This document is not an attempt to catalog all of the casualties of the battle, but more purposefully, to identify as many as possible of those men who would almost certainly be buried in this particular mass grave. Admittedly, there is no way to be absolutely positive that any individual named on this list is buried in the mass grave; however, it is proposed that this list comprises the most logical candidates: those Confederate soldiers verified to have died in the battle, or from their wounds, during the period Capt. Wiles was actively engaged burying men in the grave.

         Confederate after-action reports place the number of Southern soldiers killed in action (KIA) at 85, with another 157 missing in action (MIA) and 410 more wounded in action (WIA) [Yoseloff, pg 736]. The Union commander, Gen. Rosecrans' own report states that 99 Confederate dead were found "on the field" [Cozzens, pg 133]. Implicitly, these would be the bodies of those Confederate KIA or dead of wounds (DOW) shortly after the battle, possibly considered as only wounded or missing in the Confederate numbers.

         Union sources also report that another 162 bodies, previously made ready for burial by the Confederates, were found behind the Methodist Church [Cozzens, pg 133]. When added to the 99, this makes for a total of 261. Although they too may be battlefield casualties, these dead are likely better explained by the district-wide Confederate hospital and convalescent posts operating at Iuka long before the battle – losing patients every day to disease or injury.

         By all accounts, the majority of the fighting and dying on the Southern side of the battle fell to a relatively small number of Confederate regiments within the Second Brigade (Hébert's) and the Fourth Brigade (Martin's) [O.R. Series I, Vol 17, Pt 1, pp 124-127].

            Hébert’s command endured the first Confederate casualties beginning just after 3 p.m. on Sept. 19, 1862, along the Bay Springs Road. The regiments of this brigade suffered tremendously (officially 63 KIA), particularly the dismounted 3rd Texas Cavalry (22 KIA), 1st Texas Legion (a.k.a., 27th Texas Cavalry, Dismounted: 18 KIA), 40th Mississippi Infantry (10 KIA), 3rd Louisiana Infantry (9 KIA), 14th Arkansas Infantry (2 KIA) and the 17th Arkansas Infantry (2 KIA). Two artillery batteries were fielded in support of Hébert, but neither the St. Louis (Missouri) Battery nor Clark’s (Missouri) Battery reported any of their members killed, and between the two, only Clark’s artillery unit appears to have been active in the fight.

         Martin’s Brigade was also sent into the fray and was heavily engaged (officially 22 KIA). Martin’s command was split in half with two infantry regiments (37th Mississippi and 38th Mississippi) sent to support Hébert’s right and another two (36th Mississippi and 37th Alabama) sent to the left. In the official records, no regimental-level numbers of KIA were recorded. Martin’s Brigade later re-formed and remained on the line, creating the left flank once the badly battered Second Brigade was relieved after dark by the First Brigade (Gates’).

         Gates reported no KIA among his ranks. This brigade included the 16th Arkansas Infantry, 2nd Missouri Infantry, 3rd Missouri Infantry, 5th Missouri Infantry, 1st Missouri Cavalry and Wade’s (Missouri) Battery. The Third Brigade (Green’s) also made no official report of any KIA, and was actually held in reserve on both days of the engagement.

         Armstrong’s Confederate Cavalry also reported no KIA, but was engaged against Federal troopers  on Sept. 17, 1862, at nearby Burnsville in advance of the full-scale battle (a man wounded in this encounter two days before the battle, who was able to make it back to the hospital at Iuka before dying, could easily be among the 162 "Methodist Church" bodies and made-ready for burial). Armstrong’s command included Adam’s Mississippi Cavalry, Slemons’ 2nd (4th) Arkansas Cavalry and Rogers’ 2nd Texas Sharpshooters all of which participated in the Burnsville ambush. The 2nd Missouri Cavalry and 1st Mississippi Partisan Rangers rounded out Armstrong’s Cavalry command at Iuka.

         An exhaustive search of the Compiled Military Service Records held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for all of these Confederate units on the field at Iuka yielded a large number of men who most certainly are buried in the Iuka mass grave. While other sources were helpful in identifying men as candidates for the following list, only NARA records were considered official confirmation.

         The most logical conclusion to be made for Wiles’ total (265) seems to be to consider his number as a sum of the initial Federal count of the 99 dead Confederate soldiers found "on the field," plus the 162 still unidentified (Methodist Church) bodies, plus an additional four men who likely died after Rosecrans’ first count but before Wiles’ burial detail was completed.

         Following this logic, the identity of those confirmed dead at Iuka from direct action, along with those documented to have been present there and who succumbed to their wounds within five days of the battle, make up the following 103 men who are almost certainly among those interred en masse at Shady Grove Cemetery.

          The best-known of the Confederates killed in the battle, Brig. Gen. Lewis Henry Little, is not among those interred at Iuka. He was buried the evening of Sept 19 in a single grave in the yard of the private home of Mr. James M. Coman at Iuka. [Barnes, pg 83]. Gen. Little's body was later removed by his family, taken to Baltimore, Md., and reburied (whether his death was accounted for in either Gen. Rosecrans or Capt. Wiles totals is simply not known, but since his body was neither found on the field nor behind the Methodist Church, but was in fact already buried, it is assumed that his death was not part of either man's official count).

         One man of the 3rd Texas Cavalry, the victim of an accident, died at Iuka on September 16, just days before the battle. Therefore, his could be one of the 162 (Methodist Church) bodies the Confederates had previously collected for burial.

         One first-hand account from Iuka, written about 10 days after the battle, describes the putrid conditions on the ground there. Of note, this source discusses the presence of “graves” rather than a description of still-unburied bodies [Cozzens, pg 133]. This is significant in regard to establishing a timeline for identifying any additional candidates as having the potential of being buried in the mass grave.

 
        Although the battle was fought in September, unseasonably warm conditions persisted in the area and likely contributed another motivation to bury the rapidly decomposing bodies as quickly as possible (air temperatures exceeding 90°F during the later battle at nearby Corinth on Oct. 3 are well documented).

         The following four Confederate soldiers are documented as having died at Iuka from 26-30 September 1862. Although somewhat less likely to be among those interred in the mass grave at Shady Grove Cemetery, some of these men may well be buried alongside their fallen comrades there.

         Other less-well-documented men, for whom service records were found in NARA files, may also be among those buried in the mass grave. The following names were listed by various sources as being missing (MIA), wounded (WIA) and “left behind,” or taken prisoner of war (PW). In each case, it appears these men never returned from Iuka where their units had been engaged; however, no confirmation of any of their deaths at Iuka could be found.

         One other name is reportedly KIA [Tunnard, pg 354]. However, no verified service for this name was found. Others of the same surname in the same regiment have confirmed service, but no record for any of those men supports consideration of them as potentially being buried in the mass grave.

        
         A great many sick or wounded men remained behind as prisoners (PW) at Iuka. The following men are documented as prisoners having died at Iuka in early Oct. 1862, but due to the later dates of their deaths (DOW/died of wounds, or DOD/died of disease), are considered less likely to be among those in the mass grave as the grave appears to have been completed by the end of September.