"Roster of the Surviving Members of the Eighteenth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry 1890"
Roster of Soldiers A Short History of the RegimentThe regiment was rendezvoused at Clinton, Iowa, and was mustered into the United States service August 6, 1862, with John Edwards as colonel; --- Cook, lieutenant-colonel and Hugh J. Campbell, major.
August 11, 1862, the Regiment left Clinton by boat, and on the 13th landed at St. Louis, Missouri, and went into camp at Benton Barracks, where it remained for drill until the 27th of August, when it was sent by rail to Sedalia, Missouri, reaching that place on the 28th. It remained at Sedalia about one week and then started across the country for Springfield, where it arrived September 13th, and on the 18th was assigned to the First Brigade of the Second Division of the Army of the Frontier, under command of General Schoffield -- with "Little" Phil Sheridan as quartermaster of the army. The Regiment left Springfield the latter part of September with the Army of the Frontier and took part in the battle of Newtonia, Missouri, September 27th, and Fayettesville, Arkansas, October 27th. From Fayettesville the army was ordered back to Missouri, and about the middle of November, after having been on the move for about seventy-five days and marched over seven hundred miles, the Regiment again went into camp and winter quarters at Springfield.
About this time some of the men took the measles, which spread through the whole Regiment and during the winter the Regiment lost about ninety men who died from this disease and from exposure.
January 8, 1863, the rebel general, Marmaduke, with about four thousand men, attacked Springfield, which was defended by the Eighteenth Iowa, a few hundred state malitia [sic], and four or five hundred convalescent soldiers from the hospitals. The fight lasted from 10 o'clock in the forenoon until 8 o'clock in the evening. The enemy retreated about midnight, leaving one hundred and eighty killed and wounded on the field. The Eighteenth suffered severely in this action, loosing fifty enlisted men in killed and wounded, and two commissioned officers killed -- Capt. W. R. Blue, of Co. C, and Capt. Joseph Van Meter, of Co. H, who died of wounds received -- and Capt. Landis, of Co. D, and Lieut. Conway, of Co. C, were wounded. At this time there was a large amount of quartermaster and commissary goods stored at Springfield, and had it not been for the fortifications and the stubborn resistance made by the Eighteenth Iowa, all would have fallen into the hands of the enemy and been destroyed. During the summer of 1863 the Regiment made a number of forced marches into Cassville and other points in southwestern Missouri.
October 16th, companies D and F, under command of Capt. Ray, while escorting a train from Cassville to Fayettsville, was attacked at Cross Hollow, Arkansas, by the rebels under Col. Brooks. After a short contest the enemy retired with a loss of ten men killed and wounded.
October 17, 1863, the Regiment left Springfield in pursuit of the rebels, under command of Gen. Jo. Shelby, who was then retreating from Missouri, and pursued him day and night over the Boston mountains, having numerous skirmishes with his command, and on the 27th day of October drove him across the Arkansas river at Clarksville. The command then, after resting a day, marched up the river and reached Ft. Smith October 31st, having marched three hundred miles over the mountains in thirteen days.
The Regiment went into winter quarters at Ft. Smith, and remained there until March 22, 1864, when, with the Third Division of the Seventh Army Corps, it marched for Camden in the south part of the State of Arkansas, the Division being under the command of Gen. Thayer and the Corps under the command of Gen. Steele. During this campaign the Regiment took part in the battle of Prairie d'Anne, April 12th, Moscow, April 13th, Poison Springs, April 18th, and Jenkin's Ferry, at Salme River, April 30th. In the battle of Poison Springs it lost eighty-one men killed, wounded and missing, and a number were taken prisoners. The expedition under Gen. Banks having failed, the entire rebel force of the Southwest was turned on Gen. Steele and he was forced to retreat. And on the 15th day of May, 1864, after having been on the move for forty-four days and marched seven hundred and thirty miles through swamps and over mountains, subsisting a part of the time on raw corn, at times wading whole days through mud and water, the Regiment, with the Third Division of the Seventh Army Corps, returned to Ft. Smith.
During the summer and fall it made a number of excursions into the country, and was at Ft. Smith when that place was attacked by the rebels, July 29th and 31st, and August 27th, and September 1st and 11th, and December 24th, 1864, but these attacks did not amount to much, as the place was well fortified.
Most of the time the Regiment was at Ft. Smith, the men were put on half rations, and that of a very poor quality, as all supplies had to hauled two hundred miles through a hostile country. July 6, 1865, the Regiment was ordered to Little Rock for muster out. It remained at Little Rock until July 21st, when it started for Davenport, Iowa, where it was finally mustered out and paid off, August 5 to 7, 1865.
The whole number of miles marched by the Regiment during these three years is estimated to be four thousand, one hundred and sixty. Of the original members, about four hundred returned for muster out. After it went to the front it received two hundred and thirty five recruits. Of the original officers, only eight returned with the Regiment. The total loss of the Regiment, by death and discharge, was five hundred and fifteen.
JOHN W. HARVEY
President of Association
(Leon Iowa is handwritten)