On August 16, the 39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry captured the enemy works at Deep Run — despite a 200 yard crossing under heavy fire. New in the database is a written account of the attack by Captain Homer Plimpton of Company G. He wrote the letter weeks later on September 16th, 1864 from the confines of the Headquarters of the 39th Regiment: Shall I tell you of an interesting scene…

In 1964 Stephen Z. Starr published his interesting short study “The Grand Old Regiment” that dealt exclusively with the historiography of the Civil War regimental history. If you’re serious about being a Civil War Soldier Studies historian than you need to read Starr’s excellent essay on the average regimental history as he offers some very interesting data. One aspect of Starr’s research that fascinated me was the data he collected…