Tuttle of Van Buren County , managed to stop the enemy ’ s advance for good .
Casualties among the Iowa men were heavy , but they ’ d played a crucial role in stalling their advance , buying Grant ’ s men precious time to regroup and counterattack the next day , resulting in a Union victory at the Battle of Shiloh .
“ It was the Iowa troops who were the great veterans at Shiloh ,” Lyftogt said . “ They had fought at Athens , they had fought at Wilson ’ s Creek , they had fought at Fort Donelson , they had fought at Pea Ridge , and at Shiloh , a fourth of the casualties are Iowa casualties .”
Iowa answers the call
The grave of Capt . Voltaire Twombly , located in Pittsburg Cemetery near Keosauqua . Photo by Donald Promnitz / The Ottumwa Courier
so that Hornet ’ s Nest line was much longer than the Hornet ’ s Nest itself and manned by Iowa troops .”
Near sundown , rebel forces finally overwhelmed the position . Wallace died from wounds several days later , and the 8th Iowa counted 40 men killed , 113 wounded ( including 18 fatally ) and 340 missing or captured . Upon the collapse of the Hornet ’ s Nest , the soldiers in the Peach Orchard retreated to the nearby bluffs to set up a defensive perimeter . The men , under the command of Col . James Madison
Over 76,000 Iowa men served in the Union Army during the American Civil War , along with providing officers , food and other supplies to the North . Many of these men came from southeast Iowa .
Their service was primarily in the Western Theater , where they took part in every major campaign fought by the Union . In Vicksburg , it was men from the 21st and 22nd Iowa that made the only successful attack to penetrate the Confederate defenses . This included two companies from Monroe and Wapello counties .
Meanwhile , Iowans under Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan took part in driving the Confederates out of the Shenandoah Valley .
“ There ’ s hundreds of Iowa graves in Virginia as well ,” Lyftogt said . “ So from the very start of the war — and really before the war — Iowa was probably the key Republican state behind Lincoln from the beginning and stalwart through the war .”
Southeast Iowa raised several regiments , such as the 8th , as well as the 33rd , which mustered out of Oskaloosa and the 36th , which mustered out of Keokuk . The state also had its share of war commanders and heroes that served . Among them was Voltaire P . Twombly , one of 29 Iowans awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor . The Farmington native joined the 2nd Iowa Infantry two weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter .
Twombly and his regiment helped defend the Peach Orchard at Shiloh , but it was less than two months earlier — at the Battle of Fort Donelson — that he achieved lasting fame .
“[ He took ] the colors after three of the color guard had fallen , and although most instantly knocked down by a spent ball , immediately arose and bore the colors to the end of the
6 | Now & Then