By David Connon

 

Confederates from Iowa were as unusual as slaves in Dubuque. At least 76 men left Iowa and served the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Their existence doesn’t diminish Iowa’s proud Union record. Rather, their stories offer a fresh look at the Civil War and Iowa, a state where residents disagreed about the war effort, civil liberties in wartime and abolishing slavery.  

 

It is common knowledge that Iowans flocked to enlist in the Union army and navy after the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., in April 1861 started the Civil War. Fifty-seven Iowans showed distinguished gallantry in battle and received the Medal of Honor. These soldiers and sailors had counterparts in every branch of the Confederate service, and one Iowa resident is listed on the Honor Roll — the Confederacy’s highest recognition of valor in battle.  

 

Iowa Confederates included doctors, druggists, lawyers, law students, merchants, farmers, a newspaper editor and two Iowa state legislators. Most of them served in the infantry, with the cavalry a close second and artillery a distant third. One served in the Confederate Navy, and two worked in the Confederate Treasury Department.  

 

Iowa Confederates could be called shadow images or “doppelgängers” of their 76,500 Union counterparts. Men on both sides had similar experiences, including time in prisoner-of-war (POW) camps.  

 

If you wonder why someone left the nice young state of Iowa and served the other side, consider the context. 

 

During the dreadful financial Panic of 1857, many Iowa businesses couldn’t pay their employees and cities teetered on the brink of insolvency. Desperate for jobs, about half of the future Iowa Confederates moved to the sunny South, which had rebounded rather quickly. They were exposed to Southern influences (e.g., Southern belles, friends, employers, newspapers and politics).   

 

Another third of Iowa Confederates moved South in early 1861 or afterwards, as the Panic intensified and the nation headed to war.  

 

Three main motives appear in the data; some soldiers had interconnected motives. Two-thirds of Iowa Confederates enlisted out of opportunism, often related to earning a living, with little regard for principles or consequences. Almost half enlisted out of familial concerns, often related to loyalty to their birthplace or the birthplace of their father or mother. About a third of Iowa Confederates had a philosophical motive, involving state’s rights related to slavery and/or an interpretation of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. A love of adventure underlay these motives, especially for many young soldiers. 

 

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