2nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The 2nd Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service
The 2nd Iowa Infantry was organized at Keokuk, Iowa and mustered into Federal service on May 27, 1861. Among its officers, several would reach the rank of general by the war's end. Samuel R. Curtis would become a major general; James Tuttle and Marcellus M. Crocker would become brigadier generals; Hiram Scofield, James Weaver, Norton Parker Chipman and Thomas J. McKenny, would become brevet brigadier generals.

The 2nd Iowa Infantry Regiment fought throughout the course of the war. The soldiers of the 2nd Iowa Infantry Regiment enlisted for three-year terms, with many soldiers fighting until the end of the war. Samuel Curtis was a leader in this unit.

Highlights of the service of this regiment include distinguished actions at the Battle of Fort Donelson and at the Battle of Shiloh, where about 80 members of the regiment were casualties, either dead or wounded. The regiment fought in the subsequent Battle of Corinth and later in the Atlanta Campaign, including at the Battle of Atlanta, continuing on to South Carolina and to Goldsboro, North Carolina, in the Carolinas Campaign. With the surrender of the Confederate States Army under Joseph E. Johnston, the 2nd Iowa traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Grand Review of the Armies of the Union on May 23-24, 1865.

The regiment was mustered out on July 12, 1865 and discharged at Davenport, Iowa on July 20, 1865.

Total strength and casualties
Strength of unit was 1433. The regiment suffered 12 officers and 108 enlisted men who were killed in action or who died of their wounds and 4 officers and 159 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 283 fatalities. 312 soldiers were wounded.

Commanders

 * Colonel Samuel R. Curtis
 * Colonel James M. Tuttle
 * Colonel James Baker - killed in action at the Battle of Corinth
 * Colonel James Weaver