The Chicago Board of Trade Battery in the Civil War - by Dennis W Belcher (Paperback)

About the Book

"In July 1862, the directors of the Chicago Board of Trade used their significant influence to organize perhaps the most prominent Union artillery unit west of the Mississippi. Enlistees were Chicagoans, mainly clerks. During the Civil War, the battery was involved in 11 major battles, 26 minor battles and 42 skirmishes. They held the center at Stones River, repulsing a furious Confederate attack. A few days later, they joined 50 other Union guns in stopping one of the most dramatic offensives in the Western Theater. With Colonel Robert Minty's cavalry, they resisted an overwhelming assault along Chickamauga Creek. This history chronicles the actions of the Chicago Board of Trade Independent Light Artillery at the battles of Farmington, Dallas, Noonday Creek, Atlanta, in Kilpatrick's Raid, and at Nashville, and Selma."--

Book Synopsis

In July 1862, the directors of the Chicago Board of Trade used their significant influence to organize perhaps the most prominent Union artillery unit in the Western Theater. Enlistees were Chicagoans, mainly clerks. During the Civil War, the battery was involved in 11 major battles, 26 minor battles and 42 skirmishes. They held the center at Stones River, repulsing a furious Confederate attack. A few days later, they joined 50 other Union guns in stopping one of the most dramatic offensives in the Western Theater. With Colonel Robert Minty's cavalry, they resisted an overwhelming assault along Chickamauga Creek. This history chronicles the actions of the Chicago Board of Trade Independent Light Artillery at the battles of Farmington, Dallas, Noonday Creek, Atlanta, in Kilpatrick's Raid, and at Nashville, and Selma.

Review Quotes

"As the field's most prominent current historian of the Union cavalry attached to the Army of the Cumberland, Belcher is uniquely positioned to document the Chicago Board of trade Battery's inextricable links to the western mounted arm's evolution and fighting performance across a vast host of battles, raids, and skirmishes. ... Belcher has crafted one of the more impressive Civil War battery histories of recent memory. ...essential reading to all serious Civil War cavalry students."-Civil War Books and Authors

"Highly recommended...an extraordinary gift"-Argunners Magazine

"In most ways a traditional accounting of the men who served in the unit and a record of their experiences in camp and combat, Belcher's work also sheds new light on artillery units, a topic of recent interest among military historians of the war...Great value to genealogists...descriptive"-Civil War Book Review

About the Author

Dennis W. Belcher has edited or authored nine books on the Civil War and has published in the North & South magazine. He lives in Jefferson City, Missouri.