Kankakee Soldiers in the Civil War

As the American Civil War began, men from all over the North heeded the call and enlisted in the US Army. It was no different in Kankakee; hundreds of boys and men enlisted at the outset of the war and often in the middle of it. Their reasons for joining were numerous. For some, it was out of genuine patriotic sentiment; for others, a need to find some employment; and for others, out of an abolitionist desire to help enslaved black men and women. Whatever their reason, the men and the term men are used loosely; many were boys still well in their teenage years and joined the US Army to fight against the Confederate traitors. Unfortunately, not every soldier recorded their experience in the war. For most, it was due to illiteracy; for others, it was a general apathy for writing. But some did write about their experience. In dairies during the war, memoirs after, and letters written to loved ones back home, soldiers described their experience in the war. This interactive map follows the written records of four men from Kankakee who wrote about their experiences in the Civil War: Private Benjamin Smith, Private Levi Rice, and Sergeant James H. Dennison.