TO THE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN OF THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, This volume is respectfully dedicated, by THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The history of the Eighty-sixth Illinois was written in part while the regiment was yet in the service, merely for the gratification of a personal desire; but since its muster out, the author has been frequently urged by many of his friends to have it published, that they might share what he alone enjoyed. He complied with an earne