98th Illinois Infantry Regiment

98th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry/Illinois Volunteer Mounted Infantry
98th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry/Illinois Volunteer Mounted Infantry
	Illinois flag
Active	September 3, 1862, to July 29, 1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Infantry; Mounted Infantry (1863–1864);
Equipment	Spencer repeating rifle
Engagements	Battle of Hoover's Gap; Battle of Chickamauga; Battle of Resaca; Siege of Atlanta;
Insignia
1st Division, XIV Corps
4th Division, XIV Corps

The 98th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, later the 98th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Mounted Infantry, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.^[1]

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Service

The 98th Illinois Infantry was organized at Centralia, Illinois and mustered into Federal service on September 3, 1862.^[2]

The regiment was converted to mounted infantry on March 8, 1863^[3] and became an element of "Wilder's Lightning Brigade",^{[note 1]} a unit that pioneered the use of mounted infantry.^[4] As part of that brigade, it performed admirably in the Tullahoma^[5]^[6] and Chickamauga campaigns. Its superior firepower^[7] due to its Spencers was found to allow it to take on an enemy that outnumbered them on several occasions and triumph. Also, the rapidity of movement afforded by their mounts gave them a rapid response ability that could take and maintain the initiative from the rebels^[8]This combat power prevented much larger Confederate units from crossing a bridge on the first day of Chickamauga^[8]^[9]^[10] and stopped the left column of the Bragg's key breakthrough on the second day.^[11]

1862 Spencer Rifle with sling and bayonet

The regiment was mustered out on June 27, 1865, and discharged at Springfield, Illinois, on July 7, 1865.^[12]

Total strength and casualties

The regiment suffered 30 enlisted men who were killed in action or who died of their wounds and 5 officers and 136 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 171 fatalities.^[12]

Commanders

Colonel John J. Funkhouser - Discharged due to wounds July 5, 1864.^[13]

References

Footnotes

[N 1]
It acquired the names due to the movement speed that was gained by mounting the brigade, and also by the hatchets/tomohawks that Wilder had issued initially. See Lightning Brigade article for more.

Citations

[1]
Dyer (1908), p. 1088.
[2]
Baumgartner (2007), p. 70; Dyer (1908), p. 1086; Reece (1900), p. 358.
[3]
Sunderland (1984), p. 24.
[4]
Sunderland (1969), p. 45.
[5]
Robertson, Blue & Gray, Jan 2006, p. 46–50.
[6]
Sunderland (1969), p. 45; Kennedy (1998), p. 225.
[7]
Sunderland (1984), p. 26.
[8]
Robertson, Blue & Gray, Jun 2006, p. 46–50.
[9]
Robertson, Blue & Gray, Dec 2006, p. 41–45.
[10]
Robertson, Blue & Gray, Jun 2007, p. 44–47.
[11]
Robertson, Blue & Gray, Oct 2007, p. 46–48.
[12]
Dyer (1908), p. 1088; Reece (1900), p. 493.
[13]
Reece (1900), p. 493.

Sources

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Connolly, James A. (1959). Angle, Paul McClelland (ed.). Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland: The Letters and Diary of Major James A. Connolly (1st ed.). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0-527-19000-2. OCLC 906602437.
Connolly, James A. (2012). "Primary Sources: The Road to Chickamauga". www.battlefields.org. Washington, DC: American Battlefield Trust.
Connelly, Thomas L (1971). Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee 1862–1865 (PDF) (1st ed.). Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-0445-3. OCLC 1147753151.
Cozzens, Peter (1992). This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga (PDF) (1st ed.). Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06594-1. OCLC 1147753151.
Daniel, Larry J.; Lamers, William M. (1961). The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, U.S.A. (1st ed.). New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World. ISBN 978-0-8071-2396-6. OCLC 906813341.
Duke, Basil Wilson (1906). Morgan's Cavalry (PDF) (1st ed.). New York, NY & Washington, DC: Neale Pub. Co. p. 441. OCLC 35812648.
Dyer, Frederick Henry (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (PDF) (1st ed.). Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co. p. 1088. ASIN B01BUFJ76Q.
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Eddy, Thomas Mears (1866). The Patriotism of Illinois (PDF). Vol. II (1st ed.). Chicago, IL: Clark & Company. p. 734. LCCN 02012789. OCLC 85800687. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
Eicher, David J.; McPherson, James M.; McPherson, James Alan (2001). The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-1846-9. OCLC 892938160.
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Frisby, Derek W. (2000). Heidler, David S.; Heidler, Jeanne T. (eds.). Tullahoma Campaign. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Vol. IV. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. –2733. ISBN 978-0-393-04758-5. OCLC 317783094.
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Robertson, William Glenn (2010). "Bull of the Woods? James Longstreet at Chickamauga". In Woodworth, Steven E. (ed.). The Chickamauga Campaign (Kindle). Civil War Campaigns in the West (2011 Kindle ed.). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-8556-0. OCLC 649913237. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
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