Iowa 14th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

Fort Henry

Beginning in the autumn of 1861, a variety of voices in the Union command structure began speculating on the possibility of seizing Forts Henry and Donelson to open a water route into the Confederate heartland. On January 30, 1862, Brig. Gen. Ulysses Grant received the long-anticipated word that he and Flag Officer Andrew Foote would lead a joint expedition against the twin forts. The two divisions of infantry under Grant numbered some 15,000 men and were accompanied by Foote's flotilla of ironclad and tim…READ MORE

Fort Donelson

Early in the war, Union commanders realized control of the major rivers would be the key to success in the Western Theater.READ MORE

ColonelJames M. Tuttle

Lieutenant ColonelJames Baker

Brigadier GeneralW.H.L. Wallace

ColonelJames M. Tuttle

Brigadier GeneralW.H.L. Wallace

Shiloh

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.READ MORE

Brigadier GeneralPleasant A. Hackleman

ColonelThomas W. Sweeny

Brigadier GeneralThomas A. Davies

Brigadier GeneralPleasant A. Hackleman

Battle of Corinth

Not to be confused with Siege of Corinth. Also known as Second Battle of Corinth.READ MORE

Tupelo

Union Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith, commanding the Sixteenth Corps with more than 14,000 men, left LaGrange, Tennessee on July 5, 1864, and advanced south. Smith's mission was to insure that Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest and his cavalry did not raid Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's railroad supply line in middle Tennessee supporting the campaign against Atlanta. Laying waste to the countryside as he advanced, Smith reached Pontotoc, Mississippi, on July 11th. Forrest was in nearby Okolona with about 6,000 men, bu…READ MORE

Fort Davidson

Facing battlefield defeats in the late summer of 1864, the Confederacy desperately sought victories in hopes of persuading the war-weary Union population to vote against the reelection of Abraham Lincoln that November. That September, the 12,000-man Confederate Army of Missouri under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price moved north with the goal of capturing St. Louis. Eighty miles south of the city, Price encountered Fort Davidson near the town of Ironton, defended by 1,500 men under Union Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing. On…READ MORE

ColonelJames Isham Gilbert

ColonelDavid Moore

Westport

The Battle of Westport, fought October 21-23, was the largest battle west of the Mississippi River and the decisive battle of Confederate Gen. Stirling Price's 1864 Missouri campaign. Directions guide the visitor to the first of twenty-five narrative markers on a 32-mile, self-guided automobile tour and a self-guided walking tour of Byram's Ford and the Big Blue Battlefield. Each marker provides directions to the next stop on the tour. A written brochure is available from the Battle of Westport Visitor Cen…READ MORE