Category: Site Updates

Hello folks, I’ve been making good progress and I’d say that I’m about 95% finished with the book.  However, I just recently found out that all the personnel records of soldiers from this unit are now available online at FamilySearch.com (and perhaps other places) and I’m spending a lot of time going through them.

The Missouri Secretary of State had brief summaries of the service of all the unit’s soldiers in their possession decades ago and I had gone through them on microfilm at the time, but these didn’t do much more than give some basic data about their service.  When doing research at the National Archives I was able to individually request the complete service records for a few dozen soldiers, but you had to do this individually and I never had time to go through them all.  In a few cases these service record files have some interesting attachments and I’d hate to think I’ve missed anything good.

Similarly, I’ve gone through a small number of pension files but as far as I know they aren’t available online yet.  I would like to go through them as it is common for soldiers or their relatives to give interesting details of their time in the Army while trying to obtain a pension.

So, I’m guessing that it will take me up to six months to go through over 15,000 pages of these records.  Be patient — the book will come.

Hello folks, I’m still here and I’ve been plugging away at incorporating the letters I received into the other text of the book.  Some progress has been made, but I really need to buckle down on this at some point.

As 2021 comes to a close I have great news for those that have been following along on the progress of the book.  I was recently contacted by descendant of one of the 49th’s officers who had a massive trove of letters written during the war.  He very kindly shared all of these with me and I have been working through the letters and transcribing portions of them that will prove useful in completing the book.  In my March update I despaired of finding any further documentation relating to the 49th’s participation in the Mobile campaign and these letters will be a tremendous help in filling that gap.

I think that I now can feel good about finishing the book.  Incorporating these letters into the existing manuscript will require some work, but I am thrilled to have to do it.  I had completed the chapter on the Mobile campaign, but that will require significant revision.  Work on the service of the 49th after Mobile until the regiments final muster out in August, 1865 had begun, but frankly, there is so little material that won’t take long to finish.

I have been in a bit of a quandary as to whether or not attempt to include a chapter that would basically discuss the post-war lives of the soldiers.  Many did go on local and statewide prominence and I would say that Col. Dyer achieved some nationwide notoriety, but I question whether the paragraph or so that I might write about most of them would be of significant interest.  So, that is yet to be decided.

Hello everyone, for those that have been following along as I gather research on the 49th, I wanted to let you know that I am closing in on completing a full draft of the book.  Frankly, I’ve spent years hoping to come across more material on the 49th’s role in the battle of Spanish Fort and have come to the conclusion that it just doesn’t exist or if it does that I’m not likely to find it anytime soon.  So, I’ve completed that chapter and have been making fairly rapid progress on completing the chapter describing their post-war service.  I hesitate to make a prediction, but I really do hope to finish this year.

As always, please contact me if you have access to letters, diaries, or other documents relating to the men who served in this regiment.  Thanks.