History of the Eighty-Fifth Regiment
Illinois Volunteer Infantry
By Henry J. Aten, 1901

Roster of Company C
Page 383

William Armstrong

William Armstrong, aged twenty-nine, born in Menard county, Illinois, was single and a farmer when he enlisted from Mason county. He was discharged at Louisville, Ky., for disability, but no date appears upon the record. He returned to Mason county, resumed farming, and died near Easton, Ill., May 5, 1899. Note-A few years before the war this soldier was tried for murder; defended by Abraham Lincoln, and acquitted by the jury without leaving their seats. Armstrong had been present at an evening meeting where a man was killed, and although entirely innocent, a conspiracy was formed to convict him of the crime. At the trial, each of the prosecuting witnesses testified to seeing the knife glitter in Armstrong's hand when he struck the fatal blow, by the light of the moon. Whereupon Mr. Lincoln introduced an almanac in evidence, which showed that the murder was committed in the dark of the moon.


David Bradford

David Bradford, aged twenty-one, born in Madison county, Ohio; was a farmer when he enlisted from Mason county, Illinois; served with his company until captured at the battle of Peach Tree creek, Georgia, July 19, 1864. He was thought to have died in prison, but the record shows that he was honorably discharged from Springfield, Ill., June 7, 1865.


John L. Burnett

John L. Burnett, aged thirty-two, born in Clay county, Indiana; married, and a farmer when he enlisted from Mason county, Illinois; served with his company until killed at the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864. His remains are buried at No. 9313, in the national cemetery at Marietta, Ga.


William Clark

William Clark, aged twenty-one, born and raised in Mason county, from whence he enlisted; served in the Kentucky campaign until his health failed; was sent to the hospital at Bowling Green, Ky., where he died November 16, 1862.


Nelson D. Cue

Nelson D. Cue, aged eighteen, born in Menard county, Illinois, and enlisted as a farmer from Mason county. He served with his company to the close of the war and was mustered out with the regiment. He returned to Illinois; resumed farming, and resides at Greenview, Menard county.


Joseph W. Carter

Joseph W. Carter, born in Mercer county, New Jersey, removed to Illinois; was married and a farmer when he enlisted from Mason county, Illinois, at the age of twenty-three. He served with his company through the Kentucky campaign and was sent tot the hospital at Nashville, Tenn., from which he was discharged for disability November 7, 1862. He resides at Scottsville, Mitchell county, Kansas.

85th Regiment Index
Home