The Prairie Boys Go to War: The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865

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Product Description

Cavalry units from Midwestern states remain largely absent from Civil War literature, and what little has been written largely overlooks the individual men who served. The Fifth Illinois Cavalry has thus remained obscure despite participating in some of the most important campaigns in Arkansas and Mississippi. In this pioneering examination of that understudied regiment, Rhonda M. Kohl offers the only modern, comprehensive analysis of a southern Illinois regiment during the Civil War and combines well-documented military history with a cultural analysis of the men who served in the Fifth Illinois.

The regiment ��s history unfolds around major events in the Western Theater from 1861 to September 1865, including campaigns at Helena, Vicksburg, Jackson, and Meridian, as well as numerous little-known skirmishes. Although they were led almost exclusively by Northern-born Republicans, the majority of the soldiers in the Fifth Illinois remained Democrats. As Kohl demonstrates, politics, economics, education, social values, and racism separated the line officers from the common soldiers, and the internal friction caused by these cultural disparities led to poor leadership, low morale, disciplinary problems, and rampant alcoholism.  

The narrative pulls the Fifth Illinois out of historical oblivion, elucidating the highs and lows of the soldiers’ service as well as their changing attitudes toward war goals, religion, liberty, commanding generals, Copperheads, and alcoholism.   By reconstructing the cultural context of Fifth Illinois soldiers, Prairie Boys Go to War reveals how social and economic traditions can shape the wartime experience.

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The Prairie Boys Go to War: The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865 Review

A truly authentic coverage of cavalry during the war as it really was. No grand rides around or through enemy lines. No grand heroic participants. No officers of highest honor. Simply Illinois boys that wanted to save their country, as they knew it, led by officers that were not gods, but men that wanted to be home and had ego enough to desire higher command. As was said, "Kohl shows us the real war, and it's not one that anybody will ever want to reenact." If reading about the "glamorous" war is what you want,don't read this. If reading about the real war, as seen by most cavalry units, this is by far, the best you will find. Four years of Hell, with an occasional week or two of Hades.

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