USS Iowa

“ And his surmise proved correct, for they dropped anchors in Key West Harbor early on the morning following.
"What a lot of warships around here," cried Walter, as he came on deck. "What is that big fellow over yonder?"
"That is the Iowa," answered the old gunner. "You can well say big fellow, for the Iowa is the largest seagoing battleship we possess. She has a displacement of over eleven thousand tons and can speed in any sea at over seventeen knots. She carries four 12-inch guns and a whole host of others. Her armor belt is solid steel, fourteen inches thick."
"She's a beauty. ”

“ Two gunboats now opened on the enemy, which was finally repulsed with heavy loss, leaving more than one hundred dead on the field. The Twenty-third Iowa took a conspicuous part in this battle under the leadership of Colonel Glasgow, fighting with unsurpassed courage throughout the long and desperate encounter, losing fifty men out of two hundred. Among the slain was Captain J. C. Brown, of Company I. This battle was notable as the first in which negro troops took a prominent part. The employment of colored men in the army had met with strong opposition from the time it was first proposed. ”

“ The Sixth Iowa was of this army. In October the army marched toward Springfield. It was a hard march with insufficient means of transportation, bad roads, and the men suffered greatly. The Sixth was in General McKinstry’s command which marched seventy miles the last two days of October. General Fremont was suddenly removed from command in the midst of this campaign, from which so much was expected; General Hunter, who succeeded him, abandoned southwest Missouri, retreating to the railroad, thus suddenly bringing the campaign to an end. ”

“ Since that date, of vessels theretofore authorized, there have been placed in their first commission 3 first-class and 2 second-class battle ships, 2 armored cruisers, 1 harbor-defense ram, and 5 double-turreted monitors, including the Maine and the Puritan, just completed. Eight new unarmored cruisers and 2 new gunboats have also been commissioned. The Iowa, another battle ship, will be completed about March 1, and at least 4 more gunboats will be ready for sea in the early spring. ”

“ The possession of 8-inch guns makes them still formidable foes for the most recent European battleships, for shells from these guns will at battle range pierce the armor protecting any auxiliary battery afloat. Two years later juster ideas of the true uses of a naval force permitted the building of the Iowa (11,340 tons) , which was frankly called a ‘sea-going battleship.’ She was followed by the Kentucky and Kearsarge of 11,525 tons. ”

“ His command consisted of about 4,500 men and among them was the Eleventh Iowa, then under Major Charles Foster. The troops were transported by steamer to Goodrich’s Landing, and about the middle of August marched into the interior, subsisting on the products of the country through which they passed. Their route was nearly due west through a region low and marshy, covered with a dense growth of timber, almost impenetrable underbrush and rank tangle of vegetation which excluded the breeze. The August sun beat down so fiercely that men dropped by scores and hundreds along the line of march. ”

“ When darkness put an end to the struggle the guns were in the hands of the enemy, but the Union lines held their position, the men sleeping on their arms. During the night, Price retreated to Eastport, and the Union army marched into Iuka. General Rosecrans said of the Fifth Iowa:
“The glorious Fifth Iowa under the brave and distinguished Matthies, sustained by Boomer with part of his noble little Twenty-sixth Missouri, bore the thrice-repeated charges and cross-fires of the enemy’s left and center with a valor and determination, never excelled by the most veteran soldiery.” ”

“ In 1826 he became a member and agent of the American Fur Company and had charge of its business from the Iowa to the Turkey River. In the Black Hawk War he was quartermaster with the rank of colonel. He had built a residence on the lower part of Rock Island near the old fort and in 1835 in company with six others purchased a large tract of land on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River, opposite the island. ”

“ Could it have been known in the beginning of the Civil War that Iowa would be called upon for more soldiers than Washington had under his command in the War of the Revolution; for four times as many as General Scott led in the War with Mexico, our people would have been paralyzed with horror. But as the war progressed with varying fortune through the long months and years, our people learned to endure its sacrifices, and like soldiers in battle, nerve themselves to do their duty at any cost. ”

“ With the two rivers of the continent navigable to the ocean making the east and west boundaries of the State, Iowa products could reach the markets of the world by continuous water navigation. The improvement of the largest inland river flowing into the Mississippi, it was believed, would extend navigation far into the interior of the new State. Congress had been persuaded in August, 1846, to make a grant of lands for the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines River. ”

“ Some of the officers were gloomy, for they had had news about the terrible losses in the Army during the last two days.
Suddenly, about half past nine, shouts are heard on some of the ships, and the signal flies up on the Iowa: "Enemy's ships are coming out," and a gun is fired from the Iowa, to attract the notice of all the fleet. Our ships, so still a moment before, are now full of life. Every man shouts to his neighbor, "They're coming out! they're coming out!" Men run in all directions to get to their posts; officers buckle on their swords ”

“ One battalion of the Sixth Iowa, three hundred men under Major House, came upon an encampment of more than four hundred lodges of warriors. Major House at once dispatched a messenger to General Sully and endeavored to detain the Indians without bringing on a battle. Upon the arrival of the messenger the bugles were sounded and the men mounted, except four companies left to guard the train. The command was formed in the following order: the Second Nebraska on the right, the Sixth Iowa on the left, one company of the Seventh, or Sioux City Cavalry, and the battery in the center. ”

“ He was reared on a farm and as he reached manhood decided to study law. In 1854 he came to Iowa stopping in Allamakee County where he pursued his law studies, teaching school winters. In 1860 he was admitted to the bar and entered upon practice in the town of Mitchell, Mitchell County. In August, 1862, he was elected captain of Company K, of the Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, serving for three years. He was in the battles of Yellow Bayou, Tupelo, Nashville and Mobile, doing excellent service. Upon retiring from the army he located at Waukon, Allamakee County. ”

“ The army was now marching twenty-five miles a day and becoming more accustomed to soldier’s life. The members of the First Iowa who died on this march, were the first of the many thousands of Iowa soldiers who perished in the war for the Union. On the 1st of August General Lyon overtook a force of the enemy under General McCulloch, at Dug Springs, and after a sharp fight defeated it. On the Union side the battle was fought by cavalry and artillery, the First Iowa Infantry acting as skirmishers on the right wing. ”

“ It is known that as early as 1839 keel boats had reached Ivanhoe, and quite a trade was carried on at certain seasons of the year. The first Mississippi steamer which came as far as our city limits was in the month of June, 1846, called "The Maid of Iowa," when a number of settlers came this way as land seekers and at a time when each passenger was offered a lot by the enterprising people of this city. During the next ten years many large and many small steamers made the Cedar river towns as far as Cedar Rapids, and quite a trade had been established between St. ”

“ The record of the Seventh Iowa, from the day it left its first camp to the end of the war, was one of which every member had reason to be proud. The people of the State will never cease to remember its deeds of valor.
EIGHTH IOWA INFANTRY
This regiment was raised during the months of August and September, 1861. The ten companies were enlisted largely in the counties of Scott, Clinton, Louisa, Washington, Benton, Linn, Marion, Keokuk, Iowa, Mahaska and Monroe. They went into camp at Davenport, in September, nine hundred and twenty strong. ”

“ It was the only organization of Iowa soldiers that served during its whole term of enlistment in the eastern armies. The regiment to which this Iowa company was attached was employed in Virginia during the greater part of the war. Captain Stratton became a major and Lieutenant Ringland was promoted to captain of the company. ”

“ The 525 men of the crew of the Colon were placed aboard the Resolute, which came from Santiago to report sighting a Spanish armoured cruiser, which turned out to be the Austrian Maria Teresa. The other officers were placed aboard the Resolute and Vixen.
“Admiral Cervera and many of his officers were taken off the shore by the Gloucester, and transferred to the Iowa, which ship had already taken off many from the Vizcaya; thirty-eight officers and 238 men were on board the Iowa, and seven officers and 203 men were aboard the Indiana. ”

“ After the battle had been raging along the entire line for more than an hour and but little progress had been made by the enemy, Marmaduke massed his forces in compact lines and advanced upon our right and center. To meet this formidable movement Captain Landis of the Eighteenth Iowa, with his piece of artillery, was ordered to the front supported by three companies of the regiment under Captains Blue, Van Meter and Stonacre. The enemy at once charged upon the gun and a desperate struggle ensued. Surrounded by overwhelming numbers our men made a heroic fight to save the gun. ”

“ On the 12th of September Lieutenant-Colonel Leake of the Twentieth, was sent seven miles to Stirling Farm in command of a large part of the Nineteenth Iowa, the Twenty-sixth Indiana and two pieces of artillery. His command had frequent skirmishes with the enemy. On the 29th a large force suddenly came upon his command, making a fierce attack in front, flank and rear. This attack was met with a sharp fire. But soon rallying in vastly superior numbers the enemy surrounded the small Union force and opened a deadly fire at close quarters. ”

“ Behold now a day when Iowa is as near as England, and England almost as near as New York. Again the contents of the ships are valid matter of curiosity to the women of the West.
345 We are in the third age, the age of steam. The pack-horse and the sailboat were vehicles of the individual or of the section. Wheeled vehicles afforded a speedier and more flexible intercommunication that made the idea of secession forever impossible, and made us a national America. The common carrier made us and will destroy us as a national entity. ”

“ Pioneer life in the wilds of Iowa during childhood; pioneer life again after fighting the wild Indians in the Dakota wilderness. Three years in company D, Sixth Iowa cavalry. An honorable discharge from service at the end of the war, October 17, 1865, at Sioux City, Iowa.
On May 18, 1868, I married Miss Anna Kuchta in church at Spillville, Iowa. I put my bride into a prairie schooner, a brand-new covered wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and leading a caravan of such westward over the swamps and prairies of Iowa into eastern Dakota we arrived in Saline county Nebraska. ”

“ Soon after the capture of Columbia the army continued its march northward meeting the enemy at Cox Bridge on the 20th of March, where the Twenty-fifth Iowa was in the thickest of the fight. It had about thirty men killed and wounded, among the latter Captain William G. Allen,
COLONEL MILO SMITH
acting major, who lost his right leg. The next day at Bentonsville the entire brigade fought bravely and received the commendation of superior officers. This was the regiment’s last battle. The losses during the campaign were seven killed, sixty-four wounded and twelve missing. ”

“ The trophies of this victory were one hundred and twenty-three pieces of heavy artillery, nearly 7,000 prisoners, 7,000 stands of small arms, several steamboats and wharf boats filled with stores, 2,000 horses and mules, 1,000 wagons and a vast amount of ammunition and army stores. The Iowa regiments that took part in this successful campaign were the Fifth, Tenth, and Second Cavalry. Soon after, General Halleck absorbed General Pope’s army in his march against Corinth, and the Tenth Iowa took part in the so-called siege. ”

“ One of the best known military companies in the state is Company C, of Cedar Rapids. This company was organized November 1, 1883, its first captain being George Greene. Many of the best known young men of the town at one time or another have been members of this organization.
After serving a number of years Captain Greene resigned, and for a short time W. G. Dows was acting captain. Ed. II. Smith was then chosen to the position. He was succeeded by George A. Evans.
W. G. Dows, long a member of this company, for a time was adjutant of the First Regiment Iowa National Guards. ”

“ In 1830 a trading post was established on the Iowa River in the present limits of Johnson County. John Gilbert was the agent in charge and was probably the first white man to make a home in that part of the State. The post was near Poweshiek’s Indian village. Goods were brought up the river in keel boats to be used in exchange with the Indians for furs and skins. The following year Colonel George Davenport explored the Cedar River in a canoe to a point above the mouth of Rock Creek, where he established a trading post and carried on a profitable traffic with the Indians up to 1835. ”