Camp Pope: A Civil War Training Camp at Iowa City

Flag, 40th Iowa Infantry. Patterned after a US national flag. State Historical Society of Iowa Accession Number 2001.071.006. One layer. silk and cotton, pigment. Governmental issue. Machine sewn. Hand painted stars. Augmented with Battle Honors, stripe 2 Helena, Little Rock, Elkins Ford Prairie D’Ann, Camden, Jenkins Ferry, Mark’s Mills, Fort Pemberton https://iowa.minisisinc.com/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/rz2MhE1Fm3GIJ2NK/6/43/67429?RECORD&UNION=Y

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Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The Fortieth Iowa Infantry began their rendezvous at Camp Pope in September 1862. Some of the men would have been in camp as the Twenty-Second was finalizing training and mustered into service as well as the arriving men of the Twenty-Eighth Iowa. The regiment was mustered into service under Colonel John A. Garrett on November 16. Captain H. B. Hendershott of the United States Army performed the ceremony and issued the men their enlistment bonuses. The regiment had 900 men at this point. ⁷⁹

Garrett had previously been appointed Captain of Company I of the Tenth Iowa. The regiment was in camp near Jacinto, Mississippi when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Twenty-Second Iowa on August 26, 1862. Likely due to distance and the difficulties in travel during wartime, Garrett arrived in Iowa City well after the Twenty-Second Iowa had been ordered to move into the field. He then was appointed by Governor Kirkwood to command of the Fortieth Iowa. Company I from the Tenth Iowa liked him and when he received his appointment and promotion with the Twenty-Second Iowa, they commissioned a sword to commemorate the occasion. Garrett received the sword on October 7 when he arrived at Camp Pope. ⁸⁰

The 10th Reg’t Iowa Volunteers on the March from Hamburg to Camp before Corinth, April 28th, 1862. Library of Congress Accession Number LC-DIG-pga-07661 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pga.07661

Garrett had previously been appointed Captain of Company I of the Tenth Iowa. The regiment was in camp near Jacinto, Mississippi when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Twenty-Second on August 26, 1862. Owing to distance and the difficulties in travel during wartime, Garrett arrived in Iowa City well after the Twenty-Second Iowa had left. He then was appointed by Governor Kirkwood to command of the Fortieth Iowa. Company I from the 10th Iowa liked him and when he received his appointment and promotion with the Twenty-Second Iowa, they commissioned a sword to commemorate the occasion. Garrett received the sword on October 7 when he arrived at Camp Pope. ⁸¹ 

As with the earlier two regiments, newspapers across eastern Iowa reported on the regiment’s rendezvous as it progressed from October into December. The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye reported that the other five companies, around half the men, were all from Marion County. Interestingly they were traveling by steamboat and had landed in town on their way to Iowa City, which meant they had left from a landing on the Des Moines River, and were likely headed north to Davenport to ride the train the rest of the way to Iowa City. The Iowa City Republican reported all the Fortieth Iowa had five companies in camp in early October with all of the men of the Fortieth Iowa in camp on October 9. Major Smith was commanding the regiment at this point on behalf of Garrett. Frank Campbell, previously editor of the Montezuma Republican, was the acting adjutant. A week later it was reported the entire regiment would be in camp soon and Garrett had taken command. The lieutenant colonel was on his way. On the same page, the Iowa City State Democratic Press noted that L. A. Duncan, a lawyer and newspaper editor, was taking leave from the Iowa City Weekly Republican to enlist. The State Democratic Press poured praise on Duncan and wished him good fortune. Duncan was appointed adjutant, an occasion that was noted by papers across the state. Garrett contributed a copy of an address that Duncan made to the regiment early in October to the Republican. Duncan had told the volunteers that they had left their quiet homes and joined the Grand Army of the Union as patriots who would fight against the blackest rebellion the world had ever seen. He encouraged the men to add to the lustrous pages of Iowa history. All the officers and men of the Fortieth Iowa were in camp by October 15 creating a “more lively appearance” in the camp. Arms for the regiment were at Davenport and were expected to be shipped to Camp Pope soon. Those weapons included 820 Enfield rifles. Their uniforms still had not arrived. ⁸²

By late November talk in camp rumored that the regiment would be ordered to the field soon. The Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye reported that they were expected to soon receive orders to move on November 25, but they were still at Camp Pope in mid-December waiting for weapons. The unheated barracks had become too cold for good protection during a recent period of colder than normal weather. The State Democratic Press expressed its wishes the regiment be moved to a place with suitable winter quarters and more active service. The same paper congratulated the men on maintaining order and discipline of a higher degree than the earlier regiments. ⁸³

The regiment remained at Camp Pope until the early hours of December 17, 1862. The men were given less than twenty hours in which to prepare for their departure by preparing rations for five days. Garret publicly thanked the women of Iowa City for care of the sick in camp and the regiment bade farewell to friends and family. The men boarded a train and traveled through Davenport and then continued by rail to Cairo, Illinois, arriving on the 18th, and embarked there on a steamer, and were conveyed to Columbus, Kentucky, where they disembarked and went into camp on the evening of December 19, 1862. ⁸⁴

A soldier correspondent who used the pen name Boots gave a colorful description of their travels from Iowa City to Columbus, arriving before December 24.

During the short week since leaving Iowa City the 40th has
traveled by rail and steamboat, occupied four camps and
two forts, besides lying about loose a good share of the time….

The day that witnessed our departure from Iowa City was
bright, cold and beautiful and the ‘boys’ were right glad to
exchange the monotony of camp life for more active duty.
At 9:30 a. m. the shrill whistle of the locomotive warned us
of departure and were taken by way of La Salle, Illinois to Cairo….

Tomorrow will be Christmas and the 40th wishes their many friends in Iowa City a ‘merry time.’ We are sleeping on our arms and instead of eating Christmas turkey, may be in a fight, but I doubt it.⁸⁵

Tenth Reunion 40th Iowa Infantry, Newton, IA October 12–13, 1899. Copy available on “Iowa in the Civil War, Regiments,” IAGenWeb Project https://iagenweb.org/civilwar/regiment/index.html

Official military accounts of Fortieth Iowa are more fragmentary than the first two regiments discussed. Possibly due to factors related to their later entry into the war and questions of their loyalty, the men of the regiment were moved between armies and different corps more often than the Twenty-Second and Twenty-Eighth Iowa. They sometimes fought as detached companies or battalions, and the adjutant, who normally would be in charge of the official records for the regiment, was reassigned as a personal aid to Samuel Allen Rice, who was made Brigadier General in charge of all United States volunteers just before the engagement at Jenkins Ferry in April 1864. Records for the Fortieth Iowa were later pieced together by the Iowa Adjutant General from William Garrett’s very brief descriptions of events as well as those of other officers. The question of loyalty of the regiment was based on a small contingent of men who were vocal anti-federal Democrats who had enlisted rather than face the shame of being drafted or the criminal charges of avoiding the draft. No mention of disloyalty was made in the official reports of the regiment and the earliest independent history of the regiment addressed the rumor and fully contradicted it. ⁸⁶

The Fortieth Iowa spent a fair amount of time guarding riverfront fortifications in Kentucky at Columbus on the Mississippi River and at Paducah on the Ohio. They then spent time in the rearguard near Hayne’s Bluff and Snyder’s Bluff during the Vicksburg Campaign without any engagement with Confederate forces, arriving at their ordered position only after the battle had ended. From there they were ordered to Helena and then detached as part of the Arkansas Expedition. Again, they participated in little to no direct combat as they marched into Little Rock. The regiment, which began with 900 men, was reduced by 220 men due to exposure, disease and hard marches. They participated in a number of light skirmishes but losses from combat were comparatively light. The Fortieth then was transferred to the army of Nathaniel Banks for the Red River Campaign. They had a number of skirmishes in the engagement at Prairie d’Anne and were stranded when Banks suddenly retreated with the main force. They fell back on their own over several days without supplies taking next to no rest with no food and no blankets or fires for warmth. ⁸⁷

They next engaged in heavy fighting at Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas during a torrential rainstorm, fighting in the mud as separate companies at different positions along the front. Two officers and 75 men were detached to serve as guards on steamboats on the Arkansas River and several details were sent to guard the ammunition trains. Four companies held the left flank but suffered the most of any in the brigade. They withstood the direct fire of two Confederate regiments until Garret could get a Kansas regiment moved up to support them. As mentioned, L. A. Duncan was detached as aid to Samuel Allen Rice, who was killed in action that day. The Confederate forces withdrew to attack another Union column. The Fortieth retreated through miles of wetlands, having to pull wagons, cannon, and draft animals out of the muck. The horses and mules were exhausted and had also gone for days without food. The Fortieth Iowa carried on through the night. After a day of these ordeals they reached a road with the supply train where they could find food and were able to retreat in good order to Little Rock. ⁸⁸

The Fortieth next provided support operations in several actions in Arkansas and in July 1865, they were sent to occupy Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, also called Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma. The men remained at the fort until they mustered out on August 2 and disbanded at Davenport on August 16. The regimental statistics include 1,136 total enrollment, 23 killed in action or from wounds, and 184 from disease. Five were captured. Brigadier General Cyrus Bussey wrote an official letter commending the Fortieth Iowa for their service including their superior discipline, bravery, and faithful performance of every duty, earning honor and saying they were the most deserving of praise. ⁸⁹

_____

notes to page 9

79. Daily Gate City (Keokuk), November 8, 1862, page 3; Muscatine Weekly Journal, October 17, 1862, page 1; Weekly Hawk Eye (Burlington), December 6, 1862, Page 10; Iowa City Weekly Republican, October 15th, 1862, page 3; Iowa Adjutant General, “Fortieth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry,” Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, volume 5, 1911, pages 1047; Iowa Adjutant General, “Twenty-Eighth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry,” Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, volume 3, 1910, page 1229, 1242; Iowa City Weekly Republican, Wednesday, October 15th, 1862, page 3 (Return ↩)

80.The State Fair Grounds were located on South Riverside Drive in Iowa City and southwest of the intersection of US Highway 6, Grand Army of the Republic Highway and Iowa Highway 1 West; Iowa Adjutant General, “Fortieth Regiment” Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, volume 5, 1911, page 1047; The History of Jasper County, Iowa, Chicago: Western Historical, 1878, page 417; Iowa Adjutant General, “”Report of the Adjutant General and Acting Quartermaster General, January 11, 1864 to January 1, 1865, [volume 1], Des Moines: F. W. Palmer, pages 54–55 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008652519; Iowa City Weekly Republican, September 24th, 1862, page 3 (Return ↩)

81. Iowa City Republican, October 8th, 1862 page 3 (Return ↩)

82. State Democratic Press (Iowa City), October 4th, 1862, page 3; Iowa City Weekly Republican, Wednesday, October 15, 1862, page 3; Muscatine Weekly Journal, October 17, 1862, page 2; Davenport Daily Gazette, October 24, 1862, page 2; Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, December 6, 1862, page 10; Sioux City Register, December 20, 1862, page 2; Daily Gate City (Keokuk), November 8, 1862 Page 3; Iowa City Weekly Republican, October 1st, 1862, page 3; Iowa City Weekly Republican, October 8th, 1862 page 3; Iowa City Weekly Republican, October 15th, 1862, page 3; Iowa Adjutant General, “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 (Return ↩)

83. Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, November 25, 1862, page 2; Cedar Valley Times (Cedar Rapids) December 18, 1862, page 2; Daily Democrat and News (Davenport), December 16, 1862, page 1; State Democratic Press (Iowa City), November 29th, 1862, page 3; Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, October 11, 1862, page 8; Iowa City Weekly Republican, October 15th, 1862, page 3; Iowa Adjutant General, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, War of the Rebellion, volume 5, 1911, page 1047 (Return ↩)

84. [Clarence] Ray Aurner, Leading Events, 1912, page 523; Davenport Daily Gazette, December 17, 1862, page 4; State Democratic Press (Iowa City), January 3, 1863, page 3; Muscatine Weekly Journal, December 26, 1862; page 4; Lurton Dunham Ingersoll,Iowa and the Rebellion, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1866, page 671 https://archive.org/details/iowarebellionhis00inge (Return ↩)

85. [Clarence] Ray Aurner, Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa History, volume 1, 1912, pages 535–536
(Return ↩)

86. Iowa Adjutant General, “Fortieth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry,” Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, volume 5, 1911, pages 1047–1056; Lurton Dunham Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippencott & Co., 1866, pages 669–670 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006578755 (Return ↩)

87. Iowa Adjutant General, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, volume 5, 1911, pages 1048, 1050(Return ↩)

88. Iowa Adjutant General, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, volume 5, 1911, pages 1053–1054 (Return ↩)

89. Iowa Adjutant General, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, volume 5, 1911, page 1056 (Return ↩)