A Fighting Regiment: The 22nd Illinois Infantry

It has been several weeks since I last featured one of the 300 Fighting Regiments from William F. Fox’s Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865. As I wrote at the beginning of the series, thirty-seven of these regiments saw service at some point in the trans-Mississippi. Like many of these regiments, the 22^nd Illinois Infantry served for a relatively brief time in the trans-Mississippi. The time that they spent in the trans-Mississippi, though, was quite memorable as they saw combat at Charleston and Belmont, Missouri.

For further information about the regiment see the following:

Illinois in the Civil War: includes a roster and short histories

Hughes, Nathaniel Cheairs, Jr. The Battle of Belmont: Grant Strikes South. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1991.

“Harker’s Brigade — Sheridan’s Division--Fourth Corps.

（1) Colonel Henry Dougherty

（2) Colonel Francis Swanwick.

Companies.		killed and died of wounds.			died of disease, accidents, in Prison, &c.			Total Enrollment.
		Officers.	Men.	Total.	Officers.	Men.	Total.
Field and Staff			1	1	1		1	16
Company	A		11	11	1	9	10	109
	B		12	12		8	8	103
	C		12	12		8	8	105
	D	1	13	14		13	13	118
	E		19	19		10	10	131
	F		17	17		10	10	103
	G		12	12		6	6	98
	H		12	12		17	17	126
	I	1	11	12		10	10	94
	K		25	25		10	10	120
Totals		2	145	147	2	101	103	1,123

147 killed == 13.0 per cent.

Total of killed and wounded, 424; total of missing and captured, 124; died in Confederate prisons (previously included), 16.

battles.	K. & M. W.	battles.	K. & M. W.
Charleston, Mo. (5 Cos.)	3	Missionary Ridge, Tenn.	8
Belmont, Mo. (7 Cos.)	37	Resaca, Ga.	4
Farmington, Miss.	5	New Hope Church, Ga.	3
Stone's River, Tenn.	43	Place unknown	2
Chickamauga, Ga.	42

Present, also, at the Siege of Corinth; New Madrid; Island No.10; Tiptonville; Rocky Face Ridge; Adairsville.

Notes.--Organized at Belleville, May 11, 1861; mustered in June 25th, and left the State July 11, proceeding to Bird's Point, Mo. On the 19th of August following, five companies made a successful night attack on the enemy at Charleston, Mo., capturing many prisoners and horses. It was actively engaged at the battle of Belmont, Mo., Nov. 7, 1861, losing there 23 killed, 74 wounded, and 37 missing, out of seven companies engaged,--three companies having been left to guard the transports. After participating in the Siege of Corinth, the regiment performed guard duty along the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, until September, 1862, when it fell back to Nashville. At the battle of Stone's River it lost 21 killed, 116 wounded, and 56 missing, out of 312 present in that action; the regiment was then in Roberts's (3d) Brigade, Sheridan's (3d) Division, McCook's Corps. At Chickamauga it lost 23 killed, 76 wounded, and 31 missing, out of less than 300 engaged. Upon the re-organization of the Army of the Cumberland, in October, 1863, the Twenty-second was placed in Harker's (3d) Brigade, Sheridan's (2nd) Division, Fourth Corps, and with that division was engaged in the storming of Missionary Ridge. After that battle the remnant of the regiment marched to the relief of Knoxville, and then passed the winter of 1863-4 in the mountains of East Tennessee. In May, 1864, it marched with Sheridan on the Atlanta campaign, the little regiment sharing in all the fighting of the Fourth Corps until June 10th, when it received the welcome order to return home for muster-out, its term having expired. The reenlisted men and recruits with unexpired terms were transferred to the Forty-second Illinois Infantry. Colonel Dougherty lost a leg at Belmont, after which the regiment was commanded by Colonel Swanwick in its various battles” (Fox, p. 359).