24th Illinois Infantry Regiment

The 24th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, also known as the 1st Hecker Jaeger Regiment, was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was made up almost exclusively of German, Swiss, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak immigrants. It was the first unit mobilised for the war in Chicago, and was composed of many Forty-Eighters, veterans of the revolutions of 1848 in Germany and the Austrian Empire.

24th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry "1st Hecker Regt"
Illinois state flag
ActiveJuly 8, 1861, to August 6, 1864
CountryUnited States
AllegianceUnion
BranchInfantry
EngagementsBattle of Perryville

Battle of Stones River
Battle of Chickamauga
Battle of Missionary Ridge
Battle of Resaca

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
Friedrich Hecker, the first colonel of the regiment
Colonel Geza Mihalotzy

Service

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Battle of Perryville--the extreme left--Starkweather's brigade which included the 24th.

The 24th Illinois Infantry was organized at Chicago, Illinois and recruited from counties of Cook, McLean and LaSalle, and mustered into Federal service on July 8, 1861.

The regiment was divided into companies from A to K.

It was assigned to the Army of the Ohio in November 1861 and later was transformed to the Army of the Cumberland in November 1862.

The regiment was mustered out on August 6, 1864.

Battles and campaigns they participated in

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Total strength and casualties

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The regiment suffered 3 officers and 86 enlisted men who were killed in action or who died of their wounds and 2 officers and 82 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 173 fatalities.[1]

Prominent personnel

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See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unilinf2.htm#24th The Civil War Archive website after Dyer, Frederick Henry. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959. - retrieved June 25, 2007.
  2. ^ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilcivilw/f&s/024-fs.htm Illinois in the Civil War website after Illinois Adjutant General's muster rolls - retrieved June 26, 2007.
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