Samuel B. Pickell
PICKELL
Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/12/2024 at 19:33:07
SAMUEL BROWN PICKELL
(May 5, 1844 - May 13, 1916)Samuel Pickell, a son of Christopher and Martha Pickell, was born in Branch County, Michigan, on May 5, 1844. They moved in 1854 to Wisconsin, in 1855 to Mitchell County, Iowa, and in 1856 to Worth County, Iowa. He was still living there as more and more spoke out against slavery and politicians argued about the proposed annexation of Texas and whether it should be free or slave. Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 and General Beauregard’s cannon fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. War followed. On July 9, 1862, as the conflict continued into a second year and casualties mounted, Iowa Governor Kirkwood received a telegram asking him to raise five regiments as part of the President’s call for another 300,000 three-year men. If the state’s quota wasn’t raised by August 15th, it "would be made up by draft" but, despite the Governor’s confidence, enlistments started slowly as "farmers were busy with the harvest, the war was much more serious than had been anticipated, and the first ebullition of military enthusiasm had subsided. Furthermore, disloyal sentiment was rampant in some parts of the State; All men between eighteen and forty-five were listed in preparation for a possible draft, a draft that wasn’t needed. By then, 17-year-old Samuel Pickell had already enlisted (and possibly lied about his age which was shown as 19 in military records). He was enrolled on February 10, 1862, by William Getchell for what was to be the state’s 18th Infantry but, when it was over-subscribed, Samuel was one of 84 men who were transferred and formed the bulk of Company A of the 21st Infantry. Originally quartered in Waterloo, they were transferred to Camp Franklin in Dubuque. Infantry regiments were to have 100 men, slightly more or slightly less, in each of 10 companies and, when all 10 were of sufficient strength, the regiment was sworn into federal service by Captain H. B. Hendershott on September 9, 1862. On the 16th, they walked through town and, from the foot of Jones Street, boarded the sidewheel steamer Henry Clay and two barges tied alongside and left for war. Low water at Montrose forced them to travel by rail to Keokuk where they boarded the Hawkeye State and continued their journey, reaching St. Louis on the 20th and, after a night at Benton Barracks, left by rail on the 21st. Bimonthly Company muster rolls were taken on the last day of the period and Samuel was one of relatively few men who were marked “present” on every roll throughout their service. From September 20th to April of the following year, they were in Missouri as they moved from St. Louis to Rolla, Salem, Houston, West Plains and Iron Mountain before reaching Ste. Genevieve, an old French town on the Mississippi River, on March 11th. In April, they were transported downstream to Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, where General Grant was organizing a large three-corps army to capture the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg. At 9:00 a.m. on April 12th, in a corps led by General John McClernand, they started moving south on the west side of the river. On the April 30th, they crossed from Disharoon’s Plantation to Bruinsburg, Mississippi, where the 21st Iowa Infantry was designated as the point regiment for the entire Union army. About midnight on the 30th, they drew first fire near the Abram Shaifer house and, the next day, Sam (as he was known to his friends) and his regiment participated in the Battle of Port Gibson. On May 16th, they were present but held out of action (“in reserve”) during the Battle of Champion Hill but on the 17th, with the 23d Iowa, Sam was with his regiment as they led an assault on entrenched Confederates trying to protect a large railroad bridge over the Big Black River. Of the 839 men present, 7 members of the regiment were killed and another 18 were fatally wounded. Among the 40 who suffered non-fatal wounds was Sam Merrill, the regiment’s Colonel, who was sent north to recuperate. While they cared for the wounded and buried their dead, other Union regiments continued to Vicksburg and gradually created a line around the rear of the city. An assault on the 19th was unsuccessful, but General Grant planned another for the 22nd. This time the 21st Iowa was present and again its casualties were heavy as 23 were killed during an assault on the city’s railroad redoubt, 12 were fatally wounded and 48 had non-fatal wounds. A siege followed, a siege that didn’t end until Confederate General Pemberton surrendered the city on the Fourth of July. Sam was present throughout the siege and was with his regiment on August 31st at Carrollton, Louisiana, and October 31st at Vermilion Bayou, before they left New Orleans on board the Corinthian for the Gulf coast of Texas. He continued “present” at Matagorda Bay on December 31st, Indianola on February 29th and Matagorda on April 30, 1864. In mid-June they were transported to New Orleans and the regiment saw service in southwestern Louisiana and along the White River of Arkansas before going to Memphis. From there, they were transported downstream and eastward across the Gulf of Mexico to Dauphin Island, Alabama, where they bivouacked about 10:00 p.m. on the 7th of February 1865. In their final campaign of the war, a campaign to capture the city of Mobile at the head of Mobile Bay, they crossed to Mobile Point on March 17th and started a slow, difficult, movement northwards on muddy roads and through swamps on the east side of the bay. When Dabney Maury’s Confederates left the city on April 12th, Union troops moved in and the 21st Iowa camped at nearby Spring Hill. On May 26th, they moved back into Mobile and boarded the Mustang and the next morning started a return voyage to New Orleans. With the war essentially ended, many thought they were headed home but, instead, they saw further service along the Red River. Samuel and other early enlistees (those who had originally enlisted for the 18th Iowa) were mustered out on June 20th at Shreveport. The remaining members of the regiment were mustered out at Baton Rouge on July 15th.
After returning to civilian life in Worth County, Samuel married Emma “Emily” Ogden in February 1867 and they had three children (George in 1868, Alice in 1869 and Herbert in1870). In 1872, he moved to Jewell Center, Kansas, but two years later was back in Worth County and in 1876 moved to a farm south of Northwood. Emma died in 1884 at 34 years of age and was buried in Ogden Cemetery, Otranto, Iowa. After his wife’s death, Samuel moved briefly to St. Ansgar and then to Manly (where he was temporarily in the business of milling flour with a brother) before returning to Northwood. In February, 1887, he married Carrie Eveleth Getts (also shown as Getz) and with her had three more children (Linnie in 1889, Ruth in 1896 and a baby boy who lived only a short time). In 1893, a Mitchell County news article reported, that “our former townsman S. B. Pickell is erecting an elegant residence in an aristocratic locality in the city of Northwood” and feared “he has deviated from Jeffersonian simplicity and joined the ranks of capitalists and aristocrats.” “Better return to Mitchell county,” it said, but Sam stayed in Northwood and in 1898 hosted a large Pickell family reunion. The following year, he traveled to Dubuque to attend his regiment’s eighth reunion on the 13th and 14th of September. Two years later, Carrie died at 44 years of age and was buried in the St. Ansgar Cemetery. In November, 1904, sixty-year-old Sam married his third wife, Cora (Hunt) Cornick, and continued to live in Worth County where he died, on May 13, 1916, of stomach cancer. He was remembered as a man of strong character, “honest and strong in his convictions, fearless and firm in his expression of them.” Members of the Grand Army of the Republic served as pall bearers at his funeral where, in accordance with his wishes, a male quartet sang “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” “An impressive Masonic burial was enacted” as he was buried in Northwood’s Sunset Rest Cemetery. Source - Carl F. Ingwalson Jr. [see also, All Over Creation and Part of Texas; the Civil War Journey of the 21st Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, linked below]
http://iagenweb.org/civilwar/regiment/infantry/21st/IowaVI-21st.Narrative.pdf
Worth Biographies maintained by Karon S. Velau.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen