Military > Civil War > Fallen Soldiers > 4th Infantry Co. E & 7th

This company was mustered into service at Council Bluffs, August 8th, 1861.  Its commanding officers were Capt. H. H. Griffiths, and Lieutenants W. S. Simmons and Isaac Whicher.  The Adjutant of the Regiment was James A. Williamson, who came to East Des Moines in May, 1855.  He was associated for a time, in the practice of law, with M. M. Crocker, and afterward went to merchandising in the city.  He became Colonel of the Fourth Infantry, by virtue of Meritorious services.  In the charge at Chicasaw bayou, which was a perfect death-storm to our soldiers, he displayed, as he did on all other occasions of a like character, the utmost coolness and gallantry, leading his men amid a shower of hostile bullets.  He is now Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington City, and enjoys the rank or Brigadier-General, which he worthily won in his country's defense.

Captain H. H. Griffiths was transferred to the First Iowa Battery, May 15th, 1862.  He was, after the war closed, elected Clerk of the District Court of Polk County, as our Election Record shows.  He was a practical and accomplished offer in Military times, and was an efficient clerk.  He is still a resident of Des Moines.  Captain W. S. Simmons, who succeeded Capt. Griffiths in command of Company E, was a private, at one time connected with the publication of the Homestead newspaper.  He is now living in Ohio.

The other officers of this Company were, John E. Sell, Seldone C. Treat, Emerson Bramhall, Richard Ross, Felix T. Gandy; Assistant Surgeons, Alex Shaw and D. Beach.  Sergeant Jas. A. Moore, a lawyer by profession, well known in Des Moines, was drowned while attempting to step from the steamer Hannibal City, into a barge, August 12th, 1861.  He was clerk in the United States Land Office in 1857.  Francis P. Yokoner, a printer by trade, a German, and a young man of rare accomplishments, died of disease at Rolla, Missouri, October 12th, 1861.  He left a wife at Des Moines, to whom he had been married a very brief time.

James N. Needham, of Saylor Township, died of Pneumonia at Rolla, January 4th, 1862.  Sergeant Edwin Wesley Barnum and Hiram Cornish, the former of whom left a young wife at Des Mones, were killed at Pea Ridge, March 7th, 1862.  Oliver Perry Kelley, James Alfred Mott, and Hiram D. Cornish, all started to war from under the same roof in Walnut Township, the first of whom was killed on the 28th of June, 1864, at Kenesaw Mountain.  Mott was killed at the siege of Vicksburg, by a sharpshooter and Cornish, as stated, at Pea Ridge.  Jeptha W. Bell was wounded at Pea Ridge, and died Sunday, March 9th, 1862.  For some time he had been acting Adjutant's Clerk.  He was buried in the same grave with Barnum and Cornish.  Samuel H. James and John C. James, brothers, gave their lives to their country.  The former was mortally wounded at Pea Ridge, and the latter died of disease at Des Moines in 1864.  Henry A. Barrett was wounded at Pea Ridge, and died when but fifteen years of age, at Cassville, Mo., April 12th, 1862.  Gerard M. C. Case, a drummer boy, fifteen years of age, was killed by the accidental discharge of a pistol, May 24th, 1862.  His father, Larned Case, came to Polk County in 1847 settling on Agency Prairie.  Reuben P. Billsland died of disease on the hospital boat, Die Vernon, near Helena, Ark., January 19th, 1863.  His brothers, Isaac and James, were also soldiers in the Union army, the latter dying after his return from the war.  Wm. Prichard died of disease at Helena, Ark., Dec. 1st, 1862.

George Gentle died a prisoner at Andersonville, August 8th, 1864.  Benjamin Crow and John Lewis Crow, two of four brothers in the army, all of Walnut township, died in the service, the former in Andersonville prison, and the latter at Nashville, Tennessee, February 26th, 1865, of disease,  when but fifteen years old.  Robert S. Yount, brother-in-law of Dr. W. H. Ward of this city, died at home September 29th, 1864.  Cornelius M'Kean died November 26th, 1864, at Louisville, Kentucky.  Thomas Costello, an Irishman by birth, died in Texas, while trying to rejoin his regiment.

Lawrence A. Gregg, Seventh Iowa, died at Belmont, Mo., November 7th 1861.  Joseph B. Evans, same regiment, was killed at Belmont the same date. He was a brother-in-law of Newton Lamb, one of the pioneers of Agency Prairie.

Source: Centennial History of Polk County, Iowa by J. M. Dixon, Blind Editor, printed 1876, pp. 117-119. Names placed in bold to increase readability.