Iowa in the American Civil War The state of Iowa played a role during the American Civil War in providing food , supplies , and troops for the Union army , though its contributions were overshadowed by larger and more populated eastern states . Prelude to war . Iowa had become the 29th state in the Union on December 28 , 1846 , and the state continued to attract many settlers , both native and foreign - born . Only the extreme northwestern part of the state remained a frontier area . With the development in the 1850s of the Illinois Central and the Chicago and North Western Railway , Iowa ' s fertile fields were linked with Eastern supply depots as the Civil War began . Manufacturing companies in the eastern part of the state , as well as farmers , could readily get their products to the Union army . Civil War . Politics . The Civil War era brought considerable change to Iowa ' s politics . During the 1850s , the state ' s dominant Democratic Party developed serious internal problems , as well as being unsuccessful in getting the national Democratic Party to respond to their local needs . Iowans soon turned to the newly emerging Republican Party . The new party opposed slavery and promoted land ownership , banking , and railroads , and Iowa voted heavily for Abraham Lincoln and other Republican politicians in 1860 and throughout the war , though there was a strong antiwar " Copperhead " movement among recent settlers of Southern origins and also among Roman Catholics . The Democratic party remained particularly in places around the Mississippi River such as Dubuque that had been heavily settled by German immigrants . Military recruitment . As the Civil War erupted , Governor Samuel J . Kirkwood led efforts to raise and equip volunteer troops for the Federal service . The 1st Iowa Infantry was raised for three - months duty from May until August 1861 . It helped secure the strategic Hannibal and St . Joseph Railroad in northern Missouri , then endured a series of forced marches across the state , finally fighting with distinction in the Battle of Wilson ' s Creek , a task rewarded by the official Thanks of Congress , and two Iowans would later be awarded the Medal of Honor for their efforts in the fighting . There were no significant battles in Iowa , but the state sent large supplies of food to the armies and the eastern cities . 76 , 242 Iowa men ( out of a total population of 674 , 913 in 1860 ) served in the military , many in combat units attached to the western armies . 13 , 001 died of wounds or disease ( two - thirds of the total ) . 8 , 500 Iowa men were wounded . Cemeteries throughout the South contain the remains of Iowa soldiers that fell during the war , with the largest concentration at Vicksburg National Cemetery . A number also died in Confederate prison camps , including Andersonville prison . Though the total number of Iowans who served in the military during the Civil War seems small compared to the more heavily populated eastern and southern states , no other state , north or south , had a higher percentage of its male population between the ages of 15 and 40 serve in the military during the course of the war . Iowa contributed 48 regiment s of state infantry , 1 regiment of black infantry ( the 1st Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment ( African Descent ) ) , 9 regiments of cavalry , and 4 artillery batteries . In addition to these Federally mustered troops , the state also raised a number of home guard or militia units , including the Northern Border Brigade and Southern Border Brigade , primarily for defense of the borders . Other local units included the Sioux City Cavalry . Sporadically , Confederate partisan s and bushwhacker s raided Iowa . One such incursion in the fall of 1864 was designed to disrupt the reelection of Abraham Lincoln . Near the Missouri border , many Iowans were pro - slavery , anti - Lincoln Confederate sympathizers , and they provided a safe haven for guerrillas . On October 12 , 1864 , a dozen raiders disguised as Union soldiers terrorized Davis County , where they looted residences and kidnapped and murdered three Iowans near Bloomfield . Postbellum memorialization . The Keokuk National Cemetery was established as a final resting place for bodies from five local U . S . Army hospitals in Keokuk . It holds over 600 Union soldiers , and 8 Confederate prisoners of war . Following the war , a number of veterans organizations , and in particular the Grand Army of the Republic , played a prominent role in providing social functions , financial support , and memorialization of the former soldiers . The G . A . R . provided the funds and impetus for the construction of the Iowa Soldiers ' Home in Marshalltown and other similar homes and hospitals , as well as orphanages .