A soldier in camp in front of a tent wearing a kepi hat and overcoat. Unidentified Man, Mathew Brady Studio, active 1844 – 1894, Frederick Hill Meserve Collection, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution number NPG.81.M2420 https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.81.M2420

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Introduction

Camp Pope was a temporary training camp established by the Adjutant General of the Iowa State Militia on August 25, 1862 during a major recruitment drive for Iowa volunteers to fight in the Civil War. The camp was located on a large rural tract in Johnson County situated southeast of Iowa City. Most of the activity at the camp was concentrated in an area that today sits south of Longfellow Elementary on Seymour Avenue in Iowa City. 

The Civil War affected the lives of all Iowans and made a lasting impression on those who lived in Johnson County during and after the war. The history of the camp is of interest specifically to local historians and the public to know where the events of the camp took place, especially as they relate to Johnson County History, and because of its associations with one of the major historic events of the nineteenth century in the United States. 

Nearly 3,000 men in three state militia regiments would gather, train, and ship out from Camp Pope during the late summer and into early winter of 1862. The men were enlisted in one of three volunteer infantry regiments, including the Twenty-Second, Twenty-Eighth, and Fortieth Iowa. The men who trained at Camp Pope came from across central and eastern Iowa. They served in both the Eastern and Western theaters of the Civil War. While only white men were constitutionally allowed to serve in the state militia, black men and women contributed to the war effort. Brave black men petitioned Governor Samuel Kirkwood until they were allowed to form a separate regiment. Their efforts were assisted by Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Women aided the health and physical comfort of the soldiers at the Camp by coordinating donations of materials and food including clothing and bedding, stationery and similar items. Women in Iowa also took over the majority of farm labor in the state during the war.

In preparation for this essay I reviewed previous work about the camp, including Johnson County histories, Irving Weber’s essays on Iowa City history, Molly Myers Nauman and Brian Schultes survey report on the Longfellow Neighborhood for the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission, and James E. Jacobsen’s report covering Civil War Training Camps in Johnson County for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. I conducted original in-depth research of historic records located at the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City Public Library, and University of Iowa Libraries as well as the Internet Archive and Hathi Trust including first hand accounts in diaries, contemporary newspaper reports, official military reports, and secondary analysis in articles and books to provide context. I looked at the social factors and some of the men who gathered, trained, and went on to serve their country in a cause they were willing to risk their lives for. ¹

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Note. This essay follows standard citation practices for the subject of history using the Chicago Manual of Style with the exception that for clarity to the general reader none of the standard abbreviations, such as those for page, volume, and number, are used. Page numbers are separated by an n-dash (–) to indicate an inclusive page range and by a comma when not. Full citations are given at the first occurrence and abbreviated citations are given when the work is cited again. Web addresses are provided for online copies when available. Original documents were studied at the State Historical Society of Iowa and The University of Iowa Special Collections and Archives. Books and journals were located at the University of Iowa Libraries, State Historical Society, and Iowa City Public Libraries as well as online resources including from the University of Michigan, the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, and the Journal of Military History. Many resources were located at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/ or Hathi Trust https://www.hathitrust.org/. Additional libraries and archives were consulted without finding significant information. For books that are not available online, please consult WorldCat https://search.worldcat.org/ to locate a copy in a library or purchase a copy at your convenience. Robert Dykstra’s Bright Radical Star was purchased for my use by James Kasper. Newspaper sources were located in the online resources at the Iowa City Public Library and include “Historical Iowa City Newspapers” https://www.icpl.org/redirect.php?x=566; “Newspaper Archive” https://www.icpl.org/redirect.php?x=460; “Newspapers.com” https://www.icpl.org/redirect.php?x=599; “Iowa City Press Citizen – Full Page Images” https://www.icpl.org/redirect.php?x=600 and also the collections at the Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/newspapers/. United States Census and related vital statistics can be found at Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states/ or Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/. Collections at the State Historical Society are in flux and the online catalog does not appear to be complete. This essay is from my own research and writing.

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notes to page 2

1. [Clarence] Ray Aurner, Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa History, volume 1, Cedar Rapids: Western Historical Press, 1912, pages 515–516; 522–523, 534–535, 552–553 https://archive.org/details/leadingeventsin00aurngoog; Irving B. Weber, “Anita Mercer’s Eyes Reflect 71 Years of a City,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, October 17, 1979, page 5C [23]; “Swisher Home: Even Patio Bricks Hold Story,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, page 6c [18]; “A Scenic Afternoon Ride in Iowa City of 1895,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, February 13, 1980, page 7b [15]; “Chronology,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, February 18, 1986 Page 5D [29]; “July 4: Day Full of History,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, page 2C [16]; “Peaks and Gables,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 10, 1990, page 1C [15]; “Summit Street: Uphill Battle Sometimes,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, pages 1C, 4C [20]; Molly Myers Naumann and Brian Schultes, “Survey and Evaluation of the Longfellow Neighborhood I & II, Iowa City Iowa,” Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission, 1998; James E. Jacobsen, “Civil War Camps in Iowa : A Research Report, ”State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City Research Center, Manuscripts BL 424 [Contains only Johnson County], Folder 10, 2011 (Return ↩)