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Pending...Lt. Colonel Thomas J. Bryan 74th IL Infantry cdv
Pending...Lt. Colonel Thomas J. Bryan 74th IL Infantry cdv

Seventy-fourth Infantry. - Col., Jason Marsh ; Lieut.- Cols., James B. Kerr, Thomas J. Bryan; Majs., Edward F. Dutcher, Thomas J. L. Remington. This regiment was organized at Camp Fuller, Rockford, in Aug., 1862, and was mustered into service Sept. 4. Its ten companies were recruited as follows: A, B, C, D, E, F, H and K, in Winnebago county, G at Oregon, Ogle county, and I in Stephenson county. On Sept. 30 the regi- ment reported for duty at Louisville, Ky., where the Army of the Ohio - afterward known as the Army of the Cumberland - was then being organized under Gen. Don. Carlos Buell. On Dec. 26 the regiment encountered the enemy at Nolensville and helped to dislodge one of his batteries whose shells had made it very un- comfortable. The following day was passed in skirmishing and slow advance in line of battle, driving the enemy. The casual- ties of the regiment in the first day's fighting at Stone's river were 8 killed, 35 wounded and 42 missing or captured. That night a portion of the regiment had a brush with the Con- federate cavalry and the following day the regiment was in line of battle all day, engaged in skirmishing with the enemy. The 74th broke camp again on June 24, 1863, to commence that cam- paign of incessant march, battle and skirmish, which terminated in the fierce struggle of Chickamauga and the occupation of Chattanooga by the Federal forces. On Sept. 24 the regiment with the 22nd Ind. made a reconnaissance, discovering the enemy and engaging him in a skirmish. In the assault on Missionary ridge the regiment lost 14 killed, 39 wounded and 6 missing. It did not number in that action more than 340 combatants of whom 59 or 17 per cent., were placed hors du combat. Of the casualties of the Atlanta campaign which followed there remains this record: At Resaca, 4 killed and 22 wounded; Adairsville, 1 killed and 28 wounded; Dallas, 5 killed and 7 wounded. The to- tal casualties from May 2, when the regiment left Cleveland, Tenn., to June 11, at Acworth, Ga., comprised 11 killed and 59 wounded. In the assault at Kennesaw mountain the regiment met the severest loss in its history, going into the fight with 201 men and coming out with 138, a loss of 31 per cent. The de- tailed loss was l2 killed, 38 wounded and 13 missing. The regiment took part in the engagement at Tunnel Hill; at Rocky Face ridge, up whose rugged side, inaccessible for artillery horses, it hauled 2 Parrott guns by ropes, and an all-day's skirmish ensued; the occupation of Dalton; the fierce engage- ment at Resaca; a skirmish during the entire afternoon of May 16 just after crossing the Oostanaula about 3 miles south of Resaca; the action at Calhoun; an all-day's skirmish, at times rather lively, on May 26. On June 24 the regiment was all day on the skirmish line and was not relieved until 9 p. m. Moving with the army on July 3, the regiment passed that night on the picket lines and celebrated the 4th by a skirmish lasting the entire day, in which 7 men were wounded, 2 of whom survived only until the following morning. From this time until the oc- cupation of Atlanta, the chapter is one of constant march, skirmish and battle, including Hood's fierce assaults of July 20 and 22, in the first of which the 74th was engaged, losing a number of men. In the operations around Atlanta, after de- stroying several miles of railway the division had a hot en- gagement with the enemy at Jonesboro, in which the Confederates were completely defeated, the losses of the day in the 74th numbering 14 wounded and missing. At Spring Hill, Tenn., it had 1 man killed and 3 wounded. In the battle of Franklin the regiment and the 88th Ill. were united and acted as one regi- ment, and in both days' fighting at Nashville the 74th took part with honor. On June 1O, 1865 the regiment, then numbering 343 officers and men, of whom some portion had been recruited since leaving Camp Fuller, was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., and shortly after set out on its return to Rockford, where it arrived June 29, and met a hearty public reception at the hands of the citizens.

Source: The Union Army, vol. 3