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Subject: [IA-CIVIL-WAR] V. Eagle, July 1, 1863, 18th Iowa, Spingfield, MO
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 10:40:22 EDT
The Vinton Eagle
Vinton, Benton Co., Iowa
Wed., July 1, 1863
Letter from Phineas Win.
Springfield, Mo.
June 13th, 1863.
Friend Hanford.--Having seen letters from different regiments, (or members
of other regiments) in your paper, I thought perhaps a few lines from the
18th Iowa Regiment now in service at this post, might be interesting to some of
your readers and especially to those who have relatives here. This regiment
has been doing garrison duty at this place for the past six months.--The health
of the Benton County boys is very good at present, and I do not know of one
who is sorry that he enlisted, but all consider it an imperative duty for every
true loyal citizen to lend a helping hand to crush this rebellion. Now is the
time for you all to show your patriotism. Your country calls loudly for your
assistance, to break down the stronghold of the enemy. How can you lounge
around there so calmly and heed not the warning voice, when there are hundreds
of brave heroes now wounded and dying in the field of carnage and bloodshed;
brave men, who have sacrificed home comforts, and their lives to fight for your
homes as well as their own. And yet you heed not. Last week we were called
to mourn the loss of the second brave Captain of Co. "H." He arose apparently
well in the morning, and walked a few yards from his tent, when he fell down
dead instantly. 1st Lieut. J. [Jesse] C. Rhodabeck will succeed to the
captaincy by right of promotion. A braver and more patriotic man, there is none. He
is generous and kind to the boys and is respected and very much liked by the
Company. I fear we will not have him long with us, as he suffers from a
combination of diseases. He continues to do duty although he ought not to.
We expect to have dress parade on the 20th of June when we will show off
to good advantage. There is some talk of the 18th regiment consolidating. I
think there is a probability of us staying here as long as the war lasts
although there are contradictory rumors in camp. There is some reports here that
General [Sterling] Price will give us another call, sometime this summer. Let
him come we are ready to give him a warm reception. We are also ready to
receive some of those "copperheads" in the same style. Send them down here we will
be glad to see them. Excuse all mistakes and bad writing as a soldier's
knapsack is his writing-desk. Remember the poor soldier boys.
Yours with respect,
Phineas Win.
[The Co. H Captain who died was Gideon P. Stafford, 28, of West Union, who
died of disease June 5, 1863. He had only been a Captain since Jan. 9, 1863.
The first Co. H Captain, Joseph Van Metre, 22, died of wounds received in an
attack on Springfield, MO, Jan. 8, 1863, an attack led by the numerically
superior forces of Gen. Marmaduke; Van Metre died Jan. 14th and was succeeded by
Stafford, then a First Lieutenant.
I found no Phineas Win nor any name resembling it in the 18th Iowa Infantry
rosters. Some soldiers wrote under fictional names, especially if they were
touching on controversial or highly charged topics, or simply because they chose
to.]
Source: "Roster and Records of Iowa Troops in the Rebellion, Vol. 3." Civil
War and Iowa: Greyhounds and Hawkeyes. CD-ROM. Creston, IA: O. J. Fargo, 2000.
Sue Trout Reisdorph
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