The Prairie Boys Go to War: The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865
Autor Rhonda M. Kohlen Limba Engleză Paperback – 17 dec 2020
Cavalry units from Midwestern states remain largely absent from Civil War literature, and what little has been written largely overlooks the individual men who served. The Fifth Illinois Cavalry has thus remained obscure despite participating in some of the most important campaigns in Arkansas and Mississippi. In this pioneering examination of that understudied regiment, Rhonda M. Kohl offers the only modern, comprehensive analysis of a southern Illinois regiment during the Civil War and combines well-documented military history with a cultural analysis of the men who served in the Fifth Illinois.
The regiment’s history unfolds around major events in the Western Theater from 1861 to September 1865, including campaigns at Helena, Vicksburg, Jackson, and Meridian, as well as numerous little-known skirmishes. Although they were led almost exclusively by Northern-born Republicans, the majority of the soldiers in the Fifth Illinois remained Democrats. As Kohl demonstrates, politics, economics, education, social values, and racism separated the line officers from the common soldiers, and the internal friction caused by these cultural disparities led to poor leadership, low morale, disciplinary problems, and rampant alcoholism. The narrative pulls the Fifth Illinois out of historical oblivion, elucidating the highs and lows of the soldiers’ service as well as their changing attitudes toward war goals, religion, liberty, commanding generals, Copperheads, and alcoholism. By reconstructing the cultural context of Fifth Illinois soldiers, Prairie Boys Go to War reveals how social and economic traditions can shape the wartime experience.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9780809338221
ISBN-10: 080933822X
Pagini: 330
Ilustrații: 22
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 23 mm
Greutate: 0.41 kg
Ediția:1st Edition
Editura: Southern Illinois University Press
Colecția Southern Illinois University Press
ISBN-10: 080933822X
Pagini: 330
Ilustrații: 22
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 23 mm
Greutate: 0.41 kg
Ediția:1st Edition
Editura: Southern Illinois University Press
Colecția Southern Illinois University Press
Notă biografică
Rhonda M. Kohl is a historian and writer in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Civil War History,and Illinois Historical Journal.
Extras
1. The Politics of War: August 1861 to February 1862
“We are now in the face of the enemy, and the honour of the Regt is at Stake, and not only the Regt but the State from which it hailes, to some extent, and I with hundreds of others in this Regt see with deep regret the . . . working that is going on among us,” declared Capt. George W. McConkey, Co. E, Fifth Illinois Cavalry in June 1863. Leaderless after losing their second colonel to illness in January, the regiment’s delicate internal cohesion snapped, and a schism formed, polarizing the officers and men into Democratic and Republican factions. Throughout the spring of 1863, Fifth Illinois soldiers wrote a multitude of letters to Illinois Republican governor Richard Yates and Adj. Gen. Allen C. Fuller espousing the disloyalty of Democratic officers or the unyielding patriotism of Republicans who sought the command. “We want a Col. whose whole Soul is in This fight,” asserted Rev. John W. Woods, and one who supports the administration’s “war policeys.” Peace eluded the regiment until a new colonel assumed command sixteen months later. Though weakened by the internal strife and the loss of dozens of men to disease, the regiment’s company officers kept the men fighting the Confederacy, and the regiment won distinction on the battlefields at Grenada, Vicksburg, Canton, Jackson, and Meridian, Mississippi, earning the regiment its sobriquet “the Bloody 5th.”1
The internal strife of the regiment resulted from cultural differences emanating from the geographic origin of its soldiers, which led to profound religious, cultural, and political diversity. The regiment organized in southern Illinois in the fall of 1861: Northern and central Illinois contributed 1,106 men (59.9 percent), while 631 soldiers (34.2 percent) hailed from southern counties. The people who had settled southern Illinois hailed principally from Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. Many migrants feared freed Southern blacks would move north, disrupting the labor system, as well as initializing integration through marriage. Racism was integral to the region’s history, culture, and development. So homogeneous was the culture and belief system that the area grew distinct from the rest of Illinois and became known as Egypt. Strongly Democratic, many Egyptians believed abolitionists had brought the Republican Party into being to transform their ideals into law. In the 1860 presidential election,
Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln received only 19.8 percent of the southern Illinois vote: Democrats, such as Senator Stephen A. Douglas and Congressman John A. Logan, dominated the politics.2
Southern Illinois was closely tied to the South by its dominant Southern-born population, by the need for markets for Illinois grain and livestock, and by the Mississippi River, which took those commodities to the world market. Yet southern Illinois remained culturally and politically predicated on the antislavery article of the Northwest Ordinance and the idealization of free white labor. The African American population in the region remained small to nonexistent, due to the Black Laws enacted by the legislature in 1853, which barred any free blacks from settling within the state’s confines. Fines and prison terms awaited any person who brought freed slaves into the state, while African Americans received either a fifty-dollar fine or the equivalent of time in labor. In 1862, Illinoisans adopted stricter antiblack articles to counteract any antislavery measures by President Abraham Lincoln’s Republican administration.
Migrants from Northern states, who generally supported Republican principles, populated northern Illinois, but by the late 1850s, a few had settled among the Egyptians. These citizens had received a Northern education, defended antislavery proponents, and were financially more secure than the subsistence farmers of Egypt. Central Illinois became a buffer zone between the two sections. Settled by emigrants from the North and South, the population was more diverse and less conservative than Egypt. In the 1860 election, Republican doctrines began to appeal to many central Illinoisans, but the area remained strongly Democratic.During the 1850s, two distinct and separate sets of social behaviors and beliefs coexisted within Illinois. When the slavery controversy peaked during the 1860 presidential election, Illinois mirrored the nation at large, divided along proslavery and free labor lines. The schism within the Fifth Illinois reflected the national and state divisions, with the majority of the men enlisting not to free the slaves but to save the Union.
Believing newly elected President Lincoln would end slavery in the South, slave-holding states seceded from the Union after the 1860 presidential election. The Southern origin of Egypt’s inhabitants made it difficult to choose between loyalty to the section or the Federal government. While the majority of citizens supported the Union, many objected to Lincoln’s use of coercion to hold the Union together and voiced their outrage in meetings throughout Egypt. Some southern Illinoisans wanted to join the Confederacy; others saw the area breaking away to form a neutral state that would mediate between North and South. Senator Douglas’s words immediately following the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861 sealed the loyalty question for Egypt: “We must fight for our country and forget all differences. There can be but two parties—the party of patriots and the party of traitors. We belong to the first.”3 With the help of Douglas and Logan, both highly regarded by Egyptians, the region not only remained loyal but also sent thousands of her men to die on the battlefield and in army hospitals, wearing the Union blue.
Lincoln’s call for seventy-five thousand troops on 15 April 1861 appealed to the prospective soldiers’ patriotism to “maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government.” Secretary of War Simon Cameron requested Illinois to contribute six regiments of infantry and artillery, approximately forty-eight hundred soldiers, “for immediate service.” With the Federal army’s defeat at Bull Run (Manassas) on 22 July, and the prospect of a lengthy war, the president made a general call for infantry and cavalry for three years’ service.4
On 27 August 1861, Yates authorized the organization of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry regiment. Only the governor issued commissions for commanding officers of state regiments (colonel, lieutenant colonel, and three majors), and he chose those men based on letters of recommendation and on the men’s professional reputation and political inclinations. Instead of commissioning officers who were suited to command, Yates chose political allies and was known for his attempt to “Republicanize the army,” which was reflected in the governor’s choice for the Fifth’s command: all Republicans except one. In early September, Yates issued commissions for Col. John Updegraff, Lt. Col. Benjamin Wiley, and Majors Speed Butler, Thomas Apperson, and Abel Seley. Except for Ben Wiley, none of the original general officers of the Fifth had previous military experience, but even Wiley lacked the knowledge to make this new cavalry regiment successful.5
As a friend and political associate, Yates issued Wiley’s (1821–90) commission for lieutenant colonel in September 1861. Born to a modest Quaker family in Smithfield, Ohio, Wiley moved to southern Illinois twenty-two years later. When war broke out with Mexico, he served as a private and quartermaster sergeant in Company B, First Regiment of Illinois Infantry in June 1847. The war veteran returned to southern Illinois and settled in Jonesboro, Union County, in 1848, where he married Emily Davie, daughter of the capitalist Winsted Davie. The new family moved to Makanda, Jackson County, where Wiley established the first fruit orchard in southern Illinois, and history has credited him with establishing the orchard and winery industries in Egypt. Wiley excelled in the pastoral environment of Jackson County, but he continued his association with money lending, the law, politics, the railroad, and land speculation. His career would be greatly enhanced by his association with David L. Phillips, his partner in a real-estate firm and influential Republican.6
Originally a Whig, Wiley became one of the first Republicans and with Phillips helped organize the party in Egypt. He lost his bid for the Ninth District congressional seat in 1856 but served as delegate to the state and national Republican conventions in 1858 and 1860. Wiley’s political aspirations made him well known in Illinois, especially within his congressional district, which covered most of southern Egypt. Wiley also helped organize the Illinois State Temperance Union and was a charter member of the Jonesboro Masonic Lodge 111. Republicans and Democrats considered Wiley to be a man of “rare qualities, that gave him a high reputation and rendered his character irreproachable.” When Wiley raised the Fifth regiment in the fall of 1861, his reputation as a gentleman attracted many men who knew him from his political and commercial enterprises. Wiley believed the status of a gentleman was a social rank and a moral condition, and he took that attitude with him to the Fifth Illinois. Wiley corresponded with his wife, Emily, throughout his career with the regiment. Their letters document the trials, triumphs, and losses of a southern Illinois Republican family during the war.7
Leaving home in early September, Wiley joined Updegraff at Camp Butler, the new military enrollment camp near Springfield. Located on Clear Lake, six miles east of Springfield, the camp began accepting military organizations in early August. When Wiley and Updegraff arrived later that month, the grounds already held thousands of future soldiers. Maj. Hugo Hollan, a veteran of Hungarian wars, served as cavalry instructor, drilling the new equestrians on a stretch of ground just east of the Sangamon River.8
Speed Butler, son of William Butler and a very close friend of Lincoln, received the commission for first major in the regiment. The appointment was sheer patronage: Butler never reported to the Fifth but served on Gen. John Pope’s staff during the war.
Cumberland County’s Thomas A. Apperson (1818–79) received the commission for second major, arriving in camp in early September. A tall imposing man, Apperson knew the Lincoln family and became a staunch Republican. Virginians by birth, the Apperson clan moved to Coles County in 1829. Thomas eventually acquired 3,755 acres of public land in Cumberland County, becoming one of the largest and wealthiest landowners in the area. Apperson served with his father, John, Cole County’s first physician, in Masonic Lodge 179. Despite his privileged upbringing, Apperson’s lack of education became apparent during his tenure in the regiment. “Major Apperson is an illiterate man,—of no learning whatever,—poorly qualified for the position,” declared a Democratic officer in the Fifth. As was common, a clerk wrote Apperson’s regimental correspondence, but the major’s private letters revealed a man who struggled with grammar and spelled phonetically. Many Democratic officers tried to use Apperson’s lack of education against him, but this never deterred the Republican administration’s faith in the major, nor the respect of men in the regiment. Apperson “may not be as good a Military man as some others, but he is as good-hearted a fellow as ever lived, and has done more to get the Regt up, and keep it together, than any other man, and he is allway on hands, and ready to do his duty,” declared a Republican captain.9
Of the original volunteers, only Apperson owned a farm worth over a quarter of a million dollars. Agriculture supported the largest proportion of the men in the original regiment, with 717 identified as farmers, fifty as farm laborers, and eighteen as tenant farmers. A difference existed between property ownership in Egypt and that of volunteers from central and northern Illinois. The mean property values of landed Egyptians averaged $1,886, with an average personal property value of $423. Property owners from other parts of the state averaged over a thousand dollars more with a mean of $2,970. Personal property values for those from central and northern Illinois had a mean value of $523.10
Forty-seven men from the original regiment considered themselves carpenters or cabinetmakers, including 3rd Maj. Abel H. Seley (1821–86). The Vermont-born carpenter lived with his family on a $3,000 farm in Centralia, where he served as superintendent at the Illinois Central Railroad shops when war broke out. Through his involvement with the railroad, Seley associated with Wiley, and many considered him “a Moddle Man in his business transactions.” Despite his prewar reputation, Seley became a controversial character due to his proclivity for gambling, convivial drinking, and card playing, and his Democratic beliefs elicited strong opposing sentiments within the regiment. While some questioned his morals and his strong Democratic convictions, others labeled him the “best Field officer. . . . [A] thoroughly practical man,—good tactician—, of the best Moral Character. . . . [N]ever lacking in judgement, Courageous and brave,and is the best man by far, for the management of this regiment.”11
Men in the Fifth Illinois claimed foreign, Northern, and Southern family roots. Of the commanding officers, only Apperson was Southern born; all others claimed a Northern birthright or were foreign born. A demographic analysis of 1,659 Fifth Illinoisans who listed their birthplace revealed that 72.6 percent of the men were native to Northern states, with 28.5 percent native Illinoisans. Sixteen percent (265) of the men claimed a Southern birthright; only 11.3 percent or 188 men were foreign born. In Companies G, C, K, and B, foreign-born soldiers outnumbered those of Southern birth.
Despite having been raised in southern Illinois, the regiment became heavily laden with Northern-born men, who hailed from the central and northern counties of Illinois. All the companies, even those raised wholly in Egypt (Companies D, H, K, and M), claimed more Northern natives than Southern. Irrespective of their birthplace, the men enlisted to save their country, a land where many of their ancestors had fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. “[O]ur Government—the Union—,” declared a Randolph County soldier, “is worth all the ‘blood and treasure’ in the North, and must be freely given to secure its perpetuity.” Another sacrificed “Wife, Home, Life and all on Our Common Alter and this was my bleeding Sacrefice to help Save my Country!”12
Those with Southern roots had their own type of self-determination. According to historian David Hackett Fischer, their culture raised men to “foster fierce pride, [and] stubborn independence,” which also created “autonomous individuals who were unable to endure external control.” Southern-born Egyptians who enlisted in the Fifth reflected these cultural ideals. In addition, the independent spirit, forged from creating a society out of the Illinois wilderness, ran through the blood of many a Fifth Illinoisan. These characteristics hampered the regiment’s ability to become a unified fighting entity.1
“We are now in the face of the enemy, and the honour of the Regt is at Stake, and not only the Regt but the State from which it hailes, to some extent, and I with hundreds of others in this Regt see with deep regret the . . . working that is going on among us,” declared Capt. George W. McConkey, Co. E, Fifth Illinois Cavalry in June 1863. Leaderless after losing their second colonel to illness in January, the regiment’s delicate internal cohesion snapped, and a schism formed, polarizing the officers and men into Democratic and Republican factions. Throughout the spring of 1863, Fifth Illinois soldiers wrote a multitude of letters to Illinois Republican governor Richard Yates and Adj. Gen. Allen C. Fuller espousing the disloyalty of Democratic officers or the unyielding patriotism of Republicans who sought the command. “We want a Col. whose whole Soul is in This fight,” asserted Rev. John W. Woods, and one who supports the administration’s “war policeys.” Peace eluded the regiment until a new colonel assumed command sixteen months later. Though weakened by the internal strife and the loss of dozens of men to disease, the regiment’s company officers kept the men fighting the Confederacy, and the regiment won distinction on the battlefields at Grenada, Vicksburg, Canton, Jackson, and Meridian, Mississippi, earning the regiment its sobriquet “the Bloody 5th.”1
The internal strife of the regiment resulted from cultural differences emanating from the geographic origin of its soldiers, which led to profound religious, cultural, and political diversity. The regiment organized in southern Illinois in the fall of 1861: Northern and central Illinois contributed 1,106 men (59.9 percent), while 631 soldiers (34.2 percent) hailed from southern counties. The people who had settled southern Illinois hailed principally from Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. Many migrants feared freed Southern blacks would move north, disrupting the labor system, as well as initializing integration through marriage. Racism was integral to the region’s history, culture, and development. So homogeneous was the culture and belief system that the area grew distinct from the rest of Illinois and became known as Egypt. Strongly Democratic, many Egyptians believed abolitionists had brought the Republican Party into being to transform their ideals into law. In the 1860 presidential election,
Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln received only 19.8 percent of the southern Illinois vote: Democrats, such as Senator Stephen A. Douglas and Congressman John A. Logan, dominated the politics.2
Southern Illinois was closely tied to the South by its dominant Southern-born population, by the need for markets for Illinois grain and livestock, and by the Mississippi River, which took those commodities to the world market. Yet southern Illinois remained culturally and politically predicated on the antislavery article of the Northwest Ordinance and the idealization of free white labor. The African American population in the region remained small to nonexistent, due to the Black Laws enacted by the legislature in 1853, which barred any free blacks from settling within the state’s confines. Fines and prison terms awaited any person who brought freed slaves into the state, while African Americans received either a fifty-dollar fine or the equivalent of time in labor. In 1862, Illinoisans adopted stricter antiblack articles to counteract any antislavery measures by President Abraham Lincoln’s Republican administration.
Migrants from Northern states, who generally supported Republican principles, populated northern Illinois, but by the late 1850s, a few had settled among the Egyptians. These citizens had received a Northern education, defended antislavery proponents, and were financially more secure than the subsistence farmers of Egypt. Central Illinois became a buffer zone between the two sections. Settled by emigrants from the North and South, the population was more diverse and less conservative than Egypt. In the 1860 election, Republican doctrines began to appeal to many central Illinoisans, but the area remained strongly Democratic.During the 1850s, two distinct and separate sets of social behaviors and beliefs coexisted within Illinois. When the slavery controversy peaked during the 1860 presidential election, Illinois mirrored the nation at large, divided along proslavery and free labor lines. The schism within the Fifth Illinois reflected the national and state divisions, with the majority of the men enlisting not to free the slaves but to save the Union.
Believing newly elected President Lincoln would end slavery in the South, slave-holding states seceded from the Union after the 1860 presidential election. The Southern origin of Egypt’s inhabitants made it difficult to choose between loyalty to the section or the Federal government. While the majority of citizens supported the Union, many objected to Lincoln’s use of coercion to hold the Union together and voiced their outrage in meetings throughout Egypt. Some southern Illinoisans wanted to join the Confederacy; others saw the area breaking away to form a neutral state that would mediate between North and South. Senator Douglas’s words immediately following the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861 sealed the loyalty question for Egypt: “We must fight for our country and forget all differences. There can be but two parties—the party of patriots and the party of traitors. We belong to the first.”3 With the help of Douglas and Logan, both highly regarded by Egyptians, the region not only remained loyal but also sent thousands of her men to die on the battlefield and in army hospitals, wearing the Union blue.
Lincoln’s call for seventy-five thousand troops on 15 April 1861 appealed to the prospective soldiers’ patriotism to “maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government.” Secretary of War Simon Cameron requested Illinois to contribute six regiments of infantry and artillery, approximately forty-eight hundred soldiers, “for immediate service.” With the Federal army’s defeat at Bull Run (Manassas) on 22 July, and the prospect of a lengthy war, the president made a general call for infantry and cavalry for three years’ service.4
On 27 August 1861, Yates authorized the organization of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry regiment. Only the governor issued commissions for commanding officers of state regiments (colonel, lieutenant colonel, and three majors), and he chose those men based on letters of recommendation and on the men’s professional reputation and political inclinations. Instead of commissioning officers who were suited to command, Yates chose political allies and was known for his attempt to “Republicanize the army,” which was reflected in the governor’s choice for the Fifth’s command: all Republicans except one. In early September, Yates issued commissions for Col. John Updegraff, Lt. Col. Benjamin Wiley, and Majors Speed Butler, Thomas Apperson, and Abel Seley. Except for Ben Wiley, none of the original general officers of the Fifth had previous military experience, but even Wiley lacked the knowledge to make this new cavalry regiment successful.5
As a friend and political associate, Yates issued Wiley’s (1821–90) commission for lieutenant colonel in September 1861. Born to a modest Quaker family in Smithfield, Ohio, Wiley moved to southern Illinois twenty-two years later. When war broke out with Mexico, he served as a private and quartermaster sergeant in Company B, First Regiment of Illinois Infantry in June 1847. The war veteran returned to southern Illinois and settled in Jonesboro, Union County, in 1848, where he married Emily Davie, daughter of the capitalist Winsted Davie. The new family moved to Makanda, Jackson County, where Wiley established the first fruit orchard in southern Illinois, and history has credited him with establishing the orchard and winery industries in Egypt. Wiley excelled in the pastoral environment of Jackson County, but he continued his association with money lending, the law, politics, the railroad, and land speculation. His career would be greatly enhanced by his association with David L. Phillips, his partner in a real-estate firm and influential Republican.6
Originally a Whig, Wiley became one of the first Republicans and with Phillips helped organize the party in Egypt. He lost his bid for the Ninth District congressional seat in 1856 but served as delegate to the state and national Republican conventions in 1858 and 1860. Wiley’s political aspirations made him well known in Illinois, especially within his congressional district, which covered most of southern Egypt. Wiley also helped organize the Illinois State Temperance Union and was a charter member of the Jonesboro Masonic Lodge 111. Republicans and Democrats considered Wiley to be a man of “rare qualities, that gave him a high reputation and rendered his character irreproachable.” When Wiley raised the Fifth regiment in the fall of 1861, his reputation as a gentleman attracted many men who knew him from his political and commercial enterprises. Wiley believed the status of a gentleman was a social rank and a moral condition, and he took that attitude with him to the Fifth Illinois. Wiley corresponded with his wife, Emily, throughout his career with the regiment. Their letters document the trials, triumphs, and losses of a southern Illinois Republican family during the war.7
Leaving home in early September, Wiley joined Updegraff at Camp Butler, the new military enrollment camp near Springfield. Located on Clear Lake, six miles east of Springfield, the camp began accepting military organizations in early August. When Wiley and Updegraff arrived later that month, the grounds already held thousands of future soldiers. Maj. Hugo Hollan, a veteran of Hungarian wars, served as cavalry instructor, drilling the new equestrians on a stretch of ground just east of the Sangamon River.8
Speed Butler, son of William Butler and a very close friend of Lincoln, received the commission for first major in the regiment. The appointment was sheer patronage: Butler never reported to the Fifth but served on Gen. John Pope’s staff during the war.
Cumberland County’s Thomas A. Apperson (1818–79) received the commission for second major, arriving in camp in early September. A tall imposing man, Apperson knew the Lincoln family and became a staunch Republican. Virginians by birth, the Apperson clan moved to Coles County in 1829. Thomas eventually acquired 3,755 acres of public land in Cumberland County, becoming one of the largest and wealthiest landowners in the area. Apperson served with his father, John, Cole County’s first physician, in Masonic Lodge 179. Despite his privileged upbringing, Apperson’s lack of education became apparent during his tenure in the regiment. “Major Apperson is an illiterate man,—of no learning whatever,—poorly qualified for the position,” declared a Democratic officer in the Fifth. As was common, a clerk wrote Apperson’s regimental correspondence, but the major’s private letters revealed a man who struggled with grammar and spelled phonetically. Many Democratic officers tried to use Apperson’s lack of education against him, but this never deterred the Republican administration’s faith in the major, nor the respect of men in the regiment. Apperson “may not be as good a Military man as some others, but he is as good-hearted a fellow as ever lived, and has done more to get the Regt up, and keep it together, than any other man, and he is allway on hands, and ready to do his duty,” declared a Republican captain.9
Of the original volunteers, only Apperson owned a farm worth over a quarter of a million dollars. Agriculture supported the largest proportion of the men in the original regiment, with 717 identified as farmers, fifty as farm laborers, and eighteen as tenant farmers. A difference existed between property ownership in Egypt and that of volunteers from central and northern Illinois. The mean property values of landed Egyptians averaged $1,886, with an average personal property value of $423. Property owners from other parts of the state averaged over a thousand dollars more with a mean of $2,970. Personal property values for those from central and northern Illinois had a mean value of $523.10
Forty-seven men from the original regiment considered themselves carpenters or cabinetmakers, including 3rd Maj. Abel H. Seley (1821–86). The Vermont-born carpenter lived with his family on a $3,000 farm in Centralia, where he served as superintendent at the Illinois Central Railroad shops when war broke out. Through his involvement with the railroad, Seley associated with Wiley, and many considered him “a Moddle Man in his business transactions.” Despite his prewar reputation, Seley became a controversial character due to his proclivity for gambling, convivial drinking, and card playing, and his Democratic beliefs elicited strong opposing sentiments within the regiment. While some questioned his morals and his strong Democratic convictions, others labeled him the “best Field officer. . . . [A] thoroughly practical man,—good tactician—, of the best Moral Character. . . . [N]ever lacking in judgement, Courageous and brave,and is the best man by far, for the management of this regiment.”11
Men in the Fifth Illinois claimed foreign, Northern, and Southern family roots. Of the commanding officers, only Apperson was Southern born; all others claimed a Northern birthright or were foreign born. A demographic analysis of 1,659 Fifth Illinoisans who listed their birthplace revealed that 72.6 percent of the men were native to Northern states, with 28.5 percent native Illinoisans. Sixteen percent (265) of the men claimed a Southern birthright; only 11.3 percent or 188 men were foreign born. In Companies G, C, K, and B, foreign-born soldiers outnumbered those of Southern birth.
Despite having been raised in southern Illinois, the regiment became heavily laden with Northern-born men, who hailed from the central and northern counties of Illinois. All the companies, even those raised wholly in Egypt (Companies D, H, K, and M), claimed more Northern natives than Southern. Irrespective of their birthplace, the men enlisted to save their country, a land where many of their ancestors had fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. “[O]ur Government—the Union—,” declared a Randolph County soldier, “is worth all the ‘blood and treasure’ in the North, and must be freely given to secure its perpetuity.” Another sacrificed “Wife, Home, Life and all on Our Common Alter and this was my bleeding Sacrefice to help Save my Country!”12
Those with Southern roots had their own type of self-determination. According to historian David Hackett Fischer, their culture raised men to “foster fierce pride, [and] stubborn independence,” which also created “autonomous individuals who were unable to endure external control.” Southern-born Egyptians who enlisted in the Fifth reflected these cultural ideals. In addition, the independent spirit, forged from creating a society out of the Illinois wilderness, ran through the blood of many a Fifth Illinoisan. These characteristics hampered the regiment’s ability to become a unified fighting entity.1
Cuprins
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
1. The Politics of War, August 1861 to February 1862
2. The Springtime of War, March to July 1862
3. This Godforsaken Town, July to October 1862
4. Under Grant’s Command, November 1862 to May 1863
5. Redemption at Vicksburg, June to August 1863
6. Winslow’s Cavalry, August 1863 to January 1864
7. The Grand Raid, February to March 1864
8. Garrison Duty, March to December 1864
9. Soon This Cruel War Will Close, January to October 1865
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
1. The Politics of War, August 1861 to February 1862
2. The Springtime of War, March to July 1862
3. This Godforsaken Town, July to October 1862
4. Under Grant’s Command, November 1862 to May 1863
5. Redemption at Vicksburg, June to August 1863
6. Winslow’s Cavalry, August 1863 to January 1864
7. The Grand Raid, February to March 1864
8. Garrison Duty, March to December 1864
9. Soon This Cruel War Will Close, January to October 1865
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Recenzii
“[This book] serves as a guide for how regimental histories should be written. . . . Readers of Rhonda M. Kohl’s work will gain a real understanding of the men that served in the Fifth, in addition to obtaining a greater analysis of Federal soldiers overall.”—Carl Creason, H-Net Online
“As a military history illuminating the contributions of one regiment to a much larger war effort, Kohl’s narrative is admirably successful. . . . Kohl’s boots-on-the-ground perspective is an exceptional window into their war.”—Jason Miller, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society
“[Readers] will find significant value in Kohl’s argument and the rich stories she tells about the soldiers’ military achievements and their encounters with African Americans, southern women, and Copperheads. . . . The author’s cultural analysis is a refreshing departure from standard regimental histories and an interesting book that is well researched and well written.”—Melissa Farah Young, Southern Historian
“ThePrairie Boys Go to War lives up to its title. . . . Kohl provides some fascinating statistics on the lives of this fractious group of individuals who were held together, at times it seemed, only by their uniform and the shared hardships of a soldier’s life.”—L. Bao Bui, Middle West Review
“[This book] tells a rich and complex story of volunteer military service and provides a detailed look at the underexamined experience of Union cavalry in the western theater. This is a well-researched and accessible book that should appeal to those interested in military matters as well as the social history of the volunteer military experience.”—Thomas Bahde, Journal of Southern History
“The Prairie Boys Go to War does in excellent fashion what so many Civil War regimental histories continue to do poorly. . . . We really have something of award worthy mention in Rhonda Kohl’s study.”—Andrew Wagonoffer, Civil War Book Review
“Looking at the common man, the common soldier, and their interactions with the union army, The Prairie Boys Go to War does well in analyzing the people of Illinois and their contributions to the Civil War. Highly recommended.”—James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review
“This book is well documented and well written. It should be in the library of every serious student of the Union cavalry in the Civil War.”— Samuel Blackwell, Journal of Illinois History
“With a firmness of purpose worthy of that demonstrated by the Prairie Boys, Rhonda Kohl has chronicled the service and actions of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry with an intimacy seldom woven into modern-day regimental histories. With passion and skill cultivated through ten years of diligent research, she examines the complex relationships among the officers and men—individuals who were of disparate cultural and social backgrounds, and traces the development of their cohesiveness as a unit and captures its identity. In the process she has also produced a good history of the war in the lower Mississippi River valley. So mount up for an exciting ride.”—Terrence J. Winschel, author of Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign
“The Prairie Boys Go to War presents the reader with a compelling combination of the military history of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry regiment in the Civil War with the intriguing story of its officers and men as they fought and survived under strenuous conditions in the states of Arkansas and Mississippi. Kohl skillfully uses soldiers’ diaries, memoirs, and letters to graphically tell the story of their lives and experiences as part of the ‘Bloody Fifth,’ and presents a rare look at a Union cavalry regiment in the Western Theater and the Fifth’s part in the Union struggles to contain Confederate guerrilla activity.”—James B. Swan, author of Chicago’s Irish Legion: The 90th Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War
“A first-rate history of a Union cavalry regiment in the West that goes far beyond the standard narrative of miles marched and battles fought. Rhonda Kohl provides a richly detailed account of civilians in uniform beset by uncertain leadership and fractious political divisions amidst a sea of hostile Confederates. Few regimental histories have as much to say about the experiences of the men who served or say it as well.”—William L. Shea, author of Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign
“Rhonda Kohl offers a vivid sense of the daily lives of Union soldiers at war in Arkansas and Mississippi. We meet them not only as fighting men but as Republicans and Democrats, poachers and pilferers, grassroots emancipators and intramural infighters, loving husbands and disease-ridden invalids. The men of southern Illinois were known as “Egyptians,” and the plagues they encountered in the Trans-Mississippi—whether pestilence, high water, insects, extreme heat and bitter cold, or guerrilla armies—were indeed worthy of the Egypt of Moses’s day. Kohl shows us the real war, and it’s not one anybody will ever want to reenact.”—Patrick G. Williams, editor of Arkansas Historical Quarterly
“Kohl’s nuanced cultural analysis of the regiment, combined with her evenhanded treatment of the unit’s military exploits, yields a definitive narrative. The Prairie Boys Go to War sets the standard for what a good regimental history should be, and it belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in cavalry operations in the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters.”—Brian K. Robertson, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
“As a military history illuminating the contributions of one regiment to a much larger war effort, Kohl’s narrative is admirably successful. . . . Kohl’s boots-on-the-ground perspective is an exceptional window into their war.”—Jason Miller, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society
“[Readers] will find significant value in Kohl’s argument and the rich stories she tells about the soldiers’ military achievements and their encounters with African Americans, southern women, and Copperheads. . . . The author’s cultural analysis is a refreshing departure from standard regimental histories and an interesting book that is well researched and well written.”—Melissa Farah Young, Southern Historian
“ThePrairie Boys Go to War lives up to its title. . . . Kohl provides some fascinating statistics on the lives of this fractious group of individuals who were held together, at times it seemed, only by their uniform and the shared hardships of a soldier’s life.”—L. Bao Bui, Middle West Review
“[This book] tells a rich and complex story of volunteer military service and provides a detailed look at the underexamined experience of Union cavalry in the western theater. This is a well-researched and accessible book that should appeal to those interested in military matters as well as the social history of the volunteer military experience.”—Thomas Bahde, Journal of Southern History
“The Prairie Boys Go to War does in excellent fashion what so many Civil War regimental histories continue to do poorly. . . . We really have something of award worthy mention in Rhonda Kohl’s study.”—Andrew Wagonoffer, Civil War Book Review
“Looking at the common man, the common soldier, and their interactions with the union army, The Prairie Boys Go to War does well in analyzing the people of Illinois and their contributions to the Civil War. Highly recommended.”—James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review
“This book is well documented and well written. It should be in the library of every serious student of the Union cavalry in the Civil War.”— Samuel Blackwell, Journal of Illinois History
“With a firmness of purpose worthy of that demonstrated by the Prairie Boys, Rhonda Kohl has chronicled the service and actions of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry with an intimacy seldom woven into modern-day regimental histories. With passion and skill cultivated through ten years of diligent research, she examines the complex relationships among the officers and men—individuals who were of disparate cultural and social backgrounds, and traces the development of their cohesiveness as a unit and captures its identity. In the process she has also produced a good history of the war in the lower Mississippi River valley. So mount up for an exciting ride.”—Terrence J. Winschel, author of Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign
“The Prairie Boys Go to War presents the reader with a compelling combination of the military history of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry regiment in the Civil War with the intriguing story of its officers and men as they fought and survived under strenuous conditions in the states of Arkansas and Mississippi. Kohl skillfully uses soldiers’ diaries, memoirs, and letters to graphically tell the story of their lives and experiences as part of the ‘Bloody Fifth,’ and presents a rare look at a Union cavalry regiment in the Western Theater and the Fifth’s part in the Union struggles to contain Confederate guerrilla activity.”—James B. Swan, author of Chicago’s Irish Legion: The 90th Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War
“A first-rate history of a Union cavalry regiment in the West that goes far beyond the standard narrative of miles marched and battles fought. Rhonda Kohl provides a richly detailed account of civilians in uniform beset by uncertain leadership and fractious political divisions amidst a sea of hostile Confederates. Few regimental histories have as much to say about the experiences of the men who served or say it as well.”—William L. Shea, author of Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign
“Rhonda Kohl offers a vivid sense of the daily lives of Union soldiers at war in Arkansas and Mississippi. We meet them not only as fighting men but as Republicans and Democrats, poachers and pilferers, grassroots emancipators and intramural infighters, loving husbands and disease-ridden invalids. The men of southern Illinois were known as “Egyptians,” and the plagues they encountered in the Trans-Mississippi—whether pestilence, high water, insects, extreme heat and bitter cold, or guerrilla armies—were indeed worthy of the Egypt of Moses’s day. Kohl shows us the real war, and it’s not one anybody will ever want to reenact.”—Patrick G. Williams, editor of Arkansas Historical Quarterly
“Kohl’s nuanced cultural analysis of the regiment, combined with her evenhanded treatment of the unit’s military exploits, yields a definitive narrative. The Prairie Boys Go to War sets the standard for what a good regimental history should be, and it belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in cavalry operations in the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters.”—Brian K. Robertson, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies