As a young man, he [Lemuel Burns] came to Illinois and on to Iowa, where he remained until the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted as a volunteer soldier on December 6, 1861 and was discharged July 12, 1865. He was in many of the great battles of the war, such as Bull Run, Antitam, Corinth, Iuka, the Wilderness and the Siege of Vicksburg. He was a prisoner for a time at Andersonville, and wounded at the Battle of Bull Run and at the Wilderness. Lemuel went with General Sherman on his long march to the sea, and took part at the close of the war in the Grand Review at Washington, D.C.My research on the Iowa Sixteenth has confirmed Lemuel Burns' service at Corinth, Iuka, and the Seige of Vicksburg and described the conditions at Andersonville. It told of the prisoners rejoining Sherman's army, and of the march to the sea and of the Grand Review. It added Lemuel Burns' injury at Shiloh and capture at Atlanta. However, there is no record of the Iowa Sixteenth Volunteer Infantry being at Bull Run, Antietam, or the Wilderness.
The First Battle of Bull Run was fought July 21, 1861 under Gen. Irwin McDowell, while Lemuel Burns didn't enlist until Dec. 16, 1861. The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought Aug. 29 and 30, 1862 under McClellan and Pope, when the Iowa Sixteenth was engaged near Corinth, Mississippi. Antietam was fought Sept. 17, 1862 under Gen. George McClellan; the Iowa Sixteenth was in the vicinity of Iuka, Mississippi at that time. The Wilderness Campaign was fought May - June 1864, under Gen. George Meade; Iowa Sixteenth Infantry was engaged near Atlanta at that time. (31) With these conflicts in time and place, and the unlikelihood that a soldier would change units in the middle of the war, and the greater unlikelihood that he would change from the western theatre to the eastern theatre, I expect that further research will not reveal Lemuel Burns' patricipation in these battles. More research is needed to prove the point either way.