The Civil War brought a great deal of turmoil to Richland County, as there were sympathies for both sides. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, both Illinois natives, spoke at separate political rallies in Olney, the county seat, on September 20, 1856. I picture my Ancestors loading up a wagon and making the 10-mile trip to see the candidates, discussing the speakers into the night as they returned back to the farms. Those were uncertain times in our country.
When Lincoln was elected, Jefferson Davis immediately resigned from the Senate and began to form what was to become the Confederate States of America. While regular folks hoped the crisis would pass, when Fort Sumter was attacked in 1861, the Union began to draft men into service. Most citizens rallied around the Union, but it was necessary to have troops stationed in Olney to enforce the draft, as union deserters found refuge among local citizens. Ultimately, an estimated 1,700 Richland County citizens fought for the Union in the Civil war.
In 1861, our families didn’t have any sons old enough to be drafted, as the minimum age (without parents’ consent) was 18. The McWilliams’ s adult sons had moved to Iowa and other parts several years earlier, and both served in their states’ regiments. At the Kinkade house, James and Alexander, were only 16, and over at Ebenezer Walker’s farm, Robert was only 15.
That didn’t stop Robert Horatio Walker, mind you. He was a musician, and you could volunteer as a drummer as young as 12, so off he went, joining up with the 48th Illinois Regiment.
There is a marker in the cemetery where he is buried…
In 1861, at age 15, Robert enlisted as a drummer boy in the 48th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Just think of that – 15-years-old, full of piss and vinegar, he sets off with a drum to save the world – and it’s true! I have papers showing he mustered in as a musician in 1861, though his age is listed as 17.
Drummer boys played a crucial role in the Civil War, using specific drumbeats to relay commands and orders from officers to soldiers. They also helped with the regiment’s daily schedule by signaling camp activities like reveille and marched with troops to keep time. In non-combat roles, they acted as stretcher-bearers, assisting wounded soldiers and sometimes acting as assistants to surgeons. It was an important role and you had to have a good deal of musical talent to do the job well.
At the Battle of Shiloh he beat the long roll to bring his regiment to arms during the first confederate attack. The “long roll” is the signal to attack.
The Battle of Shiloh began with a surprise attack by Confederate forces on April 6, 1862, catching Union troops under General Ulysses S. Grant unprepared. Our hero was in the 48th Illinois encampment, near the area that was breached, when he woke up or witnessed the attack, and went to his drum to alert the sleeping troops. Though his quick action may have saved lives, the regiment lost over half of its men in the battle.
By age 17, he was carrying a musket and before the end of the war had been wounded twice. He fought in 20 major battles and many minor fights.
Having lost so many troops at Shiloh in 1862, I’m sure they soon needed Robert to fight, so he was “mustered in” as a private in 1863. There were about 50 major battles in the Civil War, though there were also nearly 100 other significant battles and over 10,000 total military engagements. Robert’s regiment was in the thick of action.
He traveled 11,450 miles, marched 3,000 miles, including Sherman’s March to the sea.
I thought this was hyperbole until I saw very similar figures on a rather official-looking document regarding the campaigns Robert described.
Of the 900 members of his regiment, 16 officers and 365 men perished in the Civil War.
The 48th Illinois regiment suffered 10 officers and 113 enlisted men who were killed in action or mortally wounded and 6 officers and 251 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 380 fatalities. Yet, when it was time for them to re-enlist, 99% of them did; they ended up fighting at dang near all of the bloodiest battles that finally ended the War, including Missionary Ridge, the entire Atlanta Campaign, and followed Sherman up the Atlantic Coast, setting fire to everything as they went. The Confederates finally capitulated in April, 1865.
In 1867, he enlisted in the Regular Army and fought in the Indian Wars for two years.
That would be “Red Cloud’s War”, a successful conflict led by Oglala Lakota Chief Red Cloud against the U.S. Army to protect Sioux hunting grounds. The natives won that war, forcing the U.S. to sign the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) and abandon the forts, establishing the Great Sioux Reservation.
It was during his service in the Indian Wars that Robert fell in love with the country that now makes up North and South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and all the way up into Canada. His stories of those days, those times, and those mountains were as colorful as his stories of the Civil War.
He finally headed back home to Richland County, IL in 1869.
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