- Enlisted and mustered in on 25 June 1861 at Caseyville, St. Clair County, Illinois, Company G, 22nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment as a Sergeant; he was residing in Xenia, Clay County, Illinois prior to his enlistment; promoted to 1st Sergeant on 20 July 1861; promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 7 August 1862; promoted to 1st Lieutenant on 17 April 1863; mustered out on 7 July 1864 at Springfield, Illinois.
ILLINOIS CIVIL WAR DETAIL REPORT
Name SMITH, JOHN R
Rank 1LT Company G Unit 22 IL US INF
Personal Characteristics
Residence XENIA, CLAY CO, IL Age 29 Height 5' 9 1/2 Hair LIGHT
Eyes BLUE Complexion FAIR Marital Status SINGLE Occupation FARMER
Nativity DRESDEN, DRESDEN, SAXONY
Service Record
Joined When MAY 26, 1863 Joined Where MURFREESBORO, TN
Joined By Whom GOV OF ILL Period 3 YRS
Muster In OCT 31, 1863 Muster In Where CHATTANOOGA, TN
Muster In By Whom N/A Muster Out JUL 7, 1864
Muster Out Where SPRINGFIELD, IL Muster Out By Whom LT SUMNER
Remarks N/A
"Case 1050. Private John R. Smith, Co. G, 22d Illinois, was wounded at Belmont, November 7, 1861. Surgeon J. H. Brititon, U. S. V., who saw this soldier at the time of being wounded on the field, describes the erratic course of the missile as follows: "A small conical ball entered behind the left shoulder and passed underneath the skin across lower part of left side of neek, across median line, and then upward immediately beneath the base of jaw of right side, emerging just below the angle of the maxilla. The man was shot in front of a fence, and the ball lodged in the fence and was removed and returned by his comrade. It was probably a small rifle projectile, or possibly, although unlikely from the time and circumstances, a revolver projectile. The track was superficial, for days discolored olive and yellow, as if painted by a camel's-hair pencil ; there was little extravasation and almost no pain; no injury to either clavicle or maxilla. On the 26th of November, nineteen days after the injury, the patient was discharged from the hospital well. I could not obtain the ball. I watched this case almost from the moment of wounding." Smith was promoted sergeant and lieutenant, and mustered out July 7, 1864, at the expiration of his term of service, and pensioned. Examiner T. S. Hening, of Springfield, reported, July 8, 1864: "Smith received a gunshot missile beneath the jaw on the right side; it crossed the median line to the left side and then down the neck and outward to the acromial extremity of the vertebral portion of the spine of scapula. Considerable injury was done to the tissues of the left shoulder, the motion and power of which, together with those of the elbow joint, are much impaired. The left arm is somewhat wasted and its circulation defective." Examiner J. Bowman, of Elora, Illinois, certified, March 31, 1880: "Physical signs of disability are loss of hearing in left ear, paralysis of left arm and hand, extreme tenderness of left scapula and clavicle in fact the whole left shoulder is disabled. Applicant states that the whole left shoulder and left arm have no power of feeling except a constant tingling and numbness of the muscles of left shoulder and and, and that he is not able to perform any kind of manual labor." This pensioner was paid to March 6, 1881, and since reported "dropped from Roll because of death." -- The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. Part III, Volume II. (3rd Surgical volume) by U. S. Army Surgeon General's Office, 1883.
|
1833 - 1881 (48 years)
