Thursday, January 31, 2013

The 48th Illinois Infantry: From Lincoln's Hometown to Arkansas


This long running series about regiments that served in the trans-Mississippi from William F. Fox’s list of “Three Hundred Fighting Regiments” is winding down. Only one more regiment after this one remains to be highlighted, and that unit was quite a unique one.

The 48th Illinois Infantry ended its service on occupation duty in Arkansas after quite a distinguished combat career ranging from Fort Donelson to the Carolina campaign. This regiment is fortunate to have two websites specifically devoted to it. Each of the websites has many links to materials such as rosters, description books, photos, flags, and much more. One of the 48th Illinois websites is a project of Donald Aikman and the other is a project of Dr.David A. Stumpf.

“Oliver’s Brigade —Hazen’s Division--Fifteenth Corps.

1) Col. Isham N. Haynie; Brig.-Gen.
3) Col. Lucien Greathouse (Killed).
2) Col. William W. Sanford.
4) Col. Ashley T. Galbraith.
5) Col. Thomas L. Weems.

Companies.
killed and died of wounds.
died of disease, accidents, in Prison, &c.
Total Enrollment.
Officers.
Men.
Total.
Officers.
Men.
Total.
Field and Staff
3
1
4
1

1
21
Company
A

9
9

26
26
165

B
2
9
11
2
25
27
157

C

10
10
1
25
26
151

D
1
7
8

15
15
150

E
2
10
12
1
28
29
151

F

10
10

25
25
161

G

16
16
1
25
26
157

H
1
18
19

25
25
213

I
1
15
16

29
29
193

K

8
8

28
28
161
Totals
10
113
123
6
251
257
1,680

Total of killed and wounded 431.
Battles.
K. & M. W.
Battles.
K. & M. W.
Fort Donelson, Tenn.
12
Battle of Atlanta
18
Shiloh, Tenn.
32
Ezra Chapel, Ga.
14
Germantown, Tenn.
2
Jonesboro, Ga.
5
Siege of Vicksburg
1
Lovejoy's Station, Ga.
1
Jackson, Miss.
4
Siege of Atlanta
9
Resaca, Ga.
1
Fort McAllister, Ga.
8
Dallas-New Hope Church, Ga.
10
Duck Creek, S. C.
1
Kenesaw Mountain, Ga.
3
Columbia, S. C.
1
Decatur, Ga.
1



Present, also, at Fort Henry, Tenn; Siege of Corinth, Miss.; Missionary Ridge, Tenn.; Bentonville, N. C.
Notes.--Organized at Springfield, Ill., in September, 1861. It was stationed at Cairo until February, 1862, when it embarked on the expedition against Forts Henry and Donelson, having been assigned to W. H. Wallace’s Brigade of McClernand’s Division. In the action at Fort Donelson, it lost 8 killed, 31 wounded, and 3 missing; Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas H. Smith was among the killed. At Shiloh, it lost 18 killed, 112 wounded, and 3 missing. The regiment was engaged in the Siege of Corinth, after which, in June, 1862, it was ordered to Bethel, Tenn., on garrison duty, where it remained until 1863. While on the Vicksburg campaign, it served in W. S. Smith's Division, Sixteenth Corps. It was engaged in the Siege of Jackson; also, in the action on July 16th, in which Major Wm. J. Stephenson was mortally wounded. Having been transferred to the Fifteenth Corps, it marched to the relief of Chattanooga, where it took part in the battle of Missionary Ridge. It then marched on the winter campaign in East Tennessee for the relief of Knoxville, a campaign memorable for its hardships, privation, and suffering. The Forty-eighth fought in the Fifteenth Corps during the Atlanta campaign, being hotly engaged in the battle of July 22, 1864, in which Colonel Greathouse was killed. The regiment reenlisted, and hence it continued with the corps on its March through Georgia, and in the fighting in the Carolinas. It was then in Oliver’s (3d) Brigade, Hazen’s (2d) Division, Fifteenth Corps. After participating in the Grand Review in Washington at the close of the war, the regiment was ordered to Little Rock, Ark., where it was mustered out August 15, 1865” (Fox, p. 368).

Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Civilian Eyewitness


Have you ever read a civilian account of the Civil War? Scholars have lavished much attention on military personnel and their campaigns, but, by contrast, have overlooked civilians. The civilians that were probably impacted the most by the war resided in the border region of the trans-Mississippi. Last Saturday, I visited the Pea Ridge National Battlefield and gave a tour to a friend and some family members. While in the bookstore, I purchased a copy of Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove: Or, Scenes and Incidents Of The War in Arkansas. Originally published in 1864, William Baxter, the president of Arkansas College, authored this slender volume. Baxter recounts the difficulties of living as a Unionist in a town with a secessionist majority. Baxter’s community, Fayetteville, changed hands six times in the first year and a half of the war and each successive occupation brought its share of destruction, shortages, and other difficulties. With vividness, Baxter writes of injustices, social isolation, and the poignancy of caring for wounded soldiers from the battles of Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. No, he was not an impartial observer, but his tale is anything but boring.
The original edition and the 1957 reprint edition are now highly desirable, but the book is readily available today thanks to a 2000 reprint by the University of Arkansas Press. William L. Shea provides biographical information about William Baxter and sets the context for the book in the introduction. The book has no index, but since the book is so short (126 pages) the lack of an index is not as significant.