21st Illinois Infantry

Organized at Mattoon, Ill., and mustered in June 28, 1861. Ordered to Ironton, Mo., July 3, 1861. Operations on line of Hannibal & St. Jo. R. R. at Mexico, Mo., till August. Reached Ironton, Mo., August 9.  Attached to Department of Missouri to March, 1862. Steele's Command, Army of Southeast Missouri, to May, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, Army of Mississippi, to September, 1862. 31st Brigade, 9th Division, Army of the Ohio, to October, 1862. 31st Brigade, 9th Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Right Wing 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October, 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to June, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps, to August, 1865. Department of Texas to December, 1865.

SERVICE. – Duty at Ironton, Mo., till January, 1862. Operations about Ironton, Mo., October 17-25, 1861. Action at Fredericktown October 21. March from Ironton to Greenville January 29, 1862, and duty there till March. Moved to Reeve's Station, on Black River, March 3-10, thence to Doniphan and Pocohontas, Ark., March 31-April 21. Action at Putnam Ferry April 1. March to Jacksonport, Ark., April 30-May 4, thence to Cape Girardeau, Mo., May 10-21, and to Hamburg Landing May 21-24. Siege of Corinth, Miss., May 26-30. Pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 12. March to Jacinto and Ripley June 29-July 4. At Corinth, till August 14. March through Alabama to Nashville, Tenn., and to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg, August 14-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1-16. Battle of Perryville October 8. Stanford October 14. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 16-November 9, and duty there till December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro December 26-30. Nolensville, Knob Gap, December 26. Battle of Stone River December 30-31, 1862, and January 1-3, 1863. At Murfreesboro till June. Reconnoissance from Murfreesboro March 6-7. Methodist Church, Shelbyville Pike, March 6. Reconnoissance to Versailles March 9-14. Middle Tennessee (or Tullahoma) Campaign June 24-July 7. Liberty Gap June 24-27. Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga, Ga., September 19-20. Siege of Chattanooga September 24-October 27. Reopening Tennessee River October 26-29. Duty at Bridgeport, Ala., till January 26, 1864. Moved to Ooltewah January 26. Veterans absent on furlough till June. Non-Veterans attached to 101st Ohio Infantry till June 4, when Veterans returned. Atlanta Campaign May to September, 1864. Tunnel Hill May 6-7. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8-9. Demonstrations on Dalton May 9-13. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Near Kingston May 18-19. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 23-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battle about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Mount June 10. Pine Hill June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff's Station July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy Station September 2-6. Pursuit of Hood into Alabama October 3-30. Nashville Campaign November-December. Columbia, Duck River, November 24-27. Spring Hill November 29. Battle of Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17-28. March to Huntsville, Ala., and duty there till March 13, 1865. Operations in East Tennessee till April 11. At Nashville, Tenn., till June. Moved to New Orleans, La., June 17-25, thence to Indianola, Texas, July 12-15. Duty at San Antonio, Texas, till December. Mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, December 16, and discharged at Camp Butler, Ill., January 18, 1866.

Regiment lost during service 6 Officers and 124 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 140 Enlisted men by disease. Total 272.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium Of The War Of The Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1053-4