to Savannah, which was taken December 21st. During the march to Savannah the Ninth was under command of Captain McSweeney, of Company B. After some weeks the regiment sailed to Beaufort, South Carolina. Colonel Carskaddon, whose term of service had expired, was honorably discharged on the 29th of December, and Major Alonzo Abernethy succeeded to the command of the regiment. He was a brother of Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob Abernethy of the Third Iowa, who was killed in the battle before Atlanta July 22d. Both had entered the service as sergeant and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On the 19th of June, 1865, Major Alonzo Abernethy was promoted to that rank.
The northward march began on the 26th of January, 1865, and the regiment reached Alexandria, Virginia, on the 19th of May. In the last campaign it had done hard service in the swamps of South Carolina, building corduroy roads, bridges, and erecting intrenchments. In skirmish and battle it always fought with bravery. The regiment was in the Iowa Brigade under Colonel Stone, which held an important point in the capture of Columbia. It was in the grand review at Washington, after which, at Louisville, on the 18th of July, it was mustered out of the service, numbering at the time five hundred and ninety-five men. Lieutenant-Colonel Coyle, who had been absent from the regiment for two years, serving as Judge Advocate in the Department of Kentucky and on the staff of General J. M. Palmer, was mustered out of the service at the same time. During the term of service the Ninth Iowa Infantry had marched more than 4,000 miles, been transported by railroad and steamer more than 6,000, and participated in the skirmishes and battles of Pea Ridge, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Jackson, assault and siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, Brandon, Cherokee, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope, Big Shanty, Kenesaw, Chattahoochee, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Savannah, Columbia and
