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Civil War Soldiers - Turchin
| Turchin, John B., brigadier-general,
U.S. Army, was born in Russia, but in early life migrated to America
and at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war was living in the
state of Illinois. On June 17, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of
the 19th Ill. infantry, and having been a colonel of staff in the
Russian Guards he paid particular attention at the start to the drill
and discipline of his regiment, utilizing the first two weeks in camp
to the utmost to make the regiment as efficient as possible for the
service before it. He pursued his endeavors in that respect every time
the regiment was not on the march, and finally succeeded in making the
19th Ill. infantry one of the best drilled regiments in the western
armies. On the evening of July 13 he arrived at Quincy with his
regiment, and on the 14th received orders from Gen. Hurlbut to relieve
the 21st Ill. infantry, on the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad from
Quincy to Palmyra, and between the latter place and Hannibal, Mo.
During their two weeks' stay in that locality the men of his command,
besides guarding several important bridges on the railroad, made
several expeditions to different points in the neighborhood, chased
newly organized Confederate companies out of various plantations,
destroyed their barracks and provisions, obliged the citizens to give
pledges not to support any more such companies, encouraged formations
of home-guard companies at Palmyra and Newark, suppressed the
secessionists and encouraged the Unionists. So well did Col. Turchin
perform the work assigned him that, on July 17, 1862, he was
commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, in which capacity he
served until Oct. 4, 1864, when he resigned from the army and resumed
the peaceful pursuits of civil life. Gen. Turchin died June 19, 1901.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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