THE 89th ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY REGIMENT
   (July 1862-June 1865)                                   

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The 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment, also known as the Railroad Regiment, was formed in July and August 1862. It participated in the battles of Stones River, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Orchard Knob and Missionary Ridge, Pickett's Mill, the Atlanta Campaign, and Nashville. The regiment was mustered out in June 1865. 

   

     Photos of 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment monuments on the Chickamauga battlefield by Tom Pearson.
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"Rough Men Standing Ready":
the Formation of the 89th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment

by

Thomas A. Pearson

Text and photos copyright © 2004 by Thomas A. Pearson.  All rights reserved.

 

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
--George Orwell

 

U.S. 34-Star Flag, 1861

The 89th Illinois Infantry was raised in late July and August of 1862. It was part of President Lincoln's July 2, 1862 call for 300,000 additional three-year volunteers. 1 At least 39 Illinois counties furnished men for the regiment. The following counties furnished 20 or more men for the regiment: Cook, Franklin, Henry, Iroquois, Jackson, Kane, Kendall, Knox, Lee, Perry, McDonough, and Rock Island counties. 2

A typical Civil War Union infantry regiment was composed of ten companies of approximately 100 men each. The 89th Illinois Infantry was composed of the following companies:

Company A consisted primarily of men from Cook, Fulton, and Hancock Counties. The Cook County men were enlisted between August 1st and 14th, 1862. The Fulton County men were enlisted between July 31st and August 7th, 1862. The men from Hancock County were enlisted on August 12th and 13th, 1862. Its first captain was Duncan J. Hall of Chicago. The men were mustered into federal service by Colonel John Christopher on August 27, 1862. 3

Company B was recruited primarily from men living in Franklin County, with handfuls of men from Saline and Williamson Counties rounding out the mix. All the men from Company B were enlisted on August 13th, 1862. Its first captain was Travis O. Spencer of Benton, Illinois. The men marched to Chicago, the place of general rendezvous, where they arrived on August 15, 1862. They were mustered into federal service by Colonel John Christopher on August 25, 1862. 4

Company C consisted mostly of men from Cook County. Members of this company were enlisted between August 5th and August 16th, 1862. The first captain of this company was Henry L. Rowell of Chicago. The men were mustered into federal service by Colonel John Christopher on August 25, 1862. 5

Company D was composed primarily of men from southern Illinois. It had volunteers from Franklin, Jackson, and Perry Counties. Men from Franklin County were enlisted on August 21st and 22nd, 1862. Men from Jackson County were enlisted between August 14th and 21st, 1862, while Perry County enlistees signed up between August 14th and 22nd, 1862. The first captain of Company D was John W. Spink of Chicago. The men were mustered into federal service by Colonel John Christopher on August 27, 1862. 6

Company E was recruited primarily from residents of Kane County, with sizable contingents from Adams and Knox Counties. Enlistments occurred in Aurora, Illinois. Men from Kane County were enlisted between August 1st and August 10th, 1862. Men from Adams County were signed up between August 6th and August 10th, 1862, while Knox County men were enlisted between August 1st and August 10th, 1862. Its first captain was Bruce H. Kidder of Aurora, Illinois. The men were mustered into federal service by Colonel John Christopher on August 25, 1862. 7

Company F was a special case. It was originally recruited as part of the 126th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It was assigned to the 89th Illinois in October of 1862 in order to fill the regiment. Men of Company F came primarily from Rock Island County, and were enlisted at Rock Island, Illinois between July 25th and August 15th,1862. Company F's first captain was William D. Williams of Rock Island. They were mustered into federal service on August 23, 1862, and then marched 200 miles to Chicago, Illinois, the place of general rendezvous, where they arrived on September 19, 1862. 8

Company G was recruited mainly from Henry and McDonough Counties. Men from both counties were enlisted on August 25th, 1862, at Altona, Illinois. The first captain of Company G was Thomas Whiting of Walnut Grove, Illinois. The men marched to Chicago, Illinois, the place of general rendezvous, a distance of 160 miles, and were sworn into federal service there on August 27, 1862. 9

Company H was composed mainly of men from Kendall County. These men enlisted between August 4th and 11th, 1862. Company H's first captain was Henry S. Willett of Bristol, Illinois. The men marched 60 miles to Chicago, Illinois, the place of general rendezvous, arriving on August 25, 1862. They were sworn into federal service on August 27, 1862. 10

Company I was recruited primarily in Lee, Mercer, and Schuyler Counties. Enlistments occurred at Amboy, Illinois. Men from Lee County were enlisted between August 9th and 15th, 1862, while men from Mercer County were enlisted between August 12th and 14th, 1862. Schuyler County men were enlisted between August 12th and 15th, 1862. The first captain of Company I was Samuel C. Comstock of Amboy, Illinois. The men marched 100 miles to Chicago, Illinois, the place of general rendezvous, arriving there on August 25, 1862. They were mustered into federal service on August 27, 1862. 11

Company K consisted primarily of men from Cook, Kane, and Winnebago Counties. Cook County men were enlisted between July 29th and August 13th, 1862, while Kane County men were enlisted between August 5th and 15th, 1862. Men from Winnebago County were enlisted between July 31st and August 7th, 1862. Company K's first captain was Herbert M. Blake of Chicago. The men were mustered into federal service on August 27, 1862. 12

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The regiment was raised at a time when the war appeared to be going badly for the North. Early successes at Forts Donelson and Henry had been followed by costly contests at Shiloh, Gaines' Mill, and Malvern Hill. In the Seven Days' Campaign of late June and early July 1862 (of which Gaines' Mill and Malvern Hill were part), the Union Army had lost nearly 16,000 men killed, wounded, and missing. It had become apparent to nearly everyone that the war would not be decided quickly by one decisive battle, as conventional wisdom had decreed in the aftermath of the fall of Fort Sumter. William T. Sherman's early prediction of a long and bloody war of attrition had apparently not been the raving of a lunatic after all. It had also become apparent by July 1862 to potential volunteers that the soldier's life was not without risk. A great adventure could be had, certainly, but not without cost. The cost was daily made manifest by the wooden coffins and black rubber body bags arriving at train stations all across the North, and by the empty sleeves and trouser legs of some returning veterans. 13

It was at this point that bounties began to be offered by northern counties and towns anxious to meet the manpower quotas imposed on them by the War Department. There was a fairly universal horror of the draft, which was being used quite consciously by the Federal government as a cudgel to spur enlistments. Enlistees were eligible for sometimes sizable bounties (especially in 1864 and early 1865), and could choose the regiment they wished to join. Draftees, on the other hand, received little or no bounty money and were assigned to existing regiments as need dictated. 14

At the time the men of the 89th Illinois enlisted in the army, the federal government was paying a bounty of $100 to all enlistees. Some counties and municipalities were also already paying bounties to enlistees. A Union private at that time was paid $13 per month: skilled workers in Chicago by contrast were being paid an average of $12 per week (day laborers were lucky to get $6 per week). It can be seen that the Federal bounty even for unskilled workers amounted to less than four months' pay, scant comfort for a married man who enlisted for three years' service. 15

Many men who enlisted in the 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment did so in part because the railroad companies involved promised to pay dependents of soldiers a regular monthly stipend to supplement the men's government pay. When these promised stipends were not immediately forthcoming, the men grew very angry. Sgt. George Sinclair of Company C wrote to his wife, Francis, about this matter:

Frank, those certificates to insure the Cook County War Fund were sent to Mr. Downs, the treasurer of the Milwaukee Road. You can get yours by going to Mr. Huntly. I don't want you to beg of the county, but this is your right. Mrs. Loomis [Orrin Loomis, a private in Company C] went to Colonel Christopher and got her certificate and draws $2.00 per week. You can draw $1.50 for yourself and 25 cents for Gertie [the Sinclair family's new baby], making $1.75 a week which would be quite a help and to be had for going after it for it is rightfully yours. 16

Economic inducements, therefore, were not primary motivators for any but the poorest men enlisting in July and August of 1862. It is also unlikely, however, that many men of the 89th enlisted in order to free the slaves. One estimate of the number of white Union soldiers with any real interest in emanicipation suggests that less than one in ten men enlisted because of a desire to free the slaves. Some Union soldiers were in fact opposed to emancipation, and were greatly angered to hear about Lincoln's Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. George Sinclair said this on the issue:

If the nigger is the object and Abe Lincoln's Proclamation still to be the main feature and guide for the prosecution of this unholy war against our own countrymen, then I am out of it forever and shall act conscientiously in leaving the army. 17

He went on to speak of a rumor then spreading quickly through the ranks of Midwestern soldiers:

There are other news too that have started some excitement and hopes that it may be so, that was of the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio repudiating the President's Proclamation of September 22nd 1862, their legislatures refusing to raise another dollar or another man to carry on the war with and further to recall all the troops that each of the states has in the field unless the President recalls his proclamation.18

For most men loyalty to the Union (or to their home states, or even to their friends and relatives who also joined) was one of the two main reasons for enlisting (the other reason was to avoid becoming a draftee).19 Officers suffered less economically than did the enlisted men. Officers' pay at the time the 89th Illinois was raised ranged from $45 per month (second lieutenants) to $270 per month (lieutenant generals). Officers did need to furnish their own equipment and uni-forms, however, while enlisted men received their equipment free and got a monthly clothing allowance ($3.50 in July 1862). 20


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The Federal government at first had a real problem getting enough qualified recruits. A report on enlistees presented to President Lincoln in July 1862 concluded that "at least 25 per cent of the volunteer army raised last year" was in such poor condition as to prove "a positive emcumbrance and embarassment." The report urged new, more stringent medical examinations of potential recruits (but failed to call for the increase in medical examiners which would have been necessary to weed out the unqualified). 21

At the time the men of the 89th Illinois enlisted in the army, the following physical requirements were in force:

  • Men must not be less than 5'3" nor more than 6'3" in height.

  • Men must weigh not less than 110 lbs. nor more than 220 lbs.

  • Men must have enough teeth to open a paper musket cartridge.

  • Men must not be drunkards.

  • Men must not be convicted of any felonies.

  • Men must have no venereal diseases. 22

Enlistees were supposed to be at least eighteen and not more than 45 years old at the time of enlistment, but enlistees at both ends of this spectrum lied to evade this requirement. An actuary's examination of the vital statistics of more than 1,000,000 Union re-cruits revealed that more than 5,000 of them were more than 45 years old when they enlisted (2,366 of these men were more than 50 years old when they enlisted). More than 10,000 recruits were under 18 years of age (457 of these were under 15 years of age) at the time of their enlistments. The largest single group of enlistees was the 18 year olds (of the 2,778,304 soldiers who served in the Federal army, more than 2,000,000 were less than 22 years old). The average officer was 5 years older than his men. It may be helpful to note that, in 1861, Grant was only 39 years old, and William T. Sherman 40 years old (Lee was a relatively ancient 54 years old). 23

The oldest man listed on the Descriptive Roster of the 89th Illinois Infantry is Private Joseph Phillips of Company A, who was 44 years old when he enlisted on August 24, 1863 (according to the Adjutant General's Report, he deserted in October 1863). The youngest man listed on the roster is Private Leroy Roberts of Company B, who was 17 years old when he enlisted on September 12, 1863 (he died at Knoxville, Tennessee on April 7, 1864).24 The average age of Union soldiers was 25 or 26 (although the average is skewed somewhat by the numerous over- and underage recruits cited above). The average Union soldier had brown hair, blue eyes, and a light complexion. He stood 5'8" tall and weighed 143 pounds. The tallest man listed on the Descriptive Roster of the 89th Illinois Infantry is Private Andrew J. Hosley of Company E, who was 6'2" at the time of his enlistment on August 17, 1863 (he was transferred to the 59th Illinois Infantry when the 89th Illinois was mustered out of service in June 1865). The shortest men listed on the roster are Privates Azra Myron Ball of Company C, and James H. Pemble of Company G. Their height is given as 5'2". Ball, who enlisted on October 5, 1863, was killed in action at the Battle of Pickett's Mill, Georgia on May 27, 1864. Pemble, who enlisted on August 12, 1863, was later transferred to the 59th Illinois Infantry Regiment. 25

Soldiers of the 89th Illinois were by and large born in the United States (although a majority were not born in Illinois). Approximately 3/4s of all Union soldiers were born in the United States. About 10% of them were born in what in 1862 constituted the states of the Confederacy (Theophilus and William Armes, privates in Company B, were born in Mississippi). 26 Of the foreign-born soldiers, approximately 175,000 were born in Germany, including Sgt. Charles Arenschield of Company F and Privates Henry A. Lindeman of Company B and Valentine Lanz of Company D (Private Lanz died in Andersonville Prison on November 16, 1864). 150,000 Union soldiers were born in Ireland, including Privates William P. Hennessey and David Mulcahey of Company D (Private Mulcahey also died in Andersonville Prison on July 23, 1864). 27

Other foreign nations which furnished men to the 89th Illinois Infantry include Canada, the birthplace of 50,000 Union soldiers. Captain Alexander Beecher of Company D was born there, as were Privates Hugh Patterson of Company B and Thomas Moran of Company C (Private Moran, who enlisted on September 23, 1863 at the age of 18, died less than one year later in Andersonville Prison). 28 England was the birthplace of 45,000 Federal soldiers, including Privates Samuel Hebb, Sr. of Company A, and Thomas Jones of Company E (Private Hebb was later promoted to Corporal, and spent some time in a rebel prison before being mustered out of service on June 19, 1865). 29

Private Alexander Robertson of Company E was born in Scotland (he was killed in action at the Battle of Pickett's Mill, Georgia, on May 27, 1864), as was Private John M. Farquhar of Company B. Private Farquhar was one of the Civil War's most spectacular success stories: he received promotion after promotion, finally ending the war as Major John M. Farquhar. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts to rally the 89th Illinois while serving as Sgt. Major during the Battle of Stones River, and would after the war be elected to Congress as a Representative from Buffalo, New York. 30 Several members of the 89th Illinois were born in even more exotic locales: Private Andrew J. Muhle of Company D was born in Denmark, and Private Mathew Hellixon, also of Company D, was born in Norway (Private Hellixon died at Nashville, Tennessee on January 31, 1864). 31

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There were also some black soldiers in the 89th Illinois Infantry. When the regiment passed through newly liberated areas of the South, it was authorized to recruit former male slaves for positions known as "Undercook." These men cooked, did miscellaneous chores around camp, and served as stretcher bearers during battles. Most of the under-cooks in the 89th Illinois appear to have been recruited in Tennessee in July 1863. Such service was not without hazards: John Flack of Company E was mortally wounded while serving as an undercook. Men who had served as undercooks were later eligible to receive federal military pensions based on their Civil War service (Undercook Preston Warner of Company H received a pension for his service in the 89th Illinois Infantry after the war). 32

The men of the 89th Illinois in their pre-war occupations also resembled the men of the Union army as a whole. Many men of the 89th were farmers or railroad employees prior to their enlistments in the Union army. Almost half of all Union soldiers had been farmers before they donned the blue. Private Mathew Hellixson, the man from Norway mentioned previously, was a farmer prior to enlistment in the 89th Illinois. Private Theodore Gaston of Company C was a farmer prior to enlistment, as were Privates Richard Kellogg of Company A and Benjamin F. Lawrence of Company B. Private Gaston died at Nashville, Tennessee of wounds suffered previously on June 3, 1864; Private Lawrence died at Andersonville Prison on September 24, 1864, and Private Kellogg served time at Andersonville but managed to return to duty later. He was transferred to the 59th Illinois Infantry when the 89th Illinois was mustered out of service on June 10, 1865. 33

The next-best represented occupational category was laborer. Privates David Mulcahey and Charles Miller of Company D worked at this occupation prior to enlistment (Mulcahey died at Andersonville Prison on July 23, 1864, and Miller died on April 10, 1864 from wounds received previously). Also well-represented in the Union Army were the occupations of carpenter, shoemaker, and blacksmith. 34

In joining an infantry regiment the men of the 89th again mirrored a majority of those who joined the Union army. About 80% of Union soldiers were infantrymen (14% were cavalrymen, 6% artillerymen). The composition of the Rebel army was similiar but not identical: 6% of Rebel soldiers also were artillerymen, but fewer were infantrymen (72%) and a higher percentage were cavalrymen (20%). 35

By war's end Illinois, which had been asked by the War Department to furnish 239,379 men for the Union war effort, had actually furnished 258,162 men. It was one of seven states which exceeded their quotas (15 states failed to meet their quotas). During its two year, ten month history, the 89th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment carried a total of 1,403 men on its rolls (never all at one time). When the regiment was mustered out in June 1865 there were 381 men on its rolls (202 members of the 89th had been transferred in the field to the 59th Illinois Infantry Regiment). 36

This, then, is the story of the men of the 89th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It will help to explain, hopefully, not just what motivated them to see their cause through to the end and why they were willing to give up so much- their lives, even, in some cases- to do so. It will also (in the rosters) shed some light on what became of many regiment members after the war, because (as is so often forgotten in histories of this sort) it is the lives both of those men who died on battlefields, in military hospitals, and at military prisons, plus the lives of those men who somehow managed to survive three years in the bloody crucible of war that comprise the fate of the regiment.

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1 89th Illinois Infantry Regimental File, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois.

 

2 Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IL: Baker & Phillips, Printers, 1863- hereinafter cited as RAGI-1863) 32-37, 71.

 

3 Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, Containing Reports Concerning the Years 1861-1865 (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., State Printers, 1901) volume V, 262-264 (hereafter cited as RAGI-1901; all citations refer to volume V unless otherwise noted); Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, ed. By Janet B. Hewett (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1995) Part II, Record of Events, Volume 13, Serial No. 25, 391-392 (hereafter cited as Hewett; all citations are to Part II, Volume 13, Serial No. 25 unless otherwise noted).

 

4 Hewett 392-394; RAGI-1901 265-267.

 

5 Hewett 394-395; RAGI-1901 267-269.

 

6 Hewett 396-397; RAGI-1901 269-272.

 

7 Hewett 397-398; RAGI-1901 272-274.

 

8 Hewett 399-400; RAGI-1901 274-277.

 

9 Hewett 400-402; RAGI-1901 277-279.

 

10 Hewett 402-404; RAGI-1901 279-281.

 

11 Hewett 404-405; RAGI-1901 281-283.

 

12 Hewett 405-407; RAGI-1901 283-285.

 

13 Beyond the Battlefield: the Ordinary Life and Extraordinary Times of the Civil War Soldier, ed. David Madden (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000) 38-41; William Blair, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham-- Eventually: the Problem of Northern nationalism in the Pennsylvania Recruiting Drives of 1862," ed. Joan E. Cashin, The War Was You and Me: Civilians in the American Civil War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002) 183-208; Marvin A. Kreidberg and Merton G. Henry, History of Military Mobilization in the United States Army, 1775-1945 (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1955) 100, 102-109.

 

14 Kreidburg and Henry 103-109; Madden 69-74.

 

15 Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991) 4; Kreidburg and Henry 109-111; James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988) 326; Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago: Volume II, From Town to City, 1848-1871 (New York & London: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940) 272-273; Clyde C. Walton, Illinois and the Civil War (1960; Springfield: Illinois State History Library, 1967) 19; The War of the Rebellion: a Compil-ation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1880-1902) Series III, Volume V, 746.

 

16 George G. Sinclair, letter to Francis E. Sinclair, 15 November 1862 (all Sinclair letters cited in this book are included in a transcription of these letters owned by the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield, Illinois- the transcription was furnished to ALPL by George Shuman of Ohio, Sinclair's great-great grandson).

 

17 George G. Sinclair, letter to Francis E. Sinclair, 27 January 1862; Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union (1952: Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978) 40.

 

18 George G. Sinclair, letter to Francis E. Sinclair, 27 January 1862.

 

19 Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of the Union (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991) 12.

 

20 Francis A. Lord, They Fought for the Union (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing, 1981) 124.

 

21 Kreidburg and Henry 98; Frank E. Vandiver, Civil War Battlefields and Landmarks: a Guide to the National Park Sites; With Official National Park Service Maps For Each Site (New York: Random House, 1996) 140-141; C. Keith Wilbur, Civil War Medicine (Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1998) 8-9.

 

22 Echoes 12; Lord 14.

 

23 William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the Civil War, 1861-1865 (Albany, NY: Albany Publishing Company, 1889) 62; Wiley 298-299, 303.

 

24 Descriptive Roster of the 89th Regiment Illinois Volunteers, October 25, 1863 (this item is in the 89th Illinois Infantry Regimental File, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois, hereafter cited as Roster); RAGI-1901 264, 267.

 

25 Fox 62; RAGI-1901 269, 279; Roster.

 

26 RAGI-1901 265; Roster.

 

27 Fox 62; RAGI-1901 267, 271, 275; Roster.

 

28 Fox 62; RAGI-1901 267, 269, 270; Roster.

 

29 Fox 62; RAGI-1901 263, 274; Roster.

 

30 RAGI-1901 265, 274; Roster.

 

31 RAGI-1901 271; Roster.

 

32 Pension record of Preston Warner, Undercook, Company H, 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration); RAGI-1901 264, 267, 274, 277, 281.

 

33 Fox 63; RAGI-1901 264, 267, 269; Roster.

 

34 Fox 63; RAGI-1901 271; Madden 27; Roster; Wiley 304.

 

35 McPherson 331; Vandiver 141.

 

36 Kreidburg and Henry 96; RAGI-1901 288.

 

 


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Text and photos © copyright 2004 by Thomas A.  Pearson. All rights reserved.  Last revised: 8 October 2006.
 

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