Women Soldiers of the 95th Illinois at Camp Fuller

Camp Fuller was established at Rockford, Illinois in 1862, following Lincoln's call for volunteers to serve the Union.  Soldiers began arriving in August.  In all, four regiments trained at the camp before being sent to the front.   One was the 95th Illinois Infantry which was mustered into service there on September 4th and began making preparations for war.  Camp Fuller "...became busy with the hum and tramp..." of "Squad drills, company and battalion drills, [and] dress parades...."   The 95th remained there until November 4th, 1862, when it was ordered initially to Cairo, Illinois, and thence to the front.    When the unit left Rockford, there were at least two, possibly three, women in the ranks.

South Mississippi Genealogical and Historical Society Talk AAR, 4/5/16

When I have a talk approaching, I create an event for it on Facebook in order to help spread the word for those who are interested in attending.  At one point, I was able to embed one of those events into a blog post so I could share it here, too.  But alas, it hasn't worked since.  I keep getting an error about privacy settings and some such.  But my event announcements are set to public, so I don't get it.  Grrr.....

Anyway.....

Monday, I pulled up my schedule of talks in order to get the address of the location where I would be speaking Saturday so could add it to the event I was creating.  What I saw absolutely scared me to death.  I probably resembled a cartoon character whose eyes were bugging out of the head.  With a tingly feeling rushing through my body in a wave of panic, I quickly pulled up the other two copies of my schedule I have posted elsewhere.  They only confirmed what I feared.  My talk was the very next day, not Saturday!

Fool Me Once...

The two nurses moved about the steamship headed south, the vessel carrying them and the soldiers toward their fate.  The women wondered how many of these boys would not make the return trip home.  They knew the blue-clad warriors were pondering the same possibility, and so the ladies began to hand out handkerchiefs to them in hopes the pieces of cloth would perhaps remind them of the home they just left behind and help ease their mind in the turbulent times to come.