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.
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