By Brother Gerald Sonnenberg, USAF retired
Hecker Camp #443 Secretary
Department of Illinois Patriotic Instructor

PCC Greg Zelinske was traveling in southern Illinois and came across this historical marker (right) in Murphysboro, Illinois for the 56th Illinois Infantry. The unit was organized at Shawneetown, Illinois and mustered into Federal service on Feb. 27, 1862.

Many of its members died tragically in a naval disaster toward the end of the war. The sign reads:
“Their term of service being up in February 1865, 205 members of the 56th Illinois Infantry chose to muster out. Before doing so, they fought at Bentonville, North Carolina, the regiment’s final engagement. Their journey home began March 29th, 1865, aboard the S.S. General Lyon in Wilmington, North Carolina. Two days later the ship caught fire and sank in rough weather off Cape Hatteras losing 500 lives. Two hundred of the 205 Veterans from the 56th Illinois died. This was the greatest one-day loss of life in the Civil War from Gen. John Logan’s former ninth (‘Egyptian’) Congressional district.”

The rest of the regiment was mustered out on Aug. 12, 1865.

This sign was erected in 2021 by Mary Logan No. 11 Woman’s Relief Corps, the Gen. John A. Logan Museum, Revitalize 62966 and the Illinois State Historical Society.