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28th Illinois Infantry
in the American Civil War
Online Books:
28th Illinois Infantry Soldier Roster - Report of the Adjutant
General of the State of Illinois, Volume 2, Revised by Brigadier General J.N.
Reece, Adjutant General, 1900
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Entire Book
| Regimental History |
| Twenty-eighth Illinois Infantry. — Col., Amory K. Johnson ;
Lieut.-Cols., Louis H. Waters, Thomas M. Kilpatrick, Richard Ritter; Majs., Charles J. Sellon, Barclay C. Gillam, Hinman Rhodes. This
regiment was composed of three companies from Pike county, one from
Fulton, one from Schuyler, one from McDonough, one from Mason, one from
Scott, and two from Menard. It was organized at Camp Butler, Aug. 15,
1861, and was mustered into the service for three years. On Aug. 28 it
was ordered to St. Louis, Mo., where it was armed. On Feb. 13, 1862, a
detachment of 48 men and 12 officers met Col. Claiborne's Confederate
cavalry, 500 strong, at Little Bethel Church, 5 miles west of Fort
Heiman, and immediately attacked them, taking 2 prisoners. In the
opening of the battle of Shiloh the regiment was assigned to a position
on the left of the line, in the Peach orchard, which position the enemy
immediately attacked, but was repulsed with heavy loss, and the regiment
held its position, against great odds from 8 a. m. until 3 p. m. In this
conflict it lost heavily in killed and wounded. On the morning of the
second day the regiment held a position on the right of the line and was
hotly engaged until the battle closed and the victory was won. In the
two days' fighting it sustained a loss of 239, killed, wounded and
missing. It was engaged in the siege of Corinth during the month of May.
At the battle of Davis' bridge in the following October, Gen. Lauman
ordered the 2nd brigade, of which the regiment formed a part, to take
the bridge and cross to the east side of the river, which was done
amidst a most terrific fire. A battery in front of the 28th was dealing
death and destruction, and the regiment was ordered to charge and take
it at all hazards, which it did most gallantly, capturing 6 guns and
caissons, 1 flag, and 1 officer in uniform. On Oct. 28 it returned to
Bolivar, bearing a tattered flag, with the loss of 97 men killed,
wounded and missing. It was engaged in the siege of Vicksburg from June
11 to July 4, 1863, and occupied a position to the left of the center,
on the Hall's Ferry road. On July 12, near Jackson, Miss., the 28th,
with other regiments of the brigade, not exceeding 800 men, charged
across an open, level cornfield, some 600 yards under a destructive fire
of grape, canister and minie bullets. The enemy appearing upon both
flanks as it reached the ditch, the Federals were compelled to fall
back, with a loss of more than half of the rank and file killed and
wounded. The eight companies of this regiment in line, numbering 128
men, lost 73 killed and wounded, and 16 taken prisoners. On Jan. 4,
1864, the regiment, having reenlisted as a veteran organization, was
mustered for three years' veteran service, and on May 18 proceeded to
Illinois for veteran furlough. Returning to the front, it served as a
regiment until the following October, when it was consolidated into a
battalion of four companies. |
Footnotes:
Regimental history taken from "The Union Army" by Federal Publishing
Company, 1908 - Volume 3
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