Officer's Field Trunk of Lieutenant Rensalier W. Hinman 2nd Illinois Light Artillery / SOLD
Outstanding painted example of a Civil War officer’s field trunk. This well-executed wooden trunk measures:
Residence Peoria IL; a 28-year-old Farmer. Enlisted on 5/14/1861 at Peoria, IL as a Corporal. On 8/17/1861 he mustered into "Battery A" Co. IL 2nd Light Artillery. He was Mustered Out on 7/27/1865 at Camp Butler, Springfield, IL. Promotions: 2nd Lieut 12/26/1863. 1st Lieut 7/26/1865. He was described at enlistment as: 5' 9.8", light complexion, blue eyes, light hair.
Rensalier W. Hinman
Residence Peoria IL; a 28 year-old Farmer.
Enlisted on 5/14/1861 at Peoria, IL as a Corporal.
On 8/17/1861 he mustered into "Battery A" Co. IL 2nd Light Artillery
He was Mustered Out on 7/27/1865 at Camp Butler, Springfield, IL
Promotions:
* 2nd Lieut 12/26/1863
* 1st Lieut 7/26/1865 (Not Mustered)
He was described at enlistment as:
5' 9.8", light complexion, blue eyes, light hair
NOTES: The following was submitted by: Roger Norland
PATRIOTIC WORDS FROM A SOLDIER
The subjoined extract is from a letter written by a young man in Davidson's Battery, of Peoria, ILL to a widowed sister, Mrs. Balfour, residing in Lake County in that state. Mr. Balfour was a Lieutenant in the 45th Illinois Regiment and was wounded at Fort Donnelson, and at Pittsburg Landing, where he lost an arm, and died soon after from the effects of his wound.
Lieutenant Hinman has two sisters residing in this city (Stillwater, MN), and will be remembered by many of our citizens. He took part in the bloody battle of Pea Ridge and acquitted himself like a true soldier.
The patriotic sentiments he expresses are such as are daily coming from our soldiers in the field, and worthy of the most exalted patriotism.
Helena, ARK, Jan 5, 1863
My Dear Sister:
Your letter of the 21st ult., came to hand yesterday, and I hasten to answer it. I am glad to hear you are in good health, and hope you have become reconciled to your great affliction. Could the hand of sympathy wipe away the tear of affliction, a brother's hand should not be wanted to perform that office. Let the thought that your husband died in a good cause - in defending his adopted country against the assaults of maddened traitors, a country as dear to him as though he had been born upon its soil, let all this console you for the great loss you have sustained. We all know that he had many friends and that he was worthy of them; and that he was a brave and gallant soldier none will doubt. There are but few families in the land in which this war will not bring grief and mourning, the sad result of war, and especially of such a war as this.
Let us hope that this winter will put an end to the terrible strife, and that this wicked rebellion will be put down, the constitutional power of our Government again reinstated and the angel of peace again smiling over a happy and prosperous country.
I see that some of the Northern papers are discussing the expediency of a compromise. It cannot be possible that our Government has become so weak, or our public men so stultified as to consent for a moment to parley with traitors with arms in their hands. Compromise means, if it means anything at all, that the Government should give up its constitutional right of suppressing rebellion and enforcing the laws.
I do not believe that the people of the North are willing to do this and I know that the soldiers in the field if consulted would never consent. Nor can it safely be done, for all the countless blessings of freedom would pass away and the American Republic become a byword and reproach; nay, it would be a disgrace such as no people ever suffered and such as no true American ever will.
Write me soon, and direct as above.
From your affectionate brother, R. W. Hinman
Inventory Number: IDE 113 / SOLD