"Clear The Track: A History of the Eighty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, The Railroad Regiment" is now available online through Amazon and Authorhouse. After 20-years of research and writing a regimental history of the 89th Illinois has come to life. But more important, the work is in the voice and words of the men who made up the regiment. The narrative is based on their letters, diaries, and memoirs. The 89th saw action at Stones River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta Campaign, and Nashville. William F. Fox listed the 89th among the "Three hundred Fighting Regiments" of the war. Ten percent or 133 men from the regiment were either killed in action or died of wounds. Fifty more perished at Andersonville.
The term "Railroad Regiment" came from the fact that several of the 89th's companies were filled with men who, before enlisting, were employed by the railroads headquartered in Chicago. These same railroads oversaw the organization of the regiment. As a consequence, the 89th carried on its roster a higher number of skilled laborers than most Civil War regiments.