Historical Sketch of the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, Horse Artillery, Illinois Volunteers #269620

The Chicago Board of Trade Battery was among the very first of the volunteer organizations to respond to President Abraham Lincoln's-call for three hundred thousand men on July 6, 1862. Pif teen days thereafter the first members of the Battery signed the muster roll for three years. Within the next forty — eight hours a full company was enrolled. The story of the activities, valor, endurance and capacity for fighting against all or any odds of this remarkable vol~ unteer organization is told only in outline in the existing records. Beginning at Lawrenceburg, Ky., Oct. II, 1862, the Battery was prominently engaged in the great battles of the West, moving rapidly to effective participation in the battles of Stone River, Elk River, Chickamauga, F armington, Dallas, Decatur, Atlanta, Lovejoy, N ash ville and Selma, and in the great battles of the Army of the Cumberland -resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Marietta, Vining Station, Noonday Creek, Stone Mountain and in many minor engage ments and raids — altogether, ID eleven of the hardest-fought battles of the West; in twenty-six other battles and in action forty-two times when on scouts, raids, reconnoissances and outpost duty.