"The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War" is a personal account of Leander Stillwell, an officer of the Company D, Sixty-first Illinois Volunteers. Stillwell wrote in detail about the everyday life of a common soldier. His account is mainly focused on the Sixty-first Illinois Infantry, including their parts in battles such as Little Rock and Murfreesboro.

I was born September 16, 1843, on a farm, in Otter Creek precinct, Jersey County, Illinois. I was living with my parents, in the little old log house where I was born, when the Civil war began. The Confederates fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and thus commenced the war. On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 men, to aid in putting down the existing rebellion. Illinois promptly furnished her quota, and in addition, thousands of men were turned away, for the reason that the complement of the State was complete, and there was no room for them. The soldiers under this call were mustered in for three months' service only, for the government then seemed to be of the opinion that the troubles would be over by the end of that time. But on May 3, 1861, Mr. Lincoln issued another call for volunteers, the number specified being a little over 42,000, and their term of service was fixed at three years, unless sooner discharged. The same call provided for a substantial increase in the regular army and navy.

Madison & Adams Press presents the Civil War Memories Series. This meticulous selection of the firsthand accounts, memoirs and diaries is specially comprised for Civil War enthusiasts and all people curious about the personal accounts and true life stories of the unknown soldiers, the well known commanders, politicians, nurses and civilians amidst the war. "The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War" is a personal account of Leander Stillwell, an officer of the Company D, Sixty-first Illinois Volunteers. Stillwell wrote in detail about the everyday life of a common soldier. His account is mainly focused on the Sixty-first Illinois Infantry, including their parts in battles such as Little Rock and Murfreesboro.

Includes Civil War Map and Illustrations Pack – 224 battle plans, campaign maps and detailed analyses of actions spanning the entire period of hostilities. Born into a distinguished Virginian family, Randolph McKim left university to join the Confederate cause in 1861. Heavily engaged in the fighting in 1861 and 1862 at the first battle of Manassas and Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign, even losing a horse shot under him at Cross Keys, his gallantry did not go unnoticed: he was mentioned in numerous dispatches for his heroic conduct, most significantly for volunteering to resupply Confederate troops under the withering fire of Federals at Culp’s Hill during the battle of Gettysburg. Despite all the signs of a career as an officer of great merit, a higher calling intervened and he resigned to join the clergy, remaining with the Confederate forces as a Chaplain until the end of the War. His memoirs are a testament to his honesty, straight-forwardness and his experiences of the war. Author — McKim, Randolph H. 1842-1920. Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in New York : Longman's, Green, 1911. Original Page Count – xvii, 362 pages. Illustrations – 6 and 224 illustrations

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1920 Edition.

The Story of a Common Soldier in the Civil War, 1861-1865 is an American Civil War diary by Leander Stillwell of the Illinois Infantry Regiment. If this Civil War memoir should ever be published, it will go to the world without any apology or commendation from me whatever. It is, though, only fair to say that I make no pretensions to being a "literary" man. This is simply the story of a common soldier who served in the army during the great war, and who faithfully tried to do his duty.