Camp Carrollton and the 61st Illinois Volunteer Infantry

By Editor | April 9, 2025 |

By Ray Coons

Not many people know of the training camp for soldiers headed to the Civil War that was located near Carrollton. Men from Greene County and the surrounding area played a role in one of the first major battles of what would prove to be a long and costly fight.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, a call went out from Washington for volunteers to put down the rebellion of the southern states. Each state was called on to provide men to fight in the coming conflict. Illinois responded by sending a total of 250,000 soldiers throughout the course of the war, making it fourth among the Union in manpower.
To train and equip the massive numbers Illinois would provide meant that it was necessary to establish camps to turn groups of farm boys, tradesmen and merchants into effective fighting units. In Illinois camps were based in Congressional districts, with each district to provide one regiment of infantry.
Camp Carrollton, located on the present site of the Greene County fairgrounds, and near the county seat was one of these. There were a total of 40 such camps in Illinois, with fairgrounds being the logical choice due to their size and the large amount of open ground.
Camp Carrollton became the basic training ground for the 61st Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The 61st was organized by Colonel Jacob Fry, an early resident of Greene County. Fry was elected Sheriff in 1828, and had also organized troops for service in the Blackhawk War in 1832 and again in the Mexican war in 1846.
The regiment was composed of men from Greene and Jersey Counties as well as the surrounding area. Among these was Leander Stillwell.
Stillwell was born near Otter Creek in Jersey County on Sept. 16, 1843. He mustered in as a Private in Co. D on Jan. 7, 1862, and served throughout the war with the 61st, mustering out as a 2nd Lieutenant on Sept. 8, 1865. It is from him that we get the best description of life at Camp Carrollton. Stillwell left Greene County after the war, moving to Kansas where he became an attorney and later a judge.
The camp was surrounded by an enclosure seven to eight feet high with only one opening, the main gate on the North end of camp manned by a guard detail. Barracks were constructed of local timber, covered with clapboards and a top dressing of straw. Each barracks contained two rows of bunks one above and one below. Stillwell likened the barracks to a “Kansas stable.”
Into this camp gathered the 300 men who would make up the three companies of the 61st Illinois. Camp Carrollton would be the initial meeting place for the raw recruits, many of whom had never ventured more than a few miles from their homes. Training here was vital for turning what was an undisciplined mob into part of an effective fighting force on a scale not seen in the United States up to that time.
The beginning of this process was the medical exam. Rudimentary by today’s standards, Drew Dukett, another recruit described it this way, “The exam consisted of two or three taps on the chest and running hands over the shoulders back and limbs.” If a recruit passed this exam and his teeth were strong enough to bite the end off a paper cartridge, he was on his way to being a Federal Soldier.
Then came the oath of enlistment. Stillwell quoted the oath as it was taken then: “I do solemnly swear that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America. That I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all enemies or opposers whatsoever. That I will obey the orders of the President of the United States, so help me God.” Now it was official. The raw material was ready to be refined into the finished product.
First, as we’ve already seen, to be a soldier you had to look like one, so the next stage was the uniform. This is what many of the young men, heads filled with dreams of glory, eagerly awaited.
The men were marched to the Quartermaster’s hut, where they were issued, according to Stillwell, “a pair of light blue pantaloons, a similar colored overcoat with a cape to it, a dark blue jacket, an ugly abominable cocky little cap patterned after the French army, heavy shoes, a gray woolen shirt, and other underthings. I was also given a knapsack, but I don’t think I received a haversack or canteen until a later date.” Now the farm boy resembled a soldier.
Now came drill. Followed by drill. After which there was more drill. The bane of the men’s existence, but vital to their ability to fight and perform as a unit under fire. “We were drilled at Carrollton in the School of the Soldier, the School of the Company, and skirmish drill with a parade at sunset.” Drill schedules were set by General Order with Officer’s Drill, followed by Company Squad drill, whole Company drill and a dress parade at 4:00 p.m. every afternoon.
To drill 300 men a day required a large amount of food, and Stillwell writes the diet consisted of “light bread, coffee, fresh meat at some meals and salt meat at others. Yankee beans, rice, onions, Irish and sweet potatoes, with stewed dried apples for supper sometimes.” Some of the fare was not as pleasant as it seems. In 1862 there was a protest about the quality of the bread received by the men from the locals who supplied it that led to a “knock down”.
The biggest issue facing the men was a lack of privacy. Three hundred men in an enclosed space provided little opportunity for time alone. Stillwell complains of having no quiet place to go and read a book or simply just be alone awhile. The men amused themselves in their free time by organizing singing groups, political debates and various games.
Finally, their training was complete. The men of the three companies of the 61st were soldiers, trained and ready for service.
On Feb. 27, 1862 they departed camp for Benton Barracks near St. Louis. The people of Carrollton turned out to say goodbye to their sons, their fathers, their husbands and brothers as they paraded down the dirt road to the south. In Jerseyville, where they spent the night, they were greeted by brass bands and more crowds before moving on to Alton and boarding steamboats for the trip to Benton Barracks.
The boys of the 61st finally ”saw the elephant” at the battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862, standing their ground against a withering fire until other units were able to safely fall back to better positions.
On the first day, 400 men formed a line to receive the first Confederate assault. Standing their ground for an hour, they fought until every other regiment was able to pull back.
They were then placed in support of a battery of the 1st MO Artillery.
At 1 p.m. the unit was then ordered to support the advance of General Hurlbut. Their actions again were instrumental in maintaining the line until fresh troops arrived.
At the end of the first day, ammunition and men were exhausted. They lost 80 men killed, wounded or missing.
The 61st went to fight numerous battles in the years that followed, mustering out at Nashville, Tenn. on Sept. 8 1865.
The history of Camp Carrollton is a little remembered aspect of the history of Greene County, but an important part of it and the larger history of the Civil War.