creek. The Night Excursion in Pontoons. Attack upon Tunnel Hill. Battle of Missionary Ridge. The Pursuit. To the Rescue of Burnside. East Tennessee Loyalty. "From every stormy wind that blows." .... Tellico Plains. The Return. Cold and Starvation. The Barefoot Brigade. At Bridgeport. The Detail for Recruiting Service led North by the Colonel. 272-294.
CHAPTER VIII. WINTER QUARTERS .-- RE-ENLISTMENT.
Through Mud and Frost to Bellefonte. Congratulations from General M. L. Smith. Escorting Ladies across the Tennessee. At Larkinsville on Provost Guard. Sand Mountain Expeditions. Guarding the Pontoon Bridge. The Officers' Extraordinary Pledge to the Enlisted Men. The Alabama Flat Rock Dances. The Loyal Refugees. Testimonial to the Chaplain. Voting for Presidential Candidates. Return of the Colonel. The Regiment Re-enlists. Election of Officers. The Colonel's Letter to the Adjutant-General of Illinois. Homeward Bound on Veteran Furlough. General Sherman's Address at Nashville. At Chicago 295-315.
CHAPTER IX. THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN.
The Non-veterans on the Road to Atlanta. Doctor Roler's dangerous Effervescing Draught. The Veterans again Under Fire. Fatalism. The Assault upon Little Kenesaw. The Patriot Dead. By the Right
13
CONTENTS.
Flank. Captain Shaw elected Lieutenant-Colonel. Across the Chatta- hoochee. The Battle of Atlanta. A Brigadier's costly Blunders. Bat- tle Casualties. A Wearisome March to the Extreme Right. The Battle of Ezra Chapel. General Howard introduces himself to the Fifteenth Corps. The Regiment's Loss. General Lightburn sends the Regiment into a Hornets' Nest. Captain Shaw's unjust Dismissal and Tardy Vin- dication. General William B. Hazen supersedes Lightburn. Major Heffernan asks for Promotion. Correspondence with Governor Yates. Siege Casualties. Again by the Right Flank. The Battle of Jonesboro'. The Regimental Loss. In Camp at East Point. Promotions in the Line. Return of Prisoners from Andersonville. Escorting Hood to the Tennessee. Muster-out of the Non-veterans. Lieutenant Oliver's Raid upon Chattanooga. At Vinings, preparing to cut loose from a Base. 316-382.
PART III.
NOVEMBER, 1864, TO AUGUST, 1865.
CHAPTER X.
FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA.
Preparing for the Grand March. Voting for President. The State of Illinois Misrepresented by its Legislature. Destruction of Atlanta. The Order of March. The Mule versus Mess-chests. Building Cordu -- roy Roads. The Bivouac. The First Foraging Party. A Sharp Skir- mish. Strict Obedience to Orders. The Second Division Storms Fort McAllister. Lieutenant Ebersold wins a Race. Letters and Hard-tack once more. Savannah Evacuated. Too much Rice. Camp in the City. The ever-faithful Negroes. 385-402.
CHAPTER XI.
FROM SAVANNAH TO GOLDSBOROUGH.
South Carolina Invaded. At Beaufort. The March Northward Begins. The Smoke of Retribution. The Bummers Capture the Railway. Night Adventure on the South Edisto. Wading the Swamps of the North Edisto. A Turkey Supper Missing. The Saluda Peninsula Gained. Occupation of Columbia. A Night of Horrors. Jubilation of the Colored Race. Destroying the Railroads. Vintage of 1832. Che- raw and Fayetteville Occupied. Clearing the Trains of Surplus Animals and Goods. Battles of Averysborough and Bentonville. At Goldsborough. Capture of Foragers. A Brief Pause. . .. 403-416.
.
14
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
ADVENTURES OF THE FORAGERS.
The Permanent Detail from the Fifty-fifth. A Balky Mule in Action. Treated to Confederate Cake. Union Prisoners Retaken. A Novel Method of Transporting Whiskey. Thirty Miles ahead of the Main Column. Running a Grist-mill. Nothing Buried, but much Treasure Trove. Southern Hospitality. A Desperate Encounter with Hampton's Cavalry. The Sins and Services of the Bummers .. 417-427.
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM GOLDSBOROUGH TO CHICAGO.
A Fruitless Regimental Election. All Fools' Day. On the Road again. News of the Fall of Richmond and Lee's Surrender. Marching through Raleigh. The Assassination of President Lincoln, and Johnston's Capitulation. The Regiment receives a New Stand of Colors. The Last Foraging Party. On to Richmond at Double-quick. Humble Expectations of the Paroled Confederates. Viewing the Virginia Bat- tle-grounds. At Washington for the Grand Review. A Batch of Pro- motions. To Louisville for Muster-out. Ordered to Arkansas. Memphis once more. In Barracks at Little Rock. Mustered out. The Journey Home. The Last Army Rations at Camp Douglas. : 428-440.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF CHAPLAIN HANEY.
As Captain at Camp Douglas. Appointed Chaplain. The Battle-field of Shiloh. At the Landing. A Cheap Dinner at La Grange. Exciting Ad- venture Outside the Lines. Escaped Slaves in the Memphis Camp. The Dream of Captain Schleich and his Death. General M. L. Smith Wounded. Incidents at Arkansas Post. The Wounded Neglected. Appealing to Sherman. Gloomy Times at Young's Point. The Blinded "Boy at Raymond. An Affecting Incident in Hospital before Vicksburg. The Sceptic and the Negro at Camp Sherman. Incidents in the Assault of Missionary Ridge. Foraging during the March to Knoxville. An- ecdotes of the Unionists. The Arrest of Captain Shaw denounced. In Illinois for Recruits. Disappointed Hopes. Conclusion. . . . . 441-462.
APPENDIX.
Roster of Field, Staff and Band. 464
Roster of Regiment by Companies 468
Summary of Losses by Companies. 518
Casualties of Battle during War. 519
٠
PART I.
FROM CHICAGO TO ARKANSAS POST.
OCTOBER, 1861, TO JANUARY, 1863.
BY
CAPTAIN LUCIEN B. CROOKER.
-
THE STORY
OF THE
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
CHAPTER I.
CAME DOUGLAS. - BENTON BARRACKS. - PADUCAH. - UP THE TENNESSEE.
T' THE national agony of 1861 called from peaceful homes a glorious procession of patriots. As they went march- ing to the front, the Fifty-fifth Illinois swung into line. How it got there and what it did afterward has never, in any con- tected way, been told. It struck great blows in battle, but its dead were buried without ostentation, and it passed on to other duties. Its strong tread traversed many states, but no one wrote its annals. It did knightly service, but no one penned lyrics in its honor. Its commanding officers seldom winte reports, as was proper, to give it a literature of its own. It went uncomplainingly through the whole Southern Con- federacy -- from Shiloh to Vicksburg, to Chattanooga and Knoxville, to Atlanta, and from thence to the sea. It then faced north, and finding no further work around the capital of the Confederacy, passed by, and its short platoons helped swell the sublime cadence of the Grand Review. Even then it could not be spared, for some months of irksome duty re- mained to be done about the work of reconstruction. Finally it was disbanded, and its members, all that remained, returned to the walks of civil life, never thinking of the record of their deeds. They had grown so familiar with brave acts that it did not seem worth while to mention them.
2
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
Now a quarter of a century has passed. Their traditions have grown precious to the old soldiers. They desire to leave some record for their children. They begin to wish that the incidents of their career in the armies of the Union may be gathered from the wrecks of fading memories and the waifs of flecting literature, and a humble history be made of them. These yearnings took form at the first reunion held by the Fifty-fifth Illinois in October, A. D. 1884. To the writer is assigned that portion of the regimental history which terminates with the battle of Arkansas Post. With a love born of sacred associations the task is approached. With a fear born of its responsibilities the duty is undertaken. That which follows is an attempt to preserve such of the adven- tures of the Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the great War of the Rebellion as can be authenticated.
Early in the summer of 1861, David Stuart, a lawyer of Chicago, obtained authority directly from the War Depart- ment to raise a body of troops to participate in the conflict just then assuming formidable proportions. It is not known how large an organization he at first contemplated, but it is probable a single regiment only was proposed, of which he might be the colonel. Following such authority came the announcement through every medium by which the public could be reached, that recruits would be welcomed at Camp Douglas, named as the place of rendezvous. Many were tendered from different portions of the state. For the most part they came in the form of embryo companies, headed by men who were ambitious of becoming captains; for in those days the world was full of heroes, who, like Artemas Ward's famous warriors, were willing to serve as brigadiers, and who sometimes condescended to serve in lower stations until their exalted talents became known. As a rule these so-called companies embraced fewer men than were required by law to make a regimental unit, but they invariably had a full com- plement of prospective officers, who patriotically and vocif- erously proposed to recruit their respective organizations to the maximum in the near future.
It soon became apparent that if these companies were all filled to the required standard, much more than the limited
19
THE DOUGLAS BRIGADE.
scope of a regimental line would be needed to give them a fair chance to distinguish themselves. Some companies were soon filled, or nearly so, and all were composed of the best material. A moderate faith in the patriotism of Illinois jus- tified the belief that all, or nearly all, could be recruited to the full standard. A more expansive christening was there- fore proper, and the standard of the "Douglas Brigade" was erected within the confines of old Camp Douglas.
A more appropriate name could not have been selected. Douglas, the great statesman of Illinois, had broken away from the bonds of party affiliation, and in words which "go thundering down the ages," placed himself squarely among the friends of the Union. The camp was in plain view of the University endowed by and named for him; close by and beside the waves of the unsalted seas was the spot that had just opened its bosom to receive his mortal remains. There now stands a beautiful monument to commemorate his fame; and as the morning sun kisses it, the shadows fall upon the first camping-ground of the men who so gloriously perpetu- ated his name. David Stuart was a follower of this "plumed knight," and an ardent war-democrat; and he doubtless gave form to his own sentiments when he advertised the name of Douglas Brigade.
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