When the graves shall open, and the sea give up its dead, and the secrets of all hearts be revealed, then, and not till then, can the world know what the many thousands of brave Iowans engaged in the service of their country have endured.
—Col. John Scott, 32d Iowa
Media page
Valentine L. Spawr, a 28-year-old husband, father and carpenter in Clarksville, Iowa, enlisted in the 14th Iowa Infantry volunteers of the Union Army in 1862. He was mustered in to Company C May 2, 1863, and after training ended up at Fort Halleck, a fortification on the Mississippi River near Columbus, Kentucky. His regiment was moved down the Mississippi in January, and he spent most of 1864 marching and fighting in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War.
The Book
Part 1 of Not Till Then consists of the diary Spawr kept at Fort Halleck from June to September 1863. He describes the place and his routines as a member of the regimental color guard, criticizes his camp mates, speculates about rumors of imminent rebel attacks, and complains about missing home and family. He’s hospitalized with dysentery, goes on tramps through the countryside, makes friends with the regimental chaplain (commenting that he’s never liked ministers before), and witnesses the hanging of some of the convicted murderers from Island No. 10.
Spawr’s diary ends in September 1863, so Part 2 of the book was compiled from the eyewitness accounts of others who would have been in the same place at the same time: officers’ reports of battles, letters to Iowa newspapers, diaries of others, and memories published years later in newspapers and books. The 14th Iowa became part of the Third Division of the 16th Army Corps at the beginning of 1864. It participated in Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Meridian Expedition (a trial run for the March to the Sea later that year), General Nathaniel Banks’s Red River Expedition and the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana (which even today some say the North won and others say the South won), and the valiant but unsuccessful defense of the fort at Pilot Knob against General Sterling Price’s invasion of Missouri. The 14th Iowa was in the Second Brigade of the Third Division; its commander, Colonel William T. Shaw, was the organizer and original commander of the 14th. The book includes the controversy over Shaw’s public criticism of General Banks after the battle of Pleasant Hill and his resulting dismissal from the Army.
When Spawr enlisted in 1862, he was actually joining a replacement company. The original Companies A-C had been sent off to Dakota Territory as soon as the 14th was originally formed in 1861 and had had to be replaced. The remaining seven original companies had fought at Shiloh in 1862 and been held as prisoners of war for months afterward. The 1861-1862 portions of the 14th Iowa’s history are not included here.
The book contains notes, citations, maps, illustrations, and a roster of the three replacement companies (A-C) of the 14th Iowa. The paperback version is indexed.
Now available on Amazon.
Index
A
ague, 66, 81, 82
Alexandria, LA, 101, 113, 184, 187
Arcadia Valley, MO, 208
Army of the Gulf, 99
Army of the Tennessee, 90, 99
Army of the Tennessee detachment, 130, 157, 167, 187
Asboth, Alexander, 10, 64
Atchafalaya, 101, 188, 191
Aurner, Hiram, 170
Avoyelles, 106
B
Bagby, Arthur P., 135
Baldwin, James, 190
Banks, Nathaniel P., 91, 99, 114, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 126, 131, 137, 155, 159, 160, 171, 172, 190
Banks’s army, 121, 132, 134, 136, 159, 183, 186, 187, 189, 192
Bartal, John, 96
Baylor, George Wythe, 149
Bayou des Glaises, 102, 103, 105, 178, 189
Beckwith, Henry W., 82
Bee, Hamilton P., 134, 135, 139, 142, 146
Belmont, IL, battlefield, 26
Benedict, Lewis, 130, 133, 146
Benson, Solon F., 142, 164
bloody flux, 14, 65
Boylan, Cornelius, 96
Boyle, James “Jimmy,” 211
Braden, John C., 185, 231
Buchel, Augustus, 135, 139, 146
Buckmaster. Fred, 96
Bullock, Judge, 12, 68
Burke, Orville, 109, 182, 193, 206, 239
C
Cairo, IL, 4, 82, 205
Caledonia, MO, 225
Camp Ford, 166
Campbell, George, 170
Campbell, William J., 199, 209, 211, 213, 215, 218, 221, 223
Campti, 182
Cavalry, Army of the Gulf, 117, 118, 121, 122, 124, 126
chain across the Mississippi, 25, 254
Childers mansion, 164
Churchill, Thomas James, 134, 135, 139, 146
Clark, Meroni, 170
Clarksville, IA, 1
Clinton, KY, 25, 68
color bearer, 3, 232
color guard, 3, 49, 231
colors, 50, 61, 209, 219, 234, 253
Columbus, KY, 4, 9, 82
contrabands, 67, 71, 73
Corinth, battle of, 2, 90, 254
Corps d’Afrique, 117, 118, 126, 131, 136
Cotile Landing, LA, 114, 184
Crane, Leroy A., 188
Cummins, John R., 222
D
Davenport, IA, 1, 4, 205
Davenport, William, 200, 205
Davidson, Christopher, 80, 81
Davidson, Thomas L., 190
Debray, Xavier, 135, 139, 144
Delano, John H., 219
Department of the Gulf, 91
deserter, 48
deserters, 45, 89
diarrhea, chronic, 21
Dicken, Stephen M., 170
discharge controversy, 245
Dwight, William, 125, 131, 132, 133, 136, 139, 151, 176, 179
Dykeman, Edgar, 31
E
Eberhart, G. A., 190
Emory, William H., 117, 122, 123, 125, 130, 131, 176, 179
Ewing, Thomas, Jr., 209, 213, 215, 217, 218, 226
F
Fagan, J. F., 207, 210
Fechter, Cornelius, 203
Fiftieth Missouri Infantry, 209
First Kansas Battery, 55
First Missouri Militia, 209
Fisher, Irving, 67
Fisk, Andrew, 96
Fitzgerald, Richard, 203
Fletcher, Thomas, 210
foraging, 91, 93, 102, 113, 182, 185, 207, 232
Fort Donelson, 2, 50
Fort Halleck, KY, 4
Fort Morgan, 103
Forty-Seventh Missouri Infantry, 209, 228
Fourth Missouri Cavalry, 16, 22, 53, 75
Fourth U.S. Heavy Artillery Colored., 74
Franklin, MO, 239
Franklin, William B., 121
Fyan, Robert W., 131
G
Gambell, John, 170
George, William H., 170
Gibson, William J., 35
Gilbert, James I., 110, 132, 195
Gilbert, James, brigade, 201
Glen, Edward, 24
Gorman, John, 170
Grand Ecore, LA, 114, 126, 129, 169, 175, 176, 181
Grand Ecore, LA., 159
Granger, Charles T., 152
Graves, Cyrus B., 21, 35, 39, 40
Green, Thomas, 134, 135, 139, 146
H
hanging, 77, 78, 83
Hanson, Joseph, 236
Harrisburg, MS. See Tupelo, MS
Harrison, MO, 226, 229
Hawley, Levi P., 204
Hayden, 24
Hickle, Jacob, 38
Hickman, KY, 50, 51
Hoffbauer, Hugo, 125, 138, 141, 144
Holmes, Allen E., 170
Hudson, IL, 1, 27
Hurlbut, Stephen A., 55, 90
I
Ingersoll, Lurton Dunham, 177
Iron Brigade, 90
Ironton, Missouri, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213
Island No. 10 murders, 78
Isle Brevelle, 183
J
Jefferson Barracks, MO, 206, 239
Jones, Warren C., 151, 188
K
Kerr, John, 200
Kiner, Frederick F., 16, 31, 34, 42, 43, 53, 57, 65, 74, 252
Kingsbury, Winfield S., 170
L
LaGrange, TN, 198, 204
Lake Village, AR, 196, 198
Lamson, Earl J., 233
Lavender, Leonard, 83
Leasburg, MO, 226
Lee, Albert L., 117
Leyle, Joseph R., 170
Litscher, Christian, 200
Lucas, Thomas J., 168
Lucas, William V., 211, 212, 226, 234, 235
Lynch, William F., 130, 152
M
Major, James P., 135, 146, 148, 150
Mansura, LA, 105
March, Alaxander, 24
Marksville, 109, 188
Marmaduke, J. S., 207, 210, 225, 233
Martin, Azariah, 216
McAllister, Asahel, 96
McCall, T. C., 111, 173
McKean, Francis, 170
McMillan, James W., 131, 176, 179
McPherson, James B., 91
Meier, Henry, 171
Miles, Herman A., 4, 62, 67, 181, 252
Milks, H. B., 229
Miller, John C., 96
Mississippi Squadron, 104
Moore, David, 199
Morrison, David, 170
Mower, Joseph A., 100, 103, 109, 130, 153, 185, 188, 189, 196
Mowfield, William, 222
Murph, David, 219
Murphy, David, 218
Myers, John, 170
N
Natchitoches, 183
Negro Regiment, 67, 73, 75
Negroes, 20, 28, 73, 75
Nergo, John, 232
Newbold, Joseph H., 54, 90, 108, 109, 131, 151
Nicol, Alexander F., 170
Nineteenth Army Corps, 118, 121, 122, 123, 126, 130, 131, 159, 171
Ninth Indiana Battery, 189
O
O’Brien, Edward, 170
Old River Lake, Arkansas, 196
Old Town Creek, Arkansas, 201
Oxford, Mississippi, 205
P
Parker, Sydney, 170
Parmenter, William W., 170
Parsons, Mosby M., 134, 135, 139
Peterson, Cyrus, 236
Polignac, Camille J., 134, 135
Post McClellan, 4
Price, Sterling, 11, 206, 207, 210, 236
prison, military, Columbus, Ky., 72
prisoners, rebel, 72
Q
quinine, 23
R
Raney, 48
Ransom, Thomas E. G., 117
Red River, 99, 100, 101, 102, 104, 117, 133, 185, 187, 191
Red River Campaign, 91, 99, 169, 192
Ritland, John, 141, 145, 172
Roberts, Myron L., 30, 171, 181, 252
Rolla, Missouri, 207, 233, 235
Rosecrans, William S., 206
Ruth, Steamer, 53, 57
S
Sanitary Commission, U.S., 85, 206
Scott, John, 132, 160
Second Missouri Militia, 209
Seventeenth Army Corps, 91, 92, 100, 106, 113, 184
Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, 234
Shaw, William T., 2, 90, 105, 106, 107, 121, 131, 132, 136, 137, 143, 146, 150, 157, 174, 177, 179, 189, 190, 192, 195, 239, 253
Shaw, William T., brigade, 182, 189, 190, 191
Shelby, Joseph O., 207, 226, 233
Shepherd Mountain, MO, 208, 214, 215, 216
Sherman, William Tecumseh, 90, 91
Shiloh, 2, 50
Shmidt, Peter D., 113
Simmesport, 102, 188, 191
Sixteenth Army Corps, 90, 91, 92, 96, 103, 117, 118, 120, 126, 130, 131, 169, 181, 196, 206
Sixteenth Wisconsin, 75
Sloper, David, 170
Smith, Andrew Jackson, 64, 90, 99, 103, 104, 106, 107, 113, 117, 119, 120, 122, 124, 126, 130, 146, 150, 152, 155, 172, 199
Smith, Charles C., 171
Smith, E. Kirby, 168
Smith, Franklin S., 10, 47, 59, 64, 68
Smith, T. Kilby, 106
Smith, Whitey (Andrew Jackson), 124
Smith’s Guerrillas, 124
soldiers home, 85
Sonash, George, 38
South Branch Railroad, 208
Spawr, Clara, 1, 80
Spawr, Elizabeth, 1
Spawr, Ella, 1, 73
Spawr, Irena Margaret Neighbarger, 1, 27, 63, 73, 80
Spawr, Peter R. and Elizabeth (Messer), 1
Spawr, Valentine L., 1, 181, 185, 245, 251
Springfield, MO, 207
Staples, G. M., 137
Steakley, James C., 219, 230
Stone, Charles P., 137
Stoughton, William, 4, 12, 15, 62, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76
Stuart, Addison A., 177, 248
Summers, J. T., 178
Sutton, Lewis, 224, 227
Sweeney, Charles, 170
T
Taylor, Richard, 118, 133, 134, 136, 138, 139, 157, 185
Tenth Kansas, 228
Third Arkansas Infantry, 76
Third Indiana Battery, 106, 107
Third Missouri Militia Cavalry, 228
Thirteenth Army Corps, 118, 121, 122, 124, 126
Thirty-First Wisconsin Infantry, 21, 34, 35, 38, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 75
Thirty-Second Iowa Infantry, 15, 16, 24, 40, 43, 58, 75, 90, 108, 132, 146, 148, 151, 153, 160, 170, 175, 197
Thomas, Samuel, 104
Thompson, Smith, 218
Thorp, Charles I., 222
Trans-Mississippi Department, 192
Tupelo, MS, 198
Turner, George, 170, 200
Twenty-Fifth New York Battery, 131, 138
Twenty-Fourth Missouri Infantry, 90, 107, 131, 132, 143, 148, 151
Twenty-Seventh Iowa Infantry, 90, 107, 109, 131, 146, 195, 201
Tyler, Edwin E., 232
U
Underwood, Albert, diary, 94
Union City, TN, 49, 54, 55
V
Van Dyke, Ben, 163, 165
Vanduzer, James M., 200
Vicksburg, MS, 89, 191, 192
W
- L. Ewing, steamship, 196
Walker, John George, 134, 135, 137, 139, 146, 150
Western Sanitary Commission, 192
Wilcox, Austin, 38
Wilkinson, H. C., 217
William L. Ewing, steamship, 100
Wilson, James, 209
Wilson, Thomas, 211, 213, 215
Winchell, Lyford H., 36, 59
Y
Yellow Bayou, 103, 188, 189, 191
Z
Zink, George W., 170