I began work on this web site in early 1995. At that time, I had a few months' experience in authoring web pages and was ready to expand. About the same time, I was transcribing about 300 pages of diary penned during the war by Thomas Simpson of the 102nd Illinois Volunteers. I spent many hours with Thomas' diary and in researching background information, and although I had a lot of experience researching family history, I knew little about researching the Civil War.
This web site developed from a desire to help others locate information about their special Illinois Civil War soldier. With nearly every key stroke I make, I remember Thomas's lines about burying his brother Cunningham during the march through North Carolina. And I think of Thomas, who succumbed to tuberculosis after the war, a disease he may have contracted while in a Union hospital in New York harbor.
This web site is now and always has been a donation of my free time. You won't be subjected to distracting banner advertising and you won't be requested to pay for the information you receive. So I hope you'll understand why I can't make a personal response to most email requests. My goal is to facilitate your research. It's not feasible for me to do research for you. I'm fortunate enough to be an owner of an Internet Service company, so Internet access and space on a web server is donated by my company. I don't spend time adding splashy graphics that slow the transfer of the pages. If you're here, I assume you're looking for content not glitz....
Many visitors have contributed information. These result from a donation of their time well. The best way you can express your appreciation is to donate your time to a project; it doesn't have to be this project and it doesn't even have to a web site. The key is that you are donating your energy and your abilities to something in which you believe! I think you'll find you gain much more than you give!
You can reach me by email at ilcivilwar@outfitters.com. As I said, I can't promise I'll respond, but you are welcome to send me a message.
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This document: http://illinois.outfitters.com/illinois/history/civil/about.html
Last update: Tuesday, 07-Dec-1999 21:46:26 CST