MILITARY: Civil War Rosters, Iowa
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Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion Together with Historical 
Sketches of Volunteer Organizations 1861-1866: Vol. 1 1st -8th Regiments-Infantry. 
Published by authority of the General Assembly, under the direction of Brig. Gen. 
Wm. H. Thrift, Adjutant General. Des Moines; Emory H. English, State Printer, E. D. 
Chassell, State Binder; 1908

THIRD REGIMENT

IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY

HISTORICAL SKETCH

THIRD REGIMENT IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY

	The companies composing the Second and Third regiments of Iowa Infantry Volunteers 
were organized and ready to respond to the first call of President Lincoln for troops, 
but as only one regiment from Iowa could be accepted under that call these companies 
were compelled to wait during the brief time that intervened before the second call 
was issued.  The Second and third were then ordered into quarters by Governor Kirkwood, 
and his order was so promptly obeyed that there was but little difference in the dates 
upon which these three regiments assembled at the designated rendezvous, Keokuk, Iowa.  
There, on the 8th and 10th days of June, 1861, the ten companies composing the Third 
regiment were mustered into the service of the United States by Lieutenant Alexander 
Chambers of the regular army, for the term of three years.  On June 27, 1861-only 
seventeen days after its last company was mustered-the regiment embarked on the steamers, 
Gate City and Hamilton Belle, and was conveyed to Hannibal, Mo., there to await further 
orders.  The first and Second regiments had reached Hannibal only a few day before, and 
were then engaged in taking possession of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and in 
preventing the concentration of the band of rebel troops then being raised in that part 
of Missouri.  The Third Regiment was at once assigned to the same duty.  From Hannibal 
it was transported by rail to Utica, Mo., on the line of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, 
where it went into Camp.  Up to this time the Governor had not appointed the field officers 
of the regiment, and it had been commanded by its senior Captain, Richard G. Herron of 
Company A, a very capable and efficient officer, and highly esteemed by the officers and 
men of the regiment.  Shortly after arriving at Utica, the field officers were appointed.
	Nelson G. Williams, who had received military training at West Point, was 
commissioned Colonel, Capt. John Scott of Company E, a veteran soldier of the Mexican 
War, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Captain William M. Stone of Company B was 
promoted to Major.  The Lieutenant Colonel and Major had been mustered in as Captains 
at Keokuk, but the Colonel was a stranger to the regiment.  Upon assuming command, he 
proceeded to enforce strict discipline, which at that time a majority of the officers 
and men could not appreciate the necessity for, as they could, and did, later on.  The 
result was a strong feeling of dislike for Colonel Williams.  Retaining that feeling of 
self-respect and manly independence which had characterized them as citizens, and having 
all their lives been amenable only to the mild restraints of the civil laws, it was not 
strange that the sudden transition from the comparatively mild discipline to which they 
had thus far been accustomed, to the most rigid enforcement of the rules and regulations 
governing the men, who fell gallantly fighting at their posts.  I refer to the enclosed 
list of killed and wounded as a part of this report.  The heaviest loss was sustained by 
Company I, Third Iowa Volunteers, which lost four killed and twenty wounded, being one-fourth 
of our total loss.  Major Stone, Captains Warren, Willett and O’Neil, and Lieutenants 
Hobbs, Anderson, Tullis and Knight were severely wounded.  Lieutenant Knight was wounded 
three times, but refused to retire from the field, and remained with his men until the 
close of the engagement.  Among the great number who deserve my thanks for their gallantry.  
I might mention Sergeant James F. Lakin of Company F, who bore the colors, and carried 
them into the thickest of the fight, with all the coolness of a veteran.
	
	The Third Iowa lost in this battle 96 killed and wounded, out of less than 600 
engaged, while the loss of the enemy was reported at 160 out of 4,4000 engaged.  The 
enemy fought on the defensive, and had all the advantage in position.  Colonel Smith 
with the Sixteenth Illinois met Lieutenant Colonel Scott’s command about three miles 
from Blue Mills Landing, but his troops were in such an exhausted condition that it 
was deemed best not to renew the attack.  The enemy only followed in pursuit a short 
distance, and during the night retreated across the river.  The compiler of this sketch 
has a vivid personal recollection of this first battle of the Third Iowa.  That it 
ended in defeat does not detract from the bravery of the officers and men of the 
regiment.  Considering the great disparity in numbers, it was greatly to the credit 
of the commander, and the best possible evidence of the coolness and courage of his 
men, that it was able to extricate itself from its perilous position, and to retire 
from the field in good order.  To have longer continued the fight, in the face of 
such a greatly superior force, would have resulted in such greater loss that the 
surrender of the small command might have become a necessity.  The surviving officers 
and men came out of this fight with unimpaired confidence in their gallant commander 
and in their own ability to successfully contend with the enemy under anything like 
equal conditions.  They had here fought against at least seven times their own number, 
and had inflicted such heavy damage to the enemy as to discourage them from continuing 
the pursuit and taking the chances of another engagement, when the Third Iowa would 
have met the re-inforcements coming to its assistance.  The next day the dead were 
buried with military honors, the wounded who were able to bear the journey were 
conveyed under escort to Cameron, while the most severely wounded were left at Liberty 
to be later conveyed by steamboat to the government hospital at Fort Leavenworth.
	A few days after the battle this detachment of the Third Iowa joined the command 
of General Sturgis at Kansas City, where Union troops were being rapidly concentrated 
to resist a threatened attack upon that place by the rebel forces under General Price, 
Union troops continued to arrive until it became evident to the rebel General that he 
would soon be acting on the defensive, and, after securing all the recruits that could 
be induced to join him, he withdrew his army in Springfield, there to await 
re-inforcements from the South.  The Third Iowa was again reunited, and, on account 
of the large number of men upon the sick list, it was deemed best to give it a change 
of location and an opportunity to rest and recruit.  It was therefore ordered to 
Quincy, Ill., where it went into camp in a beautiful location just north of the city, 
and enjoyed a season of much needed rest.  The citizens of Quincy extended a cordial 
welcome to the regiment, the best of discipline was maintained, the health of the men 
rapidly improved, and at the end of three weeks they were again in such good condition 
for active service as to fully justify the wisdom of the order granting this short 
respite from active duty in the field.  November 9, 1861, the regiment was transported 
to St. Louis, and went into quarters at Benton Barracks, a huge camp of instruction, 
where troops of all arms were being concentrated and prepared for the great campaign 
which was soon to begin.  The barracks were soon overcrowded by the constant influx 
of troops, and much sickness resulted.  The order to agin take the field was joyfully 
received by the regiment, although the duty to which it was assigned involved a winter 
campaign in northern Missouri.  The regiment was selected for this service on account 
of its past experience in dealing with Missouri rebels.  It was important that the line 
of the the North Missouri Railroad shoild be protected against the frequent raids of 
rebel bands, who tore up portions of the track, cut down telegraph poles and otherwise 
seriously interfered with the operation of the road.  The companies of the regiment 
were distributed at stations along the line of the road, and were constantly engaged 
in protecting the working parties whose regular labor of keeping the track in condition 
for the passage of trains was greatly augmented by the repairs necessitated by the 
depredations of the enemy.  The rebels infested the country in well-mounted bands, 
and the road could not have been operated at all, except for the presence of Union 
troops. 
	Fort Donelson fell.  Iowa troops had won reown in the reduction of that rebel 
stronghold, while the Third Iowa was still engaged in guarding the North Missouri 
Railroad.  It was not the hardships to which they were exposed in this wintry weather 
of which the men and officers of the regiment complained, but the lack of opportunity 
to win honor for themselves and their State on southern battlefields.  During this 
campaign Lieutenant Colonel Scott was serving as a member of a military commission 
in St. Louis, and Maj. W. M. Stone was in command of the regiment until Colonel Williams-
who had been under arrest for several months-returned and took command.  He had been 
tried by Court Martial, upon the charge, preferred against him by certain officers of 
his regiment, of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.  The court had 
acquitted him of this charge.  While the feeling of prejudice was still strong against 
the Colonel, his officers and men had come to appreciate the necessity for strict 
discipline, and were disposed to treat their commanding officer with greater respect.  
The Colonel had, in the meantime come to a better understanding of his men, and held 
them in higher regard on account of the important service they had rendered while he 
was separated from them.  Had such consideration been shown earlier, it would have 
saved the Colonel much humillation, and the officers and men of his regiment much 
annoyance and ill feelings.
	On the 3d of March, 1862, the welcome order was received for the regiment to 
proceed to St. Louis .  The scattered companies were concentrated at the regiments 
headquarters in Mexico, Mo., transportation was provided, and the regiment was in St. 
Louis the next day, where it immediately embarked on the steamer Iatan, and was soon on 
its way to the South.  From Cairo, Ill., it proceeded up the Ohio and Tennessee, and 
soon overtook the large fleet of transport conveying General Grant’s army.  The boats 
were greatly crowded, and the impure water of the river had a bad effect upon the health 
of the men.  The result was a large increase of the sick list, and when the regiment went 
ashore, at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., on March 17, 1862, it had less than 600 men able 
for duty.
	The regiment was assigned to the First Brigade of the Fourth Division Army of the 
Tennessee.  The other regiments composing the brigade were the Twenty-eighth, Thirty-
second and Forty-first Illinois Infantry.  Brig. Gen. S. A. Hurlbut was in command of 
the division, Col. N. G. Williams of the Third Iowa commanded the brigade, while Maj. 
W. M. Stone was in command of the regiment, in the absence of Lieut. Col. John Scott, 
who had the misfortune-with many other officers and men of the regiment-to be confined 
by sever sickness on board the hospital boat “City of Memphis,” which lay at Pittsburg 
Landing.  It was very hard for these brave men, many of whom had not sufficiently 
recovered, at the time the battle was fought, to rejoin the regiment, to listen to the 
thunder of battle reverberating along the river, and to endure, in addition to the pain 
that racked their bodies, the mental agony which came with the knowledge that their 
comrades were bravely fighting, while they could not be permitted to join them.
	On the morning of April 6, 1862, the great battle of Shiloh began.  The Third 
Iowa, with the other troops of its brigade and division, was promptly in line of 
battle, and moved rapidly to the front, where the advanced line of the Union army 
was already engaged in fierce conflict with the enemy.  The division was soon engaged.  
After a short struggle on it first line of battle, it retired some distance, to prevent 
being outflanked, and took up its second position, where it fought stubbornly for over 
five hours and suffered heavy loss.  This position at last becoming untenable, it again 
retired, fighting from one position to another, and keeping well together.  Early in 
the engagement Colonel Williams had his horse shot under him, while gallantly performing 
his duty as brigade commander.  He was entirely disabled for further duty, and was 
borne from the field, Col. I. C. Pugh of the Forty-first Illinois succeeding him as 
commander of the brigade.  Late in the afternoon Major Stone had his horse shot under 
him, and he was stunned by the fall, just when the enemy were charging and the regiment 
was compelled to fall back.  The gallant Major, was thus cut off from his command and 
captured.  Capt. M. M. Trumbull then took command of the regiment which had become 
separated from its brigade.  Upon reaching its own camp ground, the regiment again 
faced the enemy, but found itself in the desperate situation of being nearly surrounded.  
It again retired, fighting its way through its own camp, in which many of its men were 
killed and wounded, among the wounded being the gallant Captain Trumbull..  The casualties 
among the officers had been so great that only seven Lieutenants now remained upon duty, 
and First Lieut. George W. Crosley of Company E was the ranking officer in command of the 
regiment, which continued to fight its way to the rear and, at about 5:30 in the evening, 
formed on the right of Colonel Crocker’s Thirteenth Iowa at the line of last resistance.  
After dark the regiment rejoined its brigade, and, on the morning of April 7th, again went 
into action and fought to the close of the battle that day.  The next day the dead were 
collected from the field where they had fallen, and were buried near the regimental camp, 
with the honors of war.  This sad duty performed, details from the regiment assisted in 
the burial of the enemy’s dead, who were found in great numbers, and nowhere did they 
lie thicker than at the points where the First Brigade of the Fourth Division had fought.  
Capt. M. M. Trumbull, though still suffering from his wound, resumed command of the 
regiment shortly after the battle, and wrote the official report, including a list of 
the killed, wounded and missing.  The summarized list, shows the loss of the regiment 
as follows:
	Killed, 23.  Wounded, 134.  Missing (captured by the enemy), 30.  Total, 187 out 
of 560 engaged.  Of the captured, nearly all were wounded.  Sixteen of the wounded, who 
were not captured died of their wounds in hospital, increasing the death list of the battle 
to 29.  The total loss was one-third of the number engaged.”
	Captain Trumbull describes the conduct of the regiment during the battle, in detail, 
and at the close of his report says:

	The regiment went into battle on the second day under the command of First Lieutenant 
G. W. Crosley of Company E, and, as I am well assured, nobly maintained the honor of the 
flag.  Should I designate meritorious officers, I should have to name nearly every officer 
in the regiment.  I think, however, none will feel envious if I specially mention Lieutenant 
Crosley.  I desire to call the attention of the general commanding the division to the 
gallantry and good conduct of Sergeant James F. Lakin of Company F, who carried the colors 
on the first day, and of Corporal Anderson Edwards of Company I, who carried the colors on 
the second day of the battle.
	In this order, thanking the survivors of his division for their good conduct during 
the battle, Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut says in part:

	Let this division remember that for five hours on Sunday it held under the most 
terrific fire, the key point of the left of the army, and only fell back when flanked 
by overwhelming masses of the enemy, pressing through points abandoned by our supports.  
Let them remember, that when they fell back, it was in good order, and that the last line 
of resistance, in rear of the heavy guns, was formed by this division.  Let them remember, 
that on the morning of Monday, without food and without sleep, they were ordered toward to 
reinforce the right, and that wherever either brigade of this division appeared on the 
field, they were in time to support broken flanks, and hold the line.  Keep these facts 
and let it be the chief pride of every man of this command, as it is of you General, that 
he was at Shiloh with the fighting Fourth Division.

	The compiler of this sketch has given more space in this brief account of the part 
taken by the regiment in the battle of Shiloh than he will be able to devote to the 
subsequent battles in which it was engaged, with equal honor, but, in his judgment, 
this great historical battle gave to the regiment an experience upon which was based 
its subsequent splendid battle record.
	If the history of its service had ended at Shiloh, the regiment would still have 
a record of service reflecting great honor and credit upon the military history of the 
State of Iowa.  The regiment welcomed the order which removed its encampment from a 
gloomy environment, for its old camp ground on the battlefield was in the midst of the 
graves of both friend and foe, which were constant reminders of the horrors of the 
tremendous conflict.  The enemy had withdrawn to his stronghold at Corinth, only a day’s 
march from the scene of his defeat at Shiloh.
	The Third Iowa, with its brigade and division, performed its full share of the 
arduous service involved in the advance upon and siege of Corinth, resulting in the 
evacuation of that place on May 30, 1862, and the pursuit of the enemy which followed, 
and in the campaign the following summer in which the Fourth and Fifth Divisions of the 
Arm of the Tennessee were constantly associated, ending on the 21st of July, 1862, when 
these two divisions entered the city of Memphis, Tenn., after a long and toilsome march, 
which put to the severest test the endurance of the troops.  Lieutenant Colonel Scott 
had resigned June 20, 1862, to accept promotion as Colonel of the Thirty-second Iowa.  
Colonel Williams had returned and assumed command of the regiment after the evacuation 
of Corinth, but he had only partially recovered from his injuries at Shiloh, and was 
really unfitted for the active duties of the campaign.  Major Stone had been exchanged, 
and had resigned to accept promotion as Colonel of the Twenty-second Iowa, and 
Quartermaster Geo. W. Clark had resigned July 17, 1862, to accept promotion as 
Colonel of the Thirty-fourth Iowa.
	The regiment remained in Memphis until September 6, 1862.  The Fourth and 
Fifth Divisions were now about to separate.  Gen. W. T. Sherman expressed his regret 
in a letter to General Hurlbut, from which the following brief extract is taken:

	Permit me through you to convey to the officers and men of you division my deep 
regret that the necessities of the service should at this time separate our commands.  
Our divisions were the first to disembark at Pittsburg Landing, and through storm and 
sunshine we have been side by side.  The habit of acting together has made us one command, 
and I feel in parting from you as though my own division was divided.  Your division is 
composed of good and sturdy men who by their behavior in camp, on guard, on the march 
and in battle reflect honor and credit on themselves, and their country.  Be pleased 
to assure them that I will hail the change in events that will bring us together again.
	Every many and officer of the Fourth Division fully appreciated this compliment.  
They all loved and honored General Sherman, and were glad to receive his expression of 
friendship and confidence in them, and in their trusted leader, General Hurlbut.
	On the 6th of September the Fourth Division entered upon another long and arduous 
campaign.  It marched to Bolivar, Tenn., where it remained until October 3, 1862.  On 
the morning of that day the enemy was closing in about Corinth, and at 3 a. m. General 
Hurlbut received orders to march for that place.  The order was promptly obeyed and the 
march was conducted with the greatest energy.  On the afternoon of the next day the 
advanced guard intercepted the enemy, on their retreat from Corinth, and the fighting 
began just before dark, and the opposing forced lay upon their arms during the night.  
In the morning, the battle was renewed, and continued until the enemy-who made a most 
gallant and desperate defense-were completely vanquished, and in full retreat.  The 
Third Iowa Infantry bore a most conspicuous part in this conflict, known in history as 
the battle of the Hatchie.  It was under the command of the brave and intrepid Captain 
Trumbull, and at a most critical stage of the battle crossed the bridge over the Hatchie 
River, under a heavy fire, and after crossing again formed line of battle under the fire 
of the enemy, charged up the steep hill, and drove the enemy from their strong position 
on its crest.  The brave Capt. W. P. Dodd was killed.  Capt. E. I. Weiser and Lieut. D. 
W. Foote, both of whom had been wounded in battle before, were here again severely wounded 
and permanently disabled.  Captain Kostman, Lieutenants Hamel and Anderson were severely 
wounded.  Lieutenant Gary remained in command of his company, after the death of Captain 
Dodd, through suffering from a painful wound, until the close of the battle.  Adjutant 
Cushman, Lieutenants Scobey, McMurtrie, Burdic, Lakin and Abernethy were all warmly 
commended by Captain Trumbull for their bravery and efficiency, and Corporal Edwards, 
who again bravely bore the colors, and seemed gifted with a charmed life, received special 
mention.
	Company A being on detached duty, guarding the supply train, did not participate 
in this battle.  The total casualties in the regiment were 62 killed and wounded.  
Brigadier General Hurlbut was, soon after the battle, promoted to Major General, and 
assigned to the command of the Sixteenth Army Corps.  The following brief extract from 
his farewell address will show how he appreciated the officers and men of his old 
“fighting Fourth Division”:

	And now a promotion won by your courage and discipline, removes me to a larger 
command.  Remember,, every man and officer, that whatever I may have of military 
reputation, has been won by your valor, and that I wear it as coming from you.

	Brig. Gen. J. G. Lauman succeeded General Hurlbut as commander of the division, 
and Col. I. C. Pugh again assumed command of the First Brigade.  The division now returned 
to Bolivar where it remained until November 1, 1862.  Colonel Williams had been with the 
regiment most of the summer, but his health was very poor, and he was in actual command 
only a part of the time.
	Capt. Aaron Brown of Company F, was promoted to Major October 15, 1862, and Capt. 
M. M. Trumbull was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at the same time, but resigned November 
20th to accept promotion as Colonel of the Ninth Iowa Cavalry.  Colonel Williams resigned 
on account of disability November 27, 1862, and Major Brown became the regimental commander.  
The regiment now participated in the famous Mississippi Central Expedition, during which 
it suffered greatly, particularly on the return march, when it was for several days 
almost entirely without food.  During the winter if 1863, the regiment was stationed 
at Moscow, Tenn., and in the spring returned to Memphis. In the meantime Major Brown 
had been promoted to Colonel, Capt. James Tillis to Lieutenant Colonel, and First Lieut. 
George W. Crosley to Major.  These promotions had all been earned on the battlefield, 
and the men had full confidence in these officers.  The company officers had also stood 
the test of battle, and their men were ready to follow wherever they might lead, which 
they fully demonstrated in the great campaign that soon began.  On the afternoon of 
May 18, 1862, the steamer “Crescent City” which conveyed the regiment down the river 
was fired into by the enemy on shore, and, in the few minutes it was under fire.  The 
boat landed at Young’s Point May 19, 1863, and, from that time until the close of the 
Vicksburg campaign, the regiment was constantly engaged in the most active and arduous 
service it had ever experienced.  During the siege of Vicksburg, its division constituted 
that portion of the investing force on the left of General Grant’s army, for forty days. 
The official reports of Colonel Brown and Major Crosley are among those published by the 
Adjutant General of Iowa.  They describe in detail the operations of the regiment during 
the siege.  Immediately following the surrender of Vicksburg, General Lauman’s division 
was ordered to Jackson, Miss., and took the most important part of any of the troops 
engaged in the siege which followed.  The Third Infantry here suffered a most disastrous 
loss.  It is the saddest chapter in the history of the regiment, and may well be compared 
with the charge of the “Light Brigade,” which Tennyson has immortalized in verse.  The 
division commander, Gen. Jacob G. Lauman, gave the order, as he received it, from Maj. 
Gen. E O. C. Ord, who was in command of the Corps,  No official investigation was ever 
made, but the surviving officers and men of the brigade had implicit faith in the honor 
of General Lauman, and believed he gave the order as it was given to him.
	The veteran commander of the First Brigade, Coll. I. C. Pugh, promptly gave the 
order as it was given to him by General Lauman, and the officers and men of the old 
brigade obeyed the order without a moment’s hesitation, as it was their duty to do.  
“Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die.”  The official report of this bloody 
engagement was written by Maj. G. E. Crosley, who commanded the regiment after Colonel 
Brown fell severely wounded.  A copy of this report can be found on page 427 of the 
Adjutant General’s report for the State of Iowa+
	The regiment went into action with 223 enlisted men, 15 line and 3 field and 
staff officers, making an aggregate of 241 rank and file.  Out of this number it lost 
114, nearly fifty per cent of the number engaged.  The regiment was so greatly reduced 
in numbers that, on the evening of that fatal day, only a little more than a full 
company of effective man answered to roll call.
	Among the killed were the Ruckman brothers, Captain and Second Lieutenant of 
Company B. and First Lieutenant Hall and First Sergeant Woodruff of the same company, 
Lieutenant McMurtrie of Company D, Sergeants Gilmore, Dent, Follett, and many others.  
Among the wounded were Col. Aaron Brown, severely; Majaor Crosley, slightly; Captain 
Gary, and Lieutenants Abernethy, Anderson and Irwin, severely.  Lieutenant Colonel 
Tullis was at this time in hospital, suffering from both wounds and sickness. The 
other regiments participating in tis terrible charge were the Twenty-eighth, Forty-
first and Fifty-third Illinois Infantry, and the total strength of the brigade was 
880, while the total loss was 465.
	The regiment now returned to Vicksburg, and with its division was ordered to 
Natchez, Miss., where it remained until early in December, and then returned to 
Vicksburg.  Three-fourths of the able-bodied men now re-enlisted, and the regiment 
became the Third Iowa Veteran Infantry.
	Its next important service was upon the famous Meridian expedition during 
which it was under the command of Major Crosley.  The regiment left camp on the 
3d of February, and returned on the 4th of March, having in that time marched 328 
miles.  It left camp with ten days’ rations, and after that supply was exhausted 
lived upon such food as could be obtained in the country through which it passed.  
It had no tents while on this march, and suffered greatly from exposure to frequent 
storms.
	During this expedition, the regiment lost one man killed, one mortally 
wounded and ten captured, while foraging.  Several of the men who were captured 
subsequently died in Andersonville prison.  Soon after the return from this 
expedition, the non-veteran portion of the regiment (those who had not re-enlisted) 
were sent upon the Red River Campaign under command of Lieutenant Colonel Tullis, 
and endured great hardship while participating in the operations of the forces 
under General Banks in that ill-fated expedition.  The regiment was never reunited.  
The detachment under Lieutenant Colonel Tullis was subsequently sent to Davenport, 
Iowa, and there mustered out of the service, on the 18th day of June, 1864, three 
years and ten days from the date of muster ina at Keokuk.  These officers and men 
had served faithfully and well, beyond the term for which they had enlisted.  Many 
of them were married men, and it was no disparagement to them that they did not re-
enlist.  Their record was altogether as honorable as that of their comrades who 
chose to remain until the end of the war.  Their ling term of service justly entitled 
them to the name of veteran, which had been officially bestowed upon those who had 
re-enlisted.  The re-enlisted men, under command of Major Crosley, had previously 
been sent to Davenport, at which point they had each received a thirty-day furlough.  
At the expiration of their furloughs they promptly assembled at Davenport, bringing 
with them a number of recruits, and again proceeded to the front, rejoinging their 
old division at Cairo, Ill., and from there moving by boat to Clifton, Tenn.
	From Clifton, the regiment marched with its brigade and division across the 
states of Tennessee and Georgia, and joined Sherman’s army, then moving against 
Atlanta.  St Kingston, Ga., the regiment was reorganized into and Infantry battalion 
of three companies, designated as companies A, B, and C if the Third Iowa Veteran 
Infantry, and here (the original term of the regiment having expired) the commissioned 
officers held a meeting, and, in view of the reduction in the number of officers, 
they all decided to be mustered out and give opportunity for the promotion of the 
officers of the new organization from the ranks.  The subjoined roster will show 
the names of the men who thus received well-deserved promotion, and the names of 
this officers who thus, honorably retired at the expiration of their original term 
of service.  The battalion was entitled to but one field officer, with the rank of 
Lieutenant Colonel, and that well-deserved promotion cane to Second Lieut. Jacob 
Abernethy, one of the braves and best officers of the old regiment.  From Kingston, 
Ga., on to the end of the Atlanta campaign, the Third Iowa Veterans performed 
splendid service.  On the 21st day of July Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy was killed 
while gallantly leading his little battalion.
	On July the 22d, the remnant of these veterans again met the enemy in fierce 
conflict, and again met with heavy loss.  On Jul 28th, the official reports show 
that it was again in action with the Thirteenth Iowa Infantry commanded by Col. 
John Shane.  The few survivors were subsequently consolidated with the Second Iowa 
Infantry, and the gallant Third, ceased to exist as a distinct military organization.  
With the Second Iowa they marched with Sherman to the sea, thence to Washington where 
they participated in the grand review, and were then ordered to Louisville, Ky.  There, 
on the 12th of July, 1865-over four years from the date of their muster in at Keokuk-
they mustered out, and the record of their heroic service was ended.
	Few of these gallant men remain to peruse this record, but the children of those 
who made it, and their posterity, so long as heroism and patriotic deed are cherished 
and revered among men, will read the story of their bravery, fortitude and great 
achievements, and thank God that they can trace their lineage to the men who, from 
1861 to 1865, confronted the storm of the rebellion, and saved the United States of 
America from disruption and destruction.

		SUMMARY OF CASUALTIES.

Total Enrollment					1109
Killed							    79
Wounded						   370
Died of wounds					     30
Died of disease					   190
Discharged for disease, wounds and other causes	   270
Buried in National Cemeteries			     81
Captured						   116
Transferred						     24


THIRD REGIMENT IOWA VOLUNTEER INGANTRY
		     
      Term of service three years

	Mustered into service of the United States at Keokuk, Iowa, June 10, 1861, 
by Lieutenant Alexander Chambers, United States Army.