Introduction

Air Castles

19th Century Military History of the Elgin Area

Elgin Area 1916 Soldiers

compiled by

Kenneth L. Gough

Have you ever looked across a plot of simple dome shaped grave markers of Soldiers and wondered what was behind the criptic information engraved on them.  If so this work is dedicated to you.  When I started this study all I was looking for was the military records of Elgin's Civil War dead.  However once I started adding the civilian information, both before and after the war, these men's stories seemed to come back to life.  Private John Doe wasn't simply a soldier in a nameless war machine.  He might be a student, watch maker, or farmer.  But most important of all he was the member of a family who was proud of him, worried for him, and in too many cases mourned his loss.
     Since that work on the Civil War I've branced out to incluce The War of 1812, Mexican War, Spanish American War, and now, General Pershing's Punitive Expicition into Norther Mexico.

This work is being presented to help future families and students with locating people who served during the war's listed who lived in, or claimed to have lived in, or been buried in the township of Elgin, Illinois.  After all these years it is impossible to assemble a completely accurate document of this sort.  I accept responsibility for any mistakes contained herein.

When using this database please keep in mind that most of the information contained here was taken from hand written documents.  Even information taken from newspapers of the period started with longhand notes.  Many longhand letters are similar (W, M, & H), (J, G, & Z) and (i, r, & e) for example.  Some of my information came from letters and journals that the information may have been corrupted even before you factor in the interpretation of the handwriting itself.

Bear in mind that just because a soldier listed Elgin as his home of record didn't make it so.  In the heat of the moment many men listed Elgin just because they were enlisting there, or because they wanted to be associated with the town of their friends.

In many cases I've run across names that were similar and in most cases I've combined them with the differences noted.  If I've not been able to resolve the difference in my own mind I've let them stand apart.  When doing your own search try and use as many versions of the name and search each one.  I've only been able to use primary documents for a small portion of my information and had to trust to the interpretation by others for the rest.