Courageously carried the colors during the battle of Fort Donelson

Voltaire Twombly is marching in silence toward Fort Donelson, Tenn., on Feb. 13, 1862. Days earlier in St. Louis, his 2nd Iowa unit was blamed for ransacking the museum of McDowell Medical College, now a prison for Confederate soldiers. Although the perpetrators’ identity was unknown, the 2nd Iowa was ordered to march though the city with horns silenced and flags furled as they advanced to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

Twombly is demoralized but turns his thoughts to the task of seizing Fort Donelson, which will extend Union influence in Kentucky and Tennessee. General Grant’s regiments attack the fort on Feb. 13 and 14, while Twombly and the 2nd Iowa wait.

Finally, on the afternoon of Feb. 15, the men of the 2nd Iowa lead a charge against the fort with orders to plant the flag. One by one, five members of the color guard fall as they advance with the flag. Twombly boldly takes up the flag, but is knocked down by a spent ball (shot from a firearm without sufficient force). He struggles back into position and carries the colors until the end of the battle.

The following morning the 2nd Iowa is restored to honor by being the first regiment to enter the captured fort. Twombly is chosen to raise the flag upon Donelson’s flagpole.

Citation
“Took the colors after three of the color guard had fallen, and although most instantly knocked down by a spent ball, immediately arose and bore the colors to the end of the engagement.” (Twombly later recalled that five members of the color guard had fallen: Sgt. H. B Doolittle, Corp. G. S. Page, Corp. J.H. Churcher, Corp. H. E. Weaver, and Corp. J. W. Robinson.) Date and place: Feb. 15, 1962, at Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Issued: March 12, 1897.

Biography
Farmington, Iowa, native Voltaire P. Twombly (1842-1918) entered the service at age 19, serving four years and suffering wounds at Fort Donelson, Corinth, and Jonesboro. He was discharged as a captain and returned home to marry his childhood sweetheart and open a flourmill in Pittsburg, Iowa. In 1876, he left the business world for public service.

Twombly was Treasurer of Van Buren County for eight years before becoming mayor of Keosauqua in 1884. He was elected Treasurer of the State of Iowa, serving from 1885 to 1891, then became president of the Home Savings Bank of Des Moines, retiring in 1901.

Collections
Company K, 2nd Iowa Infantry Flag
The national flag carried by Corporal Twombly has 34 stars and was reportedly returned after the battle at Fort Donelson and placed in the State Capitol in 1894. It is being conserved as part of Iowa’s Battle Flag Project.

Medal of Honor
Corp. Twombly’s Medal of Honor is at the Fort Donelson Museum.

Correspondence
A letter written by Twombly on March 25, 1862:

We arrived on Friday the 14th, that night we laid in sight of the enemies works without our blankets, having left our knapsacks on board of the boat. The night was very cold and some snow fell. We remained in position until three o’clock Saturday…We were ordered to take the works at a charge – bayonets without firing a shot and plant our colors on the works at all hazards. . .On we went not even heading the deadly fire of the enemy which was at that moment opened upon us from the hill above, but on we pressed lead by our gallant Colonel. Many of our best men falling dead or wounded at every fire. We gained the works and entered them when we poured the retreating Rebels a shower of bullets such as they had little dreamed of . . . drove them to their inner works, when we fell back to the breast works we had gained and held them during the night. In the coming of the morning our hearts were gladdened by the sight of the white flag hoisted by the enemies … there was a shout raised which resounded through the surrounding hills by thousands of patriotic self-sacrificing soldiers.

Col. J.M. Tuttle, 2nd Iowa Infantry, wrote of Corp. Twombly on Nov. 5, 1862:

He was the seventh man to take up the colors which he done just after we had gained the inside of the enemy’s works. He attracted my attention at that time he took them and on account of his youth I feared he might falter after so much maturity among his associates had. I went to him to take the colors myself but he clung to them like a young hero. On through the storm of bullets to the end of the fight and had the honor of placing his colors first on the fort.

Location: Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa.