Kinyon Digital Library

Civil War Rosters
County/Local Histories
Census Transcriptions
Local Maps and More

Kinyon Digital Library

Roster and Record
of Iowa Soldiers
Vol. 6 - Miscellaneous
(1911)

Iowa Index || - || Previous Page || Table of Contents || Next Page

Introductory Historical Sketch

of

Iowa Military Organizations

in the

Spanish-American and Philippine Wars

(The Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, Fifty-first and Fifty-second Regiments Iowa Volunteer Infantry; the Fifth and Sixth Iowa Batteries of Light Artillery; the Twelfth Company United States Signal Corps, and Company M, Seventh United States Infantry --- Immunes.)

The proclamation of William McKinley, President of the United States, (bearing date April 23, 1898,) recited the causes which had led up to the declaration of war against Spain, and called for one hundred twenty-five thousand volunteers, for the purpose of prosecuting the war.  On April 25, 1898, the Governor of Iowa was advised by telegram from the Secretary of War of the number of troops which would be assigned as the quota of the State.  Telegrams were at once sent to the commanding officers of the four infantry regiments of the Iowa National Guard, instructing them to report with their regiments --- with the least possible delay --- at the designated rendezvous, Camp McKinley, located on the State Fair Grounds, near Des Moines, Iowa.  The order was promptly obeyed, and the work of reorganization and preparation for muster into the service of the United States at once began, under the direction of Captain J. A. Olmsted, of the Ninth Regiment, United States Cavalry, then on duty with the Iowa National Guard, and who had been detailed by the War Department as Mustering Officer for the State of Iowa.  In designating the numbers of the four regiments, it was decided by the Governor to continue the series as shown by the Iowa Regiments which had been engaged in the Civil War.  The First Regiment of the Iowa National Guard, therefore, became the Forty-ninth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and the Second, Third, and Fourth were changed respectively to the Fiftieth, Fifty-first and Fifty-second Regiments of Iowa Volunteer Infantry.

Subsequently, the State was called upon to furnish two Batteries of Light Artillery, one company for the United States Signal Corps, and one company of Colored Immunes.  Complete rosters of all these organizations will be found in the succeeding pages, immediately following the historical sketch of each regiment or company.   The Colonels of each of the Infantry regiments submitted detailed reports to the Adjutant General of Iowa.  (Note:  The reports referred to are included in the official report of Adjutant General Melvin H. Byers, for the biennial period ending November 30, 1899, pages 419 to 441 inclusive.)  From these reports, and other official data found in the records of the office of the Adjutant General of Iowa, the following historical sketches have been compiled.  The foregoing brief preliminary sketch is simply explanatory of the events which led up to the formation of the organizations whose subsequent movements and operations are described in the regular sequence in which they occurred.

Iowa Index || - || Previous Page || Table of Contents || Next Page

Home  ||  What's New?  ||  Notes  ||  Census Data  ||  Data By State  ||  Military Records  ||  Links  ||  Tombstones  ||  Poetry  ||  Privacy

Site Statistics By

since 17 December 1999.