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On the following day it engaged in the battle of Stone River, where it lost 138 in killed and wounded and 85 taken prisoners. On the 5th of March, 1863, it started in pursuit of Van Dorn, and went as far as Columbia, returning to Murfreesboro on the 14th. June 24th it entered upon the Tullahoma campaign, camping at Bridgeport Ala., July 31st. September 2d it entered upon the Chattanooga campaign, and on the 19th and 20th fought bravely at the battle of Chickamauga, losing 156 in killed and wounded and 28 prisoners. On the 25th of November it was at the battle of Mission Ridge, being on the skirmish line during the whole engagement. It then pursued the retreating enemy as far as Chickamauga Creek, and returned to Chattanooga on the 26th. On the 28th it set out on the East Tennessee campaign, and established camp at Stone's Mills, Tenn., December 27th. On the 1st of January, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted as veterans. January 15th it entered on the Dandridge campaign, and on the 16th, at Dandridge, had a skirmish with the enemy, without loss. February 2d it arrived at Chattanooga, and on the 21st started for Chicago, arriving on the 27th and receiving veteran furloughs. On the 2d of April the regiment re-organized and returned to Nashville, arriving on the 11th. It arrived at Chattanooga on the 27th, and entered on the Atlanta campaign, engaging the enemy at Rocky Faced Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station, encamping at Atlanta September 8th. On the 25th it left Atlanta for Bridgeport, Ala., and thence, October 19th, to Chattanooga, thence to Alpine, Ga., back again to Chattanooga, and thence to Pulaski, Tenn. November 22d it began the retreat to Nashville, engaging heavily with the enemy at Spring Hill and Franklin, and on the 1st of December arrived at Nashville. On the 15th and 16th it was in the battles at Nashville, and joined in the pursuit of Hood's retreating army. January 1, 1865, it marched to Huntsville, Ala., and thence to Decatur, where it remained till April 1st, when it marched through several points, arriving at Nashville on the 25th. June 15th it left for New Orleans, arriving on the 23d. On the 18th of July it embarked for Lavaca, Texas. It was on post duty at Lavaca and at Camp Irwin until December 16th, when it was mustered out and ordered

home. On the 5th of January, 1866, it arrived at Springfield, and on the 10th was paid off and discharged.

SIXTY-SIXTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

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The 66th regiment was organized at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, in the fall of 1861, under the special patronage of Gen. Fremont, and was originally known as "Birge's Sharpshooters," and was composed of three companies from Illinois, two from Ohio, one from Michigan, and three from squads of recruits sent to Benton Barracks from the various Western states. When Gen. Fremont was superseded, his pet scheme of a complete sharpshooting regiment was partly suppressed by General Halleck, who stopped all recruiting for it and hurried it into the field, before it was thoroughly equipped and organized, leaving it with but nine companies, and in numbers. below the minimum required for a regimental organization. Its arm was the American deer and target rifle. The accoutrements were not of the kind prescribed by army regulations, but consisted of a bullet-pouch of bear skin covering, and a powder horn, or in some cases a flask. In the bullet-pouch was a compartment where the soldier, or rebel hunter, carried his little et cæteras, such as screwdrivers, bullet-molds and patch-cutter-singular implements for a soldier, but Birge's boys molded their own bullets, greased them and patched them with as much care as an old hunter would, and used them as effectively. It was the design to give them a complete hunter's dress, but this too was vetoed by Halleck; and the only thing peculiar about the dress was the hat, which was a gray sugarloaf shaped affair, with three squirrel tails running from both back and front and meeting at the apex of the crown in an indescribable knot.

Lieutenant-Colonel John M. Birge, of St. Louis, commanded the regiment, and on the 12th of December, 1861, marched it from Benton Barracks to take the field in North Missouri. Arriving at Centralia, on the North Missouri Railroad, the Colonel found plenty of work for his little command, which he scattered in detachments over the country in search of rebels, several small bodies of whom were met and defeated, besides being badly frightened at the squirrel tail hats and long range rifles.

On the 28th of December, General Prentiss, commanding the District of North Missouri, led four companies of Sharpshooters and four companies of Curtis' Horse against the command of the rebel Colonel Dorsey, consisting of nearly a thousand mounted and dismounted infantry. General Prentiss' command numbered about four hundred men, but so impetuously did they attack and so stubbornly did they fight that in less than two hours the rebels were routed, "foot, horse and dragoons." This battle was at Mount Zion Church, twenty miles from Sturgeon, and has been known as the battle of Mount Zion. Our loss was about forty killed and wounded, but that of the rebels much larger. After this battle no fighting of any moment occurred during their stay in North Missouri, which terminated on the 4th of February, 1862, on which day the command was shipped by railroad to St. Louis, where it embarked on a steamer to Fort Henry, arriving on the 9th, just too late to take a part in the capture of the Fort. Here the regiment was attached to Colonel Lauman's brigade of General Charles F. Smith's division, and marched with it on the 12th to our position in front of Donelson. Here the General was a little perplexed to know what to do with soldiers with deer rifles and no bayonets, but finally concluded to let them fight in their own way. And thus it was that during that memorable siege the Squirrel Tails scattered themselves out along the entire front of Smith's division, and crawling stealthily up, would sometimes get position behind a log within fifty yards of the rebel works. Every man had his hiding place, and keeping a sharp lookout and aiming with a steady hand, they kept the guns in front of the division silent the entire three days of the siege. Although the regiment performed good service here, the loss was very light.

Remaining at Fort Donelson after its capture till March 5th, the command marched back again to the Tennessee river and embarked for Pittsburg Landing, where it landed on the 18th of the same month. On the 6th and 7th of April, it participated in the battles of Shiloh, but being used only as a skirmishing regiment its loss was small compared with that of some other regiments. From the 10th of May to the 30th, in the siege of Corinth, it was used for skirmishing almost constantly, and during that time lost a large number of Upon returning to Corinth from the pursuit of the rebels,

men.

Colonel E. P. Burke took command, having been commissioned for it, Colonel Birge having been mustered out, and it was assigned to the city command as provost guard, where it remained till the battle of Corinth on the 3d and 4th of October, participating in the battle on the second day, and losing heavily in men and officers. From Corinth, in pursuit of the fleeing rebels, and back to Rienzi, Mississippi, consumed some weeks, and the 26th of November found it again encamped six miles from Corinth, where it established a fine stockaded camp, called after an old commander, General Davies. While here, the regiment, which had heretofore belonged to Missouri, was transferred, by order of the Secretary of War, to Illinois.

The name, Birge's Sharpshooters, was discarded, and henceforth the regiment was the 66th Illinois Volunteers, or Western Sharpshooters, with the following roster:

Colonel, Patrick E. Burke; Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles W. Smith; Major, George Pipe; Adjutant, William Wilson; Quartermaster, Nicholas Brown; Surgeon, Joseph Pogue; 1st Assistant Surgeon, Edward Vogel; 2d Assistant Surgeon, David O. McCord; Chaplain, James M. Alexander.

Co. A-Captain, William S. Boyd; 1st Lieutenant, Frederick Ullrich; 2d Lieutenant, Austin S. Davidson,

Co. B-Captain, Henry Eads; 1st Lieutenant, Frank M. Bingham; 2d Lieutenant, Samuel B. Brightman.

Co. C-Captain, Ensign Conklin; 1st Lieutenant, Robert J. Adams; 2d Lieutenant, Francis A. Hartzell.

Co. D-Captain, John Piper; 1st Lieutenant,W. Lusk.

2d Lieutenant, George

Co. E-Captain, Andrew K. Campbell; 1st Lieutenant, William H. H. Simpkins; 2d Lieutenant, John V. Bovell.

Co. F-Captain, Michael Piggott; 1st Lieutenant, Cyrus A. Lemon; 2d Lieutenant,

Co. G-Captain, Benjamin D. Longstreth; 1st Lieutenant, Perry P. Ellis; 2d Lieutenant, Philip C. Diedrich.

Co. H—Captain, Thomas B. Mitchell; 1st Lieutenant, Joseph Lidack; 2d Lieutenant, Nicholas R. Park.

Co. I-Captain, Jerry N. Hill; 1st Lieutenant, John L. Hays; 2d Lieutenant, Samuel J. Smith.

Co. K-Captain, George A. Taylor; 1st Lieutenant, Alvin H. Davis; 2d Lieutenant, William C. Jones.

Here, too, about two hundred men of the regiment purchased with their own funds, at a cost of $43.00 each

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Henry Repeating Rifle, which repeats sixteen times at a loading. This arm has done much to make the regiment effective, and the men who purchased them with their own means deserve great credit. The regiment remained at this camp till the 12th of November, when the division-then the 2d Division, 16th Army Corps-moved to Pulaski, Tennessee. Here, in December, 470 men re-enlisted, and in January, 1864, were sent North to be furloughed. After being re-organized as a veteran regiment, it returned to Pulaski, and on the 29th of April started for Chattanooga, 600 strong, to enter with the grand army upon the Atlanta campaign. Leaving Chattanooga on the 6th of May, the 66th had the honor, on the 9th of the same month, to open the fighting of the Army of the Tennessee in this campaign, at Snake Creek Gap and Resaca, and unaided and almost unsupported captured and held till night the heights in front of that stronghold. From here through the whole of that memorable campaign the regiment was always in front, and participated in not less than ten pitched battles, and skirmishes innumerable, losing 224 officers and men killed and wounded, among the former its commander Colonel Burke, and of the severely wounded its Major A. K. Campbell. Never did a regiment perform harder and better service than did this hardy little band of veterans.

During this campaign the rifles of the original "Birge's Sharpshooters" became unserviceable by constant use and exposure, and were discarded, the command being at the close of the campaign armed with the Springfield musket and Henry repeating rifle. The division to which the regiment belonged being now attached to the 15th Corps, it marched with it on the ever-to-be-remembered campaigns of Georgia and South Carolina. On the Ogeechee river, near Savannah, the regiment, being thrown in front on the 9th of December, captured the enemy's works protecting the Gulf railroad, with a fine Blakely gun. At Savannah it was awarded the post of honor, being quartered in the old United States Barracks, and used for special guard duty. At Bentonville, North Carolina, in the engagement of the 21st of March, it lost eight men, after which it met no rebels to fight, and marched to Washington and there participated in the grand review before the President. It was then sent to Louisville, Ky., where it was mustered out in June, 1865.

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