I have been given a copy of the war time letters of Private James R. Anthony by his great great grandson. James served in the 20th Iowa from its first day until it was disbanded at the end of the war. During that time he wrote his wife 372 letters concerning life in the army. James fought on the Mississippi, at Vicksburg and down into Texas. He fought in Alabama at the end of the war and was mustered out in Mobile, Al on 8 Jul, 1865, eight days short of three years from the date he enlisted.
James wrote without puntcuation and I have copied his letters exactly as written. I have them as photographs on CDs so I have listed them by plate instead of by page.
James Anthony joined the Union army as a private at the tender age of 41 on 16 Jul 1862; he was officially mustered in to the service on 22 Aug 1862. James was assigned to Company A 20th Iowa Infantry Regiment, Col. William Dye Commanding. The regiment was formally organized on 25 Aug 1862 at Camp Kirkwood located in Clinton, Iowa. There were 1026 men on the regiments roster at its largest, it suffered 13 enlisted and 1 officer killed in battle, plus another 157 enlisted and two officers who died of disease or accident during its existence.
The 20th Iowa was issued .577 cal Enfield rifles the best the army had to offer in 1862; this was no small matter as many western units were issued a hodgepodge of weapons from manufactures all over Europe. Due to its proximity to the capitol the Eastern Front claimed first priority on everything including armaments and supplies. To be out west in a unit issued one type of weapon and a good one at that was unusual.
Like most Civil War soldiers the only real training James received was drill. They marched and marched and marched some more. Marksmanship training was not stressed at the time and most Union soldiers seldom if ever fired their weapon before entering into combat. Unlike their Southern counterparts many of the Northern soldiers were not familiar with handling firearms and did not understand how to aim and shoot. Many men in ranks, unsure of what to do and afraid of their own weapon closed their eyes and turned their head when they yanked the trigger. Consequently, a Confederate soldier was as much in danger from falling branches as he was from Union bullets. Hence the cry heard from Union officers on every battlefield, “Aim low!”
In the Civil War a soldier identified himself with his regiment, in the case of James Anthony it was the 20th Iowa. Later, in World War I, II and Korea soldiers would identify themselves by their company; by Vietnam they might even identify themselves by their platoon. This tells you how they fought, in WWI and II men moved and fought as companies, in Vietnam due to the advent of helicopters they fought more often as platoons; in the Civil War because of the need for massed fire they fought as regiments.
While multi-shot repeating weapons existed at the start of the Civil War very few people had them. On the Southern side there was a shortage of weapons of any sort and many soldiers brought their own, often a shotgun. Northern soldiers were all issued weapons but it had been decided by the Army supply department not to procure and issue repeating rifles as it was thought that the men would burn through to much ammunition and the cost would be prohibitive. As a side note, some Northern units did have repeating weapons but they bought them themselves, and with training to use them, became virtually invincible in battle.
This decision to use single shot weapons determined the regiment as the basic maneuver unit. It is often said that a well drilled soldier could load, aim and fire his weapon three times a minute. In truth very few soldiers could actually do that under any conditions and it was a rare man indeed who could maintain that rate of fire in actual combat. Most men struggled along as best they could and considered themselves successful if they managed to stand their ground and not run away. Any group of men smaller than a regiment had little chance of standing up to an attack of any sort because they could not fire fast enough to keep an enemy at bay. James reported to his wife several times in his early letters of men who shot their fingers off while on guard duty. I suspect that this was not malingering as they had not yet experienced battle and were still quite convinced that they would roll over the enemy like the tide; but rather these were examples of how unfamiliar these men were with their weapons and I’m guessing they shot themselves while loading their weapons for watch. A man who shoots off his fingers while on guard is not capable of firing three times a minute during a battle.
The emphasis on marching was not wasted effort regardless of the men’s ability to shoot or not, everywhere a Union infantry soldier went, he walked. In the lead up to Prairie Grove, James and his companions march over a hundred miles in three days: then stopped and fought a major battle without rest. I have hiked twenty to twenty two miles in a day on a couple of occasions and I was useless for days afterward. A hundred miles in three days is an average of thirty three miles per day, in hard leather boots. I don’t know how they did it. James took great pride in staying in formation and marching in with his regiment while many younger men fell out. He told the story of Daniel A. Robbins the only loss suffered by Company A at the battle of Prairie Grove:
“He could not keep up with his company and fell out but still kept on his way and is supposed to have fell in with 19th Iowa and went into action with them as he was found on that part of the field occupied by that regiment.” Army Letters 1862-1865 James Anthony Plate 56
Before the battle of Prairie Grove the regiment got its first taste of excitement when it was marched from Springfield to Newtonia to participate in the sweep of the countryside after the first battle of Newtonia. James reported to his wife:
“You ought to have seen the troops yesterday when they expected to meet the enemy in a few minutes. Many threw away their canteens haversacks overcoats and blankets in their eagerness to meet the enemy…” Army Letters 1862-1865 James Anthony Plate 27
While James’ reports of men dropping everything at the first good rumor of trouble is humorous, it had a very serious side effect, the first frosts were coming on and nights around Newtonia were growing very cold. Consequently, there were a lot of men roaming around the camp that night searching for canteens, haversacks, overcoats and blankets.
Not much happened at Newtonia as far as the 20th Iowa was concerned except that Gen Schofield’s bodyguard captured an Assistant Surgeon and a Hospital Steward who was looking after the Confederate ambulances, but that was about it.
The first report of someone actually firing at an enemy was greeted with great excitement by the regiment:
“Mr. Duartwood(?) shot at a man last night but missed him however he dropped his coat a worthless one which we got this morning. I am writing this within twenty rods of where he shot at him. I may get a shot at one before long. I do not mean today but at no remote period.” Army Letters 1862-1865 James Anthony Plates 28-29
After the Rio Grande Campaign James wrote home of a somber moment:
…On Friday last we had a military execution at this post George W Prince of Company B Twenty Second Ohio Infantry was shot for desertion He was shot while seated on his coffin with his eyes bandaged and facing the firing party He was shot in the presence of the entire Brigade He was placed about forty rods from our regiment Immediately after we saw the smoke and before the report of the guns reached us he was falling over backwards to rise no more an inhabitant of this world but already entering another so near and yet unseen
Army Letters 1862-1865 James Anthony Plates 318-320
The official record of battles for the 20th Iowa reads:
29 Oct 1862 at Fayetteville, AR
7 Dec 1862 at Prairie Grove, AR
24 Jun 1863 at Vicksburg, MS
1 Jul 1863 at Vicksburg, MS
8 Jul 1863 at Vicksburg, MS
29 Sep 1863 at Atchafalaya, LA
15 Dec 1863 at Matagorda Island, TX
15 Dec 1863 at Matagorda Bay, TX
25 Mar 1864.
23 Aug 1864 at Fort Morgan, AL
8 Apr 1865 at Fort Blakely, AL
Newtonia didn’t make the list even with the two captured Rebel Medicos, the wounded and a lost coat.
After the Civil War James Anthony copied the letters he had written into a book for each of his children. The electronic copy I have came from the book he made for his son Edward; Edward passed it on to his son Mark. The book is now in the keeping of Mark’s daughter Renee. It was Renee who arranged to have the book photographed. Specific questions can be address to me through the contact page and I can get the answer or forward them on as may be appropriate.