Events

1864 Company C Mustering Out

On October 10, 1864, six soldiers from Dundee, Illinois were mustered out of Company C following their Civil War service. All six had enlisted from Dundee and served as privates in a company drawn primarily from Elgin and surrounding Kane County towns.

Date & Context

The mustering out took place on October 10, 1864, near the close of a three-year enlistment period that would have begun around 1861. Company C was composed largely of men from Elgin and other Kane County communities, with Dundee contributing a notable contingent of six privates. The unit's service history — including campaigns and engagements — is recorded in the History of Kane County, Ill. (Joslyn, 1908), which notes that some Company C soldiers died at Columbus, Kentucky during the war, though the Dundee men mustered out rather than perishing in service. (Source: History of Kane County, Ill., Vol. 1 (Joslyn, 1908))

Participants

The following six men, all listed as privates from Dundee, were mustered out of Company C on October 10, 1864, according to the History of Kane County, Ill. (Joslyn, 1908):

NameRankNotes
Oscar BabcockPrivateFrom Dundee
William ChristophPrivateFrom Dundee
Nathan B. PetersonPrivateFrom Dundee
George PerryPrivateFrom Dundee
Charles PettitPrivateFrom Dundee
Lucius B. RicePrivateFrom Dundee
(Source: History of Kane County, Ill., Vol. 1 (Joslyn, 1908))

No additional details about their individual service records, ages, or postwar lives are provided in the source consulted. Further information may exist in regimental records or local pension files not yet reviewed for this page.

Significance

The mustering out of these six men marks one of the more concrete documented connections between East Dundee — then simply known as Dundee — and the Civil War. That six privates from a single small Kane County town served together in Company C suggests either coordinated enlistment or community-level recruitment efforts typical of the period. Their collective return in October 1864, several months before the war's end in April 1865, likely reflects the expiration of their original enlistment terms rather than early discharge for cause.

The Dundee men's survival and mustering out stands in contrast to other Company C soldiers who reportedly died at Columbus, Kentucky during their service. (Source: History of Kane County, Ill., Vol. 1 (Joslyn, 1908))

Sources

  • History of Kane County, Ill., Vol. 1, Joslyn (1908). Available at: https://archive.org/details/historyofkanecou01josl#offset-773615