William McEntyre Dye -USA

During its history, the 20th Iowa Infantry Regiment, which was commanded by then COL William McEntyre Dye, mobilized 1026 soldiers at various points in time. A total of 173 people lost their lives in it: 1 officer, 13 enlisted men, and 2 officers and 157 enlisted men who died from disease or were killed in combat. There were 52 injuries.

Overall, Dye was an effective commander at Prairie Grove because he was able to follow directions and organize his troops to assault a well defended position and bear the brunt of the combat without losing an excessive amount of his soldiers. Attacking a defensive position typically requires a larger force than the defenders have, these armies having relatively the same number of soldiers emphasizes the effectiveness of the Union attack. Maintaining unit cohesion to mitigate troop losses is a difficult task with the sounds of battle raging in the background. Dye managed to maintain control of his unit’s movements while also engaging the enemy and was able to effectively withdraw them when the time was right to do so. Dye was attacking uphill in the center of the confederate lines. This was no easy task as it was bound to be the most heavily fortified. He performed his duties as a field commander and seemed to have prepared his soldiers well for the battle and the movements that preceded and followed it.