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Military Biography ~ |
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Dubuque county Civil War Soldiers
of the
Twenty-first Regiment Iowa Volunteer
Infantry
Historical information, notes &
comments, in some cases correcting the record
Soldier biographies written by
Carl Ingwalson
Carl will do look-ups in his extensive
records of the 21st Iowa and he is always willing to share what he
has. |
| JOSEPH L. ROGERS, JR. |
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Joseph L. Rogers was born on
December 20, 1832, and Alice Smith on November 7, 1836, both in
the town of Stanley in Derbyshire, England. On March 11, 1857,
they were married by an Episcopal minister in Lower Merion,
Pennsylvania, and by the following year had settled in Dubuque. By
then, the state was beginning to recover from the financial panic
that followed the "wild and giddy speculation" of the previous two
years but, on a national level, there was increased tension. On
March 4, 1858, South Carolina Senator Hammond bragged, "you dare
not make war on cotton. No power on earth dares to make war on
cotton. Cotton is King!" The next day a son, Lawrence Joseph
Rogers, was born to Joseph and Alice and on December 29th of the
following year a daughter, Ida Matilda Rogers was born.
In
1860, two-year-old Lawrence died on June 20th, Abraham Lincoln was
elected President, South Carolina passed an Ordinance of
Secession, and Senator Hammond remained convinced "that the
slave-holding power of the South is now the controlling power of
the world." No one, he said, "would face us in hostility." Senator
Hammond was wrong. Southern guns fired on Fort Sumter on April 12,
1861, war followed, thousands died and, in the fall of 1862,
Iowa's Governor Kirkwood was asked to provide five more regiments
in addition to those already in the field.
On August 19,
1862, Joseph Rogers, a farmer and champion wrestler, was enrolled
in the Union army at Cascade by Baptist minister James Hill. At 5'
8", Joseph was of average height and was described as having blue
eyes, light hair and a light complexion. He was one of 101 men
mustered in as Company I on August 23rd at Dubuque's Camp
Franklin. On September 9th, ten companies were mustered in as the
state's 2lst regiment of volunteer infantry and on a rainy
September 16th they left for war on board the side-wheel steamer
Henry Clay and two barges lashed alongside. Downstream they
transferred to the Hawkeye State due to low water at Montrose and,
on the 2th, arrived in St. Louis.
For the next several
months they remained in Missouri - Rolla, Salem, Houston,
Hartville - and that's where they were when Alice gave birth to
another daughter, Helen Josephine Rogers, on November 17, 1862. A
wagon train carrying supplies to Hartville was attacked on
November 24th and Colonel Merrill soon moved the regiment back to
the more defensible Houston. Some members of the regiment
participated in a battle back at Hartville on January 11th, but
there's no indication that Joseph was involved. Later that month
they reached West Plains near the Arkansas border and from there
moved northeasterly to Thomasville, Ironton, Iron Mountain and, on
March 11th, into the Mississippi River town of Ste. Genevieve.
They were then transported downriver to Milliken's Bend where
General Grant, intent on capturing Vicksburg, organized a large
three-corps army. Assigned to a corps led by General John
McClernand, they moved slowly south along the west side of the
river until reaching Disharoon's Plantation. From there, on April
30th, they crossed to the Bruinsburg landing in Mississippi and,
as the point regiment for the entire army, started a slow march
inland. On May 1, 1863, Joseph participated with his regiment in
the Battle of Port Gibson and two days later was detached to serve
with a forage train scouring the countryside for provisions and
that's likely why there's no indication that he participated in
the regiment's next engagements.
By early June, Joseph,
like many others, was sick and, on the 9th, he was admitted to a
regimental hospital at the rear of Vicksburg. On July 10th he was
sent to ·a general hospital at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis
where he was cared for until admitted to a general hospital in
Quincy,
Illinois, on September 23rd. His skin was sallow,
his eyes were dull and his appetite poor as he treated for
diarrhea (an ailment that led to the deaths of at least sixty-five
of his comrades) and intermittent fever, but very slowly his
health improved. On February 11, 1864, he was able to go north on
a sick furlough, visit with Alice and Ida, and meet
fifteen-month-old Helen. He returned to the hospital but was
released "cured" on March 22, 1864, and two months later reached
the regiment then on the Gulf coast of Texas. Except for a brief
illness at the end of July, he remained with the regiment during
subsequent service in Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee. In the
spring of 1865.he participated in the Mobile Campaign during which
the regiment, after advancing along the east side of Mobile Bay,
occupied the city and camped at Spring Hill and that's where they
were on April 18th when twenty-nine-month-old Helen died.
On July 15, 1865, the men· were mustered out at Baton Rouge and on
the 24th they were discharged from the military at Clinton. Joseph
returned to Alice and five-year-old Ida in Dubuque and resumed his
life-long farming career. Another daughter, Evelyn, was born on
July 28, 1867, but died two months later. Two more boys were born
- George on December 6, 1868, and Frederick on April 1, 1873. They
were followed by Ella who was born on August 25, 1874, but died
forty-three days later and Charles who was born on October 14,
1877. Alice had given birth to eight children, four who had died
very young and four who grew to adulthood. On December 17, 1879,
at forty-two years of age, Alice died. She is buried in Asbury
Cemetery on Asbury Road, Dubuque County.
Joseph moved to
Milford in Dickinson County. Like several others in the regiment,
he retained Lime Springs attorney George Van Leuven and, on June
19, 1891, applied for an invalid pension. Van Leuven had an
excellent reputation. He had references from a U.S. Senator,
members of Congress, attorney Thomas Updegraff of McGregor, and
many others. He was generally credited with being "the most
successful pension agent in the state." Joseph's application said
that, at Vicksburg, he was attacked with constipation, liver
disease, malaria, scurvy, rheumatism and heart disease as a result
of which "he is now totally disabled from obtaining his
subsistence by manual labor." Supportive affidavits were signed by
Nicholas Leyten, Jacob Loes, Edward Baker and George Mason, all
former comrades. Also submitting an affidavit was James Hill who
had enrolled Joseph twenty-nine years earlier, would soon be
awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during the Vicksburg
Campaign, served as Chaplain and was a postwar pastor in Cascade.
Other than the two ailments for which Joseph had been
hospitalized, War Department records showed only two months of
treatment for phthisis. On November 4, 1891, pension surgeons in
Emmetsburg substantiated most of Joseph's claims. A fee of $25.00
was approved for Mr. Van Leuven and a pension of $12.00 monthly
for Joseph.
In 1892, still in Dickinson County and still
represented by Mr. Van Leuven, Joseph applied for an increase. In
1893, Van Leuven was arrested. His extraordinary success had not
gone unnoticed by the President or Pension Commissioner. Van
Leuven was indicted and charged with pension fraud securing
perjured affidavits from comrades of applicants and bribing or
attempting to bribe surgeons responsible for examining pension
applicants. Claims of his clients were immediately suspect. While
no action was taken on Joseph's pending application, there's no
indication that his claim was questioned.
In 1894, giving
his address as 1645 Atlantic Avenue, Dubuque (and with a new
attorney), Joseph applied for an increase, but none was granted.
In 1899, living back in Milford, he was examined by pension
surgeons, but again no increase was granted. In February, 1904,
Joseph suffered a stroke and partial paralysis and was in bed for
a month. Since then, he required the assistance of an attendant
most of the time, but a request for an increase was denied since
the paralysis was not service-related.
On May 12, 1905, now
living at 141 Grace Street, Dubuque, Joseph applied again and, due
to increased pensionable disabilities, was approved for $17.00.
Veterans of the regiment held periodic reunions. The first had
been in Dubuque on the 16th and 17th of September, 1872, ten years
after they left for war and Joseph was one of seventy-four who
attended. In 1911 Joseph and one of his sons attended the 15th
reunion, this one held in Central City on the 19th and 20th of
January with veterans "greeting each other as none but comrades
can." Thirty of his comrades were known to have died in the past
two years and were remembered with bowed heads as a prayer was
given and John Merry sang "Nearer My God to Thee."
Eventually, with new laws in effect, Joseph was approved for
age-based increases to $20.00 and then $30.00, the amount he was
receiving when he died on July 16, 1917.
Joseph
had not remarried after Alice's death almost thirty-eight years
earlier and was
buried
next to her in Asbury Cemetery. Their daughter, Ida (Rogers) Cobb,
died in 1929 and was also buried in Asbury Cemetery. George died
in 1949 and is buried in Newell, South Dakota. Charles died in
1960, but his burial has not been found. Frederick was living at
late as 1898, but no further information was found. |
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