Illinois 8th Infantry (Union)
25/07/1861
Organized - Illinois 8th Infantry - Illinois
06/02/1862
Battle - Fort Henry - Stewart County, Tennessee; Henry County, Tennessee; Calloway County, Kentucky
Beginning in the autumn of 1861, a variety of voices in the Union command structure began speculating on the possibility of seizing Forts Henry and Donelson to open a water route into the Confederate heartland. On January 30, 1862, Brig. Gen. Ulysses Grant received the long-anticipated word that he and Flag Officer Andrew Foote would lead a joint expedition against the twin forts. The two divisions of infantry under Grant numbered some 15,000 men and were accompanied by Foote's flotilla of ironclad and tim…READ MORE
11/02/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Richard J. Oglesby
ColonelRichard J. Oglesby
11/02/1862
Battle - Fort Donelson - Fort Donelson, Tennessee
Early in the war, Union commanders realized control of the major rivers would be the key to success in the Western Theater.READ MORE
06/04/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain James M. Ashmore, and Captain William H. Harvey Cpt Robert H. Sturgess
CaptainJames M. Ashmore
06/04/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Abraham M. Hare, and Colonel Marcellus M. Crocker
ColonelAbraham M. Hare
ColonelMarcellus M. Crocker
06/04/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain James M. Ashmore
CaptainJames M. Ashmore
06/04/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain William H. Harvey Cpt Robert H. Sturgess
06/04/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Abraham M. Hare
ColonelAbraham M. Hare
06/04/1862
Battle - Shiloh - Hardin County, Tennessee
29/04/1862
Battle - Siege of Corinth - Corinth, Mississippi
Union forces had captured the railroad junction and important transportation center at Corinth, Mississippi in the spring of 1862 after their victory at Shiloh. After the Battle of Iuka in September, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate Army of the West marched to Ripley, Mississippi where it joined Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee. Van Dorn took command of the combined force numbering about 22,000 men. The Rebels marched southeast toward Corinth, hoping to recapture it and then sweep int…READ MORE
05/03/1863
Battle - Thompson's Station - Williamson County, Tennessee
On March 5, 1863, Thompson's Station, Tennessee, was a no-man's-land. It stood in the center of a battle line that stretched 1,100 miles, from the cavalry-strewn banks of Virginia's Rappahannock River to the blue-clad battalions snaking their way down the Mississippi and beyond. The coming summer would shape the nation's destiny as much as any other single season in American history. Here in Tennessee, the advantage was anyone's for the taking.READ MORE
01/05/1863
Battle - Port Gibson - Claiborne County, Mississippi
On April 30, 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army crossed the Mississippi River at Bruinsburg, 30 miles south of his objective of Vicksburg. Grant hoped to move east toward the capital at Jackson to block the Confederate army there under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston from reinforcing Vicksburg. Port Gibson, ten miles east of Bruinsburg on the Bayou Pierre River, commanded the best approach routes and was the first Federal objective. A Confederate force there was commanded by Maj. Gen. John S. Bowen. Grant's A…READ MORE
12/05/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Sturgess
Lieutenant ColonelRobert H. Sturgess
12/05/1863
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General John Dunlap Stevenson
Brigadier GeneralJohn Dunlap Stevenson
12/05/1863
Battle - Raymond - Hinds County, Mississippi
On May 12th, 1863, after days of hard marching towards Jackson, Mississippi, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant fought to secure the crossings of Fourteenmile Creek southwest of Raymond, which would provide a vital water source for his men and animals and serve as a staging area for a strike on the Confederate rail supply line between Clinton and Edwards, Mississippi. Cutting the railroad here would cut off supplies to Grant's ultimate goal, the Mississippi River city of Vicksburg 30 miles to the west. At around…READ MORE
13/05/1863
Battle - Raymond, Mississippi
16/05/1863
Battle - Champion Hill - Hinds County, Mississippi
The Battle of Champion Hill was the largest and bloodiest action of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign.READ MORE
18/05/1863
Battle - Vicksburg - Vicksburg, Mississippi
In mid-May, 1863, after six months of unsuccessful attempts, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee finally converged on Vicksburg, defended by a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Capture of the Mississippi River town was critical to Union control of the strategic river. Vicksburg was located on a high river bluff defended with artillery, and Pemberton's men had constructed a series of fortifications in an 8-mile arc surrounding the city on the landward side. After crossing the…READ MORE
07/06/1863
Battle - Milliken's Bend - Madison Parish, Louisiana
On June 6, 1863, Col. Hermann Lieb with the African Brigade and two companies of the 10th Illinois Cavalry made a reconnaissance toward Richmond, Louisiana just west of the Mississippi River opposite Vicksburg. Lieb encountered enemy troops at the Tallulah railroad depot and drove them back but then retired, fearing that many more Rebels might be near. Lieb formed his men into a battle line at Milliken's Bend on the river and prepared to meet the pursuing enemy. The 23rd Iowa Infantry and two gunboats came…READ MORE
27/03/1865
Battle - Spanish Fort - Baldwin, Alabama
04/05/1866
Mustered Out - Illinois 8th Infantry - Illinois
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