COLLINS Isaac M. (Milton) 23RD MISSOURI VOLUNTEER INFANTRY Company B Rank on entering service: Pvt Rank on leaving service: Pvt Born 1840 in Grundy County, Missouri Married Mary Ann Kelly in Grundy County, Missouri Isaac M. Collins filed for a disability pension in 1896 (date may be inaccurate) Application states he also served in Co K, 44th MO Infantry. Died 1929 Burial Dale Cemetery, Grundy County, Missouri

Collins, Isaac M(ilton) BATTLE UNIT NAME: 23rd Regiment, Missouri Infantry SIDE: Union COMPANY: B SOLDIER’S RANK IN: Private SOLDIER’S RANK OUT: Private

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~moharris/23rdroster.html

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=D1BB2C8F-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A

The 44th Missouri Infantry, organized in August 1864 and rendezvoused at St. Joseph. Before the unit was completed, it was mustered into the United States [Union] service. Before it was completed, it was ordered to Rolla, Missouri, to intercept the advance of the Confederate forces under Gen Price. [Probably General Sterling Price who was governor of Missouri 1853-1857.]

On November 6, 1864, it was ordered to Paducah, Kentucky arriving on the 16th and went into camp. The 44th remained in Paducah until the 24th, when it was ordered to Nashville, Tennessee.

On November 27, the 44th reported to General George Thomas and was immediately ordered to join General John M. Schofield at Columbia [Maury County, Tennessee]. There the 44th was assigned to General Thomas Howard Ruger’s division of the 23rd corps where it took part in the campaign against General John B. Hood’s army. Ruger’s division fought at Spring Hill and Franklin, Tennessee, losing 157 killed/wounded in the latter battle. [Note: Ruger would become superintendent of West Point after the Civil War.]

On December 3, at Nashville, the regiment was transferred to Moore’s division of and remained with this command for the rest of its service. [Need more research. The regiment did see action in Nashville, it was mostly held in reserve.]

After the defeat of General Hood at Nashville, the 23rd was engaged in the pursuit of the retreating Confederates and on Jan. 9, 1865, went into camp at Eastport, Mississippi.

Early February 1965, the 23rd left Eastport and arrived in New Orleans on February 21st staying until March 11, when it was ordered to Dauphin Island, Alabama. Within a few weeks, the regiment from Dauphin Island to Cedar Point and Fish River. Alabama. [Note: The Battle of Mobile Bay, a critical last battle of the Civil War, was won by the Union in August 1864. Fort Gaines & Fort Morgan both fell to the Union.]

On March 23rd, the 23rd was ordered to Spanish Fort. The siege of Spanish Fort began on March 27, 1865, marks the siege of Spanish Fort which fell on April 8th. [Note: Gen. Robert E. Lee‘s surrender at Appomattox Court House the next day is unrelated to the fall of Spanish Fort.]

On April 12, 1865, three days after Lee’s surrender, the city of Mobile surrendered to the Union army to avoid destruction following the Union victories at the Battle of Spanish Fort and the Battle of Fort Blakely.

After the surrender of Mobile, the 23rd regiment was on duty at Montgomery and Tuskegee, Alabama, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, until July 28th, when it was ordered to St. Louis. There it was mustered out on August 15, 1865.

Sources:
» Ancestry.com 44th Infantry Regiment Missouri page; their source, “The Union Army”, vol. 4, p. 270.
» Battle of Mobile Bay
» Union Army 23rd Corps (From Fox’s Regimental Losses Chapter VIII)
» Battle of Spanish Fort
» Historic Alabama Civil War Sites
» Siege of Fort Gaines
» Fort Morgan (Alabama)
» History of Spanish Fort
» Mobile, Alabama in the American Civil War