The Thirty Eighth Iowa Infantry

This regiment was made up of companies raised in the counties of Howard, Chickasaw, Bremer, Winneshiek and Fayette. It went into camp near Dubuque in August, 1862, and numbered about 900 when it was mustered into the service on the 4th of November. The field officers were David H. Hughes, colonel; Joseph O. Hodnutt, lieutenant-colonel, and Charles Chadwick, major. In December it embarked for St. Louis, and soon after was sent to hold New Madrid, where it stayed until June, 1863. From there it was sent to General Grant's army before Vicksburg, and took part in the siege. Later it was sent to Port Hudson, where it suffered fearfully from disease; at one time there were but eight officers and twenty privates fit for duty. Among those who died here from disease were Colonel Hughes, Captain Tinkham and Lieutenant Stevens, all excellent officers. The regiment was at this time almost a wreck, and went into convalescent camp at Carrollton, La.

In October, the regiment was sent into Texas, and in July, 1864, returned to New Orleans, and from there joined the expedition against Mobile. After the capture of that city, it returned to New Orleans, and in January, 1865, the Thirty-eighth was consolidated with the Thirty-fourth, and Lieutenant-Colonel Hodnutt was honorably discharged. The regiment, as a distinct organization, now ceased to exist, a large number of its survivors forming a portion of the Thirty fourth. Its history was a sad one, as its colonel and 300 of its officers and men had in two years perished from disease, and 100 more were discharged as invalids. There were many long, weary weeks when it had not enough well members to care for the sick or bury the dead. It was composed of as good and brave men as any that Iowa sent into the service, but the deadly malaria of southern swamps nearly destroyed it, and the fortunes of war kept it from participating in the great campaigns and victories of the war, while its sacrifices were not surpassed by any.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Gue, Biographies And Portraits Of The Progressive Men Of Iowa, Volume 1, p. 116 & 118

The Thirty-Fourth Iowa Infantry

The four counties of Lucas, Decatur, Wayne and Warren furnished the ten companies that made up this regiment. It had 934 men and went into camp at Burlington in September, 1862.

The field officers were George W. Clark, colonel; Warren S. Dungan, lieutenant-colonel; R. D. Kellogg, major.

It was sent to Helena, Ark., in November, where the smallpox broke out in their camp.

Its first service was with General Sherman's disastrous campaign against Vicksburg and the battle of Chickasaw Bayou. It afterwards shared in the brilliant campaign against Arkansas Post. After the capture of the post and garrison, Colonel Clark was sent with his regiment and five companies of an Illinois regiment to convey the 5,000 prisoners to Chicago. The 6,000 men were crowded into three steamboats and they suffered almost beyond human endurance for the two weeks it took to reach St. Louis. The smallpox broke out among them and the misery they endured is beyond description.

When his command returned to Benton barracks in February, it was completely prostrated by the horrors the men had passed through, and many were discharged. From St. Louis the regiment was sent to Pilot Knob, Lieutenant-Colonel Dungan in command, as Colonel Clark was in command of a brigade. Soon after the regiment joined General Grant's army, then besieging Vicksburg, and was sent under General Herron in an expedition to Yazoo City. It was afterwards sent down to Port Hudson, and finally on to near the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas. It was in the battle at Fort Esperanza, in which that post was blown up and evacuated. The regiment remained in this vicinity for five months, when it was transferred to New Orleans and sent up to Alexandria to reinforce General Banks' defeated and retreating army. In July the regiment was sent to join in the expedition against Mobile, and participated in that successful campaign. After the capture of Mobile the Thirty-fourth was sent to New Orleans, and in November was in camp at the mouth of White river. Soon after the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-eighth regiments were consolidated, numbering now 950 men. In January the regiment was sent to Florida, and from there it joined the army in the siege of Mobile. After the capture of that city it was sent to Galveston, Texas. It was mustered out of the service on the 15th of August at Houston, and reached Davenport, where it was discharged, on the 29th. Since entering the service the regiment had traveled more than 15,000 miles, and faced the enemy in many hard battles.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Gue, Biographies And Portraits Of The Progressive Men Of Iowa, Volume 1, p. 114-5

Major Samuel D. Brodtbeck

Major Samuel D. Brodtbeck, was born in the city of Liestol, Switzerland, June 26, 1818. When only 12 years old he joined a company of sharpshooters, as trumpter, and served in a number of conflicts between his home district and Bale. In 1839 he entered the regular army of Switzerland and in 1842 distinguished himself in several engagements and was commissioned Captain. He came to the United States in 1851 and two years later settled in Dubuque, Iowa, where he was for several years deputy County Recorder. In 1856 he organized a Militia Company of which he was Captain. He was commissioned Major of Iowa Militia in summer of 1861, and placed in command of Camp Franklin, where the 9th Iowa was organized. When the 12th Iowa was being organized he was in command of Camp Union, and when the regiment was mustered in received his commission as Major of the regiment. He was present with his regiment at Benton Barracks, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. At Shiloh he was suffering from diarrhea and rheumatism contracted at Donelson and was unable for duty. He had tendered his resignation before the battle of Shiloh and it was accepted April 7, 1862. He returned to Dubuque and as soon as health was partially recovered, was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel on the Governor's Staff, and again placed in command of Camp Franklin, and organized and drilled the 21st, 27th, 23d, 38th, and 43d Iowa regiments. Failing health compelled him to abandon active labor in the spring of 1863. In 1867 he made an extended visit to his mother in Switzerland in the hope of regaining his health. He returned to this country and attended regimental reunion in 1884, and soon after removed to California where he died January 21, [1897].

SOURCE: David W. Reed, Campaigns and battles of the Twelfth Regiment Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, p. 248

Colonel D. Henry Hughes

THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY.

The late D. Henry Hughes was born in Jefferson county, New York, on the 11th of September, 1830. He was the son of a farmer. At sixteen, he entered the New York State Normal School, where he passed a year and a half, and then returned home and labored with his father on the farm till he attained his majority. In 1852, he came West and settled temporarily in Chicago, where he obtained employment as book-keeper in the Agricultural Warehouse of Emery & Co. During his two years' stay with this enterprising house, he was a frequent contributor to the "Prairie Farmer," a valuable agricultural paper, published by his employers. In 1855, he left Illinois for Iowa, and settled in Decorah, which was his family's place of residence at the time of his death.

Colonel Hughes was held in high esteem in Winnesheik county. He learned the law with one Mr. Webber of Decorah, and, in the spring of 1862, became a partner of the Hon. M. V. Burdick, now State Senator from Winnesheik county. Indeed, in 1861, he was Mr. Burdick's opponent for the State Senate, being the nominee of the Democratic Party of Winnesheik county.

In October, 1862, Mr. Hughes was made lieutenant-colonel of the 38th Iowa Infantry, and late in the same month was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment. He served with his regiment till its arrival at Port Hudson, Lousiana, when he was prostrated by the sickness incident to that climate. He died on board the steamer Lebanon, on the 7th of August, 1863.

The history of the 38th Iowa has less of general interest in it than that of any other Iowa regiment. Up to the 27th of November, 1864, it had lost in battle only one man killed, and two wounded, one of the latter mortally. The following are the points at which the regiment served prior to the above named date: Columbus and Union City, Kentucky; New Madrid, Missouri; Vicksburg; Port Hudson and Carrollton, Louisiana; on the Texan coast and at Brownsville; Mobile Point, and at Donaldsonville, Louisiana. The regiment was consolidated with the 34th Iowa Infantry, on the 1st day of January, 1865; since which time its history will be found in that of the latter regiment.

The following statement, taken from the records of the regiment, is a remarkable illustration of the disparity of losses sustained by troops in battle and by disease:

"Original strength of regiment: officers, thirty-nine; enlisted men, eight hundred and seventy-six. Added in field by recruits: enlisted men, one hundred and twelve. Added by promotion: officers, nine. Added by transfer: officers, one.

"Killed in battle: enlisted men, one. Died of wounds; enlisted men, one. Discharged: officers, twenty; enlisted men, one hundred and ten. Deserted: thirteen. Died of disease: officers, four; enlisted men, three hundred and seven. Transferred: enlisted men, twenty-eight. Total: officers, twenty-four; enlisted men, four hundred and sixty-five."

The following is from an eulogy delivered by Hon. M. V. Burdick to Colonel Hughes' memory:

"He is gone; but though dead he yet lives — lives in the example that he set, in the precepts that he gave — lives in the hearts of his friends. They will not endeavor to repress the generous pride which prompts a recital of his noble deeds, and manly virtues. He commenced his career among us without fortune, without influential friends, and surrounded by many difficulties. He has filled many positions of honor and trust, and has written his name in the history of this great struggle of the nation to maintain the national existence. He leaves to his friends none but the most pleasing recollections."

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 523-4

Brevet Brigadier-General G. W. Clark

BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL G. W. CLARK.

COLONEL, THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY.

George Washington Clark, the original colonel of the 34th Iowa Infantry, is a native of Johnson county, Indiana, and was born on the 26th day of December, 1833. He was educated at Wabash College, Indiana, and resided with his father's family at the place of his nativity till the year 1856, which is all that I know of his early history. In the spring of 1856 he removed to Iowa, and became a resident of Indianola, Warren county, where he has since made his home. He is a lawyer by profession. Subsequently to his removal to Iowa, and prior to the spring of 1861, when he entered the service, he practiced his profession in Warren county. He was, I am told, a successful lawyer, and had, at the time of entering the service, a paying practice.

At the outbreak of the war, General Clark was the first man in Warren county to enroll himself a volunteer. In May, 1861, he assisted in raising Company G, of the 3d Iowa Infantry, which was the first company that went out from Warren county. He was commissioned a first lieutenant, and, on the organization of his regiment, was appointed regimental quarter-master, which position he held till the first of September, 1862, when he was commissioned colonel of the 34th Iowa Infantry. For meritorious services, he was, in the spring of 1865, made a brevet brigadier-general.

Up to the time of the capture of Arkansas Post, the history of the 34th Iowa is not very dissimilar from those of the 25th, 26th, 30th and 31st Iowa Infantry regiments. Late in the fall of 1862, these regiments had all, under orders, arrived at Helena, Arkansas, at which point General Grant was concentrating troops preparatory to making a descent on Vicksburg by way of Chickasaw Bayou. The expedition, which started late in December, under command of General Sherman, was a failure; but through no fault of the troops; for, during the three days' struggle in the brush and swamps that border Chickasaw Bayou, soldiers never fought better. The fact is, General Sherman did not succeed, simply because the obstacles to be overcome at that point were insurmountable. Had General Grant maintained his line of communication, and threatened Vicksburg from the east, the result would doubtless have been different; for he would have drawn a large portion of the rebel army out from the Walnut Hills.

Immediately after the unfortunate operations at Chickasaw Bayou, the Arkansas River Expedition was organized, which terminated in the capture of Arkansas Post. This brilliant affair was accomplished on the 11th of January, 1863, and partially atoned for previous disasters. The capture of these formidable works, in which the 34th Iowa took a prominent part, was a great disaster to the enemy in Southern Arkansas, and disconcerted him in his previously arranged plans of harassing the flank and rear of General Grant in his operations against Vicksburg. The following is from Colonel Clark's official report of the part his regiment took in the capture of this strong-hold:

"We had just returned from the bloody battle-field of Chickasaw Bayou, where we had been repulsed with terrible slaughter. Sherman's entire fleet came out of the Yazoo River on the 3d of January, and on the 9th steamed up the Arkansas River, to operate against Arkansas Post, arriving near there the same day. The following day was occupied in reconnoitering and skirmishing. Our (Steele's) Division marched all that night through the woods and swamps, through which it was impossible to take baggage-wagons or ambulances. At day light the next morning we found ourselves within range of the enemy's guns, from which he immediately opened on us. Our batteries were soon put in position, and commenced a vigorous reply. The artillery continued until about 12 o'clock M. At this time I received an order from General Steele to move my regiment rapidly to the front, which was promptly obeyed. I moved the regiment forward in line of battle, to a point within one hundred and fifty yards of the enemy's intrenchments."

This position was held till the place surrendered, and during this part of the action the gallant Captain Dan H. Lyons fell.

During the three weeks that followed the capture of Arkansas Post, the 34th Iowa saw their hardest service. After the capitulation, Colonel Clark was detailed with his regiment to escort the captured prisoners from that point to Camp Douglas; and, on the way, both the prisoners and their escort suffered untold hardships. Only three miserable transports were allowed the colonel, in which to convey his own command and the prisoners (numbering between five and six thousand) from the point of capture to St. Louis. It was mid-Winter, and on the trip the small-pox broke out. The boats were so densely crowded that they could not be policed, and became shockingly filthy; and in this accumulation of filth this loathsome disease was raging, adding each half-hour one to the list of mortality. The scene was most wretched and revolting. In writing to a friend Colonel Clark said: "During those two weeks, I witnessed more human suffering, than I had seen in all my life before."

On returning from Chicago to St. Louis, Colonel Clark was ordered with his regiment, in the early part of April, to Pilot Knob, to anticipate the reported movement of General Marmaduke on that place. For two months after, he commanded the Post and District of Pilot Knob and then joined the command of General Herron, which was en route for Vicksburg. General Herron arrived at Vicksburg on the 11th of June; and was assigned a position on the extreme left of General Grant's army. The 1st Brigade of his Division, to which the 34th Iowa belonged, was stationed near the Mississippi, which position it held till the surrender of the city.

On the morning of the 11th of July, General Herron's Division was embarked on transports, with orders to report to General Banks, at Port Hudson; but news now arriving of the surrender of that place, these troops sailed up the Yazoo River, constituting the force which captured Yazoo City, and subsequently marched out across the Big Black River, to Canton, to make a diversion in favor of General Sherman before Jackson. These operations closed, Colonel Clark sailed with his regiment down the Mississippi River; since which time he has served in the Gulf Department and the trans-Mississippi.

During the latter part of the fall of 1863, and through the following Winter, the history of the 34th Iowa savors somewhat of romance. Stationed at Fort Esperanga on Matagorda Island, which lies at the head of the Gulf of Mexico, and at the mouth of the Guadeloupe River, the men, when off duty, passed their time in wandering on the beach, and gathering curious shells. They even talked of associating Ceres and Flora, as consorts with their patron war-god, Mars. But these scenes closed on the opening of the Spring Campaign under Major-General Banks.

The troops, who joined in the Red River Campaign, have never had full credit for their heroic endurance of the perils and hardships they encountered, which may be attributable to the fact that, the campaign was only fruitful of disaster.

In the battles that were fought near Alexandria, the 34th Iowa took an active part, and sustained itself with credit; but the sufferings of the regiment in these battles and in the early part of the campaign, were not to be compared with those experienced on the memorable nine days' retreat to Simmsport and Morganzia. During these nine days and nights, there were no halts for rest and sleep, or only such as were required for repairing the roads, and constructing pontoons.

On the 28th of May, 1864, the 34th Iowa left Morganzia for Baton Rouge, where it remained till the latter part of July, when it sailed with the command of General Granger against the rebel forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay. The operations of Rear-Admiral Farragut and General Granger against Forts Powell, Gaines and Morgan were brief and brilliant; and the troops who joined in these operations may well feel proud of their achievements. On the 2d of August, 1864, General Granger effected a landing on Dauphin Island, and within twenty-one days from that time, each one of these forts was in the possession of our forces. The 34th Iowa was the first regiment to disembark on the west point of Dauphin Island. It was soon joined by the 96th Ohio, and a colored regiment; when the entire force, under command of Colonel Clark, with skirmishers well advanced and extending from shore to shore, marched forward in the direction of Fort Gaines. The night was dark and stormy, and an east wind beat a drenching rain directly in the faces of the troops. To any but soldiers, the occasion would have been dismal; but these brave fellows, trudging on through the mud and rain, were jocose and merry. Colonel Clark advanced about six miles, and to within two miles of the fort, when he halted and rested his command in line of battle. At day-light he was joined by the 67th Indiana, the 77th Illinois and the 3d Maryland; when, after slight demonstrations, the fort surrendered.

In the reduction of Fort Morgan Colonel Clark with his command also took a conspicuous part; and on its capitulation, on the morning of the 23d of August, led the escort, composed of his own regiment and the 20th Wisconsin, which was marched out to receive the garrison as prisoners of war. Subsequently to February, 1864, he has commanded a brigade. With this command, he distinguished himself at the battle of Middle Bayou, and was highly complimented for his coolness and bravery.

The Fall and Winter following the operations at the mouth of Mobile Bay were passed by the 34th Iowa on the Gulf coast and along the Mississippi. In January, 1865, the regiment was consolidated with the 38th Iowa Infantry, and under the new organization retained its old name and colonel.

For many months, the 34th Iowa was stationed at Barrancas, Florida: from that point, it marched with General Steele against Mobile, and took part in the assault and capture of Fort Blakely.

General Clark is a little above six feet in hight, and has a fine, well-developed form. He is a fine looking man, though, when I saw him, he was a little too fleshy; but at that time he was just from his home, and on the way to re-join his regiment.

General Clark is a man of gentlemanly deportment, and, I am told, has good ability, and much shrewdness. He has a good military record. One who has visited all the Iowa troops in the Gulf Department, speaks thus of him: "Colonel Clark stands high, and, with the officers in general, seeks not only the highest military efficiency, but also a good moral character for his regiment." The general took great pride in the drill and discipline of his old regiment. His regiment were proud of their name, and designated themselves the "star regiment."

In politics, General Clark is a Republican; though, I am told, he was never a political aspirant.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 501-6

38th Iowa Infantry

Organized at Dubuque and mustered in December 4, 1862. Moved to St. Louis, Mo., December 15; thence to Columbus. Ky., December 28-30. Attached to District of Columbus, Ky., 16th Army Corps, Dept. of Tennessee, to June, 1863. 1st Brigade, Herron's Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of Tennessee, to July, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of Tennessee, to August, 1863, and Dept. of the Gulf to June, 1864. United States Forces, Texas, to August, 1864. United States Forces, Mobile Bay, to October, 1864. District of LaFourche, Dept. of the Gulf, to December, 1864. 3rd Brigade, Reserve Corps, Military Division West Mississippi, to December, 1864.

SERVICE.--Expedition to Union City, Tenn., December 31, 1862-January 1, 1863. Moved to New Madrid, Mo., January 1, 1863, and duty there till June. Moved to Vicksburg, Miss., June 6-15. Siege of Vicksburg June 15-July 4. Expedition to Yazoo City July 12-21. Occupation of Yazoo City July 14, Moved to Port Hudson, La., July 24-27; thence to Carrollton, La., August 15. Expedition to the Rio Grande, Texas, October 23-November 4. Advance on Brownsville November 6. Duty at Brownsville till July 31, 1864. Moved to New Orleans, La., July 31-August 5; thence to Mobile Bay August 7-9. Siege of Fort Morgan August 9-23. Capture of Fort Morgan August 23. Moved to New Orleans, La., September 8-11. Duty at Donaldsonville till December. Consolidated with 34th Iowa Infantry December 12, 1864.

Regiment lost during service 2 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 4 Officers and 311 Enlisted men by disease. Total 317.

SOURCE: Dyer , Frederick H., A Compendium Of The War Of The Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1180