30 January 2023
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is part of a project to mark burial sites of the last Civil War veterans interred in counties nationwide. In three Iowa counties, that distinction belongs to soldiers of the 22nd Iowa.
Theodore Baker, born in 1846 in Indiana, served as a Private in Company "G" in 1864 and 1865, alongside his brother Albert. He died in 1942, and rests in Monona Cou
Benjamin Franklin Akers, who died in 1941 at age 96, was the last known Civil war veteran buried in Taylor County. He survived three years of hard campaigning in Company "A", and came home to farm and raise a large family. He is buried near many loved ones in Washington Cemetery. (Image: Danny Krock)
Lewis Frederick "Lute" Sigafoose, a farmer and stock-raiser, came to Iowa from Virginia in 1850. He served three years in Company "K"; his brother Jacob enlisted with him but died in 1863. Lewis was Washington County's last vet when he died in 1943. He is buried in Elm Grove Cemetery. (Image: Danny Krock)
For more on this project, see: https://www.iowasuvcw.org/last-soldiers-in-iowa-by-county
16 January 2022
More 22nd Iowa Relatives Come Forth
Our collection of identified 22nd Iowa relatives grows! We recently had the pleasure of hearing from Ryan Vihlen and his cousin, Rebecca Bowers Johnson. Both are direct descendants of Corporal Samuel Lane Wheeler, who served in Company "F" from 1862 to 1865. He farmed after the War, and died in Keokuk County in 1909. Rebecca possesses the rifled musket he carried, as well as various other items connected to him and his service. The photo here shows him with a prized pony sometime after the War.
"...Sam Wheeler, and a score of others could drive away an army of blue-devils. Always cheerful and on the 'jump'. They would come into camp singing after marching from sunrise to sunset -- with fifty pounds upon their backs. Mud, rain, brick-bats -- it made no difference." (Samuel Pryce, "Vanishing Footprints: The Twenty-Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War" (Burden, ed.))
Interestingly...Samuel Wheeler's daughter Jessie married William Yenter, son of 22nd Iowa veteran William Lewis Yenter, who served alongside Samuel in Company "F". Their photo is below.
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Kristi Nielsen tells us of two 22nd Iowa great-great-great-granduncles of hers -- Rice Rowe, who served as a Wagoner in Company "H", and Private Joseph W. Armstrong of Company "H". Rice died of disease in 1863, and is buried in Memphis National Cemetery. Joseph was wounded at the Battle of Third Winchester in Virginia in September 1864. He survived the War, and died in Missouri in 1932.
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Jeff Meads is the great-great-grandson of Private John E. Meads of Company "A", who enlisted in 1862 and was badly wounded at Third Winchester. He moved to Michigan after the War, where he raised his family and where he died in 1914.
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We look forward to hearing more from all of them about their Hawkeye kin!
William Yenter and Jessie Wheeler, proud children of Company "F" veterans, married in 1901.
Rice was a farmer. He and his wife Perlina had two children.
Joseph Armstrong settled for a time in South Dakota after the War. He was admitted to the Battle Mountain Sanitarium in Hot Springs, South Dakota in 1917.
At her request, members of the Dutton Camp 49, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) from Sycamore, Illinois agreed to re-set it.
Lars Jacobson and his crew from the Dutton Camp worked on raising, re-setting and cleaning the marker over a period of several weeks.
This is the result of a true community effort, and a proud soldier of the 22nd is honored and remembered!
28 April 2021
HUZZAH!
Our friend Michael Huston toured Vicksburg National Military Park recently with his family, including son Caedyn. They had with them a newly-produced version of the 22nd Iowa "blue banner". Michael and Caedyn proudly displayed the flag at various points of interest, including the site of the 22 May 1863 assault, in which the Regiment was prominent; and at the Iowa Monument nearby.
31 January 2021
New Home for an Old Book!
For a number of years, Don Ziegler of Virginia had owned a scarce original copy of "Reminiscences of the Twenty-Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry" by Samuel Calvin Jones. He felt it was time to find a new and appreciative home for it.
"Reminiscences" was first published in 1907, and copies of that original edition rarely surface. (The book was re-published in 1992 by Camp Pope Publishing in Iowa City.) Jones himself was one of the great stories of the Regiment, rising from Private, to command of Company "A" as a Captain. At his death in 1932, he was the last surviving officer of the Regiment. And until the publication of "Vanishing Footprints: the 22nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War" in 2008, Jones' work stood as the only available full-length book describing the history of the Regiment.
After making contact with the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines this month, Don was able to arrange a gift of his volume. The staff at the SHSI was thrilled to enlarge their collection with a volume they didn't have.
What a great outcome! Thanks to Don for promoting the spirit of history.
13 December 2020
William Bozic of the National Park Service is preparing a book about the Federal occupation of Indianola, Texas in late 1863 and early 1864. The 22nd Iowa was in Texas and Louisiana from August 1863 to July 1864, and occupied Indianola, as part of the "Army of the Gulf" -- suffering more from weather and marching fatigue than the occasional Confederate. William was kind enough to pass along images of various sites in that area, where the 22nd Iowa fought, camped or passed through.
Star Fort, Berwick City (now Morgan City), Louisiana
The 22nd arrived in Berwick City on 25 September 1863, and camped on the Bayou Teche. The regiment is believed to have assembled near Star Fort in preparation for an expedition to Vermilionville, hoping to act as a a feint to draw Confederate forces from elsewhere.
Vermilionville, Louisiana
The plantation home of pre-War Louisiana governor Alexandre Mouton stood here during the Civil War; the site is now occupied by a prep school. The 22nd was detailed briefly to guard the plantation house in October 1863, during its expedition. The oak trees had been planted by Mouton's wife.
Along the Bayou Teche, near New Iberia, Louisiana
William thinks the 22nd was camping somewhere in the vicinity of this photo, on the opposite bank, in early November 1863 -- shortly before leaving for Texas.
Chocolate Bayou, near Port Lavaca, Texas
"So well directed was the fire [of two Federal cannons]...the whole line broke and retreated at full speed...we taught them a lesson that day that I do not think they will forget for a time to come." (Lt. Taylor Peirce, Company "C", 22nd Iowa, from "Dear Catharine, Dear Taylor" (2002)).
On 26 December 1863, the 22nd was positioned in the left background of the photo; to its left was the Norris Bridge, a modern version of which stands today.
Indianola, Texas
The 22nd was stationed in Indianola from early January to mid-March 1864. Hurricanes have washed away much of the 19th-century town. This marker was once on the far edge of Indianola from the Bay of Mexico.