The original muster roll of A Company, 124th Regiment, Illinois Infantry
Oblong folio (approximately 245 × 355 mm), [12] pages, the first one blank, followed by five pairs of facing pages (ruled paper with printed red and blue columns and black headings), with printed certifications on the last page. The column headings across the double-page openings are Name, Rank, Age, Description, Married or Single, Nativity, Place of Residence, Date of Enlistment, Enlisted For, Date of Muster, Discharged, and Remarks; only the last opening is unused.
Thin plain brown paper wrappers (a little undersized), with a paper title-label mounted on the front cover (printed, with manuscript insertions); wrappers a little marked, chipped and creased, with a few light tidemarks (affecting also the first leaf); heavy crease down the middle of the entire roll where folded in half, resulting in a 50 mm split from the bottom of the crease to all six leaves; minor signs of use and age, but overall, this unique and fragile manuscript is in very good condition.
'Companies A and F were from the village of Kewanee, in Henry county [Illinois] ... The exigencies of the struggle and the call had wrought the enthusiasm of the village to its highest pitch, when, on the morning of August 7th, a muster roll was opened in the office of Judge John H. Howe, and a meeting called for the night. During the day 29 names were enrolled. At night the rally was immense. Speeches were made by Judge Howe, James Elliott, and other leading citizens, and among them, one by R.A. Tenney, of Chicago, formerly of Kewanee, who proposed to enlist. The knowledge that "Ralph," as they loved to call him would go, was electrifying, and the enlistment was kept up till midnight, to be continued the next day, and furthered by liberal offers from those who could not go, to aid those who could, till the morning of the 9th, just forty-eight hours from the time the first name was signed, when 101 were enrolled. This number was subsequently increased to 111, and the second company was raised immediately. Two as noble companies as ever kept step to the music of the Union, in one village, raised by themselves, and well officered, within a week ...' (R.L. Howard: 'History of the 124th Regiment, Illinois Infantry Volunteers', 1880, page 2). Each opening of the roll contains printed columns, with the particulars of enlistees added in ink in at least two hands. The details of 19 officers and NCOs and 80 privates are provided, apparently in Captain Tenney's hand, all but one with their date of enlistment given as 9 August 1862. A further 25 soldiers, with enlistment dates from 1864 and 1865, have been added later in another hand, presumably his successor Captain Edmond C. Raymond. The only black enlistees, four 'under-cooks', are entered separately at the foot of the final opening. All four are described as residents of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and all enlisted soon after this important Confederate stronghold fell to Union forces on 4 July 1863, suggesting that they were likely freed slaves. The siege also caused a change in the company's commanding officer. 'Capt. R.A. Tenney, of Company A, had tried to struggle through the campaign until reduced almost to a skeleton, and even his life was despaired of, when he felt compelled to resign. It was hard for us to lose the inimitable, inspiring, once jolly "Ralph" from among us, but there was no alternative. His resignation, bearing date July 9th, and the death of Lieut. Julius A. Pratt, caused the promotion of 2d Lieut. E.C. Raymond to the Captaincy' (Howard, page 136). The 'Remarks' column makes grim reading: almost all of the detailed entries commence with the words 'Deserted', 'Discharged' (almost invariably with a disability), 'Died' (invariably of wounds or sickness), or 'Killed' (by shell, musket ball ...).
Item #116917
Price (AUD):
$9,900.00