Dear hose7,
With the help of several databases, I have finally solved the mystery.
The solution may be a bit disappointing, because there really is no
26th Illinois Cavalry involved; but it answers the question what unit
George G. Chamberlin really belonged to.
My research led me into numerous dead ends before I found the
information I needed, so I will only describe the steps that proved to
be the way to the answer.
From the United States Civil War Center site with the Camp Butler
graves list I knew that G. G. Chamberlin died on 16 December 1864 and
that his grave has the number 288. Since I have done quite a lot of
genalogy research, I was aware of the fact that I always have to take
possible transcription errors into account.
I searched the Illinois Roll of Honor Database [1] for the name
Chamberlin; that database contains the names of 72,000 Illinois
soldiers who served in any of the wars of the United States and are
buried in Illinois. To be on the safe side, I searched both for
"Chamberlin" and for "Chamberlain". While there were 34 Chamberlains,
but none of them with data resembling the soldier buried at Camp
Butler, there were only 4 Chamberlins. And one of them particularly
attracted my attention:
Name: CHAMBERLIN, B B
War: CIVIL
Company: K
Unit: 26 IL INF
County: SANGAMON
Cemetery: CAMP BUTLER NATIONAL
This was most interesting: The last name, the company and the cemetery
corresponded with George G. Chamberlin's data. However, the first
names' initials were B.B. instead of G.G., and the unit was the 26th
Illinois Infantry instead of the 26th Illinois Cavalry.
The different initials could be the result of misread handwritten
records; I knew I had to cross-check this to make sure that this
assumption was correct. But more interesting was the fact that this
record was the first real hint suggesting that the "26th Illinois
Cavalry" was just a mistake. So I continued my research, to find out
more about this soldier, like his date of death.
The next database I consulted was the Interment Cemetery Transcription
Library [2]. And the transcript of the Camp Butler data I found there
supported my theory that the George G. Chamberlin listed by the United
States Civil War Center and B.B. Chamberlin from the Illinois Roll of
Honor were indeed one and the same person. The entry reads:
Chamberlin, B B, d. 12/15/1864, PVT K 26 ILL INF CW, Plot: 288
This was a huge step forward, because the grave of B.B. Chamberlin has
the same number as the grave of George G. Chamberlin - unless one of
the identical numbers refers to a different section of the cemetery,
or more than one soldier of the same name were buried in the same
grave, this indicates that the two Chamberlins must be identical. And
the date of death differs in one day only, which may be nothing but a
minor transcription mistake.
I did more research, now using the the Nationwide Gravesite Locator of
the Department of Veterans Affairs [3]. And I discovered George G.
Chamberlin. To my surprise, his name was written wrongly as
Chamberlain there. But his identity is clear, as his database entry
shows:
CHAMBERLAIN, GEORGE G
PVT US ARMY
CIVIL WAR
DATE OF DEATH: 12/16/1864
BURIED AT: SECTION 3 SITE 288
CAMP BUTLER NATIONAL CEMETERY
So here we have him: The soldier who died on 16 December 1864 and who
is buried at section 3, grave no. 288 of Camp Butler, as listed by the
United States Civil War Center: Private George G. Chamberlin. No other
soldier even vaguely resembles his data.
For final research, I used the National Park Service Civil War
Soldiers database [4]. And again, I found my theory confirmed:
George G. Chamberlin
Regiment Name: 26 Illinois Infantry
Side: Union
Company: K
Soldier's Rank: Pvt.
The necessary conclusion I draw from all this information is that
George G. Chamberlin actually served in the 26th Illinois INFANTRY,
not Cavalry. A mistake must have occurred when the Civil War Center's
web site was created. That is the answer to the question for the
identity of the mysterious non-existing regiment.
Now that it is clear that the unit was the 26th Illinois Infantry,
here is a website [5] providing information on their regimental
history:
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/template.cfm?unitname=26th%20Regiment%2C%20Illinois%20Infantry&unitcode=UIL0026RI
I hope that this answers your questions!
Best regards,
Scriptor
Sources:
[1] Illinois State Archives: Database of the 1929 Illinois Roll of Honor
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/GenealogyMWeb/honorsrch.html
[2] Interment Cemetery Transcription Library: Camp Butler National Cemetery
http://www.interment.net/data/us/il/sangamon/campbutler/index.htm
[3] Department of Veterans Affairs: Nationwide Gravesite Locator
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1
[4] National Park Service: Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.htm
[5] National Park Service: 26th Regiment, Illinois Infantry
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/template.cfm?unitname=26th%20Regiment%2C%20Illinois%20Infantry&unitcode=UIL0026RI |
