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29 2 The Springtime of War March to July 1862 The day dawned warm, the western breeze carrying the scents of a change in the seasons: perfect weather for marching through Illinois . At nine in the morning on 19 February, 1,055 men of the Fifth Illinois , along with their horses and twenty wagons, rode away from their training camp, heading south. The prairie boys marched off to war with light hearts, anticipating the adventures and glory that lay ahead. Joyous citizens met the boys at various villages and towns. Evidence of “genuine outburst[s] of real Union sentiment and are much enjoued by the troops,” declared John Mann. None gave a reception like Springfield, where cheering crowds honored the soldiers’ departure with waving handkerchiefs and American flags. Most towns along the route to St. Louis commemorated the cavalrymen’s arrival, including Fairfield, Illinois, hometown to Col. Hall Wilson and two companies of the Fifth. The Prairie Pioneer held the regiment in highest regards: “This is one of the best regiment[s] yet sent from this State, being composed of stout, able-bodied men, excellently mounted and equipped. . . . As for winning ‘Eagles,’ just give them a chance and eagles will be no name for it.”1 After eight days of marching though Illinois, the regiment crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri, camping near Benton Barracks, about five miles from St. Louis. The army built these barracks on the old fairgrounds in August 1861, and the site quickly became the launching point for troops moving into the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters. Benton Barracks served as a troop cantonment, a prisoner parole camp, a military hospital, and a camp for refugee and contraband slaves during the war. As with every winter season in the Midwest, the warm weather yielded back to the last tastes of winter, with cold rain drenching the prairie boys’ camp at Benton Barracks, turning it into a spreading sea of oozing mud. The SpringTime of War 30 In early March, the men earned their first pay, which covered only from mustering to December 1861. They also received their arms, including French Lefaucheux revolving “pin-fire” pistols that took six 12mm cartridges . Wilson believed these pistols were of “inferior quality, entirely insufficient for effective service,” and he continued to press Governor Yates for replacements. Only three companies, one in each battalion, drew rifles that William Skiles identified as “Short Mississippi rifles.” Originally called United States rifles, model 1841, they gained their Mississippi nickname after being used by Confederate president Jefferson Davis’s unit during the Mexican War. These percussion-cap rifles took a .54 caliber bullet and had a short range of about one hundred yards. Some of these rifles were refitted in 1861 to shoot the standard .58 caliber, but the Fifth still had the old model. Mann considered the revolvers “pretty good articles but the rifles are to[o] heavy.” While at St. Louis, soldiers purchased personal items from sutlers and businesses in the city, and many had their photographs taken and sent home. Skiles also purchased a six-dollar bulletproof vest, “arranged so . . . that I can take the iron out of the vest, and wear it that way.”2 With pistols in their belts, the Illinois cavalrymen gladly accepted their orders to march for Pilot Knob, Missouri, on 3 March. The Fifth became part of Henry W. Halleck’s plan to secure Missouri and Arkansas for the Union. The same day the regiment received their orders, Halleck informed Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele of his plan to capture Helena, Arkansas, on the Mississippi River. Capture of the port town secured the mighty river and its vital transportation for the Union and cut off steamboat communication with Confederate-held Memphis, Tennessee. Halleck gave Steele command of all troops in southeastern Missouri, west of the St. Francis River, and ordered him to move quickly and drive back the Rebel forces along a route that eventually led to Helena. Steele was certainly the officer to implement Halleck’s plan. He graduated from West Point in 1843 and served in the Mexican War and the western territories until 1861. Steele became brigadier general of volunteers in January 1862, after serving as colonel of the Eighth Iowa Infantry. He quickly secured the command of the District of Southeast Missouri.3 The boys not only rejoiced at finally getting some action but also felt confident in Colonel Wilson, who “has done more for the Regiment in the past two day[s] then...

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