Private Lyman W Spencer has an illustrious history and is typical of the Civil War’s true hero. He was witness to and participated in some of the most significant events in our nation’s history and was on the field with some of America’s finest general officers, including Grant and Sherman. He fought in no less than 5 massive full battles, several significant engagements, many skirmishes, and operated in different pursuits, assaults, and served as a soldier of occupation. He bravely fought from the terrible battle of Corinth to Missionary Ridge, Tennessee. He was with Grant when he moved out with no supplies to beat 2 Southern armies below Vicksburg, Mississippi. Here Private Spencer fought in the 3 battles, one engagement, and nine skirmishes that resulted in the eventual loss of the Confederate hold on the ‘Mississippi River.

After General Hood retreated from Sherman at Atlanta he moved back north,- and on October 13th 1864 a portion of his army attacked the 17th Regiment at Tilton Georgia. Here the regiment was captured and Private Spencer was made a prisoner of war. All records of the regiment were destroyed and the captured prisoners were quickly taken into Alabama and on to prison camps and the hellhole of Andersonville, Georgia. Private Spencer was kept as a prisoner of war from October 13th 1864 to May 5th 1865 when he was paroled at Savannah Georgia.

Pathos and tragedy are combined in these brief notations. At the time of re-enlistment at Huntsville, Alabama, the men had been, assured that they would be sent to their homes and given a furlough of thirty days, to date from the time of their reaching the State of Iowa. They had eagerly and hopefully expected the fulfillment of that promise, but the exigencies of the campaign which ensued became so great that every soldier in General Sherman’s army, who was able for duty, was needed at the front. The great majority of these faithful men of the Seventeenth Iowa were thus compelled to relinquish the hope of again seeing their homes and loved ones until the end of the war. It was only to the little band who had escaped capture or death that the promise was fulfilled. Of those who were carried into captivity, many died from wounds received before their capture, and from disease. 

During the course of the war, Private Spencer’s regiment had 3 officers and 66 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded. The unit lost 2 officers and 121 enlisted men by disease.

It is a time-consuming, tedious, and taxing but also rewarding, Self-identifying experience for me researching and documenting my namesake’s service. I am currently working on finishing his wartime chronicle with both textual and visual data taken from the Official Records, memoirs & journals, mappings, Newspaper articles, images, etc . A soldier’s mission is only complete when he returns with honor to hearth and home safely. Documentation continues with his steps after the wars end and his return journey, which is every bit as heroic and ultimately heartwarming.