The 117th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Service

The 117th Illinois Infantry was organized at

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and mustered in for three years service on September 19, 1862 under the command of

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Risdon M. Moore. The regiment was attached to Reserve Brigade, District of Memphis, Tennessee, XIII Corps,

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, to January 1863. District of Memphis, XVI Corps, to March 1863. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, District of Memphis, XVI Corps, to January 1864. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, XVI Corps, to December 1864. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Detachment Army of the Tennessee,

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, to February 1865. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XVI Corps, Military Division West Mississippi, to August 1865. The 117th Illinois Infantry mustered out of service August 5, 1865.

Detailed service

Moved to Memphis, Tennessee, November 11-17, 1862. Duty at Memphis, until July 5, 1863. Affairs near Memphis June 17-18, 1863 (detachment). Moved to Helena, Arkansas, July 5, and returned to Memphis. Duty there until December 29, 1863. Expedition after Forrest December 24-31. 1863 (detachment). Grierson's Bridge and near Moscow and Lafayette December 27. Ordered to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Meridian Campaign February 3-March 2, 1864. Clinton February 5. Meridian February 9-13. Red River Campaign March 10-May 22. Fort DeRussy March 14. Occupation of Alexandria March 16. Battle of Pleasant Hill April 9. About Cloutiersville April 22-24. At Alexandria April 26-May 13. Governor Moore's Plantation and Bayou Roberts May 3-7 and 11. Retreat to Morganza May 13-20. Mensurn May 16. Yellow Bayou May 18. Moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi; then to Memphis, Tennessee, May 21-June 10. Action at Lake Chicot, Arkansas, June 6. March to relief of Gen. Sturgis June 14-16. Near Lafayette June 23.

Smith's Expedition to Tupelo Smith's Expedition to Tupelo was a military movement of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Expedition On July 5, 1864 Major General Andrew Jackson Smith of the XVI Corps set out on an expedition to protect Major General William T. S ...

, Mississippi, July 5-21. Camargo's Cross Roads, near Harrisburg, July 13. Harrisburg, near Tupelo, July 14-15. Old Town (or Tishamingo) Creek July 15. Smith's Expedition to Oxford, Mississippi, August 1-30. Hurricane Creek August 13-14. Abbeville August 23. Moved to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and in pursuit of Price through Missouri September to November. Action at Franklin, Missouri, October 1. Moved from St. Louis to Nashville, Tennessee, November 21-December 1. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17-28. Moved to Clifton, Tennessee, and Eastport, Mississippi, and duty there until February 1865. Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, February 6-17. Campaign against Mobile and its defenses March 17-April 12. Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely March 26-April 8. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely April 9. Occupation of Mobile April 12. March to Montgomery April 13-25, and duty there until August.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 130 men during service -- 11 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 4 officers and 115 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

* Colonel Risdon M. Moore *

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Jonathan Merriam - commanded at the Battle of Nashville

Notable members

* 1st Lieutenant

Daniel Kerr Daniel Alan Kerr (born 16 May 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played 220 games for the club between 2001 and 2013, as a hard-running inside midfield ...

, Company G -

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, 1887-1891

References

* Dyer, Frederick H. ''A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion'' (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908. * Gerling, Edwin G. ''The One Hundred Seventeenth Illinois Infantry Volunteers (The McKendree Regiment): 1862-1865'' (Highland, IL: E. G. Gerling), 1992. * Hucke, Louis. ''The Civil War Diary of Louis Huch/Hucke: A Private in the 117th Regiment of the Illinois Infantry, Capt. Robert A. Halbert, February 1864 to July 1865'' (Columbia, IL: Monroe County Genealogical Society), 2001. ;Attribution * {{CWR

External links

Civil War Stories: First Person Accounts
Features transcriptions of letters written by Adolphus Wolf and Otto Wolf, brothers who both served with Company F, written to their parents and siblings. Military units and formations established in 1862 Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 Units and formations of the Union Army from Illinois