An Unknown Soldier from Company A, 19th Iowa kept a diary of his time in the Union Army from September to December 1862. It was discovered after the Battle of Prairie Grove, 7 December 1862, somewhere along the advance or retreat of the 19th Iowa as they faced a Brigade of Arkansans. The Unknown Soldier of the 19th Iowa is unique in that all we have of him is his diary, which was found missing its cover and the first few pages. With no other mention of a name, we may never know who he truly was, but the diary still has a story to tell.
Sources for this episode:
Unknown. The Diary of an Unknown Soldier: September 5, 1862 to December 7, 1862. Found on a Battlefield. Edited by Elia Vaught. Press-Argus Printing Company, 1959. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858046452367&seq=1.
Scott, Robert N. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 1: Reports. Government Printing Office, 1888. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924077699704&view=1up&seq=3.
