| Born in Illinois
on 22 Aug 1826, the son of Horace and Emma,
Oliver C. Look was a resident of Collinsville and
prior to the war, made his living as a sadler. On
15 May 1856, he married Katherine J. Budle in St.
Clair Co., Illinois but the couple continued to
reside in Collinsville where they raised their
children: Arthur, Horace, Emma and Maria. He enlisted as a Private on
19 July 1862 with Company F, 117th Infantry
Regiment Illinois and was promoted to a corporal
at the time he was mustered out on 05 August 1865
at Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois.
His regiment's
first participation in actual hostilities was in
December of 1863, when it was sent after Forrest
in western Tennessee, where it lost three men who
were killed in a skirmish at LaFayette. On Feb.
5, 1864, it was again engaged in a skirmish,
losing 2 killed and 5 wounded. On the Red River
expedition it assisted in the capture of Fort De
Russy and was engaged in the battle of Pleasant
Hill. On April 14, it was sent to the relief of
the gunboats and transports at Campti, Louisana,
being engaged at Cloutierville, Cane river, Bayou
Rapides, Moore's Plantation and Bayou Robert. It
then continued on the return march to the
Mississippi river, skirmishing daily.
 The regiment participated
in the battle of Yellow Bayou, arrived at the
Mississippi river on May 20, and at Vicksburg on
the 27th and took part in driving Marmaduke from
Lake Chicot and Columbia, Arkansas. They arrived
at Memphis on June 10 and were engaged at Tupelo
and at Old Town creek in July, at Hurricane creek
in August, and returned to Memphis the end of the
month.
They were engaged
at Franklin, and participated in the battle at
Nashville, capturing a Confederate battery on the
first day of the fight and turning the guns upon
the retreating enemy. The 117th then moved south
and was engaged at Spanish Fort from March 27
until April 2, and at Fort Blakely until the 9th,
taking part in :its capture. It then marched to
Montgomery, and returned to Camp Butler where
Corporal Look was mustered out.
After the war, he
returned to his profession of sadler and harness
maker. In relation to other Collinsville
veterans, in 1880, he was listed as living next
door to veteran Nineveh McKeen (who received the
Congressional Medal of Honor) on Church Street in
Collinsville.
Oliver was also
the first President of the Home Building
Association of Collinsville (now known as Home
Federal), which was chartered in 1887. He passed
away on 19 Dec 1900 and was laid to rest in
Glenwood Cemetery on the 23rd of December.
Note:
Photo of Oliver C. Look contributed by Joel S.
Russell.
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