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History Happenings: Iowa ‘Graybeards’ volunteered during Civil War
Men over age 45 handled guard and garrison duties
Active and vigorous men over the age of 45 are particularly well-qualified for guard duty due to their age, fixedness of character and steadiness of deportment.
That’s how Iowa Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood, in 1862, sold the idea of a special unit of older soldiers in his letter to President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The “active and vigorous” bit made it into the official general order that authorized creation of the unit during the Civil War.
Civil War duties
The 37th Iowa Infantry Regiment, also known as the Iowa Graybeards, was drummed up as a way to prove that men past the Army’s 45-year-old age limit could still help the war effort.
Assigning them guard and garrison duty would free up actual soldiers for actual soldiering. It was understood the men were not to be used in battle, but this did not hold true.
Keep in mind that the average life expectancy for men in the United States in 1860 was 39. These rugged old-timers from Iowa were mostly farmers — hearty from working the land but adventurous enough to have sought out a homestead in Iowa in the first place.
The state Adjutant General’s 1863 report of the regiment’s inaugural mustering of 914 men is fascinating because it includes almost every soldier’s birthplace. More than 20 percent were born in other countries — mostly England, Germany and Ireland. The rest were born in other states — mostly Ohio, New York and Virginia.
Many had combat experience from the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War and territorial disputes with Native Americans.
Young and old
Despite the regiment’s over-the-age-limit concept, 76 of the initial 914 members were under the age of 45. This included seven teenagers. Among them were 15-year-old fifer William H.H. Miller of Dubuque and 17-year-old drummer Frank G. Busch of Muscatine.
Eight first-year enlistees were age 70 and up. That included 80-year-old Curtis King of Ottumwa, who was the oldest man to serve in the Civil War and is widely believed to be the oldest man ever to enlist the in the Army.
A partially blind, stalwart figure who stood 6-foot-2, King could not read or write but often quoted Bible verses. He received a disability discharge after five months of service and died a few months later.
Farmer leader
The Graybeards regiment was led by 50-year-old George W. Kincaid, a Muscatine farmer who, by many accounts, wasn’t very sympathetic to the needs of his uniformed silver foxes.
The soldiers struggled with cold camp conditions and long rides. Some posts were the tops of moving supply trains under its guard. In its first year of service, the Graybeards guarded military prisons in St. Louis, Mo., and Alton and Rock Island, Ill.
The Rock Island prison housed 10,000 prisoners in 84 barracks. Lack of proper winter clothing lead to the deaths of more than 100 soldiers. General complaining, criticism of Kincaid’s leadership and requests for disability discharges were common.
In 1864, the Graybeards encountered the enemy while guarding provision trains from Tennessee to Mississippi. Roving bands of Rebel soldiers were fought off but not before four men were wounded and three were killed.
Further POW guard assignments were completed in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, before the war ended in 1865.
Iowans in the war
By the end, 1,041 Iowa men had enlisted into the Iowa 37th Graybeard Regiment. Only half of them returned to Davenport to be officially mustered out of the army. The Army said 145 died of disease and 364 were discharged for “wounds, disease and other causes.”
During the Civil War, 13,000 Iowa soldiers died of wounds or disease. That’s out of 76,000 who served during the war — more than 10 percent of Iowa’s population of 750,000.
Among the Iowa Graybeards buried in Eastern Iowa cemeteries is John Michael Anson, who is buried in Morse Cemetery in Johnson County. At the time of his death in 1914 at age 91, he was thought to be the oldest surviving member of the Iowa 37th Regiment of Graybeards.
Joe Coffey, a freelance writer and content marketer in Cedar Rapids, writes this monthly column for The History Center. Comments: coffeygrande@gmail.com
John Michael Anson was believed to be the oldest surviving Iowa Graybeard when he died at age 91 in 1914. He is buried in Morse Cemetery in Johnson County. Anson was born in France and spoke several languages. He was 48 at the close of the Civil War. (Joe Coffey/The History Center)
Chauncey “Chancy” Wood moved from New York to Waterloo. He enlisted in the Iowa Graybeards at age 53 and served for seven months. He died in 1889 at the age of 79. He is buried at Linwood Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. (Joe Coffey/The History Center)
Born in Kentucky in 1794, Cedar Rapids resident John T. Brown was 68 when he enlisted as an Iowa Graybeard. He received a disability discharge after seven months of service. He is buried in Campbell Cemetery in Bertram. The date of his death is unknown. (Joe Coffey/The History Center)
Curtis King, known as the oldest man to enlist in the Army after joining the Iowa Graybeards at age 80, is buried in Williams Cemetery in Chillicothe, near Ottumwa, where he was a farmer. His section of the cemetery was nearly grown over until a distant relative hunted it down in the 1970s and brought attention to his service. Today, his gravesite is sectioned off with gated fencing and memorial plaques. (Ottumwa Courier archives)
Iowa Graybeard Cpl. William Collicott is buried at Big Grove Cemetery in Benton County. Originally from North Carolina, Collicott enlisted at the age of 53 and served two years before receiving a disability discharge. He died in 1880. (Joe Coffey/The History Center)
Calvin Burt was 62 when he mustered into the Iowa 37th Regiment in 1862. He received a disability discharge after a year of service and was among the longest surviving Iowa Graybeards, dying at the age of 88 in1888. His damaged tombstone is in Spring Grove Cemetery in Palo. (Joe Coffey/The History Center)
Iowa Graybeard William Burnett, who was born in England, is buried in Marion’s Oak Shade Cemetery, which sustained heavy damage in the 2020 derecho. His damaged grave marker is in the Pioneer section of the cemetery. (Joe Coffey/The History Center)
The tombstone of Iowa Graybeard Richard Aucutt in Campbell Cemetery in Bertram is almost beyond recognition. He was originally from Ohio. The date of his death is unknown. (Joe Coffey/The History Center)
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