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Mustered in to service of the United States:
at Dubuque, Iowa, October 3 1862
by Captain George S. Pierce, United States Army.

Mustered out of service Aug. 8, 1865, at Clinton, Iowa.

General Gilbert's Farewell
to the soldiers of the 27th Iowa Volunteer Infantry

GENERAL ORDERS No. 11.
HDQRS. SECOND BRIG., SECOND DIV.,
SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Montgomery, Ala., June 23, 1865.

Officers and soldiers of the Second Brigade, the day of our separation has at length arrived. In anticipation of orders to proceed to my home in Iowa by Special Orders, No. 92, current series, Sixteenth Army Corps headquarters, I am relieved from duty with you and ordered to report to General Canby. After an association with many of you for nearly three long years, in camp and field, under those peculiarly trying circumstances which so generally bind heart to heart in friendship and in sympathy, a separation comes not without sadness. My brave officers and men, I shall never cease to remember how patiently you have endured all the hardships, privations, and exposures of the soldier on active duty, how heroically you have fought the enemy of our country upon many stubbornly contested fields, how uniformly you have fought to conquer. Such battle-fields as Prairie Grove, Little Rock, Fort De Russy, Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou, Tupelo, Oldtown Creek, Nashville, and Blakely, fought and bravely fought, won and nobly won, will ever be monuments in history which shall tell to your children's children of your undaunted courage, your prowess in arms, your devotion to your country's cause. You have helped to bear the old flag on, on, until its proud folds once more kiss every breeze from the Lakes to the Gulf. Now, at last, no enemy is in arms, and the bright beams of peace have broken through the dark clouds of war. You will follow me, soon, to your happy friends and homes, to pursue again your former civil avocations. Be as good citizens as you have been soldiers. You will defend your country no longer by the bullet, but by the ballot. Stand by her cause always. But, alas! I cannot even bid good-bye to all of my brigade, for not a few of our comrades have paid the highest tribute of the patriot to his country. Let us fail not to cherish their memories as brothers, extend to their friends a soldier's sympathy, and drop for them a soldier's tear. Officers and soldiers, may Heaven's blessings rest upon you all. Farewell.

JAMES I. GILBERT,
Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers.

My great-grandfather, Michael Adrian, served with the 27th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Company D. This was started as a project for myself and gradually grew into something that I wanted to share with other descendants of the 27th Iowa.

The above farewell is found in the Official Records and seemed like an appropriate introduction to this website. I especially like the line about "your children's children". That is who this website is for.

Steve Kiner, who's great-great grandfather, Frederick F. Kiner,  was the Chaplain for (first the 14th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry and then later, the 27th Iowa), was the first to join me in my efforts to make this a complete and informative website for the 27th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.

Since then, I have had so many contributions to the website. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it when I am contacted by a descendant that wants to share their ancestor's experiences with the 27th Iowa.

I would be delighted to hear from you if you are a descendant of a soldier in the 27th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, or if you have information relating to the 27th. I am especially interested in trying to locate letters, diaries, Civil War documents, or pictures pertaining to the 27th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.

If you have any questions or suggestions, (or if you find any broken links) please email

Elaine Johnson at:
[email protected]