I found an Ira W.Blanchard listed in an article entitled "They Went With Wheaton", The Peoria Evening Star, Friday, July 11, 1902, Peoria, Illinois. It lists him as a recruit, d. 3-23-1862, in the 47th Illinois Volunteer Regiment. There is a complete roster of the 47th Ill. Vol. Regiment, as well as the list of the volunteers from the National Blues who were mustered in with the Eighth Illinois and designated Company E (the complete roster). The article includes a little history also about the National Blues, which furnished 57 field, line and staff officers for the Union Army, from the book "Bugle Echoes" by Lloyd Bryner in 1905. The list, including Ira W. Blanchard, was taken from The History of Peoria County, 1880, by Johnson & Co. If anyone is interested in this information it is 11 pages scanned. Kathy Baker