The Iowa Civil War Site
Iowa During the Civil War

Excerpts from my Great Grandfather Valentine L. Spawr's Civil War Diary

Company C, 14th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Valentine L. Spawr
Born 1835, Died 1882.

The diary is entitled "A Record of Passing Events Kept By Me and Recorded Each Day as They Transpired." In transcribing the diary, I will replicate all spellings exactly as printed in the diary.

Valentine L. Spawr was born in 1835, the son of Peter and Elizabeth (nee Messer) Spawr, in the village of Lexington, McLean County, Illinois. At the age of 18, he moved with his family to the area of the present Blackhawk County in Iowa. It is not clear what transpired between 1853 and the time of his enlistment in the Company C, 14^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment in late 1862. At the time of his enlistment, he resided in or near Clarksville, Iowa.

He joined the 14^th Iowa as a private soldier on October 20, 1862, rising through the various Corporal ranks, eventually completing his service as company First Sergeant, to which he was promoted on May 1, 1864. The latter was an elected position, so it may be assumed that he was reasonably well regarded by the other men in his unit. He was mustered out and discharged with the rest of the regiment on November 16,1864, at Davenport, Iowa.

He was married twice in his relatively short life (47 years). He refers in his diary in the summer of 1863 to having a wife and 4 daughters; in July 1863, his wife, Irina, moved to Hudson, Illinois, but the reason is not clear. He also refers in the diary to a serious illness of two of his daughters; their fate is not known. Wife Irina, eventually moved with him after the Civil War to Kansas, where in 1870 he was one of the first trustees of the newly founded village of Neosho Falls. Between 1870 and 1876, Valentine and his family moved to Iroquois County, Illinois. Irina died in 1876 and is buried in the Gilman Cemetery, Gilman, Illinois.

In 1879, Valentine fathered a son, Loren Spawr, with Lucina Carley of Ashkum, Illinois. They were married in 1880, and gave birth to 2 more children: Clarence Valentine (1881), and Ruth (1882). He died in 1882 before Ruth was born; and is buried next to Irina in the Gilman Cemetery, Gilman, Illinois. Lucina remarried, and after her death in 1896 was buried with her parents in Ashkum, IL. Lucina published his diary covering the period June through September 1863, in 1892.

Valentine had been very ill for an extended period of time, probably since prior to his discharge from the Union Army. In the documents filed in support of Lucinas application for his Civil War widows pension, his sister in Kansas speaks clearly of his weakened condition as a result of a serious respiratory illness. Although not specifically identified, his condition most likely was tuberculosis brought on by field conditions incurred during the War. By trade, Valentine Spawr was a carpenter.

There are many "holes" in my knowledge of my Great Grandfather. Of his first wife and daughters, I know nothing; but would be interested in locating persons or records who could help "fill in" the blanks. If you have any information, please contact me at

Transcribed and submitted by greatgrandson