Robert Padgett enlisted in Battery G, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery on September 16, 1861 at Lane [now Rochelle], Ogle County, Illinois, and was subsequently mustered in to service on October 5, 1861 at Camp Butler in Springfield, Illinois.  He was born in Washington, Pennsylvania around 1842.  At enlistment, he was described as being a farmer, having light hair and complexion, grey eyes, and standing 5 feet 10 1/2 inches tall.

He was absent due to illness and confinement in a Memphis hospital from approximately June 28, 1863 until August 1863.  He was promoted to the rank of corporal on March 15, 1864, and became a sergeant on September 10, 1864.  He returned north for recruiting service on November 14, 1863, where he remained until April 29, 1864.  He reenlisted while recruiting, in March 1864.

When he was mustered out with the battery in September of 1865, he had not been paid since February. The government still owed him $3.42 on his clothing account, and a whopping $240 on his reenlistment bounty.

At this time, very little is known of his life after the war. He appears in the 1870 census living in Ogle County, and in 1880 in Chicago. He died in that city on June 27, 1922.
 

SOURCES: Robert Padgett military records, National Archives; 1870 and 1880 Federal census; Roll of Honor, Deceased Ex Service Men and Women in Illinois. (Springfield, IL, 1929) extracted by Tim Tedrick.

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