Iowa in the Civil War

United States     U.S. Military    Iowa  Iowa Military  Iowa in the Civil War



Introduction
Iowa provided over 76,000 troops to the Civil War, of which 13,000 died. Iowa troops included 48 infantry regiments, 8 cavalry regiments, 4 artillery regiments, and one unassigned volunteer regiment. For additional information, see the Wikipedia article, Iowa in the American Civil War.

Iowa Military Units
Most units were numbered, however, some were named. See the table below for lists of the regiments, battalions, batteries, and other units.

The information in the lists of Iowa Military Units comes from the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors web site. That web site also can be searched by the name of a soldier.

Iowa Units by Number or by Name Union Units 1st-9th 10th-30th 31st-48th A to Z Iowa Units by Type of Unit Union Units Infantry Cavalry Artillery Other

Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers
For lists of the soldiers by regiment, see:


 * Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion: Together with Historical Sketches of Volunteer Organizations, 1861–1866 is available online. See Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers.


 * This book provides each soldier’s name, rank, and often the date and place he was mustered out. The soldiers are listed by company but not alphabetically. Volume 6 has names of Iowans that served in organizations of other states and other miscellaneous organizations.

Contents:


 * Volume 1 - 1st through 8th Regiments, Infantry
 * Volume 2 - 9th through 16th Regiments, Infantry
 * Volume 3 - 17th through 31st Regiments, Infantry
 * Volume 4 - 1st through 9th Regiments, Cavalry and Two Independent Companies, Cavalry
 * Volume 5 - 32d through 48th Regiments, Infantry, 1st Regiment African Infantry, and 1st through 4th Batteries Light Artillery
 * Volume 6 - Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in Miscellaneous Organizations of the Mexican War, Indian Campaigns, War of the Rebellion, and the Spanish American and Philippine Wars Together with Historical Sketches of Volunteer Organization.


 * Smith, Elijah Parsons. The diary of Elijah P. Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1974),.

Service Records
An index to the compiled military service records is:


 * Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Iowa This index lists each soldier’s name, company, unit, rank in, and rank out. There are also references to service in other units. The actual service records have not been filmed and are available only at the National Archives.

For more information on service records see Union Service Records.

Pension Records
Civil War Pension Index Cards - An of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. The majority of the records are of Civil War veterans, but the collection also includes records for veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Indian Wars, and World War I. For more information see Union Pension Records.

Society Records
After the Civil War, veterans formed the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). At its peak in the 1890s, the GAR had posts and members throughout Iowa. Post records give the name, birth date, birthplace (town and state), war record (regiment, enlistment date, date mustered out), wife’s name and sometimes, the names and residences of children and parents. For the index and post records, see:


 * Grand Army of the Republic. Grand Army of the Republic Records, ca. 1800–1962 The index cards generally provide the name of the person, his company and regiment, the state from which he served in the Civil War, and the number and city of the GAR post where he was listed. Often the cards also give the exact birth date, county of birth, exact death date and place, name and location of cemetery, and parents’ names. The forms are on microfilm, are listed by county, and often name the parents, spouse, and children. The original records are at the State Historical Society in Des Moines, which has a good Civil War section.
 * Grand Army of the Republic Records Iowa Posts: Indexes to veterans; post membership records. 69 films FHL first film 1,487,370.
 * Grand Army of the Republic, Jefferson County Post # 227, Glasgow, Iowa FHL film 1,695,920 item 6.

Additional Sources

 * For a list of the Civil War soldiers living in Iowa in 1886, see the book, List of Ex-Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, Living in Iowa, mentioned previously. The Civil War soldiers are listed by the state from which they served, then by their regiment and then alphabetically.
 * A PDF file from the State Historical Society of Iowa lists where and when each regiment was mustered into service and the counties that provided the most recruits for each one.

Three guidebooks to Iowa Civil War information are:


 * Discovering Your Iowa Civil War Ancestry
 * Iowa in the Civil War: A Reference Guide This book mentions articles, reports, histories, letters, and diaries that have been published about the different regiments that were in the Civil War.
 * Iowa Colonels and Regiments: Being a History of Iowa Regiments in the War of the Rebellion and Containing a Description of the Battles in Which They Fought' 

Other Sources

 * Iowa Civil War Sesquicentennial (accessed 19 September 2011) has a list of events and programs, timeline, county enlistments by regiment, etc.


 * Iowa's Civil War Battle Flags, State Historical Society of Iowa, (accessed 19 September 2011) has photos of the battle flags for:


 * Infantry
 * Cavalry
 * Artillery
 * Various Confederate
 * Misc


 * Stuart, Addison A. Iowa colonels and regiments : being a history of Iowa regiments in the War of the Rebellion and containing a description of the battles in which they have fought. (Des Moines [Iowa] : Mills, 1865), and (Bethesda, Maryland : University Publications of America, c1993),.


 * Iowa Genealogical Society (Des Moines, Iowa). Iowa soldiers residing in Kansas. (Des Moines [Iowa] : Iowa Genealogical Society, c1996),.

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)
Grand Army of the Republic founded in 1866 - 1956, was the largest veteran’s organization in the country after the Civil War. It was a fraternal organization members were veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, Marines and Revenue Cutler Service who served in the American Civil War. The group supported voting rights for black veterans, and lobbied the U.S. Congress to establish veterans' pensions. In 1890 the membership was 490,000.

In 1888 there were 364 posts and 1,796 members in the state of Iowa

GAR Posts in the State of Iowa

The FamilySearch Catalog list the records of the Iowa Grand Army of the Republic

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
With the death of the last member of the Grand Army of the Republic the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was formed.