Roster of Men who served alongside or under Captain Loren Webb in the Ninth Regiment of Illinois Infantry Volunteers in the War of 1861, 1862 to suppress the rebellion. Biographical data about each soldier will follow, when available.   Researched and compiled by Jonathan Webb Deiss, 2000, 2001, 2002.

 

Uniforms : By the time of their arrival at Camp Yates, Springfield, Illinois several companies had been issued uniforms of differing shades of gray, probably of wool, some of which had red piping. As noted by Captain Webb on Tuesday, 23 April 1861, “There were already some soldiers there when we arrived but we were dressed in uniforms and presented a very fine appearance and were cheered as we passed along.” Most of the men wore that, and or a mixture of their own odd bits of clothing and hats. Most brought nothing additional in the way of clothing with them, anticipating a speedy issuance of clothing and blankets by the army, but nothing was officially issued for some time and the men suffered greatly for want of clean and hygienic clothing, and when being washed for want of anything to wear as protection from the unbearable heat and the countless mosquitoes.

 

They also had been issued a dress uniform, described as Teutonic, with shoulder scales; probably resembled something similar to the uniforms worn by some of the men, in their previous service, in the German revolutionary armies of 1848. On 26 August 1861 the men were issued fatigue uniforms of less than desirable quality, that was considered the men’s un-dress uniform. It was made of hickory shirting material, which some called ‘shoddy’, decorated with red piping. They were finally issued winter uniforms and overcoats on 29 October 1861; the officers had to purchase their own and Captain Webb’s overcoat arrived 12 November 1861 at a cost of $40.00.

 

The following order was issued in the late autumn : “Genl Order No 37. Hd Qrs Ninth Regt I V. Camp Paine Dec 6, 1861. Commanders of the Cos will parade their resp. commands dressed in the grey uniform promptly at the beat of the drum (1 ¼ o'clock PM) on the Regtal Parade ground prepared for marching to the Review Ground.” It appears that they wore they gray throughout all of 1861 and into the first months of 1862.

 

Captain Webb noted on 21 March 1862, “We turned over our old coats and drew a new uniform of dark blue.” That statement refutes early assertions that not until 5 April 1862, just before the battle of Shiloh were the men issued suits of union blue, and met the Confederates on that fateful day with new uniforms. Either way it is clear that they met the enemy at Donelson in gray and the enemy at Shiloh in blue; obviously some companies received their clothing at various times in the two week period between 21 March and 6 April 1862.

 

Each company was allowed four women to be employed as laundresses or washerwomen, and under Army Regulations, it would have been the unwelcome duty of these four ladies to wash all of the clothing for almost one hundred men.

 

Weapons : The men were issued their guns and equipment (cartridge boxes, bayonets, etc) on Monday, 29 April 1861 at Camp Yates, Springfield, Illinois.   The regiment was issued over 800 ‘altered muskets’ procured from the state arsenals. In words of Captain Webb, “The guns were the old flint lock changed to cap locks.” These guns were already antiquated at the time, and cumbersome; older by far than many of the men who carried them. They were indeed, originally various types of 1816 and 1822 issue muskets which had the flint-lock mechanisms dismantled, the frizzen removed, the firepan blocked, and a new cap hole drilled and nipple fitted, converting them to the percussion system between 1848-1857. Some had been converted earlier and served as the primary weapons in the Mexican War.

 

A new hammer that curved over the barrel and struck the nipple much nearer the center of the barrel made them different than conventional guns of the day. Whether this unconventional lock system made them more difficult to shoot or not is unclear, but the guns issued to Company F were .69 caliber, with 42 inch smoothbore barrels, well rusted, inaccurate and with terrible range. It was noted that the men had to stand much closer to the enemy to stand a chance at hitting them than regiments issued with better muskets or rifles, there was little faith that the muskets could fire even 400 yards. The old muskets fired a massive .65 ball, wrapped in paper, backed by 110 grains of black powder, which is a normal .69 caliber musket load, but still a powerful cartridge load in its day, when most used a .52 or .58 caliber musket or rifle.

 

Each man carried approximately 40 rounds at a time in a stiff leather cartridge box. ...bayonets.

 

Some of the men may have supplied their own pistols and Captain Webb did so, having at least three different revolvers during his stead with the Ninth. He had a small five shot revolver given to him by McKendree graduate, Thomas D. Seawell, also possibly a 1861 .44 Army Colt issued by the Illinois armory, and a third gun which was a large revolver, supposed to have been captured on the battlefield, which he bought, 14 October 1861, for $17.00. He claims to have then sold his little one for the same price. Prior to that, one was stolen while he attended a show 22 August 1861, and it is not exactly clear what happened to each individual gun. It seems that the five shot revolver given by Seawell was the ‘little gun’ and the one stolen was the Colt issued by the Illinois armory. ...Captain Webb issued a Colt Army or Colt Navy to Lieutenant Williford.

 

Swords were carried, officially, by the officers and non-commissioned officers.

 

Equipage, Food, Drink & Smokes :

 

Special Order No 7

HeadQuarters 9th Reg Ill Vol

Camp Mersey Feb 11th 1862

In future on all marches, the soldiers of this regiment, will carry their plate, cup, knife and fork with them, instead of putting them in the company mess chest. Officers commanding companies be held strictly responsible for the execution of this order.

 

The men drank beer occasionally, when allowed or supplied by their Commander; and at other times when the bottle was available. Many chewed tobacco, and many smoked cigars and pipes.

 

General Order No 7

HeadQuarters 9th Reg

Camp Mersey, Feb 11th 1862

The several companies of this regt will be prepared to strike tents and place their baggage in piles by comp. by reveille tomorrow morning. 2d Three days rations will be taken instead of two as before ordered.

 

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