The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1905-11-02
THE SD ILL.
The ReGiment Which Made sueh . Gal
liant Defense Of Fort Donelaon.

-
liant Defease Of Fort Donelson.
Editor National Tribune: In your
issue of Oct. IL Comrade Seth b. Kin
ney, of Pawtucket, r. l., asks for his
some personal knowledge of il. and
having also a great many personal
friends and schoolmates in ii, / take
great pleasure in telling what / know
or 1t. 1t was mustered into the service
at Monmouth. ILL.,, in the month OF Au-
gust, 1862. / was present when the Diff
ferent companies were sworn I'm by a
u. s. officer I'm full uniform on the pub
lie square at the time OF its organiZa-
ton. AS soon as each company was
mustered in it was marched to the de-
pot and drew clothing and then went
into camp at the Fair Grounds. The
regimental organization was as follows:
Abner G. Harding, Colonel, and a Mex
lean War veteran; Arthur A. Smith,
observation-disclosures Brott was the
name of the Major, and w. b: Corey.
Adjutant. The name of the Quarter
master has slipped my mind. l was at
the camp almost daily. as my brother
was Sergeant i'm Co. +. ! must be al
lowed to say that the personnel Of the
regiment was equal. and no doubt SUI
perior. to any other from Illinois. Who
were they and what were they? Co. G
was made up almost wholly of college
students. young men in the prime Of
life, full of activity and possessed of
every virtue that made good men and
became the true type of Christian pat
riots. Co. 3 was composed Of a fine
class OF young men from the northwest
portion Of the County and mostly were
young farmers of good. steady habits
and were pious, good men also. The
regiment was mostly from Warren
County. The company officers were a
o1ne
down to private every man went in with
the expectation Of doing his duty, and
enlisted on conscientious principles
only. 1 had more acquaintance In the
SD than In any other regiment, and am
free to say that they were made OF the
qualities that make good soldiers. Prob
aDiy no other regiment was composed
of men SO free from vice and bad hab-
its, and l only wished at the time that
could go along too, as 1T was an
honor to serve with such men; but my
turn came somewhat later on. They
went into camp about the middle of
August and settled at once and in good
earnest to the duties of soldiers and
drilled, paraded and also prayed, as all
good men should do, and served their
time out faithfully, and / doubt il any
regiment came home with character so
untarnished. I knew many Of those
men In after life, and they possessed
characters almost spotless. They left
Monmouth early in September and
soon reached Cairo, and from thence to
the Tennessee River and to Fort Hen
ry, and from there marched across
country to Fort Donelson, the scene Of
Gen. Grants first great victory. Here
they settled down to a strict routine
of camp duty and from the first became
known as a regiment with good disci-
pine, and the Inspection Officer al
ways graded them No. 1. They went
many Reconnaissance in the surround
ing country. They belonged to the
command Of Gen. Rousseau. and made
surveys of that portion of Tennessee,
and also secured the country for guer-
rillas and made 1t unpleasant for rebel
sympathizers, who were numerous In
that portion of Tennessee. After re-
naming at Fort Donelson for nearly
year, three companies were detached
from the regiment and were sent to
GAINESVILLE. AS far as I know the
headquarters Of the regiment was Fort
Donelson until the end of their term of
service; but this does not imply that
they failed to do their duty, for they
showed their mettle in February, 1868,
when only seven companies were pres
ent at Fort Donelson, and at noontime
were attacked by three brigades under
Gems. Wheeler, Wharton and McNary,
the latter Of whom was killed that day.
They were poorly fortified for such an
attack. but stood their ground nobly,
and before shutdown had completely
silenced them. The gunboats arrived,
think, from Paducah, or perhaps from
some point near enough TO hear the
roar of the artillery. The SD was.
firing almost into the faces of their
foes and holly commended every inch of
ground. and killed and wounded more
men than the seven companies had. At
one time near the close of the day the
enemy made desperate charge to take
piece OF artillery and came pretty
close to the muzzle in great numbers
and boosted that they had gotten the
gen; but the boys shouted to them:
Yes; you have gotten the wrong end
of it, The last friction match was
gone, but one of the gunners rushed
into some ones quarters and picked up
a shovelful of hot Goals and placed on
the heavily-prim tube and the gun
went off and made a terrible havoc of
all who were near and in front of it.
and at this juncture Co. b was lying in
ambush with double-Ioaded guns. and
suddenly arose and emptied their pieces
at pretty close range and killed and
wounded probably more men than they
mum bered. Almost Immediately the en-
envy fell back and the firing ceased.
Really Col. Harding and the artillery
(Which / think was not more than
enemy before the gunboats arrived;
but many Of those brave Christian pat
lots laid down their lives that wintry
afternoon in the holy cause of liberty
and right.
Only year previous the 18th Ill. had
fought over the same ground under
Gen. Grant and had lost many men, and
after this brilliant defense they as
sembled and passed resolutions prais-
ing and thanking them for defending
the graves of their fallen comrades so
faithfully and well. am sorry that /
cannot now give the names of those
who fell. l remember Of attending the
funeral services Of the remains of three
brave men who had fallen and had been
sent home for interment; viz, James M.
Campbell. Bryson and David Allen, the
latter being brothers and in the same
company. During the following Sum-
mer surveying party was sent out,
detached chiefly from Co. B, and were
suddenly attacked by band of guer-
rillas under a guerrilla chief by the
name of Woodward, and were nearly
every one killed. Among those who
fell l recall with sadness Mitchell A.
Thompson, William Findlay and
young man by the name of Nichol. The
regiment was retained SO long in one
place on account of their devotion to
MT nd