Information Sheet

 

 

R         Wheelock, Edwin D., 1847-1926.

654                  Papers, 1862-1901.

One folder, photocopies.

 

 

 

These are the Civil War letters of Edwin D. Wheelock, Co. G, 17th Illinois Cavalry, written from camps at Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Rolla, and Pilot Knob, Missouri; and Fort Scott, Kansas.  There is also a letter from Boonville, Missouri, from a friend in the 37th Illinois Infantry, a copy photographic print of Wheelock in uniform, postwar information on veterans of the unit printed by the Nunda (Ill.) Herald, and a brief family record.

 

The 17th Illinois Cavalry was organized at St. Charles, Illinois, in January and February 1864.  After being equipped at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, the regiment moved to Alton, Il­linois, to guard Confederate prisoners of war.  Edwin Wheelock’s Company G moved to Glasgow, Missouri, in June 1864, then to Rolla in September.  Later that month, during Sterling Price’s Mis­souri Expedition, the 17th Illinois rode from Rolla to Leasburg to assist Gen. Ewing’s retreat from Pilot Knob.  The regiment joined Gen. John B. Sanborn’s cavalry brigade in operations against Sterling Price’s forces, returning to Rolla in November 1864.  In January 1865, the regiment moved to Pilot Knob, where it remained until April.  After a short stay in Cape Girardeau, the regiment moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, in June 1865, and remained there until mustering out in November and December 1865.

 

The collection consists of nine letters to Edwin Wheelock’s family, and a few miscellaneous items pertaining to Wheelock and his military service in the 17th Illinois Cavalry.  With the excep­tion of the earliest item in the collection, written by E. F. Farnsworth of the 37th Illinois Infantry at Boonville, the letters were written by Edwin D. Wheelock and are addressed to his family.  The letters contain camp news, details about pay and rations, news of friends and acquaintances, and speculation as to the final course of the war.  Wheelock’s letter from Rolla describes his unit’s ac­tivities during Price’s Expedition.  Unfortunately, a fragment of the letter is missing.  Five letters were written in 1865 from Pilot Knob, Missouri.  The last letter in the collection was penned at Fort Scott, Kansas, where the regiment had been sent for duty on the Plains.

 

 

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