Samuel A. Rice, then Iowa’s attorney general, organized the 33rd Iowa Infantry Regiment in the summer of 1862 and was named its colonel. Stationed in Helena, he played a prominent role in the July 4, 1863, battle there and was promoted to brigadier general on Aug. 4, 1863. Rice later led troops in the campaign to capture Little Rock and in the Camden Expedition. Although wounded at Elkins’ Ferry, he remained at the head of his brigade when he led the Union defense of Jenkins Ferry on April 30, 1864; an ankle wound there led to his death on July 6. At the height of the April 30, 1864, battle of Jenkins Ferry, S.T. Ruffner’s Confederate artillery was deployed, and troops of the 29th Iowa and 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry charged and captured the battery. In revenge for the killing of black troops at Poison Spring on April 18, the Kansans killed 3 men as they tried to surrender, but the Iowans prevented them from killing others while dragging the captured cannons to safety. After the battle, 2nd Kansas soldiers roamed the field killing wounded Confederates as the Union army continued its retreat to Little Rock.