1
Roster and Record of Iowa Troops In the Rebellion, Vol.
3
By Guy E. Logan
HISTORICAL SKETCH
TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
The Twenty-second Regiment of Iowa Infantry Volunteers was composed of ten companies,
seven of which were organized in Johnson County, and one each in the counties of Jasper,
Monroe and Wapello. The records in the office of the Adjutant General of Iowa show that the
companies were ordered into quarters by the Governor, on dates ranging from June 16 to August
30, 1862. The rendezvous designated in the order was Camp Pope, near Iowa City, and there, on
the 7th, 9th and 10th days of September, 1862, they were mustered into the service of the United
States, by Captain H. B. Hendershott, of the Regular Army. 1 Major William M. Stone, of the
Third Regiment Iowa Infantry, who had served with that regiment from the commencement of
the war, and was wounded in the first general engagement in which it participated, and who had
commanded the regiment at the battle of Shiloh, an officer in every way well qualified to assume
the duties of regimental commander, was commissioned Colonel of the Twenty-second
Regiment, on the 21st of May, 1862, by Governor Kirkwood, and, with his characteristic energy,
proceeded to organize the regiment, when the companies which had been assigned to it had
reported at the rendezvous. The regiment was fortunate in securing the services of this able and
experienced soldier as its first commander. Upon the completion of the muster rolls, the regiment
showed an aggregate strength of 952 enlisted men and officers, but early additional enlistments
brought the number up to 1,008, about the maximum strength of an infantry regiment, including
Field and Staff officers. There was but a short interval between the date of the muster in of the
last company and the completion of the organization of his regiment until Colonel Stone received
orders to take the field.
1 Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1863, Vol. 1, pages 782 to 816 inclusive; Original
Roster of the Regiment.
2 Colonel Stone was commissioned Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers September 17,
1862. He subsequently served two terms (four years) as Governor of Iowa. 1864-1868.
On the evening of September 14, 1862, the regiment left its camp at Iowa City and was
conveyed by rail to Davenport, where it embarked on steamer and proceeded to St. Louis, where
it arrived on the 18th, marched to Benton Barracks, was assigned to quarters, and was there
thoroughly equipped for active service. On the 22nd of September the regiment was ordered to
Rolla, Mo., to which place it was conveyed by rail, and, arriving there on the 23rd, went into
camp about two miles from the town. It was subsequently assigned to duty at the post of Rolla,
and was engaged in guarding commissary stores and the railroad and in escorting supply trains to
the Army of Southeast Missouri, until the 27th of January, 1863, on which date it received orders
to join the army under General Davidson, at West Plains, Mo. After a march of five days it
reached its destination, and was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Army of
Southeast Missouri. The brigade consisted of the Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty-third
Regiments of Iowa Infantry, and was under command of
Colonel Stone of the Twenty-second.
2
On the 9th of February, 1863, the regiment with its brigade took up the line of march towards
Iron Mountain, arriving there on February 26th. This long march through a mountainous region,
at an inclement season of the year, with insufficient rations, was a severe test of the fortitude of
the men, but they endured the hardships and privations to which they were subjected without
complaint, and demonstrated their capacity to withstand such exposure and suffering to the
fullest extent. The army remained encamped at Iron Mountain until March 9th, upon which date
orders were received to join the army under command of General Grant, in the great Vicksburg
campaign. In compliance with orders, the troops took up the line of march for St. Genevieve,
Mo., on the Mississippi River, which place was reached on the 12th of March. Transportation
was not secured until March 22nd, upon which date the regiment embarked on the transport
"Black Hawk," and was conveyed down the river to Milliken's Bend, where it arrived and
disembarked on the 27th, and went into camp. The other troops of the Army of Southeast
Missouri reached Milliken's Bend by the 1st of April. In the reorganization of the troops, which
then took place, the Twenty-second Iowa was assigned to the Second Brigade, of the Fourteenth
Division, Thirteenth Army Corps. The other regiments assigned to the brigade were the Twentyfirst
and Twenty-third Iowa, and the Eleventh Wisconsin Infantry. Colonel C. L. Harris of the
latter regiment, being the senior officer, was assigned to the command of the brigade; Brigadier
General Eugene C. Carr was in command of the division and Major General John C.
McClernand was the corps commander. The Army of Southeast Missouri had thus been merged
into the Army of the Tennessee.
On the morning of April 12th, the Twenty-second Iowa, with its brigade, received orders to
march to Richmond, La., and, having driven a small body of the enemy's cavalry from that place,
marched to Carthage, thence to Perkins' Landing, and there went into camp to await the arrival of
the rest of the division and corps. On the evening of April 27th, the Thirteenth Army Corps
embarked on transports, and, on the morning of the 28th, proceeded down the river to Hard
Times Landing, opposite the mouth of Black River and near Grand Gulf, where the enemy had
erected fortifications and powerful water batteries on a bluff commanding the entrance to the
river. On the morning of the 29th, the fleet, headed by the gunboat "Benson," moved down and
engaged the rebel batteries. After a terrible bombardment, lasting several hours, during which
several of the rebel guns were dismounted, the plan was abandoned. Having failed in the
movement which seemed to have been intended for a combined attack by the land and naval
forces upon this impregnable position of the enemy, the Thirteenth Army Corps was ordered to
move from Hard Times Landing to a point on the river three miles below Grand Gulf, and there
go into bivouac until morning. During the night the fleet of transports and gunboats, which had
successfully run the blockade at Vicksburg, passed the rebel batteries.
On the morning of April 30th, the Thirteenth Army Corps embarked on transports and
gunboats and proceeded down the river, landing, about 3 P. M., sixteen miles below Grand Gulf,
at the village of Bruinsburg. At 4 P. M. the army marched in the direction of Port Gibson. The
Twenty-second Iowa, with its brigade, formed the extreme advance of the army. Colonel Harris
not being able to proceed with the troops on account of illness, the command of the brigade
devolved upon Colonel Stone of the Twenty-second Iowa. At 1 o'clock A. M., May 1st, the
advanced guard, composed of one company of the Twenty-first Iowa, was suddenly fired upon
by the enemy's pickets, about three miles from Port Gibson. The official report of Major
Atherton, who was in command of the Twenty-Second Iowa, describes the movements and
conduct of the regiment in the preliminary engagement on the night of April 30th, and in the
battle of Port Gibson on May 1, 1863, and is here quoted,
as follows:
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CAMP NEAR ROCKY SPRINGS, MISS., May 7, 1863.
COLONEL WILLIAM M. STONE,
SIR: I herewith report to you the action of the Twenty-second Iowa in the battle before Port
Gibson, Miss, on the 1st inst. You having been called upon to command the Second Brigade, to
which we were attached, the command of the regiment devolved upon me. On the evening of the
30th ultimo, on our march toward Port Gibson, Miss., after our advanced guard became engaged
with the enemy, I received an order from you to hurry my regiment forward and form it in line
on the left of our artillery then hotly engaged with the rebel batteries. This order was promptly
obeyed, and the men came up quickly and in good order, forming at the point designated. We
were then under the enemy's fire, yet my men manifested great coolness and self-possession. We
remained in line for two hours in support of the batteries, until the battle ceased for the night, and
we lay down upon our arms, but not to sleep, as we were in momentary expectation of a renewal
of the combat. Soon after sunrise we were again in line and under the enemy's fire, in support of
our batteries, until near 10 o'clock, when we were led forward to charge on the rebel lines. This
movement was executed with alacrity by my regiment. Not a man faltered or fell back. Our fire
was delivered upon the enemy with great deliberation and accuracy, and when their lines were
broken and they driven in rout from the field, we were among the first to occupy their field. In
the long and hotly contested fight of the afternoon, my regiment was all the time in the face of
the enemy and under his severest fire. Three times we were ordered against the rebel infantry and
under the range of his batteries. Each time we drove them from the field. Late in the afternoon,
by your order, we charged up the hill in conjunction with the Twenty-first Iowa, and on the left
of General Burbridge's brigade, against the enemy's lines, there strongly posted in almost
impenetrable timber and underbrush. Though unable, from the character of the ground and the
raking fire of the enemy's batteries, to reach the extreme summit of the hill, we reached the point
to which I was ordered, and remained there, receiving and returning the enemy's fire, until about
sundown, when, by your order, we returned to our former position, and remained on the field
until the firing had entirely ceased and quiet reigned along our whole line.
Throughout this series of engagements the officers and men of my regiment behaved with
great coolness and gallantry. I found them always ready and eager to obey the order to move on
the enemy. So well did the entire command acquit themselves, I cannot, without seeming
invidiousness, enter into particulars. It is sufficient to say that they acted nobly, and well
sustained the honors already earned by Iowa soldiers. Great care was taken to shelter our men
from the enemy's fire, which the unevenness of the ground enabled us to do with comparative
success, yet the loss in this regiment being greater, with but one exception, than any other
regiment in the brigade, shows clearly where we were during this long and hotly contested
engagement, and that my men did not shrink from their duty. Too much praise cannot be
awarded to our surgeons, White and Peabody. Their department was conducted with skill and
ability. Their attention to the wounded was truly commendable and will doubtless long be
remembered by these unfortunates. The following is a list of the killed and wounded. 3 Several
not enumerated were very slightly wounded, but continued on the field until the close of the
fight.
Very respectfully,
J. B. ATHERTON,
Major Commanding Regiment.
4
3 see subjoined Roster, in which the names of all killed and wounded appear with all
casualties, opposite the names recorded there. 4 Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1864, pages
470, 1.
The official report of the commander of the brigade, Colonel W. M. Stone of the Twentysecond
Iowa, describes with minute particularity the movements and conduct of his command.
He especially commends the conduct of Colonel Merrill of the Twenty-first Iowa, Major
Atherton of the Twenty-second Iowa, Lieutenant Colonel Glasgow of the Twenty-third Iowa,
Lieutenant Colonel Wood of the Eleventh Wisconsin, and Captain Griffiths of the First Iowa
Battery, and adds this further commendation: "Their associate officers, too, are entitled to great
credit, as all of them, so far as I have been able to learn, performed their duties nobly. To the
dauntless and heroic men of the ranks, and the line officers, all honor is due. Never did brave
men endure more with less murmuring than they, during these thirty consecutive hours of hard
marching and severe fighting, and, when the history of the war is fully written, they will be
remembered among the bravest defenders of the Republic." 5
5 Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1864, page 543.
The official report of General Carr, the division commander, speaks in the highest terms of
the conduct of Colonel Stone and the officers and men of his brigade, and gives the following
summary of losses: "The loss of the First Brigade was: Killed, 28; wounded, 134; that of the
Second Brigade was: Killed, 13; wounded, 88. Total in the division, 263."6
6 Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1864, page 645.
Early on the morning of the second day of May, the army marched in pursuit of the enemy.
At Bayou Pierre, the Second Brigade was ordered to halt for the purpose of rebuilding a bridge,
which had been destroyed by the enemy the night previous. The bridge was completed and the
march resumed on the evening of May 4th. Colonel Stone had been relieved of the command of
the brigade by General M. K. Lawler, and had resumed command of his regiment. On May 13th,
the Second Brigade arrived at Mississippi Springs, where it was ordered to remain as guard for
the transportation train of the division until the 16th, on which date it returned to Raymond and
rejoined the division and corps, which then marched towards Edwards' Station, and arrived in the
vicinity of Champion's Hill while the battle which was fought there was in progress. General
Carr's Division was held in reserve until just at the close of the battle, when it was ordered
forward to pursue the retreating enemy and endeavor to cut off the retreat. The pursuit was
continued to Edwards' Station, which was reached at 10 P. M. and a train of commissary and
ordnance stores and other supplies of the rebel army was captured, together with over 200
prisoners. It was no fault of the Twenty-second Iowa and the other troops of their brigade and
division that they did not have a larger share of the fighting at Champion's Hill. They stood
waiting for the order to go into action during the progress of the battle, but the order was not
given until the enemy was in full retreat and it was too late to successfully execute the flanking
movement by which it was hoped to intercept the retreat and prevent the escape of the enemy.
Had the order been given sooner, that result might have been accomplished, and the Twentysecond
Iowa and the troops with which it was associated would have had a more conspicuous
record in the battle of Champion's Hill, and a greater loss would have been inflicted upon the
rebel army.
5
At daylight, on the morning of May 17th, the regiment with its brigade resumed the pursuit
of the enemy. General Carr's Division now led the advance. The march was conducted with great
vigor and, at 10 P. M., the enemy's pickets, were encountered about two miles from their
fortifications on Black River. Space will not permit a detailed description of the battle which
ensued or the conditions which confronted the troops making the attack. Suffice it to say that,
when the pickets of the enemy had been driven in and their position developed, it became
evident that their defeat could only be accomplished after a desperate struggle. Having
reconnoitered the position and determined upon the most accessible point of attack, the
Thirteenth Corps moved forward, with General Carr's Division in advance. Skirmishing was
renewed and continued for several hours General Lawler, whose brigade occupied the extreme
right, discovered that by moving his brigade under cover of the river bank a charge on the
enemy's works from that point might be successfully made. He therefore ordered his brigade to
charge and, if possible, carry the works, The Twenty third Iowa, led by the gallant Colonel
Kinsman, was in the van, followed by the Twenty-first Iowa and the Eleventh Wisconsin; while
the Twenty-second Iowa, on the extreme right of the brigade, was ordered to move down the
river bank against the enemy's left, which rested on the river. The order was most gallantly
executed. In less than twenty minutes after the order to charge was given, the main line of the
enemy's works had been captured. In his official report General Lawler gives a carefully detailed
account of the movements and conduct of the different regiments composing his brigade. In its
position upon the extreme right, the Twenty-second Iowa, while rendering most important
service, did not come under the direct fire of the enemy and, therefore, escaped with the least
loss of any of the regiments of the brigade. It implicitly obeyed the orders it received, however,
and acquitted itself with perfect honor in the battle of Big Black River Bridge. The following
brief extracts from General Lawler's report will serve to show his appreciation of the conduct of
the regiment during the battle:
.... The Twenty-second Iowa—which had in the meantime crossed the field and taken position on
the river bank, on the right of the Eleventh Wisconsin— were ordered to move out into the field
and act as a reserve force.... The rebels broke and fled before the Twenty
-second Iowa, and fell an easy prey into the hands of the Eleventh Wisconsin. Those of the rebels
who were not captured hastened to make good their retreat over the bridge. As the result of this
successful charge, we may with justice claim that it gave our army entire possession of the
enemy's extended lines of works, and with them their field artillery (18 pieces in all), a large
quantity of ammunition, thousands of small arms, and 3,000 prisoners. . . Colonel William M.
Stone, Twenty-second Iowa Volunteers, though suffering severely from disease, was present on
the field, sharing its dangers, and has my thanks for the promptness with which he moved his
command against the left of the enemy's works. 7
7 War of the rebellion Official records, Series 1, Vol. 24, pages 137, 8.
General Lawler gives the number of killed and wounded in his brigade as follows: Killed, 27;
wounded, 194; total, 221; while the total loss of the division was 246 and that of the Thirteenth
Army Corps 279, thus showing that Lawler's Brigade sustained the heaviest loss and did most of
the fighting in that battle. 8 The Twenty-first and Twenty-third Iowa lost 184 of the 221 killed
and wounded in the Second Brigade, those two regiments leading the charge, while the Twentysecond
Iowa and Eleventh Wisconsin, being held in reserve, did not participate in the severest
part of the battle.
6
8 War of the Rebellion Official records, Series 1, Vol. 24, page 130.
The Thirteenth Corps went into camp on the battlefield until a floating bridge could be
constructed to replace the bridge destroyed by the enemy. On the evening of the 18th, the bridge
having been completed, the corps crossed the river and took up the line of march towards
Vicksburg, the enemy having retreated to that place, where, behind heavy fortifications, they
awaited the attack of General Grant's army. The march was continued all night and the following
day until noon, when the advanced line of the enemy's works was reached and the troops came
under the fire of their heavy guns. Firing was kept up by the contending batteries and, at 2 P. M.,
the infantry was ordered to move forward. After several hours' skirmishing, the Thirteenth Corps
succeeded in gaining an advanced position within 500 yards of the enemy's works, covered from
their fire by a range of hills. The Twenty-second Iowa had one man severely wounded during
this advance. The position taken by General Carr's Division was on the range of hills in the
vicinity of the Jackson Railroad. Lawler's Brigade occupied the left, with the right of the
Twenty-second Iowa resting on the railroad. During the whole of the night of May 20th, the
regiment was engaged in throwing up fortifications and, on the morning of the 21st, two twentypound
Napoleon guns of the Sixteenth Ohio Battery were placed in position on the brow of the
hill and opened a vigorous fire on the enemy's works. Their fire dismounted one of the enemy's
heavy guns, but the rebel artillery remained silent, probably for the purpose of saving its
ammunition for the anticipated assault. Throughout the day the regiment occupied the works,
constructed during the previous night, and kept up a brisk fire in response to that of the enemy's
sharpshooters, but, owing to the inaccuracy of the enemy's aim and the great distance, the total
casualties in the regiment, resulting from this first day's practice in the rifle pits, were two men
severely wounded.
On the evening of May 21st, Colonel Stone received General Grant's order for a general
assault on the enemy's lines at 10 P. M. on the 22nd, and the officers were notified to have their
men in readiness for the movement, which it became necessary to make under cover of the night
in order to reach the position midway between the two lines, from which the assault was to be
made. In the stillness of midnight the Twenty-second Iowa led the advance of the brigade,
moved over the brow of the hill and passed quietly down the deep ravine, into which the enemy
had felled trees which formed an obstruction difficult to overcome. With great caution the
regiment made its way over this obstruction and, after several hours, succeeded in reaching the
desired position, without having attracted the attention of the enemy's pickets, posted but twenty
yards distant. The day was dawning when the position was gained, and the men were ordered to
lie down and rest upon the hillside until the appointed hour should arrive. At 9:30 A. M. the
brigade was formed in lines of battalions, the Twenty-second Iowa in advance, followed by the
Twenty-first Iowa and Eleventh Wisconsin. At 10 A. M. Captain Bluford Wilson, of General