This 1888 lithograph by illustrator Thure de Thulstrup of the Siege of Vicksburg, Assault on Fort Hill, depicts fighting between Union and Confederate troops on June 25, 1863, at the 3rd Louisiana Redan, known as Fort Hill. Benjamin Stevens of Oskaloosa served with the 15th Iowa Infantry at the Siege of Vicksburg. He once wrote to his mother, “Every man that feels that he is accountable to a just God for the deeds done in the body should give himself as a willing sacrifice to his country in this her hour of need.” Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Library of Congress
March/April 2025 (Volume 17, Issue 2)
(Publisher’s note: The second part of Timothy Walch’s series will be published in the May/June 2025 issue of Iowa History Journal.)
By Timothy Walch
Why would Iowans serve voluntarily in a violent conflict that pit them against their own countrymen? That was the question that many young men from our state must have asked themselves when they were called to join the Union army in 1861. In fact, it is a question that historians continue to ponder as we commemorate the 160th anniversary of the conclusion of the American Civil War.
There were many reasons to join the war effort, of course, and Iowans were not unique in their responses. Certainly, some young men were attracted by the idea of adventure. After all, daily life in Iowa and other states was filled with hard work, boredom and drudgery. The idea of fighting “Johnny Reb” must have seemed exciting and romantic. Few Americans—Iowans included—believed that the rebels could withstand the might of the Union army; many believed that the war would last only a few months. It is not surprising, therefore, that the first call for an Iowa regiment was filled, at least in part, by young men seeking adventure.
Other young men joined for patriotic, humanitarian and economic reasons. For example, although there is not a lot of documentary evidence of their ardor, some Iowans were fighting to emancipate the slaves and they said as much in their letters home. Several Iowa soldiers wrote that their regiments had voted to support President Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation.
Cyrus F. Boyd of Ottumwa, who served with Company G of the 15th Iowa Infantry, wrote his diary years after the war based on his notes that he took at the time. His candid assessment of military service, camp life and battlefield engagements are revealing.
Still other Iowans fought for principle or profit. Some wanted to stop those southern secessionists who were in rebellion against the Union—those who would cast aside the nation that had been secured by the U.S. Constitution. And there also were a number of recruits who were enticed simply by the monetary bounty that was offered at enlistment.
Of all the reasons for joining the army, however, none was nobler than the belief that service to the nation and to one’s state was a fundamental responsibility of citizenship. Thus, for more than a few Iowa soldiers, the reasons for fighting were caught up in their sense of identity. There would be no inner peace for any man who would shirk from this responsibility.
This sense of a noble purpose for the war is articulated in two classic volumes by the eminent Civil War historian, James M. McPherson. In “What They Fought For, 1861-1865” (1994) and “For Cause and Comrades” (1997), McPherson traces the motivation for military service as reflected in an untold number of letters exchanged by these soldiers with their families and their friends over the course of the war.
This Cosack & Co. 1885 panorama painting depicting the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862, shows Confederate forces on the left and Union forces on the right. Philip H. Goode of Glenwood served with Company F of the 15th Iowa Infantry at Shiloh. In his diary he wrote, “Horses and men dropped on all sides.” His regiment lost 32 commissioned officers in the battle at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. Photo retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2013645344/
McPherson read through the letters and diaries of close to 1,100 soldiers, and discovered that about two-thirds of the letters from both sides reflected patriotic convictions. Union and Confederate soldiers alike believed that they were fighting to sustain the spirit of the American Revolution. Northern soldiers further added a belief in the constitutional irrevocability of the union of states. Although secession was perceived as a sacred right by Confederate soldiers, Union soldiers saw secession as a challenge to the very foundation of the Republic.
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