History 31st Regiment Illinois Volunteers

The story of John A. Logan's famed Civil War regiment, told by its veterans, follows its troops through the battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, Kenesaw Mountain, and Atlanta through the March to the Sea and into North Carolina, where southern Illinois farm boys, half a continent away from home, joined in forcing the surrender of the last major Confederate army. Few regiments fought longer or more fiercely, suffered more casualties, or won more victories. This firsthand account of the Civil War, written by its proud survivors, and virtually unobtainable for ninety years, deserves attention from anyone who seeks to understand the American past. (John Y. Simon, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale)