When Chicago lawyer Thomas Osborn set out to form a Union regiment in the days following the attack on Fort Sumter, he could not have known it was the beginning of a 6000-mile journey that would end at Appomattox Courthouse four years later. With assistance from Governor Richard Yates, the 39th Illinois Infantry—“The Yates Phalanx”—enlisted young men from Chicago, its (modern-day) suburbs, and small towns of northern and central Illinois. While most Illinois regiments fought in the west, the 39th marched through the Shenandoah Valley to fight Stonewall Jackson, to Charleston Harbor for the Second Battle of Fort Sumter and to Richmond for the year-long siege at Petersburg. This book chronicles day-to-day life in the regiment, the myriad factors that determined its path, and the battles fought by the Chicagoans—including two Medal of Honor recipients—who fired some of the last shots before the Confederate surrender.

Jason B. Baker is an officer in the United States Air Force with an academic background in political science and national security studies. He is a native of the area from which much of the 39th Illinois originated. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Jason B. Baker

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 304
Bibliographic Info: 30 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8620-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4551-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction: “Here My Children Have Been Born” 5
Part I. “A Good Ways from Home” October 1861–December 1862
1. From Chicago 11
2. Trains, Steamboats and Twists of Fate 17
3. Trial by Fire 20
4. Into the Valley 30
5. The Battle of Kernstown and a Pursuit of Stonewall 35
6. Final Days In (and Out of) the Valley 40
7. McClellan, Waiting Games and Emancipation 45
Part II. “Until Hell Freezes Over” January 1863–February 1864
8. Sailing to the Heart of Secession 59
9. Laying Siege 68
10. Furlough 81
Part III. “All This Bloodletting” March 1864–April 1865
11. Bermuda Hundred 91
12. The Battle of Drewry’s Bluff 99
13. Ware Bottom Church and the End of a Campaign 112
14. Grant’s Arrival 121
15. Deep Despair and Deep Bottom 129
16. Campaign Season 142
17. Darbytown Road 149
18. A Final Winter 158
19. Once More to Petersburg 165
20. Breakthrough and Fort Gregg 172
21. To Appomattox 186
Epilogue: “Muster Out” 194
Appendix: Roster of the 39th Illinois Infantry 203
Notes 271
Bibliography 287
Index 291

“A solid account of the 39th Illinois’s wartime history from recruitment to discharge and a useful collection of reference material related to its officers and men…indispensable…Baker’s contribution to the unit study literature should find its way into the bibliographies of future books”—Civil War Books and Authors