Cheever, L O

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Iowans and the Medal of Honor

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Volume 53 | Number 4 Article 3
4-1-1972
Iowans and the Medal of Honor
L O. Cheever
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Cheever, L O. "Iowans and the Medal of Honor." The Palimpsest 53 (1972), 182-184.
Available at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/palimpsest/vol53/iss4/3
Iowans and the Medal of Honor
It was the Civil War that witnessed the birth of 
the Medal of Honor. It was the Civil War that 
presented Iowans with their introduction to the 
heartaches of war.
Iowa, in 1861, had been a state only 14 years. It 
had no forts, no garrisons, no organized military 
units. Yet when President Abraham Lincoln called 
on Iowa Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood, in mid- 
April, to supply a regiment, the state was ready. 
The 1 st Iowa Infantry steamed down the Missis­
sippi in May, 1861, on its way to Wilson s Creek 
in Southwest Missouri, where it would take part 
in one of the bloodiest battles of the war; suffered 
its first fatality; and where one of its members 
would become Iowa’s first recipient of the Medal 
of Honor.
Two months later the 2nd and 3rd Regiments 
were enroute south. WTen 1861 closed Iowa had 
19 units in the field. In all 58 regiments and four 
artillery batteries were organized during the war.
From an 1860 population of 674,000 people, 
76,000 men—11 per cent of the total population— 
went into the Federal armies.
Iowans campaigned from Wilson’s Creek to 
Bentonville, in the Carolinas, in some of the blood- 
182
IO WANS AND MEDAL OF HONOR 183
iest fighting in history. Iowa’s first battle fatality, 
Shelby Norman, came at Wilson’s Creek; one out 
of every four Union soldiers who fell at Shiloh 
was an Iowan; Iowans spearheaded Grant’s drive 
on Vicksburg and Sherman’s march to the sea. In 
the west Iowans were an integral part of every 
major battle of the Civil War.
It is no wonder Iowans came away with 29 
Medals of Honor. It is no wonder that Iowans 
serving in the nation’s later wars, conflicts, and 
campaigns have increased that total to 60 medals.
Turning to the number of medals awarded 
Iowans, some lists may show another name—Paul 
L. Bolden. Army records show Sergeant Bolden’s 
birthplace as Hobbes Island, Iowa. Bolden, a vet­
eran of World War II, lives in Tennessee and an 
inquiry as to the location of Hobbes Island brought 
this reply:
“The information in the 1948 Medal of Honor 
book stating that I was bom in Iowa is a mistake. I 
was born in Hobbs Island, Alabama, a suburb of 
Huntsville, Alabama, now.’’
The birthplace for a Civil War veteran, George 
W. Welch, has been given as Brown County, 
Iowa. Iowa has no Brown County. Indiana has 
such a County, and the abbreviation, la., was used 
for Indiana in that period. So, finding that Welch 
was not shown on Iowa rosters, it was assumed he 
came from Indiana.
Seeking information on Lewis Phife of Des
184 THE PALIMPSEST
Moines County, relatives were able to correct the 
records as far as he is concerned. The correct spell­
ing for this Indian fighter is Louis PfeifF.
The bravery of these Iowans will be recorded in 
terse government announcements in the pages 
which follow. Among them you will find:
Nick Bouquet, of Burlington, probably was the 
first Iowan to be awarded the medal. He served 
with the 1st Iowa at Wilson’s Creek, the first of 
the big battles west of the Mississippi.
James M. Elson, of Shellsburg, was wounded 
severely at Vicksburg and Atlanta, yet lived until 
1894 when a rebel bullet he had carried for 30 
years caused his death.
George W. Healey, captured and sent to the in­
famous Andersonville prison, had timbers from 
that prison sent to Dubuque and displayed them in 
his hardware store for years.
T he escape attempts of Commander Edouard 
V. M. Izac, of Cresco, were fantastic. One of 
them brought him the Medal of Honor.


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