Saturday, May 11, 2013

Pvt. Albert A. Messenger


Pvt. Albert A. Messenger


Elgin Continentals
   Enlisted April 22, 1861.
A Co. 7th Ill. Vol. Inf.
Fremont Rifle's
   Armed with .69 US Altered musket taken in the Geneva Raid
   Mustered In for 3 months service at Camp Yates in Springfield, Ill's. April 25, 1861.
   Home of record listed as Elgin, Ill's.

   Notice: July ?, 1861 issue Elgin's Weekly Gazette.
FROM CAIRO.
(Correspondence of the Chicago Times.)
Cairo, Ill., June 29,
   If the troops of this brigade are not paid off before the expiration of the three months for which they enlisted, a very large number of them will refuse to be sworn in for further service.  A considerable number of them will go home anyhow, but the per cent will be largely increased by further neglect in the matter in question.  Few of them, indeed, can communicate with their families or friends for want of three cents wherewith to buy a postage stamp.
   At Camp Joslyn yesterday, Col. Cook's regiment, I learn, stacked their arms and declared that they would neither drill nor parade again until they got their money.  Their wants, in a thousand ways, are exceedingly pressing, but not a single dollar have they to relieve them.  The men became satisfied with fair promises however, and reconsidered their rather hasty determination.

   Mustered Out at Mound City, Ill. July 25, 1861.

The Elgin Company
   Enlisted Aug. 8, 1862
I Co. 127th Ill. Vol. Inf.
Three Years Service
Elgin Sharpshooters
   Mustered In June 5, 1862.
   Issued .577 1857 Enfield rifled musket.
   Took part in the Grand Review in Washington, DC. at the end of the war.
   Mustered Out June 5, 1865 at Ft. Slocum in Washington, DC.
   Final Pay and Discharge at Camp Douglas June 17, 1865.

Known Actions;
Chickasaw Bayou, Miss. Dec. 26, 1862
Arkansas Post                Jan. 11, 1863
Tuscumbia, Ala.        May 13, 1863
Vicksburg, Miss.         May 19, 1863
Milliken’s Bend, La. June 13, 1863
Collierville                Oct. 11, 1863
Dallas Hills, Ga.             May 26, 1864
Kennesaw Mt., Ga. June 27, 1864
Peachtree Creek, Ga. July 20, 1864
Atlanta, Ga.             Aug. 13, 1864
Jonesboro, Ga.               Aug. 31, 1864
Marietta, Ga.            Sept. 15, 1864

Post war;
   Listed on the 1870 Census #237/287 as aged 42 years, from New York, living in Elgin, Ill.
Used with permission Dan Mallett
Elgin Continentals in their grey Illinois style uniforms made for them by the Ladies of Elgin just before mustering in as A Co. 7th Ill.  Photo taken at either Campt Yates in Springfield or Camp DuBois in Alton.
From the collection of Ken Gough
US Altered Musket
Model 1816 Springfield / dated 1827

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