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The cavalry
and artillery, while perhaps faring somewhat better than the infantry, were
also subjected to delays and disappointments. For some time the members of the
First Iowa Cavalry were armed only with pistols and sabers. The First Iowa
Battery was given its first armament at Benton Barracks in December, 1861. This
consisted of “four 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder howitzers”. Not until
April 29, 1864, did the battery receive “its new armament of six 10-pounder
Parrott guns.”54
The Second Iowa Cavalry in the beginning of its service was like wise armed only with sabers and pistols. Later, however, the men were more satisfactorily armed, some companies with Colt’s revolving rifles and some with Sharps carbines. The Third Cavalry was much more speedily equipped. By December of 1861 the members of this regiment were “said to be fully armed and equipped with carbines, sabres, and navy revolvers”. The Fourth Regiment of Cavalry was mustered in and under marching orders for Fort Leavenworth, and still was without arms late in January, 1862.55
But not until March, 1862, were arms added to the heavy dragoon sabers carried by the Fourth Cavalry. And “what arms” they were when they were furnished! They were described as follows:
About four hundred men were loaded with “Austrian” rifles, a very heavy and clumsy, though rather short, infantry gun, a muzzle-loader, with a ram rod. Half the remainder had “Starr’s” revolver, a five shooter, percussion-cap and paper-cartridge pistol, of a bad pattern and poorly made, while all, or nearly all, received a pair of horse-pistols, to be carried in holsters on the pommel of the saddle, the smooth-bore, single barreled, muzzle-loader used in the Mexican war.
These rifles and revolvers never gained favor in the regiment; indeed, it is probable that hey did more harm than good, because there was a general want of Reliance upon them. The Starr revolver caused more fear in the regiment than it ever did among the enemy. Its shot was very uncertain, its machinery often failed to work, and it had a vicious tendency to go off at a wrong moment. The holster-pistols were better thought of. They were found to be more effective than the revolvers, and far more easily managed than the rifles. Many of them were retained until the Colt’s revolvers came, in 1863.56
The Second Regiment of Iowa Cavalry, after it was transformed, in March, 1864, into the Second Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, was, on the 19th of June, “armed with Spencer’s Seven Shooting Carbines. This was the best arm in service, carrying a forced ball, and so arranged that the mounted trooper could throw fourteen balls from it per minute—dismounted, a little more.” Some Confederate prisoners captured by a squad of the Second Cavalry armed with these guns “asked to see one of the guns you all fight with,’” and added, “you bring them to your shoulder and hold them into our faces. It is no use for us to fight you’ens with that kind of gun.” Later one of the prisoners inquired if the cavalrymen “loaded Sundays and fired all the week.”57
Occasionally the Iowa troops would secure guns from captured prisoners or from a store of arms taken in a skirmish. The First Iowa Cavalry atone time secured in this manner seventy-three wagons, five hundred horses and mules, eleven hundred rifles and shot guns, one hundred pistols, and commissary stores and ammunition.
Notes
54 Lothrop’s A History of the First Regiment Iowa Cavalry
Veteran Volunteers, p. 43; Byers’s Iowa in War Times, pp. 596, 597.
55 Pierce’s History of the Second Iowa Cavalry, pp. 12, 26, 27, 54, 70; The Weekly Gate City (Keokuk), December 16, 1861; War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III, Vol. I, pp. 786, 790.
56 Scott’s The Story of a Cavalry Regiment: The Career of the Fourth Iowa Veteran Volunteers, pp. 25, 26.
57 Pierce’s History of the Second Iowa Cavalry, pp. 95, 97, 98.
58 Lothrop’s A History of the First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 44. See also p. 54.
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Equipment was even more conspicuously lacking than arms in Iowa in 1861, and the difficulty of securing necessary supplies during the first years of the war was correspondingly greater. For, while effective arms were not an absolute necessity until the battle-field was reached, blankets and clothing were indispensable in rendezvous camps and on the way to the scene of conflict. And while it may be true, as Napoleon suggested, that n army travels on its stomach, nevertheless, stout shoes keep the feet from dragging. Equipment must be furnished the troops immediately after enlistment. It is true that the independent militia companies which were the first to volunteer had uniforms; and the Governor’s Greys of Dubuque offered their services to the Governor, January 15, 1861, as a “fully equipped volunteer company”.59 But such uniforms! They were designed for the delight of the ladies when the company was on parade, rather than for service at the front. Handsome enough were the brave lads in white, red, grey, green, blue, and every other hue of the rainbow on Fourth of July dress parades; but their uniforms would not have been as fitting had they been exposed to the rain and mud and cold which the men were later obliged to endure.
The Davenport Sarsfield Guards, although organized during the money panic of 1858, “equipped themselves with a handsome uniform”.60 The other companies of the State acted along similar lines. Indeed, these ante-bellum military organization were, in the main, social organizations. Parades and balls were their chief activities and the various communities seemed to vie with one anther in making their own unit most gorgeous. This tendency was evidenced later by the various uniforms from home town patriots. Equipment, like arms, was to be furnished by the general government before the troops left the State. But on their way to and during their stay in the camps of rendezvous, the soldiers were to be cared for by the State.
This was a work which the State might well be expected to perform, and one to which the people of Iowa responded generously. The State government was handicapped by a lack of funds. The war loan bonds were practically unsalable. In part the situation was relieved by voluntary donations from patriotic citizens, but the strain on the State finances was great. Among the first to come to the Governor’s aid were two citizens of Dubuque. “The very morning after Sumter was fired on, J. K. Graves & R. E. Graves, his brother, telegraphed the Governor, saying they would claim it an honor and privilege to honor his drafts to the extent of thirty thousand dollars; leaving repayment to the pleasure of the state, if it could help equip and send the boys to the front.” W. T. Smith, of Oskaloosa, together with other war Democrats, offered aid to the Governor. “Private citizens in every town vied with one another in personal sacrifice to aid in the good cause.” Solomon Sturges, a Chicago millionaire, offered to loan Governor Kirkwood $100,000. 61 Town funds were made up. “At Brighton, $1,250 cash, was raised in a few minutes from Republicans and Democrats alike, and as much more promised, to help feed and clothe the boys who volunteered.”62 Hiram Price and Ezekiel Clark were active in raising funds with which to equip the troops. The banks of the State, namely the State Bank and its branches, rallied to the support of the Governor. Kirkwood himself “gave his own personal bonds, pledging all his own property and earnings, many times over, that the first soldiers of the sate might have shoes to war, blankets to sleep on, and bread to eat.”63
Many of the towns fitted out their own troops with uniforms. At a meeting of the citizens of Fort Madison it was voted to instruct the town authorities to appropriate $2,000 for the purpose of equipping the Fort Madison Rifles. “All over the state, companies were kept together drilling, their subsistence furnished by boards of supervisors or by patriotic citizens, some of whom not only helped subsist the would-be soldiers, but furnished them uniforms at their own expense.” The Decorah Guards were outfitted by the citizens of Winneshiek County. Shirts, pants, and caps were given to the Pioneer Greys by the townspeople of Cedar Falls.64
Governor Kirkwood, recognizing the instant and imperative need of clothing, at his own risk, sent Ezekiel Clark to Chicago to buy cloth of fifteen hundred uniforms. “Let the material be strong and durable”, he wrote. But unfortunately the only cloth which could be obtained was “some very poor, sleazy satinette, half cotton and half wool, only fit for summer war”.65 This material was thought to be stout enough for uniforms for the men in the First Regiment, whose term of enlistment war for the summer months; but “the boys, before the march to Springfield in Missouri, had got their thin clothes badly worn out, especially behind, and many of them took flour sacks and made themselves aprons and wore them there instead of in front. When Gen. Lyon saw the first one of these on a soldier, he ordered him to remove it at once, but when he found its removal left the whole fighting force of that soldier without a ‘rear guard’ and exposed to the jibes and jokes of friend and foe, he ordered it quickly replaced.”66
The loyal women of the State responded nobly to the task of outfitting the first Iowa regiments. They formed “Soldiers’ Aid Societies” and undertook to cut the cloth purchased and make it up into uniforms. Especially active were the ladies of Dubuque, which city was represented by two companies in the First Regiment. The Dubuque tailors also lent their aid. Indeed, two hundred and forty-eight people helped make uniforms for the two Dubuque companies and nine days were consumed in the work. No wonder, with so many “fingers in the pie”, that the product was “somewhat lacking in the trim, artistic finish of the “Tailor shop.’”67 The amount of clothing thus made and that otherwise furnished to the First Regiment was reported to the House of Representatives by Governor Kirkwood to be as follows:
Capt. Herron’s Company, Dubuque; each man, hat, frock coat, pants, two flannel shirts, two pairs of socks and one pair of shoes.
Capt. Gottschalk’s Company, Dubuque; blouse instead of coat, and other articles same as Capt. Herron’s.
Capt. Cook’s Company, Cedar Rapids; hat, two flannel shirts, pants, socks, and shoes, no jacket or coat.
Capt. Mahanna’s Company, Iowa City; hat, jacket, pants, two flannel shirts, socks and shoes.
Capt. Wentz’s Company, Davenport; hat, blouse, pants, two flannel shirts, socks and shoes.
Capt. Cummins’ Company, Muscatine; same as Capt. Cummins.
Capt. Mason’s Company, Burlington; hat, blouse, pants, two flannel shirts, socks and shoes.
Capt. Streaper’s Company, Mt. Pleasant; same as Capt. Matthies.
I am not sure that all the Companies were furnished with all the socks, shoes and shirts. Some of the shoes, I have reason to believe, were not of good quality, costing only from $1.25 to #1.50 per pair, others I know were good, costing from $2.00 to $2.50 per pair. One thousand extra shirts were sent to Keokuk to supply any deficiency that may have existed in that particular. Most of the material for pants was satinet and not of good quality, costing, as far as the same came under my observation, from 40 to 60 cents per yard by the quantity. The entire amount expended for Clothing, so far as I can give it from the data in my possession, is about $12,000 or $13,000, including the one thousand shirts above mentioned. If is be desirable in your judgment to have the companies of this Regiment uniformed alike, it will be necessary to furnish all with coats of the same make, as also with pants, and to furnish an additional number of hats or caps. Hats were procured for all, but some preferred the cap and procured it, and the cost has been provided for. I cannot think that all the Companies need new shoes, as some of the shoes furnished were of excellent quality, and have not yet been worn more than two or three weeks.
I am satisfied it is requisite for the comfort of these troops, that many of them be furnished with pantaloons and shoes, and some of them with socks. As the Second and Third Regiments will be clothed throughout alike, it would, no doubt, be very gratifying to the First Regiment to be placed in the same position, and it will afford me much pleasure to carry out whatever may be your wishes in that regard.68
In response to this suggestion, the General Assembly by joint resolution authorized Governor Kirkwood to outfit the First Regiment in the same manner as the Second and Third Regiment were clothed. He telegraphed to Merrill, who was in Boston: “Furnish one thousand more, Pants, Coats, and Shoes, same as contracted for, at same prices”. These outfits cost about fifteen dollars per man.69
The following picturesque account is given of the Governor’s Greys when they donned their first uniforms:
They
are admirable fits, all of them, except say eighty or a hundred… A majority of
the boys are able to get their pantaloons from the floor by buttoning the
waistbands around their necks—others accomplish this desirable result by
bringing the waistbands tight up under the arms and rolling them up six or
eight inches at the bottom. To be sure this is a little inconvenient in some
respects—a fellow has to take off his belts, then his coat, and then ascend one
story before he can reach his pockets, and after reaching them they are so deep
that one has to take the pants off entirely before he can reach the bottom.
Each pocket will hold a shirt, a blanket and even the wearer himself if at any
time he finds such a retreat necessary.
And
the coats fit beautifully—almost in fact as well as the pants. To be sure half
of them are two feet too large around the waist, and almost as much too small
around the chest—but then these two drawbacks admirably offset each other. In
the cases of fifteen or twenty of them the top collar is but a trifle above the
small of the wearer’s back, and in the cases of about as many more the same
article is a few inches above the head of their owners. The same collar also in
some cases terminates beneath each ear, and in many others it sweeps away
around in a magnificent curve, forming a vast basin whose rim is yards distant
from the neck of its possessor. And the sleeves, too, have here and there a
fault—some are so tight under the arms that they lift one up as if he were
swinging upon a couple of ropes that pass underneath his armpits—others strike
boldly out and do not terminate their voluminous course till at distance of several
inches beyond the tips of his fingers, while others conclude their journey
after marching an inch or so below the elbows.70
Nevertheless, the work of the women was appreciated. The Governor’s Greys adopted the following resolution:
Head-Quarters, G. Greys, Co. I, 1st Reg. I. S. M.,
Verandah Hall, Keokuk, May 15, 1861
At a meeting of the company the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:
Whereas, The matrons and maidens of Dubuque, fired with the same noble patriotism and enthusiasm as inspired those of ’76, and emulating their noble example, have left their daily avocations of business or pleasure, to unite in aiding us to go forth properly accoutred to meet the enemies of our country; therefore
Resolved, That we appreciate with the liveliest emotions of gratitude that self-sacrificing patriotism which flowers indigenous in the breast of woman, and has prompted them to this act of kindness toward us.
Resolved, That the consciousness that we shall daily carry with us the smiles and the prayers, the hopes and the fears of so many lovely faces and warms hearts, will strengthen our rougher bosoms to endure with patience the hardships, and courage to meet boldly the dangers that may oppose us, while fighting the battles of our country.
Resolved, That these uniforms, into which so fair hands have woven so many and so kind wishes, will be an impenetrable webb to the entrance of traitors or cowardly thoughts and a sacred remembrancer of those for whose protection we are fighting.
Resolved, That the coats shall be our coats of arms, that they shall never be turn coats, that they will always remind us of the petti-coats, and that while we wear the pants we shall always pant for honor, and hope to make the ladies partici-pants of that hour.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the he President of the Ladies’ Volunteer Aid Association and to the daily papers of Dubuque.
F. J. Herron, Capt. Co. I
Charles N. Clark, Clerk of Co. I.
Governor Kirkwood also appreciated he services of the women of the State, for he wrote the following letter to Dubuque:
Mrs. A. Gillespie, Sec’y, &c., Dubuque, Iowa:
Dear Madam:--Through the attention of D. N. Cooley, Esq., I am informed of the voluntary services rendered by yourself and other ladies of Dubuque, in fitting out the two companies of volunteers from your city.
I can not allow the occasion to pass without expressing my sincere thanks for this practical display of the patriotism of the ladies of Dubuque.
You have set a noble example in thus coming forward in the time of our need, and have shown us by this patriotic offering to the welfare of our gallant soldiers, that it needs, but the occasion to reproduce the heroines of ’76. With the request that you will convey to each and every one of the ladies connected with you in this good work, my assurance, that your general assistance will be fully appreciated by the people of the State, I beg to subscribe myself, most respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Samuel J. Kirkwood.71
The women of Iowa rendered valuable service throughout the war in making havelocks, lint, bandages, towels, needle books, and various kinds of hospital stores for the soldiers. And, indeed, the uniforms made by the women fitted as well as many of the tailored uniforms. The suits furnished to the Twenty-second Regiment in September, 1862, “were most ridiculous misfits, some had to give their pants two or three rolls at the heels, others had shirts much too large which were, therefore, baggy, while others had to place paper in their hats so they would not slip down over their ears.” Our blouses are somewhat abbreviated,” was written of the clothing furnished to the hundred day men of 1864, “and our gunboats, as we call our shoes, make up the size which is lacking in our blouses—presenting a most comical appearance.”72
59
War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III, Vol. I, p. 56.
60 Annals of Iowa (First Series), Vol. I, pp. 161, 162.
61 Byers’s Iowa in War Times, pp. 42, 43; Kirkwood
Military Letter Book, No. 1, p. 264.
Later
R. E. Graves offered to loan $10,000 to the State on behalf of the Dubuque
Branch of the State Bank. He agreed to accept payment in State bonds at par.—Kirkwood
Military Letter Book, No. 1, pp. 2, 259.
William
B. Allison donated fifty dollars to the Governor’s Greys, “to be spent by them
as their pleasure might dictate.” James C. Patterson gave ten dollars to the
Keokuk Union Guards.—The Dubuque Weekly Times, April 25, 1861; Des
Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), April 22, 1861.
62 Byers’s Iowa in War Times, p. 43. Later, in 1862,
the Amana Community sent $1,000 to Governor Kirkwood for similar purposes. “We
take the liberty”, they wrote, “of sending you enclosed $1,000. Our elders or
trustees are inclined to do something for our beloved Union, and as our
conscience on religious principles, as
you know, prohibits us, like other citizens, from bearing weapons
against any other men, we beg you to use the $1,000 for the relief of our sick
and wounded soldiers; or, if you think our soldiers in the field are more
suffering on account of cold weather, you may use it partly for their
relief.”—Iowa City Republican, November 19, 1862.
63 Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. I, pp. 594, 595;
Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), April 22, 1861; War of th eRebellion: Official
Records, Ser. III, Vol. I, p. 87; Byers’s Iowa in War Times, p. 42.
64 Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), May 20, June 10,
1861; Byers’s Iowa in War Times, p. 47.
65 Byers’s Iowa in War Times, p. 45; Lathorp’s The
Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, pp. 117, 137. The uniforms of the
first three regiments from Iowa were gray. In the summer of 1861 General
McClellan forbade the use of gray uniforms by Union Troops.—Des Moines
Valley Whig (Keokuk), September 2, 1861.
66 Lathrop’s The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood,
p. 117. “So ragged an appearance did the First Iowa present on its march to
Springfield, that Gen. Lyon called them his tatterdemalion gypsies,’ and when
afterward they outmarched all his other troops, he called them his ‘Iowa
Greyhounds.’” Franc B. Wilkie wrote home that none of the First Iowa would “run
from a lady or the enemy—for very shame’s sake they would not dare turn aught
but their faces to either.” Clean shirts, he wrote, would be acceptable, “not…
so much for the sake of cleanliness as… for that of appearances—clean shirts
hanging out like banners in the rear, look much better than dirty
ones.”—Wilkie’s The Iowa First: Letters from the War, p. 84.
67 The Dubuque Herald, May 9, 1861.
68 Shambaugh’s Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of
Iowa, Vol. II, pp. 413, 415.
69 Laws of Iowa, 1861 (Extra Session), p. 35;
Shambaugh’s Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, Vol.
II, p. 421; Kirkwood Military Letter Book, NO. 1, p. 254.
70 Wilkie’s The Iowa First: Letters from the War, pp.
21, 22.
71 The Dubuque Weekly Times, May 23, 1861; Wilkie’s The
Iowa First: Letters from the War, p. 26; Kirkwood Military Letter Book,
No. 1, p. 142.
72 Council Bluffs Nonpareil, August 24, 1861; The Dubuque
Weekly Times, April 25, July 4, 1861; Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye,
June 25, 1861; Jones’s Reminiscences of the Twenty-second Iowa Volunteer
Infantry, pp. 8, 9; Dubuque Semi-Weekly Times, June 7, 1864.
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There was much actual suffering
among the men of the early regiments because of lack of equipment. Great
difficulty was encountered in securing blankets for the men. They could not be
bought readily in the East and there was not a sufficient quantity on hand
within the State. Many of the companies did not have enough blankets to go
around, and one company of the Second Regiment had “nary blanket.” Patriotic
citizens donated blankets by the dozen, some of the companies being supplied before
they left home for the place of rendezvous. In fact, in October, 1861, Adjutant
General Baker published an order requesting all officers who were sending or
bringing recruits to make known to their men the importance of bringing along
at least one good blanket, comfort or quilt, for each volunteer. Captain D. B.
Clarke’s company marched clear across the State in December, 1861, from Council
Bluffs to Keokuk with only such blankets as the citizens of their own community
could supply to them. In one part of the State, a “little trouble was had by
Mr. Allison in buying blankets with Iowa bonds, for use of the men so rapidly
volunteering… Adjt. Genl. Baker, sent him word to ask once more for blankets,
and if not forthcoming, some troops would be sent at once to that part of Iowa,
and ‘the reason found out.’ The blankets were soon bought now, in abundance.”
In August, 1862, the Governor was still appealing for blankets. He requested
ten thousand blankets from the War Department to equip the men coming into rendezvous.
He could furnish fifteen regiments but had blankets for only five. “The weather
grows cold,” he said, “and our men suffer for want of clothing and blankets.”73
The
scarcity of equipment and the slowness with which the government acted were a
drawback to the service. “It would much hasten matters”, wrote Governor
Kirkwood, “if clothing and equipments could be sent to deliver as companies are
mustered in. The delay in furnishing these to other regiments discourages
enlistments.” In 1862 the lack of blankets made it impossible for the regiments
to be in rendezvous at he appointed time. The First Iowa Regiment did not get
army uniforms until after the term of enlistment expired and the men wee on
their way home. Some of the other States seemed to be treated better than Iowa.
One of the men of the Seventh Regiment wrote home form Bird’s Point in the fall
of 1861 that “it makes quite a difference whether a regiment hails from Iowa or
from Illinois. Shoulder strap officials recognize the difference between Hawkeyes
and Suckers. It has been with difficulty that our claims at the Quartermaster’s
and pay department could be recognized until Illinois regiments had been
attended to first.” 74
73
Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), May 27, 1861; The Dubuque Herald,
May 3, 9, 1861; Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, August 14, 1861; Council
Bluffs Nonpareil, October 26, November 30, 1861; Byers’s Iowa in War
Times, pp. 59, 60; War of Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III,
Vol. II, pp. 400, 417, 658.
74 War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III,
Vol. I, p. 499, Vol. II, p. 486; O’Conner’s History of the First regiment of
Iowa Volunteers, p. 13; The Dubuque Weekly Times, November 7, 1861.
The
first three regiments, when assembled at Keokuk, presented an appearance
resembling a “crazyquilt”. One company was uniformed in navy blue shirt and
grey pants, another in grey jacket and black striped pants, while still another
had “a dark blue coats, with green trimmings, light blue pants and fatigue caps
of dark blue.”75 Other and better uniforms were contracted for by the State.
Samuel Merrill of Clayton County took the contract for three thousand “full
suits or uniforms, including shirts, drawers,
shoes, caps and stockings”, 76 and agreed to have them ready within thirty days form the
date of contract, an agreement which he fulfilled. The manufacturer in Boston
kept a force busy nights and Sundays in order to get them done in time. The
uniforms for the Third Regiments, which were sent by freight. These uniforms
would have been provided sooner, but Governor Kirkwood could not get a response
from the War department to the question of whether or not the State would be
expected to furnish uniforms. As it was, some of the clothing made close
connections. The First and Second Regiments had left Keokuk before their
uniforms arrived; while the uniforms for the Third Regiment reached Keokuk the
night before the men left for Hannibal, Missouri. It had been remarked that if
the regiment left without their new clothing, “they could only rely on scaring
the secessionists to death by their own appearance.”77
The
Seventh Iowa left for the front before it received uniforms or equipment. This
regiment drew o overcoats. Rubber blankets and ponchos were not furnished to
the troops at that time, so the men used their gray woolen blankets for both
raincoats and overcoats.78
There was, however, an occasional break
in the monotonous record of delay. Army overcoats were distributed to the
Second Regiment as early as September 27, 1861. The uniforms for the Twelfth
Regiment were unloaded at Dubuque before the regiment left that city. Credit
was given to William B. Allison “for obtaining the uniforms thus early.” The
members of the Nineteenth Regiment, when they left the State for St. Louis,
were in possession of “superb equipments”. The Twenty-second Iowa and the Thirtieth
Iowa were speedily equipped upon their mobilization. The Forty-second Regiment
received “overcoats, under-clothes, hats, feathers, shoes, bugles, small drums
and other trimmings” before leaving Dubuque. At one period in the history of
the Thirty-fourth Regiment the men were in such good condition and so well
equipped that in a prize drill with five of the best companies in the division,
this regiment stood first in some respects and second in the aggregate.79
When the equipment furnished by the Federal
government did arrive, there was often a lack of system in its deliver. “The
clothing and camp and garrison equipage [of the Eighth Regiment] were
distributed in the following generous manner: Being drawn by the regimental
quartermaster, they were deposited in a pile on the parade ground, and each company
commander directed to march his men to the place, where they were supplied.
Company officers made no requisitions and the quartermaster took no receipts.”80
Although clothing was so scarce,
there were a few scapegraces among the troops who would well the clothing and
equipments issued to them for whiskey and the like. In December, 1861, the
Fifteenth Regiment was drawn up for inspection, and each man required to show
all his “plunder”, the object being to find out who were the culprits. Finally,
the War Department issued an order prohibiting soldiers from selling or giving
away clothing, arms, or equipments. Occasionally clothing was stolen form the soldiers.81
When the uniforms were issued
in due season to a regiment, there was often a delinquency in some other
respect. Thus, although the uniforms of the Second Regiment gave satisfaction,
the knapsacks were so damaged that they had to be rejected. Perhaps the one
situation which caused the greatest discomfort to the soldiers was the lack of
shoes. At one time “only 25 men in Company H [First Regiment] were able to do
camp duty for want of shoes. Arrangements were made by the Company last week
for 82 pairs of shoes on their own account.” “There is some neglect somewhere
by somebody in furnishing the volunteers”, was the bitter comment. “It is fortunate
they enlisted in summer or the State and national government would let them
freeze to death.” The shoes that were issued were many times poor in quality.
When the Second Regiment received shoes, one man testified that he “saw several
of those men, that same day, with those same shoes on their feet, and holding
in their hands the heels, which had already dropped off from them.” Many
members of the Fourth Regiment were in camp in Council Bluffs without shoes.
Poor shoes and scant clothing helped to raise the mortality rate of the Twelfth
Regiment.
Lack of shoes was a source of
constant trouble throughout the period of the war. The long, hard marches soon
wore out the shoes; and there was little chance of their being repaired or
replaced. Many are the tales of tired and bleeding feet and footprints marked
by blood. Many soldiers bound pieces of rawhide onto their feet. Several of the
men of the Sixth Regiment marched with Sherman to Knoxville, barefooted. Gloves
and mittens, too, were lacking Captain Kittle’s company [Fifteenth Regiment]
appeared at dress parade “without gloves or mittens, even in the coldest day.”82
Notes
72
Council Bluffs Nonpareil, August 24, 1861; The Dubuque Weekly Times,
April 25, July 4, 1861; Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, June 25, 1861; Jones’s
Reminiscences of the Twenty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, pp. 8, 9; Dubuque
Semi-Weekly Times, June 7, 1864.
73
Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), May 27, 1861; The Dubuque Herald,
May 3, 9, 1861; Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, August 14, 1861; Council
Bluffs Nonpareil, October 26, November 30, 1861; Byers’s Iowa in War Times,
pp. 59, 60; War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III, Vol. II,
pp. 400, 417, 658.
74
War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III, Vol. I, p. 499, Vol.
II, p. 486; O’Connor’s History of the First Regiment of Iowa Volunteers,
p. 13; The Dubuque Weekly Times, November 7, 1861.
75
Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), June 10, July 1, 1861.
76
The Dubuque Weekly Times, July 4, 1861. The first contract entered into
was for: “2,000 Gray, all wool frock coats. 2,000 Gray, all wool pants. 2,000
Gray Felt hats. 4,000 Gray, all wool flannel shirts. 4,000 Gray, all wool
flannel drawers. 4,000 pairs all wool knit socks. 2,000 pairs best army
brogans.
Being
1 hat, 1 coat, 1 pair pants, 2 shirts, 2 pairs drawers, 2 pairs socks and 1
pair shoes for each man, at the price of twenty-one dollars for each man” in
the Second and Third regiments. Those for the First were ordered later.—Shambaugh’s
Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, Vol. II, p. 421.
77
Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), June 10, 24; July 1, 1861; War of
the Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III, Vol. I, p. 221; The Dubuque Herald,
July 3, 1861.
78
Smith’s History of the Seventh Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, pp. 6,
7.
79
Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), October 7, 1861; The Dubuque Weekly
Times, October 17, 1861; The Weekly Gate City (Keokuk), September
10, 1862; Byers’s Iowa in War Times, p. 540; Barnett’s History of the
Twenty-second Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, p. 1; Dubuque Democratic
Herald, December 17, 1862; Clark’s The Thirty-fourth Iowa Regiment,
p. 19.
80
Byers’s Iowa in War Times, p. 496.
81
The Weekly Gate City (Keokuk), December 16, 1861, January 20, 1862; Anamosa
Eureka, November 20, 1863; Dubuque Semi-Weekly Times, August 7,
1863.
82
DesMoines Valley Whig (Keokuk), July 15, 1862; The Dubuque Herald,
June 2, 18, 1861, July 30, 1862; Byers’s Iowa in War Times, pp. 71, 72,
498, 522, 524, 592; The Dubuque Weekly Times, January 23, 1862; The
Weekly Gate City (Keokuk), December 16, 1861.