Grant Did Grant ever say or write this quote?

MajGenl.Meade

Sergeant Major
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
Location
Kent, Ohio
"Iowa is a young state, but it is a state of heroes; those Iowa boys saved my Army." U S Grant

The 23rd Missouri had been engaged with the enemy for more than eight full hours. They had withstood almost constant firing and at least six full scale assaults. They had held their position through cannon fire and bayonet attacks. They had held the very heart of the Hornets Nest "at all hazards" and had given Grant enough time to pull the bulk of his army back to Pittsburg Landing where they had established a solid defensive line. Many had been killed. Most had received some type of wound. Half the regiment were now prisoners of the Confederates. An almost calming silence began to fall over the battlefield of Shiloh
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http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~moharris/shilohnarrative.html

The men of the 23rd must have been wondering what they had gotten themselves into as they camped on the night of April 5th. Having arrived too late to be assigned to a Brigade, the 23rd remained officially "Unattached", but made up a Brigade strength force along with the 15th Iowa Infantry, 18th Wisconsin Infantry, a battery of artillery from Minnesota and Ohio, and eight companies of the 11th Illinois Cavalry. Prentiss commanded two other brigades which included the 21st and 25th Missouri in the First Brigade and the 18th Missouri in the Second Brigade.
Same source as above.

We have the 18th, 21st, 23rd and 25th Missouri under Prentiss at the Hornet's Nest (the subject of the question). And we have a "quote" from Grant about Iowa troops which appears problematic.

The 14th Iowa was the first to take up the position and the 12th Iowa was the last to leave it. Grant said, "Iowa is a young state, but it is a state of heroes; those Iowa boys saved my Army."

Surely, the only searchable source for this quote from Grant cannot be "funtrivia.com"????
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/History/US-Civil-War-14282_2.html

Whether it was Iowa or Missouri who saved the Hornet's Nest (and one suspects it was both), is there anyone who can find a genuine source for this "Grant" quote?

Please and thank you.
 
I was wondering about that trivia question, too, since the only thing I could find was the "funtrivia.com" site, with no source listed! I did look in Grant's Memoirs, but found nothing. Good question as to whether this is real or spurious! I hope someone will take a good look and let us know!
 
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