This is the forgotten story of the Second Iowa Infantry and one of the most stirring chapters in the annals of Iowa and the Civil War. The regiment was the first enlisted in the state for three years' service, and the 989 men mustered into its ranks were the first Iowa troops to take the field in June, 1861. Fully 2,000 Iowans fought and died in the service of this gallant regiment before the end of the war. Nearly half of them succumbed to exposure and disease or fell in a score of bitter battles. Few regiments of the Civil War volunteers had a more notable battle record. The men of the...