The Rambling Regiment: The 22nd Iowa Infantry

Union Army veteran William F. Fox featured many interesting units in the section titled “300 Fighting Regiments” of his book, Regimental Losses in The American Civil War, 1861-1865. This is the twelfth entry in a series that features the twenty-three infantry regiments from Fox’s list of 300 that served at some point in the trans-Mississippi. There has been no particular order in this series although I have selected the unit that, in my opinion, is the most distinguished of the group in terms of this series: that regiment will be the last one featured.

The featured regiment today had the unusual distinction, along with the 24^th Iowa Infantry, of serving in all three theaters of the war. In the trans-Mississippi the 22^nd Iowa Infantry began their service in Missouri and later campaigned in Louisiana and then along the Texas Gulf Coast. Their most significant combat duty was during the Vicksburg campaign and in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign. For other information on the 22^nd Iowa Infantry consult the sources below:

The Online Home of the 22^nd Iowa Infantry: photographs, artifacts, gravesites, and other information

Burden, Jeffry C. 1992. Into the Breach: The 22nd Iowa at the Railroad Redoubt. Civil War Regiments: A Journal Of The American Civil War 2, no. 1: 19-35.

Jones, Samuel C. Reminiscences of the Twenty-Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry. 1907. Reprint, Iowa City: Camp Pope Publishing, 1993.

Pryce, Samuel D. Vanishing Footprints: The Twenty-Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. Edited by Jeffry C. Burden. Iowa City: Camp Pope Publishing, 2008.

“Lawler's Brigade — Carr's (E. A.) Division--Thirteenth Corps.

（1) Col. William M. Stone;Bvt. Brig.-Gen.

（2) Col. Harvey Graham;Bvt. Brig.-Gen.

companies.		killed and died of wounds.			died of disease, accidents, in Prison, &c.			Total Enrollment.
		Officers.	Men.	Total.	Officers.	Men.	Total.
Field and Staff		1	1	2	1	2	3	16
Company	A	1	4	5		11	11	92
	B	1	10	11		11	11	109
	C		14	14		19	19	107
	D	1	18	19		14	14	108
	E	1	10	11		16	16	105
	F		8	8		11	11	106
	G		8	8		13	13	117
	H		16	16		13	13	103
	I	1	13	14		15	15	99
	K		6	6		10	10	105
Totals		6	108	114	1	135	136	1,067

114 killed == 10.6 per cent.

Total of killed and wounded, 421.

Battles.	K. & M. W.	Battles.	K. & M. W.
Magnolia Hills, Miss.	3	Jackson, Miss.	1
Vicksburg, Miss. (May 22d）	70	Opequon, Va.	22
Vicksburg Trenches, Miss.	9	Cedar Creek, Va.	9

Present, also, at Champion's Hill; Black River Bridge; Iberia; Opelousas; Fort Esperanza; Indianola; Port Lavaca; Bermuda Hundred; Halltown; Berryville; Fisher’s Hill; Woodstock.

Notes.--Organized at Iowa City in August, 1862, leaving the State on September 14th. It was stationed at Rolla, Mo., during the rest of the year, and at other points in Missouri until March, 1863, when it joined Grant's Army, then commencing the Vicksburg campaign. It was assigned to Lawler's (2d) Brigade, Carr's Division, Thirteenth Corps. It was engaged at Port Gibson, the opening battle of the Vicksburg campaign, where it lost 2 killed and 21 wounded; was in reserve at Champion's Hill; was slightly engaged at Black River Bridge, where the brigade carried off the honors of the day.

In the assault on Vicksburg, May 22d, it sustained the greatest loss of any regiment engaged, its casualties amounting to 27 killed, 118 wounded, and 19 missing. The brigade was formed for this assault by column of regiments, with the Twenty-second in advance, the point of attack being a fort on a hill in front of the column. The regiment passed the abattis, gained the ditch and planted its flag on the parapet, where it remained waving for nine hours. The assault having failed at other points, the gallant regiment was obliged to abandon the position which it had fought so hard to gain. At one time during the assault, Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith, of Company I. with a squad of twenty men, climbed the wall of the fort, and, effecting an entrance, engaged in a hand-to-hand fight, from which the sergeant and only one man returned alive.

In August, 1863, the division (Washburne's) moved to New Orleans, and the regiment served in that department during the ensuing twelve months. In July, 1864, the regiment was transferred to the Nineteenth Corps, with which it proceeded to Virginia and fought under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. At the battle of the Opequon it lost 11 killed, 63 wounded, and 31 missing; total, 105. It was then in Molineux's (2d) Brigade, Grover's (2d) Division, Nineteenth Corps” (Fox, 411).

It's Time to Travel!

Each Sunday in The Tulsa World I receive an insert titled USA Weekend; the May 20-22 issue contained a “Summer Family Travel Guide” to Civil War sites written by Ken Burns. Unfortunately, his list of suggested Civil War battlefields to visit was incomplete because he did not include any trans-Mississippi sites. Sadly, many Americans do not realize that there are many Civil War sites west of the Mississippi. I did a bit of searching and found some websites that will help you plan driving tours to Civil War sites west of the Mississippi. Some of the ones are state specific, but I’ve also included two that offer information on sites across the nation.

Arkansas Heritage Trails: maps of several driving tours such as ones for the Little Rock Campaign, the Camden Expedition, the Price Raid route and others are available

The Civil War In Missouri: Gray Ghosts Trail tour map is on this site

Texas Historical Commission: you can download a brochure about Texas in the Civil War; includes a map of Civil War related sites

Civil War Discovery Trail: This site has a nationwide focus with much information about interesting places to visit.

Civil War Traveler: This website is excellent and has much helpful information and links to Civil War sites across the nation.

An Exciting Find!

[First Lieutenant Eli H. Baxter, Confederate States Army], a photo by SMU Central University Libraries on Flickr. Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs Collection.

While surfing the net today, I came across this great wartime image that depicts Eli H. Baxter, Jr. as a member of the "Marshall Guards," a company in the 1st Texas Infantry. In the spring of 1862, however, Baxter became the lieutenant colonel of the 28th Texas Cavalry that was dismounted later in the year. What is exciting to me about this image is that it is the first documented wartime image of a member of the 28th Texas Cavalry that I have ever viewed--true, the photograph shows Baxter as a member of the 1st Texas Infantry, but this is close enough for me!

Baxter entered the United States Military Academy from Georgia in 1853 at the age of 16 and resigned in January 1854 because of academic deficiencies in mathematics and English. Following his resignation, Baxter went on to become an attorney and immigrated to Marshall, Texas, in the spring of 1858. Two years earlier, a young attorney named Theophilus Perry had immigrated to Marshall from North Carolina; he became a captain in the 28th Texas Cavalry and his letters reveal a dislike for Baxter.

For more information about both Baxter and Perry see my books:

Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862-1865. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1998.

Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000.

They First Experienced Combat at Pea Ridge: The 36th Illinois Infantry

This is the continuation of a series highlighting twenty-three Union regiments from William F. Fox’s list of 300 fighting regiments from his Regimental Losses In The American Civil War, 1861-1865 (1898). Each of the twenty-three regiments featured suffered combat losses in the trans-Mississippi during their term of service. What follows below is the entry about the 36^th Illinois Infantry from Fox’s book, a regiment that suffered unusually high casualties during the war.

Here are some other resources about the 36^th Illinois Infantry that may be of interest:

Bennett, Lyman G. and William M. Haigh. History of the Thirty-Sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, During the War of the Rebellion. Aurora, IL: Knickerbocker & Hodder, 1876. [Note: This book has been reprinted.]

State Historical Society of Missouri: The Lyman G. Bennett Collection contains diaries and other papers; some of these were incorporated into the regimental history listed above.

Illinois in the Civil War: contains a roster, a history, and a bibliography relating to the regiment

“Steedman's Brigade — Sheridan's Division--Fourth Corps.

（1) Col. Nicholas Greusel.

（2) Col. Silas Miller (Killed).

（3) Col. Benjamin F. Campbell.

companies.		killed and died of wounds.			died of disease, accidents, in Prison, &c.			Total Enrollment.
		Officers.	Men.	Total.	Officers.	Men.	Total.
Field and Staff		3		3				18
Company	A		23	23	1	10	11	155
	B		13	13		8	8	122
	C	1	25	26		24	24	145
	D	1	22	23		14	14	144
	E	1	20	21		8	8	130
	F	1	21	22		15	15	141
	G		16	16		11	11	142
	H	3	19	22		9	9	124
	I		7	7		16	16	126
	K	1	27	28		12	12	129
Totals		11	193	204	1	127	128	1,376

204 killed == 14.8 per cent.

Total killed and wounded, 739; died in Confederate prisons (previously included), 12.

battles.	K. & M. W.	battles.	K. & M. W.
Pea Ridge, Ark.	10	Dallas, Ga.	6
Chaplin Hills, Ky.	23	Kenesaw Mountain, Ga.	13
Stone’s River, Tenn.	65	Atlanta, Ga.	7
Chickamauga, Ga.	35	Franklin, Tenn.	17
Missionary Ridge, Tenn.	7	Nashville, Tenn.	6
Resaca, Ga.	7	Skirmishes and Picket Duty	3
Adairsville, Ga.	5

Present, also, at Corinth; Hoover’s Gap; Rocky Face Ridge; New Hope Church; Peach Tree Creek; Jonesboro; Lovejoy's Station; Spring Hill.

Notes.--Mustered in, September 23, 1861, proceeding immediately to Rolla, Mo., where it encamped until January 14, 1862. It then moved into Arkansas with Osterhaus's Brigade and fought at Pea Ridge, losing in that, its first action, 4 killed, 37 wounded and 27 missing. It then moved with Asboth's Division to Corinth, after which it encamped during the summer at Rienzi, Miss. In the fall it marched to Louisville, where it was assigned to Sheridan's Division in which it fought at Chaplin Hills, losing 9 killed, 64 wounded, and 4 missing. At Stone’s River, it was in Sill's (1st) Brigade, Sheridan's (3d) Division, McCook's Corps; General Sill was killed in this battle, whereupon Colonel Greusel took the command of the brigade. The regiment lost at Stone’s River, 46 killed, 15 wounded, and 15 missing; total, 212. At Chickamauga the brigade was commanded by General Lytle, the regiment losing in that action, 20 killed, 101 wounded, and 20 missing. In October, 1863, the Thirty-sixth was placed in Steedman's (1st) Brigade, Sheridan's (2d) Division, Fourth Corps, in which command it fought at Missionary Ridge. It served in the Fourth Corps during the remaining two years of its service. General Newton commanded this division on the Atlanta campaign. during which Colonel Miller was killed at Kenesaw Mountain. The brigade, under command of Colonel Emerson Opdycke (125th Ohio), achieved a brilliant success at the battle of Franklin, where it captured ten flags and rendered efficient aid at a critical period of the fight; Lieutenant-Colonel Porter C. Olson was killed in this action. The regiment was mustered out in Texas, in October, 1865” (Fox, p. 363).

The Connection Between the Present and the Past

The May 14-15 issue of The Wall Street Journal contained a book review written by Alexander Rose. Mr. Rose reviewed Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776-1945 by Christopher H. Hamner and Barbarians and Brothers: Anglo-American Warfare, 1500-1865 by Wayne E. Lee. In his favorable review of the books Rose wrote “Since military historiography often reflects current events, historians have begun to broaden the traditional master narrative of American military affairs. In light of the bitter experience of Iraq and Afghanistan, Civil War scholars are spending less time on the big battles in the East and more on the extraordinarily violent guerrilla fighting in the West. There is, as well, a deeper interest—the reasons for which are obvious—in the 19^th-century Army’s efforts at Indian pacification and its ‘nation-building’ operations on the frontier.”

I can’t say that I’ve noticed much movement away from the study of the eastern campaigns, but I have noticed an upswing in recent scholarship relating to guerrilla warfare in the western and trans-Mississippi theaters. Current events can have an impact on the topics that historians choose, and perhaps the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to a greater interest in guerrilla warfare. As a test, I pulled from my bookshelf my copy of Daniel E. Sutherland’s A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role Of Guerrillas In The American Civil War to see if his interest in the topic related at all to our recent conflicts. Dr. Sutherland did not explain how he became interested in his topic but he did write in the preface:

“Finally, a word about historical comparisons. Despite the world’s current—and understandable—interest in what has come to be known as asymmetrical or compound warfare, I have resisted using the nineteenth century to probe the twenty-first century. All guerrilla wars bear similarities, but time, geography, and circumstances cannot disguise their frequent differences. Insights and lessons may doubtless be drawn from the 1860s, but any systematic comparison to the present must necessarily diminish the message I want to convey” (p. xii-xiii).

Recent Journal Articles of Interest

The “press of business” has kept me from my blog, but hopefully I’m back now to a regular posting schedule.

Last week, I received the latest issue of my favorite scholarly journal: The Journal of Southern History. If you’re not familiar with it, JSH is the scholarly publication of the Southern Historical Association. The May issue contains “Southern History in Periodicals, 2010: A Selected Bibliography.” Since I am a geeky history professor I enjoy reading through the list of articles and while perusing I noticed several items that relate to the trans-Mississippi. For those who might be interested the articles are:

Bartek, James M. “’The More of Them Are Killed the Better’”: Racial Identity and Noncombatant Immunity in Civil War New Mexico.” New Mexico Historical Review, v. 85, no. 4, pp. 323-348.

Bremer, Jeff. "Mothers of Commerce: Antebellum Missouri Women and the Family Farm." Missouri Historical Review. v. 104, July, pp. 187-197.

Christ, Mark K. “’We Were Badly Whiped’”: A Confederate Account of the Battle of Helena, July 4, 1863. Arkansas Historical Quarterly, v. 69, Spring, 44-53.

Ely, Glen Sample. “What to Do About Texas? Texas and the Department of New Mexico in the Civil War.” New Mexico Historical Review, v. 85, no. 4, pp. 375-408.

Grear, Charles D. “The Impact of Local Attachments: Why Texans Fought in New Mexico During the Civil War. New Mexico Historical Review, v. 85, no. 4, pp. 409-429.

Lang, Andrew F. “The Bass Greys: An Economic, Social, and Demographic Profile of Company D, Seventh Texas Infantry.” East Texas Historical Journal, v. 48, Winter, 72-94.

Robertson, Brian K. “Men Who Would Die by the Stars and Stripes: A Socioeconomic Examination of the 2^nd Arkansas Cavalry (US).” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, v. 69, Summer, 117-139.

Smith, Michael Thomas. “’For the Love of Cotton’: Nathaniel P. Banks, Union Strategy, and the Red River Campaign.” Louisiana History. V. 51, Winter, pp. 5-26.

Townsend, Mary B. “The Third Iowa Cavalry in Sterling Price’s 1864 Missouri Raid.” Missouri Historical Review. v. 105, Oct., pp. 48-53.

The 1st Kansas Infantry

This is the continuation of a series highlighting twenty-three Union regiments from William F. Fox’s list of 300 fighting regiments from his Regimental Losses In The American Civil War, 1861-1865 (1898). Each of the twenty-three regiments featured suffered combat losses in the trans-Mississippi during their term of service. What follows below is the entry about the 1^st Kansas Infantry from Fox’s book, a regiment that served almost for the entire war in the trans-Mississippi. It suffered 106 killed at the battle of Wilson’s Creek, the fifth highest number of killed in a single battle by a Union infantry regiment during the war (Fox, p. 17). Ranked right behind it is the 1^st Missouri Infantry that had 103 killed at the same battle. After participating in the battle of Wilson’s Creek, the 1^st Kansas Infantry saw duty primarily in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Here are some other resources about the 1^st Kansas Infantry that may be of interest:

Hatcher, Richard W., III and William Garrett Piston, eds. Kansans at Wilson’s Creek: Soldiers’ Letters from the Campaign For Southwest Missouri. Studies of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. Springfield, MO: Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation, 1993. This slim volume reproduces letters from soldiers of the 1^st Kansas Infantry and the 2^nd Kansas Infantry that were published in wartime newspapers.

Kate Newland Collection, Kansas State Historical Society: digitized collection includes letters written by Lewis Stafford of Company E to Kate Newland

Museum of the Kansas National Guard: a short history of the 1^st Kansas Infantry appears on this website

“Reid's Brigade — McArthur's Division--Seventeenth Corps.

（1) Col. George W. Deitzler;Brig.-Gen.

（2) Col. William Y. Roberts.

companies.		killed and died of wounds.			died of disease, accidents, in Prison, &c.			Total Enrollment.
		Officers.	Men.	Total.	Officers.	Men.	Total.
Field and Staff								16
Company	A		5	5		11	11	104
	B	1	2	3	1	13	14	115
	C		20	20		14	14	141
	D	1	9	10		15	15	137
	E		18	18	2	12	14	146
	F	1	14	15		14	14	121
	G		7	7		12	12	127
	H	1	23	24		10	10	144
	I	1	15	16		13	13	129
	K	2	7	9		8	8	128
Totals		7	120	127	3	122	125	1,308

Total of killed and wounded, 339.

battles.	K. & M. W.	battles.	K. & M. W.
Wilson’s Creek, Mo.	106	Atchafalaya, La.	1
Tuscumbia Mountain, Miss.	2	Vicksburg, Miss. (1864）	1
Old River, La.	1	Columbia, Ark.	2
Bayou Macon, La.	3	Guerrillas	2
Lake Providence, La.	3	Rebel Prison Guard	1
Cross Bayou, La.	1	Place unknown	3
Alexandria, La.	1

Present, also, at Dug Springs, Mo.; Trenton, Tenn.; Tallahatchie, Miss.; Big Black River, Miss.; Yazoo City, Miss.

Notes.--Organized at Leavenworth in May, 1861, and in June, was ordered into Missouri where it joined General Lyon's forces. It fought at Wilson’s Creek, August 10, 1861, a desperate battle in which General Lyon was killed, and in which the regiment suffered an unusual loss, its casualties amounting to 77 killed, 187 wounded, and 20 missing; a total of 284, out of 644 engaged; four line officers were killed, and Colonel Deitzler was severely wounded. General Sturgis, after having passed through many of the bloodiest battles of the war, once remarked that “for downright, hard, persistent fighting, Wilson’s Creek beat them all.” After this battle the regiment was stationed in Missouri until May, 1862, when it was ordered to Corinth. The summer of 1862 was spent in opening and guarding the Mobile & Ohio R. R. In January, 1863, it moved to Young’s Point, opposite Vicksburg, where the regiment was mounted by order of General Grant. It served as mounted infantry during the ensuing eighteen months, including the siege of Vicksburg, after which it joined the expedition to Natchez. During this time it was engaged, almost continuously, on scouting and outpost duty. In October, 1863, it returned to Vicksburg, and was stationed at Black River Bridge, twelve miles south of the city, where it went into winter quarters. The spring of 1864 was also passed in the vicinity of Vicksburg. On June 1, 1864, the regiment, excepting two companies of reenlisted men and recruits, embarked on transports for home, its term of service having expired. While passing Columbia, Ark., the steamer was fired on by an eight-gun battery, killing two of the men. The two companies remaining in the field were continued in service until August 30, 1865, when they were mustered out” (Fox, p. 417).