A peculiar interest attaches itself to the Twenty-first, because it was Grant's old regiment. The men in that command little thought that the stranger assigned to them as their colonel was destined to become the grandest figure in the war. The recruits rendezvoused at Mattoon, where they were mustered into the State service, May 15, 1861, by "Captain" Grant, and on the 24th of June, the regiment was mustered into the United States service by Captain Pitcher, U.S.A., with U. S. Grant as colonel. Grant continued in command of his regiment until the 7th of August, when he was promoted, and entered on the career which was to culminate in grandeur at Appomattox. The regiment served in Missouri until May, 1862, and then it joined Buell's Army. It was engaged at the battle of Perryville, Ky., but with only a slight loss in wounded. At Stone's River, it participated in the hardest of the fighting, losing in that battle, and in the preliminary skirmish at Knob Gap, 57 killed, 187 wounded and 59 missing; total 303. The regiment was then in Carlin's (2d) Brigade, Davis's (1st) Division, McCook's Corps, and sustained the heaviest loss of any regiment on that field. Four color-bearers were shot down, but the colors were carried safely through the fight. At Chickamauga it lost 22 killed, 70 wounded, and 146 captured or missing; Colonel Alexander, an officer of rare merit, was killed there. After this battle the Twenty-first was assigned to Cruft's (1st) Brigade, Stanley's (1st) Division, Fourth Corps. The regiment reënlisted in March, 1864, upon which it returned to Illinois on a veteran furlough. It rejoined the Army while at the front, near Kenesaw Mountain, the men who did not reenlist having been attached during the meanwhile to the One Hundred and First Ohio. After participating in the Atlanta and Nashville campaigns of 1864, it accompanied its corps to Texas, where it was mustered out in December, 1865.