34TH AND 38TH REGIMENT IOWA VOLUNTEER
INFANTRY CONSOLIDATED
Special Field Order No. 173 directed the consolidation of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry into a battalion of five companies: Companies A, B, C, D and E1. It also designated the officers who were to be retained with the battalion and those who were to be mustered out of the service of account of the consolidation. This order was carried out on November 12, 1864; designating Lieutenant Colonel Warren S. Dungan as the Commanding Officer. Colonel George W. Clark was among those to be mustered out.
Special Orders No. 211 modified and changed Order No. 173 by providing for the consolidation of the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-eight Regiments of Iowa Volunteers, and designating the Officers of each organization who were to be retained in the service and those who were to be mustered out. Colonel George W. Clark was retained as the commander of the consolidated organization. Lieutenant Colonel Dungan and Major Beebe were also retained, thereby giving the new regiment it's full compliment of field Officers.
Per General Canby's order, all officers designated by the order were to be assigned, if they were not already assigned to companies; all other Commissioned Officers were to be mustered out of the service. A sufficient number of names were to be recommended to the Governor of Iowa, for promotion, to fill the vacancies of Second Lieutenants existing in the regiment as consolidated.
All non-commissioned Staff Officers and First Sergeants exceeding the number stated, not recommended or designated for promotion, and all that were appointed at the date of the original organization of their respective companies, were to be mustered out of service. All other surplus non-commissioned officers who had been appointed since the date of original organization, were to be reduced.
After this merger the organization was thereafter designated as the Thirty-fourth Regiment of Iowa Infantry Volunteers, and the subsequent history of the Thirty-eighth was identified with the Thirty-fourth.
The following is an extract from a report made by Colonel Clark at the time the Thirty-fourth was reduced to a battalion of five companies:
"The consolidation has now been completed, and all the supernumerary officers except myself have been mustered out. General Reynolds has directed me not to be mustered out until further orders. He has informed me that he will make an effort to have another Iowa regiment consolidated with the Thirty-fourth Iowa, under my command. The five companies composing the battalion of the Thirty-fourth are in most excellent condition. They are almost maximum companies, and are commanded by the most competent officers. It would be unjust to say that the supernumerary line officers who were mustered out were either incompetent or inefficient, it is true, however, that the other officers were retained of account of their superiority."
Colonel Clark goes on in praise of Adjutant William M. Bryant, who had been appointed Adjutant at the original organization of the regiment, and remained in that grade until the consolidation, when he was mustered out at his own request.
"He has been a most thorough and faithful soldier. He served in the ranks of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry from the spring of 1861 until the fall of 1862, when, of my recommendation; he was apointed Adjutant of the Thirty-fourth. I have often congratulated myself of the happy selection I made for this important position: Brave, dignified and honorable, he possesses the highest qualities of a soldier and Gentleman."
Refer to Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1865, Vol. 1 pages 462.3, showing the two orders above, in full, and giving all the names of the designated officers to be retained in the organizations after consolidation.
All the changes which occurred, both among the officers and enlisted men of the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-eighth, at the time the consolidation was effected, will be shown in the revised roster.
Headquarters thirteenth Army corps, Department of the Gulf. Pass Cavallo, Texas, April 12, 1864.
I. the following regiments and batteries are authorized to have inscribed of their colors the names of the several battles set opposite them in accordance with Paragraph 11, Appendix B, Revised Army Regulations, 1863:
Chicasaw Bluffs
Arkansas Post
Vicksburg
Yazoo City
Fort Esperanza
By command of Major General John C. McClernand
| Return Home | 34th Consolidated Battalion | Consolidated Company A | Field and Staff Consolidated Regiment |
