History of the 33rd Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment, 1863–6

Authored by Andrew Sperry, the History of the 33^rd Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment, 1863–6 is a detailed recounting of the activities of the Union army unit during the Civil War. Service for the regiment included time in Arkansas, as well as Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas. During the war, the unit fought at the Battle of Helena and the Engagement at Jenkins’ Ferry and participated in the Little Rock Campaign.

Born in Troy, New Hampshire, on June 21, 1839, Andrew Sperry was the son of Obed Sperry and Arvilla Wright Sperry. His father served various Baptist congregations as a minister, and the family lived in New Hampshire and New York before moving to Iowa around 1852. The Sperry family lived in Wapello and Pisgah before settling in Pella in 1855. Sperry attended Central College for a year in the preparatory department, followed by at least a year of study at the college. He worked as a teacher after leaving the college and enlisted in what would become Company G of the Thirty-third Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment on August 5, 1862. Trained as a musician, Sperry received an appointment as the fife-major of the regiment, a non-commissioned staff officer responsible for the fifers.

As the regiment moved to Missouri in late 1862, Sperry contracted smallpox and spent time in a hospital in Cairo, Illinois. Upon rejoining the regiment, Sperry served with his company rather than as the fife-major. This setback proved to be only temporary, as he was appointed the principal musician of the entire regiment on May 1, 1863, a position he continued until the discharge of the unit.

The book opens with Sperry and the regiment organizing in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Mustered into the army, the regiment moved down the Mississippi River in late 1862, reaching Helena (Phillips County) on January 13, 1863. Actions against Fort Pemberton and Greenwood, Mississippi, followed that spring. On July 4, 1863, the regiment helped defend the city of Helena against a Confederate attack, suffering the most casualties of any Federal unit, although it is unclear exactly how many men from the Thirty-third were killed or wounded in the battle.

The following chapters cover the campaign against Little Rock (Pulaski County), the capture of the city, and garrison life, followed by a detailed recounting of the Camden Expedition. Returning to Little Rock after the conclusion of the campaign, the regiment served the rest of the year in Arkansas with various duties in the capital city and an expedition to Fort Smith (Sebastian County). In early 1865, the regiment moved down the Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana, before participating in actions against Confederate fortifications near Mobile, Alabama. Ending their active service on occupation duty in Texas, the unit returned to Iowa and was discharged on August 9, 1865. The work concludes with appendices that detail the losses suffered by the regiment, official reports from battles, and promotions.

Sperry’s account includes details of regular soldier life in the Trans-Mississippi region. Writing about the food that the men ate, life in garrison camp in Little Rock, and multiple movements by foot or steamboat, Sperry accurately recounts the experiences of enlisted men during the war. Published immediately after the conclusion of the war, the work is strengthened by Sperry’s memory of the recent events.

A month after his discharge, Sperry married Hannah Bassett, and they had two sons. The Sperrys lived in various Iowa and Ohio communities before moving to Washington DC in the early 1880s, where Sperry worked for the U.S. Postal Service. He began receiving a veteran’s pension in 1904 and died on March 15, 1911. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, alongside Hannah Sperry, who died on May 4, 1923.

While not widely distributed in 1866 by Mills and Company, the original publishers, the work was recognized by historians as one of the best accounts of life in the Union army during the war. In 1999, Gregory Urwin and Cathy Kunzinger Urwin edited the work, and the University of Arkansas Press published it as part of the series “The Civil War in the West.” It continues to be used by historians to better understand life in the Union army in Arkansas during the war.

For additional information:
Sperry, Andrew. History of the 33^rd Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment, 1863–6. Des Moines: Mills and Co., 1866. Online at https://archive.org/details/historyof33diowa00sper/page/n7/mode/2up (accessed August 27, 2024).

Sperry, Andrew. History of the 33^rd Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment, 1863–6, edited by Gregory and Cathy Kunzinger Urwin. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1999.

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University