Little Jimmy Bateman Finds His Way Into the Union Army
Carte de visite by Christopher Smith German of Springfield, Ill. Soldiers at Camp Yates in Springfield, Ill., in early 1861, might have recalled an adolescent boy badgering officers to join the army. Had this 15-year-old had a choice, he’d be in a cavalry regiment. But recruiters dismissed him as being undersized and underage. One men joked that he was too light to make a cavalry charge.
Still, he refused to take no for an answer. And so whenever a new regiment arrived in camp, he’d seek out the officers in charge and plead his case to enlist. There were no takers. April, May, and June without success.
By early July, the young teen had run out of options and become desperate. On July 3, he begged an infantry colonel to take him on as a servant. At least he’d be able to travel with a regiment and maybe, just maybe, find an opportunity to join the ranks.
The colonel, much to the boy’s surprise, agreed on one condition: That he have his parents’ consent. The colonel also told him to act quickly, as the regiment was just about to move out.
The boy took off at top speed to get the needed permission. When he returned to camp an hour later, he found the colonel and regiment had left.
The colonel was Ulysses S. Grant, and the regiment was the 21st Illinois Infantry.
The boy was James William “Jimmy” Bateman. His parents had brought him into the world in 1846 in Springfield, the capital city of Illinois, where they had relocated from their native Kentucky. His father, Newton, labored as a cooper, and mother Rebecca kept house and cared for Jimmy’s five siblings.
By coincidence, Springfield happened to be home to another Newton Bateman. He hailed from New Jersey, served as an educator and superintendent of schools, befriended Abraham Lincoln, and raised three daughters.
When the war came, plucky little Jimmy’s efforts to get into the army were thwarted time and time again. Though Col. Grant’s invitation seemed like Jimmy’s big chance, it is more than likely that the future lieutenant general of all the U.S. armies in the field had no intention of following through on having Jimmy become his servant. If Grant was aware that the left Jimmy with false hopes, he left no known record. When it came to Grant’s own son, Fred, he indulged the boy by taking him to various camps and campaigns.
Jimmy left behind no known record of how he felt about Grant. However, Jimmy’s subsequent actions suggest he was undeterred.
The same month Col. Grant left with his new regiment, Jimmy journeyed to neighboring Christian County, where, near the town of Taylorville, a group of patriotic young men formed an independent military company they named the “Christian County Contingent.”
In a sketch of the company, Jimmy wrote “The idea was to ‘get into the army.’”
It seems all of these boys were just like Jimmy—youths who for one reason or another had trouble volunteering, or maybe did not know how to go about it. So they made their own way.
Here’s what Jimmy wrote about how the group came together: “Its rank and file were farmer boys just entering vigorous manhood. Few of them had seen their 25th year. They were filled with that patriotic spirit that caused them to willingly leave comfortable homes, loving parents and kind friends for the dangers of the battlefield, the march and the camp. They assembled for their departure to begin their life as soldiers of the Republic at Mason's school-house, nine miles west of Taylorville, on August l5th, 1861. To make the day pleasant and memorable a dinner in the grove had been arranged for and provided by the friends of the departing would-be soldiers. After the dinner much good-natured chatting of the boys as to their fitness for soldiers was indulged in by their friends. This was responded to in short, well-worded speeches by Henry H. Pope and William W. Mason. As the day drew to a close the men took their places in the farm wagons that had been provided for their transportation to Springfield, Ill. After the parting of the boys with those they held most dear, and, alas for many of them, the final leave taking, the wagons started on the journey amid the waving of flags and handkerchiefs and exclamations of 'God keep you and return you to us again.' Many looked for the last time upon the loved faces whose lineaments would ever be with them in their new life to encourage them in well doing. Many of those dear faces hovered in imagination over the sick in their distress, and the smile that lit up the faces of the dying, on the battlefield, in the hospital, by the roadside where they fell on their dreary marches, told of its memory, and the whispered name of that loved one was the last word uttered by the brave boy in blue who gave his life, his all, that his country might live.”
The convoy of wagons filled with sons of Illinois wound its way from Taylorville to Springfield. There the Christian County Contingent leaders secured a hall as headquarters, and joined forces with a similar group from Macoupin County.
The consolidated company soon learned about a new regiment forming at nearby Camp Butler—the 33rd Illinois Infantry, nicknamed the Teacher’s Regiment for the number of educators and students.
On August 16, Jimmy and his comrades enlisted, and 12 days later mustered into the 33rd as Company D. Jimmy became the company’s drummer boy.
Jimmy is pictured here wearing a veteran’s stripe above his cuff and a unique non-regulation patch of a drum. He posed for this photograph in Springfield at the City Gallery on the south side of the public square. The owner, Canadian-born Christopher Smith German (1814-1896), prospered with several galleries in town. His clients included Abraham Lincoln.
The 33rd went on to spend its enlistment in the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters participating in various expeditions and campaigns, including Vicksburg and the pivotal Union victory at Champion Hill in May 1863, action along the Texas coast in 1864, and the siege and capture of Alabama’s Spanish Fort and First Blakely in April 1865. Jimmy survived it all and mustered out with the survivors of the regiment on November 24, 1865.
A week later, on December 1, the 33rd marched into Camp Butler—four years and four months after they left to fight for freedom. One newspaper reported that “The regiment is in fine condition and made a splendid appearance on parade.”
The battle-hardened veterans of the 33rd received discharges a few days later in Chicago and melted back into society in peacetime America. Jimmy returned to his home and eventually settled in Clinton, Ill., where he married and started a family to include five children who lived to maturity. He supported them as a farmer and laborer in Illinois, and later in Independence, Kansas.
Intensely proud of his service, the sketch he wrote about Company D was published in the 1902 regimental history, titled “History of the Thirty-Third Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry.” One passage he included captured their spirit and sacrifice. It reads:
“Company D through its entire term of service made good the promises pledged for its conduct on that August day at the old schoolhouse in Christian county. It was always ready to do its part in any undertaking, and the little mounds by the roadside through the Southland from Illinois to the Mexican frontier attest the fact that they counted not the cost, but asked ‘where do you want us?’. And when told, did their best for country and home.”
Jimmy died in 1925 at the Soldiers’ Home in Leavenworth. Jimmy was 79 years old.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.
Little Jimmy Bateman Finds His Way Into the Union Army
Carte de visite by Christopher Smith German of Springfield, Ill. Soldiers at Camp Yates in Springfield, Ill., in early 1861, might have recalled an adolescent boy badgering officers to join the army. Had this 15-year-old had a choice, he’d be in a cavalry regiment. But recruiters dismissed him as being undersized and underage. One men joked that he was too light to make a cavalry charge.
Still, he refused to take no for an answer. And so whenever a new regiment arrived in camp, he’d seek out the officers in charge and plead his case to enlist. There were no takers. April, May, and June without success.
By early July, the young teen had run out of options and become desperate. On July 3, he begged an infantry colonel to take him on as a servant. At least he’d be able to travel with a regiment and maybe, just maybe, find an opportunity to join the ranks.
The colonel, much to the boy’s surprise, agreed on one condition: That he have his parents’ consent. The colonel also told him to act quickly, as the regiment was just about to move out.
The boy took off at top speed to get the needed permission. When he returned to camp an hour later, he found the colonel and regiment had left.
The colonel was Ulysses S. Grant, and the regiment was the 21st Illinois Infantry.
The boy was James William “Jimmy” Bateman. His parents had brought him into the world in 1846 in Springfield, the capital city of Illinois, where they had relocated from their native Kentucky. His father, Newton, labored as a cooper, and mother Rebecca kept house and cared for Jimmy’s five siblings.
By coincidence, Springfield happened to be home to another Newton Bateman. He hailed from New Jersey, served as an educator and superintendent of schools, befriended Abraham Lincoln, and raised three daughters.
When the war came, plucky little Jimmy’s efforts to get into the army were thwarted time and time again. Though Col. Grant’s invitation seemed like Jimmy’s big chance, it is more than likely that the future lieutenant general of all the U.S. armies in the field had no intention of following through on having Jimmy become his servant. If Grant was aware that the left Jimmy with false hopes, he left no known record. When it came to Grant’s own son, Fred, he indulged the boy by taking him to various camps and campaigns.
Jimmy left behind no known record of how he felt about Grant. However, Jimmy’s subsequent actions suggest he was undeterred.
The same month Col. Grant left with his new regiment, Jimmy journeyed to neighboring Christian County, where, near the town of Taylorville, a group of patriotic young men formed an independent military company they named the “Christian County Contingent.”
In a sketch of the company, Jimmy wrote “The idea was to ‘get into the army.’”
It seems all of these boys were just like Jimmy—youths who for one reason or another had trouble volunteering, or maybe did not know how to go about it. So they made their own way.
Here’s what Jimmy wrote about how the group came together: “Its rank and file were farmer boys just entering vigorous manhood. Few of them had seen their 25th year. They were filled with that patriotic spirit that caused them to willingly leave comfortable homes, loving parents and kind friends for the dangers of the battlefield, the march and the camp. They assembled for their departure to begin their life as soldiers of the Republic at Mason's school-house, nine miles west of Taylorville, on August l5th, 1861. To make the day pleasant and memorable a dinner in the grove had been arranged for and provided by the friends of the departing would-be soldiers. After the dinner much good-natured chatting of the boys as to their fitness for soldiers was indulged in by their friends. This was responded to in short, well-worded speeches by Henry H. Pope and William W. Mason. As the day drew to a close the men took their places in the farm wagons that had been provided for their transportation to Springfield, Ill. After the parting of the boys with those they held most dear, and, alas for many of them, the final leave taking, the wagons started on the journey amid the waving of flags and handkerchiefs and exclamations of 'God keep you and return you to us again.' Many looked for the last time upon the loved faces whose lineaments would ever be with them in their new life to encourage them in well doing. Many of those dear faces hovered in imagination over the sick in their distress, and the smile that lit up the faces of the dying, on the battlefield, in the hospital, by the roadside where they fell on their dreary marches, told of its memory, and the whispered name of that loved one was the last word uttered by the brave boy in blue who gave his life, his all, that his country might live.”
The convoy of wagons filled with sons of Illinois wound its way from Taylorville to Springfield. There the Christian County Contingent leaders secured a hall as headquarters, and joined forces with a similar group from Macoupin County.
The consolidated company soon learned about a new regiment forming at nearby Camp Butler—the 33rd Illinois Infantry, nicknamed the Teacher’s Regiment for the number of educators and students.
On August 16, Jimmy and his comrades enlisted, and 12 days later mustered into the 33rd as Company D. Jimmy became the company’s drummer boy.
Jimmy is pictured here wearing a veteran’s stripe above his cuff and a unique non-regulation patch of a drum. He posed for this photograph in Springfield at the City Gallery on the south side of the public square. The owner, Canadian-born Christopher Smith German (1814-1896), prospered with several galleries in town. His clients included Abraham Lincoln.
The 33rd went on to spend its enlistment in the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters participating in various expeditions and campaigns, including Vicksburg and the pivotal Union victory at Champion Hill in May 1863, action along the Texas coast in 1864, and the siege and capture of Alabama’s Spanish Fort and First Blakely in April 1865. Jimmy survived it all and mustered out with the survivors of the regiment on November 24, 1865.
A week later, on December 1, the 33rd marched into Camp Butler—four years and four months after they left to fight for freedom. One newspaper reported that “The regiment is in fine condition and made a splendid appearance on parade.”
The battle-hardened veterans of the 33rd received discharges a few days later in Chicago and melted back into society in peacetime America. Jimmy returned to his home and eventually settled in Clinton, Ill., where he married and started a family to include five children who lived to maturity. He supported them as a farmer and laborer in Illinois, and later in Independence, Kansas.
Intensely proud of his service, the sketch he wrote about Company D was published in the 1902 regimental history, titled “History of the Thirty-Third Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry.” One passage he included captured their spirit and sacrifice. It reads:
“Company D through its entire term of service made good the promises pledged for its conduct on that August day at the old schoolhouse in Christian county. It was always ready to do its part in any undertaking, and the little mounds by the roadside through the Southland from Illinois to the Mexican frontier attest the fact that they counted not the cost, but asked ‘where do you want us?’. And when told, did their best for country and home.”
Jimmy died in 1925 at the Soldiers’ Home in Leavenworth. Jimmy was 79 years old.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.