29. The Graybeards Performed Well Throughout the War
The 37th Iowa Infantry “Graybeards” Regiment was mustered on December 15th, 1862, and served until the war’s end, when it was mustered out on May 24th, 1865. The Graybeards ably served as prison camp guards, protected supply trains, and manned guard posts in the Western Theater. Such rear echelon duties freed up younger men for front-line combat service. The 37th Iowa seldom saw combat, but on one occasion on June 5th, 1865, a detachment of fifty men defended a supply train from a rebel guerrilla attack near Holly Springs, Mississippi. In the ensuing fight, three Graybeards were killed, and another four were wounded.
Throughout most of history, and until well into the modern era, many times more soldiers died in camp from illness than perished on the battlefield from combat. In the Civil War era, germ theory had not yet been discovered, and medical authorities knew relatively little about how diseases were transmitted or how to treat them. Combine that with often unsanitary conditions in which masses of men were crammed together in camps, plus the hardships and rigors of war, and it is unsurprising that more men died of illness than from combat. Throughout the Civil War, 1041 men served in the 37th Iowa. Of those, only three perished in combat, but more than 145 died of disease. Another 350 were discharged for various disabilities.