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.
Click on a photo to see a larger version of it.

 

Researching Your Illinois Civil War Ancestor: 
Part 4- A Checklist of Potential Information Sources

by

Thomas A. Pearson

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


Many items listed are available online. Check here for a list of URLs.

 


I-- Compiled Service Records, Descriptive Rosters, Enlistment Papers, & Indexes

A. Compiled military service records (CMSR), state volunteer regiments & regular Army (NARA, ISA, large public and academic libraries, the LDS Family History Library)

B. Descriptive rosters & enlistment papers (NARA, ISA)

C. Prior military service

1. Service in Mexican-American War or Indian Wars (NARA, ISA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library)

2. Militia service (ISA)

3. Service in foreign armies (large public and academic libraries, the LDS Family History Library)

D. U.S. Army enlistment records (NARA, large public and academic libraries)

E. Indexes

1. Indexes to CMSRs (NARA, ISA)

2. Roster of Union Soldiers book set (large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies,the LDS Family History Library)

3. Roster of Confederate Soldiers book set ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

4. Ancestry.com (public libraries)

5. Database of Illinois Civil War Soldiers (ISA-available on the Internet)

II-- Bounty Payments to Enlisting Soldiers

A. Local (ISA, MOSA)

B. County (ISA, MOSA, County Clerks)

C. State (ISA, MOSA)

D. Federal (NARA)

E. Conscription (NARA)

F. Bounty-jumpers (County clerks, ISA, MOSA, NARA)

III-- Equipment & Weapon Issue Records

A. State Adjutant-General reports (ISA, MOSA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. State Quartermaster-General reports (ISA, MOSA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Teamster & Wagonmaster records (NARA)

IV-- Newspapers as Sources of Civil War Information

A. Recruitment ads in newspapers (ALPL, SHSM, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. Letters to editor from soldiers at the front (ALPL, SHSM, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Casualty lists in newspaper (ALPL, SHSM, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

V-- Photographs

A. More Union than Confederate, more officers than enlisted men- some men photographed after war as part of a group membership (ALPL, SHSM, USAMHI)

 

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VI-- Correspondence

A. Letters to and from friends and soldier (County historical societies, ALPL, University special collections departments,WHMC)

B. Letters to Adjutant-General/Secretary of War asking about status of soldier (ISA, MOSA, NARA- RG 94, Series M725, Index to Letters Received, 1861-1889, 9 microfilm rolls)

C. Letters to and from Pension Board (NARA- RG 94, Series M686, Index to General Correspondence of Records & Pension Office, 1889-1920, 385 microfilm rolls)

VII-- Medical Records

A. Mention of wounds in CMSRs (ISA, MOSA, NARA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. Mention of wounded in regimental reports to commanding Generals (in Adj. Gen'l reports, O.R.- large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Mention of woundings in reports to state Adjutant-General (ISA, ALPL, MOSA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

D. Hospital records

1. Index to Surgeons' Reports in File A & Bound Manuscripts of Adjutant General's Office, 1861-1865 (NARA- 1 roll microfilm- Record Group 94, Series M1828)

E. Medical & Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

F. Mention of wounded in letters home by men in regiment (ALPL, SHSM, WHMC)

G. Mention of wounded in letters to local newspaper from men in regiment (ALPL, SHSM)

H. Mention of local wounded in newspaper accounts of particular battles (ALPL, SHSM)

I. Requests for artificial limbs/eyes to State Adjutant-Generals/War Department (various State Archives, NARA)

VIII-- Prisoner-of-War Records

A. Register of Confederate Soldiers, Sailors, & Civilians Who Died in Federal Prisons & Military Hospitals in the North (NARA- RG 92, Series M918, 1 roll microfilm)

B. Mention of men captured in regimental reports to commanding generals (O.R.-- large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Mention of men captured in regimental reports to State Adjutant-General (Adj. Gen'l reports-- large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

D. Mention of men captured in CMSRs (ISA, MOSA, NARA)

E. Mention of men captured in letters home from men in regiment (ALPL, SHSM, WHMC)

F. Letters of inquiry from parents/spouses to State Adjutant-Generals, Secretary of War (ISA, MOSA, NARA)

G. Letters from third party to State Adjutant-Generals (ISA, MOSA)

H. Mentions in after-the-war disability claims (Pension list of 1883-- large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

IX-- Courts-Martial

A. General Orders of Specific Department of the Army ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. Execution orders/sentence commutations from commanding general or the President (NARA- RG 94, Series M1523, Proceedings of the U.S. Army Courts-Martial and Military Commissions Against Union Soldiers Executed by U.S. Military Authorities, 1861-1866, 8 microfilm rolls)

C. Prison records (ISA, MOSA, NARA)

D. Newspaper accounts of crimes committed (ISA, MOSA)

X-- Disability Claims

A. Listing in pension files (NARA, various state archives)

B. Listing in 1883 Pension Roll of United States ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Request for artificial limbs/eyes to State Adjutant-General or War Department

1. NARA- RG 94, Series M725, Index to Letters Received, 1846, 1861-1889 (9 microfilm rolls)

2. NARA- RG 94, Series M686, Index to General Correspondence of Records & Pension Office, 1889-1920 (385 microfilm rolls)

3. Various state archives

D. Listing in list of rejected disability claims (NARA)

 

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XI-- Discharge Records

A. Listing in Adjutant-General reports (ISA, MOSA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. Discharge recorded in county Recorder of Deeds office (County Clerk or Recorder of Deeds offices, IRAD, MOSA)

C. Discharge papers of regular army & navy men sometimes in homestead land/pension files (BLM, NARA)

XII-- Deaths

A. Account in regimental reports to commanding generals (O.R.-- large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. Account in regimental reports to state Adjutant-Generals ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Local newspaper lists of local casualties (ALPL, SHSM, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

D. Letter from member of regiment to parents/spouse (county historical societies, ALPL, SHSM, WHMC)

E. Letter from enemy soldiers who found/looted body to parents/spouse (county historical societies, ALPL, SHSM, WHMC)

F. Probate/will record (Probate Judge, Clerk of the Circuit Court--county courthouses, IRAD, MOSA)

G. Undertaker's record

H. Patriotic society annual reports

1. GAR (ALPL, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, LDS Family History Library )

2. UCV & UDC (SHSM, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, LDS Family History Library )

3. MOLLUS (ALPL, SHSM, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, LDS Family History Library)

4. Society of the Army of the Cumberland ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

I. Regimental society annual reports/reunion booklets (county historical societies, ALPL, SHSM, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

XIII-- Pension Records

A. Federal (USA veteran, widow, orphan, & dependent father, mother, or sister-- NARA)

B. State (CSA veteran or widow-- various state archives)

XIV-- Military Census & Militia Enrollment Lists

A. 1890 Federal (former Union soldiers, sailors, & widows- NARA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. State census (IL- 1855, 1862, 1865-- ISA)

C. Lists of men liable for conscription (ILSA, NARA, some state archives)

D. Militia enrollment lists (FL, GA, IL, KY, LA, MO, NC, TN-- ISA, MOSA, some state archives)

E. Post-war state censuses of veterans (AL, AR, IA, LA, NB, TN-- SLPL, some state archives)

XV-- Burials

A. U.S. Roll of Honor ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. State rolls of honor (ALPL, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library)

C. State archives veteran burials lists (ISA, MOSA, various state archives)

D. State home/hospital records (ISA, MOSA, various state archives)

E. DAR cemetery lists (DAR, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

F. Headstone records (NARA- RG 92, Series 1845, Card Records of Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, 1879-1903, 22 microfilm rolls (NARA, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library)

G. National cemetery records (DVA, SLPL)

H. Relocations (look in U.S. Roll of Honor, local cemeteries in area where man's family lived during war- large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

XVI-- Biographies, Memoirs, Regimental Histories, and County Histories

A. Memoirs of regiment & brigade members and commanders (ALPL, large public and academic libraries, state and local historicalsocieties, the LDS Family History Library )

B. Regimental histories (ALPL, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Goodspeed-type county histories (ALPL, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

XVII-- Periodical Articles

A. PERSI (ALPL, large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

B. Confederate Veteran ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

C. Journal of Southern History ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

D. Civil War Times Illustrated & competitors ( large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library )

E. County & state historical society publications large public and academic libraries, state and local historical societies, the LDS Family History Library

XVIII-- Lesser Known National Archives Civil War Record Sets

XIX-- Confederate Records in State Archives


Abbreviations


ALPL- Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (Springfield, IL)
BLM- Bureau of Land Management
 CMSR- Compiled Military Service Record
 CSA- Confederate States of America
 DAR- Daughters of the American Revolution
 DUV- Daughters of Union Veterans
 DVA- Department of Veterans' Affairs
 GAR- Grand Army of the Republic; organization for veterans of
the Union Army & Navy
 ISA- Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL)
 IRAD- Illinois Regional Archives Depository (various locations; part
of the Illinois State Archives)
 MOLLUS- Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States
(organization for officers in the Union Army Navy)
 MOSA- Missouri State Archives (Jefferson City, MO)
 NARA- National Archives and Records Administration
(Washington, DC) O.R.- War of the Rebellion book set
 PERSI- Periodical Source Index
 RG- Record Group (NARA abbreviation)
 SHSM- State Historical Society of Missouri (Columbia, MO)
 SLCL- St. Louis County Library (Hwy 40 & Lindbergh)
 SLPL- St. Louis Public Library (13th & Olive Streets)
 UCV- United Confederate Veterans
 UDC- United Daughters of the Confederacy
 USAMHI- U.S. Army Military History Institute (Carlisle Barracks, PA)
 WHMC- Western Historical Manuscripts Collections (collections at
St. Louis, Columbia, Rolla, and Kansas City- most Civil War materials at Columbia)

 


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Text and photos © copyright 2004 by Thomas A.  Pearson. All rights reserved.  Last revised: 22 March 2006.
 

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