USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 29
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It was with Sherman in his march to the sea, and marched from Savannah, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina, thence to Fayette- ville, Goldsboro and Raleigh, North Carolina, and witnessed the sur- render of Johnston's army. At the time of Johnston's surrender the Twelfth had tramped 600 miles, and in the northiward march to Wash- ington marched 186 miles in six and a half days, "and it wasn't a very good time for marching, either."
The regiment took a part in the grand review at Washington, and . returned home for muster out, and was paid off and discharged at Camp Butler, Illinois, July 18, 1865. Iroquois county was represented in the Twelfthi regiment by eleven men, distributed as follows: Com- pany C, 7 men ; H, 1; K, 2 mnen ; and one unassigned.
THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
.' This regiment went into the field May 25, 1861, under the com- mand of Col. John M. Palmer, afterward major-general, and still later governor of this state. The Fourteenth took an honorable part in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, eliciting the praise of its brigade commander for gallant conduct on the fateful field of Shiloh. The regiment formed a part of Gen. Hurlbut's division, and under both Grant and Sherman performed several brilliant achievements in both fighting and marching in the western Tennessee and north Mississippi cam- paigns.
The regiment reënlisted and took a part in the Atlanta campaign, being consolidated with its old companion regiment, the Fifteenthı. In
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the attack of Hood upon Sherman's rear, after the fall of Atlanta, this veteran battalion was nearly cut to pieces, and the remnant was mounted, and on the march to Savannah and through the Carolinas did effective service as scouts, being for the most of the time in advance of the army. At Goldsboro, North Carolina, the two regiments, hav- ing received a number of recruits, resumed their regimental organiza- tion as the Fourteenth and Fifteenth.
Concerning this grand old command we copy the following from the adjutant-general's report : The aggregate number of men who belonged to this organization was 1,980, and the aggregate mustered out at Fort Leavenworth was 480.
During the four years of its arduous service it marched 4,490 miles, traveled by rail 2,330 miles, and by river 4,850 miles, making a total of 11,670 miles traversed. In Company I there were two privates from this county ; also in Company K there was a corporal and pri- vate, all of whom received an honorable discharge.
THE TWENTIETH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
(WRITTEN BY E. B. SLEETH, ESQ., OF DENVER, COL., FORMERLY SERGEANT OF COMPANY I.)
The Twentieth Infantry was organized at Joliet, Illinois, May 14, 1861, under the command of Col. C. C. Marsh. It was mustered into the United States service, or during the war, June 13, 1861, by Capt. T. G. Pitcher, of the United States army. It left Joliet June 18, by order of Gov. Yates, and proceeded to Alton. July 6 it went to St. Louis arsenal ; on the 10th moved to and fortified Cape Girardeau, Missouri ; 23d, went on a forced march to Dallas, and captured a large amount of rebel stores; August 12, moved to Bird's Point, Mis- souri ; October 17 it returned to Cape Girardeau; 19thi, started for Fredericton, Missouri, which place was reached on the 20th, and had a severe engagement with the enemy under Gen. Jeff Thompson, and was victorious, capturing one piece of artillery, a twenty-pounder howitzer; returned to Bird's Point November 1, and went into winter quarters. January 14, 1862, it accompanied Gen. Grant on a recon- noisance in Kentucky, toward Columbus; 20th, returned to Bird's Point ; February 2, moved to Fort Henry, under command of Gen. W. H. L. Wallace; occupied the fort on the 4th. On the 11th it arrived at Fort Donelson, and was engaged in the three-days battle before that place, and was the first regiment that held its position and staid the daring charge made on the right wing of our army by Forrest, in his grand effort on the afternoon of the last day of the battle, for which act the regiment received the personal thanks of Generals Grant and
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McClernand. Lieut. Col. Irwin and fifty men were killed in this action.
The regiment next moved with the advance of Gen. Grant's army to Savannah, Tennessee. On the 24th it arrived at Pittsburg Land- ing; was engaged in the battle of Shiloh, April 6 and 7, and charged upon and captured a rebel battery of two guns; had forty-two men killed, among whom was our adjutant, John E. Thompson. The regi- nient was in the front on the road, and during the siege of Corinth. It left its position before Corinth June 3, and arrived at Jackson, Ten- nessee, on the 8th, and was engaged in guarding the railroad during the remainder of that month and July. August 14 it went to Estramula, on the Hatchie river. September 1, it fought the battle of Britton's Lane, and returned to Jackson on the 4th, and remained till November 8, when it started on the Holly Springs expedition. It arrived at the Springs December 1, and on the 3d crossed the Tallahatchee river and marched to Oxford ; recrossed the river on the 24th, on account of the destruction of the stores at Holly Springs by the enemy. The regi- ment suffered severely on this campaign for want of food, living for ten days on corn foraged from the almost desolate and impoverished country. The regiment then went to Memphis, Tennessee, and there remained until March 1, when it went to Lake Providence, Louisiana.
April 1 it arrived at Milliken's Bend. On a call being made for volunteers to run boats past the Vicksburg batteries, the entire regi- ment tendered its services, but a delegation only of the regiment was accepted and made the perilous voyage, the remainder marching around Vicksburg, on the Louisiana side of the river, crossing in the transports that had run the blockade to the Mississippi shore, and at once marched to the rear of the rebel fortifications at Grand Gulf, which place was at once abandoned. On May 9 was fought the battle of Thompson Hill; May 12 the battle of Raymond, where Col. Richards and forty inen were killed. May 13, was captured Jackson, Mississippi. May 15, the regiment took a prominent part in the great battle of Chiam- pion Hills, and May 17 crossed Black river and took position in front of Vicksburg. May 22 it was in the daring charge on that stronghold and was one of the few regiments that reached the rebel works, and retained its position on the site of the rebel works for eighteen hours, sheltering itself by digging under the walls of earth-works, and only vacated its position because other troops could not get to its assistance.
The regiment participated in the whole of the memorable siege, from May 22 to July 4, working in the trenches and mines under Fort Hill, rushing into and holding that stronghold with three other regi- ments when it was blown up. It was the second regiment to enter
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the city of Vicksburg under Gen. Logan, and in consideration of the services rendered in the capture of Fort Hill, which was the key to the Vicksburg defenses, the regiment was appointed provost-guard of the city, which place it occupied until the beginning of the winter, when it was relieved, and joined the Third Division at Black river, Mississippi, where it remained the greater part of the winter, going with Gen. Sherman on his raid to Meridian, Mississippi. It was engaged in numerons skirmishes on this campaign; was cnt from communication with the north for thirty days; returned to Vicks- burg and from thence to Cairo, Illinois. The veterans of the regiment, of which there were two-thirds, went north on a veteran furlough ; while the remainder, or non-veterans, went to Clifton, Tennessee, and marched from there to Huntsville, where the regiment was again reunited. It joined the army of the Tennessee under Gen. Sherman, at Cartersville, Georgia, under command of Gen. Force, First Brigade, Third Division, Seventeenth Army Corps. It took an active part in all the great battles fought and won during the remainder of that campaign.
July 22, 1864, at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, the regiment was almost annihilated, after which, by order of Gen. Leggett com- manding the division, the regiment was mounted, and acted as his body-guard and scouts. When Sherman started on his march to the sea it was in advance of the "Old Third Division," Seventeenth Corps, and was engaged in continuous skirmishes from Atlanta to the Gulf. It went east with Sherman's army; was in the grand review at Washington city; after which it went to Louisville, Kentucky, where it was mustered out of service and sent to Chicago, Illinois, at which place it was paid off and discharged July 19, 1865. This regiment served continnonsly during the war in the First Brigade, Third (or Logan's) Division, Seventeenth Army Corps,-always at the front, yet never suffering a defeat. Company I of this regiment was organized in the old conrt-house, in Middleport, Iroquois county, by Capt. George H. Walser, April 19, 1861, and was the pioneer company from this county, and was ready to march in three days after the first call made for troops.
Sergeant Sleeth has given in the above a faithful report of the bat- tles and inarches participated in by the Twentieth regiment, and we can only add that in the assault on Kenesaw Mountain the regiment was flanked by the enemy and overpowered after severe loss, and all of the force engaged that day were killed or captured except about six- teen. Afterward this squad was enlarged to thirty-five by men report- ing that had been absent from the regiment with leave, and on
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HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.
detached duty. This band of survivors of the grand old regiment was mounted and placed under the command of Capt. King and employed as scouts by Gen. Leggett, during the " marchi to the sea," also during the subsequent marches through the Carolinas. When this detach- ment of the Twentieth reached Goldsboro, North Carolina, it was joined by 250 recruits from Illinois and the rest of the old soldier comrades who had been captured at Kenesaw, and who had been for- tunate enough to survive the tortures of Andersonville and other prison pens of the south, rejoined the regiment, some at Goldsboro, and others at Alexandria, Virginia.
After the return of the exchanged prisoners and the accession of the 250 recruits the regiment resumed its regimental organization, and took part as such in the grand review at Washington. Some idea of the service done by the daring fellows of this veteran regiment may be gathered from the statement of the naked fact that of the twenty-two officers and 322 men mustered ont in 1865, only about seventy were members of the old organization that a little over four years before took the field with over 900 men in its' ranks.
Company I went into the battle of Fort Donelson with sixty-five men, and twenty-six of that number were killed or wounded. Nine of the twenty-six were killed and died of wounds.
Company I was first commanded by Capt. George H. Walser, of Middleport, a member then of the Iroquois bar. Capt. Walser resigned during the fall of 1861, and was succeeded by Capt. Kennard, of Champaign, who was afterward promoted major, and then Capt. Row- land N. Evans, of Bloomington, assumed command of the company, and on his promotion Lient. David Richardson, of Middleport, who had risen from the ranks, became its captain, and filled the position when the company was mustered out. Capt. George E. King, after- ward captain of Company F, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, went out as first lieutenant of Company I, of the Twentieth. Sergeant Sleeth, of Company I, was sheriff of this county, and is now city attor- ney of Denver, Colorado. Capt. H. B. Vennum, of the One Hundred and Fiftieth, served three years in the Twentieth. Lieut. Frank High, of Middleport, also an officer of Company I, after the close of the war was appointed general passenger agent of the Chicago & Alton railroad, and still holds the position. Quite a number of our well-to-do farmers were members of this gallant regiment.
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IROQUOIS COUNTY IN THE WAR.
THE TWENTY-FIRST REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
Most readers are familiar with the fact that this regiment went into the field with Gen. U. S. Grant at its head as colonel, and his subse- quent promotion and grand achievements as the leader of the armies of the west, at Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg and Mission Ridge, and his triumphs as commander-in-chief of all the Union armies are fresh in the minds of all loyal people. The regiment, as well as its first commander, has a proud record for coolness and courage on many a hard fought field. But as Iroquois county furnished but one man (Joseph Shepard, of Milford), to this regiment, we do not deem it best in this con- nection to give a detailed history of the Twenty-first, but will merely call attention to the principal campaigns and battles in which " Grant's old regiment " took an active and honorable part. It was engaged in the Missouri campaigns in the fall of 1861, and winter and spring of 1862, and participated in the battle of Frederickton. It formed a part of Gen. Steele's Arkansas expedition. The regiment took a part in the siege of Corinth, and was engaged in the battles of Perryville and Stone River, behaving with great gallantry in a charge upon the celebrated Washington Light Artillery of rebel fame, in the latter battle. In the disastrous battle of Chickamaugua the Twenty-first lost 238 officers and men, in killed, wounded and missing. As a part of the Fourth Army Corps the regiment participated in the Atlanta campaign, and in all the engagements behaved with its accustomed gallantry. The regiment was with the army of Gen. George H. Thomas, at Pulaski, Columbia, Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, and rendered a good account of itself in this important campaign. During the summer of 1865, in conjunction with other forces in Thomas' command, the Twenty-first regiment went to Texas, and remained there on duty until mustered out at San Antonio, December 16, 1865.
THE TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
WRITTEN BY A. H. SOUTH, FORMERLY LIEUTENANT OF COMPANY F.
This regiment was composed of companies raised in the counties of Coles, Edgar, Champaign, Douglas, Vermilion and Iroquois, William N. Coler, of Urbana, Illinois, colonel commanding. The regiment was mustered into the United States service Angust 4, 1861 (the muster- in rolls, however, make it August 6, 1861, which is a mistake), at the United States Arsenal at St. Louis, Missouri. September 23, 1861, the regiment went to Jefferson City via the Pacific railroad. Septem- ber 27, 1861, it went to Otterville, Missouri, via Pacific railroad, and
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HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.
went into camp at Lamine river bridge. October 13, 1861, it went to Sedalia, Missouri, terminus of the Pacific railroad.
October 15, 1861, the regiment went to Springfield, Missouri, from there to Wilson's creek, and returned to Springfield, and from there to Rolla, Missouri, arriving at the latter place November 19, 1861. It remained in camp until February 2, 1862, and then started for Spring- field, Missouri, arriving there February 13, 1862. It left Springfield February 14, 1862. March 6, 7 and 8 it engaged in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. After marching and countermarching, the regiment, with nine other regiments under the command of Brigadier-General Jeff C. Davis, started for Cape Girardeau, Missouri, May 9, 1862, and arrived there May 20, 1862. May 22 it went to Hamburg Landing via steamboat Henry Clay, arriving there May 26. After marching and skirmishing for a long time near Jacinto and other places near there it left Iuka, Mississippi, August 18, 1862, for Louisville, Ken- tucky, via Nashville, arriving there September 26, 1862. October 1, 1862, it left Louisville, Kentucky, and was near, but not engaged in, the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862.
After marching around the country for several days the regiment started for Nashville, Tennessee, arriving there November 7, 1862, and remained there, doing guard duty and foraging, until December 26, 1862, when the regiment started for Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was actively engaged in the battles of Stone River, from December 30, 1862, to January 4, 1863,-December 31 being the day it was most actively engaged. The regiment remained in camp from January 6, 1863, to June 24, 1863, and then started with the army, under Gen. Rosecrans, after the rebel army under Gen. Bragg. It remained awhile at and near Winchester, Tennessee, and was actively engaged at the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19 and 20, 1863. Septem- ber 22 it went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and remained there until November 23, when the regiment was very actively engaged in the battles of Mission Ridge, fought November 23, 24 and 25, 1863. November 28, 1863, it left Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Knoxville, Tennessee, arriving there on or about December 3. The regiment spent the winter in East Tennessee, marching, countermarching, skir- misliing and foraging all the time, and finally got back to Cleveland, Tennessee, and remained from April 16, 1864, to May 31, 1864, when the regiment was ordered to join the army under Gen. Sherman, en route for Atlanta, Georgia. The regiment joined the brigade June 7, 1864. The regiment remained with the army, pressing on toward Atlanta, under fire nearly every day, until August 1, 1864, when the order came for the regiment to start for Springfield, Illi-
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IROQUOIS COUNTY IN THE WAR.
nois, to be mustered out. It arrived at Springfield August 11, 1864. September 5, 1864, the regiment was mustered out, having served three years and one month, and having marched on foot 3,252 miles, and traveled by steamboat and rail 1,710 miles. Total number of miles traveled in three years was 4,962. It participated in the follow- ing battles and numerous heavy skirmishes : Pea Ridge, Arkansas ; siege of Corinth, Stone River, Tennessee ; Chickamauga, Georgia ; Mis- sion Ridge, Tennessee; Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia ; Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, and Atlanta.
Lieut. South, in the compilation of the sketch of his regiment, has exhibited rather more than a soldierly modesty in his brief mention of the more important battles in which the Twenty-fifth took an active and honorable part. At Pea Ridge the regiment experienced its first battle, and under the most trying ordeal it behaved with the courage and steadiness of veteran troops. In the terrible struggle among the cedars of Stone River, Woodruff's brigade, to which the Twenty-fifth belonged, did heroic fighting, and was warmly commended by Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, the division commander, who, speaking in his report of the gallant stand made by the brigade, December 31, 1862, says of Carlin's and Woodruff's brigades : " The enemy commenced a heavy and very determined attack upon Carlin's and Woodruff's brigades. These brigades were fully prepared for the attack, and received it with veteran courage. The conflict was fierce in the extreme on both sides. Onr loss was heavy, and that of the enemy was no less. It was, according to my observation, the best contested point of the day, and would have been held but for the overwhelming force moving so per- sistently against my right. Carlin, finding his right flank so severely pressed and threatened with being turned, ordered his troops to retire. Woodruff's brigade succeeded in repulsing the enemy and holding the position, until the withdrawal of the troops on botlı of its flanks com- pelled it to retire." By the above account of the fight by the general of division, it will be seen that the daring brigade hield its ground stubbornly until completely flanked on the left and right, when it fell back to a position in line with the rest of the division. Col. Wood- ruff, in his report of the conduct of his brigade, pays a very high com- pliment to the personal gallantry of Col. T. D. Williams, who fell during the thickest of the fight, with the regimental colors of the Twenty-fifth in his hands. The loss of the regiment was very great, and it well deserved to inscribe upon its banner " Stone River."
At Chickamauga the division of Davis, including the Twenty-fifth regiment, did hard fighting, but were forced to yield to overpowering rebel inasses hurled against them, and obliged to fall back toward
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Missionary Ridge. Much of the hardest fighting was done in a dense wood, and the regiment being at close quarters, and assailed by a greatly superior force in point of numbers, lost heavily. The Twenty- fifth a little later behaved with great gallantry in the assault upon Missionary Ridge. During the Atlanta campaign the Twenty-fifth never failed to show the spirit of true soldiers whenever brought face to face with the enemy, and during that long and bloody campaign the sturdy soldiers of the old Twenty-fifth made for themselves a record that entitles them to the praise and profound respect of every patriot in the loyal state that sent them forth to do valiant battle for the old flag.
Company F, Capt. Ray W. Andrews, of Onarga, commanding, was almost entirely composed of men from this county, there being some eight or ten men in the original company from Ford and Kankakee counties ; and among the recruits afterward sent the companies, there' were about a half a dozen men that belonged in other counties. First Lieut. James P. Martin, of this company, filled the office of sheriff of this county from 1864 to 1866. He was also the founder of Old Mar- tinton, in this county. Lieut. Martin died about eight years ago from the effects of disease contracted while in the service. Second Lieut. Alex. H. South, of this company, filled the office of sheriff for three terins successively, and was an excellent officer.
Company G, Capt. (afterward colonel) Thomas D. Williams, of Che- banse, commanding, was made up of men from Champaign, Iroquois and Kankakee counties,-Iroquois county furnishing the captain (Will- iams), one lieutenant, and about one-third of the rank and file of tlie company. Jerome Bard, a prominent merchant and estimable citizen of Chebanse, was a sergeant in Company G, and a faithful soldier. Our present efficient county clerk, Henry A. Butzow, Esq., was a private in Company G of the Twenty-fifth. Several of the old soldier boys of this splendid old regiment are now well-to-do and influential citizens of this county, and lack of space forbids individual mention of these men, who performed well their part as brave soldiers, and are now distin- guished as peaceable, upright and worthy citizens.
THE THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
'This organization-familiarly known as " Yates Phalanx "-left the state with a " prize banner," won in a drill contest under the auspices of the State Agricultural Society, and being composed of fine material, well officered, it bid fair to win the glorious name that it did. In Octo- ber, 1861, the regiment reported to Gen. Curtis for duty, in Missouri,
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but received orders about the first of November to proceed to Mary- land, and it did so, arriving December 11, 1861. During the winter of 1862 the regiment did a great deal of hard marching and fighting, the engagements being generally with rebel cavalry seeking to get into the rear of the Union lines, and the Thirty-ninth which was guarding exposed posts.
The regiment was in the battle of Winchester, and contributed not a little toward securing the defeat of Stonewall Jackson. The greater part of the summer of 1862 was spent by the Thirty-ninth in weari- some marches and sharp skirmishes, and the fall of the same year was mainly spent in the fortifications at Suffolk, Virginia, and in forays into the enemy's country. The regiment, in January, 1863, accompa- nied Gen. Foster's expedition to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and in the ensuing spring and summer it assisted in the laborious siege opera- tions that culminated in the capture of Morris Island, in Charleston Harbor, and the capture of Fort Wagner. Just before the regiment started to South Carolina, a flag bearing the portrait of Gov. Yates was presented to the regiment, and was carried to the close of the war along with the regimental colors.
The regiment reënlisted, and when recruited reported to Gen. B. F. Butler, in May, 1864, and took an active part in the expedition up James river. The Thirty-ninth did some terrible fighting during May and June, 1864, losing 315 inen during these two months. In a charge upon the rebel works at Deep Run, Virginia, August 16, the Thirty-ninth lost 104 men and several officers. In a charge upon the enemy's works, on the Darlington road, seven miles from Richmond, October 13, 1864, the regiment went into the fight 250 strong and lost sixty men. During the winter of 1864 and 1865 the regiment was in front of Richmond and Petersburg, and having received about 100 recruits, these were drilled and disciplined for the approaching deci- sive campaign. The regiment took a part in the assault upon the rebel works, April 2, 1865, and were the first troops to plant the national colors on the works, though not without terrible loss. Seven of the color-guard of nine were shot, and out of the 150 men that went into the fight, sixteen were shot dead and forty-five so severely wounded that many afterward died of their wounds. As a testimonial to the regiment for its bravery Gen. Gibbon himself placed a brazen eagle upon the color-staff at the grand review at Washington, and color-sergeant Day received a medal of honor from the war depart- ment for his bravery in planting his colors upon Fort Gregg after he had been severely wounded. The regiment continued in the service
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