of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 150-153
EIGHTEENTH IOWA INFANTRY. The Eighteenth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry was organized under authority of special orders from the war department, dated May 21-23, 1862. The ten companies composing the regiment were ordered into quarters by Governor Kirkwood on dates ranging from June 10 to July 21, 1862. The designated rendezvous was Clinton, Iowa, and the camp was named Kirkwood, in honor of the governor. The companies were there mustered into the service of the United States by Captain H. B. Hendershott, United States Army, August 5, 6 and 7, 1862. The aggregate strength of the regiment (field, staff and line officers and enlisted men) when the muster was completed, was eight hundred and seventy-seven. Its first equipment of arms was Austrian rifles (calibre 58), with appendages. It was provided with other necessary equipment for active service and August 11, 1862, received an order to proceed to Sedalia, Missouri, at which place it arrived August 28th and was ordered to Springfield, Missouri. It arrived at the latter place September 13th and joined the army of the frontier under General Schofield. The regiment was assigned to the First Brigade of the Second Division, commanded respectively by Colonel Husted of the Seventh Missouri Cavalry, and Brigadier General Totten.
REGIMENT'S FIRST FIGHT. On the 29th of September the army advanced in the direction of the enemy's camp at Neutonia, at which place the troops which led the advance became engaged with the enemy. The brigade and division to which the Eighteenth Iowa belonged were marched quickly in the direction of the troops engaged, but before their arrival the rebel forces had retreated. During the forced march in the night preceding the engagement, the Eighteenth Iowa had come in contact with an advance post of the enemy and in the skirmish which ensued lost one man killed and three wounded. The pursuit of the retreating rebel army was continued as far as Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the Eighteenth Iowa being in advance, skirmished with rear guard of the rebel army but sustained no casualties. The enemy having been driven out of the state of Missouri and the object of the expedition having been accomplished, General Schofield was ordered to return and make such disposition of his forces as would best protect the state against further invasion. The regiment was ordered to Springfield, Missouri, where a large quantity of supplies for the army had been accumulated. The regiment arrived at Springfield, November 14, 1862. While its loss and conflict with the enemy up to this time had been light, the men had suffered greatly from exposure and from the hardships to which they had been subjected on the long march in pursuit of the enemy and the return to Springfield. They were passing throught the common experience of all soldiers in their first year of service. Many were stricken with disease, the prevailing malady being measles, which spread through the regiment and claimed many victims. The entire casualties now numbered ninety and yet the regiment had been in active service less than three months.
STRICKEN WITH DISEASE AT SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI. At Springfield the Eighteenth Iowa constituted an important part of the garrison, which numbered about fifteen hundred troops of all arms and several pieces of field artillery. The defenses consisted of earthworks and detached forts but the number of troops in garrison were insufficient to man the works at all points. Brigadier General Brown was in command of these troops with Colonel Crabb, of the Nineteenth Iowa in command of the post. The rebel general, Marmaduke, had by a skillful and daring movement eluded the vigilance of the Union army and by a series of rapid marches reached the vicinity of Springfield on the evening of January 7, 1863. On the forenoon of that day the scouts of General Brown had discovered the approaching forces of the enemy and the garrison therefore had warning of the impending attack and made every possible preparation to meet it. The Union men of the town armed themselves, offered their services for the defense and afterward fought bravely with the troops. Even the sick in hospital who were able to leave their beds took their guns and went to the front. On the morning of the 8th of January the cavalry pickets of General Brown discovered the enemy's skirmish line and the preliminary fighting began some three miles from the entrenchments. The official reports show that the Eighteenth Iowa performed nobly in the defense of the post.
The regiment remained in Springfield during the remainder of the winter of 1863, performing the monotonous duties incident to the camp and garrison life of soldiers. While the holding of Springfield was very necessary and meant so much to the loyal citizens of Missouri, it could not be otherwise than unsatisfactory to the gallant officers and men of the Eighteenth Iowa to be retained upon such duty, while so many Iowa regiments were actively participating in the great campaign then in progress in other parts of the south and winning honor and distinction for themselves and their state. In April, 1863, Colonel Edwards, who had been on detached service at St. Louis, returned to Springfield and as- sumed command of the post. The operation of the regiment now assumed a much more active character. The rebel general, Shelby, had invaded Missouri with a considerable force, and besides holding the post at Springfield, portions of the Eighteenth were called upon for active service in the field.
MARCH SEVENTY-FIVE MILES THROUGH HALF FOOT OF SNOW. January 2, 1864, a portion of the regiment under command of Lieutenant5 Colonel Campbell marched to Roseville, Arkansas, to prevent an anticipated attack upon a supply train on the way from Little Rock in charge of Captain Clover, with a detachment of the regiment, and returned to Fort Smith January 8, 1864, having marched seventy-five miles in the depth of winter, the snow being six inches deep, without tents or shelter of any kind. During the remainder of the winter the regiment was engaged in excessive labor, in fatigue, escort and guard duty, men and officers going on duty for months every other day and living upon half rations.
On the 18th of April the regiment under command of Captain Duncan moved from Camden to reinforce Colonel Williams, who was escorting a large forage train. About fourteen miles from Camden, at Poison Springs, Colonel Williams was attacked by the enemy six thousand strong, under Generals Marcy and Fagan. He had with him the Eighteenth Iowa, the First Kansas, one section of the Second Indiana Battery, and about two hundred cavalry. His small force was completely surrounded and separated and after a fierce and sanguinary conflict in which the rest of the command was entirely routed and scattered with great loss, the Eighteenth Iowa was isolated and hemmed in on all sides. It returned slowly, rod by rod, reforming and charging the enemy seven times, and finally cut its way through the enemy's lines and returned to Camden. The casualties in this engagement were eighty killed, wounded and missing.
IN BATTLE OF JENKIN'S FERRY. April 30th the regiment participated in the battle of Jenkin's Ferry, at Saline river, where the enemy attacked General Steele's army and then, retreating from Camden, endeavored to prevent his crossing, but was repulsed after a day's hard fighting, with heavy loss on both sides. The regiment returned to Fort Smith, May 15, 1864, having marched seven hundred and thirty miles through swamps, over mountains, subsisting part of the time on raw corn, wading whole days and nights in mud and water and suffering hardships that have been surpassed in no campaign of the war.
May 25, 1864, the regiment under command of Major Morey, together with the Second Kansas and a section of the Second Kansas Battery, all under command of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, moved to Clarksville, Arkansas, to hold that place and keep open the navigation of the river upon which the army at Fort Smith depended for supplies. The regiment lost on the march two men killed by guerillas. While here, Sergeant Vance of Company C, Eighteenth Iowa, with twenty-eight men in charge of a forage train, was attacked twelve miles from Clarksville by forty rebels but repulsed them and saved his train, killing two and wounding two of the enemy, and losing one man wounded.
August 6th, Clarksville was evacuated by order of Brigadier General Thayer, and the Eighteenth Iowa under command of Major Morey, together with a battalion of the Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry and a large train of government stores and refugees, all under command of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, marched for Fort Smith. On their march they were followed closely by the enemy who harassed them slightly but without doing serious injury. From the 11th of August until December the regiment was sent on a number of expeditions, all of which were quite successful, and in which the men displayed great bravery in their clashes with the enemy.
About the last of February, 1865, four companies of the regiment under command of Major Morey, were detached for garrison duty at Van Buren, Arkansas, remaining there until July 6th, when the regiment was concentrated at Little Rock, Arkansas. There on the 22d of July, 1865, the regiment was mustered out of the United States service and was soon afterward conveyed to Davenport, Iowa, where it was formally disbanded, the officers and men receiving their discharges and final payment, August 5-7, 1865, just three years from the date of their muster into the service at Clinton, Iowa.
Colonel Campbell states that only about four hundred of the original members of the regiment were with it upon its return to Davenport and that but eight of its original officers remained with it at that time. He also states that during his term of service it had received two hundred and thirty-five recruits, of which eighty-six were from Iowa, seventy-two from Missouri and seventy-seven from Arkansas and Texas.
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