James Stout,

A

Soldier

of

Company F, 125th Illinois Infantry

Before the war, James Stout was a man that probably didn’t stand out in the crowd. He was a farmer in the Urbana area and James was 5’11’’ tall. He had a light complexion, dark hair, and hazel eyes. (Behrens 418)

With being a farmer, going to war meant that he would have to leave his farm and all the animals he may have had. I assume that he had other family members, perhaps a wife, or maybe just distant relatives that he stayed with that maintained his farm while he was away. It would have been very hard if he had no one to help him with things on the farm, and that may have effected his decision to enlist in the army. (Behrens 418)

As far as I know, James had no parents or siblings that he lived with. This might have also had an effect on him during the war. Having no close family might have effected his choice to join, seeing as how he had no one he needed to take care of.

James Stout enlisted in the army on September 3^rd, 1862. He was part of company F, the 125^th IL Infantry, which fought in many famous battles. Such as the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, in which Company F lost five of their men. Others were injured or killed at the Battle of Chickamauga. (Behrens 199)

Company F was organized in August 1862. Its muster rolls show that many men from Champaign, a few from Rantoul, and several more from Pilot Township were part of that Company. James Stout must have known many of these men, since they all lived so close, and during times of war, they must have met, and discussed what was going on with the war. Reports show that nine Champaign County men from Company F were killed in battle, others died of wounds, and still twelve others died of other causes. It must have been hard to lose so many men that were close to you, and I assume that must have put an enormous amount of emotional stress on Mr. Stout. (Behrens 199)

Company F participated in many important battles, such as The Battle at Kennesaw Mountain, and the Battle of Chickamauga. The battle of Chickamauga was a two-day battle. It was known as perhaps the bloodiest battle of the war. The battle was fought in a densely wooded area, and it was extremely hard to maneuver and get news of the enemy’s plans and so on. The rebels ended up winning the battle. However, they lost about 18,000 men, which must have damaged the strength of their army.

Life was hard for all of the soldiers who fought in battle during the Civil War. There were many deaths caused by wounds in battle. About the same number of men were killed from dreaded diseases than were by being killed in battle. At that time, there were not many medicines at all, and once a disease went around, almost all of the people who caught it would die or suffer greatly. All of this must have had such a big impact on the soldiers during the war; both emotionally, and physically.

The Union had no idea of proper ways to keep food sanitized. Their meals consisted of mainly meat, because fruit, fresh vegetables, dairy products, and milk were very rare, and hard to keep from spoiling. (Davis 12)

In one case, men noted the biscuits arriving, infested with maggots. Such conditions were very common during times of war. (Davis 13)

Behrens, Robert. From Salt Fork to Chickamauga, Champaign County Soldiers in the Civil War. Urbana Free Library, Urbana Illinois. 1988.

Davis, William C. The Civil War CookBook. Courage Book Publishing. 1993.