Showing posts with label James B Weaver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James B Weaver. Show all posts

Thursday, November 8, 2012

United States Presidential Candidates who were Veterans of the Civil War

Major General George B. McClellan
1864
Democratic Party
Major General Winfield Scott Hancock
1880
Democratic Party
Brigadier General John W. Phelps
1880
Anti-Masonic Party
Brigadier General Neal Dow
1880
Prohibition Party
Brevet Brigadier General James B. Weaver
1880
Greenback-Labor Party
Major General Benjamin F. Butler
1884
Greenback Party
Brigadier General Clinton B. Fisk
1888
Prohibition Party
Brevet Brigadier General James B. Weaver
1892
People’s Party
Major General John McAuley Palmer1
1896
National Democratic Party

_________

1Confederate Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner was his running mate for Vice President.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Dedication of the Iowa Monuments at Shiloh National Military Park



Dedication Exercises at the Regimental Monuments
November 22, 1906
_____

9:00 A. M.

9:25 A. M.

9:45 A. M.

10:00 A. M.

10:15 A. M.

10:30 A. M.

10:50 A. M.

11:10 A. M.

11:25 A. M.

11:35 A. M.

11:50 A. M.


Dedication Exercises at the of Iowa State Monument

November 23, 1906
_____

1:30 P. M.

Call To Order:
Colonel W. G. Crosley, Vice Chairman of the Commission

Music: Fifty-fifth Iowa Regimental Band
“America”

Invocation:
Rev. Dr. A. L. Frisbie

“Unto thee, O Lord, belong power and dominion and majesty. Unto thee would we render that which is thine, with humble and grateful and trusting hearts. Teach us, first of all, to acknowledge our obligation to thee; to remember that thou art indeed, over all, and that thou art also blessed forever. We know not all thy ways. We understand not all the mysteries of thy being, but thou dost permit us to know very much of thy Fatherhood, of thy gracious disposition, thy fatherly spirit, thy love for us. And because thou hast had these thoughts toward us, thou hast mercifully led us throughout many years of trial — years of bright and years of sad experience; and thou hast taught us that our dependence is upon thee. Therefore, we humbly pray that thou wilt stay near by during all the history we are to make; during all the development for which we hope. We pray that thou wilt be our Leader, bringing us through a prosperous voyage to a blessed port.

“We have been making a pilgrimage of blessing, of memory, of gratitude, and of peace, and as we come to the conclusion of our special duty, and see now the completion of that which we began, we pray that we may go hence with hearts prepared to appreciate the multitude of favors we have received. We have had occasion to commune with the dead.  We have stood where they were buried, who died loyally and faithfully, giving themselves wholly that they might secure the permanence of this nation. We thank thee that this Union of states was so precious to them that they held nothing back, but gave themselves utterly to maintain its permanence. We thank thee, O Lord, that through all the suffering and martyrdom and battle shock and pain, these men held steadfast to that which they had begun. And Lord, for these brave of the brave, the twice five thousand men that stood here meeting the battle's shock, and the many times five thousand men who on other fields withstood the shock of battle — for these we give thee our thanks, for we recognize in them the preservers of the Union. We pray that the people may all cherish their memories with gratitude; that we may all remember that we have not come upon these blessings by any manner of accident or of experiment. May we remember that they have been won by those who devoted themselves with their best intelligence and highest consecration to secure them; by those who gave themselves with unfaltering devotion that they might maintain them. May we go hence with renewed determination that this government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. May we see, and may others see, more and more, that these mercies have been ours because of infinite sacrifice. Lord, we pray that thy blessing may be upon our whole land — not divided, not dismembered, but one land, with one flag, with not a star erased.

“Grant thy favor to this portion of the Union, where all this was carried on, and where so much of suffering and loss was endured. And so upon north and south, upon one land, may thine own good light shine through all the days.

“Accept our thanks, we beseech thee; guide us safely to our homes. Bless the people of our state who sent us forth upon this mission, and be so with them and with us that the grace of the Lord Christ may be revealed, and justice and truth may be everywhere established. Accept our thanks, bear with us in our weaknesses and guide us in wisdom and love, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.”

Colonel William B. Bell

Albert B. Cummins, Governor of Iowa

 Colonel Cornelius Cadle


Music: Fifty-fifth Iowa Regimental Band
“Rock of Ages”


of the Shiloh National Military Park Commission

Representing Governor Cox of Tennessee


Music: Fifty-fifth Iowa Regimental Band
“Onward, Christian Soldiers”



Music: Fifty-fifth Iowa Regimental Band
“Star Spangled Banner”




Music: Fifty-fifth Iowa Regimental Band
“America”


Benediction:
Rev. Dr. A. L. Frisbie

“Now be the peace of God upon all the resting places of our myriad dead, and upon the homes of the living, north and south, the peace of God, forevermore.  Amen.”


Taps

After the close of the dedication exercises, a brief sacred concert was rendered by the Fifty-fifth Iowa regimental band at the National cemetery, a short distance from the monument.





SOURCE: Abstracted from Alonzo Abernathy, Editor, Dedication of Monuments Erected By The State Of Iowa, p. 201-301

Friday, September 28, 2012

Dedication of the Iowa Monuments at Shiloh National Military Park: Address of General James B. Weaver of Iowa

Mr. Chairman, Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Forty-four years and seven months have passed away since the sanguinary conflict known as the battle of Shiloh took place here.

With some of you, I was numbered among the 6,664 Iowa men who, on that occasion, sustained the shock of battle and I bore an humble part in both days’ engagements. This is the first glimpse I have had of the field since April eighth or ninth, 1862, immediately following the battle, when we turned our bronzed faces towards Corinth, Mississippi, another Campus Martius in the neighboring state some twenty miles away to the southwest. The visit and the occasion which have called us hither have profoundly impressed my mind, inspired and quickened my memory. This serious thought, among a multitude of others, impresses me. All the great commanders who faced each other in this arena are gone. Some of them fell here — notably, Generals W. H. L. Wallace, of the Union forces, and Albert Sidney Johnston, of the Confederates. These men fell by the side of thousands of the brave men who served under them. Nearly all of their subordinates, and the rank and file — as gallant as were ever marshaled or led to battle upon the earth, have passed into the realm beyond. And yet it seems but as yesterday since we were here in the strength, bloom and fire of our youth. Friends, there is no time. We live in eternity. We count what we call days and years by the rising and setting of the sun, the recurrence of the seasons and the return of the equinoxes. But neither sunshine nor shadow, darkness or light; neither the seasons nor the movements of the heavenly bodies can separate us from eternity in which we live and move, and which (a most comforting thought) is also the dwelling place of our Almighty Creator and loving Father.

It seems to me that the firmament above our heads is full of the disembodied spirits of our old comrades. The blue and the gray are at peace over there, and I fervently thank Almighty God that their surviving friends, now constituting a united and mighty nation, are at peace also — peace among themselves.

If our eyes should be opened as were the eyes of the servant of the Prophet Elisha, we would behold the air filled with chariots and with horsemen. They are certainly all about us, and we can almost feel them fanning our brows, hear the rustle of their celestial garments and can almost grasp them by the hand.

But why was this battle fought, and what lasting good was accomplished for civilization by the prodigious sacrifices made here and then — a combat so epoch making that a half century after it took place it calls for the erection of these cenotaphs and mausoleums, designed to challenge the attention of mankind for all time? The world knows what was accomplished at Marathon in the year 490 B.C. But for that victory all Greece would otherwise have become a part of Persia. Persian power was on that occasion broken forever. The 192 Greeks who laid down their lives to accomplish that result were accorded the honor of burial upon the field and the tumulus which covers their dust remains to the present day. Ten thousand Greeks under Miltiades, with a loss of only 192 men, vanquished 110,000 Persians under Darius. The important achievement secured to the world by that victory is easy of comprehension.

We know what the battle of Pharsalia signified. In the year 48 B.C., Caesar, the Commoner, brought the civil war to a close by overthrowing Pompey, the aristocrat, and with him the hosts of the Roman aristocracy. It ushered in the era of peace throughout the Roman empire and prepared mankind for the advent of the new conscience from Palestine. From two households then formed or forming in the atmosphere of love's sweet affiance, were soon to issue John the Baptist from the one, and the Virgin Mother and the Prince of Peace from the other. A greater than Caesar came. We can grasp, then, the significance of the great conflict at Pharsalia. We can also understand the value to mankind the triumph of Charles Martel. Eight hundred years after Pharsalia, at the end of seven days of hard fighting Charles the Hammer, on the banks of Loire, midway between Tours and Poitiers, hurled the Saracens from France, drove them beyond the Pyrenees, saved Europe from the grasp of the Turk, and made it the abode of our blessed Christian faith. Had Charles Martel failed, all Europe would have become Mohammedan. Although these great battles occurred 2,500, 2,000 and 1,300 years ago, respectively, their ripe fruits in an ever increasing harvest is constantly falling into the lap of civilization and will continue to bless all generations of men through all time.

I have mentioned these three great battles of antiquity and merely hinted at their lasting significance in order that I might help you, as well as myself, to grasp more clearly the far reaching character of the victory at Shiloh. It was indeed a costly victory and can not be justified by the considerate judgment of mankind unless some lasting good was secured. The first day, the Union forces consisted of about 40,000 men and the Confederates about 44,000. The second day the Union army was reinforced by nearly 18,000 men under General Buell, which gave us greater preponderance over the Confederates on the second day than they had over us on the first.

The total loss of the Union army in both days was 13,047 — or 22 per cent, the total loss of the Confederate army, both days, was 10,699 — or 24 Per cent, the total number of men engaged on both sides was 101,716 and the total loss was 23,746 — or 23½ per cent.  Iowa had 6,664 men engaged with a total loss of 2,409 — or 36 per cent.

General Grant says, in his Memoirs, “Shiloh was the severest battle fought at the west during the war, and but few in the east equalled it for hard, determined fighting.”  Grant was a competent judge. He was here in person. His impressive figure, stern face, and resolute bearing were photographed indelibly upon my brain as I saw him ride along our depleted lines. He knew what victory would mean and grasped the full significance of possible defeat. The victory, dearly purchased, was with the Union arms. The Confederate army, sorely decimated, was sent reeling in despair to the southward.

When Albert Sidney Johnston attacked our lines so furiously and so unexpectedly on Sabbath morning, April 6, 1862, he knew that Grant’s army, including Buell’s forces, numbered less than 60,000 men. He knew that this was the only obstacle between the Confederate army and the banks of the Ohio. If that force could be overcome, the cities of Louisville, Cincinnati and Nashville with their adjacent territory were within his grasp, and that henceforward the war would have to be fought out in the north. Johnston knew further that the defeat of the Union forces here meant the annihilation of Grant’s army — for remember that yonder river (pointing to the Tennessee), swollen to its brim, was back of us, and in case of defeat, made our retreat impossible and our capture certain. If defeated, we would have no army left in the west. The west, then, was saved by this victory and the Confederate forces were hurled southward upon their own territory, and their dream of northern invasion from the west was gone forever. Henceforth, they were to act chiefly upon the defensive. This was the immediate result achieved on this field. It opened the way for the later triumphs at Corinth and Vicksburg, and made it reasonable to expect success at Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain. It enabled Sherman to enter upon his succession of victories which made his march to the sea possible. Our victory here then was of tremendous consequence to the Union and Confederate forces, and to their respective governments. Yea more, it was one of the bloody blows delivered during the war for human rights, and for the equality of all men before the law. It was one of the great events of the war that made final emancipation of the black race possible, and it lit up the Declaration of Independence with its original effulgence. Along with other similar battles, it quickened the conception of all the world of that unalterable truth that “all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and that governments are instituted among men to secure these rights and not to destroy them. That the unconstrained consent of the subject is essential to all good government. This declaration, and the amendments to the constitution which followed the civil war, must and will forever stand. They “were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever.” All attempts to shake them are frivolous and merely loquacious.

The things accomplished in the sixties are numbered among the eternal verities, and their logic is inexorable. The fifteenth amendment is among these verities. To disturb or attempt to disturb them can in no way afford a solution of the perplexing problems bequeathed to us by the civil war. On the contrary, it would delay their solution indefinitely.

I noticed a few days ago that Governor Vardaman of Mississippi — a gentleman for whose exalted talents and sincerity of purpose I have the highest appreciation — is reported to have said, on the occasion of the dedication of the Illinois monuments at Vicksburg, that he did not believe that all men are created equal. He thinks there are inferior races. I deny it. God’s inferior family is found among the brute creation and over them man has complete dominion. But he was never given dominion over his brother. You cannot find it in the commission. Can he find a race of men not endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? If he can not, then all races of men are entitled to an opportunity to develop all the good there is in them, and the privilege of doing this within their own governments instituted by themselves. But when a race of a lower order of development is domiciled with a race of superior development, must the race of inferior growth be allowed to dominate the superior? A thousand times no. It is contrary to the natural order. It can never be. One of the errors both of emancipators and the apologists is that having developed one truth they have too often failed to reason on to other cognate truths. They stop short in their investigations and think there is no more truth beyond. They see one star through a rift in the clouds, and conclude that it is the only star in the firmament.

I observe that the Honorable John Sharpe Williams, in a recent utterance, advises the people of the south to import white labor to take the place of the present industrial force. This is most excellent advice, and should be acted upon in every southern state at once. But it does not touch the alarming situation that confronts the southern people. It does not touch the real dilemma that confronts the whole country, and that concerns us all — What is to be done with the Negro? I realize that the question to which I am now addressing myself is unquestionably one of the overshadowing contentions of the age in which we live. It is the second and complex phase of the controversy that precipitated our civil war. I cannot at this time treat the subject fully — simply suggestively. But why temporize? It must be met. We must look squarely at it and settle it justly and quickly. While I cherish firmly the doctrine that all men are created equal, I also hold that this is a white man’s government. The two apothegms are not in conflict. They are both true. This has been made clear to me by the lapse of time, the growth of the problem, and by research. Formerly I abhorred the latter when it was made to do service for slavery. But I now suggest that it be made the slogan of final emancipation. France is the Frenchman’s government, England is the Englishman’s government, China is the government of the Mongolian. This is the white man’s government and Africa the black man’s government, or country. But all nations of men were created equal. There are four great mountain peaks that stand hard by the stream of human history and lift their heads through the clouds into perpetual sunshine. First, in the councils of eternity, God said, Let us make man. Thousands of years afterward, He sent His Son into the world to redeem man — not any one race of men — and by the grace of God, Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. Less than a century after the crucifixion, that marvelous man Paul stood up at Mars Hill and said to the learned Greeks, “Of one blood God hath created all the nations of men who dwell upon the face of the whole earth and hath defined the bounds of their habitations.”  There is a scientific, ethnological fact clearly stated. If your streets are stained with blood, your chemist can tell you whether it is the blood of a human being or of one of the lower animals. But he can not tell you whether it is the blood of a white man or a black man. But 1,700 years after Paul's speech at Mars Hill, Thomas Jefferson, with Pauline faith, declared, and our forefathers proclaimed it, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that to secure these ends governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Now there are the four mountain peaks upon whose majestic brows is gleaming and will forever gleam the Divine halo — creation, redemption, unity of blood and equality of rights for all men derived from heaven. I thank my Creator that these great landmarks are forever beyond the reach of malice, ignorance or greed.

But if all men are created with equality of rights, and at the same time this is a white man’s government, what is to be done with the Negro? Did you catch Paul’s meaning when he said that God had created of one blood all the nations and “defined the bounds of their habitations?” America is not the Negro’s habitat. This country is not within his habitation. God never domiciled two nations of men together. Heaven loves peace and commands justice. When one nation invades another, you have war. When the Mongolian attempts to crowd in upon us, there is trouble, and they are excluded by law. Commercial relations are natural and tend to peace. But all attempts to settle two distinct and antagonistic races within the same territory is unnatural and destructive of social security. The Negro does not belong here. He was brought hither by crime, which was prompted by greed. He is out of his latitude and away from home. He can never reach his natural and proper development here. He has a country richly endowed with everything necessary to the comfort and happiness of man. There he can live in peace, equality and respectability. He can never do so on this continent. Two distinct races can not dwell together in happiness. We might as well recognize this burning fact first as last. Neither can the Negro be held among us in a position of inferiority and dependence. It is contrary to sound ethics, at war with the whole genius of our institutions, and it makes the Golden Rule a farce. While here of course the Negro must be secure in his rights before the law, and the door of opportunity open to him. But he should be prepared for his exodus — not by forcible deportation, but by voluntary, intelligent migration. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. That people never could have been incorporated into the Egyptian body politic. They went to their own country through forty years of rough discipline, in order that they might accomplish their Divinely appointed work. The Negro has had a like probation. Our whole national policy toward him has been false, cruel, and unchristian. At the close of the war, he should have been sent home by deportation instead of being made the plaything of politicians. It was not done, however, and now the problem is upon us with tremendous weight. It is estimated that they are increasing at the rate of 1,500 per month. They numbered four millions at the close of the war. They now number ten millions. At the end of the next forty years they will reach the forty million mark, and within the lifetime of children now born they will nearly, if not quite, number one hundred millions.

Now what is to be done with them? Talk of the problems which are pressing upon us for a solution — and they are many and mighty; but none of them are equal in importance to this awful storm now gathering upon our horizon. We of the north are too far from the storm center to be properly sympathetic with our white brethren in the south, and they are too near to have an accurate perspective of the situation. One thing is sure — they can not be retained here as hewers of wood and drawers of water for the cultivated men among whom they dwell. They can not be kept here for exploitation. They can not be retained in the south, for soon the south will not be big enough to hold them. They can not, in any considerable numbers, he diffused throughout the north, for they are fast becoming as distasteful to us as they are to the south. We must awake to the fact that the Federal government has not discharged, it has scarcely begun to discharge, its full measure of duty toward these people. It liberated them and sent them adrift without chart or compass. It must now promote their exodus. Let the whole Negro race in this country set their faces toward Africa and a Black Republic. I would have the colored schools and colleges make the study of Africa a part of their curriculum. They should send expeditions of their brightest young men and women to Africa to study its climate and resources, and they should return and make report as did the spies who explored Canaan, and these reports should be scattered among the colored people like the leaves of the forest. When they learn of their inheritance, they will go, and their Moses will appear. The coasts of Africa should be surveyed and its harbors sounded, its rivers navigated, its forests penetrated and its mines prospected. Colored medical students should be sent to study climatic diseases and remedies. The Federal government should encourage this, open the way by its splendid diplomacy, and all good people of the north and south should speak of the contemplated exodus with favor.

The immigration of white labor will be slow, of course, and so will the exodus of the blacks. The one will come in as the other goes out, and there will be no resultant shock to industrial progress. The young and the middle-aged among the Negroes should lead the way to the promised land, and the older classes can go later. These people were brought here in chains in the dismal holds of slave ships. Let them return as freemen in our modern ocean steamers and with the flag of the Black Republic streaming from the masthead. I pray God that the people of the United States may awake to the situation ere it is too late.

SOURCE:  Alonzo Abernathy, Editor, Dedication of Monuments Erected By The State Of Iowa, p. 268-77

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Dedication Exercises at the Second Iowa Regimental Monument: Shiloh National Military Park

November 22, 1906
________

10:30 A. M.

Music (Brass Quartette): Fifty-fifth Iowa Regimental Band
"Blest Be the Tie That Binds"

Address:
General James B. Weaver of Colfax, Iowa

Governor Cummins, Members of the Commission, Ladies and Gentlemen:

This was a very hot place on the day of the battle. Iowa did not have a bad regiment in the field, nor a regiment that failed to reflect credit upon the commonwealth and the flag, and she had no regiment in the field that excelled the Second Iowa Infantry. The men in that regiment were as gallant as ever shouldered a musket or faced an enemy in battle. I will tell you some things that took place right here.

Standing here to my left is Captain McNeal, of the Second Iowa Infantry. This was the right of our regiment, — the left extended along the “Sunken Road.” Captain McNeal at that time was an orderly sergeant, and he had upon his cartridge box this piece of brass (shows piece of brass). It was convex when he took his position down there on the left of the regiment, but it is concave now, as you see. It was made concave by a solid shot, and I saw it strike him. This piece of brass upon his cartridge box saved his life. I saw the same cannon ball strike another man and mortally wound him.

The battle here was so hot that the very birds were confused, and the quail absolutely played around my feet. They did not know what to do. They forgot their cunning and knew not how to fly. The little swifts with which you comrades are familiar, were confused, and could not run nor get out of our way. It was a most terrific battle, here at the “Hornet’s Nest.”

I feel that I have been highly honored in being permitted to accompany this party of citizens from Iowa to dedicate these monuments, and I am especially thankful to Almighty God that my strength has been so spared that I can return here, after forty-four years, and participate in the dedication of these memorials. Unless some vandal displaces them, they will stand here until the end of time.

Our commission is entitled to the gratitude of every soldier and of the whole people of the state for having selected such enduring material for commemorating the valor and courage of those who fought here. May God in His mercy bless us and bless posterity and keep alive the love of God, the love of country, and the love of the flag — the trinity of affection which will make for the greatness of this nation for all time. I thank you.

Benediction:
Rev. Dr. A. L. Frisbie of Des Moines, Iowa

"Grant, O God, thy continued favor as we go on with our pilgrimage of peace. In these days of prosperity, we pray that we may learn wisdom from the past, and remember the sublime victories that are to be won in peace through citizenship and character; that so we may be helped continually to approach the higher levels of life by which alone our nation shall attain its proper greatness.  Guide us on our way, and accept our thanks for all thy mercies to us through dark days to the days of brightness and of peace, in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen."

SOURCE:  Alonzo Abernathy, Editor, Dedication of Monuments Erected By The State Of Iowa, 220-1


See Also

Monday, September 7, 2009

Second Iowa Infantry - Losses

SWEENY’S BRIGADE – DODGE’S DIVISION – SIXTEENTH CORPS

(1) Col. SAMUEL R. CURTIS, W. P.; MAJOR-GEN.
(2) Col. JAMES M. TUTTLE; BRIG.-GEN.
(3) Col. JAMES BAKER (Killed).
(4) Col. JAMES B. WEAVER; BVT. BRIG.-GEN.
(5) Col. NOEL B. HOWARD.


Total Enrollment: 1,291
Total Killed: 120
- Officers: 12
- Men: 108
Total Died of Disease, accidents, in prison, &c: 163
- Officers: 4
- Men: 159
Total Regimental Loss: 283


Breakdown By Company:

Field & Staff Officers - Total Enrollment: 17
Killed: 2
Died of Disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 2
Total Loss: 2

Company A - Total Enrollment: 117
Total Killed: 12
- Officers: 0
- Men: 12
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 11
- Officers: 0
- Men: 11
Total Loss: 23

Company B - Total Enrollment: 160
Total Killed: 10
- Officers: 1
- Men: 9
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 14
- Officers: 0
- Men: 14
Total Loss: 23

Company C - Total Enrollment: 115
Total Killed: 15
- Officers: 3
- Men: 12
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 18
- Officers: 1
- Men: 18
Total Loss: 33

Company D - Total Enrollment: 129
Total Killed: 9
- Officers: 0
- Men: 9
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 12
- Officers: 0
- Men: 12
Total Loss: 21

Company E - Total Enrollment: 127
Total Killed: 11
- Officers: 1
- Men: 10
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 19
- Officers: 1
- Men: 18
Total Loss: 30

Company F - Total Enrollment: 107
Total Killed: 17
- Officers: 2
- Men: 15
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 22
- Officers: 1
- Men: 21
Total Loss: 39

Company G - Total Enrollment: 151
Total Killed: 13
- Officers: 0
- Men: 13
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 21
- Officers: 1
- Men: 20
Total Loss: 34

Company H - Total Enrollment: 120
Total Killed: 8
- Officers: 1
- Men: 7
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 19
- Officers: 0
- Men: 19
Total Loss: 27

Company I - Total Enrollment: 133
Total Killed: 11
- Officers: 1
- Men: 10
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 11
- Officers: 0
- Men: 11
Total Loss: 22

Company K - Total Enrollment: 115
Total Killed: 12
- Officers: 1
- Men: 11
Total Died of disease, accidents, in prison, &c.: 16
- Officers: 0
- Men: 16
Total Loss: 28

Total of killed and wounded, 465; died in Confederate prisons (previously included), 16.


BATTLES: K. & M.W.

Fort Donelson, Tenn: 54
Shiloh, Tenn: 15
Corinth, Miss: 25
Dallas, Ga: 4
Nickajack, Ga: 1
Atlanta, Ga: 17
Jonesboro, Ga: 2
Eden Station, Ga., Dec. 7, 1864: 2


Present, also, at Siege of Corinth, Bear Creek, Ala.; Town Creek, Ala.; Resaca, Ga.; Rome Cross Roads, Ga.; Kenesaw Mountain, Ga.; Litttle Ogeeche River, Ga.; Siege of Savannah, Ga.; Columbia, S.C.; Lynch's Creek, S.C.; Bentonville, N. C.

NOTES.--Organized at Davenport, Iowa, in May, 1861. During the first year of its service it was stationed in Missouri, employed on guard duty at various points, and in protecting railroad communications. It left St. Louis February 7, 1862, proceeding by river transports to Fort Donelson, where, under command of Colonel Tuttle, it was engaged in the assault on the enemy's right. It was then in Lauman's Brigade of General C. F. Smith's Division, and led the attack of the brigade. Its casualties at Fort Donelson were 33 killed and 164 wounded; two color-bearers were killed, and two wounded, while eight of the nine men in the color-guard were killed or wounded. The regiment was engaged a few weeks later at Shiloh; it was then in Tuttle's Brigade of W. H. Wallace's Division; loss, 8 killed, 60 wounded, and 4 missing. Next came the Siege of Corinth, and on October 3, 1862, the battle of Corinth. At that battle the Second fought in Hackleman's Brigade of Davies's Division, its loss there amounting to 12 killed, 84 wounded, and 5 missing. Among the killed were Colonel Baker, Lieutenant-Colonel Noah W. Mills and four line officers; General Hackleman was also killed in this engagement.

The regiment wintered at Corinth, Miss, and in the fall of 1863 moved to Pulaski, Tenn. It reenlisted in the winter of 1863-64, and upon its return from its veteran furlough entered the Atlanta campaign, during which it was in Fuller's (1st) Brigade, Veatch's (4th) Division, Sixteenth Corps. After the fall of Atlanta it was transferred to Howard's (1st) Brigade, Rice's (4th) Division, Fifteenth Corps, with which it marched to the Sea and through the Carolinas. In November, 1864, the veterans and recruits of the Third Iowa remaining in the field were transferred to this regiment. The Second Iowa was mustered out July 12, 1865.

Source: William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War 1861-1865, p. 403

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

COLONEL JAMES BAIRD WEAVER

FIFTH COLONEL, SECOND INFANTRY.

James B. Weaver was the fifth colonel of the 2d Iowa Infantry. He is a native of the city of Dayton, Ohio, where he was born on the 12th of June, 1833, and a son of Abram Weaver, Esq., formerly a county officer and politician of Davis county. He accompanied his father's family from Ohio to Michigan, and thence to Iowa, where he arrived in 1843. In the year following, he settled in Davis county, where he has since resided.

Colonel Weaver's early education was limited — only such as the West, at that early day, afforded. At the age of nineteen, he began the study of law, which he pursued for two years in Bloomfield, and then, with the late lamented Colonel James Baker, entered the Cincinnati Law School. Leaving that University in the spring of 1856, he returned to Iowa; and, from that date until the commencement of the war, practiced his profession in Bloomfield, Davis county. Soon after establishing himself in practice, he was married to Miss Clara Vinson, a lady of intelligence and worth.

Colonel Weaver entered the service, as first lieutenant of Company G, 2d Iowa Infantry, and with that rank fought at the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. He was made major of his regiment, vice N. W. Mills promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and, after the death of Colonels Baker and Mills, was promoted to the colonelcy. His commission as major was received the day before the first day's fight at Corinth, and that of colonel, in the latter part of the same month.

If we except the part taken by the 2d Iowa Infantry in the early part of General Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, the history of the regiment, while under the command of Colonel -Weaver, has in it little of general interest. From the fall of 1862 to the fall of 1863, it was stationed on garrison-duty at and near Corinth, Mississippi; and, if we except the few expeditions in which it took part during this time, the routine of its camp-life was only occasionally broken by droll camp-scenes and incidents.

In garrison-duty, the day begins something as follows:— awakened in the morning by the braying of mules, the impudent clatter of drums, and the shrill whistle of fifes, the soldiers hurry on their clothes and assemble on the company parade grounds for "roll-call." But there is always some delinquent: some lazy fellow throws back his blanket and, sitting upright, rubs his eyes and yawns lustily. He begins to wonder if he will have to "police" to-day, or stand picket, or — what he will have to do, when the command "fall in" is sounded, and instantly the trumpet-voice of the orderly begins calling, "Buckmaster;" "Bunner;" "Brown;" "Brooks;" — he hurries on his pants and out into line, but only in time to find his name passed, and himself checked as absent from "roll-call." The day begins badly; for the thing he most dreaded is now upon him — he is the first on the list of those detailed for "policing," and he curses his ill luck.

Next follows the morning ablutions and toilet, and then breakfast. The 2d Iowa at Corinth were gentlemen; for, in those days, they had black men for their cooks, their "hewers of wood and drawers of water." The soldiers chatted and laughed, while their servants fried the bacon, and made the coffee. "Guard-mounting," "company-drill," "dinner-call," and "retreat," followed each other, until finally "tattoo" closed the day. Generally, the history of one day was repeated in that following.

Of all the troops sent out from Iowa, there has been no regiment, where the enlisted men have maintained Bo much independence in their relations with their officers, as have those of the 2d Iowa, — none, where the members would endure less of style in their field- and line-officers. In every other respect, the discipline of the regiment was most commendable. In the summer of 1863, while the 2d Iowa was stationed with its brigade at Corinth, General T. W. Sweeney, (afterwards dismissed in disgrace from the service for threatening to shoot General Dodge, and a surgeon) issued an order, embracing the following points: — 1st. There must be no familiarity between enlisted men and their officers. 2d. If any enlisted man have any business with the commanding officer of his company, he must transact it through the orderly-sergeant. The orderly-sergeant, on entering his officer's tent, must remove his hat, and taking the position of a soldier, make known his business. He must never seat himself, or talk about other matters than those relating to the business in question; and, that being attended to, he must leave promptly, and with the proper salute. Violations of the order were to be reported by company-officers, and all offenders severely punished.

This was a new article in the regiment's code of discipline, to which it would not yield submission. But Colonel Weaver, always anxious to comply with orders, added one of his own; and, with a rhetorical flourish, held his company-officers responsible for all infringements of the former. Both were read to his regiment on dress-parade, and were greeted with three groans. One stormy night not long after, when the colonel was in bed, a shot was fired through his quarters, the ball passing within four or five inches of his person. For some reason or other, no more was said about the obnoxious order, and the men visited the tents of their company-officers as usual.

After Vicksburg had fallen, and Port Hudson, and the Mississippi had been opened from its mouth to its sources, there was little need for the magnificent army of General Grant, in its old field of operations. On the west side of the Mississippi, the power of the Confederacy was inconsiderable: its chief strength lay on the east side of the river. Rosecrans successfully engaged Bragg at Murfreesboro, and forced him back across the tail of the Cumberland Mountains, to and beyond Chattanooga. Then, himself defeated, he was beaten back to Chattanooga, and there beseiged. After the fall of Vicksburg, therefore, Chattanooga became the chief point of interest, in military operations in the South West. General Grant's victory at Vicksburg was the consummation of success in that quarter, and he therefore planned immediate relief for the Army of the Cumberland, at Chattanooga.

In order to open and protect new lines of communication between Nashville and Chattanooga, and to render that one already open more secure, Corinth was to be evacuated, a large extent of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad abandoned, and General Dodge's command ordered across the country to the Nashville and Decatur Railroad. Hence it was that the 2d Iowa, with its brigade and division, was transferred from Corinth to the line of the above named road. General Dodge's command left Corinth and crossed the Tennessee, at Eastport, with the rear of General Sherman's Corps, then on its way to Chattanooga.

The 2d Iowa marched directly to Pulaski, Tennessee, where were established the head-quarters of the regiment. Pulaski was also General Dodge's head-quarters. Colonel Weaver was made commandant of the post, and held the position during the following winter, and until just before the expiration of his term of service. The services of the 2d Iowa were, in the meantime, the same as those of other troops, stationed on rail road guard-duty. The regiment however, marched on no expeditions, and was, at no time, attacked by the enemy. It was at Pulaski that the 2d re-enlisted, and from that point left for Iowa on veteran-furlough.

Soon after its return from Iowa, the 2d Iowa, with the balance of Dodge's command, took the field. Leaving the non-veterans at Pulaski, the regiment, in the latter part of March, 1864, marched to the front, by way of Elkton, Huntsville and Bridgeport. It had been so long stationed in camp that the news of its assignment to the front was hailed with much satisfaction, and demonstrations of joy, along the line of march, such as song-singing and the like, were frequent. The Elk river was to be crossed at Elkton, and there was no bridge and no boats; but that was no obstacle; for the regiment, and indeed the whole brigade, stripping off all but their shirts, waded the stream, amid shouting and laughter. There are always some wags in every regiment, and at such times as these, they crack their jokes and make much sport.

On arriving at Huntsville, General Sweeney's Division, (the 2d) to which was attached the 2d Iowa, was joined by that of General Veatch. These troops constituted General G. M. Dodge's command—the celebrated left wing of the 16th Army Corps. They proceeded from Huntsville to Chattanooga, and from Chattanooga, over the battle-ground of Chickamauga, on to Dalton.

At Dalton, General Johnson was strongly intrenched, with the finest rebel army ever mustered in the South West; and so confident was he of his strength that he had boasted he would march on Chattanooga, and, having driven the Federal forces from that place, would move on and capture Nashville. But Dalton was to fall with but little bloodshed. General McPherson, moving through Snake Creek Gap, gained Johnson's left flank, and compelled him to evacuate his strong works and fall back to Resaca. In this flank movement, the first in General Sherman's "flanking campaign," the 2d Iowa took part. Soon after, Colonel Weaver was mustered out of the service, and returned to his home in Bloomfield. His three year's term expired on the 28th of May, 1864. From that time to the present, the 2d Iowa Infantry has been commanded by Colonel Noel B. Howard.

Colonel Weaver is one of the handsomest of the Iowa colonels. He has a symmetrical, well-developed person, which, with his dignified address, intelligent countenance, and dark-blue eyes, makes him interesting and pleasing. He is too small for a great man, and yet, with his dignity and self-assurance, he impresses a stranger favorably.

Intellectually, he is rather brilliant; I am told he is a graceful and interesting public speaker. His worst fault is an affectation in delivery.

He has some vanity, and was proud of his position as colonel of the 2d Iowa. For instance: just after being commissioned a lieutenant, it is said he returned to Bloomfield and attended church in full uniform, sporting the whole regulation outfit. "From his walk," said an officer of his regiment, " you could tell that he was colonel of the 2d Iowa."

He was a good and brave officer, and there are few who were as cool as he in battle. At Shiloh, while the 2d and 7th Iowa were running that terrible gauntlet, on the afternoon of the first day's fight, Captain Moore, of company G, was shot through both legs and disabled. Lieutenant Weaver stopped, picked him up, and bore him from the field. Under the circumstances, not one man in five thousand would have imitated his example. He is a member of the Methodist Church, and is one of the few officers who abstained from the use of liquor in the service.

SOURCE: Stuart, A. A., Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 71-76