History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/John F. Bates
JOHN F. BATES was the first colonel of the first regiment furnished by Iowa to the War of the Rebellion. He was born on the 3d of January, 1831, at Utica, New York. He paid his expenses at school for six years by performing the labors of janitor. From 1852 to 1855 he was an insurance agent in New York City and then removed to Iowa locating at Dubuque. There he was elected Clerk of the District Court in 1858. When Governor Kirkwood issued his proclamation on the 17th of April, 1861, calling for volunteers for a regiment to serve for three months, thousands of citizens responded. But one thousand could be accepted and when they were organized into the First Iowa Infantry in May, John F. Bates was chosen colonel. He commanded the regiment in the battles of Booneville and Dug Springs under General Lyon, but at the greater Battle of Wilson's Creek he was not present. His military career closed at the end of three months when the First Iowa was mustered out.