The 117th Illinois Infantry was organized at Camp Butler in Springfield, Illinois and mustered in for three years service on September 19, 1862 under the command of Colonel Risdon M. Moore.
1st Brigade, 5th Division, District of Memphis, XVI Corps, to January 1864.
3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Detachment Army of the Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to February 1865.
The 117th Illinois Infantry mustered out of service August 5, 1865.
Moved to Helena, Arkansas, July 5, and returned to Memphis.
Grierson's Bridge and near Moscow and Lafayette December 27.
Governor Moore's Plantation and Bayou Roberts May 3–7 and 11.
Camargo's Cross Roads, near Harrisburg, July 13.
Moved to Clifton, Tennessee, and Eastport, Mississippi, and duty there until February 1865.
Assault and capture of Fort Blakely April 9.
March to Montgomery April 13–25, and duty there until August.