# History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/2/18

THE NINETEENTH IOWA INFANTRY
THE opening days of July, 1862, brought a feeling of despair to thousands of patriotic people in the North. The great Union Army of the Potomac organized, equipped and drilled under the personal supervision of General George B. McClellan, from which so much had been expected, after seven days of fierce battles near Richmond had been defeated, and by direction of its commander had retreated to the protection of the gunboats. President Lincoln, however, undismayed by the great disaster, promptly issued a call on the 2d of July for 300, 000 more volunteers to reinforce the ranks of the Union armies. Under this proclamation Iowa raised twenty-two additional regiments. The first of these was the Nineteenth, which was composed of companies raised in the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Jefferson, Henry, Louisa and Washington. The regiment numbered nine hundred eighty-two officers and privates, the first field officers being Colonel Benjamin Crabb, Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel McFarland, Major Daniel Kent. The Nineteenth went into camp at Keokuk in August, where it remained about two weeks. Arriving at St. Louis on the 4th of September it was soon after attached to a brigade commanded by General F. J. Herron, which was sent to Springfield. About the middle of October the Army of the Frontier was organized, and the Nineteenth was attached to the Third Division under the same General. On the 17th began a campaign of hard marching, passing the battle-fields of Pea Ridge and White River, a distance of one hundred miles, over a rough mountain region, in ​three days and nights. Returning to Camp Curtis, twelve miles south of Springfield, the regiment enjoyed a rest of two weeks, when it was ordered to join the army of General Blunt just before
THE BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE
BATTLE FIELD OF PRAIRIE GROVE
MAJOR-GENERAL FRANCIS J. HERRON
The Nineteenth Iowa remained in the vicinity of the battle-field until the close of the year. For several months the regiment was employed in southwestern Missouri, marching to various places threatened by the enemy, guarding trains and property. In May it was for a time at Salem, attached to the command of General Thomas Ewing. Early in June it was sent to reënforce General Grant’s army before Vicksburg. Here it remained, participating in the various duties devolving upon the army of investment, until the surrender of that stronghold. On the 4th of July the regiment was a part of the conquering army that marched triumphantly into the captured city of Vicksburg. A week later it was sent with General Herron on an expedition to Yazoo City, participating in the hard marches of that midsummer campaign, returning to Vicksburg on the 21st of July. The regiment was next sent with the army that moved by transports down the river to Port Hudson, where it suffered greatly from sickness, of which many died. In August the command continued down the river to Carrollton, near New Orleans, and ​camped in a beautiful grove on dry and healthy ground, where for three weeks the men regained spirits and vigor. Early in September General Herron was sent with his command up the river to disperse parties of the enemy who were attempting to blockade the Mississippi near the mouth of Red River. The army first landed at Morganza and made a fortified camp, sending out scouting parties in various directions. Constant skirmishes were taking place between small forces of the two armies.
On the 12th of September Lieutenant-Colonel Leake of the Twentieth, was sent seven miles to Stirling Farm in command of a large part of the Nineteenth Iowa, the Twenty-sixth Indiana and two pieces of artillery. His command had frequent skirmishes with the enemy. On the 29th a large force suddenly came upon his command, making a fierce attack in front, flank and rear. This attack was met with a sharp fire. But soon rallying in vastly superior numbers the enemy surrounded the small Union force and opened a deadly fire at close quarters. Seeing no hope of escape, to avoid the useless sacrifice of the lives of his brave soldiers, Colonel Leake at last surrendered. Ten members of the Nineteenth were killed and twenty-four wounded in the fight. The prisoners were taken to Texas, and it was nearly a year before they were exchanged. The remainder of the regiment was now in command of Captain William Allen. About two-thirds of the members had fortunately been absent owing to sickness, and the captured numbered but two hundred thirty-one, two of whom were mortally wounded. The enemy lost fifty killed and many wounded. The next service of the Nineteenth was under General Banks in an expedition into Texas. At Brownsville it formed a part of the garrison under command of Colonel Dye, where it remained until July, 1864. Returning to New Orleans on the 7th of August one hundred eighty of those captured at ​Stirling Farm, who had been exchanged, joined the regiment. It was a joyful meeting of comrades long separated. Many had died during the imprisonment, and Captain William Adams died from its effects soon after reaching New Orleans.
On the 14th of August the regiment embarked for Pensacola, Florida, where it remained scouting in the adjacent country until the 6th of December, when it was sent to Fort Gaines in Alabama, and from there into Mississippi, where it had frequent skirmishes with the enemy. In January, 1865, the Nineteenth was back at Fort Gaines, and took a conspicuous part in the brilliant campaign of marches, siege and engagements which resulted in the capture of Mobile. The regiment was in the assault on the Spanish Fort where the Eighth Iowa covered itself with glory. In this battle the Nineteenth lost four killed and seventeen wounded. The fall of Mobile was substantially the last battle of the war and in July the Nineteenth Iowa was there mustered out of service. Returning to Davenport it was disbanded the last of the month, being then under command of Colonel John Bruce.
THE TWENTIETH IOWA INFANTRY
This was one of the first regiments raised in Iowa under the call for 300,000 volunteers issued in July, 1862, and was formed of ten companies raised in Scott and Linn, each of these counties furnishing five companies. They were rendezvoused at Clinton, where the organization of the regiment numbering nine hundred two men, was completed on the 20th of August. Captain William McE. Dye, who had served in the regular army, was commissioned colonel; J. B. Leake, lieutenant-colonel; William G. Thompson, major; C. S. Lake, adjutant. Leake and Thompson had been prominent members of the Legislature. A week after organization the regiment went to Camp Herron at Davenport, where it remained a few days before ​embarking for the seat of war. On the 8th of September arriving at St. Louis it remained in Benton Barracks about a week, when it was sent to Springfield under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Leake, Colonel Dye being in command of a brigade consisting of the Twentieth Iowa, Thirty-seventh Illinois, First Iowa Cavalry and a section of the First Missouri Light Artillery. This brigade was assigned to the division under command of General Totten and for two months was kept moving through the rough country of southwest Missouri and western Arkansas.
During the months of October and November the Twentieth marched more than five hundred miles over bad roads, encountering cold rains, mud and swollen streams, which had to be forded. The baggage trains and artillery were often mired in the water-soaked roads, while the soldiers in drenching rains, shivering in their wet clothing, waited for them for hours unsheltered. The sufferings were so great that hundreds were prostrated by sickness until the hospitals were overflowing and deaths were frequent. At no time during the entire term of service did the Twentieth regiment endure more wretched discomfort than during these first two months of hard marching unrelieved by any of the exhilaration of a conflict with the enemy. To the common soldiers it seemed like a useless, fruitless and even a cruel campaign as they could see no results. But General Curtis, who commanded the department and was more competent to judge of its effects, held a different opinion. Hard marches sometimes accomplished more far-reaching results in a comprehensive campaign than a brilliant battle. Toward the last of November the Second Division, in which was the Twentieth regiment, was back in Camp Lyon near Springfield, where it remained about two weeks. On the evening of December 3d a courier arrived from General Blunt calling for reënforcements as he was about to be attacked by a largely superior army. Early the next morning the Second Division was on the road and made the march of one hundred ten miles in ​three days, reaching the field just in time to take a glorious part in the Battle of Prairie Grove. An account of the gallant service of the Twentieth Regiment has already been given in the description of this battle found in the history of the Nineteenth Regiment. The loss in that conflict was eight killed and thirty-nine wounded out of two hundred seventy who were in the engagement. After the battle the regiment went into camp on the field, remaining until near the last of December resting from its arduous services of the past three months.
The defeat of the Confederate army at Prairie Grove was most beneficial to the Union cause in Missouri, saving that State from pillage, waste and the horrors which an invading army inflict upon the loyal people along its line of march. The army of the Confederates, numbering more than 20,000 at the time of the battle, was now defeated, demoralized and dispersed over the southwest in small bands. It was two years before another large army of Confederates could be mustered in that region north of the Arkansas line.
MAJOR WM. G. THOMPSON, Member of Congress, 1881-83
* ↑ The loss of the regiment in this charge was forty-seven men. Major Thompson was among the wounded.
* ↑ The Nineteenth Regiment lost forty-five killed and one hundred and fifty-five wounded in this battle. Among the killed were Lieutenants L. M. Smith and Thomas Johnston.
* ↑ Among the killed were Lieutenants Silas Kent and J. W. Roberts, while Captain Andrew Taylor and Lieutenants L. M. Woods and Thomas A. Robb were wounded.
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