THE THIRTIETH IOWA INFANTRY
This regiment was made up of two companies each from the counties of Lee, Davis, Jefferson and Washington and one each from Des Moines and Van Buren. They assembled at Keokuk late in the summer of 1862 and were organized into a regiment with the following officers: Colonel Charles H. Abbott, Lieutenant-Colonel W. M. G. Torrence, Major Lauren Dewey, Adjutant Edwin Reiner. The regiment, numbering nine hundred seventy officers and privates, was mustered into the service on the 23rd of September, 1862. After a few weeks drilling in camp it was sent down the river to Helena and, like many previous regiments suffered from sickness in that unhealthy region. The Thirtieth was attached to the Third Brigade of Steele’s Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps. This brigade consisted of the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-fourth Iowa regiments under the command of General John M. Thayer and was a part of General Sherman’s army that moved against Vicksburg and was engaged in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou on the 28th and 29th of December. The Thirtieth was not in the disastrous assault and lost but four men wounded during the engagement. Failing in his campaign against Vicksburg General Sherman moved his army down the river and united with General McClernand in the expedition against Arkansas Post. Before the attack Colonel Abbott was taken seriously ill and Lieutenant-Colonel Torrence was in command of the regiment during the engagement. It took a prominent part in the severe fighting and was warmly commended for coolness and courage. Five men were killed and forty wounded, among whom were Captains Creamer and Burk and Lieutenants Creighton and Alexander. Private James W. Smith of Company C acted as adjutant and received the special commendation of Colonel Torrence. The regiment returned with the army to the vicinity of Vicksburg and in April was in the
