History of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during its term of service — Story, Setting & Ideas

A Narrative Built from the March

The structure of the book follows the regiment's trajectory from organization at Peoria through Nashville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the final march home. Each chapter is anchored by a specific geographic or tactical phase, but Kinnear often interrupts the chronological flow with set-piece descriptions. For instance, the crossing of the Chattahoochee is treated as a logistical detail, while the burning of Atlanta receives a brief, almost lyrical passage: 'Bright, lurid lights were seen springing up in every quarter.' The pace quickens noticeably in the chapters covering the March to the Sea, where the author adopts a tone of wonder at the operation's audacity, calling it 'a military feat which when accomplished astonished the world.'

Voice and the Shifting Register

Kinnear's prose moves between several registers. At one extreme, he writes in the clipped, factual style of a staff officer: 'On the morning of the 13th, the 2nd division of the 14th Corps was set in motion from Cartersville toward Atlanta, destroying the railway, founderies, mills, etc.' At the other, he adopts a reflective, almost elegiac tone, as when he describes the Kenesaw battlefield: 'the leaves had ripened and fallen to the ground. Even as the leaves wither and fall, so must man.' This shift is not arbitrary; it tends to occur at moments of heightened emotion or moral ambiguity. The destruction of private property is noted without comment, but the sight of fresh graves prompts a meditation on mortality. The author also inserts a rare moment of humor when he reports the public's bewilderment at Sherman's movements: 'Has Sherman gone crazy, sure enough?'

The Regiment in the Brigade

Kinnear is careful to situate the Eighty-sixth within the larger 14th Corps and, more specifically, the 3rd Brigade of Morgan's division. He names the 85th, 125th, and 110th Illinois, along with the 52nd Ohio and 22nd Indiana, as 'a band of faithful brothers.' This brigade-level perspective prevents the narrative from becoming a narrow regimental chronicle. The reader learns not only where the Eighty-sixth marched but how it fit into the corps' movements. The author also includes a roster and supplementary material—letters, a captain's adventure, a rebel letter—that broaden the documentary value. These appendices, while brief, reinforce the sense that the book was compiled as a record for the men themselves, not as a formal history for a wider audience.

Readers approaching this history should attend to the shifts in pace and voice that mark Kinnear's account. The author is not a detached chronicler; he is a participant who allows his own reactions—wonder, sorrow, dry humor—to surface at key moments. The book rewards those who read for texture as much as for fact, noticing how the rhythm of the prose mirrors the rhythm of the march: long stretches of steady movement punctuated by sudden, vivid halts.

The rain kept up all afternoon while I followed the 86th Illinois through Georgia, their notes on burned bridges and marching orders oddly absorbing. Kinnear’s spare, factual tone let the destruction speak for itself. Later, idle, I found myself wondering what the other side recorded, which led me almost by chance to The Voyage of The First Hessian Army from Portsmouth to New York, 1776 — Text and Context. Different war, same quiet accounting of men moved by orders.