Eras

Civil War Era (1861–1865)

1861–1865

The Civil War Era covers Dundee Township and Kane County's direct participation in the American Civil War, from the earliest 1861 enlistments through the final 1865 drafts, musterings-out, and the Grand Review in Washington. Kane County men served across at least five distinct Illinois infantry regiments — the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twentieth, Fifty-Second, and Sixty-Ninth — in roles ranging from short home-guard duty at Camp Douglas to sustained combat in the Western Theater. This page consolidates event and person pages previously linked under inconsistent labels ("Civil War Era" and "American Civil War Era"). (Source: *History of Kane County, Ill.*, Vol. 1 (Joslyn, 1908))

Key Themes

A township that met its obligations without compulsion. Dundee Township's cumulative Civil War contribution is unusually well documented through successive enrollment and draft records: an October 1862 enrollment counted 356 men aged 18–45 on the township's rolls, with 90 already in active service. By the 1864 draft, Dundee had credited 200 men against a quota of 178 — a surplus of 22 — placing it among the Kane County townships that met their manpower obligations through prior voluntary enlistment rather than compulsory draft. A further February 1865 call assigned the township a quota of 10 additional recruits, showing Dundee remained within the federal levy system through the war's final months. (Source: History of Kane County, Ill., Vol. 1 (Joslyn, 1908))

Short home-front service alongside sustained field campaigns. Service ranged widely in character. The Sixty-Ninth Illinois Infantry's Company B, in which at least four Dundee men enlisted in the summer of 1862, served a three-month term entirely on guard duty at Camp Douglas, Chicago, without seeing the field. By contrast, men in the Fifteenth, Fifty-Second, and Forty-Second Illinois Infantry Regiments served multi-year terms with combat exposure — including at Chickamauga, one of the war's bloodiest engagements — and campaigns through Georgia and the Carolinas.

Family and community enlistment networks. Several Dundee families sent multiple members into the same units — the Wollaver family (James and Nicholas) both served in Company F of the Fifteenth Illinois, with Nicholas rising to Drum Major on the regimental staff — illustrating how local social ties shaped enlistment patterns.

The full range of wartime outcomes. Local Civil War records document the complete spectrum of service outcomes: early disability discharge (Phillip H. Carr, discharged blind within months of enlisting), death in service (John W. Davenport, died November 1863), combat wounds survived (Joseph Hudson, wounded at Chickamauga, later promoted to captain), and a Dundee man rising to command an entire regiment (Jerome D. Davis, colonel of the Fifty-Second Illinois by war's end).

Notable Figures

  • Jerome D. Davis — Dundee resident who rose to colonel in command of the Fifty-Second Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment before its 1865 mustering out.
  • Captain Joseph Hudson — Elgin resident and son of an early Dundee-area settler; enlisted July 1861, wounded at Chickamauga (September 1863), promoted to captain in 1865.
  • Nicholas Wolaver / Wollaver — Private, Company F, Fifteenth Illinois Infantry, later Drum Major, Non-Commissioned Staff.
  • James Wollaver — Private, Company F, Fifteenth Illinois Infantry; discharged August 1861.
  • John W. Davenport — Corporal, Company F, Fifteenth Illinois Infantry; died in service, November 24, 1863.
  • Phillip H. Carr — Private, Company I; discharged blind, September 1861.
  • Charles Crane, Michael J. Dunne, Edgar Hoxie, John Campbell — Dundee men who served together in Company B, Sixty-Ninth Illinois Infantry, and were mustered out together September 27, 1862.
  • J. H. Mayborne — Kane County enrolling officer whose October 1862 report established the manpower baseline used for later draft quotas.
  • John Quackenbush — Served with Company H, Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, participated in Sherman's March to the Sea, promoted to first lieutenant.

Key Events

Sources

  • History of Kane County, Ill. (Joslyn), Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, 1908.
  • This page synthesizes facts already documented on the individual event and person pages listed above; see each linked page for full inline citations.