96th Illinois Infantry Monument.....

96th Illinois Infantry Monument.....
Originally uploaded by When lost in.....

The 96th was mustered in on September 6th, 1862 and would spend months involved in many early battles of the war......But avoided all of the hot spots until the Battle of Chickamauga.......

They were sent on the morning of the second day to support positions held by General George H. Thomas......They were there when the early morning Confederate assault struck their position.....This was the scene of some of the most intense fighting of the Civil War.....Before afternoon.......The assault was broken.......But the second Confederate assault that day........Broke the rest of Rosecrans army......And half of the Union army fled to Chattanooga......

That night Thomas and the Illinois troops would would to Rossville.......Where they would fight again the next day.......After which, they would move back to Chattanooga with the rest of the army.....

The 96th lost 220 men that day, including 3 officers (2 other officers were wounded).......More than half their engaged strength fell holding ground those two days.......

They would continue to be involved in all of the battles of the western theater until the end of the war.......But they would never see war quite like they did in the forests of Georgia those two days..