The 2nd Iowa Cavalry was recruited in the following counties and organized at Davenport, Iowa they mustered in at Camp Joe Holt for three years of Federal service between August 30 and September 28, 1861.
Company A - Muscatine County
Company B - Marshall County
Company C - Scott County
Company D - Polk County
Company E - Scott County
Company F - Hamilton County and Franklin County with Scott County
Company G - Muscatine County with Scott County
Company H - Johnson County with some Scott County
Company I - Cerro Gordo, Delaware and other counties with Scott County
The men numbered 1,050 and Captain Washington L. Elliott was appointed colonel. On the 7th of December the Second Cavalry left Davenport for Benton Barracks near Saint Louis. While here the men were crowded into closed quarters where a great amount of sickness prevailed resulting in sixty deaths.
Among other engagements, the Regiment took part in Grierson's Raid through Mississippi in April 1863, being detached from the main column (6th and 7th Illinois Cavalry) after a few days to decoy the Confederate pursuit. They engaged the 2nd/22nd Tennessee Cavalry (Barteau's)atPalo Alto, Mississippi on April 21 and 22, 1863 and reported six missing after the skirmish.[3]
The regiment was mustered out of Federal service on September 19, 1865, in Selma, Alabama.
A total of 2053 men served in the 2nd Iowa at one time or another during its existence.[4]
It suffered a total of 269 (275?) fatalities: 1 officer and 59 enlisted men who were killed in action or who died of their wounds; 8 officers and 207 enlisted men who died of disease.[5]
