The 9th Iowa Infantry was organized at
Dubuque, Iowa and mustered into Federal service on September 24, 1861. The Honorable
William Vandever, Representative from the
2nd Congressional District, Iowa, was authorized by President Lincoln to organize this regiment from the counties in his district, and he was commissioned by Governor
Samuel J. Kirkwood as its first Colonel. The regiment went without a standard of colors until a group of women from Massachusetts presented them with a regimental flag in 1862.
Service History: • Ordered to
St. Louis, Missouri, Attached to Dept. of Missouri October, 1861, to January, 1862. • Unattached,
Army of Southwest Missouri, to February, 1862. • 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, Army of Southwest Missouri, to May, 1862. (
Battle of Pea Ridge) • 2nd Division, Army of Southwest Missouri, to July, 1862. • District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept. of Missouri, to November, 1862. • 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept of Tennessee, to December, 1862. • 3rd Brigade, 11th Division,
Right Wing 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of Tennessee, to December, 1862. • 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, Sherman's
Yazoo Expedition, to January, 1863. • 3rd Brigade, 1st Division,
15th Army Corps,
Army of the Tennessee, to September, 1863. (Battle of Jackson, Siege of Vicksburg) • 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 15th Army Corps, to September, 1864. (
Chattanooga Campaign,
Atlanta campaign) • 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 15th Army Corps, to July, 1865. (Sherman's March to the Sea.
Carolinas campaign) The regiment was mustered out on July 18, 1865, in
Louisville, Kentucky. Before the regiment disbanded, the men gave their standard of colors to William Vandever as a memento. In 1886, Vandever presented the flag to veterans of the 9th Iowa Infantry at the annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic reunion in San Francisco and later wrote: They gathered close around it and their manly bosoms heaved with emotion, and noble tears coursed down their cheeks. It is a sacred relic that I prize today more than anything else that I have in this world, coming to me as a memento of the sacrifices made to sustain this Union and as a freewill offering from the women of this country, and as a token of their sympathy in our struggle. == Total strength and casualties ==