Author: General Isaac H. Elliott

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-08

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9781332466528

Excerpt from History of the Thirty-Third Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War: 22nd August, 1861 to 7th December, 1865, With Company and Personal Sketches by Other Comrades, Also Complete Historical Rosters "At a meeting-of the survivors of the 33rd regiment of Illinois Infantry Volunteers, held in Bloornington December 30th, 1884, General C. E. Lippincott, Captain of Company 'K' at the organisation of the regiment, and afterwards Lieut. Colonel and Colonel, was requested to write the history of the regiment. "To perform such a duty properly is no slight task. Almost twenty-four years have passed away since the regiment was organised. Twenty-one years have gone since the history of the regiment was completed, and the men who composed it were mustered out of service and resumed their places as citizens of the Republic they had helped to save. The thoughts which crowd on ones mind at the first attempt to perform the duty thus imposed are bewildering. There is much that no man can fitly teil. Underneath the mere facts there is a very sea of feeling and emotion which is beyond the reach of any art. Who can describe the enthusiasm, the patriotism, the devotion which brought together the men who met at Camp Butler in August, 1861, to form the 'Normal' regiment?" The foregoing was written as a beginning to the "Introduction" for the history of the 33rd Illinois Infantry more than seventeen years ago by the lamented and talented Col. Lippincott in response to the resolution he quoted at the commencement of this article. In addition to the charmingly prepared introduction he also wrote two full chapters of the history of the regiment, when the care and the management of the Soldiers' Home at Quincy, ., devolved upon him and he was obliged to suspend his literary labors in behalf of the regiment, and his sudden death soon followed. He for warded me his manuscript, as I was then Secretary of the 33rd Illinois Veteran Association, and as I am now requested to write the introduction to our finally completed regimental history, I feel it a privilege to show by this quotation that our comrade in 1884-85 made an earnest attempt to carry out the wishes of his comrades. The request of Col. Lippincott to write our book was a combination of one of a series of efforts to publish the gallant Thirty-Third's history, brought forward time and again at regimental reunions. Circulars have been sent out to survivors and friends of deceased comrades, addresses of members have been hunted up and much labor performed in the direction of publication; but the care and responsibility of its management always discouraged and appalled the committees. As a long time member of those committees and for nearly twenty years Secretary of the Association, I believe I can say that had I used proper patience and industry this book could have been published long ere this. It gives me great pleasure now to state that in Mr. V. G. Way, the present Secretary, the Association has fin ally meta person possessing the necessary qualifications of untiring industry, quiet and persistent patience and the business capacity to carry out in an admirable manner the wishes of the survivors of that notable regiment whose history is at last set forth in these pages. Col. I. H. Elliott's admirably written historical sketch of the most important movements of the regiment will be heartily welcomed by his old comrades. No other man has ever been connected with the regiment who possessed such an intimate acquaintance with the officers and men. He knew most accurately the feelings of all classes, and possessed enthusiastic love for everything pertaining to its membership, its record and its military fame. In addition to these qualifications he has a most pleasing literary style and has the rare talent of giving descriptions of military movements in appropriate military language. His work has been referred to several well qualifi