Photo by Nick Fiala
Pictured is Civil War historian Gary Blessman.

•December 2, 2015•

By Nick Fiala
for the News Progress

The Moultrie County Historical and Genealogical Society’s annual dinner at the First United Methodist Church in Sullivan featured guest speaker Gary Blessman of Minnesota.

Blessman is a Civil War historian who recently authored a book on the 126th Illinois Infantry Regiment of Illinois, entitled Three Years Off the Farm. His great-great-grandfather, Edwin R. Grubbs of Hillsboro, was a private in Company D of that regiment.

Blessman began his research for what became Three Years Off the Farm in 2010. After the passing of his  last maternal aunt, Blessman’s family stumbled onto records of his ancestor’s life and military service.

The Regiment assembled at Alton in August of 1862, made up of 69 percent of farmers and another company of coal miners from Coal Valley, Illinois.

“The very first time they may have ridden on a train was when they went to war,” Blessman said.

The regiment went on numerous lengthy marches all throughout the midwest and the south, being joined by other regiments from as far away as Minnesota. This included long trudges around, over, or even through swamps and rivers that no doubt were contaminated with diseases that claimed the lives of many soldiers.      Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.