My Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather's Civil War Journey

I consider myself our family historian. My interest began way back with a project in elementary school; I still have the notebooks with my child-like handwriting in pencil outlining my family tree and notes from interviewing my great-grandmothers. Over the years my interest would wane and pique. Most often my interest in genealogy would be quite piqued but my available time to do so would be quite lacking. Through the years, I have inherited family records; made contact with distant relatives and shared information, documents & photographs; spent afternoons hunting for gravestones; researched for countless hours; and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It has become much easier in recent years, not only thanks to technology and digital access to countless sources (I have inherited the works of a few genealogists through the different branches of our family tree who compiled all their research before the internet even existed; I can not imagine the time and effort!) but also thanks to a number of TV shows spurring on the increasing interest in genealogy and growing the pool of information and resources. It is a fascinating hobby.

One aspect I particularly enjoy is finding ancestors who lived during notable times and fitting their lives into the timelines of history. I have been able to do so in several instances and have restored many interesting tales to our family history.

There is one ancestor's journey that I have been working to piece together for years; I have been compelled to keep revisiting his records in my files and to continue to try to fill in more of his story. While I am sure there is still more information to be found, I have been able to compile a good amount of what was my 4th great grandfather's Civil War journey and, for years now, I have been telling my family that I would love to take a road trip to follow his path.

My 4th great grandfather was the son of one of the first settlers in what would become Hamilton County, Illinois; which is where he was born in 1830. He was a farmer. He married in 1851 and he and his wife had five children and one on the way by time he marched into service in 1862.

This is what I know of his time in service with the 87th Infantry Regiment of Illinois, Company A:

13 Aug 1862: enlisted at McLeansboro IL and went into camp at Shawneetown IL; "called Camp Logan by the troops but with the official name of Camp Mather" (3)

03 Oct 1862: mustered in at Shawneetown IL; "'retained at Shawneetown to guard that frontier.' ..made a number of scouts into Kentucky, which was then infested by guerrilla bands and Adam Johnson‘s rebel cavalry." (3)

19 Dec 1862: ordered "to proceed without delay via Bowling Green Kentucky to Nashville Tennessee" (3); orders changed before transports arrived; two companies of regiment near mutiny for having been in service for months without pay

31 Jan 1863: embarked for Memphis TN on the two transports 'Freestone' & 'May Duke'; measles broke out and cost the 87th 250 men either dead or disabled

04 Feb 1863: arrived in Memphis TN and encamped 3 mi SE of city; remained in duty at Memphis TN until May

17 Mar 1863: participated in the raid on Hernando MS "..capturing a great deal of property, and putting a stop to the incursions of Colonel Bligh's partisan Confederate Cavalry." (1)

04 Apr 1863: regiment pickets were attacked by a confederate force

09 May 1863: embarked for Young’s Point LA (near present-day Helena LA) on the steamer 'Crescent City' arriving 11 May 1863; engaged in picket and fatigue duty, repairing the corduroy road

18 May - 04 Jul 1863: Siege & Battle of Vicksburg:

21 May 1863: crossed the Mississippi River at Warrenton MS and went into bivouac in the hills

22 May 1863: assigned to General McArthur’s Division on the left of the line of battle; closed gap on the extreme left of the line; six hours under a steady fire of shot and shell from the enemy

23 May 1863: ordered to report to General Logan on the right centre; remained for several days; detached to garrison the post at Warrenton MS

03 Jun 1863: on duty at Warrenton MS until 23 Jun 1863; assigned a position in Second Brigade; took place in the trenches until the capture of the city

04 Jul 1863: Surrender of Vicksburg

05-10 Jul 1863: 5-day march to Jackson MS, fatigue and extreme heat;  moved out on the road to Jackson and participated in the battles before and after reaching that place; "On the morning of the 10th one company from each of the assigned regiments advanced as a line of skirmishers, encountering Confederate pickets. After a few well directed volleys from the skirmishers, the Confederate forces retreated behind their fortifications at Jackson." (3)

10-17 Jul 1863: Siege of Jackson MS; "The union forces entrenched and continued fire upon the Confederate position.  After seven days of the siege the Confederate forces evacuated Jackson..." (3)

20 Jul 1863: 5-day march back to Vicksburg MS

25 Jul 1863: embarked for Natchez MS; "There it made an excursion back in the county to Kingston, capturing a vast pile of Confederate cotton." (3)

10 Aug 1863: embarked on transports for New Orleans LA; first Western troops making the descent of the Mississippi River

12 Aug 1863: arrived; disembarked at Carrollton LA and encamped until 13 Sep 1863

(I believe he remained encamped at Carrollton until discharged as his discharge says he had been unfit for duty for 60 days. During the 60 days preceding his discharge, the regiment continued on:
13 Sep 1863: crossed the river to Algiers and moved by rail westward to Brashear City LA (present-day Morgan City LA); encamped until 28 Sept 1863; Sept - Oct 1863: engaged in the movements along the Atchafalaya & Teche Bayous being in the affairs at Grand Coteau LA & Vermillionville LA (present-day Lafayette LA))

07 Oct 1863: discharged at Carrollton LA (a neighborhood of present-day New Orleans, LA) on Surg. Cert. of disability

Regimental History Sources:
(1) 'Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois; Volume III; Containing Reports for the Years 1861-66' (Phillips Bros. State Printers, Springfield, ILL, 1901) P. 218-239
(2) 'A Compendium of the War of Rebellion' (Frederick H. Dyer, Dyer Publishing Co, Des Moines, Iowa, 1908) P. 22, 127, 494, 497, 503, 504, 560, 562, 563, 566, 575, 1083
(3) 'A History of the 87th Illinois Volunteer Infantry' via http://www.angelfire.com/il2/illinois87/illinois.doc

He returned home after his discharge, presumably having seen his share of hard times and death. He went on to live a full life; though, unfortunately, more tragedy lie ahead. His wife died shortly after his return, in 1865. He remarried in 1866 and had seven more children before his second wife died in 1884. He remarried again in 1885 and had two more children before his third wife and both of those children all died in the same year, 1888. He remarried again in 1889 and his 4th wife died in 1902. In all, he had to bury at least 5 of his children and 4 wives. He spent his last years living with one of his daughters until he died in 1914 at nearly 84 years of age.

I have been to his grave in Hamilton County IL and I continue to try to find out more about this man and his life.

We are starting to map out what a road trip to follow his Civil War journey would look like and hope to follow that path next summer!