Benjamin Blankenbeker
1861 - 1864
Chuck Martin
1861 - 1864
Chuck Martin
My Great-Uncle Benjamin Blankenbeker joined Company J, 41st Illinois Infantry on August 5th, 1861, and discharged on August 20th, 1864.
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Decatur, Ill. August 15, 1861
Dear Ma,
I’m writing to tell you my whereabouts since joining up in Springfield. We’re done with training. We are to board a train and join up with the regulars in Mt. Auburn. Everyone in the outfit is excited and anxious to see some action. Our Captain is Captain Bacon in Col. Pugh’s Company and we will serve under General Smith. Ever your loving son.
Ben
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Ft. Donaldson, Tenn. February 17, 1861
Dear Ma.
I’m lucky to be writing this as we have been engaged in a fight to capture Ft Donaldson. I am lying in a hospital tent while writing this. I have been wounded, but not seriously. Our troops Marched for 2 days through Kentucky and into Tennessee. We met up with Admiral Foots gun boats and transported up the Tennessee River and bivouacked in anticipation of our attack on Ft. Henry. On the morning of February 6th canon from gunboats exploded in deafening roar and we could see fire and smoke from muzzles shoot high in gray skies. Return fire whizzed past us, slamming into water with a exploding whoosh. Our boys stood in entranced silence. In short order Fort Henry surrendered. We moved on to Ft Donaldson on the Cumberland River. When we arrived it started to rain and snow and we suffered from want of shelter. On the 14th the Rebs attacked. There was a shouting of orders and we moved forward. Confederate muskets roared from single lines, and several or our men fell. We returned fire, knelt, reloaded, and stood. Boys were falling on both sides. The gunfire was unremitting. I felt a burning on my foot. I had been shot through the ankle and was bleeding badly. Our men kept advancing forward and I was left sitting on the ground. I fainted from pain and awoke in this field hospital. The battle is over and Donaldson has fallen. General Grant has won the day. I will remain here a couple days and rejoin my outfit. Your Loving son.
Ben.
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Decatur, Ill. August 15, 1861
Dear Ma,
I’m writing to tell you my whereabouts since joining up in Springfield. We’re done with training. We are to board a train and join up with the regulars in Mt. Auburn. Everyone in the outfit is excited and anxious to see some action. Our Captain is Captain Bacon in Col. Pugh’s Company and we will serve under General Smith. Ever your loving son.
Ben
div//
Ft. Donaldson, Tenn. February 17, 1861
Dear Ma.
I’m lucky to be writing this as we have been engaged in a fight to capture Ft Donaldson. I am lying in a hospital tent while writing this. I have been wounded, but not seriously. Our troops Marched for 2 days through Kentucky and into Tennessee. We met up with Admiral Foots gun boats and transported up the Tennessee River and bivouacked in anticipation of our attack on Ft. Henry. On the morning of February 6th canon from gunboats exploded in deafening roar and we could see fire and smoke from muzzles shoot high in gray skies. Return fire whizzed past us, slamming into water with a exploding whoosh. Our boys stood in entranced silence. In short order Fort Henry surrendered. We moved on to Ft Donaldson on the Cumberland River. When we arrived it started to rain and snow and we suffered from want of shelter. On the 14th the Rebs attacked. There was a shouting of orders and we moved forward. Confederate muskets roared from single lines, and several or our men fell. We returned fire, knelt, reloaded, and stood. Boys were falling on both sides. The gunfire was unremitting. I felt a burning on my foot. I had been shot through the ankle and was bleeding badly. Our men kept advancing forward and I was left sitting on the ground. I fainted from pain and awoke in this field hospital. The battle is over and Donaldson has fallen. General Grant has won the day. I will remain here a couple days and rejoin my outfit. Your Loving son.
Ben.
Keingston, Ga. June 7, 1864
Dear Ma,
That you may not be ignorant of my whereabouts I will take a moment to write a few lines. Since my last letter we have marched 150 miles to Keingston. We came here by way of Rome. We crossed the “Sand and Lookout” mountains and it was a hard rocky road. We are barefoot nearly. The Rebs are reported back as far as Atlanta with Sherman at their heels. I have not got a letter from anybody. In two months I’ll be on my way home. I am in good health, but bare feet don’t agree with these rocks… I am as ever your loving son.
Ben.
Sources:
Voices from the Civil War, Milton Melzer
The Personal Memories of Ulysses S. Grant, KONECKY & KONECKY, N. Y. Pg. 175-76
The Civil War, Bruce Catton, Byron Press (Viking), N.Y., Pgs 110-112
Benjamin Blankenbeker’s Civil War Army record
Parts of a letter from Benjamin Blankenbeker to his mother from Keingston, Georgia, June 7, 1864
