Mortimer A. Higley

Mortimer A. Higley, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was the first Quarter-Master. He entered the Regiment, as did nearly all the others, as a private, and became Second Lieutenant of Company A, which was composed of a body of men equal to any company in the command. He was a very efficient officer — up by daylight or before, adl watchful of the interests and necessities of the men. His ability as such was so promptly recognized that he was recommended for promotion as Captain and Assistant Commissary of Subsistence, to which position President Lincoln appointed him on November 28, 1862. He was as a soldier a real hero. In the battle of Shiloh, though his position did not call for it, he was found in the midst of danger, rallying the scattered men and regardless of peril, doing his work well. The writer of this recalls him especially on the afternoon of April 6, 1862, at Shiloh, when Lieutenant Higley pointed out General Grant, with whom my first acquaintance was then made. He resides now at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a lovely family. Prosperous in the world's ways, and prominent as a citizen, he is President of a National Bank and a leading business man of the city. Everybody honors, and not only likes, but loves him.

SOURCE: William W. Belknap, History of the Fifteenth Regiment, Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, p. 41-2