Company K, Twentieth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry: Roster and Record, April 24, 1861-July 16, 1865

In Short

This book is a collective biography and veteran roster compiled thirty years after the American Civil War, tracing the lives, service records, post-war fates, and deaths of the men of Company K, 20th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Through individual entries, the chronicle documents their initial muster, key battles like Shiloh and Raymond, capture, prison escapes, and post-war dispersements. Grounded in veteran correspondence, it stands as an enduring record of how war reshaped ordinary rural Americans.

The Story

The chronicle opens in April 1861 as young men from Kendall County, Illinois, and nearby regions answer the call to preserve the Union. Gathering in towns like Newark and Joliet, they organize into Company K of the 20th Illinois Infantry. Their initial period of service takes them into Missouri, where they face early hardships, winter camps at Bird’s Point, and outbreaks of disease like measles and typhoid that claim lives long before major combat begins.

As the conflict intensifies in 1862, the regiment moves south into major campaigns. They face heavy fighting at Fort Donelson and the brutal carnage of Shiloh in April 1862. At Shiloh, several young soldiers fall instantly, including Curtis Wann and James Crellen, while officers and enlisted men suffer severe wounds. Men like color-bearer Josiah Wright are shot while carrying the flag, and others are permanently disabled, leading to early discharges and lifetime struggles with physical ailments.

The middle period of their service takes them through intense Mississippi campaigns in 1863. At the battle of Raymond, Company K experiences catastrophic losses behind a rail fence, where soldiers like David Barrows, Israel Waters, and William Shoger are killed side by side by shot to the head. Others, such as John Woodruff, endure multiple surgical amputations in field hospitals before succumbing. The regiment takes part in the siege of Vicksburg and later marches on the Meridian expedition in early 1864 without tents or shelter.

In the spring of 1864, fresh recruits arrive to fill the thinned ranks just as the unit joins the Georgia campaign. During the desperate battle near Atlanta on July 22, 1864, multiple men are captured and sent to southern prisons like Andersonville. Soldiers such as James Coyle and George Wilson brave extreme perils, escaping prison trains, trekking hundreds of miles through enemy woods, and enduring repeated recaptures before regaining Union lines.

Following the fall of Atlanta, the remaining veteran core and new recruits march with Sherman to the sea and push through the Carolinas in 1865. They complete their journey by marching through Virginia to the grand review in Washington. Muster-out finally arrives on July 16, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky. The survivors scatter across the country—taking up homesteads in Colorado and Washington, entering law or dentistry, laboring as blacksmiths and carpenters, or coping with lifelong injuries in soldiers' homes—while their chronicler faithfully records where each lies buried or lives on.

How It Unfolds

The call to arms Men from across Kendall County gather in April 1861 to form a volunteer infantry unit. They elect initial officers, begin drilling, and travel to camps in Illinois and Missouri.

Early losses to sickness Before facing heavy enemy fire, the regiment suffers losses to measles and typhoid in Missouri hospitals. Men are sent home on furloughs or die in river towns like Cape Girardeau.

The trial at Shiloh In April 1862, the company enters the horrific battle of Shiloh. Key men fall instantly in the opening hours, while others receive permanent crippling wounds.

Tragedy at Raymond During the Mississippi campaign in May 1863, the company engages in violent combat behind a rail fence. Multiple soldiers die instantly in the front line and are buried together on the battlefield.

Prisoners and escapes In July 1864 outside Atlanta, several members are captured and sent to Andersonville. Determined soldiers break free from prison trains, surviving weeks in the woods to reach safety.

The final march and return The remaining members push through Georgia to the sea and up through the Carolinas. They are mustered out in July 1865 at Louisville and disperse back to civilian life across the nation.

The People

• Andrew Brown, the author and former soldier who undertakes the duty of recording his comrades' post-war fates, injuries, political views, and final resting places.
• James Coyle, a resolute fighter who survives wounds at Vicksburg, gets captured near Atlanta, escapes from Confederate prisons three separate times, and travels over 150 miles back to Union lines.
• David Barrows, regarded by his comrades as one of the finest soldiers in the company, known for his incredible accuracy and steady nerves under fire, who dies instantly at the battle of Raymond.
• Lewis G. Bishop, a modest former schoolteacher wounded at Shiloh who reflects with open skepticism on military camp prayers and later establishes a career in dentistry.
• John Woodruff, a soldier who demonstrates extraordinary fortitude, enduring three separate leg amputations without groaning before calmly settling his affairs prior to his death.
• Reuben F. Dyer, the original captain who commands the unit through early battles before stepping down to serve as a military surgeon and post-war physician.

In Its Own Voice

"He bandaged my wounded leg with his big red handkerchief, knotted and drawn very tightly, and with my own suspenders; gave me a good drink out of his canteen, and then resumed his place in the ranks."

Comrade Jay Delos Pruyn provides critical emergency aid to the author on the battlefield at Raymond.

"He had never given serious thought to religion and, I understand, has no well defined and settled theological opinions."

Andrew Jackson Wilsey's post-war outlook on faith is noted alongside his service facing shot and shell at Shiloh.

"When the flowers of May each year come, let patriot hands decorate this grave."

The author reflects on the neglected burial spot of veteran Robert Lawton in Plattville.

What It's Really About

The work examines the lasting cost of military service on a small rural community. Beyond military tactics or grand historical narratives, it focuses on the individual human consequences of war: physical disability, financial struggle, political shifts, and religious faith. It contrasts the ideal of patriotic duty with the stark realities of field amputations, unmarked battlefield graves, and the lingering traumas of prison camps. By collecting details thirty years after the war, the text explores how ordinary citizens reintegrate into society, build lives in a rapidly growing nation, and remember their fallen friends.

Why Read It Today

This work offers a direct, unvarnished window into the lives of ordinary Civil War soldiers, stripped of romantic post-war mythmaking. Readers interested in micro-history and authentic historical voices will appreciate its straightforward tone and rich personal details. It provides a unique look at how veterans lived in the late nineteenth century—recording their monthly pension rates, political squabbles over tariffs, religious beliefs, and geographic migrations to western homesteads.

The prose is simple and direct, built around short factual entries rather than sweeping narrative chapters. Readers should be prepared for repetitive structural patterns, period medical terms, and blunt descriptions of fatal battle wounds and amputations. It does not attempt to explain the entire strategy of the war, remaining strictly within the lived experiences of a single company. What remains with the reader is a powerful sense of community memory—a quiet, deliberate effort to ensure that ordinary men who fought behind rail fences or died in remote hospital wards are not forgotten by history.