Flag of the 22nd Iowa Infantry Regiment. State Historical Society of Iowa Accession Number 2001.071.120. The flag was patterned after a U.S. regimental flag. https://iowa.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/DJ2aXEs2j3GIJ2N8/2/1/67120?RECORD

Page 7

Twenty-Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Twenty-Second Iowa was the first regiment to rendezvous at Camp Pope. Its battle record and the fact that most of the regiment came from Johnson County meant that more was said about this regiment in local accounts after the war than the other two regiments that trained at Camp Pope. Its leader, Colonel William Milo Stone, was an attorney, judge, and first editor of the anti-slavery Knoxville Journal. He was noted for a combative disposition. Alan M. Schroder related a story of mythical proportions about Stone. The day he learned of the Confederate attack at the US fort in Charleston Harbor, as the story goes, he was presiding at a court hearing. A messenger rushed into his courtroom and whispered something to him. As the story goes, Stone immediately rose and stated “Gentlemen, Fort Sumter has been fired upon. This court stands adjourned until this matter is adjusted. By God, I’m going to war!” In real life, Stone was appointed major of the Third Iowa by Governor Kirkwood in June 1861, after raising a company in Marion County and helping to organize the regiment. He was captured at the Battle of Shiloh and in May 1862 he and two other officers were placed on parole and ordered to travel to Washington, D.C. with the understanding that they would negotiate the terms for the exchange of hundreds of men. The exchange eventually took place in the Autumn 1862. Still on parole and bound to not enter the conflict until he was officially exchanged he returned to Knoxville, where Governor Kirkwood appointed him colonel of the Twenty-Second Iowa in August. He arrived in Iowa City the week of August 20, 1862 but didn’t immediately assume command because he still had not been formally exchanged and would not be until late in November. Instead, he joined fellow Republicans J. B. Grinnell and Lieutenant Governor Nicholas J. Rusch in addressing the public in front of the Clinton House Hotel in downtown Iowa City. The Iowa Weekly Republican editors specifically endorsed Stone’s words, likely giving indications of the Republican support in Johnson County for Stone to pursue his eventually successful campaign for governor in 1863. Stone was wounded at Vicksburg and from June 1863 while on furlough he began to campaign to be governor of Iowa. He resigned his commission after Vicksburg was won, received the Republican nomination for governor and ran against James Madison Tuttle, a successful Civil War general who also was a volunteer. Tuttle lived in Van Buren County in the extreme southeastern corner of Iowa. He was a Douglass Democrat who believed the United States should remain united, but also was against the federal government completely prohibiting chattel slavery.⁵⁷

The Twenty-Second Iowa initially included 665 men from Johnson County out of a total of 950 volunteers. Out of the ten companies organized, A through I and K, only three were not from Johnson County. Companies C, D and E were from Jasper, Monroe, and Wapello counties respectively. Many of these men were seasoned by previous experience as members of Company B, Washington Guards, of the First Iowa Regiment where they fought several skirmishes leading up to the the major battle at Wilson’s Creek, or Oak Hills, in Missouri at which they held the line against a seemingly tireless rival and provided the rear guard during the retreat. The First Iowa had returned as war heroes with highest honors. Their return encouraged more to enlist for the first time or to stay in the war effort. About 30 men from the First Iowa re-enlisted in the Twenty-Second Iowa. Several of them died serving in their second tour of duty. The Iowa City Weekly Republican noted enthusiastically that their “old friend” who wrote under the pen name Jeff while in the First Iowa was expected to be corresponding with the paper from his new post in the Twenty-Second Iowa. ⁵⁸

The Iowa Weekly Republican reported that the Twenty-Second reached full strength by August 27 with the second lieutenant of each company mustering their company into the Iowa Militia on September 7, 9, and 10. Major Harvey Graham continued as commander of the camp and the regiment. Graham was one of many volunteers who had seen action in their first 90-day commission with the First Iowa the previous summer in Missouri. This arrangement also served to foreshadow later events when Graham commanded in place of Stone who was wounded during the assault on the defenses at Vicksburg. Although Graham was captured there and he was paroled, he replaced Stone as colonel of the Twenty-Second Iowa after Stone was nominated as the Republican candidate for governor in June 1863. The men of the Twenty-Second Iowa received their uniforms and equipment immediately upon mustering into the US Army, including Enfield rifles, or more specifically the Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket as their small arms. These front-loading black powder-cartridge rifles were among the most advanced personal arms available to both sides of the war, second only to the Springfield model 1861. The Iowa Adjutant General reported that the Twenty-second had 960 of these weapons, which equipped the full regiment with a few spares. The Iowa Weekly Republican stated well after the war the US Navy had captured the rifles from a Southern blockade-runner but this fact went unmentioned in contemporary news reports. ⁵⁹

The Twenty-Second Iowa was mustered into federal service on September 9 by H. B. Hendershott, a mustering officer for the regular US Army. They received orders on September 13 to move to St. Louis and left Camp Pope early Monday morning, September 15. The men of the Twenty-Second were taken off guard duty at the camp and ordered to cook six days rations and pack their kits. Word spread quickly in Iowa City and the day before the move saw a throng of well-wishers gathered at the camp as the men continued to load equipment and supplies onto the freight cars waiting at the railroad depot, which then was located between Van Buren and Johnson Street. The regiment was called to order at dress parade early on Sunday evening. A local brass band played while nearly 4,000 citizens observed on foot, in wagons, carriages, buggies, and on horseback in a truly momentous occasion for Iowa City. Then, as a surprise to almost everyone, a member of Company D from Monroe County was drummed out of camp for stealing from an Iowa City widow. His head was shaved on one side and two sticks that looked like horns were tied behind his ears. The editor of Iowa City Weekly Republican who reported on the incident claimed that the man was in fact wanted in Missouri for similar crimes and was not an Iowa resident. ⁶⁰

Location of Camp Pope and railroad depot in 1862. J. H. Millar, Iowa City and Its Environs, Panora, Iowa: Bryan and Miller, 1854.

At about Midnight the train moved east from the depot and waited next to the camp where the final heavy items were loaded and the last soldiers boarded. Their equipment included uniforms, blankets, cooking gear and other necessities, weapons, and 20,000 rounds of ammunition. There was a shortage of tents with only enough for maybe two companies. ⁶¹ 

Although official reports stated the regiment left as ordered on the 14th, the train of 16 passenger cars, 10 box cars that held men as well as freight, and two locomotives didn’t leave until 2 am Monday. A correspondent writing under the pen name M. E. C. wrote to the Weekly North Iowa Times describing the various enlistment camps he had visited over the course of a month. He poetically described the departure of the Twenty-Second. He said he witnessed a heart wrenching scene as the men “turned their backs on home and loving hearts” with even the stoutest crying. He added his parting thoughts for the train as it was “lost in the mist of night,” asking how many of the noble men would never return? Samuel Pryce had somewhat different details, but of a similar theme. He said they embarked just east of the bridge on Summit Street and boarded a train consisting of box cars with “rude pine boards” for seats. As they climbed up, men were cheering and there were the sounds of musicians playing fifes and drums. He said, “Tears were mingled with tender farewells. Mothers, sisters, and sweethearts were there weeping the tears of bitter separation,” and “men, women, and children listened to voices they would never hear again.” The Twenty-Second Iowa traveled to Davenport directly by rail and went aboard the steamboat Metropolitan and after some time and considerable trials, they landed and marched to Benton Barracks, St. Louis. Most accounts of the travel from Davenport to St. Louis mention a night spent in torrential rain in Keokuk waiting to reboard the steamboat that had to be lightened of its load to pass over the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi. ⁶² 

Writing twenty-five years later, J. B. Ogle stated in a memorial address given on Decoration Day that perhaps the Twenty-Second saw the heaviest fighting of any regiment from Iowa, calling it “severer and more destructive” than the others saw. While many other infantry units across the north saw higher losses over the course of the war and losses among artillery units were far greater, the Twenty-Second Iowa saw some of the bloodiest days of the war sustaining more than 10 percent losses over the course of war and had the highest losses at the assault on Vicksburg of any union regiment. Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith along with twelve others from Company I volunteers, including William P. Marvin, was ordered to assault the fortified battery known as the Railroad Redoubt or Fort Beauregard during Ulysses S. Grant’s initial assault on June 22, 1863. The order to attack came to William Stone from John A. McClernand. Twelve men of Company I were ordered to scale the walls and secure the fort. They engaged Confederate soldiers in the fort with hand to hand combat. According to first hand accounts, including the official report, the men lifted one another over the parapet while under heavy fire. The rest of the day, the flag of the Twenty-Second Iowa, the symbol of the regiment carried to Mississippi from Camp Pope, flew over the parapets along with the flag of the 77th Illinois while McClernand and subordinates failed to reinforce the men, instead ordering them to advance further upslope. By noon, Joseph Griffith and David K. Trine were the only men left of the twelve from the Company I detail. Without adequate support, they had to retreat as night fell, making for bitter losses and a tactical failure. ⁶³

Casualties for the Twenty-Second Iowa including the attack and siege of Vicksburg numbered 27 killed, 118 wounded, and 19 missing, which includes those captured, after having just lost 23 men at the Battle of Port Gibson, with 2 killed and 21 missing. A medal of honor was later awarded to First Sergeant Leonidas M. Godley of Company E who was shot three times during the Attack and Siege of Vicksburg, taken prisoner, and had his leg amputated without any anesthetic. Most of the losses, including the capture of Harvey Graham took place in the assault on the Railroad Redoubt. The next heaviest action the Twenty-Second saw was during Sheridan’s campaign in the Shenandoah Valley at the Battle of Opequon or Third Winchester during September 1864 where the regiment lost 105 men with 11 killed, 63 wounded, and 31 missing. Samuel Pryce was mentioned in the general orders for conspicuous gallantry at the Third battle of Winchester. George Remley, who was killed in this battle, was named similarly. Hospital Steward Ealy, Quartermaster Sterling and Commissary Sergeant Brown were commended for rendering efficient service in carrying off the wounded and conducting the ambulances in the field.⁶⁴

The Twenty-Second Iowa was mustered out July 25, 1865 after several months stationed as a military presence at several points in the south. Total regimental losses, out of 1,008 who eventually served in the Twenty-Second Iowa, vary considerably by source in number and format for reporting the losses. The largest count is also the most specific and was reported by the Iowa Adjutant General as 510 deaths and 187 discharges due to wounds and disease. William Fox and the National Park Service both count fewer casualties. S. C. Jones stated the regiment traveled more than 15,000 miles over land and water. The Iowa City Weekly Republican stated the regiment had traveled more than 12,000 miles by train, steamboat, ocean steamer, and especially on foot, while Pryce, the adjutant of the regiment, recorded 8,000 miles in his history of the regiment submitted to the Adjutant General of Iowa.⁶⁵

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notes to page 7

57. Alan M. Schroder, “William M. Stone: Iowa’s Other Civil War Governor”, Palimpsest volume 63, number 4, 1982, pages 106–107, 108, 109 https://doi.org/10.17077/0031-0360.25421; John W. Wright and W. A. Young, editors, History of Marion County, Iowa, Volume 1, Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing,1915, pages 104, 268 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008652873; Iowa City Weekly Republican, Wednesday, August 13th, 1862, page 2;Iowa City Daily Republican, September 25th, 1889, page 3; Iowa City Weekly Republican, August 20th, 1862, page 3; Burden, note 4, page 58; Sanford W. Huff, “Brigadier-General James M. Tuttle,” Annals of Iowa, series 1, number 3, 1868, pages 236–237 (Return ↩)

58. “Affairs at Camp Pope” Iowa City Weekly Republican, September 17th, 1862, page 3; Jeffery C. Burden, editor, Vanishing Footprints, 2008, page 46 (Return ↩)

59. Iowa City Weekly Republican, August 27th, 1862, page 2; Iowa City Weekly Republican, Wednesday, August 27th, 1862, page 3; Iowa Adjutant General, “Twenty-Second Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry,” Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, volume 3, 1910, page 59; Iowa Adjutant General, frontmatter, “Report to Samuel J. Kirkwood, Governor of Iowa, January 11, 1863,” Report of the Adjutant General and Acting Quartermaster General of the State of Iowa, January 1, 1863, Des Moines: F. W. Palmer, 1863, page xvi https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008885770; Earl J. Hess, The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008, pages 28, 35, 44–45 https://archive.org/details/riflemusketinciv0000hess; Russ A. Pritchard, Civil War Weapons and Equipment, London: Salamander Books, 2003, page 61 https://archive.org/details/civilwarweaponse0000russ; Earl J. Coates, An Introduction to Civil War Small Arms, Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1990, pages 16, 19 https://archive.org/details/introductiontoci0000coat; “Brave Boys in Blue,” Iowa City Weekly Republican, September 11th, 1895, page 8 (Return ↩)

60. Simeon Barnett, History of the Twenty-Second Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Iowa City: N.H. Brainerd, 1865, page 1 https://archive.org/details/historyoftwentys00barn; “Affairs at Camp Pope” Iowa City Weekly Republican, September 17th, 1862, page 3 (Return ↩)

61. “Affairs at Camp Pope,” Iowa City Weekly Republican, September 25th, 1872, page 3 (Return ↩)

62. Weekly North Iowa Times (McGregor) October 1, 1862, page 1; Jeffery C. Burden, editor, Vanishing Footprints, 2008, page 53 (Return ↩)

63. Iowa Adjutant General, “Twenty-Second Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry,” Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, volume 3, 1910, page 564; [Clarence] Ray Aurner, Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa History, volume 1, 1912, page 537 https://archive.org/details/leadingeventsin00aurngoog; Andrew R. Miller, “Off the Rails: The Failed Federal Assault on Vicksburg’s Railroad Redoubt,” American Battlefield Trust, December 9, 2020, updated August 5, 2023 https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/rails-failed-federal-assault-vicksburgs-railroad-redoubt# Joseph E. Griffith, “The Twenty-Second Iowa Infantry at Vicksburg”, Annals of Iowa volume 6, issue 3, 1868, page 217. doi: https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.11611 (Return ↩)

64. Iowa City Daily Republican, June 2, 1886, page 3; William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in The American Civil War, 1861–1865, Albany: Albany Publishing, 1889, pages 8–11, 411 https://archive.org/details/reglossescivilwar00foxwrich; [Clarence Ray Aurner], Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa History, volume 2, Cedar Rapids: Western Historical Press, 1913, page 43 https://archive.org/details/leadingeventsinj02aurn/page/43
(Return ↩)

65. Fox, Regimental Losses, p. 411; Iowa Adjutant General, “Twenty-Second Regiment,” volume 3, 1910, pages 571, 573, https://iagenweb.org/civilwar/books/logan.htm; Samuel Calvin Jones, Reminiscences, 1907, page 118, “Brave Boys in Blue, Iowa City Weekly Republican, September 11th, 1895, page 8; Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Iowa Department, “Medal of Honor Recipients” https://www.iowasuvcw.org/iowas-medal-of-honor-recipients (Return ↩)