Sixty First Illinois Infantry
Company H of this
regiment was made up principally from enlistment's in Coles County,
with many from Lawrence and Cumberland counties. Company F subsequently
contained quite a number of men from Cumberland County by transfer from
the One Hundred and Twenty Third Regiment. This regiment was organized
at Carrolton Ill., by Col. Jacob Fry. Three full companies were
mustered February 5, 1862. On the 21st the regiment was still
incomplete, and was moved to Benton Barracks, where recruits were
secured to complete the organization. In March the regiment embarked
for Pittsburgh Landing, where it was assigned to the Eighteenth
Missouri Brigade and Prentiss’ Division. On April 6, 400 men of the
regiment were formed into line to receive the first assault of the
enemy in that memorable fight. For an hour and a quarter the regiment
stood firm and then fell back under orders, only when every regiment in
the division had given way. Upon retiring the regiment was complimented
by Gen. Prentiss for its gallant stand. The Sixty First was then placed
in support of the First Missouri Artillery, and at 1 P. M. was ordered
to the support of Gen. Hurlbut, arriving at a very critical moment and
maintaining the line until relieved by a fresh regiment, when its
ammunition was exhausted. When the second line was broken, the regiment
retired in good order and took up a position supporting the siege guns.
On the second day the Sixty First was placed in reserve, but its loss
in the battle reached eighty men killed, wounded and missing Early in
June the regiment moved to Bethel thence to Jackson and to Bolivar, in
Tennessee. In September the regiment moved by way of Jackson and
Corinth to Brownsville, Miss., but returned after the battle of Iuka.
In December a detachment of the regiment with some other detachments
took a position at Salem Cemetery and repulsed the enemy under Forrest.
May 31, 1863 the Sixty First moved from Bolivar by rail to Memphis and
there embarked for Vicksburg. On the 3d of June it reached Chickasaw
Bayou, and on the following day accompanied an expedition up the Yazoo
River, landing at Satartia; moved thence to Mechanicsburg, Haines’
Bluff; and Snyder’s Bluff. July 17th, the Sixty First moved to Black
River Bridge and returned. In August it took part in Gen. Steele’s
expedition to Little Rock. The regiment remained here in occupation.
The regiment up to March 20, 1864, consisted of nine companies. but at
this date it was joined by Company K from Camp Butler, Ill. The Sixty
First was subsequently ordered to Nashville, and was mustered out of
the service there on September 8, 1865.
Sixty Second Illinois Infantry
This regiment was
chiefly enlisted in Clark, Crawford, and Coles counties. In Company C
were a considerable number of Cumberland County men, and few in each of
several other companies of the regiment. The Sixty Second was organized
at Camp Dubois, Anna, Ill., April 10, 1862. On the 22nd it moved to
Cairo, thence to Paducah and Columbus, and in Col. Ditzler’s Brigade to
Tennessee, where it was stationed on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, near
Crockett Station. with headquarters at Kenton. In December the regiment
was moved to Jackson, Tenn.., leaving about 200 men sick and on duty at
Holly Springs; about two miles from Jackson found the railroad bridge
on fire, and leaving the train marched to Jackson and four miles
beyond, skirmishing with the enemy. On the 23d the regiment marched
along the railroad as far as Toon’s Station and returned to Jackson. In
the meanwhile Van Dorn descended on Holly Springs and captured about
170 men of the regiment, and destroyed all the regimental records and
baggage. On December 31st the regiment went with Lawler’s Brigade in
pursuit of Forrest and found him strongly posted on the opposite hank
of the river. Returning to Jackson the regiment remained here until
April, 1863, when it moved to LaGrange. In August the regiment was
ordered to Memphis, where it embarked for Helena. overtaking the army
of Gen. Steele at Brownsville; took part in the action near Little Rock
and remained there until April, 1864, when it moved to Pine Bluff and
remained till August 12, 1864. The regiment in January had re-enlisted,
and at this date returned to Illinois on veteran furlough. After the
expiration of their furlough the regiment returned to Pine Bluff,
reaching there November 25, 1864. The non veterans of the regiment were
ordered to Illinois for muster out. Under date of April 24, 1865, the
remaining veterans and recruits were ordered consolidated into seven
companies, and remained on duty at Pine Bluff until July 28, 1865, when
it moved by river to Fort Gibson, in the Cherokee nation. It was
subsequently ordered to Little Rock, where it was mustered out of
service March 43, 1866, and ordered to Springfield for final payment
and discharge.
This sketch of the activities of regiments in which
this county is principally interested was compiled largely from the
Adjutant General's report. In case of several regiments no report save
the bare roster, is found in the State work, and dependence has been
placed upon the memory of those who served in the different
organizations. However imperfect the attempt, and however the short it
may tall of the merits of the case, it will serve to show that
Cumberland County found those who ably represented her in the field,
and that many, while politically at variance with the administration
then in power in the general government, put loyalty to the nation
above partisan fealty to a questionable policy. In the Black Hawk
disturbance of 1832 the community here was too tar removed from the
actual operations to notice them, and was too few in numbers to spare
any men save under the direst necessity. In 1847, while sympathizing
with the object of the war, the county was too thinly settled even then
to contribute to tile ranks of the six regiments enlisted in the State.
There are, however, some half dozen residents of the county now who
were in the Mexican war but who were enrolled elsewhere.
