The 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry

Civil War Notebook

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 08:00 AM PST

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The Eighteenth Iowa Infantry

  This regiment was made up of companies raised largely in the counties of Lucas, Clarke, Monroe, Keokuk, Iowa, Mahaska, Muscatine, Louisa, Linn, Wapello, Appanoose, Marion, Warren, Polk, Fayette, Benton, Clinton and Washington. It was mustered into the service early in August, 1862, with John Edwards, colonel; Thos. F. Cook, lieutenant-colonel, and Hugh J. Campbell, major, and numbered 875 men. It was sent to southwest Missouri and joined General Schofield's army at Springfield. Here it did garrison duty for a long time, and in January, 1863, took part in the defense of that city against the Confederate army, under General Marmaduke. This general, with an army of over 4,000 men, well supplied with artillery, moved against Springfield which was then held by General Brown with Missouri militia, some invalid soldiers in hospital and the Eighteenth Iowa Volunteers, in all, about 1,500 men. There were some unfinished forts about the city, but not in condition to aid much in the defense. When the battle opened on the morning of January 8th, five companies of the Eighteenth regiment were absent on outpost duty. The Missouri militia did excellent service, charging on the right and center of the advancing army. Captain Landis' battery supported by three companies of the Eighteenth Iowa, advanced on the enemy, but a charge in overwhelming numbers captured his guns, and the rebel army continued to advance. General Brown was severely wounded and the command devolved on Colonel Crabb. When the militia were driven back by superior numbers at about 4 o'clock, the five companies of the Eighteenth came in from their outpost and, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Cook, charged on the rebel center, compelling it to give way. When night came on we still held the city and in the morning of the 9th our troops were ready to renew the battle, but the enemy had retreated with a loss of more than 200 men. Our loss was about the same. The Eighteenth remained at Springfield a long time after this battle, holding southwest Missouri from General Shelby's rebel army and driving it out of the state. In October the Eighteenth was stationed at Fort Smith. In March, 1864, it joined General Thayer and marched to unite with General Steele's army moving towards Shreveport, La., to co-operate with General Banks. But when that general was defeated at Mansfield Steele marched towards Camden, and at Moscow was attacked by a rebel army. Colonel Edwards commanded a brigade and had quite a lively fight in which the Eighteenth lost a few men. In guarding a forage train near Poison Springs, the Eighteenth and First Kansas had a severe battle in which the Iowa regiment fought bravely and lost seventy-seven men. The regiment was mustered out late in the summer of 1865.

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  SOURCE, Benjamin F. Gue, Biographies And Portraits Of The Progressive Men Of Iowa, Volume 1, p. 103

The 17th Iowa Volunteer Infantry

Civil War Notebook

Posted 15 November 2011 08:00 AM PST

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The Seventeenth Iowa Volunteers

  The companies making up this regiment were raised chiefly in the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Des Moines, Wapello, Decatur, Polk, Jefferson, Washington, Appanoose, Marion, Dallas and Warren. It was mustered into the service on the 16th of April, 1862, with 935 men. Its first field officers were John W. Rankin, colonel: David B. Hillis, lieutenant-colonel and Samuel M. Wise, major. It was sent to join General Halleck's army at Corinth, in May, and joined in the pursuit of the confederate army. At the battle of Iuka the regiment was engaged and thrown into confusion, for which it was censured by General Rosecrans, as many believe, unjustly. Colonel Rankin resigned on the 3d of September.

  On the 3d and 4th of October was fought the battle of Corinth, in which the Seventeenth took an active part, and fought with great bravery. Smarting under the unjust censure cast upon them at Iuka, the men went into this battle with a determination to wipe out the stigma, which they did most effectually. At a crisis of the battle, when the rebels had forced their way into Corinth, the Seventeenth made a splendid charge upon the advancing column and after a sharp conflict drove it back in confusion.

  After the victory was won, General Sullivan, commanding the brigade in which the Seventeenth Iowa served, wrote to Governor Kirkwood as follows: "I have the honor to present to you the colors of the Fortieth Mississippi regiment, captured by the Seventeenth Iowa on the battlefield of Corinth, in a gallant charge on the advancing columns of the enemy, which the Seventeenth alone met, broke and pursued. I have never led braver men into action than the soldiers of the Seventeenth proved themselves in the desperate and bloody battle of Corinth." The colors were captured by Corporal John King, of Company G, from Marion county.

  General Rosecrans, in a general order, said: "The Seventeenth Iowa infantry by its gallantry on the battlefield of Corinth, charging the enemy and capturing the flag of the Fortieth Mississippi, has amply atoned for its misfortune at Iuka, and stands among the honored regiments of this army. Long may they wear with unceasing brightness the honors they have won."

  The loss of the regiment on the field of Corinth was twenty-five. Ingersoll says: "The Seventeenth inflicted as much damage upon the enemy as any regiment at Corinth, and received less damage in return." Lieutenant-Colonel Hillis was now promoted to colonel of the regiment, and Capt. Clark R. Wever to lieutenant-colonel. For several months the Seventeenth was employed in Tennessee and Mississippi, joining General McPherson's army in February, 1863. It shared in the hard marches, severe battles and glorious victories of Grant's Vicksburg campaign. At Jackson and Champion Hill it fought bravely and lost heavily. Colonel Hillis had resigned in. May and Lieutenant-Colonel Wever was now colonel, Major Archer, lieutenant-colonel, and Capt. John F. Walden, of Company F, was major of the regiment.

  The Seventeenth participated in the Chatanooga campaign and fought bravely at Lookout Mountain, where it lost fifty-seven men. In April, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted as veterans to the number of 479. In July, the regiment occupied Tilton. Two companies were captured near Dalton after exhausting their ammunition in a brave defense. On the 13^th of October the garrison at Tilton was assailed by overwhelming numbers. Lieutenant-Colonel Archer made a heroic defense until his blockhouse was rendered untenable by artillery, when he was forced to surrender. Colonel Wever was in command of a brigade at Resaca when he was attacked by Hood’s army. He had but about seven hundred men and four pieces of light artillery. He defended the post with great energy all day, and at night was reinforced by 500 cavalry. Colonel Wever spent the night strengthening his position, and early in the morning the attack was renewed; but further reinforcements came, and General Hood finally retreated as General Sherman’s army came in sight. Colonel Wever received warm commendations from Sherman and Howard for his brave and successful defense. When the Seventeenth was captured at Tilton, Captain Horner and some forty men of the regiment only remained in the service, and were disbanded in August, 1865.

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SOURCE, Benjamin F. Gue, Biographies And Portraits Of The Progressive Men Of Iowa, Volume 1, p. 102

Love amid the Turmoil -- A Good Read!

Love amid the Turmoil

The Civil War Letters of William and Mary Vermilion

Edited by Donald C. Elder III

[Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2003]

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  William Vermilion (1830-1894) served as a captain in Company F of the 36th Iowa Infantry from October 1862 until September 1865. Although he was a physician in south central Iowa [in Iconium, Appanoose County] at the start of the war, after it ended he became a noted lawyer; he was also a state senator from 1869 to 1872. Mary Vermilion (1831-1883) was a schoolteacher who grew up in Indiana; she and William married in 1858. In this volume historian Donald Elder provides a careful selection from the hundred of supportive, informative, and heart-warming letters they wrote each other during the war.  

  Donald Elder is professor of history and chair of the department at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

  "What a find! This remarkable cache of Civil War letters reveals a companionate marriage of two literate, caring individuals who explore the meaning of their love and the meaning of the war that has separated them. Well illustrated and well documented, the book's pages take the reader from honesty and sensitivity to disappointment and despair. Elder proves that historical documents can be more compelling than fiction."

  --Glenda Riley, Alexander M. Bracken Professor, Ball State University

  "[These letters] make up the most complete husband-wife collection from the Civil War--most wives' letters were lost in the course of marches and battles."

  --Washington Post Magazine 

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  The above material appears on the back cover of Love amid the Turmoil.

Collection of Civil War Drawings

The Cavalry Forge By Edwin Forbes, 1839-1895

  The Library of Congress has released on their website the Morgan Collection of Civil War Drawings containing 1600+ drawings made during the civil war.  It is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in American and Civil War history. 

Rinker War Time Letter Was Discovered

Had Been in Old Building at Livingston

and Was from O. C. Rinker to His Wife

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A very interesting letter came to light in tearing down the old land mark at Livingston known as the old red house. John Ackley has sent in to Purley Rinker a letter he found there which he felt sure would be of interest to the Rinker family, coming as it did from O. C. Rinker while he was in the service at Ft. Smith, Ark. in 1863. Though 52 years old the letter is well preserved. It is as follows:

Ft. Smith, Ark., Nov. 29th, 1863.

Dear Wife:

Again I seat myself to try to get a letter to you. Do not think that I have not written to you for I have written at every opportunity I have had to send you letters. The reason that you do not get them I cannot tell.

I am happy to say that my health is good, also the health of Frank and George [his brothers]. The health of the entire company is very good. W. W. Norwood has been very sick but he is recovering as fast as can be expected. I was glad to hear that all were well and also of the recovery of father. I received five letters from you yesterday, it being the first time that I heard from you since you left Nebraska. The latest dated one bore the date of Oct. 21st. This came in a letter from Captain Harvey.

It is altogether a mistake about the officers having an opportunity to send letters and the men not. They all have the same chance. It is true that there is or was some men that traveled from Ft. Gibson to Ft. Scott, but they did not carry any mail either for officers or men. They carried nothing but official papers. But thank the Lord we have now got to where there is a mail line and hope we will not leave it for about eight months. We arrived here yesterday and thank the Lord we have got to see some corn once more. Our horses are very thin, that is the most of them. I have one that is in good order. Frank's looks terrible. George has lost his horse. He was stolen from him while he was grazing him in the cane brake, but I think that he can get another one without costing him very much.

We are now under General McNeal. He has superceded Blunt. As for my self I am pleased with the exchange. McNeal is an Iowa man. There are a good many troops in the place and vicinity. I understand that there are about thirty thousand men. We are expecting to have a fight or a footrace pretty soon with the forces of Cooper and Price. They are in about forty miles of here and there is a portion of our cavalry that is annoying them all the time. As for our regiment we cannot have any of that sport, as our stock is so reduced that it would not be safe. But if we get to feed them corn for a month then the old Sixth can give them all trouble.

We arrived here yesterday. The Iowa 18th is here and as for the other troops I cannot tell as I have not learned yet. I saw Captain Mallory this morning. He is in the 18th.

You spoke in one of your letters concerning the repairing of a portion of our fence. Say to father that he knows what is better than I do, and if the fence needs repairing, have it done, that is if he can pay it with the rent from the place. I do not want to pay the money out for it just now unless he cannot get it done without it. I want you to take as good care of yourself as you can and I will try and do the same. Concerning us coming back to the border, there is strong talk of us going back to the boarder of Arkansas and Missouri. Ewing is calling for the 6th and I think he will eventually get us. If we do come there then you may look for me to come home, but I cannot come from here. The distance is too great and the road is too dangerous.

Ever remaining your true husband, O. C. Rinker to his wife.

Direct your letters to Springfield, Mo., instead of Ft. Scot.

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The editor appreciates the contribution of this unidentified newspaper clipping to The Jerome Journal by Geraldine Rinker of Augusta, Georgia.

Rebels in Iowa

Wisconsin Patriot - 27 July 1861

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  Burlington, Iowa, July 18 -- The Hawkeye says a messenger arrived at Eddyville yesterday, bring news that 300 Rebel cavalry had invaded Appanoose county, Iowa.

  They are reported to have burned the towns of Milan, Mo., and Unionville, Iowa.  It was feared they would also burn Centerville, county seat of Appanoose county.

  The people are gathering up everything in the shape of arms.

The Battle of Massard Prairie - Casualties

  Dale Cox [with William Cox, Editor]  recently published a new history The Battle of Massard Prairie: The 1864 Confederate Attacks on Fort Smith, Arkansas [Bascom, FL: William Cox, Publisher, 2008].

  While assembling the book, Dale Cox compiled a list of the casualties suffered by the Sixth Kansas Cavalry during the battle of Massard Prairie and posted them, 16 May 2008, on the Kansas in the Civil War Message Board.  For Company B in which many Appanoose County volunteers served, he identified the following casualties:
  Killed:  Corp. Thomas L. McCauley, John Parker and Joshua B. Zents.

  Mortally Wounded:  George W. Rinker and Benjamin C. Wallace.

  Wounded:  1st Lt. Jacob Morehead, Sgt. James H. Asher, Corp. Calvin R. Jackson, Antoine Furtmire, Marion Hinton, Edwin Jackson, David P. McDonald and Edwin Parker.

  Captured:  Sgt. Noah Scott, Sgt. Addison Pendergast, Sgt. John W. Miller, Sgt. Cyrus M. Teater, Corp. Peter Sidles, Corp. David P. McDonald, Corp. Oliver C. Rinker, Corp. Thomas C. Harrison, David H. Allen, Sylvester Buck, Cyrus Boston, Thomas Hamlin, Alexander Jackson, Edward T. Jennings, Adam Kiser, Enoch Manning, William J. Manning, George R. Root, Elmore Strickland, John O. Wood, David S. Clark, John Cox, Benjamin F. Davis, Thomas Haslett, Jefferson Kenedy, John O. Wood, Donald McDonald, Edward R. Arrison, Samuel J. Bellvail, Arthur Gillman, John W. Goldsberry, Andrew Humphrey, William T. Hercules, George McGuire, Allison W. Orill, Matthew Paite, David Paite, George W. Ross and Josiah Roy. 

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry

  An excerpt from The Soldiers of Kansas:  The Sixth Kansas Cavalry and its Commander -- an address by Charles Estabrook Cory reprinted from Collections Kansas Historical Society, Volume XI, 1909-1910.  Downloaded from the Internet Archive.  Many Appanoose County, Iowa, men served in Company B of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry.

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  The Sixth Kansas cavalry was a somewhat peculiar organization; not entirely unique for a Western regiment, but different from most regiments of the United States army.  For instance, a good proportion of the men rode their own horses.  A part of the time half of them wore citizen's clothing.  They had no other, and could get no other.  They were not only most remarkable fighters, but they were also the finest foragers that ever went to war since the days of vandals.  That is saying a  good deal, because the Western armies in the Civil War on both sides scarcely needed a commissary train, and the words "conscience" and "property rights" were blotted out of their dictionary.  In the graphic words of a soldier who talked to me the other day, not about the Sixth Kansas cavalry, however, "we had no commissary, and we took no prisoners."

  The situation in which the Sixth Kansas was thrown was largely influential in making up the character of its service, and the character of its men as soldiers.  The border of Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory and Arkansas, from Kansas City to Fort Gibson, say 300 to 350 miles, was a seething, hissing caldron.   Noble L. Prentis called this region "Battle Corners."  He was tasteful in the selection of the word.

  What was supposed to be the flower of the army, on both sides, was in the East.  They did more bloody fighting, but here was the real punishment.  The Sixth was a cavalry regiment.  Its companies could move.  They could go to a place.  Two or three would be sent in one direction, a couple of companies in another direction, and possibly another portion in still another direction, to quite local disturbances.  They were doing continuous field police duty.

  Its soldiers were what my friend Joe Ausman calls "roughnecks."  My guess is that not half a dozen men in the regiment would at that time have known what a nightshirt was for if they had seen one.  But they could live like princes on the lee side of a haystack on a winter night, or they could ride all night, over all sorts of roads, or no roads at all, and go into a skirmish in the morning like a bridegroom goes to his wedding.  The hard frontier life had made them men of iron.  They were not much to look at.  They did not wear collars and cuffs and polished shoes at inspection, but they did business.

  Then, their physical endurance!  Nearly every one of the Sixth had ridden in prairie schooners and had tramped from Indiana or Illinois, or other Middle West states, and were accustomed to sleeping on the ground with nothing over them but a horse blanket and the sky, possibly the blanket omitted.  They were ready for anything.  They could hit the eye of a squirrel in the top of a tree.  They had been trained on occasion to get their meat from the woods along the streams. They were hardy, and could stand any sort of punishment on a forced march.  They could sleep in the saddle.  That was the kind of people that made up the Sixth.  The Sixth Kansas cavalry was up to the best of them.  The people down Fort Scott way are proud to claim the Sixth as the Fort Scott regiment.  It was really organized there, but the different parts came from a wide territory.  The colonel, lieutenant colonel, major and surgeon were all Fort Scott people, but the companies came from places wide apart, some from as far west as Junction City. 

Company B at Muzzard Prairie, Arkansas

A Summary of the Battle at Muzzard Prairie of July 27, 1864,
is on the American Civil War website
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Fort Smith, Ark., July 29, 1864.

Colonel W. R. Judson, Commanding First Brigade;
Sir--I have the honor to report to you that I was in command of company B, Sixth Kansas Cavalry on the morning of the 27th inst., when the enemy made the attack on our camp, on Muzzard Prairie, and as soon as the alarm was given that the enemy was in the prairie, which was about six o'clock, a.m., I sent immediately for the herd which had been out grazing since daylight, and was about three-fourths of a mile southwest of camp. I formed my men on the right of the camp, to protect my herd as it came in, and until it could be secured, but before the horses could be brought up, the enemy charged on us, which stampeded the herd, and left the men on foot to fight as best they could. We drove the enemy back, and as I had received no orders from the commanding officer, I ordered my men to fall back until they could form on the right of the other companies. When I had fallen back to the left of my company's parade ground, I came in speaking distance of Major Mefford, when I received orders to form my company on the right, to protect the camp. I immediately took the position assigned me, with company D on my left. We held our position, repulsing three distinct charges of the enemy. At this time I was that Major Mefford had, with companies E and H, been driven from their position on the left of the line, and had began to fall back across the prairie. I knew that I could not hold my ground much longer, with what men I had; so, without receiving orders from Major Mefford, commenced falling back toward him. As we fell back I had several men captured by the enemy that was advancing through the timber in the center of our camp. We fought and retreated in good order, until we came within half a mile of the house on the prairie, when the enemy closed in on all sides, taking many more of our men prisoners. Those that were left, continued fighting and falling back to the house. There the men that were left were overpowered and captured. Before we reached the house I received a slight wound in the right thigh. Some of my men who were first captured made their escape by hiding in the thick brush, the enemy not staying to hunt for stragglers, but left immediately after the men at the house were captured, taking with them all the men that could travel. All did well under the circumstances--it being a surprise after driving in the pickets, the enemy was in our camp. I lost in the engagement three (3)killed, two (2) mortally wounded, five (5) severely wounded, and forty (40) men taken prisoners.

JACOB MOREHEAD, First Lieut.
Sixth Kansas Cavalry, Volunteers, Commanding Company B

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REPORT OF KILLED, WOUNDED AND CAPTURED

IN COMPANY B, SIXTH KANSAS CAVALRY

ON JULY 27TH, 1864, AT MUZZARD PRAIRIE, ARKANSAS.

*Jacob Morehead, First Lieutenant company B, severely wounded.
*Thos. McCauley, Corporal, company B, killed.
Antoine Furtmire, private, company B, slightly wounded.
*Marion Hinton, private, company B, severely wounded.
Edwin Jackson, private, company B, severely wounded
*David P. McDonald, private company B, slightly wounded.
*John G. Parker, private, company B, killed.
Edwin Parker, private, company B, slightly wounded.
*George W. Rinker, private, company B, mortally wounded.
*Joshua B. Zents, private, company B, killed. 
Forty enlisted men in Company B were captured.
*Were volunteers from Appanoose County, Iowa.

From the History of the Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry on the website of the the Museum of the Kansas National Guard.   A Complete Roster of Company B.

Sixth Kansas Cavalry in the Civil War & Appanoose County Volunteers

  During the Civil War a number of Jerome and other Appanoose County men served in Company B of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, including my Great-Great-Grandfather David H. Hawkins; and William Bell, Calvin R. Jackson, Peter Sidles and Addison Pendergast who are buried in the Jerome Cemetery.   A complete list of the Appanoose county men who served in this unit during the Civil War was included in The History of Appanoose County, Iowa (1878) on pages 422 & 425.

  Some of the history of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry is provided in Wiley Britton's Memoirs of the Rebellion on the Border, 1863.   Philip Thomas Tucker writes in the Introduction to the Bison Book Edition:  "As no other Civil War account does, [it] fully illuminates and illustrates the character of the little-known conflict on the western border of the trans-Mississippi theater during the decisive year of 1863...It is considerably more revealing than many Civil War memoirs.  The publication date of 1882, almost two decades after the war, is misleading because Wiley Britton offers an intimate, first-person account.  His work is quite unlike the typical post-war memoir written long after the war and mostly from memory, resulting in many inaccuracies and exaggerations.  Indeed, it is actually a diary written during the decisive year of 1863 by the young soldier of the Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry...and then rewritten by him as a published memoir.  He begins his remarkably factual and reliable account of the western border conflict on Christmas Day 1862." 

  The original edition of Memoirs of the Rebellion on The Border, 1863 by Wiley Britton [Chicago:  Cushing, Thomas & Co., Publishers, 1882] can be downloaded free from the Google Book Project. 

  Or, you can purchase the Bison Book Edition published by the University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln & London, in 1993.