The Civil War
When Ft. Sumter was fired upon in April, 1861 Olney hastened back to Pella and enlisted. He did not make the first group of 90day volunteers so enlisted in the 3rd Iowa for 3 years with the 3rd Iowa Inf. Their first year of service was guarding rail lines in upper Missouri. Other than some run ins with guerrillas they saw no action. In the spring of 1862, the 3rd Iowa was included in Gen.l Grant's build up of forces at Pittsburg's Landing, Tennessee. Here he was involved in the battle of Shiloh. His unit held and fought well before breaking and running in the general rout ending the first day's battle. Olny was struck in the chest by a spent round that did not break skin but apparently knocked him out. He came to and joined the general rout not wanting to be captured. Though too spent to penetrate, the bullet that struck Olney left him too stiff and sore to take any part in the second day's actions. His "wounding" must have been observed because his records contain a note that he was killed there. Olney continued in the pursuit of the Confederate army following the battle but, suffering from illness took advantage of the opportunities open to soldiers of his education an applied for and received a position as a clerk in the army with duty at St. Louis, Missouri. This was effectively the end of his combat role in the army.
In 1864 he applied for and received a commission as a captain in command of a company in the 2nd Missouri Volunteers of Colored Infantry, accepted into US service as the 65th United Stated Colored Infantry. Olney remained in command of this unit to war's end seeing service in Louisiana but taking no part in combat operations. Olney struggled with sickness and repeated sought discharge thereby. Ironically, the 65th was only notable for having one of if not the highest death rate by disease of any regiment in the army with losses of 6 Officers and 749 Enlisted men by disease. One ultimate irony is that, while on convalescent leave in Iowa he again applied for discharge from service. it was approved. However, he seems not to have received word of his release from service and returned to his unit remaining with it until his final discharge in August 1865.
Read more about this topic: Warren Olney
Famous quotes containing the words civil war, civil and/or war:
“We have heard all of our lives how, after the Civil War was over, the South went back to straighten itself out and make a living again. It was for many years a voiceless part of the government. The balance of power moved away from it—to the north and the east. The problems of the north and the east became the big problem of the country and nobody paid much attention to the economic unbalance the South had left as its only choice.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“At Hayes’ General Store, west of the cemetery, hangs an old army rifle, used by a discouraged Civil War veteran to end his earthly troubles. The grocer took the rifle as payment ‘on account.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The war was a mirror; it reflected man’s every virtue and every vice, and if you looked closely, like an artist at his drawings, it showed up both with unusual clarity.”
—George Grosz (1893–1959)