The 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment

Bullets, Bayonets, and Housewives: Life in the Camps

by
Thomas A. Pearson

"If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
--Thomas Paine

The camp was a Civil War soldier's home away from home. He spent the bulk of his time there, more so than most Civil War soldiers did on the march or in battle combined. His first days in camp were spent learning to be a soldier. Most Civil War soldiers had little experience in military matters, officers as well as enlisted men. Not a few officers and non-commissioned officers kept one step ahead of the men they led by attending nightly instruction sessions taught by experienced men. The lessons learned in these nightly sessions were then taught to the men the next day.¹

The men of the 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment came from counties all across the state to their initial rendezvous point, Camp Douglas. Camp Douglas was the official camp of instruction for the Northern Military District of Illinois, which was comprised of the counties of Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Henry, Iroquois, Jo Davies, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, La Salle, Lee, Livingston, McHenry, Ogle, Putnam, Rock Island, Stephenson, Whiteside, Will, and Winnebago.² Camp Douglas was located on a site near Lake Michigan, four miles from the Chicago Courthouse and east of the United States Fairgrounds. The camp occupied 42 acres of what was then open prairie (the area that made up the camp is today bounded by Forest Avenue on the west, Thirty-Fourth Street on the north, Cottage Grove Avenue on the east, and Thirty-Third Street and College Place on the south). The camp was part of the estate of the late Stephen A. Douglas (the estate retained control of 118 acres). A track of the Illinois Central Railroad ran near the camp along the shore of Lake Michigan, and some men arrived at the camp by train (although some marched there, including some companies from the 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment).³

Camp Douglas served at various times during the war as housing for Union Army trainees, paroled Federal prisoners, and Confederate prisoners of war. The camp was surrounded for that reason by three miles of fourteen-foot high board fencing. It required thirty sentries to patrol this large fence (each sentry patrolled a 120 foot beat). The barracks area of the camp had fifty-foot wide streets, with four barracks buildings on each side of the street. Barracks were one-story high and measured ninety feet by twenty-four feet (they rested on four-foot posts to allow for drainage). As many as 150 men could be assigned to a barracks, each of which had a stove, benches, and rows of three-tiered bunks. Camp Douglas also featured several hospitals, a post office, a church, a court-martial hall and several guardhouses, a washhouse, and a bakery. The plan for the camp originally called for a sewer system that would empty into the lake, but the state legislature refused to cover this expense. This omission would mean death for thousands of soldiers, Union and Confederate, who might otherwise have survived the war.⁴

The men's first exposure to the realities of military discipline was a public reading of the Articles of War. The Articles of War would thereafter be read to the men every three months (more often if their commander so desired). The Articles of War then in force allowed for the imposition of a wide range of sentences and punishments, depending on the severity of the infraction. In certain cases, including desertion and an enlisted man striking an officer, the death penalty could be imposed. The official records reveal 121 cases of Union soldiers shot for the crime of desertion (there were 201,397 recorded Union Army desertions, although it must be remembered that some soldiers deserted more than once). There would undoubtedly have been more executions for desertion if President Lincoln hadn't insisted on personally reviewing each court-martial in which the death penalty had been imposed. He then generally commuted the death sentences of all but the most egregious offenders. In only one case does it appear that a Union soldier was shot for striking an officer. ⁵

A second order of business was the issuance of equipment. Soldiers were issued a knapsack, haversack, canteen, cartridge box, cap box, belt, bayonet, scabbard, wool blanket, half a tent, and a rubber blanket. Men who were not issued a rubber blanket, or who lost theirs (or threw it away during warm, sunny weather to lighten their load) were much annoyed when the weather turned cold or rainy and they were required to sleep under the stars.⁶ Sgt. George Sinclair of Company C forgot his rubber blanket when the regiment left Camp Douglas, and was soon asking his wife to send him one:

By the way, you may send me a rubber blanket for I forgot it when I was in Chicago. Come to think of it, you may send me the money if you have it to spare. $3.00- that is the sum that the boys paid for it here. It is a half dollar more than Charlie Foster paid for his in Louisville, but this is a great deal better article. Don't send the money unless you have plenty to use for I can possibly borrow what I want until we get paid off. ⁷

Each officer had his own tent (which was carried by the baggage wagons), but enlisted men slept two to a tent (each soldier carried half of it). Some men brought revolvers and knives from home to training camp, supposedly to serve as back-ups to whatever weapon they were issued by the army. Revolvers were on occasion used for the purpose intended, but knives and bayonets caused very few wounds or deaths in Civil War battles (they caused less than 4/10s of 1% of all wounds incurred by Union soldiers). Edged weapons were used mainly to cut up meat rations, and as posts to hang cooking or coffee pots on. ⁸ Union soldiers at the time the 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment left Camp Douglas for the field received a monthly clothing allowance of $3.50 per month. During the first few months of the war, clothing for soldiers was not always of good quality, and reliable accounts exist of uniforms that fell apart in a hard rain. By August 1862, however, the War Department had managed to weed out most inferior contractors, and so clothing issued to Union Army soldiers was usually of good quality after that point.

The men received several pairs of "mud-colored" flannel shirts and drawers. Wool socks helped prevent the formation of blisters. Shoes issued to Union infantrymen normally lasted 20 to 30 days if campaigning; longer if in camp. The men also received an overcoat for cold weather, which was normally discarded to lighten the load once warm weather made its initial appearance. General Grant, while following a Union Army marching column, observed hundreds of overcoats in good condition littering both sides of the road. It speaks well for the Union Quartermaster Corps that the men expected that the coats would be replaced when cold weather returned, and that they were rarely proven wrong (although they might suffer through a number of cold nights before they received the replacement overcoat). ⁹

Once they had received their equipment, the men had to be taught drill. The first order of business was often teaching the men their left foot from their right. Sometimes a bit of hay was attached to one foot, and a bit of straw to the other, until the men could tell the difference. This is the origin of the expression, "Hayfoot, strawfoot." Once they had mastered this necessary preliminary element of drill, practice could last 6 to 8 hours per day. Most men loathed drill, and were pleased to learn that there would be much less of it once they were in the field. Curiously, drill normally included little or no instruction in the types of practical manoeuvering which would actually be necessary in battle. It was also unusual for the men to be involved in mock-battles, an experience which the men who had it normally enjoyed, and which they to a man felt helped prepare them for the noise and confusion of a genuine battle. ¹⁰

The next order of business was to equip the men with shoulder weapons. The men of the 89th Illinois Infantry entered the army at a time when 300,000 men were being equipped, and shoulder weapons of good quality were in short supply. 400,000 of the 503,000 shoulder weapons held in federal and loyal state arsenals when the war broke out were .69 caliber smoothbore muskets. Some men drilled for quite some time without shoulder weapons of any sort. They were luckier, however, than some of their Confederate counterparts- accounts (mostly unverified) exist of Confederate soldiers advancing in battle carrying only wooden broomsticks or pikes, which they were to replace with muskets once men lucky enough to have shoulder weapons were killed or wounded. ¹¹

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Many European countries used the need of the federal government to quickly acquire enough shoulder weapons for incoming Union soldiers to unload antiquated smoothbore muskets on insufficiently skeptical government buyers. These muskets, which were often of .69 or even .72 caliber, were inaccurate, difficult to load and fire, and sometimes fired of their own volition. Adjutant General Allen Fuller of Illinois, in a letter to Brigadier General Ketchum of the War Department, bluntly stated that Governor Richard Yates wished for "no more such miserable arms as the Austrian musket to be furnished to Illinois troops." General Grant said of weapons of this sort that a soldier using one "could fire all day at an enemy soldier 200 yards away without him knowing it." Soldiers furnished with unreliable Austrian or other foreign muskets would typically replace them at first opportunity with the much more reliable Springfield or Enfield rifle-muskets. ¹²

The Springfield rifle-musket (so called because most of them were manufactured at the Springfield Arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts) was the basic weapon of a majority of Union Army infantrymen, including the men of the 89th Illinois Infantry. These .58 caliber weapons consisted of 84 different parts, and cost $13.93 to manufacture. The men also received a ramrod, which was used to seat a Minie ball on gunpowder that had already been poured down the barrel. Ramrods sometimes became projectiles when inexperienced or excited soldiers pulled the trigger before removing them from the barrel. ¹³

The English Enfield rifle-musket (.577 caliber) was also used extensively by both sides during the Civil War. The War Department purchased 428,000 Enfields during the first few months of the war, while the Confederate government in the first year of the war purchased 400,000 of them. Quarterly weapons inventories show that a handful of men in the 89th Illinois were generally carrying an Enfield rather than a Springfield rifle-musket. The Enfield could fire ammunition intended for the Springfield, and vice versa, but weapons using non-standard ammunition tended to need more frequent cleaning than those firing standard ammunition. Both the Enfield and the Springfield rifle-muskets accepted the standard socket bayonet, which was greatly preferred by most soldiers to the saber bayonet, which the men felt was "too cumbersome."¹⁴

Union soldiers were required by regulations to keep their equipment and weapons clean. Inspections rarely occurred more than once per week. Since regulations required that barrels of shoulder weapons be kept clean and exposed metal shiny, the men preferred to carry weapons with blued barrels (Spencers, Sharps, and Enfields) when it was possible to get them. Since the Sharps and Spencer rifles were breechloaders (loaded with a cartridge at the breech rather than with powder and ball down the barrel), they were also easier to load and shoot than rifle-muskets like the Enfield and Springfield. ¹⁵ The men liked to drill (and march to battlefields) to musical accompaniment. Until July 27, 1862 (less than one month before the 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment was formed), each Union regiment was allowed to have its own band. Regiments bitterly protested the loss of their bands, but after the above-stated date regiments were only allowed fifers, a drummer, and a bugler. During battles, when their music could rarely be heard above the din anyway, musicians either sounded the bugle or served as stretcher-bearers for the wounded. ¹⁶

Civil War soldiers were not necessarily good marksmen. Many Union soldiers came from cities, not rural areas, and many of those men had never fired a gun prior to military service. In places where ammunition was in good supply, regiments received permission to expend 10 rounds per week per man for target practice. Some regiments were required to use blank rounds during target practice. As a result of the general dearth of target practice, the regimental marksmanship average for Union Army regiments raised by the states was 1/3 hits (range during target practice was normally 100-150 yards, the range at which most rounds were likely to be fired at advancing enemy troops).¹⁷

Battle could of course be hazardous to a soldier's health, but camp life and campaigning were also not without hazards. Accidents were quite common. Private John Blayney of Company C fell off a bridge in Tennessee in December 1862 after drinking confiscated whiskey to excess: the fall killed him. Men were sometimes killed by accidentally discharged weapons; some men who had been given the surplus European weapons described earlier were injured when their weapon exploded instead of firing. Corporal Amos C. Curran of Company H was accidentally wounded while at Benton Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. Some men died of sunstroke after long marches in the Southern heat; others were drowned while crossing rivers and fast-moving creeks. Private Andrew S. Godfrey of Company H was drowned during a river crossing in Tennessee in May 1863. Pvt. William Rains of Company B (the Franklin County company) was a textbook example of what Civil War service could do to a soldier. He based a postwar pension claim on "sunstroke, nervous prostration, chronic diarrhea, and disease of the abdomen, viscera, and liver." He was granted a monthly pension of $14.00. ¹⁸

Sleeping in the open on cold, wet ground was sometimes more than just an unpleasant experience for Civil War soldiers- Union Army medical records reveal 77,335 cases of pneumonia treated by Union Army doctors, including 19,971 deaths attributed to this ailment. Years spent sleeping on cold, wet ground could also result in life-long health problems for men who managed to survive the war. Sometimes the exigencies of life on the march required that the men sleep on the ground without their tent, wrapped only in a wool blanket (and possibly a rubber blanket to wrap around that, if the soldier hadn't lost his rubber blanket or discarded it to lighten his load). A really hard rain could soak through the tent in any case, and leave the men nearly as cold and miserable as they would have been without it. ¹⁹ Sgt. George Sinclair of Company C described such a night in a letter to his wife, Francis:

To make things pleasant we were allowed no fire and it rained very heavy during the night. In the morning I found myself laying in a pool of water as each hollow between the corn ridges was full. ²⁰

A number of men in the 89th Illinois Infantry based post-war pension claims on ailments contracted while sleeping in the cold and wet. One of them, Pvt. Euel Flanagan of Company B, based his pension claim on "heart disease and rheumatism." He was granted a monthly pension on $18.00. ²¹

Some men were killed by what would nowadays be called "friendly fire." In the first year of so of the war, no color or style of uniform was required for volunteer regiments on either side of the conflict. As a result, it was sometimes difficult (especially during the smoke and haze of a major battle) to identify friend from foe. Regiments therefore sometimes fired on friendly regiments dressed in unfamiliar uniforms, or failed to fire on enemy regiments dressed in what appeared to be familiar uniforms. Dramatic, and possibly decisive, incidents of regiments failing to fire on advancing enemy regiments which at first glance appeared to be friendly occurred during the battles of First Manassas (July 1861) and Antietam (September 1862), to name just two such incidents. Steps would be taken on both sides to standardize uniforms, although rebel soldiers especially continued throughout the war to equip themselves with uniform pants, blouses, etc. taken from fallen enemy soldiers. ²²

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A greater killer of Civil War soldiers than accidents (or battle, for that matter) was disease. 359,528 Union soldiers died during the Civil War. 110,060 of these deaths were caused by rebel bullets, artillery fire, or bayonets; 249,468 fatalities were non-combat deaths due mostly to disease. It can be seen that disease and accidents killed more than two-thirds the number of Union soldiers (69%) killed by rebel armies (31%). 23 The story for Illinois soldiers was similar to that for Union soldiers in general. Of 259,092 men from Illinois who served in the Union Army, 34,834 died while in uniform. Of these, 9,894 deaths were those of men of men killed in action or who died of wounds received. 22,786 Illinois soldiers died of disease (2,154 died due to other, unspecified causes). It can be seen that three out of four Illinois soldiers died due to disease or other non-combat causes (77%). ²⁴

The first disease to strike a regiment was normally measles. Most regiments reported an outbreak of measles within the first few months of their existence. Outbreaks also sometimes occurred when large numbers of recruits, conscripts, or transfers were received by the regiment. In children measles is not normally a dangerous disease, but in adults it can cause serious health problems or even kill the sufferer. Pvt. Hansel Ezell of Company B was granted a post-war monthly pension of $8.00 based on a claim of "measles, resulting in lung disease." ²⁵

The 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment was no different than other volunteer regiments in the Union Army. It experienced problems with disease in the first month after its formation. In a letter to his wife, Francis, dated September 28, 1862, Sgt. George Sinclair of Company C had this to say on the subject:

We have 24 men on the sick list today, so you can imagine what hardships the men are put to. I should have been down before this had I not been naturally of a strong constitution and inured to hardship and then being a little ambitious in not wanting to give out.26 As it happened, sickness in his company had increased Sgt. Sinclair's responsibilities: I am acting orderly sergeant in place of the 1st Sergeant, who is sick as is also both of our lieutenants which duties of all I have to attend to just now, and it makes me jump around I can tell you. ²⁷

Another problem experienced by most Union soldiers during their Civil War service was diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea was not just an inconvenience or embarassment; it could also be a killer. In fact, more Union soldiers were killed by chronic diarrhea (44,558) than were killed in action during the war (44,238). Those men who weren't killed by this condition in many cases suffered from it for the rest of their lives. The leading ailment cited in post-war claims for disability pensions based on war service was chronic diarrhea. A number of men in the 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment filed post-war pension claims based on having contracted this ailment during their Civil War service. Pvt. Theophilus Armes of Company B based a pension claim on "chronic diarrhea and disease of the lungs." The examining doctor agreed with his claim, for Armes was granted a monthly pension of $10.00 beginning in November 1881. Francis M. Saddler of Company B was also granted a monthly pension of $8.00 based on a claim of "chronic diarrhea." ²⁸

Malaria and smallpox were also major problems during the Civil War. Doctors of the time were ignorant of the causes of malaria: they generally referred to it as "simple intermittent fever." Union soldiers suffered more than 1,000,000 cases of malaria between April 1861 and April 1865 (men were generally treated more than once for this malady, and each treatment counted as a case of malaria). 29 While smallpox was also a trial for many Civil War soldiers, it needn't have been. Vaccination for smallpox was a procedure that was known to medicine well before the Civil War. But vaccination was not required of soldiers entering the Union Army, a decision that would cost thousands of soldiers their lives. Like deaths due to poor sanitation, many smallpox deaths on both sides were needless tragedies of the war. ³⁰

Large numbers of Union (and Confederate) soldiers were also felled by venereal disease (Union figures included 102,893 cases of gonorrhea, and 79,589 cases of syphilis, with 155 deaths attributed to those causes). Pvt. Holloway Giles of Company D succumbed in a Nashville hospital to complications arising from a case of gonorrhea. Men of the 19th century were not much different from men of today- they enjoyed engaging in what they referred to as "horizontal refreshment," and visited prostitutes in large numbers. The report of the Provost Marshal of Washington, D.C. for 1862 put the number of brothels in our nation's capitol at 450. Prostitutes were so prevalent in Nashville in 1863 that the Union Army put 150 of them on a steamboat and sent them upriver. Local officials in Louisville and Cincinnati, however, were not amused and shipped the hookers back to Nashville. ³¹

Illinois had its own houses of ill repute. One brothel near Camp Butler in Springfield was run by a madam named Lucinda Taylor. The men called her place "Fort Taylor." Madam Taylor had a workforce of 13 girls who were kept busy by enthusiasts from Camp Butler. Regular raids on "Fort Taylor" by the local authorities resulted in annual fines of $600-$800 being levied against Madam Taylor and her girls (at a time when the average unskilled laborer made $1 per day). The fines were contributions of another kind by Madam Taylor and her girls to the war effort.³²

Morale was certainly an important factor in the Civil War. It was well-known then as now that an army "travels on its stomach," and a serious effort was made by Union quartermasters to keep the men well-fed. There were two basic types of ration: the camp ration and the field ration. The camp ration consisted of 22 ounces of bread or flour (or 1 pound of hardtack), fresh beef if available (salted beef or pork if not), beans and rice (or hominy), 1 pound of potatoes at least 3 times per week, and regular rations of sugar, salt, and coffee. The field ration consisted of 1 pound of hardtack, 3/4 s of a pound of salt pork or beef, plus regular rations of sugar, salt, and coffee.33 Most soldiers on both sides were serious coffee drinkers. One Ohio soldier reported drinking 1 to 1 1/2 ga1llons of coffee per day. Some soldiers liked sugar in their coffee, but it was nearly always drunk black, because of the general scarcity of milk. ³⁴

Union soldiers also drank alcohol, sometimes to excess. Men departing for training camp were often treated to significant quantities of alcohol, and in some cases arrived at their final destinations roaring drunk. Union soldiers drank more than did their rebel counterparts, although the reasons for this were neither the superior will power nor finer character of the rebel soldier. Union soldiers were paid more often than were their rebel counterparts, and were more likely to be encamped in or near a large city or town- thus they had more frequent access to alcoholic beverages. Had rebel soldiers had equal access to alcohol during the war, alcoholism and chronic drunkeness would have caused as many problems for Lee and Jackson as they did for Grant and Sherman. ³⁵

Excessive drinking could lead to tragedy. On December 27, 1862, while on the march to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, soldiers in the 89th Illinois Infantry were able to "liberate a large quantity of alcohol from local citizens along the route of march." Private John Blayney of Company C was able to drink to excess, and in his confused state (and the gathering darkness) managed to step off a bridge and fall to his death. Sgt. George Sinclair of Company C described burying Blayney at midnight in a letter to his wife:

A little accident happened to our company from the effects of sacking, as they found some whiskey and abused it and one of our men fell into the opening for the bridge at Triune. He died that night, we buried him at midnight. It seemed mighty hard to lay him here away from home or friends. When we laid this night in our wet blankets it put me in mind of the old woman's cure for a cold, not very pleasant though. ³⁶

The bottle and the prostitute were certainly not the Union soldier's only diversions. A majority of soldiers in both armies gambled, and poker was always the game of choice, although the men also played blackjack, euchre, faro, and seven-up. The men sometimes gambled with dice, although a game called "chuck-a-luck" rather than craps was their game of choice. Men also bet on horse races and cockfights, but cards and dice games were the most-favored methods of losing money in either army. ³⁷ Union soldiers also played at various sports, including an early version of baseball. In winter, snowball fights were a favored pastime, although soldier snowball fights could get out of hand. Accounts exist of snowball fights so large in scale and serious in intent that some participants suffered black eyes, loosened teeth, and (occasionally) broken bones. 38

The men also read, sometimes to one another, sometimes as a solitary diversion. Some men brought books form home, or received them in the mail. Sanitary Commission members also distributed books to both the wounded and the well (sometimes- but not always- the Bible). Some men preferred to read newspapers, and read ones sent from home or bought from the ubiquitous sutlers. Nearly all Union soldiers could read and write. In an average regiment of nearly 1,000 soldiers, no more than 60 were illiterates. Many 100-man companies boasted no illiterates. ³⁹

There was something else the men dearly liked to read: letters from home. They spent a lot of time writing letters home, and expected to get letters in return. Part of each letter a man wrote home was normally taken up with reminders to loved ones at home to write as often as possible, and at as great a length as possible. Sgt. George Sinclair of Company C said the following in a letter to his wife, Frankie:

My love to all- don't forget anyone- and write me a good long letter no matter what you put to make it a long letter, fill it up and lots of it now. Don't forget to tell me of every little thing that seems of no importance to you but it might interest me greatly. ⁴⁰

Colonel Charles Truman Hotchkiss of the 89^th Illinois Infantry Regiment

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Another diversion for the men was spending money at the sutlers' wagons. Sutlers were one-man department stores who kept their stock in one or more wagons. Sutlers were civilians who had contracted to provide this service for a regiment or brigade. The 89th Illinois' regimental sutler was a man named William A. Spayth from Ohio. Sutlers made numerous items available to the men, including loose tobacco, cigars, food items, knives, newspapers, and little sewing kits which the men referred to as "housewives." The relationship between sutlers and the men they served was often an uneasy one. Sutlers did perform a useful function, but often sold their wares at what the men felt were unreasonably high prices. Night-time raids on sutlers' wagons were not unknown, especially if the men had not been paid for awhile. Some sutlers during the Atlanta Campaign hired night watchmen to protect their wagons. Once Atlanta fell to the Union Army, however, the bottom dropped out of one part of the sutler's market. Men could now dig up tobacco from fields and gardens, so cigars that had sold for fifteen cents each one day were selling for twenty-five cents per 100 the next. ⁴¹

Among the more unusual items offered by some sutlers were body armor and dog tags. Soldiers were never issued body armor by the War Department. Lincoln discouraged those who tried to sell it to the government by suggesting that they wear it during a demonstration of its effectiveness. Some soldiers bought it from sutlers anyway, but generally quickly discarded it after discovering that it was hot and bulky, subjected its wearers to ridicule from their fellows, and didn't work as advertised anyway. ⁴²

Dog tags also were not issued to Civil War soldiers by either side, although ID tags very similar to those issued to soldiers during World War I already existed during the Civil War. It was most unfortunate that so many men carried no identification badges: of more than 300,000 soldiers buried in national battlefields by 1883, more than half were listed as unknowns. Hard experience did teach some of the men the value of carrying some item which would identify them in case they should fall in battle. Some bought identification badges from sutlers which closely resemble the WWI and WWII dog tags many of us are familiar with; some scratched their initials and regiment numbers in their belt buckles. Before the ill-fated Union assault at Cold Harbor, Virginia, some soldiers were observed pinning slips of paper with their names, addresses, and regiment numbers to the backs of their coats.⁴³

While the men were in camp, a typical day included the sounding of reveille at 5AM in the summer, 6AM during the winter. The men had to learn to dress quickly and hustle outside for morning roll call (missing morning roll call could mean some unpleasant time in the guardhouse). It was the duty of the company First Sergeant to call the roll. Most regiments proceeded from morning roll call to breakfast (although a fastidious- or irate- colonel could decide to hold an early drill session before breakfast). After breakfast, men in ill health could go on sick call, when men in good health were assigned various routine chores, including guard duty. Again, it was the company First Sergeant who selected men for guard duty. Men not selected for chore duty drilled until it was time to eat lunch. ⁴⁴

After lunch, the men usually had a period of free time. Then it was time for drill again. Afternoon drill was followed by daily housekeeping, when the men were expected to clean uniforms and shine boots, belt buckles, and exposed gun metal. After housekeeping, the men stood for afternoon roll call. Once afternoon roll call was completed, it was time for a review of the men by their colonel. A cursory inspection was usually held, which could be followed by a dress parade (full inspections were normally held no more than once per week). At dress parade, the men were read any new orders or regulations, or were told the outcome of any current court-martial cases.

Then it was time for the evening meal, after which the men stood for the third (and final) roll call of the day. At this point the men would be returned to their quarters and Taps sounded. Taps was the signal for lights to go out and talk to cease. As the men by this point were often bone-tired anyway, it was normally an easy task to quiet down and fall asleep. Men did sometimes like to play tricks on their officers, and some nights animal sounds like the crow of a rooster could be heard making their way from one section of the camp to another.⁴⁵

The 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment was not at Camp Douglas for very long. They were mustered into federal service on August 25, 1862, and were assigned to duty at Louisville, Kentucky, with Third Brigade, Second Division, Army of Kentucky (they had first received orders to Cincinnati, which were altered enroute). The regiment arrived at its destination on September 4, 1862. ⁴⁶ Sgt. George Sinclair of Company described the journey to Louisville in a letter to his wife, Frankie:

Well, to commence with my journey, we struck tents on Thursday afternoon and started for Cincinnati about six o'clock, but when we arrived at Michigan City we received orders to go to Louisville as the secesh were threatening the city and were within six miles of it. Well, we started for the south and arrived at Jeffersonville opposite Louisville on the evening of the second day, meeting with the warmest of receptions from the inhabitants of all the places along the line, being waited upon with water and fruits in great plenty, with plenty of kisses and waving of handkerchiefs which of course were appreciated by us. On arriving at Jeffersonville, we were caused to stop there until midnight so as to blind the secession sympathizers as to our strength and our effectiveness. But as it was, many people were up. Some waved banners to us while others said nothing, and some devils threw a lot of rubbish and a bottle from a five-story building, intending no doubt to quiet some good Union soldier. But the Lord did not will it so, for it did no harm, only just reminded us of what we might expect at any time from some disinterested Kentuckian. ⁴⁷

Before leaving for duty in the field, some men managed to get their photographs taken. Most of them did so at the urging of their wives or mothers (everyone knew that some men wouldn't be returning from the war). In photographs of this sort, the men often look stiff or ill-at-ease, because photography was still in its infancy and this was often the first time a man had ever been photographed. ⁴⁸ A second order of business for some men at this time was a short leave of absence. Leave had to be granted either by their camp commander or the colonel of their regiment. Men on leave left their weapons and equipment with the regiment. While on leave some of the men took care of another errand. Like getting photographed, the men knew that this might be the only time they would have for wedded bliss. ⁴⁹

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¹ James R. Arnold, The Armies of U. S. Grant (London: Arms & Armour, 1994; distr. in the U. S. by Sterling Publications, 1996) 17; Beyond the Battlefield: the Ordinary Life and Extraordinary Times of the Civil War Soldier, ed. by David Madden (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000- hereafter cited as Madden) 46-81; Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank (1952: Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971) 50.

² George Levy, To Die in Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas, 1862-1865 (Evanston, IL: Evanston Publishing, Inc., 1994) 11-12.

³ Levy 8-12.

⁴ Levy 6-13; Francis A. Lord, They Fought For the Union (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1981) 24; Madden 189; C. Keith Wilbur, Civil War Medicine, 1861-1865 (Old Saybrook, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1998) 31-33, 81.

⁵ Lord 9, 205-207, 238; Madden 201-211; Delia Ray, Behind the Blue and Gray: the Soldier's Life in the Civil War (New York: Lodestar Books, 1991) 43-44.

⁶ Arms and Equipment of the Union (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991- hereafter cited as Arms) 194-213; Lord 143, 146-148.

⁷ George G. Sinclair, letter to Frances E. Sinclair, 28 September 1862 (all Sinclair letters cited in this book are among those included in a transcription owned by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois- transcription was provided to ALPL by Sinclair's great-grandson, George Shuman, of New Madison, Ohio).

⁸ Arms 16-17, 214-215; Lord 143, 151; Madden 50-51.

⁹ Arms 17, 126-129; Lord 139; Wilbur 26-29.

¹⁰ Arnold 17-18; Lord 25-26, 33; Madden 61-63; Wiley 25-26, 54.

¹¹ Arnold 18-19; Bryan S. Bush, Civil War Battles of the Western Theatre (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 1998) 121; The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference, ed. by Margaret E. Wagner, Gary W. Gallagher, and Paul Finkelman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002- hereafter cited as Desk Reference) 492-493; Lord 141; Stephen D. Lutz, "Stick Charge at Stones River," Civil War Times 41:6 (December 2002) 60-72; John K. Mahon, "Civil War Infantry Assault Tactics," in Military Analysis of the Civil War: an Anthology (Millwood, NY: KTO Press, 1977) 254.

¹² Arms 24-25, 34-37; Arnold 19; Joseph G. Bilby, Civil War Firearms: Their Historical Background, Tactical Use, and Modern Collecting and Shooting (Conshoshocken, PA: Combined Publishing, 1996) 21-22; United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901- hereafter cited as O.R.) Series III, Volume II, 681-682; Wiley 51.

¹³ Arms 28-31; Arnold 20-21; Bush 122; Earl J. Coates and Dean S. Thomas, An Introduction to Civil War Small Arms (Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1990) 4-6, 87; Ian Drury and Tony Gibbons, The Civil War Military Machine: Weapons and Tactics of the Union and Confederate Armed Forces (New York: Smithmark, 1993) 51; Mahon 253.

¹⁴ Arms 24, 38-39; Arnold 18; Bush 122; Desk Reference 489-490, 492; Lord 154-155; Wiley 49.

¹⁵ Arms 26-27; Lord 141-143, 154-155; Mahon 254-255; Wiley 49.

¹⁶ Desk Reference 443-445, 631; Lord 60.

¹⁷ Arnold 20-23; Lord 28, 52.

¹⁸ Arnold 20; Lord 35; Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, rev. by Brigadier General J. N. Reece (Springfield, IL: Phillips Brothers Printers, 1901) vol. 5, 280 (hereafter cited as RAGI); G. G. Sinclair, letter to F. E. Sinclair, January 6, 1863.

¹⁹ Lord 9, 35; James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War Era (1988: New York: Ballantine Books, 1989) 323, 342.

²⁰ G. G. Sinclair, letter to F. E. Sinclair, 6 January 1863.

²¹ United States. Pension Bureau, List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883: Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Which Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance, as Called for by Senate Resolution of December 8, 1882 (1883: Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970- hereafter cited as List 1883).

²² Webb B. Garrison, Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More Than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1999).

²³ Arms 226-227; Alfred Jay Bollet, Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs (Tucson, AZ: Galen Press, Ltd., 2002) 231-364; Lord 103; Madden 235-254; Paul E. Steiner, Disease in the Civil War: Natural Biological Warfare in 1861-1865 (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1968) 10-11; Wilbur 80-88, 108-109.

²⁴ Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1991) xxi; Robert P. Howard, Illinois: a History of the Prairie State (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) 318; Madden 235.

²⁵ Bollet 269-271; Levy 7; Madden 237-238; Wiley 133.

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²⁶ G. G. Sinclair, letter to F. E. Sinclair, 28 September 1862.

²⁷ G. G. Sinclair, letter to F. E. Sinclair, 28 September 1862.

^{28 Bollet 365-375; List
1883; Madden 241, 243; Steiner 10; Wiley 124.}

²⁹ Bollet 236-238, 289-290; Madden 241-242; Wiley 124.

³⁰ Bollet 290-296; Wiley 125.

³¹ Bollet 313-317, 328; Compiled Military Service Record of Pvt. Holloway Giles, Co. D, 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment (National Archives, Washington, DC- kindly furnished to me by Barry Giles of Crown Point, Indiana- hereafter cited as Giles CMSR); Madden 229-231; Wilbur 87-88, 109; Wiley 259, 261-262.

³² J. T. Hickey, in Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society.

³³ Arms 224-225; Bollet 337-363; Lord 120; Madden 126-160; War Between Brothers (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1996- hereafter cited as Brothers) 80-81; Wilbur 21-24; Wiley 230, 234-235, 277.

³⁴ Brothers 82; Madden 240-241; Wiley 32, 252-253.

³⁵ Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: a Political, Social, and Military History, ed. By David S. & Jeanne T. Heidler (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC/CLIO, 2000- hereafter cited as Heidler) 1173-1174.

³⁶ RAGI, vol. 5, 268; G. G. Sinclair, letter to F. E. Sinclair, 6 January 1863.

³⁷ Heidler 1173; Levy 17; Madden 116-117; Wiley 250.

³⁸ Heidler 1173; Lord 239-240; Madden 98-112.

³⁹ Arms 223; Brothers 89; Heidler 1173; Charles Royster, The Destructive War: William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and the Americans (New York: Knopf, 1991) 239-240; Wiley 306-307.

⁴⁰ G. G. Sinclair, letter to F. E. Sinclair, 4 October 1862.

⁴¹ Corydon Edward Foote, With Sherman to the Sea: a Drummer's Story of the Civil War (New York: John Day Company, 1960) 109-110; Giles CMSR; Lord 130-131; Madden 151-152; Fred A. Shannon, The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861-1865 (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1928, 2 vols.) vol. 1, 254.

⁴² Lord 145-146.

⁴³ Lord 149, 275-276; Ray 35.

⁴⁴ Lord 30; Madden 61-69; Wiley 63.

⁴⁵ Arms 14-15; Brothers 81; Madden 57-69.

⁴⁶ RAGI, vol. 5, 287.

⁴⁷ G. G. Sinclair, letter to F. E. Sinclair, 6 September 1862.

⁴⁸ Madden 113-114; Wiley 25.

⁴⁹ Lord 231; Madden 97-98, 215-219.

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