Professor of History Office: Luther Hall 312 Office Phone: (319) 352-8344 E-mail: terrence.lindell@wartburg.edu

In recent years I have been conducting research on Iowa troops who served in Dakota Territory during the Civil War and the experiences of a sailor who served aboard the USS Minnesota from 1861 to 1864.

I began work on the first project when I discovered in the Cedar Falls Gazette a series of letters written by Dr. Samuel N. Pierce, assistant surgeon of the Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, who accompanied three companies of the Fourteenth to Dakota Territory in the fall of 1861. Their assignment was to garrison Fort Randall while the regular Army troops previously stationed there went south to fight the rebellion. Pierce's letters provide insights into conditions in early Dakota Territory and the problems of troops on the frontier. An article based on this research will appear in South Dakota History in late 2007.

I am continuing this project with additional research on what Iowa troops stationed in Dakota Territory during the Civil War thought of the land and its inhabitants. Following the outbreak of the Dakota War in Minnesota in 1862 fourteen companies of Iowa troops would serve in the territory and engage in operations against Native American tribes deemed hostile by the U. S. government. These operations include the Battle of Whitestone Hill in 1863 and the Battle of Killdeer Mountain in 1864.

While doing research related to Dr. Pierce in the Cedar Falls Gazette I came across a series of letters written by a sailor during the Civil War. In a series of at least 27 letters, an anonymous sailor, who signed his letters with the initial "H," described life aboard the steam frigate Minnesota, which served as the flagship for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

The Minnesota is best known for its role in the Battle of Hampton Roads. The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the hulk of the USS Merrimack) engaged Union vessels in Hampton Roads on 8 March1862, sinking the USS Cumberland and USS Congress. The Minnesota and two other Union ships ran aground during this action, but a falling tide and decreasing daylight forced the Virginia to retire for the day without destroying them. During the night the USS Monitor arrived to defend the Minnesota, which had been unable to get afloat. "H" had a ringside seat for the famed duel between the Monitor and the Virginia. Unfortunately, his first letter describing that battle has not survived. His letters do, however, provide the perspective of an enlisted man aboard a Union ship during the war.