Military > Civil War > Fallen Soldiers > 15th & 16th Infantry

This company was organized in July, 1861, with Wilson T. Smith and A. G. Studer, of Des Moines, commanding officers.  Captain Smith has been a resident of Des Moines, a score of years.  He is a gentleman of fine address, and he was a competent officer.  A. G. Studer was a brave and fine officer, having been educated at a military school in his native country, Switzerland.  He is now on a Federal Embassy in that country.  The commissioned officers of the Company, were, W. T. Smith, Adolphus G. Studer, Chris. E. Lanstrum, William H. Goodrell, David King, Rees Wilkins, John S. Green, and Robert Lyon.

The list of the dead is as follows:  Sergeants William Stanberry and George L. Reese; Corporal Jacob R. Kelsey, Charles Beekman, Henry P. Taylor, Conrad Wertzel, Benjamin F. Stoughton, John W. Guthrie, William L. Close, Andrew J. Burge, Samuel Mardis, Jasper N. Newland, LeRoy S. Conner, James H. Mathias, Anson D. Morgan, David R. Winters, John S. Green, Samuel and Joel Foster, Calvin Lloyd, Levi Wells, M. J. H. Parker, and Franklin Spotts.  All these soldiers, or nearly all of them, were from townships outside of the city.

Levi R. Hester, Sixteenth Iowa, died of wounds received at Iuka.

Madison R. Laird, youngest brother of Frank and Jacob M. Laird of this city, was eight months in a rebel prison from which he escaped.  He died December 4, 1866.  John W. Dewey, Q. M. Sergeant, and Thomas J. Allaway, are also numbered among the dead of this Company; also J. F. Redman of Company K.

Source: Centennial History of Polk County, Iowa by J. M. Dixon, Blind Editor, printed 1876, pp. 120-121. Names placed in bold to increase readability.