Henry Harrison Eby

Born in 1841, he is best known for Observations of an Illinois Boy in Battle, Camp and Prisons—1861 to 1865, a firsthand memoir of his service in the American Civil War. In the book, he identifies himself as a member of Company C of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry and explains that his narrative was drawn from letters he wrote during the war, along with memoranda and later recollections.

The memoir was published in Mendota, Illinois, by the author in 1910. That background helps explain the book’s tone: it feels personal rather than literary, with a steady, readable style that focuses on lived experience instead of grand speeches. Readers looking for an on-the-ground soldier’s view of campaigns, hardships, and prison life will find that immediacy throughout his work.

Reliable biographical details about his life beyond the book are limited in the sources I could confirm here. Based on the available records, he lived from 1841 to 1932 and is remembered chiefly through this Civil War narrative, which has continued to circulate through library and public-domain editions.