Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Tamara Jorstad.
Jacob Gartner Lauman,
Brave Victim of Circumstance
With all that character, ability and courage could do for an officer in the war,
circumstances could do even more, as we shall see in the case of Jacob Gartner
Lauman.
Born in Tarrytown, Md., January 20, 1813,he came to Iowa in 1844, and engaged in business
in Burlington. When the war-drum sounded, he was one of the first to offer his services.
After spending some time recruiting, on the 7th of July, 1861, he accepted the
colonelcy of the Seventh Iowa Infantry. After several months’ service in Missouri, he
fought his first real batter at Belmont, in which, as Grant said in his report, his
regiment "behaved with great gallantry, and suffered more severely than any other of
the troops." The colonel himself was disabled by a wound in the thigh. At
Donelson,
Lauman commanded a brigade, chiefly of Iowans, which achieved so much of glory that its
commander was promptly promoted. His brigade fought with Grant at Shiloh. It won glory at
Hatchie, despite the blundering command of General Ord. When Hurlbut was made a
major-general, Lauman took command of his division. In the campaign against Jackson,
Miss., Lauman misunderstood, or misconstrued, an order from Ord, and the error resulted in
severe loss. As a consequence he was forthwith relieved of his command. There are those
who think that Lauman’s plain-spokenness after Ord’s blunder at Hatchie was the
real cause of Ord’s summary proceedings before Jackson.
Lauman addressed a letter to his fellow-soldiers, full of sorrow at parting and closing
with an injunction to loyalty to their new commander. Grant sent Lauman east to a command
which he found had already been filled. He was then ordered to Burlington, Iowa, there to
await orders – which never came. Broken in health and chagrined beyond measure,
General Lauman’s brilliant military career closed in gloom. The general tried in vain
to secure an investigation of his course before Jackson. Whether he was incompetent and
criminally negligent, or the innocent victim of a misunderstanding will remain one of the
unsettled questions of the war. General Sherman in his Memoirs refers to Lauman as
"much respected, as before that time he had been universally esteemed a most gallant
and excellent officer."
A paper read by Col. G. W. Crosley before the Loyal Legion of Iowa in 1893 must ever
remain a noble tribute of one brave soldier to another, and an eloquent vindication of
General Lauman. After describing Lauman’s ill-fated charge at Jackson, the colonel
spoke in affectionate terms of his general, concluding with: "His friends will always
believe that he obeyed General Ord’s orders, and was unjustly relieved of his
command."
General Lauman died in Burlington in 1867 from the effects of the wound received at
Belmont. Stuart describes Lauman as light in weight and of middle stature, of a nervous
temperament and intrepid. He was a successful merchant and one of the wealthy and
public-spirited citizens of Burlington, held in high esteem and noted for his
kindheartedness and liberality.
Joseph
Bloomfield Leake
Soldier and United States District Attorney
Born in Deerfield, New Jersey, April 1, 1828, his early education was
obtained in Cincinnati, graduating from Miami University in 1846, admitted
to the bar in 1850, Joseph Bloomfield Leake came to Davenport, Iowa, in
1856. In 1861 he filled a vacancy in the Iowa House, and in 1862 was
elected senator. He was lieutenant and later captain, and still later
lieutenant-colonel, of the Twentieth Iowa. He participated in the battle
of Prairie Grove, commanding his regiment. He was wounded and made
prisoner at Morganza. He participated in the siege of Vicksburg, and in
the Mobile campaign. At Bayou Fordoche he was taken prisoner and remained
in confinement until July, 1864. In 1865 he was brevetted
brigadier-general.
Returning to Iowa, General Leake became a member of the senate, and was
chairman of the judiciary committee. Subsequently he was honored in
various ways by his townsmen. Early in the seventies he became a resident
of Chicago, where in 1879 he was appointed United States district
attorney, serving until 1884. From 1887 to 1891 he was attorney for the
Chicago Board of Education. General Leake died on the 2d of January, 1913,
aged eighty-five years.
William Warren Lowe
As Indianan by birth, but appointed a cadet from Iowa, in 1849, William W.
Lowe, a captain in the regular army and a resident of St. Louis, was in August,
1861, at the age of thirty-one, commissioned colonel of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry,
better known as "the Curtis Horse," a name given in honor of Iowa's
major-general. While the regiment was credited to Iowa, and made up mainly of
Iowans, it included companies from several other states. After effective service
in command of his regiment Colonel Lowe was given command of a brigade, and in
May, 1864, he was placed in command of the Third Cavalry Division. On March 13,
1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general. He resigned from the army June 23,
1869, and engaged in private enterprises. He died in Omaha, Neb., May 18, 1898,
in his sixty-ninth year.
