Company C, 29th Iowa Volunteer Infantry

At the time Fort Sumter was fired upon by rebel arms Harrison County, Iowa only had a population of a little over 3,000 people, nearly all whom had come hither to build for themselves homes in a new country. Most of them were poor, lived far from railroad lines, and seemed nearly cut off from the great political and business center of the Union. Yet they were no so far from civilization that they did not hear and heed the call for troops. Before August, 1862, nearly one hundred men had volunteered and gone to the front already, enlisting at points outside Harrison County.

By reference to the special session of the County Board of Supervisors on August 11, 1862, resolutions were passed which resulted in the enlistment of one hundred men in the company known as Company C, 29th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Such resolutions included a warranty deed for each enlistee for eighty acres of swamp or overflowed lands in Harrison County. In addition, a sum of $1,000 dollars was appropriated from the county treasurer for the support of the families, widows and orphans of volunteers from Harrison County.

The 29th Iowa Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Dodge, Council Bluffs, and mustered on December 1, 1862. They marched to St. Joseph, Missouri, December 5-9, and onward to Benton Barracks, Missouri, December 19-20, 1862.

Service Record of the 29th Iowa Infantry Regiment.
• Guard Prison at Benton Barracks, Mo., until December 25, 1862.
• Moved to Columbus, Ky., en route to Helena, Ark., December 25-29. Duty there until January 8, 1863.
• Moved to Helena, Ark., January 8, and duty there until March. Gorman's Expedition up White River January 11-26, 1863.
• Yazoo Pass Expedition and operations against Fort Pemberton and Greenwood March 13-April 5, 1863.
• Duty at Helena until August. Repulse of Holmes' attack on Helena July 4.
• Steele's Expedition to Little Rock August 1-September 10, 1863.
• Bayou LaFourche and capture of Little Rock September 10, 1863.
• Duty at Little Rock until March, 1864.
• Steele's Expedition to Camden March 23 to May 3, 1864.
• Antoine or Terre Noir Creek April 2, 1864.
• Elkin's Ferry, Little Missouri River, April 3-4, 1864
• Prairie D'Ann April 9-12, 1864.
• Liberty Post-office April 15-16, 1864.
• Jenkins Ferry, Saline River, April 30, 1864.
• Duty at Little Rock until July, and at Lewisburg until September, 1864.
• At Little Rock until February, 1865.
• Moved to New Orleans, La., February 9-16, 1865.
• Campaign against Mobile and its Defenses March 17-April 12, 1865.
• Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely March 26-April 9, 1865.
• Occupation of Mobile April 12, 1865.
• Whistler's or Eight-Mile Bridge April 13, 1865.
• March to Mt. Vernon and duty at Mt. Vernon Arsenal until June, 1865.
• Moved to Brazos Santiago, Texas, and duty there until July, 1865.
• Moved to New Orleans, La.; thence home and mustered out August 10, 1865.

http://iagenweb.org/harrison/history/history3.htm

Helena Arkansas

At this site on the southern tip of Crowley's Ridge, Indians of the Hopewell Culture lived about 500 B.C. Evidences of their settlement still remain in mounds nearby. In 1541, when Hernando De Soto crossed the river near here, he found the Casqui and Pacahe Indians and held the first Christian service west of the Mississippi River. In 1673 Marquette and Joliet visited here during their exploration. The city was laid out in 1870 and incorporated in 1856. On July 4, 1863 in the Battle of Helena Union forces repulsed a Confederate attempt to retake the city. Seven Confederate generals came from Phillips County.

J. H. Brace 29th Iowa Vol.

The armies of the Union—
They’re going into camp,
The column slowly moving
With an ever ceaseless tramp;
And of those days of carnage
Each veteran bears the stamp,
As patriots tried and true,
They’re going into camp.

Ah! many are the years gone
Since to home they bade adieu,
And reached beneath the banner
Of the loyal and the true.
Methinks I see them moving
Into columns as they tramp,
With quick step, to the music –
They’re going into camp.

See them going into camp
At the nation’s call to arms
From city and the country –
From the factories and farms.
From mother (how she loved him),
On her cheeks the tears still damp,
Grieving for her soldier boy
Since he is going into camp.

See them on their weary march,
Plodding on from day to day;
And upon the battle field—
In thickest of the fray.
On a thousand battle fields,
And with Sherman, as they tramp,
All along the line, we find
They’re going into camp.

Look upon the silvery heads
Of our veteran volunteers!
Know ye not to them belongs
All the honors of those years,
When the awful charge they made,
And the fierce war-horse did champ
At his bridle flaked with blood?–
They were going into camp.

Can a nation soon forget
Those who heard the battle cry
When Columbia weeping stood?
Those who answered “here am I?”
Or begrudge a pension small
To her heroes as they tramp—
Veterans old and feeble—
They’re going into camp.

They’re going into camp!
Not the cheerless one of old.
A camp within that city
Where the streets are paved with gold!
The camp fire brightly burning
As the last brave boy shall tramp
Through the “gate that stands ajar”–
They’re going into camp.

J.H. Brace

The Battle of Helena.

Dedicated to Co. C.

July 4th, 1963.

The morning stars fade one by one,
Loud booms Helena's signal gun;
The echo rolling on until
The great guns roar from hill to hill.
Quoth Holmes to Saith "please let me take
Helena," and we'll celebrate
The nation's holiday once more,
And drive the Yankees from our shore.

The Battle.

'Tis the Johnnies that fire on our pickets; fall in!
And the long roll of drums wakes the echoes within
The camp of the army that so silently lay
Couched low at Helena like a lion at bay.
As the broad, rolling river reflects a bright ray
Of "Old Sol" as he rose on that natal day,
The bright rays of the morning as they flash and gleam
From the guns of the Tyler that lay in the ...
As the shells from her batteries scream as they fly,
Hurrah for Helena and the Fourth of July!
Forward they charge, on, on with the old rebel yell
Come those heroes in gray, but to die where the fell;
Like a whirlwind they come 'till they gain the redoubt,
A moment of victory which soon turns to rout.
General Price is defeated, the battle is lost.
And for the gray rank and file, ah! what is the cost?
And how goes the battle away out on the right,
Where Marmaduke's legions still continue the fight?
Like a flash his dark charger bore Lacey that day.
Swiftly back to headquarters comes Lacey's report
That the boys from Iowa are holding the fort,
And the foe on our left, on our center and right.
Defeated, retreating, falling back from the fight.
The battle is over and "Old Glory" for aye
Shall wave over the ramparts of old Helena.

Roll on mighty river, bear the tidings away
While the death angel claims both the blue and the gray;
The last battle is fought for possession of thee,
Roll on Mississippi in thy peace to the sea.