 Iowa In the Civil War |
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THE SEVENTH IOWA CAVALRY
One such unit was the 7th Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, which served in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska from 1863 to 1866. The regiment was composed of three companies raised in the Iowa City area, and one company from Sioux City. The remainder of the regiment consisted of four companies from Dubuque, which were combined with four fledgling companies raised in Ottumwa, Iowa. Command of this diverse regiment was given to Samuel W. Summers, a wealthy Ottumwa lawyer with no military experience. The Lieutenant Colonel was John Pattee, who also happened to be the governor's brother-in-law. The other line and staff officers were chosen from the various units that had been transformed into the new cavalry regiment. True to the tradition of Iowa's Civil War regiments, company officers were elected by the men. Some of these officers had served in other Iowa cavalry regiments, but as a rule, very few officers or men had any combat experience. The eight newly raised companies of the regiment arrived in Omaha in late summer 1863, having just completed training at Camp Hendershott, near Davenport, Iowa. They marched across their home state to Nebraska Territory, where they eventually served side by side with the better‑known 1st Nebraska Cavalry and the Pawnee Scouts. Their primary task was to help keep the frontier's vital overland roads open and to protect western settlers from Indians tempted to take advantage of the withdrawal from the West of virtually all regular army troops. To accomplish this mission, four companies of the regiment were stationed in the Dakota Territory. The other eight companies were scattered at various posts along the Platte River Road throughout Nebraska. These small garrisons were responsible for keeping the road open and the telegraph line operational. When units of the 7th Iowa Cavalry arrived in Nebraska, Fort Kearny was the only military post between the Missouri River and Fort Laramie. To further extend the army's effectiveness, Company G of the 7th Iowa Cavalry was ordered to construct a new fort at Cottonwood Springs, near the junction of the North and South Platte rivers. Built of rough hewn lumber cut from the red cedars in nearby Cottonwood Canyon, the post with its barracks, storeroom, officer's quarters, headquarters and hospital, was completed before the winter of 1863-64 descended on the plains. First named Camp McKean, and later known as Fort Cottonwood, it was renamed Fort McPherson in 1866. This outpost served prominently in the history of the frontier, and was home to many 7th Iowa Cavalrymen. In 1864, and two companies were ordered to march up the North Platte river to Fort Laramie. Like their comrades at Fort Cottonwood, these troopers put aside their sabers and carbines, and picked up axes and shovels in order to complete a new post named Fort Halleck on the Overland Mail Road near Elk Mountain north of present Fort Collins, Colorado. Until the summer of 1864, the only Indians the Iowa cavalrymen had met were those near military posts who were dependent on government rations and protection for their survival. They had little contact with the free roaming Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors. The highly mobile Plains Indian tribes were able to distance themselves from the volunteer soldiers and only risked a fight at times and on ground of their own choosing. In August of 1864 Indian war parties struck along the Platte River Road, killing settlers, burning stage stations, stealing livestock and attacking wagon trains. One 7th Iowa Cavalry officer and 10 of his men watched helplessly as a freighting outfit consisting of 11 wagons was attacked near Plum Creek Station. His pleading telegraph to Fort Kearny reads:
Plum Creek
Col. Summers, Ft. Kearny
Send company of men here as quick as God can send them. One hundred Indians in sight firing on ox train. Lt. Bone
When the relief column finally arrived at Plum Creek, the Indians had already killed all the men in the wagon train and made their escape south into Kansas. They took with them two captives: Nancy Morton, wife of one of the drivers, and Danny Marble, son of another of the teamsters. The cavalry was unable to rescue Nancy Morton at Plum Creek, but she was later ransomed through the efforts of the 7th Iowas Major John S. Wood.
The outbreak of hostilities in Nebraska Territory resulted in the temporary closure of the Platte River Road. For several weeks, Denver was isolated and feared an imminent attack. In the fall of 1864, Company F of the 7th Cavalry was ordered to build yet another new fort. This post, called Fort Rankin, was to be erected just south of the Nebraska border near Julesburg, Colorado.. Work on Fort Rankin was barely completed when the 3rd Colorado Volunteer Cavalry Regiment attacked a Cheyenne village on Sand Creek on November 28, 1864. This ruthless attack on Indians who were actively seeking a peaceful resolution to hostilities, united the Plains tribes in a desire for revenge. In the wake of Sand Creek, the Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux began moving northward toward the Black Hills. As they moved, they renewed their attacks on the Platte River Road, and on January 7, 1865, a large war party decoyed and ambushed a detachment of 40 over‑eager 7th Iowa troopers near Julesburg. 15 soldiers were killed and the rest were saved only when an artillery piece from Fort Rankin was turned on the attackers, who wisely withdrew out of range. The Indians were confident enough to return to Fort Rankin three weeks later. This time the chastened Iowans and townspeople watched from the sod walls of the fort, while the warriors pillaged and burned the town of Julesburg. Members of the 7th Iowa Cavalry engaged in several other campaigns against the Plains Indians, including the Wind River Expedition of 1865 and the Republican River expedition in January 1866. These campaigns both failed to engage any Indians. In the three years they served on the frontier, the 7th Iowa Cavalry escorted the U.S. mail, marched thousands of miles in patrols and expeditions, repaired countless miles of damaged telegraph lines, built three major military posts and fortified stage stations all along the Platte River Road, but they were never able to bring the Plains Indians to battle and win a decisive victory. During the regiment's three years of service, 32 men were killed in action, 77 died of disease, 14 died as the result of accidents, and 58 men deserted. Fatal misunderstandings are the bane of any military unit, and Civil War regiments were no exception. In June 1865, Captain William Fouts and 100 men of the 7th Iowa Cavalry were ordered to escort some friendly Sioux from Fort Laramie to Fort Kearny. Fouts, a former Methodist circuit rider, saw this as safe duty and had his wife and children join the column. Unfortunately, the Sioux were reluctant to move to Fort Kearny since it was so near the lands of their enemies, the Pawnee. After only four days on the trail, Captain Fouts rode into the Indian camp to find out why they were not ready for the day's march. Fouts and three other Iowans were shot from ambush, and the distrustful Indians escaped to the north, leaving Fouts' widow and men wondering what had gone wrong. Accidents also took a heavy toll among the men of the regiment. On June 20, 1865, a gun detail was formed on the parade ground at Fort Cottonwood to practice firing an artillery salute in preparation for Independence Day. One of the rounds exploded pre-maturely, killing Private Benjamin Grooms. The Civil War in which he had enlisted to fight had been over for two months. The men of the 7th Iowa Cavalry continued to serve in Nebraska until they were officially mustered out on May 17, 1866. Most of the Iowans returned home and resumed their civilian lives, however, their experience on the frontier led several former 7th Iowa Cavalrymen to return to Nebraska and make it their home. One former trooper who homesteaded land he had once fought to protect was Private Cyrus Fox, of Company C. Fox had served at Fort Cottonwood, near present‑day Maxwell, Nebraska, and he returned and made Nebraska his home. Over the years the post changed. Its name was changed to Fort McPherson, and the crude log buildings and stockade Fox had helped build were replaced by a new, and much larger post. Cyrus Fox became a prominent local citizen, and never tired of regaling listeners with stories of the changes he had witnessed in his lifetime. After Fort McPherson was abandoned by the government in 1880, Fox played an important part in raising a monument to the soldiers who had once protected the region. Today, the statue of a Civil War soldier that stands where Fort Cottonwood's flagpole once stood is the only memorial to the men of the 7th Iowa Cavalry. Another Iowan who returned to Nebraska after his Civil War service was 2nd Lieutenant Edward K. Valentine. Valentine settled in the northern Sandhills, and the town of Valentine, established in 1882, was named in his honor. Edward Valentine's standing in the community was further recognized when, in 1883, he was elected to serve a term in the House of Representatives. The Nebraska that emerged after the Civil War was virtually unrecognizable from the unsettled territory it had been before the war. Communication had been slow and uncertain. Travelers over the Platte River Road had relied heavily on Fort Kearny and the widely scattered road ranches for protection, supplies and repairs. By 1866, however, travelers were accompanied by military escorts, the road ranches had been fortified and garrisoned by soldiers, the telegraph lines offering instant communication were patrolled and maintained by cavalrymen, new military posts such as Forts McPherson, Sedgwick, and Mitchell had been established along the North Platte River, and the railroads were making inroads on the frontier and promised to open Nebraska to settlement. The soldiers of the 7th Iowa Cavalry Regiment played an important role in all these changes, and the contributions and sacrifices of the men of the 7th Iowa Cavalry Regiment deserve to be remembered.
FOR FURTHER READING: 1) The story of the 7th Iowa Cavalry is told by one of its officers in the book, The Indian War of 1864, by Eugene F. Ware. This book is published by the University of Nebraska Press.
2) A Native American view of the Civil war period is available in the book, Cheyenne Dog Soldiers: A Ledgerbook History of Coups and Combat, by Jean Afton, et al. This book is published by the Colorado Historical Society and the University Press of Colorado.
3) An overview of factors influencing the frontier can be found in the book, The Civil War in the American West, by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. This book is published by Alfred A. Knopf.
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