28th Illinois Civil War Sutler Token/Sold
28th Illinois Civil War Sutler Token - Inventory Number: CUR 052 / Sold
“D.B. Smith - 28th ILL. REG. - 50 Cents in Goods”
A rare sutler is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in
the field, in camp, or in quarters. Sutlers sold wares from the back of a wagon
or a temporary tent, traveling with an army or to remote military outposts. Very rare sutler and variety in non-excavated
condition.
The 28th Illinois Infantry saw action at the Battle of Fort Henry, the momentous, bloody Battle of Shiloh, and the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi. Grant's Central Mississippi campaign ( November 2, 1862—January 10, 1863) culminated in the Siege of Vicksburg (June 11—July 4, 1863), one of the most important Union victories of the war. It opened the Mississippi River for the Union and cut the Confederacy in half. The Vicksburg victory effectively finished the Confederacy in the West, severing Texas, Arkansas and large parts of Louisiana from the remainder of the insurgent states.
Vicksburg's surrender was followed by the campaign against the Confederacy's 4th largest city, Mobile, Alabama, which fell after the siege and capture of Spanish Fort and the Battle of Fort Blakely (February 17—April 12, 1865). The 28th Illinois Infantry completed later assignments with the occupation of Brazos Santiago, Clarksville, and Brownsville, Texas (July, 1865—March, 1866).
ILLINOIS 28TH INFANTRY
Three Years
Twenty-eighth
Infantry.-Col., Amory K. Johnson; Lieut-Cols., Louis H. Waters, Thomas M.
Kilpatrick, Richard Ritter; Majs, Charles J. Sellon, Barclay C. Gillam, Hinman
Rhodes. This regiment was composed of three companies from Pike county, one
from Fulton, one from Schuyler, one from McDonough, one from Mason one from
Scott, and two from Menard.
It was organized at Camp Butier, Aug. 15, 1861, and was
mustered into the service for three years.
On Aug. 28, it was ordered to St. Louis, Mo., where it was armed. On Feb. 13, 1862, a detachment of 48 men and
12 officers met Col. Claiborne's Confederate cavalry, 500 strong, at Little
Bethel Church, 5 miles west of Fort Heiman, and immediately attacked them,
taking 2 prisoners. In the opening of
the battle of Shiloh the regiment was assigned to a position on the left of the
line, in the Peach orchard, which position the enemy immediately attacked, but
was repulsed with heavy loss, and the regiment held its position, against great
odds from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. In this
conflict it lost heavily in killed and wounded.
On the morning of the second day the regiment held a position on the
right of the line and was hotly engaged until the battle closed and the victory
was won. In the two days' fighting it
sustained a loss of 239, killed, wounded and missing. It was engaged in the siege of Corinth during
the month of May. At the battle of
Davis' bridge in the following October, Gen. Lauman ordered the 2nd brigade, of
which the regiment formed a part, to take the bridge and cross to the east side
of the river, which was done amidst a most terrific fire. A battery in front of the 28th was dealing
death and destruction, and the regiment was ordered to charge and take it at
all hazards, which it did most gallantly, capturing 6 guns and caissons, 1
flag, and 1 officer in uniform. On Oct.
28, it returned to Bolivar, bearing a tattered flag, with the loss of 97 men
killed, wounded and missing. It was
engaged in the siege of Vicksburg from June 11, to July 4, 1863, and occupied a
position to the left of the center, on the Hall's Ferry road. On July 12, near Jackson Miss., the 28th,
with other regiments of the brigade, not exceeding 800 men, charged across an
open, level cornfield, some 600 yards under a destructive fire of grape,
canister and minie bullets. The enemy
appearing upon both flanks as it reached the ditch, the Federals were compelled
to fall back, with a loss of more than half of the rank and file killed and
wounded. The eight companies of this
regiment in line, numbering 128 men, lost 73 killed and wounded, and 16 taken prisoners. On Jan. 4, 1864, the regiment, having
reenlisted as a veteran organization, was mustered for three years' veteran
service, and on May 18, proceeded to Illinois for veteran furlough. Returning to the front, it served as a
regiment until the following October, when it was consolidated into a battalion
of four companies.
Twenty-eighth (Consolidated) Infantry.-Cols., Richard Ritter, Hinman Rhodes, Lieut.-Cols., Richard Ritter, Hinman Rhodes, Edwin P Durell; Majs., Hinman Rhodes, Edwin P. Durell, Albert J. Moses. On Oct. 10, 1864, the original 28th regiment was consolidated into four companies, and on the 12th embarked for Morganza, La., Brig.-Gen. Lawler commanding 1st brigade, 19th army corps. On Nov. 22, at Memphis it received 200 recruits, which were organized into two companies, and the battalion was assigned to the 1st brigade, district of West Tennessee. In Jan., 1865, it was transferred to Louisiana and in March, was in the advance upon Spanish Fort, occupying the extreme right of its division and corps. It held this position during the entire siege of 14 days, losing 14 killed and wounded, including 2 captains. On April 7, Cos. G and H joined the regiment from Camp Butler, Ill., and on April 13, the regiment marched to Whistler Station and skirmished with the enemy. On April 15, Cos. I and K joined the regiment from Camp Butler, Ill., and this gave the regiment its full complement of companies. In the following July, it was sent to Texas and remained in that state until March 15, 1866, when it was mustered out at Brownsville, after a total service from the date of its first organization of four years and seven months. During that time 1,720 men had enlisted in the organization, and of these, 61 were killed, 34 died of wounds, 284 were wounded, 4 commissioned officers were dismissed, 17 enlisted men were missing in action, 5 were killed accidentally, 141 died of disease, 494 were discharged, and 21 were transferred.
Inventory Number: CUR 052 / Sold