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Benton County, Iowa in Civil War
Company G, with others of the Fifth Infantry, were mustered into the service of the United States at Burlington on the 15th of July, 1861. On August 2nd, they were ordered to Keokuk, Iowa, from which point they were sent into Missouri in pursuit of bushwhackers. Not finding much "doing" in this line, after a few days they were ordered to St. Louis, and thence to Jefferson City, Missouri, and Booneville, Missouri. They then participated in the pursuit of the rebel army under Price to Springfield, Missouri, but really did not have their first skirmish with the enemy until the following February. This occurred at New Madrid, Missouri. Later they took part in the operations at Pittsburg Landing, and at Corinth, and upon the evacuation of the latter place they followed the Confederates to Rienzi. On September 19, 1862, they took part in the battle of Iuka, where the Fifth regiment especially distinguished itself, and was highly complimented by the commanding general of the Union army. The regiment was ordered to support a battery which was threatened by a greatly superior force of the Confederates. It was at one time captured, but the Fifth retook it with terrible loss to Company A, which, out of forty-three men, lost twenty-seven in killed and wounded. Company C constantly upheld the fortunes of the Fifth Infantry, during the pursuit of the rebels after the battle of Corinth as well as in the expedition against Vicksburg. They took part in the battle of Champion Hill and the siege of Vicksburg and in September, after they had been transferred to the Seventeenth Army Corps, had the honor of doing their good part in the battle of Chickamauga. In this terrible engagement the Fifth regiment lost thirty men in killed and wounded and eight officers and seventy-six men captured, leaving only sixty-five men in the entire command to answer the rollcall on the evening of the conflict. The regiment spent the winter of 1863-4 at Huntsville, Alabama, and in April, 1864, the veterans went home on a furlough, and on their return were placed on the railroads to do guard duty at Kingston, Georgia. They pursued the Confederate cavalry led by General Wheeler in his last raid upon the rear of Sherman's army in June, 1864. During that time they traveled north nearly nine hundred miles and were for three weeks without blankets or change of clothing. About the last of July, 1864, the non-veterans of the regiment were mustered out of the service, leaving one hundred and eighty men and eleven officers. The privates were transferred to the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, leaving the officers without a command; the latter being mustered out of the service September 28, 1864, at General Kilpatrick's headquarters, fifteen miles south of Atlanta, Georgia.
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