Military > Civil War > Fallen Soldiers > 2nd & 3rd Infantry

The confined limits of this volume will not permit us to give anything like a full history of the companies organized in Polk County during the war for the Union. In the synoptical report which we propose to give of our soldiers, we are aided materially by an interesting volume entitled "American Patriotism," written by our fellow-citizen, Leonard Brown.

Company D, Second Iowa Infantry, was enrolled in May 1861, and discharged in July, 1865.  The commanding officers were: M. M. Crocker, N. L. Dykeman, N. W. Mills, and Edgar Ensign.  This Company was really in existence in 1860, before the war, at which time it was known as the Capital Guards.  The old flag of this organization, now at the State Arsenal, was the first of Iowa banners to wave over a rebel fortification, which it did at Ft. Donelson.

The following members received commissions during the war:  M. M. Crocker, N. W. Mills, E. T. Ensign, E. L. Marsh, N. L. Dykeman, S. H. Lunt, G. L. Godfrey, E. C. Tunis, John Lynde, W. L. Davis, P. D. Gillette, W. E. Houston, L. B. Houston, D. M. Sells, J. H. Browne, Robert Allen, jr., T. G. Cree, William Ragan, W. H. Hoxie, J. H. Looby, and John Watson.  The Second Infantry was gallantly led into the fight at Donelson by Colonel, afterward General J. M. Tuttle.  Nathan W. Doty and Theodore G. Weeks, of Company D, were among the slain.  The remains of these brave soldiers, who faced death and died as heroes die, were brought to Des Moines for interment, March 11th , 1862.  They formed the vanguard of that ghastly train of stricken and dead soldiers, whose bodies are reposing in every burial place in the County!  The solemnities attending the funeral ceremonies in this city will never be forgotten by those who witnessed them.

Major General M. M. Crocker was born in Johnson county, Indiana, February, 6, 1830.  He was educated at the Military Academy at West Point, after which he studied law.  He came to Des Moines in the spring of 1855, and practiced his profession until he went into the army in 1861.  His brilliant military qualities made his promotion rapid.  He died at Washington City, in the summer of 1865, and his body was brought home for burial.  In his younger days, he provided for his widowed mother, sisters, and brothers in their indigence.  As a citizen, he was honorable and exemplary; as a lawyer, he was accomplished and popular; as a son, husband, and father, he was affectionate and devoted; as a soldier, he was brave even to rashness; as an officer, he was capable and chivalrous; and as a sufferer from disease, he was always hopeful and patient.

Colonel Noah W. Mills, brother of Frank and Jacob Mills of Des Moines, was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, June 21, 1834.  He defrayed his own expenses while attending Wabash College.  Becoming a printer, he associated himself in business with his brother in this city in 1856.  He went to the army as Lieutenant of Company D, and had just succeeded the lamented Colonel Baker in command of the Regiment at the battle of Corinth, when a wound received in the foot terminated his life, Sunday afternoon at sundown, October 12, 1862.  He was truly a christian soldier and patriot, the fragrance of whose precious memory remains with those who knew him, and knew him but to love him.

Captain S. H. Lunt, a true soldier and gallant officer, died of disease at Mobile, Alabama, July 28, 1865.  He enlisted as a private very early in the war.

Lieutenant John Watson, an Englishman by birth, once Marshal of Des Moines, became Second Lieutenant of Company F, Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, and died April 9, 1862, from a wound received at the battle of Shiloh.  He was a brick layer, and helped to build Sherman Block, and the Court House in Des Moines.  His devotion to General Crocker as a friend, was unbounded.  Just before his death, he desired that his dog, which had followed him affectionately through all the perils of his military experience, should, along with his gun, be sent to Alexander Bowers of this city, as the only testimonial of his friendship which he was able to offer.  From some cause, the presents were not forwarded.

Lieutenant Robert Allen, Jun., nephew of B. F. Allen, and son of Gen. Robert Allen of the Regular Army, enlisted as a private in Company D, at the age of twenty.  He was soon promoted to a First Lieutenancy in the First U. S. Cavalry, Army of the Potomac.  He was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, was captured, and taken to Libby Prison, Richmond, where his wounded limb was amputated.  He was then exchanged, and died shortly afterward in New York, from the effects of the wound and a second amputation.  He was a scholarly young man, and beloved by all who knew him.

Orderly George F. Bachelder, a brave and faithful soldier, detailed to serve with the First Alabama Cavalry, was killed by ambushed enemies, near Rome, Ga., Sunday, July 17, 1864.

James Edwin Robbins, a splendid fighter in a dozen battles, was killed by foes in ambush on the Tennessee river in 1864.

Thomas Stewart Birch, of Saylor Grove, a pious and admirable young soldier, who read the Bible through while in the army, died suddenly of disease of the heart, after having stood guard all the previous night at Corinth, August 8, 1862.

J. M. Moles, formerly well known in Des Moines, was killed instantly by a ball in the temple, at the battle of Corinth, Saturday, October 4, 1862.  He left a young wife, in whom he had been married but a short time.

In addition to the above names are the following: Sergeant Bradley Green, a young man of fine character, died at Newtonia, Mo., October 8, 1862, of a wound received near that place from concealed enemies.  Casper S. Brady, of Saylor Grove, a childlike, innocent drummer boy, and a native of Iowa, died of erysipelas, caused by a wound in the knee, received at the battle of Donelson.  Handsome marble stones were placed at the head and foot of his grave by his parents, in Saylor Grove Cemetery.  Andrew Slatten, an eccentric young lawyer of East Des Moines, and at one time Justice of the Peace in Lee Township, died of wounds received at Donelson, during the latter part of April, 1862.  His remains lie beside those of Weeks and Doty in Woodland Cemetery.  Sergeant Hiram Calvin Cook, a young man of great personal worth, died of abscess of the lungs, at New Hartford, Conn., March 28, 1862.  Armin Young died of consumption, February 12, 1862.  Austin B. Rush, who learned the printing trade with Will Porter in Des Moines in 1857, died at Vicksburg in 1862.  He was Hospital Steward at the time of his death.  He is very well remembered by the old citizens of the county.  Adjutant Joel Tuttle, of Company F, Second Infantry, died at St. Louis, May 13, 1862.  He was a brother of Gen. J. M. Tuttle, and his remains were interred in Woodland Cemetery, where a fine monument was erected to his memory.

James H. Ewing, of the Third Iowa Infantry, was killed in the battle of Shiloh, April 6th, 1862.  He had just been chosen Second Lieutenant, but his commission failed to reach him before his death.  John Harrison Smith, Sergeant of the same Regiment, was killed in the same battle.  He had been in the Mexican war, and served his country faithfully and well.  John Lewis Woods, Third Iowa, was mortally wounded at Shiloh on the 6th of April, 1862, and died on the 9th of the same month.

Source: Centennial History of Polk County, Iowa by J. M. Dixon, Blind Editor, printed 1876, pp. 113-117. Names placed in bold to increase readability.