History of Battery a First Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers #270878

This history I would dedicate to my dear comrades of Battery A, who stood manfully by each other during the trying times of war; and having as steadfastly continued to do so in the piping times of peace, I am encouraged in this effort to reproduce the main and important inci dents connected with the Battery's long active and eventful career. It is not strange that old comrades, who for months and years, shared the dan gers and privations of army life, in camp, on the march and battlefield; many having suffered sickness and hunger, in hospitals and prison pens, should desire to keep alive the memories and associations of those trying times. We are all hastening on to our final muster-out. In all human probability most of our surviving comrades will have answered the last roll call, by the close of the next decade, and will assemble on the parade ground of eternity.