11th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry

11th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry
	Illinois flag
Active	December 20, 1861, to September 30, 1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Cavalry
Engagements	Battle of Shiloh ; Battle of Corinth ; Battle of Lexington

Last updated March 01, 2019

The 11th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was raised by orator Robert Green Ingersoll, who became its first colonel, and Basile D. Weeks.

Cavalry or horsemen are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms. An individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon, or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used other animals, such as camels, mules or elephants. Infantry who moved on horseback, but dismounted to fight on foot, were known in the 17th and early 18th centuries as dragoons, a class of mounted infantry which later evolved into cavalry proper while retaining their historic title.

A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country and the arm of service.

During the American Civil War, the Union Army referred to the United States Army, the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. Also known as the Federal Army, it proved essential to the preservation of the United States of America as a working, viable republic.

Service

The 11th Illinois Cavalry was mustered into service at Peoria, Illinois, on December 20, 1861.

Peoria is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, and the largest city on the Illinois River. Established in 1691 by the French explorer Henri de Tonti, Peoria is the oldest European settlement in Illinois, and is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007. The Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 373,590 in 2011. Until 2018, Peoria was the global and national headquarters for Caterpillar Inc., one of the 30 companies composing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and listed on the Fortune 100; in the latter year, the company relocated its headquarters to Deerfield, Illinois.

The regiment was mustered out on September 30, 1865.

Total strength and casualties

The regiment suffered the loss of 2 officers and 32 enlisted men who were killed in action or who died of their wounds in addition to 8 officers and 237 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 279 fatalities.^[1]

Commanders

Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll - resigned June 30, 1863, after his capture on December 18, 1862, at the Battle of Lexington, Tennessee, and subsequent parole.
Colonel Lucien H. Kerr - mustered out December 19, 1864.
Colonel Otto Funke - mustered out with the regiment.^[2]

The Battle of Lexington in Tennessee was a small battle of the American Civil War, fought at Lexington, Tennessee on December 18, 1862, as part of General Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry raid into western Tennessee.

Lucien H. Kerr was an American politician and soldier from Ohio. Coming with his family to Peoria County, Illinois, Kerr studied law but enlisted in the Union Army before getting the chance to practice. He rose to lead the 11th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry until he was mustered out in 1864. Upon his return to Peoria, Kerr practiced law. He served one two-year term in the Illinois Senate, then was defeated in a re-election bid. He died the next year from an injury from a hunting accident.

Notes

↑ http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unilcav2.htm#11th The Civil War Archive website after Dyer, Frederick Henry. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959.
↑ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilcivilw/f&s/cav011-fs.htm Illinois in the Civil War website after Illinois Adjutant General's muster rolls

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References

The Civil War Archive

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[1] ttp://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unilcav2.htm#11th The Civil War Archive website after Dyer, Frederick Henry. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959.

[2] ttp://www.rootsweb.com/~ilcivilw/f&s/cav011-fs.htm Illinois in the Civil War website after Illinois Adjutant General's muster rolls