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LEONIDAS H BRANNAN (or BRANNEN) was born in 1847 in Jackson County Indiana, the son of William Legrand Brannen and Minerva Umberger. His family later moved to Toledo, Tama County Iowa, where Leonidas is shown in the US census as 13 years old in the 1860 census.
The following year he enlisted into Company G of the 14th Iowa Volunteer Infantry to fight in the Civil War, giving his age as 18. Even though he was really only 14, he was one of the largest men in his company.
Brannen's true age was not a secret back home: at the time of his enlistment the Toledo Iowa newspaper proudly reported:
" ….If there is a soldier in the United States army that can beat one of the boys of this town in Co. "G" 14th Iowa Regiment, we would like to have his parts measured and published. We speak of Leonidas H Brannen who when last heard from was five feet, eleven inches high, weighed one hundred and seventy pounds, and was only fourteen years old last June. The Soldier of these years that can present greater height and depth, length and breadth, must belong to a race of giants".
The 14th Iowa Infantry fought at the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, where they were part of the famous defense now remembered as the "Hornets' Nest". The men of the Nest held their ground through several hours and many waves of frontal assaults holding back the rebel army at Shiloh from mid-morning until almost sundown when, all but out of ammunition and cut off from retreat, they were finally surrounded and forced to surrender.
The long delay and their brave sacrifice helped provide the crucial time General Grant needed to form up his scattered army into a final line of defense, bring up fresh troops and ammunition into line overnight, and to go on to win this important battle the following day.
While Grant was making his preparations overnight, the men captured at the Nest, including Leonidas and most of Company G, were rounded up, marched off and taken to POW camps in the deep South. Many of them, including several of Leonidas' friends from Tama, did not live to return to their families again.
Leonidas survived his time as a prisoner and when released continued on with his regiment fighting in several more battles in Mississippi and Louisiana, especially the battles at Fort deRussy and Pleasant Hill.
In November 1864, after completing his three year enlistment, Leonidas returned to Toledo where he remained the rest of his life. He married, had a son, and for several decades ran a hotel in Toledo, and was also a rural route mail carrier.
In 1929, not long before his death, a Cedar Rapids newspaper ran an article about the young soldier, now an old veteran:
" Many a 14 year old boy knows the comfort, when tired, of having his mother pat him on the head and tuck him into bed at night while she whispers, "My boy!" Twas not so with Leonidas H Brannen who, when he was 14, marched away to war with grown men, engaged in the bloodiest of battles and endured the hardships of rebel prisons.
Last Thursday Mr Brannen, Civil War veteran and resident of Tama for 64 years, celebrated his 82nd birthday. His son, LeGrand, arrived for a visit and together they motored to the home of Mr Brannen's cousin, WB Murphy, near Marengo and spent the day there. Mr Brannen enjoys good health and no winter weather is too severe to keep him from making one or more trips down town daily. Since the death of Mrs Brannen about 25 yrs ago, he has lived alone. He gets a great deal of pleasure from the movies and attends the theater often. Mr Brannen was born in Brownstown, Jackson County, Indiana. When he was four years old he came west with his parents, brothers and sisters, the family joining a caravan and making the trip in a covered wagon.
They settled in Iowa county, near Marengo, and four years later moved to Toledo. Young Leonidas attended school there and helped his father who was a carpenter. As a lad 14 yrs old, he enlisted in Company G, Fourteenth Iowa Infantry on Oct 9, 1861 for a period of three years. When asked if he went as a drummer boy, Mr Brannen indignantly replied, "Indeed not! I carried a gun." He then explaned, "While only a boy in years, I was a man in stature. At the time I was mustered in at Davenport I weighed 170 pounds."
He loves to tell of his war experiences. The first battle in which he took part was at Fort Donelson. It was at Shiloh that he was taken prisoner. He describes conditions in prison camps at Memphis, Mobile and Macon GA as having been terrible, with severe treatment and little to eat. After two months of this life he was paroled. Changing from his uniform to civilian clothes in St Louis, he took a boat to Keokuk. After reaching Marengo, he walked from there to his home in Toledo, a distance of about 35 miles. Later he received notice of his exchange and returned to the service, joined the Red River Expedition and was with General Sherman on a raid from Vicksburg to Meridian, MS. He also took part in several smaller raids in Missouri.
Mr Brannen moved to Tama in 1865 and has resided here since that time. He was one of the pioneer rural mail carriers of Tama County, driving a team of horses until his last year of this work, when he changed to an automobile. He has one son, LeGrand, of Beloit WI and two grandsons. "
LEONIDAS BRANNEN is buried near his wife Letitia in Oak Hill cemetery east of the city of Tama, Iowa.
Here is his information from the roster of the 14th Iowa:
From the roster of Company G:
Brannan, Leonidas. Age 18. Residence Tama County, nativity Indiana. Enlisted Oct. 9, 1861. Mustered Nov. 2, 1861. Missing in action April 6, 1862, Shiloh, Tenn. Mustered out Nov. 16, 1864, Davenport, Iowa.
During the War some of Leonidas' companions kept diaries or wrote frequent letters home to their families or to the local newspaper. Much of this first hand material written by the soldeirs themselves has recently been gathered by the Traer Iowa museum and has now been published in a hardcover book. The book, SOLDIER LIFE - MANY MUST FALL, 288 8x11 pages, is of keepsake quality with rare photographs of some of the men, a couple maps, and an index, and a beautiful dustcover. It gives almost day by day details of what the men of Company G, including Leonidas Brannen, experienced through the three year period of their service.
Brannen family members and anyone interested in Iowa history or first person accounts from the Civil War can order the book from the Traer museum at www.traermuseum.com
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