![]() Oglesby’s speech to Langworthy’s unit, the 12 th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, had brought Langworthy to tears. It will be but a very few days until we are discharged from the service of Uncle Sam… The day that I have been longing for so long is soon to arrive.” Langworthy also told his sister about how the Governor of Illinois, Richard Oglesby, had given a speech to every regiment the night before. ![]() He wrote, “My soldiering days are nearly finished. He described how joyful he was about being discharged soon. On July 12, 1865, another Illinois soldier named Lucius Langworthy wrote a letter to his sister Sarah from Camp Butler. By the end of the Civil War, Page’s regiment had lost 33 men to battle and 414 to disease. Page later died at 23 years old in Vicksburg, Mississippi, due to the rampant spread of disease through his regiment. The Page Family Papers (MS173) also include 19th-century images of Civil War soldiers and memorabilia such as a Grant Campaign Pin. Camp Butler served as a prisoner-of-war camp for thirteen months, during which over 800 Confederate soldiers died due to battle wounds and rapidly spreading illnesses such as typhoid. ![]() ” The prisoners Page mentioned were the first Confederate soldiers imprisoned at the camp, taken by General Ulysses S. On February 19, 1862, he wrote a letter to his family back home saying, “there is to be three thousand prisoners here in a few days that were taken at fort Donelson our losses there wear terable. Page served in the 5th Illinois Calvary from 1861-1863, mustering in at Camp Butler. Volunteers, Company C, February 16, 1862.” (MS 173) The address reads, “Camp Butler, 5th Reg. The first section of a letter from James R. Eventually, many Civil War sutlers would travel with a specific regiment.įigure 4. While not enlisted in the army, men like Myers were officially appointed to the position. Myers, the owner of a popular ice cream parlor in Springfield, saw so much business in the summer of 1861 that the camp hired more sutlers almost immediately. Sutlers were civilian merchants who sold goods such as food, tobacco, and coffee to Civil War soldiers. Myers, as the first troops began to arrive. Illinois Governor Richard Yates appointed the first sutler at Camp Butler, H.C. Most troops who mustered in at Camp Butler spent less than two months training before they were sent to battle. Each regiment in Camp Butler was given a station inside the camp, including barracks and a separate canteen. Five thousand men had arrived to begin organizing and training by September 1861. A photograph of Camp Butler in 1862.Ĭamp Butler would become the second-largest military training camp in Illinois during the Civil War.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |