Daniel Enoch Talbott was born about 1839 in Jackson County, Indiana, the son of Edward Talbott and Mary Merritt Laning. About 1851 the family moved to Iowa County, Iowa.

At Marengo, Iowa on September 3, 1861, Daniel E. Talbott enlisted in the Union Army for a period of three years. He was mustered in as a Private in Company G, 8th Iowa Infantry at Davenport, Iowa on September 20, 1861. The descriptive list states that he was aged 22 years, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, with light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His occupation was that of a farmer.

Soon after its organization, the regiment went to St. Louis, Missouri, and thence to Syracuse, where it joined Gen. John C. Fremont’s army in pursuit of Confederate Gen. Sterling Price’s forces and operated in southwestern Missouri, losing heavily through sickness. Private Talbott was soon detailed as company teamster. In November 1861 the regiment went to Sedalia, Missouri, where it remained until ordered to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s forces in Tennessee the following spring.

In April 1862, the regiment participated in the battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, fighting ten hours on the first day. They repelled attack after attack, and, with the battery it was supporting, inflicted terrible punishment upon the enemy. They were the last to leave the advanced line of the army, being surrounded as it attempted to withdraw and compelled to surrender. Out of 650 men engaged, the regiment lost 64 killed, 100 wounded, and 47 missing. The 8th, 12th, and 14th Iowa Regiments formed four-fifths of the little force that held back ten times its number at the close of the first day at Shiloh, giving Gen. Buell time to bring up his forces and snatch victory from defeat. Entirely cut off, they fought until they could fight no longer, and threw down their arms only to see many of their number shot down in cold blood after they had surrendered as prisoners of war.

Private Talbott was among those that were obliged to surrender at Shiloh on April 6, 1862. As a prisoner of war, he was initially held at Montgomery, Alabama, but subsequently taken to Camp Oglethorpe at Macon, Georgia, where he died of disease on July 26, 1862. Records indicate that his final burial place was in Andersonville National Cemetery, where he was counted among the unknown dead.

Two of Daniel’s brothers are also known to have served in the Union Army, namely: Lewis W. Talbott of Company B, 1st Iowa Infantry and Company G, 47th Iowa Infantry; and Alexander A. Talbott of Company G, 28th Iowa Infantry.