Showing results by author "Leander Stillwell" in All Categories

Leander Stillwell was an 18-year-old Illinois farm boy, living with his family in a log cabin, when the U.S. Civil War broke out. Stillwell felt a duty "to help save the Nation;" but, as with many other young men, his Patriotism was tinged with bravura: "the idea of staying at home and turning over senseless clods on the farm with the cannon thundering so close at hand . . . was simply intolerable." Stillwell volunteered for the 61st Illinois Infantry in January 1861. His youthful enthusiasm for the soldier's life was soon tempered at Shiloh, where he first "saw a gun fired in anger," and "saw...

At just 18 years old, Leander Stillwell was a farm boy from Illinois, living a simple life in a log cabin when the U.S. Civil War erupted. Driven by a strong sense of duty to help preserve the nation, Stillwells youthful patriotism was laced with a mix of bravado; the thought of remaining at home to toil in the fields while the sound of cannons echoed nearby was simply unbearable. In January 1861, he enlisted in the 61st Illinois Infantry. However, his romanticized view of soldiering quickly shattered at the Battle of Shiloh, where he witnessed the brutal realities of war for the first time. ...