So, Should Sherman's Army Have Been Called the Army of the Illinois?

From the McHenry County Civil War Round Table (Illinois) discussion group for February 26, 2022.

I went through Sherman's Union Order of Battle for his march through the Carolinas and counted the number of Illinois units.  I came up with 41.  That is a huge number of regiments and one battalion.  Now, granted, that late in the war, none or very few of these had the predetermined 1,000 soldiers considered a regiment at full strength.  But, even so, that was a lot of troops.

Here are the Illinois regiments:

7, 10, 12, 16, 20, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 40, 45, 48, 50, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 60, 63, 64, 65, 78, 82, 85, 86, 90, 93, 101, 102, 104,  105, 111, 112, 116, 125, 127, 129

Also, there was a 14/15 Battalion.

That's sure a lot of Illinois boys.

Army of the Illinois since Union Armies named after rivers.

--Old Secesh

34th Illinois and Kennesaw Mountain

Back in October I was writing about the discovery of Mark carr's bones at the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield.

He was a member of the 34th Illinois, called the Red River Rifles and organized at camp Butler in Springfield, Illinois. Participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Stones River, Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta and the March to the Sea.

During the war, they lost 11 officers, 129 enlisted killed in action or died from wounds. Two officers and 119 more enlisted died from diseases.

KENNESAW MOUNTAIN

The state of Illinois purchased a small tract of land near Dead Angle in 1898. Almost 500 men from Illinois died here. In 1911, the Illinois Monument was dedicated. The War department took it over in 1917, and in the next 21 years expanded the site to 2,800+ acres. In the 1930s, a CCC camp was established near Pigeon Hill and many improvements were made to the battlefield.