"...[W]hen the war broke out [he] enlisted at Cedar Rapids in Company G, Twenty-fourth Iowa Infantry. He participated in eighteen battles, was several times slightly wounded and once a rebel bullet smashed his canteen. This however, saved his life. At the battle of Winchester, October 19, 1864, he was captured and carried to Richmond, Va., and later sent to Belle Isle. He was afterwards sent to Andersonville prison where he he [sic] suffered terribly from ill treatment and when he was released and started homeward his health had been so undermined by ill-treatment and starvation, that he died...He was then in the prime of life. He was a brave soldier, ever found at his post and his life was given in the defense of his country."
--Portrait and Biographical Record of Lee County, Illinois, 1892
INDEX"Maurice enlisted 14 Aug. 1862 at Muscatine, IA in Co. G, 24th IA Vol. Infantry Regiment. Was living at Kingston City, Des Moines Co., IA. The 24th was nicknamed "Methodist" or "Temperance" Regiment as its Colonel and other officers were all members from that denomination. Maurice was a wagoner, and was captured during the Battle of Cedar Creek, VA on 18 Oct. 1864. The 24th was a part of the 4th Brigade, 1st Division, 19th Army Corps, under the command of Gen. Phillip Sherman. As part of the Shenandoah Valley campaign, three battles were fought in late October 1864: Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. Their objective was to expel the Confederates from the Valley which served as a "bread basket" for their soldiers and to complement Gen. Wm. Sherman's "March to the Sea" campaign. It is unlikely Maurice was aware his activity was assisting his brother Ira [sic; Ira was his nephew] who was with Sherman's army.
"Maurice was confined to rebel prisons, including infamous Andersonville, Georgia prison, where thousands of Union soldiers died to the unsanitary conditions, inadequate food, and other ill treatment. Upon the conclusion of the war he was released, and it was while he was traveling home that he died from the effects of his imprisonment."
--William R. King, Descendants of Reuben Mott