Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

[Daniel]

Does anyone know what type of weapsons the Iowa units used at Fort Donelson? Those units would be the 2nd, 7th, 14th and 12th Iowa Infantry. I have search this site and could not find anything on the weapons these units were issued. Thank you.

Dan Stewart

[Bob Parker]

Re: Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

Dan, in Todd's American Military Equipage - 1851 - 1872 Vol. 2. In the Iowa section they list some of the arms these regiments were armed with. You will find a variety of arms in these units. Bob

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

I'm having trouble finding the citation right now, but I have seen a report from the Adjutant General's office in Iowa showing that there were at least seven types of weapons present in the ranks of the 2nd Iowa in November of 1861. I'm fairly certain that this situation was unchanged at the time of Donelson. I'll continue looking for a citation and update when I find it.
Edited to add: In this issue of The Iowa Journal of History is an article entitled "Arms and Equipment for Iowa Troops." Pages 19-20 state that

Not until August 23rd were three thousand "Improved Muskets" shipped "on the Jeannie Deans to the Iowa troops in St. Louis and Missouri." Minie rifles were to have been furnished.

For the 7th, this quote comes from History of the Seventh Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry During the Civil War by Henry I. Smith, page 6.

In the haste to get the troops to the front the regiment ieft the state August 6th, with only one field officer, Col. J. G. Lauman, D. T. Bowler as Adjutant and S. E. Forsha as Quartermaster. We embarked on the steamer Jennie Whipple with a barge lasned to each side,, and proceeded direct to St. Louis. The 5th and 6th regiments went down on other boats at the same time, but were disembarked at Keokuk to reinforce Colonel Moore in the border war with the rebel Genl. Green. It was on this trip that we had the first casuality in the regiment. One of company "A" rolled off the boat in his sleep, into the river, in the dark, and was drowned. It- was on account of the pressing military necessity that the regiment went to the iront before its complete organization, and before it was clothed, armed or equipped. We arrived at St. Louis on the morning of August the 8th, and went into bivouac in the grounds of the U. S. Arsenal there. Arms were distributed to us at St. Louis, the flank companies "A" and "B" getting the Springfield rifle with tape self primers, and the other eight companies received the improved "buck and ball" Springfield musket.

In One Year's Soldiering: Embracing the Battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, by F.F. Kiner, 14th Iowa, he claims:

I have already said that here we drew our arms—the first guns we drew not being considered good were returned, and others drawn in their stead. The last we received were the Austrian rifle, and a very competent piece for successful infantry service; at least, we had the liberty to give them a good trial in the battles of Fort Donelson and Pittsburg Landing, and found that they did good execution on both occasions. Perhaps it is sometimes not so much the guns' fault in not doing good business as the men who handle them. Even a shot gun is middling good if it is taken up to within its proper range. It is so with most any musket; they have their proper ranges, and are not expected to be dangerous if the battle lines are formed several miles apart.

Pages 15-16.

I'm unable in a quick search to find information about the 12th, but Nathan Hellwig might be able to help you in greater detail due to his research on that unit.

Hope this is helpful.

[Tkessen]

Re: Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

I know that AFTER the Confederates surrendered, some Union troops discarded their current weapons and took the new Richmond muskets that hadn't been issued to the Confederates (still in the crates.) The Confederates had had the muskets sent to them because they had outdated muskets (probably flintlocks), but their quartermasters didn't get to issue them before the fort fell. Hopefully that helps a bit.

Taylor Kessen

[fortdonelsonrelics]

Re: Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

I realize that you're next question will be for me to have a citation for this post - I will have to dig for it, but I am working with a professor on listing small arms used by all of the units at the battle of Fort Donelson. Of the Iowa units - this is what I have.

12th Iowa Infantry Regiment English made, 1853 Enfield Rifle
14th Iowa Infantry Regiment Austrian Rifle
2nd Iowa Infantry Regiment M1816/22 conversions (smothbore, .69), M1842 smothbore
7th Iowa Infantry Regiment Flank companies with Springfield rifles, other eight companies with improved Springfield muskets

Now we have relic hunted the camps of these units as well as the initial assault leading up to the assault on the 15th - and the predominat rounds were .69 Minnies, .70RoundBalls, a few .58minnies, and .58 roundballs. Also keep in mind that if Austrian is mentioned, I have seen this particular term used to describe M1842 Austrians and Garibaldi Rifles which are both .69 - .71cal respectively and this coincides with the evidence found where these regiments were.

Hope this helps,

John Walsh

[Daniel]

Re: Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

Thank you all so much for the great information on the arms of the Iowa units. Bob thanks for the great quotes. It is really neat that two companies of the 7th were using M1855's. It says that they are Springfield rifles. Just wondering if they could be rifle muskets. And the other eight companies were possibly using M1816/22 conversions?

John, thanks for your information. Especially what you have found on the site. I have also be working on and off on listings of what the various units were arms with at Fort Donelson. I still have a lot of missing information on my list, but let me know if I can help. Finally I am so sorry and mispelling of Fort Donelson. Got too much in a rush. I had two ancestors associated with Fort Donelson. A great grandfather, George A. Sinclair, who enlisted at Fort Donelson in Company D. 14th Tennessee (his last child died last year!) and a great-great uncle, Thomas K. Porter.

Dan Stewart

[gsusat]

Re: Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

Springfield did not make rifles so the two flank companies would have been armed with the 1855 rifle muskets. Terms used in the period were looser than today and the important part is that the weapons were rifled. The term used for the other companies was "improved muskets" That could be altered 1816's or even rifled 1842's . John mentioned that they dug a number of 69 minnies which might suggest the rifled 1842's.. They did experiment with rifling the 1816 conversions, but the type of conversion had trouble containing the higher internal pressure from the rifled minnie, so few were made.

[Daniel]

Re: Weapons used by Iowa troops at Fort Doneslon

George, those are great points. I had forgotten that Springfield did not make M1855 rifles. Thanks for your help.

Dan Stewart