The 73rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment gained the nickname in 1862. While marching from Crab Orchard, Kentucky, as the regiment progressed to Nashville, Tennessee, many of the troops would make the first act after making camp for the night to search for a persimmon grove and raid it, even before making coffee or setting tents. This practice also occurred around the Battle of Mill Springs. Colonel Bernard Laiboldt, after seeing this practice occur far too often for his taste, said that with the 73rd Illinois taste for persimmons and the 2nd Missouri's love of rails that he could capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia solely with those two regiments, if a pile of persimmon trees and rails were to be found on Richmond's public square.