CHAPTER XXIII
THE TWENTY-NINTH IOWA INFANTRY
OF the companies composing this regiment A was raised in Pottawattamie County, B in Mills County, C in Harrison County, D in Adams and Adair counties, E in Fremont County, F in Taylor County, G in Ringgold County, H in Union County, I in Guthrie County, K was made up of men from all of these counties. Thomas H. Benton, Jr., a well-known Democratic politician and educator, was commissioned colonel; R. F. Patterson, lieutenant-colonel; C. B. Shoemaker, major; and Joseph Lyman, adjutant. The regiment was mustered into the service at Council Bluffs on the 1st of December, 1862, with nine hundred men. Soon after, marching by detachments to St. Joseph, Missouri, it was transported by rail to St. Louis and from there was sent down the river to join General Gorman’s expedition then about to start for the White River. The expedition to Duvall’s Bluff and return resulted only in the suffering of the men, which was very severe, causing a great amount of sickness. Upon the return to Helena more than four hundred members of the regiment were on the sick list, three hundred of whom were permanently disabled and lost to the regiment.
While at Helena, in March, Captain J. J. Hafer of Company H was attacked with smallpox and died. The regiment was next sent on the Yazoo expedition to Fort Pemberton, aiding in removing the obstructions from the Pass, after which, returning to Helena, was engaged for the first time in a fight with the enemy. It bore a glorious part in the Battle of Helena on the Fourth of July, 1863,
