| Identifying the Confederate Dead Buried in the Mass Grave at Iuka, Mississippi  Last Updated: 15 July 2011At Shady Grove Cemetery in Iuka, Miss., there is an impossibly long, narrow, and largely unmarked grave. Of the mere handful of markers placed there, one announces matter-of-factly that 263 unknown Confederate soldiers lie buried together in this mass grave, referring to them as: the fallen from the "Battle of Iuka" (19-20 Sept. 1862). Since Union forces under Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans held the field following the battle, the man responsible for burying the dead was Capt. William Wiles, then-Federal Provost Marshal. In his report, Capt. Wiles stated he'd collectively buried the remains of "265 Southerners" [Cozzens, pg 133] ... two more than the marker's total. By all accounts, the majority of the fighting and dying on the Confederate side of the battle fell to a relatively small number of regiments within the Confederate Second (Hèbert's) Brigade and Fourth (Martin's) Brigade. An exhaustive search was made of the Compiled Military Service Records of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for every Confederate unit documented as having taken the field at Iuka. This search identified those men who died as a direct result of the battle, and would therefore almost certainly be buried in the Iuka mass grave. Other sources were helpful in identifying potential candidates for this list, but only NARA records were used as a source of confirmation of death. Confederate Forces Fielded at Iuka Confederate after-action reports place the number of soldiers killed in action (KIA) during the battle at 85, with another 157 missing (MIA) and 410 wounded (WIA) at Iuka. Many of the wounded men were left behind in the Confederate withdrawl. Federal reports state that the bodies of 99 Confederate soldiers were collected "on the field" following the battle. Implicitly, these bodies would undoubtedly be those of Confederate KIA, and others who died of wounds (DOW) shortly after the fighting ended – many of whom were likely among the "wounded" or "missing" on Confederate reports. Even by making typical allowances for victors exaggerating the number of enemy combatants killed, or for the losing side to knowingly underestimate its losses, in either case – considering the Union count, or the lesser Confederate tally – these totals are nowhere near the count of 250-plus bodies Capt. Wiles reportedly buried in the mass grave. To explain this discrepancy, one need only look to another Union report originating at Iuka, one in which Federal troopers reported the discovery of a gruesome cache of 162 additional Confederate bodies found behind the Iuka Methodist Church, and described as having been "previously prepared for burial." Others have tried to account for these 162 men, in fact, in a published newspaper article of 1867, Dr. William M. Willson calculated this same number when compiling his list of "Confederate Dead," stating that of the total, the vast majority (138) of these men were "known by the citizens here [Iuka] to have been Missourians ...".  The district-wide CSA military hospital system had a long-established presence at Iuka by the time of the battle. Before the fighting kicked off that September afternoon, it appears that 162 deceased men (most likely previously hospitalized) were just about to be buried by Confederate authorities when the Union Army showed up and delayed the burial party from finishing its duty. These bodies had been collected behind the Methodist Church, which itself was likely used as a place of caring for sick, injured and dying men. These men, although still Confederate soldiers, are clearly not battlefield casualties from the conflict, but now it seems that their remains were intermingled with those killed and wounded from the battle itself. It is therefore understandable that their number was later added to the total of battle casualties, even though they had died before a shot was fired at Iuka. Although it is admittedly impossible to ever know with certainty the identity of any one of the Confederates buried in the mass grave at Shady Grove, the names below are of men who are almost certainly buried there, as their deaths – resulting from their direct participation in the battle – have been verified by official documents.  Since the Confederate retreat left Union authorities in a better position to actually count the dead, the most logical conclusion to be drawn from this research is to accept the initial Federal count of 99 bodies of Confederate dead found "on the field." Then, add to that number, those "previously prepared" 162 bodies discovered behind the Methodist Church, for a total of 261 bodies in need of burial at Iuka following the battle.To reach 265 Southerners – the full number Capt. Wiles reported that his detail actually interred in the mass grave – another 4 men must have died after the first count was completed, but before the Union burial detail finished its gristly task, leaving a "battle-related" death total of 103. This number is much closer to both the Confederate and Union battle tallies – and, intriguingly enough, is precisely the number of names that has surfaced thus far through this research effort. By their own records, it is well-documented that a great many Confederate sick and wounded were simply left behind at Iuka in Federal hands. The names of those men who died of their wounds (DOW) at Iuka within just a few days of the battle have also been confirmed through official records. There are a great many reports and personal accounts that go into detail about the unseasonable heat of that September and October of 1862 in the Iuka/Corinth area. This oppressive heat (exceeding 90°F ) would have provided an additional level of motivation to bury so many rapidly decomposing bodies as quickly as possible. One first-hand account, written approximately 10 days after the battle, describes the putrid conditions lingering on the field at Iuka. Of note, this source mentions the presence of "graves" – not still-unburied bodies [Cozzens, pg 133]. This suggests a timeline for a corpse to be counted among the candidates for burial in the mass grave: Clearly, that an individual soldier's death must have occurred before the end of September 1862 (to fall within the 10-day window), and their death had to have occurred at Iuka (not even at relatively nearby Corinth where these same Confederate units soon found themselves). The best known of the Confederate dead at Iuka, Brigadier General Lewis Henry Little, is not among those interred at Iuka. Although he was killed there on Sept 19, and buried in a single grave in the yard of a prominent family, his body was later disinterred and taken back to Baltimore, Maryland, where he was reburied in his family plot. Whether his death is accounted for in the tallies is unknown, but it is clear that his body was not left "on the field" to be counted by the Federal authorities. With the addition of Gen. Little's name to it, the following list provides the most comprehensive grouping of names yet compiled of those confirmed Confederate KIA at the Battle of Iuka – truly "the fallen" from the battle itself – of which the editor is aware. By removing the General's name, and by adding the names of those confirmed dead from wounds suffered in this battle, who died within the 10-day burial window, one may logically conclude that this list represents a group of 103 rank-and-file Confederate soldiers who are extremely likely – if not highly probable – to be among those interred in the mass grave of Shady Grove, alongside those 162 previously hospitalized men at Iuka whose identities, unfortunately, remain unknown:
It is the expressed desire of the editor, that this document may lead to a permanent memorial at Shady Grove Cemetery to list the names of those men who died in the battle and are almost certainly buried there. Although a complete list can never be compiled, perhaps this effort to identify as many as possible may suffice in its place, and a fitting reminder can be crafted to mark the impossibly long line of men who fell at Iuka in September, so long ago, yet remain together to this day.
Main Research Sources: Barnes, Irene, “Hunting Somebody’s Grandpa ... a potpourri of raw history,” self-published, 2003 Cozzens, Peter, “The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth,” The University of North Carolina Press, 1997 Dewoody, Samuel N., “Names of the Confederate Dead at Iuka, Mississippi” dated 27 April 1866 as it appeared in The Daily Memphis Avalanche (Memphis, TN) newspaper of 26 Oct. 1868 Kitchens, Ben Earl, "Rosecrans Meets Price, The Battle of Iuka, Mississippi," Thorwood Publishers, 1987 Miller, Rex, "Dowdell's Volunteers," History of the 37th Regiment of Alabama Volunteers CSA, Patrex Press, 1992 National Archives and Records Administration, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama, NARA M311 National Archives and Records Administration, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas, NARA M317 National Archives and Records Administration, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana, NARA M320 National Archives and Records Administration, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Mississippi, NARA M269 National Archives and Records Administration, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Missouri, NARA M322 National Archives and Records Administration, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas, NARA M323 Nolan, William, “3rd Texas Cavalry, Killed & Wounded at Iuka, MS,” unpublished manuscript, 2009 Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol 17, Pt 1, 1880 Rowland, Dunbar, "Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898," 1999 Reprint Rowland, Dunbar, "Encyclopedia of Mississippi History," Vol 1, 1907 Microfilm Singletary, Samuel A., (former Sgt. of 37th Alabama Infantry), his eyewitness account of the Battle of Iuka, as it appeared in The Weekly Enterprise, Vol 4., newspaper (Enterprise, Ala., T.J. Carlisle, editor), dated Thurs., 8 May 1902 Tunnard, W.H., and William L. Shea, "A Southern Record, The History of The Third Regiment Louisiana Infantry," 1866; 1997 ed. Yoseloff, Thomas, ed.; Robert Underwood Johnson, "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," 1956
Special Thanks: The following individuals shared valuable information, leads, guidance and expert counsel to this project on the various HistorySites.com state-specific Civil War public message boards, and by way of private correspondence with the editor. The importance of their individual and collective expertise, insight and contributions to compiling this data simply can not be overstated.
Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board:
Follow this link to visit the official Tishomingo County (Miss.) Historical & Genealogical Society website devoted to the Battle of Iuka.
Last update 23 May 2011 © 2010-2011. All rights reserved. C.C. (Chip) Culpepper II
37th Alabama Regiment of Volunteer Infantry CSA © Copyright 2007 C.C. (Chip) Culpepper
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