Elliott Warren Rice, A General at Twenty-Nine

Elliott Warren Rice, younger brother of Gen. Samuel A. Rice, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1835. He was a graduate of Franklin College, Ohio, and of the law school at Albany, N. Y. In 1855, at the early age of twenty, he became associated with his brother in the practice of law in Oskaloosa. He practiced his profession until early in 1861 when, the seriousness of the call for troops impressing him, he enlisted as a private in the Seventh Iowa Infantry. On the 30^th of August, following, he was promoted from sergeant to the rank of major.

On the 7^th of November, at Belmont, Major Rice was wounded in the right thigh. His bravery in battle and the respect in which his superiors held him led to his promotion to the colonelcy of his regiment on the 22^nd of March, 1862. From Belmont to Donelson, to Shiloh, to Iuka, to Corinth, the colonel of the Seventh led his men from one glory to another, rounding out his soldierly career by leading a brigade on the March to the Sea.

On the second day at Donelson, Colonel Parrott found himself prostrated with fatigue and from exposure and was compelled to turn his regiment over to Major E. W. Rice. In his report he said: "I knew it was placed in good hands and from him I was proud to learn that it did its duty unflinchingly."

On the 20^th of June, 1865, Rice became a full brigadier-general. He died in Sioux City, June 22, 1887, aged fifty-two.

Stuart pictures the younger General Rice as a gallant and handsome officer, of middle size and well formed, "reputed to be more brilliant than his brother, but less able."

Samuel Allen Rice, Martyr to the Union Cause

The famous Rice brothers, both Iowans, are part of the history of their adopted state, and deserve a degree of prominence in that history which has thus far been withheld from them – not purposely, but because sufficient time has not as yet elapsed to bring into due prominence their services and sacrifices.

The elder, Samuel Allen Rice, was born in southwestern New York in the year 1828. He was a graduate of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. After a year’s study of the law he located in Fairfield, and later in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Here he became a law partner of Enoch W. Eastman. In the first republican convention held in Iowa in 1856, he was nominated for the office of attorney-general. After serving four years in that capacity, Governor Kirkwood, recognizing his fitness for command, appointed him colonel of the Thirty-third Iowa Infantry, his commission dating from August 10, 1862. He soon mastered the rudiments of military science and the art of commanding a regiment in action.

In the battle of Helena, on the 4^th of July, 1863, Colonel Rice commanded a brigade so well that he was credited with saving the day. His gallantry and skill were recognized on the 4^th of August following, with promotion to brigadier-general.

General Rice was with Steele on his Arkansas expedition and in the hard-fought battle of Jenkins Ferry, April 30, 1864, he was mortally wounded. Soon as he could be moved he was conveyed to his Oskaloosa home, where, on the 6^th of July following, he died of his wounds, at the age of thirty-six.

In an appreciative sketch in the Annals of Iowa for April, 1895, Maj. John F. Lacey, a friend, follow-townsman and comrade, paid this martyr to the cause of the Union a soldier’s tribute, bringing out the fact that, with a wife and little children, he did not enlist until he became fully satisfied that it was the duty of every able-bodied man to come to the defense of the Union. Major Lacey commented on the general’s remarkable aptitude for military service and his bravery and excellent judgment in action. He was considerate of others, loyal to his friends and fearless in the performance of duty. The major remarked that no citizen of Oskaloosa was ever more loved and respected, and when he died the state mourned her loss. Speaking of the battle in which General Rice received his fatal wound, Major Lacey refers to him as "the chief spirit of the scene," adding:

"He dominated the battle; around him it raged; he was the central figure; his inspiring example and unflinching bravery set the example that the whole army was in a mood to follow. Rice seemed to love the heat of the battle. Danger stimulated him. He never lost his head. Mounted on his roan horse that day, he moved along the lines carrying confidence wherever he appeared. His coolness and personal presence cheered his men at all points of the line.

" . . . As he was about to give the order to advance, Walker, with his Texas division, came thundering down upon him, like a hurricane, and the battle was renewed with the greatest fury along the whole line. In the early part of this last attack a minie-ball struck General Rice in the right foot, shattering it and driving his spur buckle into the body of the foot. The writer assisted the wounded general from the field."

Major Lacey states that "General Rice was made a major-general by brevet after his death, in recognition of his services in the Camden campaign." The Roster contains no reference to the posthumous honor paid the hero and martyr.

Following his death the Supreme Court of Iowa paid tribute to the worth of General Rice. Judge Nourse, his successor as attorney-general, Thomas F. Withrow and Chief Justice Wright, of the Supreme Bench, spoke feelingly of the brave, true man who had striven for life as he had striven for victory in battle. Resolutions were recorded bearing testimony to one who had ably and faithfully served his state in both war and peace.

Stuart describes the general as kind-hearted, unassuming, reassuring, with a smile on his face denoting his kindness of heart, adding: "General Rice was not a man of brilliant parts. He had a large brain and a sound judgment; and hard study did the rest. He was an able reasoner. His cast of the mind was more practical than theoretical."