Iowa's Martyr Regiment

Clark Kenyon of Camp Pope Publishing has long specialized in Iowa's Civil War contributions, and his latest publishing effort is a new unit history, David Wildman's Iowa's Martyr Regiment: The Story of the Thirty-eighth Iowa Infantry [344 pages, 32 illus. and maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-1-929919-31-4 $24.95]. Presentation is typically excellent, and, among a wealth of other primary source materials used, the letters, diaries, and memoirs from fifty members of the unit enrich Wildman's study.

Even though it was posted at various places along the Mississippi River and was sent to Texas, Florida, and Alabama, the regiment distinguished itself little prior to Fort Blakely in 1865.  But widespread death stalked it anyway. Suffering only 2 men killed or mortally wounded throughout its service, but with 315 officers and men sent to early graves by disease, the 38th was unusually hard hit by non-combat losses, even by Civil War standards.

Expect the book to be reviewed here sometime in the near future.