Welcome to 22iowa.com.
Here you'll find a wealth of information
on the
22nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry (1862-1865)
and the men who served in it.
The Assault of the 22nd Iowa on the Vicksburg Defenses, 22 May 1863
(Todd Pederson Collection)
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Updated: 11 July 2010
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Check out the "Iowa in the Civil War" page for info and discussion about Iowa regiments, soldiers, and the homefront.
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Forthcoming Book...
Ed Vavra of Iowa is hard at work helping to translate the letters of Pvt. John Pospishil of Company K of the 22nd. Private Pospishil wrote home to his father in Linn County, using their native Czech language. About 40 letters have survived, and their contents, along with context provided by the editors of the project, will be published in book form. 22iowa.com will keep you updated as the project continues.
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The first of two national flags carried by the 22nd Iowa. It is one of the many battleflags in the state's collection that have been undergoing conservation and restoration at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines. Shown left to right are researcher Neal Evans; program manager Sheila Hanke; researcher Terry Folkert; conservation assistant Sarah Carlson; Jeffry Burden; and Marshall County, Iowa Recorder Kathleen Baker. Photo taken in Des Moines, 8 October 2009 by David Jackson.
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Vanishing Footprints:
The Twenty-Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry
in the Civil War
Published for the first time by the
Press of the Camp Pope Bookshop
"[Pryce] was a gem of a writer...and a colorful narrator.... This skillfully-edited history makes an important contribution to Civil War literature."
-A. Wilson Greene, Executive Director, Pamplin Historical Park & the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier; Author, Civil War Petersburg: Confederate City in the Crucible of War
Never before available, Vanishing Footprints by Capt. Samuel D. Pryce is a comprehensive history of the 22nd Iowa as written by the regimental adjutant. The 22nd served in all three major theaters of the War, and was blooded in some of the War's most desperate combat, including at Vicksburg, Third Winchester, and Cedar Creek. Edited and annotated by researcher and writer Jeffry Burden, Vanishing Footprints introduces Pryce as a compelling voice about the War and about the 22nd's distinguished history.
Pryce's narrative goes beyond battle experiences to the hidden side of soldier life. It includes the games and sports the men played, the food they ate (often unwillingly), and the perilous sea journeys they were forced to endure, and more. This work, now published by the Press of the Camp Pope Bookshop more than a hundred years after Pryce wrote it, reveals the full experience of soldiering in the Civil War.
Among units highlighted in Vanishing Footprints are the:
1st, 21st, 23rd, 24th and 28th Iowa
11th Wisconsin / 131st and 159th New York
13th Connecticut / 11th Indiana
77th Illinois / 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry
1st Iowa Battery / 16th Ohio Battery
30th Alabama / Waul's Texas Legion
and others.
"The Twenty-second Iowa's...experience and [Pryce's] development into a first-class officer gives readers access to and insights into...the War. The wealth of photos, maps and illustrations bring their far-ranging expeditions to life."
-Edward L. Ayers, President, University of Richmond; Author, In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863.
"[B]eyond the witty commentary and humorous anecdotes lies a critically observant account of the 22nd's battles and campaigns.... but the usefulness of Vanishing Footprints is broader than that.... Burden's very heavy, yet ultimately respectful, excising and editing is a finely managed achievement in publication.... Well done all around."
-Drew Wagenhoffer, Publisher, "Civil War Books and Authors" (http://cwba.blogspot.com/)
About the Author
Born into the Welsh community of coal-mining Pennsylvania, Samuel D. Pryce (1841-1923) came to Iowa City in 1861 to teach and to enter the University of Iowa. In August 1862, he volunteered for duty in the 22nd Iowa. He left a non-combatants' job as regimental clerk to take up a rifle and fight. Promoted through the ranks to regimental adjutant, with the rank of Captain, he also served as a brigade Adjutant-General at the end of the War.
After leaving the service, he built a successful career in Chicago and Iowa City as a newspaper publisher, entrepeneur, and businessman. He was one of the State of Iowa's two delegates to the first national meeting of the Grand Army of the Republic, the leading Union veteran's organization.
He labored over Vanishing Footprints off-and-on for more than 20 years, until shortly before his death in Iowa City. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery, within a few feet of many of his wartime comrades.
About the Editor
Jeffry C. Burden is a California native now living and working in Richmond, Virginia. Besides Vanishing Footprints, his writings have appeared in such periodicals as America's Civil War, Civil War Regiments, the Washington Times, and Style Weekly.
Burden is a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Lincoln Bicentennial committee, and also of the advisory committee for the Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. He serves as Vice-Commander-in-Chief of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), the oldest Civil War hereditary organization. He is a frequent speaker to professional and historical groups.
Order securely on-line from Camp Pope Publishing: http://www.camppope.com/pryce.html
