William W. Estabrook was the First Chaplain of the Regiment. He was an Episcopal Clergyman of character and education, who had left the profession of Medicine to become "a soldier in the Army of the Lord."
As the Regiment's first experience was at Shiloh, the services of the Chaplain were not more needed than were those of the medical officers who could be found. Doctor Estabrook was equal to the occasion. He prayed with the dying, he administered to the care of the wounded, and his medical knowledge made him most useful in those trying hours. In the active life of Regimental duty there were not opportunities for the performance of Chaplain's duties with the regularity of Sunday service at home. But the Chaplain was a man of sense; he devoted his time to the sick and suffering, and ministered to their physical as well as spiritual cares, and tied to him forever the men of the Regiment. They remember him as a benefactor and friend. On April 2, 1863, he resigned, and was on May 25, 1864, appointed Surgeon of the 45th Iowa Infantry. He now resides in Chicago, and as a physician has an increasing practice there.
Ensign H. King was the Second and last Chaplain. His history is given above.
SOURCE: William W. Belknap, History of the Fifteenth Regiment Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, p. 44
As the Regiment's first experience was at Shiloh, the services of the Chaplain were not more needed than were those of the medical officers who could be found. Doctor Estabrook was equal to the occasion. He prayed with the dying, he administered to the care of the wounded, and his medical knowledge made him most useful in those trying hours. In the active life of Regimental duty there were not opportunities for the performance of Chaplain's duties with the regularity of Sunday service at home. But the Chaplain was a man of sense; he devoted his time to the sick and suffering, and ministered to their physical as well as spiritual cares, and tied to him forever the men of the Regiment. They remember him as a benefactor and friend. On April 2, 1863, he resigned, and was on May 25, 1864, appointed Surgeon of the 45th Iowa Infantry. He now resides in Chicago, and as a physician has an increasing practice there.
Ensign H. King was the Second and last Chaplain. His history is given above.
SOURCE: William W. Belknap, History of the Fifteenth Regiment Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, p. 44
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