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There was much actual
suffering among the men of the early regiments because of lack of
equipment. Great difficulty was encountered in securing blankets for
the men. They could not be bought readily in the East and there was
not a sufficient quantity on hand within the State. Many of the
companies did not have enough blankets to go around, and one company
of the Second Regiment had “nary blanket.” Patriotic citizens
donated blankets by the dozen, some of the companies being supplied
before they left home for the place of rendezvous. In fact, in
October, 1861, Adjutant General Baker published an order requesting
all officers who were sending or bringing recruits to make known to
their men the importance of bringing along at least one good
blanket, comfort or quilt, for each volunteer. Captain D. B.
Clarke’s company marched clear across the State in December, 1861,
from Council Bluffs to Keokuk with only such blankets as the
citizens of their own community could supply to them. In one part of
the State, a “little trouble was had by Mr. Allison in buying
blankets with Iowa bonds, for use of the men so rapidly
volunteering… Adjt. Genl. Baker, sent him word to ask once more for
blankets, and if not forthcoming, some troops would be sent at once
to that part of Iowa, and ‘the reason found out.’ The blankets were
soon bought now, in abundance.” In August, 1862, the Governor was
still appealing for blankets. He requested ten thousand blankets
from the War Department to equip the men coming into rendezvous. He
could furnish fifteen regiments but had blankets for only five. “The
weather grows cold,” he said, “and our men suffer for want of
clothing and blankets.”73
The scarcity of equipment
and the slowness with which the government acted were a drawback to
the service. “It would much hasten matters”, wrote Governor
Kirkwood, “if clothing and equipments could be sent to deliver as
companies are mustered in. The delay in furnishing these to other
regiments discourages enlistments.” In 1862 the lack of blankets
made it impossible for the regiments to be in rendezvous at he
appointed time. The First Iowa Regiment did not get army uniforms
until after the term of enlistment expired and the men wee on their
way home. Some of the other States seemed to be treated better than
Iowa. One of the men of the Seventh Regiment wrote home form Bird’s
Point in the fall of 1861 that “it makes quite a difference whether
a regiment hails from Iowa or from Illinois. Shoulder strap
officials recognize the difference between Hawkeyes and Suckers. It
has been with difficulty that our claims at the Quartermaster’s and
pay department could be recognized until Illinois regiments had been
attended to first.” 74
Notes
73
Des Moines Valley Whig (Keokuk), May 27, 1861; The Dubuque
Herald, May 3, 9, 1861; Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, August
14, 1861; Council Bluffs Nonpareil, October 26, November 30,
1861; Byers’s Iowa in War Times, pp. 59, 60; War of
Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III, Vol. II, pp. 400, 417,
658.
74
War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Ser. III, Vol. I, p.
499, Vol. II, p. 486; O’Conner’s History of the First regiment
of Iowa Volunteers, p. 13; The Dubuque Weekly Times,
November 7, 1861. |
