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.

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 Regiment), was the first to  join me in my efforts to make this a complete and informative website for the 27th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry.

All of the rosters are complete.  Information has been added with regard to reasons that a soldier was rejected, the nature of any injuries, or cause of death.  The rosters are used as an index with the soldiers names linked to any mention of them in the website. 

If the soldier is buried in a National Cemetery and is listed in the Roll of Honor, he is linked to the proper Volume.  On the Cemetery Records page, additional information has been compiled from various sources regarding dates of death and burial. 

Since this website was started, 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.  Be sure to check out the Letters sections which contains diaries, letters and pension information.  Most of the information in the Letters and Photos sections have been contributed by descendants and other people interested in the 27th Iowa.

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