Co. D, 39th Iowa Volunteers

This Co. left this place on Wednesday Sept. 23d for quarters at Des Moines, and with them went the prayers and well wishes of many a sad heart.  We are personally acquainted with the officers and most of the privates that belong to this company, and it is not enough to say of them that they will render a good account of themselves hereafter.  The officers are gentlemen, have souls, and are proud of their men.  The privates, so far as we are acquainted with them, are high minded patriots, moral, and many of them pious.

The resolution passed by the company since they left us (which may be seen in Mr. Starbuck’s letter in another column) will be a source of satisfaction to their many relations and friends at home, as well as the assurance which I received while paying them a hasty visit on Tuesday last, that the privates all love their officers.  This is as it should be, and as we hope it will continue to be.  We can have no better evidence than this that they will succeed in whatever they undertake.  God be with them, is the prayer of every human heart.

Below are the names of the officers as furnished me with then left.  Mr. Oldham (Formerly Editor of the “Courier,”) is now Sergt. Major.

I have not learned who takes his place as 2d Sergt. But think it is David Johnson, who was next below him in office.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS:

Captain,	L. D. Bennett
1st Lieutenant,	Wm. T. Mathews
2nd Lieutenant,	C. Carter

NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERS:

1st Sergeant,	G. L. Pike
2d Sergeant,	T. R. Oldham
[3d Sergeant]	david johnson
[4th Sergeant]	j. l. millard
[5th Sergeant]	able chaCe
[6th Sergeant]	thomas trent
[1stCorporal]	[j]ames denny
[2d Corporal]	[ROBER]t Hamilton
[3d Corporal]	[REUBE]n harper
[4th Corporal]	[LEVI ga]rdner
[5th Corporal]	[cHARLES b]lack

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[Editors Note: This page of the Union Sentinel was torn from the middle of the left side diagonally to the lower right side.  Therefore items appearing within brackets have been reconstructed using the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database along with the Roster And Records Of Iowa Soldiers In The War Of The Rebellion, Volume 4.  There are some minor inconsistencies between this article, the Soldiers and Sailors Data Base and the Roster.  What appears above is as I believe what appeared in The Union Sentinel.  The Roster lists Levi Gardner as the 3rd Corporal, Charles Black the 4th Corporal and Reuben Harper the 5th Corporal.  I have numbered them in the order they were given as logically they would not have been listed in a random fashion.]

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, October 18, 1862, p. 2

1st Lieutenant William T. Mathews, Co. D, 39th Iowa Infantry

SOURCE: This item was up for auction on Ebay on August 22, 2014.

William T. Mathews

W. T. MATHEWS, one of the enterprising and successful pioneers of Clarke County, living in Green Bay Township, on section 24, was born in Murray County, Tennessee, July 18, 1827. His parents, Charneall and Sarah (Shinall) Mathews, were both natives of Virginia. Eight children were born to them, as follows – Mary Ann, W. T. (our subject), Elizabeth, Jackson, Elisha F., George, Charles and John Felix. The parents removed to Washington County, Illinois, when our subject was an infant, and there he was reared, his youth being passed in assisting on the farm and in attending the common schools.  In July, 1847, he enlisted in the Mexican war, in Company H, Second Illinois Infantry, and after serving one year was honorably discharged. He was married December 13,1849, to Catherine Logan, of Washington County, Illinois, and to this union were born seven children – Martha R., Hiram W., Harriet E., Lewis E., C. C., George M., And Frankie B.  Mr. Mathews came to Iowa in 1851, locating in Poweshiek County, Where he remained about four years. In 1855 he came with his family to Clarke County, buying 180 acres of land, on which he resided three years. He then exchanged his land for mill property on section 24, Green Bay Township, where he operated a mill for four years. Mr. Mathews enlisted in the late war August 13, 1862, in Company D, Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry; and participated in the engagements at Parker’s Cross-Roads, Snake Creek Gap,. Little Ogeechee River, Columbia, Bentonville, near Goldsborough, besides a number of skirmishes. During the war he was appointed First Lieutenant, and served as such till his discharge at Clinton, Iowa, June 5, 1865. He then returned to Clarke County and settled on his present farm, where his wife died October 8, 1869.  He was again united in marriage June 23, 1874, to Mrs. Catherine (Rainy) Meachum, and of the two children born to this union only one is living – a daughter, Minnie L.  Molly is deceased. Mr. Mathews has met with success in his general farming and stock-raising, and is now the owner of his fine farm which contains 230 acres of highly cultivated land, with good residence, well furnished and commodious, barn and out-buildings. Mr. Mathews was elected county supervisor in 1876, and served three years to the best interests of Clarke County. He has also filled the offices of clerk and trustee of Green Bay Township and has been a member of the School Board. He is a member of Jacinth Lodge No. 443, A.F. & A.M. of Weldon. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, being class-leader and trustee of the same. In politics he is a staunch Republican.

SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 326

From Company D 39 Iowa

Davis Mill, Ga.
Sept. 4, 1864

Friend Caverly:

It is folly, perhaps, for me to attempt to anything in relation to our Company or Regiment which you do not already know, for other and more able correspondents have kept you posted. They have already, no doubt, told you of the hardships we endured on the march from Athens, Ala., to Rome, Ga. - - of the skirmishes we participated in – of the death of the noble and heroic Carnahan; who fell pierced by a rebel bullet, with his face to the enemy; and also of the death, in the hospital of the lamented Kyte, whose remains rest on the hillside a little way north of Rome. But has any one told you of our present locations?

Our Camp is situated on the Kingston and Rome R.R., about midway between the two places. We are guarding the bridge spanning Dykes’ Creek, which empties into the Etowah river at this point. We have erected formidable fortifications, to drive us from which will require a rebel force of at least five hundred. We have very convenient and comfortable quarters, and live on the best the country affords.

We have fruit and vegetables in abundance.

There are 74 present in the Co. including commissioned officers, - one sick in hospital, and two sick in quarters. Our time is spent in fishing and hunting the Johnnies. The river, only one hundred and fifty yards wide, is all that separates us from them, and almost daily we cross to the south side, and scarcely ever fail to discover their whereabouts, and occasional exchange of shots is the consequence. A few days since a squad of us under Capt. Bennett and Lieut. Mathews, started out at 3 o’clock in the morning, marched four miles through a dense forest, surprised a camp of Rebels, capturing one prisoner, five horses, two shot guns, and one revolver. We wounded one man but he escaped.

It is but justice to say that Co. D has done as much fighting as the balance of the Regiment. It was the first to enter the fight in Snake Creek Valley,- it held an advanced position, and the most important one, while at Rome, - and is now stationed nearly eight miles from any support, with nothing but the Etowah river, which is fordable at almost any point, separating it from the rebels who literally swarm on the opposite bank. You may ask why Co. D is selected in preference to other companies? I answer, it is owing to the well known and acknowledged ability of its officers, and the courage and dicipline [sic] of its men.

Of the Regt. I can say but little. It was ordered to Resaca about two weeks ago, to repel an attack on the R.R. by old Wheler [sic], since which time I have heard but little from it. I have heard of its having been to Cartersville, Marietta, Kingston, Dalton and Tunnel Hill, Ga., at Chattanooga, Cleveland, Bridgeport and Athens, Tenn. It will probably be back to Rome in a few days.

The news of the capture of Atlanta reached us yesterday, and to-day was added the capture Mobile. We are all in good spirits and will all vote for Old Abe.

Dixie

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, September 24, 1864