The 98th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, later the 98th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Mounted 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 ...

and

mounted infantry Mounted infantry were infantry who rode horses instead of marching. The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely specially m ...

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 ...

that served 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 98th Illinois Infantry was organized at Centralia, Illinois and mustered into Federal service on September 3, 1862. The regiment was converted to mounted infantry on March 8, 1863 and became an element of "Wilder's

Lightning Brigade The Lightning Brigade, also known as Wilder's Brigade or the Hatchet Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade from the American Civil War in the Union Army of the Cumberland from March 8, 1863, through November 1863. A novel unit for the U.S. A ...

", a unit that pioneered the use of

. As part of that brigade, it performed admirably in the Tullahoma and Chickamauga campaigns. Its superior firepower 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 rebelsThis combat power prevented much larger Confederate units from crossing a bridge on the first day of Chickamauga and stopped the left column of the Bragg's key breakthrough on the second day. Spencer Rifle w Bayonet MANG Museum-10001

Spencer Rifle w Bayonet MANG Museum-10001

The regiment was mustered out on June 27, 1865, and discharged at

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

, on July 7, 1865.

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.

Commanders

* Colonel John J. Funkhouser - Discharged due to wounds July 5, 1864.

Notes

Bibliography

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Service

Total strength and casualties

Commanders

Notes

Bibliography

See also