Twenty-Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, A Brief History
The Twenty-Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry was mustered into the United States service on October 10, 1862, at Camp Pope in Iowa City, by Capt. H. B. Hendershott of the Regular Army. The regiment numbered 956 hearty men. From Iowa City, the regiment was sent to Davenport where the men spent a short period in drilling and adjusting to becoming soldiers before being shipped to Helena, Arkansas, arriving and going into camp there on November 20th.
At Helena, a detachment of 300 men from the regiment, led by Major Hugh B. Lynch, joined General Hovey's forces in providing a diversion to conceal from Confederate forces the movement of General U. S. Grant's army toward Vicksburg. Although Hovey's forces did not engage in any major fighting at that time, one man of the Twenty-eighth Iowa became its first casualty at the hands of the enemy: Private William M. Hall of Company C, who was killed by guerrillas.
The winter of 1862-63 was extremely challenging for the soldiers of the regiment, and many later declared it was perhaps the most depressing period of their wartime experience. The area surrounding the camps was malaria-ridden, the men no doubt suffered from homesickness, and disease ran rampant among new recruits thrown together in close quarters. Many had suffered terribly while being transported on open boats to Helena, subjected to freezing temperatures, snow, rain and ice, with no shelter and little opportunity to get out of the weather. Many men died as a result. Such was their initiation into the hard life of a soldier.
Once the dreary winter of 1862-63 turned to spring, the regiment joined with others of General Grant's army in marching and slowly working their way South, the ultimate goal being the capture of Confederate-held Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the Mississippi River.
A list of major battles and campaigns the regiment participated in during 1863 included:
Battle of Port Gibson, MS, May 1, 1863
Battle of Champion Hill, MS, May 16, 1863
Siege of Vicksburg, MS, May 25 to July 4, 1863
Siege of Jackson, MS, July 10 to July 17, 1863
The year 1864 saw the regiment fighting first in the South in the disastrous Red River Campaign under General Nathanial P. Banks, then shifting east to fight in the Shenandoah Valley under General Philip H. Sheridan. The Twenty-Eighth Iowa Infantry had the distinction of being one of only three Iowa infantry regiments to fight in the Shenandoah Valley, the other two being the Twenty-second Iowa Infantry and the Twenty-fourth Iowa Infantry. The battles of 1864 included:
Battle of Sabine Cross Roads, LA, April 8, 1864
Battle of Winchester or Opequon, VA, September 19, 1864
Battle of Fisher's Hill, VA, September 22, 1864
Battle of Cedar Creek, VA, October 19, 1864
The battle at Cedar Creek proved to be the regiment's last. Soon it was sent to Savannah, Georgia, where the men settled into camp before being mustered out of the United States service on July 21, 1865. Not long after mustering out, the men returned to Iowa, citizens once more.
During the course of the war, the total enlistment of the regiment had reached 1,195. Of that number, 60 men had been killed; 262 had been wounded, with 29 of those dying of their wounds; 189 had died of disease; 206 had been discharged for wounds, diseases or other causes; 99 had been captured, and 44 had transferred elsewhere. Many of those men who had been discharged for disabilities or for wounds later died of diseases they had contracted in the service or died of their wounds in the years, and even decades, following the war.
Such a brief record of the varied history of the Twenty-Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry does little to convey the struggles, the trials and triumphs of such a gallant regiment.
A more comprehensive history of the Twenty-Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry will be on file at the Masonic Library at a later date.