> IOWA AND THE REBELLION. HISTORY OF THE TROOPS FURNISHED BY THE STATE OF IOWA TO THE VOLUNTEER ARMIES OF THE UNION, WHICH CONQUERED THE GREAT SOUTHERN REBELLION OF 1861-5. BY LUKTON DUNHAM INGEKSOLL. PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. DUBUQUE : B. M. HAEGER. 1866. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by LURTON DUNHAM INGERSOLL, In the Clerk s Office of the District Court for the District of lot MRS. S. S. MONTAGUE WESTCOTT & THOMSON, Stereotypers, PHILADELPHIA. IN MEMORY JOSEPH HENRY INGERSOLL MY ONLY BROTHER A. :PRIVATE SOLDIER, OF THE TJNIO^ST SERVING WITH THE ELEVENTH OHIO BATTERY AND SLAIN AT THE BATTLE OF IUKA. L. D. I ! 17173 PREFATORY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. THE following work was first entered upon a little more than four years ago. The fine achievement of the Second Iowa Volunteers, at Fort Donelson, following up the admirable conduct of the Iowa First at Wilson s Creek, of the Third at Blue Mills Landing, and of the Seventh at Belmont, impelled me to think that the State could scarcely help making a fine record in the war of the Union. I at once began to direct my studies to military works, and to collect materials for the volume now offered to the public, then, of course, but rudely blocked out in my mind. First of all am I indebted to the reports of the Adjutant-General of the State, which are universally acknowledged to be more full and complete than those of any State in the Union, Maine alone excepted. Meritorious works of a general nature having much bearing upon the events here treated of are rare. But I acknowledge obligations to the first volume of Horace Greeley s History of the Rebellion, which gives promise of being the most candid, philosophical, and entertaining historical essay which "these latter years" have produced,- to the Rebellion Record; to Colonel S. M. Bowman and Lieutenant-Colonel R. B. Irwin s, " Sherman and his Campaigns ;" to the United States Service Magazine, a most valuable publication ; to Harper s New Monthly Magazine, but not to the articles by Mr. John S. C. Abbott, which are for the most part the sketches of a too lively imagination ; to the Army and Navy Journal (which, pub lished in volumes, may be well enough classed among works of a general nature) that has contained more downright reliable information upon the operations of our armies than can at this time be found elsewhere. Jomini, perhaps with biographical accuracy, makes Napoleon speak contemptuously of the press. He would not have done it, had he lived in this day and generation. In the columns of the daily journals of our great cities have appeared finer accounts of the battles and campaigns of the late war, than can be found of the battles and campaigns of old in all the pages of classical literature. I may have a bias of profes sional feeling, but I confess the deepest obligations to the leaders and letters of the New York Tribune, Times, and Post; Forney s Philadelphia Press; the Gazette and Commercial, of Cincinnati; the Tribune and Journal, of Chicago; the Democrat, of St. Louis; the Republican, Chronicle, and Intelligencer, of Washington. But I am still more indebted to the press of Iowa. Mr. F. W. Palmer, of the State Register ; Mr. John Mahin, of the Muscatine Journal ; Mr. Edward Russell, of the Davenport Gazette; Mr. J. B. Howell and Mr. S. M. Clark, of the Keokuk Gate City; Mr. Edmund Booth, of the Anamosa Eureka; Mr. A. R. Wickersham, of the Washington Press; Mr. N. H. Brainard, of the Iowa City Republican ; the Brothers H. A. and George D. Per kins, of the Cedar Falls Gazette; Mr. A. B. F. Hildreth, of the Charles City Intelli gencer; Dr. Charles Beardsley, formerly of the Oskaloosa Herald, now of the Burling- 5 6 PREFATORY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. ton Ilawk-Eye ; Mr. J. K. L. Maynard, of the Waverly Phoenix ; Hon. B. F. Gue, of the Fort Dodge Northwest; Mr. C. S. Wilson, of the Pella Blade; Captain James JEL Knox, of the Indianola Visitor; Mr. W. S. Peterson, of the Dubuque Times; Mr. W. S. Burke, of the Council Bluffs Nonpareil, have personally aided me in the collection of materials, whilst their editorials and the letters they have printed from the army have been of great value to me in my labors. I am indebted also to the correspond ence of the Dubuque Herald (especially when Mr. Frank Wilkie was writing for it, in the early part of the war), Davenport Democrat, and every Republican weekly jour nal of the State, without a single exception, and to a number of Democratic journals, for many valuable facts. The army correspondence of the Iowa papers was remark ably good. Many letters appeared in their columns, which would have done honor to the best correspondents of our metropolitan dailies. But I have had much manuscript authority diaries, narratives, letters. For some regiments, I have had much fuller materials of this sort than I was able to procure for others, but I can safely say that I have made no statement of fact touching any of our regiments which cannot be substantiated by evidence in my possession. For these original authorities I am under obligations to Goodsil Buckingham, of the First Regiment, for the loan of his spicy diary; to Colonels Weaver and Howard, and Major Ham ill, of the Second; to Captain Daniel E. Cooper, of the Fourth; to Adjutant S. II. M. Byers, of the Fifth; Adjutant W. W. Sapp, of the Seventh; Adjutant Charles Mackenzie, of the Ninth, (who gave me a fine history of that regiment and a fine rcaiimf of the general operations of the armies with which he served) ; Captain A. M. Head, of the Tenth; Major A. J. Pope, of the Thirteenth; Surgeon George M. Staples, of the Fourteenth; Lieutenant-Colonel Pomutz, of the Fifteenth, (from whom I had several hundred pages of manuscript and many drawings); Adjutant Fletcher Wool- Bey, of the Seventeenth ; J. Irvin Duncan, of the Nineteenth ; Adjutant Taylor Pierce, of the Twenty-second ; Captain James F. Goolman, of the Twenty-third ; Lieutenant Thaddeus L. Smith, of the Twenty-fourth; Captain John N. Bell, of the Twenty-fifth; Adjutant Joseph Lyman, of the Twenty-ninth ; Musician A. F, Sperry, of the Thirty- third; Lieutenant T. L. Dilley, of the Thirty -fourth ; Sergeant-Major William H. Caldwell, of the Thirty-sixth; Adjutant David H. Goodno, of the Gray-Beard Regi ment ; Captain 0. F. Avery, of the Thirty-eighth ; Adjutant L. A. Duncan, of the Fortieth ; Captain T. W. Burdick, of the Sixth Cavalry ; to all these am I greatly indebted for many pages of manuscript, which have been of great value. I am also under obligations to other men and officers who have most kindly replied to inquiries, ao that the aggregate of my manuscript authorities for this work numbers not less than five thousand pages. I confess peculiar obligations to Surgeon Frederick Lloyd, now Secretary of the State Historical Society, and editor of the Annals, and who is one of the best of doctors and wittiest of men. William Reynolds, Jr., of Iowa City, with a generosity which cannot be too highly praised, drew the plans of battles which illustrate the work, "without money and without price," and in a manner which it would be difficult to excel. Lieutenant-Colonel George B. Corkhill, of the Pay Depart ment, placed at my disposal a large number of maps, which were of great use. I beg to return hearty thanks also to Generals Townsend and Nichols, of the Adjutant- (MMicral .- nfii,..- at Washington, and to Colonel George Thorn, of the Engineers, for favors most kindly granted. Nor can I think it unbecoming to state that my wife has rendered me great assist ance. The many lists of killed and wounded which appear in the work have been copied by her, and in other ways she has lightened the labors, and, by sensible advice, and generous revision, mollified and smoothed down the constitutional pugnacity of IOWA CITY, February 22rf, 1866. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. PAGE INTRODUCTION The Attack of Traitors on Fort Sumter The Nation Aroused The Response of Iowa to the President s Call for Seventy-five Thousand Men The Organization of the First Regiment Rendezvous at Keokuk Encamp there Ordered to Report to General Lyon March to Boonville To Southwestern Missouri Affair of Dug Springs McCul- lough s Springs General Nathaniel Lyon Battle of Wilson s Creek Retreat to Rolla Mustered out 17 CHAPTER II. SECOND INFANTRY. Organization at Keokuk Samuel R. Curtis, James M. Tuttle, and M. M. Crocker, the first Field Officers Move to Western Missouri Important Services there At Bird s Point Guard of McDowell College Prison "Dead Rabbits" The Battle of Fort DonelsonThe Iowa Second the Bravest of the Brave Battle of Shiloh Siege of Corinth Quiet March to luka Battle of Corinth Campaigning in Tennessee Winter Quarters at Pulaski Reen- listment The Campaign of Atlanta The Third Infantry Consolidated with the Second The March to Savannah Through the Carolinas Home 33 CHAPTER III. THIRD INFANTRY. Organization and Rendezvous at Keokuk Ordered to Missouri Active Operations Colonel Williams March from Mason City to Kirksville Warfare by Proclamation Various Movements Battle of Bhie Mills landing Proceed to Leavenworth, Kansas Quarrel between General Sturgis and "Jim Lane" Go to Quincy, Illinois Again in Missouri In Tennessee Battle of ShiloJiAt the Siege of Corinth Memphis Battle of Matamora Movements in rear of Vicksburg The "Vicksburg Campaign in 1863 General Sherman s March on Jackson Desperate Charge of Colonel Pugh s Brigade- General Lauman Relieved Meridian Expedition Campaign in East Tennessee and Georgia The Regiment Consolidated with the Second 52 7 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. FOURTH INFANTRY. PAGE Organization and Rendezvous of the Regiment at Council Bluffs March before Muster Drill at St. Louis The Pea Ridge Campaign The Battle March through Arkansas Long stay near Helena The Battle of Chickasaiv Bayou Sherman and McClernand Arkan sas Post General Grant s Successful Campaign against Vicksburg The Second Capture of Jackson In Camp March to the Relief of Chattanooga The Battles there Battle of Ringgold The March to "The Heart of the Confederacy" To Savannah Through the ( iii-oll uas Home 75 CHAPTER V. FIFTH INFANTRY. Organization Mustered into the Service at Burlington March in Pursuit of " Mart. Green" Voyage to St. Louis Up the Missouri to Jefferson City Fremont s March to Springfield A Winter in Missouri General Pope s Campaign against New Madrid, Island No. Ten, and Fort Pillow The Siugeof Corinth under Halleck Death of Colonel Worthington March ings and Countermarchings The Battle of luka Battle of Corinth Pursuit of the Enemy March into the Interior of Mississippi Return The Vicksburg Campaign On Garrison Duty in the City Move to Helena March to Chattanooga, Tennessee Combat near Tunnel Hill Barefooted Men living on Parched Corn The Veterans of the Regiment Transferred to the Fifth Iowa Cavalry 94 CHAPTER VI. SIXTH INFANTRY. Organization and Rendezvous at Burlington Stop at Keokuk Reenforce Colonel Moore at Athens, Missouri Fremont s Campaign to Springfield Guard Duty Proceed to the Front Battle of Shiloh General Grant s Unsuccessful Campaign in Mississippi Garrison Duty at Mempliis^-Tho Campaign against Vicksburg The Siege of Jackson March to Chattanooga, Tennessee Battle of Missionary Ridge Relief of Knoxville Reenlist and Return to Iowa Back again General Sherman s Atlanta Campaign March to Savannah Through the Caroliuas Homeward Bound 112 CHAPTER VII. SEVENTH INFANTRY. Organization at Burlington Proceed to St. Louis Pilot Knob, Missouri Cairo, Illinois- Encampment near Columbus, Kentucky Bird s Point The Battle of Beltnont Ordered to Benton Barracks Frozen up in the Mississippi River Off for the Front Fort Henry Fort Donelson Shiloh Siege of Corinth Pursuit of the Enemy A Quiet Summer Battle of Corinth A Year of Comparative Quiet " Shebangs" The Atlanta Campaign Passage of the Oostanaula River The March to Savannah To Washington City Mustered out 128 CHAPTER VIII. NINTH INFANTRY. The Regiment Recruited by Hon. William Vandever Rendezvous at Dubuque Departure for St. Louis Guarding Railway Army of the Southwest March to Arkansas The Battle CONTENTS. 9 PAGE of Pea Ridge March across Arkansas to Helena Quiet Active Campaigning again Chickasaw Bayou Arkansas Post Attached to the First Division, Fifteenth Army Corps The Campaign of Vicksburg Of Jackson March to Chattanooga, Tennessee Battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold Home on Veteran Furlough The Atlanta Campaign March to Savannah Through the Caroliiias To Washington City- Move to Louisville, Kentucky Home 146 CHAPTER IX. TENTH INFANTRY. Organization at Iowa City Move to St. Louis To Cape Girardeau Winter Quarters at Bird s Point Skirmish near Charleston, Missouri Campaign of New Madrid Of Island No. Ten Move to Vicinity of Fort Pillow Siege of Corinth Battle of luka Battle of Corinth Campaign in Mississippi Yazoo Pass Expedition Vicksburg Campaign Battle of Champion Hills Siege The Jackson Campaign March to Tennessee Battle of Missionary Ridge Home on Veteran Furlough Return to the Front March on Savan nah Through the Carolinas Move to Arkansas Home 166 CHAPTER X. TWELFTH INFANTRY. Rendezvous at Dubuque Sickness at Benton Barracks Fort Henry Fort Donelson Shiloh The Regiment Captured Brief Account of its History in Captivity Exchanged Reor ganizationMove to Rolla, Missouri Join the Army under Grant Operating against Vicksburg Then, the Army of Observation, under Sherman Siege of Jackson In Camp near Vicksburg Veteran Furlough Return to the Theatre of War Active Operations Battle near Tupelo, Mississippi Two Companies of the Regiment Defeat Four Hundred rebels at mouth of White River, Arkansas Regiment Posted at Holly Springs Severe March through Arkansas Campaign in Missouri Move to Nashville Siege and Battle The Mobile Campaign under Canby Subsequent History 181 CHAPTER XI. FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. Organization in the Fall of 1861 Detachment sent on Frontier Service Winter Quarters Move to the Theatre of War Fort Henry Battle of Fort Donelson Battle of Shiloh The Regiment Captured Reorganization A Long Period of Quiet, at Columbus, Kentucky- Down the Mississippi The Meridian Raid Sent to the Department of the Gulf The Red River Expedition Capture of Fort &e ttussey Rattle of Pleasant Hill Retreat- Battle of Bayou De Glaize Affair of Lake Chicot Campaigning East of the Mississippi- Battle of Tupelo Of Old Town The Oxford Raid Move to Missouri Surrounded at Pilot Knob Remarkable Retreat on Rolla Pursuit of Price Return to Iowa for Discharge Mustered out The "Residuary Battalion" Colonel William T. Shaw 195 CHAPTER XII. ELEVENTH INFANTRY. Organized at Camp McClellan " Starvation" Era! The Army Blue Benton Barracks Jeffer son City First Campaigning " Providence Deserted" A Winter of Joy and Sadness- Move to the Front Battle of Shiloh Colonel M. M. Crocker Siege of Corinth Active Operations Battle of luka Battle of Corinth Mississippi Central Campaign Laka 2 10 CONTENTS. PAGE Providence Campaign of Vicksburg Expedition to Monroe, Louisiana Quiet at Vicks- burg The Meridian Raid Home on Veteran Furlough The Atlanta Campaign Nicka- jack Creek Subsequent History of the Regiment Personalities Disbanded 211 CHAPTER XIII. THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. Marcellus M. Crocker, the First Colonel of the Regiment Rendezvous at Davenport Armed at St. Louis Winter Quarters at Jefferson City Move to Pittsburg Landing Drill Battle of Shiloh Siege of Corinth Movements in the Field Battle of Corinth Campaign in Mississippi Lake Providence A Small Canal and a Great Inundation Operations of the Command during Siege of Vicksburg " Crocker s Greyhounds" Winter at Vicksburg Tli Meridian Raid" Thirty Days in Iowa" Again at the Front The Atlanta Campaign Kenesaw Mountain Nickajack Creek Battle of Atlanta, July 21st, 1864 The Buttle the next Day Last Flanking Movement of the Campaign Pursuit of Hood March to the Sea To Washington City Mustered out at Louisville Last Camp, at Davenport 229 CHAPTER XIV. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. Organization at Keokuk Move to the Front Battle of Shiloh The Siege of Corinth Quiet A Midsummer s Campaign Battle of luka Battle of Corinth The Central Mississippi Campaign Winter at " Memphis and Below" The Campaigns of Vicksburg and of Jack son A March in Hot Weather Repose The March to and from Meridian Home on Veteran Furlough Return to the Theatre of War Kenesaw Mountain Nickajack Creek TJie Battle of Atlanta, July 22d The Siege The Last of the Flanking Movements Pursuit of Hood The Campaign of Savannah " Slashing through the Caro- linas" At the National Capital Mustered out 246 CHAPTER XV. SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. Organization Immediately move to the Theatre of War Battle of Shiloh Reconnoissance to Purdy Form Part of the Iowa Brigade Siege of Corinth Active Operations around Boli var, Tennessee Battle of luka Pursuit of Price Battle of Corinth Pursuit of the Rebels The Central Mississippi Campaign Return to Tennessee Move to Louisiana The Campaign of Vicksburg The Louisiana Expedition Quiet The Meridian Raid Veteran Furlough Rejoin the Army The Atlanta Campaign Battle of Kenesaw Mountain Battle of Atlanta, July 21st July 22d The Regiment Captured Its Subsequent History... 269 CHAPTER XVI. SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. Organization of the Regiment Haste to Reach the Front Goes by Water to Hamburg, Tennessee Siege of Corinth Battle of luka Battle of Corinth General Rosecrans Congratulatory Order A Hard Working Winter Yazoo Pass Expedition The Vicksburg Campaign Battle of Jackson Champion s Hill Combat at Fort Hill Battle of Chat tanoogaSurrender at Tilton, Georgia Remarkable Defence of Resaca by Colonel Wever Roster CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER XVII. EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. PAGE Organization at Clinton Ordered to Missouri Defence of Springfield Active Campaign ing in Arkansas March to Fort Smith On Garrison Duty 307 CHAPTER XVIII. NINETEENTH INFANTRY. Organized during the Summer of 1862 Campaign in Missouri and Arkansas Battle of Prairie Grove Return to Missouri Active Operations in that State Join the Army under Grant Beleaguering Vicksburg Active Operations after the Capitulation Long Period of Quiet at Brownsville Evacuate that Place and Return to New Orleans Meeting of the Regiment with its Prisoners Captured the Year Before Move to Florida To Missis sippiThe Campaign of Mobile under Canby Homeward Bound 319 CHAPTER XIX. TWENTIETH INFANTRY. Enrolled in the Counties of Scott and Linn Move to Benton Barracks March into Arkansas The Battle of Prairie Grove Encampment on the Field Return to Missouri Active Opera tions there Embark for Vicksburg Take Position in the Line of Investment Capture of Yazoo City Join the Army of the Gulf Combat of Sterling Farm Embark for Texas The Occupation of Brownsville Adventures on the " High Seas" Evacuation of Brownsville Capture of Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan Again in Louisiana In Arkan sasThe Mobile Campaign Mustered out Home Again 340 ft; CHAPTER XX. FIRST CAVALRY. Fitz Henry Warren, its First Colonel Organization Move to St. Louis Operations in Mis souri Battle of Prairie Grove Capture of Van Jiuren, Arkansas On Duty in Missouri Move to Pilot Knob March into Arkansas Capture of Little Rock" Winter Quarters" The Arkansas Campaign Move to Texas General Custer, Hero of the Lash!... 358 CHAPTER XXI. SECOND CAVALRY. Rendezvous at Davenport Move to St. Louis Bird s Point New Madrid Island No. Ten- Siege of Corinth Battle of Farmington Raids Battle of luka Battle of Corinth Raids and Combats The Grierson Raid Battle of Moscow Operations during the Winter of 1863-4 Operations during the Summer of 1864 Battle of Tupelo Old Town Creek Expe dition to Oxford Move to Reenforce General Thomas Combats, by Day and Night Battle of Franklin Of Nashville March to Huntsville " Roll of Honor" 374 CHAPTER XXII. THIRD CAVALRY. OrganizationMove to Missouri Two Parts of the Regiment Separated from each other- Account of the Detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell History of the Regiment Resumed Campaign of Pea Ridge March through Arkansas Operations about Helena 12 CONTEXTS. PAGE Colonel Bussey takes Command of the Cavalry of the Army Investing Yicksburg Opera tions on that Field Again in Arkansas The Regiment Reunited Campaigning in 1864 The Campaign of Missouri The Wilson Raid Mustered out 396 CHAPTER XXIII. FOURTH CAVALRY. Organization at " Camp Harlan," near Mount Pleasant Join the Army of the Southwest March through Arkansas, to Helena Encamped near Helena about Nine Months Opera tions of the Regiment during this Period The Campaign of Vicksburg Capture of Jack son Raids Reenlistment of the Regiment The Meridian Raid Veteran Furlough Expedition under Sturgis Expeditions under General A. J. Smith, first to Tupelo, second to the Tallahatchee The Campaign in Missouri The Raid under General Wilson Mus tered out Home 417 CHAPTER XXIV. FIFTH CAVALRY. An Account of the Command, Previously to its Organization as an Iowa Regiment Becomes the Fifth Iowa Cavalry Operations in Kentucky, from the Base of Fort Heiman Engage ment at Paris Affair near Lockridge s Mills Death of Major Bcernstein Active Opera tions Garrison Fort Donelson Move to Murfreesboro Pursuit of Wheeler Important Expedition under Major Young Various Movements Home on Veteran Furlough Return to Nashville The Rousseau Raid General McCook s Raid Battle of Jonesboro Return to Nashville Operations on Duck River Brilliant Exploit by Major Young Battle of Nashville The Wilson Raid Conclusion 441 CHAPTER XXV. TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Organization A Winter in Missouri Battle of HartsvilleDovrn the Mississippi As signed to the Thirteenth Army Corps The Battle of Port Gibson Battle of the Big Black River The Assault on the Works of Vicksburg The Siege The Second Campaign of Jackson Campaigning in Louisiana In Texas Again in Louisiana In Arkansas Tennessee Once more in Louisiana The Campaign of Mobile Conclusion 457 CHAPTER XXVI. TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organization at Iowa City Move to St. Louis To Rolla Embark at St. Genevieve for the Front Join the Thirteenth Army Corps Battle of Port Gibson Tlie Assault upon the Enemy s Works at Vicksburg The Siege The Jackson Campaign Campaign in Louisiana In Texas Voyage to Fortress Monroe In the Trenches before Petersburg Move to Washington To the Shenandoah Valley Battle of Winchester Of Fisher s Hill Of Cedar Creek Move to Savannah, Georgia To North Carolina Conclusion 472 CHAPTER XXVII. TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Organization at DCS Moines Move to the " Front" Campaign in Missouri Join General Grant s Army Battle of Port Gibson Battle of Black River Bridge Colonel Kins man Slain Battle of Milliken s Bend Siege of Vicksburg Campaign in Louisiana Voyage to Texas Return Move up Red River to Reonforce Banks Campaign in Arkan sas Campaign of Mobile Again in Texas Mustered out Disbanded at Davenport 490 CONTENTS. 13 CHAPTER XXVIII. TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. PAGK Called the Temperance Regiment Rendezvous near Muscatine Embark for Helena, Arkansas The Campaign against Vicksburg Battle of Port Gibson Active Campaigning Battle of Champion Hills Siege of Vicksburg The Red River Expedition Battle of Sabine Cross Roads A. Voyage by Sea to Fortress Monroe, Virginia With General Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley Battle of Winchester Battle of Fisher s Hill Cedar Creek Again in the South Home . 501 CHAPTER XXIX. TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. Organization at Mount Pleasant Move to Helena General Sherman s Unsuccessful Attack on Vicksburg The Army Moves against Arkansas Post Its Capture The Campaigns of Vicksburg and Jackson General Sherman s March to Chattanooga The Regiment En gaged on Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and at Ringgold A Quiet Winter The Atlanta Campaign That of Savannah The March through the Carolinas The Cap ture of Columbia March on Northward Home 515 CHAPTER XXX. TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Organized at Clinton Move to St. Louis To Helena The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou The Capture of Arkansas Post The Campaign of Vicksburg Of Jackson Affair of Cherokee Battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold Winter in Ala bama Campaign of Atlanta March to Savannah Capture of Columbia March to Wash ington City Conclusion 528 CHAPTER XXXI. TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. Rendezvous at Dubuque Campaign in Minnesota The Campaign under General Grant into Mississippi New Year s Day Chase of Forrest A Winter of Suffering The Little Rock Campaign Return to Memphis The Expedition to Meridian, Mississippi Red River Expe dition Battle of Yellow Bayou General A. J. Smith s Campaign against Forrest Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek March to Oxford Again at Memphis Join the Army under General Thomas Battle of Nashville General Canby s Campaign against Mobile Home Again 539 CHAPTER XXXII. TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organization at Iowa City First Encampment, near Helena, Arkansas A Hard March Expe dition to Duvall s Bluff The Vicksburg Campaign Battle of Port Gibson Champion Hills Jackson, Mississippi Red River Expedition An Ocean Voyage Sheridan s Shen andoah Valley Campaign Battle of Cedar Creek Voyage to Savannah, Georgia Disbanded ... 552 14 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXIII. TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. PAGE Organized at Council Bluffs March to St. Joseph, Missouri St. Lonis Columbus, Kentucky Helena, Arkansas The White River Expedition The Yazoo Pass Expedition The Battle of Helena March to Little Rock Camden Expedition The Battle of Terre Noir Retreat "City Guards" Mobile Campaign Move to Texas Homeward Bound 566 CHAPTER XXXIV. THIRTIETH INFANTRY. Organized at Keokuk Move to Helena Battle of Chickasaw Bayou Arkansas Post The Greenville Expedition Campaign of Vicksburg Colonel Abbott Slain Campaign of Jackson A Summer s Quiet The Affair of Cherokee Colonel Torrence Killed March to the Relief of the Army of the Cumberland Battle of Chattanooga Battle of Ring- gold Winter Quarters Campaign of Atlanta March in Pursuit of Hood The March to the Sea Through the Carolinas A Railroad Accident Disbanded 574 CHAPTER XXXV. THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY. Organized at Davenport Move to Helena Engaged in the Battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post Encampment near Young s Point Greenville Expedition The Vicksburg Campaign Siege of Jackson Affair of Canton Campaign of Chattanooga Campaign of Atlanta Battle of Kesaca Battle of Dallas Siege of Atlanta Jonesboro Lovejoy March to Savannah From Savannah to Washington To Iowa Conclusion 587 CHAPTER XXXVI. THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Organization The Regiment Separated in Detachments History of the Detachment under Major Eberhart History of Command under Colonel Scott His Evacuation of New Madrid His Trial and Acquittal Campaign in Mississippi The whole Command at last Together Colonel Scott s Congratulatory Order Major-General B. F. Butler Major-Gen eral N. P. Banks The Disastrous Red River Expedition Battle of Pleasant Hill RetreatServices of the Regiment after the Red River Campaign 597 CHAPTER XXXVII. THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. Samuel A. Rice Organization of his Regiment Provost Guard at St. Louis Proceed to Colum bus, Kentucky To Helena, Arkansas Expedition against Fort Pemberton The Battle of Helena The Little Rock Campaign The Southwestern Expedition Battle of Jenkins Ferry Death of General Rice Regiment at Little Rock March to Van Buren and Return Campaign of Mobile Mustered out 613 CHAPTER XXXVIII. THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. Rendezvous at Burlington Sickness in " Camp Lauman" The Good Samaritans of Burling tonVoyage to Helena Chickasaw Bayou Arkansas Post Guard of Prisoners to Chicago Rest at St. Louis Haines Bluff In Louisiana Morganza In Texas Profi ciency in Drill Admiral Farragut Capture of Forts Gaines and Morgan The Regiment Consolidated with the Thirty-eighth Canby s Campaign against Mobile Subse quent History of the Regiment ... 624 CONTENTS. 15 CHAPTER XXXIX. THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. PAGE Organized at Muscatine Move to Cairo Services in Illinois and Kentucky Campaigns of Vicksburg and Jackson Operations in Tennessee Red River Expedition Brilliant Suc cess at Henderson s Hill Battle of Old River Lake Major John Commanding is Slain Campaign of Tupelo Campaign of Missouri Battle of NasJiville Colonel Hill Slain Winter Quarters in Northern Alabama Campaign of Mobile Conclusion 640 CHAPTER XL. THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. Rendezvous at Keokuk Ordered South Stop at Columbus and Memphis Helena The Yazoo Pass Expedition Disease Return to Helena Celebrate the National Anniversary in Battle Join the Little Rock Expedition General Steele s " Southern Campaign" Battle of Mark s Mill The Regiment Captured Its Organization Continued at Little Rock.... 651 CHAPTER XLI. "THE GRAY-BEARD REGIMENT." The Thirty-Seventh Infantry Composed of Men more than Forty-five Years of Age Organized at Muscatine Brief Account of its Services Mustered out The Question of Bounty 661 CHAPTER XLII. THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. " Camp Franklin" Move to St. Louis To Kentucky Duty at New Madrid Siege of Vicks burg Expedition to Yazoo City Port Hudson Sickness Death of Colonel Hughes The Texas Expedition Capture of Fort Morgan Consolidated with the Thirty-fourth 664 CHAPTER XLIII. FORTIETH INFANTRY. The last of the Three Years Infantry Regiments " Copperheads" The Formation of the Regi ment Departure for Cairo Long Stay at Columbus, Kentucky Paducah Join the " Pro visional Division" of the Sixteenth Army Corps March to Little Rock The Camden Expedition Retreat Battle of Jenkins Ferry In the Indian Country Home 660 CHAPTER XLIV. SIXTH CAVALRY. Organization Rendezvous at Davenport Campaigning against Indians The Battle of White Stone Hill The Regiment Remains in Service on the Frontier 680 CHAPTER XLV. SEVENTH CAVALRY. Organized at Davenport Its Field of Operations West of the Missouri River Its Battles and Services to the Close of 1865 690 CHAPTER XLVI. EIGHTH CAVALRY. Organization at Davenport Move to Nashville, Tennessee Operations during the Winter of 1863-4 Campaign of Atlanta Of Nashville The Croxton Raid Death of Colonel Dorr... 694 16 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XLVII. ARTILLERY. PAGE Four Batteries of Light Artillery Organized in the State Account of their Organization- Brief Mention of their History Roster of their Officers 704 CHAPTER XLVIII. THE IOWA REGIMENT OF COLORED TROOPS. Organization of the Regiment at Keokuk Brief Mention of its Services 706 CHAPTER XLIX. NINTH CAVALRY. The Last Three- Years Regiment Recruited in Iowa ResumS of the State s Contributions to the Armies of the Union Organization of the Ninth Cavalry at Davenport Its Field of Operations in Arkansas 708 CHAPTER L. "ONE HUNDRED DAYS MEN." Four Regiments and Four Companies Recruited for One Hundred Days in the Summer of 1864 A Brief Account of the Organization and Services of these Troops 714 CHAPTER LI. THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. Organization at Des Moines Mustered at Davenport Battle of Parker s Cross Roads On Gar rison Duty The Campaign in Georgia under Sherman The Defence of Allatoona Lieutenant-Colonel Redfield Slain " Sherman s March to the Sea" Adjutant Byers Lyric March through the Carolinas The Grand Review at Washington City Discharged 717 CHAPTER LII. EIGHTH INFANTRY. Organized at Davenport in the Summer of 1861 Campaigning under Fremont Winter Quar tersThe Regiment Captured at Shiloh Reorganization Short Campaign in Missouri "Vicksburg Services in Tennessee The Meridian Expedition Provost Guard of Mem phis Defence of the City against Forrest s Attack The Campaign of JtfoMle The Assault of Spanish Fort The Collapse of the Rebellion Subsequent History 731 CHAPTER LIII. REBEL PRISONS CHARITY. Brief Notice of Iowa Troops who Suffered Rebel Imprisonment Benevolence Orphans Home.. 737 IOWA AND THE REBELLION CHAPTEK I. FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. INTRODUCTION THE ATTACK OF TRAITORS ON FORT SUMTER THE NATION AROUSED THE RESPONSE OF IOWA TO THE PRESIDENT S CALL FOR SEVENTY-FIVE THOU SAND MEN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST REGIMENT RENDEZVOUS AT KEOKUK ENCAMP THERE ORDERED TO REPORT TO GENERAL LYON MARCH TO BOONEVILLE TO SOUTH-WESTERN MISSOURI AFFAIR OF DUG SPRINGS McCUL- LOUGH S SPRINGS GENERAL NATHANIEL LYON BATTLE OF WILSON S CREEK RETREAT TO ROLLA MUSTERED OUT. IT is my purpose to write a history of the part taken by the troops of the State of Iowa in the war to suppress the wicked rebellion against the Union, which was commenced by traitors, in the attack on Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, and which rebellion, growing to gigantic proportions, called forth to suppress it no insignificant power from the least of the loyal States, and large armies from the most of them. It is true, that in comparison of the part borne by the national troops in the war, the part borne by the troops of any single State may justly enough be considered as unimportant. The fact is, the war itself was of such magnitude, whether considered in respect of the geographical area over which it was waged, or the number of men sent to the field, or its cost, that the notions of our people have be come, so to say, immense, upon all subjects which have any the least bear ing upon warfare, and I am not sure that my theme will be considered great enough for sober historical composition. But if we travel back of the present war in our own history, we shall find comparisons less magnificent, perhaps, in one sense ; but not in reality. The State of Iowa sent into the field, for instance, during the war for the Union, fully four times as many men as General Scott had under his command during the Mexican war; 3 17 18 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. fully ten times as many as General Jackson commanded when he won the victory of New Orleans ; quite as many as General Washington ever had under command at one time, and very many more than he ever had under his immediate command; about as many as composed the Army of the Potomac when it gained the battle of Gettysburg. These Union troops from Iowa occupied conspicuous positions, carried many flags, dropped from their muster-rolls in death and wounds many comrades, in all the important campaigns and battles of the west ; in those of Sherman in the south-east ; of Canby in the South ; and in those of General Sheridan in the Shenan- doah Valley. If the story of their gallant deeds be but modestly and truth fully told, it cannot be without interest or without importance. Moreover, the sentiment of State pride is one which, if I do not greatly err, ought to be cherished within proper bounds. The fundamental law of the nation gives no warrant for a strong government, in the old meaning of the words, at Washington. The teachings of our early statesmen have firmly fixed in the minds of the people the idea of State individuality, fre quently called, by the abuse both of language and of truth, State sovereignty. The doctrine, with its exact limitations, is correct in theory, and is, besides, of great practical importance. Misunderstood, mal-practiced, it may be come, as it has become in the South, secession, treason. Rightly under stood, rightly practiced, it makes of our State and National governments a band of brothers and a beneficent parent. The war did much to erase from the public mind the heresy of State sovereignty, and to write in its place the truth, State individuality. It is impossible to forget what each State did in the war, impossible to forget that each State did it all, not for itself, but for American nationality. It will be understood, then, that I have un dertaken this work with a strong sentiment of pride in the State of Iowa, and with a stronger sentiment of pride that Iowa is an honored State of the American Union. I shall show that Iowa has done its duty right manfully and heroically, without the remotest thought that every other loyal State has not done its duty right manfully and heroically. And, indeed, it would be impossible for me to give a clear and full description of the part taken by Iowa troops in the campaigns, either at the west or in the east, without honorable mention of their comrades who marched by their side, and whose blood mingled with theirs on so many battle-fields. The bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, and its capitulation the next day to the rebels, under the command of Beauregard, aroused the country to the highest pitch of indignation. The cry of "To arms!" was heard everywhere, from men of all political parties. The feeling was well- nigh universal that the nation should avenge the insult by promptly waging war upon the insurgents. The enthusiasm was great all over the land, and, perhaps, greater in the northwest than elsewhere. In that section there FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 19 are but few persons of entirely sedentary pursuits. Very many more men. spend their days in out-door employments than in-door vocations. Game is so plenty that those of studious lives,- and of the learned professions, are tempted many days in the year to go abroad into the bracing breezes of the vigorous climate. Western muscles are tough and elastic, and western nerves right finely tuned by reason of much manly exercise. There is no, profession more confining than that of the editor of a daily newspaper. The most successful editor of Iowa is scarcely more distinguished for his independent spirit and nervous paragraphs, than he is for his skill in catch ing fish ; whilst most of our lawyers and doctors are famous with fowling- pieces, A country where there is little dyspepsia must needs be deeply enthusiastic on proper occasion. Certain it is, that the intelligence of the fall of Fort Surnter aroused the martial feeling to a fine glow all over Iowa, On the 15th of April, the President of the United States issued a Proc lamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers from the States not in rebellion, under which one regiment was assigned as the quota of Iowa. On the 17th, Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood issued a proclamation, enjoin ing the militia of the State immediately to form volunteer companies in the different counties, with a view of entering into active service under the President s call ; and announcing that the regiment required would consist of ten companies, of at least seventy-eight men each. This proclamation had scarcely been printed before the executive was besieged by applicants for admission into the regiment, which could not contain one-fourth the men who were ready and anxious to enter it. The people were not a little indignant that the Secretary of War had required only one regiment from the State ; that he would receive but a thousand men of the thousands they wanted to give. Of the companies which were accepted, and which formed the First Iowa Volunteer Infantry, two were from the county of Muscatine, two from Des Moines, two from Dubuque, and one each from Johnson, Linn, Henry, and Scott. Now was, emphatically, the era of the romance of the war. The dif ferent organizations which formed the regiment were feted and lionized by their friends and neighbors with as much enthusiasm as ever were knights embarking on a crusade to the Holy Land. Flags were presented and received in speeches whose gorgeous coloring had very little of the melan choly hue of blood. The ladies assembled at the town and city halls, and, with needles, scissors, sewing machines, and what not, helped the tailors to get "the boys" thoroughly uniformed. Drums were beating, fifes playing on every street corner. All the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war raged in full force, none of war s sad realities having as yet been brought to the hearth-stones of the people. When the companies left their 20 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. various camps for the general rendezvous at the city of Keokuk, they were escorted to the trains or steamers by vast crowds, who bade adieu to the departing with cheers, waving of flags, and salvos of the best artillery which could be had. As it had been with friends at home, so it was with the citizens of Keokuk, who extended towards the soldiers kindness, courtesy, and hospi tality, without stint, with a degree of enthusiasm, in fact, worthy of chival rous society and a noble cause. On the llth of May the companies were formed, and marched to the Court-House, where field officers were chosen on the democratic plan, every man having a vote. In this manner John F. Bates, of Dubuque county, was chosen Colonel ; Williapi H. Merritt, of Linn, Lieutenant- Colonel; and Asbury B. Porter, of Henry, Major. The staff officers were speedily appointed, and from this date the regiment may be said to have been fully organized. The companies had been sworn into the ser vice by local magistrates upon their formation, nearly a month before, and had been for that period performing the duties of soldiers; but it was not till this, to them, eventful Saturday, that their regimental organiza tion was completed. On the 14th, Lieutenant Alexander Chambers of the Regular Army, met the companies at the various halls where they were quartered, and formally mustered them into the service of the United States. For two weeks the regiment remained in quarters in the city. On the 28th, the tents having arrived, the men went into camp on the outskirts of the town, where they remained some two weeks longer. This period was one of pleasure, complaint, and drill. The men drilled five hours daily, complained betimes that they were "cooped up in Keokuk" instead of being in the field, and enjoyed life quite as heartily as a thousand men well can. On the 24th of May, the patriotic ladies of the city gave the regiment a pic-nic dinner, which, maugre the want of wines and strong drink, was as plentiful and delicious, and as zestingly enjoyed, as any of the famous dinners which gratify the appetite and lighten the purses of the guests of Delmonico. Moreover, the occasion was enlivened by music from both men and women, and by eloquence from some of the distin guished men of the State. Other pic-nics there were of a more unpre tending sort, and other social enjojonents for the troops. It was the lovely season of the year when the luxurious foliage of the forests was fresh and beautiful, when the flowers bloomed in their bright array, so much finer than the royal purple of Solomon, when the sun warmed and revivified the earth without producing discomforting heat. It is not at all strange that basking in the enjoyments of a hospitable city and magnificent sur roundings, the men thought soldiering mere gala-day play, and complained FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 21 only because they were having altogether too much fun. On the llth of June, the regiment, together with the Second and Third Regiments, no\\ also rendezvousing at Keokuk, marched in column to a grove near the town, where ceremonies in honor of the great debater and statesman of Illinois, recently dead, were performed. The stay of the troops at Keokuk was of great service to them. They, had now learned to handle their arms with considerable proficiency, to per form the evolutions of the battalion, to cook their own food, to live in tents. They had learned what was necessary to go through with an arduous cam paign. In the short period of their term of service yet remaining, they put their knowledge to a glorious test, and, as we shall see, quitted them selves like men. It was very early in the morning of June 13, that a steamer arrived at Keokuk, bearing orders from General Lyon to Colonel Curtis, Second Iowa, commanding him to report immediately, with his regiment, in Mis souri. Orders came at the same time to Colonel Bates. It was evident that stirring times had come at last. By day-light Colonel Curtis had his command steaming down the Mississippi, but it was 5 o clock in the after noon before Colonel Bates moved, as he had to wait for transportation. At that hour, the regiment marched to the river, at once embarked, and was fairly on the way before dusk. A large concourse of people assembled to witness the departure. Whilst the crowd on shore and the soldiers on board were shouting themselves hoarse, the steamer left the wharf, and turned down the majestic stream. Just as the shades of night came on, the regi mental band struck up the air of "Dixie Land," and the people of the hospitable city sought their homes while its notes continued to float back on the evening air. The boat reached Hannibal, Missouri, about midnight, when the troops immediately disembarked, and during the rest of the night slept soundly upon the floor of a large warehouse near the river. The regiment went by rail to Macon City without delay. At this place, where the North Missouri Railroad joins the Hannibal and St. Joseph, it remained till the 18th, when, taking the former road, it traveled again by rail a distance of twenty-five miles, to a little place called Renick, north east of Booneville, and distant, as the crow flies, about fifty miles. On the day before, General Lyon, by a fine stratagem, had signally defeated "Governor" Jackson and his "State troops" at Booneville, capturing many prisoners, arms, supplies, and a large quantity of ammunition. As the train which carried the First Iowa approached Renick, horsemen were seen flying in all directions over the prairie. They were some of Jackson s whipped State troops. From Renick, the regiment made its first march on foot. The distance to Booneville, by the route taken, was more than fifty miles. The weather was excessively hot. The march was 22 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. commenced at 10 o clock, June 19, and at that hour on the morning of the 21st, the column reached the left bank of the Missouri, opposite Boone ville. The regiment went immediately aboard of a steamer, and remained on board till the 24th. General Lyon was uncertain as to the movements of the enemy. He did not know, as yet, where he should strike his next blow, or whither he should march. Hence he kept several regiments con stantly quartered on steamers, which had steam always up, and were ready to move either up or down the river at an instant s notice, as circumstances might require. It shortly became evident, however, that he would find the enemy away from the river. On the 24th, the troops which had been kept on transports went ashore and encamped near Booneville. Our regi ment had a beautiful camp on the Cooper County Fair Grounds, not far from a camp of regulars, where horse-whipping, gagging, and "bucking" were daily administered to some unlucky wights, to the great disgust and real pain of our men, a large majority of whom were gentlemen of intelli gence and culture who could not appreciate the merits of that discipline whpse cardinal doctrine seemed to be unmixed cruelty to the private soldier. The regiment remained here till the 3d of July. Much of the time it rained, and the weather was very unpleasant ; but when the sun came out again and gladdened the face of nature, the men enjoyed themselves most heartily in their fine encampment, which was on an elevated plateau, whence a view of the river could be had for miles both up and down. Whilst here, the State paymaster paid the regiment for some three weeks service, so that the officers and men had funds wherewithal to patronize the hucksters, the farmers, the little girls who were allowed to visit camp for the purpose of selling fruits, vegetables, pies, and cakes. There was a regimental drill in the city one day, too, whereby the troops won much eclat, and a request from the citizens to General Lyon that they might be encamped in the town. Moreover, a queer-looking craft came steaming down the river one morning, and, as she showed no colors and paid no heed to a blank cartridge shot from a six-pounder, on shore, there was quite a cry of Kiver Pirate ! A six-pounder across her bows brought her to, and she proved to be a boat which had been to the far west., and was now returning, laden with spoils, trophies, relics, and elks horns, bartered from Indians who pitch their wig wams near the sources of the Missouri. The army of General Lyon at Booneville was three thousand two hundred strong, all infantry, except Captain Totten s battery of artillery. It was not well supplied, and was almost entirely without transportation. Jackson, with some seven thousand followers, many of them mounted, but not well armed, was rapidly retreating toward the southwest. General Lyon determined to pursue and give him battle. At seven o clock on the morning of July 3, FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 23 his little army was in motion, and at eight passed out of the town in a southerly direction, followed by a train composed of such vehicles and teams as could be impressed from the surrounding country, and which formed as motley a spectacle as the tatterdemalion recruits of Falstaff. At two o clock the column halted and encamped in a dense forest, whose heavy undergrowth, and clambering vines added to the deep shades of the place and the comfort of the troops on that hot day. This was " Camp Lycta. No. 1 from Booneville, and was distant from that place some fifteen miles. Early on the morning of the 4th the army moved, and celebrated Indepen dence Day by "chasing Claib. Jackson." It was excessively hot, and not a few of the men were compelled to stop by the wayside. But before night fall, the tents were pitched on the banks of a small, beautiful stream in Pettis county, whither the loiterers soon came. A half dozen springs of cold water quenched the thirst of the men, and added to the deliciousness of the night s coffee. The whole distance, from Booneville to Camp Sigel, ten miles northwest of Springfield, was traveled by forced marches, averaging more than twenty-five miles a day. The heat was oppressive almost all the time, while the clouds of dust were nearly intolerable. Grand River could not be forded, and the current was too swift to permit the passage by raft. A ricketty old ferry transported the entire army, here reenforced by Major Sturgis, with two regiments of Kansas troops, a detachment of re gulars, and a battery of artillery, numbering in all some two thousand eight hundred men. The crossing of the Osage was another tedious process, similar to the crossing of Grand River. But the whole march was rapid in the extreme. General Lyon, who at first called the Iowa regiment "Gipsies," on account, no doubt, of the dilapidated condition of their clothing, christened them the "Iowa Grey Hounds," one evening after a long day s march, when, having taken a little rest, they were having skir mish drill. On the llth of July, till three o clock of the following morn ing, the main army marched forty-six miles, when it halted for two hours, and then pressed rapidly forward six miles further. Here the troops encamped for the night, and the next day marched fifteen miles to Camp Sigel, where they remained several days, then marched twelve miles south ward, and pitched their tents at Camp McClellan, near Pond Creek, and not far from the village of Little York. From this point six companies of the regiment, forming part of a detach ment consisting of them, a Kansas regiment and several companies of regulars, marched to Forsythe, near the Arkansas line, and having there dispersed a considerable band of rebels and captured some fifty prisoners, returned in safety to camp, quite a number of the men being somewhat better clothed upon their return than they were at their departure. It was here that the second death in the regiment since leaving Keokuk occurred ; 24 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. private John J. Wiley, of Company A, having died of exhaustion on the swift march toward Springfield. On the 30th of July, Thomas Maginnis, of the same company, died of typhoid fever. On the same day his body was borne by his comrades to the highest peak of the Ozark Mountains, and there buried with military honors ; the salutes of which are all the sounds that ever disturbed the primeval solitude of the now sacred spot. On August 1st General Lyon moved his army, and on the next day defeated Ben. McCulloch at Dug Spring. The battle on the Union side was fought almost exclusively by cavalry and artillery, the Iowa First acting as skirmishers on the right wing of the army. At McCullough s Spring some forty or fifty rebel horsemen rode right into our lines, and were water ing their horses in a streamlet not far from General Lyon, who asked the captain to what command he belonged. What command do you belong to?" responded the captain. "Fire! boys," shouted the general, and the rebels spurred their horses into the woods at a break-neck speed. A few of their horses were wounded and captured. It was right here where the Iowa boys marched into a rebel camp which had been so recently deserted that our men made a good, warm breakfast of the meal which had been left by the flying enemy. General Lyon pursued no further. On the 4th, he returned to Springfield. General NATHANIEL LYON had as correct ideas of the nature of the contest in which the country was engaged, and of the practical warfare required, as any commanding officer, perhaps, we have had in the service. Though educated as a soldier, and long engaged in the profession of arms, he was nevertheless much devoted to the study of public affairs. Pollard, with a display of heroics characteristical of a Southern writer, says he was "an unmitigated, undisguised, and fanatical abolitionist." In truth, he believed in free labor, as beneficial to the laborer not only, but to the State. His favorite poem was Burns "A man s a man for a that." He had a lively sense of justice, and a thorough hatred of oppression. I think he hated the rebellion, its cause, quite as much as Mr. Wendell Phillips the one and General Butler the other ; and he had a very particular hatred for the rebels of Missouri. It is possible that his earnest feelings led him to estimate as of too high importance their defeat. Certain it is, that at this time his mind was halting between two opinions. He had earnestly asked for reinforcements. They were not sent. The rebel army was vastly superior to his in numbers ; their mounted troops alone outnumbering his whole army. The battle of Booneville and the affair of Dug Springs, how ever, had shown him that his troops were Greek, and the rebels barbarian. Thinking as he thought, knowing the situation as he knew it, it was most difficult for even his determined nature to decide upon attack or retreat. At length he made up his mind to attack, and so firmly that the unanimous FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 25 opinion of his officers in favor of retreat could not move him from his decision. His plan was to surprise the enemy in his camp, and give him quick, sharp battle. Accordingly, on the evening of the 9th of August, the army silently marched from their camps at Springfield, General Lyon, with the main body going by the Cassville road, Colonel Sigel, with the Missouri regi ments and a battery of artillery, taking the Fayetteville road. Sigel was to march by the rebel right flank, and deliver attack in their rear, whilst Lyon was to attack in front. The total number of the Union army was less than five thousand five hundred. That of the rebels was about twenty-three thousand. They were encamped on both sides of Wilson s Creek, a small stream, at this time scarcely wider than the length of a lead-pencil. Its course is generally south, but it here makes a bend to the left, and soon again to the right, forming a peninsula not unlike the shape of a rounded letter Y. General Lyon, in whose column was the Iowa regiment, marched on the road some four miles, and then turned off into the prairie, following a friendly guide. Thus the march was continued in almost perfect silence, the men not uttering a word, and even the artillery trains passing over the turf in stillness, till two o clock on the morning of the 10th! Then the column halted, and the troops, wrapping their blankets about them, lay down to rest in the tall grass. "With the first dawn," says Henry Con ner, "we were in motion, and in about an hour, with the first glimpse of the morning sun, our ears were saluted with the sharp sound of musketry among the trees. " The enemy s pickets had been quietly surprised and captured, and his camp guards were now being engaged. Captain Totten moved his battery to a commanding eminence, and com menced a rapid cannonade. The Iowa regiment was immediately in the rear of this battery, to the left of which was Lieutenant Dubois battery. Upon the right of Totten s battery were the First Missouri and Second Kansas regiments. The other troops were advantageously posted, Captain Plummer s battalion of regulars occupying the left of the line. The engage ment soon became general. Nearest the position taken by General Lyon were the Missouri troops un der Generals Slack, McBride, Clark, Parsons, and Rains, and these imme diately advanced in large numbers against our line where General Lyon was commanding in person. They were quickly repulsed, and driven back clear out of sight, escaping in great confusion and with speed through the woods. Captain Plummer s battalion, numbering only two hundred and fifty men, were attacked in a corn-field by a Louisiana and Arkansas regiment, where occurred a desperate conflict of musketry. The gallant little band of Unionists sustained this attack of, an overwhelming force, every man keeping back eight enemies, for more than an hour, when Captain Plummer was severely 4 26 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. wounded, and his troops sullenly fell back to the main line, fighting a* they went. Sigel s rear attack had at first been entirely successful, but an over powering force was soon sent against him, and he was badly whipped. Five of his six guns were captured, and almost his entire command dispersed and driven pell-mell from the field. Meanwhile the main battle where Lyon himself commanded was raging furiously. Both sides were fighting des perately for the field. The artillery of both armies kept up a constant can nonade, ours doing fine execution, but the shot of the enemy nearly all the while passing over the heads of the Unionists and doing no harm. The rattle of musketry was as rapid, as unintermittent, as at the battle of Fair Oaks in Virginia nearly a year afterwards, so graphically described in the celebrated narrative of Mr. Samuel Wilkeson. Fresh troops, some from Louisiana, some from Arkansas, some from Texas, and others still from Missouri, were again brought against our line, which in places wavered, fell back a few yards, but regathering strength sprang to its place and steadily drove back the enemy. Again and again they moved to the attack, and again and again were repulsed with fearful slaughter. The woods were strewn with their dead and wounded, whilst our own disabled were going and being Tborne ceaselessly to the rear. General Lyon was himself twice wounded before the fight had been going on two hours, and his horse had been shot dead. It was for six hours as pitiless a storm of bullets as ever fell upon a battle-field, whilst the roar of artillery made a continuous and deafening boom, and seemed to shake the very houses so far off as Spring field. It was while the contest was thus fiercely raging, that the Iowa First won the dying admiration of their beloved general, and imperishable renown. The correspondent of the New York Tribune, who witnessed the engage ment, says : "When the First Iowa came up to the front it was in splendid order and with a firm tread. The Missouri First had been almost over powered, were almost exhausted from the severe fighting in which they had been engaged for over two hours, and had they not been relieved must soon have fallen before the fourth body of fresh troops brought against them. The lowas and Kansans now came upon the stage of action, and right well did they fight. The former fought like tigers, stood firm as trees, and saved us from utter and overwhelming defeat. General Lyon saw their indomitable perseverance and bravery, and with almost his last breath praised their behaviour in glowing terms. Major Porter was all along the line, cheering his men forward, even when bullets fell like hail, and scores were dropping all around him. Companies B, under Lieutenant Graham ; C, Captain Mason, who was killed soon after entering into action ; F, Captain Wise ; H, Captain Gottschalk ; I, Captain Herron, and K, Cap tain Cook, were in the very thickest of the fight. The three latter were FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 27 UNION REBEL 33A.TTLE OF WIESOIV S CHEEK. EXPLANATIONS. I. Captain Plummer s Battalion. K. Rebel Batteries Masked. L. Colonel Sigel s Artillery. M. Sigel s Brigade, Third and Fifth Missouri. N. Part of Rebel Train. 0. Concealed Rebel Batteries. X. Road through Rebel Camp. Y. McCulloch s Head-Quarters. Z. Rains Head-Quarters. A. Captain Totten s Battery. B. Dubois Battery. C. Log House. D. Cornfield. E. FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEERS. F. Second Missouri Volunteers. G. Second Kansas Volunteers. H. First Kansas, First Missouri, and Captain Shaler s Battalion. 28 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. afterwards placed in ambush by Captain Granger of the regulars. Lying down close to the brow of the hill, they waited for another attempt of the enemy to retake their position. On they came, in overwhelming numbers. Not a breath was heard among the lowas till their enemies came within thirty-five or forty feet, when they poured the contents of their Minie mus kets into the enemy and routed them, though suffering terribly themselves at the same time. Two Kansas companies afterwards did the same thing on the eastern slope, and repulsed a vigorous attack of the enemy. "Lyon now desired the men to prepare to make a bayonet charge im mediately after delivering their next fire, and the lowas at once offered to go, and asked for a leader. On came the enemy. No time could be lost to select a leader. I will lead you, exclaimed Lyon, come on, brave men, and with an unnatural glare in his eyes, he had about placed himself in the van of the lowas, while General Sweeney took a similar position to lead on a portion of the Kansas troops when the enemy came only near enough to discharge their pieces, and retired before the destructive fire of our men. Before the galling fire from the enemy fell the brave General Lyon." The bloody contest had now raged more than three hours. The smoke of the battle hung over the field in a thick cloud, and penetrated all parts of the woods like a fog, so that the enemy could not be seen at any dis tance. The flashes of the artillery for some time before the death of General Lyon, seemed like lurid flames creeping through the smoke of a smouldering conflagration. The command now devolved upon Major Sturgis. An almost total silence reigned for nearly half an hour, when the rebel officers having succeeded in rallying their troops, again brought them into action, Captain Totten s battery, supported by the First Iowa, except two companies, and the regulars, being the main point of attack. "The enemy could frequently be seen," says Sturgis, in his report, "within twenty feet of Totten s guns, and the smoke of the opposing lines was often so confounded as to seem but one. Not the slightest disposition to give way was manifested at any point, and while Captain Steele s battalion, which was some yards in front of the line, together with the troops on the right and left, were in imminent danger of being overwhelmed by superior numbers, the contending lines being almost muzzle to muzzle, Captain Granger rushed to the rear and brought up the supports of Dubois battery, consisting of two or three companies of the First Missouri, three companies of the First Kansas, and two companies of the First Iowa, in quick time, and fell upon the enemy s right flank, and poured into it a murderous volley, killing or wounding nearly every man within sixty or seventy yards. From this moment a perfect rout took place throughout the rebel front, while ours on the right flank continued to pour a galling fire into their disorganized masses." FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 29 "The battle of Wilson s Creek," says O Conner, "may be called a victory or a defeat ; but one thing is certain, our army, and among them our First Iowa Regiment, had the satisfaction of eating our rations, shak ing each other by the hand, and singing the Star Spangled Banner, on the same ground upon which we fired the first gun in the morning." It was a victory, one more of which like it would have ruined the army. The surprise was a complete success. The main body was all the time and at all points successful. The rebel commanders saw they were whipped, and burned their trains preparatory to a general retreat. Their army was so completely worsted that they did not pursue us a foot, though we had a long train of coveted supplies which had to be transported over a difficult country. But it was a victory so dearly bought that only the finest military genius could have given it the practical results of victory. Lyon might have done it, but it was not within the power of Sturgis or such as he. I suppose General Ben. McCulloch was more astonished at the victory which had been thrust upon him than any conqueror who ever lived. Even upon the admission that it was a defeat to the Union arms, it had the moral effect of a victory, just as the battle of Bunker Hill had in the revolution. The troops who fought under Lyon cannot be persuaded that they were defeated. Their gallant conduct won even from the officers of the rebel army, and from rebel historians, high admiration and praise. It electrified the country from the despair into which it had fallen after the disaster of Bull Run, and put a stop forever to the exaggerated boastings of the rebels. It taught them that when placed man to man against western troops they could not stand an hour. In teaching this valuable lesson, the Iowa First brought to itself and the State immortal honor. According to the rule which has been adopted by the War Office the term of service of the men had expired some days before the battle. But they went into the fight with alacrity and zest, and both officers and men, according to uni versal testimony, behaved with the utmost efficiency and bravery. No troops," says Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt, who, on account of the sicknesa of Colonel Bates, commanded the regiment, and who acted with great courage and skill throughout the battle, "no troops, regular, or volunteer, ever sustained their country s flag with more determined valor and fortitude; they have crowned themselves with imperishable honor, and must occupy a conspicuous place in the history of their country." The regiment lost in this engagement, in killed, wounded, and missing, one hundred and fifty-five men. There were twenty-one killed on the spot or mortally wounded, one hundred and thirty-two less or more severely wounded, and two reported missing, supposed to be killed. The killed and mor tally wounded were reported: Shelby Norman, Company A; W. R. Munsey, Cyrus Douglass, James E. Edgington, Company B; Captain 30 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Alexander L. Mason, Alexander Buchanan, Charles C. Michener, Company C; Edward Bonitz, Company D; Jacob V. Whipple (printed Whippo in Adjutant-General s report,) Franklin Mann, Company F; Hans J. Nehm, Heinrich Wright, Company G; F. Rhomberg, Louis Goennel, Peter Jaeggi, George Kargel, Frederick Otto, Company H; J. H. McHenry, J. J. Wall, Company I; Perry Hoyt, Company K. These were the honored men who first gave their lives in battle from the State of Iowa. Not a few of the wounded, too severely hurt to be moved with the army, were left at Spring field, where they long suffered with patience and fortitude ; but the greater proportion of the disabled, were, happily, transported in ambulances and wagons to Holla, when the army retreated thitherward. 1 And that was very soon. Springfield was left on the morning after the battle, the army going to Holla by a circuitous march, in order to cross the Gasconade River where it could be forded. The distance was one hundred and thirty miles. A portion of the time the Iowa regiment formed the rear guard of the column. A considerable part of the way, the country is rough, rugged, almost mountainous. It is like that over which the march to Springfield was made. "The soil is rich," says a correspondent of the Muscatine Journal, "but full of lime-stones, which show themselves on the surface of the ground about as thick as onions in Scott County, to the great annoyance of plowmen, and the especial annoyance of us poor devils who 1 The wounded were: Adjutant George W. Waldron; Company A First Sergeant, Hugh J. Campbell, N. M. Brown, Q. F. Greenhow, F. M. Ileaton, Jesse Lucas, Alexander Miller ; Company B Lieutenant Harvey Graham; Sergeant Zachariah Shearer; Corporal A. L. McPherson, Cor poral James Robertson, Corporal John W. Kinsey, Samuel B. Austin, A. H. Brown, William Butler, M. Champion, Lloyd H. Dillon, William M. DeCamp, George W. Dennis, William Ferguson, William H. H. Goodrell, R. M. Hampton, Charles H. Hilton, A. Q. Lang, James Murray, William Moffit, Lemuel Madden, H. B. Pmnphrey, A. T. Smith, William Tyler, James H. Trimbell, Charles E. Thomson, James Watson, George II. Walter, (Missing, I. II. Sale, A. Walker ;) Company C Lieutenant Wil liam Pursell, Sergeant Charles G. Hays, Corporal A. N. Snyder, Corporal Benjamin S. Stone, Robert Armstrong, 0. N. Bennett, J. E. Bridges, J. F. M. Cogdal, Moses Etherton, Charles S. Fox, Benjamin F. Fobes, John A. Harriman, Aaron V. Jewell, Jacob Karn, Joseph Lane, Gottleib Maurer, Richard R. Madden, Albert Jarves, Jerome Norton, J. D. Oldridge, William Pickering, E. Patton, J. H. Ricketts, A. A. Shane, William Stewart, William G. Stone, J. R. Underwood ; Company D Ser geant Henry Rose, George Ruff; Company E Corporal William J. Fuller, Henry C. Cousins, Thomas S. Canfield, George Lawrence, Reuben M. Miles ; Company F Charles A. Hanson, Robert W.Hamilton; Company G Ernst Arp, D. I. Brammer, F. Dose, Peter Einfeldt, Joseph I. Enderle, William Keil, Emil Magnus, Johann I. Murbach, Jens Matheisen, Jacob Flaff, F. I. Prein, Johann I. Peterson, Hans Rahn, Hans Reimers, August Rohlf, Henry Selken, Heinrich Sievers, Heinrich Stol- tenberg, C. Tadarvald ; Company H Captain Frederick Gottschalk, Sergeant Frederick Dettmer, Frederick Gallee, Abe Herbest, Ulrich Wyss, George Buehler, Frederick Deggendorf, Adam Doerr, John Frey, Jesse Lichtenhain, Edward Merz, Deitrich Meyer, Frederick Otto, Andrew Schoeni, Leo Schumacher, John Steinle, Jacob Valerius, E. Weirich, Rudolf Weinandt, William Wille ; Company I Corporal Robert Williams, George II. Ballou, John Bell, Orson Bennet, Charles N. Clark, Henry C. Darrah, C. Gregory, John Leary, S. W. Mattis, Christopher W. Moreing, A. G. McDonald, James O Grady, George S. Pierce, Edgar Tisdale, Charles J. Wiegel, Lawrence Webb; Company K Ser geant Edward Coulter, John M. Chase, Samuel Daniels. John H. Fitzgerald, Joseph Italian, E. R. McKee, William D. Robbins, James 0. Stewart, William H. Shafer, George F. Schoouover, John B. Stiue, and Joseph Lobear, of Company A. FIRST IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 31 ha vo to sleep on them every night." Private Goodsel Buckingham pleas antly says, "The stones are small, numerous, and sharp. To make our beds, we lay our blankets on the stone-pile, and then lay ourselves down on our blankets, putting our hands under us and pulling out the stones where they hurt worst, till all is comfortable! Lying in one position we can sleep soundly till morning. It generally takes from fifteen minutes to a quarter of an hour to make one of these Ozark mountain-beds, but they are very permanent when once made." On the 16th, the Gasconade was passed, and on the evening of that day the army pitched camp within seven miles of Holla. After supper Colonel Bates, who had traveled in an ambulance from Springfield, called his regiment into line, and, announcing that the train would leave Rolla at ten o clock in the morning, asked the men whether they would prefer to go on at once or remain where they were dur ing the night. There was a unanimous expression in favor of marching im mediately. The regiment was entirely out of rations and almost entirely without clothing. Their term of service had some time before expired. They were anxious to get home. As they took up their line of march along the road, on both sides of which the army was encamped, they were met and cordially shaken by the hand by hundreds of their comrades from Missouri and Kansas. As the sounds of their footsteps died away to those in camp they spontaneously lifted up their voices in cheers for "the Iowa boys," which awoke the slumbering echoes of the surrounding hills till they seemed themselves to shout of the home to which the brave men were hastening. At Rolla they received their clothing, and at an early hour of the day went aboard the train for St. Louis, reaching that city the same evening. They were met at the depot by thousands of citizens, anxious to hear all about Wilson s Creek, by hundreds more, anxious to inquire of relatives and friends who had been in the battle. They remained in the city a few days whilst the rolls were being perfected, when they were paid off, and mustered out. When the different companies reached their homes in Iowa they were welcomed with the most unbounded kindness and enthusiasm. Everywhere they were treated like heroes. The service performed by the First Iowa Volunteers was of very great value to the country and of incalculable worth to the State. From the time they left Keokuk till they reached Holla, they marched more than six hun dred and twenty miles. At the very turning-point of the battle of Wilson s Creek they saved the day, and saved the army. With their gallant com rades there, they gave the country an exhibition of courage, of all fighting qualities, of which the country at that time stood sadly in need. They buried the shame of the recent disaster in the east, and brought again to life the national glory. The part our own regiment there performed re- 32 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. fleeted untarnished honor upon the State, gave it at once a reputation and standing of which any country might justly boast. The value of commenc ing a thing right can hardly be overestimated. The First Iowa commenced the State s career in the war so finely, that it made an example to be imi tated from the very start, of which all the other organizations which soon followed took full advantage. Henceforth our regiments were in honor bound to maintain unsullied the proud reputation which the First had given to the State, and we shall see that in no single instance did they fail in that regard. Moreover, the regiment was a school for other regiments. It re turned to the State about eight hundred strong, and it was not long till at least six hundred were members of other regiments. Major-General Her- ron was a captain in the First Iowa, and so was Brigadier-Greneral Mathies. There are many field and line officers who honored the service in many bat tles since Wilson s Creek who were there first under fire ; many who occupied the post of honor, the private station, in our veteran regiments, who saw Lyon fall on Oak Hill. "Whether, therefore, we reflect upon what this gal lant body of men did for the country, or for the State of Iowa ; what it did directly and what indirectly ; what it did while organized, or what so many of its members have since done, it is but the simple duty of us all to bear it gratefully in our memories forevermore. CHAPTER II. SECOND INFANTRY. CRGANIZATION AT KEOKUK SAMUEL R. CURTIS, JAMES M. TUTTLE, AND M. M. CROCKER, THE FIRST FIELD OFFICERS MOVE TO WESTERN MISSOURI IMPORT ANT SERVICES THERE AT BIRD S POINT GUARD OF McDOWELL COLLEGE PRISON "DEAD RABBITS" THE BATTLE OF FORT &ONELSON TRE IOWA SECOND THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE BATTLE OF SHILOH SIEGE OF CORINTH -QUIET MARCH TO IUKA BATTLE OF CORINTH CAMPAIGNING IN TENNESSEE WINTER QUARTERS AT PULASKI RE-ENLISTMENT THE CAMPAIGN OF AT LANTATHE THIRD INFANTRY CONSOLIDATED WITH THE SECOND THE MARCH TO SAVANNAH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS HOME. THE Second Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, one of the most dis tinguished of our commands, was organized at Keokuk very soon after the commencement of the war. It was the first regiment of three years men that our State sent into the field, and the first of all to leave Iowa for the theatre of war. Its companies were enrolled during that first splendid uprising of enthusiasm which followed the atrocious bombardment of Fort Surnter, and they had within their ranks many men of great talents and of considerable reputation in the State. There never was, perhaps, in any country a military organization of equal numbers which possessed more men of merit. The intelligence of the easy victory of the insurgents over the^ mild- mannered Major Anderson had scarcely become universally known in our State, when the companies which afterwards composed the Second Iowa were in quarters, ready to march to regimental rendezvous. The city of Keokuk was fixed upon as the place of organization, and thither the com panies moved soon after the first bloodshed of the war. Company A was from Lee county. Richard H. Huston was captain, and T. I. McKenney and S. M. Archer lieutenants. Company B, from Scott county, was commanded by Captain Robert M. Littler ; John Gr. Huntington and John Flanagan were lieutenants. Company C was also mainly from Scott ; J. De Witt Brewster, captain, Jonathan S. Slaymaker, William F. 5 33 34 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Holmes, lieutenants. Company D was from Polk county. Of this company Marcellus M. Crocker was commanding officer. His lieutenants were Norton L. Dykeman and Noah Webster Mills. Crocker being soon promoted major. Mills was appointed captain. Jefferson county was the home of most of the men of Company E ; Frederick Metzler, captain ; George Strong, Stephen D. Gorsuch, lieutenants. Captain Allen F. Brooks, Lieutenants A. "VVilkins and John T. Stewart, brought in Com pany F, from Van Buren county. Davis county, of her generous patriot ism, contributed Company G; James Baker being captain; James B. Weaver and Samuel A. Moore lieutenants. We shall see that Baker and Weaver each rose to the command of the regiment, and that the former gave his life to the Union on one of the most glorious fields of the long contest for the Union. Company H hailed from Washington county; Henry R. Cowles was captain ; Allan L. Thompson, Norton P. Chipman, were lieutenants. Captain Hugh P. Cox commanded a company from Clinton, of which Noel B. Howard (afterwards colonel) and Thomas Snowden were subalterns. Company K was from Wapello county; Charles C. Cloutman, captain ; Alonzo Eaton, F. W. Hawley, lieutenants. The field officers of this regiment were elected by vote of the officers and men of these companies. In this manner Samuel R. Curtis was chosen Colonel, James M. Tuttle, Lieutenant-Colonel, and M. M. Crocker, Major, all of whom afterwards became general officers, distinguished for talents and efficiency. Curtis became a Major-General of Volunteers, and at one time commanded the Department of Missouri. He commanded that army which won the great battle of Pea Ridge, and highly distinguished himself during the war. Tuttle became a Brigadier-General, and on many fields, commanding first a brigade and afterwards a division, exhibited soldierly qualities which gained for him great renown. Crocker rose to the rank of Brevet Major-General, and to the achievement of a military fame which shall endure so long as the capture of Jackson, and the victory of Cham pion Hills shall be remembered among men. Lieutenant Norton P. Chipman was appointed Adjutant. He, too, rose to prominent view in the annals of the war. Serving with the regiment till some time after he was promoted Major, wounded at Donelson, made an Aide-de-Camp in the regular army with the rank of Colonel, he conducted the affairs of a department, as General Curtis Chief of Staff, with acknowledged success, and afterwards at the national capital, in the Bureau of Military Justice, was a conspicuous person on that forum where the forensic abilities of noted advocates were tested to their utmost. He it was who was Judge Advocate of the Court which tried the monster Wirz, of Andersonville prison infamy, and who did all that one man could do to relieve that court from the odium which was attached to it by reason of the SECOND INFANTRY. 35 overbearing, tyrannical conduct of the President, Major-General Lew. Wal lace, the Jefferies of our military tribunals, whose conduct as a judge was no less worthy of unmixed condemnation than that of Wirz as a jailer. Colonel Chipman was about this time brevetted Brigadier-General. To return : Lieutenant John T. Stewart, of Van Buren, was appointed Quarter master of the regiment, Dr. Wells R Marsh, Surgeon, and William W. < Nassau, assistant. It was not till some time after the organization that Rev. Andrew Axline was commissioned chaplain. The companies were mustered into the service, the 27th and 28th of May, 1861, under the proclamation of the President dated the 3d of the same month. The field officers being elected about the same time, the command at once entered upon the interesting duty of learning the profession of arms. The companies, before regimental organization, had received in struction in drill ; but the work was now begun in earnest, and the whole military machine fairly put in motion. The regiment left Keokuk on the 13th of June, and disembarking at Hannibal, moved thence by cars to the western part of Missouri, head quarters at St. Joseph. It was during the reign of terror in Missouri that the command made this journey across the state. It remained at St. Joseph, in guard of the railroad eastward, and in the performance of the line of duties required by the turbulent state of the populace till the latter part of July. The services of the regiment in keeping down the discon tented in preserving, in fact, this part of Missouri in the Union were of inestimable worth not only to the state, but to the national cause. Having thus served their country efficiently at St. Joseph, the Second Iowa Volunteers were ordered to Bird s Point, well known to all who have navigated the Mississippi. It is, geographically, to southeastern Missouri, about as St. Joseph is to the northwestern part. The regiment, at Bird s Point, and in the region roundabout, as well in Kentucky along the river, as in Missouri as far back as Pilot Knob, performed duties not unlike those in which they had been engaged at St. Joseph. The command here took the second degree in soldiering, and what with services at and near Bird s Point and Pilot Knob became well prepared for the field of battle. The fact of principal interest, however, connected with this part of the regi ment s history, was its unhealthfulness. When the command returned to St. Louis, in the latter part of October, there were only about four hundred men fit for duty. The sick list was large in every company. Meanwhile, Colonel Curtis had been promoted to the rank of brigadier- general, and Colonel Tuttle was in command of the regiment. Major Crocker was promoted lieutenant-colonel, but being commissioned soon afterwards colonel of the Thirteenth regiment, was succeeded early in November by Lieutenant- Colonel Baker, promoted from captain of 36 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Company G. Adjutant Chipman had meantime been promoted major. Lieutenant T. I. McKenney, who probably carries as much rebel lead in him as any man in America, succeeded Chipman as adjutant. He after wards was made assistant adjutant-general on the staff of General Strong, and there, then on General Curtis staff, afterwards serving with Pope, again with Curtis all the while actively engaged during the war, and at last becoming a brevet brigadier-generalhe was always vigilant, active, and brave, one of the most meritorious of the staff officers which Iowa contributed to the army. The regiment remained at St. Louis, recuperating and on guard duty, during the winter. In the city there was a certain institution called "McDowell College," at this time used as a sort of prison for rebels cap tured with arms in their hands or treason in their hearts, which, by con struction, amounted to the same thing. The regiment was assigned the duty of guarding this college, or prison. Now, whether correctly or not, it was generally regarded as a " secession concern." That fact is probably enough to account for its conversion into a prison for rebels and malcon tents. But, though it was so converted in the main, it seems that certain attributes of collegiate sanctity still clung to it. The "museum" remained intact, and, filled with specimens, "dead rabbits" and stuffed beasts of all kinds, wherewithal to illustrate the science of Buffon and the imagination of poor Goldsmith, was ordered to be sacredly guarded from vandalism and pillage. This was one of the duties of the Second infantry. Unfor tunately there was a "hole in the wall," through which some vandal, not having the fear of God before his eyes, crept into the museum, and feloniously stole, took, and carried away some of the dead rabbits and stuffed beasts aforesaid. All things considered, it was, perhaps, a venial offence. But the learned Buffons and the gossiping Goldsmiths of St. Louis took it in high dudgeon, and raised a terrible clatter about the ears of the military authorities. General Halleck, now in command of the department, who had committed a miserable translation of one French work and some stealings from others, sympathized with the students of Buffon and of the dead rabbits. General Schuyler Hamilton, at this time commanding the post, if I mistake not, sympathized, as he was bound to do by the Army Regulations, with the commanding general, and the regiment, not knowing who had committed the offence, or, if knowing, not having a man in the command mean enough to tell, was publicly disgraced by general order ! This happened just as the regiment was about to march to the levee to embark for Fort Donelson, Tennessee. When it did thus march, on the 10th of February, 1862, it marched in public disgrace without music and with its colors furled. It was an unjust punishment, SECOND INFANTRY. 37 but it was soon wiped out by one of the best, bravest, brightest achieve ments which are to be found anywhere among all the records of warfare. During the year 1861 the war had not been, upon the whole, either vigo rously or skilfully conducted. The Union arms had suffered from the cam paigns of the year. General McClellan, in Western Virginia, had gained some reputation, Grant had gained a victory and nearly lost it at Belmont, Butler had achieved a fine success in Hatteras Inlet, Du Pont had splendidly won Port Royal, and there were other achievements which served to keep the national heart from absolute despondency. But, take it by and large, the year had been justly accounted as showing a disastrous campaign. A fortnight of the new year had not elapsed when an event took place which revivified the national courage, and brought to life again the manly enthu siasm of the people. This was the appointment of Edwin M. Stanton, as Secretary of War, in place of Simon Cameron. The latter was, perhaps, the best representative of Pennsylvania politics, here only considered as touching the school of the schemers, and not the school of which Thaddeus Stevens (the noblest Roman of them all in Congress) is head that could have been found in the State. But that school never did, and never can, educate a statesman. One might as well expect a Morris, or a Hamilton, to be developed on the greasy counter in a cellar of a " shent per shent" broker in pawns. But Stanton, a man terribly in earnest, with a will more determined than that of Jackson, a mind of gigantic power, energy unsur passed by that of any man who ever lived, and patriotism always a-glow, infused into the Department and into the Army some sparks of his uncon querable spirit, and organized victory for the Union arms. He has since, perhaps, done some things which he ought not to have done, and left undone things which he ought to have done ; but that history of the war which shall not place him among the most valuable instruments of our great victory will leave a plain truth untold. The splendid campaigns in the West, in 1862, which more than reversed the campaigns of 1861, con quered a large portion of the territory of the rebellion, and everywhere defeated its armies, were in no slight degree inspired by the new Secretary. The first of these great victories, as well as one of the most inspiring of the whole war was, THE BATTLE OF FORT DONET^SON. General Grant left Fort Henry on the 12th of February, 1862, with a force of about fifteen thousand men, for the purpose of attacking Fort Donelson, a strong work on the Cumberland, defended by a garrison some eighteen thousand strong, the whole under the command of the rebel general and villain, John B. Floyd, of Virginia, who had associated with him, or under him, Generals Pillow, Buckner, and Bushrod R. Johnson. 38 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. General Grant s forces were in two divisions commanded respectively by General John A. McClernand and General C. F. Smith. The advance ap proached the rebel works the same day, and with considerable skirmishing took position on a line parallel with the enemy s outer works, McClernand on the right, Smith on the left. On the day following, the investment was extended on both flanks of the enemy, but awaiting the gun-boats under Flag-Officer Foote, and additional troops Bent around py water as well as reenforcements from Cairo and above, General Grant made no attack in force on the 13th, though there was fighting all along the lines, and espe cially on our left. The fleet arrived in the evening, and, the reenforcements disembarking, augmented the Union army to a force of about twenty-five thousand of all arms. General Lew. Wallace had also arrived with a third division and taken position on the centre of our lines. About noon of the 14th, our line of investment extended well round the rebel works from near the town of Dover, south of Donelson, to a cultivated farm below the works on the river, off which lay the gun-boat fleet. The rebels meanwhile had been strengthening their position, and prepar ing for defense by unceasing activity. The Fort itself was a formidable work. Built on a hill, about one hundred feet above the waters of the Cumberland, it enclosed nearly one hundred acres of land. It was not, however, strongly mounted. Four siege guns, two twenty-four-pounders, one sixty-four-pounder, and one twelve-pounder howitzer completed the armament. At the base of the hill, near the river, were two heavy water- batteries. One mounted no less than nine guns, of which eight were rifled thirty-two-pounders, and the other was a ten-inch columbiad. The other water battery had only three guns, but they were of prodigious power. One was a rifled sixty-four-pounder columbiad, which was flanked on either side by a howitzer of the same calibre. Between Fort Donelson and Dover, but a little advanced from the direct line, was a heavy breast-work, capable of a stout defence. The country round about the Fort is a succession of hills a most rugged surface, cut up by streamlets, ravines, and deep gulleys. At the average distance of about one mile from the fort was a line of rifle- pits, extending, with but slight intervals, all the way round the principal work, from near the river above to the river below. There were also sec ondary lines of rifle-pits, not parallel with the main line, and admirably adapted to enfilade any assailants who should carry the outer works and ap proach the fort. Between the fort and the rifle-pits there were formidable abatis, making an assault everywhere difficult. These strong defensive works were manned by a heavy garrison of weh 1 disciplined troops, strongly supported by field artillery Pillow being on the rebel left, Colonel Heiman, with a brigade, joining him on the right, then Johnson, and Buckner on the SECOND INFANTRY. 39 40 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. right. Koyd s own troops were also on the left. All were engaged strengthening their position whilst our troops and gun-boats were making ready for the fight, as has been stated. On the 13th, there was very heavy skirmishing all day long. Our troops met with considerable resistance, and in gaining their positions in the line of investment sustained considerable loss. The night following was one of great suffering and hardship to the whole army. The troops lay within point-blank musket and rifle range of the enemy s works; and at dark a storm of rain set in which soon turned into sleet, then into snow, and ac companied by fierce blasts of wind, beat upon the soldiery, without fires, and most of them on the front even without blankets, so that with chatter ing teeth they spent a night of unspeakable dreariness. On the 14th, the first determined attack was made, and by the navy under Flag-Officer Foote. That gallant sailor moved to the attack of the fort at 3 o clock in the afternoon, with four iron-clad and two wooden gun boats. Reaching a point one mile and a half below the work, the heavy guns of the fleet opened on the enemy s batteries, and advancing up the stream kept up a heavy and constant fire, the deep boom of which, shaking the very trees of the forest, served to animate our troops still shivering in the bitter cold, with renewed spirit and hope. Five of Flag-Officer Foote s vessels delivered direct fire against the rebel works, the shot and shell from fifteen heavy rifled guns tearing up the parapets, and plunging deep into the earth around the enemy s batteries, whilst the sixth boat, moving up in rear, kept the air alive with shells, which fell with wonderful accuracy amongst the rebel gunners. But all this terrible cannonading did not suc ceed in drawing the enemy s fire till the vessels came within short range of the batteries. They then opened with fearful vigor. Their heavy guns poured huge masses of iron upon the devoted fleet, tearing off the iron casing of one vessel, making her timbers crack, and splintering them as by a stroke of lightning. The metal of the vessels rang with a strange, sonorous sound, when struck by the heavy missiles, till it seemed like the ringing of many huge iron bells. Two of the vessels were soon seriously disabled, two badly damaged, and the fleet dropped down the stream out of range after a contest of about ninety minutes, having lost fifty-four men killed and wounded. Meantime the army proceeded with the investment, which on the even ing of the 14th was complete on the west bank of the river, except in front of the enemy s extreme left. The fighting which had thus far taken place, and which on many parts of the lines had been at different times severe, swelling into the proportions of battle, had resulted advantageously to the Union arms. The rebel generals, notwithstanding the defeat of the navy, were fearful of disaster. They therefore held a council of war in which SECOND INFANTRY. 41 a plan of attack was agreed upon for the morrow. The plan was, in brief, that Pillow should attack the Union right vigorously, whilst Heiman on the centre, and Buckner on the rebel right, should demonstrate in their front rather than seriously attack. Pillow s success, according to this plan, " would roll the enemy s force in retreat over upoii General Buckner, when, by his attack in the flank and rear, we could cut up the enemy and put him, completely to rout," a very pretty plan, as thus stated by Pillow himself, but splendidly marred in the execution by certain counter dispositions made by General Grant. Early on the morning of the 15th, Pillow sallied from the works and delivered an impetuous attack, his troops in heavy masses, on the Union right, held by McClernand. In a few moments there was a fearful strife on this part of the field. It continued with unabated fury for four hours. The ground was strewn with the dead and wounded. The Unionists were forced to fall back, with the loss of several pieces of artillery. But there was no disorder, nor confusion, nor were the troops put in retreat. They were simply pressed back by superior numbers, but they fought every inch of the way. Colonel "W. H. L. Wallace, Colonel Richard Oglesby here commanded brigades of Illinoisans, which fought on this field with a courage and endurance never surpassed. Colonel John A. Logan, and Lieutenant- Colonel T. E. G. Ransom, here fought with a promise of future greatness which was afterwards crowned with splendid renown. General Wallace, seeing his comrades of the first division sorely pressed, sent a brigade, commanded by Colonel Charles Craft, to their assistance. Craft rushed into the fight with splendid dash and checked the rebel advance. Wallace formed the rest of his division across the enemy s path way, poured into them a terrible fire of artillery, and then rushed upon them with his infantry, from Indiana, Missouri, and Nebraska. Here Colonel John M. Thayer, Colonel Morgan L. Smith, and Lieutenant-Colonel McCord, were conspicuous. McClernand s troops were, meanwhile, sup plied with ammunition, and the tide of battle was turned in favor of the Unionists. The enemy was driven over the stricken field behind his works, our guns were recaptured, the position of the morning was reb ccupied. But whilst much of this was occurring on the right of our lines, Smith on the left was warmly engaged. General Grant, who in the morning had been engaged in consultation with Flag-Ofncer Foote on the Cumberland, upon his return to the field ordered General Smith to assault the works on the left. Smith selected the brigade commanded by Colonel J. G. Lauman, Seventh Iowa, as the storming party. It was composed of the Second Iowa (which only five days before had left St. Louis in unmerited disgrace) the Seventh and Fourteenth Iowa, the first regiment of western sharp shooters, the Twenty-fifth, and the Fifty-second Indiana, the latter tempo- 42 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. rarily attached to the brigade. Colonel Tuttle led the advance. Marching by the left flank, the left wing was in advance, covered by the sharp-shooters deployed as skirmishers. The right wing followed about one hundred and fifty yards in rear, and was itself followed by the Fifty-second Indiana, the Twenty-fifth Indiana, the Seventh and Fourteenth Iowa, in the order named. The rebel works were five hundred yards in advance, and the line of inarch was up a considerable hill, obstructed by abatis. The advance was sounded at two o clock, afternoon. Officers drew their swords, the men grasped their muskets firmly, and moved on the rebel works. No man spoke. Not a gun was fired from our ranks. Silent as the grave and inexorable as death, the Second Iowa pushed its way up the hill through a storm of grape, and shell, and ball. Many dropped dead. Many were wounded. But not a groan, nor a cry was heard. The regiment moved as noiselessly as so many lions stealing upon their prey. Reaching the works, the men bounded over with wonderful agility, and for the first time the Colonel gave command. "Now give them hell!" shouted Tuttle, in the fine excitement of the moment paying little heed to the orthodoxy of his order, and if mortals, says a correspondent, ever inflicted the torments of damnation upon the denizens of earth it was then and there, in obedi ence to that order." The enemy resisted with great stubbornness, but the whole regiment forming in line inside the rebel works, drove the enemy to an interior line of rifle-pits, and then fell back to the outer works, which were held during the night, which had now come on, the troops sleep ing on their arms, ready to renew the attack on the morrow. But Fort Donelson was already won won by this splendid charge, wherein Iowa troops gave the first grand example in the war of how to defeat the enemy protected by works, in a square, stand-up fight. The rebels saw that they were defeated, and in their extremity held a council of war. Floyd, much more successful in the line of felony than in the military art, was anxious to save his precious body from capture. Pillow was in precisely the same predicament. All knew that the works could not be held an hour after sunrise on the next day. Wherefore Floyd, in order "to steal himself away," and thereby preserve unsullied the con sistent infamy of his character, turned over the command to Pillow, who turned it over incontinent to Buckner. Floyd and Pillow escaped up the river with a few followers. As day dawned on the morning of Sunday, the 16th, Colonel Lauman observed white flags on the rebel inner works. Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott, of the Seventh Iowa, advanced and brought back offers of capitulation. It is well known that Grant demanded and received an unconditional surrender. By this great victory General Grant took about thirteen thousand SECOND INFANTRY. 43 prisoners, several thousand horses, forty-eight pieces of field artillery, seventeen heavy siege guns, twenty thousand stand of arms, and immense quantities of stores. The rebels themselves admitted a loss of two hundred and thirty-one slain and one thousand and seven wounded, but it is certain their losses were greater than this. General Pillow afterwards admitted a loss of two thousand killed and wounded. The Union loss was about four hundred and fifty killed, one thousand seven hundred and thirty -five wounded, and some two hundred prisoners, taken in the earlier part of the investment and sent away from the fort before the surrender. In the capture of Fort Donelson the Seventh Iowa, Lieutenant- Colonel J. C. Parrott, the Twelfth, Colonel J. J. Woods, the Fourteenth, Colonel "W. T. Shaw, were engaged; the Seventh and Fourteenth in Colonel Lauman s brigade, which carried the works, and the Twelfth in Colonel J. Cook s brigade, of Smith s division. These regiments were engaged throughout the campaign, and besides the battle of the 15th, took part in the operations of the 13th on the left, where there was a considerable engagement. They all were distinguished for the patience with which they endured the sufferings of the campaign and the gallantry of their conduct in battle. Lieutenant William Moore and Lieutenant J. M. Sample, of the Seventh, Lieutenant-Colonel J. P. Coulter, Lieutenant D. B. Henderson, of the Twelfth, and Lieutenant William Gordon, of the Fourteenth, were wounded. Colonel Lauman, in his ofiicial report, bestows high praise upon Colonel Shaw, of the Fourteenth, and Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott and Major Rice, of the Seventh. But all, officers and men, did their duty with sublime courage and most skilful efficiency. As for the Second Iowa, it here won a reputation which can never fade from the minds of mankind so long as the victory of Fort Donelson shall be remembered. In the fine army of Western troops, whose wonderful gallantry wrested the stronghold from the insurgents, and caused even rebel writers and rebel officers to admit that the volunteers of the North western States and the Territory of Nebraska were more than a match for the best troops of the South ; in all this fine array the Iowa Second won the palm of the most conspicuous and daring conduct. All the troops, with a sense of justice which is ever characteristic of brave men, gladly admitted it, and the lines of the army rang with loud praises of Colonel Tuttle and his regiment, as well as of General Smith and Colonel Lauman, the general officers who had charge of the assault. More, the admirable achievement of the regiment brought forth enthusiasm from the imper turbable Halleck, a thing well nigh as wonderful as the miracle of Moses which brought forth living waters from the barren rock of the wilderness, He telegraphed as follows : 44 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. t " ST. Louis, February 18, 1862. " ADJUTANT-GEXERAL N. B. BAKER: The Second Iowa Infantry proved themselves the bravest of the brave ; they had the honor of leading the column which entered Fort Donelson. " II. W. UALLECK, Major- General." After the rebel General had consented to the surrender, the Second Iowa was awarded the post of honor, and was the first to enter Fort Donelson marching in at the head of the grand column, which made a most imposing display. Banners floated finely in the slight breeze of the bright Sunday morning, drums beat, bands played. It was a joyous sight. The Second marched up to the citadel, when Corporal Voltaire P. Twombley, the only one of the color-guard who had escaped uninjured, planted the stars and stripes upon the captured fort, amid the wild huzzas of the victorious army, and salvos of artillery firing joyful salutes. The great victory was com plete, and the Union troops sought rest and quiet from their recent labors, in comfortable quarters in and around Fort Donelson. The conspicuous part borne by the Second Iowa in the decisive battle of Fort Donelson, made it necessary to say much of it in the general account of the contest. It is now proper to speak in more detail. The regiment did not reach the field till the 14th. Colonel Tuttle reported to General Smith, and was forthwith assigned to Colonel Lauman s brigade. The regiment took position on the extreme left of our lines, where, except two companies engaged in the skirmish line during the remainder of the 14th, it remained till ordered to storm the works. We have seen how splendidly it did that service. Colonel Tuttle, in his official report, states that Lieu tenant-Colonel Baker, Major Chipman, and Adjutant Joel Tuttle "were gallant to perfection." Major Chipman was severely wounded. Captains Slaymaker and Cloutman were slain before reaching the intrenchments, and near them fell Lieutenant W. C. Harper. "Captains Cox, Mills, Moore, and Wilkins," says Tuttle, " were at the heads of their companies, marked examples of gallantry and efficiency. Lieutenants Scofield, Ensign, Davis, Holmes, Huntington, Weaver, Mastick, Snowden, and Godfrey, in fact nearly all my officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, deported them selves nobly throughout the engagement. Sergeant-Major Brawner deserves honorable mention for his gallant conduct." I suppose it is true that all the officers with the single exception, perhaps, of Captain Robert Littler, and that exception was the result of "army slander," more than of fact, behaved most handsomely. The history of the color-guard is interesting. Color-Sergeant Doolittle fell early in the engagement, pierced by four balls and dangerously wounded; the colors were then taken up by Corporal Page, who soon fell dead ; Corporal Churchill then took them, but was severely wounded just as the regiment reached the rebel works, when the flag was seized by Corporal Twombley, who was almost instantly knocked SECOND INFANTRY. 45 down by a spent ball, but rising from the shock, bore the colors to the end of the fight the only man of the guard on his feet at the close of the contest. It may well be supposed that the fame of the Iowa Second, borne on the swift wings of the telegraph and the press, soon penetrated every part of Iowa. The General Assembly was in session, and when a committee sent to the field of battle to care for our wounded, returned to the capital, bear ing with them the flag that had been borne on the glorious field, there was an outpouring of people and of eloquence at Des Moines. The flag was presented to the House, for custody on the Speaker s desk till the close of the session, then to be turned over to the State Historical Society. The Hon. Rush Clark, Speaker, received the flag, and made an address of which I quote but little : The valorous deeds of the Iowa Second are already a part of our national history, and make up one of its most brilliant pages. It would be vain to rehearse them now. The unfaltering onset of those gal lant men is written in the sleepless memory of a million freemen. Nothing can be abated, none of their achievements forgotten." But this bright page in history was written with blood. Of the six hun dred and thirty officers and men who formed the storming party, being all of the regiment fit for duty at the time, forty-one were slain, and one hun dred and fifty-seven wounded. 1 1 Namely: Colonel J. M. Tuttle, wounded slightly; Major N. P. Chipman, severely; Sergeant- Major William Brawner, slightly. Company A Kitted Richard Higham. Wounded Lieutenant Tisdale, Corporal EH Ramsey, Cor poral Henry H. Seiberlich, Corporal Thomas A. Stevenson : Privates, Seth Fair, James M. Patton, D. H. Underbill, Douglas Allendorf, George D. Saylor, Robert Hall, James Quicksall, James Kerr, Samuel Evans, J. J. Goodwin, W. W. K. Harper, John Tangher, John Kipple. Company B Killed Corporal (color-guard) S. G. Page : Private, William Guthrie. Wounded Lieutenant John G. Huntington, Cor poral R. M. Lyth, Corporal A. A. Barnes : Privates, J. P. Scott, A. W. Scott, G. W. Scott, G. Rosenburgh, A. Drawker, George Parkinson, A. H. Clark, J. H. Tracy, A. Summetz, S. Todd, 0. E. Dike, S. H. Spencer, J. Bertchi, J. Wilson, George Menning, John McCrellis, W. A. Nichols, George H. Howe, H. H. Port, E. M. Manning, John Linden, J. Murphy, Thomas Morrow, James Buckwalter, William Moller. Company C Killed Captain J. S. Slaymaker: Privates, G. W. Howell, C. H. Lenhart, Joseph Myers, Edward Peterson. Wounded Lieutenant W. F. Holmes, Lieutenant Alfred Bing, Sergeant G. F. Hall, Sergeant H. C. McNeil, Sergeant (color-guard) H. E. Doolittle, Corporal W. M. Campbell, Corporal W. P. Wade, Corporal J. C. Urie: Privates, J. G. Greenwalt, G. A. Smith, Edward Corcoran, E. W. Caspar, W. H. Royston, W. H. Nagill, Joseph Hunter, Charles Flewig, William Mc- Lain, A. J. Ross, J. W. Morrison, G. A. Bell, W. C. Hecker, A. F. Gore, Fred. Herbert, William Drum- mond. Company D Killed Sergeant Nathan W. Doty : Private, G. Weeks. Wounded Lieutenant Edgar F. Ensign, Lieutenant George L. Godfrey, Corporal William Ragan : Privates, William II. Brenton, Casper S. Brady, Theodore G. Cree, John M. Combs, Peter Dreher, Richards Debelle, Joseph S. Hayden, (mortally) Henry Lawrence, John Nagle, Andrew Slatten, Robert Patrick, Thomas Ward, John Z. Williams, David G. Yant, William L. Cady, P. G. Noel, Joseph Cooper, John Gardiner. Company E Wounded Sergeant Wriner, Corporal Robinson, (color-guard) Corporal G.W.Moore- house : Privates, Reuben Coop, G. W. Hill, Samuel Dougherty, Robert Starn, Robert Ready. Company F Killed Lieutenant W. C. Harper, Sergeant George W. Morse: Privates, Wilson S. Crooks, Franklin G. Metz, George B. Shriver, Wesley W. Vinson. Wounded Corporal Samuel Huffman, Corpo ral James Shrowyer : Privates, Finley M. Armstrong, Alonzo Bradford, Charles S. Coyer, J. H. Duffield, H. D. Duffield. James Carr, Edwin Goddard, H. C. Hawk (mortally) John S. Marriott, John Morrow, Geo. B. Smith, Andrew Shriver, (mortally) Franklin B. Wilson, (mortally) William W. Walker. Company 46 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. The capture of Fort Donelson, it is well-known, uncovered Nashville, which was evacuated by the rebels on the day of Buckner s surrender, the panic-stricken people exhibiting the most laughable spectacle of fright and confusion ever witnessed in any country. In their fright, they threw furni ture, trunks, dishes out of windows as though the whole city were to be destroyed by fire. Then they fled, no man pursuing. Buell at length took possession of the city, Grant s army remaining for some time in quiet at Donelson. There our regiment remained nearly a month, and then march ing to the Tennessee, embarked for Pittsburg Landing, arriving on the 19th of March, and disembarking the next day. The command went into encampment about one mile from the landing, where it remained in quiet till Sunday morning, April 6, when it was sud denly summoned to the front, to take part in the battle which continued throughout that day and the next. Colonel Tuttle being in command of the brigade composed of his own regiment, the Seventh, Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel Baker was in command of the regi ment. The brigade formed on the left of "W. H. L. Wallace s division, and repelled several assaults of the enemy. The regiment behaved hand somely, and suffered heavily. Captain Littler was severely wounded, losing an arm. Captains Mills, Wilkins, and Moore were also wounded, and Lieutenant William Brawner, whose good conduct, as Sergeant-Major, we have noted in describing the capture of Fort Donelson, met honorable death from wounds received on the field of Shiloh. On Monday, the regiment served under Nelson, and on that day made nearly as gallant a charge as that at Donelson itself, routing a large force of rebels, but meeting with slight loss. Captain Cox was among the few wounded in this gallant affair. The entire loss of the regiment at Shiloh was between seventy and eighty. 2 G KiUcd Sergeant John Dunn : Privates, J. M. Duskworth, Andrew Patterson, Joseph Z. Neidy, Joseph N. Rhodes, William H. Drake. Wounded Lieutenant J. B. Weaver, Sergeant P. Q. Stoner, Corporals John N. Jones, Gabriel Johnson, H. D. St. John, John A. De Muther : Privates, John W. Pirth, Samuel Fontz, George Wert, John Patterson, James H. Stevens, Hiram S. Sloan, Elijah Kinr nick, John W. Hurless, H. H. Jones, Thomas Colliver, William Buchanan, Clinton McMickle, Ephraim Tarrington, John D. Scott, Elisha Wallace, Leander Jeffreys. Company IT Killed Corpo ral Samuel A. Meally. Wounded Corporal Hewny, E. Weaver, (color-guard) : Privates, Andrew M. Easton, Sebastian Shoffeur (mortally) George B. Farley, Wesley Compton, W. A. Teaford. Company I Kitted Sergeant W. L. Jurney : Private, Edward Banks. Wounded Corporals Henry Churchill, (color-guard) William Ganger : Privates, Thomas Paine, James H. Banmer, Donald McKean, Richard Parsons, Fernand Rupert, Jerome Volley, Hiram S. Simery, W. F. Harrison, Gottlieb Shendel, George Cook. Company K Killed Captain C. C. Cloutman, Corporal James Berkey: Privates, James Blake, Wm. T. Kirkpatrick, John Hampton, Wm. II. H. Whitney, Joseph H. Philips, (Brass Band.) Wounded Sergeant Benjamin S. , Sergeant G. M. Cook, Corporal S. S. Shower : Privates, E. G. Vaughn, David Cook, James West, A. S. Thompson, Thomas Gallagher, W. H. Goodall, David Ser- gent, T. D. Holmes. s I think an official regimental report of the part taken by the regiment in this great battle has not been preserved. The following incomplete list of casualties is taken from the Adjutant Gene ral s Report : SECOND INFANTRY. 47 The regiment remained in camp near Pittsburg Landing till the next campaign was begun, namely, the campaign of Corinth under Halleck. Its part in these operations, in the main of an indolent character, was unaccom panied by noteworthy incident. It joined in the pursuit of Beauregard s army, after the evacuation of Corinth, and therein made several days hard marching. Returning, it went into camp near Corinth. Its next movement, of which we have official account was the march to luka, but it did not take part in the battle of September 19. Meanwhile, Colonel Tuttle had been promoted Brigadier-General. Colonel James Baker was in command of the regiment, with N. W. Mills, promoted from Captain of Com pany D, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Major James B. Weaver, promoted from first lieutenant of company G. Adjutant Tuttle had died of disease, and had been succeeded by Lieutenant George L. Godfrey. In the battle of Corinth, the 3d and 4th of October, there was no regi ment which fought more bravely or effectively, or suffered more severely, than the Second. Colonel Baker fell mortally wounded on the 3d, and was borne from the field, thanking God that his regiment was victoriously charging. Lieutenant-Colonel Mills was mortally wounded on the 4th, but lived till the 12th. A kinder heart than his never beat, nor a more gene rous soul ever animated man. He was, in the days long gone by, my school mate and my friend. I can speak of him advisedly. He was a practical printer, a ripe scholar, an independent thinker, a fine writer, an excellent soldier, a man of a thousand admirable qualities and not one bad one. His modesty had prevented him from gaining the standing to which his merits entitled him ; but it is the absolute truth that in his death Iowa lost one of her best, one of her most loveable, one of her most promising citizens, and the volunteer service an officer who, had he been spared, would have added to its dignity, its fame, and its usefulness. But Baker and Mills were not the only sacrifices the regiment made on this bloody field. The loss in officers was mournful in the extreme. Lieutenants John G. Huntington, Thomas Snowden, Alfred Bing were slain during the first day s battle, and Lieutenant Y. P. Twombley was severely wounded; whilst on the 4th, Lieutenant George W. Neal was killed, and Captain N. B. Howard, Lieu tenants, C. C. Parker, George W. Blake, Frank M. Suiter were wounded. The regiment maintained the proud reputation it had won in its first battle, and as at Donelson, lost nearly one-third of the men engaged. 3 Adjutant Company A Killed, Privates William Clarke, George W. Friend, John Keppel. Company B Wounded, Captain Robert M. Littler, Private Mark L.Thomson, Company E Kitted, Privates John C. Ilooverstick, Elijah Newby, Wounded Corporal Daniel W. Brown, Privates Theodore Eoggs, John C. Duncan, James Ross, Marion York. Company F Wounded, Lieutenant William Brawner. Company G Wounded, Corporal Herman D. St. John, Private Charles E. Dunn. Company I Killed, Corporal Archibald S. Cooley, Wounded Privates Henry Laird, John Leulen, (mortally.) Company K Killed, Private John Ohling. The regiment had in the fight three hundred and forty-eix, officers and men, of whom one hnn- 48 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Godfrey, Captains Cowles, McCullougli, Mastic, Howard, Ensign, and Davis; Lieutenants Parker, Duffield, Marsh, Wilson, Tisdale, Suiter, Hamill, Hall, Blake, Duckworth, Ballinger, Twombley and McCoid were highly praised by Major Weaver, for meritorious conduct. Sergeant Lewis of Company B, and Sergeant Ferry of company F, were also mentioned. "Color-Sergeant Harry Doolittle was again wounded, and Color-Corporals Henry A. Seiberlich, G. C. Philips, G. B. Norris, I. C. Urie, and John H. Stewart, were all wounded whilst supporting the old flag." The terrible battle, and the laborious pursuit over, the Second had about two months of quiet in an encampment near Corinth. The 9th of Decem ber, the regiment made a forced march to near Tuscumbia, Alabama, making an exciting chase after rebel raiders, with whom there was some skirmishing. The 18th, it moved again, about midnight, and marched in a northerly direction without stopping, till there were but few men left in the ranks, and returned to Corinth on the 23d, after one of the hardest marches the regiment ever made. Several other marches after raiders were made, the whole division under General Dodge making one expedi tion, beyond Florence, Alabama, which occupied about twenty days. In the summer of 1863, regimental encampment was moved from Corinth to Lagrange, Tennessee, and the last of October the command moved to Pulaski and went into winter quarters. During this whole year after the battle of Corinth the regiment took part in no general engagement. It formed part of those forces under General G. M. Dodge, whose services were most valuable by their indirect assis- dred and eight were killed, wounded and missing. I take the following from the Adjutant Gene ral s Report : Colonel James Baker, Lieutenant-Colonel N. W. Mills, mortally wounded. Killed Company A Privates, John Clough, William R. Harper, Franklin Pranty, John W. Renz, Wounded Corporal Granville C. Philips, Corporal Wallace E. Marsh, Corporal Henry A. Seiberlich, Wounded Privates, Henry Ryan, David H. Underhill, Charles Davidson, (missing) Private Douglas G. Allendorph. Company B Killed Private David Seymour, Wounded Lieutenant Frank M. Suiter: Privates, George Norris, William L. Smith, Levi White, Albert W. Scott, Alfred Allen, Reuben M. Roberts. Company C Ki lied Private John W. Downs, Wounded Lieutenant Alfred Bing, (mortally) Ser geant Henry C. McNeil, Sergeant Jacob Speed, Sergeant Henry B. Doolittle : Musician Albert Eber- hart : Privates Henry M. Austin, James C. Mansell, Edward Schoonmaker, George Henry Tyler, James R. Donaldson. Company D Kitted Corporal Jacob M. Moleo : Private Charles E. Walker, Wounded Private Philander Smith, Prisoner Private James A. Chrystal, Company E Killed Corporal Abel Stcphenson, Wounded Sergeant Wiley S. Sims : Private Timothy W. Austin, James Ross, William Somers, (mortally) Elwood Williams, Samuel Dougherty. Company F Wounded Lieutenant Charles C. Parker, Lieutenant Voltaire P. Twombly: Privates Samuel G. Feathers, Thomas P. Henry, Samuel Ileam, Jerry M. Parker, George Smith, Michael O Reilly. Company G JKJfed Private John W. Dunn, Wounded Private Robert B. Carson. Company H Killed Lieu tenant George W. Neal : Private Marvin French, Wounded Corporal William McCurdy : Privates, Austin Crawford, Jacob S Funk, James Murkin, Joshua Murray, James M. Porter, Martin V. Smith, William A. Tcdford. Company I Kitted Lieutenant Thomas Snowden, Wounded Corporal Frank Daily: Privates George F. Cook, Henry Laird, Henry F. Miller, Elijah Petrie, William F. Robins, Gottleib Schenkel. Company K Kitted Corporal Wesley H. Henderson, Wounded Lieutenant George W. Blake, Lieutenant Thomas K. llaush, Prisoner Private Levi Durbin. SECOND INFANTRY. 49 tance to General Grant in his campaign of Vicksburg, in keeping open communications between Middle and West Tennessee, in preventing raids, and in many other ways which need not be here specified. The regiment was under command of Colonel J. B. Weaver, who had been promoted upon the death of Colonel Mills. At the same time, Captain Henry R. Cowles of Company H had been promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, and Cap- tain N. B. Howard, of Company I, Major. At Pulaski the Second became a veteran regiment about the close of the year. From Pulaski, also, the regiment began its march to take part in its last great campaign of battles, that of Atlanta. It was in a brigade com manded by General Elliott W. Rice, and which was attached to the six- teenMi corps, General Dodge commanding. It left Pulaski the 29th of April, 1864, and on the morning of the 9th of May, began skirmishing with the enemy just after passing the famous Snake Creek Gap, in Georgia. From that time till Atlanta fell, the regiment was constantly within the sound of skirmish or battle. On the 15th General Rice, finely manceuvering, effected the passage of the Oostanaula at Lay s Ferry, and turned the rebel position at Resaca. A spirited engagement took place, in which the Seventh Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott, was conspicuous, fighting splendidly and suffering heavily. The loss of the Second was slight. After this there was much night marching by the Army of the Tennessee, which performed most of the remarkable flanking movements of the campaign. The regiment was engaged at Dallas on the 27th, and the next day had a brisk fight, but the Sixty-sixth Indiana, of the brigade, bore the brunt of battle on this part of the line. On the night of the 29th the regiment was again engaged. July 4th, it had a lively skirmish. On the 22d, in the desperate battle of Atlanta, it made a fine fight. It took part in the siege of Atlanta, and on the 4th of August had a severe combat with the enemy, and gained an important position after a gallant fight. From this time until the last flanking movement, near the end of the month, it was in the trenches, where the rebel bullets were all the while whistling lively, by night as well as by day. On the 30th of August, as the army moved across from the Montgomery Railroad to the Macon road, marching on Jonesboro, the Second and Seventh Iowa, under command of Major Hamill, of the Second, were sent forward with the cavalry. About 2 o clock, afternoon, the rebels were found in a fortified position across the road. Whereupon the whole cavalry division halted for four hundred infantry to come up and clear the way. The Second Iowa, numbering less than two hundred muskets, supported by the Seventh, did the business in fine style. The Second here lost one killed and eight wounded, among the latter Major Hamill. The command had more skirmishing and fighting during this movement, taking part in the battle of Jonesboro. Atlanta having fallen, it moved toward 7 50 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. that city, and at the close of the campaign went into encampment. During the whole campaign of Atlanta, the regiment lost fifty-five men, in killed and wounded. Among the killed, was Lieutenant Thomas K. Kaush, and among the wounded were Lieutenant-Colonel commanding N. B. Howard, Major M. G. Hamill, Captain George Heaton, and our old acquaintance who, then a color-corporal, planted the colors on Fort Donelson, now Adju tant Yoltaire P. Twombley. 4 Such is but an imperfect outline of the operations of the regiment during this great campaign. The regiment captured during these operations a number of prisoners, one stand of colors, and about two hundred stand of small arms. It was, meanwhile, materially changed in its organization. On the 22d of May the non-veterans were mustered out of service, their term of enlistment having expired. After this there were, for the time being, but six companies in the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Howard commanding. The regiment having taken a considerable rest, and per formed such duties as were required of it, making a considerable march northward during the interim, was materially strengthened before starting on the march to Savannah by the addition of what was left, after the wear and tear of more than three years active campaigning, of the Third infantry, which was consolidated with the Second, composing three com panies therein. Lieutenant-Colonel Howard was now promoted colonel. The Second Iowa began the Georgia campaign from Rome on the llth of November. General Dodge having been wounded during the siege of Atlanta, the left wing of the Sixteenth corps had been dissolved at the close of that campaign. The division to which our regiment now belonged was made the fourth of the Fifteenth corps, and was commanded by General John M. Corse, who had earned, but not received, the stars of a major-general for his splendid defence of Allatoona Pass. Marching by Kingston and Marietta, the regiment halted near Atlanta only long enough to be supplied with new clothing. It straightway joined in the march for the sea, bidding farewell to Atlanta on the evening of the 1 6th. In this expedition of destruction the regiment performed much work, but had little 4 The following is the official list of casualties for the campaign : Killed Lieutenant Thomas K. Raush : Sergeant Cyrus Bartow : Privates David F. Young, W. C. Peasley, Samuel Dougherty, Leander Jeffrey, Victor Voitures, George D. Burdick. Wounded Lieu tenant-Colonel N. B. Howard, Major M. G. Hamill, Captain George Heaton, Adjutant V. P. Twom- bley : Sergeants P. D. Gillette, James Shadle, A. Steinmits, Clinton J. McMickle, George W. Craven, (mortally,) Charles Fleury : Corporals Richard Gear, (mortally,) Young J. Powell, Otto F. B. Inden, George W. Johnson, D. W. Myers : Privates Jacob W. Souders, J. B. Young, Charles Ripley, (mor tally,) Moses B. Walker, John Rolls, J. F. De Witt, John Horton, H. Nichols, T. B. Rosecraus, Edward C. Streacker, John Price, Joseph M. Vance, Josiah Peacock, M. P. French, H. Ackerman, R. R. Gorman, George Norris, Albert Dummer, Alexander Graham, William D. MTison, (mortally,) D. F. Eckerman, W. C. Oborn, Wade Kirkpatrick, J. Murphy, G. S. Eckerman, Thomas Gallagher, A. M. White, John McManus, (mortally,) F. Shadduck, Lafayette Turner, G. W. Cannada. SECOND INFANTRY. 51 fighting, except on the 7th of December, when General Rice crossed the Ogechee River in face of the enemy and had a brisk engagement, in which the rebels were quickly and handsomely whipped with considerable loss. The Second lost two men slain and as many wounded in this brilliant affair. A fortnight afterwards the grand army entered Savannah in triumph. The 28th of January, 1865, the regiment left Savannah, and began the* northward march. It crossed rivers and swamps, and constructed corduroy roads like the rest of the army. Near Columbia it met the enemy in skirmish, and again at Lynch s Creek, but drove him off quickly and easily. The skirmish at the latter place was remarkable from the fact that many of the men fought in their "birth-day suits," having stripped to cross the stream. With this affair closed the fighting history of the gallant Second, for at the battle of Bentonville, the last of General Sherman s engagements, it was in the line of reserves, and was not needed in the action. It marched with the army to Goldsboro, to Raleigh, thence by Peters burg and Richmond to Washington city ; there took part in the grand review, and shortly afterwards moved by rail and steamboat to Louisville, where, in accordance with the general order mustering out the Army of the Tennessee, it was honorably discharged the service about midsummer. It moved thence to Davenport, where it was received by the citizens en masse, and welcomed back to the State by the Hon. Hiram Price, Repre sentative in Congress. Colonel Howard responded briefly, and the regi ment marched to camp for the last time, and was soon finally disbanded. The Second infantry was one of the most noted of Iowa regiments distinguished on account of its distinguished men. The command which gave Curtis, Tuttle, Crocker, to the service must remain forever memorable in our annals. Nearly all of its field officers Baker, Mills, Weaver, Howard, Chipman, Hamill were wounded in battle, and two sealed their gallantry with their death. Among the line officers, yea, among the "rank and file" of this regiment, as was indeed the fact with most Iowa regiments, there were men who would have adorned any society. It was distinguished for its gallant deeds. It has best comported with the plan of this work to give prominence to the first great battle in which the com mand took part. But it fought no less gallantly elsewhere, the officers and men, on all occasions when called upon to encounter the enemy, displaying coolness, courage, and enthusiastic gallantry, fully equal to what would be expected of those who were conscious of having to sustain the reputation of the heroes of Fort Doiielson THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE. CHAPTER III. THIRD INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION, AND RENDEZVOUS AT KEOKUK ORDERED TO MISSOURI ACTIVE OPERATIONS COLONEL WILLIAMS MARCH FROM MASON CITY TO KIRKSVILLE WARFARE BY PROCLAMATION VARIOUS MOVEMENTS BATTLE OF SLUE MILLS LANDING PROCEED TO LEAVEN WORTH, KANSAS QUARREL BE TWEEN GENERAL STURGIS AND "JIM LANE" GO TO QUINCEY, ILLINOIS AGAIN IN MISSOURI IN TENNESSEE BATTLE OF SHILOSAT THE SIEGE OF CORINTH MEMPHIS BATTLE OF MATAMORA MOVEMENTS IN REAR OF VICKS- BURG THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN IN 1863 GENERAL SHERMAN S MARCH ON JACKSON DESPERATE CHARGE OF COLONEL PUGH S BRIGADE GENERAL LAU- MAN RELIEVED MERIDIAN EXPEDITION CAMPAIGN IN EAST TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA THE REGIMENT CONSOLIDATED WITH THE SECOND. THE Third Iowa Volunteer Infantry contained men from all portions of the State. The companies that formed the command were among those which sprang to arms at the first outbreak of the rebellion, when the popular enthusiasm was at white heat, and in their ranks were persons from more than half the thickly populated counties of Iowa. Not only so, but it should seem that our enthusiastic drum-beats drew into our lines not a few from neighboring States ; and Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri were represented in this regiment. Further still : travelers from abroad caught the glad infection, and fell into line wherever they happened to be, so that there were a few members of the organization whose homes were as distant as New York. It is not improbable there were a few who enlisted in the companies of the Third regiment who would have entered the army with less demonstration of enthusiasm had they supposed the war was to be of long continuance ; and perhaps there were some who, having volunteered when the period of service was stated to be short, were disappointed upon learning they would be required to serve three years or during the war. However this may be, Governor Kirkwood early adopted the idea that it were better for the State, and better for the general government, to secure as long terms of enlistment as 52 THIRD INFANTRY. 53 practicable, and it is certain that if this idea had been adopted and put into practical operation in all the other loyal States, as it was in Iowa, and, I believe, in Illinois, a vast deal of difficulty which subsequently arose would have been avoided, and much bewildered cyphering by the provost- marshal-general. The longest term for which volunteers were received was three years, and it was for this period or during the war that all our, regiments after the First, except those who went forth for one hundred days in the summer of 1864, were enlisted. Thus the Third regiment, numbering about nine hundred and seventy, was sworn into the service of the United States at Keokuk, in part on the 8th and in part on the 10th of June, 1861. Nelson Gr. Williams, of Dubuque county, soon afterwards was commissioned colonel; John Scott, of Story, lieutenant-colonel; William M. Stone, of Marion, major. Fitzroy Sessions was appointed adjutant, George W. Clark, of Warren, quartermaster, Dr. T. 0. Edwards, of Dubuque, surgeon, and Rev. P. H. Jacob, of Marion, chaplain. Colonel Williams, reputed much of a soldier, received a majority of the votes of the line officers, and was accordingly appointed to command the regiment by the governor. He was living quietly at his home, was almost entirely unknown to the command, and his coming was looked for with no little curiosity. But the regiment had left the State before he made his appearance. "Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling, And out he rode a colonelling." The other field officers had each recruited a company, and were promoted from the rank of captain. 1 The companies remained at Keokuk till the 29th of June, drilling, enjoy ing the fine weather, quarrelling with the contractors who supplied them with poor food on tin dishes, and cultivating "art" by nightly views of the famous drop curtain, distinguished for its perspective, at the Atheneum theatre. Accompanied by a large number of citizens they marched to the landing on the morning just mentioned, and went aboard two steam ferries, on which they were transported to Hannibal, in Missouri. The State of 1 The line officers of the regiment were : Captains Richard G. Herron, William M. Stone, (pro moted Major and succeeded by Daniel P. Long), Sydney B. Sladden, George R. Willett, John Scott, (promoted Lieutenant-Colonel and succeeded by Samuel B. McCall), Carman A. Newcomb, Adams L. Ogg, John H. Warren, Matthew W. Trumbull, John B. Smith. First Lieutenants, David J. O Neill. Albert Hobbs, Douglas Leffingwell, E. J. Weiser, George W. Crosley, Leroy Templeton, George W. Clark, (promoted quartermaster and succeeded by Philo G. C. Merrill), James Tullis, John P. Knight, Fit/,roy Sessions, (promoted Adjutant and succeeded by William B. Hamill). Second Lieutenants Phineas W. Crawford, Oliver H. S. Kennedy, James Call, 0. A. Anderson, Wil liam A. Wise, Aaron Brown, Miller R. Tidrick, David Scott, G. A. Eberhart, Charles II. Mullarky. One or two of the officers here named did not have their rank, as stated, at the time of the organi sation, but soon after. So the list is sufficiently accurate for the purpose in view to show the or ganization of the regiment during the first era of its service. 54 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. Missouri was at this time in a most unhappy condition. The people were divided in sentiment, a majority being loyal to the Union, but the minority by much the more noisy and energetic party. The Union citizens were constantly harassed by roving bands of rebels robbers and horse-thieves, who have since been called guerrillas and bushwhackers. Moreover, a noted secessionist, Thomas Harris, who had been a member of Congress, and was now called a general, was said to be collecting a considerable force in the portions of the State near the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. The battle of Booneville had recently been fought. Lively work was expected. Hence our regiment, without having yet a field officer, hastened westward from Hannibal on the 1st of July, without means of transpor tation for a march, without knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, cartridge- boxes or ammunition. The only weapons the men had were empty mus kets and bayonets. They went by rail more than half way across the State. Two companies stopped at Chillicothe, one at the bridge over Grand River, and the others at Utica not far beyond. The Fourth of July was most enthusiastically celebrated by them all. Whilst the command was here, Colonel Williams arrived, and the commissions for the Lieutenant-Colonel and Major. It was unfortunate both for him and the regiment that the Colonel became exceedingly unpopular almost as soon as he assumed command. I but state a fact in saying that, as he was much disliked, his authority very soon felt the effect of this personal feeling, and the command a consequent ten dency to demoralization. He had not been in command many days, when Colonel Smith, Sixteenth Illinois, arrived, to consult concerning a movement against Harris forces in northeastern Missouri. The upshot of the business was, that on the 8th of July three companies of the Third, under Captain Herron, proceeded toward Hannibal, and, forming a junction at Monroe with a detachment of Colonel Smith s command, and one piece of artillery, handled with astonishing skill by one Fishbeem, an old British gunner. Thence the united force marched after the rebels, had the skirmish of Hager s Woods, and retreated. The further consequence of the manoeuvre was, as the train had been left without a guard, it was found to be in flames when the little army again reached the railroad. The track was also destroyed both east and west of the town. The rebels surrounded the place and besieged our forces till reinforcements arrived from Palmyra, when the rebels, who were in large numbers and mounted, rapidly moved off. Colonel Williams soon afterwards came up with the principal part of his regiment. From about the 12th of July till the 7th of August, regimental head quarters and seven of the companies were at Chillicothe, a place on the railway something more than half way across the state from Hannibal. THIRD INFANTRY. 55 The other companies were near by, guarding the railroad. Here the men were drilled seven hours daily. The worst enemies of Colonel Williams admit that his camp discipline was rigid, and that no acts of vandalism were committed by his troops. On the 4th of August the men drew their accoutrements. Three days afterwards they were marched by rail to Brookfield, the central station of the railroad. Just about this time the* rebel colonel, Martin Green, was raising recruits and trouble in north eastern Missouri. On the 15th of the month our regiment, under com mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, proceeded to Macon City, then the head quarters of General Hurlbut, and the next day marched on Kirksville, near which place the forces of Green were encamped. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott s command consisted of the Third Iowa, save a small portion left at Brookfield under the Colonel, a few companies of Home Guards, and three pieces of artillery of small calibre. He was ordered to march to Kirksville and hold the place. The command had great expectations of a fight, but were disappointed. In a few days General Hurlbut arrived with the Sixteenth Illinois regiment and a small cannon, named "old Abe, and the General immediately proceeded to an energetic warfare by proclamation. Green laughed at the proclamations, and when the five days grace were consumed, decamped. It was during this period of observation at Kirksville, that Corporal Dix, of Company C. , was killed while on a scout ; the first death in our regiment at the hands of the enemy. On the 30th, the column moved in pursuit of Green. On the evening of the next day it reached the town of Bethel, inhabited by a colony of Ger mans, whose hospitalities, coming after two days of hungry marching, were received with gratitude equal to the generosity which prompted them. From Bethel the regiment marched by Shelbyville to Shelbina, and there taking cars reached camp at Brookfield on the 3d of September. While the main body of the regiment was thus engaged northward of the railway, Colonel Williams received orders for a movement south of the road. With the fifty well men of the Third in camp, sixty who had been on duty at St. Joseph, and those who had convalesced since the departure of Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, Colonel Williams left Brookfield, and himself proceeding to Hannibal, there obtained the remnants of six companies of the Kansas Second, just returned from the campaign of Wilson s Creek, and a company of Missouri cavalry. The whole force numbered less than seven hundred. The Colonel left the railroad at Shelbina, and marched on Paris. Here he remained a day, and then retreated. He was attacked at Shelbina on the 4th of September, and from there continued his retreat by rail, moving westward. He lost in this affair one man wounded, and a quantity of public property. Meantime the main body under Lieutenant-Colonel Scott had hardly got 56 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. snugly in camp at Brookfield, when it was ordered to move again. General John Pope now appeared on the scene, and it was hoped that there would be an end to the marchings and countermarchings without practical results which had characterized the various movements, thus far, in northeastern Missouri. General Hurlbut and Colonel Williams were ordered to St. Louis in arrest, and in other respects General Pope exhibited a vigor char- acteristical of his genius. A considerable force was rapidly concentrated at Hunnewell, of which the Third Regiment formed a part. This place is about twenty-five miles due west of Hannibal, but considerably more by rail. Green was encamped near Florida, about twenty miles south of Hunnewell. Pope marched against him by night, with the purpose of surprising and routing his forces. In this he entirely failed. His only spoils were a wagon filled with corn, and a broken shot gun, and which flourished in the reports as Green s train and our own recaptured pro perty ! The army marched back to Hunnewell in sullen disappointment. Our regiment soon went to Macon City, where Brigadier-General S. D. Sturgis arrived, on September 12th. By this occurrence the men had their hopes of successful campaigning again renewed. It is not to be denied they were by this time very much less enthusiastic than when they steamed away from Keokuk amid the mingled huzzas of themselves and the people. They had suffered many hardships, performed heavy duties, made severe marches, been compelled to bear the obloquy of Shelbina, and had accom plished no visible good. Participation in a battle was necessary to entirely remove the weight of despondency from their spirits, and give to the men an esprit- de-corps worthy of themselves. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott soon made an opportunity by fine audacity, which, under other circumstances, might have been justly called culpable rashness, whereby this most desira ble result was brought about. This was at the combat of Blue Mills Land ing, fought September 17th, at the very time Colonel Mulligan was making his heroic and useless defense of Lexington useless by no fault of his. From Macon City our regiment moved westward by rail to Cameron, a station nearly north of Liberty, and about forty miles distant. At three o clock in the afternoon of the 15th, Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, having im pressed his transportation, marched from Cameron, with five hundred of the Third Iowa, about seventy Home Guards, and a squad of artillery with one six-pounder gun. Colonel Smith, Sixteenth Illinois, it was understood, was to cooperate with this little column, forming a junction at or near Lib erty. Smith was at Platte River Bridge, a few miles east of St. Joseph, and not much farther from Liberty than Cameron. The same rains which made the roads muddy for him made them muddy for Scott. The lattei reached Liberty early on the morning of the 17th, and took position on the hill north of and commanding the town. THIED INFANTRY. 57 SATTLE OF BLUE MILLS LANDING. As yet, no word had come from Colonel Smith. From Haynesville, half way between Cameron and Liberty, Lieutenant- Colonel Scott had de spatched a courier, with information of his movements. From Centreville he sent another. From this place the firing of artillery was distinctly heard - in the direction of Platte City. At noon of the 17th still another courier was despatched to Smith to hasten his command. Meantime, Scott s little force, bivouacked on the hill, was impatient to fight. The rebels, supposed to be about four thousand strong, with four pieces of artillery, had marched through Liberty on the evening of the 16th, and taken the road to Blue Mills Ferry, or Landing, on the Missouri, four miles south of Liberty. At eleven o clock of the 17th, firing was heard in the direction of the Landing, which was reported as a conflict between the rebels and Union troops dis puting their passage of the river. The impatience of our troops increased to an eagerness for battle which it would have been difficult to restrain. The country between Liberty and Blue Mills Landing is a flat, alluvial soil, covered with dense woods, impenetrable by an army in line of battle, by reason of the thick undergrowth, vines, and thousands of trunks of trees which had been blown down in former times, or falling under the weight of years, now lay scattered in all directions, barricading passage. The road was narrow, and along the entire distance there were but two or three cultivated fields. There were a few beds of ponds, now without water. "With these exceptions it was a wide stretch of primeval forest. About half way between Liberty and the river, a road crossed that on which was our line of march at right angles. At the intersection of the roads, north of the one and east of the other, was a considerable corn-field. Opposite, with a belt of timber intervening, some twenty yards in width, was a slough or pond, now entirely dry. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott had marched his column by the flank thus far, having his skirmishers well thrown out, and feeling his way cautiously, step by step, as it were, and relying upon the skirmish line to hold the enemy in check, when he should be developed, long enough for his forces to deploy. The column had not advanced far beyond the cross road, when Captain Long, in command of the skirmishers, sent back word that he could hear the enemy officers giving commands and a heavy force approaching. In a moment more the skirmishers on our right opened fire, and in another instant our column seemed to be enveloped in a blaze of musketry. It had marched straight into ambuscade, and rebel bullets were fatally pattering against it from one end to the other. Nevertheless, officers and men retained their presence of mind, and deployed as well as was possible. The cannon was instantly placed in position, and poured two rounds of canister into the enemy, 8 58 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. inflicting heavy damage, when a fresh volley from the rebels killed, wounded, and drove off so many of the gunners that the piece could not be longer worked. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott now gave the order to fall back slowly. Out of sixteen officers, ten had already fallen, killed or wounded. We fell back slowly, bringing off the gun by hand. The rebels attempted a flank movement on our right, moving in the slough heretofore mentioned. The combat here became animated, and continued for some time, under the immediate command of Major Stone. The rebels were driven back with considerable loss, but Captain Cupp, of the Home Guards, here fell by the major s side, and a number besides were killed or wounded. The combat continued for an hour, our troops falling back slowly and steadily, firing as they retreated, bringing off the cannon and nearly all the wounded. Keaching the open field the battalion was formed, but the rebels declined attack. Just before nightfall the column retired to Liberty, meeting a detachment of horsemen from Colonel Smith on the way. Has whole command entered the town about an hour after sunset. The troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Scott in this engagement numbered less than six hundred. His losses in killed and wounded were one hun dred and eighteen, of which ninety-four fell to the Third Iowa. The rebel force was, perhaps, not far from four thousand. General Atchison, in his official report of the battle, particularizes three regiments, two battalions and one battery, but he nowhere mentions either the number of these troops, or of their casualties. It is probable their loss was not less than ours. The conduct of officers and men, whether of the Third Iowa, or of the Missouri Home Guards, was most creditable throughout. Lieutenant- Colonel Scott was in the midst of the fight, conspicuous for coolness and bravery. His horse was hit several times, and several bullets passed through his uniform. Major Stone was wounded, but returned to the field as soon as his wound was dressed. " The heaviest loss was sustained by Company I, which lost four killed and twenty wounded. Captain Trumbull and Lieutenant Crosley, of Company E, brought off the gun by hand under a heavy fire. Captains Warren, Willet, and O Neill, and Lieu tenants Tullis, Hobbs, Anderson, and Knight, were severely wounded, the last named three times." Sergeant James H. Larkin, of Company F, who bore the colors, and Sergeant Abernethy, of Company I, who led the skirmishers on the right, were specially mentioned for meritorious conduct. The simple fact is, the whole command deserved special mention for meri torious conduct. Certainly it never should have been led where it was, in the manner it was ; but being there, it fought its way out most gallantly fighting at bay against fearful odds and with heroic desperation, like the lion-hearted Richard, in Sherwood forest. The parallel might have been THIRD INFANTRY. 59 completed, had Colonel Smith been half as fleet as Robin Hood. But, conceding the battle to have been a mistake, its effect upon the regiment was unmixed good. 2 Colonel Smith was unwilling to take his weary troops against the rebels on the night of the 17th. Early on the following morning the united force marched to the Landing, but the enemy had made the passage of the river^ during the night, and was rapidly moving on Lexington to reenforce Price. The military situation in Missouri, especially in the western part of the State, was about this time at very loose ends. Brigadier-General Sturgis, unable to throw his troops across the Missouri to reenforce Colonel Mul ligan at Lexington, retreated up the left bank of the river, flying in precipitate haste from an imaginary enemy. Colonel Smith was marching toward St. Joseph. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, with about four hundred 2 Mr. Greeley, in the " American Conflict," (Vol. I., p. 587) thus disposes of this combat : " Lieu tenant-Colonel Scott, of the Third Iowa, reached that point (Liberty) at 7 A.M., on the 17th, and, not meeting there the expected cooperating force from Cameron, under Colonel Smith, pushed on to Blue Mills Landing, on the Missouri, where he attacked the rebels now commanded by General David R. Atchison and was promptly and thoroughly routed. Colonel Smith, who had been delayed by rains and bad roads, reached Liberty by dark, and there met Scott s beaten and demor alized regiment." Smith s line of march, from Platt River Bridge, not Cameron, which was Scott s starting point, to Liberty, was seven miles longer than Scott s. He had six hours start. He had no more rains, and no worse roads. Scott halted at Liberty full seven hours waiting for Smith, before he " pushed on." He was not " routed," either promptly or thoroughly, or in any other manner whatever. There was not any the least sign or symptom, of rout. There was the least possible disorder, almost, and scarcely a moment s absolute confusion. So far from the regiment being demoralized, it retreated in good order, wanted to try it again when the mounted men from Smith came up, and was anxious to do so when the main body arrived, after dark. It is rare, indeed, that Horace Greeley so errs as in the above quotation, and any one at all familiar with the lies as to the campaigns in Missouri, which were at this time lying around loose, will be astonished at his general accuracy. The losses of the Third Iowa at Blue Mills, as reported in the Adjutant-General s oflice, were : Wounded, Major William M. Stone; Company A Wounded, Lieutenant David J. O Neill; Ser geant Daniel J. Duane, William H. Munger; Privates Elliott Pritchfield, James P. Mc- Cafferty, John Schrage ; Company B Wounded, Lieutenant Albert Hobbs; Sergeant John C. Woodruff; Corporal William F. Hart; Privates Benjamin Robbins, Josiah M. Woodruff; Company C Killed, Lester Squires ; Wounded, Wagoner Herman Drone, William H. Phillips, John Snake ; Company D Killed, William B. Miller ; Wounded, Captain George R. Willett ; Lieutenant Ole A. Anderson, William B. Heckart; Company E Wounded, Sergeant Thomas Mulvana; Corporal Na thaniel Jennings, Corporal William H. McCowan, David H. Dill, George W. Groves, James F. Guth- rie, Daniel Hill, Joseph H. Miller, Bartley N. Pardee, William R. White, William C. White; Cam- pany F Killed, Hasseltine D. Norton ; Wounded, Lieutenant Aaron Brown ; Corporal Leonidas Davis, John W. Hawn, David Ishman, Joseph N. Johnson, Charles Lyon, Jacob Swank, Thomas Saunders, Charles Winchell; Company G Wounded, Francis M. Latta, William Michael, John Mc- Cullough, John A. Rutter, William Swan; Company H Wounded, Captain John H. Warren ; Lieu tenant James Tullis; Sergeant John McMannus, Edward A. Barbour, Isaac Gamble, Jesse McClure, Michael Wierna; Company I Kitted, Hiram G. W. Bedell, Benjamin F. Darland, Thomas M. Mix; Wounded, Lieutenant John P. Knight ; Sergeant David Forney, Sergeant Isaac M. Henderson ; Mu sician Charles E. Balcomb, James Buell, Leroy Carter, Peter S. Dorland. Richard C. Dolph, Wolsey Hawks, Willis H. Merifield, William L. Peppers, Albert S. Russell, George W. Stocks, George H. Smalley, Ferdinand Seick, Samuel Trowbridge, Joseph Vyborny, Asa H. Warner, Alfred M. Wilcox, Lorain T. Washburne, Thomas B. Walley, James E. White; Company K Killed, James H. Brownell. 60 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. men, marched and countermarched in the neighborhood of Liberty for two or three days, and then luckily got his troops aboard a steamer, and went to Fort Leavenworth, where they remained a day, and passed down to Wyandott, a town in the State of Kansas, but only three or four miles from Kansas City, Missouri, at this time the head-quarters of General Sturgis. That officer, expecting attack, sent for the Third Iowa on the afternoon of the 28th, and in a short time the march was made, No attack came, however. Here the regiment remained about three weeks. During this stay, Senator Lane, of Kansas, who had so often called himself " Jim. Lane," that he was known by no other name, arrived with a consi derable number of troops who were familiarly called Jay-hawkers. He and Sturgis forthwith went to quarrelling about the question of rank, and the mode of carrying on the war. Seeing that Sturgis was probably the worst representative of West Point that was ever raised to the rank of general, and that Jim. Lane was probably the worst representative of mili tary morals, or any other morals, that ever held a commission of any sort, and that they were both the serenest martinets in their different ways, the quarrel was amusing enough. In point of deportment, the dignity of mere manner, Sturgis had greatly the advantage, but in vituperation and down right profanity, Jim. Lane has the advantage of any gentleman. The upshot of it was that Lane moved off his troops in dudgeon, and encamped at some distance from Sturgis. But this is a digression. On the 18th of October our regiment embarked, and went up the river to latan, there took cars and by way of St. Joseph returned across the State ; near midnight of the 19th marched through the quiet streets of Quincey, Illinois, and went into camp north of the beautiful city. When Colonel Scott started on the Blue Mills campaign, he took with him only those who could endure forced marches. Here those who were then left behind and others who had joined the organization were found, and it may well be supposed this midnight meeting of old comrades was full of hearty welcomes. The regiment remained at Quincey till the 9th of November a period of much social enjoyment, as happily improved by the Lieutenant- Colonel as any, and closing with a ball in honor of the command given by the citizens. Thence the regiment proceeded by river to St. Louis, and remained in quarters at Benton Barracks till the day after Christmas, when it moved out on the North Missouri Railroad, under command of Major Stone. In guarding this road for many miles, head-quarters at Mexico, the command spent the winter in detachments. It was a period comparatively devoid of incident. Colonel Williams arrived near the close of February and assumed command. He had been relieved from arrest under the charges which had been preferred against him. He at once commenced reforms, THIRD INFANTRY. 61 and soon began to grow in favor with the officers and men. It is certain that he was never less unpopular with his command than at this time, when he was preparing, with great energy, to have it ready to move to the theatre of war in Tennessee. On the night of the 3d of March, 1862, being relieved of duty on the railway by a detachment of the Third Iowa Cavalry, our regiment started for St. Louis. There, the command went aboard steamer, and was soon on the way to join the forces of General Grant in Tennessee. The voyage, especially up the Tennessee River, which was covered with transports crowded with troops, was one of interest, much of the time, of excitement. The regiment was assigned to the division com manded by Brigadier-General Stephen A. Hurlbut, under whom it had before served, and of whom the majority thought but little, till his good conduct at Shiloh brought about a happy revolution of feeling in his favor. The troops of this division disembarked on the 17th of March at Pittsburg Landing, and encamped about a mile therefrom in the direction of Shiloh Church, or about one-third of the way thither. And here our regiment remained, in the performance of camp and drill duties till the surprise of April 6th. RATTLE OF SHILOH. For some time previous to the battle of Shiloh, the army of the Tenn essee, under Major-General Grant, had been encamped in the vicinity of Pittsburg Landing, a hovel on the west bank of the Tennessee River, nine miles south of the town of Savannah, on the east bank, where General Grant had his head-quarters, and twenty-two miles northwest of Corinth, Mississippi, where a large rebel force was concentrating under Generals Johnston and Beauregard. General Grant s army numbered about forty thousand men, in six divisions, commanded by Generals McClernand, Sher man, Hurlbut, Smith, Prentiss and Lew. Wallace. General Smith being sick at the time of the battle, General W. H. L. Wallace assumed com mand of the division. Before describing the movements of these troops, or of the reinforcements which turned their defeat into victory, it will be well to take a rapid view of the field upon which the battle was fought. Pittsburg Landing is little more than a ravine, down which a road passes to the river, between high bluffs on either side. The country to the west and south within whose limits the engagement took place, is an undu lating table land, breaking into abrupt ravines along the river to the east, as well as along Lick Creek, which empties into the Tennessee about two miles above the landing. Owl Creek, rising near the source of Lick Creek, first takes a northwest course, then curves around the battle-field, and empties into Snake Creek, about two miles west-northwest of Pitts burg. The face of the country is for the most part covered with woods, 62 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. through which troops can move without difficulty ; but there are occasional patches of dense undergrowth. Small farms and fields of seventy or eighty acres are scattered here and there along the roads, of which, with those for general use and those made by the army, there are many ; but, per haps, as much as nine-tenths of the countiy is forest. On the Corinth road, about three miles from the landing, stood a log church, called after one of the prophetic names of the Saviour, Shiloh, and from which the battle takes its name. A line run from where the Hamburg road crosses Lick Creek, south of Pittsburg, to where the Purdy road crosses Owl Creek, west of Pittsburg, would pass hard by Shiloh church. The dis tance is something more than three miles, the church being half a mile to the right of the centre. Along this line the front of the Union army was irregularly encamped. The advance line was composed of three divisions. General Sherman held the right, from considerably to the left of the church. One of his brigades, under Colonel Stuart, also guarded the ford at Lick Creek on the left. Next to him, but not so well up in front, nor parallel with him, was Major-General McClernand, his right overlapping the left of Sherman s main body. Between McClernand and Stuart s brigade, and in advance of either, on the extreme front was Prentiss. In the rear of the centre and about half way to the landing were W. H. L. Wallace and Hurlbut ; the latter on the left. As for General Lew. Wallace, he was at Crump s Land ing, a few miles below Pittsburg. The troops of General Grant s army were for the most part raw recruits, or inexperienced in warfare on a large scale. Some of them had fought at Belmont, more at Donelson. Others had been under fire in Missouri. Few of them all, officers or men, had any practical knowledge of a great pitched battle. It was well known to every soldier in our army that the rebels were in force only a day s march in front, under their most distinguished and skilful leaders. Nevertheless, our picket-lines were of the thinnest; of re- connoissances there were none, whilst our camps were utterly unprotected by works of any sort whatever. Our generals were unwary. One who has since so astonished the world by his military genius as General W. T. Sher man did not think, on the evening before the battle, the enemy designed anything but a strong demonstration. At that very moment the enemy was in our immediate front, in force much stronger than our own, ready to hurl his stout columns on and through our unsuspecting camps. And he would have been there, to surprise us on Saturday instead of Sunday morning, but for the delay caused by a heavy rain-storm. By half-past five o clock in the morning of Sunday, the rebel lines and columns were in motion, Hardee s corps on their right, Bragg s in the centre, Polk s on the left. Breckinridge held the reserve. Advancing THIRD INFANTRY. 63 OF REFERENCES. Position of Major-General Grant s forces on the morning of April 6th. Position of Major-Generals Grant s and Buell s forces, evening April 6th. Position of Major-Generals Grant and Buell on morning of April yth. Position of Major-Generals Grant and Buell on evening of April yth. NOTE. The positions of the Rebel forces were generally par allel to those herein indicated. 64 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. rapidly, they swept our pickets out of the way, or followed at their heels nearly into our camps, first striking Prentiss, and, almost in the twinkling of an eye, the left front of Sherman s main body. In an incredibly short time whole regiments were pulverized into clouds of stragglers drifting to the rear. Nevertheless the long roll calling the troops into line amid the roar of artillery and the bursting of shells, positions were hastily taken both by Prentiss and Sherman, and held for some little time with a bravery never surpassed, before or since. But the line lacked both strength and continuity. There was a great gap between Sherman and Prentiss. Parts of the line were held with more tenacity than others, and the battle raged from east to west, zigzag-wise, for some time, brigades here giving way, there holding back the enemy s advance. McClernand. hastened up to the support of Sherman, brigade at a time, and still the wide gap was left un closed. The rebels were not long in finding it, nor long in pouring in flank ing columns, under whose galling fire the left of our right and the right of our left, crumbled away, or fell back in confusion. Commands were sepa rated from each other, which ought to have fought side by side. General Grant had not yet appeared on the field, and there was an utter want of unity in our fight. We had given the rebels heavy blows, here and there stunning and retarding their lines, but as a whole they had advanced from six o clock till ten, driving us from position to position back upon the line held by Hurlbut and W. H. L. Wallace. Between these two divisions Prentiss made a stand, whilst McClernand took position to the right of W. H. L. Wallace, what was left of General Sherman s division being still on McClernand s right. The battle continued with renewed fury. "There was the most continuous firing of musketry and artillery," says General Grant, "ever heard on this continent, kept up until nightfall." The can nonading of the battle was heard near Nashville, which is nearly an hun dred miles distant from the scene of conflict. Nevertheless, General Lew. Wallace, six miles distant, missed the way, and did not reach the field till the first day s contest was ended. Meantime, with the exception of a few regiments of Hurlbut s and Prentiss commands, which held to the last position taken with unrelaxing grip, keeping back the rebels in their front for hours, thereby saving the Unionists from utter rout, not surrendering themselves till enveloped on all sides, and Buell, and night had come, the whole army had fallen back to the immediate vicinity of Pittsburg. The losses in killed and wounded during the day s contest were large on both sides. We had lost nearly thirty pieces of artillery, whilst the quan tities of public and private property which the rebels found in our camps were immense. Their commander-in-chief had been killed. On our side, General W. H. L. Wallace was mortally wounded, and General Prentiss captured. We had been driven from every position, and when Genera] THIRD INFANTRY. 65 Nelson s division of the Army of the Ohio under General Buell, came up in the evening, General Grant s army was defeated and huddled together, so to say, near the landing, under cover of the reserve artillery, and the gun-boats Tyler and Lexington. The divisions of Prentiss and W. H. L. Wallace did not appear any more as such, whilst Sherman s was greatly shattered, and Hurlbut s and McClernand s had been roughly treated. Thousands of stragglers crowded the river s bank, pleading to be carried across the stream ; and the spirits of the troops were broken. Yet it is the simple truth to add that neither General Grant nor General Sherman admitted a defeat. To the unyielding tenaciousness of the one, and the enthusiasm of the other, there was still hope of success on the morrow, even without the aid of Buell. Happily, Buell did not fail, and the suc ceeding portion of the battle was as glorious to our arms as the preceding had been disastrous. When the battle of Sunday ceased, the two gun-boats opened fire from heavy guns upon the rebels, and checked their advance not only, but com pelled them to seek shelter from the terrible missiles at some distance from our lines. It thus happened that General Buell found room to post his troops on Sunday night, and General Grant an opportunity to reorganize his divisions, and to get Lew. Wallace into line, without being cramped for space. In this labor the night was spent by the general officers. At mid night a thunder storm came up, and our troops, who slept on their arms, received a thorough soaking. Early on the morning of Monday we were ready not only to receive attack, but to advance upon the enemy. The line was in the shape of a crescent, the wings advanced. Three divisions of the Army of the Ohio Nelson s, Crittenden s and McCook s, were in position on the left. Lew. Wallace was on the right, Sherman, McClernand and Hurlbut being in order on his left, to whose commands were attached such of Prentiss and W. H. L. Wallace s troops as could be got together. The right found the enemy sooner than the left. General Lew. Wallace was first engaged, but it was not long till the*re was heavy firing both of artillery and musketry all along the line. The Army of the Ohio, under cover of Terrell s, Menden- hall s and Bartlett s batteries, advanced slowly, working toward the right, all the time losing heavily ; but only once during the day compelled to fall back. The Army of the Tennessee also met with stubborn resistance, but the fresh troops under Wallace fought with a spirit and dash which entirely relieved them from any responsibility for the laggard movement of the division on the day before, whilst the other divisions this day fought like veterans. There was but little straggling to the rear on Monday. Along the whole line our troops quitted themselves like men, and steadily pressed back the foe, till about four o clock, when Beauregard put his whole army 66 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. in retreat. We had by this time recaptured most of our guns taken the day before, all our camps, and were beyond our advance line of Sunday morning. Two brigades of General Wood s division of the Army of the Ohio, went into line near the centre just before the close of the battle, and they, together with portions of General Sherman s troops, and detachments from other commands, made a short and desultory pursuit of the enemy ; but there was no general attempt to follow up the victory. Beauregard retreated to Corinth without molestation, with a loss of ten thousand six hundred and ninety-nine in killed, wounded and missing, according to his own report, out of the forty thousand three hundred and fifty-five engaged in the battle, according to the same authority. The Union loss in the Army of the Ohio, and the divisions of Sherman, McClernand and Huri- but, was eight thousand and forty-seven, and it is probable the total casual ties amounted to nearly twelve thousand. This great battle, which at first elicited hasty rejoicings throughout the insurrectionary States, and especially at Richmond, and afterwards the enduring gratitude of the loyal portions of the country, was fought on the side of the Union by Western troops, except the artillerymen belonging to the regular batteries. The volunteers in the army of the Tennessee, num bering about sixty regiments, were from all the Western States and the Territory of Nebraska. The army of the Ohio engaged was composed mostly of troops from Ohio and Kentucky, but there were a few regiments from Indiana and Illinois. The State of Iowa had eleven regiments in the battle the Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth infantry. General Lau- man commanded a brigade of Indiana and Kentucky troops in Hurlbut s division. Colonel J. M. Tuttle, of the Second Iowa, was in command of what was called at the time the " Iowa Brigade," composed of the Second, Seventh, Twelfth, and Fourteenth regiments, till the fall of General W. H. L. Wallace, late in the day, when he assumed command of what was left of the division. The brigade occupied the left of the division, and early went into action. Here four separate charges of the enemy, made with great spirit and under cover of artillery, were repulsed. The position was held most tenaciously for six hours. Then the line yielded both on the right and left, giving the enemy an opportunity to turn both flanks of the brigade. The Second and Seventh retired through a murderous fire, under which many were killed and wounded, among whom fell General Wallace. The Twelfth and Fourteenth, endeavoring to save a battery, failed to retire. They continued the fight with the Third and Eighth Iowa, an Illinois and a Wisconsin regiment for some time, with a resolute, heroic determination to save the army behind them from destruction. THIRD INFANTRY. f>7 And they did it. They delayed the rebel advance till it was too late for farther movements. The most of the Third passed through a terrible cross fire, and escaped, but the other troops who made this last desperate stand were completely cut off, and compelled to surrender themselves prisoners of war. On Monday the Second and Seventh followed General Buell as a reserve. During the day the Second charged bayonets across a field on the enemy posted in the woods beyond, in the most gallant manner. The Seventh on this day, under orders from General Crittenden, charged and captured one of the enemy s batteries. Colonel Tuttle declares in his official report, that the officers of his brigade deserving special mention for good conduct at Shiloh are so numerous that he is compelled fo confine himself to field officers alone. He then states that Lieutenant- Colonel Baker, of the Second, Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott and Major Rice, of the Seventh, Colonel Woods, of the Twelfth, Colonel Shaw and Lieu tenant-Colonel Lucas, of the Fourteenth, particularly distinguished them selves for bravery and ability on the field. The Sixth regiment was in the brigade on the extreme right of the whole line, near the bridge over Owl Creek on the Purdy road. This brigade, at first under the command of Colonel McDowell, of the Sixth, made the stoutest and the longest stand against the rebel advance of any of General Sherman s troops, and the Sixth regiment itself fought till no supports were left. It was at last so shattered that it did not appear as an organization during the second day s contest, though the men fought with other commands. The regiment went into the engagement with about six hundred and fifty men, of whom sixty-four were killed, one hundred wounded, and forty-seven missing. The Eighth regiment, Colonel J. L. Geddes, belonged to Colonel Sweeney s brigade, of Smith s division, but was early ordered into position, apart from the brigade, on the extreme left of the division, joining the right of Prentiss. Here it fought under the eye of General Prentiss for ten con secutive hours, repelling attack after attack, and with the battery which it supported, placing battalion after battalion of the enemy Jiors de combat. Here it remained till it had to fight rebels in three directions. It lost in killed and wounded nearly two hundred. Colonel Geddes claims the honor for his regiment of being the last to leave the advanced line of our army on the battle-field of Shiloh on Sunday. It had retired but a short dis tance, when, being surrounded on all sides, it surrendered. The gallant men deserved a better fate. They had fought like heroes, one and all. Lieutenant-Colonel Ferguson, Major Andrews, Captains Cleaveland, Stubbs, Benson, McCormick, Bell, Kelsey, Geddes, and Lieutenant Muhs, are specially mentioned by the colonel in his official report, made after months of imprisonment in the South. Captain Hogin was killed in the early part of the action, and Captain Palmer severely wounded. The Eleventh 68 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Hall, and the Thirteenth, Colonel Crocker, were attached to the first brigade, Colonel Hare, Eleventh Iowa, com manding, of General McClernand s division. The losses in both regiments were heavy. They were separated on the evening of Sunday, and did not again meet during the contest, but fought with less or more efficiency throughout. Colonel Hare was wounded on the afternoon of Sunday, when Colonel Crocker took command of the brigade. The losses in his regiment, in killed, wounded, and missing, were one hundred and seventy- two, whilst Lieutenant-Colonel Hall speaks of those in his regiment as very severe. Major Abercrombie, of the Eleventh, who is mentioned as having rendered the most gallant and efficient aid, was severely wounded in the head. "I make special mention of Captain John C. Marven," says the lieutenant-colonel, "who rose from a sick bed, not having been able to do duty for ninety days. Colonel Crocker says that all his officers, and almost all the men, exhibited the greatest bravery and coolness, and he calls especial attention to the gallant conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Price and Major Shane. The Fifteenth, Colonel Reid, and the Sixteenth, Colonel Chambers, arrived at Pittsburg Landing after the battle had commenced. They were entirely raw. They received their ammunition for the first time at the landing, and thus marched right into battle without having before fired a gun. They went into action in General McClernand s line, and fought for two hours with the utmost bravery and coolness. The order was then given to fall back. The men did not know how to fall back. It was a thing they had not learned. So they retreated in some confusion. They had lost heavily. Of the Fifteenth, twenty-two had been killed, and one hundred and fifty-six Mounded; of the Sixteenth, eighteen had been killed, and one hundred and three wounded. Colonel Reid and Colonel Chambers were both severely wounded. Lieutenant- Colonel Dewey and Major Belknap, of the Fifteenth, both had their horses shot under them, and the latter was himself wounded. Fifteen officers of the Fifteenth and eleven of the Sixteenth were killed or wounded. Officers and men of both regiments behaved most admirably till the order to retreat was given. They then fell back pell-mell, and became mingled with other regiments, which had retreated in the same disorder without the same palliating circumstances. Colonel Reid rallied a portion of his command, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders a portion of the Sixteenth, which went into the fight of Monday in support of a battery, where they suffered but little. The operations of the regiment with which we now have specially to do, so far as the contest of Sunday is concerned, have been noted. It cut its way through the enemy s lines late in the evening, and with reduced num bers, under command of Lieutenant G. W. Crosley, fought with Hurlbut on THIRD INFANTRY. 69 Monday. Here the Lieutenant commanding, and Lieutenants Dodd, Gary, Tidrick, Kostmann, Eberhart, Brink, and Gregg all tlie officers able to be present and the men with them behaved with the greatest gallantry. Colonel Williams, commanding brigade, was disabled, Major Stone, in com mand of the regiment was captured, Captain Albert Hobbs was mortally, and Captains D. Leffingwell, E. J. Weiser, Samuel B. McCall, A. L. Ogg, James Tullis, M. M. Trumbull, and Lieutenants P. W. Crawford, Bentort A. Mathews, P. G. C. Merrill, Simon G. Gary, John P. Knight, William B. Hauiill, and John Wayne, were all less or more severely wounded, whilst the entire loss of the regiment gave ample attestation to its valor. 3 The regiment took part in the slow march on Corinth, performing its share of the labors involved in the operations, and after the evacuation went into camp west of the town. It was for some time engaged in the repair of the railway, performing heavy duty, and it also made a march to 3 LIST OF CASUALTIES, THIRD IOWA, AT SHILOH: Major William M. Stone, prisoner. Company A Captain David J. O Neill; Lieutenant Phineas W.Crawford; Sergeant Stephen Cousins; Corporals Hugh Tracy, Thomas Forbush, David McCleary, Charles Crawford; Privates Robert P. Griffith, Oliver M. Gilliam, Asa Platts, Alexander T. Smith, Albert C. Smith, Samuel Taylor, Horace Downer, Pri soners, Charles Babcock, John C. Pyke; Company B Killed, Peter M. Hart; Wounded, Captain Albert Hobbs ; Lieutenant Benton A. Matthews ; Corporals John F. Norris, William A. Stuart, Wil liam F. Hart; Privates, Wallace G. Agnew, Daniel Brobst, Barrett W. Clark, Thomas L. Collins, Thomas L. Molesworth, Jacob Moore, William F. Rowe, Emery T. Sperry, Richard M. Burch, John II. Kellinbergher, Newton H. Nichols, Prisoner, Corporal William H. Simmer ; Company C Killed, Barney Me Loon; Wounded Captain Douglas Leffingwell; Sergeant Allen Sparks; Corporals James M. Gimmel, Alfred Mitchell ; Privates William H. Dennison, George Goodwin, Thomas McLoon, Charles Merril, John Stam, Adam Thein, George Wentz ; (Missing,) Daniel Vandyke. Company D Killed, Edward Knapp, Hans H. Steenson, Samuel D. Smith; Wounded Captain Emilius J. Weiser; Corporal Joseph Farber, George H. Culver. James S. Daskam, Hiram S. Daskam, Hans Gulbranson, Thomas Heath, Peter B. Holverson, Knut Knutson, Matthew Kellogg, Gilbert Knutson, Henry H. Sheldon, George H. Kelly, John Fisher. Company E Killed. Sergeant John H. Smith ; Corporal John M. Skiff, James H. Ewing; Wounded, Captain Samuel B. McCall; Corporals, Thomas Dent, Allen Alloway, Joseph J. Spurrier; Privates John J. Cottle, William C. Chambers, John Castine, Michael D. Deal, Samuel T. Jones, Edward D. John, John W. Montgomery, John L. Woods, Samuel P. Tenor, Thomas D. Casebolt; Prisoners, Joseph A. Fitzpatrick, Isaiah T. New- house, Patrick M. Joseph. Company F Kitted, Corporal Samuel J. Fenton, David M. Brown, William Marsh ; Wounded, Walstin Davis, Franklin S. Downs, Joseph J. Earle, Andrew J. Hendrick- Bon, Charles L. Clark ; Prisoner, Judson E. Murphey. Company G Killed, Finley Anderson, Adam Plumb, Samuel F.Anderson; Wounded, Captain Adams L. Ogg; Musician William C. Hamblin, Edward N. Barlow, William C. Newton, George W. Silcott, George W. Shippey, John Welsh, William Clapp. Josiah Brown, Orlando M. Nichols; Prisoners, Lieutenant Philo G. C. Merrill; Corporal Josiah McLeod, Daniel Aind, Silas Coryell, Benjamin F. Murray, William C. Newton, John W. Parks, Eden Randal, David Styles. Company H Killed, Corporal John R. Blattner, Francis W. Adams, William B. Bradley, Theodore Rodman, Trevanion H. Teas ; Wounded, Captain James Tullis ; Cor porals Edward A. Barlow, Edward J. Ball, William A. Orrell, George Godfrey, Samuel A. Tenderson, George Golden, Solomon A. Linnville; Privates John W. Mehanna, Joseph Rayburn, John H. Tal- bott, Benajah Zane. George Baker, Patrick Larkin; Prisoners, Sergeant Webster W. Majors, Alfred Anders. Company 1 Killed, Stephen DeWitt; Wounded, Captain Matthew M. Trumbull; Lieutenant John P. Knight ; Privates David Brubaker, John Bag, Howard Bullock, Joseph S. Clousky, Frank Evans, Tilly G. Gilbert, John C. Stockan, Sylvester L. Short, James W. Winship, John W. Sherman, Edward M. Wardell. Company K Killed, George Money ; Wounded, Lieutenants William B. Hamill, John Wayne; Sergeants Gilbert H. Pulver, George H.Merrill; Corporal Van Renselaer Rider; Privates Atherton E. Brown, (mortally), Wallace Briggs, Calvin Jones, Eugene H. Jefferson, Charles C. Moulton, Joseph A. Ross, (mortally> Norman M. Wolcott, George H. Watson, Martin Adams. 70 IOWA AND THE REBELLIOX. and from Holly Springs, the starting point of its march being in the neigh bourhood of La, Grange, about half way between Corinth and Memphis. In July it marched to the latter place, ^nd went into camp south of the city on the 21st. Here the command rested until the 6th of September. It then moved to the vicinity of Bolivar, some thirty miles northwest of Corinth, and was for some time engaged, in this vicinity, in marchings and countermarchings which need not be particularly described. On October 5th, the rebels having been defeated at Corinth, were met on the Hatchie River by the forces under General Ord, and handsomely defeated after an obstinate battle of several hours duration. In this engagement, sometimes, called the battle of Matamora, and sometimes the battle of the Hatchie, the Third Iowa added fresh laurels to its wreath of honor. At first in the reserve, it was called into action at the crisis of the battle, and rushing forward with shouts carried the bridge over the river by a desperate charge, losing in a few moments, nearly sixty officers and men out of three hundred engaged. General Lauman was here in command of the brigade. Lieu tenant-Colonel Trumbull commanded the regiment. Lieutenant W. P. Dodd was killed, and many officers wounded.* " The conduct of the rank and file," says the commanding officer, "in crossing the bridge under the terrible fire of the enemy s batteries, and in rallying to the flag as promptly as they did, deserves the highest praise," and he specially mentions Cap tains Weiser, Kostmann, Lieutenants Foote, Hamill, Anderson, Gary, who were wounded, Scobey, McMurtrie, Burdick, Lakin, Abernethy, Moe, and Cushman, Sergeant-Major Montague, and color-bearer Anderson Edwards for gallant conduct. I have not met with any official reports of the battle of the Hatchie except that pertaining to the Third Iowa by Lieutenant-Colonel Trumbull. General Ord took command of the forces not long before the battle, and I have heard it stated by those on the field that his dispositions were exceed ingly faulty. He was wounded, and the command devolved upon General Hurlbut, who, most efficiently sustained by General Lauman, redeemed the day and made the battle a victory. It was a continuation of the battle of Corinth, and before it ended Rosecrans artillery was thundering on the enemy s rear, but the rebels made good their passage of the Hatchie at a bridge higher up the stream, which was south of the battle-field. General *The following incomplete list of casualties is compiled from the Adjutant-General s report : Company B Wounded, Emanuel Beam. Company C Wounded, Captain Carl Kostman: Musician William Orr; Company D Wounded, Captain Emilius J. Weisor; Corporal Charles C. Watson; George Culver, Martin E. Oloeon, (mortally), Martin Pepper. Company EWmindtd, Isaiah N. Johnson, Samuel Marsh, William R. White, David C. Ross. Company F Wounded, Thomas H. Pen- dleton, Frank Conrad. Company H Killed, Lieutenant William P. Dodd, Henry C. Dearinger. Com pany I Wounded, George Parks, David Horner, Henry M. Townsend. THIRD INFANTRY. 71 Hurlbut soon left the division for a higher command, and was succeeded by General Lauman. The battle over our regiment soon returned to Bolivar, and having here done considerable work on fortifications, joined in the march southward early in November, and after several reconnoissances to some distance from the main army, encamped near La Grange and Grand Junction, moved on the expedition in central Mississippi, in which it performed well its part, and was among the last troops which regained the frontier of Tennessee on the countermarch. The regiment went into camp near Moscow, near the middle of January, 1863. Here it spent two months in quiet, and then moved to Memphis, where it spent about the same period in a similar manner. Mean time Colonel Williams had resigned. Previously thereto, Lieutenant-Co lonel Trumbull had resigned, so that when the regiment entered upon its next active campaign, Colonel Aaron Brown was the superior officer. Cap tain James Tullis had been promoted to the Lieutenant- Colonelcy and Lieu tenant G. W. Crosley to the Majority. Colonel Brown, then Major, had indeed commanded the regiment on the central Mississippi campaign, Co lonel Williams being sick. The 17th of May, the regiment embarked on the steamer "Crescent City" for Vicksburg. The next day, when a few miles above Greenville, Mississippi, the steamer was fired into by a considerable band of rebels concealed in the thick undergrowth on the bank of the river. They had three pieces of artillery, and numbered altogether several hundred men. At the time of this attack the " Crescent City" w.as more than a mile in advance of the main fleet bearing reinforcements to Grant. The men of the Third Iowa sprang to their arms, and, with the assistance of one piece of artillery aboard, which was well handled, drove the rebels from the shore. The boat was riddled with shot, however, and fourteen men of the Third were wounded. The 19th, the command disembarked at Young s Point, and proceeded to march across the Peninsula in front of Vicksburg ; but turning about again went aboard the steamer and moved up the Yazoo to Haines Bluff, where it arrived on the morning of the 22d. On this day Grant unsuccessfully assaulted the works of Vicksburg. Our regiment heard the tumult of the battle the thunder of the captains and the shout ing ; but took no part in the fierce and unavailing strife. On the 25th the command took its position in the investing lines, and from this time forth until the capitulation was engaged in the arduous duties of the siege. Its labors during the entire period, like those of the whole army, were severe and, as was the case likewise with other troops, it was called upon not only to labor and to wait, but to fight. It had many combats with the enemy, whilst on the 1st of June, the 4th, and the 24th, detachments of the regi ment had lively engagements in which considerable loss was suffered, but 72 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. more inflicted. Too much, says Major Crosley, cannot be said in praise of the officers and men of the regiment for the fortitude and courage exhi bited during the entire siege. In the campaign against the rebel general, Joe Johnston, which imme diately followed the victory of Vicksburg, the Third Iowa bore a more con spicuous part of gallantry and of suffering than any other command from Iowa. Of what is called the second siege of Jackson I shall speak with some detail in my account of the Sixth Infantry. In the detached assault of July 12th, on the enemy s works south of the city, made by that brigade of Lauman s division to which our regiment was attached, the Third behaved with heroic courage, and met with fearful loss. 5 Captain John L. Ruckman, his brother, Lieutenant Joseph Ruckman, Lieutenant Hall, Lieutenant McMurtrie, and many other gallant men of the Third were here slain or wounded. After the repulse at Jackson, our shattered regiment returned to Vicks burg, whence not long afterwards it moved with its division to Natchez, where it remained to rest and recuperate for several months. In December it returned to Vicksburg, and moving to the rear thereof went into encamp ment as winter-quarters, near the Big Black. Here, over two hundred men of the regiment reenlisted for three years as veteran volunteers. From the 3d of February, 1864, to the 4th of March, the regiment was engaged in General Sherman s march and countermarch, known as the Meridian raid. During this campaign the regiment lost one man killed, one mortally wounded, and ten captured while foraging at a distance from the lines, inarched over three hundred miles, and performed a great amount of hard labor in tearing up the Confederacy. The command was ordered to embark on steamers at Vicksburg, shortly after the return from Meridian, to join in the Red River expedition. But the order was modified, so that the veteran portion of the regiment under Major Crosley, was sent home on furlough. The non- veterans, Lieutenant- Colonel Tullis commanding, proceeded with the expedition up Red River, 5 GENERAL J. G. LAUMAN. This officer was immediately relieved of command by General Ord, though he was himself responsible for the disaster, having ordered the advance. General Lauman Avas subsequently long prostrated by illness, and did not afterwards, I believe, have an active com mand. The original Colonel of the Seventh Iowa, ho distinguished himself at Belmont, where he was severely wounded; at Fort Donelson, where he led the assaulting column which gained the enemy s works, and electrified the whole country with a fine thrill of enthusiastic admiration; at Shiloh, where he again commanded a brigade ; at the Hatchie, where he and Hurlbut saved the day, after this same Ord had been wounded, fortunately for the Union arms ; and afterwards, com manding a division, had done valiant and efficient service. He was an officer of great courage and well-approved skill. Impetuous by nature, but with his impetuosity cooled by reflection and gov erned by experience; kindly disposed toward all men and ever watchful of his troops, for whom he cared like a father for his children ; he left his command with the good will, the respect, and the affection of most of his troops, and especially those of that brigade which was immolated at Jackson, who knew full well that their sacrifice was caused by the general commanding the corps. THIRD INFANTRY. 73 taking their full share in that campaign ; whilst the veterans started for Iowa on the 17th of March. The two portions of the regiment were never afterwards united. The non-veterans, returning from the disastrous cam paign under Banks, were sent to Iowa for discharge, their term of service having about expired. Few in numbers, but full of honors, they were mustered out of the service. The veterans, having received the kind demonstrations of friends at home, returned at the expiration of their furlough to Cairo, Illinois, where the Seventeenth Corps was being reorganized, and whence it moved with that command to reenforce Sherman, by this time engaged in his wonderful campaign of Atlanta. The number of reenlisted men being too small to entitle the regiment to maintain its organization, most of the officers left the service at the expiration of their original term of enlistment, which was about the time the corps joined the grand army at Ackworth, Georgia. The veterans and recruits of the regiment, with whom Colonel Brown remained for some time, were afterwards consolidated into a battalion of three companies, in order that an independent organization might be main tained, and the identity of the "old Third" preserved. But one field officer was allowed. Lieutenant Jacob Abernethy, of Company F, was recommended as Lieutenant-Colonel; all the line officers but one were chosen from the ranks, and the organization of the battalion seemed to be secured. But before the commissions reached the officers of the new organization it was so shattered and decimated in battle that it never recovered. At the memorable battle of Atlanta, July 22d, the Third Iowa veteran battalion literally fought itself out of existence. Abernethy was slain ; Griffith, now Captain, who had so bravely carried the colors of the regiment on former battle-fields, fell under mortal wounds; many more men as gallant and as true here met their death ; a large proportion of the command were killed, wounded or captured. There was a desperate com bat for the colors. It was thus afterwards described by a correspondent of the Dubuque Times: "As the battle grew raging hot and desperate, a handful of our undaunted men gathered amidst the pelting showers of shot and shell, and there around our flag and banner they stood its guard in the most perilous moments. The color-bearer, the bravest of the brave, relinquished his hold by death alone. Still the mass stood there madly fighting for its defence. Their numbers fast decreasing by death their hopes began to fail, and, as they surrendered themselves to the enemy, they tore the emblems of our nationality and regimental designation into pieces and into shreds, which, concealed, they proudly brought back to us, untouched and unsoiled by impious and traitorous hands. And thus, on the field made sacred by the blood of McPherson, and thousands of others less distinguished but no less patriotic, the Third Iowa 10 74 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. passed out of being. The remaining members of the organization were subsequently consolidated with the Second Iowa Infantry, and in that gal lant command took part in the campaigns under Sherman to the close of the war. There is a peculiar interest attached to the Third Iowa Infantry an in terest of manifold phases. First, that of a personal nature. Its first major, William M. Stone, who commanded the regiment during the greatest pitched battle in which it was engaged, afterwards became colonel of the Twenty-second, and then governor of the State ; its first lieutenant-colonel, John Scott, became colonel of the Thirty-second ; its first quartermaster, George W. Clarke, became colonel of the Thirty-fourth, and before the close of the war fairly won and wore the stars of a general officer ; Lieu tenant-Colonel M. M. Trumbull, became colonel of our Ninth cavalry; Commissary-Sergeant Edward H. Mix became lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-second, and met the death of a gallant man on the field of Pleasant Hill ; Captain John P. Knight did excellent service as lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth Cavalry ; Lieutenant G. A. Eberhart was promoted major of the Thirty-second, rose one rank higher in that command, and as its superior officer led it through the campaigns of Tupelo, of Missouri, of Nashville, and of Mobile ; Sergeant George L. Wright became lieutenant-colonel of our distinguished Second ; whilst Major Crosley received equal rank in the First regiment of Hancock s Veteran Corps. The Third also furnished a number of line officers to other regiments. Secondly, its history through out was gallant in the extreme. And the manner in which that history was closed was as sad as heroic. It was fortunate that the members remaining were assigned to so fine a regiment as the Second, but, after all, it would have been better and juster, to have allowed the command to maintain its identity and its name. Then, when it returned to Iowa after the defeat of the rebellion, its banner restored to shape if not to beauty, would have justly received more proud huzzas than any trophy that ever graced the triumph of a conqueror. This was due to the Third Iowa, even had there been but one man left of the old command to carry back that honored ban ner to the State. CHAPTER IV. FOURTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AND RENDEZVOUS OF THE REGIMENT AT COUNCIL BLUFFS MARCH BEFORE MUSTER DRILL AT ST. LOUIS THE PEA RIDGE CAMPAIGN THE BATTLE MARCH THROUGH ARKANSAS LONG STAY NEAR HELENA THE &ATTLE OF CHICKASA W BAYOU SHERMAN AND McCLERN AND ARKANSAS POST- GENERAL GRANT S SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN AGAINST VICKSBURG THE SECOND CAPTURE OF JACKSON IN CAMP MARCH TO THE RELIEF OF CHATTANOOGA THE BATTLES THERE BATTLE OF RINGGOLD THE MARCH TO "THE HEART OF THE CONFEDERACY" TO SAVANNAH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS HOME. THAT portion of southern Iowa, usually called "the Missouri slope," con tributed most of the troops to the formation of this distinguished regiment, and all its members, or very nearly all, came from counties now within the Fifth Congressional District. It was organized by Grenville M. Dodge, who was its first colonel, now well-known to the remotest parts of the Republic, but who, at the time here spoken of, was a civil engineer, only known to a few "railroad men," and who, from want of brass, might have been still engaged in the quiet pursuit of his profession, but for the fact that Governor Kirkwood happened to discover the energetic qualities which were concealed under a modest demeanor. He gave Dodge a colonel s commission, wherefrom resulted one of Iowa s best regiments and one of the country s best major-generals. The Colonel lived at Council Bluffs, and here the regiment was organized during the summer of 1861. 1 1 Company A, from Fremont, Mills, and Pottavrattamie counties, at its organization numbered seventy-four men, commanded by Captain Wni. R. English, and Lieutenants Thos. H. Head and Samuel Shields. Company B, numbering ninety-three men, from nearly a dozen counties in the southwestern part of the State, was commanded by Captain Seth II. Craig, Lieutenants George H. Ford and William H. Kinsman. Company C, mostly from Guthrie County, was organized with Thos. Seeley as captain, and S. D. Nichols and J. P. McEwen, subalterns. Company D, from Decatur, num bering one hundred and three, was commanded by Captain George Burton, and Lieutenants Joseph S. Warner and John B. Springer. The county of Polk furnished most of the ninety-six officers and men composing Company E Captain Henry II. Griffith, and Lieutenants W. S. Simmons and Isaac Whicher. Some of this company were from Warren, and a few from other counties. Madison, ussisted to some extent by Warren County, raised the men for Company F, eighty-one in number, commanded by Captain H. J. B. Cummings, and Lieutenants R. A. Still and John S. Goshorn. Cap tain Edmund W. Rice, and Lieutenants Lc vena Hopkins and Randolph Sry brought in a company 75 76 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. All the companies had not reached the rendezvous at "Camp Kirk- wood," near our principal city on the Missouri River, when a threatened invasion across our southern border demanded immediate attention. Two hundred picked men, being twenty-five from each of the companies pre sent, marched to the relief of the threatened locality. They went as far as Clarinda, the county-seat of Page county, and, reenforced on the way and at that place, by companies of Home Guards, the whole presented a warlike front against which the marauders could have accomplished nothing. Struck with a wholesome dread of several hundred determined men, well armed, all of whom came from a locality where the lightest pun ishment for horse-thieves was hanging without benefit of law or clergy, the bands of Missourians dispersed, and our soldiers leisurely returned to Camp Kirkwood. And it may be as well to remark here as elsewhere, that the few bands of Missouri rebels who have since had the temerity to enter our southern tier of counties on errands of plunder and murder, have in variably been welcomed with bloody hands to hospitable graves. The regiment left Council Bluffs per steamer about the close of the first week in August, and proceeding down the Missouri to St. Joseph, there took cars for Hannibal, whence the journey was made on the Mississippi to Jef ferson Barracks. Here and at St. Louis, near by, the regiment remained drilling a short time, and then, armed and equipped, moved by rail to Holla. At this place the command first settled down into the monotony of camp life and drill, and here it waited, as thousands elsewhere waited, till the rebellion had gained such gigantic proportions, that mere physical power, unaided by the might of right, and the blessing of God, would, perhaps, have been entirely unable to suppress it. The period was im proved by officers and men fitting themselves more thoroughly for the life and duties of soldiers, and was, therefore, beneficial ; but many.of the men here died of diseases incident to the camp" good and true men," says a correspondent, who amid the rush of praise for the living I fear will not of eighty men from Ringgold County. Adams and Union, with some assistance from Cass, furnished Company H ; Captain E. Y. Bnrgan, and Lieutenants Henry G. Ankeny and Jas. J. Hafier. Wayne County, helped a little by Clark, sent up a large company numbering one hundred and seven with Captain Wm. E. Taylor, and Lieutenants Samuel S. Glasgow and Gideon L. McCune, which Lieutenants resigned, however, early in January, 1862, and were succeeded by F. Crathorne, and R. S. Jackson. Captain Joseph Cramer and Lieutenants Geo. W. Fridley and Jas. T. Crittenden com manded Company K, consisting of ninety-five men from Page and Taylor counties. But two companies B and E were mustered into the service at Council Bluffs. These were mustered in on the 8th of August. The other companies, except I and K, were mustered at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, on the 15th of August, and the last two at St. Louis, on the 31st of August. At this time the regiment numbered, rank and file, nine hundred and forty men. The organization of the regiment was completed by the appointment of John Galligan, of Scott County, lieutenant-colonel, and the promotion of Captain William R. English, of Company A, to the majority. James A. Williamson, of Polk, was appointed adjutant ; Phineas A. Wheeler, quarter master; Myrom W. Robbing, surgeon, Wm. S. Grimes, assistant ; and Rev. Thomas M. Goodfellow, (suggestive name,) chaplain. FOURTH INFANTRY. 77 receive the honor due them. When the sultry days of summer had given way to the cold winds that foretold a severe winter, the men built barracks for themselves, but the health and comfort of the troops were not increased by being crowded within their too contracted walls. Two expeditions made during the winter did much more to recuperate the health and spirits of the troops than all the in-door comforts of their winter quarters. One of these was a march to Licking, in Texas county, some distance southwest of Holla, which resulted in the dispersion of a considerable rebel force and the capture of much property, with which were a number of horses, cattle, and mules. Another march was made to Dry Glaze, in La Clede county, which, though resulting in no material profit to the government, served a good purpose upon the health of the troops. General Curtis arrived at Holla on the 27th of December, to take com mand of the Army of the Southwest, concentrating there. Our regiment turned out to receive the General in military style, and there was a fine dis play on the occasion. During the ceremonies, Colonel Dodge s pistol, in his saddle-holster, was accidentally discharged, and inflicted a severe wound in his thigh the first in the regiment? which kept him from duty for some time. General Curtis with his gallant little Army of the Southwest, moved from Holla on the 23d of January, 1862, with the purpose of giving battle to Price, then encamped, with a largely superior army, at Springfield. During this march and campaign, closing with the brilliant victory of Pea Ridge, Colonel Dodge was in command of the brigade to which our regiment was assigned. Lieutenant-Colonel Galligan had command of the regiment. The roads were in an almost impassable condition, but the army nevertheless made good progress. Halting at Lebanon a few days, it did not reach the vicinity of Springfield till the 12th of February, on the evening of which day our advance guard of cavalry attacked the enemy s outposts and a brisk skirmish ensued. Our regiment was called into line, and quickly fornfing, marched to the front, and here for the first time came under fire. The rebels were soon driven, however, and the men went into bivouac. By three o clock of the following morning, General Curtis had his army in motion, in three columns, designing to attack at daylight. The Fourth Iowa had the advance on the left. Lieutenant Stitt of Company F, in charge of the skirmish line, entered Springfield about daylight. It had been evacuated during the night, and the rebel rear guard left the city as he entered. The whole army started in pursuit of Price the next day, and in three days marched ninety miles, the advance all the while skirmishing with the enemy s rear. On the 17th, at Sugar Creek, near the extreme southwestern part of Missouri, our cavalry brought on a heavy engagement with the enemy, 78 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and Colonel Dodge s brigade was brought up to support our troopers and artillery, but the rebels retired before the infantry became actively engaged. Here the army halted a few days for rest and supplies, Price meantime continuing his retreat to the Boston Mountains, where he was reenforced by McCulloch, Van Dorn and Mclntosh with a large body of troops, princi pally from Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, and a considerable number of Indians. General Curtis moved to Pea Ridge and there awaited attack, his army somewhat scattered for convenience of supplies. In the battle of that name which soon afterwards took place and which was one of the most desperate contests of the war, resulting in a most brilliant Union victory, the Fourth Iowa was engaged almost all the time for two days, and fought in such a way as to win the high commendations of the general commanding the army, and the unmixed praise of the people of our State. The losses of the regiment were very heavy, amounting, in killed, wounded, and captured, to nearly half the number who were able to carry their mus kets into the fight. 2 2 On account of the wound of Lieutenant-Colonel Galligan, there was no regular official report made of the part taken by the regiment in the battle of Pea Ridge, which I shall describe at some length in my account of the Ninth Infantry. The following list of casualties is taken from the Report of the Adjutant General: Colonel G. M. Dodge, wounded ; Lieutenant-Colonel John Galligan, wounded ; Adjutant James A. Williamson, wounded. Company A Killed, George A. McCay ; Wounded, Lieutenant George A. Henry ; Corporals John M. Bannion, A. B. Kearney ; David L. Jaycox, William Lillebridge, George M. Miller, James A. McElroy, R, M. Sansbury, Charles Wilkenson, (mortally), Jonathan Fowler, Seward L. Payne, Henry Blenker, (wounded twice, disabled for life). Company B Wounded, George W. Tucker ; Company C~ Wounded, Thomas L. Reed, George W. Bike, Z. T. Buker, Reason C. Darby, (mortally), R. N. Farnesworth, William H. Hummer, E. C. Mount, William 0. Madison, Abram Mouray, James Robinson, (mortally), John S. Strain, L. S. Slaughter, (mortally), 0. F. Gilbert, (mortally), H. H. Le- non; Company D Killed, William N. Harrison, Henry E. Vaughan, John N. Williams ; Wounded, Captiiii George Burton; Sergeants John P. Finley. Frederick Teal, Charles A. Gilham ; Isaac W. Whetstone, (mortally), John D. Childers, Charles M. Little, B. F. Wells, John C. Arnold, Henry B. Burns, William T. Colwell, (severely wounded and missing), Merrick Davis, Robert E. Haywood Charles W. Handly, (mortally), James M. Harron, William Hawkins, Willis Hines, (mortally), Isaac N. Ketchum, (mortally), M. G. Lawrence, John Marcum, Samuel Martin, John Pickett, A. J. Ruuiley, Seth Rowe, Lewis Solomon, F. M. Smith, John Swineheart, Arnold Tucker, Reuben Welden^ Com pany E Killed, Hiram D. Cornish ; Wounded, Sergeant E. W. Barnum ; Corporal L. P. Rhoads, James Beek, J. W. Bell, (mortally), Isaac Clary, M. Foster, Charles W. Greene, Samuel H. James, (mortally),Isaac Reeves, Abraham Stumbach, Henry A. Barrett, (mortally), Jeremiah Hinman; C<vn- pany F Killed, Sylvanus Hiatt, Abraham Holmes ; Wounded, Abraham Guilliams, W. W. Crandall, Casper Ambreast, Anderson Bird, A. M. Burdick, William S. Debusk, (mortally), George B. Davis, James II. Dorrence, Daniel G. Dunsmore, John A. Easton, A. P. Hiatt, Samuel B. Harris William Logan, 0. F. Smith, John W. Smith, (mortally), James Sturman, (mortally), E. C. Stewart, (promoted) John M. Holliday; Company G Wounded, Captain Randolph Sry; Lieutenant Frederick Teal, (and promoted for bravery) ; Corporals William W. Robinson, L. II. Barton, G. Gobble, Augustus Leabo, James M. Millsaps, (mortally), Charles W. Powers, Joseph B. Russell, Daniel B. Smith, Henry W. Rose, Larkin T. Sipp, Herman Obenhoff, Frederick Beck ; Company H Killed, James A. Campbell, James Lullen, George Rose; Wounded, Captain E. Y. Burgan; Lieutenant Lyman Parcher; Cor porals Abraham Moore, William H. Bartlett, F. M. Campbell, A. Fraks, A. Freshour, George W. Hight, William R. Harlow, C. D. Lawrence, S. A. Meeker, John S. Peregrine, John W. Ratliff, A. Walkup, A. L. Clark ; Company I Killed, J. Morgan, Alfred O Conner, Samuel Williams ; Lieutenant Robert S. Jackson; Wounded, Sergeant George A.Robinson, (severely wounded, promoted to Second FOURTH INFANTRY. 79 The victory having been won, the army remained in camp within a short distance of the battle-field for nearly a month. Whilst the regiment was here encamped, Colonel Dodge was promoted a brigadier-general. Lieu tenant-Colonel Galligan here resigned, and Adjutant James A. Williamson was promoted to his place, and within a month was promoted to the colonelcy. When Lieutenant-Colonel Williamson received his promotion, Captain Burton, of Company D, was made Lieutenant-Colonel. These promotions were made while the regiment was on the march, the commis sions not being received till some months afterwards. It moved from the camp near Pea Ridge, on the 5th of April, and proceeding in a direction north of west, kept in that course for nearly an hundred miles, when it turned to the right, and entering Arkansas, inarched on Batesville. This town is on the left bank of the White River, and somewhat east of north, about one hundred miles from Little Rock, being on the old road from that capital to St. Louis. It was General Curtis intention to move from Bates ville directly on Little Rock. With this view, he halted some days at Batesville, awaiting supplies. They having arrived, but in no sufficient quantity, the army was put in motion in the direction of Little Rock on the 18th of May. It was now two hundred miles distant from the ter minus of the railroad whence it received regular supplies. The rain poured down daily ; the country, in comparison of all other countries which the troops had seen, was a dreary wilderness. Nevertheless, they trudged on through the mud and mire without murmuring, obtaining scanty sup plies of food along the line of march, husbanding that which had been brought from the north for future exigencies, until the roads became abso lutely impassible. The rains had made all this part of Arkansas a vast dismal swamp. And so the little army, on short rations, and scantily clothed, slowly waded its way back to Batesville, the capture of Little Rock, under these circumstances, being deemed impracticable. Having through great hardships again reached Batesville, the army went into camp, and there with such patience as could be mustered, awaited the im provement of the roads. During the halt here, the army was scattered about the country again, in such localities as could do best toward keeping the detachments from downright starvation. During the latter part of June, the little army was concentrated at Jack- Lieutenant next day) ; Sergeants John Keplinger, Marshal Nelson ; Corporals B. L. Everett, Henry S. Trumbull, (mortally), James A. Harper, wounded twice; Privates, John T. Atkinson, M. B. V. Brotherton, Nathan E. Coppell, (mortally), Thomas Church, Joseph C. Conine, Allen Carter, (pri soners), Hans Erekson, John J. Estes, Henry Honk, (mortally), Philip Miskimmiiis, William Moore, Samuel J. Messenger, (prisoner), Samuel H. Moore, Mordecai Smith, (prisoner). Thomas Sharp, Com pany K Killed, Edward A. Richardson; Wmmded, Lieutenant James T. Crittenden, (mortally), Corporal Thomas J.Jack: Isaac M. Beinis, Alvin M. Brooks, William Chenoweth, John Ewing, George R. Helmer, Nathan D. King, B. L. St. Clair, Ira Sleath, Ferdinand Verges, Joseph Van Gundy, Allen Woods, Walter S. Bodwell, Ambrose L. Cobb. 80 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. sonport, near the junction of Black with White River. A train of sup plies had recently reached this place from the north, its guard having had incredible difficulties in convoying it through a wide extent of hostile country. Nor were the supplies sufficient in quantity to give the troops full rations for a single week. They had already suffered no little from the want of rations, and had stripped the country roundabout for many miles so entirely bare of food, that there was not left, perhaps, a pig, a chicken, or a pound of meal, which could have been taken without the utmost in jury to the inhabitants. On the 4th of July the starving army moved in search of supplies, marching along the bank of White River, and hoping to meet others of our forces at Clarendon, distant an hundred miles from Jacksonport. Clarendon was duly reached, but the forces which had been stationed there were now withdrawn. The column then wheeled to the left, and after three more days of suffering from the scorching sun, hard marching, hunger, and thirst, came out of the wilderness, and found food, raiment, and rest, at Helena, on the 14th. Even Helena was gladly hailed by the well-nigh famished and entirely ragged troops, with enthusiastic expressions of satisfaction. They had now been in the field for five months and a half, nearly all the time in that section of America which may well enough be regarded as the heathendom of our land a region whose physi cal aspects are uninviting and uninteresting, and whose inhabitants, for the most part, are rude, unlettered, unacquainted with law, and regardless of right ; whose savage barbarities perpetrated upon aged Union men and defenseless women during the early stages of the rebellion, had in them only the quality of unmixed atrociousness. The great novelist of humanity has most appropriately placed the scene of her darkest pictures of slavery the avarice, the debauchery, the savagery of Legree, the murder of Uncle Tom on the border of this gloomy region, the hither frontier of which was traversed by General Curtis little army. His march through the wilderness of Arkansas was, on all accounts, one of the severest of the war. Our regiment remained at Helena most of the time during the remainder of the summer, through the following autumn, and up to the time when General Sherman made his movement, resulting in an unsuccessful attack on Vicksburg, near the close of the year. Whilst the camp was near Helena, during this period, the regiment made a few expeditions into the country, which were of no great importance. Among these expeditions were : One, which purposed moving up the Arkansas River to a consider able distance, but which failed of accomplishing its object, whatever that might have been, on account of the low stage of water ; another, made near the close of November into Mississippi, as far as the railroad leading north from Granada, which was destroyed for some distance, when the troops FOURTH INFANTRY. 81 returned, bringing with them large quantities of cotton and supplies, and many horses. During a considerable portion of the period in which the Fourth Iowa had its encampment at Helena, General Curtis was in command of the dis trict. It was a time when new questions were perplexing, in their abstract .phases, the minds of our statesmen, and presenting numberless difficulties in the way of their practical solution to the minds of our commanding officers. Perhaps there was no officer surrounded by more difficulties of the nature here referred to than General Curtis. His head-quarters were at a place which may fairly be described as our southwestern outpost. Beyond him, on the right of the Mississippi, lay a vast extent of territory in the undisputed possession of the insurgents. On the left of the Missis sippi to the southeast, the rebels had everything their own way, holding without opposition the richest portions of the confederacy, abounding in wealth and military resources. Below him the enemy held Vicksburg, the key to the navigation of the great river, and laughed at our impotent attempts to deprive him of his advantage by diverting the father of waters into an artificial channel. But to the northward navigation was unob structed, and the conquests of our arms during the year had opened up a wide area of country to .trade, which had theretofore for some time been hermetically sealed to the enterprise of our merchants and speculators, By this time there was a most profitable demand for the staple productions of the South, and Helena swarmed with those who were anxious to take advantage of it. The Treasury Department had established no rules gov erning trade in the districts recently conquered from the insurgents. The whole subject was in a state of confusion most sadly confounded, and deci dedly uncomplimentary to the practical abilities of the authorities at the national capital. General Curtis was perforce compelled to assume juris diction over matters more properly cognizable by civil functionaries, or see his camps changed into markets for cotton and dens of thieves. More over, the negro question, notwithstanding the sensible solution which had early been given to it by Major-General Butler, was still, for all prac tical purposes, in a most chaotic and indeterminate state. Helena wa& surrounded by negroes, who, lately the slaves of men now waging war against the Union, were left in an undefined status by their fugacious masters ; but who, themselves true to the Union, were certainly, on that account, entitled to respectful consideration, if not to army rations. In his practical solution of both questions the cotton question and the negro question, that is, to put them briefly, General Curtis was guided by thoughtful wisdom, and the dictates of philanthropy and patriotism ; but it was impossible for him to decide them wisely, philanthropically and patriotically, without incurring the displeasure of many who were both 11 82 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. able and willing to inflict damage upon his reputation. His solution of the questions was very simple. He banished the crowds of speculators from his camps, leaving the business of cotton buying to a few gentlemen of character and standing, who had been recommended to him by the authori ties at Washington ; and, instead of supporting the negroes at the public expense, he gave them control over the cotton of their rebellious masters, which had been planted and cultivated by their own labors. This policy, so wise and just in itself, and which resulted so beneficially to the govern ment, nevertheless received the emphatic opposition of large numbers who had crowded into Helena for the purpose of making hasty fortunes, and of all those army officers, both regular and volunteer, whose accomplishments in the matter of Christian civilization taught them to think considerably less of a human being of a dark color than of an army mule, or horse of any color. His administration at Helena during this period was afterwards the subject of investigation by a military commission, over which Major- General McDowell presided ; but its investigations, though of an ex-parte nature, entirely failed to connect General Curtis with any speculation, so that the President, Abraham Lincoln, was constrained to declare, with an emphasis unusual to his cautious nature, that there was not a word of evidence against him. This just conclusion came, indeed, too late to main tain the General in command of the Department of Missouri, to which he had been meanwhile assigned; but in time to preserve his reputation unsullied from the attacks of dissipated generals and trimming politicians who had assailed him. But, inasmuch as he had in the fall of 1861 assisted the same class of men to ruin General Fremont, he must have reflected, as he yielded his command to Schofield, that there is sometimes a degree of poetic justice to be observed in the affairs of men. Meantime, however, and before the worst vicissitudes of fortune befell the General, for an administration whose wise and philanthropic measures should have secured for him the gratitude of the country and the thanks of the government, the little army which had so heroically followed him through victory and suffering in Arkansas, passed under the control of others. When he left Helena, our regiment bade him an affectionate fare well, destined to be the last during the war, the men all joining in the cere mony with unaffected feeling. They remained at Helena till the departure thence of the army under General Sherman for Yicksburg on the cam paign which terminated so disastrously to the Union army in the BATTLE OF CHICK AS AW BAYOU. On the 20th of December, 1862, Major-General Sherman embarked with considerable haste and disorder a large army on board transports at Mem phis, and proceeding down the river, was reenforced at Helena by General FOURTH INFANTRY. S3 Steele. The whole army, on an hundred transports continued the voyage to Milliken s Bend, twenty-five miles above Vicksburg. At this point the entire fleet arrived on the evening of the 24th, and there the army remained, without debarking, during the following day, except a detachment under General M. L. Smith, sent out to destroy a portion of the Vicksburg and Texas railroad about ten miles west of the stronghold. On Christmas evening the troops were made glad by the announcement of orders that early on the morrow the army would move with the object of attacking Vicksburg by Chickasaw and Haines Bluffs. The intelligence was the more gladly re ceived because with it came the understanding that General Grant was marching on the rear of Vicksburg, and that the cooperating armies would move in combined attack. We shall hereafter see why General Grant was prevented from carrying out his part of the plan. Utterly ignorant of the unfortunate events which had compelled the re treat of Grant before he had reached anywhere near Vicksburg, General Sherman and his army sailed down the Mississippi and up the Yazoo early on the morning after Christinas, officers and men enthusiastically confident of dining next day in the city. The disaster which followed seemed all the more disastrous on account of the exuberant spirits under which the attack was commenced. Before proceeding to speak of the movements resulting in the defeat of Sherman, it may be well to speak of the nature of the localities in which he was operating. Vicksburg, it is well known, is on the bank of the Mis sissippi, about two miles below a sharp bend. The course of the river, in fact, here forms a peninsula, in front of Vicksburg some five or six miles long and about one mile wide. Opposite the point of this peninsula Chick asaw Bayou flows into the river. Its whole length is only about seven miles. It flows from the Yazoo, taking first a course not far from south, and having reached the vicinity of the line of bluffs about two miles from its source, follows their general direction toward Vicksburg. It is, however, some hundred yards from the base of the hills, which are about three hundred feet high, and extend in a general range as far as Haines Bluff. The Yazoo flows parallel to the bluffs for some five or six miles, and about four miles distant. The space intervening is, for the most part, low and swampy, abounding in lagoons, quicksands, and bayous. The fleet reached this uninviting locality about noon of the 26th, but on account of the difficulties of landing, the debarkation of the army was not effected till near night. Our lines extended along the river-bank about six miles, General A. J. Smith on the right, next to him General M. L. Smith, then Steele s division, next General Morgan, whose division, on the evening of the 26th, held the extreme left of the line. On the morning of the 27th, General Steele embarked Thayer s and Hovey s brigades, and went some two 84 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. miles up the Yazoo, debarking some distance north of Chickasaw Bayou. On the 28th, he advanced toward the bluffs, and had some severe fighting. The only route by which he could approach the bluffs, was along a narrow causeway, raked from one end to the other by the artillery of the enemy. The First Iowa battery, Captain Griffiths, and Landgraber s battery opened on the rebels, and after a severe cannonading caused the abandonment of two of the enemy s batteries. Still the causeway was commanded by other artillery, supported by sharp-shooters, and the attempt to gain the bluffs by this route was abandoned. Steele reembarked on the night of the 28th, and on the next morning took position south of Chickasaw Bayou, but still holding the left of the line. Meantime, the other portions of the army had moved up to the bayou, fighting as they marched, and on the morning of the 29th were ready to cross and assault the enemy s works. The position of the Union forces at this time was as follows : General Morgan on the south side of the bayou ; on his immediate right, was Gen eral Blair s brigade; General M. L. Smith s division (now commanded by General David Stuart, General Smith having been severely wounded on the evening of the 28th) was on the right centre ; General A. J. Smith was moving up to the extreme right, and General Steele was coming up on the left. Several bridges had been constructed across the bayou before noon. During the night before, our troops, lying cold and comfortless in their dark bivouacs, heard trains of cars moving into Vicksburg from the east. They were bringing heavy reinforcements to the rebels. Their position, exceedingly strong by nature, was further fortified by art. On the plateau between the bayou and the base of the bluffs, were lines of rifle-pits, pro tected in front by abatis, whilst the bluffs themselves were crowded with batteries and heavy artillery, whose concentrated fire might sweep the plateau from one end to the other, as with the besom of destruction. Early on the morning of the 29th, the rebel batteries commenced a heavy cannonade, principally directed against the centre held by Morgan. With occasional cessations it was kept up all the forenoon, during which time there were several engagements of infantry, as opposing regiments came within reach of each other. General Sherman had issued no order announcing an hour for the assault, but by order of General Morgan, Blair threw his brigade across the bayou above where it bends to the right, and forming in line marched through sloughs, bayous, quicksands, and abatis, upon the first line of rifle-pits. Colonel De Courcy s brigade, of Morgan s division, inarched against the works at the same time. Both passed gal lantly through a murderous fire, and carried the first line with a dash, and soon after the second. But the whole force was still under destructive fire. Thayer had been ordered to support Blair. He crossed a bridge lower FOUETH INFANTRY. 85 OF CHICISI^S^W 86 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. down the bayou, moving by the flank, but with only one regiment the Fourth Iowa. The next regiment, the Thirtieth Iowa, was directed to take a different course by General Steele, and those coming after followed this. Thayer sent back for support, but without waiting for it to come up, charged the works in his front, about two hundred yards to the right of Blair, and about the same time, with the Fourth Iowa Volunteers alone. They carried the first line of works, drove the rebels from their second line, and there remained under a terrible fire waiting for support, scores of the best men in the command falling at every discharge from the enemy s batteries and sharp-shooters. But the support did not come, the couriers sent for it being killed or wounded on the way. General Thayer rode along his little line, and absolutely shedding tears at sight of so many brave men falling around, addressed the troops in a few as grateful words as ever fell from the lips of a stout-hearted commander. Receiving no intelligence from his absent regiments, he gave the order to fall back, which these heroic men obeyed, retreating slowly and sternly under the same fire through which they had passed on their perilous advance. A portion of Blair s brigade had advanced to the base of the bluffs, where they had a hand-to- hand contest with the enemy there posted, but the main part of General Morgan s division was not moved across the bayou in time to take part in the assault, whilst but one regiment of the division under Stuart was able to cross the bayou at all. So the assault was only made on the left, and by about three thousand men, of whom about eight hundred were killed or wounded. There were several sharp encounters along the whole line, but the unsuccessful assault on the left was the battle of the day. In the engagements near Chickasaw Bayou, there were several Iowa regiments and batteries which behaved with that high degree of credit which the troops of the State everywhere maintained throughout the war, but no regiment from any State ever behaved with a more devoted gallantry than " the old Fourth," in the assault of the 29th of December. " Every officer and man," says Colonel Williamson, with terse expressiveness, " did his whole duty, and regretted that he could do no more. The regiment went into the action with four hundred and eighty men and officers, of whom one hundred and twelve were killed and wounded. Among the killed was Lieutenant E. C. Miller, of Company G, who had command of the skirmishers on the 28th. No braver officer has fallen in his country s 8 Colonel Williamson was hit several times during the battle, and had his uniform well perforated with balls, but he continued in command throughout. Lieutenant Leander Pitzer was mortally wounded, and Lieutenant J. M. Miller killed. Captain R. A. Still was severely wounded. I think a list of casualties suffered by the regiment in this terrible fight has never been published. General Grant, nearly a year after the battle, when ho had fully reflected upon all the facts con- FOURTH INFANTRY. 87 The army remained near the scene of its defeat a few days, caring for the wounded, and burying the dead. Preparations were also made for an attack on Haines Bluff, but it was wisely abandoned. On the 2d of January, 1863, the troops were all on board "the miserable transports" again, and soon on the way down the river. At the mouth of the Yazoo, the fleet was met by the steamer Tigress, having on board Major-General John A. McClernand, to whom General Sherman reported. In a day or two, the latter issued a general order, in which he said: "A new com mander is now here to lead you. He is chosen by the President of the United States, who is charged by the constitution to maintain and defend it, and he has the undoubted right to select his own agents. I know that all good officers and soldiers will give him the same hearty support and cheerful obedience they have hitherto given me. There are honors enough in reserve for all, and work enough, too. Let each do his appropriate part, and our nation must in the end emerge from this dire conflict purified and ennobled by the fires which now test its strength and purity. It was, perhaps, impossible for William T. Sherman to submit to the military authority and guidance of John A. McClernand without a feeling of bitterness. Every man of genius is apt to have a knowledge of the fact, and it is not unlikely that a man of General Sherman s military genius can tell a martinet at sight, from a soldier of real capacity. I am not so unjust to proper disci pline as to say that General McClernand amounted to a martinet, v but it is certain that General Sherman must have had very incorrect ideas both of his own and of McClernand s military talents not to have felt chagrined at his own inferior command. His order announcing the change was severely commented on by the press. The ill success of the attack on Vicksburg under his command, and the success of the campaign against Arkansas Post, under McClernand, which so soon followed, were damaging to the reputa tion of the former. Even the troops in the command, not knowing that Sherman planned the campaign which was so successful, thought for the time being that he was a little crazy, and that McClernand was a great captain. They changed their minds in both respects before the war came to a close. In this campaign against Arkansas Post, which resulted so gloriously to our arms, the Fourth Iowa, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, Colonel Williamson being wounded and sick, took an active part, and was in the front line preparing to move upon the enemy s works when the garrison of Fort Hindman surrendered. After this fight, the regiment again embarked on transports and spent there two more weeks of the nected therewith, commanded by general order that the Fourth Towa Infantry, place " First at Chickasaw Bayou" on its colors a distinguished honor given, I believe, to but a single other regi ment, (the Thirteenth Regulars,) during the whole war. 88 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. cramped existence necessary in "life on the river wave." On January 23d, the men debarked and went into camp in the dismal swamps opposite Vicksburg. There, behind the great levee of the Mississippi, under the dark shades of the cypress, and the threatening frowns of the opposite batteries, they spent the darkest days of their service more intensely gloomy even than the period of their hunger and deprivation in Arkansas. It continued two months, the men spending their time in making observa tions of the works and guns at Vicksburg, trying to keep themselves dry, and throwing dirt out of the famous canal across the peninsula opposite the stronghold. About the 1st of April Steele s division embarked on steamers, and pass ing up the river about one hundred miles debarked at Greenville, Missis sippi, and thence marched thirty-five or forty miles eastward, meeting and driving the enemy on several occasions, and making threatening demonstra tions toward the rear of Vicksburg. The expedition was important in the way of diverting the attention of the enemy from Grant s main movement, and in collecting large quantities of supplies throughout the fertile and wealthy region traversed. Its object having been accomplished, the com mand returned to Milliken s Bend, and took up the march for Grand Gulf, and there rejoining the army, marched on Jackson. Our regiment was on the extreme right. It struck the railroad some distance south of Jackson, inarched by that route toward the city, and was one of the first regiments to enter the town. Having done much work of destruction, the division marched for Vicksburg ; crossed the Big Black River on the night of the 17th of May, made a forced march on Haine s Bluff, flanked the enemy out of their position there, drove them from Walnut Hills, and established communications with our fleet on the Yazoo River. The next day the rebels were driven into the works of Vicksburg, and the investment of the stronghold was completed. Steele s division was on the extreme right, the flank resting on the river. The Fourth Iowa, on the right of the second brigade from the river, in taking position on a hill or point five hundred yards from the enemy s main works, had a brisk skirmish, and firing from both sides continued all day. The regiment lost quite heavily. It took part in the assault of the 22d, but coming to a broad ditch, filled with abatis, where it was exposed to an enfilading fire, it fell back, after con siderable loss. And on the steep sides of the familiar hill it remained for forty-seven days forty-seven weary, wearing days, under the hot sun and hotter rebel fire ; the whole command much of the time, and part of it all the time, on the front line and in the ditches, under the fire of the sharp shooters, and in range of the flying shells, standing picket, sharp-shooting, working in the trenches. During the siege the regiment lost in killed and wounded about eighty men. FOURTH INFANTRY. 89 Our regiment was among those which immediately after the capitulation of Pemberton, moved out to join General Sherman in the second movement against Jackson, which resulted in the recapture of that capital in less than a fortnight from the surrender of Vicksburg, and in compelling Johnston to evacuate the State. In the pursuit of Johnston s army the regiment went as far as Brandon, where there was a brisk combat with the rebel rear guard. Destroying the railway there, the command returned to Jackson, * did its part in the wholesale destruction of railways and public property which followed, and then marched to the vicinity of Yicksburg, where the men pitched their tents, and remained in camp till they started on that memorable campaign which resulted in raising the siege both of Chat tanooga and Knoxville, in East Tennessee, and the spirits of Unionists all over the land. The encampment of the brigade of which the regiment formed a part, and which brigade was now under command of Colonel Williamson, was not very far from the railroad bridge over Big Black- River. About the middle of September it broke camp and marched to Vicks burg, where it embarked on steamers for Memphis, arriving there on the 27th. The division, General OsterJhaus commanding, was sent thence by rail to Corinth. Thence in a few days it marched to luka, and, having repaired the railway thither, moved to Cherokee station, Alabama. In the series of engagements which here took place, our regiment took an active part, being frequently called out of bed into line, to assist in driving away the rebel mounted forces which were constantly harassing our troops at Cherokee. Whilst Osterhaus division was engaging the attention of the enemy, and persuading him that General Sherman would move to the relief of Chattanooga by the south bank of the Tennessee River to Decatur, that astute commander was quietly crossing the river at Eastport, and march ing on, north of the stream, toward Chattanooga. On October 24th, the troops under Osterhaus broke camp, and having driven the enemy to Tus- cuinbia, there gave him a farewell volley, and countermarching to Eastport, soon afterwards joined the main column, and arrived at Chattanooga the 23d of November. In the battle of Lookout Mountain, our regiment, on the morning of the 24th, took position on the extreme left of Hooker s command. When Hooker became engaged the division moved across an open field to Lookout Creek, and being unable to cross remained there for some time exposed to a destructive fire. The enemy being at length driven from the opposite bank, a crossing was effected, and these troops marched up the mountain and joined Hooker, who was still engaged. The Fourth Iowa was now ordered to relieve a regiment on the front line, but it being dark, and the position to be taken far up among the boulders, it was some time before 12 90 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the regiment came into line. Once there, it remained in position during the night, exchanging compliments with the enemy till the night and the battle closed. About one o clock at night the clouds cleared away, the moon shone bright and full, and the heavy shadows of the great trees and boulders gave to the scene an air of romantic sublimity, which, mingled with the crack of the sharp-shooters rifles and the balls glancing from the rocks, made the finale of this battle among the clouds as noteworthy as the day s contest. When the morning fairly dawned, Look out Mountain and Chattanooga Valley were found to be evacuated by the rebels, who had withdrawn to Mission Ridge. Our regiment, together with the Ninth and Thirty-first Iowa, marched early in the morning on Rossville Gap, and taking position in rear thereof, at once secured a most important strategic point and turned the rebel left without a fight. The enemy had not expected our troops could gain a passage of the Chat tanooga before evening, and had left a small force at the gap, which our troops easily drove away before reinforcements could come up. A strong column of the enemy, however, was soon seen marching in the direc tion of the gap, and in its vicinity a heavy battle was soon raging, in which our regiment bore an active part, and which resulted in the complete discomfiture and rout of the enemy. The regiment joined in the pursuit on the 26th, and at the battle of Ringgold, or Taylor s Ridge, on the follow ing day, fought with noteworthy valor and persistence against heavy odds, holding an important position, and saving, through the admirable skill of Major Nichols, two railway bridges which had been set on fire by the retreat ing enemy. After a few days rest, our regiment went with the division to Bridgeport, Alabama, where it remained in camp about a fortnight, and then moved to Woodville, a station on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, where the command went into winter quarters built by the men themselves. On the 1st of January, 1864, the regiment reenlisted, but the men were not mus tered into the service as veterans till the 25th of February. On the next day, they started home on veteran furlough ; and going by Nashville, Cairo and Chicago, arrived at the capital city of Iowa on the 9th of March. The General Assembly of the State was then in session at Des Moines, and adjourned to give the Veteran Fourth a reception worthy of its brilliant and untarnished record. Not only the legislature, but the city authorities, did themselves honor by giving to the returning braves a cordial and mag nificent reception. Nor did the honors stop here. The ladies of the capital prepared with their own hands a supper than which no better was ever spread upon groaning boards, or more heartily enjoyed. Music arose with its voluptuous swell. Bright the lamps shone o er fair women and brave men. The joy was unconfined. No one who ha ever had the for- FOURTH INFANTRY. 91 tune to participate in the hospitalities of the ladies of our capital city, of its citizens generally, can fail to appreciate the enjoyment of this occasion ; for what the men and women of Det; Moines do not know about making large assemblies perfectly at home is not worth knowing. Their reception at the capital will ever be bright in the memories of the veterans of the Fourth. The day afterwards the men sought their homes in the different parts of the district, being everywhere greeted with the kindest demon strations. By the 1st of May, the regiment had rejoined the army, marching to take part in General Sherman s Georgia campaign. Throughout that campaign, crowded so full of skirmishes and battles, in almost all of which they took active part, the Fourth Iowa Volunteers maintained their honor able reputation, added largely to it, and made many sacrifices to wounds and death. In every skirmish and in every battle, the regiment behaved with its wonted gallantry, and was especially conspicuous on the memorable 22d of July, when Williamson s brigade, composed of the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-Fifth, and Thirtieth Iowa regiments, made a gallant charge, re-taking from the enemy De Grass famous battery of twenty-pounder Parrott guns, the skirmishers of the Fourth being the first to reach it. The regiment, then in front of Jonesboro, at three o clock on the morning of September 2, heard a heavy, roaring sound, like a double volley of heavy artillery. It turned out to be the destruction of the arsenals, foundries, etc., at Atlanta. 4 On the 5th, the army of the Tennessee started thither ward, and shortly afterwards encamped at East Point, where it remained during the rest of the month. Here our regiment, which had been re duced during the campaign to less than two hundred men, underwent several changes as to its officers. Major Nichols was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy, and Captain Anderson appointed to the vacancy. Several line officers, whose term of service had expired, resigned. In the chase after Hood, which commenced on October 4th, the regiment took part, marching to northern Alabama by forced marches, and returning * I have been unable to obtain lists of casualties in the regiment after Pea Ridge. The regiment was no less distinguished afterwards. As we have seen, it won the highest honors at Chickasaw Bayou. Fought like brave men long and well at Vicksburg. Everywhere officers and men of the command were distinguished. A correspondent of the New York Tribune, describing the battle of Atlanta, July 22d, calls Williamson s Iowa Brigade " one of the bravest, truest, most tenacious fight ing brigades that have marched to the rescue of our nation s liberties." The reports of generals, the correspondence of influential journals, are strewn with praises of the brigade, and of the regi ment with whose history we now have to do. In all the battles in which it took part, it met with loss, and it is to be deeply regretted that the list of casualties, sent to tho office of the Adjutant- General, have been permitted to lie silent on the files. Captain, afterwards Major Anderson, was wounded at Jonesboro; Lieutenant Charles Baker, Lieutenant Thomas Cramer, and Sergeant William J. Ferguson, were slain at Ringgold ; Captain Frederick Teal was severely wounded at Columbia, South Carolina. Major Nichols was severely wounded on the Atlanta campaign. But I have accounts of no others. 92 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. with the army to the vicinity of Atlanta. It took part also in the "march to the sea," and in the march through the Carolinas, and was heavily engaged at the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, the last engagement in which the Army of the Tennessee was called upon to meet the enemy, who soon after wards surrendered, thereby making a practical end of the war. The regiment marched from Raleigh to Washington City, remained in camp there a few days, participated in the grand review, and moved thence by rail and river to Louisville, Kentucky, where it performed provost duty till mustered out of service, in July, 1865. It arrived at Davenport on the 28th, numbering four hundred and fifty-seven men and twenty-three officers, some of the men having been transferred from other regiments at Washington City. "The returning heroes," says the Gazette, "were received with a brief address of welcome by S. F. Smith, Esq. , who greeted their return to Iowa in behalf of the citizens of Davenport and the State at large." 5 I cannot close my imperfect account of this regiment, whose officers and men, from first to last so highly distinguished themselves, more appropri ately than by quoting the farewell address of General Williamson, whose merits as a soldier were too tardily acknowledged by the government which he and his gallant command, whether regiment or brigade, had so long, so faithfully, so honorably served : HEAD-QUARTERS DISTRICT OF SAINT Louis, i ST. Louis, Mo., July 6, 1865. J "FELLOW-SOLDIERS or THE FOURTH IOWA INFANTRY: Having re ceived the appointment of brigadier-general, and been assigned to duty in another quarter, my official connection with you has ceased. In taking leave of you, I deem it but right to briefly allude to our past association as soldiers. Four years ago we left our homes and loved ones to fight for the Union cause. Then we numbered one thousand men. We were undisci plined and knew nothing of war, but we did know that our country needed our services, and that was enough. Since then we have had more than three hundred added to our ranks. To-day our whole number is less than four hundred. Where are the one thousand of our missing companions? Most of them have fallen on the battle-fields from Pea Ridge to Columbia. Some have been discharged on account of wounds received in battle ; but 6 The following is tho roster of the regiment : Lieutenant-Colonel S. D.Nichols; Major A. R. Anderson; Adjutant L. Shields; Surgeon Dr. Greenleaf ; Assistant Surgeon Dr. Whitefield . Company A. Captain G. A. Henry; First Lieutenant E. Hill. Company B. First Lieutenant G. W. Lloyd. Company C. Captain W. W. Campbell ; First Lieutenant C. W. Hill. Company D. Captain F. Teele ; First Lieutenant James Finley. Company E. Captain W. S. Simmons ; First Lieutenant E. S. Bramhall. Company I 1 . Captain, A. J. Tisdale; First Lieutenant J. H. Kelly. Company G. Captain R. Sry; First Lieutenant F.Bennett. Company H. Captain J. Bishop; First Lieutenant T. Alexander. Company J. Captain Robert Laing; First Lieutenant G. J. Laing. Company K Captain P. R. Crisp ; First Lieutenant W. A. Anderson. FOURTH INFANTRY. 93 the saddest thing of all remains to be told : some were starved to death in Southern prison-pens. An enemy claiming to be chivalrous and brave com mitted the dark, damnable deed of starving our brave men to death. G?od alone can avenge these murders most foul. To us the work is not fully given. Human means are inadequate. You, the survivors of our glorious old regiment, will, I hope, very soon, be permitted to go home and enter again upon the duties and assume the responsibilities of citizens of the Re public and of the young State of Iowa, for which you have helped to make so glorious a name during this war. "It need not be said to men like you, who have fought on more than thirty different battle-fields, who, under Curtis, won immortal honors at Pea Ridge, and made the memorable march through Missouri and Arkansas in mid-summer, who were ordered by General Grant to inscribe First at Chickasaw Bayou on your banners, who were under Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post, who were under Grant through the entire campaign of Vicksburg, including Jackson and Brandon, who marched from Vicksburg to Chattanooga under Sherman, who fought with Hooker above the clouds at Lookout Mountain, and were with him at Missionary Ridge and Ringgold, who were under Sherman through the entire Atlanta campaign and participated in every battle, and who again under this great leader made the famous march to the ocean, and thence to "Washington, to be good citizens. "Whatever may be said to the contrary, none can appreciate peace and civil government better than those who have so freely offered their lives in war to secure these blessings. "In conclusion, I have only to add, that I thank my lucky star that my fortunes as a soldier were cast with you, and I thank you for my Stars. May that kind Providence who has preserved and directed you through so many hardships and dangers, guide you in the path of honor and glory in the future as in the past. "Your fellow-soldier, "J. A. WILLIAMSON." CHAPTER V. FIFTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION MUSTERED INTO THE SERVICE AT BURLINGTON MARCH IN PURSUIT OF " MART. GREEN." VOYAGE TO ST. LOUIS UP THE MISSOURI TO JEFFERSON CITY FREMONT S MARCH TO SPRINGFIELD A WINTER IN MISSOURI GENERAL POPE S CAMPAIGN AGAINST NEW MADRID, ISLAND NO. TEN, AND FORT PILLOW THE SIEGE OF CORINTH UNDER HALLECK DEATH OF COLONEL WORTHINGTON MARCHINGS AND COUNTERMARCHINGS THE BATTLE OF IUKA BATTLE OF CORINTH PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR OF MISSIS SIPPIRETURNTHE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN ON GARRISON DUTY IN THE CITY- MOVE TO HELENA MARCH TO CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE COMBAT NEAR TUNNEL HILL BAREFOOTED MEN LIVING ON PARCHED CORN THE VETERANS OF THE REGIMENT TRANSFERRED TO THE FIFTH IOWA CAVALRY. THE companies which formed the Fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry were organized in their respective neighborhoods immediately after the receipt of intelligence of the fall of Fort Sumter; but the general government not then appreciating the magnitude of the conflict which was to ensue, gave no authority for their regimental organization till some time afterwards. The companies were enrolled in the counties of Cedar, Jasper, Louisa, Marshall, Buchanan, Keokuk, Benton, Yan Buren, Jackson, and Alamakee, but other counties contributed to swell their numbers. They were organized into the Fifth Regiment, and as such sworn into the service of the general government at " Camp Warren," near the city of Burlington on the 15th, 16th, and 17th days of July, 1861, at which time the command, rank and file, numbered nine hundred and eighteen robust men. William H. Worth- ington, of Keokuk, was appointed Colonel ; Charles L. Mathies, of Bur lington, Lieutenant-Colonel; William S. Robertson, of Columbus city, Major ; John S. Foley, Adjutant ; Charles H. Rawson, Surgeon ; Peter A. Carpenter, Assistant ; Robert F. Patterson, Quartermaster ; and Reverend A. B. Medeira, Chaplain. At the time of his appointment as second in command of this regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mathies was serving as cap tain of one of the companies in our First regiment, then making forced 94 FIFTH INFAXTKY. 95 inarches from Booneville to Springfield, Missouri. The other officers of the regiment were taken directly from civil life. 1 The command remained at Camp Warren, performing simple drill and guard duties, something more than a fortnight, when it proceeded by steamer to Fort Madison, and there took cars for Keokuk. This was at the time when Mart. Green, a rebel leader, notorious in Northeastern Missouri, was making much disturbance in that region, culminating a few days afterwards in the attack on Athens. Colonel Moore whipped the noted partisan handsomely, but, his return being anticipated, a detachment of the Fifth Iowa, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mathies, pro ceeded to the scene of the late action, and from there made a rapid march of several miles into the interior with the object of cutting off Green s retreat, it being by this time known that he was moving toward Dixie. Our detachment was unable to overtake him, but it here had its first experience of actual campaigning bivouacking during the night in an open field, and receiving next morning, a breakfast, composed of square, rather solid crackers, since known everywhere by the name of "hard-tack." On the day following, the detachment returned to Keokuk, and soon thereafter the regiment left on steamers for St. Louis, reaching that city on the 12th of August. Thence the command almost immediately proceeded to Jeffer son Barracks, where the men received their arms. Their stay here was very brief. The regiment was ordered to Lexington, Missouri, by steamer, and commenced the voyage thitherward on the even ing of the 14th, accompanied by other troops. Three days afterwards, when some forty miles above Jefferson city, the fleet was met by the steamer "White Cloud," transporting a regiment of three-months men, whose term had expired. The Colonel of this regiment, by representations of the hair-breadth scapes from guerrilla-men and other dangers through which he had passed, and other statements going to show the rashness of his further advance, persuaded Colonel Worthington to return to Jefferson City. Reaching the capital, the Colonel telegraphed to General Fremont a statement of the situation, and was ordered to disembark and go into camp. 1 Roster of line officers, at the organization of the regiment : Company A. Captain Eugene Childs, First Lieutenant William H. Hammond, Second Lieutenant Joshua T. Taylor. Company B. Captain Samuel H. Chapman, First Lieutenant A. L. Mateer, Second Lieutenant John H. Tait. Company C. Captain John L. Grubb, First Lieutenant Edwin Reimer, Second Lieutenant R. F. Patterson. Company D. Captain W. S. Rice, First Lieutenant Jabez Banbury, Second Lieutenant Obed Caswell. Company E. Captain C. E. L. Lee, First Lieu tenant George C. Jordan, Second Lieutenant William S. Marshall. Company F. Captain Ezekiel S. Sampson, First Lieutenant Uriah H. Keath, Second Lieutenant Henry S. Downs. Company G. Captain Jacob S. Hunt, First Lieutenant William F. Pickerel, Second Lieutenant Samuel Ober- lender. Company L Captain C. H. L. Lunge, First Lieutenant Peter Moriarty, Second Lieutenant John P. Foley. Company H. Captain John M. Shaw, First Lieutenant Joel Brown, Second Lieutenant B. P. Hunt. Company K. Captain George H. Stevens, First Lieutenant Charles A. Comstock, Second Lieutenant D. S. Malvin. 96 IOWA AXD THE REBELLION. A few days afterwards the men were for the first time clothed with the uniform of the Union, and provided with knapsacks, haversacks, and can teens, greatly to their gratification. From the latter part of August till the march on Springfield commenced, the head-quarters of the regiment were some of the time at Jefferson City, some of the time at Booneville, and much of it in the field, moving in various expeditions. Thus, on the 25th of August, Colonel Worthington proceeded on the steamship War Eagle to Booneville, with a detachment of his regi ment, and there seized the confiscated stock of a shot-tower, a tin-shop, and a printing office, bringing the same with him to Jefferson City, a day or two afterwards, together with the specie from the Booneville Bank, and a number of citizen prisoners. On the 28th, five companies of the regiment were sent to the Osage River, to guard the bridge of the Pacific Railroad over that stream. They returned on the 1st of September, and on the evening of that day embarked on steamers with the other companies of the regiment and a company of Home-Guard Cavalry for Rocheport, a place some thirty-five miles up the river. A heavy rain storm and dense fog prevented the departure of the boats till the next day. They reached Rocheport at sun-down, when five companies of the Fifth and the cavalry disembarked, and immediately commenced a march on Columbia, ten miles east, being under command of Lieutenant- Colonel Mathies. Colonel Worthington steamed down the river about ten miles, and there landing the rest of the troops, also marched on Columbia. The object of this movement was to capture a body of rebels, said to be collected there under the rebel Major Hams. No enemy was found, however, and the regiment marched across the country from Columbia to Jefferson City, having gained nothing but a wholesome experience in carrying knapsacks on the march. Having occupied the intermediate period in drilling and the duties of the camp, the regiment again moved up the Missouri on steamers, on the 14th, to reenforce a small body of Home Guards at Boone ville, who had been attacked the day before by a considerable force of rebels under Colonel Brown. The regiment reached Booneville early on the morning of the 15th, and was gratified with the intelligence that the Home Guards had bravely repelled the attack, killing and wounding some sixty rebels, Colonel Brown himself being among the killed. The command remained at Booneville ten days, adding to the duties of the camp, drill, and scout, much hard work in the way of improving the fortifications which had been commenced by General Lyon early in the summer. On the 25th, the regiment moved up the river to Glasgow, where there was an easy crossing of the Missouri, to prevent the passage of forces to reenforce Price, who had captured Lexington a few days before. In the performance of this watchful and important duty the regiment was engaged about a week. It FIFTH INFANTRY. 97 then returned to Booneville and remained there till October 14th, when it joined the army under Fremont in the march to the southwestern part of the State. During this campaign, the regiment was attached to Colonel Kelton s brigade, in General Pope s division, which made a rapid march over wretched roads to Springfield, and returned to Syracuse on November 17th, having marched something more than three hundred miles. Dur ing much of the following winter, Colonel Worthington was in com mand of the brigade, head-quarters at Otterville. Lieutenant Colonel Mathies, with seven companies of the regiment, was at Booneville, comfortably quartered in houses. The remaining companies were at Syracuse, in an encampment of tents, patroling the railroad day and night, until the close of January, 1862. Lieutenant-Colonel Mathies made one or two expeditions during the winter, but they were of no special interest. On the 1st of February, the three companies from Syracuse joined the principal part of the command at Booneville. On the 6th, the regiment crossed the Missouri and encamped at Franklin, a few miles north of the river. Remaining here a day or two, it took up line of march for St. Charles, in company with the Forty-Seventh Illinois Infantry and the Eleventh Ohio Battery. The weather was extremely unpleasant, and the roads horrible. Nevertheless, the march of one hundred and fifty miles was performed by this little army in ten days. It reached St. Charles at four o clock in the afternoon of February 17th, having marched that day nearly thirty miles. On the next day our regiment crossed the Missouri, and immediately went to St. Louis by rail. General Grant had just forced the garrison of Fort Donelson to an un conditional surrender, and it was no time for idleness on the part of western troops. Our regiment, on reaching St. Louis, simply marched from the depot to the river, and there boarding a steamer, was soon southward bound. The men disembarked at Cairo on the morning of the 21st, and went into barracks near the city of magnificent water-views. Having remained here a few days they again embarked, and going up the river debarked at Commerce, Missouri, some thirty miles above Cairo. Here they received new tents, but only halted in them one day. On the 26th, they marched to Benton, nine miles distant, where the Army of the Mis sissippi, under General Pope, was concentrating. The march on New Madrid was commenced on the 1st day of March, our regiment being in the first brigade, Colonel "Worthington commanding, second division, Gen eral Schuyler Hamilton. The army came in sight of New Madrid at noon of the 3d, having made a difficult march over roads obstructed by the enemy, through swamps and drenching rains, and camped in line about two miles from the town. In all of the operations against New Madrid, 13 98 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. Island No. 10, and soon after the brilliant successes there, in the movement against Fort Pillow, by the Army of the Mississippi, our regiment took an active part. It was the first to enter the town of New Madrid, on the morning of March 14th. It is a remarkable fact, that in all these active operations, in which the regiment was as conspicuously engaged as any other, but one man was killed private William Beaver, of Company A, who fell on a reconnoisance on the evening of the 4th. The enemy could be more surely compelled to abandon Memphis by the defeat of Beauregard at Corinth, than by the capture of Fort Pillow by Pope. Hence he relinquished his hold on that work, and embarking his army on steamers, reenforced Halleck by Cairo. Our regiment made the voyage to Cairo on a leaky steamer, but there making an exchange, went on up the Ohio and Tennessee without noteworthy incident, and debarked at Hamburg Land ing on the 22d of April. The movement against Corinth, directed by Major-General Halleck, was now progressing with a wonderful degree of theoretical skill, and with even more of deliberateness and caution. The country was partly swamp, partly "pine ridges," and altogether unadapted to the passage of a large army, without much labor in the way of building roads, and removing obstruc tions. But it was not nearly so impracticable as some portions of the Caro- linas since marched over by the armies under General Sherman at a rate which would have swung Halleck s army around Corinth the forenoon after the day it commenced the movement thereon. The snail-like motions of the march, if they can properly be called a march at all, the stealthy advance, called the siege of Corinth, after we had got to within very long range of the enemy, need not be here narrated. In the dull duties of this campaign, in the occasional reconnoissances which, under the direction of division commanders, relieved the monotony, our regiment bore its part with becoming resignation in the one case and with distinguished valor in the other. On the 22d of May, while the regiment was encamped at Farmington, Colonel Worthington was killed by a picket of our own army, while visiting during the night the grand guard of the division as general officer of the day. This sad accident, causing the only death in the regi ment during the movement from Hamburg to Corinth, cast a gloom over the whole division, in which Colonel Worthington was generally known, and greatly respected and loved. General Pope issued the following order : "HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OP THE MISSISSIPPI,! NEAR FARMINGTON, May 22, 1862. J " General Orders, No. 53. "The General commanding announces with deep regret to the army the death of Colonel W. H. Worthington, Fifth Iowa Volunteers. He was killed by an unfortunate accident at three o clock this morning, while in the discharge of his duties as General Officer of the Day. In the death of FIFTH INFANTRY. 99 Colonel Worthington this army has sustained a serious loss, and his place in the regiment will be difficult to fill. Prompt, gallant, and patriotic, a brilliant career in the military profession waa before him. The hand of God has stricken him down in the midst of his usefulness and while discharging his duties as a soldier in the face of the enemy. Sad as is his fate, he has lived long enough to be mourned by his country, and have his memory cherished by the army with which he served. The officers of his division will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. " By order of MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, " SPEED BUTLER, A. A. G." The remains of Colonel Worthington were taken to Keokuk, and there consigned to the narrow house, amidst the unaffected mourning of the citi zens generally. Meantime, the regiment moved slowly from Farmington toward Corinth, which was evacuated by the rebels on the morning of the 30th of May, and entered the same day by General Halleck. 2 General Pope at once made his famous telegraphic pursuit of the enemy, but as for the Fifth Iowa, though it was one of the best marching regi ments of his command, it was delayed by rivers and creeks, the bridges over which had been destroyed, and by other obstructions, so that its pro gress was exceedingly slow, and in view of the accompanying bulletins, painfully so. It marched but five miles on the day of the evacuation, but eight the next, and then halting a day or two to exchange old arms for Whitney rifles, moved a dozen miles to near Rienzi, and the day afterwards proceeded to Booneville, eight miles farther south where it went into bivouac and there remained till the 10th of June. And such is likewise a brief account of the march of General Schuyler Hamilton s division of the Army of the Mississippi, during the same period. On the llth of June, the command faced about and returned northward, reaching its recent encampment, near Corinth, on the next day, where, and at a more eligible encampment near by, it remained till the 27th, drilling being the principal duty. On this day another march southward was begun, which continued for a few days. On the 1st of July, the column having gone a few miles south of Ripley, again turned back and marched to Rienzi. Halted here to the 10th, and then returned to the old camp near Corinth, where it remained until the 5th of the following month. During this quiet period at Corinth, General Pope retired from the com mand of the Army of the Mississippi, and proceeded to save both the national capital and the Army of the Potomac. It is but just to his repu tation to add that he succeeded in both, the situation requiring a com mander having his rare combination of bluster and ability, and that for his services, which were above all valuation, he was coolly shelved upon the Indian Department. But gratitude among statesmen and blood in turnips * An exchange paper says : " General Halleck is devoting his leisure hours to writing a history of the siege of Corinth." Probably General Halleck thinks " the pen is mightier than the sword," and that is the reason he didn t devote his leisure hours to taking Corinth when Beauregard occupied it with his army. New York Tribune, July 8, 1865. 100 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. are equally common. General Rosecrans succeeded General Pope, and about the same time General Schuyler Hamilton was relieved of the com mand of the division by General C. S. Hamilton. On the 5th of August, the division marched to Jacinto, and there remained till the day before the battle of luka. Meantime, Major Robertson of our regiment had resigned. Lieutenant-Colonel Mathies had been promoted to the colonelcy, and Captain Sampson to the lieutenant-colonelcy. Captain Banbury was pro moted to the majority, but did not receive his commission till after TB.E BATTLE OF IVKA. This engagement, fought on the evening of September 19th, 1862, was one of the severest, bloodiest combats of the war. The rebel General Sterling Price, with a considerable army, was at Tupelo, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, some sixty miles south of Corinth, in the early part of the month. About the 10th he moved northward, and leaving the railway at or near Baldwin, marched on luka, a small town on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, distant from Corinth not quite twenty-five miles. It contained much public property, and was garrisoned by the Eighth Wis consin, Colonel Murphy. On the 13th, Price cut the telegraph and rail road between Corinth and luka, whereupon Colonel Murphy hastily and shamefully evacuated the latter place, without destroying the stores. Price immediately entered, and his troops had the enjoyment of the large quantities of food left by the folly, or the treachery, of Colonel Murphy. General Grant, at Corinth, did not have a force greatly superior to Price, which he could send against him, because Van Dorn, with a large army, was threatening Corinth from the direction of Holly Springs. Neverthe less, he determined to attack Price at luka, and destroy or capture his army while in that isolated position. His dispositions were made accord ingly, and werel in fine, that Major-General Ord, reenforced by General Ross, from Bolivar, Tennessee, so that his army numbered more than six thousand men, should move on luka by roads north of the railway ; and that General Rosecrans, with a force about nine thousand strong, should move south to Jacinto, and thence upon the point of attack from that direction. This plan, contemplating a combined attack by Ord and Rose crans, was frustrated by the able general in command at luka, who moved away from his works there and made a spirited attack on Rosecrans, designing first to defeat him, and then whip Ord. But for the unexpected and unparalleled gallantry of our troops at the combat of luka, this plan might have succeeded, to the great discomfiture, both immediate and prospective, of our arms in the southwest. General Hamilton s division of Rosecrans army had been, as we have seen, for some time at Jacinto. Here it was joined by the other divisions FIFTH INFANTRY. 101 of the army, and on the 18th commenced the movement against luka, proceeding in an easterly direction several miles, and then turning north. About noon the next day the Fifth Iowa, being in the advance of the column, came upon the rebel pickets at Thompson s Cross Roads, about seven miles south of luka. The regiment was at once deployed as skir mishers, and thus preceded the column for a distance of three miles, when it was relieved by a regiment from Missouri. The Fifth then took its place at the head of the main column. The country was exceedingly diffi cult of passage, being but little better, from Thompson s Cross Roads to within about two miles of luka, than an uninterrupted swamp, extending indefinitely on either side of the road upon which the column was moving. From the northern margin of this extensive bog to luka, the face of the country is broken into innumerable hills and ravines, the hills rising gradually higher and higher toward the north, with southern slopes admirably suitable for the manoeuvres of battle, or at any rate admirably adapted to the posting of troops, so that their fire could be simultaneously effective. If the nature of the country offered many advantages to an army facing south, it offered as many disadvantages to an army facing north. General Price was not the man to let slip his advantages. He attacked the Union column at the very place where it was impossible to use half its force. The head of the column had but barely penetrated the hilly region just described, and was marching on the brow of a densely wooded hill, falling off abruptly to the right and left, when our pickets were driven rapidly in, and announced the enemy just in front drawn up in heavy lines of battle. The nature of the locality prevented deployments, but our troops hastily moved by the flank into position across the road, which was here intersected by one running east and west. The Eleventh Ohio battery with difficulty took position on the crest of the hill, commanding the road in front. The Fifth Iowa was posted on the right of the battery, the Forty-eighth Indiana on the left. One wing of the Twenty-sixth Missouri was just to the rear and right of the battery. And this was all the front we had to oppose an army nearly ten thousand strong moving against it, with the power of firing from treble lines. And even this cramped front was formed under a heavy fire from both artillery and musketry. The battle commenced on the Union side by these three regiments of infantry and the Ohio battery alone, it being a simple impracticability to bring more troops into line at one time. As other troops came up they were placed in position in reserve or on the flanks, but in addition to the regiments already named the Tenth and Sixteenth Iowa, the Eleventh Mis souri, Fourth Minnesota, Eightieth Ohio and a section of Immell s Wiscon sin battery were the only troops actively engaged during the combat; others 102 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. were under fire. The fighting commenced about five o clock in the after noon, and from that time until darkness put an end to it, the conflict raged with a fierceness never exceeded in any combat between civilized men. Price threw his heavy lines against our little front repeatedly, and was met with a devouring sheet of flame which consumed large numbers of his daring troops. In the immediate vicinity of the Ohio battery, the combat was terrible. The guns were manned with unsurpassed skill, and kept con stantly throwing into the rebel ranks, at close range, a storm of fatal iron. The battery must be silenced or taken, Price saw, or he could make no headway. The rebels were accordingly massed upon it, to take it, at what ever cost. Before this overpowering charge, the Forty-eighth Indiana gave way, and the left of the battery fell into the enemy s hands. Fresh troops came to the rescue, charged bayonets upon the exultant rebels, and drove them from the guns. Three times was this devoted battery taken and retaken within an hour. The horses were all killed or wounded, most of the gunners were disabled or dead, the battery itself was little better than a mass of ruins, the guns themselves being the only parts left which were not riddled with bullets or torn into splinters by the fearful agencies of this awful strife. When darkness put an end to the struggle, the guns were in the hands of the enemy, but they had failed to drive us from our principal position. Our exhausted troops slept on their arms on the field of battle. During the night Price retreated by luka to Eastport, and thence afterwards moved south to form a junction with Van Dora. The Union army marched into luka on the morning of the 20th. In the battle of luka, the rebel losses in killed and wounded were esti mated at about twelve hundred. There were two hundred and sixty-three of their killed buried on the battle-field, whilst more than four hundred, severely wounded, fell into our hands. The total number of prisoners cap tured by us was nearly one thousand. The rebel general Little was killed, and Whitfield mortally wounded. It is certain the enemy s loss was much more severe than our own. They felt that they had been thoroughly whipped. " I know this," says a rebel oflicer, in the Jackson "Mississip- pian," "that the events of that evening have considerably increased my appetite for peace, and if the Yankees will not shoot at us any more, I shall be perfectly satisfied to let them alone. It was a terrible struggle, and we lost heavily." The Union loss in killed, wounded, and missing, was probably about one thousand, though it is put down in the official re ports at seven hundred and ninety-nine. General Hamilton makes his loss and he did the principal part of the fighting one hundred and thirty- five killed, five hundred and twenty-seven wounded, and twenty-six miss ing. Among our wounded officers were Colonel Chambers, Sixteenth FIFTH INFANTRY 103 BATTLE, OF IUKA 104 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Iowa, Colonel Eddy, Forty-eighth Indiana, and Colonel Boomer, Twenty- sixth Missouri. The regiments from Iowa which particularly distinguished tiiemselves in this short, sharp contest were the Fifth and the Sixteenth. The Tenth also performed valuable service on the left flank, and received a complimentary notice from General Rosecrans. The Seventeenth had the misfortune to receive the censure of the General commanding. It was under the com mand of Colonel Rankin, who had offered his resignation some time before, on account of the requirements of his personal business, and who never made a report of the part taken by his regiment in the battle. The censure of General Rosecrans was unjust, for, though the regiment was thrown into confusion, it was because of the break-neck stampede through its lines of the general commanding, himself, and his prodigious staff. It lost in the action, forty-one killed and wounded, and has since, without a single failure or rebuke, made a record which General Rosecrans would, doubtless, be proud to share. The Sixteenth Iowa, says the general order announcing the results of the engagement, "amid the roar of battle, the rush of wounded artillery-horses, the charge of a rebel brigade, and a storm of grape, canister, and musketry, stood like a rock, holding the centre." But it was the Fifth Iowa, which here won the brightest honors of the day for our State. It was warmly complimented by the correspondents of newspapers, by the general commanding division, by General Rosecrans, and by the whole army. "The glorious Fifth Iowa," says Rosecrans, "under the brave and distinguished Mathies, sustained by Boomer with part of his noble little Twenty-sixth Missouri, bore the thrice-repeated charges and cross-fires of the rebel left and centre, with a valor and deter mination seldom equalled, never excelled by the most veteran soldiery." "The Fifth Iowa," says General Hamilton in his official report, "under its brave and accomplished Mathies, held its ground against four times its number, making three desperate charges with the bayonet, driving back the foe in disorder each time ; until, with every cartridge exhausted, it fell back slowly and sullenly, making every step a battle-ground and every charge a victory. And the correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial says that most of our troops engaged behaved in the most gallant manner, particularly the Eleventh Missouri and Fifth Iowa. These two regiments stood the brunt of the battle as their lists of killed and wounded testify." Colonel Mathies in his report states that high praise is due to all his officers- and men, without exception. "In commanding my regiment before the enemy," he states, "I was nobly assisted by Lieutenant-Colonel Sampson on the right, Adjutant Patterson, acting major, on the left, and Lieutenant W. S. Marshall, acting adjutant, all of whom behaved most gallantly, re peating my commands, and steadying and cheering on my brave boys FIFTH INFANTRY. 105 throughout the engagement. For his own gallant and meritorious con duct Colonel Mathies was afterwards promoted to the rank of brigadier- general. Of the four hundred and eighty-two officers and men of the Fifth Iowa who were engaged in the battle more than two hundred and twenty were killed and wounded. 3 i s LIST OP CASUALTIES : Adjutant R. F. Patterson, wounded. Company A. Killed Lieutenant Lafayette Shawl, James Edgar. Wounded Lieutenant John W. Casad, Sergeant L. D. Ingman, Sergeant Parley S. McCracken, Corporal Wm. C. Hawk, James J. Anderson, Nelson Alexander (mortally), Joseph R. Fobes (mortally), Robert A. Farrell, Charles B. Harris, Charles S. Hussy, Jackson D. Mitchell, Wm. H. Morrow (prisoner), Samuel H. Ollinger, N. M. II. Parsons, John Rumsey, John S. Smurr, Wm. A. E. Tisdale, Milton E. Thurston, Freeland G. Tubbs, Helburn Zeitler, Jacob F. Weaver, Wm. F. Begole, John C. Stout, John F. Webb. Company B. Kitted Elias E. Babcock, John D. Bodley, Moses W.Cattrell, George W. Lowe, Oscar B. Piper, Samuel Pitman, James II. Smail, Leroy F. Shelley. Wounded Lieutenant Alexander L. Mateer (mortally), Sergeant Wm. W. Dungan, Sergeant James Vauatta, Corporal James W. Mc- Crosky, Corporal Willard C. Winslow, Corporal James P. Banks, Isaac T. Borden, Luther H. Carey, Burnett Dewitt, Joseph H. M. Delong, David Heron, Hiram C. Hall, Isaac M. Louderback, Charles M. Morris, Wm. A. Rice, Asbury D. Romans, Wm. H. Sparks, Henry Scott, Wm. Worell, George F. Work, James D. Peregrine, James A. Shellidy. Company C. Killed Corporal Nicholas Reinheart. Wounded Captain John Albaugh, Lieutenant Albert Ellis, Sergeant Milton Campbell, Corporal Wm. Gamble, Corporal Richard E. Payton, Wm. B. Wallace (mortally), Wm. P. Branden, John Butler, James M. Cooper, Orville George, Vane Graham (mortally), Edward 0. Griswold, Oscar Hann, Gethens Jenkins, James F. Kellogg (mortally), Thomas S. Littleton, Robert Lynch, Wm. Neal, Wm. F. Orr, Joseph S. Osborn, George Palmer (mortally), Humphrey Roberts (mortally), Isaac Scofield, James R. Smith, Julius T. Spafford, John Stephens, Stewart Thompson (mortally), Clemens Zingheim, J. Carnady. Missing Charles Jones. Company D. Killed Jacob Oswald, David Sullivan. Wounded Lieutenant John E. Page, Lieu tenant Benjamin Jarvis, Sergeant John E. Page, Sergeant Haman A. Jones, Corporal Wm. C. Hausa- faus, Corporal Wm. R. Brush, Corporal James Johnston, Wm. H. Hartman (mortally), Stephens S. Mills (mortally), Wm. Mooney, Amos B. Nil^s, Tillman H. Payton, Warren B. Parett, James Rey nolds, Jacob Sipe, Fred. E. Strong, Samuel W. Williams, William Woodward. Company E. Killed John H. Towle. Wounded Lieutenant Alexander B. Lewis, Sergeant Wm. Bunce, Corporal Julius F. Phelps, Wm. W. Baughman (musician), Elijah Chittester, Adin B. Kinsel, Hela C. Sprague. Company F, Killed Lieutenant Elvin M. Holcomb, Sergeant Sebastian Fisher, Wm. J. Fulton, Isaac H. Greene, Richard B. Howell, Isaac Lang, John W. Teller. Wounded Sergeant James A. Rentfro, Sergeant Charles S. Miller, Sergeant Abram G. Long, Corporal Nathaniel B. Jones (mor tally), Corporal Robert McClanahan, Corporal Henry B. Landers, Corporal Reason P. Laffer, Sherri- dan G. Rose (musician), Andrew Beard, John Cabler, David C. Glandon (mortally), Charles S. Goss (mortally), Charles Guno, John Hall, David M. Jones (mortally), John V. Ketchum (mortally) Pleas ant E. Minor, James H. Holland, Alfred Shipman, Thomas A. Shockly, Wm. L. Switzer, George B. Tipton, James Woods, Harding Voss. Missing Wm. Eberhart (musician), Abel F. Wilson. Company G. Killed Henry Ditch, Earle Wellington. Wounded Lieutenant Samuel S. Sample, Lieutenant John E. Pangborn, Sergeant Basil H. Martin, Corporal Americus Campbell, Henry B. Fisher, Byron A. Knowles, Piereon Mills, John Waitman (mortally), James M. Miskimmons, John Minton. Company H. Killed Sergeant Rezin B. Hughes, Alvin C. Ebbert, Thomas I. Nutt, Hamilton Rodgers, George W. Armentrout. Wounded Captain Joel Brown, Lieutenant W. C. Huber, Corporal Jacob T. Overturff, Milton J. Arlington, George W. Baldwin, Thomas P. Estal, Wm. T. Hughes, Joseph W. Knapp, Benjamin Penn, John A. Pierce, Elijah Roberts, John P. Shuffleton, Milton W. Shaw, Asbury Sutton, John A. Troette, Simeon K. Winscott, John Whilton. Company L Killed Samuel Hughes, Patrick O Driscol, Noah B. Piereon, Abel B. Wright. Wounded Sergeant Wra. H. Brakey (mortally), Wm. D. Thompson, Wm. C. Morden, George W. Bousman, Ferdinand Blush, John S. Howard, Henry P. Marvin, Charles P. Reed, Wm. Shuler, Wm. W. Stevens, Stephen H. Sanderlin. Missing Lieutenant Wm. H. Cotton. Company K. Killed Lieutenant Stephen W. Smith, Corporal George W. Foote, Homer Ellis, Sol- 14 106 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Our regiment remained on the battle-field during the most of the day after the combat, engaged in the sorrowful duty of burying the dead. Now that the excitement of battle was over, and the men could see the effects of it, it seemed miraculous that a man escaped the storms of bullets, whose marks were everywhere, thick as autumnal leaves that strew the vales of Vallambrosa. Every tree, every sapling bore marks of the terrible combat. 4 On the 21st the regiment reached its old camp near Jacinto, and there remained during the remainder of the month. On the 1st of October it marched to Corinth. During the first day s battle, which soon followed, it was posted some distance from Corinth, on the Pittsburg Landing road, where, as it happened, there was no fighting. It was engaged, however, on the 4th, from early in the morning till the defeat of the enemy about noon, but being posted in an advantageous position behind natural defences, it suffered only a trifling loss, but performed valuable service, especially in the repulse of a charge on the Eleventh Ohio battery, which it was supporting on the left. The charge was made on the right of the battery, and to repel it our regiment marched on the double-quick step to the threatened point, fired four volleys into the enemy, and drove them off in most admirable disorder. In the pursuit of the rebels after their terrible defeat, the regiment marched westward some distance, then wheeled to the left, and marching by Bienzi, reached the Hatchie, some twelve or fifteen miles distant from that place, and remained on the west side of the stream a day or two. It then returned to Corinth, and went into camp near by on the evening of the llth, the men worn out with fatigue, many of them entirely without shoes, and scarcely any having suitable clothing. omon W. F. Field, John Sheidnecker. Wounded Lieutenant Jerome Darling, Sergeant Hezekiah G. Doolittle, Corporal Wm. Setchfield, George W. Botsford, John Healy (mortally), John A. King, Walter E. Lytle (mortally), Wm. T. Powell, James B. Rinehart, Segmann Shryock, John W. Smith, Andrew Soil, Henry Spaulding, Rinehart Stitsman, Newton E. Terrill, Henry Fry, W. Presho. JUiss- ing Chauncey L. Burrington. * Captain Keath, of Company F, visited the battle-field in October, 1863. He thus speaks of it, in a letter to the Sigourney News : " On the 20th inst., in company with Lieutenant-Colonel Sampson and Major W. S. Marshall, of the Fifth, I visited the old battle-field of luka. I found evidence enough of the fierce and terrible conflict which took place there on the 19th of September, 1862. Scarce a tree on all that ground but shows its wounds ; the little grove of small saplings, which is in rear of where our regiment fought, is literally cut down with balls ; but few small trees are living. Where the Eleventh Ohio battery stood, the ground is covered with bleached bones of horses, which rattled beneath the feet of our own. The little house which was just to the left of Company F still stands, more silent than Goldsmith s Deserted Village. Near this poor man s castle fell the lamented Holcomb and the daring Fisher. In life they were friends; in death they sleep side by side. Other brave and lamented heroes fell here, and are buried here ; they too sleep together, their names marked upon little pine boards at their heads. I plucked a leaf from a small oak bush which stands near and overhangs the heads of Holcomb and Fisher, and also one from a small chestnut tree close by, and sent the same to the mother of young Holcomb, with a brief description of his resting- place." FIFTH INFANTRY. 107 Two pitched battles, and marches making altogether about two hundred miles within the period of a month, were quite enough, one should think, to entitle the regiment to rest. It did, in fact, remain in camp near Corinth during the remainder of October, but the men were a good deal of the time at work upon the fortifications. When General Rosecrans, at the close of the month, relieved General Buell, and assumed command of the Department of the Cumberland, General C. S. Hamilton took command of the Army of the Mississippi, and General Isaac F. Quinby that of the division to which our regiment was assigned. From the 2d to the 5th of November the command marched to Grand Junction, in Tennessee, and nearly half way from Corinth to Memphis. General Grant, with head quarters at Lagrange, was now organizing his forces, preparatory to the movement by Holly Springs to take Vicksburg in rear. Two divisions under General McPherson joined the Army of the Mississippi at Grand Junction, and the whole moved southward about the middle of November. There was no good, but much suffering, resulted from this campaign. The same officer who had so hastily abandoned luka and its rich stores to Price, surrendered Holly Springs to Van Dorn s raiders, delivering up vast quantities of supplies which had been gathered at that depot by Grant. This misfortune compelled him to retrace his steps. On this march our regiment went as far as Yocana, about ten miles south of Oxford, reaching there on the 12th of December. On the return, the division marched in the advance with a train for supplies, and arrived at Memphis on the 29th. On the last day of the year marched to German- town ; on the next day to Lafayette, where it was relieved of duty as guard of the train, and whence, on the day following, it returned to Germantown, and there remained till the close of the month. At this time the division was assigned as the seventh to the Seventeenth Army Corps, General McPherson commanding. From the 1st of February, 1863, to the 2d of the following month, the division remained in camp near Memphis, the quiet of which, so far as our regiment is concerned, was only broken by a single day s scout a few miles from town. The regiment commenced its work in the Vicksburg campaign on the 2d day of March. From that time, till the capitulation of Pemberton, more than one hundred and twenty days afterwards, its history forms a creditable part of the memorable events of that period, crowded with the most mo mentous achievements of the war. First, it went by steamer from Mem phis to Grand Lake in Arkansas, not far north of the Louisiana line, there debarked and remained on shore long enough to discover that it was im practicable to open lines of communication by Bayou Mason to Red Eiver ; then it reembarked and passed up the river to a point a few miles below Helena, where it remained till the 22d, awaiting the arrival of small trans- 108 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. ports; the suitable transports having arrived, it embarked again, and until the 8th of the following month, was navigating, first down arid then up, the Yazoo Pass, the Coldwater, and the Tallahatchee, on Quinby s reenforcing expedition against Fort Pemberton, which was full of wild adventure but without military results ; fourthly, having remained a few days in the old camp below Helena, it embarked again, and on the 15th arrived at Milliken s Bend, where about a fortnight was spent in drills and reviews, and where the spirit of the troops of the whole division was made admirably manifest by the fact that a guard had to be placed around the camps to prevent the men from volunteering to run the blockade of the Vicksburg batteries ; marched over bad roads, under a scorching sun, and with heavy knapsacks, from Milliken s Bend to Perkins Landing, and thence eighteen miles, to Hard Times, where it crossed the river on the gunboat Pittsburg, and forthwith marched nine miles into the interior ; on the march thence to Jackson frequently skirmished with the enemy, and made one or two im portant reconnoissances on our left flank ; took part in the battle of Jackson, on the 14th of May, but suffered only a small loss; at the severe battle of Champion Hills, two days afterwards, was in the thickest of the fight, losing there nineteen killed and seventy-five wounded, out of three hundred and fifty, the men fighting till their ammunition was exhausted, then using that of their dead and wounded comrades, and when that was all gone keeping back the enemy at the crisis of the battle with their bayonets; in the assault on the works of Vicksburg, May 22d, the regiment marched up to the vicinity of the rebel lines in as perfect order as on parade, losing during the day three killed and nineteen wounded; remained in front of the enemy s works till June 22d, our rifle-pits being then within one hundred and fifty yards of the rebel lines, when the brigade moved out to the Big Black River, to assist in keeping off Johnston, and remained in the perfor mance of that service till Vicksburg fell into our possession. In this im portant campaign, up to about the 1st of June, Lieutenant-Colonel Samp son was in command of the regiment, and Brigadier-General Mathies, after the assault on the 22d of May, during which Colonel Boomer was killed, commanded the brigade. Up to that time, he had commanded a brigade in the Fifteenth Corps. On the 5th of June, Colonel Banbury, promoted, took command of the regiment, and Adjutant Marshall was promoted to the majority. In the campaign under Major-General Sherman which immediately followed the capture of Vicksburg, the brigade to which our regiment was attached performed valuable service, and was handsomely compli mented by General Sherman in his official report of the operations which resulted in driving Johnston out of the State, and in essentially bringing the whole of it under the power of our repossessing armies. On the FIFTH INFANTRY. 109 marches and countermarches of this campaign, the Fifth Iowa encamped two different times on the memorable field of Champion Hills, remaining there, after the retreat of Johnston, from the 17th to the 22d of July. It then proceeded by leisurely marches to Vicksburg, and encamped within the works on the 24th, where it remained, in the performance of light garrison duties, for nearly two months, in common with the whole division. On the 12th of the following September, the division moved by steamers to Helena, Arkansas, for the purpose of reenforcing General Steele. That officer, however, had captured Little Rock on the 10th, and needed no more troops. The lines of communicating intelligence between the capital of Arkansas and Helena were not telegraphic, and the troops sent to ree n- force Steele were ready to move before news of his fine success reached them, and caused the orders for the march to be countermanded. Very shortly afterwards, and whilst these troops at Helena were awaiting transpor tation back to Vicksburg, General Rosecrans met with the reverse at Chick- amauga. General Sherman, commanding the Fifteenth Corps, was ordered to reenforce the army of the Cumberland, and that he might do so the more promptly, the division of the Seventeenth Corps at Helena was exchanged into his command in place of one of his divisions near Vicks burg. Our regiment accordingly moved with the division to Memphis by river, and thence by rail to Corinth, reaching that place of varied associa tions on the afternoon of October 4th, -just one year from the great victory which it had there helped to win. Here, along the railway toward luka, and at luka, the regiment remained till the end of the month, rebuilding the railroad, and in other ways making ready for the march to Chattanooga, which began on November 1st, and ended on the 24th, with th% division, now the Third, Fifteenth Corps, in face of the enemy on Missionary Ridge. In the remarkable contest which ensued, called in history the Battle of Chattanooga, and which was a series of grand combats from the banks of the Tennessee to the tops of mountains above the clouds, our regiment well performed its part near the northern extremity of Missionary Ridge. Here, near Tunnel Hill, frowning with rebel batteries, the regiment fought through the afternoon of the 25th, but was overcome near evening by an overwhelm ing force of the enemy. Many were captured, including Major Marshall and Adjutant Byers. The colors also fell into the enemy s hands, whilst the men who escaped passed through a shower of balls, and amid yells of the rebels to "halt." The regiment went into the action with two hundred and twenty-seven men and twenty-one officers, and lost in killed, wounded, and captured, one hundred and six, of whom quite a large proportion were captured. Colonel Banbury thus closes his official report : "I cannot feel justified in closing this report without bearing testimony to the uncomplain- 110 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. ing manner in which my brave men have performed the hard labor, and endured the severe deprivations of the campaign just closed, especially during the last week of November, following immediately upon the long fatiguing march of over two hundred miles. They were up at midnight of the 23d fortifying, and maneuvering for battle all day of the 24th. On picket-guard in the face of the enemy on the night of the 24th, fighting desperately, and under most unfavorable circumstances on the 25th, pursu ing the enemy on the 26th and 27th, (without rations or blankets, shivering around their camp-fires during the nights, and marching through rain and mud during the days, ) and returning to camp twenty-two miles on the 28th. All this in the dead of winter, and without a murmur. It should seem that the command had now performed service enough during the year to entitle it to rest and comfortable quarters during the re mainder of the winter. It had taken part in two of the most remarkable campaigns in military history. It had marched through the swamps of Louisiana; marched and fought over the hills of Mississippi ; rushed under the guns of Vicksburg in the terrible, unavailing assault ; sweltered in the heat under those formidable works during long weeks of siege ; commenced another campaign before that was finished, and materially assisted in bring ing it to a successful close ; by steamer, railway, and march, traveling five hundred miles to join in the final grand victory of the year, whereby the "backbone of the rebellion" was broken, and its complete destruction made but a question of time. Campaigns like these could not be conducted without great losses, and in common with all the organizations engaged in them, the Fifth Iowa, lost heavily. Its little camp on Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga, on the 1st of December, 1863, would barely have con tained two companies of the regiment when in rendezvous near Burlington in 1861. But it could not remain there long. Some of the men were bare-footed, and none had sufficient food. When the regiment, on the 3d, 4th, and 5th days of December, marched to Bridgeport, Alabama, many of the men had nothing but parched corn in their haversacks light diet for a winter s march. The command remained at Bridgeport, which is in the extreme northeastern part of the State, until the 22d, when it marched for Larkinsville, forty-five miles distant. Having halted there a day or two it moved a few miles south to a mill, and remained there, on guard duty, and engaged in the milling business for a week. On the 7th of January, 1864, line of march for Huntsville, some forty miles west of Larkinsville, was taken up. The command reached that place on the 9th, and there spent the remainder of the winter. Whilst here, about one hundred and fifty members of the regiment, being most of those present for duty, ree n- listed under the orders of the War Department for the formation of an army of veterans. On the 1st of April the veterans of the regiment FIFTH INFANTRY. Ill started to Iowa on furlough. They remained in the State one month, and rejoined the brigade at Decatur, Alabama, on the 14th of May. Very soon after the arrival of the regiment at Decatur, certain rebel cavalry made a raid on the railway between that place and Huntsville, striking it at Madison Station, and capturing the troops who were there, among them being a few members of the Fifth, who, knowing the regiment had received orders to move to that post, had gone thither in advance. From this time until the close of the month the regiment was on duty guarding the railroad near Madison. It then returned to Decatur, where it remained a fortnight, when it moved by rail to Huntsville. Thence, on the 22d of June it began the march to Stevenson, whence it proceeded by rail to Kingston, Georgia, arriving there on the 28th. Shortly afterwards the regiment moved a short distance from Kingston to the Etowah River, and remained on duty guarding a bridge and several fords on that stream till near the end of July. While here one man was killed, and one bounded by guerrilla-men. On the 30th, the non- veterans of the regiment were honorably mustered out of the service. The veterans were afterwards transferred to the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, in which organization they have since done brave and valuable service, but the history of the gallant Fifth Iowa Infantry, as a distinct command, virtually closed when the non-vete rans were mustered out The term of its service was, therefore, a little over three years. During this period it marched, on foot, over two thousand miles, in the States of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, participating in Fremont s Campaign of "One Hundred Days" in southwestern Missouri in the fall of 1861, in the campaign against New Madrid, Island No. Ten, and Fort Pillow, in the siege of Corinth, in the battle of luka, and that of Corinth shortly afterwards, in the campaign into central Mississippi under General Grant, the Yazoo Pass Expedition, in the grand campaign against Vicksburg, in that of Chattanooga, closing an eventful, honorable history with its ranks so thinned that it was com pelled to yield up its separate organization retired from the records of the war for the future, but with a past so well secured by many glorious ser vices, undimmed by the shade of any unworthy act, that its memory will be kept green among our people till luka and Chattanooga shall have passed from their recollection, and much of the noblest heroism of the war have been forgotten. CHAPTER VI. SIXTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AND RENDEZVOUS AT BURLINGTON STOP AT KEOKUK REENFORCE COLONEL MOORE AT ATHENS, MISSOURI FREMONT S CAMPAIGN TO SPRINGFIELD GUARD DUTY PROCEED TO THE FRONT BATTLE OF SHILOH GENERAL GRANT S UNSUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN IN MISSISSIPPI GARRISON DUTY AT MEMPHIS THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST VICKSBURG THE SIEGE OF JOlCJraOJV MARCH TO CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE RELIEF OF KNOX- VILLE REENLIST AND RETURN TO IOWA BACK AGAIN GENERAL SHERMAN S ATLANTA CAMPAIGN MARCH TO SAVANNAH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS HOME WARD BOUND. THIS regiment was organized during the month of June and the early portion of July, 1861, rendezvousing at the city of Burlington, where it was mustered into the Federal service on the 17th and 18th of July, then numbering, rank and file, about nine hundred men. John Adair McDowell, of Lee county, was Colonel ; Markoe Cummins, of Muscatine, Lieutenant- Colonel ; John M. Corse, of Burlington, Major ; E. B. Woodward, of Lucas county, Adjutant ; James Brunaugh, of Henry, Quartermaster ; A. T. Shaw of Lee, Surgeon ; and Reverend John Ufford, of Muscatine, Chap lain. Company A had been recruited in Linn county, and its officers were Hosea W. Gray, Captain, C. Caldwell and Willard Harland, Lieutenants. Company B had been recruited in Lucas, Clarke, Wayne, and Monroe counties. Daniel Iseminger was Captain, and E. B. Woodward and Eugene E. Edwards were Lieutenants. The next company was principally from the counties of Hardin and Franklin Captain D. M. Stump, Lieutenants A. B. Harris and Robert Allison. Appanoose county furnished nearly all the men for Company D, and Captain M. M. Walden, and Lieutenants John L. Bashore and William A. E. Rhodes. Company E hailed for the most part from Monroe county, as did all its officers, namely, Captain Henry Saunders, Lieutenants Calvin Kelsey and L. C. Allison. The next company came mostly from Clarke county, with Captain S. P. Glenn, and Lieutenants Calvin Minton and John T. Grimes. Johnson county furnished 112 SIXTH INFANTRY. 113 a large proportion of the men for Company G, but it contained representa tives from several other counties. John Williams was Captain, and A. J. Miller and Joseph M. Douglass, Lieutenants. Company H was composed of men from various parts of the State, a majority being from Lee county. The officers were Washington Galland, Captain, and Rufus Goodnough and George R. Nunn, Lieutenants. Captain Fabian Brydolf, and Lieutenants J. S. Halliday and S. B. Phillips held the first commissions in Company I, whose enlisted men came from several different counties in the State, and from other States, as did also those composing Company K, a majority, however, being citizens of Henry county, of which company, Captain W. D. Deniston, and Lieutenants James Brunaugh, (soon appointed Quarter master, ) and Richard E. White were the first officers. A great proportion of the rank and file of this regiment were remarkable for their fine physical appearance. Being nearly all farmers and mechanics, accustomed to manly labor, they were possessed of a hardy vigor which enabled them, as their history afterwards proves, to endure the toils and privations of army life with a spirit amounting to cheerfulness. It is certain they presented a fine military appearance on their first public parade at Burlington. Not long after the regiment was mustered into the service of the United States, it went to Keokuk. On the 5th of August, the rebel Green attacked Colonel Moore at Athens, Missouri, about twenty-five miles from Keokuk, up the Des Moines River, and opposite the town of Croton, in Iowa. The rebels very largely outnumbered the force under Moore, but he gave them a gallant fight, and after some two hours contest, whipped them effectually, and drove them in wild disorder in all directions, with heavy loss. The affair, however, created much excitement and not a little panic for some time. A detachment of the Sixth was sent up to Croton to reenforce Moore. It went to the scene of conflict as rapidly as steam could carry it, but arrived too late to take part in the battle. Green had been thoroughly discomfited, and his troops were already concealed in the brush. The detachment returned to Keokuk, bearing good news, and quieting the nerves of citizens who had been alarmed by extravagant reports of an in vasion by the rebels. Here the regiment remained a considerable length of time, acquiring a knowledge of the duties which would be required of men in the field. Major-General John C. Fremont was at this time in command of the Department of Missouri, head-quarters at St. Louis. On the 31st day of August, he issued his famous general order, placing the State under mar tial law, confiscating to the public use the property, real and personal, of all who should take up arms against the United States, and declaring the slaves of all such to be free men. This stringent measure, said the general commanding, was made necessary by the disorganized condition of the 15 114 IOWA AND THE .REBELLION. State, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who were infesting nearly every county in the State, availing themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who, finding an enemy wherever they found plunder, were driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State. Whatever may be thought of his means of correction, it is certain General Fre mont did not put the case of the public evils too strong; and it is equally certain, what with the difficulties of the evils themselves, inter meddling politicians both in Missouri and at the national capital, and bad men about him, the general commanding the department had upon his shoulders a weight which he could not bear, and which, perhaps, no man could have borne. He might have repressed the public evils, but the poli ticians were irrepressible. He labored with tremendous energy, and organ ized from the raw soldiery, rendezvousing at different and distant places, and from those who had been marching and countermarching in Missouri, an army about thirty thousand strong, including five thousand cavalry and eighty-six guns. This army concentrated at Tipton, then the terminus of the Pacific Railroad, and near the geographical centre of the State, during the latter part of September and the first of October. The Sixth Iowa formed a part of it. The army was ill supplied with transportation. On the 13th of October, Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, and Adjutant- General Thomas, each with a considerable suite, mainly composed of snobs and toadies, visited the army, and it was through their reports that the public press of the country generally announced that Fremont s campaign was a failure, that he could never move his army to Springfield, and that southern Missouri was virtually in the control of traitors. Nevertheless, General Fre mont did move his army to Springfield, crossing with apparent ease and little delay, large streams which the aforesaid suites had pronounced utterly impassible. The march from Tipton was very rapid and very severe. The advance, being General Fre mont s body-guard of cavalry, under Major Zagonyi, dashed into Springfield on the 25th, making the boldest charge of the war, defeating and routing a confederate force two thousand strong, but the advance of the main column did not approach till two days after wards. The whole army, by moving with a rapidity over bad roads which was well nigh fearful, and which caused great suffering among the troops, reached Springfield on the last three days of October, and the first day of November. Generals Pope s and McKinstry s commands, with which latter was our regiment, came up on the 1st, having marched seventy miles in two days. The next day, General Fre mont was relieved of command by order of Lieutenant-General Scott, upon whom the politicians placed this respon sibility, but who had himself been retired the day before, on account of SIXTH INFANTRY. 115 superannuation. Major-General Hunter took command, but in a few days marched back to the railroad, and has much of the time since, it may be remarked in passing, been engaged in a line where his talents are acknow ledged to be conspicuous, to wit, the line of courts-martial. The Sixth Iowa returned with the army to Sedalia, and was soon placed on guard duty at Larnine Bridge, where it remained some time, and was then ordered to Tipton on garrison duty. Here six companies remained, garrisoning the place, during the winter, the other four companies, under Captain Iseminger, performing similar sendee at Syracuse, a few miles westward. While the regiment was thus stationed, Colonel McDowell was in command of a brigade of troops, Lieutenant-Colonel Cummins having command of the regiment. Major Corse, meantime, was on the staff of General Pope, as his inspector-general. When the campaign of 1862 had been fully inaugurated by the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, and not long after the latter thrilling victory, our regiment proceeded to St. Louis by rail, and thence by steamer to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. At the battle of Shiloh the regiment held the extreme right of the advance line, and fought with unsurpassed bravery, holding its position with unflinching tenacity till all support had been driven back, and then retiring through a murderous fire, still fronting the enemy and dealing upon him heavy blows as opportunity offered. Colo nel McDowell was here in command of the brigade. During the battle, Lieutenant- Colonel Cummins was placed in arrest, and, Major Corse being still with General Pope, the command devolved upon Captain John Wil liams, who led the regiment with conspicuous bravery through the most desperate portion of the fight, and until he was himself severely wounded, when Captain Walden took command. The loss of the regiment in this battle, of which I have heretofore given a somewhat detailed account, was very heavy. 1 1 LIST OP CASUALTIES: Company A. Killed Sergeant Samuel W. Bowers, George W. Sharp, Wm. H. Willsey, Geo. W. Willsey, Fred. F. Weed. Wounded Corporal John A. Gunn, Corporal Chas. L. Byam, Wm. Brown, John B. Brown, John Boardman (mortally), John A. Clark, Henry M. Howe (mortally), Joseph Perrigo, Isaac N. Wood, Lafayette Wiggins, Geo. H. Wightman, S. B. Plummer. Missing Owen Ward. Company B. Killed Captain Daniel Iseminger, Chas. J. Cheeny, Monroe Hardin, Oliver B. Miller, Wm. Sheets, James H. Spurling, John M. Sayer, John W. Weaver. Wounded John W. Armstrong (mortally), James H. Hess, Z. M. Lanning (mortally), Jas. R. Smith, George F. Holmes. Company C. Killed Sergeant Charles J. Payne, Martin V. Allen, Walter Smith, G. C. Vandervort, Jackson Woodruff. Wounded Sergeant John Lockard (mortally), Solomon Kellogg, Jas. Kellogg, George Reed (mortally), C. A. Gummere, Thomas J. Newport. Missing Joshua Lee. Company D. Killed Oliver P. Atkinson, David W. McGee, Geo. R. Vincent. Wounded Sergeant G. N. Udell, Corporal Joseph K. Morey, Chas. F. Stratton, Jerome B. Somers, B. F. Bradley, Thomas H. Morris, M. Westenhaver, Peter Kuhns. Prisoners Uri Hallcck, Zimmer James. Company E Kilted Sergeant David J. Hayes, Wm. B. Crawford, James B. Duncan, Oliver P. Evans, Wm. Swayny, Wm. H. Waugh, Thomas McKissick, John L. Harrison. Wounded Lieutenant John II. Orman, Noah Carmach, Thomas Baker, Cyrus N. Blue, Geo. A. Brown, Charles H. Claver, 116 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Not long afterwards, Major Corse was relieved from duty on General Pope s staff and returned to the regiment, of which he took command. In the following month he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, in the place of Cummins, mustered out of service by sentence of a military commission, and Captain John Williams, of Company G, was promoted to the majority. The regiment saw the army under Major-General Halleck drag its slow length along from the field of Shiloh, participating in the siege of Corinth, and was presenlgipon the evacuation of that place by the rebels. The command accompanied a considerable detachment of the army, which was afterwards sent on a reconnoissance to the interior of Mississippi. Near Coldwater it had a skirmish with rebel cavalry under Forrest, July 2d, in which the noted troopers were handsomely driven out of the way. Remaining in the vicin ity of Holly Springs during the two days following, the command then marched to Memphis with the army, reaching that city on the 24th of July. Here the regiment remained during the rest of the summer and most of the fall of this year, the brigade to which it was attached being assigned to duty as provost guard of the city, which required no little vigilant atten tion. Early in November, General Grant commenced his campaign against Vicksburg, with the intention of moving on the rear of the stronghold by the interior of Mississippi. The campaign was unsuccessful, but unaccom panied by the fearful loss of life which befell the contemporaneous cam paign of General Sherman, closing with the slaughter of Chickasaw Bayou. Our regiment marched with the forces under Grant as far as the Yohna- patafa River. By this time General Grant s communications were so Thos. Fullerton (mortally), L. S. T. Hatton, Jas. W. Hare, Grandin Hendrix, H. L. Kills (mortally), George A. Looman, Joseph McKissick, Thomas J. Smith, John W. Service, Nathaniel Carter (mortally). Company F. Killed Corporal Z. F. Delaney, Jackson Wigings, Grundy Lock, James Mardia, Jas. M. Right. Wounded Lieutenant John T. Grimes, Sergeant Elihu Gardner, Sergeant Geo. W. Hess (mortally), Corporal Nathaniel Thrasher, Corporal Andrew Byers, Edward Chambers, Wm. J. Ham ilton, John M. Hunter, J. L. Hagerty, 0. S. Medcalf, Wm. Pagett, Clark Tripp. Company G Killed Sergeant L. D. Prather, Corporal Wm. Davis, Wm. Delap, David Moreland. Wounded Captain John Williams (commanding regiment), Jas. Calhoun (mortally), Thos. A. Clark, Robert J. Jones, George Reedy (mortally), Jacob Will, Perry L. Foote, Wm. F. Green, Geo. Miller. Prisoner John Ditto, George S. Richardson, Wm. Tingling. Company H. Kitted Corpora.} Wm. J. Hufford, George Knuck, Michael A. Randall, Henry W. Smith. Wounded Corporal Wm. Spain, S. P. Burke, John W. Hufford, Jas. S. Ortman, Peter Rob ertson, Albert M. Smith (mortally), Frank Scott (mortally). Prisoners Captain Washington Galland, and a number of men. Company L Killed Corporal Geo. W. Clark, Archibald Conner, David Key, C. C. Philbrook, Gus- tavus Johnson. Wounded Captain F. Brydolf, Lieutenant Joseph S. Halliday, Noyes W. Wads- worth (mortally), John Harpman, Joseph H. Herron, Chas. Jerrico, Wm. H. Milligan, L. L. Owens, Albert Wentworth. Company K Kitted Captain Richard E. White, Henry Young, Jas.Cackly. Wounded Sergeant Wm. H. Arnold, Sergeant Lemuel Baldwin, Sergeant John Cook, Corporal Robert Crawford, Corporal Arthur Wilson, Corporal Vine G. Williams, Corporal Henry McCoy (mortally), Jacob B. Burris, Enos R. Clark, Franklin Ferree, Benjamin Hutchison, Wm. Hall, Wm. P. Taylor, Thos. Townsend. SIXTH INFANTRY. 117 seriously endangered that he was compelled to return. The Sixth accom panied the army on its northward march, and went into camp at Grand Junction, Tennessee. While the regiment was at this encampment, Colo nel McDowell resigned. In March. 1863, Lieutenant-Colonel Corse was promoted to the colonelcy. Major Williams had resigned in October, 1862, and Captain A. J. Miller, promoted to his place, was now made lieu tenant-colonel, and Adjutant Ennis promoted major. During the winter, however, of 1862-3, the regiment was mounted, and, attached to a division under command of Brigadier-General William S. Smith, made several rapid and important raids into the enemy s country, chiefly in the State of Mis sissippi. In the early part of the campaign against Vicksburg, in 1863, the regi ment did not directly participate. Temporarily attached to the Ninth Army Corps, two divisions of which under General Parke reenforced Grant on the 14th of June, it took position with them on Haines Bluff, and there remained, ready to keep off the rebel Johnston, should he approach, or to assist the investing army in the other direction, as occasion might demand. Things remained all quiet near Haines Bluff excepting, of course, the alligators, cat-fishes, and reptiles of the Yazoo, flowing slimily by until the rebels capitulated on the 4th of July, after which, and without any delay, General Sherman commenced active operations against Johnston opera tions which resulted in an irregular siege of the city of Jackson, the retreat of the rebels, the second occupation of the capital, and the destruction of an immense quantity of public property belonging to the enemy, including many miles of railroad, north, south, and east of Jackson. I will endeavor to relate, briefly, the principal events in the campaign, closing with THE SIEGE OF JACKSON. The rebel general, Pemberton, having surrendered to Grant, the forces under Major-General Sherman, namely, his own corps, the Fifteenth, the Thirteenth, General Ord, and the Ninth, General Parke, immediately moved west in search of Johnston. The Fifteenth Corps, at this time com manded by Major-General Steele, occupied the centre, Ord the right, and Parke the left. All the cavalry was united, under Colonel Bussey, Third Iowa Cavalry, and the whole force was called the expeditionary army. The Big Black River was crossed on the 6th of July, and on the 9th the army sat down before Jackson, the rebels having retreated all the way thither, without serious opposition, but in strong force, so that the march of the Union army was necessarily cautious, as it must have at any rate been slow, on account of the excessive heat and the stifling dust. Such skirmishing obstructions as were offered were quickly brushed out of the way by Colonel Bussey s cavalry command and its infantry supports. 118 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. By the morning of the 13th, the enemy was completely invested in Jack son, from the Pearl River above to the river below, our army holding undisputed possession of all the roads leading to the place on the right bank of the stream, our artillery within easy range of every part of the city, with the State House in plain view. The works now about Jackson for the defense of the place were much stronger than they had been in May, when it was first captured. The parapets had been enlarged and strengthened, heavy rifled guns had been mounted en barbette, commanding the Clinton and Canton roads, the lines had been extended so as to rest on Pearl River, and along the whole were well-constructed embrasures of sod and cotton bales. It was no part of General Sherman s duty to assault these works. He constructed works for the protection of his own army, extended his lines from day to day till the investment was complete, and sent off detachments to right and left on errands of destruction. It was on the 12th of the month, whilst the Thirteenth Corps was execut ing a movement to make our line of investment complete upon the right, that a sad loss occurred to the division commanded by Brigadier-General J. G. Lauman, of Iowa, in a conflict as desperate, for a short time, as anj 7 other, perhaps, of the whole war. "Whilst General Lauman s division was moving up into position," says General Sherman, in his official resume of the campaign ; dressing to his left on General Hovey , the right of his line came within easy range of the enemy s field artillery and musketry from behind his works, whereby this division sustained a serious loss, amounting in killed, wounded and missing, to near five hundred men. This was the only serious loss which befell my command during the cam paign, and resulted from misunderstanding or a misinterpretation of General Ord s minute instructions on the part of General Lauman." In this bloody conflict, which, for a part of General Lauman s division, was absolutely an assault upon the enemy s works an assault by a brigade upon a line of strong works, defended by twelve guns and heavy lines of musketry the Third Iowa Infantry, Major G. W. Crosley commanding, fought with desperate valor, and out of the two hundred and forty-one rank and file engaged, left one hundred and fourteen dead or wounded on the field. Major Crosley pronounced it the severest conflict in which the regiment had ever been engaged, and declared that all the officers and men did their duty nobly. 2 Meanwhile, the siege progressed favorably, and Bussey on the north, and 2 General Lauman was relieved of command by General Ord immediately upon the occurrence of the disaster mentioned in the text, and there was much feeling against General Laumun in the army, and no little unfavorable comment in the public press. I have myself heard him assert that he simply obeyed the verbal orders of General Ord, which were conveyed to him after the " minute instructions " referred to by General Sherman. Every one who knows General Lauman knows that he would not assert a falsehood. SIXTH INFANTRY. 119 Ord s cavalry on the south, were tearing up railroads and destroying all kinds of public property. On the 16th, Colonel Corse, in command of the skirmishers of the First Division, Sixteenth Corps, for the time being forming a part of the Ninth Corps, made a strong reconnoissance on our left, moving on the enemy s works along the entire front of the division, for the purpose of ascertaining the strength and position of their batteries. This delicate and dangerous duty was performed by Colonel Corse and the regiments under his command with great gallantry and success ; the Sixth Iowa here winning the plaudits of the whole army and the hearty congratu lations of the general commanding division. Speaking of the part taken by the regiment in this brilliant affair, Colonel Corse says: "I assumed command of the line formed by the Sixth Iowa Infantry, and at the desig nated signal the men dashed forward with a shout, met the line of the enemy s skirmishers and pickets, drove them back, capturing eighteen or twenty, and killing as many more ; clearing the timber, they rushed out into the open field, across the railroad, over the fence, up a gentle slope, across the crest, down into the enemy s line, when two field batteries of four guns each, fronting west, opened a terrific cannonade. The enemy were driven from two pieces at the point of the bayonet, our men literally running them down. In rear of the batteries two regiments were lying supporting the gunners, and at our approach they opened along their whole line, causing most of the casualties in this gallant regiment. With such impetuosity did the line go through the field, that the enemy, so completely were they stunned, would have precipitately fled had they not been reassured by a large gun battery nearly six hundred yards to our right, which enfiladed the railroad line of skirmishers. Startled at this unex pected obstacle, which was now in full play, throwing its whirlwind of grape and canister about us till the corn fell as if by an invisible reaper, I ordered the bugler to sound the lie down. The entire line fell in the corn rows, and I had the opportunity to look around, knowing my men were safe. To pass through the batteries, cross the regiments in our front, ascend the hill and get inside their main works, was more than I could accomplish with the slender, yet gallant line lying on my left and right; and feeling that I had obtained all the information I could, I ordered the rise up and retreat, which I must confess was done in the most admirable manner, under the fire of at least three regiments and seven guns ; three of those enfilading my line. But few of those who had so gallantly charged the battery got back. I cannot speak in too extrava gant terms of the officers and men of the Sixth Iowa on this occasion. They obeyed my commands with a promptness and rapidity I could hardly have expected on a parade. If they challenged my praise at the impetu osity of their advance, which I found so rapid as to cause me to fear that I 120 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. could not keep up with them, they awakened my admiration at the cool ness with which they retired, returning the incessant fire of the enemy as they slowly fell back. The loss of the regiment was one killed, eighteen wounded, and nine missing. Brigadier-General Smith, commanding the division, was so much grati fied with the conduct of the Sixth Iowa in this affair, that he wrote the following congratulatory note to the colonel : 11 July 16, 1863. "COLONEL CORSE, COMMANDING SIXTH IOWA INFANTRY: The valor of your noble regiment has been conspicuous, even amidst the universal good conduct that has marked the operations of all the troops of the First Division during our advance upon Jackson and since our arrival here. I cannot too highly commend the gallantry you have dis played in two successful charges you have made. The true heart swells with emotions of pride in contemplating the heroism of those who, in their country s cause, charge forward under the iron hail of half a dozen rebel batteries, and exposed to a murderous fire of musketry from behind strong entrenchments, capture prisoners under their very guns. Such has been the glorious conduct of the Sixth Iowa this morning, and those who shared your dangers and emulate your valor will join me in tendering to you and the brave men under your command my warmest thanks and most hearty congratulations. Most truly yours, "WILLIAM SOOT SMITH, Brigadier-General, &c. On the night of the 16th the rebels evacuated Jackson, and on the morning of the 17th our troops entered the city. Johnston retreated east ward, but Sherman did not attempt a general pursuit. He devastated central Mississippi, and then returned to the vicinity of Vicksburg. The losses of the Sixth regiment during this campaign and siege were between sixty and seventy. In all the operations before Jackson, Colonel Corse commanded the skirmish line, and so successfully did he perform the arduous duties assigned him as to lead to his promotion to the rank of brigadier-general. The regiment, upon its return from Jackson, went into camp near the Big Black River, in an organization known as the "Fourth Brigade," and which was commanded, upon his promotion, by General Corse. Here, too, Major Miller and Adjutant Ennis were mus tered as lieutenant-colonel and major respectively, to which rank they had been before appointed, as has been stated. The "Fourth Brigade" was subsequently broken up, and our regiment assigned to the Second Brigade, Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps. SIXTH INFANTRY. 121 When General Sherman made his memorable march across the country to Chattanooga, in the fall of 1863, the Sixth Iowa formed a part of the column. It participated in the battle of Missionary Ridge, in the latter part of November, suffering a loss in that remarkable contest of sixty-nine officers and men, killed, wounded, and missing. Major Ennis was among those severely wounded. 3 The armies of the Cumberland and the Tennessee, with their comrade* under Hooker and Howard from the Army of the Potomac, having thoroughly defeated the rebels under Bragg, driving them from positions of vaunted impregnability not only, but sending them whirling out of Tennessee, General Grant promptly set in motion forces for the relief of Knoxville, closely besieged by Longstreet, and stoutly defended by Burn- side, with troops something more than half starved, but not at all dispirited, nor giving one moment s thought to surrender. General Granger was ordered to move to the relief of Burnside. He moved with reluctance and complaint. General Grant therefore determined, notwithstanding the fact that two divisions of Sherman s forces had marched from Memphis, and had gone into battle on their arrival at Chattanooga, to send him with his command; and orders were accordingly sent him at Calhoun, on the Hiawassee, to assume command of the troops with Granger, in addition to those with him, and proceed with all possible dispatch to the relief of Burnside. "Seven days before," writes General Sherman, "we had left our camps on the other side of the Tennessee, with two days rations, without a change of clothing, stripped for the fight, with but a single blanket or coat per man, from myself to the private included. Of course we then had no provisions, save what we gathered by the road, and were ill supplied for such a march. But we learned that twelve thousand of our fellow-soldiers were beleaguered in the mountain-town of Knoxville, eighty-four miles distant, that they needed relief, and must have it in three days. This was enough ; it had to be done." Killed, Captain Robert Allison ; Sergeant Robert Mitchell ; George H. Wightman ; Corporal David Gladfellow; Liberty H. Kennedy, Robert B. Davis, George W. Pratt, Alexander Dalton. Died of wounds Company A Corporal William Kellogg; Wounded, Major Thomas J. Ennis; Captains Calvin Minton, Leander C. Allison, George R. Nunn. Company A Sergeant Charles A. Hustin; Corporal Jeremiah Freeman; William A. Jones, E. S.Wilson, T.R.Thompson, Isaac N. Wood, William H. Vandyke. Company B Corporals Harvey Ford, Jesse L. Adkins ; Isaac R, Ply- mate. Company C Martin V. Allen. Company D Corporal Alexander Maring; Uri Halleck, Samuel D. Harn, Lloyd Wailes, Joseph F. Payton, Reuben M. Beamer, William Martin, Elon Ashby, William M. Hughes, James M. Pierce. Company E First Sergeant John H. Key; Color Sergeant Henry Roberts; Sergeant Stephen J. Gahagan; Corporals George W. Hibbard, Harrison Hicken- looper; Ira W. Gilbert. Company F First Sergeant E. R. Kennedy; Corporal John Tobin; Frederick B. Johnson, Elom Ford, Thomas Carson, Charles H. Wright, Isaac Gregg, Thomas Bar rows, Edward Chambers. Company G Sergeants Samuel J. Plymesser, John Gardner; Corporal John Ditto ; William A. Richardson. Company H Charles L. Allen, 0. C. Snyder. Company J Sergeant James Turner; Corporal John Sherm; Jacob Thomas, Daniel J. Smith, David Silver smith. Company AT Corporals John C. Ferree, Jasper Ogden; W. H. Barr, John M. Grim, Richard Ehipman, Asbury Smith. 16 122 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The march was commenced on the 1st of December. The road, accord ing to the energetic expression of Sherman, was villainous ; it was crossed by unfordable rivers ; the bridges were destroyed ; the enemy contested the advance with cavalry and artillery. Such were the circumstances under which this forced march was made. On the night of the 2d, General Sherman dispatched Colonel Long, commanding the cavalry brigade, with a picked body of men, ordering him, " at whatever cost of life and horse flesh," to push into Knoxville within twenty-four hours, and inform Burnside of the proximity of relief. At Philadelphia the column turned to the right, and, crossing the Little Tennessee at Morgantown on a tem porary bridge erected by General Wilson, "partly with crib- work .and partly with square tressels made of the houses of the late town of Morgan- town," pushed on to Marysville, fifteen miles south of Knoxville. The bridge over the Little Tennessee once gave way, causing some delay, so that the column did not reach Marysville till the afternoon of the 5th. Here a messenger arrived from Burnside with the news that Longstreet had raised the siege the night before. Granger s two divisions went on to Knoxville, but the rest of the army halted at Marysville, having accom plished its purpose ; its approach having served, according to the hand some acknowledgment of General Burnside himself, to raise the siege. In this short but most useful march, made when the weather was bitter cold, by officers and men who had brought neither baggage nor provisions, there was much suffering, of which the Sixth Iowa, some of whose men were without shoes, and all without adequate protection from the severity of the weather, bore its part with unmurmuring devotion to duty. Sherman returned leisurely to Chattanooga, reaching that place on the 18th of December, after a three months campaign, at that time unparalleled in the history of the war. Early in 1864 our regiment went into camp at Scottsboro, in the northeastern part of Alabama, having well, faithfully, honorably done its part in the memorable campaigns of 1863. The command remained in this encampment during the rest of the winter. Here the most of the men reenlisted, and the regiment became the Sixth Iowa Veteran Volunteers. In accordance with the rule of the War Department, it was now entitled to a furlough of thirty days. Accord ingly, it left the front for home on the 17th of March, reaching Iowa on the 25th, where the men were furloughed, with orders to report, at the expiration of a month, at Davenport. The veterans of this as of all the other Iowa regiments which returned about this time, were received every where with marked attention, and received the generous hospitalities of a grateful people, and all marks of kind consideration, with a modesty hardly surpassed in real worth by the valor with which they had fought for the common liberties of us all on fields made forever memorable in history. SIXTH INFANTRY. 123 On the 27th of April, our regiment left Davenport, and proceeding by way of Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville, arrived at Chattanooga on .the 5th of May, and immediately marched to join the main army under Sher man which had already commenced that wonderful campaign, which did not entirely close even with the capture of Atlanta, four months after wards. In this campaign the regiment again served with the Second Brigade, Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps. It participated, sometimes more, sometimes less directly under the enemy s fire in all the battles of this remarkable period, and in many of the skirmishes, which not infrequently were accompanied by the usual results of a battle to those actually engaged, but the importance of which seems trifling in comparison of the grand con flicts of which they were but the prelude or epilogue. Thus, it participated in the series of conflicts, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of May, which we call the battle of Resaca ; in the fight at Dallas, May 28th, when Longstreet attacked McPherson, and was thoroughly whipped, with a loss of two thousand five hundred killed and wounded, and several hundred pris oners ; it was in the running engagement called New Hope Church, from the 1st to the 4th of June; Big Shanty, on the 15th; it ascended Kenesaw Mountain on the 27th in that unsuccessful attempt to carry a position, well fortified and defended, which it would have been difficult to reach had there been neither enemy nor works to encounter the rash movement of the campaign; and in all the battles around Atlanta, on the 21st, 22d, and 28th of July, Jonesboro, August 31st, and Lovejoy, September 1st and 2d, it fought with a bravery which its long list of casualties might persuade us was worthy the considerate admiration of all men. At the battle of Dallas, Colonel Miller was wounded, and Major Ennis commanded the regiment during the rest of the fight. Adjutant Newby Chase was mortally wounded here, and died the next day. Lieutenant Francis J. Baldwin was also killed. At the fight near Big Shanty, Lieu tenant John T. Grimes, at the time acting as adjutant of the regiment, was killed. Major Ennis, commanding the regiment, was mortally wounded at the battle before Atlanta, July 28th. When this gallant officer fell, senior Captain W. H. Clune took command of the regiment, and led it through this its most desperate fight of this fighting campaign. The casualties of the regiment in the battles from Resaca to Lovejoy were one hundred and fifty-nine in killed and wounded, being nearly one half the number with which the command marched out of Chattanooga. What with the casualties of battle and sickness, the regiment went into camp near Atlanta, after the evacuation of the city, numbering only one hundred and twenty fit for duty. 8 s I have not succeeded in procuring a complete list of casualties occurring in the regiment during 124 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Certainly the little command, only about a score larger than one of the single companies of the regiment, when mustered into the service three years before, needed repose. It did not, however, have the opportunity to take a long rest. Hood undertook to destroy Sherman s communications, and our regiment, having had barely a month to recuperate, received marching orders, and was at once on the war path, now moving northward. The enemy having been driven away from our line of communications, the army returned to Atlanta to enjoy only about one more week s rest before starting on the march to the sea. the Atlanta campaign. For the following partial list, I am indebted to the correspondence of the Burlington Hawkeye : RESACA, GA., May 13. Company F Killed, David Shearer. Wounded, Samuel Hart, Calvin Barber. Maylt.Kilkd, Uriah M. Davis. Company A Wounded, Charles Huston. Company .B Wil liam D. Tull, William J. Hamilton, and Samuel Mussel man. Company C James Buchanan. Com pany H John Lawler. Company K Alexander R. Savage, and John C. Ferrer. Macon Van Hook May 15. Company D Killed, Albert H. Cullen ; Wounded, Sergeant Charles Bilka. DALLAS. GEORGIA, May 27. Company C Killed, George F. Scott. Company A Wounded, First Lieutenant Rodney F. Barker. Company C A. W. Searles. Company E Calvin Barnard, William J. Collett, and George W. Hibbard. Company F Sergeant Jeremiah Rhodes. Company H Isaiah D. Ware. Company 7 William Russell, and John A. G. Sala. May 28. Company C Killed, First Lieutenant Francis J. Baldwin; Corporal John M. Potte, and Robert Osborne. Company D George Black. Company F George Babington. Company K John Bigham. Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander J. Miller. First Lieutenant and Adjutant Newby Chase. Company A. Corporal Samuel Baldwin. Company E James Spinks. Company F John Jamison, Edwin Ford, and Isaac Gregg. Company H John Rodgers, and Sergeant J. Swan. Com pany 7 Corporal Samuel J. Smith. Company K John McKiernan. Missing. George Trussell. Bio SHANTY, June 15. Company D Killed, First Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant John T. Grimes; John Hublee. Company I Oscar Bostrand. Company E Wounded, First Sergeant John H. Key. Company E Abraham Morris, John A. Miller, and Albert Johnson. KENESAW MOUNTAIN, June, 27. Company I Killed, Sergeant J. A. Hannum. Company A D. Sleight. Company B N. J. Gordon. Company CIl. Buckingham. Company 77 Benjamin Bixby. Company K J. Robinson, Company A Wounded, Sergeant-Major A. T. Samson, First Sergeant A. L. Ingraham, Sergeant W. D. Hall, W. M. Harbeson, Z. Hein, E. S. Wilson, Harry Harris, and Jacob Carbley. Company BA. G. Egbert, J. L. Miller, W. C. Fitch, William Monahan, and A. T. Charles. Company C 1 Sergeant J. W. Travis, C. A. Gummere, W. Hadlock, R. Haskins. Company D Sergeant M. Westenhaver ; Corporal J. B. Armstrong, J. D. Cox. 0. F. Green, T. Foster, and William Crow. Company E Corporal J. McGonegal ; Color-Sergeant H. Roberts, E. P. Bradley, T. Hinton, and M. W. Kemper. Company F Corporal J. Ballou, A. S. Stark, F. Sechris, I. B. Sharp, and C. H. Wright Company G Captain J. J. Jordan ; Sergeant S. Plymesser ; Corporal T. A. Clark : Sergeant R Alexander, J. A. Clarke, R. W. Elliott, G. W. Ford, and G. A. Miller Company 77 Sergeant 0. C Snyder ; Corporal J. L. Adkins ; J. McCleanan. Company 7 Sergeant J. Turner, H. B. Linton, C. M. Peterson, George Houts, and J. Cestine. Company K W. Gallagher. ATLANTA, July 20. Wounded, Privates, James Pierce, Benjamin Devore, George W. Wailes, Thomas Lewman, Enoch Davis. July 22. Killed, Alonzo F. Gale, A. A. Hull. Wounded, Sergeant Robert J. Jones ; Corporal Harvey Ford, James E. Thomas, Charles Watson, William Rofe, Thomas Vincent, James S. Williams, Charles Shipman, E. R. Rosbury. July 28. Killed, Major Thomas J. Ennw, Captain Thomas J. Elrick ; First Sergeant Ira Linton, Sergeant Henry Loomis, Corporal Daniel Musselman, William M. Hughes, Merrit Jamison. Wounded, Corporals M. Westenhaver, Benjamin F. Kimlee; John Martin, Michael Ditto. SIEGE OF ATLANTA. Killed, Charles Shipman, Jacob Chapman, N. B. Nore. Wounded, Daniel Green, Enoch Davis, John Dupree, James Kemple, Charles Wright, George Gutches, Richard Ship man, Charles Erickson, Thomas Vincent, William W right, Lieutenant George W. Clarke, August 20. Lieutenant Eugene C. Haynes, August 22. JONESBORO. Killed, Charles Main, Alexander R. Savage. Wounded, Sergeant C. S. Troutman ; Corporal N. W. M. Cay, James Hobbs, N. Callahan. SIXTH INFANTRY. 125 This march was commenced about the middle of November. The details thereof need not be here related. Suffice it, that our regiment had its due share of the enjoyment of that remarkable promenade, as well as its due share of the fighting, of which latter the army as a whole did not have enough to cause any the least complaint. At the battle of Griswolds- ville, on the 22d of November, the regiment was warmly engaged, and lost four killed and about twenty wounded during the action. 4 In due time Savannah was reached. It was evacuated on the night of the 20th December a fact which was discovered by Robert Barr, of the Sixth, who, being on the skirmish line, saw the state of things, and was the first man of the Union army to enter the city, which he did with the utmost sang froid early on the morning of the 21st a fact which might be established by the most irrefragable evidence, but which would be none the less disputed by the Twentieth Corps, which had great good luck in being the first to enter cities that had been evacuated by the enemy in conse quence of the fighting or maneuvering done by others, and who were frequently called by many members of the more "genteel" corps afore named, Sherman s Bummers. The regiment remained at Savannah about three weeks. While here, Major Clune was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and Captain David J. McCoy, major. 5 About the middle of January, 1865, the march through the Carolinas began. During much of the time consumed upon this march the weather was raw and unpleasant. A good deal of the country was swamp, dismal, gloomy, offering natural obstructions to the passage of a large army, which rebel generals best acquainted therewith thought would form a barrier which General Sherman could not overcome. Never theless, the army went marching on, moving with as much rapidity as was * The following have been reported: Killed, Corporal Benjamin Thomas; R. F. Stewart, Horatio P. Jackson, William Barr. Wounded, Major William H. Clime; Lieutenant George W. Clarke; John Thomas ; Sergeant W. S. Oviatt ; Walter Haddock, John Brown ; Corporal R. W. Courtney ; James Scovill, Oliver Anderson; Corporal William Lambert; Sergeant B.Thomas; J. W. Lowrey; Charles Donsay ; Corporal Henry Harris. To avoid repeated annotation, I will here state that the subsequent casualties of the regiment were one killed and eight wounded, in March, 1865. Kitted, Sergeant E. F. Stratton. Wounded, Adjutant A. T. Samson; William Emmett, Jacob Debray, John Simpson, M. I. Swift, Richard Courtney, J. Spink, G. S. Richardson. * The other officers at the same time were : Adjutant Andrew T. Samson ; Surgeon William S. Lambert; Assistant N. M. Smith; Quartermaster Orrin P. Stafford. LINE OFFICERS. Company A Captain R. F. Barker; Lieutenant A. L. Ingram. Company B Captain Orrin S. Rarrick ; Lieutenant James E. Thomas. Company C Captain Stephen J. Gaha- gnn. Company D Captain William H. Alexander; Lieutenant Eugene C. Hay nes. Company E Captain Robert A.Wills; Lieutenant John H. Key. Company F Captain Edwin R. Kennedy; Lieutenants F. M. Kyte, Abraham C. Rarrick. Company G Captain James J. Jordan. Company If Captain James Swan; Lieutenant Edwin F. Allen. Company /Captain James Turner; Lieu tenants Zachariah Thomas, Oliver F. Howard. Company K Captain Sebastian L. Blodgett; Lieu tenant William H. Arnold. 126 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. required, bivouacking in the mud for many nights in succession, and stop ping for rest at such eligible places as lay in the way. At Columbia, South Carolina, our regiment was engaged in skirmish with the enemy, losing one man killed, and seven wounded. Thence, it marched with the army on Goldsboro, helped to win, but without loss, the last battle fought by Sherman, at Bentonsville, North Carolina, and soon afterwards went into camp at Goldsboro, where the campaigns of the regiment, accompanied by battles, closed. Here it remained, enjoying a short respite from toil and danger, till the movement on Raleigh, in which it took part. Johnston having surrendered, whereby the war was virtually closed, the Union column soon took up its line of march northward. The march from Raleigh to Richmond, a distance of one hundred and fifty-six miles, was performed by our regiment, as well as by nearly the whole army, in five days, the average distance traveled per day being more than thirty-one miles. From Richmond to Washington City, the march was made at a more leisurely rate, but with a dispatch which, had it been performed by any army but Sherman s, would have been considered remarkable. The regiment remained near the national capital something more than a fortnight. It participated in the grand review which there took place in front of the executive mansion. It was my fortune to witness that magni ficent spectacle, and I shall never forget the emotions of pleasure with which I heard the shout of applause that greeted this thinned regiment as it wheeled into Fifteenth street in front of the grand colonnade of the Treasury Department. Its colors were torn into shreds, its number was small, but the men marched with a free, steady step, and that elastic spring which only belongs to veteran troops. There were among the spectators near the thronged locality mentioned, those who knew the history of the regiment, and as the prominent points therein were whis pered from man to man, the applause swelled into a general shout, which Lieutenant- Colonel Clune gracefully acknowledged by uncovering his head. The display over, the regiment went into camp a few miles from the city, whence not many days afterwards it moved by rail to Parkersburg, Vir ginia, and thence by steamer down the beautiful Ohio to Louisville, Ken tucky. Here it remained till homeward-bound orders came, when with other veteran organizations it returned to Iowa in the latter part of July to be disbanded, and to receive the congratulations of old friends, and the blessings of the brave and true in all parts of the State. I have narrated the history of this regiment with inexcusable imperfec tion, if I have failed to place it in a favorable light. During its long term of service it traversed, by river, railway, march, the greater part of the Southern States, moving therein, much of the time in face of the enemy, thousands of miles in Missouri, through Kentucky, through Tennessee, SIXTH INFANTRY. 127 in Mississippi, in Alabama, through Georgia, through the Carolinas. through Virginia to the political metropolis of the nation, which was still more than a thousand miles from home. In this vast circuit of its warfare it passed through nearly a score of pitched battles and sieges, leaving no less than one hundred and fifteen dead comrades, killed in battle, in southern graves ; having three hundred and seventy-five more wounded, many of whom will be maimed for life ; and losing from its rolls sixty-sevten others among the missing, not a few of whom were in all probability killed, or consigned to suffer the nameless horrors of rebel prisons. When the regiment reached St. Louis in August, 1861, it numbered nine hun dred men. Preparing themselves for the duties of the field by drilling several hours a day at " Camp Jessie," in the beautiful Lafayette Square, they appeared as a brigade appeared at the close of the war. At the close of the campaign of 1863, it numbered less than five hundred. It com menced the Atlanta campaign numbering four hundred and ninety-four, rank and file, and when it reached the capital of North Carolina, there were only two hundred and eighty-four names left on the rolls. Brave boys are they," says a correspondent, speaking of the losses of the regi ment, " whose sacred dust now lies mouldering beneath the sod of half the late Slave States, where so many heroes, famous some, and others name less here for evermore, save to their loved ones at home, have enriched the soil with the blood of martyrs. May the grass never wither on their graves, may the sweetest flowers flourish, and shed a glad perfume over the last resting-places of our comrades who have gone before, never more to fall in, save at the great reveille. CHAPTER VII. SEVENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION, AT BURLINGTON PROCEED TO ST. LOUIS PILOT KNOB. MISSOURI- CAIRO, ILLINOIS ENCAMPMENT NEAR COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY BIRD S POINT THE BATTLE OF BELMONT ORDERED TO BENTON BARRACKS FROZEN UP IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER OFF FOR THE FRONT FORT HENRY FORT DONELSON-SHILOH SIEGE OF CORINTH PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY-A QUIET SUMMER BATTLE OF CORINTH A YEAR OF COMPARATIVE QUIET " SHEBANGS " THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN PASSAGE OF THE OOSTANAULA RIVER THE MARCH TO SAVANNAH TO WASHINGTON CITY MUSTERED OUT. THE companies which composed this regiment came from different loca lities in the State from the extreme northern, the extreme southern, and the central portions thereof. A majority of them were mustered into the service at Burlington, the rendezvous of the regiment, within a few days after the battle of Bull Run, Virginia, July, 1861. The others were sworn in not long afterwards, 1 the last company being mustered on the 2d day of August. 1 Company A was from Muscatine county, John G. Reed, Captain W. W. De Heus, and Stephen Estle, Lieutenants. Company B was from Chickasaw and Floyd counties principally, but having members from Cerro Gordo, Howard and Butler. Captain Gideon Gardner; Lieutenants R. G. Reinegar and G. W. S. Dodge. Company C from " Proud Mahaska," Captain James W. McMullen; Lieutenants James N. Smith and Benjamin Ream. Company D for the most part from Lee county, Captain James P. Harper ; Lieutenants James B. Sample, Daniel F. Bowler. Company E Captain J. C. Parrott; Lieutenants C. F. Conn and Andrew I. Mefford; this company was also mostly from the county of Lee. Company F chiefly from Wapello county; Captain Charles W. Kittredge (afterwards Colonel of the Thirty-sixth regiment), Lieutenants Samuel Mahan and Thomas N. Barnes. Company G mostly from Iowa county; Captain C. Hedges; Lieutenants John Dillin and Walter Camp, the later from Johnson county. Company IT almost entirely from the county of Washington; Captain Benjamin Crabb; Lieutenants William P. Crawford and G. G. Bennett. Company I mostly, again, from Wapello county; Captain James M. Irvin; Lieutenants S. E. Forsha and A. I. Barber. Company K chiefly from the counties of Keokuk, Washington, and Jefferson ; Captain Samuel R. Black ; Lieutenants Jacob Snyder and Jesse F. Warner. Several of the companies were at the rendezvous some time before there was a field officer, but after the correction of certain misunderstandings, J. G. Lauman, of Burlington, was commissioned Colonel. Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz and Major Rice did not report to the regiment, as field officers, till some time afterwards, when the command was in the neighborhood of Cairo, Illinois. Daniel F. Bowler was appointed Adjutant, Dr. Amos Witter, an old physician and legislator of Linn county, Surgeon, Lieutenant Forsha, Quartermaster, and Rev. I. Harvey Clark, Chaplain. If it should appear strange that this regiment, which has made so fine a record during the war, commenced its career without a full complement of field officers, actually going into the field with 128 SEVENTH INFANTRY. 129 The condition of affairs in the West at that time was that of confusion much confounded. The disaster to our arms in Virginia had entirely demo lished the expectation, which had been general, that the war was to be of short duration and of trifling importance. The theatre of war in the west was the State of Missouri, where hostilities were carried on both by orga nized forces and lawless marauders, so that quiet prevailed in very few parts of the State. General Fremont had recently taken command of tlje Department, then embracing Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and the territories west of these states, and now had his head-quarters at St. Louis, with his troops scattered, in little armies, over a wide extent of territory; all having as much as they could do, and some of them more than they could do, to maintain their positions against local uprisings and the armies which treason and slavery had already succeeded in raising, and which in Missouri alone no doubt outnumbered the whole force which Fr6- mont had in his department. It may readily be believed, from this imper fect sketch of the situation, that the general commanding was in a hnrrj for troops. It was on account of the pressing military necessity that the Seventh Iowa received orders to hasten to St. Louis, not only before ite complete organization, but before clothing, arms, or equipments had arrived or it had been at all drilled in battalion. It left Burlington on the 6th of August, per steamer "Jennie Whipple," and arriving at St. Louis on the morning of the 8th, it marched to the Arsenal and there bivouacked. At this time it numbered, rank and file, nine hundred and two men. The command remained in bivouac several days near the Arsenal, and then moved to Jefferson Barracks, a few miles down the river, where several days were spent in not uncomfortable quarters. It then returned to St. Louis, where arms were distributed to the men, the flank companies receiving the Springfield rifle, and the other eight companies the improved musket from the same place. The command was no sooner armed than it marched to the depot of the Iron Mountain Railroad, and there taking cars, went by night to Pilot Knob, about one hundred miles south by west of St. Louis. It marched thence on the day of arrival a short distance, to the shire town of Iroriton, where it pitched tents and remained in camp about a fortnight, the regiment being here first drilled in the manual of arms. From Ironton the regiment commenced its first regular march, moving westward with a division composed of some half dozen regiments under the command of Brigadier-General B. M. Prentiss, and reaching Jackson, the county-seat of Cape Girardeau county, about the last of August. but one in the first instance, the explanation may be found in the peculiar exigencies and neces sities which existed at the time pressing hard upon our State executive, the President, and Fre mont in Missouri. IT 130 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Having remained in camp here about one week, it marched to the town of Cape Girardeau, and thence proceeded by steamer to Cairo, Illinois. The command soon moved across the Ohio River, nearly opposite Cairo, and selecting a site in a dense forest, soon had a comfortable and pleasant encampment, on the very spot which is now occupied by Fort Holt. Here the regiment remained another fortnight, and then marched to Mayfield Creek, on the banks of which, about three miles from the Mississippi, and only seven or eight from Columbus, a camp was established, and out of respect for an aged, rather than a great statesman, called Camp Crittenden. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Wentz, having served his time as Captain of Company G, First Iowa, reported for duty. From Camp Crittenden the command moved in a few days to Fort Jefferson, a work on the Mississippi River, nearly opposite the village of Norfolk, Missouri. During the stay of the regiment at Fort Jefferson, a strong picket guard was kept up at Camp Crittenden, where the command had its first skirmish, in which one man was slightly wounded. From Fort Jefferson the regiment moved to Bird s Point, in Missouri, opposite Cairo, where it remained a few days and then marched to Norfolk. Here, Sergeant Elliott W. Rice, of Company C, received his commission as major of the regi ment, and entered upon his duties in that capacity. Here, too, the quartermaster for the first time obtained clothing for the men, of which Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott afterwards said, with an unique simile, "they stood sadly in need, being ragged as birds, however ragged that may be. Stopping at Norfolk about a week, the regiment returned again to Bird s Point. At the various encampments thus far, the men had been drilled less or more, but at the camp near Bird s Point, they were drilled several hours daily, and rapidly acquired great proficiency in the manual of arms, and in evolutions. They were engaged thus in acquiring a knowledge of the practical duties of soldiers, and in guard and picket duties, till ordered away for the purpose of taking part in the BATTLE OF BELMONT. Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, commanding District Southeastern Mis souri, head-quarters at Cairo, left that place on the evening of November 6th, 1861, with about three thousand men of all arms, to make a reconnoissance toward Columbus, with the object of preventing the enemy from sending out reinforcements to Price in Missouri, and from cutting off columns of Union troops that had moved from Cairo and Cape Girardeau in pursuit of the rebel Jeff. Thompson. Within the scope of the double object of the movement, was an attack upon Belmont, a hovel on the Missouri side of the Mississippi, where it was known there was a rebel encampment to some extent strengthened by artificial means, and covered by the heavy guns of SEVENTH INFANTRY. 131 Columbus, on the opposite side of the river. The troops composing the detachment which engaged in the affair were formed into two brigades, the first, consisting of the Twenty-seventh Illinois, Colonel N. B. Buford, the Thirtieth, Colonel P. B. Fouke, Thirty-first, Colonel John A. Logan, two companies of Illinois cavalry, and Taylor s Chicago battery of four six- pounder guns and two twelve-pounder howitzers, under command of Briga dier-General John A. McClernand ; the second, consisting of the Twenty- * second Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel H. E. Hart, and the Seventh Iowa, Colonel Lauman, under command of Colonel H. Dougherty, of the last named Illinois regiment, left Cairo on four steamers, convoyed by the gun boats Tyler and Lexington, and proceeded down the river, on the evening of the 6th, about half way to Columbus, and there remained, on the Ken tucky shore, till the next morning. General Smith, commanding at Paducah, at the same time made demonstrations against Columbus. At daylight on the morning of the 7th, General Grant proceeded down the river to a point some two or three miles above Belmont, where the troops debarked, and, with the exception of three companies of the Twenty-second Illinois, and two G and K of the Seventh Iowa, immediately moved against the enemy. Up to the morning of the battle three regiments under Colonel Tappan, and a battery of artillery, held the rebel camp at Belmont. Early on that morning, General Pillow came over from Columbus, with three regiments, and, assuming command of the whole, made a stout resistance to the Union forces. But it was unavailing. Our lines pressed steadily forward, through forest, field, and sloughs, and at length, the enemy s ammunition being exhausted, pressed shoutingly through the abatis about his camp, captured his artillery, drove him pell-mell down the river bank, and set fire to the tents and stores of the encampment. He was now thoroughly and com pletely defeated. Our men went through his camp at pleasure, laughing at the projectiles from the heavy guns of Columbus, which went harmlessly over their heads. Had General Grant now withdrawn his troops, his victory would have been undisputed. But, he delaying, General Cheatham crossed over from Columbus with three fresh regiments, and not long after wards Polk himself came over, having at last made up his mind that no direct attack upon Columbus was contemplated, bringing two regiments with him, and posting the whole upon our flank and rear, seemed disposed to annihilate or capture our little army without further delay. There was nothing left for the Union troops but to cut their way through these fresh regiments to their transports, which they did with great gallantry, taking with them two of the best guns captured from the enemy, and all their own, gaining the landing about 5 o clock in the afternoon, having spent seven hours in almost constant and, much of the time, desperate fighting. 132 IOWA AND THE REBELLION OF SEVENTH INFANTRY. 133 The most heroic fighting of the day, and the greatest losses, took place in this latter part of the contest. It was a more difficult task to fight our way out of Belmont, and again through the forest, sloughs, and fields, than it had been to fight our way to Belmont in the morning ; and but for the aid of the gunboats, commanded by Captains Walker and Stemble, of the Navy, we might have been cut to pieces. Belmont was claimed by the rebels as a victory. General Polk, so. claimed, in a dispatch to Jefferson Davis, and the latter returned answer early the next morning, with thanks for "the glorious contribution just made to our common cause. Inasmuch as we left our dead and severely wounded on the field, there was ground for their claim. But it is certain their losses were very much greater than ours. We lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, five hundred and forty-six, whilst, according to the admission of Pollard, the rebel loss was six hundred and thirty-two. Estvdn, in his "War Pictures of the South," places the rebel loss at six hundred and eighty killed, and one thousand three hundred and seventy wounded ; but, though he was a confederate officer, this seems incredible. The rebel loss was probably not far from a thousand, or near double that of the Union army. 2 My own opinion, formed from all the data to which I have had access, is that the rebel loss exceeded, rather than fell under, a thousand. Their loss of materiel was very great, whilst ours was trifling. Upon the whole, General Grant was justifiable in issuing a congratulatory order on the next day. In this order he said : "It had been his fortune to have been in all the battles fought in Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor save Buena Vista, and he never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops behaved with more gallantry. The conduct of the Seventh Iowa in this engagement was absolutely heroic. General McClernand, who witnessed their conduct, but did not command them, takes occasion to offer praise to officers and men of the regiment, in his official report of the day s work. Colonel Dougherty says 2 The Union losses in the different organizations were as follows : First Brigade. Twenty-seventh Illinois, eighty-one; Thirtieth Illinois, forty-four; Thirty-first Illinois, eighty-nine; cavalry, three; Taylor s Battery, five. Total, two hundred and twenty-two. Second Brigade. Twenty-second Illinois, ninety-seven ; Seventh Iowa, two hundred and twenty- seven. Total, three hundred and twenty-four. Grand total, five hundred and forty-six, as stated in the text. A correspondent (rebel) of the Memphis Appeal gives the official list of losses in Russell s brigade, composed of three regiments, which foots up two hundred and eighty-five, and concluding: " The loss in the others has not yet been announced, but if upon the same ratio it must have been over a thousand." It will be seen by a comparison of the above figures that the loss in the Seventh Iowa was greater than that of General McClernand s brigade, composed of three regiments of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and a full battery. Nevertheless, from a long account of the battle in the Chicago Journal, one would gather the information that all the troops engaged were from that part of Illinois, known as " Egypt," with the exception of the battery. Happily, that kind of treatment did not continue throughout the war, especially by the Journal. 134 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the regiment throughout the battle, fought like veterans, dealing death to rebels wherever they encountered them. Iowa may well feel proud of her sons who fought at Belmont." General Grant says the regiment " behaved with great gallantly, and suffered more severely than any other of the troops. Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz was killed as the retreat com menced. Colonel Lauman had his horse shot under him in the earlier part of the action, and was afterwards severely wounded. Major Rice received a Minie ball in his leg, which he has carried there ever since. Lieutenants Dodge, Ream, and Charles Gardner were killed, and Captains Gideon Gardner, Harper, Parrott, and Kittredge, afterwards Colonel of our Thirty-sixth regiment, were severely wounded. Colonel Lauman mentions all these in his official report, and also Lieutenant De Heus, who was wounded, Captain Crabb, taken prisoner, Adjutant Bowler, Lieutenant Estle, and private Lawrence A. Gregg, who was wounded, and soon after wards died in the hands of the rebels, but not till, his leg torn off, he had expressed to his captors his detestation of their cause, and had sung his own patriotic dirge in the inspiring words and air of the Star Spangled Banner. "But I might go on in this way, " says Colonel Lauman, "and name nearly all my entire command, for they all behaved like heroes." We have seen that Companies G and K of our regiment remained at the place of landing, as part of a detachment detailed to guard the transports. These companies, of course, were not in the action, and did not suffer any loss. But their services were necessary and valuable, whilst their position was one liable at any moment to attack, and their duties delicate and diffi cult when the main body again approached the landing, and embarked with some degree of confusion under the enemy s fire. The eight companies of the regiment which took part in the battle numbered, all told, four hundred and ten men, of whom two hundred and twenty-seven were killed, wounded, or missing. 3 s LIST OF CASUALTIES, SEVENTH IOWA, AT BATTLK OF BELMONT : Killed, Lieutenant-Colonel A. Went/ ; Musician John Worst. Wounded, Colonel J. G. Lauman ; Major E. W. Rice; Adjutant D. F. Bowler and prisoner; Sergeant A. Witter (prisoner); Sergeant- Major B. K. Smith ; Musicians J. D. Coriel ; W. W. Sapp (prisoner). Company A Killed, Sergeant Thomas Pitchforth ; A. C. Booth, L. Cunningham, Isaiah Dodder, John F. Hardy, Leander Pallat. Wounded, Lieutenant W. W. De Heus; Sergeant S.A.Wilson; Corporals W. B. Bargewbush, William Davis, T. H. Eichelberger (prisoner), T. D. Moore (prisoner), John Francisco (prisoner), Edwin Hill (prisoner), M. F. Kurd (prisoner), W. N. Kennedy, J. W. Mahin, D. McNall, A. Miller, Thomas Morgan, John J. Reed, John Sheely, Harrison Stein (prisoner), S. Van Camp, William Wells (killed), Samuel W hite, William D. Reynolds, Herman Hesser, James B. Raseman, D. R. Wilbur (mortally). Company B Killed, Lieutenant George W. S. Dodge; Corporal Oscar A. Holmes, William H. Doan, Joseph M. Gallahan, Everett Hawks, Alvin H. Morton, Joel C. Wilson, Albert G. Strong. Wounded, Captain, G.Gardner; Sergeants, Andrew S. Felt (prisoner), Henry J. Smith; Corporals George Morse, Henry L. Wisner (prisoner), Daniel McTaggart (prisoner), John Adair, Henry Benson, John Brown, Levi Carkin, Horace A. Gregory, Alexander P. Gilmore, Sylvanus Haughey (prisoner), Egbert Hawks (prisoner), Alfred Hildreth, James R. Howard, Kuut Johnson (prisoner), Robert SEVENTH INFANTRY. 135 Whatever may be the final judgment upon the battle of Belmont, con sidered as a whole, it is certain the Seventh Iowa there maintained the reputation which our State troops had borne at Wilson s Creek and at Blue Mills Landing. Their gallant conduct was the theme of universal praise on the part of our people, and our press without exception lavished gene rous encomiums upon the living, and sorrowful eulogiums upon the dead. Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz was buried at Davenport, his funeral attended - II. Mills, William H. Mason, Meltiah Nye (prisoner), Josiah A. Rutherford, Horatio P. Smith, Edwin J. Taylor, William Tannhill (prisoner;, Charles Wilbur, John Morse, J. S. Wilkinson, Caleb Green. Company C Killed, Sergeant A. G. Young; Corporal William H. Jones, Elias White. Wounded, Lieutenant Benjamin Ream (mortally); Sergeants Wesley Moreland, David Clumer; Corporals Lawrence A. Gregg (mortally), George Mastiller (prisoner), William G. Moore (prisoner), George Addy, Solomon B. Clarke, Harrison A. Grant, Albert Hites (mortally), Robert McCollough, John L. Morgan (prisoner), James D. Mahaney (prisoner), Thomas B. McClure, George W. Martin, Silas Parsons, John W. Pierson (prisoner), James W. Snooks, Harvey Smith, Johnson Thompson, Samuel J. Walker (prisoner), Samuel H. Wymore, Philander D. Wilson (prisoner.) Company D Killed, Henry Knapp, Henry Thomas, Samuel Robinson. Wounded, Captain James P. Harper; Lieutenant Benjamin B. Gale; Sergeants Thomas Gahagan (prisoner), Samuel J. Atler (prisoner), Charles Webster (prisoner); Corporals John Wolgamuth, Jones B. Bonney; Charles Brown (prisoner), Alby M. Collins, Nicholas Gross, Addison Leavitt, Milton McNeill, Joseph Miller, Lewis P. Maynard, Henry Rogers (prisoner), Jonn I. Schmaltsle, Matthew C. Stewart, John Schiller, Leuman Van Hoosen, Foster Walker (prisoner,) Denney Henry (killed), William E. Pickard. Company E Killed, Alexander Halickson, John H. Littlefield, Henry Pipkin, Theodore Sheppard. Wounded, Captain James C. Parrott, Sergeants Alfred F. Carey, John McCormick, Corporals Wil liam H. Vansant (prisoner), George W. Diggs, Alfred F. Carey (prisoner), David Wallace, John L. Foster, Thomas W. Taylor (prisoner) ; Abner Allison, Robert Criswell, John W. Jones, William Knight, John Knight, Robert Kirkpatrick, Mathias O Bleness, James Rouse (prisoner), Henry Turner, John Galbreath, John Scott, William H. Robins (prisoner), Patrick Cadell. Company F Killed, Sergeant William W. Farley, William Broadhead, Mason Bridenstine, Simon A. Cowgill. Daniel Deyar, Josiah B. Evans, William Godfrey, Silas Hults, Clarkson Hiatt, Elisha Wright, Jeremiah Watson. Wounded, Captain Charles W. Kittredge ; Sergeant John Ham- mitt ; Corporals William W. Johnson, William Carroll (prisoner) ; Thomas Dunn (prisoner), William Pickerel (prisoner), Henry Voss, James H. Wilson, Collins C. Wing. Company H Killed, Lewis Austin, Charles Bloom, Philip Gladwin, George A. Logan, John L. McDowell, Ambrose Shaw, John C. Temple, Reuben Warthen, John Perkins. Wounded, Captain Benjamin Crabb (prisoner); Sergeant James B. Hope; Corporals Andrew J. Shephard, William L. Woods, Alexander D. Reed, Alfred Gibson (prisoner) ; Joseph A. Abbey, William P. Austin, Wade C. Arnold, John 0. Brins, Cyrus T. Bush, H. Clark, William W. Edmondson, Theophilus Ferreo, Wallace E. Gregg (prisoner), Edward P. Jayne, Henry S. Kinsey, George S. McKay, Edward A. Peckover, John S. Perriton, Leander Rickey, James Shields, George Tenant, Thomas P. Vincent, Robert S. Young (prisoner). Company I Killed, George Noe, Aldrick Ostler, John Scott. Wounded, Sergeants John T. Wallen, JohnWilcox; Corporals William H.Evans, Columbus G. Renfro, Henry C. Nosier; Benjamin F. Crispin, John B. Conwell, James A. Chichester, Cassius Lazenbee, Thomas Myrick, John G. Doll, Albert Morton. The above list is taken from the Adjutant General s Report, and is not complete, though nearly so. There were a few who were taken prisoners who escaped, and made their way back to the regi ment, after Colonel Lauman s report. Of those reported wounded, several afterwards died from the effect of their wounds. And, though a general exchange of prisoners taken during the action was agreed upon, there were some of our regiment not returned. Among these, private Meltiah Nye, of Company B, Samuel J. Walker, of Company C, and Sergeants Thomas Gahagan and Charles Web ster, of Company D, after much suffering, died at Macon, in Georgia, and Thomas Dunn, of Com pany F, and George Masteller, of Company C, died at Annapolis, Maryland. 136 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. by a long procession of soldiery and citizens. The remains of others, whose bodies were recovered under flag of truce, were brought to their old homes, and consigned to the tomb by large concourses of sorrowing friends. But the most of the honored dead still repose in the graves on the field where they fell. The regiment remained at Bird s Point a few days after the battle, and was then ordered to Benton Barracks, to rest and recruit. Here the men spent nearly two months, during which period many officers and privates who had been wounded and captured at Belmont, returned to the command, which was further increased by the addition of a number of recruits. Cap tain Parrott, of Company E, was meanwhile promoted Lieutenant- Colonel in place of Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz, killed. On the 13th day of January, 1862, the regiment marched to St. Louis, and embarked for the south on the steamer "Continental." The weather was intensely cold colder than it had been in that latitude within the memory of the oldest inhabitants. On account of the low temperature the boat was detained till nine o clock at night or, at any rate, that was the reason assigned for the detention, though every body knows that a steamboat never yet started at the time appointed when she got under way. The river was now filled with ice, which, floating down the current of the stream in heavy masses, materially interfered with navigation. The cold grew eveiy moment more severe, navigation more difficult, and the fine vessel had only proceeded about twenty miles, when she succumbed to the winter king, and was frozen up in the middle of the river. The regiment remained aboard two days, when the ice being strong enough to bear them up, officers and men went ashore on the Missouri side, and taking cars returned to St. Louis. The cold continued to be severe, but the good citizens of St. Louis tendered to Colonel Lauman the use of the Chamber of Commerce, which he gratefully accepted, and where the gallant men, in warm rooms, and with hot coffee and other luxuries generously provided by ladies of the city, soon drove away all recollections of their recent experiences out in the bitter cold. The next morning the regiment was ordered to cross the river and pro ceed to Cairo by rail. It was very easy to accomplish the latter part of the order ; but to cross the river at that time was no amusement. Down the middle of the stream, and occupying about half of it, the river was covered with a solid body of ice. Upon both sides of it were channels, in which ferry-boats were constantly plying. So the regiment embarked on a ferry at the St. Louis wharf, steamed over to the ice, there debarked, packed their baggage on the ice-way to the eastern channel, there embarked again, and steamed on to the wharf near the depot. Crossing the Mississippi in ihis manner, the passage occupied nearly all the day and up to the middle of the following night. During the night of the 15th, the regiment reached SEVENTH INFANTRY. 137 Cairo, and next day moved over to Fort Holt. Having stopped here a few days, it went by steamer up the Ohio River, and debarked at Smithland, Kentucky, at the mouth of the Cumberland. Here it remained a short time in the performance of drill and guard duties, and then went by trans port down the Ohio and up the Tennessee to the vicinity of Fort Henry. Landed on the morning of the 6th of February, and marched over miserable roads to invest the fort. Flag-officer Foote, however, with what the army boys called his "inland navy," compelled the surrender of the fort about eleven o clock of the same day, and on the next morning our regiment entered the work, where it remained in comfortable quarters till General Grant commenced his movement on the enemy s works at Donelson. On the 12th day of February it marched out of Fort Henry, and joined the column moving on Fort Donelson, and arrived in the vicinity of the fort on the evening of the same day. In the siege and assault of this stronghold the regiment bore an honorable, conspicuous part, and upon the surrender by Buckner, marched into the principal fort, and took up quar ters in the rude cabins there, luxurious enough in comparison of the bivouacs to which the army had been lately consigned in the surrounding forest. 4 Here for nearly a month the regiment enjoyed a quiet rest from their late labors and conflicts. Then it marched across the country to a landing on the Tennessee River, where it encamped, awaiting transporta tion on which to proceed up the river and join the army at Pittsburg Landing. At length the steamer White Cloud took the regiment aboard, and proceeded to the landing. The command remained aboard several days unable to effect a landing, and, then debarking, pitched tents near the river. Remaining here a short time, it went to the line of encampment occupied by the divisions of Generals Hurlbut and C. F. Smith, and there remained till the battle of Shiloh, on the 6th and 7th of April. In this engagement the regiment fought gallantly in the "Iowa brigade," as the organization was at that time known, and which was commanded by Colonel J. M. Tuttle, of our Second regiment. Colonel Lauman having ben promoted for gallantry on the field at Donelson, was in command of another brigade, leaving the command to Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott. Mlyor Rice was afterwards promoted to fill Colonel Lauman s place in the Seventh, and Captain James W. McMullin, of Company C, to the 4 In these operations, resulting in the surrender of Fort Donelson, the regiment lost thirty-nine killed and wounded. Killed, Matthew C. Stuart, Michael Wright. Wounded, Lieutenants James R Sample, Wm. G.Moore; Charles Goodno, John Brown, Wm. Nurman ; Sergeant Wm. H. Berkey; Wilson Else, Jason Hilnick, Stephen D. Sharp, W. H. Vanlandingham, Hiram Bobart, John W. Bray, F. M. Redding; Corporal Wm. W. Sapp ; Patrick Deveraux, Warren Kinney, Herman Hus kier, Eli Saul, John A. Graham, Wm. Kerns, Eli Sweet ; Sergeants Robert N. Graham, Thomas L. Montgomery ; Joseph Carr, John A. Van Atta, Preston Rice, J. G. Chambers, Admiral N. Stafford, Joseph Stortze, Henry White, Jefferson B. Bailey, John C. Walling; Sergeant Hugh C. Allen; Theo philus Ferree, and three others slightly wounded. 18 138 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. majority thus vacated. On the night after the second day s contest the regiment returned to its camp, and there had its first warm meal since the evening of the 5th. The tents, however, were filled with the wounded of both armies, and the men threw themselves down upon the wet ground for needed rest, and there enjoyed the deep slumbers consequent upon physical exhaustion, undisturbed by the groans which came from thousands of sufferers in the vast temporary hospital about them. On the morning of the 8th they marched some two or three miles to the front, but finding no enemy, returned to camp in the evening, and found it ready for their use. 4 The regiment remained in this encampment till the 27th of April, when the whole army, under command of Major-General Halleck, who now, for the first and only time during the war was coaxed or driven into the field, commenced the memorable march and siege of Corinth ; using the shovel much more than the rifle or any other offensive weapon, and at last worming Beauregard safely out of his works, and giving our commanding general the privilege of a triumphal entrance, without having compelled him to experience for a single moment the thrilling sensation of being under the enemy s fire. A pursuit of the rebels was commenced, and, with the assistance of the magnificent bulletins of General Pope who could get off more thunder and less lightning than any other of our storming generals it was made to appear as a fine success. In this pursuit our regiment joined, and went as far as Booneville, about twenty- five miles south of Corinth, where it encamped for a few days, and then leisurely returned. The brigade to which the regiment was attached now pitched their tents in a beautiful encampment about two miles southeast of Corinth, and here remained in perfect quiet, so far as disturbance from the enemy was concerned. Occasional details were required for pickets, others for guard duties, and drill was continued all the while a portion of almost every day, but upon the whole the summer of this year, from early in June till the middle of September, was a period of quiet and repose. On the 15th day of the month just named the regiment was ordered to luka, and arrived there on the 17th. The command did not directly participate 4 Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott, who commanded the regiment during the first day s battle, and then, on account of indisposition, turned it over to Major Rice, reports the loss as eleven killed, seventeen wounded, and six missing. The following list is taken from the Adjutant-General s report : Killed, Lieutenant John Dillon; Privates James W. Summers, James S. Bonsel, James G. Beek, (reported killed, afterwards reported prisoner), A. B. Reed, Jonathan French, George W. Wells, G. W. Hoag, James Murray, George W. Charlton, W. C. Truman. Wounded, Daniel H. Shannon, Wil liam C. Henry, William H. Todd, W. H. Vallandingham, (previously wounded at Fort Donelson), N. Ilewett, George W. Yocum, Samuel M. Ream, Joseph Shirley, Junius Farmer, L. Harrington, Michael Nunnemaker, James F. Elliott, M. A. Brown, John A. Knerr, Joseph Leffler, Gilbert Wheeler. Missing, Jacob Alberson, George Pierson, D. L. Wilson, William M. Davis, William Seaman. SEVENTH INFANTRY. 139 iii the battle of luka, fought on the afternoon of the 19th, but was among those troops whose disposition had been made by General Grant with the view of forcing the rebels into a battle where the Unionists would have greatly the advantage, both in position and numbers, and which design failed of execution by reason of Price s sudden and fierce attack on General Hamilton s division, and the retreat of the enemy after that short but terrible combat. The battle over, our regiment returned* to their former camp near Corinth, having again the quiet of the summer months for a fortnight more. In the battle of Corinth, fought on the 3d and 4th days of October, our regiment, as will be hereafter more particularly related, was engaged in the thickest of the combat, and gallantly maintained the reputation it had fairly won at Belmont, at Donelson, and at Shiloh. The losses of the command in this long continued engagement, throughout the whole of which it was under fire, were very heavy, amounting in the aggregate to about one-third of the number who participated in the action. 5 The brilliant victory having been won, the regiment marched with the 6 LIST OF CASUALTIES : Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Parrott; Major James W. McMullen ; Sergeant-Major A. D. Cameron. Company A. Killed, Henry Porchers. Wounded, Corporal D. B. Toulke; F. Graves (missing), F. L. Major, J. W. Mahin (mortally), C. M. Reynolds, Silas Reynolds, G. S. Rutherford, Thomas Randle- man, J. S. Wildman, Charles Reynolds, Isaac Cochrane. Company B. Killed, Charles I. Channer, Joseph R. Myers, Silas E. Mills. Wounded, Sergeant Daniel McTaggart (prisoner), Benjamin E. Morton, John McGee (missing), Henry W. Montrose, Giles W. Mead, B. H. Poppleton (missing), James Wilson. Company C. Killed, Captain Benton K. Smith ; Francis M. Hoover, H. C. Hollingsworth. Wounded, Lieutenant George J. Bennett ; Sergeants William H. Berkey, J. G. Crookham ; Samuel H. Blair, Jason Helmick, Simpson Hodges, John Hites, William Mullen, R. C. McMahanan (prisoner), Solo mon Myers, Henry Oswandle, John L. Pearson, James W. Snooks, Theodore M. Dunbar, Edward Jones. Company D. Killed, James Young. Wounded, Lieutenants Benjamin B. Gale, Joseph B. Morrison ; Sergeant James L. Stevens ; Corporal James D. Hamilton ; Musician Isaac C. Furtney ; Conrad Eitzer, Lewis P. Maynard, Charles E. Oatman, William B. Philips, George Rollett, Henry Rogers, Benjamin Thomas, Henry Walbert, Calvin B. Cowles, Marquis L. Welch. Company E. Killed, Corporal John Scott. Woi-inded, Captain Curtis F. Conn ; Sergeants Natha niel Reed, Clayton Hart; Corporals George E. Humphrey, Jeremiah C. Percy (prisoner), Robert Criswell (prisoner), Peter Miles, Charles S. Sherman, Patrick Cadell (prisoner), John McCormick. Company F. Killed, Alonzo W. Neighbor, John A. Seaton, George H. White. Wounded, Ulysses Bartlett, Edward R. Doolittle, John Harness (mortally), James E. Hoisington, Alexander Norris, Orin Russell, Henry Voss, John Doak, Eli Saul, James Burton. Company G. Killed, Sergeants George Horton, Richard Bartlett, A. K. Babcock; Byron Butler (killed by guerrillas before battle), William Mary. Wounded, Lieutenant Walter Camp (prisoner), Sergeant Oliver Patten ; Corporals Robert Cooper, John Fredrickson ; Robert Burns, Newton S. Clothier, Clark Cross, Junius Farmer (prisoner), John A. Graham, Lucius Harrington (prisoner), John F. Jenkins (prisoner), William Kerns, Robert Kepney, Robert Montgomery, Michael McCoy (pri soner), Abraham Talbott. Company H. Killed, Hugh Andrews, William W. Edmundson. Wounded, Lieutenant James B. Hope ; Corporals Samuel M. Logan, Andrew J. Shepherd, Samuel M. Rickey (mortally); Theophilus Ferree, Burton Fuller, James E. Moorman, Andrew S. Moorman, John S. Matthew (prisoner), Leander Rickey, George Tenant (mortally). Company L Killed, James King, William H. McGonigal. Wounded, Lieutenant Frank A. Irvin, Newton I. White. 140 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. army in pursuit of the flying rebels early on the morning of October 5th ; but on the evening of the same day was ordered back to Corinth, where it bivouacked a short time, and then moved to Rienzi, a little place some ten or twelve miles south of Corinth, which was reached on the evening of the 7th. Taking here a few days for much needed rest, it marched to Kossuth, where a camp was established ; but on the day after the men had been comfortably quartered therein, they were ordered to a little place a few miles northward, and which, in the horrid nomenclature of Southern towns where there is no aristocracy, was called Bone- Yard. Here tents were pitched again, in which the command remained for about one month. Thence it marched again to Corinth, and there going into tents, passed the winter of 1862-3 without remarkable or noteworthy incident. During the year 1863, in which the armies of the Union that battled against Lee in the East, and by bloody contest and long siege contended for the control of the Mississippi River in the Southwest, and which by their great achievements attracted to themselves the principal attention of the country; during this important era, those small armies and detach ments which were not engaged on the immediate theatre of hostilities did perform, nevertheless, though with comparative freedom from danger, and in comparative quiet, services which were of vast importance to the armies in face of the enemy, and of general advantage to the country. At the time to which reference is here made, the lines occupied by the army of the Union extended, speaking generally, in a southwestern direction, from the mouth of the Shenandoah to the mouth of the Mississippi. To the rear were strongholds, forts, fortified towns and cities, won by our gallant soldiery, and many fields bearing the trophies of our victories. But in pushing the armies fighting the Republic still further back upon the sea and the gulf, where too we had no insignificant forces to oppose them, the Union troops were met with stout resistance, first on the right and left of their grand line, and afterwards on the centre. The troops which, during this year of great events, garrisoned our line of military frontier, guarded our communications, rebuilt thoroughfares which had been destroyed, should no more be forgotten than should the reserve of an army which did not happen to be called into action in a particular engagement. Nor were their services without peculiar dangers and hardships. In a certain sense within the enemy s country, they were always liable to attack from raiders and from guerrilla-men, whilst it was necessary on all accounts that they should keep up a constant watehful- ness. Details were frequently required for scouts, foraging parties, and guards for trains between the more important outposts, or to and from the depots of supplies. No little time was spent in drilling. In fine, the duties of that portion of the troops of the Union army to which I have SEVENTH INFANTRY. 141 been referring were onerous, monotonous, and, winning little notice and none of that eclat in which the true soldier takes so much pride, were irksome and disagreeable. It was in the performance of the kind of service here briefly described, that the Seventh Iowa spent the year of 1863, after the time had come for the commencement of active operations in the field. The regiment moved to Bethel, Tennessee, in the month of March. This village is about eigli^y miles nearly east of Corinth, and about the same distance south of Nash ville, and not far from the railway connecting the latter city with Decatur, Alabama. Here it remained about three months, and then returned again to Corinth, where the men built themselves comfortable quarters, but be fore getting any comfort from them were ordered to Moscow, a town in Tennessee a little more than midway between Corinth and Memphis, and directly on the railroad. From here and from Lagrange, a few miles west ward, where the regiment also spent some time, the command made two or three expeditions into Mississippi. Late in the fall, when the nights had become cold, the men of the regiment rode on top of box-cars to luka, and there taking up line of march, proceeded across the country, crossing the Tennessee River at Eastport, to the wealthy and pleasant little city of Pulaski, which is about ten miles north and a little east of Bethel. The command reached Pulaski on the llth day of November, having during the summer passed three times over nearly half the length of Tennessee, and performed several other marches of less importance, in the course of their duties in guarding the frontier. Almost any modern map of Tennessee will show that Pulaski is on the Southern Central Railroad, but at the time our regiment reached the place, the road had for a considerable distance both north and south of Pulaski been entirely destroyed. In the march thither but little transportation accompanied the column, and the men were without tents. So they pro ceeded to build for themselves rude huts, which in the army, perhaps for the reason that they are exclusively an army institution, and therefore de serve an army name, are universally called "shebangs." These shebangs, though exceedingly comfortable, are built somewhat in the style of aborigi nal architecture. It is remarkable how quickly an army or a detachment, on entering a city, will build for itself little cities of shebangs. In every southern town there would be found unoccupied houses buildings which had never been finished, perhaps for the reason that the cost had not been counted in the first place ; others which, built long ago, had been abandoned, whose bare walls were now only "haunted;" and others still, partially de stroyed by fire, remained as melancholy monuments of southern shiftless- ness. Moreover, it was often the case that the residences of notorious rebels were left entirely without occupants. It will readily be believed that 142 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. from all these rich materials, to which might be added all the fences with out any discrimination, our conquering, occupying legions, whose notions of meum and tuum most decidedly leaned to the side of meum, found plenty wherewithal to construct their shebangs. Besides being most useful, many of them, though externally rude, were richly ornamented within. Images in gold and ivory, statuettes of all the gods and goddesses, and some of the muses, arranged on temporary brackets, exhibited the classic taste of many of our troops, while paintings in oil executed by distin guished limners made further inquiry useless as to their love of art. Carpets from Turkey, from Brussels, from the famous looms of Scotland, softly sank beneath the tread of many bare-footed heroes. Nor was it the least remark able thing connected with these gorgeous riches of the shebang, that upon inquiry as to where they come from, it would invariably be discovered that they had been found buried in the middle of a field by parties foraging for potatoes and bacon. 6 The men of our regiment enjoyed the luxuries of their shebangs at Pulaski less fully than they might have done had it not been for the destruction of the railway. On this account the nearest depot of supplies was at Smith s Station, six miles north of Columbia, and about thirty-six miles distant from Pulaski. The supplies had to be transported this distance by wagon a thing of no easy accomplishment, as all may know who are acquainted with the general character of Tennessee roads. The regiment was escort for a train of one hundred and fifty wagons to and from Smith s Station, in the early part of December, at a period when the inclemency of the weather caused no little suffering among the men. They returned to their shebangs with feelings of pleasure akin to those of the traveler who returns to his native land after years spent amid the cold and t costly hospitalities of foreign eating-houses. The shebang has its Penates scarcely less sacred than those of home. Whilst the regiment was here quartered, in anticipation of a merry Christmas, and but a few days before that anniversary, orders were received, allowing men who had been in the service two years, to reenlist, and thus become veterans. Within a few days three-fourths of the men of the Seventh present for duty reenlisted. They were entitled, in consequence, under the rule of the War Department, to one month s furlough at home. Accordingly, on the 7th day of January, 1864, the regiment started for Iowa, and the men were furloughed on the 20th. They were received with kind demonstrations by the people of the State. Returning to the ren- 6 The " shebang," as described in the text, was almost exclusively used by our western armies, by whose skill, bravery, and fortune, so many cities were captured. The Army of the Potomac was at times quartered in huts, but they were generally made in pursuance of orders, while shebangs were the result of voluntary labor on the part of the troops and of foraging. SEVENTH INFANTRY. 143 dezvous at Keokuk at the expiration of the furlough, they left for the front on the 27th of February, the regiment having meantime been increased about two hundred by the mustering in of that many recruits. Going by steamer to Cairo, and by other steamers to Nashville, the regi ment reached the latter place in detachments, from the 4th to the 7th of March, and thence proceeded by rail to Pulaski. Not halting long here, it moved on to Prospect, a village on the banks of the Elk River, i& Tennessee, but near the State of Alabama. From this time till near the close of the following month, it garrisoned this post. On the 27th of April it left Prospect, and started on the memorable campaign against Atlanta, In this grand march, which was one of con tinual skirmishing and fighting skirmishes, which in former wars would have been battles, and battles which were like contests of giants the regi ment bore its part with untarnished honor, fighting in nearly all the battles of the campaign, coming out of it with thinned ranks, but indomitable spirit, and most gratifying reputation. At the very first severe fighting of the campaign, the regiment was heavily engaged. This was at the crossing of the Oostanaula River, at Lay s Ferry, a few miles southwest of Resaca which crossing was effected by Brigadier-General E. W. Rice, in command of the advance of the Army of the Tennessee, on the 15th of May, and which caused the abandonment of Resaca the same day by the rebels. General Rice, having made demonstrations to cross the river, on the 14th, at a point higher up the stream, early on the morning of the 15th threw his brigade rapidly across at Lay s Ferry, by means of an old flat-boat which he there found, and pontoons. The passage of the river by his brigade occupied about an hour and a quarter, during which time, by two companies of sharp-shooters of the Sixty-sixth Illinois, whom he sent across in the flat-boat and deployed as skirmishers in a rather open field above the ferry, under cover of his artillery, and the Sixty-sixth Indiana, which double-quicked to the bank and drove the enemy s sharp-shooters from their rifle-pits on the opposite bank, he drew the attention of the rebels away from the real passage. The passage of General Rice s brigade having been effected, it was posted in echelon, out of sight of the enemy, com pletely concealed by the woods and the nature of the ground. A tete-du- pont was immediately thrown up, and another brigade, reporting to General Rice, crossed the river, and formed on the left of his brigade. The third brigade of the division also reported to General Rice, but was formed on the north bank of the river. The tete-du-pont being completed, demonstrations were at once commenced against the enemy, consisting of an entire division under command of General Walker. These demonstrations were made by the second brigade upon the enemy s right. Meantime, the Seventh Iowa, Major McMullen commanding, and an Indiana regiment, were sent forward 144 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. with the object of discovering the enemy s left flank. Just as our regi ment reached the point where the enemy was expected, he was found massed in column, ready to move against the troops in the open field on our left. The Seventh, quickly followed by the Indianians, who fairly cracked the air with their indescribable yells, rushed on the flank of the surprised rebels, and speedily threw them into inextricable confusion. Two full batteries opening on them from commanding positions on the north bank of the river, they could not be rallied, but were driven headlong from the field in a perfect rout. This combat on the enemy s left only lasted, so far as infantry was concerned, about a quarter of an hour, in which brief space, our regiment lost about sixty, of whom seven were killed on the spot, and the rest wounded. The Indiana regiment lost one killed, and thirteen wounded. The enemy left thirty-six dead on the field, and his total loss could not have been less than two hundred and fifty. But though the affair, simply as a combat, was highly creditable to General Rice and the troops under his command, it was more especially noteworthy on account of the important results which followed from it results which were disas trous to Johnston and beneficial to Sherman. The Seventh Iowa Volunteers in this short, sharp, and decisive engage ment, fought with great bravery not only, but with an enthusiasm for battle which was with great difficulty restrained within proper bounds. 7 And they kept up their fine fighting reputation throughout the campaign. They did not get much rest after it closed, before commencing the grand promenade to Savannah. During their stay at Rome, however, between the capture of Atlanta and the beginning of the fall campaign, they cast 1 LIST OF CASUALTIES AT LAY S FERRY. Killed, S. A. Meyers, Silas Parsons, Francis McMains, B. F. McNall. Mortally wounded, John Knight, Wm. H. Litsey, C. S. Buckner, H. C. McGill, L. North, 0. E. Frazier, George Courtney, James Cochran, A. C. Field, Peter Leffler. Wounded, 8. C. McMannis, S. V. Kalson, W. T. Whittier, Wm. Darnell ; these on the 14th. On the 15th, Captain T. L. Mont gomery ; Sergeant Alex. Irwin ; J. McNall, H. C. Reynolds, A. T. Johnson T. L. Hull, Wm. B. Thompson, Wm. Meyers, Bartus Basch, Wm. H. Styers, E. A. Wood, D. W. Butler, G. M. Kuder, Sylvanus Hoy, John W. Hoit, George McGrue, James M. Proctor, John L. Morgan, W. C. Bonsall, Sergeant J. D. Hamilton ; Wm. R. Berry, Jacob Gutterman, John Heisler, Corporal J. C. Percy ; Benedict Friday, Wm. C. Dove, James McGee, John Weyrick, Corporal D. G. Hoover ; T. N. Long, Sergeant J.A.Wilson; Wm. B. Taylor, Wm. Black, Sergeant S.M.Logan; Corporal John Moon; H. C. Gilliland, A. Rinsing, G. S. McKay, Sergeant George Lazenby; John Woodruff, Samuel Roberts, Sergeant Charles Pheasant; also, negro cook, "Flip." AT DALLAS, .KENESAW MOUNTAIN, NICKAJACK CREEK, ATLANTA, JONESBORO. Kitted, Sergeants B. Thomas, J. L. Foster; David Warsheim, B. R. Burdick, F. S. Sprouls, D. H. Poppleton. Wounded, Cap tain Benjamin B. Gale ; Lieutenant C. J. Sergeant ; John Roth, M. Fanning, Joel Goddard, D. Stocker, George Rallett, Sergeants George Rutherford, H. L. Balcom, George M. Martin, P. M. Hoisington ; J. M. Kercher, Fred. G. Walters, Thomas E. Rollins, J. H. Wilson, Charles McCoy, A. P. Hart, Ser geant H. Skinsey ; W. E. Dawson, J. B. Jacobs, E. Crumb, D. G. Hoover, Z. Johns, H. Young, J. M. Streble, M. L. Welch, A. Kensing, Sergeant-Major A. D. Cameron ; John Clark, C. R. Manafee, Ser geant Alexander Fields ; R. 0. Thayer. Private Jerome Hunt, was killed at Alatoona Pass, October 5th, being on detached duty. The gallant Captain W. W. De Heus, was captured June 19th, and died months afterwards from the effects of rebel treatment. Private Edward Hill, was captured at the same time, making the total casualties in the regiment during the campaign, one hundred and four. SEVENTH INFANTRY. 145 their votes for President, under the law of the State giving our soldiers in the field the elective franchise. Mr. Lincoln received three hundred and twenty votes, and General McClellan only two. From Rome, the regiment marched to Atlanta, reaching that place on November 15th, there drew clothing, rations, etc. , and at once joined the column moving forward. In the entire march from Rome to Savannah, there were but three casualties occurred in the regiment, two men being slightly wounded in a skirmish, * December 7th, and one man severely on the llth, in front of the works of Savannah. Our regiment remained in camp near Savannah about five weeks, and then commenced the march homeward bound. The command moved northwestwardly from Savannah on the 28th day of January, 1865, and crossing the Savannah River at Sister s Ferry, plunged into the swamps of South Carolina. Of this remarkable march of the army through the Caro- linas, in some respects the most wonderful in history, I shall hereafter take occasion to relate such particulars as may be illustrative of its general character, and which shall at the same time exhibit the part taken therein by the regiments of Iowa which marched under the orders of Sherman. Let it suffice for the present that in this laborious march, made through a hostile country in mid winter, through swamps as dismal as the imagina tion could picture, through frequent storms of rain and one of snow, across innumerable creeks and rivers, our regiment never for a moment lost its cheer fulness, never uttered a murmur. In this enthusiastic spirit, it marched from Savannah to Goldsboro, a distance of four hundred and eighty miles, suffering much, complaining none, and having built, and assisted in build ing, nearly thirty-nine miles of corduroy road by actual measurement. Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott, a man not given to the melting mood, speaks in the most exalted terms of the conduct of his gallant men throughout the march, during which the losses were but one man captured and two wounded. They reached Goldsboro on the 24th of March, and went into camp near the city, where their campaigning practically ended. They afterwards marched to Raleigh, thence by Richmond to Washington City, participating there in the great review, 8 and then going by rail and trans port to Louisville, where with our other veterans they were mustered out, having earned the gratitude and admiration of their countrymen, by four years of as gallant service in the cause of their country, their God, and truth, as, let us search ever so strictly, we can find among the annals of our volunteer soldiery. 8 At this time the officers of the regiment were : J. C. Parrott, Lieutenant-Colonel commanding ; Samuel Mahon, Major; Wm. W. Sapp, Adjutant; Joseph Everingham, Surgeon; John Ashton, Assistant Surgeon ; Lieutenant Wm. W. Birdsall, Acting Quartermaster. Captains Alexander Irwin, Samuel P. Folsom, S. Helmick, James D. Hamilton, John McCormick, Allen D. Cameron, Benjamin S. Barbour, Timothy Spence. First Lieutenants Wm. D. Reynolds, Henry I. Smith, Joseph K. Smith, L. P. Maynard, John Knight, Peter Hennegan, Henry S. Kirisey, George W. Lazenby, Otho Bonser. 19 CHAPTER VIII. NINTH INFANTRY. THE REGIMENT RECRUITED BY HON. WILLIAM VANDEVER RENDEZVOUS AT DU- BUQUE DEPARTURE FOR ST. LOUIS GUARDING RAILWAY ARMY OF THE SOUTHWEST MARCH TO ARKANSAS THE BATTLE OF PEA MIDGE MARCH ACROSS ARKANSAS TO HELENA QUIET ACTIVE CAMPAIGNING AGAIN CHICKASAW BAYOU ARKANSAS POST ATTACHED TO THE FIRST DIVISION, FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS THE CAMPAIGN OF VICKSBURG OF JACKSON MARCH TO CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE BATTLES OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, MIS SIONARY RIDGE, AND RINGGOLD HOME ON VETERAN FURLOUGH THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN MARCH TO SAVANNAH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS TO WASHING TON CITY MOVE TO LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY HOME. IN July, 1861, on the day after the battle of Bull Run, the Hon. WILLIAM VANDEVER, then a representative in Congress from the second district of Iowa, which at that time embraced the northern half of the State, went to the Secretary of War, and tendered a regiment of volunteers, to be recruited and organized by himself in his district. His proposition was accepted at once by Mr. Cameron, and Mr. Vandever speedily returned to Iowa, and went energetically to work in the matter. Early in August the first company went into rendezvous at Dubuque, and in a few weeks the regiment was fully organized. It was mustered into the service on the 24th of September, with the following organization : William Vandever, Colonel ; Frank J. Herron, Lieutenant-Colonel ; William H. Coyle, Major ; William Scott, Adjutant ; F. S. Winslow, Quartermaster ; Benjamin McClure, Surgeon ; H. W. Hart, Assistant Surgeon ; Rev. A. B. Kendig, Chaplain ; Company A, Jackson county, Captain A. W. Drips ; Company B, Jones county, Captain D. A. Carpenter ; Company C, Buchanan county, Captain J. M. Hord ; Company D, Jones county, Captain David Harper ; Company E, Clayton county, Captain A. Bevins; Company F, Fayette county, Captain James W. Towner ; Company Gr, Black Hawk county, Captain F. S. Washburn ; Company H, Winneshiek county, Captain M. A. Moore ; Company I, from Howard and adjoining counties, Captain J. 146 NINTH INFANTRY. 147 H. Powers; Company K, Linn county, Captain D. Carskaddon. Other counties than those here named, chiefly among those now in the third con gressional district, contributed members to the organization. The regiment remained in rendezvous but a day or two after being sworn into the service. It proceeded to St. Louis, and there went into camp of instruction at Benton Barracks. Here it remained till near the middle of 4 October, when it was assigned the duty of guarding the southwestern branch of the Pacific railway, from Franklin to Holla. Here the command remained in camps of instruction, as it were, for more than three months. During this period, all the troops composing the armies of the West, so called here by way of geographical and not official designation, were pre paring themselves for that grand forward movement, which, commencing soon afterwards, swept with irresistible force, not often long retarded, over the whole domain claimed by traitors, and at last hurled them to destruction, many of the Union troops engaged in the glorious work, having, in aid of its complete accomplishment, marched, skirmished, fought the entire circuit of the confederacy. Among these was the Ninth Iowa Volunteers. On the 22d day of January, 1862, the various companies of the command left their camps along the railroad, and joined the Army of the Southwest, concentrating at Holla, under Brigadier-General Samuel R. Curtis. March ing to Lebanon, some sixty miles southwest of Holla, a week was there spent in organization and preparation. The army was composed of four divisions, the First, commanded by General F. Sigel, the Second by General A. Asboth, the Third by Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, and the Fourth by Colonel E. A. Carr. The troops were from the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. Colonel G. M. Dodge, Fourth Iowa, com manded the First Brigade, Fourth Division, consisting of his own regiment, the Thirty-fifth Illinois, and the First Iowa Battery. Colonel Vandever was in command of the Second Brigade, consisting of the Ninth Iowa, Twenty- fifth Missouri, Third Illinois Cavalry, and Third Iowa Battery. Two bat talions of the Third Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Bussey, were also in the army, but not assigned to any particular division. So that all the Iowa troops participating in the campaign were in Colonel Carr s division. The army marched after the rebel Price, and on the 15th of February entered Springfield from all sides, having hoped there to find the enemy. He had gone. General Curtis marched in pursuit the next morning. Price moved with great rapidity, and the pursuit was for several days equally rapid. Carr s division had the advance, and skirmishing daily with the enemy was the rule, to which there was no exception. It was in one of these skirmishes, at Sugar Creek, near where it crosses the line separating Missouri from Arkansas, that the Ninth Iowa was first under fire. The command behaved like veterans on this, to them, important occasion, 148 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. charging and driving before them a force fully three times as strong as their own, having first received without flinching the fire of a battery of artillery and its infantry supports. The army still moved on in pursuit. At Cross Hollows, eighteen miles south of the Arkansas line, Price was joined by McCulloch. These two traitors counseled together, and the result of their deliberations was a de termination to move still further south. The Union army pursued no farther than Cross Hollows. Here General Curtis determined to await attack, and accordingly halted his army, but for convenience of forage and subsistence posted the different divisions at a considerable distance from each other, but not beyond the capacity of mutual support, in case of the approach of the enemy. The First Division, now under the command of Colonel Osterhaus, and the Second, were near Bentonville, twelve miles west of Cross Hollows. Both were under command of General Sigel. The Third Division, Colonel Davis, was at Sugar Creek. The Fourth, Colonel Carr, was at Cross Hollows, head-quarters of the army. On the 4th of March, Colonel Yandever, with a picked portion of his brigade, consisting of a battalion of cavalry, a section of the Dubuque Battery, and a large detachment of his own regiment, moved from the camp of the division, and marched fifteen miles in the direction of Hunts- ville. The command reached that place on the afternoon of the next day, and found it to be a dilapidated southern village which had just been aban doned by a body of rebel cavalry. The ancient citizens were greatly be wildered by the advent into the midst of them of so many northern barba rians. Nevertheless, some of them imparted the astounding intelligence that the rebel army under Price and McCulloch, after retreating twenty-five miles below Cross Hollows, had been heavily reenforced, and that an army of probably forty thousand men under Major-General Earl Van Dorn was advancing northward on General Curtis. Colonel Vandever received this information with the utmost apparent indifference, and allowed his com mand to remain in town for some two hours, while he appeared to be attending to matters which would naturally have fallen under his attention as an Union ofiicer. Toward evening he leisurely marched his command out of town, and pitched camp some miles distant. During the night a courier arrived bearing dispatches from General Curtis, confirming the in telligence of the afternoon, and ordering him to march with all possible despatch to Pea Ridge, where the army was being concentrated for battle. By the route Colonel Vandever would now have to take, in order to avoid the rebel army, he could not reach Pea Ridge without a march of forty-one miles. Across his pathway, too, lay White River, and other streams of lesser size, which had to be forded. To add to his difficulties, snow fell during the night, and made the marching most laborious and NINTH INFANTRY. 149 disagreeable. At four o clock on the morning of the 6th, the little column was in motion. There was no confusion, no excitement. Steadily the march continued tramp, tramp, all day long, was the only sound that was heard, and that was heard as regularly as the ticking of a clock. Not a moment s time was lost throughout the day. At six o clock in the evening, having marched for fourteen consecutive hours, the command reached the army. The famous march to Talavera of Wellington s light division^ *. sixty- two miles in twenty- six hours, leaving only seventeen stragglers behind has been most justly eulogized by Napier, the most accomplished historian of wars, but it was no more remarkable than this which I have just described. Napier enthusiastically relates, too, how that division, which had been trained by Sir John Moore himself, crossed the field of battle, after its great march, in compact order, and immediately took charge of the outposts. The column under Colonel Vandever fought throughout a pitched battle of two days continuance, immediately after its great march. THE BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE. The army under General Curtis numbered ten thousand five hundred men, cavalry and infantry, with forty-nine pieces of artillery, including four mountain howitzers. At the same time that he sent the order to Colonel Vandever, which I have mentioned, he sent a similar message to General Sigel at Bentonville. The main portion of the two divisions under that general s command commenced to move to Pea Ridge early on the morning of the 6th, and at two o clock in the afternoon both General Asboth and Colonel Osterhaus reported the arrival of their divisions. General Sigel, however, the most provoking laggard of all our armies, had remained behind with a small detachment, had been attacked and cut off by the enemy s advance forces. A considerable force was immediately sent to his relief, and by means of their help and the good fighting of his little band he was extricated from the perilous situation into which it was unpardon able that he should have fallen. The losses in killed and wounded result ing from this misadventure were twenty-eight. They were probably greater to the enemy. This unnecessary contest was all that composed the first day s battle of Pea Ridge. It delayed the posting of the army in order of battle some hours, so that Colonel Vandever s detachment, though necessarily arriving late, went into line in good time, and no more fatigued than a large part of the army which but for the unfortunate delay of Sigel would have been entirely fresh, and unwearied. However, the line was formed. In front was the deep, broad valley of Sugar Creek, forming the probable approaches of the enemy. The Union troops extended for miles, generally occupying the summits of the head lands on the creek. In their rear was a broken plateau called Pea Ridge, 150 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and still farther in rear tlie deep valley of Cross Timbers. The enemy, numbering between thirty and forty thousand, according to the estimate of General Curtis, and certainly outnumbering our forces more than two to one, 2 in approaching by the Bentonville road, came up on the extreme right of the Union lines. With fine strategy, he moved round our flank, designing to attack at the same time both flank and rear of the Union army, and roll it up around itself in an inextricable coil of confusion. General Curtis promptly warded off this danger, by abandoning the line he had formed on the evening of the 6th, and changing front to the rear. For the purpose of performing this difficult mano3uvre in the face of the enemy, a detachment of cavalry and light artillery, supported by infantry, under command of the intrepid and rapid Osterhaus, was directed to open the battle by an attack upon the enemy s centre. By this manoeuvre, General Curtis second line of battle was the reverse of his first. The First and Second Divisions were on the left, Osterhaus and the Third Division in the centre, and the Fourth Division on the right. The line of battle formed an acute angle with the former line, the left resting on a small streamlet near a hamlet called Leetown, and extending to and across Pea Ridge, with the right near a country tavern called the Elk- Horn, from which the rebels name the battle. The evolutions required by the change of front had hardly been made, or the deployments into line completed, when the pickets on the right were attacked and driven in, near Elk-Horn Tavern. This was about ten o clock in the morning, and the battle immediately thereafter commenced. The firing rapidly increased on the right, and soon extended to the centre. Nevertheless, our troops deployed into line under the heavy fire with nearly the same precision they would have performed the same movements on a parade. The rebels had but just delivered their attack on our right when Osterhaus made a gallant dash on their centre, dividing their forces. He was soon pressed, however, by greatly superior numbers, under command of McCulloch and Mclntosh, who drove back our cavalry and captured a battery of flying artillery which had been sent out with it. Colonel Davis came to the support of Osterhaus, and the rebel advance was checked, but not entirely stayed. The battle on that part of the field raged with great fury, the rebels making repeated attempts to break through our lines, aided therein by a large force of Indians who fought with savage determination and war-whoops whose fear ful yell rang loud above the din of battle, like the unearthly scream of horses fatally wounded. The steady courage of our troops was proof against both noise and numbers, and, from falling slowly, sullenly back, inch by 2 Pollard, the rebel historian, admits the rebels numbered sixteen thousand, but their own officers admitted to Captain McKenney, of General Curtis staff, that they numbered thirty thousand. NINTH INFANTRY. 151 BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE. Woods Infantry o8 c EXPLANATIONS. Cultivated Lands Roa Artiliery-U^U c o O: /^fi^ 090,5 7#//i^ SD aol/JBw/0 P?o AlPy&Sg " ChD no 1 0<^^ Cb8ll > /9W*// 6 ^ Ifefea^ o^O <30o^b^^ $///8^ saaalss^ ^!^:^ o 7/o2^S^afeii \ == w>ojj^^^3pl>^ V 5 " ^ o = 152 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. inch, they came to a stand, poured volley after volley into the rebel lines, and at last commenced to drive them in turn. Meantime, our right was sorely pressed. Price with his Missourians was making a fierce onslaught on the little division under Carr, who contended hour after hour against quadruple his numbers, unable to hold them entirely in check, and unwilling to abandon a foot of the field to their possession till it had witnessed the unsurpassed valor of his troops. On this part of the line the Dubuque battery, Captain Hayden, commenced the fight in earnest on our part, by throwing a number of well directed shells plump into the rebel lines, doing great execution. Within fifteen minutes afterwards the whole line of the division was engaged. One of the very first shots from the rebel artillery blew up one of Captain Hayden s limber-chests, and within ten minutes another was exploded. The rebels then made a rush upon the battery and captured one of the guns, but were driven off by the infantry, leaving the ground piled up with the dead who had fallen before the rifles of the Iowa Ninth. Colonel Dodge s brigade, on the extreme right of the line, was attacked nearly as soon as Yandever. A section of the First Iowa battery, Lieutenant V. I. David, here opened the ball, and the contest became at once severe. The brigade held its position, not falling back a single foot, for two hours, against a rebel force of six thousand infantry, and eight pieces of artillery playing on our lines at short range with canister. By this time Colonel Vandever, hundreds of whose brave men had fallen in wounds and death, had been slowly driven from his position. Colonel Dodge now also deliberately retired, his troops having nearly exhausted their ammunition. His line moved back in the most perfect order, in line of battle, the enemy at once advancing with their whole force and batteries. Colonel Dodge halted, turned on his shouting pursuer, and with his last rounds of ammunition poured so hot and destructive a fire into their ranks, that the survivors fled before it in wild confusion as from a storm of flame. General Curtis soon came up, and ordered the Fourth Iowa to make a charge. Fixing their bayonets they advanced rapidly across the field, but found no enemy. The rebels had by this time become quite willing to rest, and the charge of the gallant Fourth closed the battle for the day. It had raged from ten o clock till nearly dark on the right and centre, Sigel on the left having had nothing to do. The Third and Fourth Divisions and Osterhaus detachment had stood the whole brunt of the battle. "In the action of the day," says the correspondent of the New York He rald, the Iowa regiments had suffered fearfully. Nearly two hundred each had been the loss of the Iowa Fourth and Ninth, and the latter had not a single field officer fit for duty. Its Colonel was commanding a brigade, its Lieutenant-Colonel (Herron) was made prisoner while gallantly cheering his NINTH INFANTRY. / 153 men, after losing a horse and receiving a severe wound, and its Major and Adjutant were disabled and in the hospital. Still none of the men were despondent, but were all ready for the work of the morrow. From the camp of a German regiment, the notes of some plaintive air, possibly a love-ditty, were wafted on the breeze in words unintelligible to my ear. It reminded me that long ago in the Crimea, on the night before the storming of the Malakoff, the entire British Army in the trenches before Sebastopol joined in singing a famous Scottish ballad, one of the sweetest ever known : They sang of love and not of fame ; Forgot was Britain s glory, Each heart recalled a different name, But all sang Annie Laurie. " The night was spent very differently by the general officers and by the men. The troops slept on their arms on the field of battle, details having procured food and blankets from the camps. Sigel s men moved from their position of the day to the vicinity of General Curtis head-quarters, where they bivoucked for the night, ready to move into a new position early on the morrow. The troops all were in good spirits, determined to fight to the last man rather than yield to the enemy. The officers were deeply thoughtful, hopeful, but not without fear of the result. They passed a sleepless night, seeing that the wounded were cared for, the well supplied with ammunition, and all things made ready for the coming contest. There was much for the commanding general and his general officers to do. It will be recollected that General Curtis, on the morning of the 7th, changed front to rear of his whole army. This manoeuvre was made neces sary by the fact that Van Dorn had moved round his right flank to attack him there and in rear. The Union line of battle on that day was, generally, in a north and south direction, but bent round on the right so that Carr s division faced to the north. During the day, the progress of the rebels, still trying to outflank us and get into our rear, caused Colonel Dodge to change front to the right, and thus continue the contest, facing the east. "When the day s battle closed, the division was about a mile south of its position in the morning. It was along the line of this contest that the rebels were now posted. Consequently, it became necessary for General Curtis to make another change of front. The general course of his line of battle was the same as that of the previous day, but it faced east instead of west. General Sigel, therefore, marched from the left of the old line to the left of the new, and there took position, his flank protected by the bluffs of Pea Ridge. Davis again occupied the centre, and Carr the right. These dispositions were not all made, when the sun rose on the morning of the 8th. Carr on the right, and Davis in the centre were, indeed, ready, but Sigel s divisions had not deployed into line. The enemy was already 20 154 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. in motion. General Curtis, therefore, ordered Davis to commence the battle, which he did in fine style. The enemy replied with great energy from new batteries and lines which had been prepared during the night, to avoid the raking fire of which, the right wing fell back, in good order, and keeping up a continuous fire. Meanwhile, the First and Second Divisions moved into line and opened the battle on our left with fearful energy. Sigel conducted the contest there with consummate skill. He wheeled battery after battery into position, until thirty pieces of artillery, about fifteen or twenty paces apart, were in a continuous line, with infantry lying down in front. Each piece opened fire as it came into position, and the fire of the entire line was directed so as to silence battery after battery of the enemy. "Such a terrible fire," says an eye-witness, "no human courage could with stand. The crowded ranks of the enemy were decimated, their horses shot at their guns, large trees literally demolished. For two hours and ten minutes did Sigel s iron hail fall thick as autumn leaves, furious as the avalanche, deadly as the simoon. Onward crept our infantry; onward moved Sigel and his terrible guns. The range became shorter and shorter. No charge of the enemy could face that iron hail, or dare to venture on that compact line of bayonets. They turned and fled. Then came the order to charge the enemy in the woods, and those brave boys who had lain for hours with the shots of the enemy falling upon them and the can non of Sigel playing over them, rose up and dressed their ranks as if it were but an evening parade, and as the forward! was given, the Twenty- fifth Illinois moved in compact line, supported on the left by the Twelfth Missouri, acting as skirmishers, and on the right by the Twenty-second Indiana, As they passed into the dense brush they were met by a terrible volley, which was answered by one as terrible and far more deadly. Volley followed volley ; yet on and on went that line of determined men. Steadily they pushed the rebel force until they gained more open ground, where the confederate forces broke in confusion and fled. The day was ours, and the battle of Pea Ridge was added to the already long list of triumphs clustering around the old starry flag." Sigel pursued the flying enemy toward Keitsville, and Bussey, with the cavalry, toward Bentonville ; whilst other portions of the army made a spirited chase for some distance in several directions, But, though many prisoners were captured; the main portion of the enemy escaped in scat tered bodies by the ravines and canons of these lofty regions, with which so many of them were familiar, and thus found their way in a disorganized mass to Huntsville, and thence continued their retreat, in a somewhat less disorderly manner, to the secret fastnesses of the Boston Mountains. The battle of Pea Ridge, whether considered in reference to the skill with which the troops were mano3uvred, or the valor with which they NINTH INFANTRY. 155 fought, must be placed among the most memorable and honorable victories of the war. The field was far removed from General Curtis base of sup plies ; in a country much better known to the enemy than to him ; that enemy outnumbered him, I think, about three to one. Yet he defeated him so thoroughly and absolutely that his scattered squads were driven in panic for leagues far away to the south like leaves before a tempest. It is impossible to state the rebel losses in the engagement, but it is certain they must have been very heavy. One authority of general care fulness, the American Almanac and Annual Kecord, puts it at one thou sand one hundred killed, two thousand five hundred wounded, and one thousand six hundred prisoners. It is hardly possible that it could have been less than five thousand. And among the killed were Mclntosh and McCulloch, two of the most noted rebel leaders in the southwest, and Rives and Churchill Clark, "gallant embodiments of chivalry," as they were termed by rebel writers. Generals Price and Slack were severely wounded. Our own loss, in killed, wounded and missing, numbered one thousand three hundred and fifty-one. First Division, General Sigel, one hundred and forty-four; Second, General Asboth, one hundred and nineteen; Third, Colonel Davis, three hundred and twenty-nine; Fourth, Colonel Carr, seven hundred and one ; Third Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Bussey, fifty- two; Bowen s independent battery, six. Colonel Carr was severely wounded on the 7th, Colonel Dodge on the 8th, a number of field officers fell in the other divisions, whilst in the Fourth there was hardly a field officer left when its first day s terrible fight was ended. General Curtis, in his despatch of the 9th, very justly says that "Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Missouri, may proudly share the honors of the victory which their gallant heroes have won over the combined forces of Van Dorn, Price and McCulloch at Pea Ridge, in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas." And in his detailed report of the battle he mentions, in language of just eulogium, the regiments and commanders from these States entitled to praise ; but concludes, with no mere formal compliment, "To do justice to all, I would spread before you the most of the rolls of this army, for I can bear testimony to the almost universal good conduct of officers and men, who have shared with me the long march, the many conflicts by the way, and the final struggle at the battle of Pea Ridge. The part borne by Iowa in the battle was most conspicuous. The com manding general was from our State, and my description of the battle must be most lame if it does not show him to have been a consummate tactician and obstinate fighter. Colonel Dodge and Colonel Vandever commanded the two brigades which stood the brunt of the battle, and which were handled with the most admirable skill and coolness, which fought with a 156 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. valor never surpassed in the history of wars. "The Fourth and the Ninth Iowa," says General Curtis, "won imperishable honors." There were innumerable acts of special bravery performed by Iowa troops during the battle, and there never was an engagement, perhaps, in which the good conduct was more universal. General Curtis especially commends Colonels Dodge and Vandever. Colonel Dodge, in his official report, makes special mention of Captain J. A. Jones, and Lieutenant Gamble of the First Iowa Battery, and of Lieutenant-Colonel Galligan, Captain H. H. Griffiths, act ing Major, Lieutenant J. A. Williamson, acting Brigade Adjutant, Captain W. H. Kinsman, Lieutenant V. I. David, and Private I. W. Bell, of the Fourth, whilst "all did well," he says, "and fought nobly." Colonel Vandever bestows words of praise upon Lieutenant-Colonel Herron, Major Coyle, Adjutant William Scott, Captains Drips, (who was killed), Car penter, Turner, Bull, Bevins, (also killed), Washburn, Moore, and Car- skaddon, and upon Lieutenants Riley, Kelsey, Jones, Neff, Tisdale, Rice, (killed), Baker, Beebe, Leverich, Crane, McGee, McKenzie, Claflin, Fellows, and Inman, and Sergeant-Major Foster, of the Ninth. He also mentions Lieutenants McClure, Wright, and Bradley, of the Dubuque Battery, and closes his report with bearing testimony to the coolness, steadiness, and bravery of all the troops under his command. Colonel Bussey, and his command, were also distinguished in the fight, and especially in the charge which broke the rebel centre on the morning of the 7th. Here Lieutenant- Colonel Trimble was severely wounded. In fine, all the Iowa troops behaved with that high degree of valor which distinguished their conduct throughout the war, and their losses were more severe than those of any other troops. 8 8 If Lieutenant-Colonel Herron ever made a report of the part taken by the Ninth in this battle, I have not had the good fortune to see it. The following list of casualties is probably incomplete : Lieutenant-Colonel Herron, Major William H. Coyle, Adjutant William Scott, wounded. Company A Kitted, Captain A. W. Drips ; Corporals 0. D. Bancroft, John W. Alexander ; Privates Samuel McComb, David B. Patterson, Jesse Updegraft. Wounded, Lieutenant F. M. Kelsey ; Ser geant B. F. Darling; Privates Henry J.. Qrote, John W. McMeans, James McNully, Francis P. Nortar, (mortally), George C. Pierce, (mortally), William M. Thompson, George Trout, James West, Charles C. Young. Company B Kitted, Private John V. Osborn. Wounded, Corporal Benjamin E. Hull ; Privates Morgan Bumgardner, Charles Bates, Charles Eastburn. Company C Killed, Lieutenant Nathan Rice ; Private Julius Furcht. Wounded, Sergeant Jacob P. Sampson; Corporal Charles G. Curtis; Wagoner David Greek; Privates Isaac Arwine, (mortally), George M. Abbott, (mortally), Jesse Barnett, L. D. Curtis, John Cartwright, (mortally), J. E. Elson, C. A. Hobert, Stephen Holman, Orlando F. Luckey, James Leatherman, Philip Ritermau, Russel Rouse, Samuel Robbins, William Wisennand, (mortally), Adonain J. Windsar, (mortally). Company D Killed, Private James B. Scull. Wounded, Sergeants Alfred C. Hines, (mortally), John Sutherland, Thomas Swasey, (mortally) ; Corporals William L. Murphy, (mortally), John A. Dreibelbis, William C. M. Glenn, Andrew J. Carter, (mortally), Isaac A. Miller; Privates Michael Brun, Alexander Beatty, Isaiah C. Boyer, (mortally), Joseph A. Burdick, Eli Broecher, James Cassady, Abraham Drake, (mortally), Charles Dockstaetter, William Fuller, Charles Fuller, Hiram H. Gibson. Thomas Irwin, George Harst, James C. Kirkwood, John Moore, Orlando McDauiel, Henry NINTH INFANTRY. 157 Having buried the dead and cared for the wounded, the army moved from Pea Ilidge a few days after the battle, and encamping in the vicinity of Bentonville, there had a short rest. Our regiment took up line of march with the army, and moving through a part of Missouri and across Arkansas, arrived at Helena about the middle of July, after a campaign of unparalleled hardships. At Helena, the regiment had its first and last permanent encampment. There it remained in quiet for a period of five months. The history of the regiment up to its arrival ai, ETelena had been one of activity, of movements in the face of the enemy, of severe marches, of battle. It had been impossible, therefore, to give that attention to drill and discipline which had been desired by the officers. Ti ere was a fine opportunity now to make up for any deficiencies in these respects, and it was improved to the utmost by both officers and men, so that vhen the regiment again commenced its active operations, which continued with but short intermissions of rest, it was one of the best drilled and best disci plined regiments in the service. The fame of the army which won the victory of Pea Ridge soon spread over the country and over Christendom. Our regiment had a most grati- Overly, Donalcl Sutherland, Morrison Sutherland, Emery A. Smith, (mortally), James C. Wright, Joseph L. White, (mortally). Missing, Amos S. Tompkins. Company E Kitted, Captain Alva Bevins; Privates Perry Hall, John Reichart, Timothy Seeber, Charles Weseman. Wounded, Sergeants Charles Herriman, James Flanagan; Corporal William McCabe ; Privates Louis Bakeman, Hezekiah R. Hughes, Christian Kaiser, Noyes Roseman, Frederick Smith, Henry Stevens, John McCaffrey, Robert W. Lockard, Thomas J. Gragg, Charles Allen. Miss ing, Musician Michael Schlagel. Company F Killed, Privates William Andrus, William H. Carmichael, David German, Titus Enjland. Wounded, Captain James W. Towner, Lieutenant Abner G. M. Neff, (mortally) ; Sergeants Alonzo Abernethy, James W. Gwin ; Corporals Marshal House, Absalom C. Smith, Peter W. Oakly, John Bradley ; Privates John T. Avery, William W. Brewer, Myron R. Benedict, Joseph I. Gardiner, Edgar G. Hough, George Hales, Joseph B. Hunkinger, John Knight, Franklin L. Larabee, (mortally), Martin Lee, William H. Munger, Charles Munger, John Oit, Michael O Brien, Charles I. Walsh. Company G Killed, Privates John Barker, Willard Leverich, John M. Myers, Joseph Parker, William Robinson, Joseph Vincent, Asa Waters, Charles Walker. Wounded, Privates James B. All- man, Thomas W. Brown, Amos Buchman, Francis I. Clark, David L. Cupport, Hiram Estell, Franklin H. Heath, Aaron Michaels, (mortally), Samuel Sharp. Company H Killed, Privates Hugh Irwin, Henry P. Ward. Wounded, Sergeant Charles E. Meader; Corporals Andrew Hamilton, (mortally), William G. Sailer, Edward Ryan, Edwin Obrihan, Clark H. Davis : Private? George Gordon Aldam, Daniel M. Barrett, (mortally), Edward A. Blake, Eli Bunt, Hiram Clark, Thompson Dempsy, Ambrose H. Gates, Henry E. Hall, Garrison C. Mann, Joel C. Maricle, John G. Nelson, Philip Peddler, Alvin M. Perry, Martin V. Botner, William W. Smith, (mortally), Aufin Thompson, Jacob P. Supher, (mortally), Christian Martinson, (mortally). Company I Killed, Private John Goodenough. Wounded, Sergeant Martin Gates, (mortally); Corporals Walter Schofield, Whitman M. Colbey, Charles Hemery; Privates George S. Briggs, (mortally), Thomas Johnson, Benjamin F. Knight, Charles U. Lockwood, William McCrea, Horace B. Rome, Salisbury Sherman, John W. Stuart, (mortally), Adolphus Strogher. David M. Townsend, Hiram M. Townsend, (mortally), Nathan A. Walker, (mortally), Joseph Yantz, (mortally), Levi Yantz. Company K Killed, Privates William C. Aplet, Daniel A. Darrow, James K. McCoy, Henry A. Pass. Wounded, Corporals Oliver B. Cone, William A. Austin, John Cone, Daniel Horn ; Privates Ezra Dresser, William Greeley, John W. Gray, Daniel Kerns, John S. McKee, Thomas P. Nicholson, (mortally), Royal H. Pichmond, James K. West, Andrew R. Whitenack, Alva S. Wing, Aaron Hughes, Marvin Mills, Amos S. Young. 158 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. fying evidence of their own good name and fame, whilst at Helena, where was presented to the command, sent by the hands of Miss Phrebe Adams, in behalf of a committee of ladies of Boston, Massachusetts, a stand of beautiful silk colors, elaborately embroidered in gold. Miss Adams pre sented the magnificent gift with the pleasing assurance that it was a testi monial of the appreciation on the part of many of the ladies of Boston of the conduct of the regiment in the battle of Pea Ridge. The colors were guarded and e\,> Dished by the command with religious care and affection. Afterwards Tyhen they had been borne many long miles, and on many a proud field, riddled and torn with balls, and covered with a thousand scars of battle, jhey were presented by the unanimous voice of the regiment, one, to the original donors, and the other to Brevet Major-General Van- dever, tl.e old commander of the regiment, whom the men of his original command never ceased to hold in the warmest esteem. The regiment, being assigned to Thayer s Brigade of Steele s Division, joined the army under Sherman, which moved down the Mississippi to attack Vicksburg. In the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, where the Fourth Iowa gained such unfading laurels, and where many other Iowa regiments were engaged, the Ninth was under fire during the greater part of the 28th and 29th of December, but was not itself actively engaged, except for about half an hour on the latter day. The attempt on Vicksburg by Chickasaw Bayou having failed, the army slowly and sorrowfully reem- barked, and steamed down the dark, sluggish waters of the Yazoo to the Mississippi, and to Milliken s Bend, where Major-General McClernand assumed command. During the year just closed, our regiment had lost, by death, discharge, and otherwise, three hundred and twenty-five men, and had gained during the same period fifty-six, by enlistment and appoint ment, so that when it commenced the year 1863, it numbered seven hun dred and twenty-six, rank and file. The regiment commenced the new year with the active and brilliant cam paign of Arkansas Post, which resulted in the capture of a large number of prisoners, and an immense quantity of supplies and arms. It was not in the assault on this post, which was at first unsuccessful, but was posted in the front line, and ready to move in the charge which was about to take place, when the works surrendered. Its losses here, as was the case with all commands which were in the reserve line during the assault, were but slight. Remaining a few days at Arkansas Post to destroy the works, the troops embarked, and moving down the Arkansas and the Mississippi, debarked at Young s Point, Louisiana, Steele s division moving down and going into camp below the mouth of the canal which had been dug the year before. Here, near Young s Point, the army lay encamped many weary weeks, NINTH INFANTRY. 159 which formed the darkest era of the whole war to the troops who endured it. The encampment was a vast swamp. In front was the Mississippi, flowing moodily by, ever threatening to burst from its banks and completely engulf the half submerged army. Beyond, and in plain view, were the hills of Vicksburg, with their frowning batteries. From the oozy encamp ment vapors and fogs arose, which caused the light of the sun to shine with a feeble, sickly power, whilst much of the time it rained day in and day out without cessation. The army was like an army of drowning rats. The troops sat gloomily within their tents in sullen silence, or moved about from place to place in the performance of necessary duties like soulless, voiceless animals. Driven from one encampment to another, and to another, and still another, till the army at last "roosted on the levee of the Mississippi," the men moved with a listless indifference, plainly show ing they cared very little whether their camps and lives were saved or swept away together by the floods. Death was holding high carnival in every encampment. Acres of grave-yards were soon visible in these most dismal swamps. The dying increased as the flood increased, till at length the dead were buried on the levee, whither the army had been driven. There they continued to be buried till, it is not too much to say, the levee was formed near its outer surface of dead men s bones, like the layers of stones in a work of masonry. When, after more than two months stay in this vicinity the army moved away, it left the scene of its encampments the Golgotha of America. Major Abernethy, in speaking of this period in the history of the Ninth, says the ordeal of these unpropitious months was the more grievous, because it had all the evils of the battle-field, with none of its honors. And, as it was with the Ninth, so it was with the large army of which it formed a part. Meantime, Colonel Vandever having been promoted a brigadier-general, Captain David Carskaddon was elected and commissioned in his place. The first active campaigning in which the regiment was engaged after Colonel Carskaddon took command was the expedition of General Steele into cen tral Mississippi, by Greenville, on which about the whole of April was con sumed. Returning, the command encamped for a very short time at Milliken s Bend, and then joined in the grand campaign of Vicksburg. Our regiment commenced their work on this campaign on the 2dof May; when, leaving their tents standing at Milliken s Bend, the men put them selves in light marching order, and started for Grand Gulf, as fully inspired by hope and enthusiasm as they had been depressed by despondency and sorrow only two months before. Rapidly marching by Richmond to the landing opposite Grand Gulf, and there crossing the river, the division joined the corps, and marching on Jackson, took part in the capture of that capital. Then facing about it moved in the direction of Vicksburg, and on 160 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the 18th took position on the right of our lines before the enemy s works. On the 19th there was an irregular assault in which our regiment lost a number of killed and wounded. It was on the front line in the unsuccess ful assault of the 22d, and on that day alone lost nearly an hundred men, in killed and wounded, among them Captains Kelsey and Washburn, and Lieutenants Jones, Wilbur, and Terrell, killed. The position of the regi ment during the siege was a good one, well covered by the crest of a hill, strengthened by works, but the rebel s^arp-shooters occasionally picked off a man nevertheless. The regiment lost during the siege that is to say, from the 18th of May to the 4th of July one hundred and twenty-one, in killed and wounded. But there was no rest yet for the weary troops. Before daylight of the morning after the capitulation, the expeditionary army under Sherman moved after Joe Johnston, and following him to Jackson found him there strongly entrenched behind heavy works. In this campaign the Ninth fully participated, and after its successful termination went into camp in a beau tiful grove near Big Black River, not far from the railroad crossing, and here, only a short distance from where for so many months nothing but the wrinkled front of grim-visaged war had been seen, had a long period of rest. But it was not one of enjoyment, for besides the discomforts of the hot weather, the effects of the confined life during the siege began now to be visible on the troops, many of whom became sick outright and others unfit for service. During this period General Steele, commanding division, and General Thayer, commanding brigade, were ordered to take commands in another army, whereupon General Osterhaus assumed command of the division, and Colonel J. A. Williamson, Fourth Iowa, of the brigade, which was composed of Iowa troops, and remained under the command of that accomplished officer throughout the campaigns of Chattanooga, Atlanta, and Savannah, at the close of which last, being appointed to the rank which he had so long and so honorably actually filled, he received orders which called him into another field of usefulness. On the 22d of September orders to move were received, and before night the regiment was on cars moving to Vicksburg. Moving by steamer to Memphis, and by train thence to Corinth ; after some delay, occupied in the repair of the railway, and some skirmishing with the enemy under Forrest, the march to Chattanooga was commenced, and on November 23d, after a march of three hundred miles, the regiment pitched its tents at the foot of Lookout Mountain. Twenty-four hours later it was taking gallant part in the battle above the clouds, under the dashing General Hooker. The enemy evacuated Lookout Mountain on the night of the 24th, and on the following day the battle of Missionary Ridge took place. So far as our regiment was concerned, this was rather a contest of legs than NINTH INFANTRY. 161 of arras, the enemy running to escape, our troops running to catch them. And thus they had a running fight for miles on the summit of the moun tain, which closed with the enemy being captured in large numbers, and the rest fleeing from the field. The regiment continued in the pursuit under Hooker to Hinggold, where the enemy made a stand, and for some time contended with no little success against our arms. The Ninth joined in the charge up the hill-sides on the 27th, but the enemy had now become exhausted and discouraged, and retired without serious opposition, leaving us in full possession of the position. The loss of the regiment in these three engagements was three killed, and sixteen wounded. From Ring- gold, General Osterhaus marched to rejoin Sherman, from whom he had been separated during these contests, by reason of the accidental breaking of a pontoon bridge over the Tennessee, and the junction having been made, marched by Chattanooga, Bridgeport and Stevenson, to "Woodville, Alabama, and went into winter quarters but a few days before the close of the year. New Year s day was spent by the regiment in reenlisting. By this time the number of men had been reduced to about five hundred, of whom all were not eligible as veterans under the rules of the War Department. Nearly three hundred reenlisted, and the Ninth became a veteran regiment. The consequent privilege of a furlough home was granted, in accordance with which the veterans returned to Iowa early in the following month. On arriving at Dubuque they were met by the citizens of that hospitable city en masse, and welcomed home with a cordiality which must have been in the highest degree gratifying. Their reception here was a magnificent ovation, worthy of Dubuque and of them ; and, best of all, it did not end with speechifying, but with a supper in comparison of the luxuries of which the luxuries of the Georgia promenade were flat, stale, and unprofit able. Moreover, fair hands which would not have condescended to wait upon the princes of the best blood of Europe, gladly waited on these war worn heroes, and realities of happiness danced o er their minds. As the men went to their homes in northern Iowa, they were everywhere met with as warm and cheerful reception as is within the heart of man to conceive, or his hands to bestow. And thus the prescribed thirty days passed merrily by. The men, with many recruits, then went to the rendezvous at Davenport, and, under command of Major George Granger, who had been promoted from captain to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Major Carpenter, moved to Nashville, whence they marched to Woodville, arriving on the 10th of April. Here twenty days were spent in procuring supplies of clothing, equipage, anus. The old Dresden rifles which had done so much execution from the beginning were returned to the government, and new 21 162 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Springfield rifled muskets drawn in their stead. Though the regiment had been presented by the ladies of Boston with another magnificent stand of colors, to replace those worn out in the service, these were now kept rather for ornament than use, and a stand of regulation-colors drawn from govern ment, were carried in the line throughout the subsequent career of the regiment. On the first of May, Colonel Carskaddon, just returned from sick-leave, in command, took up line of march for Chattanooga, and at once entered on the campaign of Atlanta. For the next four months, the regiment par ticipated in all the labors, marches, skirmishes, battles, sieges of this great campaign in which the Fifteenth Corps took part. It marched during that campaign a distance of four hundred miles, much of it by night; built forty different lines of works ; crossed three large rivers and many streams in the face of the enemy; and took honorable part in the engagements, many of them heavy battles, of Resaca, Dallas, New Hope, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Chattahoochee River, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesboro , and Lovejoy. In two of the severest of these conflicts, it had the rare pleasure of fighting behind entrenchments, suffering but little loss itself while inflicting terrible punishment upon the enemy. There is no doubt that the regiment in the course of the campaign placed many more rebels Jiors de combat than the command itself numbered. The losses of the regiment were fourteen killed, seventy wounded, and six captured. 4 4 1 have been unable to procure lists of casualties of this regiment, after the battle of Pea Ridge. The following list of those who were slain, or mortally wounded, will have a mournful interest : VICKSBURG. May 18th to July ith, 1863. Company A Captain F. S. Washburn, Lieutenants Jacob Jones, H. C. Wilbur, Edward Terrell, L. L. Martin ; Privates A. McMeans, M. Sweet. Company B Sergeant T. W. Blizzard ; Corporals G. M. Bowers, J. Walker : Privates C. Eastburn, I. Jrwine, E. C. Mattison. Company C Corporal L. A. Pearsall; Privates J. M. Hard, George Frebethizer. Company D Sergeant F. D. Gilbert. Company E Corporal J. Lampert; Privates J. M. Barnhouse, T. B. Berkine, F. M. Hughes, I. Lovesey, John Walter. Company F Corporal Jas. Smith ; Private W. H. Finney. Company G W. H. McGuigan, T. W. Brown. Company H Corporal Chas. Anway ; Privates H. E. Hall, A. Van Leuven, A. G. Nelson. Company I Sergeant A. Miller, Corporal G. W. Johnston ; Privates Wm. M. Crea, R. Hurley, G. A. Owens, B. F. Knight, J. H. Riddle. Company K Privates R. Evans, II. White. Corporal II. N. Bridenthal was killed at Brandon, Mississippi, July 19th, 1863 ; private T. C. Hyde, at battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25th. RINGGOLD, GA., November 27^, 1863 Sergeant William Bishop, Corporal H. Evans. RESACA. May 13th to 15th, 1864 Sergeant N. Lines, Corporal D. Steele; Privates D. Games, L. R. Wait. DALLAS. May 27tt to SQth Lieutenant J. L. Wragg, Sergeant II. II. P. Mulhausen, Corporal J. M. Barnhouse (there was a John M. as well as a James M. Barnhouse in company E one killed during the siege of Vicksburg, the other at Dallas) ; Privates G. W. Long, J. B. Robinson, S. M. Bump. KENESAW MOUNTAIN Corporal H. Robinson ; Privates F. J. Clark, James Blain. ATLANTA Privates L. M. Corbin, J. Hagemon, P. B. Myers. JONESBORO Private S. A. Converse. I am indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel Abernethy for the above names, as well as for a tabular statement of the casualties in the regiment during its term of service. From this it is shown that in its various engagements, numbering more than a score of battles, the Ninth Iowa lost eighty- seven officers and men slain, forty-six wounded mortally, three hundred and sixty-four wounded, and ten captured by the enemy, making a total loss during the war, on the field of battle, of five hundred and seven. NINTH INFANTRY. 163 With the termination of the campaign the regiment went into regular encampment, with the expectation of having a considerable period of rest. The same expectation was shared by the whole army, and doubtless, by the generals, for an order was issued whereby it was permitted five per cent, of the men to be furloughed. The rebel commanding general, however, inter fered with this arrangement by interfering with our communications, and the order allowing furloughs was countermanded. Hood soon began to re quire serious attention. Our regiment joined in his pursuit, breaking camp for that purpose early in October, and in one month making a march and countermarch of three hundred and fifty miles, without having seen any thing of the rebel forces but their heels. But before this march was made, the original term for which the regiment entered the service expired, and the non-veterans, numbering more than an hundred, were honorably dis charged. During the march on Savannah, the regiment was commanded by Cap tain M. Sweeney, Company B, who conducted it through that excursion without the loss of a single man. It destroyed of itself several miles of the Georgia Central Railroad, and performed other labors during the march, but it was with the Ninth as with the army generally a period of pleasure rather than of serious campaigning. After a few weeks halt at Savannah the regiment sailed to Beaufort. South Carolina, where it remained a short time, awaiting the complete readiness of General Sherman to march through the Carolinas. Here Colonel Carskaddon returned to the regiment and was honorably mustered out of service by reason of expiration of term. He had faithfully served his country for more than three years, first as captain of one of the com panies, and afterwards as commanding officer of the Ninth, and departed from the regiment bearing with him the kind esteem of his old comrades. The command of the regiment now devolved upon Major Alonzo Abernethy, one of the most modest and one of the most meritorious of Iowa s field officers, promoted from Captain of Company F, in place of Major Granger, who had died in hospital at Nashville, Tennessee. The march northward began on the 26th of January, and on the 19th of May our regiment pitched its tents on the heights of Alexandria, in plain view of the dome of the National Capital. It had on this its last campaign marched through many miles of swamps, builded many miles of road, and many lines of intrenchments, especially near Bentonville ; participated in the dangerous movement which resulted in the capture of Columbia, for which achievement the Iowa Brigade under Colonel Stone received the personal compliments of General Howard ; fought with bravery wherever there was fighting to do. At Columbia, the regiment drew rations for the twenty days march to Fayetteville, North Carolina. They consisted of one 164 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. half pound hard bread per man neither more nor less. Nevertheless, the command found plenty of food and fared sumptuously every day. This was different indeed from the parched-corn era of Arkansas, or the week of rice diet in the swamps near Savannah. Taking part in the great review of the 26th, the regiment moved into camp near "Crystal Springs," a short distance north of Washington, whence early in June it proceeded to Louisville, where it was mustered out of service on the 18th of July, then numbering five hundred and ninety-five, officers and men. Lieutenant-Colonel Coyle, who had been absent from the regiment most of the time for two years, was mustered out of service as a field oflicer, about the middle of July then being Judge Advocate in the army for the Department of Kentucky, on the staff of the brave and independent Major-General John M. Palmer. Major Abernethy was thereupon promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain Inman, Company I, Major. From Louisville, the regiment moved by rail to Clinton, Iowa, for final payment. At Chicago, a member of the regiment, Edward Keogh, of Company D, was killed in a saloon by some person unknown, which caused great excitement among his comrades and came near resulting in a general riot. The excitement was allayed, however, without further bloodshed. Keogh was a man much respected at his home Monticello, Jones county and when his body was taken to that place for burial it was attended to the grave by the citizens generally. This sad occurrence did not delay the journey of the regiment, which reached Clinton in due time, and was there disbanded on the 24th day of July. The regiment brought from the field four flags, of which two the na tional colors and the regimental blue were placed in the office of the Adjutant-General of the State. One, bearing the names of the principal engagements in which the regiment had taken part Pea Ridge, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Jackson, Assault and Siege of Vicksburg, Siege of Jackson, Brandon, Cherokee, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ring- gold, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Chatta- hoochee River, Atlanta, July 22d, and 28th, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Savannah, Columbia, Bentonville was deposited with the State Historical Society. The fourth, voted to the regiment at the Northern Iowa Sanitary Fair held at Dubuque in May, 1864, was retained by the regiment to be disposed of as the regimental association, formed at the disbandment of the command, may direct. And thus ended the history of the Ninth Iowa Volunteers, who had marched during their term of service more than four thousand miles; been transported by rail and steamer more than six thousand ; traversed every State ever claimed by the Confederacy except Texas and Florida ; NINTH INFANTRY. 165 been engaged prominently in many of the decisive battles of the war ; and had never, throughout their four years career, done a single deed of dis credit. When, therefore, their distinguished career was closed, and their banners furled, they returned to their homes with the grateful homage of the State upon which they had reflected so much honor, and which will ever and anon unfurl those banners, to read the proud blazonry, in colors of living light, of their unsurpassed achievements in the War for Unfon and Liberty. CHAPTER IX. TENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AT IOWA CITY MOVE TO ST. LOUIS-TO CAPE GIRARDEAU WINTER QUARTERS AT BIRD S POINT SKIRMISH NEAR CHARLESTON, MISSOURI CAM PAIGN OF NEW MADRID OF ISLAND NO. TEN MOVE TO VICINITY OF FORT PIL LOWSIEGE OF CORINTH BATTLE OF IUKA BATTLE OF CORINTH CAMPAIGN IN MISSISSIPPI YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILLS SIEGE THE JACKSON CAMPAIGN MARCH TO TENN ESSEEBATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE HOME ON VETERAN FURLOUGH RETURN TO THE FRONT MARCH ON SAVANNAH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS MOVE TO ARKANSAS HOME THE Tenth Iowa Infantry Volunteers, recruited under the President s proclamation of July 23d, 1861, were enlisted from quite a large number of counties, but chiefly resided in Polk, Warren, Boone, Tama, Washing ton, Poweshiek, Green, Jasper, Madison, and some of the counties con tiguous to these in what we roughly call the central part of the. State. The regiment was organized at "Camp Fre mont," near Iowa City, whither the most of the companies proceeded in the latter part of August, and where eight of them were mustered into the service by Captain Alexander Chambers, United States Army, on the 6th and Tth of September. One company was not mustered till the 28th, and the last till the 13th of October. When thus completely organized, the regiment had upon its rolls an aggregate of nine hundred and thirteen men. 1 1 ROSTER OF FIELD, STAFF, AXD LIVE OFFICERS : Colonel Nicholas Perczel, of Davenport ; Lieu tenant-Colonel William E. Small, Iowa City; Major John C.Bennett; T.W.Jackson, Adjutant; James Trusdell, Quartermaster; William P. Davis, Surgoon; Reverend D. W. Tolford, Chaplain. Company officers were: Company A Captain Nathaniel McCalla; Lieutenants Charles J. Clark, Josiah Hopkins. Company B Captain Martin C. Randleman; Lieutenants George M. Bentley, Oren Adkins. Company C Captain Albert Stoddard ; Lieutenants Thomas B. Martin, T. W. Jack son, (appointed Adjutant, and George H. Conant made Lieutenant). Company D Captain William P. Berry; Lieutenants William J. Wheeler, James Trusdell. Company E Captain Nathan A. Hoi- son ; Lieutenants Richard J. Mohr, Walter W. Purcell. Company F Captain Albert Head ; Lieu tenants David H. Emry, John W, Carr. Company G Captain P. P. Henderson ; Lieutenants Albert J. Kuhn, Robert Longshore. Company H Captain Jackson Orr ; Lieutenants Solomon 166 TENTH INFANTRY. 167 Having remained only a very short time in rendezvous after organization, the regiment moved by rail and steamer to St. Louis, where it was sup plied with arms, clothing, and equipage, upon the receipt of which it at once proceeded down the river to Cape Girardeau. There it went into camp, and the men were for the first time exercised in the battalion drill and the manual of arms. And this was their principal employment during the winter, whether at Cape Girardeau or Bird s Point. In the early part of November, however, they had their first campaigning in the field. Th notorious Jen . Thompson was about this time creating a considerable sensation, and with his band of "butternuts," as they were called, was doing no little damage and causing much annoyance to Union citizens in southeastern Missouri. He had his head-quarters at Bloomfield, distant nearly forty miles, in a southwestern direction, from Cape Girardeau. The Tenth Iowa was ordered to march on Bloomfield, and disperse Thompson s band. The command marched rapidly thither, but the bird had flown. The regiment captured a large quantity of property which the marauder had acquired on his plundering expeditions, but found no armed opposi tion. It accordingly countermarched to Cape Girardeau. On the 13th of December the regiment moved down to Bird s Point, and there went into winter quarters. On the 8th of January, Colonel Perczel received orders to march with his command, by night, to Charleston, twelve miles distant from Bird s Point, and surprise and capture a body of rebels understood to be posted there. Colonel Perczel immediately pro ceeded to the execution of these orders, and as soon as it was dark had his regiment on the march. The night was excessively stormy, and dark as Tartarus. The rain fell down in torrents, and the road, passing through swamps, was at this time perfectly horrible. Nevertheless, the command groped its away along as best it could, the men being in that peculiar kind of spirits, which, we frequently observe, seems to be the effect of commo tion among the elements. While they were thus feeling their way, and as they were passing through a dense forest, they were suddenly fired upon by the enemy in ambush. In the darkness, the command was thrown into momentary confusion, or rather, it was momentarily paralyzed by the suddenness of the attack. Officers and men, however, immediately recovered their presence of mind, and fought as well as it was possible to do at that time and at that place. They could only know the enemy s position by the flashes of his guns, into which they fired, and no doubt inflicted loss upon the men behind the flashes, who, at any rate, were entirely dispersed. The regiment marched on to Charleston and beyond, Shepherd, Andrew Perteuch. Company 7 Captain John A. Garrett; Lieutenants William H. Silsby, Stephen W. Poag. Company K Captain Robert Luaby; Lieutenants David S. Smith, Julian Bailsman. 168 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and returned next day to Bird s Point, having lost eight killed and sixteen wounded in this its first rencontre with the enemy." With the exception of this affair, nothing of note occurred to disturb the monotony of life in winter quarters until the commencement of the cam paign of New Madrid, under Brigadier-General John Pope. That com mander moved from St. Louis on the 22d of February, 1862, with a con siderable army small, indeed, when compared to the vast aggregation of men composing the Army of the Potomac, which had been spending a beautiful winter in inglorious quiet behind the works of Washington ; but composed of men of fine physical and moral constitution, already enured to hardship, and not slightly disciplined in the service. Disembarking at Commerce, a few miles above Bird s Point, General Pope was there con siderably reenforced, and by the Tenth Iowa among other regiments. The march commenced on the 28th, and after surmounting the difficulties of mud, swamps, felled trees, and small bodies of rebel troops, who harassed the column on every opportunity, the army set itself down around New Madrid on the 3d of March. The place was occupied by five regiments of infantry and several companies of artillery. One bastioned earthwork, mounting fourteen heavy guns, a short distance below the town, and another irregular work, at a less distance above, mounting seven pieces of heavy artillery, with lines of intrenchments between, constituted the defen sive works. Six gun-boats, carrying from four to eight heavy guns each, were anchored along the shore, between the upper and the lower redoubts. The country about New Madrid is perfectly level, and as the river at this time was so high that the guns of the gun-boats looked directly over the banks, the approaches to the town were commanded by direct and cross-fire from at least sixty guns of heavy calibre. General Pope accordingly sent to Cairo for heavy artillery, for the purpose of regularly besieging the place. Meanwhile, Colonel Plummer, Eleventh Missouri, with a consider able force of infantry, and a field battery of Parrott guns, took forcible possession of Point Pleasant, twelve miles below on the river, and there instituted a strict blockade. The enemy reenforced New Madrid from Island Number Ten, until by the time of the bombardment, they had nearly nine thousand infantry, a proportionate force of artillery, and nine gun-boats. Our forces, meantime, were on the qui vive, as near the enemy * The number is so stated by Lieutenant-Colonel Small, in his brief account of the regiment. The following list is taken from the Adjutant-General s report: Killed, Thomas J. Parsons, Abram Phillips, Corporal Oliver P. Lewin ; Willis Cook, John M. Sar- chett and John Larchet. Wounded, Corporal Angelo Myers, Amos II. Kellog, Cyrus Maholm, Aaron Tice, Corporal Abraham Dawson, Samuel Curry (mortally), Benjamin J. Godlove, William Lutz, William G. Parker, Milton 0. Evans (mortally), John S. Hodges, Mahlon N. Boardman, John A. Goodin, John 0. Johnson and Nathan S. Lympus. The discrepancy may be accounted for by the mortally wounded being counted among the killed, and the slightly wounded not reported. TENTH INFANTRY. 169 as was proper, and making frequent forced reconnoissances near the town, and sometimes entering its suburbs. The siege guns reached the army at sunset on the 12th. That night they were placed in battery, within eight hundred yards of the enemy s main work, and early on the morning of the 13th that is to say, within thirty-four hours from the time they were received at Cairo they were bombarding New Madrid. The artillery was well supported by infantry, and the bombardment was continued with great vigor and effect throughout the day. The enemy also maintained a cou^ tinuous fire from their batteries and gun-boats, but with little effect. Our trenches were all the while being extended and advanced, so that when night came the army was close up to the town, completely investing it. A furious thunder storm began to rage about eleven o clock at night, and continued till daylight. Whether frightened by the storm, or the evidences of General Pope s terrible energy, the enemy evacuated the town. At dawn of the 14th, this fact became apparent. The Tenth Iowa first entered the place, and its officers and men were the first to see that the rebels must have quitted their works in a panic, leaving everything behind them as trophies to our arms. It appeared that the men only had escaped. They had left their suppers untouched, their candles burning in their tents. They could not have fled more precipitately had they been warned of a coming shower of ashes, such as overtook Sodom and Gomorrah. They left all their artillery, field batteries and siege guns amounting to thirty- three pieces, immense quantities of ammunition, tents for an army of ten thousand men, horses, mules, wagons all had been left to fall into our possession, and make the victory most complete and wonderful. During all the operations, our whole army had lost but fifty-one men in killed and wounded. Happily, none of even this small loss fell upon the Tenth Iowa, for which it should have been grateful to fortune, seeing that its position was no less exposed than that of the most exposed regiment of the com mand. After this great victory of General Pope, our regiment, together with the whole army, immediately commenced the campaign of Island No. Ten, which turned out to be the chef cCceuvre of the commanding general, but which was remarkable for the skill, strategy, and terrible energy of Pope, and the hard manual labor of his troops, rather than for any direct fighting qualities displayed by either. In fact, the most brilliant and important results were accomplished with the least possible fighting, and that almost entirely by the gun-boats which in the course of the operations ran by Island No. Ten. Brilliant and important though these operations were, I need not dwell upon them here. Suffice it, that General Pope, by the accomplishment of achievements in engineering which astonished the world, and which must remain forever remarkable in history, and by the most 22 170 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. skilful adaptation of the means within his power to the end in view, com pelled the evacuation of the Island, after twenty-three days of constant, vigorous, but ineffectual bombardment by the navy under Flag-Officer Foote, on the very day on which General Grant drove Beauregard from the field of Shiloh. One hundred and twenty-three pieces of heavy artillery ; between six and seven thousand prisoners, embracing three generals, and two hundred and seventy- three field and company ofiicers ; seven thousand stand of small arms; several steamboats, and wharf-boats, filled with stores; an immense quantity of ammunition of all kinds; two thousand horses and mules, and a thousand wagons, were among the principal fruits which fell into our hands as the result of this great but bloodless victory. The regiments from Iowa which participated in this singular campaign were the Fifth and Tenth Infantry, and the Second Cavalry. The rebels who had been dispersed in the swamps which abound in that region, were hunted a few days by both cavalry and infantry, when the army embarked on steamers and proceeded down the river with the object of attacking Fort Pillow. A disembarkation was made seven miles above the fort, and Flag-Ofiicer Foote bombarded the work with the guns of his mortar fleet, but the army was withdrawn, under orders to reenforce Major- General Halleck then operating, in a manner peculiar to himself, against Beauregard, behind the works of Corinth. The command arrived at Pittsburg Landing on the 22d of April, and there disembarking marched to the front. It is well known that the army under General Pope imme diately after joining the forces before Corinth took a leading part in the operations of the siege, having several heavy skirmishes with the enemy in the course of its numerous reconnoissances in force, one of which, on the 9th of May, and another on the 26th, amounted to sharp engagements. In the engagement on the 9th the Second Iowa Cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Hatch, was more prominent than any other regiment; but through out the siege the Tenth Infantry held a conspicuous place, and performed most valuable services, but without any losses save those which resulted from sickness and exposure. After the evacuation of the stronghold by the rebels, and their pursuit by the army of the Mississippi, our regiment returned to the vicinity of Corinth and went into camp. 3 There it remained, in monotonous quiet, during the summer. Many of the men became sick ; some were discharged on account of physical disa- 3 It is familiar to the country that we had flaming telegrams from General Halleck touching the great success of General Pope s pursuit, informing the world how he had captured thirty thousand prisoners, innumerable small arms, etc., etc. These monstrous lies, which out Falstaffed Falstaff, were generally fathered on to Pope ; hut it has come to my knowledge, as this work is passing through the press, that Major-General Halleck alone was responsible for the-n. General Pope wrote a most indignant letter to Halleck on the subject, which ought to be published. Meantime, I aver that Halleck, and not Pope, is the greatest Gascon the war produced. TENTH INFANTRY. 171 bility ; other| died, and were buried on the banks of a brook which flowed by the encampment. The first autumnal month had more than half gone by, before the command was brought again into active operations. It then moved with the army under General Rosecrans to attack Price at luka. In the short but terrible battle which took place near that place on the eve ning of September 19th, it bore honorable part; and won the special men tion of the commanding general, for its gallant repulse of two separate charges of Texas troops. The victory of luka having been gained, the troops of the Union were concentrated at Corinth for the purpose of there confronting the rebels un der Van Dorn and Price, who were known to be concentrating for the purpose of attacking our comparatively small army, and regaining a posi tion whose loss had been ever deplored by them. In the battle of Corinth, continuing throughout the 3d and 4th days of October, our regiment fought with the brigade of General Sullivan, distinguished among the distinguished commands of that engagement. It was under the command of Major Nathaniel McCalla on this occasion, and fought and manoeuvred with great coolness and gallantry, as well when the tide of battle seemed to be against us, as when we drove the enemy from the field in rout and panic. 4 The regiment again had a period of rest after the battle of Corinth, in camp near that place, which continued about one month, at the end of which time it joined in the movement under General Grant into central Mississippi, whereby it was intended to attack Vicksburg in rear, but which design was thwarted and the campaign rendered futile by Van Dora s success in cutting General Grant s communications and destroying his prin cipal depot of supplies, at Holly Springs. Having on this expedition marched as far as Oxford, our regiment there turned about face, and * Major McCalla, in his official report of this action states the loss of the regiment, during the two days contest, as three killed and thirty-seven wounded. The names are not given in his report, and I find the following only in the Adjutant-General s Report: Killed, Corporal Thomas H. Reed, Sergeant John M. Stebbing, and Andrew J. Stallsworth. Wounded Wesley Randall (died from effects of wound), Corporal Chas. Page (mortally), August Hemmenn (mortally), William Cox (mortally), Oscar Gray (mortally), George C. Walker (mortally), Richard Stock. Perhaps only the killed and severely wounded were reported. " During both days," says Major McCalla, " I was assisted in the field by Captain N. A. Holson, acting lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Jackson Orr, acting major ; also Lieutenant Wm. Manning, adjutant, who acted throughout with great coolness and courage, and to whom great credit is due. The line officers, without an exception, deported themselves with the greatest gallantry, and did much to accomplish our successful movements on the field in the presence of danger. To the men of my command too much praise cannot be given for their endurance, courage, and strict obedience of orders under all circumstances." The Major speaks of one commissioned officer wounded. This refers, no doubt, to Captain Albert Head, of Company F, who was struck in the head with a minio ball, and severely wounded. Why he was not so reported specifically I cannot tell. Perhaps he was, but they could not find him at the Adjutant-General s Office, seeing his name is there put down " Hard." 172 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. marched to Memphis. At that city and near by the regimen^ remained in camp and winter quarters till the campaign of the following spring. It may be well enough here to remark, taking up the personal thread of the regiment s history, that up to this time there had been many changes in the officers of the regiment more, I think, without, however, stopping to make special examination, than was usual with our regiments. There had been a number of resignations of line officers, whose places had been filled by promotions. Major Bennett had resigned even a short time before the close of 1861, and his place had been filled, early in 1862, by the pro motion of Captain McCalla, whose duty it became, as we have seen, to command the regiment through the most important action in which it was engaged during the year. Dr. Davis had also been compelled by bad health to resign in the Spring of 1862, whereupon Dr. Mohr was made surgeon. Before the regiment entered upon its active campaigning of 1863, the Rev. William G. Kephart, of Kossuth, had been appointed chaplain an ap pointment to which all who have read the Burlington Hawk-Eye newspaper are indebted for a great deal of intellectual pleasure, seeing that during all the rest of the war the chaplain wrote for that journal, contributing thereto a series of letters of very high and peculiar merits. Colonel Perczel had resigned before the march into Mississippi, but his place was not filled till August, 1863. when Captain P. P. Henderson was appointed thereto. Major McCalla was then also made lieutenant-colonel in place of Colonel Small, some time before resigned, and Captain Robert Lusby made major. Much of this, however, is anticipating. The regiment, as has been stated, remained during the winter, after the return from the fruitless attempt on Vicksburg, in the vicinity of Memphis. General Grant was not capable of being discouraged by any obstacle not absolutely insurmountable, and his rebuff of the close of 1862, though it involved also the severe reverse of General Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou, only had the effect of arousing him to the full exertion of his military powers when the spring of 1863 came on. His next attempt on Yicksburg was also a failure, though it resulted in very little loss of life. This was the Yazoo Pass Expedition, a full account of which I may have occasion hereafter in this work to relate. Brigadier-General I. F. Quinby left Memphis to join in this expedition in the early part of March, 1863, and came in sight of Fort Pemberton, the capture of which had just been abandoned by General Ross, on the 21st. The two divisions continued to bombard the works for a few days, but under orders from General Grant abandoned the enterprise and returned to the Mississippi, to take part in the general movement against Vicksburg. Our regiment was with General Quinby on this singular and exciting campaign. The scare-crow fleet did not long remain near the head of the Yazoo TENTH INFANTRY. 173 Pass. Moving with it down the Mississippi, our regiment stopped a nay at Lake Providence, and then proceeded to Milliken s Bend, where it disembarked about the middle of April. Here the grand campaign of Vicksburg was inaugurated in earnest. In this campaign the Tenth Iowa bore as honorable a part, doing as valiant service and suffering as severe loss, as any regiment among ah 1 the hosts who achieved the crowning victory, thus far, of the war. General Quinby being absent, sick, General M. M. Crocker had command of the division. Colonel Boomer, Twenty- Sixth Missouri, commanded the brigade to which the Tenth was attached. It was in McPherson s corps. With this corps the regiment left Milliken s Bend, and marched and fought with it throughout the campaign. It was engaged in the battle of Kayinond, on the 12th of May, of Jackson on the 14th, being with that division which bore the brunt of that stormy fight ; but it became its duty to fight more desperately, and to suffer more heavily than elsewhere at the bloodiest encounter of the campaign, namely : THE BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILLS. Having now gained three considerable battles since placing his army in Mississippi south of Vicksburg, General Grant had absolutely shamed the rebel General Pemberton into moving his main body from behind the works of the stronghold under cover of which he had taken refuge, with the view of returning some of the sturdy blows which the Union army had been dealing the Confederacy. Accordingly, about the time the gallant McPher- son was whipping Johnston, at Jackson, Pemberton put his army in mo tion, and marched from Vicksburg to deliver attack, as he supposed, upon our rear. He did not succeed in catching Grant napping, but succeeded in bringing on the severest battle, both to the Unionists and rebels, of all the engagements of the campaign in the open field. This was the battle of Champion Hills, fought on the 16th of May, about midway between Jack son and Vicksburg. When McPherson fought the battle of Jackson, on the 14th, Sherman s Corps, with the exception of Blair s division thereof, supported him in the fight from a position south of the city, and justly took part in the triumph of the capture of the capital. Just at this time, which was just when Pemberton moved from Vicksburg with the object of attacking our rear, General Grant ordered that portion of his army which had been in sup porting distance of the troops engaged at Jackson, but not cooperating with them, to face to the west, to meet Pemberton s movement, of which the Union general had learned by intercepted dispatches. McClernand, commanding Thirteenth Corps, now had one of his divisions, Hovey s, at Clinton, on the direct road from Jackson to Vicksburg, another, at Missis 174 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. sippi Springs, a few miles south, another at Raymond further west, and still another, with Blair s division of Sherman s corps, still further west, near Auburn. It was General Grant s design, and his order, that these troops, marching on different roads converging near Bolton, half way be tween Clinton and Champion Hills, should there join, ready to move upon the enemy at any moment. Unfortunately, McClernand did not come to time, with the main portion of his command, and the battle was fought mainly by Hovey s division of the Thirteenth Corps, and Logan s and Crocker s divisions of McPherson s corps, which Grant had sent out from Jackson to join in this movement toward Vicksburg. Early on the morning of the 16th, General Grant learned that Pemberton, with a force of twenty-five thousand men, with ten batteries of artillery, was moving eastward, and indications of coming battle soon became so clear that Grant sent word to Sherman to abandon his work of destruction at Jackson and move with all possible speed to join the main army near Bolton. McClernand was ordered to hasten up with his command. Meantime, General Hovey moved on along the main road, and deployed into line, with considerable firing between his .and the enemy s skirmishers, which grew into a battle about one hour before noon. Pemberton had taken a strong position on a narrow ridge, his left resting on a height, known as Champion Hill, where the road makes a sharp turn to the left approaching Vicksburg. The top of the ridge and the preci pitous hill-side to the left of the road were covered by a dense forest and undergrowth. To the right of the road the forest extended but a short distance down the hill, opening into cultivated fields on a gentle slope, and a slightly undulating valley extending to a considerable distance. It was the strongest position taken by the rebels during the campaign. Hovey delivered attack along his whole line, when the time came for that purpose, with great impetuosity and effect. Logan s division soon went to work on the enemy s left and rear, weakening his front attack wonderfully. Our left centre and left were retarded in their progress by the nature of the ground and by the artillery of the enemy, which making much noise and fury very naturally persuaded a commander of McClernand s peculiar genius, who was on this part of the field, that the enemy was there deliver ing his main attack. While, therefore, Osterhaus and Smith were merely having heavy skirmishing on their front, Hovey and Logan on the right were fighting a bloody battle. The troops under Hovey, a large proportion of whom were from the State of Indiana, fought with great bravery, and with those shouts for which the Hoosier soldiers were noted. The ground upon which this general had to manoeuvre was such that his lines were necessarily much TENTH INFANTRY. 175 contracted, and thus received the full fire of the enemy, who was pouring in reenforceinents to this part of his lines from troops who had been amusing McClernand, and concentrating them on our exposed position from a cover of heavy timber. The firing became terrible. Such an awful rattle of musketry as was now kept up for an hour and a half was hardly heard during the war, or if heard anywhere, only at Shiloh or Fair Oaks. Hovey held his ground with the most unyielding tenacity during these fearful ninety minutes, when he was compelled to give way. Driven by twice his numbers he fell back slowly, in good order, fighting all the time, for the distance of half a mile. Here Crocker s division reenforced him, and, reforming, he again moved forward his decimated division in support, now, of Crocker, who pressed into the fight with his accustomed dash and bravery, and by desperate fighting, in which he lost heavily, soon turned the rebels to the right about, and sent them whirling down the road to Vioksburg, with the gallant Logan so close upon their heels that much of their artillery and many prisoners fell into our hands. It was as clean and complete a victory as General Grant ever gained. But it was a triumph which cost us dearly. Our losses, in killed, wounded, and missing, were two thousand four hundred and fifty-seven, of which Hovey s division lost one thousand two hundred and two, and the divisions of Crocker and Logan one thousand and sixty, of which latter loss by far the greater proportion fell to the division under Crocker. The enemy, probably, did not suffer so much in killed and wounded as we did, because they fought under cover, whilst we for the most part fought on an open field. Their losses in materiel, however, and in prisoners far out numbered ours, for we lost no materiel, and very few prisoners, whilst their captured were fully equal to our total casualties. When the tide of battle turned against them, they fled in the greatest confusion, but one of their divisions, Loring s, was entirely cut off. It was in this battle that the rebel General Tilghman was killed. " Pemberton retired from the battle-field," says Pollard, the rebel historian, so called, "with a demoralized army. It had lost nearly all of its artillery ; it was weakened by the absence of General Loring s division ; it had already shown the fatal sign of straggling ; and, worse than all, it had conceived a distrust of its commander, who had carried his troops by a vague and wandering march on the very front of the concentrated forces of the enemy." Along the whole line of battle and in Carr s division, in reserve, there were many Iowa regiments, which behaved with good conduct equal to that of the best troops with whom they were directly associated. But there were no regiments which ever fought with more distinguished gallantry than the Fifth, the Tenth, the Seventeenth, the Twenty-fourth, and the Twenty-eighth at the battle of Champion Hills. The Twenty-fourth was 176 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. in Slack s brigade of Hovey s division, and bore the brunt of battle for two hours with a persistent gallantry not surpassed by any of their comrades whose united heroism caused the Vicksburg campaign at this decisive battle to turn in our favor, and make the destruction of the stronghold a mere question of time. "The Twenty-fourth Iowa," says a correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, writing from the field of battle, u is called a Methodist regiment. The colonel and several of the captains are Methodist preachers, and a majority of the soldiers are members of the Methodist church. They did some of the best fighting of the day, yesterday. They went into the battle full of enthusiasm, and not one of them flinched dur ing the engagement. Their major was wounded late in the day. He walked from the field, and on his way to the hospital captured a stalwart confeder ate, and compelled him to carry him on his back to the Provost-Marshal s head-quarters. It was a laughable sight to see Major Wright riding his captive into camp. The casualty list of the Methodists is very large, and shows they stood up to the work like true soldiers. On returning from the battle-field in the evening they held a religious meeting, at which the exer cises were very impressive. As I write they are filling the woods with Old Hundred. " The Seventeenth was in Holmes brigade, and on this event ful day performed prodigies of valor, entitling all its officers and men en gaged to the highest meed of praise. The Fifth was in the same brigade as the Tenth that of the heroic Colonel Boomer, who was soon afterwards killed before the works of Vicksburg. It fought most manfully, and suffered heavily. The Twenty-eighth fought splendidly near the Twenty-fourth. As for the regiment with which we now have particularly to do, it found at Champion Hills the bloodiest ordeal through which it was ever called to pass, suffering a loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, of nearly fifty per cent of those engaged. The regiment, with the brigade, rushed into the fight when the rebels had succeeded in forcing back Hovey and in throwing him into temporary confusion where a rout must have entailed a terrible disaster upon our arms, and succeeded by as desperate fighting as was ever witnessed in holding the enemy in check until Crocker threw in other troops, who, animated by his intrepid spirit, and sustained by his splendid nerve, snatched glorious victory out of the defeat which seemed so immi nent. Here the tide of battle turned and swept the rebel army from the field. But Boomer s brigade was immolated. The losses in the Tenth regiment were fearful. Captain Poag, Lieutenant Brown, and Lieutenant Terry were killed on the field, Captains Lusby, Hobson, Kuhn, and Head, and Lieutenants Meekins and Gregory were wounded, whilst the scene of their conflict was strewn with the dead and wounded. 5 I regret exceedingly that I hare been unable to procure a list of the casualties sustained by the regiment in this its severest battle. TENTH INFANTRY. 177 The regiment remained on the battle-field while the main army pressed on by Black River Bridge and Bridgeport, and speedily sat down around the works of Vicksburg. Here the Tenth soon joined the army and took position on the front line. In the sadly memorable assault of the 22d of May, the regiment took an active part, making two distinct charges on two different parts of the enemy s works, and losing many brave men in killed and wounded. Here Captain Head was again wounded, and this time so severely that he was disabled for many months. On this day Colonei Boomer, commanding the brigade, one of the most gallant officers in the Union Army, was shot through the head and immediately expired. General Mathies succeeded him in the command. After the capitulation of Vicksburg, the regiment moved with the Expeditionary Army under Sherman, against the rebel Johnston, and fully participated in the cam paign of Jackson, whereby that city and all central Mississippi were brought into the possession of the Union forces. This campaign, the military corollary of the campaign of Vicksburg, being closed, our regiment returned to the vicinity of the stronghold, and went into an encampment where it had more than two months of rest from labors which had been as arduous and as full of danger and death as were those of any regiment in the grand army. This needed repose was broken in the latter part of September. It then moved by steamer to Memphis, and being now transferred to the Fifteenth Corps, General Sherman, accompanied that commander s army across the State of Tennessee to Chattanooga, and took part in the series of battles which immediately followed their arrival near that place. The battle of Chattanooga, as this series of engagements is properly called, continued with less or more general fighting throughout the 23d, 24th, and 25th of November. It was on the last of these days that General Mathies brigade, to which our regiment still belonged, was again called upon to sustain a most terrible and unequal conflict. I shall hereafter in the course of this work have occasion to speak with considerable detail of the battle of Chat tanooga, in some respects the most remarkable contest of the war, or, indeed, of history. Let it suffice now, as carrying on the thread of my narrative of a single regiment, that the Tenth Iowa here fought upon the left of our lines, where Sherman showed the sublime qualities both of a hero and a martyr, with that terrible tenacity against fearful odds which had characterized its conduct on the field of Champion Hills. Here many of its best officers and men gave up their lives, and others their blood upon the red altar of battle, and when the victory was gained, many of their dead bodies were found lying up against the rebel breastwork which they had reached under an awful fire from ten times their number. The campaigns of 1863 for our regiment closed with the victory of Chat- 23 178 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. tanooga. It joined in the pursuit of the rebels, but soon after the battle inarched into Alabama, and went into winter quarters at Huntsville. During the months of January and February, 1864, the regiment reenlisted and became a veteran organization, and entered the service as such on the first of February. Notwithstanding the regiment had been so greatly reduced by its active campaigns, nearly three hundred reentered the ser vice. So the first two months of winter were most profitably, though quietly spent. Shortly after reenlistment, the regiment made a campaign into East Tennessee. Sherman was now moving on his famous raid across the Mississippi, with the reverend rebel General Polk in his front. Johnston with his main body occupied Dalton and Buzzard Roost, in Georgia, General Thomas moved to Cleveland, a considerable distance east of Chat tanooga, with the object of creating a diversion in favor of Sherman of preventing Johnston from reenforcing Polk. General Mathies accompanied Thomas on this expedition with a detachment of his command, of which the Tenth Iowa formed a part. The expedition having in fact accom plished all that was intended, returned in about two weeks, after which life in winter quarters went on with our regiment just the same as before. Toward the last of April the regiment was ordered to Decatur, and there relieved General Dodge s division, which proceeded to join the army col lecting together for the Atlanta campaign. In that campaign the regiment did not directly participate. When it had reenlisted, the exigencies of the service forbade its taking, at the time, that furlough to which, by general rule, it would have been entitled, and, like the Seventeenth regiment, it was sent home on veteran furlough in the midst of the summer. The regi ment went to Iowa in June, and, having enjoyed a month there in which they were most handsomely treated by the people, officers and men returned to their field of duty in the latter part of July, Colonel Henderson bringing with him a splendid sword, the gift of his friends in Warren County. Upon its return to the theatre of war, the regiment w?s stationed along the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad near Kingston, Georgia, head-quar ters at that place. This was the time when the rebel trooper, Wheeler, was raiding in rear of Sherman, and doing much mischief to his communi cations. The Tenth took part in two expeditions against the trooper. The first was abandoned soon after its inception for the reason that it was dis covered Wheeler was already beyond reach. The second was of much more importance. This expedition, under Generals Steadman and Rous seau, moved after Wheeler cotemporaneously with Sherman s last grand flanking movement, which resulted in the battle of Jonesboro and the evacuation of Atlanta, and pursued the fugitive through East and Middle Tennessee, and Northern Alabama to the Tennessee river near Florence. The regiment returned to Kingston after a rapid, laborious march of nearly TENTH INFANTRY. 179 a thousand miles. And when, in October, Hood tore up the railroad between Resaca and Dalton, and attacked the former place with a large force, the regiment reenforced the garrison, and aided to hold the place till Sherman came up. Shortly afterwards the regiment moved to Atlanta, and there rejoined the main army in time to take part in the march thence to Savannah. In the demolition of railways, which was one of the impor tant duties of this remarkable campaign, and in the good health, and good cheer which characterized it, the regiment had its full share. It also toofc part in the attack on Savannah which took place before that which resulted in the capture of Fort McAllister, and then remained in quiet till the triumphal entry into the city a few days before merry Christmas. In the campaign of the Carolinas, the regiment distinguished itself at the passage of the Salkahatchie River, crossing the stream, which was waist deep, in front of the enemy posted behind considerable earthworks, and with the Fifty-sixth Illinois charging and driving the rebels like scared sheep before them. It was with the column which brought Columbia into our possession, and warmly engaged, at Cox s Bridge, on the Neuse River, North Carolina, in one of the skirmishes preliminary to the Battle of Ben- tonville, and which was the last engagement with the enemy in which the Tenth took part. This affair of Cox s Bridge occurred on the 19th day of March, 1865, a few days more than three years from the triumphal march of the regiment, at the head of Pope s Army of the Mississippi into New Madrid, on the bank of the Father of Waters. From Bentonville the regiment moved to Goldsboro, thence to Raleigh, where Johnston soon capitulated, and thence to Washington city, where it participated in the famous review. From Washington it moved to Louis ville, where the men supposed they would be mustered out of service. In this they were mistaken. The fighting days of the regiment were over, but not its journeyings. Having remained at Louisville a few weeks, it was ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas, whither it proceeded without visible dis content, but certainly, one should suppose, not without mental execrations upon the heads of the authorities promulgating the order. Nor did events show that there was any the least necessity for it. No speck of war appeared in that dark quarter of the national horizon, and the next order the regiment received was an order for muster-out. In obedience to which, it was mustered out at Little Rock, on the 15th of August, then numbering but little more than three hundred men, all told, with the following roster of ofiicers : Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Silsby ; Adjutant H. S. Bowman ; Sur geon R. J. Mohr; Chaplain Reverend William Gr. Kephart. Company A Lieutenant E. E. Howe. Company B Lieutenant S. Kenworthy. Company C Captain William H. Stoddard ; Lieutenant J. H. Larimer. 180 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. Company D Lieutenant A. C. Eberhart. Company E Captain M. G. Cooper, Lieutenant J. M. Haley. Company F Captain C. Dryden ; Lieutenant L. C. Ela. Company G Captain J. M. Cochran ; Lieutenant J. H. Miller. Company H Lieutenant M. Custer. Company I Cap tain A. W. Drew ; Lieutenant William P. Wilson. Company K Captain William Rahm ; Lieutenant William C. Bayles. The command moved thence to Davenport, Iowa, where it was finally disbanded on the last day of August. It will be remembered that the regiment numbered more than nine hundred men upon its organization. During its four years of varied and remarkable service it received about three hundred recruits, and when its history closed,. it had about this latter number on its rolls. In wounds, and disease, and deatfr, therefore, the proud old Tenth made a sacrifice tantamount to its original strength. Such was its sublime offering to the Union. The bones of the sons of Iowa belonging to this regiment, fallen in the great struggle for liberty, now lie mingled with the soil of every State from Missouri to Georgia, and one of its Majors, the brave, accomplished, genial Robert Lusby, found an untimely grave near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where he was serving on the staff of General Crocker. Notwithstanding the honorable record which this regiment made for itself; notwithstanding it had borne an active part in nearly thirty skir mishes, sieges, battles, and had traveled a distance more than half the dis tance around the globe, it gave over its colors to the State with the simple inscription, "Tenth Iowa Veteran Volunteers." Having faithfully per formed its duty to the country, the regiment was content to leave it to others to make up its record. But when the visitor to our archives and relics shall behold the honored emblem, he will with the mind s eye see Charleston, Missouri, New Madrid, Island No. Ten, Farmington, luka, Corinth, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hills, Assault and Siege of Vicks- burg, Missionary Ridge, Decatur, Salkahatchie, Columbia, Bentonville ; he will think of the four years, crowded full of big events, during which the banner became so torn and bloody, and he will turn away with the reflec tion that the " Tenth Iowa Veteran Volunteers" is as proud an inscription as flag ever unfurled to the breeze of heaven. CHAPTEE X. TWELFTH INFANTRY. RENDEZVOUS AT DUBUQUE SICKNESS AT BENTON BARRACKS-FORT HENRY- FORT DONELSON SHILOH THE REGIMENT CAPTURED BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORY IN CAPTIVITY EXCHANGED REORGANIZATION MOVE TO ROLLA, MISSOURI JOIN THE ARMY UNDER GRANT OPERATING AGAINST VICKSBURG THEN, THE ARMY OF OBSERVATION, UNDER SHERMAN SIEGE OF JACKSON IN CAMP NEAR VICKSBURG VETERAN FURLOUGH RETURN TO THE THEATRE OF WAR ACTIVE OPERATIONS BATTLE NEAR TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI TWO COMPANIES OF THE REGIMENT DEFEAT FOUR HUNDRED REBELS AT MOUTH OF WHITE RIVER, ARKANSAS REGIMENT POSTED AT HOLLY SPRINGS- SEVERE MARCH THROUGH ARKANSAS CAMPAIGN IN MISSOURI MOVE TO NASHVILLE SIEGE AND BATTLE THE MOBILE CAMPAIGN UNDER CANBY SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. VERY soon after the disaster to the Union arms at Bull Run, in Virginia, the President issued a proclamation calling for additional volunteers, under which several regiments were recruited in Iowa, and among them was the Twelfth Infantry. The companies which formed the regiment were enrolled in the counties of Hardin, Allamakee, Fayette, Linn, Black Hawk, Dela ware, Winneshiek, Dubuque, and Jackson, many recruits joining the orga nization, however, from other counties, during the summer and fall of 1861, and went into rendezvous at Dubuque, where they were mustered into the service at different times during the months of October and November. The organization was completed near the close of the latter month, the last company being sworn in on the 25th, at which time the regiment numbered, rank and file, nine hundred and twenty-six men. J. J. Woods, of Jackson County, was commissioned Colonel ; John P. Coulter, of Linn, Lieutenant-Colonel; and Samuel D. Brodtbeck, of Dubuque, Major. 1 * Nathaniel E. Duncan, of Dubuque, was appointed Adjutant; Joseph B. Dorr, of the same county, Quartermaster; Dr. C. C. Parker, of Fayette, Surgeon; Dr. W. H. Finley, of Delaware, Assistant Surgeon ; and Rev. Albert G. Eberhart, of Linn, Chaplain. The line officers of the regiment were: Company A Captain Samuel R. Edgington ; Lieutenants 181 182 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. A very few days after organization, the regiment moved by rail to St. Louis, and went into quarters there for drill and discipline, at Benton Barracks. The men composing this fine command were in robust health when they left their rendezvous at Dubuque, and were remarkable for their vigorous, manly appearance. It was simply impossible, however, for men of women born to "experience" Benton Barracks, during the winter of 1861-2 without taking some contagious disease or epidemic. During the months of December and January, the regiment was sorely, most sadly afflicted with sickness, being scourged at the same time by two dreadful diseases measles and pneumonia. At one time half the men were sick, and during this mournful period about seventy-five members of the regi ment died, among them Captain Tupper, of Company G, an officer of great popularity and promise. Having endured the discomforts and ailments of these notorious Barracks about two months, the regiment moved by rail to Cairo, and thence by steamer to Smithland, Kentucky, where it remained a short time, and then joined the army under General Grant, which was about to move upon the enemy s works in Tennessee. The regiment witnessed the capture of Fort Henry, February 6, 1862, by the gallant western sailors under Flag-Officer Foote, participating in that famous achievement in so far as any part of the army participated therein, and suffering in common with all the troops the hardships of the severe weather. On the 12th, the regiment marched from Fort Henry to the neighbor hood of Fort Donelson, and on the morning of the next day took position on the left wing of the investing army, being on the left flank of the second brigade on the left of the Union lines ; a position which, in the course of the brilliant operations which followed, turned out to be one both of danger and of honor. In the sufferings, and contests, and final glorious success of the wonderful victory of Fort Donelson, our regiment bore its part man fully, bravely, joyfully, and at once won a high reputation among the citizens of Iowa and others, who read the thrilling details of General Grant s first great success. 2 The regiment remained on the field of their A. E. Webb, George W. Moir. Company B -Captain Willard C. Earlo ; Lieutenants Lyman H. Merrill, John H. Borger. Company C Captain William W. Warner; Lieutenants David B. Hen derson, Aaron M. Smith. Company D Captain John H. Stibbs; Lieutenants J D. Fergusson, Hiel Hale; Company E Captain William Haddock; Lieutenants John Elwell, Robert Williams ; Company F Captain James E. Ainsworth ; Lieutenants J. W. Gift, William A. Morse. Company G Captain Charles C. Tupper; Lieutenants Lloyd D. Townsley, Joseph F. Nickerson. Company H Captain Henry J. Playter; Lieutenants Robert Fishel, Luther W. Jackson. Company I Captain Edward W. Van Du/ee ; Lieutenants John J. Marks, Alfred M. Palmer. Company K Captain John G. Fowler ; Lieutenants Lawrence Webb, and John J. Brown. 2 In my account of the Second Infantry I have given a description of the battle of Fort Donelson, there narrating the part taken by the Twelfth regiment also. The killed and wounded of the regi ment numbered thirty-one, two only being killed outright. They were : TWELFTH INFANTRY. 183 glory with the army about two weeks, taking needed rest, and recuperating from the effects of the short but arduous campaign. At the conclusion of this period of rest, the campaign of Shiloh was opened. Our regiment, taking part therein, marched to a landing on the Tennessee River, and there taking steamers proceeded to Pittsburg Land ing. In their encampment about one mile from the hamlet, the men enjoyed the quiet which was begotten from no thoughts of danger, and which negative state of mind on the part of the general commanding came* near resulting in the destruction of the army. About the only event of noteworthy importance which took place during this period of quiet, when the troops ought all to have been engaged in entrenching their positions, was the resignation of Major Brodtbeck, on account of poor health. Captain Edgington, of Company A, was designated to act in his place by Colonel Woods, and was in due time fully commissioned major. Of the battle of Shiloh, which took place on the 6th and 7th days of April, of this year, I have written many details, especially such as had a bearing on the part taken in that contest by Iowa troops, in my account of the Third Infantry. But it will bear repeating here that the Eighth, the Twelfth, and the Fourteenth Iowa Volunteers, composed four-fifths of that little band which held back ten times their force of rebels, long after all support had fallen away from their right and their left, fighting after the last hope of saving themselves had gone, and by sacrificing themselves, saving the army of the Union till Buell and night had come. As the sun was setting on the army they had saved, these gallant men threw down their arms and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. They had fought without flinching all day, but it made the blood run cold in the veins of the stoutest hearted to see many of their comrades shot down after they had surrendered, and some of them so long after the surrender that ignorance of the fact could not have been pleaded in excuse of the foul atrocity. 3 Killed, Privates E. C. Buckner, and J. J. Stillman. Wounded, Lieutenant D. B. Henderson ; Pri vates F. B. Reed, Joseph Starts, Henry S. Fry, Jesse Thayer, E. W. Wood, W. B. Bort, W. B. War ner, W. W. Davery, John W. Rowan, E. A. King, Charles R. Switzer, S. J. Crowhurst, Reuben C. Palmer, George Kent, James M. Taylor, Michael Kirchner, Christian Christopheson, A. J. Price, John B. Flenniken, T. Eaton, Patrick McMannis, Thomas Wilson, J. H. Johnson ; Sergeants J. P. Jackson, R. W. Tirril, and E. W. Calder; and Corporal William Mathias. 8 Besides the prisoners, the losses in killed and wounded of the regiment were very heavy. I am well assured that no full report of these losses has ever been made. Colonel Woods himself was severely wounded and taken prisoner ; and, though he was soon afterwards recaptured by our forces, his wound, and the inevitable difficulty of making up returns with the command nearly all in captivity, prevented, of course, full and accurate returns. I give below, therefore, only a list of the killed and wounded, as taken from the Adjutant-General s Report. Company A Killed, Lieutenant George W. Moir; Privates Wbitcom Fairbanks, Barton H. Johnson, William Stotser. Company C Corporal Thomas Henderson; Privates Charles Larson, Charles Pendleton. Company D Lieutenant Jason D. Fergusson ; Privates James P. Ayers, Daniel Luther. Company E Privates Israel W. Fuller, William L. Pauley. Company F Corporal Abern D. Campbell. Company 7 Private Thomas H. Wilson. Wounded, Colonel Jackson J. Wood. 184 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. By the time the prisoners were collected and ready to march to the rear, it was dark. A few stray shots were still fired, and the heavy boom of the cannon on the gun-boats was borne on the evening air ; but the battle was closed for the day. The prisoners marched five miles to the rear, and spent the stormy night in a corn-field. The next day they marched to Corinth, and thence went by rail to Memphis, and from there, soon after wards, to Mobile, Alabama, by Grenada, Jackson and Meridian. From Mobile, the oflicers, of the rank of Captain and above, were sent by steamer to Selma, and thence to Taladega, 4 where they remained a short time, and returned to Selma. The Lieutenants and men were taken to various places in Alabama, and confined in loathsome prisons. About half the men of the Twelfth were released during the month of May, and sent to parole camp, Benton Barracks, Missouri. The rest suffered the hardships and privations of imprisonment during the summer and fall. The officers remained at Selma nearly three months, when they were taken to Atlanta, Georgia, but stopped there, at the scene of so much glory afterwards to many of them, only a short time, and then proceeded to Madison, where they were joined by the officers who had been separated from them, and where they all remained till the 7th of November. They then went by rail through South Carolina and North Carolina to Libby Prison, Richmond, and were paroled on the 13th, at Aiken s Landing. The enlisted men were paroled on the 20th, at the same place, and all went to the parole camp at Annapolis, Md., and thence to St. Louis. During this period, officers and men suffered worse than had been known up to that time among civilized people, from the effects of harsh treatment. Many died in pri son ; many others afterwards died from the effects of their prison life ; and Company A Corporal Ezekiel S. Sawin; Private Kendricks S. Sprague. Company B Privates Orison F. Adams, Cornelius Denny, Henry S. Fry, Henry Jones, Charles King, William Maynard, Joseph Starts, Robert Wampler, Stephen Wood. Company C Corporal Phineas R. Ketchum ; Pri vates Henry George, Wilson King, Frank W. Moine, Albert P. Munger, David W. Reed. Company D Sergeant John M. Clark ; Corporals Joseph Stibbs, Homer C. Morehead, Howard Pangborn ; Privates Edwin H. Bailey, Thomas Barr, Isaac G. Clark, Robert C. Cowell, Frank Renchin. Com- pany E Musician Benjamin E. Eberhart; Privates Anthony Biller, Jacob Howrey, Charles John son, Samuel J. Lichty, Thomas Porter, John P. Thompson. Company F Sergeants Henry J. F. Small, Rodney W. Tirrill; Corporal Thomas C. Nelson; Privates Aborn Crippen, George Kent, Samuel Plattenburg, Joseph Plate. Company G Private Alfred S. Fuller. Company IT Corporal Joseph Evans; Privates Alexander Presho, Edgar A. Ward. Company 7 Private Theophilus Eaton. Company K Sergeant Benjamin Hayhurst; Corporal Lewellyn Larrabee; Privates Sylvester Griffin, Frank Kerzer, John Moulton, (mortally). * Whilst the prisoners were at Taladega, (Captain J. M. Hedrick, Fifteenth Iowa, afterwards, Brevet Brigadier-General, being of the number), a rebel guard was killed by order of the officer of the guard, for declining to be relieved, the poor fellow ignorantly thinking he was doing his duty, and that he must stay on guard all night. He died in great agony in the presence of our officers. More than a year afterwards, when moving up on the works of Vicksburg, the Fifteenth drove a rebel regiment out of its camp, and among the captures was a roll, giving an account of the killing of this man. Hedrick, then Major, kept the roll, and still keeps it, to show that tables may some times be turned, for his men here killed and wounded many of his former guard at Taladega. TWELFTH INFANTRY. 185 many others still were compelled to quit the service, because they had been rendered unfit ever to perform its duties. Whilst the principal part of the regiment was thus, with others who sur rendered at the same time, passing a gloomy, most unhappy period of nearly eight months duration, there were a few members of the organiza tion performing active duties in the field, in the "Union Brigade," which was much of the time under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Coulter. There were in this " Brigade" about one hundred and fifty members of the Twelfth regiment men who had been in hospital, or for other cause were not present at the battle of Shiloh, or had escaped from imprisonment. The Union Brigade which was, in fact, rather a consolidated regiment than a brigade was disbanded, resolved into its original elements, so to say, not long after the prisoners of the regiments from detachments of which it was composed returned to St. Louis. Those parts of it belonging to Iowa regiments went to Davenport, and remained there during the winter of 1862-3, the members of the Twelfth rejoining the regiment about the 1st of April, when it was reorganized. The paroled men had been declared exchanged on the 1st of January, 1863, and about a week afterwards went to Holla to protect that place against a threatened raid by Marmaduke, returning to camp, without having a fight, on the 15th. The period elapsing between this time and the opening of the spring campaign was spent at St. Louis. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Coulter resigned. Shortly afterwards, Major Edgington was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, and Captain John H. Stibbs, of Company D, to the Majority. But the regiment was in the field, fully reorganized, armed, and equipped, with the army operating against Vicksburg, before these deserved promotions were received. In this campaign, the Eighth, Twelfth and Thirty-fifth Iowa regiments formed the Third Brigade, Third Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, and moved from Duckport, Louisiana, on the 2d of May, with the column marching by Richmond, and Hard Times, La., and Grand Gulf, Miss., to take Jackson and then Vicksburg in rear. The regiment participated in the marches and combats under General Sherman throughout the cam paign which resulted in placing our army around Vicksburg in regular siege. In the assault of the 22d of May, the brigade to which our regi ment was attached was in the line of reserves, and suffered no loss. On the next day, the regiment took position in the front line about half of a mile to the right of Fort Hill, and there remained, taking full part in the siege about one month, when it marched sixteen miles to the rear of Vicks burg, with the Army of Observation under General Sherman. When, Vicksburg having fallen, the Expeditionary Army on the next day moved out after the rebel General Johnston, the Twelfth Iowa marched with it, 24 186 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and took part in all its operations. Its stalwart men did their share of destroying the enemy s property, after the evacuation of the City of Jack son by Johnston, and participated in the skirmish at, and capture of Bran don which followed the evacuation. On the 20th of July they again turned their faces toward Vicksburg, and three days afterwards went into camp on Bear Creek, fifteen miles east of the city. In this double campaign of nearly three months duration, whose results were so glorious to the Union arms, our regiment performed its part, fron? first to last, with cheerfulness, skill, courage, and great honor, often re ceiving the compliments of general officers, and bringing to the State of Iowa much of the credit which her many regiments engaged in the same operations made so large an aggregate. The losses of the regiment during this important period were not so heavy as the losses of some of our regi ments of those especially which participated in the severe battle of Cham pion Hills and took part in the unsuccessful assault of the 22d of May but they were sufficient to attest the dangers through which the command had passed, and to entitle its survivors to rest and quiet. Accordingly, they remained encamped on a fine plantation on Bear Creek until the 10th of the following October, having only light picket duties to perform, which were rather formal than real, the enemy not being near. Shortly after this period of rest commenced, Lieutenant-Colonel Edgington resigned, and Major Stibbs assumed command of the regiment, which, it may be here remarked, he retained with but a few days exception, until near the close of January, 1865, when he was ordered to the National Capital, and re mained there upon an important Court-martial which, among other noto rious criminals, tried Captain "Wertz, of Andersonville prison infamy until long after the cessation of actual hostilities in the field. He received his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel in September, and Captain E. M. Van Duzee, of Company I, was at the same time made Major. The quiet of the regiment was temporarily broken about the 10th of (October, when it moved with other troops in the direction of Canton. At Brownsville there was a slight skirmish, resulting in no material loss to Cither side, after which the command, obliqued to the right on Clinton, and thence returned along the line of the railway to the Big Black River. The expedition ended, the regiment pitched tents eight miles in rear of Vicks burg, and remained in encampment there till the 10th of November. Having been ordered to report to General Hurlbut, the regiment marched to Vicksburg, and proceeding thence by steamer reached Memphis about the middle of the month. Halting here but two or three days, it marched to La Grange, and moved thence by cars to Chewalla. Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs took command of the post, and his regiment had charge of the rail way, as guard, for about eight miles four miles east, and the same distance TWELFTH INFANTRY. 187 west of Chewalla. Here the regiment remained until near the close of January, 1864. It was a period of great activity for the command, but its services, though highly important and valuable, as well as honorable to the officers and men engaged, were not of the kind to attract the public atten tion, and give to the regiment that eclat which would have naturally been given to it, had services no more important, or daring, been performed in a grand campaign to which all eyes were directed. Besides guarding the railway, the regiment during these two months built a formidable fort nea*r Chewalla, and its scouting parties captured and killed, under difficulties and dangers, more than fifty guerrilla-men, whose bands were effectually routed and destroyed. For all of which the command received the high compli ments of the general commanding. When, on the 28th of January, the Memphis and Charleston Railway was ordered evacuated, our regiment moved thereon to its western terminus, and was there assigned, again with its comrade regiments of the Vicksburg campaign the Eighth and Thirty-fifth Iowa as the Third Brigade, First Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, and ordered to Vicksburg, to go with General Sherman on the expedition which was afterwards called the great Meridian raid. The division was unfortunately delayed on the river, and when it reached Yicksburg, General Sherman s column had been some time on the forward march. On this account the division was ordered to en camp near the Big Black River, and go forward with supplies when they should be ordered. The supplies were not ordered, for General Sherman returned from the raid early in March, having levied upon the country through which he passed, and which he devastated, for all the supplies he needed. On the 4th of January, while at Chewalla, the regiment had mustered as a veteran organization, all the men present with the command, except about twenty, though there were others, not present, who did not reenlist, having reenlisted "a larger proportion," says Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs, than in any other regiment from the State. There being now, after the return of General Sherman s expedition, no pressing need of troops in the field, our regiment had advantage of the fact, and was ordered home on veteran furlough. It moved by steamer to Davenport, reaching that city on the 22d of March, and going thence by rail in a round-about way to Dubuque where the men received furloughs for thirty days. As they sought their homes by companies and squads in the northern part of the State, they were received with that hospitable, enthusiastic welcome which characterized the greetings of our people toward the many regiments of gallant men which returned on similar visits about this time. The regiment reported at Davenport on the 25th of April, and moving by rail to Cairo, 188 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and thence by steamer down the Mississippi River, disembarked at Mem phis on the 2d of May. When the veterans started home on furlough, the non- veterans, number ing about seventy, were temporarily attached to the Thirty-fifth Iowa, and with that regiment went on the Red River campaign with the forces under command of General A. J. Smith, and took part with those forces in that entire expedition, and in the battle of Point Chicot, or Old River Lake, where the rebels blockading the river were so handsomely whipped by General Smith. The non-veterans lost quite a number in killed and wounded on this campaign. The detachment rejoined the regiment at Memphis near the middle of June. Upon the arrival of the regiment at that city, on the afternoon of May 2d, arms, accoutrements, and camp equipage were immediately drawn, and five companies marched out on picket the same night. The regiment pitched tents just outside the limits of the city. On the 15th, Lieutenant- Colonel Stibbs, with six companies of the regiment, went by steamer to the mouth of White River, Arkansas, with orders to establish a military post at that point, and take charge thereof for the time being. He performed the duty assigned him, and returned to Memphis on the 1st of June, leaving Companies A and F at the post he had established, under command of Captain Joseph R. C. Hunter, Company A. The troops under Generals A. J. Smith and Mower having returned from the Red River campaign, the army at Memphis was to some extent reorganized. The brigade to which our regiment was attached, embraced now only one other Iowa regiment, the Thirty-fifth; the Eighth being ordered to remain at Memphis, as provost guard of the city ; the Seventh Minnesota taking its place in the brigade, Colonel Woods commanding. Early in June the command moved by short marches to La Grange, Tenn essee, repairing the railroad on the way, so that it might be useful as a line of communications to General Smith, about to commence offensive opera tions against the rebel troopers, Forrest and Lee, in central Mississippi. On the day after the National Anniversary, the army right-wheeled from the railroad, and marching by Ripley and Pontotoc reached the vicinity of Tupelo in about one week, where there was fighting much of the time, day and night, on the 12th, 13th, and 14th of July. On the 12th, our regi ment, being at the time guard of the train, was attacked by a brigade of rebels, eager for victory and plunder, and thinking both could be easily gained from the inferior force opposed to them. But never were men more mistaken. The regiment stood like a wall, from which the charge of the troopers rebounded as though springing from a consuming conflagration. No small force repelled a large force more bravely or more completely during the whole war. In the subsequent fighting of this brilliant cam- TWELFTH INFANTRY. 189 paign, wherein the rebels were thoroughly defeated and routed, the regi ment bore a prominent part, fighting all the time with marked gallantry and efficiency, losing heavily in killed and wounded, and at the close of the extended contest, receiving the special commendations of the general com manding the army." Keturning by New Albany, Spring Hill, and La Grange, the regiment reached Memphis on the 24th of July, and there had a week s rest after active operations in the field which might have entitled it to more, had tjie* men wanted it. On the 1st of August, the command started on another raid, moving by rail to La Grange, and thence to Lumpkin s Mills, Missis- 8 I have been unable to procure any general report or authoritative account of the battle of Tu pelo, from which to gather sufficient information to enable me to give a correct description of the engagement. From what has been published it may be gathered that General Smith here most completely outgeneralled Forrest, enticing him, by a stratagem, from a strong position, -which Smith at once occupied in force, compelling his antagonist to attack at a great disadvantage, result ing in his repeated repulse and final acknowledged defeat, with remarkably heavy losses. It was a severely contested battle, bravely fought on both sides. Iowa was represented in the fight by the Twelfth, the Fourteenth, Captain Campbell commanding, the Twenty-seventh, Captain Haslip, the Thirty-second, and the Thirty-fifth regiments of Infantry, and by the Second, Third, and Fourth regiments of Cavalry, the troopers being engaged in protecting the flanks of the army rather than in actual fighting. But it is unquestionably.true, according to all trustworthy accounts, that our Twelfth Infantry was here specially distinguished among all the troops which helped to gain the victory. The universal expression is, that it occupied the post of danger and of honor, bearing the brunt of the battle, and most gloriously and triumphantly sustained the Union arms on this bloody field. It is not more certain that the Second Iowa was first at Donelson, the Fourth at Chickasaw Bayou, the Fifth at luka, than that the Twelfth won the brightest laurels at Tupelo. Wherefore, I exceedingly regret the want of sufficient materials from which to compile a full account of the victory. The regiment lost, during the three engagements near Tupelo in which it took part, sixty-four men, killed, wounded, and missing. The following is the official list, as given by Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs, in his report of the campaign : JULY 13TH. Company D Killed, Private John Nichola. Company IWowided, Captain Charles L. Sumbardo. Company D Corporal James L. Cowell ; Pri vates Dennis Conley, Henry W. Bailey/.Wencil Doleshall. Company G Sorah A. Sernson. Company H Corporals John W. Benedict, George W. Horner; Privates Edward Beckett, Philip Henry. Com pany I Corporal John F. Wilson ; Private John Devine. Company D Missing, Private Edwin A. Butolph. JULY 14TH. Company G Killed, First Lieutenant Augustus A. Burdick, A. R. Q. M. Company B Private Francis A. Winter. Company .& Corporal George R. Holden. Company /Private Phile- tus S. Butters. Company K Sergeant Robert Fowler ; Corporal Jeremiah J. Myers ; Private Philip H. Rutter. Company B Wounded, Privates John Bowling, James W. Patterson, Frank Klees, Bryant Ma- guire, Wesley B. Bort, Isaac Woodmansee, Marcellus Pratt, Hugh McCabe. Company C Sergeant Emry Clark, James Stewart ; Private John W. McCall. Company D First Sergeant Judson L. Boughton ; Privates William W. Whitenack, Samuel Bumgardner, Daniel Sivets. Company E Sergeant Harvey Smith; Corporal Allen E. Talbot; Privates Nathaniel Surfus, Henry W. Crow- hurst. Company H First Sergeant Valma V. Price ; Sergeant Ralph M. Grimes ; Corporals John B, Flenniken, John S. Mason; Privates John G. Currie, Patrick Hannan. Company 7 Sergeant J. Warren Coats; Corporals William Kohler, Michael D. Nagle; Privates Napoleon C. Austin, Alex ander F. Jenkins, Samuel S. Kenedy, Van Meter Suyder, John F. Butters. Company K Sergeant William H. H. Blanchard ; Corporals Charles E. Merriam, Alvin Mosher; Privates James Dillon, William B. Keith, Stephen N. Bugbee. JULY 15iH. Company B Killed, Private August Leue. Company B Wounded, Private Thomas Dowling. Company D Private Jeremiah Williams. Company I Private James C. Buchanan. 190 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. sippi, whence it marched to Holly Springs, of which post Lieutenant- Colonel Stibbs took command with the Twelfth regiment on duty there. The constant rains interfered with general operations, and our regiment remained at Holly Springs for some time. Here, Companies A and F, which had been on detached service at the military post at the mouth of White River, rejoined the regiment on the 10th. The services of this little detachment at this post during the entire period of nearly three months had been most valuable to numbers of Union men from the North, and loyal blacks of the neighborhood, who were endeavoring to reclaim and cultivate the waste places in that part of Arkansas. They had also been valuable to the cause of the Union at large in several respects which will be apparent to the reader, and need not be here set forth. In consequence of which, the rebels determined to attack the post, and defeat and capture the garrison. Captain Hunter, in com mand, being a most vigilant officer, had ordered the building of a strong stockade at the post, but it was not completed when he received intelligence which led him to believe he would soon be attacked. The whole force, therefore, was put to work on the stockade, on the 4th of June, and kept at w(5rk thereon till midnight. At three o clock of the next morning they were attacked by Marmaduke s men, numbering nearly four hundred, under command of a colonel. The two companies of our regiment, consti tuting the whole of the garrison, numbered just forty-seven muskets. So sudden was the attack, that the men did not have time to dress themselves after the alarm was given, before the enemy was upon them. They sprang at once to arms and fought in uniform which the wags called "shirt-tail regalia. The enemy delivered attack with great spirit and determination, and a number of them by a bold dash gained the stockade on one side. Their success here would have resulted in the complete defeat of the gar rison, but for one of those splendid acts of heroism for which brave men in the olden times were apotheosized. Sergeant Isaac Cottle and Corporal George D. Hunter, of Company F, armed with revolvers, rushed out of the stockade, and boldly attacked the rebels who had gained the work, firing rapidly, and making every shot tell. The enemy, no doubt thinking the sallying party embraced a considerable force, fled in confusion, but a random shot killed Corporal Hunter on the spot, and another wounded Sergeant Cottle, so that he died three weeks afterwards. In three-quarters of an hour after the attack commenced, the rebels were repulsed in indis criminate rout, with a loss of over fifty in killed, wounded, and prisoners, the commanding officer being among the killed. Their dead and wounded were left on the field. Besides Hunter and Cottle, the loss of the garrison was four wounded. For this gallant defence of their post Captain Hunter and command were highly complimented by General Buford, commanding TWELFTH INFANTRY. 191 District of Helena. And we may be sure that officers and men of the detachment were right joyously welcomed back to the regiment, as they marched through the rain to its camp at Holly Springs. Notwithstanding the storms, the regiment had much to do, in the way of building roads and bridges. It moved as far south as Oxford, skirmish ing with the enemy at the Tallahatchee River and beyond, but suffered no loss. It returned to Memphis by the same route over which it had passed going out, near the close of August, but had hardly become settled in camp when it was ordered away on a campaign which turned out to be one of the most active in which the regiment had participated, though it resulted in no casualties of battles. On the 1st of September intelligence was received that the rebels were blockading White River, in Arkansas, and threatening communications with Little Rock and other posts held by our forces. General Mower was ordered to raise the blockade with his division of troops. He embarked on steamers the same day, and sailing down the Mississippi and up the White River to Duvall s Bluff, without meeting the enemy, marched to Browns ville not many miles from Little Rock. And here he learned that Price had gone north. He was ordered to pursue. Leaving Brownsville on the 17th, with ten days damaged rations, he marched by Searcy, Jacksonport, and Pocahontas, Arkansas, and Poplar Bluff, Greenville, and Jackson, Missouri, to Cape Girardeau, a distance of three hundred and fifty miles in nineteen days, reaching the Cape on the 5th of October. Rain, mud, swamps, rivers, and short rations these were the obstructions in the way of this remarkable march. As an evidence of its severity, it may be stated that when the Twelfth Iowa, numbering two hundred and fifty, rank and file, reached Cape Girardeau, five officers and one hundred and one men were in their bare feet. Other regiments were in similar con dition, and perhaps there was not an officer or man in the column who could have made a respectable appearance on dress parade. On the 6th, the command embarked on steamers and went to St. Louis. Remaining there only long enough to be supplied with clothing and necessary equipage, the troops were ordered to join General A. J. Smith in the pur suit of Price. Our regiment accordingly went by steamer to Jefferson City, arriving there October 19th, and going by rail same day to Smithton. From this time until the 27th, it was with the army in hot pursuit of Price, and marched by Sedalia, Lexington, Independence, into Kansas, and to Harrisonville, Missouri, most of the time near the enemy, but unable to overtake him, as he would not, or could not, stand long enough against our cavalry for the infantry to come up. On the 30th, the countermarch was commenced, and on the 15th of November the regiment reached St. Louis, 192 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. after one of the most exciting and exhaustive campaigns of the war, and quite as barren of results as any. The command halted at St. Louis ten days, getting much needed rest. During this period Colonel Woods, who had long commanded the brigade to the entire satisfaction of the troops under his charge and his superior officers, was mustered out of service, his term of service having expired. About the same time the non-veterans of the regiment were also mustered out for the same reason, and with them all officers of the regiment, now reduced after its long and honorable service, to less than two hundred men present for duty, except Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs, Captain S. Gr. Knee, Company H; Lieutenant D. W. Reed, Company C, and acting adjutant; Lieutenant H. C. Moorehead, Company D, acting quartermaster; Lieu tenant 0. T. Fuller, Company K, on duty with Pioneer Corps ; and the surgeon, Dr. Underwood; and chaplain, Rev. F. Humphrey. So that all the companies left were commanded by non-commissioned officers. Having been ordered to join General Thomas at Nashville, the regiment went thither by steamer, arriving on the ] st of December, and at once go ing into position two miles south of the city. It performed its due share in the defence of the capital during the siege, from the 2d to the 14th, and in the battle which continued through the two following days, it fought with a gallantry which was specially marked on a field where all the Union forces fought with special valor and effectiveness. The good behaviour of the men on this glorious field received warm commendations in the official reports of both brigade and division commanders, which were all the more valuable from the fact that there was not a commissioned officer in the line. The companies were commanded by sergeants and corporals. During the fight the regiment captured two flags from the enemy, for which Corporal Luther Kaltenbach, Company F, and private Andrew J. Sloan, Company H, were presented with medals by the Secretary of War. 7 In the pursuit of Hood our regiment marched with the army by Frank lin, Columbia, and Pulaski, to Clinton on the Tennessee River. Thence it proceeded by steamer to Eastport, Mississippi, arriving there on the 7th of January, 1865. Here it assisted in building quarters and extensive for tifications for many days, and then betook itself to vigorous rest for a short time. It had a right to rest; for almost all the time during the past seven months it had been actively campaigning. Its skirmishes and battles dur ing that period had been numerous, some of them severe, and in one gen eral engagement the battle of Tupelo the regiment had borne off the 7 The killed and wounded of the regiment numbered twenty, to wit : Killed, Privates James T. Loring, and Gustavus Helgerson. Wounded, Knud Iverson, Edwin W. Wood, Benjamin Delzeane, Isadore L. Jordon, David Connor, George A. Burroughs, W. Doleschall, James Lanagan, James D. Farner, Joseph D. Eldridge, Russell H. Peaslie, Peter Larson, J. B. Flennekin, William II. Cock, Ed ward Wells, Michael McDermot, John A. Decker (musician), Edward Winch. TWELFTH INFANTRY. 193 highest honors of the day, whilst in all its combats it had fought with great valor. It had marched on foot more than sixteen hundred miles, and by rail and steamer more than fifteen hundred. Had its services here ended, they would have been enough to have brought upon its name the names of its officers and men the grateful encomiums of the people of the State which it had so highly honored. But its good fortune was to add still more laurels to its wreath of honor. Whilst the regiment was at Eastport, Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs went to Washington City. Major Samuel Gr. Knee, who had recently been pro moted to that rank from captain of Company H assumed command of the regiment, and retained it during the remaining period of its service in the army. About the middle of February the Twelfth left Eastport with the anny, and moving by steamer first to Cairo and thence to New Orleans, there embarked with the forces under Major-General Canby on the expedi tion against Mobile which resulted so triumphantly to our arms. The regi ment was in the front line of battle, on the morning of the 27th of March, when the army advanced against Spanish Fort. During most of the time of the siege a period of thirteen days and nights it was exposed to all kinds of missiles, from the ininie ball and hand grenade up to the hundred- pound shell. "Notwithstanding the tremendous cannonading by guns of both light and heavy caliber," says a correspondent from the regiment to the Dubuque Times, "and the exposed position of our command on the front line, not a man was killed, and only eight wounded, namely, Marion Austin, Michael McDermot, J. C. Davis, Henry S. Fry, Louis L. Low, Robert Gr. Boon, Joseph Cameron, and Robert Wampler. The regiment did not participate in the assault, where the Eighth and other Iowa regi ments took such conspicuous and honorable part. The enemy evacuated on the night of the 8th of April, and our army entered Mobile in triumph on the following day. Greneral Smith did not halt here, however, but marched on Montgomery, distant one hundred and seventy-five miles from Mobile, where his corps remained one week, and then marched to Selma, where intelligence was received of the collapse of the rebellion by the sur render of Lee, and of the assassination of the President in the hour of the nation s triumph and gladness. Intelligence of the surrender of Johnston was also soon received, which event having practically closed the war, the active operations of our regiment were thereby forever ended. It had com menced its battle career with Fort Donelson, the first great triumph of the war, and it closed it in shouts of gladness more than four years afterwards, on the works of Mobile, where our victorious legions planted the symbols of a restored and regenerated Union. The regiment, early in 1866, continues in the service. It has been en gaged in guard and garrison duty in Alabama since the campaign of Mobile 25 194 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. a fact which has caused no little dissatisfaction among the men of the command, who have not unnaturally thought they were entitled to honora ble discharge. By special order of the War Department, Lieutenant- Colonel Stibbs, one of the pluckiest and best as well as wittiest officers in the service, was not long ago mustered as colonel, to which rank he had some time before been commissioned by Governor Stone. The Twelfth Infantry has labored, marched, fought, and suffered enough to be entitled to discharge, the rebellion against which it took up arms being entirely con quered. It is believed it will not be much longer continued in the service. CHAPTER XI. FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION IN THE FALL OF 1861 DETACHMENT SENT ON FRONTIER SER VICEWINTER QUARTERS MOVE TO THE THEATRE OF WAR FORT HENRY- BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON BATTLE OF SHILOH THE REGIMENT CAPTURED REORGANIZATION A LONG PERIOD OF QUIET, AT COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY- DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI THE MERIDIAN RAID SENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION CAPTURE OF FORT J)E RUSSEY BATTLE OF PLEASANT HILL RETREAT BATTLE OF BAYOU DE GLAIZE AFFAIR OF LAKE CHICOT CAMPAIGNING EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI BATTLE OF TUPELO OF OLD TOWN THE OXFORD RAID MOVE TO MISSOURI SUR ROUNDED AT PILOT KNOB REMARKABLE RETREAT ON ROLLA PURSUIT OP PRICE RETURN TO IOWA FOR DISCHARGE MUSTERED OUT THE "RESIDUARY BATTALION "COLONEL WILLIAM T. SHAW. THE Fourteenth Infantry, Colonel William T. Shaw, was organized, under somewhat peculiar circumstances, in the fall of 1861, being enrolled under the President s proclamation of October 3d, of that year. For, before the regiment was organized, three companies recruited therefor, and which were designated as Companies A, B, and C therein, were sent to the western frontier on special service, and remained ever afterwards detached from the regiment. Though these companies continued, pro forma, to constitute a part of the Fourteenth regiment for a considerable period, they were never under the command of the commanding officer of the regiment, and never did, except by the merest technicality, make a part of it. They were at Fort Randall, Dacotah Territory. They were afterwards, by order of the War Department, permanently detached from the regiment, and for a time constituted the First Battalion of the Forty-first Infantry. But the formation of that regiment not being completed, they were left out in the cold again, till they became, at last, an integral part of one of our Cavalry regiments. It will suffice here to state that, until they were thus assigned, they were in the performance of garrison duty at the fort which has been named. 195 196 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. As a matter of fact, therefore, as contradistinguished from a mere matter of record, or of law, the Fourteenth Iowa during the first year of its ser vice, consisted of but seven companies, from D to K inclusive. These companies were enlisted in different parts of the State, but Henry County contributed much more largely than any other to the number of the regiment. Des Moines, Lee, Van Buren, Jasper, Tama, Jones, Linn, Dubuque, Johnson, also contributed largely, and quite a number of other counties were not ungenerously represented in the command. The regimental ren dezvous was at Camp McClellan, near Davenport, where the regiment was organized, November 6, 1861, with the following officers, field, staff, and line : William T. Shaw, Colonel ; Edward W. Lucas, Lieutenant- Colonel ; Hiram Leonard, Major; Noah N. Tyner, Adjutant; C. C. Buell, Quarter master; George M. Staples, Surgeon; S. N. Pierce, Assistant; Company D, Captain R. D. Emerson; Lieutenants R J. Harrison, William M. Gordon ; Company E, Captain Joseph 0. Shannon ; Lieutenants John W. Horine, Neal Murray; Company F, Captain Joseph H. Newbold; Lieu tenants William H. Shuey, Cyrus Bitner ; Company G, Captain William H. Stivers ; Lieutenants George Peniberton, William Gallighar ; Company H, Captain Edgar A. Warner; Lieutenants William H. Calkins, Leroy A. Crane; Company I, Captain Warren C. Jones; Lieutenants John M. Moorehead, George H. Logan ; Company K, Captain William J. Camp bell ; Lieutenants William H. Kirkwood, Charles P. King. At this time, not counting those who formed the companies which never served with the main body, there were more than six hundred, officers and enlisted men, in the regiment. They remained a few weeks in Camp McClellan for the purpose of learn ing the institutes of the military art, but had not made any very great pro gress therein, when Colonel Shaw received an order commanding him to report at St. Louis. The regiment accordingly moved thither by steamers, part of the command leaving Camp McClellan on the 28th, and the remain ing portion on the next day. The port of destination was made in due time. The regiment marched from the landing to Benton Barracks, and there for the first tinfls entered the presence of an army. But it was not an army of veterans. Comparatively few of the troops had ever been in the face of an enemy, and scarcely any since the Mexican war. They were nearly all raw recruits, and though, like the men composing the Fourteenth, they were as good as ever shouldered muskets, they were unacquainted with the rules or the advantages of discipline, the requirements of military regulations, whether those pertaining strictly to the duties of soldiers, as fighting bodies, or those others, frequently neglected, but of vast import ance, namely, the rules whereby the physical health and comfort of large bodies of men can be best preserved. Hence it happened, that though FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 197 Benton Barracks were now, by general consent and general orders, called a "Camp of Instruction," they might, with more propriety, perhaps, have been called a General Hospital. Our regiment did not escape the common lot. Many were attacked by pneumonia or measles. Not a few died. Nevertheless, the command, or as much thereof as could, was required to drill almost daily, and daily, when the weather would permit, so that when the regiment was ordered to the field of active operations it had gained a high degree of proficiency in the evolutions and the manual of arm^ Colonel Shaw had a natural genius for military affairs, which had been improved by service, and it is not too much to say that during the stay of his regiment at Benton Barracks he improved the time to the best possible advantage, so that when he left for the front he had a command which could be relied upon to do its whole duty under any circumstances. It is proper to observe that the colonel was cordially seconded in the good work of drill and discipline by officers, and for the most part, by the men also. On the 5th of February, 1862, the command marched to the levee and embarked on steamer for the theatre of war. Reaching Cairo, the troops were there gratified with seeing the fleet of gun-boats which, under Flag- Officer Foote, had just gained the fine victory of Fort Henry, and were now on their way to another and a stronger fort, which was soon to be the scene of a more brilliant victory, gained, almost as if in poetic justice by the army, without the great assistance of the navy which had in that manner won the triumph on the Tennessee. Therefore, let the Tennessee and the Cumberland murmur evermore the imperishable honor of the army and navy of the Union. Our regiment disembarked at the scene of the victory, only two days after it was gained, and there went into camp. But its halt here was brief. On the morning of the 12th, it took up line of march with the army moving on the enemy s works at Donelson, and on the next day, the first day of the battle, was in position in the left wing, General Percifer F. Smith, commanding. In the battle which followed, the regiment was con spicuous for its gallantry, fighting with that immortal brigade, under com mand of Colonel J. G. Lauman, Seventh Iowa, which first forced its way into the rebel works, and won the brightest laurels among all the bright wreaths which were here won by the army under Grant. The regiment in this its first battle lost three killed and twenty-one wounded. 1 It remained at Fort Donelson about three weeks after the capitulation. It then embarked on steamers, and moving down the Cumberland and up 1 Colonel Shaw states that his losses on the 13th, were two killed, and fourteen wounded, and on the 15th, (the regiment being in the reserve on the 14th), one killed, and seven wounded. Sergeant- Major Stillman H. Smith, was killed by the Colonel s side, but the only casualties beside which I find noted in the Adjutant-General s Report are : Edmund A. Edgar, and William Lentz, wounded ; the latter mortally. 198 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the Tennessee, disembarked at Pittsburg Landing on the 18th of March. Here it went into camp, being in the brigade of General W. H. L. Wal lace, (composed of the Second, Seventh, Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa regiments,) included in General Smith s division. The regiment had a pleasant encampment, and here spent no little time in drill. General Smith being sick, the command of the division devolved upon General W. H. L. Wallace. Colonel Tuttle, Second Iowa, had command of the brigade. In the battle of Shiloh, the Fourteenth formed part of that self-constituted Forlorn-Hope which, fighting the live-long day against fearful odds, and staying the rebel advance, by its own heroic immolation saved the army and made the victory of the 7th of April possible. Just as the sun was setting, Colonel Shaw seeing further fighting useless surrendered his com mand prisoners of war. The losses up to this time in killed and wounded had been heavy, but the sacrifice of these and of the principal command in captivity, practically closed the career of the Fourteenth for many months. 2 The officers and men surrendered were held as prisoners of war at the South until late in the following fall, when, moving by Richmond, Virginia, and Annapolis, Maryland, they went to Benton Barracks, Missouri, being released on parole, and were declared exchanged on the 19th of November. Here, then, the command remained for reorganization during the follow ing winter. Those of its members who had not been captured at Shiloh, and who afterwards formed part of the "Union Brigade," here rejoined the regiment. Here also two new companies A and B which the State had been authorized by the War Department to raise in lieu of two of those sent to Fort Randall, as heretofore narrated, joined the regiment. The first, numbering seventy men, rank and file, was from the county of Scott, Isaac M. Talmage, Captain, Lieutenants Hugo Hoffbauer, William F. Dittoe ; the second from Bremer, Chickasaw, and other counties, numbered seventy-five men, Captain Richard Currier, Lieutenant William V. Lucas. Many recruits were also received during this period of reorganization, 2 The following list of killed and wounded of the Fourteenth regiment, at Shiloh, is compiled from the Adjutant-General s Report, and is not complete. It is the only list, however, that, so far as I know, has ever been published ; and is, therefore, the best there is. The fact of the capture of . the principal part of the command should, of course, excuse imperfection in the reports. Company E Kilted, Thomas H. Gravat. Company .F Corporal Benjamin F. Jacobs; Private Samuel Lane. Company G Corporal Samuel W. Jenks; Private John L. Martin. Company H Private William C. Rolan. Company 7 Privates Eliaa Eagles, Samuel D. Lockman. Company D Wounded, Corporal Ralph C. Spurrier; Privates James W. Cowgill, John H. Findley. Company E Sergeant Joseph K. Cavatt ; Privates Pleasant W. Brown, James C. McMillen, John L. Mil ton, Carey Pope, Lafayette Van Grundy, George M. Webb. Company G Captain George Pemberton ; Sergeant Elma G. Oldroid ; Privates Alexander Cheney, (mortally), Henry Loomis, Jeremiah Miles, Robert Taylor. Company If Privates William B. Booth, George B. Higby, James Northrop, Fagan W. Scott, Alvars W. Tibbetts. Company 7 Musician Wesley Rhodes; Privates Eli H. Gosset, Hiram B. Lee, John Cramer, Thomas J. Prentice. Company K Privates Edward Hukill, Waldo P. Tilton. FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 199 which was also one of drill. Colonel Shaw continued in command of the regiment, but before it left the Barracks, Captain Joseph H. Newbold had been commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain Edgar A. "Warner, Major. On the 10th of April, the reorganized command left St. Louis on steamer, and in due time making the port of Cairo, there disembarked and went into camp. Here the regiment was joined by Company C, which made good the detachment sent to Fort Randall. It had been enrolled in Butler, Bremer, Floyd, and other counties, and was under command of Lieutenant Heman A. Miles, William Stoughton being Second Lieutenant. Thus was the " bloody old Fourteenth" for the first time, as a matter of downright fact, organized with a full complement of companies. This was in the month of June, 1863. But meanwhile, though from the arrival of the regiment at Cairo till joined by Company C, it had been in the performance of garrison and guard duties there, it had also been ordered, at least in part, into the in terior of Illinois, for the purpose of quelling certain political disturbances which threatened serious trouble, and of arresting the ringleaders. This delicate duty was done by the Fourteenth with great success. The leaders who sought to bring about a domestic imbroglio, for the benefit of the re bellion, were quietly arrested and placed under the mild authority of the military at Cairo, and no further difficulty at that time arose, to arouse the plucky indignation of Governor Yates or disturb the placid serenity of Mr. Lincoln. From Cairo the command moved to Columbus, Kentucky, in the latter part of June. And there it remained on garrison duty for seven long months. This was the period of gloom for the command, surpassed in in tensity only by the period of its captivity, of about equal length. Many, who had been at Donelson and Shiloh, envied the comrades with whom they had there fought who were now engaged in the campaign of Vicks- burg. The new companies, the recruits, pined for active operations in the field. All were dissatisfied with being cooped up in a garrison where there was neither danger, nor adventure, nor renown to be had. But, though they were thus dissatisfied, it was with a feeling which was honorable to them all, both as men and as soldiers, and no unmilitary complaints es caped their lips. Moreover, Colonel Shaw, and the officers generally, made excellent use of this long period of inactivity by perfecting the regiment in drill, and in all the duties of soldiers. So that, when the command bade adieu to Columbus, to be thenceforth actively engaged, it was undoubtedly one of the best appearing, best drilled, and best disciplined regiments in the Volunteer Army. And we shall soon see that in courage on the field, and in endurance on the march, it was not surpassed by any. But let its deeds speak for themselves. 200 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. On the 24th of January, 1864, the regiment embarked on steamers and proceeded to Vicksburg. Here it was assigned to the Second Brigade, Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. Colonel Shaw was in command of the brigade, and from this time until he left the service, nine months afterwards, had command either of the brigade, or of a division. His brigade, by its endurance of fatigue, and its firmness in battle, acquired the sobriquet of "The Iron Brigade," and its commander that of "Grim Fighting Old Shaw." Lieutenant-Colonel Newbold in command, the re giment, very soon after its arrival at Vicksburg, took up line of march eastward with the army under Major-General Sherman, which made the famous Meridian raid. This laborious, singular campaign of one month s duration hardly did more than give the Fourteenth a good appetite. It enjoyed the marching and the bivouacking, and laughed at blistered feet, thinking them decidedly preferable to unblistered feet in a garrison. Upon the return of the expedition to Vicksburg, Gen. A. J. Smith s command, being two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps, was ordered into the Department of the Gulf, to assist General Banks on his Red River expedi tion, which resulted so disastrously, and woufd probably have ended in our complete and disgraceful discomfiture in that quarter, but for the gallant services rendered by General Smith and the troops under his command. There was no time to halt, after our regiment reached Vicksburg. At once embarking it proceeded to the mouth of Red River, and going up that stream a short distance entered the Atchafalaya, an extensive bayou, called, on account of its magnitude, a river, on the right bank of which, and not far from where it flows out of Red River a disembarkation was made. TELE CAPTURE OF FORT DE RUSSET. The first object which General Smith had in view was to attack and defeat the enemy, who occupied a strong position, strengthened by consi derable works, on Bayou de Glaize, some eight miles west of the Atchafa laya. But inasmuch as Admiral Porter, with a formidable fleet, consisting of three Monitors, seven iron-clads, three rams and four lighter gun-boats, was in full cooperation with General Smith, the appearance of this strong naval force caused the rebels to abandon their works on the Bayou de Glaize and hasten to the defence of Fort De Russey. General Smith decided to march overland against the fort, leaving the fleet to destroy the obstructions in the river, and to follow as soon as prac ticable. The line of march was taken up on the evening of the 13th of March. On the following morning, the "Iron Brigade," Colonel Shaw commanding, had the advance. He marched rapidly forward toward the fort, twenty-eight miles distant, the enemy falling back before him, attempting to burn bridges and in other ways retard his progress. But he FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 201 pushed briskly forward till he came to Bayou de Glaize. Here the bridge had been burned, and the enemy, from six hundred to eight hundred strong, was found posted on the west bank to dispute our passage. Colonel Shaw put his artillery in position and pron^tly sent the enemy off in retreat. He effected a passage in a scow found in the stream, built a bridge across it for the passage of the trains, and, after two hours thus spent pushed on toward the enemy. Arriving at Marksville, less than three miles from Fort De Russey, he there left the Twenty-seventh Iowa to close up the rear of the army, and with the rest of the command marched on rapidly toward the fort. The whole army moved with great rapidity, making the entire march from the Atchafalaya to the fort a distance of thirty-five miles in less than twenty hours. The Twenty-seventh was able to join the brigade before the storming of the work, and to take honorable part therein. Shaw moved up to within eight hundred yards of the fort, posted his artillery, and by four o clock of the afternoon his skirmishers were annoying the enemy s gunners. After some time had been spent in cautious advances towards the fort, our lines were moved up to the edge of the heavy woods which surrounded the work. The enemy opened upon our forces with a heavy fire of shell and shrapnel. On our side two batteries were brought into action, and a brisk cannonade commenced, which continued for some time. The skirmishers then advanced, under cover of a heavy fire of musketry. But Fort De Russey could not be taken in this way. General Smith determined to carry the work by storm. The order to charge was given. The troops formed at the word, marched forward with ringing shouts, and in less than thirty minutes after the trumpet sounded the charge, the Union colors were floating over the fort, and its garrison pri soners of war. The fort was a formidable quadrangular work, with bastions and bomb- proofs, covered with railroad iron. Connected with the fort was a strong water-battery, the casemates of which appeared to be capable of resisting the heaviest shot and shell. Among the cannon captured were two guns belonging to the "Morning Light," two rifled guns from the "Harriet Lane," and one heavy gun from the "Indianola." Ten guns in all were captured, many small arms, large quantities of ammunition, and a considera ble quantity of commissary stores. The garrison numbered three hundred and twenty-five, with twenty-four commissioned officers, all of whom were captured. The casualties were light on both sides our own loss being seven killed and forty-one wounded, that of the enemy, five killed and four wounded. The importance of the victory, than which there have been but few more dashing or brilliant, did not consist in carnage but in the impor tance of the work captured the Gibraltar of the Red River. Without this 26 202 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. fort in our possession nothing could have been done beyond, and if the campaign had been carried on by Banks with a tithe of the energy and success with which it was inaugurated by Smith at Fort De Russey, it might have formed one of tlie brightest pages in the history of the war. Besides the Fourteenth, the Twenty-seventh, Thirty-second, and Thirty- fifth Iowa regiments were engaged at Fort De Russey, all taking prominent part in the victory. The Twenty-seventh and Thirty-second were in Colo nel Shaw s brigade. He states that his special thanks are due to Colonel Gilbert, Twenty-seventh, Colonel Scott, Thirty-second, Lieutenant-Colonel Newbold, Fourteenth, for the promptness and enthusiasm with which they executed all orders, and the good order with which they came into action. He states further that not a single instance of any officer or soldier attempt ing to shun danger or duty occurred. The loss of the Fourteenth in this en gagement was only six wounded. 3 Lieutenant-Colonel Newbold in his report states that officers and men acted nobly. "The nature of the ground for a short distance," he says, " was such as to break the line very much, but as soon as the open field was reached and the command Forward was given by the officers, the regiment, joined by the skirmishers, dashed across the field into the ditch, and clambered over the parapet into the fort with a shout that drowned the rattle of the enemy s musketry." General Smith ordered the demolition of the fort, but it was accidentally blown up on the 17th, with some loss of life. Transports having arrived the army moved on up the river to Alexandria, where the forces under Banks were concentrated and preparations made for the advance on Shreve- port. The campaign after this, being under the direct command of General Banks, was a melancholy repetition of blunder after blunder, whereby the army was mortified, chagrined, and kept from utter defeat and demoraliza tion by the virtue of the troops themselves, and the exertions of officers not corrupted by speculators. There were many instances of gallantry and fidelity exhibited by the army, by different parts thereof, from the time it left Alexandria until its return, but it is nevertheless true, that the history of the expedition as a whole, was a record of humiliation and of shame. There can be no doubt that, had the commanding general been John C. Fremont, or Benjamin F. Butler, he would have been at once relieved, and perhaps cashiered. But this is neither here nor there so far as the Four teenth Iowa Infantry is concerned. Marching part of the way, and moving part of the way by steamer, it proceeded with the force under General Smith to and beyond Grand Ecore. On the 8th of April, Banks fought the battle of Mansfield, sending up his troops by detachments, and suffering defeat in detail. On the next day 8 Namely : J. W. Knapp, P. D. Schmidt, J. S. Vaugh, Warner McLean, E. Thomas, and David Beam. * FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 203 General Smith saved the army by the victory of Pleasant Hill. In this severe engagement, Colonel Shaw s Iron Brigade long stood the brunt of battle, fighting against fearful odds till night put an end to the contest. His lossei *vere very heavy. I shall hereafter in this work have occasion to speak oi^ 101 1 . engagement with some degree of particularity. Let it suffice now, tx^say that the Fourteenth here fought with conspicuous bravery and effect, and did as much toward saving the army from defeat at the hands of the enemy and ruin at the hands of some of its own officers, overwhelmed in panic and in liquor, as any of the gallant regiments of the little band which saved the day. The iCgiment here lost its commanding officer, several other officers of great merit, ?nd many men, killed and wounded. 4 The battle of Pleasant Hill was an Union victory, dearly won. The rebels put themselves in retreat at nightfall. Nevertheless, Banks also retreated from the field which had been gained for him, chiefly by the desperate fighting of the Iron Brigade. In the midst of the night, the field was abandoned, and the retreat which had commenced at Mansfield continued to Grand Ecore, thence to Alexandria, and thence by General Smith s troops to the Atchafalaya and the Mississippi. On this retreat the army was constantly harassed and galled by the enemy, who had * The following list of casualties of the regiment in this engagement is taken from the corre spondence of the Davenport Gazette : Killed, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph H. Newbold. Company A Wounded. Corporal David Sloper; Privates David Morrison, George Turner, George Link, John B. Goman, Charles Sweeney, Franzic McKane. Missing, Private C. C. Smith. Company B Killed, Privates S. J. Parker, Edward O Brien, Hiram Ornor. Wounded, Second Lieutenant E. A. Holmes; First Sergeant W. W. Parmenter; Sergeant A. F. Nichol; Privates Mevoni Clark, George Campbell, W. George, W. S. Kingsberry. Missing, Private J. R. Lyle. Company C Killed, Private John H. Gamble. Wounded, Sergeant M. L. Roberts; Private John Myers. Company D Kitted, Private J. E. Clever. Wounded, Privates James Davis, James Austin, E. J. Dobins, Peter B. Taylor, Benjamin Vandyke. Company E Killed, Second Lieutenant W. H. McMillen ; Private Robert Walker. Wounded, Cor poral J. L. Rerisk ; Privates George H. Horn, Andrew Collins. Missing, Musician W. W. Wallace. Company F Killed, Private S. A. Wilken. Wounded, Privates J. M. Carr, Joseph Gillett, John W. Detwiler. Wounded, Corporals Henry Merriam, William A. Pitt; Privates Urich H. Wambauch, J. E. Walker, Ross Wheatly, T. Wheatly, Thomas Tukey, E. A. Edgar. Company G Kitted, Second Lieutenant Joseph Shanklin; Privates Enos Kerns, Henry Spangler, William S. Townsend. Wounded, Sergeant Charles Ford ; Privates Charles Brown, Berry J. Cook, I. J. Davis, J. B. Edwards, George W. Bates, William Heath, S. F. Martin, J. Martin, J. Nenorth, J. F. Shoemaker, James H. Wilkins, D. C. Vail. Missing, Lieutenant A. H. Hazlett; Sergeant Peter Wilson ; Privates William Nance, George Shropshire, Charles Vimpany, George Loucks. Company H Wounded, Privates William W. Crouch, James Cass, R. V. Vanvalkenberg. Company I Killed, Second Lieutenant George H. Logan ; Corporal George Berry ; Privates Wil liam R. White, R. Roland. Wounded, Henry Welton, Henry Vauaustin, H. W. Burton. Company K Wounded, Corporal C. C. Proctor; Privates James M. Arel, J. Sander, James McAure. Missing, Sergeant William B. Gray; Privates Lemuel Robinson and W. D. Goben. After the fall of Lieutenant-Colonel Newbold, Captain Warren C. Jones took command of the regiment, led it gallantly through the rest of the contest, and withdrew it from the field when so ordered. 204 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. recovered their audacity upon seeing that we had left the field of Pleasant Hill in the manner described. There was a great deal of skirmishing, sometimes developing into considerable engagements on portions of the line. In the skirmish of Clautierville, April 23d, our regiment had four wounded ; at the running engagement of Moore s Plantc 011 ^, near Alex andria, May 5th to 7th, it had three wounded. It was alsiFengaged near Marksville, on the 16th, but met with no loss. At the severe engagement of Yellow Bayou, on the 18th, where the enemy again attacked in force, and were most handsomely whipped by General Mower, whose presence with the Red River Army had been a most fortunate circumstance, the Fourteenth, Captain L. A. Crane, commanding, lost twelve men wounded, and William H Agler, killed. And here ended its contests in the Depart ment of the Gulf. On the next day the army reached the Atchafalaya near where General Smith had disembarked two months before, and cross ing on pontoons, reached Morganza on the 21st. Here General Canby assumed command, the army was safe, its defeats and unnecessaiy retreats forever ended. From Morganza our regiment proceeded by steamer to Yicksburg, where it had a short period of rest. General Smith soon moved on further up the river, which at this time was blockaded along the peninsula, a part of Arkansas, known as Point Chicot, by the rebels. Here a smart engage ment took place on the 6th of June, in which the rebels were signally defeated. Our regiment took part in the combat, but without loss. The command proceeded to Memphis. General Smith s army, called the Right Wing of the Sixteenth Corps, moved from Memphis into Mississippi, soon afterwards, and there had an active successful campaign, defeating the enemy at Tupelo on the 14th of July, and following up the victory there with the quickly-succeeding victory of Old Town. In these engagements, the Fourteenth lost three killed and eighteen wounded. 5 Returning to Memphis, it went into encampment where it had a few weeks quiet. It then marched into Mississippi again, going as far as Oxford, having occa sional skirmishes with the enemy, but suifering no loss. Having counter marched to Memphis, it returned to its encampment where it had another short rest. Thence it moved to Cairo, it being the object of General Smith to move thence by rail to the reinforcement of General Sherman, in Georgia. But the movements of the enemy urgently required his presence elsewhere. 5 Killed, Sergeant Robert Hays ; Corporal Felix Atkinson, (Color-Guard) ; Private David M. Frazier. Company A Wounded, Corporal James M. Vanduzer ; Privates George Turner, William A. Daven port, Richard Fitzgerald, Christian Litscher. Company B J. B. Kerr, Levi P. Hawley. Company E Corporal John M. Harris, (Color-Guard) ; Privates Andrew Collins, William McWilliams, Wil liam Hilton. Company G Charles Hull, Elijah Gallion. Company H Sergeant Edwin T. Langley ; Privates George H. Collins, Elijah Grogan, M. V. B. Williams. Company A" William R. Bell. FOUKTEENTH INFANTRY. 205 General Price was now threatening Missouri with a large army, and shortly afterwards actually invaded the State with a heavy force of mounted troops, and thirteen pieces of artillery. General Smith was ordered to St. Louis to aid in repelling the invader. Our regiment disembarked at Jefferson Barracks, a short distance below the city, whence on the 25th of Septem ber, four companies moved by rail to Pilot Knob, to reenforce General Thomas Ewing, Jr. , in command of a small number of troops at that post. On the next day, General Ewing was attacked by a largely superior force? He had strong works, stout hearts behind them, and he made a most gallant resistance, repelling the enemy several times with great slaughter. The fight was renewed on the next day, the enemy again making a direct assault and being again repulsed with severe loss. General Ewing had on his works four twenty-four-pounders, four thirty-two-pounders, four six- pounder Parrotts, besides two six-pounder Parrotts mounted outside the fort. He poured a storm of missiles into the assaulting columns from ah 1 these, the infantry keeping up a constant galling fire of musketry. The enemy recoiled before this fearful fire, and at length were fully persuaded that they could not carry the work. Its defence had been most gallantly conducted and, as it now seemed, with complete success. Unfortunately, the fort, like old Fort Ticonderoga, of revolutionary memory, was com manded by adjacent hills. The rebels occupied one of these, called Shep herd Mountain, and thus compelled General Ewing to evacuate. He blew up his magazine by unusual foresight he had previously sent his stores to St. Louis scattering the fort into a mass of ruins for a great distance around, and put himself in retreat on Holla. The first thing he had to do was to cut his way through the rebel lines, which he did in fine style, and then, fighting all the time for two days, slowly continued his retreat, and reached Holla safely with the main portion of his command. During the whole war there were but few defences of posts more gallantly made than General Ewing s two days defence of Pilot Knob; and his retreat thence to Holla, with a handful of men in face of an overwhelming army, well mounted and supplied with artillery, was a marvel of skill, of endurance, and of heroism. The detachment of the Fourteenth which took part in this achievement was commanded by Captain William J. Campbell, who, with his command, received the published thanks of General Ewing for bravery, patience, and efficiency. When the detachment reached Kolla, the men had been fighting, fighting and marching, for four days almost constantly. They had not had more than one hour s rest out of twenty- four, their feet were covered with blisters, but they had done their duty under a general who had done his, and they marched into Holla with feelings of pride quite unlike their feelings when they returned to Alex- 206 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. andria four months before. The losses of the detachment were three killed and fifteen wounded. Meanwhile, Price s troopers in other parts of Missouri required attention. It is well known that the rebel general, after committing great apparent depredation, overrunning a large portion of the State with detached bands who covered the movements of his principal command, was at last driven out of Missouri, and across the Arkansas River, in a condition very much like that into which Thomas, two months afterwards, placed the army of General Hood. That part of the regiment which had not been at Pilot Knob made the march across Missouri in chase of Price, as far as Tipton, but, though it did excellent service, here making one of the most toilsome of its campaigns, it suffered no loss. The reunited command reached St. Louis early in November. The regiment proceeded to Davenport, and going into Camp Kinsman near by, was mustered out of service on the 16th of November. At this time there were in the command, of recruits whose term of enlistment had not expired, and veterans who had reenlisted for three years, nearly two hundred, officers and men. These were formed into an organization called the "Residuary Battalion," consisting of two companies, of which Captain Hugo Hoffbauer, superior officer, had command. The Lieutenants of his company were D. McClure and Addison Davis. Captain Orville Burke and Lieutenants Thomas B. Beach and Perry L. Smith were the officers of the other company. The battalion immediately moved to Springfield, Illinois, and Remained on provost and guard duty there until long after the cessation of Hostilities. Detachments from the battalion were frequently sent off on orie duty or another, and some, escorting recruits and guarding prisoners, went as far as Mississippi, others to Nashville, Tennessee. It was, however, a kind of service decidedly untasteful to the command, especially when the war had been practically closed by the capitulation of Lee and of Johnston, and the victory of Mobile. Early in August, chiefly through the exertions of Captain Burke, the Lieutenant-General of the Armies directed that the battalion be honorably mustered out of service. Accordingly the battalion, numbering about one hundred and sixty men and five officers, was shortly afterwards disbanded at Davenport, thereby closing the history, checkered with many bright pages of glory, and many of suffering, and blotted by no single deed of dishonor, of a regiment entitled to the unmixed admiration of our people. I cannot conclude the history of the Fourteenth without some conside rable reference to Colonel Shaw, who was the recipient of most harsh and unjust treatment at the hands of the authorities of government. On the 4th of October, 1864, at a time when Colonel Shaw was in command of the Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps and of which he had then FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 207 some time had command Special Orders No. 332, Adjutant-General s Office, Washington, D. C. , summarily dismissed him the service. In the Army and Navy Official Gazette, under the head of "Dismissals for the week ending October 8th, 1864," appeared the following extract from this order: " Colonel William T. Shaw, Fourteenth Iowa Volunteers, to date October 4th, 1864, for violation of Army Regulations and General Orders from the War Department in regard to publications over his own signature in rela^ tion to the operations of the armies of the United States in the Depart mentof the Gulf." This dismissal was procured by the personal exertions of Major-General Banks. There is no man who has a more sincere respect for Secretary Stan- ton than I have, but it was a shameful act to dismiss such a soldier as William T. Shaw at the solicitation of such a soldier as Nathaniel P. Banks. The "publication over his own signature" for which Colonel Shaw was dismissed, was a letter to a friend, touching the Red River disaster, which was printed in the Anamosa Eureka. It contained the following paragraphs, on the battle of Pleasant Hill : "Although I had less than one-tenth of the force on the field, my loss was full one-half of the whole loss of that day, being about five hundred killed and wounded, out of one thousand seven hundred ; and yet my bri gade was considered in such good condition as to be ordered to cover the retreat of the army to Grand Ecore that night and the next day. The loss in the Thirty-second Iowa alone was equal to the whole loss in Banks Army; it wanted but few of being equal to the loss in all of Smith s forces outside of my brigade. The loss in the four Iowa Regiments (Fourteenth, Twenty-seventh, Thirty-second, and Thirty-fifth) was equal to the whole loss of all the forces outside of the Second Brigade, and yet the name of Iowa is not mentioned in any report of the battle yet published in the New Orleans papers. "But, it may be suggested that the loss does not show the extent of the fighting. In this instance, at least, it is a fair index. I was engaged with the enemy for over seven hours, while no other forces were under fire one hour. I was under a heavy and destructive artillery fire forty-five minutes before a gun was fired upon any other part of the field. I received and repulsed a heavy charge of cavalry, followed by an attack of infantry which I also repulsed, before a gun was fired upon any other part of our line. My loss was all in fair fight, in good position, well protected, except my flanks, and no man moved to the rear till he was ordered, and I gave no such orders till I received them from my superiors. That order would never have been necessary had it not been for the drunken cowardice of 208 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. General Dwight, and the bad generalship of some other officer. Who that may be I do not know, but I believe it to be General Emory. "I reported to General Emory at about ten o clock," A.M. He appeared to be both drunk and a coward. I relieved General McMillan, who was also drunk. I did not see Emory again till after dark, and the fighting had ceased. He was then beastly drunk. "I know what the Second Brigade did, and I only write what I know. I have heard that it was a great battle, fought by fifteen or twenty thou sand men on our side, with two Major-Generals and a dozen Brigadiers, more or less, and I know that about one-half the fighting was done by a single brigade of some seventeen hundred men, without artillery, and that brigade a quarter of a mile in advance of all other troops. "At dark, we had whipped them at every point, and driven them back in utter confusion, but our lines were drawn in, our dead and part of our wounded were left on the field. At one o clock, A.M., the Army of the Gulf began its grand retreat. Being a little foot-sore, it took a couple of hours start of Smith s forces, which started at three. But as the Second Brigade had thrashed about one-half the rebel army and only lost five hundred men out of one thousand seven hundred, it might reasonably be expected that the remaining twelve hundred could clean out the other half if they should attempt to interfere with the grand retreat of the Great General ! They were ordered to cover the retreat, and did so to the satis faction of all concerned. We must candidly confess that the publication of these severe strictures was a violation of regulations and of orders, and tended to the subversion of discipline. Considering the case in a purely technical sense Colonel Shaw made himself liable to reproof or punishment. Considering the case on its real merits how handsomely he had performed his duty on the field ; how by his gallant and tenacious fighting he had saved our arms from defeat ; how shamefully those officers behaved whom he castigated every candid person must agree that he ought to have had promotion for meritorious con duct, and that they ought to have been reproved for conduct which the whole army knew to be disgraceful in the extreme. The fact need not be blinked that the commanding general of the Red River expedition, and his subor dinates named by Colonel Shaw, were regarded by the troops generally with feelings of contempt for their incapacity, and of indignation for the sad results which that incapacity brought about. Stung by these feelings, and reflecting, moreover, upon the losses which his gallant command had sustained, in direct consequence of the incapacity and inebriety of the officers he excoriated, Colonel Shaw wrote the paragraphs which I have quoted. And therein he was justifiable by the considerations of truth and of manly indignation. FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 209 When the order of dismissal came to General Smith, he refused to have it promulgated, and, as a matter of fact, though it was published to the world in the official Gazette, as quoted, it was never executed, and Colonel Shaw was honorably mustered out of service with his regiment. As show ing the regard in which he was held in the army, I may state that the officers of the Division which he had commanded presented him, upon his retirement from the service, with a costly sword and scabbard, one of the most beautiful and tasteful weapons ever made. His commanding general issued the following order : " HEAD-QUARTERS, RIGHT WING SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, l " HARRISONVILLE, MISSOURI, October 29, 1864. J " Special Orders No. 132. (Extract.) " I. Colonel W. T. Shaw, Fourteenth Iowa Infantry Volunteers, is hereby relieved from the com mand of the Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, and will forthwith rejoin his regiment at Daven port, Iowa. The quartermaster will furnish transportation for himself and authorized servants. "II. In relieving Colonel Shaw from the command of the Third Division prior to his being mus tered out, it is but an act of justice to an energetic, thorough, and competent officer, to say that for the last fifteen months he has been in this command as commanding a Post, Brigade, and Division, and in every position has performed the incumbent duties faithfully and well, and with an ability that few can equal with courage, patriotism, and skill above question. The service loses an excel lent officer when he is mustered out. " By order of MAJOR-GENERAL A. J. SMITH, " J. HOUGH, A. A. G." The publication of the order of dismissal was received by the people of Iowa, generally, with the warmest feelings of indignation. The press was unanimous in its condemnation. The following, from the State Register, was generally copied : "The War Department recently issued an order, dismissing Colonel William T. Shaw of the Fourteenth Iowa Infantry from the service, for alleged violations of the Army Regulations and General Orders in regard to publications over his own signature, which reflected on the conduct of cer tain commanding officers in the Department of the Gulf. Not many months since, this paper contained an article from the pen of the Colonel which made some crushing revelations with reference to the drunkenness and fatal incompetency of general officers in the Red River Expedition. The Colonel, doubtless, wrote the truth. That there were ruinous blunders committed in that expedition, no one disputes; and the competency of Colonel Shaw to fasten these blunders on their authors, and hold them up to the execration of mankind, is not to be questioned. If he committed an indiscretion in penning this article, and in giving it to the public; if he violated Army Regulations and General Orders ; if he even went so far as to defame the military reputation of men high in command, of which there is no evidence under the sun, he was entitled, in any view of the case, to a trial by Court-martial which would have given him an opportunity to fortify 27 210 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. his statements by the necessary testimony. This privilege was not granted to him. He was hustled out of the service in the most summary and ignominious manner, not knowing that he was accused of an offence until the order for his peremptory dismissal reached him. Is there any justice in such procedure ? The injustice is the more flagrant from the fact that at the time when he was dismissed, his term of service had expired, and his regiment was on its way home to be mustered out. " We cannot close this article without passing a deserved compliment on the old War Horse of the Fourteenth. At an early date after the com mencement of hostilities, he went into the service ; and from first to last, as Colonel and Brigade Commander, he bore himself gallantly as a brave and efficient officer. If the Red River Expedition had been engineered by such officers as Colonel Shaw, it would have been a proud success instead of a shameful humiliation to our arms. I need offer no apology for saying thus much for the old commander of the Fourteenth. The good name of the regiment is inseparably connected with his, and I should be unjust to the regiment itself, and to Iowa, should I leave that good name tarnished by a stain which was foully placed upon it. He taught the regiment its first lessons in warfare ; he led it into many battles where bullets flew as thick as hailstones ; he suffered with it the hardships of captivity ; he did much, as its direct commander and as its acting general commander, to give it the fame it acquired ; and that fame must be expunged from the bright records of history before the " old War Horse of the Fourteenth" can suffer in the good opinion of the candid and the just. \ CHAPTER XII. ELEVENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZED AT CAMP McCLELLAN " STARVATION " ERA! THE ARMY BLUE BEN- TON BARRACKS JEFFERSON CITY FIRST CAMPAIGNING " PROVIDENCE DE SERTED "A WINTER OF JOY AND SADNESS MOVE TO THE FRONT BATTLE OF SHILOH COL. M. M. CROCKER SIEGE OF CORINTH ACTIVE OPERATIONS BAT TLE OF IUKA-BATTLE OF CORINTH-MISSISSIPPI CENTRAL CAMPAIGN LAKE PROVIDENCE CAMPAIGN OF VICKSBURG EXPEDITION TO MONROE, LA. QUIET AT VICKSBURG THE MERIDIAN RAID-HOME ON VETERAN FURLOUGH THE AT LANTA CAMPAIGN NICKAJACK CREEK SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE REGI MENTPERSONALITIESDISBANDED. THE Eleventh Regiment Iowa Volunteers was organized at " Camp Mc- Clellan," situated on a picturesque bluff overhanging the west bank of the Mississippi, two miles above Davenport, on the first day of November, 1861 a bright, beautiful day of the waning Indian summer, which de lightful season, as all my home readers know, sometimes delays its depar ture till winter itself comes on, and the blasts of December blow in earnest. The camp was christened in honor of the young general who just before this time had been invested with the chief military authority in place of the octogenarian soldier of two previous wars, and who let fall upon his successor, as subsequent events proved, rather his fuss and his feathers than his whilom genius for victory. The material of the regiment was excellent, the counties of Muscatine, Louisa, Cedar, Henry, Linn, Marshall, Washington, Keokuk, and Van Buren chiefly, but not wholly, contributing the constituent parts, Musca tine especially, within whose borders were enrolled no less than four of the companies. Abraham M. Hare, of Muscatine, had the honor of being the first colonel, though not the first commander, of this gallant regiment, for William Hall, of Davenport, its first Major, and also its first Lieutenant- Colonel, commanded Camp McClellan some time before Colonel Hare re ceived his commission, and whilst the regiment was there in an inchoate state. Company A, Captain William Grant, Lieutenants John W. Anderson, 211 212 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. and Richard R. Madden, was ordered into quarters on the 28th of Au gust ; Company B, Captain Charles Foster, Lieutenants William H. Weth- erby, and Philip D. Beatty, September 12 ; Company C, Captain Joseph Neal, Lieutenants Joseph Limbocker and William M. Twiggs, on the 23d of the same month; Company D, Captain A. J. Shrope, Lieutenants Bennett F. Jackson and Andrew H. Walker, on the 14th ; Company E, Captain Samuel S. McLoney, Lieutenants John F. Compton and L. D. Durbin, on the 20th of August ; Company F, Captain Isaiah G. Moore, Lieutenants Joseph D. Miles and Josiah B. Dawson, September 23d ; Company Gr, Captain Samuel McFarland, Lieutenants William F. Lehew and George W. F. Barr, September 2d ; Company H, Captain Benjamin Beach, Lieutenants George D. Magoon and George R. W 7 hite, on the 21st of the same month ; Company I, Captain Charles E. Compton, Lieuten ants C. B. Meelinger and Alfred B. Wiles, on the 17th; Company K, Cap tain John C. Marven, Lieutenants William T. Dagley and Robert L. Wil son, on the 25th of August. The companies, proceeding to the rendez vous near Davenport, were there sworn into the service of the United States at different times during the months of September and October, and placed under command of Major Hall. On the 1st of November, Colonel Hare was mustered into the service, and the organization on that day completed. William Hall, being Lieutenant-Colonel, and John C. Abercrombie Major, Cornelius Cadle, Jr. , was appointed Adjutant, William Watson, Surgeon, F. Lloyd, Assistant, Richard Cadle, Quartermaster, and Reverend John S. Whittlesey, Chaplain. The period which elapsed from this time until the regiment departed for St. Louis has been called by its correspondents " the starvation era." For, though for some time after the command entered the service of the repub lic, the men had had " nothing whatever to eat," except baker s bread, fresh beef, vegetables, apples, and cucumber pickles, the ladies of Muscatine city and county visited the encampment and dealt out to the famishing boys" who had been scarcely adhering to life on the aforementioned diet, such an abundance of cake, fruit, roast turkey, chicken salad, boiled ham, tongue, and mince pie, as well nigh transferred the command of the regi ment from the hands of the Colonel to the Surgeon. The Eleventh was the first Iowa regiment whose men received their uni forms from the government before leaving the State. It had a melancholy opportunity of exhibiting, before its embarkation for the South, what had not yet been seen in Iowa a full regiment of more than nine hundred men, dressed in the full army blue of the regulations, marching in a compact body. The remains of Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz, Seventh Iowa, who had Men on the bloody field of Belmont, had been brought to his home in Da- ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 213 venport, and the sad duty of paying the last honors to this brave man devolved upon the Eleventh. The regiment embarked for St. Louis on the 16th. The weather was still mild and pleasant, but before the port of St. Louis was made a snow storm set in which made the hurricane deck of the transport decidedly unpleasant to the soldiers who occupied it. In those days, when the chief object of soldiers seemed to be to make themselves comfortable, every officer supposed in any degree to be responsible for their discomfort came in for their complaints, mixed with a free use of the energetic idiom. The same men who complained so much of this journey would have looked upon it as a holiday excursion, before the war closed. Such is the difference between the raw recruit and the veteran soldier. Part of the regiment was trans ferred to another steamer at Keokuk, and the whole arrived at St. Louis on the evening of the 20th, and marched from the levee to Benton Bar racks, "through that sort of miserable, warm, soaking rain," says a cor respondent, which never falls anywhere but at St. Louis or Washington City, and which is always falling at one or other, or both of those places. We took lodgings, I think, at No. 765. It may have been 567. At any rate it was one of those high numbers which may be very lucky in lotteries, but which are certainly unfortunate in barracks, and arouse gloomy sugges tions of numberless oblong rooms, and endless miles of slippery, muddy sidewalks under leagues of wooden stoops, where the luckless volunteer for the first time makes his mark as a soldier in the mud. The Eleventh spent nearly three weeks at Benton Barracks, at that time the grand place of fashionable resort for western troops. Looking back over three years service," says the first Assistant Surgeon of the regiment, " Benton Barracks appear to me to have been designed and planned, in the most successful manner, as a sort of way-side house for small-pox, measles, mumps, and home-sickness. I know these budded, blossomed, and bore fruit there, and I do not know of anything else that could have long existed there, except Tookes. Tookes was a gentleman of high spirits and high wines. Spirits, to be sure, were forbidden in special orders, and denounced by that consistent officer, the Provost Marshal ; but when the Provost Mar shal was taken into a side room by Tookes in the most polite manner, and invited in the most obsequious way, to take something out of a claret wine bottle, and to give his unbiased judgment as to whether it might be harm lessly sold, the Provost Marshal snapped his eyes, and said a mild beverage like that could hurt no one, and that Tookes was a military benefactor, and that he would call several times every day, and be constantly and diligently testing its efficacy on himself. I will close this part of my subject by giving one of Tookes most glaring bon-mots, got off in seeing through the window of my quarters, Iowa s favorite sanitary agent whose name so 214 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. many of Iowa s soldiers had afterwards so much cause to bless slip and fall in the mud which there abounded. You have heard, said Tookes, keeping his left eye only slightly ajar, like the door of the Bank of Florence when that beneficent institution was about to close, and his right eye on a jar of peach brandy which I was keeping in my quarters for the sick, you have heard of sermons in stones, and there is Wit-in-mire. " It was here that Mrs. Wittenmyer actively began her benevolent services in behalf of our troops, which she continued without ceasing till after the last rebel had laid down his arms. On Sunday, December 8th, the regiment left Benton Barracks without a single regret, and moved to Jefferson City, arriving on the same evening. Hence, not many days afterwards, it went upon its first campaign in the field. With a battalion of the Third Iowa Cavalry, Major Clay Caldwell, the regiment embarked on the 14th, and proceeded up the river to Boone- ville. The only positive good which resulted from the foray was the cap ture of a large amount of gunpowder by the cavalry. A correspondent of the Muscatine Journal, writing a resume of the regiment s history, from Savannah, Georgia, early in 1865, says, "Whatever dangers (and they have been many) the Eleventh has since passed through, I consider their return to Jefferson City, on the steamer Isabella, with one hundred and seventy- three kegs of gunpowder, five hundred green soldiers, and a reckless crew on board, the most imminent." The troops did not disembark at Jefferson City immediately, but making the steamers their quarters, thence made several expeditions on foot. One of these was a march by the whole regi ment of nine miles to the vicinity of a little town named Providence. When within a mile of the village Colonel Hare sent the cavalry ahead on a recon- noissance in force, who speedily reported "Providence deserted by the enemy or the enemy deserted by Providence, which is much the same thing!" Another march of about the same distance in another direction was made by five companies, Major Abercrombie commanding, to the vil lage of Boonsboro, which was captured without casualty, except that Adju tant Cadle was thrown from his horse. The Major posted his pickets, and reposed on his laurels and a feather bed. These first active operations of the regiment were afterwards the source of much merriment to officers and men, before their camp-fires on cam paigns whose grandeur and results were of such magnificent scale as to throw these entirely in the shade, and make it next to impossible to get a serious account of them. With them the movements in the field for the winter closed. The regiment had not been at Jefferson City many days, when five companies moved to the town of California, twenty-five miles westward, being transported, much to the disgust of these novices in war, on cattle cars. A few days afterwards the remaining companies marched ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 215 to Fulton, about the same distance north of Jefferson City. Having good shelter, good living, the officers and men of the divided command spent a joyous winter, putting in their spare time on such social enjoyments as California and Fulton, noted for their dancing ladies of secession proclivi ties, afforded. But sadness mingled with the joy. The foul atmosphere of Benton Barracks was fermenting in the blood, and disease began to do its dreadful work among the men. Many forms of ailment prevailed, and the fine spirits of those whose robust natures were proof as yet against thp insidious enemy, were saddened by the suffering and death of many com rades in the hospitals. On the 10th of March, 1862, the two wings of the regiment left their respective quarters, and rejoining on the steamer " Great Wester, " moved down the Missouri, down the Mississippi, and up the Tennessee to Savan nah, where the command disembarked and encamped. Here it remained about one week when, again embarking, proceeded eight miles up the river to Pittsburg Landing. Marching some distance from the landing the regi ment went into camp on the very spot where, a fortnight afterwards, the fiercest fighting of the deadliest conflict of the war took place. The regi ment at this time was in the brigade commanded by Colonel Richard Oglesby, McClernand s Division. On Friday night, April 4th, the long roll was beaten, and the brigade fell into line. The alarm seemed to be false, and the troops returned to quarters. This was the first note of battle, and its failure of tangible or visible results probably assisted to throw both officers and men of the army somewhat off their guard, leaving them unpre pared to promptly meet the enemy when he came down like a wolf on the fold, on Sunday morning. Of the battle of Shiloh I need here say but little. During the first part of the battle, and until he was wounded, Colonel Hare, in the absence of Colonel Oglesby, commanded the brigade, which left the command of the regiment at this momentous epoch of its history to Lieutenant- Colonel Hall. As to how he bore himself on that terrible occasion, I have already written, and need now only say that the written and verbal testimony of his superior officers was strewn with his praises. The losses of the regiment in this its first battle, were very heavy, and the behaviour of its officers and men, almost without exception, was most creditable. 1 1 Lieutenant-Colonel Hall does not state the losses in his official report, but says they were " very severe in killed and wounded." They numbered more than two hundred, out of an aggregate of seven hundred and fifty, and of these more than thirty were killed outright on the field. I again acknowledge obligations to the Adjutant-General s Report for the following list of casualties : Wounded, Colonel A. M. Hare, commanding brigade; Lieutenant-Colonel William Hall, (slightly), his horse shot under him; Major John C. Abercrombie. Company A Killed, Privates George W. Callender, William Frilchman, John Goodocke. Company B Kitted, Corporal William F. Hough. Wounded, Captain Charles Foster ; Sergeant Eli D. Akers ; Corporals Benjamin V. Kersey, James Fitzgerald ; Privates Samuel S. Brockway, 216 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. As soon as the regiment recovered from the shock and excitement of the battle, it, as part of the great army there assembled, began to move upon Corinth. Meantime, the army had been to a considerable extent reor ganized. The Eleventh and Thirteenth had reluctantly parted from their gallant comrades in battle, the Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois, but their feel ings of sadness were entirely assuaged when the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa took the place of the Illinois regiments in the line. Colonel Hare having now resigned, Colonel M. M. Crocker, Thirteenth Iowa, assumed command of the brigade, which was long known as "Crocker s Iowa Brigade," and, after that gallant and now lamented officer left it for a higher field of duty, simply as "the Iowa Brigade." That gallant command, than which no single brigade made a more illustrious record throughout the war, undoubt edly owes much of its proud fame to CROCKER, whose off-hand ability, dashing gallantry, and stern discipline were known throughout the army and recognized as preeminent. Certainly the officers and men of the Iowa Brigade always, and, I believe, without exception, held him in the highest esteem, both as an officer and as a man. Nevertheless, ill health had made his temper irritable, and the ludicrous incidents which resulted therefrom were nearly as numerous as Mr. Lincoln s jokes. But it was no joke to place any the least barrier against his discipline, and he soon made his com mand in all respects equivalent to an organization of veterans. The march on Corinth was by what military books call gradual ap proaches," and in this instance there was no want of graduality. The approaches were very gradual. When the place was evacuated by Beaure- gard, our regiment formed part of the garrison, and as such remained there for about three months. At the end of that period of quiet, active operations again commenced, and the command marched to the town of Bolivar, Tennessee, a beautiful place on a tributary of the Hatchie Biver, Elisha Blundon, David Dale, Martin Denton, Addison Garwood, George B. Haworth, Charles W. Hammond, James Marsh, John Rutan, John Ramsey, David Shafer, Thomas C. Smith, William N. Street. Company C Kitted, Private Samuel Fritts. Wounded, G. B. S. Livingstone. Company D Kitted, Sergeant Henry Seibert ; Privates Thomes J. Corey, Peter Craven, William Leverich, William White. Wounded, Corporals John A. Hughes, Walter G. Rogers ; Private Rode rick R. McRea. Company E Killed, Lieutenant John F. Compton ; Sergeant Ezra McLaney ; Privates John R. Buckman, George Crooks, Carlton Frink, Thomas M. Haines. Wounded, Privates John W. Dwig- gans, (mortally), George W. Simmons, (mortally). Company F Killed, Corporals George J. Borns, Martin A. McLain; Private Henry H. Riley. Wounded, Wagoner Theodore Campbell, (mortally) ; Private John Cochran. Company G Killed, Privates William Black, Mortimer Robert, Clinton T. Hull, Theodore Pallit. Wounded, Private James M. Alvey. Company H Kitted, Privates Henry C. Ady, William E. Mikesell, Finley H. Newell. Wounded, Private Warren W. Evans. Company I Killed, Sergeant George E. Daniels; Privates John Hester, Madison Reyburn. Wounded, Privates Nelson Geller, John Leesh, Thomas McKeaugh, Joshua B. Sullivan. Company K Kitted, Private Lafayette Bogart. Missing, Private William Mitchel. ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 217 of which post Colonel Crocker took command, and whence his brigade made several expeditions and reconnoissances of less or more importance. A battle took place near Bolivar, while Colonel Crocker was in command, in which the rebel General Armstrong was defeated and driven off, the troops on either side being principally cavalry. The next movement by the Eleventh was a march on luka, which commenced near the middle of September. It joined the column under Ord, and did not participate in the battle of luka, fought on the 19th, by General Rosecrans alone on the Union side. The Sixteenth regiment, for a short time detached from the brigade, took a brilliant part in that sharp engagement, soon after which the whole brigade marched to Corinth, reaching there in ample time to participate in the great battle of the 3d and 4th of October, when the rebel Generals Van Dorn and Price with an overwhelming army attempted to capture the place, and were terribly defeated and routed instead. The losses of the regiment in this engagement principally occurred on the first day of the battle, and were not severe. 2 The regiment took part in the Mississippi Central Railroad Campaign, under General Grant, and, returning on the abandonment of the enterprise, spent Christmas day at Holly Springs. Thence marched to Lafayette. Tennessee, about thirty miles east of Memphis where a halt of some days was made. Then marching again, the regiment pitched tents in Memphis on January 13th, 1863, where officers and men were paid, and where, in consequence, as some one wrote to the papers, they were as happy as celes tial beings for a week, which, the same writer is careful to observe, is the normal condition of all troops after the paymaster has been around. Having had a week of "flush times in Tennessee," the regiment moved in conjunction with a considerable army to Young s Point, Louisiana. There was not much of a stay made there, however, for the 8th of Feb ruary found the Iowa Brigade encamped on the banks of Lake Providence, on the fine estate of the confederate senator Sparrow, where the troops en joyed themselves right heartily, boating, fishing, and hunting. Those halcyon days were also days of canal-digging and other improvements in the navigation of terra-firma. The Eleventh did its part in digging the canal connecting the Mississippi with Lake Providence, through which the little steam-tug, called in honor of General Grant s Assistant Adjutant-General, the John A. Rawlins, floated to the Lake. Rawlins was a man who. on the field, would go where none would follow, and so it was with his namesake, for no other vessel ever undertook to follow her. No one who *They were as follows: Kitted, Private Andrew Moor. Missing, Privates James II. Downing. John T. Wires, David Hobaugh, James Martin, George W.Swift. Wounded, Privates William Harp, George W. Miller, James Teter, F. M. Beauchamp, William E. Winter. Prisoners, Sergeant Samuel L. Mack ; Private Jonas Sterneman. 28 218 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. heard or saw it can ever forget the "rush of mighty waters," when the levee of the river was cut through and the boiling current dashed down a descent of fifteen feet to the lake, and in such prodigious power and volume as soon submerged no contemptible part of Louisiana. The army now girded up its loins and departed on the most momentous enterprise in which it had yet been engaged, the campaign of Vicksburg. Throughout this eventful era, the Iowa Brigade performed service of a peculiarly laborious nature, but it was not called upon to take part in the march, crowded with battles, by Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Cham pion Hills, and the Big Black River. In all the labors, marches, dangers through which the brigade passed, the Eleventh had its just share. Gen eral Crocker during this campaign was in command of a division, highly distinguished among the fighting divisions of that fighting army a division which rushed through storm, and fire, and iron hail to the capture of Jack son, and by a splendid burst of heroic fighting, wrenched victory out of defeat at Champion Hills and as Colonel Reed, Fifteenth Iowa, had also become a general officer, Colonel Chambers, Sixteenth Iowa, was in com mand of the brigade. In the turn of military events, it afterwards fell to the lot of Colonel Hall, of the Eleventh, to command the brigade, where upon Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie took command of the regiment with which we are now more immediately concerned. And I may as well say here as elsewhere that this arrangement continued till the retirement of those officers from the service, the one in July, and the other in October, 1864. When the campaign of Vicksburg and that of Jackson which followed had closed, the victorious armies deserved and received rest from their labors. The white tents of their encampments might have been seen for miles along the banks of the Big Black, and its little tributaries from the west, stretching to Vicksburg, and embracing in their extent a large por tion of Mississippi roundabout the stronghold, now securely ours, which had been the scene of so much suffering and so much gladness the scene where went out into the darkness of the narrow house the light and joy of households all over the land, shrouding them with a gloom which could have been rent asunder only by the dazzling victory which brightened and gladdened the continent. Many hours were spent by the thousands en camped on the scene made so memorable by themselves, in recounting to each other the events of the campaign. It was scarcely less interesting for these battle-scarred soldiers to talk over their wars, than it had been to fight them over, and it was certainly a melancholy pleasure, never omitted, to remember with fraternal kindness and eulogium their comrades who helped to gain the victory, but were sleeping their last sleep on the hills ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 219 and in the valleys where the living were still encamped. Thus the hot months of summer, and the autumn passed away. There was one expedition, however, that took place during the heated term, in which the Eleventh Regiment took part, which I must not omit. I mean the expedition to Monroe, Louisiana, sometimes called the Washita Expedition, but by the troops engaged therein more generally, "The Louisiana Expedition. After the campaign of Jackson, when all armed forces of the enemy had* been either captured or driven far beyond the Pearl River, the grand army which had achieved the great victories, was, as we have seen, most justly granted rest. Many officers, general, field, and line, were granted leaves of absence, and one-fifth of the rank and file received furloughs. Whilst the army was thus depleted, Brigadier-General John D. Stevenson, temporarily commanding Logan s Division of the Fifteenth Corps, took it into his head to get up an expedition into Louisiana, a considerable distance west of Vicksburg a region which had not yet been overrun by any considerable force of either army, which was reported to abound in cotton and supplies, and to contain a population which might easily be induced to throw off their allegiance to the confederacy and return to faithful duty in the Union. Representations of this nature being made to General Grant, he ordered the expedition with such instructions as were proper under the supposed state of facts. Accordingly, General Stevenson organized his expeditionary force, con sisting of the Third Division, Seventeenth Corps, Brigadier-General M. D. Leggett, the Iowa Brigade, of the Seventeenth Corps, Colonel Cham bers, two or three battalions of cavalry, Captain Edward Osband, Second Illinois Cavalry, and some other troops, the infantry numbering, perhaps, four thousand five hundred, and embarking on steamers moved to Good- rich s Landing, whence the march into Louisiana was commenced about the middle of August. The troops moved in light marching order, with little transportation, taking a sufficient quantity of small rations sugar, salt, coffee, and hard bread for twenty days ; depending upon the country for meat and other substantial edibles. Thus prepared, the devoted troops of this little army commenced an ex pedition which, for suffering, intense heat, thirst, unprecedented, unac countable, and unnecessary forced marches, was without a parallel in the history of "Logan s Veteran Division" or the Iowa Brigade, which before and afterwards made a high reputation not only in fighting, but in what is regarded by the tried soldier as a far more serious matter marching. Con sider, that the rout taken was nearly due west from Goodrich s Landing ; that the country was low and marshy at best, densely covered with heavy timber and a rank undergrowth of precocious and fruitful saplings ; that 220 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the levees of the Mississippi at Lake Providence and elsewhere above had been previously cut, whereby all this section of country through which Stevenson moved had been submerged, the high water mark being plainly visible to the troops as they marched through the bottoms, in many places twenty or thirty feet above their heads ; that when the waters subsided they had left a rich alluvial from which had sprung a dense, gigantic growth of vegetation, coming up to the very road-side and shutting out all breath of air as effectually as walls of stone ; that slimy, oozy bayous crossed the line of march every few miles over which bridges had to be repaired or pontoons laid ; that from these bayous alone could water now be had, and when had it was nearly hot enough to blister the tongue, and filled with animated nature of the most repulsive kind ; that when the march commenced in the morning the hot rays of the sun fell upon the backs of the men with a most enervating influence, pursued them all day as with flames of vengeance, leaving hundreds every day prostrate on the road completely overpowered, and other hundreds with hands and faces covered with blisters, like the paint of ships in the torrid zone ; that, notwithstanding bridges were built, pontoons laid, and the enemy in considerable force harassing the advance, the column marched from fifteen to twenty miles a day consider all these things, and it will readily be seen how terrible was this march. Upon the evening of the first day, when the Fifteenth Iowa halted at Bayou Macon, fifteen miles from the Mississippi, and stacked arms to go into bivouac, there were less than an hundred muskets in line, out of an aggregate of two hundred and eighty-nine. The others had fallen out from sheer ex haustion and want of water. So it was with the other regiments of the whole command, and as was the first day so were all the others of this rapid advance. But for the wagons and ambulances, crowded with worn- out men, more than half the troops must have been left on the way. The army several nights bivouacked on the east bank of a bayou, with the enemy immediately opposite on the west side. Once or twice when such was the fact, the troops were addressed by General Stevenson, as they filed by to go into bivouac, with very encouraging words, to the effect that the enemy had at last been brought to bay, and a fine fight would take place in the morning. But in every instance the enemy showed his heels. At Point Jefferson, a hamlet about half way between the Missis sippi and Monroe, the Union column came so close upon the rebels that they were compelled to abandon their sick and wounded, who, numbering one hundred and sixty, with hospitals, and considerable property, fell in* * our hands. The enemy was pursued to Monroe, where he made a slight resistance, and retired across the Washita River, destroying the pontoons behind him, into the wild regions between this point and Shreveport. General Leggett was made Provost Marshal of the town, which proved ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 221 to be a small but prosperous place, containing large quantities of cotton. The stories of Union sentiment in the country turned out to be unmixed fictions, concocted, as the troops believed, in the fertile brain of the general commanding for the purpose of getting up this expedition, in the absence of his division commander, in a direction where it was supposed there would be about enough fighting for promotion but without reaching the degree of particular unhealthfulness. The army remained at Monroe two days. The region roundabout was a rich agricultural country, abounding in corn and with apparently an unlim ited number of cattle and swine running at large in the forests. There would have been no difficulty on the score of subsistence in maintaining a large army marching thence to Shreveport. A glance at the map, with the light of General Sherman s after experience in making an army self-sustaining in an enemy s country, might fully demonstrate that the route by Monroe was the proper one to Shreveport, instead of the long, hazardous line by the Red River afterwards adopted by General Banks with such disastrous results, with the reason still remaining a mystery except upon the ungenerous theory of opening the route taken to enable the government and Admiral Porter to realize from the immense quantities of cotton which were ready to fall as prizes into our hands all along the Red River Seas. Whilst the country about Monroe was quite densely inhabited there was but a sparse population along the greater portion of the line of march. There were, however, many large plantations, with great sheds filled with countless bales of cotton, marked "C. S. A." not one of which was destroyed on account of orders to that effect from General Stevenson. The countermarch was not so rapid as the advance, but was well nigh as exhaustive and disagreeable. The only visible affirmative results of the expedition were a large quantity of forage and an immense drove of cattle, taken at Monroe. The column reached Vicksburg on its return on the 3d of September, whereupon General Stevenson forthwith issued a con gratulatory order, containing more glowing heroics than any ever issued by Grant, or Sherman, or Sheridan, or Thomas, or all of them together. The troops did not see it in the same Fight, Half of them were completely worn out. From the effects of this march, hundreds of the men became sick, many died, and it was long before those who survived it recovered vigorous health and spirits ; and to this day it is referred to by all who took part in it as the expedition of the war illustrating the maximum amount of physical suffering and endurance that an army is capable of undergoing. As for General Stevenson, he was soon relieved and sent into another department, for failing, as was freely circulated in the army, to 222 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. destroy the enemy s cotton, and for marching his command nearly to death without any necessity. I do not just now recollect whether any Iowa troops except the Iowa Brigade took part in this miserable campaign. The Eleventh was com manded by Major Foster, the Thirteenth by Major Walker, the Fifteenth by Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick, and the Sixteenth by Captain J. H. Smith, Colonels Shane, Belknap and Saunders being home on their first leave of absence since entering the service, and Colonel Hall sick in camp. Of course every regiment of the brigade suffered terribly, and the expedition cannot be named to this day, to a man of the old command, without causing a feeling of indignation and sorrow indignation toward the com manding general, and sorrow for the brave men who sacrificed their lives and health to his unhallowed ambition and stupendous folly. Our regiment, with the others of the command, now resumed that rest which had been broken by the Louisiana Expedition, and remained quietly in camp during the rest of the year, and until early in February, 1864, when it joined the army under Sherman which made the famous Meridian raid. This occupied one month. Before General Sherman moved on this expedition, the members of the regiment had nearly all reenlisted for the further term of three years or during the war. Shortly after the raid they were duly declared a Veteran Regiment, mustered in as such, and granted the usual furlough to visit home. The enthusiastic welcome they received in Iowa, after more than two years difficult, dangerous service, can never be forgotten either by themselves or by those who extended it. Having had a fine visit among their welcoming friends, and having increased their ranks by many recruits, the officers and men came in due time to the rendezvous at Davenport, whence the regiment soon moved to the theatre of war. It went to a new field of adventure and glory. After a long journey by rail and river, and a long march through Tennessee and Alabama, the veterans of the Eleventh found themselves grasping the generous hands of the soldiers of the Armies of the Cumberland and the Ohio in the moun tains of Georgia, with whom the Army of the Tennessee was henceforth fully to cooperate in the bravest campaign of history. The Iowa Brigade joined the main body of Sherman s army at Ackworth, on the 8th of June, after the grand army had marched, and "flanked," and fought its way thither, from Ringgold, near the northern boundary of the State. A few days afterwards our regiment had its first fighting under the frowning heights of Kenesaw Mountain, where the enemy was posted so strongly as to blockade the march for nearly a month, the whole of which period was occupied with skirmishes, in which all the troops were less or more engaged at times. Our army was posted within range of the enemy s ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 223 NICKAJACK CREEK. 224 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. sharp-shooters, and many on our main lines fell victims to their accurate firing, whilst the pickets were in constant danger. Hence, though the Eleventh was not called upon to take part in the assault of the 27th, it lost more than a score of men in killed and wounded in front of Kenesaw. Johnston abandoned Kenesaw on the night of July 2d, and withdrew to Marietta, there taking position again behind heavy fortifications, too strong to have been carried by assault. The movement of the Twenty-third Corps on the left, however, and of McPherson s army to the right, gave Sherman possession of the works without bloodshed. Johnston retired to the cover of the Chattahoochee River, and soon afterwards threw the main body of his army across that stream, but leaving Hardee s strong corps on the north side to dispute our advance. Hardee occupied a strong intrenched position in a bend of the river called the Peninsula, his right flank covered by the river itself, his left and left centre by the unfordable Nickajack Creek, which flowed perpendicular to his centre, and then turning south covered his left wing, some three or four miles, to the river. The occupation of this formidable position by Hardee held the Union army in check for a week, and enabled Johnston to withdraw his materiel. It was abandoned on the 10th, in consequence of one of General Sherman s flanking move ments. But meantime, there was a strong force in front of Hardee, which was engaged in frequent fighting from the 4th to the 10th of the month, both inclusive, in which the Eleventh, and the other regiments of the brigade had their share, all losing many good and brave men as at Kenesaw Mountain, without having any combat which attained the proportions of a general engagement. The last of their combats was near Sandtown, some miles below the mouth of the Nickajack, and on the extreme right of the Union lines. The sublime skill in logistics of Sherman next threw the Army of the Tennessee to the extreme left of his lines where it crossed the Chattahoochee on the 16th, and moved on Atlanta. It would involve needless repetition were I to narrate in this place the complete history of the Eleventh regiment throughout the remainder of this campaign, of which it is hardly too much to say as characterizing the whole of it, that every hour saw a skirmish, and every day a battle. Engaged in the bloodiest encounters that distinguished the campaign, the veteran Eleventh everywhere acquitted itself with honor, and sealed its devotion to the cause for which it fought with the lives and blood of many as gallant men as ever shouldered a musket or drew a sword. The losses in the regiment during the campaign at Kenesaw, Nickajack Creek, in the combats and battles before Atlanta, on the 20th, 21st, and 22d days of July, in the siege, and during the flanking movement, accompanied by fighting, by Jonesboro and Lovejoy from the 15th of June to the 5th of September, when the great prize fell into our possession, numbered two ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 225 hundred and eighteen in killed, wounded, and prisoners, being half of the available strength of the regiment. 3 8 1 am indebted to Reverend Ensign II. King, Chaplain of the Fifteenth Iowa Volunteers, for the following list of casnalties. He most kindly copied the reports of the Eleventh regiment, not only, but of all the regiments in the Iowa Brigade, during this campaign, and sent them to me, thereby doing a service which merits and receives my warmest gratitude. It is proper to bear in mind, however, that the reports are made up from day to day, and are necessarily somewhat inaccurate. That is to say, they seem now to be inaccurate, because, alas ! some reported wounded were in fac* killed, or died on the field. I wish the list could by correction be made to bear less fatality, but it 4 cannot : LIST OF CASUALTIES IN ELEVENTH IOWA VOLUNTEERS, DURING ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. IN FRONT OF KENESAW MOUNTAIN, June, 15th to July 1st. Killed, Sergeant William Shallaberger ; Private William J. Alexander. Wounded, Captain Joseph Neal, Lieutenant Alfred Carey ; Corporal Samuel Edwards ; Privates John Albin, Leroy Douglas, John Ford, George G. Main, Thomas McConnell, John Zeither, William Taylor, A. Entsler, Justin C. Stawker, John Esher, Joseph Hockett, William Talbott, Thomas Ufford, Simon Willhelm, William H. Meyer. NICKAJACK CREEK. Killed, Privates William Hawley, William Cross, Henry C. Neeley. Wounded, Lieutenant M. Lemon ; Sergeant Theophilus McKinney ; Corporals Thomas Suitor, James Fitzgerald, David Wetmoyer; Privates George Dickinson, George Shafer, Joseph Purvis, Henry Kyiuk, John Hilton, Perry Sterrett, John Smith, Perry Van Winkle. BEFORE ATLANTA, July 20th. Killed, Private D. L. Hobaugh. Wounded, Privates L. J. Dickinson, A. S. Campbell. BEFORE ATLANTA, July 21st. Killed, Sergeant Joseph Moore ; Private A. J. Hudson. Wounded, Lieutenant William J. Wylie ; Corporals C. Reynolds, Miller Tollman ; Privates A. S. Drinean, Mason Stodard, John Williams, David Cummings, A. E. Allen, John Sediker, William Harlett, Samuel Newell. Missing, James Grey. BEFORE ATLANTA, July 2 2d. Killed, Captain Joseph Neal, Lieutenants Stephen H. Caldwell, John A. Buck; Sergeant William Heald; Privates William H. Meyers, George Easton, Leslie Gambell, Justus L. Stanbur, Cicero H. Shepherd, George Sweet, Francis M. Flory, Madison J. Miller, Zephaniah Beal, John Brown, Socrates T. Safely, John Rutan. Wounded, Major Charles Foster, Lieutenants Ira P. Foutz, William J. Wylie ; Sergeant-Major John G. Safely ; Sergeants William Bakey, William S. Middleton. H. J. Coulter, H. Kesmer, Joshua Swain ; Corporals George W. Edwards, Mifflins Jen nings, Peter Duflfey, D. B. Espy, W. D. Ady ; Privates Henry Benedict, Thomas Meeker, William Put nam, John D. Richards, William Reid, Dallas Wamsley, S. N. Conway, Charles W. Hammond, Aaron M. Pierce, E. M. Bowman, W. W. Edmonson, F. M. McCoy, A. P. Todd, G. Wyncoop, Persius Ash- ford, W. J. Tallbott, James S. Clark, Theodore Fairer, Albert Wiker, Henry Newens, William C. Grill, B. M. Connell, J. S. Hood, J. C. Purvis, R. D. Nelson, J. L. Williams, Oscar Connor, George Hummel, George F. Stuttz, Charles Hilboum, Joseph Geager, John W. Beeler, John Mason, John Gatton, Benjamin F. Gard, John Gard, Mathias Kief, Charles Hadley, John T. Cowan, E. D. Andrews, James M. Conklin, D. L. Foote, Frank Graver, Marsena Harriett, Philip Kriland, William Mitchell, Charles Raridon, Thomas Strong, John P. Welch. Missing, Captains Benjamin F. Rose, George W. Barr, Lieutenant E. F. Cassell ; Sergeants Benjamin V. Kersey, Joseph B. Hastings, John Gambell, John M. Grum, George McNeely, William E.Richard; Corporals- Charles Bier, William H. Nellis, Benjamin F. Bowers, Caleb Daily ; Privates Charles Entsler, Joseph Frestler, William Foley, Gotlieb Maurer, August Mettage, Turner M. Peck, Archibald Tyler, Jordan Albertson, James L. Armstrong, Jeremiah Bennett, John C. Dinnell, John H. Hobart, Thomas C. Kersey, James S. Martin, Jesse B. Myers, Joseph Richards, William B. Street, Samuel Merill, W. J. Washburn, M. B. Bowler, Aaron Pierce, E. W. Carpenter, J. B. Wallace, Robert Dunning, Clinton F. Hull, William Hnmmell, Jesse B. Kindell, George M. Gafferty, Sheridan Martin, Henry Poor, Mathias Paxton, Joseph L. Courtney, Charles A. Smith, H. Hyink, William P. Sparks, S. A. Jackson, Justin E. Coe, Daniel J. Brookhart, Richard Kirton, William Burge, John L. Elder, William F. Fisher, Alexander Q. Long, Samuel Shafer, Madison Staver. July 28th, to September 5th. Killed, Sergeant Samuel Campbell ; Privates John Rutan, John Mathews. Wounded, Sergeant Henry Kesner ; Corporals David Huff, Daniel J. Paroin ; Privates James Richardson, William Welch, Charles Wilson, James M. Flack, Henry Hazzleton, Joseph W. Shoemaker. Gabriel Bowman, George Benedict, William Abbott, Joseph T. Daily, Robert Henderson, T. M. McCoy, W. H. Stormfeldt, George Clinton, Joseph T. Daily, Jabez Hitchcock, A. J. Manley, John Hilton, Van. V. Reeves, Joseph T. Scroggs, Stephen T. Leighton, Asa Bronson. 29 226 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. In the bloody battle of the 22d, the regiment lost very heavily. Major Charles Foster was severely wounded, though it was not supposed at the time to be a fatal hurt. He was carried from the field, and, being a man of an enthusiastic, hopeful nature, he spoke of his wound as a trifling matter which would only result in a short sick leave. So thinking he pro cured the leave and started home very soon after the battle, and on the journey from Atlanta to Louisville rather laughed at his wound than treated it seriously. From Louisville he went to Cincinnati by steamer. The Louisville Journal of the 23d August tells the rest of the sad story thus : "We have received the sad intelligence that Major Charles Foster of the Eleventh Iowa Kegiment of Volunteer Infantry, died of congestive chills at Cincinnati, on the 21st instant. This intelligence is as unexpected as it is painful. Major Foster left this city last week for his home in Iowa; and though suffering from a wound received in the battle near Atlanta, was in good health and high spirits. He, indeed, reached Cincinnati in this con dition, as we learn from a gentleman who attended him in his last moments, feeling so well after his arrival that his wife, who accompanied him, wrote home that they would renew their journey on the following day, which was Saturday last. But shortly after he was taken with congestive chills, and, when our correspondent saw him at eleven o clock on Sunday, he was unconscious and unable to articulate anything intelligibly. He died a few hours later. His country loses in him one of her most devoted and gallant defenders. Major Foster was a native of New Hampshire, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and, when he entered the army, a member of the bar of Iowa. He has fallen almost on the threshold of a brilliant career. Peace to his ashes !" Major Foster s remains were borne to Davenport, and were there attended to the grave by a large concourse of citizens, the bar of the city joining the procession in a body. The brave and modest Captain Neal, of Com pany C, was killed on the field where Major Foster was wounded, and near him fell Lieutenant Caldwell, whilst Captain Barr, and Lieutenants Foutz and Wylie were severely wounded. When the Atlanta campaign had been brought to its successful termina tion, our regiment had about a month of quiet and of comparative ease, in camp not far from the city. It then joined in the chase of Hood, fol lowing him into northeastern Alabama, where Sherman turned him over to the eventual tender mercies of Thomas. By the middle of November it was back to Atlanta and ready for the march on Savannah, which excur sion of pleasure was made without loss or accident of any sort to the com mand. In the commercial metropolis of Georgia the regiment devoted nearly ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 227 three weeks to rest and pleasure. The ladies of that city are distinguished for their beauty ; the theatre was in full blast nightly till the gas went out at eleven o clock, and what with gallantry and patronage of the histrionic art, both of which were permitted ad libitum by General Sherman, who had the most implicit confidence in the discipline of his army, the officers and men of the Eleventh had no lack of enjoyment. It was during this happy period that a correspondent of the Muscatine Journal wrote a resumt of the regiment s history from which I have already had occasion to quote^ _ He concludes his narrative with the following rather humorous "persona lities," in which I wish writers from other regiments had indulged more frequently and, perhaps, more seriously. "Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Beach, the present commander, is as true a Blue as there is in the whole army. Major John C. Marven is too good, generous, brave and noble a fellow for any pen to give a true portraiture of. William Watson, the first surgeon, had a great deal inside his head and very little outside. Cornelius Cadle, Jr. , the first adjutant, now lieutenant- colonel and assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Major-General Blair, was quite the handsomest, almost the bravest, and entirely the wittiest officer in the regiment. He was severely wounded in Louisiana in the spring of 1863 while leading a reconnoitering party into the village of Richmond. A minie ball passed through his cheek, under the lobe of the ear. Cadle, however, flapped his wings and ears, and crowed defiance to the rebels across the bayou. His uncle, Richard Cadle, was quartermaster of the regiment for a long time, and was constantly doing the clean thing in all that pertains to his department. He always wore on his shoulder- straps, as an elaborate ornament, the letters Q. D., which the boys interpreted to mean Queer Dick. When Adjutant Cadle left the regiment he was succeeded by Lieutenant Kinsman, formerly sergeant- major. Kinsman was in every way a worthy successor of Cadle, and has fairly earned by his gallantry and good conduct every honor which the State and county have conferred upon him and many which they have not. He is now assistant adjutant-general on the staff of the gallant General Belknap, commanding the brigade. The first chaplain was Reverend Mr. Whittlesey, a Congregational minister, a devoted Christian and a man of much gentlemanly polish. There have been few chaplains who filled the bill as well as he did. He overtasked himself in his attention to the wounded during and after the battle of Shiloh. There has been no pro vision made on earth for the promotion of chaplains, but Mr. Whittlesey has been advanced to a much higher position than that he held in our regiment he has ascended to heaven. His labors and exposure at Shiloh caused his death not long afterwards." From Savannah the regiment sailed early in 1865 for Beaufort, South 228 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Carolina, and not long after took up line of march for the north. The march through the Carolinas was one of great labor and difficulty, fre quently made in the face of the enemy, but there were only three casualties occurred in the regiment after the departure from Savannah, Captain Morris W. Clark, of Company C, being captured near Columbia, South Carolina, on February 19th, while on a foraging expedition, and privates Jasper Rowen and John Z. Frederick being wounded at the battle of Ben- tonville on the 21st of March. Marching thence to Goldsboro, and from there after a short halt to Raleigh, the regiment was present at the surrender of Johnston, and soon afterwards marched to the national capital. Here it participated in the last grand review of the war, and went into camp on the evening of that great day of display a few miles from the Capitol. Major-General Giles A. Smith, who had commanded the division since the 20th of July, 1864, with ever increasing popularity being a man no less respected for his military abilities than beloved for his amiable and manly personal qualities here bade farewell to his old command, and took his departure for Texas. General Belknap thereupon assumed command of the division, and that of "the old Iowa Brigade" fell to Lieutenant- Colonel Beach, of the Eleventh, as the ranking officer of the brigade present. From Washington, the regiment moved by rail and steamer to Louisville, Kentucky, where it was honorably discharged the service about the middle of July, and thence moving to Davenport for final disbandment, reached that city on the evening of July 19th. George E. Hubbell, Esq., delivered an oration on the occasion, but the principal occurrence was a short speech from Colonel William Hall, who had so long commanded the regiment and the brigade, but who was now in such feeble health that he barely had strength to say only a few words. " I cannot stand long enough to make a speech," said he ; "I can only say to the citizens of Davenport that there have not been better or braver soldiers from any portion of the Union sent to the field than you have been, and that none who have come home will be better or more faithful citizens than you will be. " In a day or two after this truthful sentence from their old commander, the Eleventh Iowa Vo lunteers were no more save in the gallant deeds they had performed, the proud history they had made. A large portion of the regiment being from Muscatine county, these were greeted at Muscatine with a welcome as hearty as ever cheered the souls of men, and there on this bright occasion, amid the joyful ringing of bells, and salutes of artillery, they bade farewell to their warfare and dispersed to their happy homes. CHAPTER XIII. THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. MARCELLUS M. CROCKER, THE FIRST COLONEL OF THE REGIMENT RENDEZVOUS AT DAVENPORT ARMED AT ST. LOUIS WINTER QUARTERS AT JEFFERSON CITY- MOVE TO PITTSBURG LANDING DRILL BATTLE OF SHILOH SIEGE OF COR INTHMOVEMENTS IN THE FIELD BATTLE OF CORINTH CAMPAIGN IN MISSIS SIPPILAKE PROVIDENCE A SMALL CANAL AND A GREAT INUNDATION OPE RATIONS OF THE COMMAND DURING SIEGE OF VICKSBURG " CROCKER S GREY HOUNDS "WINTER AT VICKSBURG THE MERIDIAN RAID " THIRTY DAYS IN IOWA" AGAIN AT THE FRONT THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN KENESAW MOUN TAIN NICKAJACK CREEK BATTLE OF ATLANTA, JULY 21st, 1864 THE BATTLE THE NEXT DAY LAST FLANKING MOVEMENT OF THE CAMPAIGN PUR SUIT OF HOOD MARCH TO THE SEA TO WASHINGTON CITY MUSTERED OUT AT LOUISVILLE LAST CAMP, AT DAVENPORT. THE Thirteenth Iowa Volunteers, even had it not been formed so generally of men of superior physical strength, mental cultivation, and moral recti tude, must have gained a prominent position among the regiments of our State and country, for the reason that its first Colonel, and instructor in the art of war and the duties of soldiers, was MARCELLUS M. CROCKER, who was endowed by nature with a rare military genius, whose rapid com prehension and wide scope would, unless my personal regard greatly mis leads me, have won for him a place in history next to that of McPherson, but for the painful disease on account of which he had to be borne from the field of active operations in the midst of the war, and which carried him to an untimely grave before the complete restoration of peace. He had early sought a military education, and did spend, in fact, more than two years at the West Point Academy, where he stood high in his class. He left that institution and devoted his energies to the support of his mo ther and sisters. When the war broke out he was a prominent lawyer of our State Capital, but immediately raised a company, which was attached to the Second regiment, of which he became Major, in which position his military abilities at once became evident, as they did much to make that 229 230 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. organization one of the best in the service. He was fortunately appreci ated, and by none more than by Governor Kirkwood, who determined to promote him as soon as practicable. He was accordingly commissioned Colonel of the Thirteenth Iowa In fantry, which was recruited under the President s proclamation of July 23d, 1861, and ordered to rendezvous at Camp McClellan, near Davenport, where the regiment was completely organized, and the last company mus tered into the service on the 2d day of November, 1861. Captain Chambers, the mustering officer, having rejected a small number of the men, there were embraced on the rolls, at the date of its entering the service, eight hundred and ninety-nine names, which number, however, was soon in creased by additional enlistments to nine hundred and eighty-nine. Besides the commanding officer the field officers were : Milton M. Price, Lieutenant- Colonel, and John Shane, Major. The staff officers were at once appointed, and consisted of "William T. Clark, Adjutant, Horatio G. Earner, Quarter master, Joseph McKee, Surgeon, James H. Boucher, Assistant, and Reverend John Steele, Chaplain. To continue the personnel of the regi ment, I may say that the Captains of the different companies when the or ganization was completed were, in the orders of the companies : John Q. Wilds, Thomas H. Miller, James Baker, A. C. Price, George M. Van Hosen, N. W. Earner, Wm. A. Walker, Thomas P. Marshall, John Elrod, and Sidney E. Woodford, with these subalterns, namely : J. C. Kennedy, James Wilson, Simon P. P. Young, Joseph B. Homan, Stephen Purdy, John Secrest, Joseph H. Shutt, Elliott Schurtz, H. B. Lynch, and V. W. Ambrose, first lieutenants ; Henry H. Rood, E. D. Duncan, Jacob Swank, Justinian Ray, Paul Renshorf, Jas. M. Secrest, Chas. E. Putnam, George S. Shaffer, Chas. P. Young, and Samuel D. Cook, second lieutenants. Thus completely organized, and the men having also received their clothing, the regiment soon moved to Benton Barracks, Missouri, where it remained from November 20th to the llth of December. Here it was armed with old Harper s Ferry muskets, altered from flint-lock to percus sion, and supplied with tents and equipage for actual service. At the date last mentioned it was ordered to report to General Pope, and was by him assigned to duty at Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri. The command there remained during the rest of the winter. The period was, of course, one of monotony and dulness, but it was improved to the utmost by Colonel Crocker, who instituted schools of instruction for the officers and drills for the men. During the whole winter, officers and privates spent several hours each day in learning their practical duties, each and every one labor ing diligently to attain that proficiency in the art to which they were now devoted which should enable them to do good service in the field. Having received or-ders to report to General Grant, Colonel Crocker THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 231 placed his regiment aboard care at Jefferson City on the 8th of March, 1862, and moved to St. Louis, where he embarked for Pittsburg Landing, arriving on the 23d. The regiment reported to General McClernand, com manding First Division, and with the Eleventh Iowa, and Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois, constituted the first brigade thereof, Colonel Richard Oglesby, commanding. The drills were again actively resumed, and officers and men, under the personal superintendence of Colonel Crocker, were put through their paces from five to six hours every day. In the vicinity of many regiments which were not required thus to drill, and not yet understanding the great good there was in these exercises, there were many objections urged thereanent. Men called it "the infernal drill," and concocted all kinds of excuses to get out of it. Some were not used to such hard work ; some were too fat for such severe exercise on warm days ; others attempted to play old soldier when drill hour came, and became sick just at that time of day. All which had no visible effect upon the obstinate and obdurate colonel. Effeminate gentlemen learned to work, fat men to lard the lean earth as they walked along, without fatal conse quences, whilst those who had attempted the old soldier strategy had the privilege of riding a wooden horse for the benefit of their health. It is not to be denied that curses more deep than loud were visited upon the colonel s head by many who thought him unnecessarily severe. Nevertheless, the drills " went on just the same." After the terrible days of Shiloh those who had grumbled the most were devoutly thankful that the regiment had such a commander. On the first day of that battle the regiment fought with great efficiency, and was under fire for ten consecutive hours. It lost heavily in killed and wounded, but had comparatively few missing. Lieutenant-Colonel Price and Major Shane were among the wounded, whilst the losses among the line officers were unusually severe. Almost all the casualties occurred in the first day s battle, the command being in the line of reserves on the second day. 1 1 The official report of Colonel Crocker places the loss of the regiment at one hundred and seventy- two, of -whom tweuty-four were killed, one hundred and thirty-nine wounded, and nine missing. The following list is taken from the Adjutant-General s Report : Comjxiny A Killed, Privates Allen 8. Brown, George W. Doty, Benjamin McAferty, Shedrick A. Rundell. Wounded, Corporals John C. Mason, John R. McClaskey, James S. Brooks, Richard W. Vansant; Musician John Conaway ; Privates Isaac Boyd, Israel C. Bellington, William H. Buchan, Joseph M. Harper, Spear P. Harman, William Hinkley, Jesse S. Hampton, John M. Largeant, Charles A. Myers, Stephen G. Smith, Jacob H. Shaver, Alonzo B. Smith, Morgan I. Umstead, Francis A. Varner (mortally), James E. Neal. Company B Killed, Lieutenant Erasmus D. Duncan ; Sergeant Nathaniel H. Johnson ; Privates William H. Byerly, Alfred P. Easterday, William Hart, George McKeever. Wounded, Captain Thomas H. Miller; Corporal Henry L. Kissel; Privates William H. Armentrout, Joseph S. Binkerd, Beriah Battles, James W. Dickenson, Angus French, Sylvester R. Hughes, William H. Kuapp, Wil liam Lagsdon, John V. Monger, Silas Poling, Clay Rieman, Charles McKee Wolf, William Wadkins, Weslpy Young. 232 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Upon the reorganization of the army a few days after the battle, the regiment was placed in the Sixth Division, Brigadier-General Thomas J. McKean commanding. The brigade to which it was attached was known, officially, as the third of that division, and it consisted of the Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Iowa regiments, Colonel M. M. Crocker commanding. It very soon acquired the name of "the Iowa Brigade," and continued to be known as such, the same regiments all the while remaining in the same brigade, throughout the war. Lieutenant- Colonel Price resigned about a week after the battle of Shiloh. Major Shane was promoted in his stead, and Captain George M. Yan Hosen, of Company E, was promoted to the Majority. In the siege of Corinth under Halleck, which dragged its slow length along till the last of May, the command participated, and when Beaure- gard had evacuated, it formed part of the garrison of the place. It re mained there on garrison duty nearly two months. Near the end of July it marched with other forces to Bolivar, Tennessee, to look after the enemy, and having chased him from one point to another pretty much all over that part of the country returned to Corinth on the 12th of September. Company C Killed, Wagoner Alkana Malone ; Privates Charles L. Barley, Jesse Wells. Wounded, Sergeants Edward Essex, James M. Vincent, Wesley Huff; Corporals Thendes H. Miller, Fergus G. Holmes ; Privates William M. Alexander, Bailey Chancey, Lemuel Ford, John Hall, John P. Martin, John H. Stanley (mortally), David P. Smith, Joseph 0. Devault. Missing, George Bagsdale. Company I) Killed, Private George Lickey. Wounded, Sergeants Alonzo J. Pope, Robert F. Lowe ; Corporals James II. Waugh, Richard S. Martin ; Isaac W. Bottorf (mortally), Samuel W. Brunt, Lewis Castor, Norval F. Curtis, William Dalton, Franklin F. Flemming, Albert Fritzler, William Johnson, Samuel Johnson, John W. Jacobs, Clark C. Mclntosh, Upton W. Minteer, Morgan Paslay, Herrick Robinson, Andrew Stranahan. Missing, Charles II. McPeek. Company E Killed, Corporal John Milton ; Private Silas D. Allen. Wounded, Lieutenant Buren R. Sherman ; Sergeants Thomas J. Graham, Thomas Mounts, David J. Randall ; Privates Andrew J. Finch, Jonathan Gallagher, George McKinstry, David C. Oliver, Henry Price, Joseph Priest, James A. Thompson, James H. Work. Missing, Nicholas Garners. Company F Wounded, Lieutenant John H. Watson (mortally); Sergeants Neall McAllister, Jacob Bordenhoffer; Corporals Abraham E. Wood, Jonas Ganby ; Privates Christopher Agnes, John Ely, Chesley Z. Brockman, Elias Curtbright, William Cline, William Carlton, Ezra Coffee, Matthew M. Jackson, Daniel Loomis (mortally), Edward Ware, L. J. C. Zirgenfuse. Company G Killed, Private Samuel C. Martin. Wounded, Corporal Newel C. Keyes; Privates George W. Black, Robert B. Durand, Jeremiah Dearth, William S. Hanna, William I. Jackson, David D. Merchant, Charles M. Martin, Joseph 0. Schoonover. Company H Killed, Corporals Cornelius Van Voorhries, Hiram V. Willey. Wounded, Lieutenants Elliott Shurtz, George S. Hampton, Jr. ; Privates Noel M. Adams, Kimber Cleaver, Thomas Elder, Napoleon C. Foy, Alexander B. McCain, Patrick H. Mahoney, John M. Nettle. Missing, Michael Mulvehill. Prisoner, Corporal John H. Jarvis. Company I Killed, Privates Parker L. Aylworth, Joseph Parks. Wounded, Sergeant William S. Beatty; Corporals Theophilus Watkins, James Coates; Privates Barton C. Kalor, Freeman G. Cheslor, Robert R. Cox, James E. Delong, John W. Farley, Josiah Honsel, Samuel Hartzler, Robert F. Kyle, John M. McCall, Henry Nichols, Jonathan E. Ogden, Simeon Polen, John T. Thompson, John W. Pierson, T. H. Elrod. Company K Killed, Private David Knauss. Wounded, Corporals William E. Hawthorne, Joseph M. Smiley; Privates William Brown, James Beck, Owen M. Creath, Simon Gongiver, Michael Kclley, John Law, Benjamin F. Lamb, Jackson A. Lane, Samuel C. Moses, Matthias T. Snyder. THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 233 Its next movement in the field was under General Ord, who marched upon luka, shortly after the arrival of our command at Corinth, for the purpose of giving battle to Price. General Rosecrans moved by another route, with the same end in view, and was attacked by Price on the evening of the 19th, when the battle of luka ensued, without Ord having an oppor tunity to take a direct part therein. Price retreated, and our regiment returned to Corinth about the 1st of October. It was engaged in the battle of the 3d and 4th, and though long under a heavy fire of artillery, its losses here were light. Two companies of the regiment A, Captain Kennedy, and G, Captain Walker which were ordered to advance and deploy as skirmishers, during the first day s battle suffered the principal loss, as they won the laurels of the command in this engagement. Indeed, I do not find that any loss occurred to any other than these two companies, at this bloody fight, where several Iowa regiments suffered most severely. 2 On Sunday morning, October 5th, the command joined in the pursuit of the rebels. It was continued to Ripley. The regiment on its return reached Corinth, October llth. Having halted in camp at Corinth for three weeks, the command com menced another movement in the field, joining in the campaign under Gen eral Grant for an attack on Yicksburg by Holly Springs and Granada. The regiment marched by Grand Junction, Holly Springs, and Oxford to u Yocana" Creek, when, Holly Springs having been lost to Grant, the army countermarched to the frontier of Tennessee. The division to which the regiment was attached on this campaign, now commanded by General McArthur, arrived at Memphis on the 13th of January, 1863, where the troops went into camp. I cannot just now lay my finger upon the date, but it was about this time that Major Van Hosen resigned without good cause, and was succeeded by Adjutant James Wilson, who had been promoted to the last-named rank upon the appointment of Adjutant W. T. Clark as assistant adjutant-general in the army in March of 1862. At that time Clark s direct connection with the regiment ceased, but it may be proper to say that he gradually rose in rank in the staff department until the winter of 1864-5, in the early part of which he was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers, in which capacity he continued to serve till the close of the war, with as much acceptability as had characterized his fortunate career as an executive officer. 2 I again am indebted to the Adjutant-General s Report, for the following list of casualties : Wounded, Sergeant-Major Frederick Lyman. Company A Wounded, Sergeant Charles W. Kepler; Privates James W. Fitz, Charles Gardner, James W. Wickham. Company G Killed, Corporal Oscar Kendall ; Private Jonathan B. Trayer. Wounded, Lieute nant George F. Ross; Privates William S. Hanna, Joseph Hull, Joseph Howet, Julius A. Jackson, Bamuel J. Royce, Thomas C. Smock, Samuel J. Rogers, George H. Walker. 30 234 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. General Me Arthur s division did not halt long at Memphis. Embarking on steamers it moved down the river on the 20th of January, and reached Duckport, Louisiana, on the 25th. Without disembarking, however, the troops returned to the landing of Miiliken s Bend, and there went ashore. The command remained encamped there a fortnight, at the end of which it moved by steamer to Providence, and there disembarking again went into camp, using for this purpose the fine plantation of "General" Edward Sparrow, a senator in the Confederate Congress from Louisiana. Here the division remained more than two months. The troops worked much of the time on the famous "Lake Providence Canal," in which the people of the North took so deep an interest, and from which they expected such great results. The canal was by no means in proportion to these great expecta tions, but when the water was let into it the inundation which resulted was surely great enough to make full amends. It deluged our troops so thoroughly that they were never able to overcome their disgust for canals. Whilst the troops were thus engaged near Lake Providence, the army gen erally was reorganized, the organization of corps d armee having at length been adopted. General McArthur s division, on the new arrangement be came the first of the Seventeenth Corps, General McPherson commanding. Colonel Crocker was promoted shortly afterwards to the rank of brigadier- general of volunteers, whereupon Lieutenant-Colonel Shane was commis sioned colonel, Major Wilson lieutenant-colonel, and Captain William A. Walker, Company G, major. For a considerable portion of the period embraced in the campaign of Vicksburg, the Iowa Brigade performed peculiar services services in volving hard labor and tough marching qualities. These troops were called upon, in short, to do about all the hard marching and outside work for all that part of the army to which they belonged, during a period of about three months. Leaving Lake Providence near the close of April, they steamed down to Miiliken s Bend, whence they marched to Holmes Plantation, and were engaged near there a fortnight in guarding and re pairing the roads over which the army marched when it swung round below Vicksburg. This duty done, they marched to Hard Times, and, crossing the Mississippi in steamers to Grand Gulf, then an important de pot of supplies, remained in guard of the post for some days. They then moved, marching around Vicksburg on the west, and by water afterwards, to Haines Bluff, to reenforce the right of our army which had made a lodgment there, but soon returning marched to near Warrenton, and took position on the left of the line of investment. In the latter part of May they again moved, joining a force that was detailed to make a reconnois- sance in the direction of Mechanicsville. It is no wonder the troops of the Iowa Brigade acquired the sobriquet of "Crocker s Greyhounds." Re- THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 235 turning from the reconnoissance, they took position on the left, where they remained till the 24th of June. The rebel General Joe Johnston having made his appearance in rear of our army, General Sherman moved out to watch him, with the Army of Observation. The Thirteenth joined this force, and took position near Messenger s Ferry on Big Black River. On the 4th of July, while Vicksburg was being surrendered to Grant, it was skirmishing with Johnston s rebels. That night they retreated on Jackson, and our command being a part of the Seventeenth Corps not assigned to tie Expeditionary Army, remained in camp, with orders to be ready to march to Vicksburg at any time. Before the order came, however, it became ne cessary to send supplies to Sherman, and the Iowa Brigade, still in its role of performing extra duty for the army, escorted the train, consisting of se veral hundred wagons. The train was escorted safely to Clinton, where the brigade was relieved by troops from Sherman. Whereupon, Jackson having been evacuated, it countermarched, and halted at Vicksburg on the 28th. During all this long period of activity, much of the time in face of the enemy, the casualties of the Thirteenth regiment were but trifling, not to exceed forty, all told, I believe. Its labors, during most of the remainder of the summer, were light. For a long week in the early part of August the regiment was engaged, in connection with a portion of the navy, in wrecking and dismantling certain gun-boats that had been sunk by the enemy s torpedoes in the Yazoo River, in the vicinity of Yazoo City. It also participated in the campaign, under General Stevenson, against Monroe, Louisiana, about eighty miles west of Vicksburg, which occupied about a fortnight. Upon its return, on September 3d, it went into quarters at Vicksburg, and there remained for five months, in the performance of the dull, monotonous duties of garrison life. From the 4th of February, 1864, to the 4th of March, the regiment was with the forces under General Sherman on the famous Meridian raid, participating throughout in that exciting enterprise. The general dulness of garrison life at Vicksburg, had, of course, been enlivened by sundry particular matters of amusement or interest. During the two months which immediately preceded the Meridian Expedition, in especial, there had been a subject which elicited very general interest and a vast deal of conversation. This was the subject of reenlisting in the army, and thus becoming a veteran regiment. The regiment at this time had an aggregate of four hundred and eighty-eight. Of these, thirty-five were absent, on duty out of the corps ; thirty-nine were ineligible recruits ; and twenty were rejected by the surgeon on account of physical disability. There were thus left three hundred and ninety-four eligible for reenlistment, of whom, during the two months mentioned, three hundred and forty-three 236 IOWA AND THE EEBELLTON. . reenlisted, being nearly one hundred men in excess of the number required to make the command a veteran regiment. On the return from Meridian, therefore, General McPherson issued an order declaring the regiment a veteran organization, and giving the officers and men " thirty days in their own State," and on the 7th of March the veterans were homeward bound. They were received with great cordiality by the people of the State, and, what was better for the regiment in its subsequent history, it received many valuable accessions to its ranks in large numbers of recruits who afterwards did good service in the cause. Embarking on the 16th of April, they were all "off to the wars once more. Arriving at Cairo in due time the regiment was placed in a pro visional division, Brigadier-General W. Q. Gresham, commanding, which ascended the Tennessee River to Clifton, Tennessee, and there disembarked. Halting there but a few days, it marched by Pulaski and Athens to Hunts- vine, Alabama, arriving on the 20th of May. Here the provisional organization was abandoned, and the old regiments of the Iowa Brigade again came together, and did not afterwards separate till the close of the war. General Crocker was in command of the division the Fourth. 3 Resting at Huntsville but a few days, during which such supplies of clothing and equipage as could be carried with the limited transportation allowed, were drawn, the command marched by Decatur and Rome to Ack- worth, Georgia, there joining the main body of General Sherman s army on the 8th of June. The forward march hence of the Atlanta campaign began two days afterwards. On the llth, the command arrived in front of Kenesaw Mountain, where commenced its first fighting in the great cam paign. Although our regiment was in no general engagement here, it lost many men in killed and wounded on the picket lines, or picked off from 8 GENERAL M. M. CROCKER. This officer was compelled to leave the field, at Decatur, on account of ill health. He was afterwards sent to the territory of New Mexico by the order of the Depart ment of War, Secretary Stanton being desirous of placing him in a command where he might, if possible, be restored to health and vigor. He remained in New Mexico till the spring of 1865, when he returned to the States for the purpose of taking an important command. His improvement in health, however, was rather apparent than real, and he soon began to suffer again. He afterwards rallied, and went to the National Capital in August, but at once became worse, and died at Wil- lard s Hotel before the close of the month. * I have had frequent occasion in this work to speak of Ooneral Crocker some paragraphs in relation to him having been written long before his death, some after that sad event. He never commanded Iowa troops after the relinquishment of his command at Decatur, Alabama, but he never ceased to be remembered with kindness, with gratitude, and with affection by the troops of the Iowa Brigade and by all who had ever served under him, or with him, and when he died they mourned as for a friend and brother. He had a genius for warfare more brilliant, perhaps, than that of any soldier from our State, and not surpassed by many in the army. Though long years of poor health had made his disposition irritable, he had a genial nature and a big soul. Down at the bottom his heart was one of the kindest that ever beat. I confess, that when traveling in Indiana, I heard of the death of Major-General M. M. Crocker, I shed tears like a girl ; and there were many thousand stout-hearted citizens of Iowa who paid him a like tribute, and will never surcease to revere his memory. THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 237 our main line by the sharp-shooters of the enemy. Among the latter was Sergeant Lowe,- of Company D, a young man of excellent character and amiable disposition, a favorite with the whole regiment. He was shot through the body on the 29th of June, while examining the works on Kenesaw from our main works on the summit of Brush Mountain. He died the next day, saying, "Tell my father and brothers that whenever they see the stars and stripes, to remember that I died for the brave old flag. He received the rude burial of a soldier. A strip of pine, with th,e words "Robert F. Lowe, First Sergeant, Company D, Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, written with pen and ink, constitutes his monument, perhaps ere this trodden under foot and entirely destroyed. Such were the humble monuments of many others in the command, of thousands in the grand army, who died to save the millions over whose dust more permanent monuments, engraved with proud epitaphs, might be builded ; but more enduring than these, will be the influence of the martyr boys who died for the "brave old flag," even though their names perish from among men. They have consecrated the banner of our country, and given to it a mean ing and a power for which the coming generations will call them blessed, but, because their frail grave-boards so soon were destroyed, without being able to immortalize their individual names. If in this there seems to be historical injustice, it will not be forgotten that thus it has ever been with history. But to proceed : On the night of July 2d, our command withdrew from Brush Mountain, and, marching to the extreme right of the line, took position near Nicka- jack Creek, and on the 4th, as on that anniversary of the previous year, the Thirteenth Iowa was skirmishing with Joe Johnston s rebels. Here, as at Kenesaw, the regiment was in no engagement, but here as there, being within reach of the enemy s missiles, it lost many brave men. Among them was Sergeant McClaskey, of Company A, who was shot while cross ing the bridge over the creek, his leg torn, the bone shattered to pieces, but who refused to be taken off, because his rescuers would thereby be exposed to death. Others, wounded or killed, were no less worthy of men tion. The casualties here numbered twenty-five. The enemy having retired from the Nickajack, and across the Chattahoochee River at Sand- town, the command with which we have to do moved to the extreme left of the line, and on the 20th of July, after heavy skirmishing, in which General Gresham, commanding division, was wounded, took position before Atlanta, and distant therefrom only about three miles. COMBAT NEAR ATLANTA, JVLY 21, 1864. Upon the fall of General Gresham, Colonel Hall turned over the com mand of the Iowa Brigade to Colonel Shane, and himself assumed com- 238 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. m and of the division, of which he was relieved, however, early on the morning of the 21st, by Brigadier-General Giles A. Smith. But Colonel Shane retained the command of the brigade during the combat I am about to describe. It is not my purpose to describe the grand skirmish at large, which took place in front of Atlanta on the 21st of July. I shall only relate what took place on that part of the field, southeast of the city, where the Iowa Brigade was posted. On the left of this brigade, General Force s Brigade of the Third Divi sion, Seventeenth Corps, was posted. Immediately in front of Force, and on a commanding hill, the enemy was posted in large numbers behind a well constructed and formidable fort. It was necessary that the work should be taken, but it was in itself so strong and was defended by so strong a force, that it would have been madness to have attempted it by storm alone. The aid of a simple stratagem was therefore brought into requisition. It was determined by the generals that the Iowa Brigade should move in assault against the work, in their immediate front, demon strating both with their arms and their lungs. It was hoped that by this means the attention of the enemy would be entirely drawn to the attack under Shane, while Force could move rapidly up and take the work. These hopes were fully realized. The troops were in position, behind works, some five or six hundred yards from the fort. In front, it was partly forest, but immediately in front of the Thirteenth, on a slightly ascending hill extending to the enemy s position, was a field of young, growing corn. The brigade formed at eight o clock in the morning, the Thirteenth, Major Walker commanding, and the Fifteenth, Colonel Belknap, in front, the Eleventh, Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie, and the Sixteenth, Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders, in the rear. Suddenly, without preparatory warning to officers or men, the order to charge was given. Hastily seizing their arms and adjusting their accoutre ments the troops crossed their works. Quickly reforming and correcting the alignment, they rushed forward, with shouts which might have done credit to a tribe of Indians. They had scarcely advanced a half-dozen long paces when they were met with a murderous volley of artillery and musketry. Forward ! Double-quick ! was the command which rang along the line in response. Replying to the rebel fire with rapid volleys, the line pushed forward through the storm of deadly missiles which drove against it with fearful destructiveness, till within fifty paces of the fort, when a halt was ordered, and the men commanded to lie down. Directly in front of the Thirteenth was a battery which made havoc among the men at every dis charge, but met with a persistent response from our musketry. Sergeant Starkweather, the color-bearer, twenty feet in advance of the centre, firmly THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 239 held the flag aloft and the men were cheered by the sight of "Old Glory" proudly waving in all its beauty, though riddled and torn with bullets. It seemed to the men that they lay there an age. Firing as rapidly as pos sible, they kept the enemy busy, and Force took the work. The enemy retired to a strong line of works in rear of the fort, whence they continued to play upon the Iowa Brigade with artillery. The order was given to retire. The men rose up and moved rapidly but in good order to their line of works, having been absent therefrom just twenty-seven minutes. In this short time, the Iowa Brigade had lost two hundred and twenty- six men in killed and wounded, who were left upon the field of battle till the cover of night afforded an opportunity for their removal. The Eleventh, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth regiments, by reason of the nature of the ground, were not so much exposed, but they suffered severely, especially the last two, and both officers and men of the whole brigade, behaved in the best manner during the brief but bloody conflict. Colonel Shane speaks of their conduct in the highest praise. The Thirteenth went into the combat with three hundred and fifty men, of whom one hundred and thirteen were killed and wounded. Lieutenants Ridge and Hudson were mortally wounded, and Captain White disabled for life. "I cannot close," says Major Walker, in concluding his official report, "without awarding to the regiment the credit due it for the impetuosity and gallantry of the advance, the stubbornness with which it held the position, and the steadiness and good order in which it retired when ordered. 3 On the night of the 21st, the command moved to a new position still further to the left, but as the enemy evacuated his works in front of the battle-field, details from each company were sent out to perform the melan choly task of burying the dead and removing the wounded to hospitals. The wounded were quickly placed on stretchers and borne from the field. As for the lamented dead " Slowly and sadly they laid them down, From the field of their fame, fresh and gory ; They carved not a line, they raised not a Btone, But left them alone in their glory." During these sad services a slow, drizzling rain came on, in which the change of position was effected. That having been accomplished the men lay down to rest as best they could, and remained in cheerless bivouac till 3 It is proper to say that Major Walker puts the time of the combat at thirty minutes, and the number of killed and wounded at ninety-eight. He probably did not mean to be minutely precise as to time, and, as he made his report on the day of the fight, a number wounded in this engage ment, and not reported till the next day, were not counted by him, and afterwards inadvertently placed among the wounded of the 22d. I am well assured of the correctness of the statement in the text by Major A. J. Pope, no less noted for his carefulness in a matter of this sort than for bis coolness and bravery on the field. 240 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. three o clock on4he morning of the 22d. They then commenced work, in trenching their new position, the Eleventh and Sixteenth regiments of the Brigade on the front line, the Thirteenth and Fifteenth on the rear. Near noon, the terrible battle of the 22d raged in full force on this part of the field. Company A, Captain Kennedy, Company Gr, Sergeant Halleck, were ordered to reenforce the Eleventh, and Company D, Captain Pope, and Company K, Lieutenant Rice, the Sixteenth. The enemy had found a gap between the left of the Seventeenth and the right of the Sixteenth Corps, and these companies, by the best exertions, were unable to fill it. A majority of Company A, part of Gr, and all of D, and K, with Captain Pope, Lieutenants Rice, Parker, and Eyestone, were captured. The re mainder of the regiment fought with great gallantry during the rest of the battle, suffering heavy loss. Major Walker was killed dead on the field, and Lieutenants Haskin, Huff and Hunter wounded. The loss of the regiment in this battle, where the Iowa Brigade won such conspicuous renown, was one hundred and forty-nine. In the battle, still before Atlanta, of the 28th, the regiment performed most valuable services, being ordered, with the remnant of the Third Iowa, to reenforce a portion of the line of the Fifteenth Corps, severely pressed by the enemy, where the united command, under Colonel Shane, averted the threatened danger, and fought with great bravery and efficiency, but happily, with little loss, till the victory was gained. The command returned on the evening of the next day to its position in General Smith s Division. Colonel Shane reported the conduct of the men to have been gallant in the extreme, and specially mentioned Captains J. C. Kennedy and John Archer as having exhibited the very highest qualities of soldiers and officers." In the remainder of this memorable campaign the marches and actions, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, East Point whereby Hood was forced out of Atlanta, the Thirteenth fully participated, giving its best exertions to the move ments whereby the army gained advantageous positions, and shedding its best blood as freely as water in the several engagements which took place. The losses of the regiment during the whole campaign, from Kenesaw Mountain to the occupation of Atlanta, were, in killed, wounded, and captured, three hundred and thirty-one, or within twelve of the number which constituted the veteran organization, at Vicksburg, near the begin ning of the year. 4 * The following list of casualties embraces very nearly all the names of those who were killed or wounded during this campaign. In that respect it is very nearly correct as nearly so, perhaps, as any similar list can well be. But it is not exact in other respects. Thus, no doubt, a few will be stated, as wounded in one engagement whereas the fact may be, they were wounded at the engage ment immediately preceding or immediately following that. Where battles followed each other so rapidly as they did during much of this campaign errors of this kind were unavoidable. So too. THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 241 The campaign concluded, our regiment halted at Atlanta about a month, performing garrison duties, and at times assisting in the erection of fortifi- i will be found among the wounded, of those who, perhaps, ought to have been reported killed, as they died on the field. But they were not so reported, and I give the names as found in the lists. KENESAW MOUNTAIN. Wounded, Sergeants Robert F. Lowe (mortally), Alexander H. Watson ; Corporals Henry Rieman, George W. Snyder, John W. Moore; Privates Abraham Stewart, James H. Smith, Rensellaer Hudsonpeller, Jonathan E. Ogden, Charles F. Kendall, Mordecai N. Sweeney, William S. Booton, Almond C. Keyes. NICK A JACK CREEK. Kitted, Privates J. J. Arford, Martin Casey. Wounded, Lieutenants Wesley * Huff, George B. Hunter; Sergeant J. R. McClaskey ; Corporals Nathan Gilliland, Stephen Wortz, B? E. Butler, Chancey Ford; Privates S. D. TJmstead (mortally), Jesse Chatres, John M. Ellis, A. Hollo- peter, Ezra M. Organ, Milton R. Davis, Henry C. Smith, Daniel Lamphier, E. C. Reed, 0. L. Gregory, L. M. White, Abraham Garver, M. Mulverhill, Marion Lowell, John H. Evans, Albert Wrager. BEFORE ATLANTA, July 20. Wounded, Lieutenant John Ridge, Lieutenant Hardin Wilson, Lien- tenant E. L. Forsyth ; Privates George French, A. H. Brown, James V. Grier, William Merchant. William Turner, William H. Fawcett, James 0. Mitchell, James Casey. BEFORE ATLANTA, July 21. Killed, Sergeants R. B. Durand, James W. Atwood, L. M. Roberts, Cor poral D. D. Merchant ; Privates W. A. Arasmith, Oscar Walling, D. V. Hammer, D. B. Meeker, A. G. McDaniels, Alexander Work, James D. Ward, J. A. Jackson, Bentou Hover, James Y. Grier, Lois White, George S. Robinson Wm. A. Hart. Wounded, Captain T. P. Marshall, Lieutenants W. H. Plainer, David Hudson, James E. White; Sergeants I. G. Bratler. E. S. Hazlett, James W. Fitz, E. J. Evans, F. F. Flemming, James D. Curry, Wm. H. Renn, Charles Emeigh, Otto F. Blanch, Hiram Halleck; Corporals Nathan Gilliland. Levi Mabec, John Beck, Jacob Brukerd, Charles F. Kendall. Andrew Stanahan, William Anebum, Henry A. Palmer, J. E. Johnson, Stephen Wertz ; Privates W. H. Buchan, Jacob Easterly, H. Kamberling, Peter Kern, Joseph Moore, Peter Muntz, Henry Smith. Stephen Smith, Isaac Wickham, Isaac Zavits, Levi Newcomer, L. C. Westface, Owen Wilson, John Wilson, Peter Martz, Abraham Ellis, Wilson Ragsdale, C. Gastin, W. C. Sisson, Abraham Gawer, John Wilson, J. W. Mclntosh, S. W. Prunt, Cyrus Pinkerton, James Lamb, Ely Milton, George Mooney, James Gartlan, Joseph A. Roberts, Walton W. Buck, Jerome Hull, C. C. La Rue, S. A. Marine, J. Ritchey, George A. Sells, N. B. Andress, Thomas G. Day, Thomas Smock, Jacob Joyce, L. L. Catline, Kimball Cleaver, J. Thompson, C. E. S. Cooper, Sidney Curtis, Tobias Kites, TJ. P. Romick, S. P. Stephens, F. M. Lindsay, W. Hartman, Daniel Coryel, Amos I. Lane, N. H. Rhodes, William Conget, William Gammel, George Hutchinson, James M. Armstrong, J. M. Smiley. BEFORE ATLANTA, July 22. Killed, Major William A. Walker, Privates Thomas N. Likens, Willis R. Rouce, James T. Mount. Isaac C. Powell, William C. Thompson, James E. Deloney, John Dusenbury. John A. Lanning ; Wounded, Captain George McLaughlin, Lieutenants Wesley Huff, George B. Hunter, Charles M. Haskin, Sergeants D. S. Stover, Joel Barker. Sylvester Adams, Hiram Halleck. Ezra Small, Robert M. Brown ; Corporals Elias Mills. H. C. Anderson, Moses W. Rice, Jacob Wisecawes. Calvin H. Young; Privates W. P. Myers. Lewis Maler, James L. Little, William R.Eyerly, William W. McKee, Thomas Mitchel, John W. Skeen, Ely Welton. George W. Lissons, James R. Wallace, A. Skinner, Harvey Wilson, N. B. Andress, Robert J. Pray, John C. Shields, George N. Bardon, Francis N. Burt, N. C. Fay, George Forbes, R. Henderson, William H. McBain, John Lucas, J. J. Postlewait, Henry Shepherd, Henry H. Williams, James Allen, John H. Evans. William M. Roland ; Missing, Captain A. J. Pope, Lieutenants John L. Parker, John S. Rice, John W. Eyestone ; Sergeants E. R. Mason. William B. McGabey, Joel Barker, William L. Melogen, James D. Curry, Otto F. Blanch. Simon P. Wolston, Thomas Elder, Simon Gongwer; Corporals John B. Shafer, M. J. Umstead, W. 0. Mitchel, John W. Jacobs, John N. Allen, Abraham B. Miller, Thomas Barrett, C. L. Brockman, Rufus Worthem, John A. Gipi, John W. Stanton ; Privates Zaccheus Barger, Hiram Bance, James A. Brodd, William S. Comstock, Jacob I. Davis, John A. Fitz, George Huo, John G. Hitsman, William T. Harper, George W. Hoffman, Bruce McKinsey, Dixon M. Parsons, Henry C. Smith, James W. Smith, Robert M. Thompson, Robert M. Wickham, James W. Wickham, A. J. Whitlateh, Jacob K. Shover, William Sergeant, J. T. Newhouse, J. P. McKeever, William Mardesty, William P. Stier.R. Hudson- piller, Joseph Burns, Samuel W. Brunt, Joseph Brean, H. Brokam, John M. Dawson, John L. Emery, Albert Fritzler, J. M. Mclntosh, Cyrus Pinkerton, James J. Sisson, William Skinner, Peter Shaver, Stephen Wayman, Thomas M. White, William H. Young, George Biglow, M. R. Cochran, George C. Rowe, Jesse R. Pratt, Jesse Ambem, Thomas Brown, William Fawcett, Louis Lord, William Mer chant, David Robertson, Thomas Smock, Francis M. Gard, John James, Jacob Kiler, Edwin Smith, Siimuel C. Wardle, Francis H. Garley, Davis W. Mount, Horace Thaley, Holden E. Day, Jacob 31 242 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. cations. Captain Thomas P. Marshall, Company H, was meanwhile pro moted to the majority, in place of Major Walker, killed. About the 1st of October the command joined in the pursuit of Hood, who was attempting to play havoc with General Sherman s communications, and assisted in driving that rebel leader as far as Gaylesville, in Northeastern Alabama. Here our regiment halted a few days and returned to Marietta, arriving there early in November. Here Colonel Shane, Adjutant Rood, Quarter master Kennedy and several line officers were mustered out of service by reason of the expiration of the term for which they had entered. From Marietta the regiment moved to Atlanta, and departed thence with the army under Sherman for Savannah and the sea, on the 15th. Of the marches, the labors of destruction, the fun and frolic, the yams, the chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and lively times generally of this grand promenade, the officers and men of the Thirteenth had their full share, performing their duties as faithfully, and enjoying the fat of the land as heartily as any. They participated in the siege of Savannah, and it having been evacuated by Hardee, they entered the beautiful city on the 22d of December, and encamped within a mile of the City Hall. Of the Army of the Tennessee, the Seventeenth Corps was the first to leave Savannah, and of this corps the division to which the Iowa Brigade was attached was the first to embark. Our regiment marched to "Thun derbolt," not far from the city, on the 6th of January, 1865, and there embarking on steamers made a pleasant sea voyage to Beaufort, South Carolina, arriving on the next day. Encamping here a few days that a general movement might be made, the command took up line of march for Pocotaligo, and arrived there on the 15th, skirmishing with the enemy. The command halted there about a fortnight, during which LieutenamV Colonel J. C. Wilson was promoted to the Colonelcy ; Captain J. C. Ken nedy made Lieutenant-Colonel; Sergeant-Major C. A. Meyers, Adjutant; and N. C. Keyes, Quartermaster. On the 29th of January, the march through the Carolinas began, our regiment joining therein. This march was far more toilsome and difficult than any in which the regiment had taken part unless the expedition from Lecust, James F. Beak, Joseph A. Escher, Jonathan R. Beasley, William S. Rogers, Patrick Sheritan, William H. H. Hiatt, George M. Op mart, David S. Cole, N. J. Brewer, William Myers, L. M. Creswell. BEFORE ATLANTA, July 28. Killed, Captain Stephen Wertz ; Wounded, Sergeant William Goodpas- ture, Corporal John R. Barnes ; Privates Thomas McGreen, Edward Ware, Nelson B. Andress. SIEGE OP ATLANTA. Killed, Privates C. R. Burrows, Elias Hayherst, Theodore F. Rieman, Thomas G. Day ; Wounded, Captain Charles H. Hoskins, Lieutenant John Starkweather, Corporal Jacob Joice; Privates Henry N. Norman, F. G. Lockwood, R. R. Hawford, William Turner, Henry Myers, James C. Warrington, R. S. Martin, E. J. Clark, John C. Presol, D. J. Pheland, L. E. Shults, Joseph P. Blow. JONESBOEO AND LovEJOY. Killed, Corporal John W. Johnson ; Wounded, William W. Furgesaon. THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 243 Vicksburg to Monroe, Louisiana, in the summer of 1863 be considered as worse. There were swamps through which the command had to wade for miles at a time ; rivers and creeks innumerable, over many of which bridges had to be built, whilst the building of corduroy roads was a rather general employment When the corps approached Orangeburg, on the 12th of February, the regiment was deployed as skirmishers, and with daring bravery crossed the bridge over the North Edisto River, which had been set on fire by the rebels and was still burning, and drove the enemy out of the town. Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, was entered by our troops on the 17th of February, and the city surrendered formally, as we shall here after see, to Colonel George A. Stone, Twenty-fifth Iowa, who commanded a Brigade of Iowa troops in the Fifteenth Corps. Before his fine brigade, by the most energetic movements, however, was able to enter the city, a portion of the Thirteenth, under Lieutenant- Colonel Kennedy, performed a brilliant feat of "bumming" by crossing the river immediately opposite the city, but some three miles below where Stone effected a crossing, and taking irregular possession, and hoisting the stars and stripes on the rebel capital. This achievement on the part of Colonel Kennedy, which caused a great deal of merriment in the army, and considerable temporary jealousy on the part of the Iowa Brigade in the Fifteenth Corps, is thus described in a letter by General Smith : "HEAD-QUARTERS, FOURTH DIVISION, SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS.) " NEAR COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, February 17th, 1865. J "BRIGADIER-GENERAL W. W. BELKNAP, COMMANDING THIRD BRI GADE : SIR. Allow me to congratulate you, and through you, Lieutenant- Colonel J. C. Kennedy, Thirteenth Iowa Veteran Volunteers, and the men under his command, for first entering the City of Columbia, on the morning of Friday, February 17th, and being the first to plant his colors on the capital of South Carolina. While the army was laying pontoon bridges across the Saluda and Broad Rivers, three miles above the city, Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy, under your direction, fitted up an old worn-out flat-boat capable of carrying about twenty men, and accompanied by Lieutenants H. C. Me Arthur and William H. Goodrell, of your staff, crossed the river in front of the city, and boldly advanced through its streets, sending back the boat, with another procured on the opposite shore, for more troops, and on their arrival, with seventy-five men in all, drove a portion of Wheeler s cavalry from the town, and at eleven and a-half o clock, A. M., planted his two stands of colors, one upon the old and the other upon the new capital. "The swift current of the Congaree River and its rocky channel rendered his crossing both difficult and dangerous, and the presence of the enemy, but in what force unknown, rendered the undertaking still more hazardous. 244 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. "Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy and his regiment are entitled to great credit for its successful accomplishment. " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "GILES A. SMITH, "Brevet Major-General Commanding." To the Thirteenth Iowa, therefore, belongs the credit of sending the first Federal troops into the capital where secession was inaugurated, and of there first hoisting the national colors. Lieutenant McArthur, I believe, of the Fifteenth Iowa, but serving on General Belknap s staff, was the person who planted the flag on the capital building. The whole enterprise was much talked about among our troops for some time. 6 Leaving the capital which had been nearly destroyed by fire, in due time, the march forward was continued. On the 20th of March arrived in front of Bentonville, North Carolina, where a heavy engagement was fought on the next day, in which the Fourteenth Corps was principally engaged and suffered the principal loss. The Thirteenth regiment, however, was on the outskirts of the battle, so to say, and there had three men wounded Sergeant Catlin, Corporal Bilman, and Private Joseph Swaney the last casualties of the regiment ; for at Bentonville it closed its long and honorable career so far as being under fire of the enemy was concerned. Arriving at Goldsboro, it there had added to its ranks a large number of drafted men, who, at once placed with veteran troops, very soon made a creditable appearance, and performed right well the duties of soldiers. Here Captain A. J. Pope, Company D, was promoted Major in place of Marshall, resigned. The regiment joined in the march to Raleigh, leaving Goldsboro on the 10th of April. It participated in the campaign till the surrender of John ston. On the 29th of April, the command left Raleigh, and marching by Petersburg and Richmond, reached Alexandria, Virginia, a few miles below the national capital, on the 19th of May. Near the former city the brigade went into camp in a dense pine chapparel, where the sun never shone and the winds never blew. It seemed the very spot where all the hot air of the nation was concentrated. Here officers and men perspired and groaned 5 The men of Stone s brigade, who with great difficulty and under much danger, had made a cross ing of the river above the city, felt no little pardonable chagrin on the subject, which, however, was much mollified by the fact that it was Iowa troops who ran in ahead of them. One of them, I remember a member of the Twenty-fifth insisted, however, that the Thirteenth boys did not put the fUg on the Capitol. " It was not the State House at all," said he, " but a fine large building, with all the modern improvements, Doric chicken-coop on top, looking like a cupola, and all that sort of thing, but no State House. It was a house no better than it should be ! " I happened to meet General Giles Smith, about the time of the great review, at the public room of Willard s Hotel, just east of the fountain, and told him this joke. " Well," said he, " I didn t think any body in Sherman s army could have made such a mistake. It is incredible." Private C. Gartin of Company C was quite severely wounded on this enterprise which caused so many jokes to others. THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 245 our army swore terribly in Flanders till the day before the grand review of all the armies in front of the Executive Mansion. In that magnificent military display, the most imposing, perhaps, of modern times, the Iowa Brigade bore a conspicuous part. In all those grand armies, commanded by Grant, Sherman, Meade, Sheridan, Logan, Slocum, and which, together, formed a broad column nearly fifty miles in length, there was not a brigade which surpassed the Iowa, and if there was one which equaled it, it was only the brigade of Iowa troops in the Fifteenth Corps, commanded by Colonel George A. Stone, 25th Iowa, the next day brevetted a Brigadier- General. The Thirteenth attracted special attention on this gala-day, and all the more because Mrs. Thomas, wife of the surgeon, rode at the head of the regiment in fine style, receiving the huzzas of multitudes of specta tors, and more bouquets than her prancing steed could well carry. After the review, the regiment marched with the brigade a short distance north of Washington City, and encamped on one of the most picturesque hills of Rock Creek, where it remained till the 7th of June, when it moved by rail to Parkersburg, Virginia, and thence by steamer to Louisville, Kentucky. Here, under orders of the War Department mustering out the Army of the Tennessee, it finished its long and honorable career, and soon after moved by rail to Davenport, where, July 28th and 29th, officers and men were paid off, and the regiment disbanded. At the date of muster-out the field officers were: James Wilson, colonel and brevet brigadier-general ; Justin C. Kennedy, lieutenant-colonel ; A. J. Pope, major. Lieutenant C. A. Meyers was adjutant, and Dr. Moses W. Thomas surgeon. The line officers were: Company A, Captain C. W. Kepler, Lieutenant J. W. Fitz; Company B, Captain L. L. Newcomer, Lieutenant E. J. Evans ; Company C, Captain John J. Safely, Lieutenants J. S. Vincent, G. H. Ruple; Company D, Captain John T. Parker, Lieu tenants W. B. McGahey, W. H. Orton; Company E, Captain W. A. Shirk, Lieutenants John Forsythe, W. Penn ; Company F, Captain Jonas Ganby, Lieutenant E. V. Miller ; Company G, Captain James E. White, Lieutenants J. W. Starkweather, H. N. Palmer ; Company H, Captain C. H. Haskin, Lieutenants M. P. Bush, C. C. Sullenbarger ; Company I, Captain D. E. Cocklin, Lieutenants Adolph Miller, Joseph Bcerstler; Company K, Captain H. W. McCaulley, Lieutenants D. A. Robertson, and J. W. Smiley. Having thus been disbanded, the men of the regiment from Scott County immediately proceeded to their homes, others going to Linn, Jasper, Lucas, Keokuk, Benton, Marshall, Washington, and other counties, where the command had been principally enrolled, and where they met with a recep tion which showed them that their gallant history would long live in the grateful recollection of their fellow-countrymen. CHAPTER XIY. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AT KEOKUK MOVE TO THE FRONT BATTLE OF SHILOH THE SIEGE OF CORINTH-QUIET A MIDSUMMER S CAMPAIGN BATTLE OF IUKA-BATTLE OF CORINTH THE CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN WINTER AT "MEMPHIS AND BELOW" THE CAMPAIGNS OF VICKSBURG AND OF JACKSON A MARCH IN HOT WEATHER REPOSE THE MARCH TO AND FROM MERIDIAN HOME ON VETERAN FURLOUGH RETURN TO THE THEATRE OF WAR KENESAW MOUNTAIN NICKA- JACK CREEK THE BATTLE OF ATLANTA, JULY <Z THE SIEGE THE LAST OF THE FLANKING MOVEMENTS PURSUIT OF HOOD THE CAMPAIGN OF SAVANNAH SLASHING THROUGH THE CAROLINAS " AT THE NATIONAL CAPI TALMUSTERED OUT. THE Fifteenth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, composed of more than a thousand men, from more than a score of counties in the State, re cruited in the fall of 1861 and the winter of 1861-2, was as slow in its en rollment as the cotemporaneous movements of the Army of the Potomac, which, but for its splendid parades, would have appeared to stand still and quiet like a stockade. The rendezvous was at Keokuk, whither some of the companies proceeded in the autumn of 1861, and where, from time to time between the first of November and the latter part of February, 1862, all the companies were mustered into the service of the general government. But it was in the month of March that the regiment was fully organized, and became a recognized part of the grand volunteer army of the Union. Hugh T. Reid, of Lee County, was the commanding officer, William Dewey, of Fremont, lieutenant-colonel, and William W. Belknap, of Lee, major. These had all been commissioned before the com mand was filled up, and the staff was also organized in advance of the com plete formation of the regiment. George Pomutz, an Hungarian of De- catur County, who had seen service on the plains of Europe, where he fought for his country s nationality, was adjutant; John M. Hedrick, quar termaster; Dr. Samuel B. Davis, surgeon; William H. Gibbon, assistant; and Rev. William W. Eastabrook, chaplain. 1 l Company A was recruited chiefly in Clinton and Linn counties : Captain J. W. Kittle, Lieutenant* 246 FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 247 Before the regiment left Camp Halleck for the field, the companies which had reached the rendezvous received thorough instruction and some lessons in the battalion drill, for the most part under the supervision of Major Belknap, a natural soldier, who, however, received willing assistance from the colonel and lieutenant-colonel, so that it may be safely said there were few regiments left Iowa which had attained a greater efficiency in drill, or a better notion of discipline than the Fifteenth. The 19th of March, the regiment left the rendezvous for the seat of war* It was a stormy day. It rained, and the streets of Keokuk were muddy. Nevertheless, there was a large concourse of citizens at the levee to witness the departure. "Never shall I forget," says a correspondent, "that memorable and sacred moment, when the boat, bearing the precious load of that noble regiment of patriots called the Fifteenth Iowa Volunteers, pushed off shore amid the huzzas, Grod-bless-yous, and floating of hand kerchiefs from houses and steeples as far as the eye could reach. It was indeed a moment worth a life-time. The regiment moved on down the majestic river, and the rain continued to patter on the windows of the Gate M. A. Higley, William M. Swanson. Company B, recruited in Polk and neighboring counties, was to be embodied, by order of General Fremont, in Colonel Birge s regiment of Sharp-shooters. The place of enlistment for this company was at Des Moines. When it had received nearly its full com plement of men, bearing the name of " Iowa Central Sharp-shooters," Captain Wilson T. Smith brought about a change in the original destination of his command, and it became a part of the Fifteenth Iowa; A. G. Studer and C. E. Lanstrum were the lieutenants. Company C, enrolled in " Proud Mahaska," was commanded by Captain James A. Seevers Lieutenants John D. Shannon, E. E. Herbert. Company Z>, from Wapello County, Captain G. A. Madison, Lieutenants John M. He- drick, C. M. J. Reynolds. Company E was recruited in Van Buren and Lee Captain R. W.. Hutch- craft, Lieutenant John P. Craig, Hugh G. Brown. Company F, from Fremont and Mills on the Missouri Captain Edwin C. Blackmar, Lieutenants James G. Day, Philip II. Goode. Marion and Warren counties contributed most of the men to Company G. William T. Cunningham, afterwards major of the regiment, was captain, R. L. Hanks and H. Fisk, lieutenants. Company H, largely from Pottawattamie and Harrison counties, Daniel B. Clark, captain, Lieutenants Stephen W. King, John A. Danielson. Company 7, from Lee, Clarke, and several other counties, was commanded by Captain Lloyd D. Simpson Lieutenants J. M. Reid, Robert W. Hamilton. Now, several of these companies contained more than the maximum number of men allowed by the regulations. These and others, nearly all from Wapello, Marion, and Van Buren, were formed into Company X, in Feb ruary, 1862, and John M. Hedrick was appointed to the command. Edwin Davis and Frederick Christofel were his lieutenants. So that while the regiment was preparing for the field Hedrick was lieutenant of the line, quartermaster, and captain. It may be well to state, that before the regiment left the rendezvous, Lieutenant M. A. Higley, of Company A, became quartermaster in place of Hedrick, promoted, whereupon Sergeant Robert II. Whitenack became second lieutenant, vice Swanson, promoted to the first lieutenancy. Upon the promotion of Hedrick to the staff from a lieutenant of Company D, Sergeant James S. Porter was -appointed to the vacancy. Lieutenant James G. Day, of Company F, being promoted Captain of Company I, was succeeded by Second Lieutenant Goode, and Sergeant Job Throckmorton was made second lieutenant. Captain Simpson of Company I, a thorough scholar and thinker, resigned before the command went into the field, because he had the sense to see that his talents did not lie in the military line, as then understood. Lieutenant Day, of Company F, succeeded to the command and rank, as above stated. It may be stated further that, though the companies of the regiment were entered the service at different times as stated in the text, the regiment as an entire command, was mustered on the 14th of March, 1862. 248 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. City, as though nothing had happened; the handkerchiefs continued to wave till long after the boat passed beyond the vision, and it was some time before the citizens of the hospitable city realized that the Fifteenth was gone many to return with new honors and pleasing fame, others to find glory and the grave on the battle-fields of the South. Arrived at St. Louis the regiment marched to Benton Barracks, then a vast camp of instruction, where it received arms and a complete outfit for the field, and for some days employed all possible time in drill. Colonel Reid received orders to move to the Department of the Tennessee, which were read to the regiment on dress parade on the evening of the last of March, and received with right lusty cheers along the whole line. The next day, the command marched to the levee and embarked on the steamer "Minnehaha" for Savannah, Tennessee, then General Grant s head quarters. It was assigned to Prentiss Division, at this time encamped near Shiloh Church, some miles beyond Pittsburg Landing, on the road to Corinth. The regiment reached that now famous landing on the morning of April 6th, the memorable Sunday on which was fought the first day s battle of Shiloh. The contest had already been raging some time at the front. Halting the regiment at the landing, Colonel Reid reported in person to General Prentiss and received orders to bring his command at once to the front. Before reaching the field of actual battle, the regiment was met by large numbers of stragglers seeking the rear, and both the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments were halted in line by order of General Grant, for the purpose of stopping these stampeders and sending them back again to where they belonged. But this seemed to be impossible, and our regiment moved to the front, and taking position on McClernand s line in the right centre, went into battle. Here it fought bravely and well, though unskilfully posted by one of McClernand s staff officers, till ordered to retreat, when the men fell back with rapidity and in confusion. Portions of the command were rallied and took part in the battle during the remainder of the day and on Monday. Col. Reid, who was here severely wounded, speaks in high terms of the bravery of his command, which, being unassigned, as a matter of fact, to brigade or division, fought independently, as it were, and at a disadvan tage. He mentions specially Major Belknap, as being always in the right place at the right time, directing and encouraging officers and men with the utmost coolness ; Adjutant Pomutz, as distinguished for coolness and courage ; Captains Kittle, Smith, Seevers, Madison, Hutchcraft, Cunning ham, Day, and Hedrick, for gallantry and courage in leading forward and encouraging their men ; Lieutenants Studer, Porter, Craig, Hanks, Reid, and Eldredge, as deserving of special praise ; Captain Blackmar, Lieuten ants King, Goode, and Danielson, severely wounded, while acting well FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 249 their part ; and lie also notes with commendation the conduct of Lieuten ants Lanstrum, Brown, and Herbert, Sergeant-Major Brown, and the Color-Sergeant, Newton J. Rogers, "who fought in the First Iowa at Springfield, gallantly bore our standard forward and planted it among the enemy where it was bravely maintained and defended. Lieutenants Jesse B. Penniman and Robert W. Hamilton were slain on the field, with them fell nineteen others killed and more than one hundred and fifty wounded. Captain Hedrick was captured in a charge upon the enemy. The total loap in killed, wounded and missing was one hundred and eighty-eight. Such was the sacrifice of the Fifteenth at its first battle. 2 * LIST OF CASUALTIES. Killed, Lieutenants Jesse B. Penneyman, Robert W. Hamilton ; Sergeant Edward C. Fowler; Corporals Jared W. Fouts, Isaac N. Troth, Benjamin P.Russell, Merrick W. Thayer, Granville Feagans, Aaron Crill; Privates Patrick H. Kennedy, William Wood, Conrad Wcnzel, Charles W. Bardrick, George F. Frick, Joseph Ryne, John McLeod, George Peyton, Marshal H. Wilson, James Doyle, John D. Holmes, John W. Winkler. Wounded, Fidd and Staff Colonel Hugh T. Reid, Major William W. Belknap, Adjutant Pomutz, Sergeant-Major Alexander Brown. Company A Corporals William McLannehan, John A. Kimbrough, William E. Elsroad, William C. Hersberger, Marius Rhynsburger; Privates Dick Rhynsburger, Elisha Hopkins, Charles Stewart, John D. Moore, Frank Lambert, John D. Sims, Jacob Sellers, Jacob Brown, Charles Wheelock, New ton Dawson, Henry Barnes Helmick. Company B Sergeant Henry Morlaiid; Privates John Payne, Harry Edmonson, Daniel Skinner, Benjamin F. Stoughton. Company C Israel S. Warner, David Heoff, Simon P. Autry, Henry Boval, Caleb L. Kirrs, Da vid Devore, William H. Brown, Charles Johnson, James Youngblood, Isaiah Dore, Eden Hunt, Samuel Lloyd, Jacob F. Trimbell, Ezra B. Whitlack, Company D Lieutenant James S. Porter ; Corporal John Holloway ; Privates John Angel, An drew Clark, Henry Elmer, James H. Nosier, William B. Winters, William F. Gray, Lycurgus F. Bird, Marion Bayburn, William Maserva, George Zimmerman, Charles Shreeves, John Williman, Samuel Buchanan, Andrew T. Roach, Madison Wellman. Company E Captain Richard W. Hutchcraft ; Corporals Vear Porter, Mel vin Sweet; Privates Benjamin Davis, John Miller, George Dehart, Aaron Clingman, Robert Hardman, Nicholas Zaehan ; Sergeants William C. Stidger, William P. Muir; Privates William D. Carver, Isaac B. Thatcher, Jonathan R. Porter, John J. Wilson, Charles Dufur, William H. Harryman, Silas Grove. Company J 7 Captain Edwin C. Blackmar; Lieutenant Philip H. Goode; Sergeant Jonah W. Parsons; Corporal John Y. Stone; Privates Francis A. Blackman, Watson Cooper, Francis M. Hainmou, Archibald W. McKee, John D. Rynson, Lewis Kelley, William Gillard, William H. Irwin, George B. Murray, Daniel W. Scott, William Blair, Lewis Kin, John A. C. Whiting. Company G Oscar Ford, Nathan Hays, Clark S. Mathews, Joseph Arnon, Daniel Fisher, Henry Horton, Miles Judkins, Harrison Moris, William W. James, Freeman Stone, John Toverea, John White, Jacob McVay. Company H Lieutenants Stephen W. King, John A. Danielson ; Sergeants James M. Platt, Jo seph S. Cole; Privates James Clark, Samuel Dicus. John W. Ellis, Henry Franz, Andrew Mosier, Hiram G. Vincent, Joseph Whaley, Nelson G. Boyton, Jonathan Johnson, Samuel Clark, David Knaus, Levi I. Streeter. Company /Captain James G. Day; Lieutenant James M. Reid; Sergeant Henry Schuvers; Corporal George H. Kuhn, Benjamin F. Keck; Privates Robert Brisbin, Elkanah Chandler, Albert Homewood, George Haner, John B. Jones, Henry Morgan, James McMurphy, Melvin R, Palmer, Henry V. Vanderwall, Jackson Gracey, Isaac Johnson, Garrett W. Hall, William Ward, Adam A. Rogers, Daniel Buckley. Company JT Corporals Humphrey B. Wyatt. Alfred B. Wilcox; Privates William Bixler, David Chrismore, William R. Edmond, Jacob Ketchum, James M. Long, Levi W. Randolph, George W. Wallace, Milton M. Young, John Johnson, William S. Grove, George L. Hunt, James Smith, Thomas W. Howard. 32 250 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. It is proper to observe that throughout this battle Colonel Reid acted with the most praiseworthy courage and coolness. His command did not receive mention from superior officers because it was not regularly under the notice of any ; fighting throughout, as so many commands at Shiloh fought, a good deal on its " own hook." A correspondent says: "Amongst the officers of the regiment conspicuous for their gallant conduct, Colonel Reid stands foremost. He displayed an iron energy equal to the emer gency of the situation, inciting the men to stand their ground, and impart ing his contempt of danger to the officers and men of the entire command. He received a severe wound in the neck, the ball passing through, close to the jugular vein, and though, paralyzed by the wound, he fell from his horse, he was soon seen remounted, and continued in command through the remainder of the fight." The work of reorganizing the army began immediately after the battle. For a short time, our regiment, the Sixteenth Iowa, and the Eighteenth Wisconsin, were in the same brigade, Colonel Reid commanding, but on the 27th of April, "the Iowa Brigade," Colonel M. M. Crocker command ing, was organized, to continue in being as it turned out till the overthrow of the rebellion a period of more than three years, crowded full of big achievements by the army, in many of the greatest of which this very com mand bore no inconsiderable part. Two days after the formation of this now famous brigade, and while the army was slowly advancing its camps toward Corinth, Samuel G. Bridges, Esq., of Keokuk, visited the com mand, and in behalf of the citizens of that city presented the officers and men of the Fifteenth with a beautiful flag in acknowledgment of their bravery and good conduct on the battle-field of Shiloh. The movement on Corinth very soon afterwards began in earnest, though it was conducted so slowly as to seem to the impatient troops and the impatient country to carry with it little of the quality of earnestness. General Beauregard had a large army, well supplied, the flower of the southern chivalry, the vaunted pride and bulwark of the confederacy. Major-General Halleck, who, in his gorgeous and bloodless head-quarters at St. Louis had acquired a great part of the glory of Fort Henry, of Fort Donelson, of Island No. Ten, and of Shiloh. was now personally upon the field, or at any rate hovering along the horizon of its rear, directing the movements of the Union forces. The march on Corinth, less than twenty miles from the field of Shiloh, began in the latter part of April, and closed a month afterwards by our occupation of the place, entirely evacuated by the enemy on the 30th of May. Wherefore, the movement has been called Missing and prisoners, Henry A. Palmer, Martin V.B.Barnes; Corporal Eraanuel M. Gebhert; Lieutenant Hezekiah Fisk; Captain John M. Hedrick; Privates Albert U. Crosby, Rockwell Jewell, G. W. Colenbrunder. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 251 the "siege of Corinth." from that day to this, but whether Halleck besieged Beauregard, or Beauregard Halleck the more, is a question of more than one side. Our regiment in this advance was generally on the left of the right wing of the army, commanded by General Thomas. The approach was gradual, the troops advancing by parallels of intrenchment as in regular siege for many miles, and, especially on the extreme right and left, having many combats, both behind works, and in sortie, with the enemy. After the army, about the middle of May, took position round Corinth, from the north to the southeast, the wings about four miles distant, the centre advanced a mile nearer the stronghold, there was scarcely a day in which there was not considerable fighting. General Sherman on the right and General Pope on the left carried forward their lines through a constant series of skirmishes, in some of which the firing grew well nigh into battle. The enemy s sharp shooters, posted in every advantageous position, many concealed in the trees, annoyed and galled our lines, so that frequent sorties and cannonading on our part were necessary to clear the way. In every division on the front line reconnoissances were of daily occurrence, so that the continual roar of artillery and rattle of musketry almost ceased to attract attention, except as to those in close proximity to the scene of action. It was a constant suc cession of battles on a small scale, the engagement of Farmington in the earlier part of the movement, where the Second Iowa Cavalry made the most gallant charge of the war, scarcely excepting that of Zagonyi at Springfield, and that on our right by Sherman on the Union side, near the close of the siege, being the most important. The last fortified position of the division to which our regiment belonged was within half a mile of the enemy s main works, and the order for final advance and assault on the 30th was out, when it was discovered that the rebels had evacuated their lines, and were already in full retreat southward. In all these operations the Iowa Brigade performed its part well, but without noticeable loss. It must be conceded, admitting the mode of war fare adopted here by Halleck as correct, that his advance was handsomely made up to the last two or three days before the evacuation. He was then at fault in points of vigilance and activity, allowing the enemy to escape in safety with his main body. The campaign had its chief merits in bringing about a general advance of the Union lines southward, and in schooling the Union troops engaged in lessons of field fortifications and intrenchments lessons which saved many lives afterwards and made those troops much more formidable throughout the war. During the greater part of June, the Fifteenth, in common with the other regiments of the brigade, was engaged in the performance of important picket and guard duties west of Corinth, along the line of railway towards 252 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Chewalla, where several detached forts were in process of construction. Near the end of the month the regiment was detailed as provost-guard in Corinth, Major Belknap being Provost Marshal, General Ord in command of the post and troops in the vicinity. In the latter part of July the regi ment moved to Bolivar, where and in the vicinage thereof, it was engaged for more than a month reconnoitering, building fortifications, and stand ing to arms ready to repel threatened attacks. General Tuttle going hence to Cairo, Crocker took command of the division, and Colonel Reid of the brigade. The first half of September had not passed, when the command marched to Corinth, whence our regiment moved with the column under Ord against Price at luka. It did not take direct part in the battle near that place on the 19th. The regiment countermarched to Corinth, after a halt of some days near luka, arriving at the former place, on the evening of October 2d, and, taking position some two miles west of town, and south of the Chewalla road, there took gallant part in the battle which followed, Crocker being again in command of the brigade. Lieutenant-Colonel Dewey had some time before left the Fifteenth to take command of the Twenty-third regi ment, and his place was now filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Belknap, who had command during the battle of the 3d, Colonel Reid being sick. The regiment was handled with great skill, and fought with conspicuous bravery. I cannot too highly commend the bravery and courage of the officers and men of the regiment," says Lieutenant-Colonel Belknap, " and am convinced that had the whole brigade been together in the fight, the repulse of the enemy would have been complete in that part of the field." He speaks of the gallant conduct of Major Cunningham, Adjutant Pomutz, Captains Kittle, Seevers, Madison, Hanks, Lieutenants Whitenack, Wil- kins, Porter, Rogers, Throckmorton, Miller, and King, and states that the three officers killed, Lieutenants Eldridge, Kinsman, and Cathcart, were among the best in the service. He also notes the great gallantry of Color- Corporal Black, of Company E, who, being severely wounded, was suc ceeded by Color-Corporal Wells of Company I, who bore the standard bravely through the remainder of the fight. Colonel Reid, notwithstand ing his illness, had his martial spirit aroused by the battle, and though really unable to do so, took command on the morning of the 4th. But the battle of this day was not severe on that part of the field occupied by the Iowa Brigade, our regiment suffering a loss of only two wounded. Out of three hundred and fifty men of the Fifteenth engaged in the battle of Cor inth, the regiment lost eighty-five, in killed, wounded, and missing. 8 Namely : Wounded. Field and Staff Major William T. Cunningham ; Sergeant-Major Alexander Brown. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 253 The regiment joined in the pursuit of the retreating rebels, marching beyond Ripley in the chase. It formed, with the Eleventh Iowa, the rear of the army, and reached camp near Corinth on the 13th of the month. Here the command remained something more than a fortnight, employed much of the time in strengthening the interior lines of fortifications about Corinth. The 28th General Hamilton succeeded General Rosecrans in command of the troops at Corinth, the latter being sent into another de partment. The 2d of November these troops moved in the direction o Grand Junction, our regiment reaching that place on the evening of the 5th. Whilst the army was gathering at this place for the winter s cam paign against Vicksburg, there was much drilling of the troops in large bodies, the division to which our regiment belonged being now for the first time practically instructed in all the different movements incident to brigades in line of battle by division. The campaign began the latter part of November. Joining therein, the regiment moved into central Mississippi, as far as Yocana station. Falling back upon the abandonment of the enterprise by General Grant, it reached Holly Springs the 22d of December, and resuming the march on the 30th, reached the Memphis and Charleston railroad at Lafayette, Tennessee, the next day. At this place the command remained about a fortnight, in guard of the railway, when it moved to Memphis, and went into camp, the weather being intensely cold. The 18th of January, 1863, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa regiments Company A Wounded, Corporal John Gunning; Privates John Khnbrough, John Mara, John Malany, Samuel Bailey. Company B Killed, Corporal Anson D. Morgan. Wounded, Privates Robert Lyon, David Win ters, August F. Barger, John P. Polser. Missing, Jacob L. Kelsey. Company C Killed, Lieutenant John D. Kinsman ; Privates Samuel Lloyd, Oliver Smith, Walter A. Tanner. Wounded, Sergeant David Hoff, Israel S. Warner; Corporals Noah Griffis, Greenburgh W. Wymore ; Privates James A. Heller, Jerome R. Hawley, William Jackson, John C. Rea. Company D Wounded, Corporal Gregg A. Madison; Privates Samuel P. Reid, Andrew Clark, Stephen Wilkins, Samuel Kuhns. Company E Wounded, Sergeants William P. L. Muir, William C. Stidger; Corporal James W. Henry, Color-bearer Eldridge G. Black; Privates John W. Pierce, Isaac B.Thatcher, James S. Company F Killed, Wesley Irwin. Wounded, Corporal James W. Sipple; Privates Philip Benner, Francis W. Tarpenning, Aaron Mowat, William Boyer, William Fitzgerald, Lewis Hessimer, Hiukley S. Woodmansee. Company G Killed, Lieutenant William Cathcart; Corporal James B. Heatley. Wounded, Captain Romulus L. Hanks; Privates Bartholomew Middleswath, William Clark, George B. Cum- mings, David Elliott, Hiram Essex, Timothy Ridden, Elias Reid, Charles B. Vinton. Missing, Henry Horton, Samuel Roberts. Company H Wounded, Lieutenant Logan Crawford; Corporal James E. Rice; Private Richard G. Boyd. Missing, Alfred L. Stone, Stephen J. Gordon. Company I Killed, Thomas H. Davenport. Wounded, Patrick Bane, William Bush, John A. McGee, John Davenport, George Hanner, Isaac M. Christy, Asa Z. Parker. Company K Killed, Lieutenant Rufus H. Eldridge : Private William C. Dixon. Wounded, Ser geant David Myers ; Corporal Cyrus J. Morayer ; Privates John Brady, Benjamin F. Momyer, Lewis Warren, William H. H. Williams. 254 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. were embarked on the steamer "Minnehaha" the same on which the former had moved from St. Louis to Pittsburg Landing in April, 1862 and on the 20th started down the river, the fleet conveying the division consisting of fifteen vessels. Disembarking at Milliken s Bend, the com mand went into camp. Here details from the Iowa Brigade made several reconnoissances in the direction of Richmond, but on February 8th the command was again embarked on steamers, and soon on its way to Lake Providence, where it remained, performing some labor on the "canal," but otherwise in pleasant quietude till the campaign of Vicksburg opened in earnest. Early in April, Brigadier-General Lorenzo Thomas, adjutant- general of the army of the United States, arrived in camp. He and others addressed the troops on the subject of forming an army of negro soldiers, and it is stated that Colonel Reid s, whose speech concluded the proceedings of the meeting, was one of the most convincing arguments ever uttered in behalf of the policy which Thomas was practically inaugurating. About this time Captain J. M. Hedrick, who after a long captivity had rejoined the regiment just after the central Mississippi campaign, received his com mission as major, in the place of Cunningham, resigned. The 21st of April, the regiment left Lake Providence, and arrived that night at Milliken s Bend. Early in May General Crocker took command of the Seventh (Quinby s) Division, Seventeenth Corps, and Brigadier- General Hugh T. Reid, late colonel of the Fifteenth, having at Lake Providence assumed command of the First Brigade, Sixth Division, Colonel Hall, of the Eleventh, in the absence of Colonel Chambers, Sixteenth, the senior officer, assumed command of the Iowa Brigade. Lieutenant-Colonel Belknap, who for some time had been on staff duty, was in command of the regiment. And it may be well enough to state here that before the close of the campaign he was promoted to the colonelcy, Major Hedrick succeeding as second in command, and Adjutant Pomutz being appointed major.* The 26th, our regiment took up line of March in the campaign of Vicks burg. The history of the Iowa Brigade in this grand campaign, as well as its connexion with the campaign of Jackson promptly following, has * GENERAL HUGH T. REID. The direct connection of this officer with the Fifteenth Iowa ceased at Lake Providence. Without any of what we call the " military air," or " style," he was nevertheless an excellent officer. He did not trouble his head about mere military formulae the words of com mand as laid down in the books but he knew how to take care of his men as well in battle as out of it almost to perfection. Except as to the forms, he was a superior soldier. His promotion to the rank of general officer was a deserved recognition of his services and of his ability. He raised the Fifteenth regiment at a time when, on account of the Potomac quietude, it was difficult to recruit troops in Iowa. He had been constantly with it since its organization, leading it through bloody battles and active campaigning with great success, and had on several important occasions com manded the brigade. His great energy, and courage, and decision of character were universally acknowledged. He continued in the service some time after the Vicksburg campaign, and retired with dignity and honor, to serve the public in another capacity. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 255 been set forth in my account of the Thirteenth regiment, so that I need only state here that in all the operations there noted, the Fifteenth took its full part. It is a remarkable fact, that though the regiment was often under fire though details therefrom, as from all the other regiments engaged in the siege were in trenches by night and engaged by day ; though at one time the entire command was under a direct and heavy fire of grape and canister ; though it sharply skirmished at Mechanicsville and Messen ger s Ferry it did not have a single casualty to report during the entire siqge. The latter part of July, the command moved from Camp near Messen ger s Ferry over Big Black River, and marched to Vicksburg, where encampment was established north of the city, between Sherman s old line of investment and the rebel fortifications, and less than one mile from the Mississippi River. Here officers and men of regiment and brigade were paid off by Major Thaddeus H. Stanton, no less known in the army as a faithful, obliging officer, than he had been in Iowa as a scholar, thinker, writer, legislator. The command remained here till August 21st, when it started on General Stevenson s ill-starred expedition to Monroe, Louisiana. On this march and countermarch Major Pomutz was detailed as division picket officer. The exhausted column returned to Vicksburg, September 3d, when our regiment, with the brigade, went into camp south of the town, and there, with the exception of one or two unimportant expeditions, rested, till February, 1864 ; drilled, and regained health, and became a veteran organization. Captain James M. Reid s company of the Fifteenth was the first of the whole division to reenlist, and the regiment was reported as a veteran organization on the 5th of January. On the 3d of the follow ing month it took up line of march eastward, and having accompanied Sherman s column on the famous Meridian raid throughout, returned to Vicksburg, March 4th. Shortly afterwards the veterans returned to Iowa on furlough, and at Keokuk and elsewhere, were received with the utmost possible kindness and cordiality. Meantime, the non-veterans of the brigade were, by order of General McPherson, organized into a command called "The Iowa Battalion of the Seventeenth Army Corps," Major George Pomutz commanding. The battalion remained at Vicksburg about one month, and then proceeded by steamer to Cairo, Illinois that post having been designated rendezvous of troops of the Seventeenth Corps in charge of a large quantity of arms. Arriving at Cairo, it was ordered to garrison Mound City. The 25th of April the battalion was increased by detachments from the Third Iowa and two Illinois regiments, and made part of General Gresham s forces which moved up the Tennessee River to Clifton, and thence by Athens to Hunte- ville, Alabama, being the advance guard of the Corps. The battalion 256 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. arrived at Huntsville, the 20th of May, and was soon afterwards discon tinued, the men and line officers taking their places in their regiments, and Major Pomutz reporting to General Blair, as Provost Marshal of the Corps. When the Fifteenth reached Cairo on return from veteran furlough, it was temporarily assigned to General Force s division, with the Eleventh Iowa and Fifty-third Indiana constituting a brigade therein. Remaining at Bird s Point, and at Paducah, till May 6th, it moved by steamer to Clifton, whence it marched by Pulaski to Huntsville, arriving on the 23d. Mean while, the original regiments of the Iowa Brigade Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth had again been formed into a brigade, which, at Huntsville, was officially designated the Third, of the Fourth Division. Colonel Hall, Eleventh, commanded the brigade, and General M. M. Crocker the division. The reorganization of the several brigades and divisions of the Seventeenth Corps being rapidly completed, the whole was in motion from Huntsville on the 25th, to join Sherman s army of the Military Division of the Mis sissippi, already engaging the enemy under Johnston along the railway south of Dalton, Georgia. At Decatur, the 27th, General Crocker was compelled by reason of extreme ill health to relinquish the command of the Fourth Division. He was succeeded by General W. Q. Gresham. March ing by Rome, Kingston, and Allatoona, the command arrived at Ackworth the 8th of June, and joining McPherson s Army of the Tennessee, took position on the left thereof, McPherson being at this time on the left of the grand army. It here commenced its career in the campaign of Atlanta, throughout which thenceforth until the close thereof it participated with as much credit and honor, as any like command. Of several important operations and engagements of this campaign I have already spoken, and shall have occasion to speak of others hereafter, so that I need not now enter into details touching the manoeuvres in front of Kenesaw Mountain, the assault, the heavy skirmishing by Nickajack Creek, or the battle of July 21st, in front of Atlanta. In all the engagements of this important period in which the Seventeenth Corps took part, the Fifteenth Iowa participated, and between Big Shanty and Atlanta, before the great battle of the 22d of July, it had lost in killed and wounded nearly one hundred of its officers and men. 6 It so happened that, throughout all this portion of the cam- & Namely : AT KENESA.W MOUNTAIN. Killed, Greenville Fallen, Lewis Hessemer, James D. Sellers. Woimdfd, Sergeant William W. Seater ; Corporal James G. Chapin ; Privates Erastus II. Nordyke ? Cyrus E. Furgeson, James J. Moss, Patrick Murphy, Oliver P. Fleming, Charles Harvey, Charles 11. Shreeves, Martin McNiece, Jerome Davis, Carl Finn, John F. St. John, Joseph II. Paul, Alonzo Klemp, James Sweeney. NICKAJACK CREEK. Wounded, Sergeants James C. Bonar, William Lumpkin; Corporal Abijiah H. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 257 paign the Iowa Brigade was called upon to do much marching, skirmish ing, and fighting. But the occasion on which the command was called upon to fight the most gallantly, as well as to suffer the most severely was at THE BATTLE OF ATLANTA, JULY 22d. The reader should recall to mind, in order to gain a clear view of this engagement, the manoeuvres which preceded it. It will be recollected, , then, that General Sherman, having given his armies several days rest on* " the banks of the Chattahoocb.ee, put them again in motion on the 17th. Inasmuch as his encampments had been along the river, which here flows in a general southwesterly course McPherson on the left at Roswell, Schofield in the centre, and Thomas on the right by Paice s Ferry it was necessary, in order to approach Atlanta in line of battle, that Sherman should march by a general right wheel of his whole force. Thus moving, the armies closed in, converging toward Atlanta, on the 20th. General Johnston, whose Fabian warfare had been disapproved by the pretended government at Richmond, was now displaced from the command of the rebel army, and General J. B. Hood substituted in his stead. The change of commanders was followed by a change in the mode of warfare. The offensive was at once adopted. On the 20th, before the lines of Thomas and Schofield had been entirely closed up, Hood hurled a column into the gap, and a severe battle ensued, in which the rebels were indeed gallantly repulsed with heavy loss by General Hooker, General Johnson, of Palmer s Corps, and General Newton, of Howard s Corps, though not before our own troops had sustained a considerable casualty in killed and wounded. On the 21st, the Union army felt the enemy in his intrenched position, which was found to crown the heights overlooking the comparatively open ground of the valley of Peach Tree Creek, his right beyond the Augusta road to the east, and his left resting near Turner s Ferry on the Chatta- Johnson ; Privates Richard Sanders, (mortally), John H. Reaves, Andrew Lee, Perry M. Gephart, William Watson, William Alloway, James Arnold, Oliver Orm, William C. Laird, Melville C. Davis, William S. Clearwaters, (mortally), Luke Half hill, William Miller, William G. Bisk, John W. Rich mond, William A. Rhamy, Andrew J. Roach, Clark Marshall, James Martin, Lewis H. Burkhalter. ATLANTA, July 20th and list. Kitted, Corporals C. Orm, A. Smith, A. A. Bean. Wounded, Corporal Isaac McChristy; Privates Samuel Van Arsdal, John Rowe; Sergeant-Major James W. Henry ; Ser geant James Bird ; Privates A. Mefford, William H. Davis, Daniel McKinster, Isaac D. Hubbard, Alfred Broadstone, Thomas Rayger, Levi Wells : Sergeant R. M. Wilson, (mortally) ; Privates Andrew McConnell, Eden Hunt, A. C. Fenderson, S. E. Hawkins, Thomas Wright, (mortally) ; Sergeant J. N. Roberts ; Corporals S. H. Johnson, S. Holcoinb ; Privates 0. E. Stewart, H. Elmore, J. W. Cheney, C. W. Jameson, B. F. Thomas, J. S. Vantrese, John Bowen, J. Orm, J. H. Henderson, R. Orra, Wil liam Fitzgerald, J. A. Esley, J. D. Fullenwider, (mortally), J. Cox, Patrick Murphy, J. II. Forges, John Davenport, C. Woolorvus, John White, H. Louthan ; Sergeant William B. McDowell ; Corporal J. H. Wood, (mortally) ; Private William A. Walker, (mortally). Lieutenant H. C. McArthur was severely, and Lieutenants Henry Schevers and E. M. Gephart, (killed next day), were slightly wounded. 33 .^- ~ *~ .. / 258 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. hoochee. This intrenched line was at a general distance of about four miles from Atlanta. On this day, General McPherson gained a command ing position on the left of the Union lines by a short but heroic combat, of which I gave some account in the preceding chapter. But when, on the morning of the 22d, General Sherman discovered that the enemy had abandoned his strong line of the day before, he was no little surprised. He put his troops in motion, and the advancing ranks swept across the works of the enemy, unresisted, so that Sherman at first thought the rebels had decided to give him Atlanta without further struggle. But when his troops had closed in upon the city until they occupied a line in the form of an arc of a circle of about two miles radius, they discovered the enemy in force, occupying a line of heavy redoubts, covering all the roads leading into Atlanta. The redoubts were being connected with curtains, strength ened by trenches for riflemen, by abatis and chevaux-de-frise. Now, in the course of these manoeuvres of a converging nature, General G. M. Dodge, with the Sixteenth Corps, on the right of the Army of the Tennessee, had been thrown out of line squeezed out, as it were so that Logan, Fifteenth Corps, connected on his right with Schofield s Army of the Ohio. Wherefore, Dodge was ordered to move from right to left, and taking the strong position gained by McPherson the day before, form the left flank of the whole army. Whilst General Dodge was in motion to execute this order, and while the head of his column was yet at the distance of half a mile from the left of Blair s Seventeenth Corps, the rebel General Hardee delivered impetuous attack on Blair s flank. He had sallied with his corps from Atlanta, and with the object of attacking before our lines had been protected by the works which the troops had learned to throw up at every new position. He had enveloped the flank, and swinging round his right came in contact with Dodge, who with the swiftness of lightning disposed his troops, who at once went into battle with an impetuosity equal to that by which they had been attacked. But the gap between him and Blair was still open, and the rebels rushing in attacked the Seventeenth Corps in rear of its left. The last order General McPherson ever gave was one directing Colonel Wangelin s Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps to move rapidly up from the railroad and occupy this gap. It moved across on the double-quick and checked the enemy. It was now twelve o clock, noon, and the battle was raging all along the line of the Sixteenth Corps, the flank, part of the rear and the front of the Seventeenth Corps, whilst the artillery along the lines of the Ohio and Cumberland armies kept up a thundering fire on the enemy s works in their front. Presently, Stewart s rebel corps, massed in heavy bodies, sallying from Atlanta, dashingly moved against the Fifteenth Corps, and at first met with considerable success. The enemy broke through our lines, and FIFTEENTH INFANTKY. 259 just at this time heavy firing being heard in rear, our troops were seized with a momentary panic, and fled in confusion. The firing in rear was explained as an attack upon our trains at Decatur, bravely repulsed by Colonel Sprague s brigade of Dodge s Corps; and General Logan, now in command of the Army of the Tennessee, rode amongst his troops shouting in a voice that rang clear and loud even above all the din of battle, " McPherson and revenge!" so that the panic was stayed. Wood s Division of the Fifteenth Corps, in which there were many Iowa regiments, and a brigade composed exclusively of Iowa troops, was ordered to restore the broken line and regain the position lost. This was done in the finest style, the rebels driven off with fearful loss, and all our guns here captured but two retaken. Here the battle closed in a complete victory about four o clock. It was Williamson s Iowa Brigade that made the splendid charge. We left Dodge and Blair sorely pressed, the latter, as to part of his lines on front, flank, and rear. There never was a more deadly or singular com bat than that waged by the division of Giles A. Smith, on the extreme left of the Seventeenth Corps. Part of his division, embracing the Iowa Brigade, fought from a half dozen different positions, and in almost as many directions. First, the troops from behind a line of works, would repel a charge of the enemy and send him to the right about with fearful slaughter; then they would "jump" right over that same line of works, and repulse a charge made from the opposite direction in like manner. After describing one of these combats in which the brigade of Colonel Potts, aided by the Eleventh Iowa, repulsed the enemy, General Smith thus speaks of that part of the engagement which immediately followed : "It was now past four o clock, and only two regiments in front of our main line had yet been given up. Not five minutes elapsed from the repulse of the last assault, when another still more desperate attempt was made from the opposite or east side, in the present rear of Colonel Hall s Brigade. Again the men jumped over their works, and the most desperate fight of the day now took place. The enemy, having the cover of the woods, could approach within fifteen or twenty yards of our works without discovery. Rebel commanders, with such men as would follow them, would not unfrequently occupy one side of the works and our men the other. Many individual acts of heroism here occurred. The flags of two opposing regiments would meet on the opposite sides of the same works, and would be flaunted by their respective bearers in each other s faces; men were bayoneted across the works, and officers with their swords fought hand to hand with men with bayonets. Colonel Belknap, of the Fifteenth Iowa Volunteers, took prisoner Colonel Lampley of the Forty-fifth Ala bama, by pulling him over the works by his coat collar, being several times fired at by men at his side. The colors of his regiment were taken at the 260 IOWA AND THE EEBEI OPERATIONS OF FOURTH DIVISION, SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS, FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 261 same time. The enemy "loss in this attack must have been very severe. It lasted nearly three-quai r ers of an hour, when they reluctantly retired." There were other assaul> on this part of the line, so that General Smith truthfully declared the eng ient here lasted seven hours with scarcely any cessation, the only change b .-ing in the fury with which it raged. On other parts of the field the battle closed some hours earlier, all that continued after about four o clock being like the pattering of rain which succeeds the , wild thunder-storm. The battle of Atlanta was a warfare of giants. In the impetuosity, splendid abandon, and reckless disregard of danger with which the rebel masses rushed against our lines of fire, of iron, and of cold steel, there had been no parallel during the war, not even before the fortunate death of Stonewall Jackson. Nor did the Union troops ever exhibit on any other field a more determined, sturdy courage, or more admirable dash in the charge, when a charge was ordered, as in the case of Wood s division of the Fifteenth Corps, and in other scarcely less noted instances during the engagement. The rebel dead lay thickly strewn all over the ground in front of our lines, and on both sides on the left. Here indeed Union men and rebels lay commingled in the cold embrace of death. In front of the Anny of the Tennessee, when the enemy had been driven off at all points, there were three thousand two hundred and forty dead rebels. The total loss of the enemy, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was probably not far from ten thousand. The loss of the Unionists was three thousand seven hundred and twenty-two, killed, wounded and captured. But among the slain was Major-General McPherson. At the commencement of the fight, he rode from General Sherman s head-quarters toward the left, and, learning the dispositions General Dodge had made to meet the enemy exclaimed { Good for Dodge," and rode on, accompanied by a single orderly, in the direction of General Giles A. Smith s position. He unwittingly passed within the enemy s lines and was killed by a ball through the side. " He was a noble youth of striking personal appearance," says Sherman, "of the highest professional capacity, and with a heart abounding in kindness that drew to him the affections of all men." He was the most beloved by his troops of all our generals. 6 6 There are thousands of instances of bravery displayed by the heroes of this war the gallant pri vates that never find their way into print, but I deem it my duty to occupy sufficient space to eulogize the unusual gallantry displayed by Private George D. Reynolds, Company D, Fifteenth Iowa regiment, on the battle-field before Atlanta yesterday afternoon. This tried and trusty veteran had been engaged in the savage contest for several hours, and at last was severely wounded in the arm, the bullet fracturing the bone so that amputation of the fore-arm may be necessary to save his precious life. This George Reynolds saw the noble McPherson when he fell mortally wounded, and remained with his General till the brave heart ceased to beat longer for the land he loved, and the pulse, which ever throbbed with heroic blood, grew silent. The storm of shot and shell did not intimidate the soldier, but growing faint from the loss of blood and the pain of his wound, he was 262 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The State of Iowa was represented in this engagement by no less than thirteen regiments of infantry. The Second and Seventh fought under Dodge, and in the brigade which General Elliott W. Rice so long and so well commanded. Lieutenant- Colonel Howard, commanding Second, was severely wounded during the battle, and the command devolved upon Major Hamill. Captain George Heaton was also severely wounded. Both the Second and the Seventh met with considerable loss, and fought with their accustomed gallantry. What was left of the gallant "old Third," here fought till it was well nigh wholly immolated, and as an organization passed out of existence in the fine flames of patriotic martyrdom. The Sixth here added a bright page to its record, whilst the Fourth, the Ninth, the Twenty-fifth, the Twenty-sixth, and the Thirtieth, fighting in Wood s Division, performed as valuable and as brilliant service as any troops on the field, and yet, though they inflicted terrible loss upon the enemy in the splendid onset by which the line of the Fifteenth Corps was restored, they did not suffer heavy loss. No command ever fought better than the Iowa Brigade at the Battle of Atlanta. It was a hand-to-hand fight between thousands of infuriated combatants contending for the vital position of the field. The Sixteenth regiment, meeting the first onslaught of the enemy, fought with desperate valor for some time, but was compelled to succumb to overwhelming num bers, and passed out of the battle in captivity in the earlier part of the conflict. The remaining regiments, being the Eleventh, the Thirteenth, and the Fifteenth, fought throughout as though the salvation of the grand army depended upon their strong right arms. During the day these regi ments repelled seven several charges of the enemy which were only less determinedly made than that which has been already described in the words of General Smith s official report. The command captured two stands of colors, and two hundred and fifty-seven prisoners one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, two captains, three lieutenants and one hundred and thirty enlisted men, being the trophies of the Fifteenth ; one colonel, one captain, and ninety-one men, of the Eleventh, whilst the Thir teenth captured twenty enlisted men. " Where all officers and men," says Colonel Hall, " devotedly did their whole duty, I can make special mention of but few. Among them, Colonel compelled to start for the hospital to get his wound properly dressed. After marching nearly a mile in the hot sun and dust, he met Lieutenant-Colonel Strong, Inspector-General on General McPherson s staff, and Captain Bucll, Chief Ordnance officer of the Department and Army of Ten nessee, who were anxiously inquiring for the General s body. Reynolds volunteered to pilot them to the spot where he had left the body, notwithstanding the enemy were rapidly advancing and the bullets whistled through the branches of the trees. The entire party had a very narrow escape from death and Capture, for they had barely placed the body of their inanimate chieftain in an ambulance when a squad of rebels fired several shots after them. Correspondence of the New York Tribune. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 263 John Shane, Thirteenth Iowa, cool and brave, fearlessly rallying his men in the thickest of the fire ; Colonel Belknap, Fifteenth Iowa, displayed at all times the highest qualities of the soldier, cheering his men by his voice, and encouraging them by his personal disregard of danger ; Lieutenant-Colo nel J. C. Abercombie, commanding Eleventh Iowa, who with a quiet and calm determination, inspired his men with his own steadfast spirit ; Lieu tenant-Colonel Hedrick, Fifteenth, wounded in the noble discharge of his duty ; Major Foster, Eleventh, also wounded, bravely rallying his men ; : Major Walker, Thirteenth, killed at his post where the brave should die ; Adjutants King, Fifteenth, Prescott, Eleventh, and Rood, Thirteenth, for gallant and efficient services ; also Sergeant-Major Myers, Thirteenth, Cap tain Anderson, Company A, Eleventh, whose gallant defence of the crest of the hill has already been mentioned ; Sergeant-Major J. G. Safely, who, with First Sergeant J. A. Buck, Company K, Eleventh (afterwards killed) with a party of picked up men,- numbering thirty or forty, made a dash on the works held by the rebels, bringing back with them more than their own number of prisoners, among them a colonel and a captain, Safely being wounded." The colonel also mentions Lieutenant 0. D. Kinsman, Captain Bassett, Lieutenants Kellogg, Stone and Safely, of the staff, as deserving of the warmest thanks. General Smith also takes occasion to mention Colonel Belknap, Colonel Shane, Lieutenant-Colonel Aber- crombie, and Captain Anderson, as well as Captain Cornelius Cadle, Jr., A. A. General and Captain John C. Marvin, Acting Inspector General, on the division staff. The losses of the brigade were very severe, amounting in the aggregate to six hundred and sixty-five, of whom thirty- seven were slain, one hundred and fifty wounded, many of whom afterwards died, and four hundred and seventy-eight captured. Of the captured more than half belonged to the Sixteenth regiment. The Fifteenth here lost one hundred and thirty-two, of whom ten were killed, forty wounded, and eighty-two captured by the enemy. Lieutenant E. M. Gephart was the only officer killed. "Wounded severely at Shiloh, captured there, and a prisoner for months, he returned to the regiment, bravely did his duty, and died a soldier s death." Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick, whose conspicuous bravery is specially men tioned by Colonel Belknap, was well nigh mortally wounded, and his brother, Captain Thomas H. Hedrick, of Company K, was also severely wounded. Neither has entirely recovered to this day. 7 7 LIST OP CASUALTIES, rx THE FIFTEENTH IOWA, AT THE BATTLE op ATLANTA. Killed, Lieutenant Emanuel M. Gephart; Corporal C. B. Vinton; Privates John Lovejoy, Harrison Morris, John P. Moss, E. Coleman, E. S. Julien ; Sergeant Stephen H. Gilespie ; Corporals Joshua P. Davis, B. F. Momyer, Sergeant John A. Tovey ; Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel John M. Hedrick, Lieutenant John F. Evans; Sergeants Andrew Mitchell, James Bird; Corporal William Majors; Private N. B. Kindred, M. Rhynesberger ; Musician William H. Boles; Privates Patrick Norton. G. T. Hughes, B. F. Lovejoy 264 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The Fifteenth remained on the field of battle for a few days, strengthen ing the position by fortifications. The wounded were taken to the hos pitals, the dead were buried. At midnight of the 26th, the corps moved from the left to the right of the army, passing along the rear of the lines, and reaching its position beyond Proctor s Creek on the evening of the 27th, General Giles A. Smith s division falling into line and at once erecting works on the extreme right of the army, save Leggett s Division on its flank. The next day, while the Fifteenth Corps was moving into position on the right of Leggett, Hood again hurled forth his masses against it, in the vicinity of Ezra Church, whereupon the battle of that name ensued, resulting in a loss of five thousand to the enemy who were repulsed. The Fifteenth Corps fought the battle on the Union side, with detached reinforcements from other corps. Among these were the Thirty- second Ohio of the First Brigade, and the Fifteenth Iowa, both under command of Colonel Belknap, who reenforced the division of General Morgan L. Smith, and being called into action received the warm thanks of that general for efficient service. The regiment lost two killed and nine wounded in the engagement, and returned to position next day. 8 Two days after the battle of Ezra Church, Colonel Belknap received notice of his appointment to the rank of brigadier-general. On the last day of July, he bade farewell to the Fifteenth, and assumed command of the brigade. Major Pomutz, who had been serving on the staff of General Blair during the campaign, now returned to his regiment, being relieved Corporal John Stackley, Privates Jacob T. Timbrel, Henry Vancleave, Jason R. Lathrop, Squire Martz, George J. Reynolds, F. M. Philips, R. Wilson, Silas W. Grove, Corporals William II. Sellers, J. Sloneker, 0. A. Warner; Privates T. J. Morris, J. W. Cox, J. S. Tresler; Sergeant John Harger ; Private Elias M. Reed ; Sergeant Warren W. Rose ; Privates B. E. Sley, Henry Frantz, B. F. Brcnmn, Elkana Chandler; Sergeant William L. Watson; Privates J. Ballenger, William Morrow, Isaac Hauer; Captain Thomas H. Hedrick; Privates William Gibson, W. Stalcop; Missing, Sergeant-Major James W. Henry ; Sergeant Charles R. Hawley ; Wounded and Missing, Corporals John Mara, J. Primrose, John A. Kimbrough ; Privates Samuel Reed, William Moore, William Davis, B. F. Gep- hart ; Missing, W. Dye, J. Getty, Ellis Smith, Elihu Smith, D. Sargent, A. Ferguson ; Corporal J. F. Gunning ; Privates S. Wilson, Amos Overmire ; Corporal Edward D. Lunt; Privates Thomas Fennesty, W. A. Boudinot, Columbus P. Fox ; Sergeant William S. Winters ; Privates C. B. Ililer, Charles Johnston, S. Knowles, J. Little, John Rea, James W. Hawkins ; Sergeant Joseph Heckart; Wouiided and Missing, Corporal W. S. McLean, Lieutenant William P. Muir ; Private L. T. Bird, A. C. Barnes ; Missing, G. W. Crouch, Philip Gifford, George W. Farlan, Peter Hoover, William Maserva, A. Mc- Connell, Marion Rayburn, S. Stevens, A. Van Voast, William R. Harny, Philip Benner, Felix Pool, W. Cooper, B. South ; Wounded and Missing, Lieutenant Logan Crawford ; Privates C. Woolorvus, George Haner ; Missing, Sergeant S. C. Harris ; Corporal John H. Forges ; Privates I. J. Laflesh, Patrick Murphy, T. II. B. Marshal, L. J. Streeter, Sergeant Daniel Verrips ; Corporal G. W. Colon- brand ; Privates Benjamin F. Reek, L. B, Thomas, Robert Brisbin, John W. Cramer, C. W. Elrick, A. Homewood, Henry Kirby, Simon Neromiah, L. Rowell, W. H. Rowell, S. C. Thomas, Isaiah White, S. F. Zomes ; Sergeants John G. Davis, C. J. Momyer ; Privates John Riley, J. F. Clearwaters, A. Horn, W. A. Mathis, H. D. Pope, J. Rankin, M. Young. 8 Killed, Corporal Erastus Nordyke; Thomas Lenehan. Wounded, Lieutenant H. Schievers ; R. T. Spaits, Lewis Crowder, Thomas Palmer ; Corporal George Harbaugh ; George Kearnes ; Sergeant Charles W. Kitchell, Samuel L. Roberts, Stephen Forman. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 265 from duty at corps head-quarters at his own request, and, in absence of Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick, took command of the regiment. Hedrick was afterwards promoted colonel, but did not sufficiently recover from his wounds to take command of the regiment during the war, and Pomutz, promoted lieutenant-colonel, remained in command throughout. The colonel, whose mental energies were in no degree impaired by his physical sufferings, and who never gave up his warm interest in the command, sent many recruits to the regiment, so that its ranks were well nigh filled up $o the maximum. For his long gallant and meritorious services he was bre- vetted brigadier-general early in 1865, and retained in the service many months after the honorable discharge of his comrades of the Fifteenth, being all the while employed on important duty at the national capital. General Hood s attack of July 28th closed the series of his offensive operations against General Sherman s army. The Union general pro ceeded with his investing operations, extending his lines of fortifications on the right, west and south of Atlanta. Hood remained on the defensive, but met Sherman s extensions to the south by lines of forts and rifle-pits, rapidly but strongly constructed, and extending between the Union lines and railway down to East Point. About the 1st of August, General Scho- field, with the Twenty-third Corps, and General Palmer, with the Four teenth, moved round to the right, and, Schofield furthest south, extended the lines to a point opposite East Point. With the close of the first week in August the siege was fully begun. Our lines were near those of the enemy, and though from this time forth until the 26th, when General Sherman raised the siege to move against the enemy s communications south of Atlanta, there was no battle, there was almost constant fighting at some part or other or several parts of the long lines. The boom of the artillery and the crack of the sharp-shooters rifles were constantly heard, during all this time, and the troops might almost be said to have lived, moved, and had their being in an atmosphere surcharged with deadly mis siles. Casualties daily occurred, and our regiment lost during the siege about twenty men. 9 When General Sherman raised the siege of Atlanta, he played one of the sublimest games of logistics ever witnessed. It is perhaps true that in this branch of warfare, General Sherman was the equal of any captain who ever lived. On this occasion his genius was splendidly illustrated. Taking his army in hand, he moved one corps here, another there, another still in a different direction, so that the country round about Atlanta seemed to be Namely -.Killed, Sergeant Alva C. Tanner; Corporals William Major, A. L. Stone. Wounded, Assistant Surgeon Hezekiah Fisk, (mortally); Sergeants Jonathan Vincent, Isaac Cooper; Corporal William II. Romesha; Privates Joshua F, Lock, Isaiah A. Smith, Samuel Bailey, Henry More, William D. Carver, Thomas Murphy, John Fisher, James B. Hardin, James Cooly. 34 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. alive with glistening bayonets. The dazzling array blinded our own troops, who, unacquainted with the secrets of head-quarters, seemed lost in the bewildered maze of grand manoeuvres which they were themselves perform ing. The various corps seemed to be all in motion without apparent ob ject crowding the roads, some moving rapidly, some more slowly, passing, repassing, and meeting each other, till the soldiers minds were lost in amazement, and began to suspect that Old Tecumseh had gone crazy after all ! If his own troops were ignorant of his designs, it may readily be supposed the enemy was at fault. The rebels were indeed completely de ceived. They believed the siege had been raised, and that Sherman had put himself in retreat northward. They rejoiced accordingly, and had a grand ball. " There was a sound of revelry by night, And Georgia s capital had gathered then Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright The lamps shone o er fair women and brave men ; A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when Music arose with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, And all went merry as a marriage-bell." But the gaiety of the military capital was interrupted speedily. It gave place to battle s magnificently-stern array. Sherman had indeed raised the siege, but only for the purpose of executing his designs in another mode. The result of the magnificent manoeuvres of the 25th and 26th was, that the Twentieth Corps alone returned to our fortified lines on the Chatta- hoochee to cover the communications northward, while the main army, moving while the rebels danced, marched against the enemy s communi cations, and soon delivered battle at Jonesboro and Lovejoy. Atlanta fell in consequence, and the Twentieth Corps entered the city on the 2d of September. Having participated in this last of the flanking movements, taking part in both battles, our regiment returned to the vicinity of East^ port, and went into encampment. Since entering on the campaign of At lanta, it had been under the enemy s fire on eighty-one days, and had been engaged, with its associates of the Iowa Brigade, in nearly all the principal battles of this era of activity. 1 Having taken part, after a considerable rest at East Point, in a recon- noissance to some distance southwest thereof, the regiment joined in the 1 The losses of the regiment, after the siege of Atlanta, were not severe. The following list em braces all : Wounded. Christopher Warren, Lewis Kelley, Frederic Bergcr ; Corporal James E. Mor gan; Captain Roger B. Kellogg, (mortally); Sergeant James Love; Private Matthew Wertz, William Slate, D. C. Benedict, James T. Griffin, the first four of which were wounded at Jonesboro and Love- joy; Captain Kellogg, at Pocotaligo, South Carolina; Wertz, at Columbia (mortally), and the others at the battle of Bentonville, Sergeant Love afterwards dying at New York from the effects of his wound. FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 267 SIEGE OF ATLANTA, 268 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. pursuit of Hood in October, and during this month, and the first part of November, marched more than three hundred miles. It also performed the march to Savannah, the Iowa Brigade being on this campaign in creased by the addition of the Thirty-second Illinois, a gallant regiment commanded by Colonel John Logan (cousin to the general), a gallant offi cer, frequently called "Butter John," whereby hangs a tale. This regi ment also continued with the brigade, as it went "slashing through the Carolinas" on the northward march. This march had but just com menced, when our regiment met with a sad loss in the death of Captain Roger B. Kellogg, who was mortally wounded at Pocataligo, South Caro lina, January 14th, 1865. He was a noble youth, the personification of courage, and as gentle-hearted as a woman. At Columbia and at Benton- ville, the regiment met slight loss. It moved to Goldsboro ; to Raleigh ; to Washington City by Petersburg and Richmond ; to Louisville, Kentucky, where it was mustered out of service on the 24th of July, then numbering an aggregate of seven hun dred and twelve on the rolls, with the following roster of officers : Colonel, (Brevet Brigadier-General), J. M. Hedrick; Lieutenant-Colonel, George Pomutz ; Major, James S. Porter ; Adjutant, W. C. Stidge** ; Quartermaster, E. W. Elliott; Chaplain, E. H. King. Company A Captain A. Mitchell ; First Lieutenant M. Glynn ; Second Lieutenant W. C. Herschberger. Company B Captain W. H. Goodrell ; First Lieutenant D. King; Second Lieutenant R. Lyon. Company C Captain Sylvester Rynearson; First Lieutenant C. M. Stuart. Company D Captain Wil liam Fairbarn; First Lieutenant C. Smock; Second Lieutenant Edward A. Chambers. Company E Captain N. J. Rogers ; First Lieutenant W. P. L. Muir; Second Lieutenant D. C. Hicks. Company F Captain J. Throckmorton ; First Lieutenant Isaac Cooper; Second Lieutenant D. Burwell. Company G Captain E. P. Bye ; First Lieutenant J. W. Welch ; Second Lieutenant J. McVay. Company H Captain N. W. Edwards ; First Lieutenant J. W. Welch ; Second Lieutenant J. M. Hoffnagle. Company I Captain James M. Reid; Second Lieutenant William W. Williams. Company K Captain W. B. McDowell; First Lieutenant J. G. Shipley ; Second Lieutenant J. Momyer. Moving on cars by Chicago to Davenport, the command reached that place on the 29th, and having been handsomely received, marched to Camp Kinsman for final discharge. This it was not long in receiving, and in a few days the men of one of Iowa s best regiments were welcomed to their homes all over the State which they had honored, and which can never cease to honor them. CHAPTER XV. SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. OKGANIZATION IMMEDIATELY MOVE TO THE THEATRE OF WAR BATTLE OP SHILOH RECONNOISSANCE TO PURDY FORM PART OF THE IOWA BRIGADE- SIEGE OF CORINTH ACTIVE OPERATIONS AROUND BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE BAT TLE OF IUKA PURSUIT OF PRICE BATTLE OF CORINTH PURSUIT OF THE REBELS THE CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN RETURN TO TENNESSEE- MOVE TO LOUISIANA THE CAMPAIGN OF VICKSBURG THE LOUISIANA EXPE DITIONQUIETTHE MERIDIAN RAID VETERAN FURLOUGH REJOIN THE ARMY THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN BATTLE OF KENESAW MOUNTAIN-BATTLE OF ATLANTA, JULY 2IST JULY 22o THE REGIMENT CAPTURED ITS SUBSE QUENT HISTORY. THE Sixteenth Regiment of Infantry from Iowa was the last of those regiments from the State which were mustered into the service of the general government under the proclamations of the President calling for volunteers, during the first year of the war. Of the fifteen regiments of foot which preceded this, fourteen had entered the service for three years, and a majority of them had been mustered by Captain Alexander Cham bers, Eighteenth United States Infantry, general mustering and disbursing officer for the State. No man could have well performed the functions pertaining to that office without making many enemies. Captain Chambers had graduated with honor at the national military academy, and had performed meritorious and gallant services in the field. He was well qualified by talents for almost any military position, and he did his duty well in Iowa, but not without bringing upon himself considerable animad version. By the first proclamation, Iowa was called upon, as wt have seen, for but one regiment of three-months men. Governor Kirkwood and Adjutant- General Jesse Bowen both resided at Iowa City, in the interior of the State, remote from telegraphs. Captain Chambers was posted at Keokuk, in the extreme southeastern part of the State. The people were at first aroused by a martial enthusiasm amounting to furor, and besieged the Governor and 269 270 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. the Adjutant-General as vigorously as Grant ever besieged Vicksburg or Richmond. The Governor was equal to the emergency, but General Bowen, as good, as worthy a man as we had in the State, could not tell the difference, perhaps, between an epaulette and a cockade, and was not suited to the office in time of war. But the Governor, the Adjutant-General, and the mustering officer all came in for a good share of complaint and vituper ation, and the mustering officer for most of all. The government ration of bread was only twenty-two ounces, and Captain Chambers was denounced for that. He could not find it in the regulations to pay for officers white vests under the appropriation for army clothing, and he was denounced for that. In short, the Captain received quite as many curses as ever fell upon the head of any mustering and disbursing officer, and that is saying a great deal. Nevertheless, he continued in the performance of his duties with great imperturbability, and the Sixteenth being supposed to be the last which the State would be required to raise, Governor Kirkwood asked him to take command of it, which he consented to do. No better class of men than those who composed this regiment ever en tered the army. They came from nearly every portion of the State, but Muscatine County, with her usual patriotic generosity, enrolled two com panies within her borders, and her citizens predominated in the regiment in point of numbers. The counties of Scott, Clinton, Dubuque, and Clay ton also contributed liberally to its ranks, whilst about forty others were represented less or more liberally in the organization. The formation of the companies which made up the regiment began in the fall of 1861, and continued throughout the succeeding winter. The campaign of the sum mer had depressed the spirits of the people, and the new Commander-in- chief, having exhausted his genius by the splendid organization of the grand army around Washington, seemed to be content with all quiet on the Potomac," and imposing reviews. Of the new style of Napoleonic warfare the country became quite sick at the stomach. Enlistments went on very nearly as slowly as McClellan. It is not surprising, therefore, that though the first company of the regiment in Iowa formed during this "quiet" period went into quarters in September, the last was not filled till six months thereafter. The companies were mustered into the service at various times, from the 10th of December, 1861, to the 24th of March, 1862, seven at Davenport, one at Keokuk, and the others at Benton Barracks, Missouri, where the organization of the regiment was completed at the date last mentioned. The incomplete regiment had left Camp McClellan, near Davenport, about three weeks before. Upon organization, the roster of officers was as follows : Alexander Cham bers, Colonel ; Addison H. Sanders, Lieutenant-Colonel ; William Purcell, Major; George E. McCosh, Adjutant; Charles W. Fracker, Quartermaster; SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 271 Dr. J. H. Camburn, Surgeon, with Dr. Josiah L. Phillips, Assistant. Com pany A, Captain J. H. Smith, Lieutenants William H. Hoyt, M. D. Madden ; Company B, Captain David Stuhr, Lieutenants Lewis Bunde, Frederic Wiedemann ; Company C, Captain Alpheus Palmer, Lieutenants, Jesse H. Lucas, Thomas Purcell ; Company D, Captain C. W. Williams, Lieutenants Robert Alcorn, George H. Holcomb ; Company E, Captain John D. Turner, Lieutenants George Lawrence, John A. Hines ; Company F, Captain E. S. Frazer, t Lieutenants Josiah Heavner, Peter Miller ; Company G, Captain John Ruehl, Lieutenants Henry Meyer, Leo Schumacher ; Company H, Cap tain E. M. Newconib ; Lieutenants Frank N. Doyle, John F. Conyngham ; Company I, Captain M. C. Fuller ; Lieutenants Henry D. Williams, William C. Wilson ; Company K, Captain Michael Zettler, Lieutenants J. F. Alex ander, and A. N. Stringer. The regiment was without a chaplain. A waggish correspondent afterwards wrote : There never was a chaplain in the Sixteenth, for several reasons. 1st. Because it was a moral regiment, and the office would have been a sinecure ; 2d. The regiment was always either marching or fighting, and in this way got sufficient exercise ; 3d. Because the form of prayer adopted by the colonel was such that it could be said by any one, being in fact the Episcopal collect for storms at sea, and our regiment never was at sea ; 4th. There was only one deck of cards allowed in the regiment." The regiment was but just organized, when it was ordered to the theatre of war. Immediately embarking, the command moved to Pittsburg Land ing, Tennessee, and there disembarking, had its first experience in actual warfare in the bloodiest contest which occurred during the four years of terrible hostilities. We have seen how the regiment passed through that dreadful ordeal. When we reflect that the men went into the battle, and that they were at once ordered into an exposed position by an aid-de-camp of General McClernand, who did not know his military A. B. C s, and that they had not previously had any battalion training, we must conclude, since they fought so well, that they were men of great native courage and nerve. The regiment came out of its first battle with thinned ranks, having here lost in death and wounds a large number of both officers and men. 1 j 1 LIST OF CASUALTIES. Colonel Alexander Chambers, wounded. Company A Killed, Privates Wm. Bloor, Geo. Jarhl, Reuben Root, Chas. L. Whitnell. Wounded, Sergeant Jos. C. Kelley ; Privates George N. Day, Jeremiah Nolan, James Smith, David M. Switzer. Prisoners, Frederick Dawes, Smith Spore. Company B Wounded, Lieutenant Lewis Bunde, Sergeant Henry Lefeldt, Nicholas Dase, Wil- helm Ehlers, Jacob Jacobson. Prisoners, Jochim Bielefildt, Fritz August Silvester. Company C Killed, Adam Brown, James H. Howell. Wounded, Captain Alpheus Palmer, Lieu tenant Jesse H. Lucas, Sergeant John Hayes, Sergeant John A. Harriman, Corporal Wm. Manley, Corporal George B. Beomor, Peter Blanchard, Henry W. Blessing, Abner B. Corrill, Peter Esmoil, Henry W. Hale, Joseph Horseley, Alex. E. McConnell, Josiah Sellors, Henry L. Sipbury, Arnold Twiggs, Calvin Weeks. Missing, Alfred N. Mosier. Company D Kitted, Corporal Edward F. Cutting, Harrison Boone, Nicholas Claybaugh. Wounded, 272 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. Though the regiment had been thrown into some confusion at Shiloh, it was only for a short time, and unaccompanied by demoralization. It was very soon rallied, and the last firing of the expiring battle was scarcely over till it might have again presented an unbroken front to the enemy. Upon the organization of " The Iowa Brigade," shortly after the battle, the Sixteenth was assigned thereto, and continued ever afterwards therein, doing its full share in making u p the bright and glorious record of that distinguished command. The first movement of the regiment on foot of sufficient magni tude to be dignified with the name of march took place about this time, the command accompanying a column which made a strong reconnoissance to Purdy, some eight or ten miles distant from camp. Its next march was the slow one on Corinth. After the evacuation, the regiment had two months of quiet on a fine plantation of a noted rebel, situated about two miles from Corinth. Here it suffered much from heat, the want of vege table food, and diseases resulting from both causes. Near the close of July, tents were struck, and a march for Bolivar, Ten nessee, began. The command reached that place on the last day of the month, the march being impeded only by jiggers, "which," says a cor respondent of the grand military order, "attacked us in front, flank, and rear. Regimental encampment was most of the time at Bolivar through out the whole of August and nearly half the following month. But the regiment was much of the time on the march, scouting, reconnoitering, observ ing the enemy who during a considerable portion of the period were raiding in the vicinity of Bolivar and threatening it with attack. On one of the Lieutenant George H. Holcomb, Sergeant William C. Crooks, Sergeant Amos S. Collins, Harry II. Bowling, Albert G. Corbin (mortally), David Holcomb, Ninien Lindsay, Daniel Madden, Joseph 0. Tuffs, Spear S. Zenor. Prisoner, Josiah M. Thrift. Company E Killed, Sergeant Austin A. McDowell. Wounded, Sergeant Wm. S. Stafford, Corporal Wm. Butler, Thomas Brumage, Daniel James, Legrand B. Kinkade, Jackson A. Kuder, John Luckey. Prisoners and wounded, Patrick Moran, Wesley Smice. Prisoners, Michael Fitzpatrick, Nicholas W. UcNemer. Company F Wounded, Captain Edward S. Frazer, Lieutenant Peter Miller, Sergoant William J. Sawyer, Corporal John Spear, James M. Barnes, John Carpenter, James C. Devault, Thomas Gun ning, Scott Page, Kimbal L. Page, Wm. Patterson, Wm. Rimmer, Wm. H. II. llenfro, Irvin W. Scranton, Norman D. Younkin, Joseph II. Young, Hezekiah Carpenter. Company G Killed, Captain John Ruehl, Sergeant Rudolph Mohrmann, Jacob Rein, Martin Zim merman. Wounded, Lieutenant Henry Meyer, Eichman Nicholas, Sergeant Ernst Pitschnor, Anton Baertsch, Patrick Boyle, Anton Benesch, Charles Corsout, Jacob Lehmann, Theodore Mikesch, Ber nard Pelz, W. Westermann, George Wieland. Company H Killed, Lieutenant Frank N. Doyle, James M. Preston. Wounded, Captain Edwin M. Newcomb, Sergeant Lemuel Burns, Corporal Allen F. Miller, Corporal Solomon Zook, James Blake, Simon Drake, James M. Riland, John Redden, Wm. T. Scheib, Isaac Zook. Missing, Corporal Wm. McKeon, Emulous Doty. Company I Wounded, Sergeant James M. Gunning, Corporal William Spencer, Corporal James G. Wilson, Frank E. Bowers, Henry II. Barger, Henry M. Beicle, John Dunlap, Charles Turner. Missing, Benjamin Keith, Owen Russell. Company K Killed, Karl Graak. Wounded, Captain Michael Zettler, Corporal Henry Karstens, Henry Brundsick, Frederick Kudebe, Samuel Parks, Newton Shaffer, David Squire. Missing, Ludwig Btahl. SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 273 numerous scouting expeditions which the regiment was called upon to make, it came to the pleasant town of Somerville, about twenty-five miles east of Bolivar, " abounding in chickens and turkeys, and overflowing with peach- brandy, and honey, and darkies yearning for freedom." The regiment returned to Bolivar laden with the rich spoils of war cotton, horses, mules, colored people, and a luscious commissariat. Marching through Tennessee in those days, though somewhat tiresome, was in many respects pleasant. In the open cultivated country, the road-sides were shaded with peach, pear, and apple trees, burdened with rich fruit, ripe to falling. If the line of march were on the less frequented roads through the forests, the deli cious paw-paw and muscadine seduced the soldier from the path of duty and the highway. When the rebel cavalry attempted to raid into Bolivar, and were repulsed by our cavalry, supported by a few regiments of foot, there was none more prominent among the latter then the Sixteenth Iowa. It is but simple justice to that officer to say that, during the whole time in which the rebels threatened Bolivar, no man s judgment as to the proper means of defence was more sought than that of Colonel Chambers. On the 12th of September, the command bade a last farewell to Bolivar, and marched to Corinth in two days. Here it rested twenty-four hours, luka had been abandoned in a most cowardly manner by that same Colonel Murphy who afterwards likewise abandoned Holly Springs, and the rebel General Price now had full possession. In the movement and battle which followed, the Sixteenth, as has been heretofore noted, was temporarily detached from the brigade. Instead of marching with the column under Ord, which did not take an active part in the engagement, it marched with the column under Rosecrans, which fought the desperate battle of luka on the evening of the 19th. For its intrepid gallantry in that combat, the regiment received the most glowing encomiums from Rosecrans. And, pre vious to the battle, the regiment had made a reconnoissance, by direction of General Grant, for the purpose of discovering the strength and position of the enemy, up to the very gates of luka, skirmishing all the way thither after leaving Burnsville. The command returned in safety, its reconnois sance admitted on all hands to have been one of the most daring of the war. It speedily fell in line, to take part in the battle where it gained such high honors, but with a sad sacrifice of life and blood. 2 * Colonel Chambers was here almost fatally wounded, and captured. If he ever made a report of the part taken by his regiment in the battle, I have not seen it. Adjutant George Lawrence was killed, and other gallant officers and brave men killed or wounded. The following list of casualties is probably not complete : Company A Kitted, Sergeant Jacob Shambaugh ; Richard B. Kelly. Wounded, Sergeant Isaac V. Lawrence; Corporal James W. Stallcop, (prisoner); Privates Michael Conley, Alexander Gordon, Henry Horn, H. Marrahan, George Miller, Frederick L. Osborn, James Smith, Alonzo Spore, Edward Cassidy, Joseph Beatty, Franklin Milton, James S. Troop. 35 274 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. For some days after the battle, the regiment was kept constantly moving hither and thither, in pursuit of Price, whose eccentric course would have puzzled the most accomplished astronomer or chess-player, and quite baffled the pursuing column. The "artful dodger" eluded the Union general, and formed a junction with Van Dorn. The regiment returned to Corinth, and in just two weeks from the battle of luka again went into battle. In the severe engagement of Corinth continuing through two days, the regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders, an officer brave almost to a fault, until he fell severely wounded, on the evening of October 3d, when the command devolved upon Major Purcell, an officer of considerable experience. The battle of Corinth, as we shall here after see, was remarkable for the skill and effect with which our artillery was handled, and, inasmuch as the rebels insisted upon butting their heads against our batteries and forts, there were portions of the line of battle in which our infantry did not severely suffer, albeit the engagement was one of the bloodiest which had yet occurred. The losses of the Sixteenth were comparatively light. 3 As soon as the rebel generals concluded they did not want Corinth, "Old Rozey," as the troops familiarly called General Rosecrans, politely assisted them to make their retreat on Holly Springs lively, by goading Company B Wounded, Corporals Jachina Arp, Hans F. Hartman. Company C Wounded, Captain Alpheus Palmer; Privates Henry W. Blessing, James Coriell, James King, William H. Smith. Company D Killed, Private Samuel T. Simmons. Wounded, Lieutenant Robert Alcorn ; Corporals David Carroll, James H. Ellis ; Privates John Berry, William K. Goss, Levi R. Hester, John L. Hager, Theulieus McNeely, Thomas J. Parr, (prisoner), Harmon Seely. Company E Killed, Privates Franklin Woodruff, Alexander Britt. Wounded, Francis A. Forbee, George Y. Gillespie. Company F Killed, Corporal Harvey E. Whiteman ; Privates George Bedford, John Conrad, John M. Grau, Michael McGowan. Wounded, Sergeant Madison R. Laird ; Privates James M. Barnes, John Carpenter, Enoch Hawarth, Oliver P. Shepard, Norman D. Younkin. Company G Wounded, Corporal Adolph Peik, George B. Quick. Company H Killed, Corporal Solomon Zook. Wounded, Corporal Philip M. Weigel, (missing), John Robbins. Company I Killed, Private Elhaman W. Watson. Wounded, Lieutenant Henry D. Williams ; Sergeant Hugh S. Killings; Corporal Isaac C. Mnnger; Private Henry II. Barger, (prisoner). Company K Wounded, Sergeant William S. Defere; Corporal Henry Karstens ; Privates James Deel, David Siquim. Missing, Corporal William Kinkade; Private Henry Hilbert. 8 We have seen that Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders was severely wounded. Major Purcell was also wounded, but continued to command the regiment. I find the following casualties reported in th line: Company B Wounded, Corporals Henry Moller, Carl Geoble. Company C Wounded, Charles F. Harl, Adam Hettinger, David T. Weld, John Brawand. JMitsing, Nicholas Banse. Company D Prisoner, Captain Crandall W. Williams. Company E Wounded, Corporals James S. Gillespie, Philip McNemer, Martin 0. Halleck, Jackson A. Kuder, Olds Briggs. Company G Wounded, Ernst Amberg, Wilhelra Dietrich. Company H Wounded, Martin Coltenbaugh, William T. Scheib. Company I Wounded, Henry H. Barger. SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 275 their rear with the bayonet The chivalrous rebels, no doubt grateful for this politeness, kept giving us their guns, small arms, and wagons all the way to Ripley. The Sixteenth took part in this pursuit, thereby making a march which, on account of its rapidity, the rain, and the horrible condition of the roads, is universally pronounced by those who made it as one of the most toilsome marches of the war. Our regiment returned to camp at Corinth in about ten days, and there remained in quiet until the beginning . of the following month. On the 1st of November the regiment struck tents, and moved to Grand Junction, now properly so called for the first time, for here General Grant formed a grand junction of his western armies, wherewithal to move against Vicksburg through central Mississippi. The army commenced this cam paign near the close of November. It failed. Our regiment, taking part therein, marched to Abbeville, where it remained a considerable time, and then marched to the "Yockeney." The right about having been made necessary, the regiment ate its Christmas turkey and mince pie, this time consisting of very short rations of salt pork and hard bread, at Holly Springs, whence it marched to Lafayette, Tennessee, arriving there on the 1st of January, 1863. Here, a few days afterwards, the regiment sustained a painful loss in the death of Captain Heavner, who died of small-pox. An officer and two soldiers attended him during his illness, and performed the rites of burial when he died. It was just sunset as they lowered his coffin to the grave, and at this instant the report of the evening gun, fired thirty miles off, in Memphis, was distinctly heard. There was no other volley fired over this gallant and modest young soldier s grave. Up to the time of his sickness, he had acted as adjutant of the regiment, since the death of Lieutenant Lawrence at luka. On the next day the command marched for Memphis, and arrived there on the day after. Colonel Cham bers now rejoined the regiment. Here officers and men received pay, and spent a "comfortable week in the snow !" Then they embarked on steamers, and moved to Young s Point, Louisiana, where they disembarked. But, happily, they were not required to endure the noted discomforts of the encampment here more than a fort night. They moved up the river, and went into pleasant encampment on the banks of Lake Providence. Here the regiment, and the brigade, re mained until the grand campaign of Vicksburg had been fairly inaugu rated. During the encampment here, Major William E. Strong, Inspector- General Seventeenth Army Corps, visited the brigade, and in his official report has the following highly complimentary paragraphs in relation thereto : u Iowa may well be proud of the Third Brigade, of the Sixth Division, Colonel M. M. Crocker, commanding. It is composed of the following 276 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. troops, viz. : Eleventh Iowa Infantry*, Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie commanding; Thirteenth Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel Shane commanding; Fifteenth Iowa, Colonel Reid, commanding; and the Sixteenth Iowa, Colonel Chambers. It turned out for inspection one thousand nine hun dred and thirty-five, rank and file ; it was alight to see and a sight sel dom seen. I have no desire, nor is it proper, to pronounce a eulogy on the Third Brigade, but it would not be doing that command and its gal lant commander justice should I fail in giving them credit and praise, which are justly and honestly due them, or should I fail in expressing, so far as I am capable, my satisfaction and admiration at the manner in which the brigade acquitted itself throughout the entire inspection. " Since I have been a soldier it has happened that I have seen many brigades of many different army corps, both in the Eastern and Western armies, but never have I seen a brigade that could compete with this Iowa Brigade. " I am not prejudiced in the slightest degree. I never saw any of the officers or soldiers of the command until the day on which I saw them in line of battle, prepared for inspection. "It made my heart swell with honest pride, and I envied the colonel commanding the brigade, and the commanding officers of these four Iowa regiments, when I stood on the right of their lines, one after another, and saw them drill, and go through their different evolutions in the manual of arms. Every rifle flashed in the sunlight, and all moved as one. When they ordered arms, it was ordered arms ; and nothing else one sound and no more. When they charged bayonets in line of battle, the point of every bayonet was at the height of the eye, and the small of the stock rested against the hip at exactly the same instant. When they broke into column of companies, wheeling upon fixed pivots, it was like clock-work perfect. " In every regiment will be seen many large men ; but take this brigade together, and I never saw such a splendid body of men/ I passed down the ranks in front and rear, I saw every man in the brigade, and I can fully say that I saw no small men, no pony squad ; the fourth section of every company was just as large as the first. The guns, ammunition, ac coutrements, and equipments were in most excellent condition: nothing was needed, everything was complete. I cannot say that any one regiment of the brigade appeared better than another, they all appeared so well. The Eleventh was the strongest ; it had five hundred and twenty-eight en listed men and twenty officers present for duty ; the Thirteenth had four hundred and seventy enlisted men and twenty-two commissioned officers ; the Fifteenth had four hundred and twenty-eight enlisted men and twenty- nine commissioned officers ; the Sixteenth had four hundred and five en listed men and thirty-three commissioned officers. In the entire brigade SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 277 there was not to exceed a dozen men unable to be present on inspection. In the different hospital tents of the brigade, I counted eleven men, and not one of these was confined to his cot. In this connection there is one thing I wish to mention, and that is the intelligence and ability of the line officers of the brigade. Every one of them was fully posted, knew all about his company, the number of men present for duty, the number ab sent and where they were, the number sick and those on detached service. I speak of this for the reason that many of the commanding officers o companies whom I have heretofore met on inspection are not in the slight est degree acquainted with their companies, and cannot account for their men without referring to their Orderly Sergeants. Of the hospitals, the commissary and quartermaster s departments, the company and regimental books, the transportion also, it is useless for me to say anything. Look at the army regulations and see what instructions are laid down, and what is required of troops in the field, and then you will exactly know how I found the Third Brigade of the Sixth Division of the Seventeenth Army Corps. " Once more I say, that the officers and soldiers of the Third Brigade, commanded by Colonel M. M. Crocker, are an honor to the division and corps to which they are attached, and an honor to the Army of the Tennes see, an honor to their friends at home, to their State and to their country, and I know from their record in the field that they must be a terror to the foe. Praises like these, coming from an old soldier who knew better how to handle swords, and muskets, and artillery, than the pen of a ready writer praises so manifestly sincere and enthusiastic are worth much to the troops receiving them. Inspector-General Strong seemed, indeed, as thoroughly pleased with the Iowa Brigade as we rgay suppose Frederick the Great would have been upon beholding a division of six-footers. In the Vicksburg campaign the Sixteenth was all the time with the brigade, Colonel Chambers commanding a considerable part of the time, which, as we have seen, performed many difficult and arduous services before settling down into the duties of the siege. And after it sat down before the rebel works, it was constantly exposed to the enemy s fire, and its gallant men were called upon to perform as many deeds of daring, to suffer as many hardships, as the troops of any other command. In all which our regiment made an honorable record. During the long siege, there were many combats which called forth severe and heroic fighting, and there was not a day or an hour of absolute quiet or freedom from danger. Medals of honor were afterwards presented to the three men in each corps, whose conduct had been most meritorious during the siege.* The first * It is proper to state that many medals were awarded, and that this whole scheme of rewarding merit by medals, was practically abandoned on account of the difficulty in distinguishing tho meri torious, who were so numerous. 278 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. medal of honor for the Seventeenth Corps was awarded to Lieutenant Samuel Puffin, of Company K, Sixteenth Iowa. He was a citizen of Davenport, and the Gazette, more than a year afterwards, and when Duffm had sealed his patriotic devotion with his life, thus speaks of the distinguished honor won at Vicksburg by this brave officer of the Sixteenth : "Davenport has the honor to contain within its boundaries the Gold Medal, presented by the War Department to the bravest and best soldier of the Seventeenth Army Corps during its operations around the city of Vicksburg in 1863. When it is remembered that the bold and chivalrous McPherson was the commander, the honor of being the recipient of the medal will be enhanced. Three medals, one of gold and two of silver, were bestowed, by the recommendation of the corps commander, upon three soldiers of the corps who most distinguished themselves for bravery. Lieutenant Samuel Duffin, of Company K, Sixteenth Iowa Infantry, was, of all the heroes of the Seventeenth Army Corps which gathered at Vicks-- burg, the one designated by G eneral McPherson as the bravest of the brave and most worthy to receive the gold medal. It is semi-elliptical in shape, the top ornamented with a bunch of leaves, the centre-piece in the usual shape of the shield with the stars and stripes, and on the outer edge the words Vicksburg, July 4, 1863; pendant is a gold star engraved Seventeenth, and attached to a narrow piece of red, white, and blue ribbon, with a pin that it may be worn on the coat or vest. It is very beautiful in design and workmanship. But the brave officer was not permitted to live to enjoy his honors so nobly won. At the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, June 27th, 1864, in the discharge of his duty, this officer received a mortal wound. After the stronghold fell into our hands, the regiment went into encamp ment near Vicksburg, and there remained in quiet except during the severe march in the latter part of August and first part of September, to Monroe, Louisiana, and return, whereby it suffered heavily in common with all the unfortunate troops who took part in that ill-advised and cruel expedition until G9neral Sherman s raid to Meridian. It joined this expedition on February 4th, 1864, and one month afterwards was again at Vicksburg, having participated throughout in that bold stroke of war, which originated a new system of campaigning in America, and placed William T. Sherman on the advance line of modern warfare. The regiment had reenlisted before the raid, and shortly after its return to Vicksburg, it embarked for Iowa on veteran furlough. When Iowa had extended a hearty welcome home, and all those generous hospitalities for which her people are noted, the command, now increased by many additions to its ranks, again sought the theatre of war. Moving by steamer, rail, and a long march, the Sixteenth again found itself at the front early in SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 279 June, when it came up with Sherman s grand army thundering through Georgia. On the llth, the regiment was in line of battle in face of the enemy, near Ackworth, and from that time till the ever memorable 22d of July sadly memorable from the death of the great and chivalric McPher- son and the braves whose blood hallowed the same field, and joyously mem orable from the glorious victory achieved by the Army of the Tennessee over the body of its beloved commander when the principal part of the regi ment was surrounded and compelled to pass under the yoke of capture, 4t bore a conspicuous part in the fine history made in this campaign by the Iowa Brigade. When Major-General Blair reenforced the Army of the Tennessee with the Seventeenth Corps he just about compensated for the losses which the grand army had sustained in the campaign up to that time by the casualties of battle and by detachments left in guard of the line of communications at Rome, Dallas, Resaca, and Allatoona. When Blair joined the army, General Sherman had just made his movement by the left flank from Dallas to Ackworth on the railroad, some sixteen miles northwest of Marietta by rail, but not nearly so far by a straight line. He was in sight of the rebel signal stations at Lost Mountain, and at Kenesaw, ten miles a little east of north from Lost Mountain. These two points were the right and left of the enemy s position. "Kenesaw, the bold and striking twin mountain, lay before us," says Sherman, "with a high range of chestnut hills trend ing off to the northeast, terminating to our view in another peak called Brush Mountain. To our right was the smaller hill called Pine Mountain, and beyond it in the distance Lost Mountain. All these, though links in a continuous chain, present a sharp, conical appearance, prominent in the vast landscape that presents itself from any of the hills that abound in that region. Kenesaw, Pine Mountain, and Lost Mountain form a triangle, Pine Mountain the apex and Kenesaw and Lost Mountain the base, cover ing perfectly the town of Marietta, and the railroad back to the Chattahoo- chee. On each of these peaks the enemy had his signal stations. The summits were covered with batteries, and the spurs were alive with men, busy in felling trees, digging pits, and preparing for the grand struggle im pending." By the 1 ] th of June, our lines had moved, with continual skirmishing, close up to the enemy s position, and dispositions were made to break the line between Kenesaw and Pine Mountain. At this time, the Army of the Tennessee was on our left, the Army of the Cumberland in the centre, and the Army of the Ohio on the right. On the 15th a considerable battle occurred, in which Hooker s corps was principally engaged. After this, until the assault of the 27th, there was no fighting, save the affair of the Kulp House on the 22d, and skirmishing on the most extended scale. 280 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. "But our skirmishing," says a correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, u is of a kind fearfully destructive to human life; and when continued from day to day, as this is being continued, wastes the energy of an army as much as a terrible battle. The enemy seems to have marked out this whole country, from the Allatoona Mountains to the Chattahoochee, with line after line of rifle-pits, and intrenchments, and fortifications. No sooner do we take possession of one formidable line of works than another con fronts us ; and each seems to be stronger than the preceding. All day on the 16th we skirmished incessantly with the rebels, establishing no advance anywhere. On the 17th we advanced everywhere, chasing the enemy from long lines of secondary works, and forcing him back on what we fondly hoped were his last entrenchments this side of the Chattahoochee. And thus the grand skirmish continued from day to day, both sides sustaining a heavy loss, but without an engagement which might properly be called a battle. The enemy now driven from Lost Mountain and Pine Mountain, was concentrated on Kenesaw, from whose lofty heights, impregnable by assault, he looked down upon our movements, himself apparently safe from all attempts that might be made against him. During the operations about Kenesaw, the weather was extremely bad ; the rain fell almost continuously for three weeks, rendering the narrow wooded roads mere mud gulleys. Nevertheless, the troops day by day and night by night, pressed closer up to the rebel works, the pickets all the while galling the enemy, and occasionally taking considerable numbers of prisoners. Up to this time General Sherman had driven the enemy from many strong entrenched positions, but not by assault. He had "out flanked" him. He now determined to assault. In coming to this deter mination he was doubtless influenced to a great degree by the consideration of the moral effect which a successful assault would have upon his own army. It was the dictate of wisdom to show his own troops that he did not rely upon a single mode of offence, but was prepared to execute any plan promising success. And though it is certain that no mode of offence could have had more of a demoralizing effect upon the enemy than that which General Sherman had heretofore in the campaign so successfully used, yet he doubtless considered that if to the vague fear which his out-flanking manoeuvres had already caused were superadded the knowledge of an assault audaciously conceived and bravely executed, the demoralizing effect would be well nigh fatal to his antagonist. Considerations such as these would be proportionably valuable, should the assault not entirely succeed. At any rate, having determined upon the assault, General Sherman planned it in just such way as, if successful, would result in the most pos sible damage to the enemy. The general point selected was the left centre ; because, if Sherman could thrust a strong head of column through at that SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 281 point, by pushing it boldly and rapidly through two and one-half miles it would reach the railroad below Marietta, cut off the enemy s right and centre from their line of retreat, leaving them to be overwhelmed and pulverized between the assaulting column and the left of McPherson s army swinging in upon them. Accordingly on the morning of June 27th, the whole army advanced for the purpose of covering the assaulting columns. The Seventeenth Corps, (Blair s), circled the eastern point of the mountain and threatened the enemy s right. The Sixteenth Corps, (Dodge s), nrxr on the right, assaulted the heights on the northern slope of the mountain. The Fifteenth, (Logan s), the western slope. In the centre, Davis Divi sion of the Fourteenth Corps, (Palmer s), and Newton s of the Fourth, constituted the assaulting column, supported on the right by Geary and Butterfield of Hooker s Corps. On the extreme right was the Army of the Ohio, working up against the enemy s left. The position to be attempted was one which might have appalled the stoutest heart. On the summit of the rugged mountain, covered with a dense growth of underbrush, the rebels had stationed a battery of twelve guns, from which they maintained a withering cross-fire on our troops engaged in forcing a passage up the steep sides of the mountains, and over the abatis and rifle pits behind which the enemy were sheltered. There were parts of the mountain over which it would have been impossible for troops to move in line, had there not been an enemy within an hundred miles. The men climbed from point to point, by taking hold of bushes, the roots of trees, and the points of rocks, and yet many of them fell head long, and with arms and accoutrements went clanging down the steep declivity. There was no part where the ascent was not difficult by reason of natural obstructions, and extremely so since to these were added formi dable obstructions made by the enemy abatis, rifle-pits lined with sharp shooters, the summit frowning with many guns. But with that dashing bravery for which the army under Sherman was so distinguished, our troops charged up the mountain, through the tangled thickets, and in the face of the deadly missiles from above. Two lines of abatis were forced, and the enemy driven, with the loss of many prisoners, from a line of rifle pits. But human courage could do no more. Exposed to a murderous enfilading fire of artillery and a terrible direct fire of musketry, the assault ing columns halted ; but, determined to hold what they had gained with such difficulty and loss, they threw up works so near the rebel defences that the men oast stones at each other, and held them with the most stubborn determination. This brave assault had cost us Generals Harker and McCook, and at least three thousand others in killed and wounded. Whilst the assault was being made, the whole army, pressing up in sup port, was less or more engaged. Thus, though the Sixteenth Iowa did not 36 282 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. take part in the direct assault, it moved in the general advance, and on this day lost more than a score of men in killed and wounded. It was here that the gallant Lieutenant Duffin, whose bravery had won the golden medal of honor at Yicksburg, was mortally wounded, and in all the opera tions in front of Kenesaw, the regiment lost about forty men. Lieutenant Thomas A. Burke fell during the advance of the Ffteenth, and with him fell many others, whose graves now hallow the soil of the rugged country of which Kenesaw Mountain forms the most prominent and picturesque feature.* The assault had failed, but not entirely. It had inflicted a grievous loss upon Sherman s army, with comparatively light damage, in killed and wounded, to the enemy. But it had not been without good results. It had placed the Union army so close to the rebel army that the latter was almost like being in a vice, with Sherman at the handle, a turn or two more of which would crush the very life out of his opponent. The moment the Union general commenced to turn the crank sending the Army of the Tennessee from the left around to the right, his wily antagonist evacuated Kenesaw, and retired with his main body beyond the Chattahoochee. Leaving the Corps of Hardee entrenched on the Nickajack, Johnston put the river between him and Sherman. In the reconnoissances arid skir mishes, which took place in front of this last rebel position on the hither side of the Chattahoochee, the Sixteenth was engaged, and between the 4th and 10th of July, lost one killed and sixteen wounded. 5 While McPherson was operating on the Nickajack, Schofield and Thomas were effecting passage of the river higher up the stream, while General Garrard, in command of the cavalry on the left seized the fords near Ros- well, still higher up. Hardee retired across the river on the morning of the 10th, thus leaving Sherman undisputed master north and west of the Chattahoochee. McPherson again made the circuit of the army, going from extreme right to extreme left. The whole army then went into camp on the banks of the river, and for a few days the troops rested from their labors. * List of casualties, Sixteenth Iowa, in Front of Kenesaw : Killed, Private Charles M. Stark ; Sergeant John Lodestein; Corporal A. K. Bair; Privates Mar shall Ange, Frank McDuff, John Knoeke, Albert Wilson, Alvis Gravener. Wounded, Lieutenant Thomas A. Burke; Sergeants Joseph Murray, Henry P. Cole; Corporal Henry Ellis; Privates August Gottbrecht, Fritz Peterson, Christian Wolf, Philip Tucker, Jacob Lehman, John Knoeke, Jamea W. Higbee, Ancel Stark; Lieutenant Samuel Duffin ; Sergeants Thaddeus C. Purcell, John Emery ; Corporals Henry Limm, August Sckmedr; Privates Edward Caseby, Samuel Mullen, William MoLaughlin, Serene Davidson, Lloyd Pocock, John Kughn, Henry P. Brown, Calvin Wicks, Philip Hettinger, Conrad Kerst, Eli McConnell, John M. Harris, Nicholas Sich. & Namely : Killed, Quartermaster Sergeant John W. Denny. Wounded, Sergeants William Maney, James W. Stalcup; Corporals David Hiller, Jacob Kun; Sergeant George Hoxford; Pri vates John W. Hook, John Rodenhoffer, Charles H. Bowers, Williiam J. Brown, Henry M. Biecle, Elias Blake; Sergeant Philip McNeamor; Corporal William Baldwin; Privates Frederick Kern, Charles A. Darling, Herbert Shaw. SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 283 On the 17th, the army was again in motion, and making a general right wheel, all the armies, on the 20th, closed in, converging toward Atlanta. Rather late in the afternoon of this day, the rebels, now commanded by General Hood, sallied from their works and attacked our lines with great impetuosity. Hooker s corps, from its exposed position, bore the principal loss consequent upon this attack, which was repulsed with heavy loss to the enemy, but considerable losses were sustained all along the lines. Our regiment here lost ten wounded, one mortally. 6 On the next day, General Sherman felt the enemy in his entrenched position, but there was no general battle. In gaining a certain commanding position, however, General McPherson had a severe fight on this day. This fighting was done principally by the division of General Giles A. Smith, in which was the Iowa Brigade. The combat, though short, was very severe, and resulted in a heavy loss to that brigade especially. I have heretofore described it. In this gallant fight, the Sixteenth was not by position in the front line, but the ardor of battle drew it into an exposed position, and it lost more than fifty men in less than thirty minutes. Among them were Lieutenant George H. Holcomb, killed, and Captain Hugh Skilling, wounded. 7 In the great battle of Atlanta, July 22d, the Sixteenth was sadly unfor tunate, being compelled to surrender in a body, but not till it had fought with the greatest courage and effectiveness, and had placed many more rebels hors-du-combat than there were men in the command. In the chapter next preceding this I have given a somewhat detailed account of this engagement, but the part taken therein by the Sixteenth was so peculiar, and its position so isolated from the general battle, that, at the risk of a repetition of something that has already been said, I will here quote the official report of Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders, commanding the regiment, and who here, as in all his battles, fought with the greatest pluck and enthusiasm. His report is without date, but was no doubt prepared after his return from rebel imprisonment. It is addressed to Colonel N. B. Baker, adjutant-general of Iowa, and is as follows : 6 Corporal Benjamin Priest, (mortally wounded). Wounded, Privates R. C. Durthick, Lyman Blakely, Adna Batchelder, William Blakely, John Collins, Alfred Merritt, Thomas Sullivan, Albert Mix, and Solomon Johnson. 1 The following is the full list, as reported at the time : Killed, Lieutenant George H. Holcomb ; Sergeants Finlan Beatty, Philip McNamer, James N. Gunning; Corporals Peter Schlister, Ancel Stark. Francis Roger; Hans F. Haman, Wallace Weaver; TFc/urH&d, Captain Hugh Skilling; Sergeants Charles M. Pierce, Thaddous C. Purcell; Joseph Lu cas, William G. Fearing, Joseph Murray, Peter Becker, George Whitemore, Charles Geddes, Henry P. Coe; Corporals J. C. Harris George T. Gillespio, A. Thomson, August Schnieder; Jacob J. Lepper, Caleb S. Jordan, Andrew J. Kindred, Henry Fullert, Charles Flugge, A. J. Markley, Calvin Wicks, William Shook, Henry P. Brown, Thomas Millard, Columbus Custar, George R. Howard. Newton Cromwell, Lyman Fairfield, L. V. Chrisman, Elijah Dills, Francis M. Hester. Willaby Adkerson. Thomas G. Pierce, Jr., H. H. Smice, Orlando Matteson, John Kromelbien, William F. Fletcher, Alexander Hamilton, Ransom Laning, James Carter, David M. Bass, Nicolaus Pierce. 284 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. " SIR: I have the honor to report the action of the Sixteenth Iowa Veteran Infantry, in the battle before Atlanta, Georgia, July 22d, 1864, resulting in the capture of nearly all of said regiment and myself. "On the morning of July 21st my regiment charged on rebel batteries, and after a desperate as- eault, lost sixty-five men. The regiment was complimented by General McPhersoii for its daring bravery. General McPhersou s last words to me the day he was killed, were : The old Sixteenth shall be remembered. On the afternoon of the 21st the Old Iowa Brigade was removed to the ex treme left flank of Sherman s army, about two miles from Atlanta. The Sixteenth Iowa formed a lino at right angles with the main line of the army. Immediately on the right of the Sixteenth s works the Eleventh Iowa established themselves in rifle-pits; on a road running between the Eleventh and Sixteenth Iowa s works were planted two Napoleon guns of the Second Illinois Bat tery protected by heavy works. On the left of the Sixteenth and a little to the rear, the Fifteenth Iowa had rifle-pits. About oiie hundred yards to the rear of the Sixteenth the Thirteenth Iowa had breastworks. During the night of the 21st each regiment of the brigade built substantial rifle-pits along the line that I have designated, and each cleared a space of fifty yards in front of its works. Still the heavy underbrush concealed the works of the different regiments from each other s view. "On the 22d we were under arms at daj -light, but no enemy appeared. The afternoon before, im mediately on our arrival, I had thrown out two companies (Companies B and G), several hundred yards in front, to act as pickets and skirmishers. About noon on the 22d I received an of der from General Smith, in person, to have my regiment ready to fall in at a minute s notice, and that he ex pected me to hold those works to the last, as the safety of the division might depend on the delay we could occasion the enemy at that point. This was the last order that I received that day from any commanding officer. " About one and a half o clock, P. M., our skirmishers in front commenced a brisk firing. I im mediately formed the regiment in the entrenchments, and soon after the skirmishers were driven in upon us. I again sent them out, but a strong line of the enemy forced them back. Lieutenant Powell, commanding the battery, opened his fire on the advancing enemy, but I requested it stopped until the enemy should got nearer. I ordered my men not to fire a gun until they received my command, no matter how close the enemy came. The rebel line advanced steadily to the charge, and I permitted them to approach to the open space of fifty yards in front of my works, when cautioning my men to fire low and aim well, I ordered the rear rank to fire, and then the front rank. The response was a terrific and deadly volley from one rank, followed immediately by another, and then a continuous rapid firing, fast as eager and experienced soldiers could load and discharge their guns. The result of our fire was terrible ; the enemy s line seemed to crumble to the earth, for even those not killed or wounded fell to the ground for protection. Lieutenant Powell s battery here did excellent execution. Another heavy line of the enemy advanced and were repulsed in the same terrible manner. Officers and men worked enthusiastically ; guns be came so heated that they could not be handled, the powder flashing from them as the cartridge was dropped in. The officers prepared the cartridges for the men and helped them load their guns. More splendid firing, or more effectual in its results, was never witnessed in the army. The Eighth and Second Arkansas regiments, with two Texas companies, got in a position in our front, in which they could not advance, and dared not attempt to retire, but hugged the ground close, suffering a terrible fire. While thus lying down, they raised the white flag. I ordered the firing to cease, and these regiments threw down their guns and hurried over to our works as prisoners. We had at this time double the number of prisoners we had men in ranks. A part of these men were sent to the rear, but before the remainder could be secured, the enemy had taken the Thirteenth s works im mediately in our rear, and commenced a heavy firing into our ranks. The boys drew their bayonets and made the prisoners stand up to protect thir rear while they blazed away in front. My atten tion was soon after this called to a large number of prisoners on the extreme left, marching across to our works with gnns in their hands. I immediately started in that direction and met Captain Smith, acting major, who told me that a large lot of the rebel prisoners refused to lay down their guns, and he wanted help to force them to do it. I told him to take from the right what force he needed and I would see the rebels myself. " I immediately went to the extreme left where I found a large body of rebels with guns in their hands, confronted by our own men. I went immediately to the rebels and disarmed two of them, when I was surrounded myself, the rebels exclaiming, as they threatened me with their guns, We won t hurt you, sir, if you surrender. Shocked at the word surrender, I glanced hastily around, and saw the rebels hurrying in large force by our left flank to the rear, and perceived they had possession of the Fifteenth s works, over which their flags waved. The thought flashed across in- that our only hope was to draw the right wing of the regiment out, and cut our way through the SIXTEENTH IXFANTRY. 285 Eleventh s works. Exclaiming I am not talking of surrender now, I dashed away from them to join my regiment. A rebel Captain seized a gun from one of his men and fired at me, the ball passing between my heels. Captain Lucas, of Company K, snatched a gun from a private s hands, and simultaneously with two soldiers fired at the rebel Captain and killed him instantly, and the rebels threw down their arms. " I immediately proceeded to the right of the regiment and commenced drawing them out in line, hoping to be able to cut our way out, when I discovered the rebels had possession of the Eleventh s works at our right. They thus held all the works around the Sixteenth, and were firing into us from the Thirteenth s works in our rear. I placed my men in the pits again, explainin-g to my officers the condition of things, while at that moment the rebels were forming a line in front of^the Thirteenth s works to charge bayonets down upon us. We agreed to surrender, but while diaujsing the subject on the right, we saw the left going over the works, surrounded by rebel bayonets. We followed their example, and were soon marching over the ground, where lay the work of our hands in the form of the rebel dead and wounded. We had the satisfaction of seeing for every man of us surrendered at least one dead or wounded rebel, lying on that field of gore. Many of our officers aiid men were robbed by the rebels of almost everything as they left the ground. " At the time of our surrender we were entirely out of ammunition, the rebels having been so long in our rear that supplies were prevented from reaching us. Why we were left alone, an isolated regiment surrounded and helpless, while the other regiments around us were ordered from their works, as I suppose they were, I cannot realize. If the sacrifice of this noble regiment was in tended to give the army in our rear time to rally, then it was well, and the sacrifice was nobly made, of a band of as brave and faithful men as any who fought upon the field that day. They could not bo taken from the front, and only surrendered when further resistance would have been suicide. The regiment numbered on the morning of the 22d, four hundred and twenty-five effective fighting men ; of these a fatigue detail of three officers and eighty men was made in the morning, most of which were captured afterwards, while fighting in front of field works close by. Our loss in killed and wounded I cannot give, but it was slight. " I should have stated in its proper place, that while firing heaviest, and guns so heated that they could scarcely be handled, we were reinforced by Companies D and K, of the Thirteenth Iowa, com manded by Captain Pope and Lieutenant Rice. Captain Pope informed me that they were ordered to our assistance, fearing our ammunition as well as men must soon be exhausted. I assigned these companies places along the trenches, and they went into the work like veterans, fought nobly to the last and surrendered with us. " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, " ADD. H. SANDEKS, " Lieutenant-Colonel Sixteenth Iowa Infantry." Though Lieutenant- Colonel Sanders does not bestow too much credit on his gallant command for its fighting on this occasion, its losses, except in prisoners, were very light, being one killed and four wounded. 8 8 Kitted, Private William Price. Wounded, John Ivers, Godleip Kuhut, Thomas Schewy, Thomas Sullivan. Captured, Lieutenant-Colonel Addison H. Sanders ; Adjutant J. T. Herbert^ Captains J. Henry Smith, Henry Lefeldt, John H. Turner, Peter Miller, Jesse H. Lucas ; Lieutenants William H. Hoyt, Frede rick Wiederman, Thomas Purcell, Robert Alcorn, Madison R. Laird, August Timm ; Sergeant-Major Oliver Anson ; Sergeants John Claussen, John A. McElhany, Martin O Hara, T. W. Summerside, Martin Lott, John T. Davis, Jasper A. Fisher, John Witt, Hans F. Hartman, F. Schwerdtfeger, Wil liam Kissick, Jacob Earn, Joseph Lucas, Alexander Pierce, Morgan Faux, Christian Heppe, John Spear, Walker Corey, Amos Sniff, Julius Wiedner, William Baumgarten, Philip M. Weigel, George Whitemore, Isaac C. Munger, John Emery, William Stackman, George Huxford ; Corporals Joseph C. Bowman, Jackson Almon, George Clayburg, James Throop, Carl Humke, Seward Jugenson, Henry Moeller, Ludwic Luebbe, Stephen Cretzmyer, William Smith, Henry W. Blessing, Lloyd D. Pocock, Isaiah Paisley, Peter Gettert, Joshua C. Harris, James B. Ingalls, Jackson Hull, J. J. Rozell, John B. Blake, Peter Kiene, Solomon Bonner, Henry Hoffman, John Lampert, John Kline, Nicholas Gieger, Frank Berousky, Hiram B. Eighmy, Isaac J. Zook, John P. Balluff, Alexander M. Apple, William Kinkade, A. R. Wilson, James Broomfield, Americus V. Corbin ; Privates Oliver Atchison, William Blakely, John Collins, John Smoller, Levi Shadle, Jacob Mann, Jesee Getty 286 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The regiment was thus, for the time being, very nearly broken up. Nevertheless, there were a few more than one hundred, with three officers, able to answer to their names after the battle, and these continued the organization during the captivity of the main portion of the command. Their number was soon increased, by the return of sick and wounded men to duty, to nearly two hundred. The regiment, thus reduced, remained in the performance of duty during the remainder of the Atlanta campaign, in the siege thereof losing one killed, and eight wounded. 9 The prisoners of the regiment, meanwhile, were making their sad history in the manner enforced by rebel authorities. The men were sent to Ander- sonville, the officers, first to Macon, thence to Charleston, South Carolina, and thence to Columbia. It is needless here to tell how the poor fellows lived who went to Andersonville. That foul, loathsome prison-pen shambles into which human beings were turned, to glut the appetite for torture and death, of inhuman butchers, the cannibals of civilization, with depravity enough to slay their victims and only too much chivalry to eat them has become the gloomiest "picture in the book of time," and must forever meet the fearful curses of humanity, which was there mad dened, murdered, starved, outraged, as humanity never was maddened, murdered, starved, outraged by beings not wholly savage and atheistic. Frank Fitzgerald, Doan Kindred, Frederick Dames, Horace Fuller, Albert Fuller, Garder God- dard, Josiah Osborn, Nelson Philips, James Smith, Charles Smith, John Traneum, Frederick Frick, Christian Bunger, William Hamdorf, Jochim Bock, John Dickman, William Kiehl, Hans Hoick, Philleb Hartzberger, Fritz Silvester, Hans Brammer, Glaus Dammann, C. Doeremann, Marx Hansen, N. Hildebrandt, Carl Wendt, John Eggcre, Andrew Schmagle, Paul Schumacker, William Wilke, Henry Wiese, John Seimms, Claus Jansen, Jacob Jacobson, Christian Begun, Henry Jalm, Charles Flicker, Dettlef Scheel, Nicholas Banse, James Casserbaum, George Kline, Columbus Custar, John A. Fredericks, James W. Hamilton, George W. Hickson, Alexander Holt, James G. Moore, William H. Moore, Clinton Parkhurst, Columbus A. Price, Frederick G. Shultz, John Shadle, William J. Cooke, Henry L. Sixbury, James N. Sellars, David Spurgeon, R. M. J. Tallman, John Timmanus, Calvin Weeks, Thomas G. Pierce, Thomas Myers, Newton Cromwell, Michael Weaver, George W. Snively, John C. Bowling, James M. Lane, John Braman, C. H. Scramblin, George R. Howard, Abraham Lair, Timothy Crowly, John Bearegard, Wesley Smice, David Smice, Thomas Brumage, John Cartland, Orlando Matteson, Briggs Olds, John N. Ritchie, John Steinmates, Eneas Stump, Alexander Porter, J. R. Hayworth, C. Humming, Absalom Ernes, Milton Bonner, Case Bacon, Marion Bell, George Coon, S. B. Katkart, James Devault, W. II. II. Renfro, Norman Greene, Austin J. Irish, William McKinson, John Carpenter, William Patterson, Kimball Page, Jasper N. Marsh, Miller Westby, William Rayner, John Greene, August Hartman, Henry Bowen, Jacob Eggar, Antony Weyershausen, Theodore Mikesch, Adolph Schlicht, Jacob Walter, Louis Muller, William Fenk, Christian Holz, William Otto, Moritz Vallmer, Frederick Sucow, Edward Steinman, John Bossier, Jacob Vetter, William Nelson, Charles W. Felter, John Pfister, Bendrick Graden, Andrew Joos, Henry Lorentz, Theodore Benjamin, George Bond, Simon Drake, John Huntington, Stephen E. Presler, Theodore Sunter, Thomas Walsh, Benjamin F. Webster, Neil Toikolson, Thomas J. Stock- dale, John Zack, Ranson Laning, Samuel Madden, George Crumrine, George W. Wise, AVilson P. Hubbard, John Pitts, Lansing D. Wooley, Lewis McMurphey, Bernard Kennedy, John Lightfoot, Godfrey Mootz, Charles Combey, William Brooks, Nicholas Lucas, John Hocke, Carl Mathes, Charles Hager, Nicolaus Pieres, Robert Roister, George Herold, Allen Ward, Joseph Enderlie, George Hoffman. Killed, John J. Ellis. Wounded, James King, John Mullhall, Lemuel Stanley, John Drew, John Tucker, William Schmidt, Isain White, and William II. Crawford. SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 287 Here the men of the Sixteenth remained until the 19th of September, when they moved to Hough and Ready for exchange, and the majority were there exchanged on the 22d, just two months from the day of their capture. The officers remained in prison much longer, but some of them, by great endeavor and through incredible difficulty, escaped, among others, Captain J. H. Smith, who was afterwards, on the resignation of Lieutenant- Colonel Sanders, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and who commanded the regiment on its last campaign. But neither the history nor the losses of the regiment ended at Atlanta. On the 10th of December, Charles Hoag, principal musician, was killed by a twenty-four-pound solid shot, in front of the works of Savannah. Pri vate George Turner was at the same time severely wounded. At different places in South Carolina, on the northward march, Corporal Lyman Fair- field, and private Albert Mix were wounded, the former mortally, and Lieutenant William Stackman fell severely wounded near Cheraw, on the 2d of March, 1865 the last casualty in the regiment. The command con tinued with Sherman s triumphant army till the war was practically closed by the capitulation of Johnston ; marched to Washington ; was there re viewed by the Lieutenant-General, the President and the dignitaries of our own and many countries witnessing the great display ; moved thence to Louisville, and was there mustered out of service in the month of July, Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert being the last commanding officer of the regi ment. Lieutenant- Colonel Smith had resigned at Louisville. From Louis ville, the regiment moved to Davenport, Iowa, and was there disbanded. Its members sought their homes in all parts of the State, and were welcomed with expressions of kindness and gratitude which the true and the brave can alone call forth. 1 1 The officers of the regiment when it was mustered out were : Lieutenant-Colonel J. T. Herbert ; Major Peter Miller; Surgeon Dr. J. L. Phillips; Assistant Surgeon Dr. Alexander; Adjutant Oliver Anson ; Quartermaster Smith Spoor. Company A Captain Charles N. Pierce ; First Lieu tenant Charles B. Else. Company B Captain John Claussen ; First Lieutenant Joseph A. Fisher. Company C Captain William Kissick; First Lieutenant Joseph Lucas. Company D Captain William G. Fearing; First Lieutenant William Murray. Company E Captain A. P. Merritt; First Lieutenant John A. McElhaney. Company F Captain Martin O Hara. Company G Captain August Timm ; First Lieutenant William Ruff. Company H Captain John F. Conyinghain ; First Lieutenant Thomas W. Summersides ; Second Lieutenant Edward E. Bale. Company J Captain Martin V. Lott ; First Lieutenant Isaac C. Munger. Company K Captain Wilhelm Stackman ; First Lieutenant John T. Davis. CHAPTER XVI. SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT HASTE TO REACH THE FRONT GOES BY WATER TO HAMBURG, TENNESSEE SIEGE OF CORINTH BATTLE OF IUKA BATTLE OF CORINTH GENERAL ROSECRANS CONGRATULATORY ORDER A HARD WORKING WINTER YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN BATTLE OF JACKSON CHAMPION S HILL COMBAT AT FORT HILL BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA SURRENDER AT TILTON, GEORGIA RE MARKABLE DEFENCE OF RESACA BY COLONEL WEVER ROSTER. THE formation of the Seventeenth Infantry at first proceeded slowly. But the exhilarating victory at Fort Donelson, in which the troops of Iowa bore so conspicuous a part as to win the admiration of the nation, brought about renewed enthusiasm. During the months of March and April, 1862, the regiment was organized, rendezvousing at Keokuk. It was composed chiefly of men from the southern tier of counties, and the tier adjoining, but several counties besides, even so far north as Buchanan, contributed to the organization. On the 16th of April, the command, then numbering nine hundred and thirty-five men, was mustered into the service of the United States. John W. Rankin was Colonel. He had been a Judge of the District Court, a member of the State Senate, a Quartermaster in the army. He had been a prominent lawyer and active politician for several years before the war broke out. Just at this time he was ambitious of military eclat^ and, being of an ardent temperament, in no little haste to acquire it. The regiment did not remain at its place of rendezvous any length of time, to acquire discipline and to drill, as most other regiments of the State had done, but started at once for the seat of war, leaving Keokuk on steamer for St. Louis on the 19th of the month. In this feeling of anxiety to com mence active operations immediately, Lieutenant-Colonel David B. Hillis and Major Samuel A. Wise participated, as did, indeed, nearly the whole regiment. Our western army was at the time confronting the rebel forces under distinguished leaders in the vicinity of Corinth, Mississippi, and the 288 SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 289 men were anxious to engage in the combat which seemed to be impending. It was an honorable feeling on the part of both officers and men, and as the siege of Corinth proceeded with a sufficiency of caution and slowness, the want of drill and discipline was, perhaps, of no great importance. The regiment remained at St. Louis a fortnight, receiving equipage, field trans portation, tents, etc., and then embarked for Hamburg, Tennessee, where it arrived on the 7th of May, and immediately marched to join the grand * army then laying siege to Corinth. Little else was here done by the command except to perform the usual camp and picket duties. On the 28th, however, the day before Beauregard had entirely evacuated his works, the regiment and the Tenth Missouri Volunteers, were chosen to move out in front of our lines for the purpose of developing the strength and position of the enemy. The charge was so finely made by this detachment as to elicit from the division commander a most pleasing compliment, but the casualties were trifling. On the 30th, the regiment marched with the army, in hot pursuit of the retreating rebels, as far as Boonville, some twenty-five miles south of Corinth. It returned to this place on the llth of June, and went into camp on Clear Creek, three miles from the town, where it remained till August 15th, except during a few days in which it formed a scouting party and went to Ripley, some fifty miles distant. About the middle of August, the division to which the Seventeenth was attached marched to Jacinto, and there established an outpost. From this post numerous expeditions were sent out in various directions, but to no great distance, in several of which the regiment took part. On the 18th of September, it marched for luka, and on the follow ing day participated in the desperate conflict which there took place, in such way as to receive, but not to justly receive, the censure of General Rosecrans. 1 The Seventeenth joined in the pursuit of the rebels the next day, and returned to Jacinto on the evening of the 21st, remaining in camp there till the 2d of October, when all the troops were moved to Corinth. THE BATTLE OF CORINTH. The rebel armies, under Generals Van Dorn and Price, concentrated at Ripley after the battle of luka, and there received such reinforcements as l CASUALTIES AT THE BATTLE OP IUKA. Killed, Lieutenant 0. H. P. Smith; James J. Atherton, John S. Parkhurst, Allen R. Richmond ; Sergeant John J. Koolbeck ; William Franke ; Corporals James Raridan, Brice P. Lee ; S. H. C. Grubb. Wourukd, Captain S. M. Archer; Daniel S. Arnold, Henry G. Willis, Elihu G. Burns, George W. Dundy, Charles P. Smith, George Barrickman, Isaac Jourdan, John F. Jackson, Thomas Stafford ; Corporal Lycurgus Forrest, H. C. Boyster, Benjamin H. Schooler; Sergeant M. L. Godley; William D. Fisher, A. J. Headley, A. W. Ream, R. E. Williams, A. W. Reagan, William J. Cline, Charles Chase, Harry M. Kenderdine, Thomas Pipes, M. J. Richardson; Sergeants Samuel V. Duncan, Thomas Stewart; Corporal John King, Jesse Lee, Samuel Yard; Sergeant A.M.Vance; Henry Hansen, Ezra P. Vance; Sergeant Houston Smith; Corporal Z. F. Wood; John Anderson, John FuUerton, William II. McGill, Hugh A. White. 37 290 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. could be gathered from the insurgent powers in Mississippi. The whole force, numbering thirty-eight thousand, was under the command of Van Dorn. It marched from Ripley to Pocahontas, near the line between Tennessee and Mississippi, about twenty miles west and north of Corinth, behind the works of which, constructed for defence by an hundred thousand men, Major-General Rosecrans had his little army of twenty thousand. From Pocahontas the rebels marched to Chawalla, northwest of Corinth not more than ten miles from that point, causing our pickets and recon- noitering forces to feel the heavy pressure of advancing columns. The battle was fought on the 3d and 4th of October, but there was considerable skirmishing during the first two days of the month, General Rosecrans maneuvering, with admirable adroitness, to induce the enemy to attack him where he seemed the weakest but was in fact, or purposed to himself, by the rapid dispositions of his troops and construction of defences to be, the strongest. The Memphis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio railroads cross each other at Corinth. These thoroughfares, with Cypress Creek, form a nearly equilateral triangle with sides about fifteen miles in length, the town of Corinth being at the southeast angle. From Chawalla there are two roads leading eastward, one directly into the old rebel works, the other into the Pittsburg Landing road, which latter leads to Corinth from the northeast. There is a road leading directly north, to Purdy. There are other roads intersecting these at various distances from Corinth. Very early on the morning of the 3d, the Union army was in position. General Hamilton occupied the right, between the Hamburg and Purdy roads ; General Davies the centre, between the Memphis and Columbus roads ; and General McKean the extreme left, facing west, on the Chawalla road. Cavalry covered the flanks, and front on the north and east. Gen eral Stanley s Division was held as a reserve. This position was at a considerable distance from Corinth, and extending all the way from the east to the west on the northern side. General Rosecrans ordered the line to be held till the force of the enemy became fully developed, and his position assumed, when our army would assume a new position, having the aid of a strong line of redoubts and batteries, and earth-works, behind the open ground in the vicinity of Corinth, where all his artillery could be used* By nine o clock in the morning, the rebel army was in motion, Van Dorn himself leading the right wing, and Price the left. They attacked with vigor, but were met with courage by our troops all along the lines. We were pressed back, however, from one line of entrenchments to another, our men fighting with the greatest bravery, and their officers behaving with unequalled coolness and skill. The losses were severe on both sides. SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 291 29^5 , IOWA AND THE REBELLION. General Hackleman, of Indiana, was killed while gallantly leading his brigade, which itself suffered fearfully. General Oglesby was severel/ wounded. Colonel Baker, of the Second Iowa, was mortally wounded. The musketry of the enemy made awful rents in our lines from the com mencement of the battle till night. It seemed then as though we had been defeated. We had been pressed back everywhere. The rebels, out numbering us nearly two to one, had fought with great courage and tenacity. They were sure of success. General Van Dorn, as certain of triumph as General Melas, at Marengo, dispatched to Richmond intelli gence of a great victory, having no more idea of the fatal cul-de-sac of artillery into which he was running than Melas had of Desaix and Kellerman. During Friday night, the position of the Union army was materially strengthened by new redoubts and breastworks. General Stanley, with his reserves, was called into action the first day of the conflict, and on the second held position between Hamilton on the right and Davies at the cen tre. In other respects the relative positions of the troops were the same as on Friday. The rebel divisions also had similar relative positions Lovell on their right, and Price, with Herbert s and Maury s divisions on their left. Van Dorn, in supreme command, occupied the centre. Price opened the battle in the morning before daylight by a lively cannonade, the pro jectiles falling in the town, terrifying and scattering the inhabitants and camp followers, and killing some of our wounded soldiers. The sharp shooters of both armies were soon engaged. At nine -o clock, the rebel batteries were sent to the rear, and in thirty minutes their whole army moved to assault our works. By this time, the enemy were concentrated in the shape of an immense wedge between the railways, with which wedge Van Dorn proposed to pierce the Union centre, and throw our army into confusion and rout. "It was," says the correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, "a splendid target for our batteries, and it was soon perfo rated. Hideous gaps were rent in it, but the massive lines were closed almost as soon as they were torn open. At this period the skilful manage ment of General Bosecrans began to develop. It was discovered that the enemy had been enticed to attack precisely at the point where the artillery could sweep them with direct, cross and enfilading fire. Our shell swept through the mass with awful effect, but the brave rebels pressed onward inflexibly. Directly the wedge opened and spread out magnificently, right and left, like great wings, seeming to swoop over the whole field before them. But there was a fearful march in front. A broad turfy glacis, sloping upward at an angle of thirty degrees to a crest fringed with deter mined, disciplined soldiers, and clad with terrible batteries, frowned upon them. There were a few obstructions fallen timber which disordered SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 293 their lines a little. But every break was instantly welded. Our whole line opened fire, but the enemy, seemingly insensible to fear, or infuriated by passion, bent their necks downward and marched steadily to death, with their faces averted like men striving to protect themselves against a driving storm of hail." The farther the rebels advanced, the more were they ex posed to the fire of our artillery. Their slaughter was fearful, but still they came on through the pitiless storm, with an obstinate courage never surpassed. Davies division gave way before them, and the heads of their columns penetrated Corinth. But here, as everywhere, they received the terrible fire of our cannon, those on the works south of the town now open ing upon them. General Sullivan, in whose brigade was the Seventeenth Iowa, advanced rapidly to the support of Davies, charged bayonets, and drove the rebels from the town. By the personal exertions of General Rosecrans himself the troops of Davies were rallied, and joined in the ad vance of our lines. Lovell led his division against our left, and there was a deadly combat on that part of the field, the rebels there exhibiting no less courage than on our centre. They were repulsed with great slaughter. Not long after noon, Van Dorn put his whole army in retreat, and the great battle was won. In this remarkable engagement as finely performed by Rosecrans as Austerlitz by Napoleon the troops of Iowa who were present bore con spicuous part. They formed a quite heavy proportion of the whole force. The Second Infantry, Second Cavalry, Fifth, Seventh, Tenth. Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth Infantry, and the remnants of the Eighth, Twelfth, and Fourteenth, who had not been captured at Shiloh, at this time in the organization called the " Union Brigade," were participants in the battle. The Second Infantry fought with great bravery and distinction both on the 3d and 4th. On the 3d, Colonel James Baker was mortally wounded, whilst his command was charging on the rebels with the greatest enthusiasm. Lieutenant-Colonel N. W. Mills was mor tally wounded in the second day s engagement, while fighting with the most conspicuous courage and coolness. During the battle, the regiment, which went into the fight with three hundred and forty-six men, rank and file, lost, in killed, wounded and missing, one hundred and eight. Major James B. Weaver, in his official report, says that officers and men through out the engagement displayed the most laudable gallantry and heroism. He passes warm-hearted eulogiums upon Colonel Baker, Lieutenant-Colonel Mills, and many line officers and men. The Second Cavalry, Colonel Edward Hatch. performed well its part, and received the special mention of General Rose crans for its prompt and efficient aid in the pursuit of the vanquished rebels. The Fifth Infantry, which had recently fought so finely at luka, was on the extreme right of the circular line, and suffered but little loss. 294 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The Seventh, Colonel E. W. Rice, was in the brigade of General Hackle- man, and fought throughout both days contest with unswerving valor. " More than one third of those taken into action," says Colonel Rice in his official report, are wounded or lie dead beneath the battle-field. The Tenth, Major N. McCalla commanding, formed the right of General Sullivan s brigade. The casualties of the regiment were one killed and thirty-nine wounded. The Eleventh, Lieutenant-Colonel Hall, the Thir- teenth, Lieutenant-Colonel John Shane, the Fifteenth, Lieutenant-Colonel W. W. Belknap, and the Sixteenth, Lieutenant-Colonel Addison Sanders, formed the "Iowa Brigade," under Colonel M. M. Crocker, in the division of General McKean, which division, as we have seen, was posted on the left of General Rosecrans line. The conflict here was much more severe on the first than on the second day of the battle, and was the most severe late in the afternoon of the first day, when the division fell back some dis tance toward Corinth. The Iowa Brigade protected the retiring movement of the rest of the division and the artillery, holding in .check, and at one time actually driving back a vastly superior number of rebels, till the move ment had been accomplished. There were no Union guns captured here. The losses in the brigade were heavy, heaviest in the Fifteenth. Lieu tenant-Colonel Sanders was severely wounded, but remained with his com mand till it marched off the field. Colonel Crocker, in his report, a docu ment of admirable comprehensiveness and soldierly brevity, acknowledges his obligations to all the field officers of the command, and avers with simple truthfulness, that his brigade, during the protracted movements of the battle and pursuit, encountering every hardship incident to such cam paigning, behaved with great fortitude, meeting every danger and hardship cheerfully. The Union Brigade, composed mostly of Iowa troops under command of Lieutenant- Colonel J. P. Coulter, fought well and lost heavily in this engagement. , The Seventeenth, smarting under the censure which the men believed had been hastily cast upon them for their conduct at luka, went into the battle of Corinth with a stern determination to wipe out the stain from its reputation. There never was a prouder success. I have heard many brave men of other commands say they never saw better fighting than that of the Seventeenth at Corinth. They fought during the entire engagement, first on the right of General Sullivan s Brigade, and afterwards where they could find the most rebels. It was at the very crisis of the battle, when Davies Division had given way, the rebels had penetrated into the town, and all seemed lost, that this regiment, by a splendid charge arrested, then turned back the column which had till then been making such fearful headway, and followed it up in its confused retreat, long enough to capture a stand of colors, and to place more men hors-du-combaf tlMn. there were bayonets SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 295 in the command. Says Major Banbury, of the Fifth Iowa, who commanded the regiment during this battle : Not a man evinced the slightest inclina tion to shirk or fall back, but all, without a single exception, stood up to the work nobly, and with an apparent determination to drive the rebels back at all hazards." General Sullivan wrote as follows to Governor Kirkwood : " HEAD-QUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, ARMY MISSISSIPPI, ) ^ " CAMP NEAR CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI, October Uth, 1862. J 1 Sm : I have the honor to present to your Excellency for the Seventeenth Regiment Iowa Volunteers, a stand of rebel colors, captured under my own eyes by the regiment, on the battle-field of Corinth, on the 4th instant, in its gallant charge on the advancing columns of the enemy, which the Seventeenth alone met, broke, and pursued until ordered to halt. I have never led braver men into action than the soldiers of the Seventeenth proved themselves in the desperate and bloody battle of Corinth. "I am, sir, etc., "JEREMIAH C. SULLIVAN, SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD, Brigadier-General. Governor of Iowa. The colors captured were those of the Fortieth Mississippi regiment. They and their bearer were captured by Corporal John King, of Company G, from Marion County. General Rosecrans, on the 25th of October, issued a general order of congratulation to his army upon their success at Corinth. But before that time he had issued a general order, of which this is a copy: " General Orders No. 145. " The general commanding cannot forbear to give pleasure to many, besides the brave men imme diately concerned, by announcing, in advance of the regular orders, that the Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, by its gallantry in the battle of Corinth, on the 4th of October, charging the enemy and capturing the flag of the Fortieth Mississippi, has amply atoned for its misfortune at luka, and stands among the honored regiments of his command. Long may they wear with unceasing bright ness the honors they have won. "By order of Major-General W. S. Rosecrans. " C. GODDARD, " First Lieutenant Twelfth Infantry Ohio Volunteers, A. A. A. G." The losses of the regiment in this engagement were comparatively small. The whole number of casualties was twenty-five, and among these there were but two killed. 2 During the first day s fight, the command was well 2 KCUed, James A. Munroe, Samuel Smith. Wounded, Sergeant-Major David C. Scroggs ; Lieu tenants Jesse B. Garrett ; Robert S. Morris, John C. Wadsworth, Squire Worrell, John Heites ; Corporals A. W. Emire, Gilbert D. Phelps; Sergeant C. F. Graves; John T. Chapman, B. Shearer, Henry C. Wolfe, Harrison Davis; Corporal F. M. Stuart; Sergeant John A. Crozier ; John McBride, Garret Schell, William G. Snodgrass, Samuel W. Wilson. There were a few men missing. 296 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. protected by the nature of the ground, and the care of Major Banbury. The charge at the crisis of the battle was so rapidly made, and the rebels so soon confused and routed that they did not get an opportunity to return any blows. It is the simple truth to say that the Seventeenth inflicted quite as much damage upon the rebels as any regiment at Corinth, and received less damage in turn, thereby illustrating most admirably one of the first rules of war, and which might be profitably studied by commanders who look for the evidences of their skill in the rents in their own lines instead of those of the enemy. The Seventeenth joined in the pursuit of the defeated enemy which followed the battle, and in common with the whole army suffered greatly from heat, fatigue, and scarcity of food. On the 14th, it returned to Corinth, and there went into camp. About this time, Lieutenant-Colonel Hillis was promoted to Colonel, and Captain Clark R. Wever, of Company D to Lieutenant-Colonel. Colonel Rankin had sent in his resignation more than two weeks before the battle of luka, but he did not leave the com mand until after that engagement. From the close of the campaign of Corinth till the commencement of the wonderful operations by General Grant, which at last terminated in the victory of Vicksburg, the labors and marchings of the Seventeenth were constant, onerous, and exhaustive. Early in November the division to which the regiment was attached, marched in a westerly direction, and, passing through Grand Junction, encamped at Davis Mills, seventy-five miles distant from Corinth. On the 18th, the regiment marched to Moscow, Tennessee, where it took charge of a forage train consisting of nearly two hundred wagons, which it filled with supplies within the rebel lines, and brought safely into camp. On the last day of the month the march southward was resumed, the army pressing close upon the rebels, who retreated day by day, their rear guard constantly skirmishing with our advance. The command went as far as the Yohnapatafa River, where it remained till the 21st of December, perform ing unusually heavy picket duties. At this time, operations in the rear of Vicksburg were abandoned; the army about-faced and marched in the direction of Holly Springs, which had been captured, two days before, with immense stores, by the rebels. This catastrophe the result of treachery on the part of Colonel Murphy, of a Wisconsin regiment com pelled General Grant to abandon the campaign which he had marked out in his mind, and to retrace his steps. The march northward was harassed by rebel cavalry and guerrillas, and the troops suffered no little from the want of subsistence. On the day before Christmas our regiment reached Lumpkin s Mills, whence on the 26th it accompanied the division to Mem phis, in guard of a train of more than six hundred wagons sent out to transport supplies to the well nigh fairished army. On the way to Mem- SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 297 phis, the column was almost constantly annoyed by bands of guerrillas, who succeeded in capturing a number of men belonging to the Seventeenth, who were paroled, but whose paroles were not recognized. On the last day of the year the regiment started for Holly Springs, but was relieved at Collierville, and assigned to duty at Bray s Station, guarding a portion of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Here it remained, doing heavy duty, till assigned to the Seventeenth Army Corps, Major-General James B. McPherson, when it went to Memphis February 8th, 1863. Here^be command remained till the 2d of March, when it embarked for Grand Lake, Arkansas, reaching that place in four days, but almost immediately returning to Helena, whence it accompanied General Quinby s reenforcing expedition to Fort Pemberton, through the Yazoo Pass. The almost demolished fleet, looking as though it had passed through a series of torna does, reached the Mississippi on the llth of April, on its return. On the 15th, the regiment again embarked with that expedition which was to be crowned with success on the coming national anniversary. Throughout that wonderful campaign, no more remarkable for the wisdom with which it was planned than the heroic fighting and endurance whereby it was executed, the Seventeenth made for itself a brilliant record. It bore its full share of the hard work in Louisiana, where roads had to be made, bayous cleared out, bridges built, for the passage of the army. It participated in the battle of Raymond, where General McPherson whipped the enemy on the 12th of May. It was in the front .brigade of General Crocker s Division which had the advance on the 14th, and fought as bravely as men ever fought at the battle of Jackson, losing there, as it unflinchingly passed through an enfilading fire, twenty-five per cent, of its strength. 3 It double-quicked three miles through the heat and dust, and 3 LIST OF CASUALTIES AT CAPTURE OP JACKSON. Wounded, Sergeant-Major Amon Park. Company A Killed, Corporal A. M. Slaughter; Privates George W. Miller, J. C. Wadsworth, and Eliphalet Joseph. Wounded, Captain Charles P. Johnson ; Second Lieutenant H. M. Kenderdine ; First Sergeant Jacob Turley ; Sergeant C. W. Clements ; Privates J. P. Wheeler, Richard James, James Carroll, R. F. Davidson, Samuel Musser, A. T. Rilea, S. N. Simms, J. M. Sylvester, M. A. Wilson, John J. James, Rufus L. Keller, John Switzer. Company B Killed, Corporal Adolphus M. Campbell ; Privates Godfrey Hornbecker, Amos Riser. Wounded, Captain L. W. Houston; First Sergeant F. H. Busby; Sergeant A. Diggins; Cor poral Malon Freeman ; Privates R. Chapman, D. Hardsaw, H. H. Highland, E. Moore, John Kraft. Company C Killed, Private Jesse Nokes. Wounded, Sergeants J. Inden, Thomas Mitchell ; Cor poral E. Ilerin ; Privates William Hall, N. Hockman. Company D Wounded, First Lieutenant John F. Skelton; Corporal A. W. Embre; Private Jona than Williams. Company E Killed, Corporal Isaac T. Newell. Wounded, John Cowger; Privates George Her bert, Byam Rushton. Company F Killed, Privates Ephraim Cooper, David P. McCloud. Wounded, Second Lieutenant John II. Browne; Privates V. Douglas, Thomas Pipes, F. H. Wentworth. Company G Killed, Private Robert Mills. Company H Wounded, Corporal John Fitzpatrick. Company 1 Killed, Lieutenant John M. Inskeep ; Corporal John Bartow ; Private Jacob Vogeler. 38 298 IOWA AND THE REBELLION . discouraging reports of stragglers and shirks, to engage in the battle of Champion Hills on the 16th, and by its conduct on that bloody field won the personal praises of General Grant himself. To join in the fight the regiment marched from Jackson, a distance of twelve miles. It captured nearly two hundred prisoners, a rebel battery and a stand of colors. With the Tenth Missouri, old comrades, the Seventeenth and the Tenth Iowa decided the battle in our favor. General Grant came up, and said, "Boys, you have done enough; I am going to let you rest." Accordingly, the semi-brigade, together with McGinnis brigade of the Thirteenth Corps, remained on the field whilst the main army marched on, fought the battle of Big Black River, and invested Vicksburg. 4 The rest, however, was rather nominal than real. The regiment assisted in burying the dead of both armies, and in caring for the wounded. Having remained here a short time, it marched to the beleaguering army, reaching its position in the investing lines on the 20th of May. During the assault of the 22d, the regiment was in the line of reserves, and suffered but a slight loss. From this time until the capitulation on the 4th of July, its duties were similar to the duties of other regiments in the grand army. NIGHT COMBAT JLT FORT HILL. There were many exciting scenes and episodes to relieve the monotony of the vigilant siege. Among these the explosion of Fort Hill, and the Wounded, Sergeant S. N. Sawyer; J. C. Whitaker ; Privates C. Starkey, P. Brown, P. Martin, James I. Murray, W. Summers, J. H. Stevenson, L. Thompson. Company K Killed, Private Thomas Beechler. Wounded, Captain S. E. Hicks ; First Lieutenant Woodrow ; First Sergeant James H. McCullough ; Corporal D. A. Rollins ; Privates Timothy Tracy, 8. W. Wilson, A. G. Hurst, L. G. Rice, J. Chandler, J. Rolston. * Colonel Hillis specially mentions, as distinguished for bravery at Champion Hills, Lieutenants C. W. Woodrow, George W. Deal, Daniel W. Tower, First Sergeant Swearengin, Company F, and Corporal A. S. Trussel, Company G, who captured the colors and color-bearer of the Thirty-first Alabama. The following is the list of casualties: Company A Wounded, Private E. H. Simpson. Company B Wounded, Second Lieutenant Daniel W. Tower; Corporal Thomas H. Cassida; Privates Edward Murphy, J. Hanks, J. Kraft, D. Hanks. Company C Killed, Private James Kain. Wounded, Sergeant W. J. McCormick ; Corporal S. J. Myers ; Privates Christian Eckroate, N. Hockman, W. D. Hardy, T. Tomson, A. Weaver. Company D Kitted, Privates Ezra Stoker, William Turner. Wounded, Captain A. A. Stuart; Corporal II. W. Mulford; M. Noell, J. Wasson, William M. Spainhower, F. M. Thompson. Company F Wounded, Captain J. F. Walden; Corporal John W. Lozier; Privates R. J. McNabb, Hampton Taylor. Gmipany G Wounded, Corporals G. Marsh, John King, A. S. Trussel ; Privates A. Roby, A. Pen- land, T. Leonard, J. H. Peyton, W. Gregory. Company H Killed, John Kirkland. Wounded, Second Lieutenant James W.Craig; Sergeant George King; Corporal J. A. Hill; Privates C. McMichael, John McCoy, D. Johnson, J. King, S. Myers, James Harville, S. Eicher. Company I Wounded, Corporal T. F. Enslow; Privates James B. Vail, William Summers, W. C. Porter. Missing, Govert Scheffers. Company K Kitted, Corporal James R. Holt. Wounded, Privates G. W. Matthews, William S. Summerville, James C. Halterman, M. F. McCready, Samuel Sherman. SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 299 night combat which followed may be noted. Among the many works erected by the skill of the engineer for the defence of Vicksburg, was a strong fort on the Jackson road called Fort Hill. This work had been mined by General John A. Logan, and being ready on the 25th of June to set fire to the train, he sent to the division in which was the Seventeenth, for two regiments to assist in assaulting and holding the work when the explosion should have taken place. The Seventeenth was one of the regi ments assigned to this duty. Early in the afternoon the mine was exploded, and the centre of the fort blown into the air with a deafening report. The troops of General Logan rushed into the breach, and held it, but without being able to take the work, or, perhaps, to do any great damage to the enemy. At eleven o clock at night the Seventeenth entered the breach, and held it for three hours, when it was relieved by the Thirty-first Illinois. The combat which the regiment maintained during these three hours was most singular. The parapet had been very much broken and injured by the explosion, but offered, nevertheless, considerable defence to the rebels and obstruction to us. Half the regiment, from the top of this broken parapet, fired into the rebels inside, by holding out their guns at arms- length, and pointing the muzzles downwards. The pieces were loaded by the other half of the regiment, and handed to the men above. In this manner a constant fire was kept up during the entire combat. More than twenty thousand rounds of ammunition were expended. But six or eight feet intervened between the contending parties. The rebels threw six and ten-pound shells, as hand grenades, over the parapet and among our men constantly. The glare of these bursting missiles relieved the darkness of the night, but they failed entirely to intimidate our men, who with mus ketry alone prevented the enemy from occupying the crater of the blown up work. In this combat, the regiment lost three killed and thirty-three wounded. 5 The killed were so charred and torn that their bodies could 6 Namely: Company A Wounded, Sergeant Samuel Macksbury; Corporal William W. Carr; Privates William Bird, James Norman, N. Tuttle. Company B Killed, Sergeant Alonzo Diggins. Wounded, Private A. A. Brent. Company C Wounded, Private George W. Slacks. Company D Wounded, First Sergeant M. S. Pentengell; Corporal John Miller; Privates A. Meacham, J. Carter, J. Smith, D. M. Howe. Company E Wounded, Captain Thomas Ping, Second Lieutenant M. L. Godley; First Sergeant C. F. Graves ; Privates J. Cowger, J. Phelps, E. Shearer, W. L. Grigsby. Company F Wounded, Private Charles Chase. Company G Wounded, Captain William Horner; Private W. A. West, (mortally). Company H Killed, Private Samuel Bicher. Wounded, Sergeant J. Johnson; Corporal D. Monroe; Private G. Steenhook. Company I Killed, Private Henry Crickburn. Wounded, First Sergeant James Code; Corporal Z. F. Wood; Privates William C. Porter, B. Stephenson, William Summers, H. A. Welch. Company K Wounded, Privates H. A. White, W. G. Buck. All the above were killed and wounded by shells and grenades. During the operations of the siege, the following casualties are reported as having occurred be- 300 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. scarcely be identified, and many of the wounded soon afterwards died. Captain Horner, of Company G, was so severely wounded that it was months before he recovered, and Captain Ping, of Company E, was seriously disabled. Major Walden commanded the regiment during this affair, and in his official report speaks in the highest praise of the conduct of the offi cers and men. I should have before stated that Colonel Hillis resigned in the latter part of May, and Lieutenant- Colonel Wever was promoted to Colonel, Major Archer, who had been in command of the Pioneer Corps since December, to Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captin Walden of Company F, to Major. After the surrender of Vicksburg the regiment entered the city, and re mained encamped there till the 9th of September, when the division em barked for Helena, with orders to reenforce General Steele operating against Little Rock, Arkansas. Little Rock having been captured, the command went into camp at Helena, awaiting orders to rejoin its corps, but soon afterwards proceeded to Memphis, and there, attached to General Sherman s army, marched for Chattanooga on October 10th, to reenforce the Army of the Cumberland. The march was made by way of luka, Mis sissippi, Florence, Alabama, Winchester, Fayetteville and Dechard, Ten nessee, and Bridgeport, Alabama, and was accomplished in thirty-two days. The command entered Chattanooga on the 19th of November. In the battle of Chattanooga, which was one of the most remarkable conflicts in history, our regiment was conspicuously engaged, fighting with great valor on Missionary Ridge till it was nearly surrounded. In this ac tion the regiment lost fifty-seven in killed, wounded, and prisoners. 6 On twoen the 20th of May and the 25th of June. Wounded, Captain Henry Newton, (mortally) ; Cor poral Allen Dunn ; Privates Hugh Davis, Simon Houts, Hiram De Brun, Samuel Yard, Joseph Hol- lingshead, Mathias Harvey. 6 Namely : Missing, Lieutenant-Colonel Archer ; Wounded, Drum-Major Irwin Argstead. Company A Killed, First Sergeant Jacob Turley ; Privates Samuel Musser and Samuel W. [or N.] Simms. Missing, Private Hugh Davis. Company B Wounded, Captain L. W. Houston; Sergeant Charles P. Smith; Privates Thomas H. Smith, John M. Burns, Uriah Wooding, Elijah Moore. Wounded and Missing, Corporal George M. Kahler. Company C Wounded, Captain L. F. McNeal; Corporal Edmund Herin ; Private James J. Block. Missing, Private Aaron Whitted. Company D Disabled, Captain A. A. Stuart. Wounded, Private G. H. Lotspeich. Missing, Private Willis W. Stevens. Company E Killed, Sergeant Bartemus Shearer ; Private G. Martin Shearer. Wounded, Sergeant Robert Miller ; Privates G. Marion Shearer, John G. Dall. Disabled, Private James K. Hilton. Company F Wounded, Sergeant George Griffith. Company G Killed, Color-Sergeant Abraham Penland; Sergeant Bennett Acklin. Wounded, Corporal A. S. Trussel; Color-Corporal Wallace Gregory; Privates Anderson Lee, J. A. Loudenback. Disabled, Privates Linus Parish, E. F. West. Company H Killed, Private Henry Mehrtcns. Wounded, Sergeant Charles J. Eubanks ; Corporal D. F. Monroe; Privates R. M. Mock, Newton Edinger. Missing, First Sergeant Dominic Carr; Ser geant Jackson Johnson ; Privates Richard Dobbins, Harmon Kohlenbranden, Simeon Myers, Alex ander King. SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 301 the 25th, the command joined in the pursuit of the retreating rebels and went as far as Greyville, Georgia. On the 29th, it returned to Chatta nooga. Remaining there a few days it marched to Bridgeport, Alabama, where it encamped in a swamp, and continued there a sort of amphibious life till December 22d. From Bridgeport, which is in the extreme northeast ern part of the State, the regiment moved to Huntsville, some seventy-five miles to the west and south. Here it remained for several months, en gaged in guarding heavy foraging trains and in scouting. On the 1st of April, 1864, the regiment reenlisted as veterans. During its two years service, it had traveled not less than four thousand miles, had been engaged in a dozen battles, a score of skirmishes, and two sieges of rebel strongholds. It is not strange, then, that when it reenlisted there were barely enough men left in the command to entitle it to veteran organi zation. The thing was accomplished, however, by nearly every man reen- listing. At this time the regiment numbered, rank and file, four hundred and seventy-nine men. About the 1st of February, Colonel Wever had been assigned to the command of the post. Lieutenant Woolsey of the Seventeenth, was detailed as post adjutant. During the month of May the regiment performed provost duty in Huntsville. Meanwhile, General Sherman had marched his conquering legions from Chattanooga to the pass of Allatoona, whipping the enemy everywhere, or forcing him from positions unassailable through hard blows, by masterly manoauvres. In the first part of June, the regiment went to Scottsville, and on the 22d marched to Stevenson, where the division having been concentrated, it took cars "for the front." Upon arriving at Kingston, however, the Seventeenth was ordered back to Tilton, a place on the railroad, about half way between Dalton and Resaca. Of course it was on the line of Gen eral Sherman s communications. It reached Tilton on the 2d of July. The entire interval between Dalton and Resaca, a distance of fifteen miles, was guarded and patrolled by this regiment, except a point two miles from Resaca, where two companies of old comrades of the Tenth Missouri were stationed. The region of country hereabout was more favorable for guer rilla warfare than any between Nashville and Kenesaw Mountain. To the west, within a distance of less than twenty miles, are the Chatoogata and John s Mountains, and Taylor s Ridge, rough and lofty offshoots of the Blue Ridge. In the deep ravines and dense forests large numbers of par tisans could effectually hide themselves from all pursuers, or draw them into fatal ambuscade. On the east of the line, the general features were Company I Killed, Private Charles Starkey. Wounded, Corporal P. Gregg; Privates Jacob Hoch, William W. Roberts. Missing, Sergeant Silas H. Sawyers; Privates James I. Murray, Adam Schaffer. Company K Killed, Privates Henry D. Welsh, Lewis G. Rice, Jacob Rolston. Wounded, Corporal George W. Simmons. 302 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the same, but more subdued. It is certain that the regiment and their comrades from Missouri needed the eyes of Argus and the arms of Brierius in order perfectly to succeed in observing and driving off the bushwhackers, by whom, day and night, the line was annoyed at some point or other, or at several points at the same time. Many attempts were made to capture or entrap these lawless bands, but with one or two partial exceptions, they were entirely futile. In the performance of these duties, similar to the du ties of a picket without reliefs in front of an enemy, the regiment passed the summer. If the wear-and-tear of this watchful life was without relief it was not without variety. Early in August the rebel General Wheeler made a raid through Georgia and into Tennessee. On the 14th he attacked, and, after a hard fight, captured Dalton. At the same time a detachment from his main column attacked Companies H and I of the Seventeenth, posted at a water-tank two miles from Dalton. They successfully defended themselves against a heavy force till ten o clock of the following morning, when their ammunition gave out. The rebels now placed artillery in position to play upon the stockade, and demanded surrender, which was complied with on condition of speedy parole. The companies returned to Tilton in two days, and were at once placed on duty, their paroles not being recognized. Whilst the combats were going on at Dalton and the water-tank, a division of rebels, under General Martin, threatened Tilton. There was considerable skirmishing on the outer lines, and the garrison stood under arms all night, but no engagement took place. From this time until October 13th, when the little garrison was attacked by an Army Corps, and after a heroic de fence compelled to surrender, the regiment was employed in the duties of vigilant pickets, such as I have described above. DEFENCE OF TIL TON S UR It ENDER. About the first of October, the rebel General Hood commenced that series of offensive operations against the line of communications of General Sherman, whereby, not without good military reasons, he hoped to draw the Union army away from Georgia, or at least to prevent its making further conquests. That his manoeuvres resulted in the triumphal march of Sherman across Georgia, and in Thomas smashing the rebel army to pieces at Nashville, was such a denouement to the grand tragedy as one who had read all the books would not have dreamt of. I suppose General Hood s plan would have been well enough against any general who ever lived except Major-General W. T. Sherman. However this may be, General Hood fiercely attacked Allatoona on the 5th, and was most signally defeated by Brigadier-General John M. Corse with a handful of troops. On the 8th it became generally known that Hood was marching in the direction SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 303 of Rome. He crossed the Coosa River twelve miles below that place, and marched to Snake Creep Gap, an opening in the mountains to the eastward of Tilton and not many miles distant. Here the rebel commander divided his army, directing the corps of Lee on Resaca, that of Cheatham on Dalton, and that of Stewart on Tilton. Hood himself accompanied Lee. Early on the morning of the 13th, the pickets of the garrison at Tilton in the direction of Resaca were attacked. They retired slowly. Lieutenant- Colonel Archer, commanding the post, immediately placed as many men as could there be effective, inside the only work there was at Tilton, namely, a block-house, built of heavy timbers, and capable of resisting the fire of light artillery. Within this work there were less than seventy-five men. The remainder of the garrison, not many more than two hundred, were placed in the trenches. Protected by trees, logs, and partly-destroyed huts, the rebels approached, and gradually surrounded the block-house. A brisk fire of musketry was kept up tDl eleven o clock, the rebels being held off by our fire, and losing many men. The loss thus far of the garrison had been trifling. At this time General Stewart sent in a flag of truce, demanding unconditional surrender, and threatening that "no prisoners would be taken" if the demand were not complied with. Lieutenant- Colonel Archer replied pluckily that if General Stewart wanted his garrison he must come and get it. Hostilities were at once renewed, and continued till some time after noon about as they had been conducted during the early part of the day. The troops had loudly cheered Lieutenant-Colonel Archer when he announced there would be no surrender, and as soon as the white flag was out of the way, had recommenced the fight with in creased ardor. The commandant commenced to hope that the enemy had no artillery in hand, and that he might be able to hold out, when a cannon ball passed over the roof, and it was discovered that three guns were in position on the crest of a hill less than three hundred j^ards distant. These guns were twelve-pounder howitzers, and fired twenty-one shots in the space of about forty minutes, but did no serious damage to the block house or its defenders, who kept up a constant fire on their assailants. Seeing that the defence was as stout as at first, the enemy now brought up three twenty-four-pounder Napoleons and opened on the block-house, from this short distance. Every shot that struck the work sprung and shattered the timbers, and made the building tremble as though it were in a fit of ague. Soon the roof was so much damaged that the dirt covering came down in blinding abundance. At length, it being half-past two o clock, a shell came crunching through a loop-hole, and, bursting within the block-house, wounded or prostrated by the concussion nearly all within the work, and filled the enclosure with a smoke so dense that no man could see his com rade. There were now left barely a dozen rounds of ammunition to the 304 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. man ; it was evident the block-house could endure but a few more shots from the Napoleon guns ; the enemy was gradually getting into enfilading range of the trenches. Lieutenant-Colonel Archer reluctantly determined to surrender the garrison. It consisted of two hundred and eighty comba tants. Captain Horner, of Company G, and thirty- one men had escaped to the mountains before the place had been surrounded. When the rebels swarmed about the block-house and saw the mere squad of boys in blue who had thus held their large force in check for nearly eight hours, they hung their heads in shame. As for General Stewart, he swore like our army in Flanders, but at length consented to parole Lieutenant-Colonel Archer and Adjutant Woolsey, both of whom were far from well. In this defence of Tilton twenty-four of the Seventeenth were wounded, none killed. Some of the wounded were so slightly hurt that they were carried into captivity with the garrison. Colonel Wever was in command of the brigade, head-quarters at Resaca. About noon of the 12th, General Lee approached this post, and imme diately commenced attack under the direction of General Hood himself. The garrison consisted of the Fifty-sixth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel J. P. Hall, Eightieth Ohio, Lieutenant- Colonel P. Metham, and two companies of the Tenth Missouri, in all about seven hundred troops and four pieces of light artillery. The works of Resaca had been made the spring before by General Joe Johnston for the defence of his whole army, and were now as useful to the rebels as to Colonel Wever s little garrison. His force, in fact, when deployed as skirmishers, could very little more than cover the line of trenches nearest the post. The only hope of holding the place against the force now assailing it, lay in deceiving the enemy as to the strength of the garrison. To this end, Colonel Wever disposed his troops in such manner as to make a show of numbers ; placed a gun in each of the two forts near the Oostanaula River, and had them rapidly worked, now firing from one embrasure, now from another ; another, and the strong est fort contained the other two guns, similarly at work ; flags and guidons were placed in the most conspicuous positions, and every art resorted to, whereby the enemy might be persuaded of the folly of an assault. The stratagem had effect. The rebels fought for four hours, keeping up a con tinuous roar of artillery and musketry from all directions except the south, and receiving in turn rapid volleys from the garrison, each man of whom acted as though he must do the work of many men. It was now after four o clock, and there were no indications of an assault. General Hood at this time resorted to the mighty pen. A flag of truce approached, bearing tho following epistle: SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 305 "!N THE FIELD: HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE,) " October 12th, 1864. J "TO THE OFFICER COMMANDING UNITED STATES FORCES AT KESACA, GEORGIA. SIR: I demand an immediate and unconditional surrender of the post and garrison under your command, and should this be acceded to, all white officers and soldiers will be paroled within a few days. If the place is carried by assault no prisoners will be taken. "Most respectfully your obedient servant, " J. B. HOOD, "General." To which Colonel Wever responded : " HEAD-QUARTERS, SECOND BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, FIFTEENTH i ARMY CORPS, RESACA, GEORGIA, October 12th, 1864. J "To GENERAL J. B. HOOD. SIR: Your communication of this date is just received. In reply I have to state that I am somewhat surprised at the concluding sentence, stating that if the place is carried by assault no prisoners will be taken. In my opinion I can hold this post. If you want it, come and take it. "I am, general, etc., "CLARKE. WEVER, Commanding Officer. The truce ended, the contest was renewed, and was continued with great fury till long after nightfall, the garrison having been reenforced about the time the flag departed by Colonel Watkins, who came from below with five hundred cavalry, who dismounted on the opposite side of the river, crossed as best they could on the half-built railroad bridge, and went into the fight on the right. There was a desperate combat, from nine o clock till after midnight, three miles north of Resaca, where five hundred men, guarding bridge timbers, were attacked by thousands, and at last forced to yield to superior numbers. During the night Colonel Wever materially strength ened his works. The attack was renewed on the morning of the 13th, but by this time reinforcements had arrived, augmenting the strength of the garrison to two thousand combatants, so that the increased vigor of the defence was perceptible to the rebels. They were, doubtless, less inclined to assault than on the day before. General Sherman arrived in the after noon, from one direction, and General Hood departed in another. For his brave and skilful defence of this important post, Colonel Wever received the praise of General Sherman and General Howard, on the spot. The fighting was done by the troops of Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, but as they were under the command of the Colonel of the Seventeenth 39 306 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Iowa, acting Brigadier-General, until the victory was virtually won, I have deemed it not improper thus briefly to relate an account of one of the most honorable and brilliant affairs of the war. We have seen that, with the exception of between thirty and forty men under Captain Horner, the Seventeenth was captured at Tilton. The captives were hurried off to rebel prisons, except a few who managed to escape. These, with those under Captain Horner, forty- five in all, having been granted furloughs, arrived not long afterwards at Keokuk on a steamer. "They were received," says the Gate City, and marched up Main street by Captain Willis, commander of the post, with a detachment of men under Lieutenant Springer. There were few of them. Their battle-flag was worn and faded, and torn by bullets, and still it waved in front of them, and still the noble few clustered round it." As the command marched up the crowded street, there were many wet eyes of men and women who reflected that this little band was all that remained of the stout nine hundred and fifty-six who had passed down to the steamer two years and a-half before. NOTE. The remnant of the regiment took part in the campaign of the Carolinas, from Savannah, where Colonel Wever joined General Sherman s army. He commanded a brigade during that cam paign, and performed much valuable service. The small part of the Seventeenth continued with the Army of the Tennessee, till the troops thereof were discharged, mostly at Louisville, the regi ment being disbanded about the first of August, 1865. I here note its officers as found in the Adjutant-General s Reports: Colonels John W. Rankiu, David B. Hillis, Clark R. Wever, Brevet Brigadier-General; Lieutenant- Colonels D. B. Hillis, Clark R. Wever, S. M. Archer; Majors Samuel M. Wise, John F. Walden ; Adjutants S. Guthrie, Fletcher Woolsey ; Quartermasters Edwin J. Aldrich, David M. Gorgas; Sur geons Nathan Udell, Jacob II. Ealy, Assistants E. J. McGorrisk, C. C. Biser, W. F. Coleman, William E. Barclay ; Chaplain Reverend William H. Wilson. LINE OFFICERS. Company A Captains John L. Young, Charles P. Johnson ; Lieutenants Jesse B. Garrett, Lorenzo H. Sales, Charles P. Johnson, Henry M. Kenderdine. Company B Captains William H. Hoxie, L. W. Houston; Lieutenants Edwin J. Aldrich, H. D. Nuse, S. T. Reese, L. W. Houston, A. M. Charters, D. W. Tower. Company C Captains S. M. Archer, L. F. McNeal, George W. Deal ; Lieutenants Henry Newton, Samuel Pickard, Martin Stapleton, L. F. McNeal, William J. McCormick, Theodore Thomson. Company D Captains Clark R. Wever, A. A. Stuart, John F. Skelton; Lieutenants A. A. Stuart, George S. Patterson, John F. Skelton, A. Park. Company E Captain Thomas Ping; Lieutenants A. J. Baker, A. Hall, William F. Johnson, M. L. Godley. Company F Captains James F. Walden, John H. Browne; Lieutenants Sylvanus E. Hicks, Robert S. Morris, John H. Browne, Evan S. Swearengin. Company G Captain William Horner ; Lieutenants A. H. Barnes, William Reach, 0. H. P. Smith, George W. Deal, William D. Hudson. Company H Captains David A. Craig, James W.Craig; Lieutenants William S. Burke, John H. Tammen. Company /Captains Henry N. Moore, William Edwards, Alphonso A. Rice, John C. Snodgrass ; Lieutenants A. A. Rice, John C. Snodgrass, Phineas Inskeep, John Inskeep, Amon Stever. Company K Captain Sylvauus E. Hicks; Lieutenants Henry M.Griffith, Charles W. Woodrow, John A. Spielman. CHAPTER XVII. EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AT CLINTON ORDERED TO MISSOURI REMAIN ON DUTY THERE DEFENCE OF SPRINGFIELD AVSIVE CAMPAIGNING IN ARKANSAS THE SKIRMISH OF PRAIRIE D ANNE MARCH TO FORT SMITH ON GARRISON DUTY-A STARVATION ERA-HOME. JOHN EDWARDS, of Lucas county, a republican politician of conserva tive tendencies, was Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives when the war broke out, and had been for some years a man somewhat noted in the State, and by many people called "Honest John" a sobriquet which he acquired quite as much, perhaps, by reason of his easy-going, agreeable manners, as for the possession of any more honesty than a good many others had without getting due credit for it. After the adjournment of the extra session of the Legislature in 1861, Colonel Edwards for he was placed on the Governor s staff with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of cavalry rendered valuable services to the State and country in the organiza tion and drilling of the " Southern Border Brigade" of State troops, in the suppression of incipient outbreaks along the frontier, and in Missouri, and afterwards in guarding a considerable portion of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and in all other ways in which a man of influence and patriotism could aid the imperilled Republic. There were but few men in the State, who engaged in the cause of the country with more zest than "Honest John Edwards" a fact which is the more remarkable since he was of Southern birth and education, and had been a member of the Indiana Legislature. Within less than a year from the attack on Fort Sumter, the State of Iowa had sent into the field no less than sixteen regiments of infantry, with more than the corresponding proportion of cavalry, and three ^batteries of light artillery. These troops, some at one place, some at another at Wilson s Creek, Blue Mills Landing, Belmont, Charleston, Missouri, New Madrid, Island No. Ten, Donelson, Pea Ridge, Shiloh had gained a reputation for valor and all soldierly qualities of which the State and the country felt proud. And though the slow progress made by the military 307 308 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. authorities in the vicinity of the National Capital did for some time, as it were by a sort of sympathy, create a lethargy of patriotism all over the country, affecting Iowa not less than other portions of the republic, so that enlistments went on slowly, yet at the time now in view it had met all demands of the government. The vigor of the spring campaigns of 1862, whereby the most interesting theatre of war was transferred from the east to the west, aroused the people from their drowsiness. Iowa offered the Republic more troops than the Republic asked of her. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth regiments of infantry were not recruited in obedience to any call of the President. They were offered to the nation out of the generosity of our people, and were accepted by special order of the Secre tary of War. These two regiments were the first rich fruits of that generous patriotism which enabled the State of Iowa to present to the world the proud record that her troops sent into the field were always in excess of all calls of the general government. Inasmuch as Edwards desired now to go into the service, the Governor commissioned him Colonel of the Eighteenth Infantry. The men who formed this regiment were recruited in divers parts of the State Company A being from many counties ; B, from Clarke, principally ; C, chiefly from Lucas and Monroe ; D, from Keokuk, Iowa, and Mahaska ; E, from Mus- catine, with some members from Louisa and Linn ; F, from Wapello and Appanoose ; Gr, from Marion, Warren, and Polk, in most part ; H, from Fayette and Benton, with a considerable representation from Clinton ; I, from Washington, Polk, and other counties; K, from Muscatine and Mahaska. The rendezvous for organization was at Clinton, whither the companies proceeded during the summer, and where they were mustered into the service, on the 5th, 6th, and 7th days of August, 1862. The regiment at this time numbered about eight hundred and seventy-five, officers and men. Thomas F. Cook was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and Hugh J. Campbell, major. 1 1 The line officers at this time were : Company A Captain 0. S. Chase, (soon succeeded by Wil liam Stonaker, promoted from Company B) ; Lieutenants Alexander H. Dnnlap, James T. Christian. Company B Captain William M. Duncan; Lieutenants James M. Boreing, William Stonaker. Company C Captain David N. Smith, (who was soon appointed Chaplain, and succeeded by James Van Benthusen, who resigned in November on account of ill-health, and was succeeded by William R. Blue); Lieutenants Adams Burris, Thomas E. Sargent. Company D Captain John A. Landis; Lieutenants James II. Creighton, Justinian Ray. Company E Captain Stephen Estle; Lieutenants G. Britzer, N". M. Brown; Company F Captain William H. Evans; Lieutenants Joseph K. Morey, Henry C. Nasfcr. Company G Captain D. P. Long; Lieutenants J. J. P. Scoles, John H. Looby. Company H Captain Joseph Van Meter; Lieutenants G. P. Stafford, William H. Wood, (who resigned in a few months, and was succeeded by J. C. Rhodabeck). Company /Captain Thomas Blanchard; Lieutenants William Ragan, Samuel A. Wilson. Company JT Captain Chester C. Clover; Lieutenants Joseph F. Murray, Daniel Henshaw. . I should have stated the names of the commissioned officers of the staff. They were: Charles E. Braunlich, Lieutenant and Adjutant; Sidney S. Smith, Quartermaster; John H.Allen, Surgeon; James Harvey, Henry II. Maynard, assistants. It was only a day or two after the organization of EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. 309 Having had but little time for drill, the regiment was ordered into Mis souri, and moving by St Louis and Sedalia, marched to Springfield, and joined the Army of the Southwest, General Schofield commanding. The army soon moved to southwestern Missouri, and, before countermarching, penetrated into Arkansas. It was a campaign of hard marches over bad roads in bad weather, and was accompanied by much hardship. Upon its close, the regiment was ordered to Springfield. It formed the principal part of the garrison of that place during the following winter, Colorfe! 1 Edwards being at St Louis on special service, and Colonel Crabb, Nine teenth Iowa, in command of the post, General E. B. Brown, commanding the district The duties of the Eighteenth were not light. There were scouts to be made, guerrillas to be watched, fortifications to be built, guard duties to be performed. The city was a depot of supplies for the army of the frontier, and was as important to that army as Chattanooga was to Sherman during the Atlanta campaign. But, though the regiment was not idle at Springfield, it is but the truth to say that its spirited men chafed under the monotony of garrison life, and longed to be called into more stirring scenes. The victory of Prairie Grove, in December, only tended to increase this feeling. The capture of Van Buren, not long afterwards, was another achievement which increased their impatience. But they soon had a taste of actual warfare, without having to inarch into Arkansas to get it. This was at THE BATTLE OF SPRINGFIELD. After his defeat at Prairie Grove the rebel general Hindman, with such troops as he was able to keep together, retired to Van Buren. When the Army of the Frontier marched thither also, near the close of the year, he put himself behind the Arkansas. But his lieutenant, Marmaduke, one of the most dashing of rebel troopers, with an army variously estimated at from five to seven thousand, determined to make another effort to inflict injury on the Union cause in Missouri. Directly after the capture of Van Buren the Army of the Frontier fell back to Fayetteville and for some days continued in that vicinity. Whilst it was thus marching northward, Mar maduke, with his mounted army, was riding eastward, along the south bank of the Arkansas. Crossing the river at Spadra, a hamlet a few miles south of Clarksville, he turned his course to the north, and bending the line of his inarch still somewhat east, left the army of the frontier a con siderable distance west of him, and then moved directly on Springfield, with the object of capturing the place, destroying the immense quantities the regiment that Captain D. N. Smith was appointed chaplain. He resigned before the close of the year. Some two years afterwards Lieutenant Adams Burris was appointed to the chaplaincy. If the regiment was a good while without a chaplain, it was never without a clergyman. 310 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. of supplies stored there, and of striking such other blows as his daring troopers might be able to inflict. On the evening of January 7th, 1863, General Brown received intelli gence that a large mounted force of rebels, estimated at between four and six thousand, with three pieces of artillery, had crossed the White River and were advancing on Springfield. Couriers were forthwith dispatched to various stations around Springfield for reinforcements, and every exertion made to put the city in as strong a condition of defence as possible. Two twelve-pounder howitzers and one six-pounder gun were mounted on wheels as temporary carriages, repaired at the blacksmith shop, and rolled into Fort No. Four by daylight of the 8th. Heavy details worked the live long night on barricades and other defensive works. The convalescents of the hospitals were organized and armed. They were called the Quinine Brigade." Many loyal citizens turned out to fight in defence of their homes, and were armed for the occasion. There were detachments of several regiments of Missouri militia in the city. But the Eighteenth Iowa was the only corps of regular soldiers, so to say, present. The whole defensive force volunteers, militia, Quinine Brigade and citizens did not exceed one thousand five hundred men. Perhaps the unfinished condition of the forts around Springfield at this time made it more difficult to defend than it would have been without them. The city itself, like most western towns, is laid out around a public square in the centre. From this square the four principal streets proceed, east, west, north, and south, the other streets of the city being parallel to these. Near the west street, a little north of it, and about one mile from the square, was a strong pentagonal fort, with five bastions. It was called Fort No. One. Fort No. Two was directly south of this, and not far dis tant. But at this time, it was worse than useless to the garrison. Fort No. Four was on the street leading south. It was not one-half mile from the square. It was a small, but strong work, with two bastions, and was the only fort directly attacked during the engagement. Fort No. Five, on the east side of the city, was an unfinished work. The city, which was at this time thus fortified, lies half in the timber and half in tKe prairie. Upon the south and west it is prairie; upon the north and east all is forest. Marmaduke, no doubt thinking the garrison would be able to make but a feeble resistance, chose to approach directly from the south. About ten o clock our mounted pickets, three miles south of town, were met by the pickets of the enemy, closely followed by their main army, marching across the prairie in battle array, artillery in the centre, sup ported by a heavy force of dismounted cavalrymen, the mounted troops, in large numbers, forming the wings. They moved slowly forward, making an imposing spectacle, and occasionally firing a shot from their rifled gim EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. 311 in the centre. They were annoyed by our sharp-shooters and skirmishers, and the moment they came within range of our artillery received a tempo rary check. The firing gradually increased, and by one o clock in the afternoon had grown into a battle. At first, the contest was waged chiefly by cavalry and artillery. Colonel King, Third Missouri Cavalry (militia) and Colonel Hall, Fourth Missouri Cavalry, also militia, charged the enemy s right, and right centre, inflicting severe injury. But they were unable to check the enemy s advance. Tfee artillery from Fort No. Four succeeded better, and held the enemy s centre in check for some time, at times even compelling it to fall back. After the battle had been raging along the lines for about one hour, the enemy, find ing it more difficult to take Springfield than he had anticipated, massed his forces in several compact lines and advanced against our right and centre. Captain Landis, Eighteenth Iowa, with his piece of artillery was ordered to the front and right, supported by three companies of the regiment, Cap tains Blue, Van Meter and Stonaker. By some mistake, the gun was placed in a position too far advanced. The enemy charged upon it in over whelming numbers, and after a desperate combat captured it. Here Cap tains Blue and Van Meter fell mortally wounded. Captain Landis was severely wounded, and fell among many dead and wounded comrades. This success of the enemy on our right was followed by another success of even more importance to them, the possession of an academy south of the town, which had been used as a prison, and was heavily stockaded on all sides. From this house, essentially a strong fort, they were enabled to deliver a constant galling fire upon the garrison, with little injury to themselves. It was now between two and three o clock, and the enemy were sorely press ing our line of defence at all points, but especially at the centre and right centre, where, it appeared, they were about to break through. The "Quinine Brigade," which had hitherto been stationed in various brick buildings near the centre of the town, now moved to the front, under the immediate command of Colonel Crabb, and delivered attack on the enemy s left centre. An hour s fighting succeeded in driving the rebels from this part of the field. They then massed against our right, and gained ground here slowly but steadily. They took possession of several houses in the town, and under cover of their protection were likely to gain still further advantages. The militia, who had fought like veterans, were falling back before overwhelming numbers. General Brown rode forward to encourage them, but was almost instantly shot by a treacherous foe who had con cealed himself in one of the houses of the town, and was carried from the field. This was about four o clock. Colonel Crabb now assumed com mand. The fighting again surged toward the centre, where charges and countercharges between the academy and Fort No. Four were made, with 312 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. varying fortune, for an hour. At length, a part of the Missouri militia gave way, and for some time Springfield seemed lost. But they were soon rallied, a dash was made against the enemy s right with so much vim and such loud shoutings by others of the militia that the enemy failed to profit by his success on the centre. Meantime five companies of the Eighteenth Iowa, which had just reached the scene of action from an outpost at some distance from Springfield, came up in fine style, under Lieutenant-Colonel Cook, and went into the fight on the centre with such effect as to drive the rebels back into the stockade, and encourage the men who had been fight ing for hours most wonderfully. Darkness now was coming on, and the firing gradually ceased, ending at length with a few volleys of artillery. But thus the contest closed. On the morning of the 9th, the garrison was hopeful, enthusiastic. A renewed attack was not only expected, but it was hoped for. But the enemy had retired under cover of the night from his position south of town, and had taken position more than a mile to the eastward. Hither Colonel Crabb sent a cavalry force to engage them and retard their advance, but they declined battle, and soon retired in haste. They had lost in the battle more than two hundred, in killed and wounded. Our loss was about the same. There were but five companies A, C, F, G, and H of the Eighteenth Iowa taking part in the contest until near its close, when the other five came up and turned the tide of battle in our favor, as has been related. The number of men of the regiment engaged was less than five hundred, of whom fifty-six were killed or wounded. Colonel Crabb, in his official report of the engagement, pays a high com pliment to the five companies which have been designated. They fought, he says, "as Iowa boys know how to fight. Their heavy loss and bloody record are proofs of their valor. But the defence of Springfield, whilst it exhibited the good conduct of these Iowa volunteers in a most enviable light, was remarkable because the Missouri enrolled militia here fought so bravely, and with a tenacity rarely shown by troops of that kind. Except at one particular juncture of the battle they fought as well as any troops, and they were at no time thrown into such confusion as prevented them from being speedily rallied. They fought well on horseback in the early part of the engagement, and they fought well on foot, when their horses became mcumbrances. Had they not fought like veterans, Springfield must have fallen a prey to the enemy, and the Union cause suffered a ter rible, humiliating defeat. And when we reflect that Springfield was saved by militia, a " Quinine Brigade " half as large as a battalion, and a single regiment of volunteers, against an army at least four thousand strong, we must place it among the most creditable victories of the war creditable to the garrison, to General Brown, and to Colonel Crabb, commanding. It was impossible to pursue the enemy. They went off, bent still on mischief, EIGHTEENTH INFANTBY. 313 and wore again defeated near Hartsville in a fierce combat where the Twenty-first Iowa won high honors. The Eighteenth remained at Springfield many months after the battle, so that its stay there was about one year in duration a year in which, in other parts of the theatre of war our arms were gaining great victories, and our troops a proud reputation. The campaigns of Vicksburg and of Chatta nooga, not to mention here the movements by which they were preceded, and which were accompanied by no inconsiderable engagements, attracted the attention of the country. The comparatively unimportant campaigns and movements west of the Mississippi received but little notice. This was a state of things for which the troops stationed west of the Mississippi were not themselves responsible. Undoubtedly many of the regiments which there spent month after month in the inglorious, monotonous duties of the garrison ; in guarding Irish potatoes and hard bread ; or in marching and countermarching in small bodies after raiders and guerrillas, would have assaulted the works of Vicksburg, or fought above the clouds on Lookout Mountain, or swept up the steep sides of Missionary Ridge as gallantly as the troops who were called into these glorious fields of duty. Their great praise is that, though they could not submit to the performance of duties in the more quiet field to which they were assigned without men tal repinings at their lot, they nevertheless rejoiced with unfeigned satis faction at .the triumphs of the general cause and the reputation acquired by the more fortunate regiments. Certain it is that the Eighteenth Iowa had this honorable feeling. A member of the regiment, writing to the Burlington Hawk-Eye, premises a brief account of the regiment s services with the following sentences: " While the State has been duly apprised of the career of most of its other regiments, of which it is justly proud, and which regiments have had the good fortune to be engaged in more prominent fields, little has been known of the services of the Eighteenth regiment because they have been performed in a field comparatively obscure. It is, however, with no feeling of jealousy that we make this remark, for we share in the just pride which every lowan feels in the noble and brilliant career of all its regiments, and have no feeling but of unbounded satisfaction in contemplating their grow ing renown, and would rather increase than diminish it," This was written after General Sherman s successful campaign of Atlanta, and after General Steele s unsuccessful campaign in Arkansas, in which latter the Eighteenth took part, performing its duties well and bravely, but in common with the other troops engaged, receiving precious little notice from the general pub lic. The fault should probably lay at the door of the general command ing. Had Sherman been in Arkansas and Steele in Georgia, the case would doubtless have been widely different. But to return. 40 314 IOWA A1SD THE REBELLION. After the battle of Springfield, the Eighteenth remained on garrison duty there a long time. In April, Colonel Edwards assumed command of the post, and retained it for several months. When, in the fall of this year, the rebel general Shelby made a foray into Missouri, Colonel Ed wards, at that time in the temporary command of the district of southwest ern Missouri, pursued him into the central part of the State, and after wards, then in command of his regiment, chased him into Arkansas, forming, in this rapid movement, a part of the force under command of Brigadier-General John McNeil. The force was unable to overtake Shelby, but it compelled him to keep to the roads, and to fling aside as dangerous incuiubrances much of his baggage and all his artillery. Upon reaching the Arkansas, near Clarksville, General McNeil ceased pursuit, and marched thence to Fort Smith, arriving on the 30th of October. The march had been made without tents, the troops bivouacking every night, but, though they made forced marches almost every day for two weeks, their health was so good when they reached the fort that but three men of the whole command were reported sick. Here again the Eighteenth was assigned to garrison duty. Colonel Ed wards was placed in command of the post about one month after the arri val of the regiment at Fort Smith. The winter was spent in tranquility, but some of the time on short rations. But in March, 1864, Brigadier- General Thayer, commanding a division of troops, marched from Fort Smith on Arkadelphia, with the view of reenforcing at that point a column under General Steele, moving from Little Kock. Colonel Edwards com manded a brigade, consisting of his own regiment, the First and Second Arkansas, and the Second Indiana Battery. Thayer made the junction with Steele at Elkin s Ferry, whence the united command marched in a southwesterly direction, Shreveport, Louisiana, being the objective point, and a junction there with Banks and the complete subjugation of the southwest thereafter, the glorious object of the expedition. But at the time Thayer was joining Steele, the rebels were whipping Banks at Mans field or, to state the case with more exactness, Banks was there being outgeneralled into defeat which fact turned the whole Bed River expedi tion and this its adjunct inside out and bottom up. However, General Steele continued to move on a day or two, until he heard of the disaster in Louisiana, when, instead of turning about face and retreating to Little Rock, as he might well have done, he merely deflected to the left and marched on Camden. It was well for Steele that the more disastrous blunder of Banks attracted the public attention to him, otherwise General Steele must have been held to accountability for needless disasters and loss of life. Had he retreated at once, our army would not have been Starved at Camden ; train after train would not have been captured ; innu- EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. 315 uierable monstrous lies covering up these losses might have been spared, and their fabricators have yet some hopes of heaven ; above all, several engagements wherein no good was done save that of showing the unyielding valor of our troops might have been avoided, and the blood of many of our best citizens been at least saved for sacrifice on some field of honor and of glory. But the army marched on to Camden, our regiment taking part in the grand display on Prairie D Anne, which was preceded by a heavy skirmish. On the 13th of April, an engagement took place about thirty miles from Camden, near the Hamlet of Moscow. By his manoeuvres on Prairie D Anne, General Steele had effected the evacuation of Camden, the rebels marching westward to intercept him in his supposed march directly toward Shreveport. Discovering their error, they attacked him in rear, near Mos cow. The brigade of Colonel Edwards stood the brunt of the attack at first, and being reenforced by the two other brigades of the division, drove the rebels several miles to the rear, gaining a handsome victory. The con test lasted several hours, throughout the whole of which the Eighteenth was engaged. But, though under heavy fire, its losses were trifling. The march thence to Camden was continued with but little molestation from the enemy. The army remained at Camden some ten days, for what reason, except to supply the enemy with trains and stores, I have not seen assigned in any credible writing. During this period the Eighteenth had a severe en gagement with the enemy its most severe battle, in fact, during its whole history. And though it performed its duty most bravely as gallantly fighting, in fact, as men ever fought on any field, yet the combat was so en tirely without result on the general cause, that it has scarcely been heard of. Moreover, it was a combat over a train, which, though ever so well fought, would hardly have been able to excite the general eclat, like the defence of Allatoona Pass by Corse, for instance, or that of Resaca by Wever. Nevertheless, considered as a simple combat, the affair which I am about to describe was most bravely, even heroically, fought by the Eighteenth Iowa regiment. On the morning of April 17th, the regiment, and one section of the Second Indiana Battery, Captain Duncan, Eighteenth Iowa, commanding, were ordered to march in the direction of Poison Springs, to reenforce Colonel Williams, First Kansas Colored Regiment, in guard of a forage train, reported as threatened by a large rebel force. Marching to the threatened locality, the Eighteenth took position in rear of the train, the First Kansas having the front. On the morning of the 18th, the whole force, train included, was suddenly attacked by rebel troopers numbering several thousand. The Kansas negroes received the first onslaught, but 316 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. they were overwhelmed by the suddenness and power of the attack, and compelled to retreat in disorder. They fell back on and through the line of the Eighteenth, which was now left to sustain the combat alone. The enemy charged the line with the greatest impetuosity no less than seven several times. They outnumbered the little Union band in the proportion of at least five to one, and at every charge they succeeded in breaking our line, so utterly impossible was it for the small force to entirely check their onset. Their front lines fell to the earth as one man, under our withering fire, but those behind them continued the rushing charge over their dead and wounded comrades and their horses. They could not be checked until they had thrown our line into some confusion. But fighting pell-mell, and at the same time coming into line, the gallant Eighteenth continued the con test, now successfully repelling the foe, anon disordered momentarily, till it had placed more than its own number of rebels hors-du-combat, and was surrounded on nearly every quarter by superior numbers, when the men fixed bayonets and cut their way out, leaving a bloody track behind them. In this fierce combat, Captains Blanchard, Clover, Stonaker, and Cona- way were specially conspicuous, and Sergeants Dean, Bowers, Oleson, Mardis, Bullock, and Kirkpatrick, received particular mention. All the officers and men behaved with uncommon bravery, or the regiment never could have been extricated from its perilous position. It returned to camp at Camden with a loss of seventy-seven, killed, wounded, and captured. In the retreat on Little Rock, made before a powerful enemy, across swollen streams, and over the most wretched roads, the regiment shared all the sufferings and hardships which characterized this part of the cam paign. For three weeks, the command subsisted almost entirely upon raw corn, and yet marched on through swamp, morass, and miry forest, with a fortitude worthy of every commendation. In the battle of Jenkin s Ferry, where the Twenty-ninth, Thirty-third, all that was left of the Thirty-sixth, and the Fortieth Iowa regiments fought so finely, and where General Samuel A. Rice received the wound which caused his death, the Eigh teenth did not take an active part. Colonel Edwards held the reserve and guarded the ordnance train during this severe contest, and the enemy was repulsed and defeated without calling the reserve to the front. When this campaign had been some time closed, and there seemed to be no further danger of a rebel attack in force on Little Rock, our regiment returned to Fort Smith, and again became part of the garrison of that important post. But its duties there were neither light nor pleasant. Nor did it remain all the while at the fort, though that continued to be for several months, the nominal head-quarters of the regiment. The enemy much of the time blockaded the river below, so that starvation frequently EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. 317 stared the command in the face. Living on short rations was the rule, and plenty the exception. It was necessary that the command should make inarches to some distance from the fort, in search of food, so that there was enough to do, though no fighting. In December, Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh J. Campbell, who had some time before been promoted from the majority, was promoted colonel, in place of Edwards, appointed brigadier- general of volunteers. Joseph K. Morey, who, as we have seen, entered the service as a lieutenant, had also for some time been major. During the winter the regiment made a march beyond Fort Gibson and back to Fort Smith, whereby it performed valuable as well as dangerous service. It left Fort Smith in November for Fort Gibson, expecting to meet there a supply train from Fort Scott, Kansas. The march was com menced on six days half-rations. When the regiment, which was accom panied by about one hundred and fifty Indian warriors, reached Fort Gibson, nothing had been heard of the train, except that it had started. The command was now out of rations. On the evening of November 27th, it received orders to march. The men received two ears of corn apiece, and a table-spoonful of coffee for a mess of four, and commenced the march for the train at eleven o clock that night. They found it, on the morning of December 1st, corralled on Neosho Creek, about one hundred and twenty- five miles from Fort Gibson. It consisted of one hundred six-mule wagons, one hundred ox wagons, three hundred wagons with supplies for the Indians, and one hundred sutler s wagons. It is needless to say that the starved men of the Eighteenth soon discovered the contents of one wagon, or that it contained something to appease hunger. Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, this very day commissioned colonel, assumed command, and the train was soon moving forward. The regiment reached Fort Smith on its return, on the llth day of December. But the supplies soon became short again. General Edwards wrote, on the 16th of January, 1865, as follows: "We are in a bad fix; we are out of rations, having only enough for five days, water-bound between here and Fort Gibson; the rebels hold Dardanelles, and I don t know whether Gene ral Reynolds can get boats up to us with supplies or not. Happily, rations came just five days afterwards, and the command was relieved from its "bad fix." No less than four steamers arrived loaded to the guards with supplies, when the starvation era of the Eighteenth came to an end, to be renewed no more forever. The regiment remained in service, without further noteworthy incident, till near the close of the summer, when it was mustered out, and moving to Iowa, was disbanded. Those who had composed the command were met with cheering words of welcome in all parts of the State, our citizens well knowing that, though the battle-flag of the regiment was not adorned with 318 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the names of many historic battles, the officers and men had well performed all their duties on the field to which they had been ordered, and had earned the gratitude of Iowa and of the country. 2 2 The last official roster of this regiment which I have seen is in General Baker s Report for 1865. It is as follows: Colonel Hugh J. Campbell; Major Joseph K. Morey; Adjutant Elias J. Pike; Surgeon Edwin Kirkup; Assistant Henry C. Sanford ; Quartermaster Sidney S. Smith; Chaplain Adams Burris. LINE OFFICERS. Company A First Lieutenant John F. Landis. Company S Captain William M. Duncan; Lieutenants James M. Boreing, James M. Higgins. Company C Captain A. B. Conaway. Company D Captain Justinian Ray. Company E Captain Edwin B. Dean ; Lieutenant Newton M. Brown. Company F Captain John A. Beltzer; Lieutenant Jacob C. Millisack. Company G Captain Orlo Teed; Lieutenant William Michael. Company If Captain Jesse C. Rhodabeck ; Lieutenant William C. Rowland. Company /Captain Thomas Blanchard ; Lieutenants William Ragan, Benjamin I. Kinsey. Company K Captain Chester C. Clover; Lieutenant Joseph F. Murray. CHAPTER XVIII. NINETEENTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZED DURING THE SUMMER OP 1862 RENDEZVOUS AT KEOKUK MOVE TO ST. LOUIS CAMPAIGN IN MISSOURI AND ARKANSAS BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE CAPTURE OF VAN BUREN, ARKANSAS RETURN TO MISSOURI AC TIVE OPERATIONS IN THAT STATE JOIN THE ARMY UNDER GRANT BELEA GUERING VICKSBURG ACTIVE OPERATIONS AFTER THE CAPITULATION THE REGIMENT MOVES TO TEXAS LONG PERIOD OF QUIET AT BROWNSVILLE- EVACUATE THAT PLACE AND RETURN TO NEW ORLEANS MEETING OF THE REGIMENT WITH ITS PRISONERS CAPTURED THE YEAR BEFORE MOVE TO FLORIDA TO MISSISSIPPI THE CAMPAIGN OF MOBILE UNDER CANBY HOME WARD BOUND. THE 1st of July, 1862, was one of the gloomiest epochs, of the sundry times, during the war, that tried men s souls. General McClellan, com manding the Army of the Potomac, having been for some time engaged upon his regular approaches to Kichmond, had just passed through the famous seven days contest, which resulted, on account rather of cautious generalship than actual defeat, in the abandonment of the campaign against the rebel capital, and the depression of the national spirits to a depth of gloom almost tantamount to despair. The Chief Executive of the nation, however, seems never to have despaired of the Republic. Whilst, there fore, the partisans of the Young Napoleon, as McClellan was dubbed by his admirers with an absurdity equal to that which would apotheosize Mun- chausen as the god of truth, were sounding the praises of his strategy, converting an unnecessary retreat and an unnecessary defeat into what they called a brilliant change of base, and whilst the people, utterly unable to see any base upon which the said praises could really be founded, were well nigh giving up all hope for the Union, the President, imperturbable in disaster as in victory, asked from the people an addition to the army of three hundred thousand men. The people, aroused by the nation s need, sprang to arms at the Presi dent s call, shouting in general chorus, which was everywhere heard, 319 320 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. "We are coming, Father Abraham, Six Hundred Thousand more 1" Under the proclamation of July 2d, 1862, twenty-two full regiments of infantry were raised in Iowa, of which the Nineteenth was the first. Enrolled in the counties of Lee, Jefferson, Washington, Louisa, Van Buren, and Henry, in the First Congressional District, the different companies moved to the regimental rendezvous at Keokuk, where the organization was completed during the latter part of August. The regiment numbered at the time of its organization, nine hundred and eighty-two, officers and men. Benjamin Crabb, of Washington county, who had been a captain in the Seventh Infantry, was appointed colonel; Samuel McFarland, of Henry, who had likewise been a captain in one of our regiments recruited in the earlier part of the war, the Eleventh, was commissioned lieutenant- colonel ; and Daniel Kent, of Van Buren, major. Granville G. Bennett was chosen adjutant, James Bennett, quartermaster, and Reverend Dennis Murphy, chaplain. Doctor Philip Harvey, of Burlington, one of the most noted physicians, as well as political writers of the State, was the first surgeon, having for his assistants, Doctors L. M. Sloanaker, and D. A. Hurst. 1 The regiment remained in quarters at "Camp Lincoln," Keokuk, only about a fortnight after organization, so that, when it left the State only those officers and men who had before seen service had acquired that knowledge of drill and discipline which every regiment finds to be of such great value when called upon to manoauvre in face of the enemy. Lieuten ant-Colonel McFarland had not yet assumed his place in the regiment when on September 4th, it was hastily ordered to St. Louis. Thither the com mand immediately moved by river, reaching there on the next day and at once marching to Benton Barracks, where all troops went who went to St. Louis, and where they all invariably got sick at once or shortly after wards, from the effect of having been there. Fortunately, the Nineteenth was not compelled to halt at the barracks quite a week. On the morning of the llth, being attached to a brigade 1 The various companies had the following officers : Company A Captain John Bruce ; Lieutenants Thomas L. Sproatt, Norvil Powell. Company B Captain Harry Jordan ; Lieutenants John M. Woods, Arthur S. Jordan. Company C Captain T. H. Stanton; Lieutenants J. S. Gray, E. A. Woodford. Company D Captain Joshua Wright; Lieu tenants Harrison Smith, William S. Brooks. Company 12 Captain William Adams ; Lieutenants William H. Gill, Samuel B. Guernsey. Company F Captain John Bird; Lieutenants Levi Fisher, L. M. Smith. Company G Captain Andrew M. Taylor; Lieutenants Charles W. Huff, B. F. Wright. Company H Captain T. W. Richman ; Lieutenants Silas Kent, Walter C. Ferguson. Company I Captain Samuel E. Payne ; Lieutenants Andrew C. Payne, Thomas Johnson. Company K Captain Simeon F. Roderick ; Lieutenants Richard Root, John W. Roberts. Of these, Captain Bruce was promoted major before the close of the year; Captain Stanton mus tered out of the line for promotion in the staff department, whilst Lieutenant Payne resigned some time during that period on account of ill health. NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 321 commanded by General Frank J. Herron, the regiment moved by rail to Holla, and reaching that city late in the evening bivouacked near the depot. Here at once, with scarcely any preliminary training, this regiment com menced actively campaigning in the field, and we shall soon see that before three months from this time it bore a conspicuous, brilliant part in a severe engagement, making a charge, against the enemy strongly posted, of which any command of veteran troops might well have been proud, and showing throughout the conflict a degree of stubborn bravery very rarely exhibited by raw troops never, unless those troops are made up of the best material. The regiment remained in the vicinity of Holla a few days, when it joined in the march on Springfield, arriving on the 24th. Here there were many confederate prisoners. The place was also of military importance, and was at this time being strengthened by fortifications. Dividing their time, therefore, between guarding prisoners and performing manual labor on the works, the men of the Nineteenth spent nearly three weeks at Springfield, without being yet able to give much attention to drill. How ever, it was not altogether neglected, and both officers and men made amends for want of opportunity by unusual zeal and diligence at such times as could be devoted to exercises. From Springfield the command marched to Cassville, where, about the middle of October, the Army of the Frontier was organized, General Herron taking command of the Third Division therein, to which the Nineteenth was attached. Here Lieutenant- Colonel McFarland joined the regiment, and at once entered upon his duties as i field officer, with an earnestness, energy, and intelligence which would, no doubt, speedily have won for him high consideration and rank in the ser vice, had he not been destined so soon to yield up his life. Certain it is that he at once won the regards of all in the command of his superior officers as well as of those who served under him. On the 17th, the division broke camp at Cassville, and commenced a march which turned out to be most laborious and severe, but which was unaccompanied by any general engagement. The campaign continued through the remainder of the month, and till near the close of November, the whole of the period being characterized by the most disagreeable weather rain, raw, blustering days, through which the troops shivered notwithstanding their almost constant, and their severe exertions. General Blunt, commanding the Army of the Frontier, was on Sugar Creek, near the battle-field of Pea Ridge, threatened by a considerable rebel army under Hindman. Herron practically formed a junction with Blunt on the even ing of the 18th. His army rested on their arms during the night, and here halted till the evening of the 20th. Not long before dark of that day General Herron had his troops again in motion. Marching by night, he passed over the field of Pea Ri4ge, the troops passing silently through the 41 322 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. sombre shadows of the tall trees which swung to and fro in the breeze with a mournful sound, as though moaning over the dead who reposed beneath their branches. Marching on more rapidly when they had crossed the field, they tramped on to White River, plunged into its cold waters, flowing in a current three feet in depth, and bivouacked near its banks. On the 22d made a full day s march, but, after a short rest, continued to move on, having now wheeled to the right, and at two o clock on the morn ing of the 23d, reached White River again, at a point some fifteen miles from the former crossing. Here the river was recrossed, and the march continued, with expectations of battle, to Bloomington, where line of battle was formed. Having remained some time in line without meeting attack, the march was resumed, and Cross Hollows reached late in the evening. The distance marched during these three days and nights was one hundred miles, over a mountainous country, and in the face of the enemy who was driven southward to the Boston Mountains. The troops remained in camp at Cross Hollows ten days, and then took up line of march in a northerly direction. The retrograde movement was more leisurely than the advance had been, but on some days very long marches were made. After considerable marching and countermarching off the main line, tents were at length pitched near Twin Springs, in an encampment afterwards called " Camp Curtis," and which was about twelve miles south of Springfield. Here were now two divisions of the army, but they had not become fairly settled in camp, not having been there quite a fortnight, when the notes of war were again sounded, and they were hurriedly summoned back to Arkansas, to take principal part, as it happened, in THE BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE. Brigadier-General James G. Blunt, commanding the Army of the Fron tier, having recently defeated Marmaduke at Cane Hill, Arkansas, now had his head-quarters, and the First Division of his army near the field of his victory. Marmaduke retreated southward after his defeat, but on the banks of Lee s Creek, fifteen miles north of Van Buren, was met by General Hind- man, with a large army. The united forces, under the command of Hind- man, immediately moved northward, with the design, no doubt, of first overwhelming the division at Cane Hill, under Blunt s immediate com mand, capturing his large train of supplies at Rhea s Mills, a few miles north, guarded by a single brigade, and then pushing on into Missouri for further and more important conquests. Of this threatening movement of Hindman Blunt sent intelligence to General Herron, commanding the Second and Third divisions, at Twin Springs, more than one hundred miles from army head-quarters. General Herron received the dispatch on the morning of December 3d, and within NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 323 a few hours both divisions were in motion, on the march to reenforce Blunt Moving by forced marches, he reached Elkhorn on the evening of the 5th, whence he dispatched a large proportion of his cavalry, including the First Iowa, to the aid of Blunt, which reenforcement reached that general in safety. Making a night march over the mountains, General Herron reached Fayetteville at four o clock on the morning of the 7th Sunday. This was yet more than fifteen miles distant from Cane Hill, by an air line, and con,- siderably more by the winding mountain roads. Whilst General Herron had been performing this splendid march of one hundred and ten miles in a little more than three days, Hindman had suc ceeded in stealing a march on Blunt, and in throwing his large army be tween him and Herron. The rugged nature of the country in this part of Arkansas, all of which, with its many roads, ravines, deep gorges and secluded valleys, were well known to Hindman and his army, greatly 324 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. assisted him in thus overcoming the watchfulness of the Union commander. Just about Cane Hill, on the elevated plateaus which there abound, and in the rich valleys, the country is well cultivated and largely productive of cereals. But, generally, the region is mountainous. It is coursed by brooks, creeks, rivers, and by many roads, which are needed for the conve nience of an agricultural people. There are two roads leading from Fayette- ville to Van Buren, one, on the summit of the Boston Mountains, called the Wire, or Telegraph road, another, generally parallel therewith, running along the western base of the mountains. The former, when opposite Cane Hill, is about nine miles distant, the latter about six miles. From the Wire road there was one to Cane Hill, which crossed, of course, the road at the base of the mountains. At these intersections General Blunt s pickets were posted. They were attacked on the 5th, by a large force of rebel cavalry, which was repulsed and driven back several miles over the mountains. The rebels returned early on the morning of the 6th, and succeeding in driving our pickets three miles from even the western road, held their position, while Hindman with his main body on the Wire road marched across on to the other, and moving northward placed his army between Blunt and Herron. Entirely ignorant of this success on the part of Hindman, General Herron pushed on toward Cane Hill, expecting to form a junction with Blunt there by 10 or 11 o clock, Sunday morning. He had marched about six miles, when his advance was met by the First Arkansas and Seventh Missouri cavalry, which had been sent forward to reenforce Blunt, retreating in hot haste and great disorder. They had been attacked by Marmaduke near Illinois River. With great difficulty their headlong course was checked, before it had disordered the whole army, and the cowards reformed. But they took no part in the battle which ensued. The rebels who had followed them were speedily turned to the right about and driven several miles back upon their main body, strongly posted on each side of the road beyond Illinois River. They occupied a high ridge, covered with timber and thick under growth, in front of which was a considerable prairie, on whose exposed surface were corn-fields, meadows, and a considerable expanse of weeds. This was the battle-field of Prairie Grove, so called from a church in the vicinity. General Herron formed in line of battle, the Third Division on the left, the Second on the right. To feel the position of the enemy he first ordered the Ninety-fourth Illinois infantry, with a section of a battery of the First Missouri light artillery, to cross the river and open fire. The enemy s bat teries compelled this force to quickly retire. Cutting a road through the timber, half a mile distant, Herron here made a feint, and drawing the enemy s fire, he crossed his infantry at the ford under cover of the fire of NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 325 eighteen pieces of artillery, and deployed into line on the south side of the stream. It was a manoeuvre of the finest audacity, and had hardly been accomplished when General Herron, perhaps, might have wished it undone, and his troops behind the cover of the stream. So rapidly were the evolu tions performed that the rebel batteries, which had directed their fire against the feint, did not obtain range on our lines before all our guns were playing on them, and with such effect as to silence nearly all the opposing artillery within an hour. Nevertheless, it was clear there was a vastly superior force in our front. But Herron, with an audacity even finer than that which impelled his first manoeuvre of battle, determined to stand his ground not only, but to charge the enemy, in bold attack, in the hope that Blunt, who could not be distant more than ten miles, would be present in time to aid him should he meet with misfortune. It will be easily believed that General Herron s position was now one of the most imminent danger. He was between an enemy who out-numbered him at least four to one, and a river which could be rapidly crossed only at a single ford. His enemy was strongly posted on an elevated ridge, under cover of timber. He was in the open plain. In this situation artillery alone could save him from being speedily crushed. Accordingly, he used his artillery, from first to last of the fight, with consummate skill and terri ble effect. All his batteries were constantly worked, and throwing among the rebels a fearful storm of deadly missiles. Galled by this fatal fire, the rebels moved to their right, with the view both of avoiding it and attacking our left. Herron promptly met this movement by a double one on his part. First he ordered Colonel Orme s brigade of his division to the base of the ridge whence the enemy s right was moving to attack our left. Colonel Orme executed his movement with success, and attracted the attention of the enemy in that quarter. Then the First Brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Bertram, Twentieth Wis consin, commanding, charged directly upon the enemy s right centre. It was a grand sight. The batteries advanced across the open field, belching forth fire and smoke, and sending shell, and grape, and canister into the woods in front as they moved up, and gallantly supported by the Nineteenth Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel McFarland, and the Twentieth Wisconsin. A rebel battery near the edge of the hill, and a heavy force of infantry con stantly fired on the audacious brigade, thinning its ranks at every volley, but it pressed on steadily and firmly till within an hundred paces of the base of the hill. There the artillery halted, and the infantry dashed ahead in one of the bravest charges ever made. Moving across the rest of the open field with bayonets fixed, the brave men of the Nineteenth Iowa and Twentieth Wisconsin rushed up the hill, drove the infantry supports from the battery, captured the guns, and moved on against the enemy higher up 326 IOWA AND THE REBELLION, OF FXtA.111132 GJOROVE, NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 327 on the hill. Overpowered by numbers they were driven back ; but rallying under the cheering voice of McFarland they again attempted to carry the position, but were again overwhelmed by numbers and compelled to retire, but not till the undaunted McFarland and hundreds of his gallant comrades had fallen on that fatal field. It was as brave a fight as men ever made, but here it did not avail. When our troops retired, the rebels charged en masse upon our line o/ artillery. The batteries met the charge with as downright fighting a^WaS ever witnessed. But the rebels, with the most dashing bravery, advanced to within an hundred yards of the guns, when they received a fire so terri ble that it seemed to lift them up in the air and hurl them back into the forest. These were the batteries of Foust, Backof, and Boeries, who here saved the army. Colonel Houston, commanding Second Division, then led a charge by the Twenty-sixth Indiana and Thirty-seventh Illinois, which was made with the greatest gallantry, like that by the Nineteenth Iowa and Twentieth Wisconsin, but it met with a similar fate. These gallant regiments were repulsed with heavy loss, but not till after they had captured the same battery, and driven the enemy far up the hill. About this time, which was between two and three o clock, heavy firing was heard upon our extreme right. It was from the guns of Blunt, who had just arrived upon the field, and was going into the fight with charac- teristical energy to make of the battle a Waterloo defeat for the rebels. That officer, early in the morning of the 7th by a reconnoissance in force discovered that there was but a small body of rebels in his front. Cor rectly surmising the situation as it existed, he promptly made his disposi tions to march to the rescue of his brothers in arms whom he knew must be in peril. Sending his cavalry at once to the assistance of Herron, he put his artillery and infantry in motion in the same direction, and first moving north toward Rhea s Mills, marched the last five miles in an hour, to the sound of Herron s artillery, and at once delivered attack upon the enemy s left, but with Rabb s battery cross-firing on their right to the great relief and joy of our left then sorely pressed. The fight was renewed with fresh enthusiasm by the troops under Herron, and at once became general along the line. From the nature of the field, our artillery was enabled to do great execution, and the constant firing from nearly fifty guns made fearful havoc on the enemy, and added to the din of battle an unceasing roar and heavy rattle, like a long continued peal of thunder. But the infantry were not idle. They kept up also a constant fire, and made several charges on the enemy s position, which, however, though bravely, heroically done, and at first seemingly successful, had a result like those I have already described. The brigade commanded 328 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. by Colonel Dye, Twentieth Iowa, which belonged to the Second Division, made one of these charges, the Twentieth under command of Lieutenant- Colonel Leake, but it was repulsed. So the fight was continued by the artillery and the infantry in line, and was thus carried on till night put an end to the contest. The troops slept on their arms, prepared to renew the battle on the mor row. But Hindinan had been so roughly handled our artillery had made such fearful rents in his ranks, and our infantry by their skilful firing and by their charges, which, though repulsed, brought heavy losses to the enemy, had inflicted such severe punishment that, muffling his artillery wagons with the blankets of his soldiers, he stealthily put his army in re treat during the night. Out of sight and sound of the Army of the Fron tier, the main body rapidly retreated on Van Buren. Hindman, on the morning after the battle sent into our lines a flag of truce, with a note re questing leave to care for his dead and wounded and a personal interview with General Blunt. His infamous conduct on this occasion has become a matter of general history and of general detestation. By means of prosti tuting the white flag to purposes of deceit, he got his defeated and demor alized army out of the way. The rebel loss in this battle was not less than a thousand killed outright, and buried on the field. The entire field was strewn with their dead, whilst on the lines of our charges they actually lay in some places heaped up in piles. Their losses in wounded were probably in the usual propor tion, so that it can scarcely be doubted that the Army of the Frontier placed at least as many rebels hors-du-combat as that army numbered. , On no other supposition than that of unusually heavy losses can the rebel re treat be explained, for it is certain that Hindman s army on the morning of the 7th outnumbered the Union army in the proportion of three to one. But unable, notwithstanding his great superiority of numbers to the whole Army of the Frontier to defeat even half of it (for after Herron had sent his cavalry to Blunt such was his proportion of the army), he took the ad vice of prudence and beat a hasty retreat, and had the manliness after wards to acknowledge that he had been severely defeated. He had lost one general officer, Stein, killed on the field, and many field and line officers killed and wounded. The Union loss was one thousand one hundred and forty-eight, of whom one hundred and sixty-seven were killed, seven hundred and ninety-eight wounded, and one hundred and eighty-three missing, the most of the missing being among the wounded as was afterwards made known. Lieu tenant-Colonel McFarland was the most prominent officer killed, but Colo nel Black, Thirty -seventh Illinois, and Major Thompson, Twentieth Iowa, and many line officers were wounded. Major Burdett, Seventh Missouri NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 329 cavalry, was killed. The loss was heavy, but light indeed when compared with that of the enemy, so that on this account, as well as on account of the results which followed, the battle of Prairie Grove may justly be pro nounced one of the most decided victories of the war ; and I think I may safely say that in the audacity with which it was commenced by Herron and the persistent bravery with which it was continued throughout the entire day, it challenges universal admiration. Most justly, therefore, did both * Blunt and Herron issue congratulatory orders to their troops, and Major- General Curtis, commanding the department, announce "a hard-fought battle and a complete victory. The Iowa regiments here engaged were the Nineteenth and Twentieth Infantry and the First Cavalry. Of the Nineteenth, I have said no little in the general description of the battle. Three Companies A, B, and C, acting as skirmishers, under command of Adjutant R. Root, were detached from the regiment, and performed hazardous service, especially in the early part of the engagement, where Captain Bruce was particularly noted for bravery and coolness. The whole command behaved with the most reck less bravery. Officers and men, says Major Kent, in his official report, be haved nobly, and fought desperately. He specially mentions Captain Roderick, Captain Richmond, Captain Taylor, Captain Bruce, and Lieu tenant Brooks, of Company I, who brought the colors off the field, and in so doing was badly wounded. The regiment went into the battle, five hun dred strong, and lost in killed and wounded, one hundred and ninety- eight. 2 This was a grievous loss, and embraced, besides the officer com- 2 The Peoria (Illinois) Transcript published the following incident of the battle of Prairie Grove: "The fight was most determined, and the slaughter immense. Lieutenant William S. Brooks, Nineteenth Iowa, was struck while we were being driven back from a too far advanced position. He was hit at the commencement of the retreat, and came near being captured, as he could not run. When more than half way to the battery, the color-sergeant fell, and Lieutenant Brooks re ceived the colors. The pursuing rebel colonel shouted, God d n them, take their colors. This enraged Brooks, and he shouted back, You can t do it. They let go a volley which left nine holes In the flag, and eighteen in the Lieutenant s cKTthes ! Four bullets, says the Lieutenant, passed through the cuff of my shirt-sleeve, but they could not wound the hand that held the old flag. It was brought safely off." LIST OF CASUALTIES, NINETEENTH IOWA, AT THE BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE. Killed, Lieutenant- Colonel commanding Samuel McFarland; Sergeant-Major C. B. Buckingham. Company A Wounded, Private William B. Baltzell. Company B Killed, Private Robert B. Caulk, Joseph McCully. Wounded, Captain Harry Jordan ; Privates J. F. Sandford, William McCormick, Isaac Rumer, Lewis Heald, Joseph McMurray, (mor tally), Manfred Hall, Gilbert Locke, William Taylor. Company C Wounded, Sergeant William R. Jeffrey; Corporal Thomas E. Johnson, Color Guard ; Privates W. A. Bailey, Color Guard, A. P. Randall, Cyrus Condit. Company D Killed, Privates Marion Marlow, John Crowner, James Clelland, Z. T. Sylvester, George W. Ream, John W. Roberts, William F. McReynolds, John F. Ball. Wounded, Captain Joshua Wright ; First Lieutenant Harrison Smith ; Second Lieutenant William S. Brooks ; Sergeants S. W. Gregg, W. M. Campbell; Corporals George McCrary, Evin F. Cowger; Privates John H. Webb, Henry D. Williams, John Huddlestone, Willard Fleenor, George E. Wilson, Leander Powellson, Stephen Burris, A. Holmes, L. A. McReynolds, C. A. Campbell. Captured, Private J. C. Taylor. 42 330 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. manding, some of the best officers and men in the regiment. The death of Lieutenant-Colonel McFarland was most deeply deplored by the com mand, in which he was highly popular, and by all intelligent citizens of Iowa, to whom he had long been favorably known, as editor, lawyer, and legislator. He had been in command of the regiment nearly all the time since joining it, because of the absence of Colonel Crabb. Upon joining it, he brought with him a high reputation for all manly qualities and sol dierly abilities, acquired as captain of one of the companies in the gallant Eleventh regiment, from which he was promoted. He had not been long in command till he had won the love and admiration of all who served un der him, and the unmixed respect of his superior officers. The regiment halted, on the night before the battle, some miles hitherward of Fayette- ville, for supper. Supper over, the advance was again sounded. Forming his regiment about him in a hollow square, Colonel McFarland thus ad dressed the men : My boys, we will have a fight to-morrow if the rebels do not run. Let every man be at his post no straggling. When the time for action comes, keep cool ; aim steadily ; be careful not to shoot Company E Killed, Privates Albert Thompson, Samuel H. Rogers, Edward Mooney. Wounded, Sergeant Charles E. Gibbs; Corporals James M. Layton, James E. Henderson; Privates Edwin Mallett, William E. Kent, Edwin Smith, Samuel W. Campbell, John H. Mallett, Jefferson K. McKaig, Decatur Pittman, Fieldon Taylor, William Wilkins, George H. Dewey, Thomas J. Matlock. Company F Killed, Second Lieutenant Loammie M. Smith; Privates Henry S. Fowler, William Fowler, Robert H. Brown, Edwin Smith, Kendall Littleton. Wmtnded, Sergeants Thomas D. Chap man, (mortally), William A. Hall ; Corporal Charles F. Morris, Color Guard, (mortally) ; Privates John A. Brubaker, Madison G. Chapman, G. B. Dotson, Hiram B. Davidson, Henry F. Gibbs, Jo seph Higbee, Charles E. Knight, John W. LittletonDaniel McKay, Thomas B. Morris, William II. McDaniel, Henry C. Pike, Joseph Racer, Joseph Shipman, Cicero Thomas, Joseph Wagner, Aureliua Wood, Solomon P. Key, Martin Blair. Company G Killed. Sergeant William Gregory; Corporal Richard Morgan. Wounded, Sergeanta B. W. Huff, Ellison Holland; Corporal William Peyton; Privates William Chapman, W. H. Dowell, George Erwin, Samuel Griffith, Jeremiah Helmick, William Hoffman, Frederic Kircher, Z. B. Kyle, Charles Law, Christopher Lyster, William II. Marshall, Joe Ross, A. G. Scott, George Simpson, James Smith, Frederic Webber, Harmon Gast. Company H Killed, Sergeant Samuel Bonney; Corporal William H. Locke; Privates Charles W. Fisher, Levi W. Taylor, Joshua F. Phillips, Thomas B. Linning, Levi Keller, Marshal Byers, William Kennion. Wounded, Privates Albert Cochrane. Moses Groom, Isaac D. Evans, Henry Green, Robert F. Robinson, Francis M. Cook, J. M. W. Cretcher; Corporals 0. B. Miller, A. J. Smith; Pri vates Silas Langford, Robert H. Parsons, Robert D. Foster, Joseph H. Lannam, Tilman Langford. Captured, Captain T. W. Richmond released on parole. Company 1 Killed, Second Lieutenant Thomas Johnston ; Corporals John Douglass, Augustus B. Rehkoff; Privates Henry V. Gaddis, William McKenny, Jonathan J. Lee, James Patterson. Wounded, Captain S. E. Paine; Sergeants William A. Strong, Jacob Nixon; Corporals Datus D. Proper, Alexander Fix; Privates James Robb, Luman A. Brooks, William Short, Martin Hornbaker, James L. Fry, John H. Webber, Ferguson Teal, Russell Johnson, Harrison O Hara. Company K Killed, Privates Lorenzo P. Servass, Benjamin F. Harland, William E. Kenyon, Robert S. Brown, Marion McCoy, Madison Moore. Wounded, Sergeants George Cramer, D. II. Rod erick; Corporals Stokely Wright, Elias H. Dickerson, John D. Trobridge; Privates William F. Birge, Doctor F. Brown, William Erwin, Robert E. Jameson, James E. Jay, Robert C. Ives, Edwin H. Murray, Orrel H. Straw, Thomas W. Savage, William J. Spring, Jefferson Creekbaum, Wiley Jay, Francis H. Alter, William G. Anderson, S. H. Humphrey, Brant Lloyd, William R. Macey, Joseph Week, Ithamar Doane, Robert N. Bailey, Jacob Grimes, Solomon Luce, Samuel Evans. NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 331 too high, and that you draw a bead on the enemy when you fire." The stars shone calmly down on the scene, and the clear voice of the speaker rang out in the cool air with a singular effect. The men seemed to catch their colonel s determined spirit, and moved off on the march, forgetting their fatigue and blistered feet, as if anxious for the coming conflict. In the battle he manifested the most reckless bravery, always at his post, issuing his orders with the utmost coolness, and managing his command with grea^ efficiency. When the charge was made, his tall, manly form could be s$en plainly visible above all others, as he rode on, cheering and encouraging his men. He was thus nobly performing his part when a rebel bullet pierced his heart, and he fell dead from his horse. The battle went on, heeding not the flight of his and the other brave spirits which were here sacrificed to the foe. It was not long after the charge in which McFarland fell that the Twentieth Iowa was called upon to make that charge which I have briefly mentioned. When General Blunt arrived upon the field, Colonel Dye, Twentieth Iowa, commanding a bri gade on the extreme right of General Herron s forces, reported to him, and was soon ordered to charge the enemy, together with a regiment of civil ized Indians belonging to Blunt s division. The Twentieth manfully obeyed this order, moving in fine style across the field, obliquing to the left, and entered the woods under a heavy fire from the enemy. They continued to move on in gallant style, but, like all others who attempted to carry the rebel position, were compelled to retire, after suffering a loss in killed and wounded of forty-seven. Lieutenant-Colonel Leake says that his officers and men behaved most handsomely throughout the battle, specially men tioning Major Thompson, who was wounded, Lieutenant J. C. McClelland, acting adjutant, and Sergeant-Major George A. Gray. The field was not suitable to cavalry fighting. This arm of the service was posted on the extreme right during the fight. The First Iowa Cavalry here Ipst one man killed and three captured, and during the progress of the battle recaptured from the enemy a howitzer which they had taken from the Tenth Illinois cavalry. 3 8 Before leaving this part of my narrative, I may say that the rebel generals were very reticent on the battle of Prairie Grove. I have never happened to meet with any of their official reports pertaining thereto. Pollard, the rebel historian of the war, has the following account of it: " On the 27th of November, General Hindman came up with the enemy at Prairie Grove, near Fayetteville, Arkansas, with a force of about nine thousand men. The enemy, under the command of General Blunt, was already largely superior in numbers; and it was the object of Hindman to cut off reinforcements of seven or eight thousand which were on the way. In this he failed; but, nothing daunted, brought on the attack at daylight, capturing, in the first charge of General Mar- maduke s cavalry, a whole regiment and twenty-three wagons heavily laden with quartermaster and medical stores. Soon after sunrise the fight commenced in good earnest, and with no cessation the artillery continued till nightfall. Our whole line of infantry were in close conflict nearly the whole day with the enemy, who were attempting, with their force of eighteen thousand men to drive us from our position. In every instance they were repulsed, and finally driven back from th 332 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. There is a general impression in the country that the battle of Prairie Grove was rashly fought by General Herron, and that he would have been entirely crushed but for the timely arrival of General Blunt. The fact that Herron did the principal part of the fighting his losses were nine hundred and fifty-three, those of Blunt one hundred and ninety-five aided in .creating the belief that but for this fortunate reinforcement he would have been ruined. There never was a case in which the boot was so palpably put on the wrong leg. It was Herron who reenforced Blunt, and by an unparalleled march, relieved the commanding general from the most imminent peril not Blunt who reenforced Herron. It was certainly no fault of Herron s that he found Hindman between himself and the General who had asked his assistance, and it was as certainly Blunt s duty to fight to his last man, to aid his lieutenant, for it was by his negligence that Herron was made to bear the brunt of the battle. So he thought him self, no doubt, and redeemed the error of letting Hindman get by him by rapidly rushing to the field and with his comparatively fresh troops turning the scale of battle in our favor. "I cannot close this report," says Blunt, "without availing myself of the occasion to express my thanks to Bri gadier-General F. J. Herron for the promptness with which he responded to my order to reenforce me, as also for the gallantry displayed by him upon the field. His conduct is deserving of the highest praise. I only quote this that it may appear officially, that the general impression to which I have referred is most erroneous, not because I see much value in the praise. The battle of Prairie Grove is Herron s praise. He can rest on the laurels he won there, and in getting there, certain that he will go down to history among the bravest of the brave generals of the war, and among the most energetic and efficient. General Blunt in the bestowal of his praises mentions Major V. P. Van Antwerp, Inspector-General, who performed efficient and valuable services on the field. He also compliments Colonel Thomas Bowen, Thirteenth Kansas. The former is a prominent citizen of Iowa, and the latter had been brought up and educated in the State. General Herron mentions field; General Hindman driving them to within eight miles of Fayetteville, when our forces fell back to their supply depot, between Cane Hill and Van Buren. We captured three hundred pri soners and vast quantities of stores. The enemy s loss in killed and wounded was about one thou sand ; the Confederate loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, about three hundred. In one of the charges of the engagement, General Stein, of the Missouri State Guard, was killed, a ball passing directly through his brain." Second Year of the War, pp. 201, 202. This is all the Southern historian has to say about a great battle, of the very date of which he is ignorant, mistaking therein the trifling period of ten days and cool weather at that ! He evi dently confounds the battles of Cane Hill and Prairie Grove, and in his confusion gets every thing BO snarled up that not a shred of truth can bo picked out of his narrative. And this is rebel his tory! Why, if the writer of a northern medicated almanac were to get off such stuff, he would be universally voted a self-evident humbug. But Pollard wrote in a hurry to " supply the market," and so long as the public buys of him, he will sell the public. NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 333 most favorably Captain William Hyde Clark, Captain Littleton, Captain Brewster, and Lieutenants Pettit, Thomas, and Douglass, of his staff, and, in a familiar letter, afterwards written to a friend in Dubuque, said, u I think my staff is just about as near right as you find them." The army encamped on the field after the battle. The Nineteenth spent two days in the sad duty of burying the dead and caring for the immediate wants of the wounded, after which it settled down into the performance of the quiet duties of camp life. During this period of rest, Major Kent w,ag 4 succeeded by Captain John Bruce, the former having been promoted to tfie lieutenant-colonelcy on the death of McFarland. On the 28th, the army moved, proceeding by forced marches to Van Buren, and captured that city, with large quantities of property belonging to the rebels. Having participated in this "short, sharp, and decisive" campaign, our regiment returned to camp at Prairie Grove, arriving on the last day of the year. Spending New Year s day there, the army moved on the next by Fayette- ville to the banks of White River, where it halted a few days, and was reviewed by General Schofield commanding, who had been absent from his command for a considerable period. Thence our regiment marched to Huntsville, southeast of Fayetteville. Halting there not quite a week it moved to Carroll ton, northeast of Hunts ville, where it also went into encampment for a short time. On the 18th and 19th it marched from Carrollton to a point on the White River opposite Forsythe, in Missouri ; where it encamped till the 25th, when, crossing the river, the men pitched their tents not very far from the town. On the 15th of the following month they moved into the town, took military pos session thereof, and with a squadron of the First Iowa Cavalry were left to hold the place. Marmaduke, though he had been signally defeated by the troops under command of General Fitz Henry Warren, at Hartsville, and thwarted by Colonel Crabb, at Springfield, was still foraying in southwestern Missouri, and whilst our regiment was at Forsythe, he attacked the trains corralled there, and threatened to move upon the place with a heavy force. Many buildings were, in consequence, torn down by the Nineteenth, with little ceremony, and used in the construction of fortifications, whereby the position was made so strong that Marmaduke withdrew, without attack. On the 22d of April the regiment marched from Forsythe, with orders to move to Springfield. But at Ozark, orders were received directing the command to move on Hartsville by forced marches. Accordingly the regi ment here obliqued to the northeast, and in two days marched sixty miles, but without meeting an enemy. It then continued the march in the same direction, and arrived at Salem on the 2d of May, where it was temporarily attached to the First Division, General Thomas Ewing, Jr., now command ing, and there went into encampment. 334 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Though it continued to serve with the Army of the Frontier, so officially known, here its services on the frontier for which that army had been orga nized closed. With that army it had made many severe marches, had fought its principal battle, had performed months of valuable, valiant ser vice, and the officers and men of the regiment must ever regard their time spent among the mountains of southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas as the era of their greatest achievements, and, except the period during which so many languished in rebel imprisonment, as the era of their greatest sufferings. They remained encamped at Salem until the 3d of June, when they marched to Holla, and there taking cars moved to St. Louis, whence they embarked for Vicksburg with the forces under Major- General Herron, to reenforce the army under Grant, beleaguering that stronghold. On the llth of June the regiment disembarked from steamers near Young s Point, Louisiana, marched across the peninsula, and crossed the Mississippi at Warrenton on the next day ; the next, marched out in rear of the line of investment, to a point some three miles from Warrenton ; and on the 14th took position on the right of General Herron s Division, which was on the left of the beleaguering army. From this time until Pemberton was forced to surrender, the picket and fatigue duties of the regiment were incessant and severe, and accompanied by continual skir mishing between the advance and the enemy in his rifle-pits. Neverthe- lesss, the regiment suffered but one casualty, in the wounding of Private Thomas Pender. The promptness and fidelity of the officers and men of the regiment, in the performance of their onerous duties during the siege are highly complimented by Lieutenant-Colonel Kent, who makes especial mention of the constant and untiring energy of Major Bruce. On the 4th of July, the regiment joined in the triumphant march of our army into the captured city. There it remained in the occupation of a portion of those works which had given our gallant army so much trouble to capture, for about one week, when it moved with the force under General Herron to Yazoo City, and participated in all the labors, marches, and heat of that successful cam paign, returning to Vicksburg on the 21st, and going into its old place of encampment. Two days afterwards it again went aboard of transports, and, moving down the river to Port Hudson, pitched tents there, where the whole army greatly suffered from unhealthfulness. The regiment halted at Port Hudson little more than a fortnight, during which period a large proportion of the command became sick, and many died. At the end of this unhappy period the command embarked, and sailing down the river soon reached Carrollton, a short distance from the metropolis of the South, and pitched tents in a beautiful grove of Live Oaks. Here the Thirteenth NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 335 Army Corps, Major-General E. 0. C. Ord, of which General Herron s troops now formed the Second Division, was encamped, and here our regi ment remained for about three weeks, officers and men rapidly regaining health and spirits, and spending the time much more agreeably than they had been able to do at Port Hudson, as well as much more usefully in the way of drill and discipline. Early in September General Herron was ordered up the river on an expe dition having in view the defeat and dispersion of rebel forces near j^ mouth of Red River, who were there causing serious trouble in many ways, and especially by keeping up an irregular blockade of the Mississippi River. General Herron moved on the 5th, and two days afterwards debarked his army at Morganza, Louisiana, about twenty miles below where, the Red River flows into the Mississippi. There he went into fortified camp, but kept strong outposts several miles in the interior, along the banks of the Atchafalaya, on the western bank of which the rebels had a considerable army, from which they frequently sent detachments to harass our pickets and, indeed, the main body lying at Morganza. Counter forces were sent out by General Herron which were from time to time relieved by other forces. There was almost constant skirmishing, therefore, either along the banks of the Atchafalaya or between that river and the Mississippi. On the 12th of September, Lieutenant-Colonel Leake, Twentieth Iowa, was sent out with a force comprising most of the Nineteenth Iowa, fit for duty, the Twenty-sixth Indiana, and two pieces of artillery. This force con tinued in the performance of heavy picket duty, skirmishing almost every day with the enemy, with head-quarters at Sterling Farm, some seven miles from Morganza. On the 29th, Lieutenant- Colonel Leake was sud denly attacked in front, flank, and rear, by a large force of rebels. His troops made a most gallant resistance, rapidly delivering volley after volley into the rebel ranks, and with such effect as compelled them at first to fall back on all sides. They were rallied, however, and again attacking the little band in overwhelming numbers, compelled a surrender, but not till Lieutenant-Colonel Leake and his stout-hearted troops were entirely sur rounded, and so closely that their guns were snatched from their hands by the enemy. The loss of the Nineteenth in this combat was two hundred and forty-one killed, wounded, and captured.* The loss in the Twenty- * The following is the list: Killed, Lieutenants Silas Kent, John M. Roberts ; Sergeants Henry E. Frisbee, John C. Ritchie ; Corporals William C. Anderson, Daniel B. Brooks, Mark Walworth, Gecrge Temple; Privates Samuel P. Beard, Thomas J. Smith. Wounded, Captain Andrew Taylor; First Lieutenant John M. Woods; Second Lieutenant Thomas A. Robb ; Sergeants George Hardwick, J. Henry Schraeder, J. F. Robinson; Corporals C. E. Carpenter, Isaac Rumor, Robert McGlasgow; Privates Joel Starkey, (mortally), James Coleman, (mortally), Daniel Walkup, Jonathan Carson, Thomas C. Chambers, James Allen, William Hiukle, William Lyons, E. Stewart, John F. Mann, William W. Kendall, 0. Ninsehelser, Wilber D. Sherman, John M. Lytle. 336 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. sixth Indiana was not so great. The rebels lost fifty killed on the field and many more wounded. The rebel officers were deeply chagrined at finding so small a capture after so vigorous a resistance. At the time of this un fortunate affair Captain William Adams, in the absence of Major Bruce, Company A Captured, Captain Thomas L. Sprott, Lieutenant Norvill Powell. Company B Lieutenant John M. Woods. Company C Lieutenants George Johnson, James Bennett, Quarter master. Company D Lieutenant Thomas A. Robb. Company E Captain William Adams. Com- pccny F Captain Levi Fisher, Lieutenant Solomon P. Key. Company G Lieutenant B. F. Wright. Company K Captain S. F. Roderick; Sergeant-Major Oscar G. Burch, Commissary-Sergeant Daniel H. Roderick, escaped March 1864 ; Fife-Major James Payne. Company A Sergeant J. Henry Schrasder ; Corporals David G. Anderson, Isaac N. Clark, Jasper K. Mason: Privates Howell G. Adell, Barney Amoss, Joseph Cooper, John M. Games, Benjamin F. Goodwin, escaped, George Hoffman, John Howard, Daniel C. Leniing, George A. Marks, Frederick A. N. Pearce, exchanged, Alexander Quary, David A. Robertson, William Stewart, Benedict Rumer, escaped, Christopher Schmidt, Eli Sheets, escaped, Charles W. Towner, Jasper Trimble, Joseph White. Company B Sergeants John E. Roth, T. A. Stolaberger ; Corporals Enos Rushton, escaped, D. R. Comagys, John A. Montgomery; Privates Albert J. Allen, Edward Darling, John Driskill, Manfred Hall, William R. Hendricks, Joseph Hudgell, J. N. Skinner, John M. Towne, escaped. Company C Sergeant Thomas E. Johnston; Corporals L, Stone Hall, escaped, George W. Cosner, William McDowell, Levi B. Cocklin, escaped ; Privates J. Irvine Dungan, Luke W. Osborn, James Stnrges Anderson, H. Willets Anderson, escaped, S. T. Easter, E. B. Helwick, William Lytle, John M. Lytle, Charles McDonald, A. McCampbell, William McGregor, John M. Porter, Robert J. Moore, William J. Lewis, Addison P. Randall, W. D. Sherman, Abraham Snyder, Israel Trostle, James Van Winkle, John N. Young, Abner B. Power, Charles H. Nichols. Company D Sergeants Daniel Buckingham, James Barnes ; Corporals John H. Lagle, Perry Har rison ; Privates Miles Burris, C. B. Campbell, Jonathan Elder, Willard Flenor, Flavius Remine, John Locke, McKinney Robinson, Nelson E. Hall, John Huddlestone, Adam Stump. Company E Sergeant George W. Hardwick, wounded and left at Alexandria for exchange ; Cor poral J. B. Knight; Privates Sylvester Dye, James Deighton, William T. Gray, Eli Hampton, left sick at Alexandria, and exchanged, Alam Hampton, James Houghland, J. J. Marsell, died at Shreve- port, Louisiana, December 24th, 1863, Abraham Morgan, Gideon Miller, Fieldon Taylor; Corporals George A. Vise, Lewis Walters ; Privates John Wallis, John Yager, Nelson Mallett, Abner S. Smalley, Company .F Sergeants William H. Friend, J. P. McDaniels ; Corporals Edward H. Thomas, H. B. Davidson, David Gable, William Herron ; Privates Milton Gamble, George B. Dotson, John H. Hager. died at Shreveport, Louisiana, January 29th, 1864, David P. Herron, Jacob Heindel, Daniel McKay. A. Morris, Leonard Rathfon, Joseph Racer, I. S. Siverly, J. R. Shipman, Daniel Sowash. Company G Sergeants George W. Woolwino, Ogilvie Donaldson ; Corporal David Hasher ; Pri vates William Campbell, Reuben Cocklin, David Crane, George W. Cunningham, J. W. Clermont, W. H. Dowell, G. S. Ervin, John J. Fryer, William Hoffman, Joe Ross, Philip Richley, Samuel Taylor, Samuel Turkington, J. C. Wilson, James Milton, Sanford Pugh, William Pugh, Asa Lewis, George Tucker. Company H Sergeants William Byers, escaped March 1864, A. J. Smith, William H. Clayton : Corporals J. T. Dougherty, escaped March 1864, J. F. King, William H. Smith, Christopher Mort, Privates James C. Akers, S. Botkin, escaped March 1864, Z. C. Dean, Isaac D. Evans, Omar Hoskins, escaped December 1863, William C. Holmes, Henry Jones, Andrew Jones, Silas Langford, J. H. Lan- nam, Joseph Mort, J. G. Mclntosh, J. Nixon, escaped March 1864, R. H. Parsons, J. F. Paxton, escaped March 1864, David Smith, Edward P. Taylor, escaped March 1864, Thomas Umphrey. Company 7 Sergeants John S. Ragsdale, escaped March 1864, Datus D. Proper; Corporals William Orr, William Bragg, George W. Meredith ; Privates John T. Barker, David Barker, David K. Cal- houn, William N. Holiday, Oliver Johnson, George Klise, James M. Miller, Jesse Meredith, John Newlon, John Roth, Israel Row, William Spraker, George Stevens, John H. Webber, Rufus Collins. Company K Sergeant Noble E. Dawson, escaped March 1864; Corporals P. H. Grant, escaped March 1864, John Terril, escaped March 1864, Thomas N. Pritchard, Reuben F. Raster; Privates John L. Burditt, David Davis, Samuel Evans, L. McBarnes, John Wood, Harrison Wood, John W. French, Jesse Starkey. NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 337 was in command of the regiment. Lieutenants Kent and Roberts were killed on the field, and Captain Taylor mortally wounded. The gallant survivors of the contest were carried to Texas, and there for nearly a year suffered the tortures of rebel imprisonment. It was fortunate for the regiment that many of its members, not yet re covered from the effects of camp-life at Port Hudson, were not in the ranks at Sterling Farm. More than two-thirds were absent. The organization of the regiment, therefore, remained intact, and it proceeded with the div-K sion to New Orleans in October, and thence embarked with the Texas ex pedition under Major-General Banks. The regiment was the first of the forces under General Banks to effect a landing on the Island of Brazos Santiago. Thence effecting a passage to the main land, the regiment marched on Brownsville, arriving on the 7th of October. Colonel Dye, Twentieth Iowa, took command of the post, and here our regiment remained on garrison duty till the latter part of July, 1864, when it marched to Brazos Santiago, and sailed for New Orleans, arriving at the Crescent City on the Tth of August. At New Orleans one hundred and eighty of those who had been captured at Sterling Farm were met by the regiment. They had at last been ex changed, and had reached the city, in a ragged and nearly starved condition a few days before the arrival of the regiment itself. The meeting was a most joyful one, bringing tears of gladness to the eyes of men not given to the melting mood, and causing many expressions of fiery indignation, as those who had suffered related in words of unstudied truthfulness the story of their wrongs. But they did not have a long halt after the reunion at New Orleans. Orders soon came to embark for Pensacola, Florida, and the embarkation was made on the 14th. A fine voyage of two days brought the command to Pensacola Bay, and upon landing, the men pitched tents in a beautiful grove near Barrancas. Here, on the next day, the officers met at regimen tal head-quarters, and passed a series of appropriate resolutions upon the death of Captain William Adams, that gallant, modest officer having died at New Orleans, from the effects of his long imprisonment in Texas. Here three companies of the regiment which had been left behind on the Island of Brazos Santiago, Texas, rejoined the command in the latter part of August, having moved by New Orleans and Mobile Point, and been present at the bombardment and surrender of Fort Morgan. Regimental head quarters continued at Barrancas until the 6th of December, but during all this period detached companies of the regiment were out on scouts and forays in the interior under General Asboth, which were characterized by hard marches and frequent skirmishes. At the date just mentioned the regiment sailed for Fort Gaines, Alabama, where it remained a few days, * 43 338 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. during which the command was gratified by the arrival of Mrs. E. Woods, of Fairfield, who had succeeded in bringing a large quantity of much needed sanitary stores. Thence, about the middle of the month, the regiment sailed to East Pascagoula, Mississippi, whence it made an extensive foray in the direction of Mobile, destroying great amounts of property, and much of the time skirmishing with the enemy. On the day after Christmas the command fell back to a fortified camp a few miles from Pascagoula, and there halted until January 31st, 1865, when it returned to Fort Gaines. Its next and last campaign in the face of the enemy was in the campaign of Mobile, with the successful termination of which armed resistance to the Union ceased. In the marches, skirmishes, sieges, engagements, of this vigorous and brilliant campaign, the regiment took part, distinguishing itself at the assault on Spanish Fort, where the Eighth Iowa won the most conspicuous honors. Though under the fire of the enemy almost constantly from the time the siege set fully in, and taking a conspicuous part in the operations, till victory crowned our labors and our valor, the losses of the regiment were not so severe as might have been expected. 5 With its honorable record in this capital victory the military career of the Nineteenth Iowa Infantry closed. In July it was mustered out of the service at Mobile, and proceeding to Davenport, Iowa, was there finally disbanded about the last of the month. Its officers at this time were : John Bruce, Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding: Harry Jordan, Major; Granville G. Bennett, Adjutant ; James Bennett, Quartermaster ; Lewis M. Sloanaker, Surgeon, Thomas S. Bell, Assistant; Reverend J. D. Sands, Chaplain. Company A, Captain Thomas Sprott ; Lieutenant N. Powell ; Company B, Captain A. S. Jordan ; Lieutenant J. E. Roth ; Company C, Captain John S. Gray ; Lieutenants Levi B. Cocklin, George Johnston ; Company D, Captain Thomas Robb ; Lieutenant Basil Mowery ; Company E, Captain Norvill Powell ; Lieutenant John Bonnell ; Company F, Lieu tenant S. P. Key ; Company G, Captain Charles W. Huff ; Lieutenant B. F. Wright ; Company H, Captain George W. Sommerville ; Lieutenant William W. Byers ; Company I, Captain Alonzo H. Parker ; Lieutenant John S. Ragsdale ; Company K, Captain Simon F. Roderick. & There were four killed and seventeen wounded. Namely: Company A Killed, First Sergeant J. Henry Schraeder. Wounded, Private Benjamin F.Goodwin. Company B Kitted, Corporal George Majors. Wounded, Privates Thomas Washburne, Abram Colburn, John T. Hooper, Martin L. Byrkitt. Company D Wounded, Corporals Jesse Fisk, Color Guard, John H. Leagle. Company E Wounded, Corporals Edward Smith, William Walker, Color Guard. Killed, Private James E. Montgomery. Company F Mortally Wounded, Private Cicero Thomas. Company G Wounded, Corporal Isham Thomas; Private John E. Sprague. Company H Wounded, Privates Edward P. Taylor, Joseph Pnxton, Joseph Mort, Silas Langford. Company I Killed, Corporal William Holiday. Company K, Wounded, Alfred Huddlestone. NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 339 Talking over their campaigns in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisi ana, Texas, Florida, Alabama, remembering the dead they had buried in all these States, and those whose bones rested under the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the officers and men grasped one another by the hand, and bade each other and " the old Nineteenth" an affectionate farewell. CHAPTER XIX. TWENTIETH INFANTRY. ENROLLED IN THE COUNTIES OF SCOTT AND LINN FLAG PRESENTATION-MOVE TO BENTON BARRACKS ORDERED TO ROLLA SPRINGFIELD MARCH INTO ARKANSAS " JAYHAWKING" THE BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE ENCAMPMENT ON THE FIELD THE CAPTURE OF VAN BUREN RETURN TO MISSOURI ACTIVE OPERATIONS THERE EMBARK FOR VICKSBURG TAKE POSITION IN THE LINE OF INVESTMENT CAPTURE OF YAZOO CITY-JOIN THE ARMY OF THE GULF EMBARK FOR TEXAS THE OCCUPATION OF BROWNSVILLE A LONG PERIOD OF QUIET ADVENTURES ON THE "HIGH SEAS" THE MAJOR ON PICKET! EVACUATION OF BROWNSVILLE- SAIL TO NEW ORLEANS CAPTURE OF FORT GAINES AND FORT MORGAN AGAIN IN LOUISIANA IN ARKANSAS-SCURVY THE MOBILE CAMPAIGN MUSTERED OUT- HOME AGAIN. AMONG the regiments, numbering more than twenty of infantry, which were recruited and organized in the State of Iowa under the President s proclamation of July 2d, 1862, calling for three hundred thousand addi tional volunteers, the Twentieth was among the first. In the patriotic ardor under which the regiment was quickly recruited the counties of Scott and Linn vied with each other, and each contributed five companies to the organization. They were ordered to rendezvous at Clinton, and there the organization of the regiment was completed on the 25th of August, the command then numbering nine hundred and two officers and enlisted men. William McE. Dye, who had served as Captain in the regular army, was appointed Colonel ; Joseph B. Leake, who had conspicuously served in the State Senate, Lieutenant-Colonel ; and William Gr. Thompson, who had also been in the legislature, Major. Of these, Leake had recruited a com pany and was promoted from captain thereof. Constant S. Lake, who had served with the First Iowa, was appointed Adjutant ; Jasper H. Rice, Quartermaster ; Doctor Henry Ristine, Surgeon, with A. 0. Blanding and K. S. Marlin, Assistants, and Reverend Uriah Eberhart, Chaplain. The line officers of the regiment were : Captains E. N. Bates, Ed. Coulter, M. L. Thompson, Dolphus Torrey, Chester Barney, N. M. Hub- bard, Charles Altmann, R. H. Lucore, Charles C. Cook, S. B. Byram ; First 340 TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 341 Lieutenants Charles L. Drake, James M. Dennison, Harrison Oliver, A. H. Brooks, J. G. G. Cavendish, William Corbett, F. E. Starck; Joseph J. Holland, Stephen L. Dows, Elijah Stone ; Second Lieutenants Joseph C. McClelland, David Cavin, Robert M. Lytle, Charles E. Squires, Edward E. Davis, Manson H. Crosby, John B. Parcell (soon resigning, succeeded by George A. Bennett), Wilson Wightman, James W. Carver, and Elias Taylor. The regiment remained at Clinton only about one week after organjfa- tion. Several of the officers and not a few of the men having seen service, schools of instruction and drill were at once instituted, and the command immediately began to fit itself for the duties of campaigning. There was an agreeable relaxation from these studies and exercises one day, however, when the patriotic ladies of Lyons visited the encampment in large num bers, and in behalf of the donor, Mrs. Harrison, presented the regiment a beautiful flag. The Reverend G-. F. Magoun made a very handsome and eloquent speech, on presenting the flag in behalf of the donors, and was responded to in an equally handsome manner by Major Thompson on the part of Colonel Dye, who made no claims to oratory. At dusk of the 31st, the regiment went aboard steamers and moved to Davenport. The "Bill Hinderson," "Add. Hine," "Canada," and a large barge were used for the purpose of transporting the regiment on this its first voyage! Time came, before the war closed, when the same regiment moved with more comfort on a single steamer no larger than one of these. Now all was confusion. Every private had as much baggage as a field marshal, and every officer enough to supply a division head-quarters. So the three steamers and the barge were crowded "ram-jam full" of men and luggage so full that Captain Barney says his sleeping-apartment for the night was "an old cheese-box, with his back against the wall the only unappropriated spot he could find upon the boat." On the morning of September 1st the fleet made the port of Davenport, and a disembarkation was effected a short distance above the city. Hence the regiment marched by the Burtis House on "Camp Herron," of which it took forcible possession, and found the sutler fully established. Here the regiment spent a few gala days, the citizens of Davenport, more espe cially the ladies, visiting the camp in large numbers, to the great joy of the command and the great violence of rigid discipline. On the morning of the 5th, the regiment marched to the landing and embarked for St. Louis on the steamer Metropolitan, amid a large concourse of citizens of both sexes. Adjutant-General Baker went on board, which was the signal for the departure of the boat. Moving down the river to the point below Rock Island, General Baker went ashore, and as the boat pushed off, the boys brushed away the tears of parting from friends, perhaps forever, and 342 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. as Davenport sank out of sight behind them began to talk hopefully of the future. Soon a severe storm came on, and John C. Magill in the midst of it fell overboard, and, in spite of all exertions to save him, was drowned. And so amid sorrow, and storm, and death the Twentieth spent its first night from home more gloomily, perhaps, than any other of its whole history; for it was not long till partings from friends, and death, and storms had become so frequent as to excite but little feeling. Such is army education. The regiment arrived at St. Louis on the morning of the 8th, and at once marched from the levee to Benton Barracks, where it first came into the presence of an army. The command remained in the Barracks not quite one week, several of the men becoming sick and two dying within that time, when it moved by cars to Holla. Thence it took up its first line of march in the field for Springfield, Lieutenant-Colonel Leake in command, Colonel Dye having command of the brigade, and after many adventures, and no little suffering from the want of water on a considerable part of the route, arrived at Springfield on the 24th. Here the regiment was placed in a brigade, with the Thirty-seventh Illinois, First Iowa Cavalry, and one section of the First Missouri Light Artillery, Colonel Dye commanding, and assigned to the division, at this time commanded by General Totten, a most eccentric genius, but an excellent soldier. Having remained at Springfield a few days the regiment marched to Pond Springs and went into camp. Here it halted two days, and being in the vicinity of the field of Wilson s Creek, many of the men, and doubtless all who had belonged to the First Iowa, of whom there were several in the regi ment, visited the spot where Iowa valor first became distinguished. The citizens in the neighborhood of the encampment were, many of them, igno rant and shiftless human beings as any part of our country possessed. They were of secession proclivities most decidedly, and perhaps a majority of them had been at one time or other in the rebel army under "Pap Price" as they called the confederate general. Our troops, therefore, thought the irregular confiscation of their property nothing more than a lawful spoiling of the Egyptians. They had large quantities of paper on what they called the "Bank of Fac-Simile," that is to say, imitation notes of confederate currency, purporting on their face to be fac-similes. With this "money" they engaged in a considerable commerce with the inhabitants of this part of our country, buying milk, butter, eggs, roast pig, vegetables, "dip can dles," fence-rails, and what not, and as often as possible making trades where the change would be in their favor. Besides, there were many of the citizens who were quite willing to exchange their "Lincoln greenbacks" for this worthless trash, and the soldiers could not find it in their hearts to refuse accommodating them. One of the omcers servants exchanged a TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 343 twenty dollar patent medicine advertisement for twenty dollars in green backs, and if the rebel did not learn the value of Holloway s Pile Ointment it was his own fault. But commerce has a demoralizing effect, and it was peremptorily stopped by General Totten just as the Bank of Fac-Simile failed without a penny of assets. More serious business was in hand. I ought to add, for chronological accuracy, that the "Fac-Simile" business, of which I have here given the outline, was more profitably carried on after wards than just at this time. General Blunt, commanding the first division of the army, was at this time farther advanced in the enemy s country than the Second Division. His command was for the most part composed of cavalry and mounted in fantry, capable of moving with great celerity from place to place, and al ways anxious to have a fight, more especially if the enemy could be whipped by them alone, and as anxious to receive reinforcements whenever it was understood the enemy was approaching in considerable force. It so happened, therefore, that both the Second and Third Divisions seemed to play a secondary part to the First Division, for a considerable period, dur ing which the enemy, in small force, laid himself liable to be suddenly attacked and defeated by a mounted army, before the infantry could come up, of which Blunt took advantage, and in several affairs of no great im portance in themselves, and of no account to the general cause on the fron tier, won no little cheap reputation, and at the same time appeared to cast the other two divisions in the shade, so far, at any rate, as public opinion went. When the great battle came off, of which these affairs were the mere skirmishes between tne pickets, all this was reversed. Blunt acted with great gallantry and energy throughout, being ever a dashing and effi cient officer, and it could have- been no fault of his that during the months of October and November he did about all the fighting, and the other two divisions about all the marching and hard work. During these two months our regiment marched more than five hundred miles, often moving through out an entire night, passing over the mountainous regions of northwestern Arkansas, crossing creeks and rivers, much of the time over horrible roads and in weather which was disagreeable beyond description. It is usual for troops to be more healthy while on the march than when in camp. But the campaignings of our regiment at this time seem to have been accom panied by the worst effects of marching and the worst effects of life in camp. The roads were much of the time so bad that it was impossible for the trains to keep pace with the column, so that the troops were com pelled to bivouac many nights during the whole of which the rain fell in torrents, making them shiver out the long hours in the most dreary discom fort which it is possible for the mind of man to conceive. A great many of the men succumbed before these difficulties, and the hospitals were soon 344 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. overflowing with sick men who not long before were having such jolly times at Pond Springs. The two months which preceded the battle of Prairie Grove probably formed the gloomiest era in the history of the Twentieth. During that era, which I have thus generally described, its history, more in detail, was about as follows : Early on the morning of October 1st, the men struck tents and took up line of march "for the front," an indefinite locality, where, according to rumor, Blunt had been engaged, and had been defeated. On the day following, a forced march was made to Spring River, where the command halted a day, and then made a night march in the direction of Newtonia. The first part of the night, the moon shone brightly on the bristling bayonets of the column rapidly moving over a high prairie, but about midnight a storm came on just as the line of march came into a dense forest, and the command trudged slowly on through the gloom and rain, morning finding them some distance from Newtonia. The enemy under Rains was posted there behind a stone fence, and it was the intention of the Union generals to surprise him, coming up from three sides. The storm and darkness had delayed the Second Division, so that it came up too late for the affair which took place on the morning of the 5th, but our regiment joined in the pursuit of the rebels and here had its first skirmish with the enemy, losing two men wounded. The regiment then went into camp near Newtonia, and remained quiet a few days. Again breaking camp during a heavy rain, the command marched, with some halting, to Cassville, and having pitched tents there remained a short time in camp. Here the Army of the Frontier, General Schofield commanding, was fully organized, but our regiment remained as before assigned. After which event, it participated in marches and countermarches in face of the enemy, in the vicinity of Pea Ridge, the men sleeping on their arms or marching by night, and almost constantly on the move till the close of the month, when the command moved back into Missouri, without having as yet seen an armed enemy except at the affair of Newtonia. By irregular move ments, General Totten some days moving only a short distance, on others making severe forced marches, our regiment on the 20th of November went into encampment at "Camp Lyon," within a day s march of Springfield. So far as the second division was concerned, the campaign had appeared to the troops to have been utterly meaningless and useless, as well as heart less and cruel. Though the men had marched themselves barefoot, nothing appeared to show that they had accomplished anything of any the least use to the cause, here or elsewhere. But some of the troops had learned to "jay-hawk." The commissariat of the Union army was, perhaps, never abundantly supplied in this region of country, and at this time it was impos sible for the trains always to be up with the troops. Every man, therefore, on the general rule of self-preservation, became his own commissary, and TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 345 i jay-hawking developed into a science, based upon military necessity. The country was not rich ; it everywhere, by its farms laid waste, its ruins of burned buildings, its general air of desolation, gave most palpable evidence of the sad ravages of war ; but milk, butter, corn-bread, honey could be had at many places, while swine and domesticated fowls were still abundant. These it was the business of the jay-hawker to take and bring into camp, and where many were jay-hawkers it may readily be supposed there was little danger of absolute starvation. It is but simple justice to state, ho.w- ever, that the Twentieth Regiment of Iowa Volunteers did not participate in the "jay-hawking" forays of which the country heard so much. Lieu tenant-Colonel Leake depended upon regular supplies, and, when they were not forthcoming, he obtained them by the ordinary foraging parties, in all ways conducted according to the laws of war. General Totten was himself a strict, rigid disciplinarian, and it is certain the stories with which the country was filled touching these jay-hawking operations did not at all apply to the Second and Third Divisions of the Army of the Frontier. Most assuredly they did not to any Iowa regiment in that army. In the Twentieth, the rein of discipline was never relaxed for a single day, the Lieutenant-Colonel commanding having too correct a notion of its efficacy to permit any species of pillaging whatever, whether called "jay-hawking" or anything else. 1 The regiment remained at Camp Lyon the rest of the month, the monotony of camp life being enlivened by daily drills occupying several hours. The command was now very much reduced by sickness and by the deaths which had already occurred, and its dress parades were not largely attended. But a great load of presents came from friends at home, and, with the letters which accompanied them sent joy and gladness to the hearts of all. There was at least one oasis, covered with bright flowers, and sparkling with sweet waters, on the general desert of frontier cam paigning. This was the knowledge that they were constantly borne kindly in the memories of kind friends at home. Of this they never ceased to have substantial evidences. The officers and men of the regiment had not finished writing letters home, acknowledging the receipt of messages and presents, when the bugle suddenly sounded the notes of war. On the evening of December 3d, a courier arrived with intelligence that Blunt, one hundred and twenty-five miles distant, was threatened with attack, and needed prompt assistance. i I ought to observe also that I do not agree with the opinion of the troops that their campaign had been meaningless and without result. General Schofield s army had relieved Missouri from rebels, and the campaign, so severe in its results upon the Union troops, had been of considerable importance and value, as we shall see hereafter. General Curtis telegraphed its entire success, and ordered Schofield to withdraw from Arkansas, and during the absence of Schofield, Herron and Blunt reaped the glory of Prairie Grove. 44 346 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Long before the stars faded from the sky on the morning of the 4th, the division was in motion. As day dawned on the morning of the 7th, that division was marching rapidly southward through the streets of Fayette- ville, Arkansas, more than an hundred miles from Camp Lyon, and not long after the sun came up on that bright Sunday morning it was deploying into line of battle on the field of Prairie Grove. Of the glorious engagement which there took place, and of the glorious part the Twentieth sustained therein, I have spoken in the preceding chapter. To get there, the regiment had made a march of one hundred and ten miles in three days. If this had been over the smooth, hard roads of Europe, with the streams all spanned by bridges, and the hills leveled by the engineer, it would have been accounted wonderful, and would justly have excited the admiration of military savans. But every mile traveled on this frontier was equivalent to two on the ordinary roads of the East. The country was mountainous, the streams had to be waded, the roads were bad. The soldiers of the Twentieth Iowa Volunteers, having made this march, went into the battle with fine spirits, but with their feet bleed ing like those of Washington s army when it marched into the dreary winter quarters of Valley Forge. The regiment lost between forty and fifty, in killed and wounded, out of two hundred and seventy engaged. 2 After the battle, the army went into encampment on the field, and the dead having been buried and the wounded removed to hospitals at Fayette- ville, there remained until after Christmas, taking that rest which the troops of the Second and Third Divisions, in especial, so much needed. The battle of Prairie Grove had been of the utmost benefit to the Union cause. It had saved Missouri from devastation and pillage at the close of the year, as effectually as the battle of Pea Ridge had done near the begin ning of the year. It had broken up in rout and demoralization an army of twenty-five thousand men, most of whom were soon scattered all over a wide extent of country in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas completely satisfied of the hopelessness of the Confederate cause in this 2 The following is the list of casualties : Major William G. Thompson, severely wounded. Company A Killed, Daniel W. Bobbins. Company B Wounded, Corporal George C. Miller. Company C Killed, Lieutenant Harrison Oliver. Wounded, Lieutenant R. M. Lytle; Corporal Wil liam Murray; J. F. Jacobs. Company D Wounded, David Ross, Alexander A. Watson, James For- ber, William A. Akely, W. J. L. Hunt. Company E Killed, Daniel M. Sullivan, John Menig. Wounded, Lieutenant J. G. G. Cavendish ; John Kessler, Henry Gertz, Webster Spencer, Martin Rhomberg, Lemuel Harker, Thomas J. Moore. Company F Wounded, J. 0. Parker, Milton J. Elliott, Walter Lewis, E. J. Reynolds. Company G Killed, Sergeant Thomas B. Miles ; Corporal Richard Carnes. Wounded, Lieutenant F. E. Starck ; Sergeants Robert Speer, J. M. Matthews ; Corporal John C. Murphy ; Joseph Pattison, Joseph Speer, William F. Culbertson, Samuel McFate, Harvey J. Brown, William A. Jamieson. Company H Wounded, L. McCurdy. Company I Killed, Stephen S. Wood. Wounded, George W. Daniels. Company K Killed, Sergeant F. M. Steele. Wounded, Lieutenant E. Stone; Corporal L. L. Whitney; Rufus Fisk, M. C. Knapp. James McKane, William Criswell. Making eight killed; thirty-nine wounded total, forty-seven. TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 347 quarter. Though bands of lawless troopers continued to prey upon Mis souri, and though Mannaduke succeeded in making a foray into the State not long after the battle, it was two years afterwards before any considerable rebel army appeared north of the Arkansas. When the Union army had sufficiently reposed, it followed up the victory of the 7th December by the capture of Van Buren. The march thither from the encampment on Prairie Grove began early on the morning of December 27th. Providing ourselves nominally wi,t(h six days rations (in reality with two), we set out at daybreak," says Captain Barney, " marching rapidly all day until the moon went down at two o clock on the following morning, when we made a temporary halt at the southern slope of Boston Mountains a distance of thirty-two miles, our road lying over the roughest country we had yet passed through, up the steepest ascents and down almost perpendicular declivities." This important foray, which resulted in the further dispersion of Hindman s army, in the capture of Van Buren, a depot of supplies, the destruction of several steamers, and immense quantities of stores all which achievements were made prac ticable by the victory of Prairie Grove was principally the work of the mounted troops, and the famous mule howitzers, as Blunt s mountain- howitzers were called by the Indians and the army generally. The infantry joined in the triumphal entry into the town, and forming in the public square made the welkin ring with shouts and singing John Brown. Our regiment returned to Prairie Grove in time to be mustered on the afternoon of December 31st. It had marched considerably more than an hundred miles, and, as it spent one day at Van Buren, it had averaged thirty-four miles each day. General Schofield met his troops on their return from Van Buren and assumed command. He presently moved to Fayetteville, and halting near there a few days began a series of marches and countermarches, through mud, and rain, and snow, whereby the troops were exhausted, and not knowing the object of the movements to prevent the escape of Marmaduke through the passes of the Boston Mountains did some grumbling. At length on the 23d of April, after six months of active operations in Missouri and Arkansas, our regiment marched into Holla, and on the next day moved by cars to St. Louis. Here, the command was scattered, part being on duty at Benton Bar racks, part down the Mississippi some distance, patrolling the river, the principal portion at the arsenal, all doing excellent service at a period when an uprising of traitors in St. Louis was expected, and when the rebels in heavy force were threatening -the city. The regiment afterwards encamped at " Camp Gamble," formerly called Camp Jackson, and noted as the spot where Captain Nathaniel Lyon gave the first palpable example of a vigo- 348 IOWA AND THE KEEELLION. rous prosecution of the war. On the 10th of May, the second anniversary of General Lyon s capture of Camp Jackson, that event was remembered by a magnificent celebration, in which the regiment took part, and was re viewed, with the other troops in the city, by Major-General Curtis. Five days afterwards the regiment moved by rail to Pilot Knob. Here it went into encampment, and remained somewhat more than a fortnight, having a fine opportunity to drill which was improved to the utmost by both officers and men. On the morning of the 3d of June, marching orders were received, and on the same day the regiment moved for St. Gen- evieve, on the Mississippi River. Here, with that portion of the Army of the Frontier under command of Major-General Herron, who had been most justly promoted for his victory of Prairie Grove, the regiment embarked on the steamer " J. D. Perry," and was soon on a voyage to reenforce the army before Vicksburg. Speaking of the arrival of the regiment at St. Genevieve, Captain Barney says : Our campaigns in Missouri here ended. We had marched on foot since leaving Holla on the 16th of September, 1862, eleven hun dred and twenty-seven miles most of our marches being made during the winter season, exposed to the rains, and over roads at times almost impassa ble on account of the mud. Much of the time we had been on half rations, and with inadequate supplies of clothing. The hardships endured on these inarches had thinned our ranks more than would as many hard- fought battles. And now, even after the lapse of time, and subsequent more stirring scenes of sieges and battles in which we took part, our memo ries still retain vivid recollections of the lonely wayside graves where we deposited the bodies of our comrades along the route of these unparalleled marches. They fell, not in battle, but by disease contracted while in the performance of duties beyond their strength, and under circumstances of peculiar hardship. We shall never cease to honor their memories for the heroism which enabled many of them at times, even while suffering under disease, to still continue in the discharge of their duties." The command arrived at the mouth of the Yazoo River on the llth, and was ordered to report at Haine s Bluff. Moving thither, it was ordered back to Young s Point, where it disembarked. Marching across the peninsula to a point opposite Warrenton, it there crossed the Mississippi, and on the 14th took position on the left of the beleaguering army. From this time until the capitulation the regiment took an active part in the siege, pushing forward the works, the whole command, or heavy details therefrom, being engaged night and day. Many in the command became sick, but the losses by casualty of battle were trifling. At ten o clock on the morning of July 4th, the regiment, at the head of the division, TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 349 marched into the rebel works, and was the first on the left to plant the flag of the Union on the battlements of Vicksburg. The regiment had just got comfortably fixed in camp inside the rebel works, when marching orders were received. It went aboard transports on the llth, having been ordered to reenforce General Banks, at Port Hudson. But intelligence of the surrender of that place having been received, the destination of the army under command of General Herron, was changed to Yazoo City, whither it at once proceeded. The enemy evacuated the*? city upon the approach of the army and the gun-boats, leaving much property to fall into our hands. The regiment joined in the march to Black River, and bore its full share of the discomforts thereof. On the 22d it was again in camp at Vicksburg, but remained there only three days. General Herron was ordered to join the Army of the Gulf. The division accordingly bade farewell to comrades of the grand army with whom it had shared so much suffering and so much glory, and embarking on transports moved into a department where there were no Vicksburgs to be taken, and where there was no Grant to take them if there had been. If we shall find, therefore, the history of the Twentieth regiment for nearly a year after its departure from Vicksburg to be somewhat tame and monotonous, the fault must lie at the door of the general commanding the department. After Banks was relieved by the accomplished and energetic Canby, the troops in that department had something besides garrison duties, balls, and disastrous expeditions to engage their attention, and to give them that fame for which true soldiers are ever willing to spill their blood and give their lives. The regiment, upon arriving at Port Hudson, disembarked and went into encampment, where it remained about three weeks for no other pur pose, as it seemed, than to be greatly reduced by sickness and death. Thence the regiment sailed for Carrollton, near New Orleans, and encamp ing there a fortnight recovered to some extent from the effects of the camp at Port Hudson. Here there was considerable drilling by company, and a good deal of reviewing. On the 7th of September, the command again embarked, taking only blankets and six days rations in haversacks, and steamed up the Mississippi. This was the admirable preparation made for an "expedition" which lasted more than a month, which involved much labor on fortifications about Morganza, much marching and counter marching in rear of that place, an infinite amount of dirty clothes, the same quantity of profanity ; and resulted in the capture of the main portion of the Nineteenth Iowa and Twenty-sixth Indiana, on the 29th of Septem ber. Lieutenant-Colonel Leake, of the Twentieth, was in command of this outpost, and was captured with the command. It is proper, therefore, 350 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. that I should here relate the circumstances of this unhappy and painful disaster. THE COMBAT OF STERLING FARM. When our regiment embarked for Morganza, as we have seen, it moved in company with General Herron s division of the Thirteenth Corps. At this time General Thomas Greene, rebel, with a considerable force, was annoying the navigation of the Mississippi near the mouth of Red River and below. General Herron was instructed to keep Greene s forces back of the Mississippi, and to attract their attention whilst a Union column should move against them from the direction of Bayou Teche. Herron was at this time in poor health, on which account the energy and watchful ness necessary to command in the face of the enemy were in abeyance. On the 12th, Lieutenant-Colonel Leake was sent out toward the Atchafa- laya to observe the enemy. He had but a small command the Nineteenth Iowa, the 26th Indiana, a section of the First Missouri Light Artillery, and a battalion of cavalry, all much reduced by sickness, so that the whole force, even upon the addition of a company of mounted infantry composed of details from different regiments in the division, under Lieutenant Wal ton, of the Thirty-fourth Iowa, amounted to scarcely six hundred effective men. Lieutenant-Colonel Leake was ordered to remain at "Norwood s plantation," more than half way between Morganza and the Atchafalaya, on the right bank of which the rebels were encamped in force. On the 13th Lieutenant-Colonel Leake moved to the vicinity of the Atchafalaya, and drawing the enemy s fire, ascertained his position. The next day, he sent his pickets out in all directions, and learning that his position could be approached by the enemy on roads leading to his rear both from north and south, retired on the night of the 14th to " Sterling Farm," a stronger position than Norwood s, but still isolated from the main command at Morganza. Practical roads for the rebels would still enable them to attack him in rear. He was thoroughly aware of the imminent danger of his position. He made it fully known to General Herron, even going so far as to visit him in his state-room on a steamer at Morganza. General Yandever visited the post, and was persuaded that it was not tenable. Nevertheless, Lieu tenant-Colonel Leake was ordered to hold it "as long as the water held out." Wherefore, in obedience to orders, but against his own judgment, he held the outpost, and endeavored by sleepless vigilance and unwearied energy, and by every possible means, to guard his little band against over whelming attack. His pickets were constantly on the watch, and over so much space as they could cover a spider could hardly have crept without their observing it. There was skirmishing every day. "Every night," TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 351 says J. Irvine Dungan, of the Nineteenth, in his excellent history of that regiment, "every night the pickets were visited, each post by Colonel Leake, and we all thought him much too strict. An air of vigilance pre vailed, and there never was a camp in which each man more felt the im portance of care and watchfulness, such was the force of our commander s example. The morning of September 29th was rainy and disagreeable. About thirty minutes before noon Colonel Leake s pickets north of his position were driven in, firing as they fell back. In two minutes his infantry were in line of battle. By some mistake of the artillerymen one of the guns was taken where it could be of no service, but in an incredibly short time after the pickets gave warning of the approaching enemy Lieutenant-Colonel Leake was giving them an effective fire from his single useful gun and his musketry. The combat became animated at once. The Union commander fought with a desperate endeavor to break through the rebel lines, but in vain. There were two brigades and a battalion opposed to him from the direction of the first attack. Greene was moving against him with still stronger force from the west, whilst a considerable body of cavalry by a detour was coming up on the south. These troops were dressed in our army blue and at first deceived Lieutenant-Colonel Leake who supposed them his own horsemen who were on picket in this direction. By this time the combat had been going on some time with fearful fury. Taking every advantage of position ; using the levee of Bayou Fordoche as a breastwork, and making the most of every house, fence and tree, this gallant little band of now less than five hundred men fought five thousand for two hours and ten minutes, and then, being completely surrounded, gave themselves up prisoners of war. Lieutenant-Colonel Leake held his men well in hand, and kept them as well protected as could be, so that his losses in killed and wounded were only about fifty. The rebels lost more than this number slain on the field, and admitted a loss of two hundred wounded, among them one Colonel and two Majors. Lieutenant-Colonel Leake was also wounded, but did not yield the command. Lieutenants Kent and Roberts, of the Nineteenth Iowa, were killed, Captain Taylor, mortally and Lieutenants Woods and Robb, severely wounded, Such, in brief was the combat of Sterling Farm, or the Battle of Fordoche, as it was called by the rebels a combat which ought never to have been fought, but which was waged by Lieutenant-Colonel Leake and his com mand with heoric courage and in the best manner possible. Everything was done by that ofiicer which could have been done with his force and position. It was a painful disaster, resulting in the long imprisonment of many brave men, in addition to the losses on the field. General Dana re- 352 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. lieved General Herron very shortly before the battle, but 1 am constrained to say the latter was responsible for the disaster. He informed Dana that the position was secure. Had his powers not been impaired by illness, General Herron would doubtless have thought and acted very differently. Colonel Dye being in command of the brigade, that of the regiment now fell to Major Thompson. On the 10th of October it embarked on steamers and moved again to Carrollton where it went into the old encampment. Here it remained in quiet and comfort for a fortnight. On the 24th, it em barked on Gulf transports, forming a part of the Texas expedition. On the 2d of November, after a stormy voyage, a landing was attempted. In this attempt several men were drowned, among them William Bice and Morgan Parsons of the Twentieth, but a landing was not effected until the 4th. The troops then landed on the island of Brazos Santiago, Texas. On the islands, waters, and mainland of this State, the regiment re mained many weary months, being compelled to submit to a sort of honora ble military exile, in obedience to that policy, which, under General Banks, resulted in nothing but cotton, disaster, and "expeditions!" Having re mained in the vicinity of Point Isabel about a week, the command em barked on the transport "Planter," and sailed to the southern end of Mustang Island. Immediately upon landing it commenced marching along the sandy beach, dragging two twelve-pounder howitzers by hand, the men carrying their knapsacks and sixty rounds of extra ammunition. The march was continued till midnight. At the northern extremity of the island the rebels had some earthworks, thrown up to defend the entrance to Corpus Christi and Aranzas Bays. These works were captured by two Maine regiments, before the arrival of the Twentieth with the artillery, those gallant regiments making a splendid and bloodless charge, with their arms at a right-shoulder-shift ! The regiment remained on Mustang Island, garrisoning the works, for more than seven months. The duties of the garrison were exceedingly light, and a number of expeditions were made up the bay to Corpus Christi, Lamar, St. Mary s, and other places, with a twofold object first, to gratify the spirit of adventure natural to the western character ; and, secondly, to procure lumber with which to erect barracks and houses for the comfort and convenience of the troops. When the parties engaged in these expe ditions returned, they were usually accompanied by Union men and their families who took advantage of the presence of the garrison to escape from the tyranny and persecution of the insurgent government, its aiders and abettors. There were some of these expeditions accompanied by great danger, and followed by results of importance. The bays of Texas are not easily navigated at any time, and sudden gales of wind, amounting almost to tornados, frequently arise, so that sailing here has all the adventure of TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 353 a voyage on the high seas, and a great many more breakers to arouse the fear of mariners. But squalls, breakers, reefs could not prevent the men of the Twentieth from capturing Texan towns and Texan lumber. A de tachment of the regiment, under Captain Barney, also captured the block ade-running schooner "Lizzie Bacon," and compelled a noted pilot of those waters to run her from St. Mary s to Mustang Island. But all these operations which served to enliven garrison life were accompanied by triflijig casualties. The capture of Captains Coulter and Torrey, in Decemberf Was about all the loss that befell the command. When that expedition which returned with the "Lizzie Bacon" came in, about the middle of May, 1864, the regiment was found to be in command of Captain M. L. Thompson, Major Thompson having resigned. Although Major Thompson was not a strict disciplinarian, he had great courage, and a heart overflowing with the milk of human kindness. He left behind him the affection of every man in the regiment. Captain Barney relates the following, to illustrate the Major s military style: "I will here relate an in cident," he says, "which, although it may disparage Major Thompson s reputation as a martinet in discipline, will nevertheless illustrate the per fect freedom with which he was at all times approached by men of the regiment; his uniform kindness, gentlemanly deportment, and coolness and bravery on the battle-field, had long since secured for him the friendship of every member of the command. Notwithstanding undue familiarity some times indulged by the men and line officers, it would be difficult to find a regimental commander whose orders were more cheerfully obe3 r ed than were his. A picket post was established about one mile west of camp, and much care taken by the Major that picket-duty was performed in strict accordance with the regulations. When the men were supposed to have become per fect in this duty, he one morning visited the line of pickets with a friend, in order to show him how well they were instructed, and performed their duties. On approaching the sentinel, who was lying down on a sand-hill, they were greeted with the following salutation, addressed to the Major: Hallo, Bill, got any whiskey? Being thrown off his guard, he replied, No. really, now, I forgot that canteen! " On the 24th of June, 1864, the troops touched their caps in farewell salute to Mustang Island, and sailed to Brazos Santiago. Thence our regi ment marched to Brownsville. Here it remained, on garrison duty, till the evacuation of the place on the 29th of July. The time was spent in drill ing, inspections, visiting the Mexican town of Matamoras, and in occasion ally getting into line to repel a threatened attack, said threatened attack invariably consisting of the approach of a few ragamuffin guerrilla-men, who took this way of amusing the garrison whilst cotton was being carried across the river a few miles above. There never was either real attack or failure 45 354 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. in the passage of the cotton. General Canby, whose troops of friends were not in the cotton business, failed to see, therefore, that the possession of Brownsville was of any earthly account to the Union cause, and the troops of the army gladly evacuated Texas for a field of more active operations. The march from Brownsville to Brazos Santiago was made along the crooked Eio Grande, and on the 2d of August the good ship Panama, in tow of the steamer City of Richmond set sail for New Orleans. On the evening of the 6th, the regiment was encamped at Carrollton. The stay here was short. The regiment moved to Fort Gaines, Alabama, sailing on two steamers, so that one part arrived just after the surrender, and the . other a day or two afterwards. The whole took part in the siege and bombardment of Fort Morgan, but in all these operations, resulting in a most cheering Union triumph, happily suffered no loss at the hands of the enemy. At the close of the first week in September the regiment sailed for New Orleans, but halted there only a short time. It moved up the river, and disembarked at Morganza. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Leake rejoined the command, and was received with unmixed satisfaction by all his old com rades. The regiment remained at Morganza about one month, drilling much of the time, and taking exhilarating exercise in "races" to and from the Atchafalaya, On the 12th of October the command moved up the river on steamers, and on the 18th disembarked at Duvall s Bluffs, on White River, Arkansas. Here and at Brownsville, not very far distant, the regiment remained till January 1865. The health of the men was bad. Scurvy had prevailed in all the com panies, and its effects were still visible, though the disease itself had some time before abated. The weather was as bad as it could be, even in Arkansas. Hence, when Mr. George Smith, of Davenport, arrived in the latter part of November, with fabulous amounts of sanitary stores from the ever- to-be remembered and generous-hearted patriots of Scott county, he was received with the utmost kindness, and when he departed a few days afterwards he carried with him the grateful resolutions of the regi ment, and intelligence of its improvement in health and spirits. During this period the regiment made scouts to some distance from head-quarters, worked on fortifications which were never of any use, and, upon the whole, had about as blue and disagreeable a time as troops would naturally be supposed to have in Arkansas. But the sanitary stores cured the scurvy, and when the regiment on the 8th of January, 1865, evacuated Arkansas, it had good health and spirits, and shortly afterwards encamped in a "mud- hole" near Kennerville, Louisiana, without grumbling or complaint. On the 16th of February the regiment embarked on steamers, on the next day came to anchor in Pensacola Bay, Florida, and disembarking went into camp at Florida Point. Here it remained till the campaign of Mobile, TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 355 in which, from beginning to end, it took such part as was most creditable to itself, and reflected honor upon the State and upon the service. It is well known to all familiar with this brilliant campaign, that the march of the armj^from Pensacola to Mobile was exceedingly toilsome and difficult that it was accompanied by labors of a very onerous nature. It was on this difficult march that the regiment received the following compliment, which was ordered to be read to the command, drawn up in line, on the, morning of March 29th : "General Orders No. 8. " HEAD QUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS, ) IN THE FIELD, March 2Sth, 1865. ) " I. The General commanding appreciates the ready and generous efforts of the troops in pro moting this difficult march. These labors assure future success, and every patriot will feel grateful to the soldiers who have endured them. The General particularly thanks Lieutenant-Colonel J. B- Leake, commanding the Twentieth Iowa Volunteers, for the valuable and rapid service of his regi ment this morning, showing by the amount done, how much can be accomplished by officers giving their personal interest and attention to their duty. " By order of BRIGADIER-GENERAL C. C. ANDREWS, " GEORGE MONROE, " Assistant Adjutant-General." The regiment took part in the siege of Blakely, and was with the assault ing column which so gloriously carried the works on the evening of April 9th. Though this assault was made in the teeth of a terrible fire of both artillery and musketry, the losses were very slight in the whole column. A shell passed through the blue field of the flag presented to the regiment by its friends in Scott County, but not a man was injured. Private George Bolton, of Company K, had been severely wounded during the siege, making the only casualty in the regiment during the operations against Mobile. The regiment moved across the, bay to Mobile on the 14th, and was assigned to duty under Brigadier- General George L. Andrews, provost marshal general of the military division in the city. Most fortunately it was ordered to brigade head-quarters, out of the city, on the 23d, and remaining there a few days escaped the terrible explosion which occurred two days afterwards. It returned to the city after the disaster, and con tinued in the performance of duty there till mustered out of service, on the 8th of July. It proceeded from Mobile to Clinton, Iowa, where it was received with great kindness by the citizens, who came out to welcome the command in large numbers, notwithstanding the rain was coming down in torrents. What was more, they treated the brave men to a sumptuous supper. On the 27th, the disorganization was completed, and the Twen tieth Iowa passed into history. The officers of the regiment when it was disbanded were: William McE. Dye, Colonel; Joseph B. Leake, Lieu- 356 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. tenant-Colonel ; C. S. Lake, Adjutant ; J. H. Rice, Quartermaster ; A. 0. Blanding, Surgeon; K. S. Marlin, Assistant; Reverend Richard King, Chaplain. Company A Captain Henry W. Chace ; Lieutenant John N. Coldron. Company B Captain E. Coulter ; Lieutenants James M. Den- nison, James 0. Stewart. Company C Captain M. L. Thompson ; Lieu tenants R. M. Lytle, William M. Johnson. Company D Captain Charles E. Squires ; Lieutenants George W. Thompson, Thomas F. Allen. Com pany E Captain Edward E. Davis ; Lieutenant M. F. Weller. Company F Lieutenant M. H. Crosby. Company G Captain Charles Altman; Lieutenants Frederick E. Starck, J. W. Moore. Company H Captain George A. Gray; Lieutenant William A. Scott. Company I Captain Joseph C. McClelland ; Lieutenant James W. Carver. Company K Cap tain Henry B. Doolittle. Captain Edward Coulter had been commissioned major, but not mustered, and Lieutenant Crosby had likewise been appointed Captain. So, these Sergeants had been appointed Lieutenants, namely: Cyrus Wynn, Martin Rhomberg, M. H. Pierce, George B. Woods, Edward Evershed, Dudley E. Stedman, Joseph D. Barnes, and Patrick Gaffney. It numbered four hundred and sixty-four men, rank and file. They at once sought their homes in Scott and Linn counties, where they were received with unmixed hospitality, and with about the same affection ate welcome which parents extend to favorite children; the newspapers vied with each other in articles of welcome, and Mrs. TIRZAH T. M. CURRY, of Davenport, lent the resources of her delightful genius to the occasion : King out a welcome ! Lo ! they come, Our heroes from the war. They bear their banners seamed and rent ; They wear the victor s scar 1 Three times the harvest moon hath smiled On fields of golden grain, Since they went forth at duty s call, Our freedom to maintain. And fairer hands have bound the sheaves And gathered in the corn, While hearts all true and hopeful looked And waited for the morn. The morn has come. Our hearts go out To meet the " boys in blue," As homeward, homeward, still they come, The loyal, brave and true. Paeans for those who bear aloft Our banner without stain I Dirges for those who sleep to-day Amid the honored slain! TWENTIETH INFANTRY. 357 Oh I hallowed field of Prairie Grove, Where nineteen heroes fell I They sleep beneath one spreading tree, Which marks their slumber well. And other fields and hill-eides fair Are hallowed by the dust Of those we sent with blessings forth, High hope and holy trust. Some feet grew weary on the march Across Missouri s plains ; Some fainted on Arkansas hilla Where desolation reigns. And some in dungeons, dark and damp, And noisome, pined for home, While others breathed their lives away Where sea waves fret and foam. All did their " life-work," nobly, well Each fills a patriot s grave, Each grave a precious legacy To the land they died to save. Then Paeans to those who bear aloft Our banner without stain ! Dirges for those who sleep to-day Amid the honored slain ! CHAPTER XX. FIRST CAVALRY. FITZ HENRY WARREN, ITS FIRST COLONEL-ORGANIZATIONMOVE TO ST. LOUIS- ACTIVE OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI-BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE CAPTURE OF VAN BVREN, ARKANSAS AGAIN ON DUTY IN MISSOURI INNUMERABLE SCOUTS MOVE TO PILOT KNOB MARCH INTO ARKANSAS THE CAPTURE OF LITTLE ROCK "WINTER QUARTERS" THE ARKANSAS CAMPAIGN MOVE TO TEXAS- GENERAL CUSTER, THE HERO OF THE LASH I FITZ HENRY WARREN, one of the most accomplished gentlemen among the politicians of Iowa, and one of the most able journalists of America, became associate editor of the New York Tribune about the time the war broke out. He had been First Assistant Post Master-General, and had re signed that office, in a fit of indignation because Millard Fillmore approved the Fugitive Slave Act. He afterwards came near being Senator of the United States, but though always an eminent man continued to be a private citizen from his manly retirement in 1851 till he became connected with the Tribune in 1861, unless we except certain candidatures rather honorary than of actual benefit. He left his home in Burlington for his new duties just after the fall of Fort Sumter, and from the National Capital wrote for the then most widely circulated political journal of the country a series of bold, keen, powerful letters which attracted universal attention and won the general admiration. At Washington, Warren was numbered among those select few who saw the end from the beginning ; who were in earnest against treason from the start ; who did not see the wisdom of playing war ; who did not bow with very respectful obeisance before the genius of the octogenarian commander- in-chief ; and who used to retire regularly every evening to rooms, opposite Willard s noted hotel, to exercise their talents in satire. Here were sena tors and ex-senators, members of congress and ex-members, generals, and those who afterwards were generals, and prominent citizens of the Republic who had never consented to hold any office, all intently engaged in the cur rent business of discussing the war and condemning the way in which it seemed to be waged. But they could not oust the octogenarian. That 358 FIRST CAVALRY. 359 required some terrible disaster. It came in the defeat of Bull Hun, which, by a singular coincidence, resulted in the retirement of General Scott from the army and of Colonel Warren from the Tribune. The former retired to the "retired list," and the latter from the field of journalism to the theatre of war. Some weeks before the disaster of Bull Hun, Colonel Warren had been elected to the command of the First Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and he now fully determined to accept the military position which had been offeijeff. him. The first regiment of volunteer cavalry raised in Iowa was recruited from a large section of the State from Lee county to Floyd, and from Allainakee to Decatur, embracing much more than half the geographical area of our territory, upon which were living three-fourths of our people. Though there were some obstacles thrown in the way of enlisting troops for the cavalry arm of the service, six companies of the First were in camp near Burlington in July, 1861 ; others came during the following month, and the regiment was fully organized about the last of August, one com pany, however, not being at this time present. It was mustered into the service at Davenport, in the early part of September. There was an abundance of political talent among the officers of this regiment. Besides Colonel Warren, there was Charles E. Moss, Lieute nant-Colonel, who had been a dragoon in the Mexican war, a noted orator of Lee county, who had as great a capacity for speaking as any audience ever had for hearing. He was an intense radical, as atrabilarious as John Randolph, and when mounted on his charger presented the very picture of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Dan Anderson, Captain of Company II, had long represented his district in the Senate. P. Gad Bryan, Captain of Company D, was the most popular democrat in the western part of Iowa. Of a generous nature, addicted to joining the church once in a while, it was almost impossible to defeat him. when he ran for office, which he fre quently did. William E. Leffingwell, Captain of Company B, was, per haps, the finest orator in the democratic party in Iowa, whilst men of all parties freely acknowledged his abilities and his native good dispositions. He had been a candidate for Congress. Captain William Thompson, of Company E, had been a member of congress. He had been for years con nected with the leading democratic journal of the State, and after his party lost the reins of power it was usual for him to preside at its State conven tions or take a prominent part therein, much to the disgust of Judge McFarland, of Boone county, who was of a jealous disposition, and some times on these occasions and some others took too much whiskey. Captain H. H. Heath, of Company L, was the leader, in 1860, of the Breckinridge wing of the democracy. This wing, like the Bell-Everett wing, was ex tremely weak in Iowa, but its leaders were all the more active and belligerent 360 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. on that account. Captain Heath made the best fight possible under the circumstances, and manfully left the party at the call of patriotism. There were others in the regiment of less or more note Martin L. Morris, who had been treasurer of State, who was the first Quartermaster ; Doctor J. C. Stone, the first Adjutant, arid several line officers. The regiment remained in camp near Burlington till the early part of October, when Colonel Warren was ordered to report at St. Louis. By the middle of that month, the regiment, numbering about one thousand two hundred men, was in Benton Barracks. The first and second battalions were soon sent into the field. The third remained at Benton Barracks, under command of Colonel Warren. The eight companies which marched into the field, were engaged throughout the entire winter of 1861-2, in patrolling a large portion of Missouri. The country was infested by guer rilla-men. Many of them were hunted down by the First Cavalry, and shot. Political broils were quieted. The squadrons were stationed at different places Otterville, Boonville, Fayette, Georgetown from all which scouts were made in different directions, and the disaffected every where prevented from rising in opposition to the government. The section of country patrolled by the troopers of the First was most unhealthy for guerrilla-men. If one showed his hand or his head, there was a ball through it. Four of the companies, in company with a detachment of the First Missouri Cavalry, attacked and routed a rebel force under the noted Poindexter, at Silver Creek, in the month of January. The same com panies, in the month of February, made a successful raid to Warsaw, cap turing several confederate officers, among them Brigadier-General Price, son of the distinguished Major-General. In these and similar services these eight companies spent an active winter almost constantly in the saddle, now on one side of the Missouri, now on another always protect ing Union citizens, and ever a terror to evil doers. Perhaps no body of cavalry ever performed a larger amount of scouting and active outpost ser vice than these companies performed from the 1st of November, 1861, to the 1st of March, 1862. Had the same amount of service been done on noted fields of battle it would have immortalized the command in history and in song. Meanwhile, the Third Battalion remained in barracks near St. Louis, perfecting itself in the cavalry drill. Early in March, it was ordered to Sedalia. It left Benton Barracks on the 6th, as well drilled and fine appearing a body of troops as any in the cavalry branch of the service, not excepting regulars, and reached Sedalia on the 9th, where it joined the First Battalion, Mtyor Torrence. Here it halted but a few days. On the 12th, the two battalions marched for Clinton, forty-five miles distant, where FIRST CAVALRY. 361 regimental head-quarters were established, though the regiment was not there concentrated, on the 14th. At this place head-quarters remained until the 8th of April, when they were moved to Butler, some twenty-five or thirty miles further west, and not very far from the boundary line between Missouri and Kansas. But meanwhile the regiment, scattered by squadron or company over a wide extent of country, was scouting constantly, up to the utmost endurance of horse-flesh. Shortly after Colonel Warren advanced to Butler, Lieutenant- Colonel Moss, in command of two companies, marched from Osceola to Montevallo, and was there attacked by a band of desperadoes, posted in a house and barn. They soon suffered for their temerity, however, being handsomely whipped and driven from their cover with severe loss. Lieu tenant-Colonel Moss here lost two men killed and several wounded. In the early part of the following month Colonel Warren, with two hundred men of his regiment and a section of artillery marched to the river Marais des Cygnes. He returned from his raid on the llth, bringing in thirty prison ers and considerable quantities of powder and lead captured from the enemy. In July, Major Grower defeated Quantrill near Pleasant Hill, after a short but spirited and decisive contest, in which the outlaws lost very heavily in killed and wounded. The First Cavalry in this combat, which was conducted in the most skilful manner by Major Grower, and fought with the greatest dash by his troops, lost three killed and ten wounded, among the latter Lieutenants Reynolds and Foster, and Adjutant Kerr. On the 2d of August, Captain Heath, with a detachment numbering less than one hundred men, made a bold attack on a largely superior force of rebels, under command of a certain Glowers, a notorious brigand, who was strongly posted in a thick grove on Clear Creek, about two miles from the town of Taberville. Captain Heath delivered attack so vigorously and suc cessfully that he had well nigh completely whipped and routed the enemy before Captain Caldwell, who was posted about a mile from the field at the commencement of the fight, came up. Captain Heath lost four men killed and fourteen wounded in this gallant affair, himself being among the^ latter. 1 On the 7th, Colonel Warren, in obedience to orders, evacuated the post of Butler, and on the following day all the companies of his regiment met together at Clinton, for the first time since they were together at regi mental rendezvous at Burlington. Two-thirds of the regiment all the time during this period of ten months, and all of it, half the time, had been ac tively, constantly engaged. The field of their services had not been where the war was waged by large armies attracting the attention of their coun- 1 The killed were : Albert C. Alford, Caleb C. Botwood, Michael J. Driscoll, of Company L, and Elisha A. Roland, of Company M. 46 362 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. trymen. But it had been where there were many and secret dangers; where the utmost watchfulness, the most wakeful vigilance, day and night, were necessary to prevent bands of stealthy foes, animated by the fell spi rits of treason and hate, from making a wide waste of this devoted land, giving it over to conflagration, rapine, and sack. I have briefly related two or three of the more prominent affairs in which the regiment was engaged during this period. There were others, of less or more importance. But all the time, in the midst of darkness and of storm, as well as in the sun shine, the troops, or parts of the command, were on the move. They used their powers to the utmost stretch of human endurance, and compelled their horses to travel till oftentimes they fell dead on the march. They became the most successful bushwhackers, in the good meaning of that term, the world ever saw. They gained no great fame. But they per formed invaluable service to Missouri, and to the general cause ; and were the bones of the outlaws and desperadoes, which, through many a forest glade and along many a lonely lane, now crumble into dust in western Mis souri victims of the vigilance and the carbines of the First Iowa Cavalry were these to be counted to their credit, it would be found that they had slain as many enemies of the government as usually fall in a great battle. On the 16th, the regiment moved to Sedalia. But meantime Colonel Warren, with a large detail of officers and men had marched northward from Clinton, to reenforce Blunt, then threatened with attack by a large force under Coffee. The Unionists, under the command of Major Foster, Missouri State Militia, were defeated at the battle of Lone Jack, on the 16th, but Warren and Blunt coming up immediately afterwards, the rebels retreated. The Unionists briskly pursued, but were unable to come up with the enemy. In this chase, Colonel Warren marched about three hundred miles. Near the close of the month, the regiment was again at " Camp Warren," near Clinton, where it remained, the men all the while scouting as before till the 20th of September. Here Colonel Warren re ceived his. commission as Brigadier-General, and bidding a kind farewell to his beloved comrades of the First, departed for another field of duty. He was succeeded by Colonel James 0. Gower, promoted from Lieutenant- Colonel. Taking up line of march for Springfield, the regiment reached that place September 28th, and, assigned to the Second Brigade, First Division, Army of Southwest Missouri, Colonel Dye, Twentieth Iowa, commanding brigade, encamped at "Camp McClellan," twelve miles west of Springfield. From this time until past the middle of November the regiment was engaged in inarching and countermarching over southwestern Missouri and north western Arkansas, and in occasional skirmishing with the enemy, but with out a general engagement. On the 18th of November, the regiment went FIRST CAVALRY. 363 into camp near Wilson s Creek, some twelve or fifteen miles from Spring field. A scout thence into Arkansas in the latter part of the month, con cluded the inarches of the regiment till the campaign of Prairie Grove. The regiment, meantime, had been transferred to the Third Division, Gen eral Herron commanding, Army of the Frontier. During the afternoon of December 3d, the regiment hastily broke camp, and marched with the division to the reenforcement of Blunt, at Cane Hill, Arkansas. At daylight on the morning of the 6th, two battalions under Colonel (rower (Lieutenant- Colonel Bryan with one battalion being detailed as rear guard for the division train) left the camp-ground of the army, and at 12 o clock at night reported at General Blunt s head-quarters, having marched forty-seven miles, and been in the saddle eighteen consecutive hours. In the battle of Prairie Grove, which ensued, the regiment took quite as conspicuous and gallant a part as any troop of horse on the field, which was not favorable for movements of cavalry on any extended scale. The regiment encamped on the battle-field after the engagement, and there remained in quiet until it marched on the heavy and brilliant scout which resulted in THE CAPTURE OF VAN BUREN. When General Hiridman suffered defeat at Prairie Grove, he put his de moralized army in retreat towards Van Buren, and by a disgraceful deceit, whereby the white flag was prostituted and his own name forever dis honored, prevented pursuit by the Union forces. They accordingly went sullenly into encampment, but the generals determined to follow up the victory so soon as their troops had rested somewhat from their labors. On the day after Christmas, there was unusual bustle in the encampment. Orders were issued which plainly indicated a forward movement. On the morning of the 27th, the army moved from camp toward Van Buren, the First Division by way of the road along the western base of the mountain range, and the Second and Third Divisions by the parallel road along the summit, usually called the Telegraph, and sometimes the Wire, road. The command rested north of Lee s Creek during the night of the 27th. Early on the morning of the 28th, a crossing of this swollen and rapid stream was effected, the cavalry carrying over the infantry en croupe, the passage making as novel and mirthful a spectacle as often can be seen in war. Many of the horses objected to carrying double, and, though others more gentle bore their burden safely across the stream, there was a great deal of rearing and plunging, which was fun for the troopers and a serious matter to the foot. A rude bridge of logs was meanwhile constructed for the passage of the artillery. Before the army had all crossed the cavalry was ordered forward. The troopers from Blunt s Division soon joined the others, and all went forward on a brisk trot, the First Iowa Cavalry leading the column. 364 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. At ten o clock, the advance came upon two regiments of rebel cavalry, at a hamlet called Dripping Springs, eight miles north of Van Buren. The First Cavalry dashed upon them in the most intrepid and gallant manner, and, supported by the rest of the mounted force of the army, and by four mountain howitzers, kept up a brisk running fight into the very town of Van Buren. At Logtown, which is a mere suburb of Van Buren, only one mile distant, and separated therefrom by a considerable hill, the howitzers were brought forward, and the cavalry deployed to the right and left. After a few shots from the howitzers, the cavalry made a dash en masse into Van Buren, galloping down the hill at a furious speed. Some rode to the landing, to prevent the escape of rebels across the river, whilst others galloped down the bank of the river, after certain steamboats which were making off in that direction. The steamboats were captured, and brought back to the landing. The rebels essayed to drive our cavalry from the town by artillery fire from the south side of the river, but their guns were soon silenced by Blunt s howitzers. Before four o clock in the afternoon, we were in complete and quiet possession of Van Buren. We had cap tured an immense amount of property wagons, commissary stores, four steamboats, and a ferry boat, camp and garrison equipage in great quanti ties, many mules, a large quantity of ammunition and nearly one hundred prisoners of war. The night of the 28th passed quietly by. The next day was spent in jubilation over the victory, which had been gained with such slight loss two killed and as many wounded, one of the former being of the First Cavalry, as reported by correspondence at the time. The celebration of the victoiy consisted of the marching of the whole infantry force of the Army of the Fron tier, and two batteries in parade through the principal streets of Van Buren, the field bauds in front of the different regiments, colors flying, and the whole spectacle attracting the attention of the citizens universally. The parade over, the army made preparations to countermarch. The steam boats and the ferry-boat were burned, and other property which could not be carried away was destroyed. The total loss to the confederate cause from this foray, and capture of Van Buren, was estimated as worth about three hundred thousand dollars. At nine o clock at night the whole Army of the Frontier was in motion on the countermarch. The First Cavalry reached the encampment at Prairie Grove on the last day of the year, having taken the most leading part in a foray which was esteemed by the people and press of the country as the most dashing and daring that had yet taken place. New Year s Day,. 1863, was spent by our regiment on the march. It moved to the west bank of White River at a point three miles east of Fayetteville, where the men pitched tents. The White River here flows FIRST CAVALRY. 365 in a northwardly direction. It sweeps around in a large curve, passing up into Missouri, and back into Arkansas in a southeasterly course. The town of Athens on this river is about one hundred and twenty-five miles nearly due east of Fayetteville, also on the river, but by the winding course of the stream, the distance is three or four times as great. In the segment formed by the line between these two towns, and White River, the First Cavalry had its field of active operations from the 6th to the 22d of January marching during this period to Huntsville, Kingston, Yellville, scouting a wide extent of country, capturing a number of prisoners, and considerable confederate property. Thus, on the 13th, Major Caldwell, commanding a detachment, destroyed extensive saltpetre works on Buffalo River, and captured a number of prisoners and horses. A few days afterwards, Colo nel Gower, commanding a brigade, marched to Yellville, where many pri soners and a large amount of property were taken. On the 17th, the division, Colonel Gower, now commanding, moved northward, and on the 19th encamped on the south bank of White River, opposite Forsyth, Mis souri. On the 22d, the command made a passage of the river, nnd encamped near Forsyth. Here it remained in quiet about three weeks, when the regiment, less two companies left at Forsyth, marched about forty miles in the direction of Rolla, and established camp. Early in March the command again mounted, and moved three marches eastward, and en camped at Mountain Grove. On the last day of the month, having moved by Gladden Valley, and there wheeled northward, tents were pitched at Lake Springs, about equi-distant from Rolla on the one hand and Pilot Knob on the other. And at Lake Springs the encampment of the regiment remained until the llth of June. But the regiment was not all in camp all this time. General Marmaduke invaded southeastern Missouri in the latter part of April, with seven thousand cavalry and fourteen pieces of artillery. On the 26th he attacked Cape Girardeau and was handsomely repulsed by the Union garrison under General John McNeil. Meanwhile, a considerable detachment of the Second and Third Divisions of the Army of the Frontier, embracing the larger portion of the effective cavalry force of those divisions, with artillery, moved from Lake Springs against Marmaduke. This detach ment, under command of General William Vandever, moved on the 21st of April for Pilot Knob. In this command was a detachment of five hun dred men from the First Iowa cavalry, under the command of Major Cald well. The column reached Pilot Knob on the 23d, and there remained under arms awaiting the approach of the enemy, who was reported in the vicinity. On the 25th, the First Iowa had the advance, leading the column in a rapid march on Fredericktown, but finding no enemy. On the next day, marched for Jackson, full forty miles distant, and at night bivouacked 366 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. four miles from the town and one from the enemy, who having been de feated by McNeil, had moved thus far from the battle-field. A night attack on the rebel advance-guard was planned, and the charge entrusted to the First Iowa. At midnight Lieutenant Hursh, of Company F, with a platoon of eight men, and two howitzers, these loaded with musket balls, stealthily approached to within thirty yards of the unsuspecting rebels, and discharging howitzers and carbines simultaneously, effected great slaughter among the enemy. "At the same time," says the Missouri Democrat, " the First Iowa cavalry charged upon them, and not a man of the entire force escaped, all who were not killed or wounded being taken prisoners. All their guns, horses, camp equipage, and several thousand dollars worth of stolen property were captured by the Union party. The affair was a most brilliant one, and both officers and men, says Major Caldwell, merited special commendation. Singularly enough, though the rebels, so soon as they recovered from their surprise, and regained their presence of mind, offered considerable resistance, not a man of our regiment was harmed. The pursuit was continued by Bloomfield to Chalk Bluff on the St. Francis River, our advance and Marmaduke s rear-guard skirmishing less or more during the entire distance of about ninety miles. On the last forty of these, Major Caldwell had the advance, and on the 1st of May, while skirmishing near the St. Francis he lost three men severely wounded. On the next day, during a reconnoissance to the river s bank, two others were wounded. The enemy effected a passage of the river, however, and Marmaduke s raid here ended with a considerable artillery duel between the forces on the two sides of the stream. The trooper got away with all his artillery and much plunder. General Vandever was attacked by the newspaper press for the want of energy which, it was stated, characterized his purMiifc, ; but the truth is, he kept as close to the enemy and annoyed him as effectually as any one would have been able to do with his inferior force. Major Caldwell, marching by Bloomfield, Cape Girardeau and Pilot Knob, reached the encampment at Lake Springs on the 14th, having marched five hundred miles, and his troops having suffered no little from inclement weather, and the want of full rations. 2 The regiment remained in camp at Lake Springs, in unusual quiet for nearly a month after the return of the detachment under Major Caldwell. On the 5th of June, it was transferred from the Army of the Frontier to the Second Brigade, Cavalry Division. On the llth, the command broke camp at Lake Springs, and three days thereafter reported to Colonel J. M. Glover, commanding brigade, at Pilot Knob, near which post our regiment remained encamped till the beginning of the following month. Up to the 2 The wounded on this campaign were : Sergeant William Hunter, and Privates William George, Charles D. Esson, Theodore J. Creamer, and Milton S. Clark. FIRST CAVALRY. 367 latter part of March, the regiment had never been well armed. It then received two hundred and fifty Colt s improved arm} 7 revolvers, five hun dred sabres, and six hundred Sharp s breech-loading carbines, making the armament nearly complete, and very much more effective than it ever had been before. While in their Arcadian encampment near Pilot Knob, the men had little more to do than burnish their arms and accoutrements, and at considerable leisure prepare themselves and their horses for another campaign. The duties of the next month were of another sort. In the first place, the regiment marched at least two hundred and fifty miles, moving by Fredericktown, Bloomfield, and Chalk Bluff, where it crossed the St. Francis, to Willsburg, in Arkansas, several long marches down the river. In the next place, the men of the regiment performed much hard labor on fortifications at sundry places in southeastern Missouri, which, about this time, were fortified against future attack by the enemy. So that, with marches, outpost duty, and labor on fortifications, the command had more of what is called heavy duty in the army during the hot month of July than it had been called upon to perform at any previous period of its his tory. Moreover, a detachment of fifty men, with Captain Jenks and Lieutenant Hursh, performed the hazardous march from Greenville to Helena with dispatches, safely passing and repassing through the enemy s country, a distance of about one hundred miles. The march was continued in a southerly direction to within about thirty miles of Helena, when, on the 5th of August, the column changed its course, and marched on Claren don, on the White River, where it halted a fortnight. General Steele was now preparing for the campaign of Little Rock, and two days after our regiment encamped near Clarendon, the head of his column, Colonel, soon afterwards Brigadier-General, Samuel A. Rice, in command of the advance, moved from Helena in the direction of Claren don, where in due time the forces were concentrated. On the 22d, the army moved for Little Rock. A depot having been established at Duvall s Bluff, the advance approached Brownsville, midway between the White and the Arkansas Rivers, on the 26th. Here there was a brisk skirmish, the First Cavalry having the extreme front. The enemy was driven from his works and from the town, but on the next day, advantageously posted behind Bayou Metoe (sometimes written Meter, and sometimes, with French affectation, Metaire), offered a more stubborn resistance. The First Iowa, in the heavy skirmishing which here took place, and which well nigh developed into a general battle, took very prominent part, making a dashing charge to capture the only bridge by which a passage might have been made across the deep and miry stream. The charge was made with drawn sabres, in a most gallant manner, the troopers rushing 368 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. right up to the bridge under a heavy and destructive fire from the enemy s artillery and sharp-shooters. But it was not possible to save the bridge, the rebels having prepared everything for its destruction beforehand. Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson here had his horse shot under him, and the regiment, in the brief charge, sustained a loss of thirty-seven in killed and wounded. 3 The stream, the approach to which, except by artificial roads, was an ex tensive quagmire, was impracticable. The troops therefore withdrew, and retired to their encampment at Brownsville, where they remained a few, days in quiet, pickets only posted on the bayou to observe the enemy. But General Davidson, commanding the cavalry division, made a recon- noissance around the enemy s left by way of the hamlet of Austin, north of Brownsville, Rice meanwhile occupying the enemy s attention on the front. The reconnoissance lasted two days, and developed the impractica bility of a movement in that direction. Hence General Steele adopted the southern route, whereby he would cross the Arkansas below Little Rock. The movement began on the 6th of September, and closed on the 10th, with our army in full possession of the capital, having gained a cheering victory at the expense of little blood and life, the casualties of the whole campaign, from Clarendon to Little Rock not exceeding one hundred. As to the direct capture of the city, this may be here stated : The cav alry division crossed the Arkansas eight miles below the town on pontoons, under cover of artillery and infantry. The Second Brigade of cavalry was placed in the advance, the First Iowa moving in front as skirmishers. There was fighting all the way from the crossing to the town, which at times was accompanied by as much firing as would accompany a battle, During the entire fight, which continued nearly all day, our regiment was on the extreme front, sometimes slowly fighting its way forward on foot, anon charging with drawn sabre, under a fire of artillery and musketry which, if sound alone had been eifective, would have repulsed the Union troops. The regiment during the day regained from the enemy two how itzers, which had been captured from the Tenth Illinois Cavalry. At sun set, the enemy evacuated their works, retreating to Arkadelphia. Our regiment went into bivouac in the southern suburb of the captured city. Though the command had throughout the day been constantly under fire, 8 Namely: Company A Killed, Hiram Leland; mortally wounded, Harvey Wing; severely wounded and captured, C. U. Martin, R. E. Granger ; Wounded, Lieutenant R. M. Reynolds ; Private A. Vanserman. Company B Privates Crane and Scott. Company CA. E. Stutsman and J. K. Simmons. Company KW. W. Williver and Sergeant J. M. Russell. Company M Corporal W. 0. Gulick. The following were less severely wounded : Company A A. J. Wilson. Company B Ser geant Allen; Corporal Carney; Private Smith. Company C Corporal S. Chapman; Privates J. Boltz, S. B. Welch, W. 0. P. Keever. Company EG. Canterbury, R. Walker, I. N. Hall, J. Willford. Company K Sergeant Dubois ; E. Harman. Company MJ. Decker. FIRST CAVALRY. 369 and in exposed position, its loss was singularly light, being but one killed and three wounded, among the latter Major Caldwell* While the regiment is thus quietly reposing near Little Rock, it will be convenient to take up the thread of its personal history and bring it down to this time. In the early part of the year, Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan had been honorably discharged the service. This officer had been so popular with the command that, after the promotion of Colonel Warren, he had been elected Colonel. Governor Kirk wood, however, in the exercise of a doubtful prerogative, disregarded the election, and appointed Gower to the vacancy. Wherefore, Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan, considering himself aggrieved, threw up his commission. It is but simple justice to say that he was very popu lar in the regiment, universally regarded as a brave, efficient officer, and large-hearted man. He quitted the regiment in February, 1863. In the same month, Adjutant Kerr, Chaplain Latham, Captain Wecoatt, Lieu tenant Bishop, Company A, and Lieutenant Freeman, Company K, were honorably discharged. Quartermaster Sergeant Donnell succeeded Kerr as adjutant. Doctor Lothrop, Assistant Surgeon, also resigned about this time, whilst Captain Heath was discharged for the purpose of taking a ma jority in the Seventh Cavalry. In that command he gradually won pro motion, and became at length a Brevet Brigadier-General. Captains Chase, and William Thompson were promoted Majors during the period under consideration, and several changes in the line officers occurred. During the month before the capture of Little Rock, Colonel Gower, re signed on account of ill health, was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Anderson, who was commissioned Colonel on the 21st of August. It may be proper to observe that Colonel Gower had been a gallant, skilful com mander. He left the regiment to the regret of all the officers and men, who had served with him and under him. He never recovered from the disease contracted while he was in the army. He died at his home in Iowa City, in the fall of 1865, to the sincere and universal regret of the citizens of our old capital. When Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson was promoted, Major Cald- well, one of the most worthy officers Iowa ever sent to the field, was made Lieutenant-Colonel. Captain McQueen was at the same time made Major. And this will suffice for the personnel of the regiment for the present. During the campaign which terminated with the capture of Little Rock, the regiment, like all regiments in the army, suffered much from sickness. And disease had so fastened upon the men that it was long before they re covered. Many did not recover at all, but gradually succumbed to the fell destroyer, and in this distant land passed through the valley of the shadow of death. However, Dr. Cochran, the principal surgeon, a skilful physi- Kilted, Charles T. Magill. Wounded, Major J. W. Caldwell; Privates A. J. Hendrickson and E. J. Davis. 47 370 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. cian as well as a humane man, exerted his best endeavors to restore the health of the command, and soon measurably succeeded. During the re mainder of September after the fall of Little Rock, and the month follow ing, the regiment remained in the vicinity of the capital, engaged on police and outpost duties, and in building quarters and stables that the coming winter might be passed in comfort. It performed no marches. During the last two months of the year the case was very different. The regimental encampment remained near Little Rock, but a lesser or greater part of the command was much of the time in the saddle, looking for rebels or for forage. During these two months the different companies of the regiment marched more than six thousand miles. They moved to Pine Bluff, to Arkadelphia, to within a few miles of Camden ; they skirmished with the enemy on several occasions ; they scoured the country roundabout Little Rock in all directions in search of forage, for lack of which many horses died. The men themselves were without great coats and suffered no little from exposure to the inclement season. During the period now under review, Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell marched to Pine Bluff to reenforce that post, and being out one week, returned without casualty. So, a de tachment of two hundred and sixty men, under Captain Jenks, moved with detachments of other regiments on a rebel encampment near Princeton, about sixty miles south of Little Rock, and on the 8th of December, Cap tain Jenks being in advance, came upon the camp. A brisk skirmish ensued, in which our detachment lost two men wounded. 5 The camp was broken up, a number of rebels killed and wounded, and considerable camp equi page was captured. Whilst the regiment was thus engaged near Little Rock as I have briefly described, a number of the men reenlisted, but the year 1863 closed with very little having been accomplished in the way of making the command a veteran organization. But many reenlisted early in 1864, so that the com mand became a veteran regiment. During the period of reenlistment the troops were engaged about Little Rock in many minor operations. The 23d of March, though then entitled to veteran furlough, the regi ment joined the column under Steele which on this day commenced that movement afterwards called the Camden expedition. It took a prominent part in all the operations of this campaign, about three hundred and fifty men of the regiment acting with the infantry because of the want of horses. Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell being in command of a brigade, Captain Crosby had command of the First Cavalry. It was necessarily much on the advance, and had frequent combats with the enemy a spirited engage ment near Arkadelphia on the 30th ; another on the Little Missouri, April 2d, above Elkin s Ford, where the main army crossed ; in the engagement & Privates A. McClasky aud C. Smelser. FIRST CAVALRY. 371 of the next day it took conspicuous part, as also in the grand skirmish on Prairie d Anne on the 10th ; and from this time till Camden was entered on the 15th, it was all the while within sound of the enemy s guns. The losses of the regiment in these operations were five slain, and twenty- five wounded. The 17th, a detachment of the regiment with a de tachment of the Third Missouri, Major Leonard, marched some twenty miles down the Washita and captured a steamboat, laden with stores, which, under the pilotage of Lieutenant Foster, First Iowa, was safely brought to Camden. The command having gallantly volunteered to take part in this cam paign at a time when it was entitled to furlough, was now granted the " thirty days at home" usually given veterans. Brigadier-General E. A. Carr issued an order announcing the furlough, from which the following extracts are noteworthy : * * * V. The Brigadier-General commanding the division has been highly gratified with the cheerfulness and alacrity shown by the regiment under the particular hardships of this campaign, as well as by its handsomely sustaining the reputation for bravery which belongs to Iowa troops. " VI. To Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell, the Division Commander is under obligations for the skill and bravery he has shown as commander of the Third Brigade, and especially for his untiring energy and hearty, cordial and cheerful co-operation in all the plans of the compaign. " By order of BRIGADIER-GENERAL E. A. CARR, " C. H. DYER, " A. A. General." The recruits and non-veterans being left in command of Colonel Ander son, Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell with the veterans left for home on the 24th, marching on foot, the horses having been turned over to the govern ment. Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, Thirty-sixth Iowa, had not long before started for Pine Bluff with a considerable force and a heavy train. He was thoroughly defeated near Mark s Mills, as we shall hereafter see, with the loss of the train and most of his troops. The veterans of the First Cavalry reached Moro River on the morning of the battle, in time to witness the stampede of the teamsters and camp followers, and to prevent the passage of the river by the rebels. They having gone off Lieutenant-Colonel Cald well retreated in the direction of Camden, and meeting the retreating army joined the column on the 27th. The veterans took their place in the army, participated in the severe battle of Jenkin s Ferry on the 30th, and reached Little Rock on the 2d of May. Remaining there about one week they went north on furlough. The veterans left Davenport for the front about the middle of July. At Cairo, Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell was ordered to report with his com mand at Benton Barracks. The 12th of August, he moved to Mexico, Missouri, and, whilst commanding a district composed of several counties, 372 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the veterans were actively engaged in scouting. On the 27th of September, the savage guerrilla, Bill Anderson, attacked and captured a train near Cen- tralia, and atrociously murdered all the soldiers aboard, numbering about thirty, of whom seven were members of the First Cavalry, namely : Corpo ral J. Arnold; Privates Owen P. Gore, George Williams, George Dilley, Edward Medary, Samuel Russell, and Charles Carpenter. The guerrilla continued his deeds of horror upon troops afterwards coming up, till the victims of the Centralia massacre numbered more than an hundred. At the time of Price s invasion, the regiment was ordered to Jefferson City, where it joined the forces of General Rosecrans, and marched on the campaign which resulted in the expulsion of the rebels from the State. Returning to Warrensburg the regiment was there made the cavalry-escort of Rosecrans which conducted him to St. Louis. It remained at Benton Barracks till January, 1865, when it moved to Little Rock, where, and at Memphis, the non-veteran portion of the command had been on duty since the Camden expedition. Colonel William Thompson was now in com mand. Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell, after three and a-half years honora ble service had been mustered out, at his own request, in the fall of 1864, and been succeeded by Major Alexander G. McQueen. The regiment continued to serve in the vicinity of Little Rock till the war was practically closed, when, instead of being mustered out of the ser vice, it moved by Alexandria, Louisiana, to Texas, and at this writing, (December, 1865), is on duty in that State. The principal event which has taken place in the regiment since its service in Texas was the flogging of one of its members by order of General Custer, who in thus violating law and humanity, and from the hero of many a mad charge sinking into the hero of the lash, justly received the indignant condemnation of the people of Iowa, and of all who know that it takes something besides mere audacity to maintain the reputation of a soldier, not here to mention that of a gentleman also. Governor Stone earnestly protested against this bar barous code adopted by the long-haired young general, and asked that the regiment might be taken from Custer s command, and honorably discharged the service. General Warren in person made request of Secretary Stanton to order the command mustered out, and it is probable that before these pages come before the public eye the First Iowa Cavalry will have taken its place in history. And though it is true that the regiment was not called to the more glorious fields of action, except at Prairie Grove, it is nevertheless the fact that its history is a record of gallant deeds and most valuable service extending through a period of nearly five years. It served longer than any of our regiments, except the Eighth and Twelfth Infantry, FIRST CAVALRY. 373 and throughout the whole of its active career, left no single blot on its bright record. 4 * The officers of the regiment, up to January, 1865, as shown by the Adjutant-General s Reports, were: Colonels Fitz Henry Warren, James 0. Gower, Daniel Anderson, William Thompson. Lieu- tenanLColoneU Charles E. Moss, P. Gad Bryan, Joseph W. Caldwell, Alexander G. McQueen. Majors E. W. Chamberlain, J. 0. Gower, J. W. Caldwell, William M. G. Torrence, P. Gad Bryan, Daniel Anderson, Levi Chase, William Thompson, A. G. McQueen, James D. Jenks, John McDermott. Adjutants Joseph C. Stone, David A. Kerr, John A. Donnell. . LINE OFFICERS. Company A Captains W. M. G. Torrence, A. G. McQueen, Robert M. Reynolds ; Lieutenants A. G. McQueen, R. M. Reynolds, John A. Bishop, John R. Marshall, John L. Russell. Company B Captains William E. Leffingwell, Samuel S. Burdett, Joseph T. Foster; Lieutenants S. S. Burdett, J. T. Foster, William H. Defreest, Henry P. Sniffer, Hiram S. Heberling. Company C Captains Levi Chase, Thomas Jones ; Lieutenants Benjamin Raney, Thomas Jones, Albert F. Dean, Matthew Ronaldson, William A. Clark, Thomas J. R. Perry, Clinton M. Turner. Company D Captains P. Gad Bryan, James D. Jenks, George M. Walker; Lieutenants James D. Jenks, William R. Shriver, George M. Walker, James G. Rutter, William B. Ramsey. Company E Captains William Thompson, Thomas A. Bereman ; Lieutenants William P. McClure, Silas R. Nugen, Thomas A. Bereman, Simmer B. Marshall, William A. Coulter, Christian Kauffman. Company F Captains James 0. Gower, James R. Elliott, Philip E. Shafer, Charles Dustin; Lieu tenants James R. Elliott, Philip E. Shafer, Charles Dustin, Jacob Hursh, Charles W. W. Dow. Company G Captains James D. Thompson, John McDermott ; Lieutenants H. H. Heath, John McDermott, E. S. Foster, Solomon Smith, Albert W 7 . Hosford. Company H Captains Daniel Anderson, Riley Wescoatt, William S. Whisenand; Lieutenants Riley Wescoatt, William S. Whisenand, Albert U. McCormack, Samuel T. Craig. Company /Captains Joseph W. Caldwell, David C. Dinsmore ; Lieutenants David C. Dinsmore, Amos Dilley, William H. Kitterman. Company K Captain Robert L. Freeman ; Lieutenants Thomas H. Barnes, Albert L. Freeman, Charles F. Keeler, James M. Russell. Company L Captains II. H. Heath, David C. Mclntyre ; Lieutenants David C. Mclntyre, James M. Simeral, John M. Enochs. Company J/ Captains William II. Ankeny, James P. Crosby ; Lieutenants James Crissy, Edward A. Dunhan, James P. Crosby, Solomon Townsend. The Surgeons of the regiment were: M. M. Cochran, Charles H. Lothrop ; and Assistants David B. Allen, Charles H. Lothrop, Charles B. Bosbyshell, Abraham B. Hershe, James Hervey, Asa Morgan ; Quartermasters Martin L. Morris, Samuel C. Dicktrson, C. H. Albers, William W. Fluke ; Commis sary Henry L. Dashiell ; Chaplains Rev. James W. Latham, Rev. James S. Rand. CHAPTER XXI. SECOND CAVALRY. RENDEZVOUS AT DAVENPORT MOVE TO ST. LOUIS BIRD S POINT NEW MADRID- ISLAND NO. TEN SIEGE OF CORINTH BATTLE OF FARMINGTON RAIDS BATTLE OF IUKA BATTLE OF CORINTH RAIDS AND COMBATS THE GRIERSON RAID- VARIOUS MOVEMENTS BATTLE OF MOSCOW OPERATIONS DURING THE WINTER OF 1863-4^REENLISTMENT OPERATIONS DURING THE SUMMER OF 1864 BATTLE OF TUPELO OLD TOWN CREEK EXPEDITION TO OXFORD MOVE TO REENFORCE GENERAL THOMAS COMBATS, BY DAY AND NIGHT BATTLE OF FRANKLIN- BATTLE OF NASHVILLE MARCH TO HUNTSVILLE HORSES AND ARMS TURNED OVER TO OTHER REGIMENTS " ROLL OF HONOR" CONCLUSION. THE various companies which formed the Second Iowa Cavalry were enrolled in different parts of the State, the counties which are bordered by the Mississippi, from Clayton to Lee, especially Muscatine, Scott and Jack son, contributing a generous share of its constituent parts, whilst Harrison on the Missouri, Cerro Gordo, Mitchell, Winnebago, and other counties of the north, Johnson, Polk, Hardin, Tama, Story, and several others of the centre, were largely represented in the command. The rendezvous of the companies for regimental organization was at Davenport, whither they pro ceeded in the latter part of the summer of 1861, and where they were formally entered the service of the United States, between the 30th of August and the 28th of September. The aggregate strength of the regiment, when fully organized, was about one thousand and fifty. Desirous of securing an experienced and efficient commander for this troop of horse, Governor Kirkwood offered the colonelcy to Captain W. L. Elliott, of the Third Cavalry, United States army, and he, receiving the permission of the War Department, accepted the commission. " He was a strict disciplinarian," says Sergeant Pierce, in his history of the regiment, " every inch a soldier; and to his untiring efforts as our instructor in the science of war, are we in a great measure indebted for whatever honor we afterwards won as a regiment." Edward Hatch, who had been captain of Company A, was Commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. He afterwards became a Brevet Major-General, and one of the best cavalry officers in the service. 374 SECOND CAVALRY. 375 W. P. Hepburn, of Marshall county, Datus E. Coon, of Cerro Gordo, and Hiram W. Love, of Johnson, were the majors ; the first a lawyer and politician, who rose one rank, the second an editor, who became a general officer, the third, a man of business, who was compelled by ill health to leave the service before promotion. The Adjutant was Charles F. Marden ; Quartermaster, William B. Blaney ; Commissary, R. M. C. Kirtland ; Surgeon, George Reeder ; Assistant, George H. Noyes ; Chaplain, Reverend Charles G. Truesdell, which last, however, was not appointed immediately after the organization of the regiment. 1 The regiment remained near Davenport for nearly three months after in formal organization, having commodious, comfortable barracks on the Scott County Fair Grounds, and a fine field for drill. The time was occupied in learning the school of the trooper dismounted, and acquiring a know ledge of fencing under a German adept who taught the officers for the trifling consideration of five dollars each, and the enlisted men for half the money. So that, before the Second Cavalry had left Davenport, offi cers and men were expert in the use of the sabre, and efficient in the foot drill of troopers. During the stay of the regiment here, the body of Lieutenant-Colonel "Wentz, Seventh Iowa, who was the first field officer from the State to fall in the service, was returned to Davenport, and the Second Cavalry formed part of the large procession which followed this gallant officer to the grave. Before the departure of the regiment Adjutant- General Baker, in behalf of the State authorities, presented the command with a stand of colors. The 7th of December the regiment left Davenport, under orders to pro ceed to Benton Barracks, Missouri. Duly reaching the barracks, where i To continue the personal account of the regiment, I may state, that the captains of the compa nies were, in their order: Frank Hatch, Thomas Wilson (after the promotion of Captain Hepburn .o Major), Henry Egbert, George C. Graves, Frank A. Kendrick, Granville Berkley, William Lundy, James P. Sanford, Stephen A. Bishop, David J. Crocker, William W. Eaton, Joseph McConnell. The Lieutenants, in the order of the companies were : Charles C. Horton, James M. Hannam (soon appointed Quartermaster Second Battalion, and succeeded by William B. Brunton) ; Paul A. Queal, Richard M. Hampton ; Joseph H. Freeman (soon appointed Adjutant Second Battalion and succeeded by Michael Connor), Benjamin F. Stiles; Gustavus Washburn, Joseph E. Jewett (soon promoted Major Fovirth Cavalry, and succeeded by Samuel Noel); Anton Scherer, Gustave Schmitzer (not long after organization made Adjutant First Battalion, and succeeded by James P. Metcalf); Wil liam L. Church, George R. Ammond; William Pickering, Joseph W. Eystra; George B. Harrington, Benjamin Owen ; William W. Mills (December 1st, made Adjutant Third Battalion, and suc ceeded by John W. Wright), A. M. Goodrich ; Samuel Gilbert (promoted Quartermaster First Batta lion, December 1st, and succeeded by Charles P. Moore), Jacob F. Bandy ; W. S. Belden, Frederick S. Dunham ; Samuel Foster, Andrew D. McCombs. I should have stated that Lieutenant George R. Amrnond was made Quartermaster of the Third Battalion and succeeded in the line by Peter Reilly, who, having been promoted from Second Lieu tenant was succeeded by Thomas G. Beaham, Lieutenant Church resigning before the regiment left the State. I may state, too, that in the foregoing list of the line officers. I have endeavored to give the names of those who left the rendezvous with the regiment for the front. There were some who were commissioned as line officers in the regiment who, because of transfer to other commands, or resignation, never served outside of the Scott county Fair Grounds, with the Second Cavalry. 376 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the men were crowded into close quarters, they began at once to become sick with one complaint or another, and during the stay of the regiment at this unhealthy locality, which was about two months, it lost some sixty men by death. Here the men drew horses, equipments, and sabres, and as many as were not prostrated by disease, were drilled in the "school of the trooper mounted. February 17th, the regiment moved by steamer down the river to Bird s Point. The notorious rebel Jeff. Thompson was at this time creating trou ble in the country in rear of Bird s Point. Major Love, with his battalion, marched in pursuit of him, but though Colonel Elliott soon moved to reen- force the Major, Thompson was not caught, though his command was dis persed by other troops who had been sent out for a similar object. The battalion under Major Love among other captures took possession of a newspaper office at Charleston, and issued one number of the "Indepen dent, the work thereon, both editorial and mechanical, being done by men of the command. But they had not joined the army to engage in the newspaporial busi ness. Returning to Bird s Point near the close of the month, the regiment made preparations for the march on New Madrid, of which, indeed, the movement against Thompson was a preparatory reconnoissance. The march of the cavalry from the time it left Bird s Point was exceedingly difficult. It drove in the enemy s scouts and light bodies of cavalry, moving all the while over a country almost impracticable, fording, sometimes swimming swamps scarcely penetrable. On one occasion the men inarched for near half a day through water up to their horses bellies. Meanwhile, General Pope had sat down before New Madrid, where our regiment joined him on the 12th, in time to participate in the attack and bombardment of that place, in so far as cavalry might participate therein. From the time of the capture of the city to the 6th of April the regiment was continually occu pied in guarding trains, in scouting, and on picket duty. Upon the fall of Island No. Ten with its immense materiel the grand trophy of engineer ing skill of the whole war the regiment crossed the Mississippi, and its advance, under Lieutenant Gustave Schmitzer, were the first troops to enter the Island. This officer, with eight men and a guide, on nearing the rebel works, discovered that they were evacuated by the enemy, although many stragglers were to be seen on every side. The advance dashed among these, and supposing the entire army to b^ upon them they surren dered to the number of eighty-six before Colonel Elliott came up. The regiment captured about two hundred prisoners, and was justly entitled to the credit of being the first to enter the works of Island No. Ten. It pur sued the retreating rebels toward Tiptonville, beating the swampy woods for prisoners, and returned to camp at New Madrid after an absence of five SECOND CAVALRY. 377 days. The regiment accompanied the expedition down the river, but the attack of Fort Pillow was abandoned, and our regiment landed at Hamburg, Tennessee, on the 23d, and at once took position on the left of General Halleck s army then moving on Corinth by gradual approaches. It is known to the intelligent reader that General Pope chafed no little under the bit of these slow approaches, and that his restive nature found as much exercise as was compatible with Halleck s order " not to bring on a general engagement," in frequent reconnoissances by his infantry and raids by his cavalry. The position of the Army of the Mississippi, too, on the left of our lines, whence the enemy s communications by the Memphis and Charleston Railroad were threatened, called for constant vigilance and no little activity on the part of General Pope. Wherefore, from soon after the time at which the Second Iowa Cavalry, an active regiment, joined in what is called the siege of Corinth, until the evacuation, more than a month afterwards, it performed services of great value, and was engaged in skir mishes which were only not battles because fought so near the field of Shiloh. Thus, to illustrate the active operations of the command, it marched to Monterey on the 29th, attacked and destroyed a considerable camp of the enemy, and took eleven prisoners, losing one man killed, and three wounded in the affair. A few days afterwards it moved southward and, having destroyed a heavy trestle-work on the railroad with much of the track besides, returned safely to camp, bringing in a number of prisoners, wagons, and mules. On the 8th of May, General Pope made a reconnoissance in force to the town of Farmington, at that time considerably in advance of our main lines. He drove the rebels from the town and took possession thereof, but in the evening retired with his main force, leaving only a picket in the place. In the operations of this day the Second Cavalry lost two men killed and six wounded. Lieutenant Washburn here cut his way through the enemy, after being surrounded, but lost his horse, which fell beneath him, struck by a dozen bullets. On the next day the severe skirmish, which has been called the battle of Farmington, took place. General Paine, commanding a force of some half- dozen regiments, remained, after the reconnoissance of the 8th, in advance of -General Pope s camp, and beyond a creek flowing hard by. The rebels, for the purpose of capturing this advance guard of the Army of the Mis- sisippi, moved from behind their works in heavy force on the morning of the 9th, Price making a considerable detour to the right, to get in rear of Paine, and Van Dorn moving for direct attack. Happily, Price moved too far to the right to accomplish the object, or Van Dorn delivered attack too soon, so that Paine, after an obstinate fight of several hours duration, was able to make good his retreat to the principal encampment. 48 378 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. But it is next to certain he would have been cut off, had it not been for the invaluable services of the Second Cavalry. A little after ten o clock Lieutenant- Colonel Hatch, commanding the regiment, received an order from Colonel Elliott, commanding brigade, to hasten to the assistance of Paine. In five minutes, the regiment was mounted and galloping to the aid of their comrades beyond the creek. Coming upon the field, Paine was discovered in retreat before an overwhelming force of rebels several thousand infantry and twenty-four pieces of artillery. The Union forces could retreat only by a single line across the creek, where there was but the merest apology for a bridge. Paine was in imminent danger of capture. The rebels were preparing to charge, and, could they gain a certain eminence lying between the two forces with their artillery, they would com mand the bridge and render passage impossible. To prevent the rebels from gaining this coveted eminence the Second Iowa was ordered to form for a charge. Drawing their sabres, the men instantly took position, and were soon sweeping over the hill in a mad but resistless charge. Protected somewhat by the cloud of dust which the horses raised, the regiment dashed right on the rebel artillery, and actually drove the gunners from their pieces. But a large army of infantry was in support, and the regi ment was repulsed. Paine, however, had time to eifect a crossing of the creek, and when the Second regained its position the battle was ended. It had saved the day. The charge only occupied a few minutes time, but in that short period fifty of the regiment had been killed and wounded, and as many more unhorsed by the "fire of the enemy. It was a charge of the utmost audacity, the like of which ,was never made except by troops of the most daring courage. Captain Henry Egbert, Captain William Lundy, and Lieutenant Benjamin Owen were wounded, the last named being also captured. The conduct of men and officers, says the Lieutenant- Colonel commanding, was in every respect commendatory ; and he specially mentions Major Coon, Major Hepburn, Captains Crocker, McConnell, Ken- drick, Eaton, Egbert, Lundy, Bishop, Graves, Freeman, and Lieutenants Moore, Reily (who carried two of the enemy s guns), Foster, Bilden, Owen, Horton, Queal (who daringly cheered his men to the very muzzles of the rebel cannon), Schmitzer, Metcalf, and Eystra, as having exhibited gallant and meritorious conduct. The regiment made good its retreat to camp, but did not have many days of rest before it was again ordered to move. On the 13th, a part of the command had a skirmish near Farmington, but met with no loss. Mean while the army steadily but slowly approached Corinth, and by the 20th was strongly entrenched behind works which, at an average distance of about four miles from the town, extended from the Mobile and Ohio rail road on the north round to the Memphis and Charleston railroad on the SECOND CAVALRY. 379 east. Now there was much for the army to do. Siege guns were to be brought up, batteries were to be completed, and a thousand other things done before a bombardment could be fully commenced. The main army was not idle, and the cavalry was active. On the 26th, Lieutenant-Colonel Hatch made a reconnoissance to the south of our lines, performing a very laborious night march, now over hills and now through swamps, to the vicinity of Jacinto, returning on the following morning with valuable infor mation. By this time Halleck was about ready to fight, or if he was not his army was. The enemy s communications on the east were destroyed, another movement of our forces on the right would destroy them on the west, and the destruction of the railroad, south, would leave Beauregard completely isolated at Corinth, before a mighty army impatient for battle and confident of victory. Colonel Elliott, commanding the Second Brigade, cavalry division, which Brigade consisted of the Second Iowa and Second Michigan, was selected to perform this difficult and dangerous sendee. He was ordered to march to Boonville, and destroy the railway there and a large quantity of supplies, known to be in depot at that place. He left camp at midnight of the 28th. The result of the exploit is thus summed up by General Pope in a dispatch to General Halleck : "It gives me pleasure to report the brillliant success of the expedition sent out on the 28th inst. , under Colonel Elliott, with the Second Iowa Cavalry. After forced marches, day and night, through a very difficult country and obstructed by the enemy, he finally succeeded in reaching the Mobile and Ohio railroad at Boonville, at two o clock, A.M., on the 30th. He destroyed the track in many places south and north of the town, blew up one culvert, destroyed the switch, and burned the depot and locomotive and train of twenty-six cars loaded with supplies of all kinds. He destroyed ten thousand stand of small arms, three pieces of artillery, and a great quantity of clothing and ammunition and paroled two thousand prisoners which he could not keep with his cavalry. The enemy had heard of his movements, and had a train of box cars, with flying artillery and five thou sand infantry running up and down the road to prevent him from reaching it. The whole road was lined with pickets. Colonel Elliott s command subsisted on meat alone, such as they could find in the country. For daring and dispatch, this expedition has been distinguished in the highest degree, and entitles Colonel Elliott and his command to high distinction. The result will be embarrassing to the enemy, and contribute greatly to their loss and demoralization." After due allowance for General Pope s imaginative turn of mind, it is true that this raid was a brilliant exploit. Lieutenant-Colonel Hatch reports substantially the facts of Pope s dispatch, and they are therefore true. 380 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The rebel general Beauregard, smarting under the lashes of Southern public opinion which were laid on him mercilessly for his evacuation of Corinth, published a letter in the Mobile News, denying the statements, making light of Colonel Elliott s achievement, and actually charging him with burning alive four sick rebel soldiers, who were in the depot ! But Brigadier-General Granger flatly contradicts Beauregard, and fully corro borates Pope. The sick were all removed, and the captures made as stated. The loss of the Second Iowa on the expedition was two men killed, the same number wounded, and a few captured, the whole being less than half a score. For his success in this affair Colonel Elliott was soon after wards promoted a brigadier-general. He was succeeded in the Colonelcy by Lieutenant-Colonel Hatch, who was succeeded by Major Hepburn. Cap tain Frank A. Kendrick, of Company E, was promoted Major. But these promotions were not made till about one month after the affair of Boon- ville, or the commissions received till some time after that. Meantime, the regiment performed much active service. Company E, being a part of General Pope s body-guard, was about the first troop to enter Corinth, after its evacuation. The regiment was soon in camp near by, but did not remain inactive. About this time, the Second Michigan Cavalry, in the brigade with the Second Iowa, received a new commander, in the person of Colonel Philip Henry Sheridan. This officer, now Major- General Sheridan, and Edward Hatch, had many qualities in common dashing bravery, unbending will, great energy, quick and clear perception. They both had iron constitutions too, and were almost invulnerable by fatigue. But perhaps that which gave them so much power over their troops so that they would go any where and do any thing ordered, was the fact that they never wanted their men to go or do where they were not themselves willing to join. They now commenced their career together, and as Sheridan became one of the best general officer? in the service or in any service, so did Hatch become the most efficient leader of cavalry in the Union armies. If I have not been misled by statements in publications of a general na ture, Colonel Sheridan was under Elliott in the Boonville expedition of which mention has already been made. After the evacuation of Corinth, the cavalry was posted south of that place, in the vicinity of Boonville, as a cover for the Union army. During the first half of June, it was con stantly engaged in scouts, reconnoissances, and skirmishes. The Second Iowa was then relieved from duty at the front, and moved to camp near Farmington, where for near a fortnight the command enjoyed rest and blackberries. It had been almost constantly engaged in active operations in the field for four months. " We had saddled up," says Sergeant Pierce, " nearly every morning at three o clock, and much of the time we had slept SECOND CAVALRY. 381 at night in line of battle, each man holding his horse by the bridle. Hardly a day during this time had passed without more or less skirmishing by the regiment with the rebels." During this period it had been engaged in three campaigns those of New Madrid, Island No. Ten, and Corinth and, besides its scoutings, raids, reconnoissances, laborious marches, and ordinary combats, had, by its splendid charge at Farmington, saved at once a considerable portion of the Union army, and redeemed the mounted arm of the service from the general reputation of inefficiency which up to that time had obtained. But rest and blackberries were not long enjoyed. In the latter part of June, the bugle again called the command to saddle, and on the 1st of July it was fighting the battle of Boonville. This brilliant Union victory, gained by Colonel Sheridan, in command of a brigade consisting of his own and the Second Iowa regiments of cavalry was brought about like this : Colonel Sheridan in the latter part of June moved to Boonville with his command, for the purpose of covering the main army, twenty miles in rear, and of observing the rebels who were near by and bent on mischief. On the 1st of July, he was attacked by a rebel force of nine regiments, num bering nearly five thousand men, under the command of Chalmers. After skirmishing for some time, Sheridan fell back toward his camp, advantage ously situated on the edge of a swamp, where he could not readily be flanked. Here the Second Michigan dismounted, and acting as riflemen on the centre, the Second Iowa on the wings harassing and galling the enemy s flanks, he held the rebels at bay for some time. Finding that they were likely to surround him, Sheridan had recourse to that ready strategy and fine audacity which have since placed him among the first captains of modern history. He sent a detachment of the Second Cavalry, numbering less than one hundred men, around to the rear of the enemy by a detour of several miles, with orders to attack promptly and vigorously at a certain time, while he would make a simultaneous charge in front. The plan succeeded admirably. The detachment gained the enemy s rear, without having been seen till the men were near enough to fire their car bines, and, having emptied these, they dashed with drawn sabres upon the enemy, who, supposing them to be the advance guard of a large force, were thrown into disorder. Before they had time to recover from their confu sion and dismay, Sheridan charged them in front with such fury that they fled from the field in utter rout, leaving many dead and wounded in our hands. They retreated twenty miles, throwing away arms, knapsacks, coats, and everything which could impede their flight before our pursuing riders. This brilliant affair made "Phil. Sheridan" a brigadier-general. He had whipped, and badly whipped, nearly five thousand men with only 382 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. about eight hundred, for this was the strength of his command at this time. Colonel Hatch for he had been commissioned Colonel two days before the fight here fought splendidly. It would have been quite impossible for Sheridan to have won the battle without the most hearty and skilful cooperation on the part of Hatch and his command. The regiment never behaved better. Colonel Hatch speaks in high terms of the conduct of the regiment, and makes special mention of the gallantry of Captains Gilbert and Queal. The loss of the regiment, considering the character of the engagement, was remarkably small, being only twenty-two, killed, wounded, and missing. After the pursuit of the enemy, the regiment returned to camp at Boon ville, and there remained a few days, when it moved to Kienzi, about half way between Boonville and Corinth, arriving the 9th of July. Here the regiment had its encampment for nearly two months, during the most of which period it was quiet. In the latter part of the month, Colonel Hatch made a reconnoissance to Bipley, but finding no enemy returned after marching about sixty-five miles. About one month afterwards, too, the quiet of camp was suddenly broken by an attack on the part of the rebel Faulkner, with some two thousand five hundred troopers. The attack was so suddenly made that it came near being a surprise. Colonel Hatch was sitting on court-martial at Bienzi. Adjourning the court he hastened to the camp, and soon was in pursuit of Faulkner, who was driven off quite as rapidly as he had come up. Hatch pursued him on the gallop for many miles, overtaking him two or three times, and inflicting damage, and at last putting him in utter rout, with a loss of a number of prisoners and a large quantity of arms and ammunition. In the affair the Second Iowa lost six men wounded and four horses killed. Four men were also lost from fatigue and heat. The "fall campaign" of our regiment was one of exceeding activity, embracing the battle of luka, the battle of Corinth, and General Grant s expedition into Central Mississippi, as the principal movements in which it took part. This period of active operations, so far as the Second Iowa Cavalry is concerned, began early in September and closed about the close of the year, when Grant, abandoning his designs on Vicksburg for the present, fell back behind the frontier of Tennessee. On the 5th of September, the cavalry at Bienzi broke camp and marched southward with the object of observing Price, who was reported moving northward with a heavy column of rebels. That astute general, however, made good his march to luka, having passed by Boonville on the east before the cavalry reached that place. It returned to Bienzi. On the day of the battle of luka, the cavalry marched far to the right of General Bose- SECOND CAVALRY. 383 crans principal column, and at Pay ton s Mills had a brisk skirmish with Faulkner s troopers, routing them in a few minutes, a number of killed, wounded, and prisoners falling into our hands. Though the Second Iowa Cavalry this day marched forty-five miles, had a skirmish with the enemy, and captured and destroyed a rebel camp, with much property, upon returning to the field of luka, it was ordered to stand to horse all night. On the 20th it moved to luka, and entered that place just as Price s rear guard was leaving. Hatch took the advance in the pursuit, and compelled the rebels to abandon a part of their train. But he was ordered to Jacinto in the evening. With the cavalry, the campaign of Corinth immediately followed the battle of luka. Colonel Hatch, now commanding a brigade of troopers, was constantly engaged scouting, reconnoitering, gaining information as to the movements and strength of the enemy. General Rosecrans called Hatch s Cavalry "the eye of the army." His troopers were perpetually in the saddle, by night as well as by day, so that a crow could scarcely fly over the field of their observations without their knowledge. They per formed services which did much to enable General Rosecrans to win the remarkable victory of Corinth early in October. In that battle, the Second Iowa also did good service on our light, the first and second battalions act ing as couriers and provost guard on the field. The regiment joined in the pursuit which followed the battle, going as far as Ripley, and returning to Corinth on the 13th. The battle of Corinth was the last general engagement which took place in the department with which we now have to do during the year 1862, except the disastrous battle of Chickasaw Bayou near the end of the year. But General Grant s campaign in central Mississippi, whilst resulting in no advantage to the Union cause, required heavy and constant duty from the cavalry. For the purpose of joining in this campaign, the Second Cavalry moved from Corinth the 2d of November, arriving at Grand Junction the 4th. Here it remained till the 12th. From this time till the 28th of December, it was almost all the while on the move, Major Coon in com mand, Colonel Hatch being in command of the brigade. An imperfect outline of its history during this period of activity may be laid down thus : The 12th, moved in reconnoissance on Holly Springs, skirmishing nearly all day, Captain Horton adroitly "gobbling" a rebel patrol in the evening, entered Holly Springs next morning driving the rebels out of town, while Lieutenant Foster this day, in command of a company, absolutely whipped a whole regiment; the 19th, Hatch marched on Ripley, some thirty-five miles southeast of Grand Junction, dashed into the town on the morning of the 20th, dispersed a large force of rebels under Faulkner, capturing many prisoners, horses, and mules; on the 28th, the cavalry marched 384 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. southward from the junction, forming the advance of the main army which this day moved ; the next day, the troopers drove the enemy from Holly Springs again, and compelled them to seek cover behind their strong works on the Tallahatchee ; Grant having flanked them from their works, Hatch crossed the river on the 2d of December, and joined Colonel Lee, com manding cavalry division, at Oxford, skirmishing much on the way, and capturing on this day more than one hundred prisoners ; 7 Colonel Dickey, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, having assumed command of the division, the battle of Coffeeville was fought on the 5th, wherein the Unionists sustained a severe defeat, and were saved from utter rout by Colonel Hatch, who, as well as Colonel Lee, had demurred to the advance which brought our troopers so near destruction at the hands of a vastly superior force ; the regiment here lost twenty-two, killed and wounded, and was filled with chagrin at this unnecessary defeat, the more so, because, before Colonel Dickey took command, the cavalry had advanced sixty miles without dis aster, and had sent one thousand five hundred prisoners to the rear; the command retired to the " Yocana" River; on the 14th, marched on a raid to the southeast, going to Tupelo and Okolona, and destroying large quan tities of forage and commissary stores; returning by Pontotoc, Colonel Hatch there learned that Van Dorn was moving against Holly Springs, and advised that he be harassed and delayed by the troopers, but Colonel Dickey not seeing the importance of the advice disregarded it, whereby Van Dorn accomplished the defeat of the whole expedition ; Hatch was again in motion on the 21st, but now forming the rear-guard of the army, retiring northward, and destroying the railway to a complete wreck between Coffeeville and the Tallahatchee ; on Christmas day the brigade saddled up for a rapid march eastward with the object of intercepting Van Dorn at Okolona; in this, notwithstanding the swiftness of his march, Colonel Hatch failed, and on the 28th returned to camp, when the campaign closed. The regiment marched to La Grange, Tennessee, and went into winter quarters. The campaigns of the year 1863 were everywhere memorable, and were, in fact, decisive of the contest, in favor of the Union arms. The capture of Vicksburg, the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg, the great victory at Chatta nooga, placed the military power of the insurgents in a waning condition, and made their defeat a mere question of time. These, the three great events of the year, were accompanied by innumerable lesser achievements, which, combined with the others, made patent the fact that the armies of Union Volunteers were the most accomplished troops, the most efficient soldiers, the world had ever seen. Perhaps the Vicksburg campaign was better illustrative of this than any other, and not only because of the bravery, endurance and all soldierly qualities of the troops directly engaged, SECOND CAVALRY. 385 but of those also who took part in the campaign, indirectly arid at a dis tance ; many of whom, indeed, took part therein so indirectly and at such a distance, that careless thinkers might not have thought of any connection at all between the auxiliaries and the principal command. The troops whose cantonments were along our frontier lines in Tennessee and Mississippi, gained by the campaigns of 1862 Henry, Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, in May, and Corinth, in October were General Grant s auxiliaries, and many of these commands, though they never saw Vicks- burg, had good right to inscribe that victory on their banners. Among the most active of these was the Second Iowa Cavalry, whose services, during the first part of the era under consideration especially, were not only bril liant, but of great value to the Union arms. Leaving winter quarters at La Grange, the 10th of March, 1863, Colonel Hatch, for about one month, was actively engaged in operations over a considerable portion of northern Mississippi preventing the concentration of rebel forces, capturing and destroying property contraband of war, and in many ways inflicting damage on the insurgents marching several hun dred miles altogether, and performing several exploits of great skill and daring. These operations over, Colonel Hatch, commanding brigade, made preparations for that movement, which gained so much eclat at the time, which was of great value to the principal campaign under Grant, and which was called "TELE GRIERSON RAID." The orders for this expedition were made known in camp on the after noon of April 16th. The column, consisting of the Second Iowa, the Sixth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel R. Loomis, the Seventh Illinois, Colonel Edward Prince, with five pieces of light artillery, two-pounders, was to move early the next morning, with the object of cutting the railroad and telegraph communications with the rebel army at Vicksburg, in rear of that city, of inflicting damage generally upon the enemy s resources in central Mississippi, having done which, it was to make way by the best route it could find into the Union lines in the Department of the Gulf. On the night of the 16th, Colonel B. H. Grierson, Sixth Illinois, arrived at La Grange and assumed command of the expedition, by virtue of seniority of rank. On the next morning the column started on this wild march, and bivouacked for the night near Ripley. Here Colonel Hatch separated from the principal command moving at some distance to the left thereof, skir mishing all day of the 18th with Smith s regiment of partisans. He re joined the column a few miles south of Pontotoc, and led the advance thence, avoiding Houston, to Clear Spring, about thirteen miles southeast 386 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. of Houston. Colonel Hatch now had under his command only about five hundred men, Major Love having returned to La Grange with a consider able detachment, including, I believe, troopers from all the regiments in the column. At Clear Spring, Colonel Hatch again left the column with his regiment, and took no further direct part in the raid. Colonel Grierson moved on, and, after destroying many miles of railway and telegraph, im mense quantities of property, making a successful diversion in favor of General Grant, marching through sunshine and storm, surmounting almost insurmountable difficulties, reached Baton Rouge on the 2d of May. " This expedition," says General Grant himself, "was skilfully conducted, and re flects great credit on Colonel Grierson and all of his command. It has been one of the most brilliant cavalry exploits of the war, and will be handed down in history as an example to be imitated." Colonel Grierson s name at once became the synonym for energy and pluck, and he was most justly promoted for his gallant achievement. But it is probably true that Colonel Hatch insured the success of the ex pedition, in like manner as Sherman, on a grander scale, insured the suc cess of our arms on Missionary Ridge, himself bearing the heavy brunt of battle and appearing to be defeated, whilst other corps and other generals pressed on to the glorious victory which his immolation was placing within their power. On the morning of the 21st, Colonel Grierson pushed on directly southward from Clear Spring, leaving orders with Colonel Hatch to proceed to the railroad at West Point, destroy the railroad bridge over the Oka Tibbyhah south of that place, thence move rapidly southward to Macon, and, having there destroyed the railroad and government stores, re turn northward to La Grange by such route as might be found practicable. Inasmuch, however, as Colonel Hatch was in the first place to attract the attention of the enemy to himself, and to conceal by a stratagem the march of Grierson which he did so successfully as to give the principal column nearly two days start of the forces which had concentrated against it it was very soon discovered that Hatch would have all that it was within the power of man to do to accomplish a retreat for his own command. Spending some time in obliterating Colonel Grierson s trial, Hatch marched in the direction of West Point, but had proceeded only about ten miles, when, at the village of Palo Alto, he was attacked in rear and on both flanks by a force consisting of Smith s regiment of partisan rangers, Bartoe s regiment, and Inge s battalion, all under General Gholson, whilst between him and West Point was an Alabama regiment with several pieces of artillery. Willing to continue the deceit upon the enemy who supposed they were attacking Grierson s main column, Hatch made a most gallant fight, using his little two-pounder, his revolving rifles and his carbines to the best advantage, driving the enemy some three miles, capturing arms SECOND CAVALRY. 387 and horses, and retaking a company which had been cut off on the first at tack. Yet he kept his men so well concealed behind hedges and fences that he suffered no loss, whilst the rebels acknowledged that twenty-five of their number had been killed and wounded. Correctly judging that the time consumed in the skirmish at Palo Alto had given the rebels opportunity to guard the railroad at and below West Point, Hatch moved on northward. He was in the face of an enemy who largely outnumbered him, who was entirely familiar with the country, and who had a friend in every citizen. Nevertheless, Hatch continued his re treat to La Grange, where he arrived in safety, and without mentionable loss, on the 26th. He had attacked Okolona, driving before him the enemy s cavalry and State militia, burning barracks for five thousand men, and destroying stores and ammunition; he had repulsed Chalmers with loss, near Birmingham and Molino ; he had marched by by-ways, and bridle paths, and through swamps and fields where there were no roads at all ; he had crossed one stream in the entirely unique manner of throwing the horses bodily over the bank into the river, driving them in the right direc tion with long poles, and catching them as they emerged on the other side, the men themselves crossing on a l foot-log, and carrying their saddles on their backs ; he had, besides the damage inflicted on the enemy already noted, captured fifty rebels, and killed and wounded not less than twice as many more, and taken nearly two hundred and fifty horses and mules, so that when he marched into camp at La Grange his troops were, upon the whole, better mounted than when they had left there, ten days before. Immediately after his return to La Grange, Colonel Hatch took command of a brigade just formed, consisting of his own regiment, the Sixth Iowa Infantry, mounted, a regiment of West Tennessee cavalry, and four pieces of artillery. The command soon moved on a raid southward, going as far as Okolona, and returning the 5th of May, with three hundred captured horses and mules, more than a score of prisoners, and a number of negroes. In a few days it marched in a southwesterly direction to Senatahoba, some eighty miles from La Grange, and having captured many horses and mules, returned after an absence of five or six days. On the countermarch, Hatch was attacked at Wall Hill by Chalmers, but our gallant riders and the little guns soon sent him scampering to the right about. It is stated that, in consideration of his warlike genius, the fair ladies of Senatahoba presented him a crinoline petticoat and a corn-cob pipe. The encampment of the regiment remained at La Grange till near the last of August, where the labors and taste of the men made comfortable and agreeable quarters, so that the summer in this healthful and pleasant locality passed happily by. But not without much activity and adventure away from the encampment. The principal events of the summer were : 1. A 388 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. raid to Panola, nearly an hundred miles southwest of La Grange, which re sulted in the capture of much property, and the laying waste of a wide ex tent of country in retaliation for guerrilla attacks on steamboats navigating the Mississippi. 2. The march against Forrest, who had entered Tennessee, and the skirmish of Jackson, on the 13th of July, in which the rebels were driven from the town and severely punished, the Second Iowa losing Lieu tenants John K. Humphreys and Frank L. Stoddard, wounded, and two men missing. In this engagement the Union loss was fourteen, that of the rebels more than one hundred and seventy-five. 3. The raid on Grenada. On this expedition Major Coon commanded detachments from the Second Iowa, Third Michigan, and Eleventh Illinois, numbering five hundred well mounted men. The raid was most successful, Major Coon, after reaching Grenada through great difficulties from the enemy and from storms, de stroying two depots, sixty locomotives, five hundred cars of all kinds, machine shops, two large flouring mills, and a large number of army wagons and returning in safety on the 23d of August, after an absence of eleven days, and an achievement worthy of all admiration. A few days afterwards the regiment moved to Memphis, and remained there in quiet till the first of November. The regiment, Lieutenant-Colo nel Hepburn commanding, then marched to Colliersville, to the relief of the garrison, threatened by Chalmers with a heavy body of troopers, and came up just in time to have a fight, in which the rebels were most decidedly whipped, losing forty-one slain on the spot, about two hundred wounded, and fifty prisoners, among the latter being eight commissioned officers, in cluding one brigadier-general. The battle was followed by a galloping pur suit of the enemy for not less than ten miles, nor did the chase surcease till the rebels had placed themselves beyond the Tallahatchee. The regiment returning by La Grange went into camp at Colliersville on the 14th, where it spent a quiet fortnight. On the 28th, Colonel Hatch, commanding a brigade, consisting of his own regiment, the Sixth and Ninth Illinois, and eight pieces of artillery, moved northward, for the purpose of luring the rebel General S. D. Lee, then at Oxford with a considerable force, into a movement in the same direction. He succeeded. On December 1st, Hatch marched rapidly from the vicinity of Covington, some forty-five miles north of the railroad, for Pocahontas, whither Lee was reported as marching. Pocahontas is twenty miles westward of Corinth. Hatch reached Middletown, some miles west of Pocahontas on the 2d, and learned that Lee was threatening Salisbury, still further west. There was skirmishing on the 3d, with slight loss on either side. On the next day, Lee, making a feint attack on La Grange, delivered real attack against Moscow, ten miles further west, and which was garrisoned by Colonel Kendrick, formerly of the Second Iowa, with a few SECOND CAVALRY. 389 hundred black soldiers. Colonel Hatch was not deceived by the feint. He moved swiftly to Moscow, and there fought a considerable battle, which re sulted in a decided Union triumph. Sixty slain rebels were left on the field, and the enemy lost heavily in wounded and prisoners. Hatch lost eleven killed, thirty wounded, and forty missing. He was himself dangerously wounded, being shot through the lung with a minie ball. He kept the field, however, passing from place to place in an ambulance, till the rebels had retreated. Forrest, meanwhile, moved into Tennessee, with some three thousand men. A large force both of infantry and cavalry was sent into the field to oppose him, but it met with ill success. Forrest got away with a large number of conscripts. Major Coon, commanding brigade (Captain Graves being in command of the regiment) made an energetic pursuit, but was ordered to countermarch about the time he came up with the enemy. This closed the operations of the regiment for the year. Indeed, the regiment reached the encampment at Colliersville on the last day thereof. The 2d of January, 1864, it broke camp there, and on the 4th, pitched tents at Memphis, where it remained about one month, receiving during this period of repose a large number of recruits. On the 5th of February the regiment moved to Germantown, and there joined the column under General W. Sooy Smith, which marched into Mississippi with the object of aiding and at the proper time joining General Sherman, who was already sweeping like a whirlwind toward Meridian. General Smith failed. The history of his failure is well known. On the retreat from West Point, there was much fighting, and in all of it the Second Iowa bore conspicuous part, at one time fighting and retreating for sixty consecutive hours, and saving the whole column by its bravery and its endurance. At the battle near West Point, Lieutenant Dwire, of Company F, was killed, and several men were wounded, and the losses of the regiment in the subsequent engagements were heavy. On this expedition Lieutenant-Colonel Hepburn was in command of the brigade, Major Coon having command of the regiment. It reached camp at Germantown on the 26th. Thence it moved to Memphis, and a sufficient number having reenlisted to make the regiment a veteran organization, the Second Iowa Cavalry, Veteran Volunteers, were there mustered into the service in that capacity on the 28th of March. At this time the regiment numbered one thousand and eighty-eight, of whom three hundred and sixty were veterans. There were many recruits, so that there was a large command with a long term of service ahead. The 7th of April, the veterans started home on fur lough. As they reached Muscatine, the morning of the 14th, they were greeted, at the home of their old Colonel, now General Hatch, with salvos of artillery, and were treated, upon landing, to a repast such as the fair 390 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. ladies of that hospitable city are noted for preparing. They were met elsewhere with the heartiest cordiality. The 15th of the following month the veterans reassembled at Davenport. Major Coon had been promoted to the colonelcy, whilst the late Captains, C. C. Horton, Gustavus Schmitzer, and Charles P. Moore, now appeared as Majors. They reached Memphis on the 29th, having halted some days at St. Louis, where they were remounted, and halting some time at the former place were armed with Spencer s seven-shooting carbines. I am admonished by the space already occupied in this imperfect narra tive of the active Second Cavalry, to hasten forward more rapidly. In the summer of 1864, it took part in General A. J. Smith s campaign into central Mississippi, participating, but with slight loss, in the battle of Tupelo. It also joined the column which moved as far as Oxford in the same direction, when it was recalled by reason of Forrest s raid on Mem phis. On this latter march, General Hatch commanded the division of cavalry, Colonel Coon a brigade, Major Horton the regiment, as in the former expedition was the case as to the last two, and in both the Second Iowa maintained its reputation for bravery and activity, whilst the supe riority of its arms rendered it the most dangerous foe which the enemy could meet. Returning from the Oxford raid our regiment reached White s Station, a few miles south of Memphis, the 5th of September, and there going into camp formed an outpost which it garrisoned during the remainder of the month. The regiment then moved by forced marches into Middle Tennessee, where Forrest was doing much damage to country and the smaller garrisons along our lines of occupation. Rousseau defeated him before Hatch, by the utmost celerity of movement, could reach him, and the latter remained in the vicinity of Clifton till the close of October. Then, under orders to join General Sherman in Georgia, he moved to Pulaski, arriving Novem ber 1st, where the orders were countermanded, and he was required to give his assistance to General Thomas in repelling the invasion now threatened by Hood. Now it was, from this time forth until Hood s grand army was driven in rout and ruin pell-mell from Tennessee, that General Hatch and his whole command of troopers, being the Fifth Cavalry Division, gained their brightest and their greatest renown. There were other regiments of horse from Iowa which during this period of constant vigilance, of almost daily skirmishing, of great, decisive battles, won proud celebrity, as there were also Iowa regiments of foot. So there were regiments from other States which on the same wide field of operations performed their whole duty as manfully, as soldierly as any troops that ever marched or fought, but among them all the Second Iowa Cavalry was not surpassed. Wherefore, SECOND CAVALRY. 391 I can only give a rapid and imperfect sketch of its operations, of which the details might fill a volume. Early in November, Hood had a corps at Florence, Alabama, on the northern bank of the Tennessee, and here he gathered one of the best confederate armies which ever fought against the Union. About ten miles east of Florence a stream called Shoal Creek flows from the north into the Tennessee. Along this stream, Hatch, with his division of cavalry, observed the enemy, again becoming the "eye of the army," the main part of which was far in the rear. He remained here for fifteen days, during which he made many reconnoissances, and had several heavy skir mishes with the enemy, Colonel Coon s brigade almost always taking lead ing part therein, and the Second Iowa doing a large share of the marching and fighting. Major Moore at one time, Major Schmitzer at another, and Major Horton at another, with their battalions, were conspicuous. During this period of activity it was almost constantly raining, and the troops were without tents. Moreover, the men had to get their own subsistence and forage for their horses from the surrounding country. On the 20th, Hood advanced northward, Hatch disputing his advance, but falling slowly back before the overwhelming numbers. There was a fight at Lawrenceburg on the 22d, another at Campbellville on the 24th, and there was scarcely an hour in which there was not a skirmish. At midnight of the 24th, the command reached Columbia and for the first time within a month passed within lines of infantry. By this time the horses of the Second were nearly all worn out. But the men were remounted on steeds pressed into the service from the surround ing country. On the 29th, the Union forces retreated to Franklin, Colonel Coon, during most of the day forming with his brigade the rear-guard of the army, his troopers moving in column of squadrons. In the battle of Franklin which followed, Colonel Coon did effective service on our left wing. The 2d of December our regiment reached Nashville, and moving across the river to Edgefield, there found tents and knapsacks which the men had not seen since leaving White s Station the last of September. Here ten days, much of which time was intensely cold, were spent in camp. On account of the want of wood, there was much suffering. The 12th, the command recrossed the Cumberland, and in the battle of Nashville, fought the 15th and 16th, General Hatch s Division took a most brilliant part, here practically serving as infantry. The Second was in the severest of the fight. It joined, mounted, in the pursuit, and, fighting a considerable battle at Little Harpeth Creek on the 17th, at Ruthersford Creek on the 18th, and again near Pulaski on Christmas day, followed the defeated rebels to near Huntsville, Alabama, when, wheeling to the right, the com mand marched to Eastport, Mississippi, arriving January llth, 1865, and went into winter quarters. 392 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. In the battle of Nashville and in the pursuit of Hood, Colonel Coon s Brigade had done as gallant, meritorious service as any command in the grand army which gained this great victory. It had captured one thousand one hundred and eighty-six prisoners, among whom were one general, two field, and eight line officers; fifteen pieces of artillery; more than one thousand three hundred small arms ; about thirty wagons and ambulances ; one stand of division colors, and three stands of brigade colors. In the campaign the Second Iowa Cavalry had suffered a loss of sixty-one, of whom fourteen were slain outright on the field of battle. The regiment moved from Eastport to Gravelly Springs, where it spent a fortnight, and then returned to winter quarters, whence, the 19th of February, Major Schmitzer moved to Tuscumbia with a detachment, and thence to Russellville, returning not long afterwards having made a suc cessful reconnoissance. With this expedition, the history of the Second Iowa Cavalry, so far as operations against the enemies of the country were concerned, was brought to a close. It was disarmed in March, as explained by the following order : "General Orders No. 24. " HEAD-QUARTERS, CAVALRY CORPS. M. D. M., " CHICKASAW, ALABAMA, March 18th, 1865. / " The Brevet Major-General commanding takes great pleasure in announcing to the Cavalry Corps that the officers and men of the Second Iowa and Sixth and Ninth Illinois, through Brigadier- General E. Hatch, commanding Fifth Division, and Colonel D. E. Coon, Second Brigade, have with a spirit of generosity, excelled only by their gallantry, voluntarily turned over to the First Division a large number of Spencer carbines, taking in exchange an equal number of inferior arms of various patterns, this, too, after they had been compelled to turn over their horses to the Seventh Division and other detachments. " Such an exhibition of zeal for the interests of the public service, of self-denial and of friendly regard for their brothers in arms, is unparalleled, and entitles the brave men, who have so cheer fully made it, to the thanks and admiration of every soldier in the corps. "Troops who have distinguished themselves by so many acts of gallantry as adorn the history of the Fifth Division could have made no greater sacrifice. " They are entitled to the best re-mount, equipments, and arms, the country can furnish, and every effort will be made to secure them in time to enable them to participate in the events of the ensuing campaign. " This order will be read to every regiment of the Fifth Division. " By command of BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL WILSON, "E. B. BEAUMONT, Major and A. A. General." Afterwards, during the spring and summer it remained in detachments at different points in Northern Alabama and Northern Mississippi, being again armed with new Spencer carbines, mounted on mules and horses, and engaged in performing the dry duty of preserving order over a con siderable extent of country. And in the performance of duties of this kind, valuable to the country, but without incidents of noteworthy interest, the command finished its career. It was mustered out of service in the autumn, SECOND CAVALRY. 393 and proceeding to Davenport, Iowa, was there disbanded in the month of October. The returning command was everywhere in Iowa received with the kind est welcome, but nowhere more kindly than at Muscatine. There, on October 24th, there was a grand jubilee and festival. The Journal of the day before thus discoursed, in words of high praise and sober truth : "The Second Cavalry! How its mention calls up reminiscences and recollections! What daring deeds of valor and heroism are suggested! What a pleasant feeling of pride that Iowa had so noble a body of men! How we reverence their patriotism among the first to leave homes threat ened by insolent traitors, and the last to return to them, protected by their valor. The Second Cavalry, not the Second Iowa Cavalry; that seems almost superfluous. So wide-spread is their reputation that their name has become national. What thrilling histories of individual daring might be written from its glorious record ; a record of marches, perils, privations and battles, such as no other regiment of any arm of any service in any war can boast a prouder ! How its mighty fame has been carved by its almost reck less bravery in its many battles, in not one of which was it ever whipped, although in many of them greatly overmatched in numbers. Working, wading, riding, fighting, swimming, bridges requiring too much time to build, foraging or hunting guerrillas. It always was remarkable for vigor, fire and dash. Horses and riders, officers and men, all seemed endowed with superhuman energy and untiring bodies. No march was too long, no peril too great, for these heroes. The eye of the army under Rosecrans, many of the unsuccessful attempts of the enemy to defeat that gallant general are directly traceable to its watchful protection. Its battle-fields are made historical ground, and its glorious reputation so fairly and gal lantly won is imperishable. Iowa, so honored by it in the field, honors herself by honoring its return. It needs no empty honors at our hands, but it deserves a glorious welcome. Muscatine claims the great privilege of extending her hospitality and welcome to the noble heroes. To-morrow evening they are to be received at Tremont Hall by our citizens. Let it be such a reception as they deserve, a heartfelt, true welcome to the homes they have so ably protected. Let our citizens enter into it with spirit and claim as a privilege the right to feast and fete such true noblemen ; to take them by the hand and to converse with them. It will be a privilege, and in the hereafter, when the historian shall copy from the tablets of fame their always bright record, it will be an occasion of pride to relate that we were permitted to assist in welcoming them home," It is hardly necessary to add that the reception was worthy of Muscatine and of the Second Cavalry. Before this, many members of the regiment had sought their homes in different parts of the State, from the place of 394 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. disbanding, so that with this occasion of enjoyment the Second Iowa Cav alry closed the record of as gallant a body of troopers as ever mounted steed or drew sabre in any age or in any country. 2 2 The career of this distinguished regiment was one of so much activity, that I have found it impossible to condense its history into that limited space beyond which I may not properly go in a narrative of any single command. The foregoing must suffice as an outline. If therefrom my readers have been able to get a correct general view of the regiment s history, I shall be content. During its long and brilliant career there were a thousand instances of personal courage and gal lantry, exhibited by both officers and men, to speak of which as they deserve would require more space than I can afford. Let it suffice, that almost every man and almost every officer from first to last performed his whole duty, thereby making the command a bright honor to the service. Elliott became a brigadier-general, Hatch rose one degree above, Coon became a general officer. Hatch rose, in point of reputation to the front rank of the profession of arms, and Coon followed not far behind. The field and line officers were all of superior talents, and there was scarcely one who did not perform gallant and meritorious service. I have been unable to procure full lists of the casualties suffered by the command during its long period of service in the field, but from the reports of the Adjutant-General and other sources, I am enabled to make out the following imperfect "ROLL OF HONOR." AT THE SIEGE OF CORINTH, INCLUDING THE SKIRMISH OF MONTEREY AND THE BATTLE OF FARMINGTON. Killed, Sergeants Frederick L. Ayer, John C. Wilson ; William Paxton. Wounded, Captains Henry Egbert, William Lundy ; Lieutenant Benjamin Owen; Sergeants John B. Qaddis, Otis Legg; Cor poral Peter J. Webb; John S. Brush, (mortally), C. H. Brock, Daniel Craft, William M. Freeman, W. R. Schreckondcost, James B. Armstrong, (mortally), William Gordon, James Taylor, Henry II. Doutrit, (mortally), James Slawter; Sergeant John W. Jennings; William Dunderdale, (mortally), Lewis Gebhart, Louis Hasler ; Quartermaster-Sergeant Daniel Okeson ; Sergeant James Faught ; L. J. Parks, William Bulla; Sergeant L. H. Waterman, (mortally); Corporal Jacob Haight; Anderson Heinly ; Sergeant Isaac N. Williams ; Corporal R. Haskiu, (mortally) ; A. N. Detwiler, A. V. Reeves, James W. Cook ; Sergeants R. M. Downer, James Fickle ; Corporal E. H. Shepperd ; Bugler D. W. Downer; G. R. Bradley, (also afterwards wouaded at battle of Corinth), F. Leaheart, A. Leffler; Corporal M. V. Hubbard^ Jacob Kirby, S. L. Hazen, Nathan Smith; Corporal James B. Smith, William Bremner, James Bontrager; Sergeants Augustus Crone, Charles H. Hilton. Captured, Corporal William E. Walker; Bugler John D. Burgh; Corporals William W. Miller, M. A. Clark; Sergeant G. W. Kelsall; Joseph Raymount, James S. Breden, John Parker, Skelton Breeden; Sergeant James Kennedy; Corporals William Fosbeuder, Peter Weiser; Jacob Diffeudarfer, James Finley, Caleb Leet. SKIRMISH OF BLACKLAND. Killed, Corporals Aaron B. Springer, John C. Carson. Wounded, Lieu tenant David Hall ; Sergeant H. H. Helton. BATTLE OF BOONVILLE, JULY 1, 1862. Wounded, Sergeant Charles W. Gibson; Corporal Thomas Booth; Isaac Brock, George V. Boyes, William M. Freeman, L. McKinnon; Corporal Samuel Gil- pin; William W. Gates, John Brock, S. K. Baker, 0. E. Baker. Captured, Sergeant John L. Her bert ; Corporal William Wallace ; William F. Eshbaugh, A. M. See, (who died in prison) ; Corporal Albert Listenberger ; Jerome B. Gray, Thomas Fisher, H. Margaretz. RIENZI, AUGUSTA 1862. Wounded, Corporal M. B. Viers ; David Lutz, William W. Mullett, Jacob Brockman, John Branch, Cbarlus Hass, Henry Buck. BATTLE OF COFFEEVILLE. Kill-id, John T. Stathers. Wounded, Isaac N. Lawrence, (mortally); Sergeant A. W. Carmichael. Co.ptured, Sergeant Eugene Rigby ; Corporal Philip Smith; Ebenezer \ iing, E. W. Bennett, George Ady, August Schmidt, Joseph Bednar. JACKSON, TENNESSEE. Wounded, Lieutenants John K. Humphreys, Frank L. Stoddard. HURRICANE CREEK, AUGUST ISrn, 1864. Wounded, Sergeant John M. Guild; Corporal J. Hawkins; William Myers, C, W. Connor, Isaac Potter, William Ferrenback, George Roff the last two also captured. At different times afterwards during this month, the following casualties occurred on picket, and on foraging expeditions. Wounded, C. C. Crocker, C. A. Baker, Daniel Ularn, Jesse Hays, (mortally). Killed, Hampton H. Berner. Captured, Sergeant John Terry ; James Gordon. OPERATIONS IN NOVEMBER, 1864, IN FRONT OF HOOD S ARMY. Killed, Horatio Parks, Joseph H. Moon. SECOND CAVALRY. 395 Wounded, Lieutenant William H. Bulla, Daniel Anderson, Solomon Knows, (Nouse in A. G. R.), Isaac Myers, James II. Fisk, Charles W. Clark, Jesse James, Charles H. Norse, John Bartscher, Jonathan Wilson, M. E. Cavanaugh, Edward Thilby, (Filby or Filley), Charles P. Reed, B. C. Schooler, L. Loper. BATTLE OF NASHVILLE, AND PURSUIT OF HOOD. Kilted, Sergeant Isaac Wilson; Commissary-Sergeant Urban Chapman; Corporal A. R. Heck; A. Fagan, William H. McCormick, David M. Lowe, Daniel A. Rudy ; Corporal II. H. Margaretz ; Frank Palmer, William Bacher, Joshua Bradfield, Dominick Black, Lafayette Millsley. Wounded, Sanford Leech ; Sergeant D. 0. Whitman ; Andrew W. Evans, L. G. Winey, Levi Wood, John C. Church, James Mann; Sergeant William D. Rooker; James N. Rooker, Sylvester Kremer, Noble W. Mountain, James A. Hannegan, Asa H. Haskin, George Philips, (mortally), William Beaver, Theodore Becker, Mai-shall Fleming; Corporal John Van Patter; Sergeant John Coulter; Corporal Levi L. Backus; William H. H. Anderson, George B. Darlington, William McGee, L. H. Hathaway, (mortally) ; Color-Sergeant John F. Hartman, (mor tally). Captured, Robert Gardner, Albert Adams, Horace J. Bennett, B. F. Hammitt, Joseph Dale, Milton B. Wynn, James H. Givens, Theobald Kline, Jacob Walker. It will be proper to conclude with the roster of the regiment, when it was honorably mustered out of the service. Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General, Datus E. Coon; Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles C. Horton ; Majors, Gustavus Schmitzer* and Charles P. Moore ; Adjutant, Theodore Syden- ham; Quartermaster, Henry B. Sudlow; Commissary, W. W. C. Miller; Surgeon, George H. Noyes; Assistant-Surgeon, Jesse R. Burgess. Company A Captain William B. Brunton ; Lieutenants David J. Ferree, Amasa Kinnan. Com pany B Captain John L. Herbert; Lieutenants Byron A. Beeson, H. H. Boyce. Company C- Captain H. C. Babcock ; Lieutenant Isaac Gilmore. Company D Captain F. M. Griffith ; Lieutenant Samuel J. Dangler. Company J3 Captain James P. Metcalf ; Lieutenant Anton Scherer. Com pany F Vacant. Company G Captain George W. Budd; Lieutenant Ansell R. Clark. Company .H" Captain John N. W. Rumple; Lieutenant E. J. Boget. Company I Captain Benjamin K. Watson; Lieutenants John W. Wright, Jackson C. Smith. Company .K Captain Jacob F. Bandy ; Lieutenants James Fickle, John Coulter. Company L Captain James Crawford ; Lieutenant M. E. Cavanaugh. Company M Captain Samuel Foster; Lieutenants Thomas M. Hamilton, John K. Humphrey. The following officers had commissions, but could not be mustered, as the regiment was below the minimum. Samuel Foster as Major; T.M.Hamilton as Captain of M; J. K. Humphrey, as First Lieutenant of M ; H. L. Scott as Second Lieutenant of M ; Michael Trucks afc Second Lieu tenant of C ; J. W. Jennings as Second Lieutenant of E ; Perry French as Second Lieutenant of H. This officer s name is spelled in many ways. I know not which is right. CHAPTER XXII. THIRD CAVALRY. ORGANIZATION MOVE TO MISSOURI TWO PARTS OF THE REGIMENT SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DETACHMENT UNDER LIEUTENANT- COLONEL CALDWELL HISTORY OF THE REGIMENT RESUMED THE CAMPAIGN OF PEA RIDGE HUNGRY MARCH THROUGH ARKANSAS ACTIVE OPERATIONS ABOUT HELENA COLONEL BUSSEY TAKES COMMAND OF THE CAVALRY OF THE UNION ARMY INVESTING VICKSBURG OPERATIONS ON THAT FIELD AGAIN IN ARKANSAS THE REGIMENT REUNITED REENLISTMENT ACTIVE CAMPAIGNING IN 1864 THE CAMPAIGN OF MISSOURI THE GREAT WILSON RAID MUSTERED OUT. THE Honorable Cyrus Bussey, a member of the upper house of the legis lature from Davis County, became an Aid-de-camp on the staff of Governor Kirkwood soon after the outbreak of the rebellion, and was specially en trusted with the protection of our southern border. He procured arms and ammunition, and organized several companies of militia in his own county, Van Buren, and Lee. Upon the intelligence of the battle of Athens, Mis souri, just beyond the border of our State, the people thereof for an hun dred miles in the interior were not a little excited, and in large numbers rushed towards the scene of conflict with such weapons as could be hastily gathered. Colonel Bussey reached Athens on the morning after the battle, and found a large number of our people, not ill armed, ready to pursue the rebels who had been defeated by Colonel David Moore. Others demurred to invading the State of Missouri. Wherefore Colonel Bussey proceeded to St. Louis and obtained the requisite authority to use the militia of Iowa in Missouri in case of necessity. Major-General Frdmont also requested Colonel Bussey to raise a regiment of horse for the United States service at Keokuk. Bussey consented, and the Third Iowa Cavalry was the result. The 13th of August he issued a call for volunteers, requesting each vol unteer to bring with him a good cavalry horse to sell to the government. On the 28th, there were a thousand men well mounted in rendezvous at Keokuk, and had the mustering officer been ready the command might have entered the sendee, nearly eleven hundred strong, on the first day of 896 THIRD CAVALRY. 397 September. But a fortnight after this had not passed till the regiment, numbering one thousand and ninety-six, officers and men accepted, formed a part of the volunteer Army of the Union. Colonel Bussey had for his second in command Lieutenant- Colonel Henry H. Trimble, and for majors, Carlton H. Perry, Henry C. Caldwell, and William C. Drake. John W. Noble was adjutant; Rufus L. Miller, H. D. B. Cutler, and Glenn Lowe, battalion adjutants; T. D. Johnson, quartermaster; Thomas H. Brown, commissary; D. L. McGugin, surgeon, with Christopher C. Biser, assis tant ; Rev. Pearl P. Ingalls, since so distinguished in Iowa for his exertions in behalf of the Orphans Home, chaplain. 1 It seems that the officials of the Federal government could not keep pace with the energetic operations of our State officials and Colonel Bussey in other matters besides mustering, so that the colonel, in order to have his command ready for the field without needless delay, went to Chicago and contracted for clothing, blankets, tents, and horse equipments, which turned out to be the best the regiment ever received. Meanwhile, he had been placed in command of the Home Guards and Union forces in north- 1 Below will be found the various officers of the regiment as shown by the reports of the Adjutant- General: Colonels Cyrus Bussey, commissioned August 10th. 1861; John W. Noble, May 23d, 1864. The former was promoted brigadier-general, the latter brevetted to the same rank. Lieutenantr Colonels Henry H, Trimble, Henry C. Caldwell, Benjamin S. Jones. Majors Carlton H. Perry, Henry C. Caldwell, William C. Drake, John W. Noble, 0. H. P. Scott, George Duffield, John C. Mc- Crary, Peter H. Walker, Cornelius A. Stanton. Adjutants John W. Noble, Glenn Lowe, Thomas S. Wright. Surgeons D. L. McGugin, George W. Carter ; Assistants C. C. Biser, William L. Orr, F. M. Warford, Thomas J. Maxwell, Samuel Whitten. Quartermasters Enos T. Cole, T. D. Johnson, No one but the commissary named in the text is mentioned in the Adjutant-General s reports. Chaplains Revs. P. P. Ingalls, M. B. Wayman, James W. Latham. LINE OFFICERS Company A Captains William Van Benthusen, M. L. Baker, James Hanlin, William B. Wilson ; Lieutenants M. L. Baker, E. T. Cole, James M. Brown, David Letner, James Hanlin, Daniel Bradbury, E. W. Tadlock. Company B Captains 0. H. P. Scott, John Q. A. De Huff, Samuel J. McKee ; Lieutenants John Q. A. De Huff, Samuel J. McKee, Aaron H. Gage, William E. Forker. Company C Captains Israel Anderson, William Wilson, Glenn Lowe ; Lieutenants John W. Noble, E. J. Leech, Wil liam Wilson, James Linch, Alfred Roberts. Company D Captains Norman W. Cook, George Curken- dall ; Lieutenants George Curkendall, Fleming Mize, Francis Ross, William C. Niblack, Bryant 0. Oliver, Thomas J. Miller, John A. Pickler. Company E Captains George Duffield, Horace A. Spencer, Thomas C. Gilpine ; Lieutenants John H. Easly, Horace A. Spencer, Thomas C. Gilpine, Edmund Duf field, Newton Batton. Company F Captains Andrew M. Robison, Benjamin F. Crail ; Lieutenants Ben jamin F. Crail, C. L. Hartman, Marshall S. Crawford. Company G Captains Emauuel Mayne, John C. McCrary, John S. Stidger; Lieutenants, John C. McCrary, John S. Stidger, James H. Watts, Charles B. Leech, John F. Watkins. Company ZTCaptains Jesse Hughes, Peter H. Walker; Lieutenants Hiram Bernes, George W. Newell, M. I. Birch, James R. Grousbeck, Samuel A. Young. Company J^-Cap- tains Thomas J. Taylor, Edward F. Horton, Cornelius A. Stanton ; Lieutenants Thomas H. McDan- nal, Horace D. B. Cutler, Edward F. Horton, Cornelius A. Stanton, Francis W. Arnim. Company K Captains Jacob F. Miller, Martin Cherrie, Newton C. Honnold; Lieutenants Martin Cherrio, Samuel L. Ward, A. H. Griswold, Newton C. Honnold, George W. Stamm, Joseph Miller. Company L Captains Gilman C. Mudgett, John D. Brown; Lieutenants Ezra Fitch, Dudley E. Jones, Micajah Baker, John D. Brown, James C. Williams, Edward Mudgett. Company M Captains John W. Warner, Benjamin S.Jones, George W.Johnson; Lieutenants Benjamin S. Jones, George W. Johnson, Harvey II. Walker, John C. Gammill, William A. Wright. The men of this regiment came from the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Davis, Jefferson, Marion, Appanoose, Wapello, and Wayne, but the four first named sent to the field the greater number of the command. 398 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. eastern Missouri, and performed valuable service in that section before his regiment was fully prepared to take the field. And indeed it left the State for Benton Barracks the 4th of November, without arms, having only such equipments as had been procured by the personal exertions of the com manding officer. Upon his arrival at the barracks, Colonel Bussey gave his entire atten tion to the drill and discipline of his regiment, and it soon won the enco miums of Brigadier-General William T. Sherman, who was at this time in charge of the camps of instruction near St. Louis, having sufficient capacity, in the opinion of Halleck, to perform duties of that sort. In which opinion, I suppose, General Simon Cameron, of the militia, fully concurred. By the 1st of December the regiment was armed with revolvers and sabres, it being at this time impossible to procure carbines. The 12th, Colonel Bussey was ordered to send one battalion of his regiment to Jefferson City, and on the same day, Major Caldwell, commanding Second Battalion, was on his way thither. Inasmuch as this battalion was not again united with the regiment for nearly two years, I may here briefly relate its operations during the period of the separation : The battalion, composed of Company E, Captain Duffield, Company F, Captain Robinson, (who resigned in March, 1862, and was succeeded by Captain Crail), Company G, Captain Mayne, and Company H, Captain Hughes, proceeded from Jefferson City to Boonville, and there, at Glas gow, and in the country roundabout was successfully engaged for some time in hunting up ammunition secreted at various places for the purpose of being used by those who should rise against the government. Large quan tities of powder were captured. Christmas day found the battalion sta tioned at Fulton, where it went into winter quarters. But it was not a winter of rest. The battalion performed much and valuable service, scout ing, capturing rebel munitions of war, dispersing bands of guerrillas, preventing discontented citizens from gathering head against the consti tuted authorities. In the spring of 1862, a considerable portion of Mis souri north and east of Jefferson City was formed into a military sub- district, Major Caldwell commanding, and his battalion was constantly engaged in those arduous services required from troops posted amongst a turbulent and traitorous populace. It continued on duty here several months, and was engaged oftentimes in skirmishes with predatory bands of considerable strength, but it was not a theatre on which great battles were ever fought. Fierce combats took place, which to those engaged had indeed all the effects of sanguinary battle, and called forth as much gal lantry from the combatants as an equal number of men could have exhibited on a field where casualties were to be counted by thousands. Thus, the battalion attacked and destroyed a rebel camp on Salt River, THIRD CAVALRY. 399 the last of May, routing the enemy and capturing much property ; July 22d, a detachment of only sixty men fought the rebel Porter, with three hundred followers, for more than an hour, and was barely beaten in the encounter, losing twenty-two men wounded, and two captured ; two days afterwards, one hundred men of the battalion attacked Porter, now having four hundred, and defeated him ; three days after this, fifty men of our command and one hundred Missouri militia again drove the same rebel force in a sharp skirmish; on the day following, a spirited engagement took place, in which the enemy was handsomely whipped, losing thirty killed and about one hundred wounded, and leaving many valuable spoils of victory in the hands of the Unionists. The defeated rebels fled north ward, but being augmented by numbers of sympathizing friends till there were about two thousand in their ranks, gave battle at Kirksville on the 6th of August, and were thoroughly beaten, losing one hundred and twenty-eight killed, about two hundred wounded, and many prisoners, besides numbers of arms and horses. This engagement, which was con siderable of an affair, closed the fighting history of Major Caldwell s com mand north of the Missouri. In this combat, Captain Mayne was killed, Captain Hughes, Lieutenant Birch, and ten men of the battalion were wounded. 2 The rebels in this part of Missouri being utterly dispersed, soon after the affair of Kirksville, Major Caldwell reported with his command at Leba non, a considerable town about fifty miles southwest of Rolla. He was soon afterwards appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, in place of Trimble, who, having been severely wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, resigned early in September, 1862. The duties of Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell s command in southern Missouri were similar to those which had been done north of the river. By the campaign of Pea Ridge, Missouri had been cleared of rebels in force. Subsequently, General Curtis having marched with the Army of the Southwest through Arkansas to Helena by Batesville, southwestern Missouri became again uncovered and liable to incursions from the insur gents moving through the passes of the Boston Mountains. Wherefore General Schofield, with head-quarters at Springfield, eventually organized the Army of the Frontier, which covered the State against the threatened attack, and in December, by the battle of Prairie Grove, warded off the principal danger. Nevertheless, Missouri was perturbed, and restless as the waters of a boiling cauldron. Her Union citizens were harassed, galled, murdered by 2 Major Caldwell reports his casualties during these operations, as six killed, sixty-six wounded, and two captured, making a total of seventy-four. Besides those stated in the text, I find only these in the Adjutant-General s reports : Killed, James M. Cross, Robert II. Parker, John A. Mc- Guire. Wounded, John J. Morgan, (mortally) ; B. F. Holland, (mortally) ; Charles W. Gleason. 400 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. bands of roving guerrillas, and frequently considerable bodies of troops made forays into the State. It may readily be believed, therefore, that it was a difficult as well as dangerous task to protect our long lines of commu nications to the frontier army. This service involved also the keeping down of outbreaks and the covering of a frontier from the Iron Mountains of Missouri to the Boston Mountains of Arkansas. In this important line of duty, Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell was engaged for several months, his command, augmented by Companies L and M which did not join in Curtis march through Arkansas, being constantly engaged in fatiguing service, and oftentimes meeting the enemy in skirmish or in battle. A detachment of his command was engaged at the sharp battle of Hartsville in January, 1863, and in a number of affairs of lesser note his troops acquitted them selves with great credit. The detachment was engaged in these services of importance, but of no such general interest as to meet with much pub lic notice till the summer of 1863, when it joined the cavalry division under General Davidson in the campaign of Little Rock. Moving by Pilot Knob, the detachment marched into Arkansas near the southeastern corner of Missouri, and thence moving southward, joined the column under Steele near the White River, and took prominent part thenceforth in the opera tions which resulted in the capture of Little Rock. Afterwards, the com mand was actively engaged in movements in the direction of Camden, and performed services both valuable and brilliant. Colonel Bussey remained at Benton Barracks with the first and third battalions till the 4th of February, 1862, when he moved to Rolla. The long stay near St. Louis was occupied by "the everlasting drill." When Colonel Bussey arrived at Rolla, he found there few troops, and the com manding officer desirous of retaining his command. But getting General Curtis order to " come on," he sent Major Drake, with two companies, to Salem, and pushed forward himself, with the remaining six companies, to overtake Curtis, who was at this time energetically pursuing Price. Colonel Bussey left Rolla, in light marching order, on the morning of the 14th. The weather was bitter cold, and the roads were horrible. But the troopers pushed on, kept pushing on, leaving their train behind them. They stopped at dark to prepare a frugal meal, and after they had partaken of it obeyed with alacrity the bugle call "to horse," and marched on till three o clock of the following morning, when they took a short repose. The march was kept up with astonishing rapidity. At Springfield, Colonel Bussey left a company, and moved on toward the front. The heavy rum bling of artillery quickened the ardor of the troopers, and revived the spi rits of their steeds, smelling the battle afar off. On the evening of the fourth day from Rolla the command reached General Curtis army on THIRD CAVALRY. 401 Sugar Creek, more than two hundred miles from the place of starting, and, incredible as it may seem, without the loss of a single horse. Having halted at Sugar Creek a few days the army moved to Osage Springs and Cross Hollows, Colonel Bussey going into camp not far distant from head-quarters of the commanding general. But his command had little rest from this time forth until after the victory of Pea Ridge. It was engaged in reconnoissances, moving to Fayetteville no less than three times within a week after the establishment of head-quarters at Cross Hollows, and all the time actively engaged in scouring the country until the battle of Pea Ridge. It will be remembered that, upon learning of the approach of the rebels in heavy force, General Curtis fell back some distance, to Sugar Creek, for the purpose of concentrating his army where he could give battle in an advantageous position. It was one William Miller, a private soldier of the Third Iowa Cavalry, who, as a spy, discovered the rebel approach in overwhelming numbers and at the risk of his life informed the commanding general thereof in time for him to make his dispositions so as to successfully repel the attack. I have heretofore described the battle of Pea Ridge. The Third Cavalry bore conspicuous part in the engagement, fighting on the centre under Osterhaus. This officer sent the cavalry too far forward, the consequence of which was a desperate combat on this part of the field, in which the Iowa Third fought splendidly. It was here that Lieutenant-Colonel Trim ble was wounded, and about forty of the regiment put hors-du-combat in less time than it takes to write these lines. The command of the regiment now devolved on Major Perry, who led the regiment during the remainder of the battle with noteworthy success. The losses of the Third Cavalry in the battle were forty- nine, of whom twenty- two were slain outright, eighteen wounded and nine captured. "Hearing it reported," says Colonel Bussey, " that several of the killed had been scalped, I had the dead exhurned, and on personal examination of the bodies, I found it was a fact beyond dispute that eight of the killed of my command had been scalped, and the bodies of many of them showed unmistakable evi dence that the men had been murdered after they had been wounded that first having fallen in the charge from bullet wounds, they were afterwards pierced through the heart and neck with knives by a savage, relentless foe."* 3 The list of casualties of the Third Cavalry at the battle of Pea Ridge is as follows : Field and Staff Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel H. H. Trimble, Battalion Sergeant-Major George W. Johnson ; Chief Bugler James W. Cobb. Company A Killed, Sergeant Washington 0. Crawford; Corporal William J. Elrod; Privates James Dodd, Carroll Foster, Elisha Ham, James S. Letner, Madison Townsend. Wounded, Sergeant Amos Chambers ; Corporal Cyrus Cunningham ; Privates Elijah Ward, Matthias Werts, Milton Towns- end. Missing, Orderly Sergeant Daniel Bradbury ; Private Andrew C. Marvin. Company B Killed, Sergeant George N. Anderson ; Private David Carrol, William Cowles, Casper Freich. Company C Killed, Sergeant R. H. Millard ; Private Peter J. Stevens. Wounded, Le Roy Seaton. Company D 51 402 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Colonel Bussey pursued the enemy with vigor, first in the direction of Keitsville, and then to Bentonville, and beyond. It is well known that General Sigel also pursued the enemy in the direction of Springfield. Finding the way open to that post for the rebels had turned by secret passes and were seeking their way toward the Arkansas river Sigel sought to exhibit a specimen of his fine penchant for the retreat, and sent word to Curtis to "come on, the way being open." He was peremptorily ordered back to duty against the rebels fleeing the other way. But Bussey, sending the General s dispatches from Keitsville, at once turned in pursuit, and continued it, taking many prisoners and much property, till his command was fairly exhausted. Then he returned to the field of battle, and dis covered the horrible facts, touching the savage barbarity of the enemy, which have been set forth in his own words. Two companies of the regiment proceeded to Holla in charge of prisoners, and on their return were halted at Springfield, of which post Major Perry took command, and afterwards marched to Lebanon, continuing in com mand there for several months, his troopers all the while actively engaged in guarding trains or fighting guerrillas with great success, and himself performing the duties of his position to the entire satisfaction of his supe rior officers. I may here state that Major Perry resigned his commission in the autumn of 1862, on account of ill health, the regiment and the service thereby losing an oflicer of marked intelligence and efficiency. It will be recollected that before leaving Holla to join General Curtis at the front, Colonel Bussey sent Major Drake with two companies to Salem. It will now be proper to take up the thread of this detachment s history. Major Drake reached Salem on the evening of February 12th, when his com mand was placed on duty as the permanent garrison of the place. But on the day before, Adjutant Cutler, with a detachment of twenty-five men, marched by a detour to the head-waters of the Macomec, and surprised a rebel camp, taking nearly as many prisoners as he had troopers under his command. Not long after reaching Salem, Major Drake marched against a rebel force encamped at West Plains, and effecting a complete surprise, killed fifteen, wounded nearly twice as many, and captured sixty of the enemy. Countermarching to Salem, Major Drake delivered over his pris oners and property captured, and at once set out on an expedition below the Arkansas line, where Coleman, McBride and Fairchild were recruiting and concentrating rebel troops. They retreated upon Drake s approach, and attempted to secrete themselves in a swamp near Salem, Arkansas. Killed, Sergeant John W. Montgomery ; Corporal John Campbell ; Privates John W. Clark, Thomas P. Gray, James F. Mercer, Spence Miner, John Sellers, Ephraim Vorhies, Henry Brown. Wounded, F. M. Bush, S. A. Dysart, W. E. Cox. Missing, Charles J. Butin, John H. Lawson, James I. Mfison, John L. Wolf. Company M Killed, Private A. T. Mansfield. Wounded, John W. Howard, William Cairn, J. Miller, R. M. Nixon, B. Brown, G. S. Bowman. Missing, II. H. Rosa, II. A. Cowles, B. Scott. THIRD CAVALRY. 403 But Drake, dismounting his men, pursued the enemy to their dismal fast nesses, and giving battle, gained a complete victory after several hours hard fighting. A battalion of the Sixth Missouri Cavalry and two mounted howitzers took honorable part in this affair. The loss from the Third Cav alry was six men. It was while on this expedition that Adjutant Cutler performed the brilliant exploit of running down, and slaying or wounding seven rebels, who were scouting. Major Drake remained with his command at Salem, scouting the country roundabout for many miles, and defeating the enemy in several skirmishes. After Colonel Bussey s command had taken some rest from the labors of Pea Ridge and the pursuit of the enemy, the Third Cavalry was actively engaged on reconnoitering and foraging expeditions, and marched to Fay- etteville ; to the Indian country west of Arkansas ; to Huntsville. It joined in the march which turned out to be the gloomy expedition through Ar kansas to Helena. Whilst the column was moving eastward through southern Missouri, Major Drake with his detachment rejoined the regiment. Colonel Bussey being most of the time in a superior command, the Major had charge of the regiment, and on various occasions during the march through Arkansas, and while the army was halted near Batesville, was en gaged with the enemy in severe skirmishes. In the latter part of May he commanded an expedition to Sylamore, fifty miles up the river, where a rebel force was being organized. Attacking the enemy, the Third Iowa killed and wounded a number, captured twenty-five prisoners, twice as many horses, and other property. Captain Anderson of Company C, and private Joseph French, were severely wounded, and Sergeant S. B. Miller, of the non-commissioned staff, was slain. Captain Cook about this time went to Holla and guarded a train thence safely to Batesville with his company. About a month afterwards. Lieutenant A. H. G-riswold, in charge of a foraging party, was attacked. He gallantly drove off the rebels, and saved the train, but lost his own life in the action, seven balls having en tered his body. Corporal Wasson and private Leike were also killed, and five others wounded in this affair. On the hungry, dusty march to Helena by Clarendon, the Third Cavalry performed much hard work removing obstructions from the roads, and had several skirmishes, all successful, with the enemy, but met with no mentionable loss, except that of Matthew D. Williams, killed July 7th. The regimental encampment remained at Helena for many months, but the regiment was frequently engaged in expeditions of less or more impor tance into the interior. Early in November, Major Drake returned to his home in Wayne county, and there died on the 24th. By his death the service lost an accomplished officer, and the State a prominent and useful citizen. Lieutenant John W. Noble, adjutant, was promoted to the 404 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. vacancy. Captain George DufBeld had before been promoted to the majority made vacant by the promotion of Major Caldwell, and Captain 0. H. P. Scott to that caused by the resignation of Major Perry. During the long stay of head-quarters at Helena, the two most important expeditions in which the regiment took part, in 1862, were the unsuccessful attempt on Arkansas Post by General A. P. Hovey, and the march to Grenada under General Washburne. In the former of these Colonel Bussey had command of the cavalry, two thousand picked troopers. The troops embarked on transports and arrived at the mouth of White River, November 22d. On account of the low stage of the water, Colonel Bussey disembarked his command at Montgomery Point and proceeded to march by land, or rather by swamp, to Prairie Landing, with instructions there to await further orders. The river was too low for even the smaller vessels to move up toward Arkansas Post. But Colonel Bussey proceeded to carry out his part of the plan. He found the roads almost impassable. They were simply horrible. But he waded through, and having spent a most miserable night in a deluge of rain which made the swamp a boundless waste of water with no square inch of dry land in sight, he countermarched to Montgomery Point, and found the fleet still there, with nothing accom plished. The expedition returned to Helena. In the expedition to Grenada, Mississippi, the cavalry destroyed the railroad near that place, and caused the rebels in front of Grant on the Tallahatchee to fall back before his legions. An engagement took place near Grenada, in which the rebels were worsted. The Third Iowa took part in the affair and lost four men captured. The expedition, like that under Hovey, returned to Helena, but it had accomplished something, and brought back much property captured from the enemy, and many negroes. The army was now again reorganized, General Washburne being assigned to the command of the Second Cavalry Division, Army of the Tennessee, Colonel Bussey to the command of the Second Brigade of that division, in which brigade was his own regiment. His command was kept on active duty, scouting, but did not meet the enemy in force. Small parties were dispersed and the country about Helena kept quiet. For a considerable part of the month of January, 1863, Colonel Bussey was in command of the District of Helena. Under the administration of General Gorman, the post had become a centre of illicit trade and a general head-quarters of speculators, successfully engaged in fleecing the government, Colonel Bussey s administration was short, but it was wise, pure, and energetic. It was a public calamity that General Gorman so soon returned, and out ranking Bussey, again assumed command, on which account the stealings began to go on as usual. Colonel Bussey now resumed command of the brigade to which he had THIRD CAVALRY. 405 been assigned in December, Major Scott being in command of the Third Cavalry, Major. Noble commanding a battalion. These officers made fre quent expeditions into the enemy s country to Clarendon, St. Charles, and along the St. Francis river on several occasions met the rebels in some force and always defeated them. In April, a detachment of the regiment moved by steamer up the St. Francis River nearly to the Missouri line, with the object of capturing a rebel steamer said to be in the vicinity of Witsburg, or Willsburg. On the return of the expedition there was a considerable skirmish at Madison, in which the rebels were defeated with loss in wounded and prisoners. In this affair, Lieutenant Niblack was distinguished for gallantry, and severely wounded. On the 21st, Major Noble, commanding regiment, attacked a part of Dobyn s command near the St. Francis, and gained a quick, decisive victory. Within a week he met the enemy again, near Big Creek, and defeated him. There were other affairs in which small detachments of the regiment were engaged. Thus on the 1st of May, Captain J. Q. A. De Huff, with one hundred and sixty men marched to La Grange, where he attacked three hundred rebels, and had them about whipped, with heavy loss, when he was himself attacked in rear by full as large a force as that in his front. The Captain and his command fought stoutly against the now overwhelm ing numbers, but were defeated with a loss of more than a fourth of the command, killed, wounded, and captured. Adjutant Glenn Lowe and Lieutenant Cornelius A. Stanton were wounded. They and Lieutenant Niblack were specially mentioned for brave and efficient conduct on the field. Another affair in which a detachment of the regiment took part occurred near Helena, the 25th of May. Lieutenant Samuel J. McKee, commanding a detachment of fifty men from Companies A and B, joined Major Walker, commanding Fifth Kansas, and, marching out the Little Rock road, met the enemy in superior force about six miles from Helena. A combat ensued in which the detachment fought conspicuously. " Lieu tenant McKee of the Third Iowa Cavalry," says Major Walker, " and the men under his command, acted with distinguished gallantry during the whole engagement." The detachment lost five men wounded and two missing.* Nor should it be forgotten that, during the period now under review, the * The killed and wounded at La Grange were :Kilkd, Sergeants Arthur K. Ewing, James H. W. Rigg; Private John Macy. Wounded, Adjutant Glenn Lowe, Lieutenant C. A. Stanton; Corporal Jasper Bromley; Privates Ambrose H. Hill, Nathan Cash, John W. Shook, John H. Lawson, John Davis, William De Lay. The missing soon after the battle were in part recaptured from the enemy, by a fine exploit on the part of Sergeant Breeding, of Company A, and Corporal Birdsall of Company B. The wounded in the skirmish near Helena were : Corporal Asa E. Coleman; Privates Louis Hesse, James M. Legg, Alfred W. Mederas, James Matthews. Missing, Samuel Parsons, Thomas Walker. 406 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Third Iowa Cavalry performed valuable labors in the immediate vicinity of Helena, in the way of fortifying the post, and making it difficult for the enemy to approach from the interior. There is no doubt that these labors, under the direction of Major Scott, were of incalculable service to our arms when the post was attacked by overwhelming numbers on the 4th of July. But, after all, campaigning in Arkansas, though ever so well performed, at this time attracted little of the public attention which was centred on the campaign of Vicksburg, and which was, in sober truth, one of the finest campaigns of which there is any record in military annals. Colonel Bussey, after repeated endeavors, was at length ordered to join the army under Grant. His regiment arrived at Haine s Bluffs early in June, and was at once assigned to duty under General Sherman, in command of the Army of Observation along the line of the Big Black River. Colonel Bussey was made Chief of Cavalry. From this time until the capitulation of Pem- berton the cavalry under Bussey were exceedingly active. They traversed all the roads and by-ways in rear of Vicksburg for a distance of thirty miles at all points between the railway and the Yazoo, exploring every forest, field, and swamp, till the whole region became known to the command like one s own door-yard. In the campaign of Jackson it performed even more active services forming the advance of the army as it moved against Johnston, skirmishing daily with the enemy till he put himself behind the works of the capital. This event but added to the labors and services of Colonel Bussey s com mand, in which were his own regiment and the Fourth Cavalry from Iowa, besides other troopers. Whilst Sherman invested Jackson these troopers were engaged to the northward, heavily skirmishing with the enemy at times, destroying railways, and depots, and confederate property of all kinds in immense quantities and in every way aiding the principal operation and adding to the great value and renown of the final triumph, which was the recovery of a vast State from the hands of the insurgents. For the manifold splendid services of Colonel Bussey and his command during this campaign, General Sherman gave his unqualified praise. At the close of the campaign the command went into encampment on the Big Black, not far from where General Sherman established his head quarters. Here Major 0. H. P. Scott, who had commanded the Third Iowa most of the time for the past three months, gave up his commission by resignation, and the command devolved upon Major Noble. The 12th of August, Colonel Winslow, Fourth Iowa, started on an expe dition northward, the Third joining the column. Moving by Yazoo City and Grenada the command traversed the State of Mississippi, and reached Memphis on the 22d, having met the enemy several times and defeated THIRD CAVALRY. 407 Uiin, destroyed vast quantities of stores, and, generally, made a most useful and brilliant raid, in all respects superior to some which had brought deserved promotion to the commanders who made them. On this expe dition the Third Iowa lost a few men wounded. The regiment at once embarked, to return to Vicksburg, but on reaching Helena was ordered by General Grant to report to General Steele, now engaged in his campaign against Little Rock. In the column under Steele was, as we have seen, Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell, with the detachment of six companies whose history has been already set forth. Major Noble marched to Little Rock where the Third Cavalry was re-united after sepa ration of nearly two years. The Major was appointed Chief of Cavalry on General Davidson s staff, and Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell took command of the regiment. Colonel Bussey arrived at Little Rock about the 1st of November, and assumed command of the Cavalry Division in the tempo rary absence of General Davidson, but before the month closed the latter returned, and Bussey took command of the First Brigade, at Benton, an outpost, twenty-five miles southwest of Little Rock. His troops were engaged, scouting, skirmishing, foraging, till the 20th of December, when the post was evacuated. The command went into camp at^ Little Rock. The 1st of January, 1864, more than six hundred men of the Third Cavalry, being nearly all present able to perform duty, reenlisted as Veteran Volunteers the first in the division to do this patriotic deed. On the 6th, the regiment was relieved from duty for furlough of thirty days in Iowa, In relieving the regiment General Davidson issued a very complimentary order upon the subject, which may be regarded as all the more valuable seeing that he was a man of a most ungenerous nature. He expressed his high appreciation of their fidelity and zeal and assured them that they could not be more heartily welcomed home than they would be on their return to the army as veterans. About this time Colonel Bussey was promoted a brigadier-general, but whilst the veterans were at home enjoying the plaudits of a grateful people, he occupied himself in procuring new arms and equipments for the men. and in superintending the recruiting of his regiment, in all which labors he was successful, so that when he turned over the regiment to its new commander it was finely mounted, armed, and equipped, and over fourteen hundred strong. H. C. Caldwell was now Colonel, John W. Noble, Lieu tenant-Colonel. Captains Gilman C. Mudgett and A. H. McCrary had been commissioned Majors. Colonel Caldwell resigned his commission in June, to accept the position of Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arkansas, to which he had been appointed by the Presi dent. Lieutenant-Colonel Noble was promoted to Colonel, and Major George Duffield to Lieutenant-Colonel. 408 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. But much of this is anticipation. Having taken full advantage of their furloughs, the Veterans returned to St. Louis, and the 1st of May, strengthened by recruits as we have seen, embarked for Memphis, under orders to report to General Washburne. The first campaign in which the regiment took part after its arrival at Memphis was the disastrous expedition under G-eneral Sturgis, called " the Guntown Expedition. " It is saying a great deal, and may be putting it coarsely, but General S. D. Sturgis was the stupidest general officer in all the armies of the United States. He does not appear, either, to have been animated by any spirit of earnest patriotism, to redeem his character from universal reproach, or to cover as with a veil of charity his military record of unmixed imbecility. His curls were admirable, the ringlets falling grace fully adown his head, so that even the golden-haired Menelaus or ambrosial Jove himself, storming through the clouds, might have coveted the posses sion. It was, perhaps, the general s devotion to this magnificent head of hair which prevented him from paying any attention to military duties. At any rate, from this cause or some other, he was forever committing the grossest blunders ; and he capped the climax of them all by his conduct of the expedition jiow to be mentioned, and merely mentioned, for I do not purpose to give a detailed account of it. It was a series of blunders, and blunders which, all and singular, were directly chargeable to the folly of Sturgis, who nowhere exhibited skill which could not have been surpassed by any corporal in his column. The troops of their own motion fought well enough, even gallantly on certain occasions, when not so posted or disposed by the commanding general as to be as little capable of fighting as flocks of sheep. They had before fought as well, at any rate many of them, as any troops ever fought, and they so fought in the succeeding month under another commander. But here every thing went wrong. Trains were needlessly lost, guns were abandoned. The whole campaign was a most shameful disaster, and as needless as it was shameful. The Third Iowa Cavalry lost during this expedition sixty-seven officers and men. 5 6 Namely : Company B Killed, Private George W. Rhodes. Company (^-Corporal William Gil- christ. Company F Corporal William H. Henderson. Company /Private William B. Adamson. Company X Private Wilson Angel. Wounded and in the hands of the enemy. Company D Second Lieutenant Thomas J. Miller, (mor tally). Company F Corporal George F. Campbell. Company G Sergeant Franklin Miller ; Corporal David Miller. Company 1 Private J. Cronin. Captured by enemy, supposed to be unhurt. Company /Second Lieutenant Reuben Delay. Com pany C Privates Francisco Stump, Ephraim Copp, Albert Phillips. Company D Privates Henry S. Benning, Daniel Smith. Company .E Commissary-Sergeant William Dupee; Privates James Foster, Berry Noaker. Company / Private John Faulkner. Company /Sergeant Charles K. Holbrook ; Privates John Frush, John Holbrook, Eugene Sprague, Benjamin Tulk, Daniel Himes, Jacob Graff, Wesley S. Scott, Joseph Fletcher, Isaac Calvert, John Davis. Company K Sergeant Charles W. Sherman; Corporals Oliver Bruse, James Swift, Joseph Ramsey; Privates Henry THIRD CAVALRY. 409 Retreating by La Fayette, Colliersville, arid Germantown, our regiment reached Memphis with the main column, and went into camp. On the 24th of June, that is about a fortnight after the close of the Sturgis dis aster, it again left camp for another campaign in Mississippi, under com mand of General A. J. Smith. This was the campaign of Tupelo, and was successful. Our regiment halted a short time at Moscow, and also at Salisbury, whence it began the march southward. The column approached Ripley on the 7th of July. From this time until the battle of Tupelo there was daily skirmishing with the enemy, in which the Third Iowa had its full share. Throughout the campaign, it was distinguished for the dashing bravery with which it went into fight and the skill with which it was handled. During the battle of Tupelo the regiment, with others, was in guard of the right flank of the line of battle, and removed from the scene of immediate conflict, but on the next day, near Old Town or Tisho- mingo Creek, it had a severe combat, charging the enemy in fine style. "I feel at liberty," says Colonel Noble, "without boasting, to say that few charges during the war have excelled this in firmness, spirit, and bril liancy. It was made by the Third and Fourth Cavalry, supported by infantry under Colonel McMillan. Major Duflield, Captain Crail, and Captain Brown commanding battalions, and Captains McCrary and Johnson, were specially mentioned by Colonel Noble for meritorious services at all times during the expedition. The enemy again attempted to harass the column near Ellistown, but was quickly and finally driven off. Our regiment, moving by La Grange, reached Memphis on the evening of the 23d, having lost nineteen men during the campaign. 6 The regiment remained at Memphis and in the vicinity, without engaging in any operations of which onicial reports have been published, until early in September. On the 2d of this month, Major Benjamin S. Jones with the available mounted force of the regiment about five hundred, officers, and men marched for Brownsville, Arkansas, where he joined the army under General Joseph Mower, and after some delay moved after the rebel McNulty, Samuel Eddy, Michael Gallager, Moses O Connor, Isaac O Connor, Ezra S. Oden, William Patrick, Nehemiah Solon. Company . Sergeant Marcus A. Packard ; Corporals William Pack, William A. Kelley ; Privates Thomas Borman, James D. Mason, Jacob H. McVay, Thomas S. Donncl, Elias Hoover, William Austin, James W. Walm. Company L Edward White. Wounded and brought into camp. Company C Sergeant A. A. Brown ; Private William Lowry. Company E Bugler William F. Swift. Company F Privates Silas Picrson, Erastus Franklin. Company G Private David Bailey. Company H Corporal Bazel Gurwell ; Private Joseph Meyers. Company I Privates Harvey Manning, Stephen Shuck. Company C First Sergeant George W. Stamm. Company K Sergeant James II. Harvey. Company L Ezekiel I. Sankey. 6 Killed, Private Thomas Brown. Wounded, Quartermaster Sergeant J. W. Delay, Sergeant L. B. Reno ; Corporal William Martin ; Privates William Fields, Morris J. James, David Meliza, John Miller, Cyrus G. Hawkins, H. Van Sickle, Solomon Hart, P. L. Biddle, D. H. Stevens, Lucas M. Bald win, Dimick E. Casper, II. Shackleford, B. F. Bard, William J. Sullivan. Missing, William II. Matkins. 52 410 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Price whose campaign for the invasion of Missouri was fully begun. The regiment, with the Fourth Iowa, and Tenth Missouri Cavalry, formed the brigade commanded by Colonel Winslow. Leaving Brownsville on the 18th, the command marched by Austin, Searcy, and Poplar Bluffs, passing many streams and crossing large swamps on the way, to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, arriving October 5th. Thence moved by steamer to St. Louis, where the regiment was refitted for the field, and whence in a few days it commenced a march up the valley of the Missouri. Having marched rapidly, the command joined the forces of the Depart ment of the Missouri commanded by Major-General Pleasanton, near Independence on the 22d. The gallant troopers had swept across a great State in about ten days. When Winslow s brigade came up there was an engagement going on, and the command was at once ordered to the front and into the battle. Trotting forward to the scene of conflict the troopers dismounted, deployed into line, and fought from five o clock in the after noon till nearly ten at night, driving Clark s rebel brigade five miles toward Kansas. In this engagement Lieutenant James H. Watte, acting adjutant, fell mortally wounded, one man was slain, two were mortally and one was seriously wounded. Day had not fully dawned on the morning of the 23d, when the troops were again in motion. The enemy was driven to and across the Big Blue River, behind which he took up a strong position. The Missouri State Troops unsuccessfully assailed the enemy s lines, and were falling back in some confusion, when Colonel Winslow formed his brigade for a charge, and moving forward drove the rebels in great disorder from their position, caus ing them a loss of large numbers killed and wounded, several stands of colors and other rich spoils of war. The enemy was pursued several miles, fighting all the while going on. In this engagement Colonel Winslow, the hero of the battle, was severely wounded, but continued in command for some time afterwards, when, success being well assured, he relinquished his authority to Lieutenant-Colonel F. W. Benteen, the gallant commander of the Tenth Missouri, who successfully led the brigade through the remainder of the campaign. The Third Iowa lost thirteen men wounded, one mor tally, in this engagement, called the battle of the Big Blue. The troops encamped for the night on the State line. Early on the mor row, having now joined the "Army of the Border" under Major-General Curtis, the troopers of Winslow s Brigade were in the saddle, rapidly riding down the line separating Missouri from Kansas. They rode over a vast beautiful prairie, stopping only a few moments to feed, then pressing on riding rapidly all day long, and nearly all of the following night. It was a grand sight, the Army of the Border thus swiftly moving in pursuit of Price. He made a stand on the Osage, but was quickly driven from his THIRD CAVALRY. 411 position, on the morning of the 25th, and followed up by Win slew s Brigade for several miles across the open prairie. Pressed hard, he at length turned at bay, presenting a strong line of battle, well covered by artillery. It was a fine field for the manoeuvres of cavalry, and the dashing charge of Win- slow s Brigade, " thundering over the Prairie," put the rebels in complete rout. Generals, guns, colors were captured by our victorious troopers, who pursued the flying, demoralized remnants of Price s army to Fort Scott, Kansas, where they took one day s rest. Our regiment then joined in the pursuit, and having marched through a portion of Missouri, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory to a point on the Arkansas River nearly fifty miles above Fort Smith, there brought an end to the chase, Price s army having by this time been put entirely hors-de-combat. The troopers of Winslow s Brigade, which had borne a conspicuous part throughout this remarkable campaign, now returned to St. Louis, suffering no little hardship from cold and want of sufficient food, during the first part of the countermarch. The brigade received the following complimen tary order from General Pleasonton : " General Orders No. 11. " HEAD QUARTERS CAVALRY DIVISION, > " WARRENSBURG, MISSOURI, November Bd, 1864. ) " Winslow s Brigade of cavalry, now commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Benteen, being about to leave for another Department, the Major-General, commanding, takes the occasion, not only to express his regrets in separating from such glorious troops, but also to recall more especially than was done in General Orders No. 6, from these head-quarters, the splendid manner in which the brigade fought at the Osage, capturing five pieces of artillery from the enemy, with a large number of prisoners, and carrying, by a daring charge, the most important and conspicuous position on that brilliant field. " No troops could win a prouder record for themselves than they have done, and the best wishes of their comrades in the late campaign will accompany them wherever their services are required. " By command of MAJOR-GENERAL PLEASANTON. " CLIFFORD THOMPSON, " First Lieutenant and Assistant Adjutant-General." The Third Iowa Cavalry, from the time it left Memphis till it reached St. Louis on its return from the Indian Territory, had marched nearly seventeen hundred miles ; had conspicuously participated in three general engagements ; had captured a stand of colors at the Big Blue, and three pieces of artillery at the Osage ; Private James Dunlavy, of Company D, had captured the rebel General Marmaduke, and Sergeant Calvary M. Young, General Cabell on the same glorious field. "The whole of my command," says Major Jones, "did nobly on the field of Osage as on the others, and the highest commendations are due to every man and officer." The losses of the regiment during the campaign were a little less than fifty, of whom six were slain, five received fatal wounds, and the rest more or less severely wounded. 7 * Reported as follows : NEAR INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI, October 22d, 1863. Company E Kitted, John N. Phelps. Company 412 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Meanwhile, that portion of the regiment left at Memphis was refitted for the field, and not long after Major Jones returned to St. Louis, Colonel Noble inarched from Memphis in a column under the gallant General Grierson, and made a brilliant and most useful raid through Mississippi to Vicksburg. The column moved to the Mobile and Ohio railroad, on which at Shannon, Okolona, and Egypt, large quantities of rebel property were destroyed, the rebels themselves being defeated and captured in large numbers at the last named place. Moving westward, the Memphis and New Orleans Railroad was destroyed at Winona, and well broken up from Duckport to Grenada by Colonel Noble. It would require a page to enumerate the property his command destroyed. It included locomotives, cars, depots, machine shops, vast quantities of stores. Moving from Grenada by Carrollton, Lexington, and Mechanicsville, Colonel Noble reached Vicksburg on the 5th of January, 1865. Throughout this raid, accompanied by skirmishing, hard labor, night marches, Colonel Noble s G Wounded, Lieutenant James II. Watts, since died. Company F Sergeant Lewis G. Balding, since died; Warren Armstrong. Company K Henry C. Vaugh, since died. BIG BLUE, October 23d. Company A Wounded, John Shook, Joseph Ogle, Thomas Walker. Com pany B Sergeant Samuel Barr, since died ; James Pearson, Hamilton McCoy, Robert McDonald. Company C Sergeant Thomas H. Brenton. Company F George R. Fry. Company IW. II. De Long. Company K Hezekiah C. Bradley. Company L Captain J. D. Brown. Company M Joseph Lawson. BATTLE OF THE OSAGE, October 25th. Company B Wounded, Corporals James House, Nathaniel Bailey ; Thomas Weeks, Robert McDonald, Miles King, Hamilton McCoy, Joseph Poole. Company C Corporal Lisbon Cox; Fennel Garnet, James Jeffries, Fleming Dungan, J. M. D. McNoland. Company D Killed, R. A. Buzzard, John Cristy. Wounded, Jacob Koone, William D. Reader, James Dunlavy, Edward Ball. Company E Killed, Francis A. Allender. Wounded, Sergeant Wil liam H. Neideigh. Company FW. H. H. Harman. Company H John Balback. Company K Corporal Pat Steely, Elias Hoover. Company L Corporal James W. Honnald. Company M Killed, John Ashback, John G. Walker. Wounded, M. J. Dale, Isaac W. McCarty, since died. As connected with another statement in the last paragraph of the text, I quote the following, from the daily "Gate City" of Keokuk: " We were glad to receive a call, yesterday evening, from young James Dunlavy, of Company D, Third Iowa Cavalry, already well known as the captor of Marmaduke. A son of Harvey Dunlavy, of Davis County, ho goes home on a short visit, under orders to report to his regiment on the first of February. Young, intelligent, active; a representative Iowa boy; he is a fine sample of the material out of which brave soldiers and good officers are made. " He is directly from Fort Scott. Brings with him various presents public testimonials com mendatory of his brave achievement the capture of a rebel Major-General. The most elegant of these is a brace of Colt s revolvers, ivory handled and silver plated, and retailing for one hundred and ninety-five dollars, given him by the citizens of Fort Scott. They are enclosed in an elegant rosewood case, upon the silver plate of which is inscribed : Fort Scott, Kansas, to private James Dunlavy, Company D, Third Iowa Cavalry, captor of Major-General Marmaduke, Osage, October 25th, 1864. " He says that in the charge at Osage he got separated from his company, but kept on. Noticed at some distance some blue coats. Thought they were our own boys. Bore down toward them, occasionally drawing a bead on a butternut whenever visible. Marmaduke saw him, noticed he was firing at secesh, galloped toward him, bridle-rein and revolver in hand, cursing him for shoot ing his own men. Dunlavy smelt a mice, saw they were blue-coated rebels, waited until Marma duke got close to him, then drew a bead on him with his carbine and told him to surrender. Mar maduke thought he better had, and he did." THIRD CAVALRY. 413 command did as gallant, brilliant service as any troopers in General Grierson s column. Colonel Noble immediately embarked, but did not leave Vicksburg until the evening of the 6th. Arriving at Memphis on the llth, he received orders to report to General Upton, at Louisville, Kentucky, whither Major Jones had already gone from St. Louis, and where the Third Cavalry was once more united, to take part in the last campaign of the war. The com mand was thoroughly fitted for the field well armed, mounted, and equipped, and having moved to northern Alabama, joined the forces which in the latter part of March began that campaign, which must forever remain prominent among the annals of war, and which has been popularly denominated "THE GREAT WILSON RAID." The young and distinguished General James H. Wilson, as wise in judg ment as dashing and brilliant in execution, organized his forces for this ex pedition in northern Alabama, behind the Tennessee. That part of the cavalry corps engaged in the campaign consisted of three divisions of two brigades each, the troopers being mostly armed with Spencer carbines. Brigadier-General Edward McCook commanded the first division, his brig ade commanders being General John T. Croxton, and Colonel La Grange of the First Wisconsin Cavalry. Croxton s Brigade was composed of Kentucky and Michigan troops, and the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, Colonel DOIT. The troopers in La Grange s Brigade were from Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ken tucky. The Second Division, the largest of the three, was commanded by Brigadier-General Long. The First Brigade, Colonel A. 0. Miller, was composed of four regiments of mounted infantry, two from Indiana, and two from Illinois. The Second, Colonel Minty, had two regiments from Ohio, one from Michigan and one from Pennsylvania, being the only east ern troops engaged. The other division, styled the Fourth, was commanded by Brevet Major-General Upton. Brevet Brigadier-General Edward F. Winslow commanded the First Brigade, composed of the Third and Fourth Iowa, and the Tenth Missouri Cavalry. The Second Brigade, Brevet Brigadier-General Alexander, consisted of the Fifth Iowa, and First and Seventh Ohio Cavalry. There was also a battery of horse artillery attached to each division. The pontoon train was also supported by a battery. The entire number of troops was about twelve thousand, including the escort of the train carrying supplies and ammunition. Thus organized, the command, as a whole, started from Chickasaw on the 22d of March, Upton s Division in the advance, and moved in a south easterly direction for about a week, to Elyton. This part of the route lay over a rough and barren country ; the roads were bad, the streams swollen 414 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and difficult of approach, making the march necessarily slow. Though no fighting took place, it was, perhaps, the worst part of the route. About the time the army reached Elyton, General Croxton left the column with his brigade to demonstrate against Tuscaloosa. He did not again join the column during the raid, but made one of great daring and success north ward of the line taken by Wilson. From Elyton to Selma, Wilson fought almost all the way, having a con siderable battle on the 31st of March, gaining the victory of Ebenezer Church the 1st of April, and, not allowing the enemy time to recover from the dismay and demoralization, assaulted and carried the works of Selma on the 2d in as bold a battle as was ever fought. Large numbers of pri soners, and vast stores fell into our hands, the spoils of this splendid victory. Halting a week, to destroy the captured property, as well as to scour the country roundabout for many miles, General Wilson then pushed on to Montgomery, which fell an easy prey into the hands of McCook on the morning of the 12th. "Our cloud of cavalry, as it has been termed," says Chaplain J. W. Latham, of the Third, "made a very imposing ap pearance as we marched, colors flying and bands discoursing patriotic airs, through the broad streets of the city, the original seat of government of the Southern Confederacy. It was peculiarly gratifying to the troops to see t? /flag of our country proudly waving from the dome of the capitol where the traitor, Davis, had been inaugurated. Resting one day General Wilson moved on eastward, directing McCook against West Point, and the principal column against Columbus, Georgia. La Grange s Brigade, forming now the principal part of McCook s com mand, attacked West Point on the 14th, and after a short but desperate battle captured the place. The rebel General Tyler and many other traitors were here slain. The same day, General Upton assaulted Columbus, about twenty miles below West Point on the Chattahoochee, and carried the city by a night attack, in which Winslow s Brigade bore the brunt of the fight and won undying laurels. Both the Third and Fourth regiments of Iowa Cavalry bore prominent part in this fine action. Halting again to destroy his immense captures, General Wilson put his column in motion for Macon on the 19th. There were some captures made, and there was some skirmishing, but on the 20th, intelligence of the collapse of the rebellion was received, and the greatest raid of which we have any history came to an abrupt termination. The raid was most remarkable in point of fighting. Assaults were made by night upon strong defences hastily reconnoitered. Strong positions, well mounted, well manned, supported by superior forces of infantry, and protected by all the strength which engineering skill could command, were carried by an inferior force of cavalry, charging dismounted. The impet- THIED CAVALRY. 415 uosity of the attacks was irresistible. The raid was also remarkable in point of marching. The column had moved about five hundred miles during the thirty days campaign of which twenty-one were marching days. So that the average was about twenty-five miles a day. Croxton marched more than six hundred miles. But perhaps the most remarkable charac teristic of the campaign was its destructiveness to the rebel cause. It laid waste the granary of the South; demolished the iron-works, factories, arsenals, armories, shops, mills, upon which the rebels were dependent for arms, munitions, supplies; destroyed many miles of railway, including many bridges. Nearly seven thousand prisoners of war fell into our hands, two hundred and forty-one pieces of artillery, twenty-three stands of colors, and great numbers of small arms. "The effect of these terrible fires in the rear of the confederacy," says the intelligent correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, "cannot be over-estimated. They effectually destroyed the propagative quality of the last dragon s tooth, and sundered eveiy nerve of the last ganglion of rebellion. The effect of Wilson s raid upon the southern hot-bed, is significantly apparent in the submissive tone of all this region. There is not a hand that has the nerve nor a voice the spirit left, to be lifted again in hostility to its government." There was not an engagement during the campaign where the Third Iowa did not behave with great gallantry, and the meritorious services of )lonel Noble and his command were universally acknowledged throughout. The regiment captured nearly seven hundred prisoners, about as many small arms, a number of guns and two colors. At Columbus, where part only of the regiment took part in the assault a part having been left at Mont gomery and not yet come up the troopers of the Third captured more prisoners than they themselves numbered. The loss of the regiment during the campaign was about forty, killed and wounded. The regiment moved from Macon to Atlanta, where it continued in the performance of such duties as were ordered till the 9th of August, when it was mustered out of service. The roster at this time was composed of the following officers : Colonel John W. Noble, Brevet Brigadier General. Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin S. Jones. Majors P. H. Walker, C. A. Stanton, George Curk- endall. Surgeon George W. Carter. Assistant Surgeons T. J. Maxwell, Samuel Whitten. Chaplain James W. Latham. Company A, Captain W. G. Wilson ; Lieutenants D. Bradbury, E. W. Tadlock. Company B, Captain A. H. Gage ; Lieutenant W. E. Forker. Company C, Captain Glenn Lowe ; Lieutenants A. Roberts, C. W. Taylor. Company D, Captain John A. Pickler; Lieutenants John L. Morgan, D. C. Pearcy. Company E, Captain Thos. C. Gilpine ; Lieutenants N. Batten, Charles A. McCord. Company F, Captain Benjamin F. Crail; Lieutenants M. S. Crawford, 416 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Richard Gaines. Company G, Captain John S. Stidger ; Lieutenants Charles B. Leech, John R Watkins. Company H, Captain James R. Grousback ; Lieutenants Samuel A. Young, William Wicoff. Company I, Captain Franz W. Arnim; Lieutenant John J. Veatch. Company K, Captain Newton C. Honnold ; Lieutenants George W. Stamm, Josephus Miller. Company L, Captain John D. Brown; Lieutenants James C. Williams, Edward Mudgett. Company M, Captain George W. Johnson ; Lieutenants John C. Gammill, W. A. Wright. The regiment reached Davenport on the 21st, and was there finally dis banded, after a period of service of four years, during which, whether con sidered in respect of its commanding officers, the officers generally, or the rank and file, it had well won the highest admiration as a command com posed of as excellent material as any in the army and which had made a history of effective service and brilliant deeds second to that of no regiment by whose aid the great rebellion was triumphantly overwhelmed. CHAPTER XXIII. FOURTH CAVALRY. ORGANIZATION AT " CAMP HARLAN," NEAR MOUNT PLEASANT MOVE BY RAIL TO ST. LOUIS TO SPRINGFIELD, BY ROLLA JOIN THE ARMY OF THE SOUTHWEST MARCH THROUGH ARKANSAS, TO HELENA ENCAMPED NEAR HELENA ABOUT NINE MONTHS ACTIVE OPERATIONS OF THE REGIMENT DURING THIS PERIOD THE CAMPAIGN OF VICKSBURG, THE REGIMENT SERVING UNDER SHERMAN CAPTURE OF JACKSON RAIDS REENLISTMENT OF THE REGIMENT THE MERIDIAN RAID VETERAN FURLOUGH RETURN TO MEMPHIS EXPEDITION UNDER GENERAL STURGIS EXPEDITIONS UNDER GENERAL A. J. SMITH, FIRST TO TUPELO, SECOND TO THE TALLAHATCHEE THE REMARKABLE CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRICE IN MIS SOURITHE GREAT RAID UNDER GENERAL WILSON MUSTERED OUT HOME. FOR the following truthful and finely written account of this distinguished regiment, I am indebted to Lieutenant WILLIAM F. SCOTT, of Fairfield the last regimental Adjutant : The Fourth Regiment of Iowa Cavalry was organized and mustered into service at Mount Pleasant. Its camp was called Camp Harlan, in honor of the distinguished stateman, and was located one half mile west of the town. The first company in rendezvous, Captain Benjamin Rector s, arrived at Mount Pleasant October 17th, 1861, from Davenport where it had been sent to join the Second Cavalry. This company was organized at Sidney, Fre*- mont county, August 10th, 1861, for the Second Cavalry, and was composed of men from the counties of Fremont, Page and Mills. It arrived at Davenport about the middle of September, but the Second was then full, and it was kept in Camp McClellan until the raising of the Fourth Cavalry was ordered, when it was removed to Mount Pleasant as a nucleus for that regiment. Captain John H. Peters Company arrived with, or immediately after Captain Rector s; also from Davenport and also originally raised for the Second Cavalry. Captain Peters Company was organized in Delaware County about September 1st. These two companies immediately set, to work upon the barracks, and others joining during the month, the quar ters for the entire regiment were rapidly built. The next company was 53 417 418 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Captain Cornelius F. Spearman s, organized in Henry County October 9th, and the next Captain James T. Druinmond s, organized at the same place and time. Next came Captain Orrin Miller s Company, organized about the middle of October in Hemy county, though many of his men came from other places. Next, Captain Edward F. Winslow s Company, organized in Camp Harlan and composed of men from the counties of Henry, Wapello and Mahaska. Captain Alonzo B. Parkell s Company, from Grinnell, Poweshiek County, was organized about the middle of September for a regiment of "Mounted Rifles," which was to have been organized by E. Clarke, Esq., of Iowa City. That failed and the company volunteered for the Fourth. 0. Castle brought a party of men from Johnson County about November 1st, but they were soon after scattered into other companies. Captain De Witt C. Crawford s Company, raised in Chickasaw and Mitehell counties, and Captain Thomas Tullis , raised in Lee, arrived early in November. A company from Jefferson county began to assemble about this time, and when large enough chose A. R. Pierce for captain. Pleyel s regiment of Lancers was now breaking up, jtnd two companies volunteering for the Fourth Cavalry were sent to Mount Pleasant. These were Captain William E. Harris , organized at Burlington, and Captain William Pursell s, at Winterset, Madison county. Some delays occurred in filling up the companies, and the mustering officer, Captain Alexander Chambers, did not begin mustering until Novem ber 23d. On that day. and on the 25th all the companies were mustered into the United States service, except Captain Pursell s, which was delayed until December 5th. 1 1 When mustered in the companies were assigned to their positions in the regiment, and lettered as follows : Company A Captain Benjamin Bector; Lieutenants John Guylee, J. M. Rust. Company B Captain John H. Peters; Lieutenants George B. Parsons, Alonzo Clark. Company C Captain Orrin Miller ; Lieutenants Henry E. Winslow, James Patterson. Company D Captain Cornelius F. Spearman ; Lieutenants Erasmus Coiner, John Tucker. Company E Captain Alonzo B. Parkell ; Lieutenants Orson N. Perkins, Edward W. Dee. Company F Captain Edward F. Winslow ; Lieu tenants Thomas J. Zollars, William A. Heacock. Company G Captain Thomas C. Tullis; Lieuten ants James Brown, Simon Hooper. Company H Captain De Witt C. Crawford ; Lieutenants Samuel S. Troy, Edwin A. Haskell. Company I Captain William Pursell; Lieutenants Jesse R. Lambert, John R. Overmyer. Company K Captain James T. Drummond ; Lieutenants Jacob Hart, Joshua Gardner. Company L Captain William E. Harris ; Lieutenants William II. Sells, William W. Woods. Company M Captain Abial R. Pierce ; Lieutenants Frederick S. Whiting, Aaron J. Newby. The battalion organization was as follows : First Battalion, Companies A, G, D, and K ; Second Bat talion, Companies C, I, F, and L ; Third Battalion, Companies E, II, M, and B. , The Field and Staff, mustered in, December 26th, 1861, was then composed of the following officers: Colonel Asbury B. Porter, of Mount Pleasant; Majors Simeon D. Swan, of Mount Pleas ant, Joseph E. Jewett, of Iowa City, George A. Stone, of Mount Pleasant ; Regimental Adjutant George W. Waldron, Mount Pleasant ; Regimental Quartermaster Simon P. Lauffer, Mount Pleas ant; Surgeon Andrew W. McClure, of Mount Pleasant; Assistant Surgeon Wellington Bird, of Mount Pleasant; Chaplain Andrew J. Kirkpatrick, of Mount Pleasant; First Battalion, Adjutant Warren Beckwith, of Mount Pleasant; Quartermaster J. Marshall Rust, of Sidney; Second Bat talion, Adjutant Watfcon B. Porter, of Mount Pleasant; Quartermaster William P. Brazelton of FOURTH CAVALRY. 419 The regiment now numbering one thousand and eighty-six officers and men, remained in Camp Harlan drilling and parading when the weather permitted, and mounting guard all through the winter. There was much sickness, resulting from the great change in manner of life at that incle ment season, and from the exposure incident to "standing guard," but under the efficient management of Surgeons McClure and Bird, the losses were remarkably few. The men were here tolerably well-clothed, and in January, 1862, received sabres of the heavy cavalry pattern, and saddles. The horses were purchased at Mount Pleasant, and were very good. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Drummond joined in January, having been appointed from the line of the Fifth United States Cavalry. 2 In February, Colonel Porter was ordered to march the regiment to Fort Leavenworth, and some preparations for the trip were made, but in the latter part of the same month this was countermanded by an order to report at St. Louis. Accordingly the three battalions were shipped from Mount Pleasant with as little delay as possible, the First moving on Feb ruary 26th, the Second on the 28th, and the Third on March 3d. Moved by rail through Illinois, arrived safely in St. Louis, and were quartered in Benton Barracks. The balance of clothing and equipments necessary was here received, and about March 10th the regiment was ordered to Holla, bound for the field. The first companies reached Holla March 14th, and the others closed up as fast as transportation could be furnished. From Holla several scouting parties were sent out from the regiment into troubled portions of the country, and a detachment of forty men was sent to Pea Ridge, Arkansas, as escort to a party of paymasters for Curtis army. The regiment floundered slowly through the mud to Springfield, Missouri, where it arrived late in March. It was now supposed to be in the field, and was armed with heavy sabres, Starr s revolvers, holster-pistols, (old pattern, smooth bore), and Austrian rifles. Of the pistols and rifles, there were enough for half the men. Such a villainous equipment of arms could Mount Pleasant ; Third Battalion, Adjutant Samuel F. Cooper, of Grinnell ; Quartermaster Ira F. Phillips, Mount Pleasant. 2 LIEUTENANT-COLOXEL THOMAS DRUMMED. This officer resigned in June, 1862, while the regiment was on the banks of Little Red River, in Arkansas. He was a strict disciplinarian. Colonel Porter was not. Dnimmond, of a fiery temper, quarreled with Porter, or at least so warmly disagreed with him as to bring about his resignation. Before entering the service, Drummond had been the editor of the " Vinton Eagle," then and still an influential journal of Iowa. He had been a member of both houses of our Legislature, and was distinguished for energy of character and an independent spirit, sometimes altogether unmanageable. He returned to his command in the regular army, and having been engaged for some time in recruiting at Cleveland, Ohio, went into active service with the Army of the Potomac. He was distinguished for gallant conduct even in his first battle the battle of Bull Run, in July, 1861 and always maintained his reputation. He was mortally wounded in one of those series of terrible engagements whereby Grant wrenched the rebel capital from the possession of traitors. He lived but a short time after his wound, though long enough to be carried to the hospital. In full consciousness, he uttered " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," and the brave, the versatile Drummond was no more. 420 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. have been imposed upon few or no other regiments. It would have been just as well if the men had been armed with butcher s cleavers as with the heavy sabres; Starr s revolvers are dangerous only to their possessors; horse-pistols shoot very well if the target will come up quietly and be shot; and it is about as reasonable to arm horsemen with mountain howitzers as with Austrian rifles. But the regiment was in for Dixie even with this armament, and about the middle of April moved from Springfield to join General Curtis, who was then moving eastward from Pea Ridge. Made this junction at For- syth, and became a part of the Army of the Southwest. General Curtis proposed to invade Arkansas, but he must first receive new supplies and establish good communication with his depot. This depot must be at Holla, and to open the line the army must march by West Plains, Missouri. During this march many scouting parties were sent out from the regiment, but only one suffered or inflicted any damage upon the confederacy. A detachment of forty men under Captain James F. Drummond was sent from Springfield to guard an ammunition train to the army. In a skirmish fought across White River (the North Fork) at Talbot s Ferry, April 19th, Second Lieutenant William A. Heacock, Company F, was killed. He was the first man of the regiment struck in action. This detachment crossed the river at another point, and driving back the rebel defence, destroyed nitre works of considerable value to the enemy. Moving south from West Plains on the last day of April, and marching slowly, the army occupied the beautiful little town of Batesville, Arkansas, May 9th, and crossing White River on extemporized ferries, reached Little Red River opposite Searcy about the 18th. Here the regiment was assigned to Colonel William Yandever s Brigade of Brigadier General E. A. Carr s Division, and was employed in picketing and scouting, and was once almost engaged with the enemy at Searcy, four miles south of the river. It suffered much from sickness here, and indeed had suffered much from the time of its arrival at Springfield, more than two hundred men having been disabled by disease from that place to Red River. General Curtis concluded not to take Little Rock, an exploit that had been so extensively and expensively threatened, and the 2d of June found the army with its back turned contemptuously on that capital, and marching the Lord knew where. It stopped at Batesville perhaps to reflect. Reflected three weeks, and the rebels cut off its communication with Rolla. On June 24th the question of ruin or a march for life having arisen, the army took up its line down the White River with the vague expectation of meeting reenforcements and supplies by boat at some point on that river. These hopes being disappointed at the points expected, and finally at Clarendon, FOURTH CAVALRY. 421 the army turned eastward and pushed through the swamps for the Mis sissippi, arriving at Helena July 15th. From this time until ordered to join the army before Vicksburg, in April, 1863, the Fourth remained at Helena, none of the many changes of troops at that place affecting it. It was, however, constantly employed here in picketing and scouting, and performed much hard labor, though but few of its operations were of any importance. It was encamped on the Little Rock road, a few miles west of Helena, and constantly performed outpost duty for the troops at that point. This involved the continued support of a heavy picket force and the making of frequent expeditions into the country. On September 1st a picket post held by a detail from Company D was attacked, and Private David Mosher killed, and three privates cap tured. A few days afterward two men of Company M were captured from a picket post. On October llth a scouting force of fifty men, of Com panies A, G, and H, under Major Ben. Rector were attacked within three miles of camp, when returning from a fruitless hunt. Confident that no enemy was in the country, the force was completely routed. Privates John W. Allen, Company A, and Cornelius Jackson, Watson Frame, and John W. Williams, Company Gr, were killed, Private Levi B. Williamson, Com pany A, and Sergeant Thomas Hanker, Company G, severely wounded, and Major Rector and fourteen enlisted men captured. Lieutenant Gr. B. Parsons, Company B, with forty men arrived by a different road in the midst of the rebels success and changed it into a defeat, driving them from the field, and capturing their Lieutenant- Colonel commanding, and twelve men. Major Rector and all the prisoners of the regiment were exchanged and returned from Little Rock in November. On November 8th, a de tachment of the regiment under Captain J. H. Peters was attacked near La Grange, Arkansas, but the rebels were defeated and driven from the ground, losing a major, a captain, and twelve men. Captain Peters loss was in wounded : Second Lieutenant John Tucker and Private Benjamin F. Morgan, Company D, and Privates Charles H. Sisson and Francis Coe, Company H. In November the regiment formed a part of the expedition of Brigadier-General E. A. Hovey against Arkansas Post, which failed to make the passage of the Cut-Off, and returned to Helena. Immediately afterwards a detachment of the regiment joined the force commanded by Brigadier-General C. C. Washburne, which marched to Grenada, Missis sippi, and destroyed the railroads in that vicinity. During this winter, and within a few days or weeks of each other, there were accidentally killed, Private John R. D. Birum, Company H, thrown from his horse against a tree, and Corporal Edward Spicer, Company H, and Sergeant Lyman Fluke, Company C, and Private Joseph Henson, Company A, by gunshot, and wounded, Privates Jonathan Morris, Com- 422 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. pany B, Clinton O. Harrington, Company E, and Jeremiah Wilson, Com pany I. In a skirmish at Big Creek, two miles west of Helena, in January, 1863, Private Benonah Kellogg, Company L, was killed. Major Ben. Rector and Captain Thomas C. Tullis, died in camp at Helena, on January 21st and February 8th, respectively, of disease. Early in April a detachment of the regiment under Major E. F. Winslow engaged a superior force of the enemy at Wittsburg, on the St. Francis River, Arkansas. The rebels were defeated. The loss of the regiment was: Private Daniel Lorregan, Company L, killed, and Privates Henry Fleming, George Sheppard and M. B. South severely wounded.* At length, after nine months harassing and petty service at Helena, the regiment was ordered to the army before Vicksburg, and embarked at Helena, April 29th, 1863. Arrived at Milliken s Bend, May 1st, and on the next day marched up the Bayou Mason on a reconnoissance. Returned on the 4th, and on the 5th began the march to Grand Gulf, by Richmond arid Hard Times, Louisiana. Crossed the Mississippi at Grand Gulf, and overtaking the army at Rocky Springs on the 10th, was assigned to Sher man s Fifteenth Corps and at once placed in the advance. On the 12th, the regiment was engaged in a sharp skirmish at Fourteen Mile Creek, in which Private Jabez Sibley was killed, and William Ray and Corporal Asa E. Andrews, and Charles W. Lash, were wounded. Major Winslow s horse was killed under him. In the approach to Jackson, on the 14th, the regi ment was kept in the advance, but on nearing the city performed flanking duties and was engaged with the enemy several hours. Upon the occupa tion of the capital, the regiment pushed on in pursuit of the enemy, crossing Pearl River, and marching to Brandon. It returned to Jackson the same night.. On the 16th of May, the corps taking up its march for Vicksburg, the regiment became the rear-guard. It made a detour by Brownsville, and at that place engaged the enemy s cavalry, though without loss. On the 1 8th it crossed Big Black Kiver a,t Bridgeport and closed up in the rear of its corps, in front of the works of Vicksburg. On this day, the regiment having been ordered on a reconnoissance to Haine s Bluffs, Captain J. H. Peters being in the advance with twenty men came up to the works, entered and took possession, the enemy having evacuated, though there were still some rebels and a number of guns. During the siege of Vicksburg, the service of the regiment was exceed ingly active. There being, for some time, no other cavalry with Grant s army, except a portion of the Sixth Missouri, it had that to do which should have employed six or eight regiments of cavalry. Scarcely a breath ing moment was allowed from the 1st of May until the last of June. Out of fifty-six days in those two months, the "effective force" of the regi ment was in the saddle fifty-two. The men were almost worn out and there FOURTH CAVALRY. 423 were a great many cases of sickness and, in time, a number of deaths from sheer fatigue endured in these times. The duty performed was picket ing and reconnoitering in the right rear, a rebel force under General J. E. Johnston constantly promising an attack for the relief of the garrison. In the numerous patrols and scouts thus sent out skirmishes often occurred. One on May 24th at Mechanicsburg lasted several hours but the only casualty in the regiment was a slight wound for Private Francis R. Walker, Company F. In another skirmish fought at Mechanicsburg May 29th, the regiment had wounded, Sergeant John W. Corbin, Corporal William Henderson, and Privates Alonzo Cantwell and Isaac M. Vaughn, the last named mortally. About the middle of June detachments of the regiment were sent out from day to day to blockade with felled trees, the roads by which it was expected the enemy would advance, for General Johnston s rebels were now becoming strong and saucy. One of these blockading forces, of one hundred and fifteen men under Major A. B. Parkell, detach ments from Companies A, F, I and K, was attacked June 22d, by eight hundred rebel cavalry. The enemy succeeded in cutting off one company (I) which was on picket, and nearly surrounding the others, made a furious charge. The overwhelmed and surprised blockaders resisted as well as men could, and cut their way through towards the camp, but nearly one- half were left behind ten killed, five wounded and thirty-two captured. Some of the captured were also wounded. The killed and mortally wounded were : Privates George W. Vandorn, Andrew J. Chapel, John Mann, Wil son S. Hunt, James Buttercase and John McClintock ; Corporal John W. Frame and Private John W. Yancey ; Second Lieutenant Joshua Gardner and Sergeant William T. Biggs, mortally wounded. Wounded : Private Levi B. William ; Sergeant George W. Caskey ; Privates Thomas Miner, William Johnson, and Privates James Moon and William Hole ; Second Lieutenant William J. McConnelee was among the missing. This affair had, at least, the value of teaching our generals that there were some rebels in their rear ; and a strong defence was immediately organized in Johnston s front, under Major-General Sherman. The regiment was sta tioned in this disposition, at Bear Creek, twenty miles from Yicksburg. General Grant stepped into Yicksburg on the 4th of July, and without the delay of an hour the army under Sherman moved against the rebel General Johnston. On the evening of the 4th, the army was at Black River ready to cross. Johnston s main army was on the opposite bank, ready to cross and attack us. Had the surrender of Yicksburg been de layed one day, there would, perhaps, have been terrible fighting between the Black and the Mississippi Rivers. The regiment now had a new colonel. Colonel A. B. Porter tendered his resignation to General Grant March 8th, and it was accepted about the 424 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. time now treated of. Major Edward F. Winslow had been commissioned colonel, and at once assumed command. On the 5th, the regiment moved under Colonel Winslow in a brigade commanded by Colonel Cyrus Bussey, Third Iowa Cavalry, and crossing the Big Black at Messenger s Ferry, took the advance of the army on the main Jackson road. Appeared be fore Jackson on the llth, and while the infantry besieged the capital, the cavalry made two hard marches to Canton, and engaged the enemy at that place, though without loss. The regiment being detached for that purpose burnt a bridge over Pearl River, and also burnt a railroad bridge over Black River north of Canton, with one mile of trestle work. The enemy evacuated Jackson in the night of the 16th, and a few days afterwards the army began to move slowly towards Vicksburg. The cavalry encamped at Flowers on the west bank of Big Black. On the 10th of August, a force of three hundred and seventy-five men from the regiment under Major A. B. Parkell formed part of a force of eight hundred under Colonel E. F. Winslow, which made a raid of over three hundred miles, by Yazoo City, Grenada, and Coldwater to Memphis, Tennessee. This was one of the most remarkable raids of the war. It oc cupied thirteen days and was made with four days rations and in perfect order, and the rebels were on both hands in superior force for a greater part of the distance. This command returned from Memphis by transports reaching camp September 1st. About the middle of September, a force of three hundred men from the regiment, under Captain William Pursell, formed part of a force of nine hundred under Colonel Winslow, which marched towards Kosciusko to make a diversion in favor of Sherman s troops, then moving from Mem phis, via Corinth to Chattanooga. This command marched about one hun dred and forty miles, was engaged in one or two sharp skirmishes, and returned via Benton and Yazoo City. October 15th, the Fourth Iowa, Fifth and Eleventh Illinois and Tenth Missouri formed the cavalry forces of a small army under Major General McPherson, which made an expedi tion through Brownsville, towards Livingstone, a town twenty miles north of Jackson. During the five days march the cavalry was almost constantly engaged, and inflicted severe injury upon the rebels. The Fourth lost: Private John Irland, killed October 16th ; Sergeant George W. Caskey, killed October 18th; and Private Samuel R. White, captured. This Samuel R. White died at Andersonville prison in 1864. There being only troops enough now at Vicksburg for its garrison, the lines of the army were drawn in, and the cavalry was encamped on Clear Creek, ten miles east of Vicksburg. On the 4th of December, a detachment of one hundred men of the regiment under Major C. F. Spearman formed part of a force commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace, Fourth Illinois FOURTH CAVALRY. 425 Cavalry, which moved by transports to Natchez. Arriving on the 6th, this force was joined to a large one under Brigadier-General Gresham, and pursued the rebel cavalry under Wirt Adams one hard day s march, and on the next day returned to Natchez. On the 17th, the detachment reached Vicksburg. The regiment now belonged to what was designated as the Cavalry Forces, Seventeenth Army Corps. On December llth, began the "veteran" reenlistments in the regiment, although promissory reenlistments had been made in November. On the 19th, having reached the proportion of reenlistments required, the Fourth became a "veteran" regiment, the first to reenlist from the State of Iowa. In November recruits had began to appear from the recruiting rendezvous in Iowa, and new detachments joined from time to time there after until seven hundred were received, and the regiment was full. Dur ing the winter the men had good quarters huts built by themselves and their service was the old story of picket, scouting, and foraging. On the 1st of February, 1864, Sherman s great Meridian expedition be gan to move, and the regiment eagerly joined it, although it was spoiling the prospect of veteran furlough on which the men had been relying, and to which they had been some weeks entitled. The cavalry four regi ments including the Fourth under Colonel E. F. Winslow, which con stituted the advance of the army, crossed the Big Black on the 3d, and was almost every day engaged with the enemy during the march of one hundred and fifty miles to Meridian. Distinct skirmishes or battles were fought by the cavalry, at Bolton on the 4th ; Jackson, 5th ; Hillsboro, 7th ; Morton, 8th; Tunnel Hill, 12th; and Meridian, 14th. The cavalry moved to Marion and Lauderdale Springs while the infantry destroyed the railroads and sup plies at Meridian, and on the 20th, the army having enjoyed a complete and triumphant success, began its return march to Vicksburg. Colonel Winslow was ordered to make a detour to the north by Philadelphia and Kosciusko to learn, if possible, the position of General W. S. Smith, who had moved from Memphis with a large force with orders to join Sherman at Meridian. The command passed through Philadelphia and Kosciusko, and after a very fine trip, arrived at Canton a few hours before Sherman s infantry advance, on the 25th, but without having gained any knowledge of the movements of General Smith. On the next day the regiment was ordered to Vicksburg to go to Iowa on its long-promised veteran furlough, and early on the following morning it left the army behind and took up a joyous march for the Mississippi, distant sixty miles. Immediately after their arrival in camp the veterans began their prepa rations for furlough, and on the 3d of March got away from Vicksburg. About six hundred recruits were left in camp, to be drilled and "phys icked as recruits must be. Picketing, foraging, and praying for the rain 54 426 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. to cease "were the chief services of the recruits while the veterans were at home, until late in April when the camp was ordered to Memphis. On the passage to Memphis, privates Lemison Clubine and John Rodgers were ac cidentally drowned. After a fine visit home, the veterans had arrived at Memphis and the parts of the regiment were joined, and encamped near the city April 29th. The aggregate of the regiment, present and absent, was now over thirteen hundred, and it was increased by additional recruits, in a few weeks, to thirteen hundred and fifty-four. On the 30th the effective force of the regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel J. II. Peters, marched in a force of twelve thousand under General S. D. Sturgis on an expedition in search of the rebel General Forrest. This com mand marched to Bolivar, Tennessee, and returned to Memphis May 12th, quite as wise in regard to Forrest s movements as when it went out. Early in June another expedition moved from Memphis under command of this same General Sturgis, with orders to march into northern Missis sippi where Forrest was then established. General Sturgis force numbered about twelve thousand, of which nine thousand were infantry, including two regiments of blacks, and three thousand of cavalry. The cavalry was under command of Brigadier-General B. K. Grierson, and was divided into two brigades, the First under Colonel Waring and the Second, consisting of the Third and Fourth Iowa and Tenth Missouri Cavalry, under Colonel E. F. Winslow. The cavalry was kept in advance of the army and on the morning of the 10th June engaged the enemy s cavalry near Guntown, a small railroad station on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The rebels fell back until they gained the protection of their main body, which was soon found to be posted in force and ready for battle. Our infantry was now five or six miles behind the cavalry. General Sturgis ordered it up on the "double-quick," on learning the disposition of the enemy, and directed the cavalry to engage him until it should arrive. The enemy, under Forrest, was about equal in number to our forces, and was strongly posted on the crest of a semicircular hill or ridge, in front of which ran a small creek, which had but one bridge, and was otherwise impassable, except in a very few places by footmen. The day was very warm, and when the infantry regiments came up they were exhausted and disordered, having double- quicked the whole distance from where they were when ordered forward. By another great blunder, close up with them came rushing the train, of more than two hundred wagons, and it was hurried over the bridge and parked in a field within easy range and sight of the enemy s batteries. If there has been one time, more than another, when the attacking force should have been well organized and disposed with particularly careful skill, it should have been here, where the enemy had so great advantages in position ; but as fast as our infantry came up, tired and disordered as it was, it was FOURTH CAVALRY. 427 hurried into the fight, already opened by the cavalry, and soon and com pletely beaten. The division and brigade and subordinate officers made strenuous efforts to check the tide of defeat, but without avail, and the whole army was soon in full retreat, the greater part of it in utter confusion. The rebels, rejoicing in their easy victory, pursued with unrelenting vigor, capturing the entire train at the first step, and cutting off our weary in fantry men in great numbers. It was some time before even an attempt at order in the retreat was made, and then Colonel Winslow s brigade was ordered to act as rear-guard and cover the retreat, it being the only organ ized force in the whole command. The First Brigade (of the cavalry divi sion) had been divided, a large part of it being taken for an escort to the general commanding, and other detachments being broken off for different purposes. It was not attempted to keep the infantry in order, and it hurried along as best it could, a fleeing mob. So, back towards Memphis rushed the ruined army, its rear covered by Winslow s brigade of cavalry during the terrible night s march of June 10th and through the next day until Ripley was reached. Here the enemy pressed so hard that the running skirmish swelled into a sharp engagement, which, as it gave our troops some advantage, checked the ardor of the enemy s pursuit, and it was thereafter not so harassing, though continued until within a few miles of Memphis. General Sturgis made no positive attempt to reorganize or control the troops after the retreat had begun, and he should be directly and alone re sponsible for this great disaster. Our losses were about four thousand men killed, wounded, and captured ; the entire wagon-train of two hundred and fifty wagons, captured ; the entire ambulance-train, except a few ambulances belonging to the cavalry division, captured ; and every gun, except two that belonged to Winslow s brigade of cavalry, and which were brought off with credit. The loss of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, at Guntown on the 10th, at Ripley on the llth, and on the march between, was quite heavy. 3 Company A Kitted, Private Jeremiah Young. Wounded, Sergeant William E. Jackson (severely), Privates William Chapman, Henry Chapman, Andrew J. Lovelady (severely). Prisoners, Privates Adam Warner, Ephraim Shaffer. Company E Wounded, Privates Patrick McIIugh, Jonathan Morris (slightly). Prisoners, Privates Leverett Littlejohn, Alfred A. Tracy, John McNulty. Com pany C Killed, Privates Milton W. Stall, Garrett Pilgrim. Wounded, Lieutenant Lloyd H. Dillon (dangerously), Corporal George W. Saint; Privates Adolph Sloder, John C. Hartman, Charles Hilgrin (severely), John Straw, Alfred Peterson, John Sutherland, John Hockinson, Arsene Gerard (slightly). Prisoner, Private Andon Gates. Company D Prisoners, Privates Daniel Saxton, Job A. Haines. Company E Killed, Corporal Harvey H. Merriam. Company F Wounded, Corporal Simon Smith (severely), Privates Francis M. Noble, James B. Pearson (slightly). Company G Kitted, Private Edwin Huntington. Prisoner, Private Isaac Smyth. Company H Kitted, Corporal Francis C. Coe; Private Andrew Laird. Company I Wounded, Privates Thomas Wilkinson (severely), Albert Rice (slightly). Company K Wounded, Privates Elisha Payne, Zur Rockhold, George Schofield (slightly). Wounded and Prisoners, Privates George W. Holt, Stewart B. Perry. Company M Wounded, Private Robert Hopkirk, since deceased. 428 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. In the latter part of June, an expedition was fitted out with the positive and heroic determination of annihilating Forrest. The authorities feeling a dawning suspicion that perhaps Sturgis was not possessed of the greatest military abilities, placed Major-General A. J. Smith in command of the new army. He rendezvoused his troops at Saulsbury, fifty miles east of Memphis, whither supplies could be shipped by rail. The cavalry in this army was the "Cavalry Corps of the District of West Tennessee," com manded by Brigadier-General Grierson, and the Fourth Iowa was in the Second Brigade, Second Division. General Smith, with twelve thousand men marched from Saulsbury July 7th, and skirmishing with the enemy s cavalry every day, engaged him in force at Tupelo, Mississippi, July 14th. General Forrest commanded the rebel army of fourteen thousand in person, and relying on the prestige of his Guntown success was over-confident of victory in this engagement, and began it with a furious charge over disad vantageous ground. He was repulsed with great loss. The assault was twice repeated, but with the same result, and the defeated rebels were routed and driven from the field. The rebel loss in this battle was much greater than ours, as they fought quite recklessly, evidently expecting an easy victory. Their dead left on the field numbered considerably more than our entire loss in killed, wounded and missing. Thus was the stain of the Guntown defeat wiped out, and the blatant Forrest soundly beaten. The cavalry was not engaged in the main battle, but was in position where ordered and under fire, and quite ready to "go in" whenever it should be called. On the next day, however, it was engaged in a hot skirmish at Old Town Creek. The regiment lost in these engagements, Corporal James Rooney, killed, and Sergeant Polk Tibbets, Privates Thomas McNulty, Church Rinard, and Andrew Smithbury, wounded, all except the last, severely. The regiment returned to Memphis with the army late in July, the men tired and the horses sadly jaded. Another expedition into Mississippi was immediately organized under General A. J. Smith, and the Fourth Iowa was ordered out under Lieu tenant-Colonel J. H. Peters. This army, of about ten thousand, marched from Memphis, August 4th, and taking in its way Holly Springs, reached the Tallahatchee the 17th. Here, on that day, the cavalry was engaged in a sharp skirmish, but the enemy was nowhere found in any considerable force. The command remained in this region until the latter part of August, when it again returned to Memphis. General Sterling Price, at the head of fifteen thousand rebels, had now begun his march from southwestern Arkansas on his proposed raid into Missouri. General Joe Mower was ordered from Memphis into Arkansas, via White River, to veto the movement. A division of cavalry was also ordered from Memphis to cooperate with General Mower. This was the FOURTH CAVALRY. 429 Second Division, Cavalry Corps, District West Tennessee, commanded by Colonel E. F. Winslow. Its effective force starting on this campaign was two thousand and two hundred, and it consisted of two brigades, the First under Colonel Karge of the Second New Jersey Cavalry, arid the Second under Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Duffield, of the Third Iowa Cavalry. The Second was composed of the Third and Fourth Iowa and Tenth Mis souri. The Fourth was commanded by Major A. R. Pierce, and its aggre gate on starting was five hundred and twenty-five. The division crossed the Mississippi at Memphis September 2d. The weather was very hot, and our road to Clarendon, eighty miles, lay almost entirely through swamps. Crossed White River at Clarendon, and arrived at Brownsville the 9th. Lay here seven days waiting for the infantry, and in the meantime Price marched past on his way north. Moved on the 17th, and marching by Searcy crossed Little Red River, and striking Price s general route, crossed White River above the mouth of Black and marched up the Black, cross ing it frequently. There is no more dismal country than that on Black River, and our army tramped gloomily through its sunless swamps nine days, with miserable rations, until it reached the borders of Missouri. Here we heard of Price s success over the garrison at Iron Mountain only two days in advance of us. At Greenville, General Mower turned eastward and marched direct for the Mississippi, arriving at Cape Girardeau, October 5th. The army here embarked for St. Louis, where it arrived on the 8th and 9th. Price was now threatening Jefferson City. The infantry under General A. J. Smith pushed up the Missouri on transports, and the cavalry marched out on the llth, having received new supplies of clothing arid horses. A large force of Missouri militia was now in the field, but they being hope lessly bewildered by the audacious rebels, Price marched past Jefferson City, and had it not been for Blunt and his little army, he would have gone unmolested through Lexington. At Lexington, on October 21st, we fcame close upon the enemy s rear, and marching nearly all that night overtook him in the afternoon of the next day, near Independence. We had now, including the mounted Missouri militia, six thousand cavalry, all under command of Major-General Alfred Pleasonton. The rapid marching of the cavalry had left the infantry far behind, and it was not again "up" during the campaign. The enemy, increased by recruits and conscripts now num bered twenty thousand troopers and thirteen guns. Phillips Brigade being in advance, engaged the enemy at Independence, and his was successively relieved by Brown s and Sanborn s Brigades, and at sundown, Winslow s Brigade was ordered to the front, and all other troops relieved. Winslow s Brigade, as it was now called, was reduced to one thousand two hundred men, two regiments having been detached and other losses 430 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. common to all campaigns having occurred. The enemy was posted on a ridge three miles west of the town, and as soon as the brigade came to the front, the Third Iowa and Seventh Indiana were dismounted and advanced. A sharp engagement ensued with severe loss on both sides, and continued until eight P. M. , when the enemy was driven from his position. Private John Koolbeck, Company F, Fourth Iowa, orderly to Colonel Winslow, was severely wounded. One battalion, the Third, of the Fourth Iowa, under Captain E. W. Dee, was now ordered forward, and supported by a detachment of the Fourth Missouri, pursued the enemy until he took up another position, on the Big Blue River. Here both forces lay on their arms until daybreak of October 23d. Brown s Brigade had been ordered to relieve Winslow s at daybreak, but it failed to do so, and the Fourth Iowa opened the battle of Big Blue. It was begun very early by the advance of Captain Dee s line, but the whole regiment and brigade were soon dismounted and engaged. The passage of the Big Blue, naturally very difficult, was now much more so from the enemy s blockade of trees. It was made, however, under a galling fire from the rei>el artillery and advance line, was quite successful, and the whole rebel lines were soon engaged, defeated and driven from this very strong position into the open prairie. Colonel Winslow was severely wounded, and the regiment lost Privates John Slavin and Thomas Cole, killed, and Privates John W. Rafferty and Michael Cunning, wounded. Lieutenant- Colonel F. W. Ben- teen, Tenth Missouri Cavalry, assumed command of the brigade after Colonel Winslow was wounded, and led it gallantly through the remainder of the battle. As soon as the brigade could be remounted, it pursued the enemy, and at two P. M. discovered him drawn up in the prairie, but pro tected by a swell of the ground until the advancing force should be within easy range. The three brigades of the militia failing to come up, except, indeed, near enough for one of their batteries to open fire on our column, Window s brigade was again ordered forward, at a charge. It was met by a hot fire of shell and canister, particularly destructive to the advanced regiment, the Tenth Missouri; but the column moved on at a rushing gallop, and when within rifle range of the enemy, swept into line and dashed against him with a wonderful swiftness. The enemy had here two divisions, Fagan s and Marmaduke s, the third, Shelby s, having been detached to check the advance of Blunt from Kansas City. The charge broke the enemy s right, and his whole line soon followed, broken and fleeing. The brigade pursued four miles, taking many prisoners, when the rebels gained the cover of a range of hills behind a rocky creek. In the night they retreated in hot haste, and on the next morning we began our pursuit, on a strained time-table. Major- General Curtis this morning assumed FOURTH CAVALRY. 431 command of the army, having joined after the battle on the evening before, with a large body of Kansas militia and some Colorado regiments, under Major-General Blunt. The road lay over prairies, and to facilitate his march and keep his command concentrated, Price, skilful in retreats, inarched in four double columns, side by side. This is, probably, the only case of the kind known in the war. He also frequently fired the prairies to impede our pursuit, though that affected us but little, as the wide and well beaten track of his four columns was of advantage to us in avoiding the fire. That he made good time may be understood from the fact that we marched in our pursuit on October 24th, sixty miles without a halt. Our advance came up with him at midnight, and found he had taken a position on a rough ridge at Westport, a trading post on the Osage River near the Kansas border. From this position he was driven by \yinslow s (now Benteen s) and Phillips Brigades, in a cold rain at daybreak of October 25th, and forced across the Osage into open prairies. Here he was compelled to abandon a large part of his train of plunder and two small field pieces. The brigade was to have been relieved from the front here, by the militia, but after a short halt it was again ordered forward. Crossed the Osage, and after a gallop of six miles came upon the enemy drawn up in front of a miry little creek called Mine Creek. The battle that followed was one of the most remarkable of the war. Drawn up on open prairie, each army could see the whole force and all dispositions of the other, and the troops engaged were on both sides exclusively cavalry. There could be no "drawn" work there. One side must be defeated, routed. Price had his whole command drawn up here, Marmaduke s Division on the right, Fagan s in the centre, and Shelby s on the left. The militia, as usual, succeeded in allowing Benteen s Brigade to pass, and it came up first. It was ordered to charge at once in column of regiments. This placed the Tenth Missouri in front, the Fourth Iowa next, and the Third Iowa third. The rebel artillery was very active upon our approach, but its fire was generally too high, though the cross fire of one battery struck Phillips Brigade, which was moving up in our right rear, and killed and wounded many men. Our column moved on at a rush ing gallop against the enemy s right wing, but it did not break, as many seemed to have expected, from the moral effect of the charge, and when within very short range scarcely two hundred yards our advance regi ment halted and wavered. Its officers made desperate efforts to urge their men forward, but failed, and for a moment the contending forces stood, fairly glaring at each other. The enemy, seeing the advantage offered, raised a shout and began to move forward. It seemed like our ruin. If he should charge and get the prestige of attack, our destruction seemed inevitable. It was an awful moment, but proved to be the glory 432 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. of the Fourth Iowa. Major Pierce, knowing how critical was the condition, determined at once upon a movement of his own, and taking the responsi bility on himself, dashed to the left of the regiment and ordered it forward at a charge, in columns of fours. Galloping through the wavering line of the regiment in front, our column rushed, with wild cheers, against the rebel right. This novel movement gave us the victory. The enemy, sur prised, gave way where he was struck, our whole force joined in the charge, and his whole line was broken away like a row of falling bricks. His rout was soon complete, and his losses, for so short an action very heavy ; over three hundred killed and wounded, nine hundred prisoners, three battle- flags, and seven pieces of artillery. Of the guns, the Fourth Iowa captured five, and of the flags, two. The Third Iowa captured the rebel Generals Marmaduke and Cabell. In the Fourth, Second Lieutenant Hira W. Curtis, Company F, was killed, Major A. R. Pierce, Corporal Charles Totten, and Private Henry J. Crall were severely wounded, and several enlisted men were slightly wounded. The militia now moved forward in pursuit, and Benteen s Brigade, sadly fatigued, marched on again ready for battle. About fifteen miles from the scene of the battle, and about three P. M. , the enemy was found drawn up in two lines on Charlton Prairie. Again, as if it were the constant programme, the militia dropped back and Ben- teen s Brigade were ordered to charge. Now it was to be in column of companies, but the charge began at too great a distance from the enemy, and when it came within range the command was neither in good shape nor condition, so the advance was checked, and meeting a desperate fire from the enemy seemed ready to break. The enemy, as in the morning, think ing the charge repulsed, again advanced as if to charge, but our support now came up, and a couple of howitzers being opened on him, he halted, and our command reformed for another advance. Before this was com pleted, the enemy began to withdraw, and night coming on, the contest was ended and our exhausted soldiers dropped upon the prairie and slept, holding their horses bridles. In this engagement the regiment had none killed, but Sergeant Joseph Smith and Private Smith R. Crane, Company A, and Sergeant Hiram H. Cardell, Company E, were severely wounded, and several others were slightly wounded. General Blunt was ordered to Fort Scott, six miles distant, that night, and it was expected that he would intercept Price at that place. Price s retreat now became a desperate flight. Blunt did not cut him off at Fort Scott, nor overtake him until he reached Newtonia, Missouri, two days afterwards. Here a heavy skirmish occurred, but it was the last fighting of the campaign. The pursuit was kept up by General Curtis, through FOURTH CAVALRY. 433 Southwestern Missouri, by Lamar, Carthage, Newtonia, and Cassville ; down through Arkansas by Fayetteville and the Boston Mountains, where cold, rainy, snowy, miserable weather came upon us; down through Indian Territory where civilization was not, neither was there food for man or beast; down to the Arkansas River at Weber s Falls we pursued the ragged, hungry, wretched remnant of the late boastful rebel army a demoralized mob of seven thousand men with two guns left of twenty thousand men and thirteen guns. We must now take care of ourselves, and our condition was not at all enviable. We must return by St. Louis, distant four hundred miles. We were without food, and for more than a week had had but very little else than fresh beef and apples, and the nearest point at which we could expect to get provisions was Springfield distant about one hundred and eighty miles. Cold weather was upon us and we were not provided for it. Our horses were not only without food, but had had none for three days. They were all sadly jaded, some nearly exhausted and many men were dismounted. The return march began November 8th, and gleaning a very little corn from that starved country and receiving one lot of bread sent from Fort Scott we reached Springfield without loss, and having every day a better prospect of an end of their privations the men toiled on, and after many hardships, of cold, short rations, and thin clothing, reached St. Louis on the 28th. Here ended the most remarkable campaign of the war. Winslow s Brigade had marched steadily from September 1st until November 28th with but very few days rest, the whole distance, including twenty-five per cent, for scouting, flanking and foraging, being two thousand four hundred miles. and traversed two states and a part of Indian Territory. It had suffered in the campaign the two extremes of intense heat and severe cold ; it had made several extraordinary forced marches; had worn out two sets of horses ; had fought several engagements, and was always successful. There were no brighter laurels won duiing the rebellion. When the brigade arrived at St. Louis it was under orders for Nashville. Delays in getting fresh horses and new clothing, however, kept it at St. Louis until December 9th. On that day it began to embark, and the Fourth Iowa pushed off in advance for Cairo and Louisville. Arrived at Louisville December 22d, but the battles of Franklin and Nashville had been fought, and our brigade was now not needed by General Thomas. That part of the regiment which was left at Memphis when the expedi tion moved out into Arkansas, being men at the time unfit for duty or dis mounted, was increased by men sent back from the expedition unfit for duty" to about six hundred. The detachment was kept busy picketing and patroling. A patrol of fifty men, from Companies A and B, under Captain Eldred Huff, Company A, was surprised at White House, six miles east 55 434 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. of Memphis, December 14th, 1864, and completely routed. Sergeant Joseph Gamble and Privates John Brian and William Young were killed and Captain Huff and twenty men were captured. On December 22d a cavalry expedition marched from Memphis under General B. H. Grierson with the object of destroying railroad stock and rebel supplies in Mississippi. Four hundred and fifty men of the Fourth Iowa, its effective force then at Memphis, were joined to the raid, under Major W. W. Woods. This raid was a splendid success, sweeping through Mis sissippi via Grenada, Opelika, and Yazoo City to Vicksburg, and destroy ing a vast amount of railroad property and confederate army supplies. A skirmish was fought at Opelika, December 27th, without loss. The raid reached Vicksburg January 5th, and the troops of Winslow s Brigade em barked for Louisville, moving one thousand four hundred miles by river and arriving at Louisville January 17, 1865. The brigade was now organized as of old the Third and Fourth Iowa and Tenth Missouri, under Colonel E. F. Winslow and formed a part of Wilson s grand cavalry corps. Our brigade was the Second and Division the Fourth of the Cavalry Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi. Now, with Wilson for corps, Upton for division and Winslow for brigade, commanders, the position of the regiment was the best it had ever held. The brigade remained at Louisville until February, refitting for the field. All the regiments were now armed with Spencer s carbines and received new accoutrements and equipments. The heavy cavalry sabres were exchanged for the light, excellent blade of the new pattern and all the revolvers were turned in except enough to arm the sergeants, who were not required to carry carbines. On an interesting occasion, while at Louisville, the regi ment, through Lieutenant-Colonel Peters, presented to Colonel Winslow a sword and equipments and a gold American watch, as>a token of regard for his rare qualities as a commanding officer. Embarking on transports February 7th, and moving down the Ohio and up the Tennessee, the brigade reached Waterloo, Alabama, the 13th, and encamped at Gravelly Springs on the next day. Remained here, drilling and preparing for the grand campaign, which was to open as soon as the weather was settled, for the winter rains were not yet over. Whilst here encamped, the beautiful flag offered by the Women s Loyal League, of Mount Pleasant, to the " First Veteran Regiment from Iowa," was for mally presented to the regiment. The men were very proud of the honor, and the flag, which bore in gold letters the names of the principal engage ments in which the regiment had served, was given in charge to Company H, as that was the first company to reenlist. Colonel Winslow was now brevetted brigadier-general, to rank from December 13th, 1864. On March 21st, Winslow s Brigade bade "good-bye to America," FOURTH CAVALRY. 435 and plunged into the wilderness as the advance of the great raid. Brevet- Major-General James H. Wilson commanded the whole force, but though there were seven divisions in his "Cavalry Corps," only three were repre sented here ; the First, Second, and Fourth, numbering in all about twelve thousand men. But it was necessary to keep one division in rear of the wagon train loaded with ammunition and commissaries, and a great many men were required to manage the pack train which carried such supplies as were of immediate necessity, so that the fighting force in front was but a small part of the twelve thousand. The line of march lay direct against Selma, Alabama. Nothing of special moment occurred, if we except the destruction of the iron works at Red Mountain and at the Cahawba, until we reached Montevallo, fifty miles north of Selma. Here three companies of the regiment under Major W. W. Woods, skirmished with the enemy s advance, and Private Francis M. Boswell was wounded. At Six-Mile Creek, six miles south of Montevallo, on the 31st, the regiment engaged two regiments of the enemy s cavalry. These regiments had been detached from the enemy s main force, which was engaged with the front of our division, and attacked our marching column on its right flank, a few hun dred yards in advance of the Fourth Iowa. Lieutenant-Colonel Peters, commanding regiment, at once pushed it forward, (only seven companies were then available, the others being rear-guard of the train,) and dismount ing charged without a moment s delay. The enemy broke, and the regi ment pursued nearly two miles, killing five, wounding several, and captur ing two. Its own loss was Corporal Jacob Gautz and Private Oliver F. Chester, and Trumpeter John Q. Riley, severely; and James Lathers and Villeroy Abbe, slightly wounded. On April 1st, was fought the battle of Ebenezer Church, in which the Fourth Iowa suffered no loss. On the 2d, at 2 P. M., the command appeared before Selma; and now after a rapid march of two hundred and fifty miles, without the delay of an hour or of even time for a cup of coffee, our troops were dismounted and advanced to the assault, the assaulting column consisting of the Second Division, and of the Second Brigade, Fourth Division, except eight com panies of the Fourth Iowa. These eight companies were reserved for a sort of forlorn assault upon the enemy s extreme right by way of a sup posed impassable swamp. Selma was defended by two lines of fortifications, the outer one continuous and mounting thirty guns twenty-nine field pieces and one thirty-two pounder Parrott. The garrison numbered seven thousand men, and was commanded by Forrest. General Wilson soon com pleted his dispositions and ordered the assault. The battle was short but desperate. Forty-four of our men were killed and three hundred and fifty wounded, but the rebels were defeated and driven from the works. As soon as they broke, the eight companies of the Fourth Iowa the other 436 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. companies were engaged in the direct assault under Major Woods, which had been dismounted for the attack on the right were ordered forward for a mounted charge. Hastily mounting and dashing through the works, these companies at full gallop charged into the city and on the rebel forces, and the defeated enemy was utterly routed. The regiment lost in this action, Captain Eugene R. Jones, Company I, than whom the service held few better officers, and Chief Trumpeter Daniel J. Taber killed, and Sergeant James H. Stocks, Company H, Color- Bearer, and Privates Robert Campbell and Abraham Needles Company I, and Hezekiah Phelps, Company L, wounded, and a number of horses killed and wounded. It captured one thousand four hundred and ninety- five prisoners, including seventy-eight officers; nine field pieces, eight caissons, three battle-flags, six hundred and sixty horses, and a considerable number of wagons and ambulances with their teams. The flags were cap tured, one each by Privates Nicholas Fanning, Company B, James P. Killer, Company D, and Charles Swan, Company K. The capture of Selma was almost the heaviest blow that could have been inflicted upon the rebels at this time. They had here an extensive, and to them, invalu able foundry, where guns of all kinds and weights, even to the heaviest siege guns were being cast ; beside the thirty pieces mounted on the works, seventy were lying in the foundry. There were, besides, factories and ma chinery for the manufacture of all the munitions of war, and arsenals filled with ordnance stores all ready for issue, and great depots of commissary s and quartermaster s supplies. The army was engaged six days at Selma, in the destruction of public property, and in building a pontoon bridge over the Alabama, While the work was going on, Winslow s Brigade, under Colonel J. W. Noble, Third Iowa, General Winslow being placed in com mand of the post of Selma, was ordered on a reconnoissance up the Ca- hawba. Marched one hundred miles, and returned to Selma April 6th. Crossed the Alabama on the Ninth, and moved against the capital Montgomery. The enemy made show of defence, but evacuated on the approach of the raiders and McCook s Division, or rather his brigade as he now had but one, occupied the city on the 12th. On the next day, two companies, H and M, of the Fourth Iowa, under Captain F. S. Whiting, being on a reconnoissance up the Coosa River with a detachment of the Fourth Kentucky, captured three steamboats laden with corn, cotton, and commissaries. On the 14th, the column moved on against Columbus, Georgia, another rebel city of manufactures and depot of supplies. The Second Division was left in rear of the train, and McCook s Brigade was dispatched against West Point, a railroad town on the Chattahoochee, thirty miles above Columbus, and the Fourth Division appeared alone before Columbus at two P. M. of the 1 6th. The defences of the city were FOURTH CAVALRY. 437 on the west bank of the river, about the village of Girard, and consisted of a chain of forts, surmounting a range of hills, connected by lines of earthworks and mounting forty-four guns. The garrison numbered about four thousand, under Major-General Howell Cobb, but more directly under Colonel Von Zinken, a Prussian officer of great repute among the rebels. The enemy had destroyed all the bridges leading over into Columbus, except one, and that now had its crevices stuffed with cotton saturated with turpentine, ready to be set ablaze if the Yankees should gain the works that protected it and attempt its passage. It would have been folly to have attacked this place with so small a force, by daylight, and General Wilson determined upon a night assault and a stratagem. To persuade the enemy that his force was very large, the First Brigade, Brevet Brigadier-General Alexander, made a feint on the enemy s left, and the Second moved by a circuitous and concealed route to the front of his right and the front of the all-important remaining bridge. Here the brigade lay and quietly awaited the approach of night. Soon after dark the column moved forward, dismounted, and whilst a line of buglers, placed in front, at considerable intervals, sounded the charge, so that it seemed as if a long line was advancing to the attack, the real assault was made in column against the works fronting the bridge. The fire of the whole garrison was drawn. A battle by night seems more horrible than by day, and the scenes and sounds that were created in the blackness of that night were awful. Our victory was complete, and the very audacity of the assault was its success. Even after the Yankees had occupied the bridge, the bewildered rebels on the right of the broken works, kept battering away into their front at an enemy who was then in their rear. The pursuit was so close, that in the darkness our advance mingled with the fleeing rebels crossing the bridge, and those charged with firing it were captured before they knew the Unionists were near. The Fourth Iowa was the first to reach and cross the bridge. Two thousand rebels were cut off from the passage of the bridge and captured, together with all the guns in all the works. The Fourth captured in the action nine hundred and forty-one prisoners, including sixty-seven officers, twelve field pieces, sixteen caissons and seven battle flags. The flags were captured, one each, by Sergeant Norman F. Bates, Company E ; Corporal Richard Morgan, Company A ; Privates Edward Bebb, Company D, John Hayes, Company F, Eli Sherman, Com pany I, John Kelly and Richard Cosgriff, Company L. Its loss was : Pri vate Nathan Beezley, killed ; Sergeant Joseph Jones, mortally wounded, and Sergeant Horton M. Detrick, Corporal E. A. Reeves, Privates John S. Shirley, Elias F. Ogg, Jehoiada Wurth, and David Anderson, wounded. The loss of Columbus was almost, or perhaps quite as great an injury to 438 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the enemy as the loss of Sclma. There were here manufactories of all military accoutrements and equipments, a naval foundry, several large arsenals, some extensive railroad works, three large cotton mills filled with cloth and running full power, and a larger amount of commissary and quartermaster stores than at Selma. The iron-clad Jackson, mounting six heavy guns, lay in the river, nearly ready to move, and besides the forty- four guns mounted on the works, thirty-two were lying in the city. The day and night of the 17th were spent in the destruction of this vast amount of property. The iron-clad and the arsenals were blown up, all machinery broken and destroyed and all public property set on fire. One immense storm of flame wrapped the city during the evening, and a ter rifically grand conflagration continued all night. On the morning of the 18th, the army marched eastward, the city still a mass of flame and coals, and the monotony of the march was relieved once or twice before we passed out of sight, by the fearful crash of a bursting magazine. The Fourth Division was in the rear in the march against Macon. At Thomaston, the regiment was detached with orders to destroy the Macon and Atlanta Railroad between Barnesville and Macon. The regiment cut the track at Barnesville on the same day, but at Forsyth on the next day, the 20th, it received news of Sherman s "agreement" with Johnston, and its field service in the war was done. Reached Macon on the next day, and found the whole command encamped there. Remained at Macon, men and animals subsisting on a short and wretched supply of captured stores, until May 5th, when the corps having been divided for the occupation of the country, the Fourth Division was ordered to Atlanta. A detachment from two battalions of the Fourth Iowa, under Major Dee, had previously been ordered to Augusta, and had gone dis mounted, by rail, to occupy that city. The division reached the ruins of Atlanta on the 9th, and was soon after broken up, General Upton being ordered to Nashville. The First Brigade was moved away, and Winslow s was left to occupy Atlanta and its district. Many companies were detached to occupy different points in the district, to parole rebel soldiers who were now moving through the State in great numbers, receive rebel public property and preserve order. Companies of the Fourth Iowa were posted, one each, at Griffin, La Grange, Madison and Washington, arid the detach ment before spoken of was kept some weeks at Augusta. All available force was kept at work rebuilding the Atlanta end of the Chattanooga Railroad, a work that was watched with great interest by both citizens and soldiers, for there could be no certain communication with the North until it was done. This happy event occurred July 4th, and after five months of separation we were again united with "America." In June, the regi ment was assigned to post duty, and Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Peters FOURTH CAVALRY. 439 assumed command of the Post of Atlanta. It continued in this service until July 20th, when it was relieved by a brigade of General Steduian s command. Orders having been received for the muster-out of all cavalry in the Department of Georgia, except one regiment, the Fourth Iowa was placed under orders for muster out July 2Gth. Then the detached companies having been called in and blanks procured, the glad work of preparing muster out rolls began, and on the 10th of August, the entire regiment forty-seven officers and nine hundred and thirty-six men was mustered out, just four years from the date of its first enlistment. On the next day, the men retaining their arms as allowed by law, began their journey to Iowa for payment and final discharge. Eleven hundred miles by rail, via Chicago, brought them to Davenport, where they were paid in full and given their discharges on the 24th of August, and all gladly threw off the restraints of military life and became independent citizens. The services of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, so modestly related as above by Adjutant Scott, were of the utmost value to the Union arms, and it may with entire truthfulness be said that throughout its long, varied, eventful career, it established a record of efficiency and of gallantry which might have gratified the just pride of officers and men of any command of the volunteer forces of the Union. Its marches, its combats, its battles, on a theatre of war embracing nearly all the Southern States ; the encomiums it won from all fighting generals who ever witnessed its discipline or its deeds of daring, constitute a history which the people of Iowa can never allow to be obliterated from their memory or their gratitude.* * The veterans of the regiment marched during their term of service, about twelve thousand miles. The rolls of the command, during the same period, embraced one hundred and twelve offi cers, and seventeen hundred and fifty enlisted men. The succession of the officers, except those in the battalion organization, which did not long continue, was as follows : FIELD OFFICERS. Colonels Asbury B. Porter, Edward F. Winslow ; Lieutenant-Colonels Thomas Drummond, Simeon D. Swan, John H. Peters ; Majors Simeon D. Swan, Joseph E. Jewett, George A. Stone, Benjamin Rector, Alonzo B. Parkell, Edward F. Winslow, Cornelius F. Spearman, Abial R. Pierce, William W. Woods, Edward W. Dee ; Adjutants George W. Waldron, Edward Ketcham, Ambrose Hodge, William F. Scott; Quartermasters Simon P. Lauffer, Edward W. Raymond, Chris tian Musser; Commissaries William T. Allen, Seth Martin; Surgeons Andrew W. McClure, William Robinson ; Assistant Surgeons Wellington Bird, Robert Taylor, William Robinson, William McK. Findley, Stephen Cummings, Samuel W. Taylor, William Robinson ; Chaplain Reverend Andrew J. Kirkpatrick. LINE OFFICERS. Company A Captains Benjamin Rector, J. Marshall Rust, Eldred Huff, Milton S. Holtzinger ; First Lieutenants John Guylee, Milton S. Holtzinger, Asahel Mann ; Second Lieu tenants J. Marshall Rust, S. Kirkwood Clarke, Samuel P. Kelly. Company B Captains John H. Peters, George B. Parsons, Alonzo Clark; First Lieutenants George B. Parsons, Alonzo Clark, Thomas Bowman: Second Lieutenants Alonzo Clark, Thomas Bowman, Lorenzo D. Wellman. Company C Captains Orrin Miller, Watson B. Porter, Warren Beckwith ; First Lieutenants Henry E. Winslow, Charles M. Robinson, Losson P. Baker ; Second Lieutenants James Patterson, Losson P. Baker, Loyd H. Dillon, Charles H. Smith. Company D Captains Cornelius F. Spearman, Lot Abraham; First Lieutenants Erasmus Coiner, Lot Abraham, John T. Tucker, Hugh M. Pickel; Second Lieutenants John T. Tucker, George J. Sharp, Amon L. Ogg. Company E Captains Alonzo 440 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. B. Parkell, Edward W. Dee, Exum Saint ; First Lieutenants Orson A. Perkins, Edward W. Dee Exum Saint, Simon K. Fuller; Second Lieutenants Edward W. Dee, Exum Saint, James C. Kelsey, Simon K. Fuller, Hiram II. Cardell. Company F Captains Edward F. Winslow, Thomas J. Zollars, Newall B.Dana; First Lieutenants Thomas J. Zollars, Boyd P. Brim, Elias B. Woodruff; Second Lieutenants William A. Heacock, Boyd P. Brim, Elias B. Woodruff, Hira W. Curtis, John T. Rey nolds. Company G Captains Thomas C. Tullis, Francis M. Davis, Alexander Rodgers ; First Lieu tenants James Brown, Alexander Rodgers, John S. Keck; Second Lieutenants Simon Hooper, Francis M. Davis, Robert P. Gilmer, Peter R. Keck. Company .ff Captains Dewitt C. Crawford, Samuel 8. Troy, Asa B. Fitch ; First Lieutenants Samuel S. Troy, Asa B. Fitch, Andrew N. Stamm, William D. Guernsey; Second Lieutenants Edwin A. Haskell. Stephen W. Groesbeck, Andrew N. Stamm, William D. Guernsey, Edward Blasier. Company 1 Captains William Pursel, Eugene R. Jones, Loyd II. Dillon ; First Lieutenants Jesse R. Lambert, William P. Hastings, William Early, Eugene R. Jones, Isaac II. Botkin; Second Lieutenants John R. Overmyer, William Early, William J. McConnelle, John S. Winkley. Company .K Captains James T. Drummond, Ambrose Hodge ; First Lieutenants Jacob Hart, James 0. Vanorsdol ; Second Lieutenants Joshua Gardner, William A. Bereman, John R. Hallowell. Company L Captains William E. Harris, William W. Woods. Samuel M. Pray; First Lieutenants William II. Sells, William W. Woods, Samuel M. Pray, Samuel N. Miller; Second Lieutenants William W. Woods, Ambrose Hodge, Orr Sang, Samuel 0. Black, Company M Captains Abial R. Pierce, Frederick S. Whiting; First Lieutenants Frederick S. Whit ing, Daniel J. Yance; Second Lieutenants Aaron J. Newby, Martin V. B. Sheafor. CHAPTER XXIV. FIFTH CAVALRY. AN ACCOUNT OF THE COMMAND, PREVIOUSLY TO ITS ORGANIZATION AS AN IOWA REGIMENT FIRST CALLED "CURTIS HORSE" BECOMES THE FIFTH IOWA CAVALRY OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY, FROM THE BASE OF FORT HEIMAN ENGAGEMENT AT PARIS AFFAIR NEAR LOCKRIDGE S MILLS DEATH OF MAJOR BGERNSTEIN PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY BY COLONEL LOWE ACTIVE OPERATIONS GARRISON FORT DONELSON MOVE TO MURFREESBORO-PURSUIT OF WHEELER IMPORTANT EXPEDITION UNDER MAJOR YOUNG VARIOUS MOVEMENTS HOME ON VETERAN FURLOUGH RETURN TO NASHVILLE OPERATIONS IN THAT VICINITY THE ROUSSEAU RAID GENERAL McCOOK S UNFORTUNATE RAID BATTLE OF JONESBORO RETURN TO NASHVILLE OPERATIONS ON DUCK RIVER BRILLIANT EXPLOIT BY MAJOR YOUNG BATTLE OF NASHVILLE PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY THE WILSON RAID CONCLUSION. THAT command which, under the cognomen of Fifth Iowa Cavalry, per formed distinguished services during the rebellion, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, was but in part an Iowa regiment, nor did the troops composing it acquire that name until some months after regimental organi zation. The States of Minnesota and Missouri, and the territory of Ne braska were largely represented in the command by both officers and en listed men : but inasmuch as the State of Iowa was more largely represented than any other in point of numbers, the regiment came to be designated as belonging to our State. Carl Schaeffer, of Dubuque, was a Sergeant in Company H, of the First Iowa Volunteers. W. A. Haw, of Burlington, was a Sergeant in Company D, of the same regiment. When that regiment had been honorably dis charged the service not long after the battle of Wilson s Creek, these men wore authorized by General Fremont to raise a troop of cavalry in Iowa for part of his body-guard. Fre mont gave Schaeffer a Captain s commission, and Haw that of a Lieutenant. Schaeffer was a German, and a nobleman by birth. Succeeding to his paternal titles and the estate of the Barony of Boernstein, he assumed the surname of Boarnstein, to which his estate 56 441 442 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and rank entitled him. The result of his labors and those of his coadjutor, Haw, was the recruiting of troopers amounting to more than two companies. They proceeded to St. Louis, where two companies were mustered into the service in the latter part of October, and were assigned to the Frdmont Hussars. " Lieutenant Lawrence Miller, of Bellevue, Iowa, had also a num ber of men, but they were not at this time regularly assigned to any com mand. Captain Bcernstein, serving as Aid-de-camp on the Staff of Gen eral Curtis, succeeded in having the troopers from Iowa detached from the " Fremont Hussars" and formed into an independent command. On the 20th of December, a regiment of troopers, called the " Curtis Horse," was formed, to which the troops of whom I have been speaking were attached, forming therein companies E, F, and H, the latter not entirely filled up until the following spring. Four companies of the regiment were from Nebraska (some of the officers and many of the men, however, being from Southwestern Iowa ; ) three from Minnesota ; and two from Missouri. The organization was not completed till the first of February, 1862, when the " Curtis Horse" was fully entered the service, with an aggregate of nearly one thousand on the rolls. W. W. Lowe was Colonel ; M. T. Patrick, Lieutenant-Colonel ; W. B. McGeorge, adjutant: and the Majors were, of the first battalion, Carl Schaeffer de Boernstein ; of the second, William Kelsay ; of the third, Alfred B. Brackett. 1 The 8th of February the regiment marched from Benton Barracks to the levee, and embarking on steamers moved down the river under orders to re port at Fort Henry, Tennessee, captured two days before by Flag-Officer Foote. Arrived on the llth, and went into camp near the fort. Here and at Fort Heiman, hard by but on the opposite side of the river, the regi ment remained encamped and in winter quarters for more than a year. But though head-quarters were thus stationary in the vicinity of Fort Henry so long, the regiment was all the while, or at any rate most of the time, actively engaged in operations of less or more note as well in Ken tucky as in Tennessee. A brief account of these services may be hastily stated thus : February 15th, General Grant being now engaged at Fort Donelson, a 1 LINE OFFICERS: Company A, John J. Lower, Captain, Horace Walters First Lieutenant; Company B, John T. Croft, Captain, Milton S. Summers, (Iowa) E. G. McNeely, Lieutenants; Company C, J. Morris Young, (Iowa) Captain, Alfred Matthias, Charles A. B. Langdon, (Iowa) Lieutenants; Com pany D, Harlan Baird, Captain, William Curl, William C. McBeath, Lieutenants ; Company E, Charles C. Nott, Captain, M. M. Wheeler, (Iowa) Levi Moreing, (Iowa) Lieutenants; Company F, W. A. Haw, Captain, M. Chournee, John A. Schmidt, Lieutenants (all of Iowa); CoTnpany G, II. Yon Minden, Captain, Lieutenants August Mathaus, G. Lane ; Company II, J. C. Wilcox, Captain, William T. Hays, (Iowa) First Lieutenant ; Company I, D. M. West, Captain, William Smith, Robert II. Rose, Lieutenants; Company K, E. Y. Shelley, Captain, Mortimer Neely, First Lieutenant; Company L, Patrick Naughton, Captain, 0. C. Ruttan, Thomas F. Hayden, Lieutenants ; Company Jtf, J. K. Kidd, Captain, D. A. Waters, Roland J. Beatty, Lieutenants. FIFTH CAVALRY. 443 detachment of the Curtis Horse, under Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick, marched up the Tennessee River, and destroyed the bridge of the Mem phis and Ohio Railroad. Having well done this important service, the de tachment returned to camp on the morning of the 16th, having marched seventy miles in twenty-four hours. The regiment did considerable scout ing in the latter part of the month. March 14th, Captain Croft, com manding a detachment of two hundred and fifty men, marched in the direction of Paris, Tennessee, and, being joined by Captain Bullis battery of light artillery, pushed on to Paris, and in the evening attacked and de feated a force of about six hundred rebels, well posted west of the town. The combat lasted about thirty-five minutes, when the rebels retired in disorder. Their loss was considerable. The Unionists lost only about ten in killed and wounded, among the mortally wounded being Captain Bullis, of the battery. The command at once returned to Fort Heiman after the engagement. From this time until April 9th, there was compara tive quiet, but part of the command was nearly all the while in the saddle, engaged in scouting. Moreover, just after the battle of Paris, two compa nies were detailed as guard of the telegraph from Fort Henry to Smith- land, on the Ohio River, and continued on this service about three months. So, too, in the latter part of March, Major Brackett marched with three companies in the direction of Corinth, and joined the army operating against that place. The detachment was engaged in important escort, guard, and reconnoitering duties, and having performed valuable service on one or two occasions capturing many prisoners and much property, in cluding one gun and two locomotives rejoined the regiment in the latter part of August, Early in April, Major Boernstein made a foray to Paris and beyond, which resulted in the destruction of a large amount of confe derate property. On the 3d of May, Major Boernstein again marched be yond Paris, with a detachment consisting of troopers from Company E, Captain Nott, Company F, Captain Haw, Company Gr, Captain Yon Min- den, numbering less than one hundred and fifty men. On the evening of the 6th, the command being encamped near Lockridge s Mills, Major Boernstein was suddenly attacked by the rebel Colonel Clayborne, with an overwhelming force. The men sprang to arms and made defence as stoutly as possible. But they were a mere handful against two thousand, and were quickly defeated and routed. Major Boernstein was mortally wounded, and in a very short time more than half the command were killed, wounded, and captured. Captain Nott was thrown from his horse and seriously in jured, but contrived to escape and with eleven of his men reached Padu- cah, Kentucky, after incredible hardships. Captain Haw was severely wounded and captured, his Lieutenant Von Vredenburg, being also cap tured. Captain Von Minden was wounded, and fell into the hands of the 444 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. enemy. Major Boernstein died the next day. He was a gallant soldier and accomplished gentleman, at the time of his death betrothed to a beau tiful and intelligent lady of Iowa. His untimely death was universally deplored in the State, and when his body reached Dubuque for burial, it was followed to the grave by thousands of mourning citizens. This unhappy affair closed the fighting history of the Curtis Horse. Colonel Lowe pursued the rebels, immediately upon learning of the disaster which had overtaken Major Boernstein s command, but had not reached Paris when he was ordered to return. The command continued to perform such services as were required in the situation, but which about this time were not specially noteworthy. The 25th of June, the regiment was assigned to our State, becoming the Fifth Iowa Cavalry. Colonel Lowe continued in command, and, as Major Kelsay had died of disease, and Major Boernstein suffered death at the hands of the enemy, Major Brackett was the only major in the regiment at this time. William Aston became the adjutant in place of McGeorge, who had not long before resigned. Doctor Enos Lowe was now Surgeon, with B. T. Wise, assistant, and Lieutenant Charles B. Smith was quarter master. The regiment numbered eight hundred and fifty-seven, officers and enlisted men. Having thus noted the change in the official designation of the regiment, I proceed to note briefly its doings during the remainder of the period in which Fort Heiman was its base of operations. For about two months after the regiment became known as the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, it was engaged in various movements in the vicinity of Fort Henry, of a scouting, reconnoitering nature. The 25th of August, the rebel Colonel Woodward, with a force of about eight hundred cavalry and infantry, and one small gun, attacked Fort Donelson, garrisoned by a few troops of the Seventy-first Ohio, Major J. H. Hart. The Major made a gallant defence, but telegraphed to Colonel Lowe for reinforcements. The trumpet sounding to horse, Colonel Lowe galloped to Fort Donelson with six com panies of the Fifth Cavalry, and, arriving late in the day, learned of the gallant repulse of the enemy who had retreated up the river. Early the next morning Colonel Lowe started in pursuit, with four companies, and overtaking the enemy at Cumberland Iron Works had a sharp combat, the result of it being something like that of a drawn battle. In this affair, Lieutenant Summers was mortally wounded, Lieutenant McNeely was wounded and captured, two enlisted men were slain, as many mortally, and eight severely wounded. A more gallant officer than Lieutenant Sum mers, says Lieutenant Hays, never drew sword for his country. Riddled with balls he fell from his horse near the enemy s cannon, and was sur rounded by a crowd who attempted to bayonet him ; but, although unable to rise to his feet, he cut at his assailants with his sabre, and split one of FIFTH CAVALRY. 445 them from the shoulder to the centre of his. body, and cut the hand of another nearly off. He fought with his sabre until it became so bent as to be useless, and then shot five times with his revolver, when the crowd of rebels pressing on him from all sides, wrenched his pistol from his grasp and made him a prisoner. When taken he had seven minie balls in his body, and a bayonet wound in his thigh." Colonel Lowe returned to Fort Donelson, and early in September moved on the north bank of the Cum berland, with a considerable force of foot, horse, and artillery, in the direc tion of Clarksville. There was some skirmishing on this expedition, but our regiment met with no loss. Many stores were destroyed at Clarksville, and many carried away by our troops. On the 13th, the regiment was again in its camp at Fort Heiman, whence the troopers by detachments made sundry expeditions in different directions but to no great distance. The 1st of November, the command made a considerable march, joining a column under General Ransom, and moving by La Fayette, Kentucky, to Garretsburg. Here a skirmish took place on the 8th, in which Lieutenant Gallagher and one private of the Fifth were killed. The fighting continued for some time, and resulted in the rout of the enemy who had sustained a loss of about a score killed, more than eighty wounded, and sixty prisoners. The regiment reached Fort Heiman the llth, Lieutenant- Colon el Patrick and his command having earned and received the high praise of the gallant Ransom for their efficient services. With this march, unless we except a march to and from Fort Donelson in February, 1863, ended the operations of the regiment from Fort Heiman. Captain Von Minden, with a small detachment, while making a reconnoissance to Cumberland Iron Works, was surprised and he and his whole command were captured. The regiment spent a rather quiet winter in quarters of the troops construction at the fort. On the 5th of March, 1863, the regiment bade good-bye to the old en campment at Fort Heiman, which now seemed to be hallowed by associa tions like those which cluster about home, and marched to Fort Donelson. Here it remained just three months garrisoning the fort, patrolling and guarding roads and telegraphs, detachments also scouting, and making one important raid to the head of Yellow Creek, whereby large quantities of property were captured from the enemy. June 5th, the regiment took up line of march for Murfreesboro, and moving by Nashville, arrived on the llth at the former place, and was as signed to the First Brigade of the Second Cavalry Division in the army commanded by Major-General Rosecrans. The regiment was engaged for about three months in very heavy reconnoitering duty in the face of the enemy, about Lebanon and Murfreesboro. In one of its reconnoissances in the direction of Guy s Gap. made in the latter part of June, it had a con- 446 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. siderable skirmish with the enemy, inflicting a loss of thirty killed and wounded, and suffering a loss itself of only two men placed hors-de- combat. During this period the command captured many guerrillas. The 6th of September, the regiment, less two companies, marched in the direction of McMinnsville, and arriving the 8th, established camp near that town, and again commenced services of an exceedingly active nature, in volving reconnoissances to Sparta, twenty-five miles northeast, to Wood- bury, nearly as far northwest, and to Tracy City, still farther off in a south ern direction. The object of these movements was the dispersion of guerrilla-men who infested this part of Tennessee, and it was successfully accomplished. In the latter part of the month the regiment received marching orders for Bellefonte, in Alabama, but when the command reached Dechard the orders were practically countermanded, and tents were pitched at Winchester, hard by. Earlj 7 in the following month Colonel Lowe began a series of movements which were actively continued for some time. Wheeler s troopers were now raiding between Winchester and Nashville, and on October 4th, our regiment joined in the pursuit of them. A brisk skirmish took place at Wartrace, a little more than half-way between Winchester and Murfrees- boro, on the 6th, in which the rebels were worsted, and retreated in the direction of Shelbyville. The Fifth lost Henry Perkins, Company K, mor tally wounded in this affair. Lowe pushed on after the rebels the next day, by Shelbyville and Farmington. The rebels rapidly retreated toward the Tennessee, but on the 9th, the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, the advance of the Unionists, came up with their rear guard near Sugar Creek, and delivering a dashing, impetuous attack, rushing with drawn sabres upon the opposing lines, slew thirty of the enemy, wounded a large number, and took nearly one hundred prisoners, and, into such disorder did the charge at once throw the rebels that but one man in the Fifth was wounded E. W. Sloan of Company H. The pursuit was continued to the Tennessee River, but Wheeler made good the passage with his principal command. Wherefore, the division of cavalry turned to the right-about, and went in pursuit of Roddy now creating trouble north of the Tennessee. The troopers moved to Salem, in Tennessee, where they learned that Roddy was making his way southward, with the probability of crossing at Athens. The division turned about again, therefore, and marched to Maysville, Ala bama, whence, on the 19th, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick, with the Fifth Iowa, and the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, pushed on toward Athens, but found that Roddy had put his command beyond the river. Lieutenant- Colonel Patrick returned to Maysville, having made a march of seventy miles in a single day, the second of the same distance thus quickly per formed by the Fifth Cavalry. FIFTH C A VA L R Y. 447 The regiment went into camp at Maysville, and for some time the troopers rested from their labors. The Tennessee River was now commanded by the enemy above Decatur far up toward Chattanooga, By means of ferry-boats and other craft they threw across raiders and guerrilla-men to harass our lines and Union citi zens, and to forcibly put in operation the rebel conscription act. It was with the view of destroying the enemy s control of the river that Major Young, of the Fifth Iowa, was sent out by Colonel Lowe, at the time in command of the division, on an expedition which resulted in great benefit to the Union arms. With detachments from his own regiment, the Fourth regular cavalry, the Seventeenth and Seventy-second Indiana mounted Infantry, making a picked force of about four hundred men, Major Young left camp at Maysville on the 14th of November, and moving by the rear of Huntsville through Blevin s Gap, struck the Tennessee at Whitesburg. Destroying the ferry-boat, the command pushed down the river to Triana. Here boats were visible, but on the opposite side of the stream, and under guard. Sergeant Philips, of Company G, Fifth Iowa, and a number of men from the same regiment volunteered to cross the stream and secure the boats. Under cover of the vigorous fire of our troopers from the northern bank, they gained the prizes which were two large ferry-boats and some smaller craft. With the help of these the river was cleared of vessels of any size from Whitesburg to Decatur. The command inflicted other damage of great extent to the enemy, and returned to camp on the 17th, bringing in a number of prisoners, two hundred horses and mules captured, and a large number of negroes for enlistment in a regiment of colored troops then forming at Maysville. This important expedition elicited the following complimentary note : "HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,} " CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, Nov. 30th, 1863. } "BRIGADIER-GENERAL GEORGE CROOK, Commanding Second Cavalry Division: "GENERAL, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the report of Major J. M. Young, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, of his expedition through the country between the Memphis and Charleston railroad and the Tennessee River, between the 14th and 17th instant. The Major- General commanding directs that you tender his thanks to Major Young for the brave, energetic, and prudent manner in which the expedition was conducted. Very respectfully, &c. , " WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE, "Brigadier-General and A. A. G." The last campaign in which the Fifth Cavalry took part during the year was to observe the line of the Tennessee from a point south of Huntsville up to the vicinity of Bellefonte. The campaign involved constant recon- 448 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. noitering and picket duties, with some skirmishing. Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick was in command of the forces which consisted of the Fifth Iowa and several companies of the Fourth regular cavalry. Leaving Huntsville whither the division had marched from Maysville a few days before the 27th of November, he reached the Tennessee the next day. Moving up this stream to Paint Kiver, he found the stream so swollen by the rains as to be impassable by trains. Major Beard, however, with seven com panies of the Fifth, and a detachment of the Fourth United States, crossed the torrent and pushed on to Claysville, where he had a successful skirmish with the enemy. This command was actively employed along the river for many miles, Lieutenant- Colonel Patrick following as soon as possible and establishing his head-quarters at Dodsonville. On December 7th he started for Huntsville, but left four companies of the Fifth under Major Brackett, who patrolled the river till the 21st, when he marched northward, and reached camp at Huntsville on the next day. Whilst at Dodsonville, Major Brackett sent Sergeants P. M. McGuire and William Ireland, and Private George Ireland, of Company H, with dispatches to Paint Rock, at the mouth of the river of that name. They were captured by a band of twenty guerrillas, but private Ireland concealed the dispatches, and, placed under custody of two guerrillas they at length slew their guard and made good their escape. Major Brackett by special order commended them to honorable distinction. The day before Christmas the Cavalry Division took up line of march for Pulaski, Tennessee, and arrived on the 27th. On the 1st of January, 1864, more than three-fourths of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry having reenlisted as Veteran Volunteers, preparations were made for newly mustering the vete rans and for the usual furlough home. On the 7th, the regiment left Pulaski, and reached Nashville three days afterwards. The 29th, the veterans embarked for Cairo. Thence Companies L and M moved by steamer to St. Louis, and Companies Gr, I, and K proceeded by rail to St. Paul, Minnesota. Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick with the remaining com panies moved to Davenport, Iowa, by special train, arriving on the 3d of February, where furloughs till the 5th of March were given to the men. During the month of February, the three companies of the regiment just noted as having gone to Minnesota, were detached from the Fifth Iowa, and formed into an independent battalion, with which Major Brackett con tinued to serve. I have no knowledge of the subsequent history of these old comrades of the Fifth, but have no doubt they continued to do their duty bravely and well. The 22d of March the veterans left Davenport for Nashville, where they arrived in due time, and remained there more than a month on duty of no noteworthy importance. Early in May those of the regiment who had FIFTH CAVALRY. 449 been armed and equipped moved to Pulaski, where, under command of Major Baird, they were engaged in guarding the Nashville and Decatur Railroad for two months. On the 5th of July they proceeded to Decatur, where Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick and that part of the command which had been left at Nashville, were reunited on the 9th, and by great energy the whole made ready to take part in one of the most brilliant achievements by troopers of the war ; namely THE ROUSSEAU RAID. General Sherman on the 10th of July was conqueror of all Georgia, north and west of the Chattahoochee River above the vicinity of Atlanta. On this day, the rebel General Hardee abandoned the strong works north of that river, behind the Nickajack, and gave full mastery to Sherman from the Chattahoochee to the Tennessee. To gain this vast territory General Sherman s grand army had fought and labored with sublime heroism and endurance, and now needed rest. Wherefore Sherman prepared another thunderbolt to fulmine over this devoted part of the confederacy, which, bearing terror and destruction in its path, might serve to keep the rebels from quiet whilst his own troops were gaining strength and getting repose along the banks of the Chattahoochee. Major-General Lovell H. Rousseau, the ablest general of all from Kentucky, now in command of the District of Tennessee, was thoroughly informed of Sherman s plans. Knowing that Sherman, SQ soon as he should become master of the line of the Chattahoochee, would desire the communications of Atlanta with the southwest destroyed, Rousseau had a force at Decatur, Alabama, ready to perform this service. And so well were General Sherman s grand operations timed, that Rousseau moved from Decatur on the very day that Hardee evacuated the works north of the Chattahoochee. It was as though the commanding general had sig nalled half way across two great States to his subordinate. The command of General Rousseau numbered less than three thousand men. It consisted of two brigades, the First under command of Colonel Thomas J. Harrison, Eighth Indiana Cavalry, or Thirty-ninth Mounted Infantry, composed of that regiment, the Second Kentucky and Ninth Ohio Cavalry; the Second, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick, Fifth Iowa, com manding, composed of his regiment, Major Baird in command, the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, and a section of artillery. The command moved from Decatur in the lightest marching order, without wagons, with but a single ambulance to each regiment, a few pack mules accompanying the column to carry ammunition and a very small quantity of supplies. Marching by Somerville, Summit, Blountsville and Ashville, Rousseau approached the Coosa River near the Ten Islands, made famous as the place of passage by 57 450 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the troops under General Andrew Jackson in the war with the Creek Indians. The rebel General Clanton disputed the passage of the river, but was quickly and easily whipped with a loss of ten killed, many wounded, and fifteen prisoners. Tarrying no longer question, the troopers pushed on to Talladega ; destroyed the depot, railroad, and telegraph, and broke up a conscription rendezvous ; pressed forward rapidly to Tylocouga, where they destroyed iron works, many store-houses with supplies, including nitre. The 16th, they crossed the Tallapoosa at Stone s Ferry, and on the next day struck the West Point and Montgomery Railroad at Loachapoka. Though night had already set in, the work of destruction immediately com menced. The depot was soon in flames, creating a light whereby the troops were enabled to work understandingly and effectually. During the livelong night the work went on, part of the troops sleeping on their arms while others destroyed the railroad. The 18th, Major Baird, with detach ments of the Fifth Iowa and Fourth Tennessee, marched in the direction of Montgomery, to destroy a considerable trestle-work near Cheraw Station. He was met by Clanton with a superior force and compelled to fall back, but the other portions of the Fifth Iowa, and the Eighth Indiana coming up, a sharp fight ensued in which the rebels were defeated with a loss of thirty slain on the field, and a large number wounded. Rousseau, after the battle, moved in the direction of West Point, destroying the railway as he went. By threatening the town, he drew thither a considerable rebel force more than he could have hoped successfully to cope with. Where fore, he left West Point to the right, and marching by night through the gloomy forests which here abound, passed Lafayette, Carrollton, and Villa Rica, and on the 22d entered the lines of Sherman s pickets on the Sweet- water. As the sun went down that day he went into camp at Marietta on the line of communications from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and whence thirteen days before, Sherman had telegraphed him "to start." General Rousseau on this raid marched nearly four hundred miles, or about thirty miles each day; he crossed the Sand Mountains, two large rivers, and many lesser streams ; he fought two engagements in which the enemy was signally defeated ; he destroyed more than thirty miles of rail road, five large depots filled with cotton and supplies for the rebel army, and immense quantities of public property besides. Yet during the whole raid there was not a single act of pillage or vandalism committed by any of his troopers. His whole loss, killed, wounded, and stragglers, did not exceed thirty men, of whom but fifteen were placed hors-de-combat. Of these fourteen belonged to the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, a fact which may go far to show the prominent part taken by the regiment in this great raid. Captain Curl was killed on the 13th, and Captain Wilcox severely wounded on the same day. FIFTH CAVALRY. 451 The regiment, much reduced in strength by reason of horses worn out, took part in the unfortunate raid under General Edward McCook in the latter part of July. The command was frequently engaged whilst on this expedition, and always with conspicuous dash and gallantry. It is well known that the raid at first promised great success ; that McCook destroyed two large wagon trains filled with supplies, and succeeded in tearing up the Atlanta and Macon Railroad for several miles north and south of Lovejoy ; and that disasters came thick and fast soon after he began the counter march. The disasters were the result of bad generalship, for troops never fought better than those under McCook. The loss of the Fifth Iowa on the raid was very heavy. Lieutenant Andrew Guler was killed, Lieutenant William T. Hays taken prisoner, and about one hundred and twenty men killed, wounded, or captured by the enemy. The scattered parts of the regiment were collected at a camp near Sand- town, as they made their way to our lines, and remained there and at the village till August 18th. Then the effective mounted force of the regiment, numbering less than one hundred sabres, under Major Young, joined General Kilpatrick in a raid on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. Whilst Kilpatrick demonstrated against East Point, the Fifth Iowa and Third Indiana made a dash further south, and striking the road at Fair- burn, tore it up for some distance, and fell back on the main body, having left the depot, mills, and sundry store-hduses in flames. Reaching camp at Sandtown the reduced regiment halted there till the 2Gth, when it moved again with Kilpatrick s column to cut the communica tions south of Atlanta on the Macon road. Thisr short campaign, in which Major Young had command of the Fifth Iowa, and Third Indiana, involved both hard marching and severe fighting. The regiment distinguished itself throughout, and was specially mentioned in handsome terms by Major- General 0. 0. Howard, who had just been assigned to the command of the Army of the Tennessee. " The Fifth Iowa," says he, after a general eulo- giunv upon all, "though least in numbers, lost heaviest in the action." Lieutenant Peter McGuire was killed, eight men were wounded, and ten captured in the action. It is proper to state that during the operations of the regiment around Atlanta which have just been related, the dismounted men thereof fought in the trenches during the siege. No regiment more fairly was entitled to have Atlanta emblazoned on its colors than the Fifth Iowa Cavalry. September 1st, it received a valuable acquisition in strength by the addi tion of two companies from the Fifth Iowa Infantry, consolidated with the Fifth Cavalry by order of the War Department, of the 8th August. They were designated Companies G and I. Captain Albert G. Ellis commanded the former, with Lieutenants J. M. Lembocker, and William S. Peck. 452 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Captain William G. McElrae, and Lieutenants Robert A. McKee, and John Q. A. Campbell, were the officers of Company I. The regiment remained in quiet during the month of September. Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick resigned before the close of the month. Major Harlan Beard was promoted Lieutenant- Colonel in place of Patrick, but not till near the close of the following November. When the operations of our regiment in the campaign of Atlanta ceased there were but thirty horses left in the command. It was practically hors- de-combat as a troop of cavalry. Wherefore, on the 1st of October it took cars for Nashville for the purpose of preparing again for fight and honor. Delayed on the way by breakages on the railroad, which the men them selves labored much to repair, they did not arrive at the capital of Ten nessee until the 6th. They pitched tents within three miles of the City. Here they remained until near the close of the month, when they moved to Louisville, and securing a fine remount were again at Nashville by the middle of November, armed with Spencer carbines. About one week afterwards the regiment moved southward, and reaching the town of Columbia, on Duck River, was there engaged in skirmishing with Hood s rebels, and in reconnoissances in face of the enemy, for several days. On the 28th, Forrest forced the passage of the river above the fords guarded by the brigade to which our regiment was attached, and which, commanded by Colonel Capron, consisted of the Fifth Iowa, Sixteenth Illinois, and Eighth Michigan. The consequence of this manoeuvre of the rebels was to cut off Colonel Capron s brigade, and hem it in a bend of the river, completely isolated ^rom the main Union army. It was an appalling position, and the perilous situation was increased by the fact that the Colonel commanding brigade was not to be found. Major Young rising to the dignity of full responsibility, assumed command, and with a daring worthy the age of chivalry cut his way through the lines of rebels between him and our army. Amidst the murmurs and suggestions, which naturally arose among the troops in consequence of their sudden peril, Major Young s clear voice rang out on the night air, " The Fifth Iowa is going straight through ; let ike brave follow ! The tumult ceased as suddenly as the waves of the sea became still in the miracle. The dispositions were quickly made. "Forward," and forward only, was the command. In less than five minutes the rebel lines were reached. "Charge!" shouted Major Young, and the bugles had hardly sounded the command before these fif teen hundred troopers were dashing over the down-trodden foe. "For ward!" rang out again, as the gloom of the night was momentarily dis pelled by the rebel volley, and on the stout riders galloped, the cries of their wounded, dying enemies growing fainter and fainter as the heroes of this romantic charge pressed on to safety and the Union lines. FIFTH CAVALRY. 453 The brigade reached the lines about 11 o clock, arid at midnight Major Young reported at General Wilson s head-quarters. The General was agreeably surprised at the safety of the command only thirty having been lost from the brigade and the more so because Colonel Capron, who had arrived some time before, had reported his command all killed or captured. The loss of the Fifth Iowa during these operations on Duck River was about fifteen, all told. The 29th, the Cavalry Corps retreated on Franklin before Hood s advanc ing legions. On the next day the battle was fought. During the engage ment our regiment held the ford of Harpeth River at the crossing of the old Nashville road, and after the battle formed part of the rear guard as far as Brentwood, when it moved eastward and encamped on the Nolens- ville road. The next day it retired to Nashville, and soon went into camp at Edgefield, hard by the capital. Lieutenant-Colonel Beard having gone into Kentucky and pressed horses for his command to replace those used up by the campaign of Franklin, the Fifth Iowa was ready for battle early on the morning of the 15th December, when General Thomas sallied forth in grand array to attack and put in rout the rebel forces which had for some time been investing Nash ville. In this engagement our regiment took part on the right of our lines. The first fire of the enemy killed Lieutenant John W. Watson, of Company H the only casualty that occurred in the command during the battle of Nashville. The regiment joined in the pursuit of the defeated enemy, and had frequent skirmishes with his rear for several days. On Christmas it was twice heavily engaged, first near Pulaski and afterwards some miles beyond, and lost a number of men in each of the affairs. The regiment continued the pursuit to beyond Lexington, Alabama, on the Florence road, when the remnants of the rebel army having made good the passage of the Tenn essee, the chase was relinquished. At the close of this eventful year it lay encamped on the banks of Elk River. The command now took that rest to which its active services during the year fairly entitled it. The next grand movement, as well as the last, in which it took part, was the memorable raid under Brevet Major-General James H. Wilson, who, carrying our victorious eagles through portions of the confederacy not before traversed by our troops, was only stopped in his career of conquest by the receipt of intelligence that the confederacy itself had been rendered entirely hors-de-combat, with its late political head an outcast from his conquered capital and a disguised wanderer in the land which his unholy cause had drenched in blood. I have already, in my accounts of the Third and Fourth Cavalry regiments, set forth many of the prominent points of this remarkable campaign. Wherefore, I may with 454 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. propriety be now less full as to many things which occurred during the cam paign, and in which all the troops engaged took common part, sharing alike the dangers and the glory. When we left the regiment at rest after the pursuit of Hood from Nash ville to the Tennessee, J. M. Young was a Major. He was, at the time now in view, Colonel, having been promoted in the place of Lowe, resigned. He was in command. The first engagement of the campaign occurred on th last day of March, near Six-Mile Creek, a tributary of the Little Cahawba. The operations of the Fifth Cavalry are thus described by Globe Sight in the Davenport Gazette : u It was eleven o clock in the morning, and our tired soldiers, subdued by the softening rays of the sun and the loss of much sleep during the week past, had thrown themselves down under every friendly shade, and were wrapped in the folds of nature s sweet restorer, when suddenly upon the startled ear the shrill bugle rings out the exciting call to arouse. A momentary confusion, and then all is systematic haste, as company after company mounts and moves into line. In the open country, beyond the town, our pickets are seen slowly falling back, firing, and presently a large line of dusky, grey Johnnies emerges from the woods beyond. There was scarcely time for the usual sensations that invariably come over all soldiers, just before closing in deadly contest with an enemy known to be in force, as our forces moved out at a trot and straight for the rebel line. The Fifth Iowa Cavalry was in the advance with sabres drawn, and moved up steadily under a heavy fire, to almost within short pistol range, when Colonel Young, at the head of his column, swinging his sabre aloft, gave the command, Charge. For a moment, both friend and foe were obscured by the dust ; next moment revealed the enemy broken and fleeing in all directions, while the gallant Fifth dashed on at full speed, cutting and slashing on all sides and riding the enemy down, never stopping to take prisoners those who surrendered, but leaving them to others who were coming on after. They pushed on at this rate for one and a half miles ; where, dismounting from their exhausted horses, they drove the enemy some two miles ; by this time the First Brigade came up and relieved the Fifth. The First Brigade continued driving the enemy till long after dark. In this first dash at the enemy in force, the Fifth Iowa Cavalry seemed to vie with itself and its past reputation in the determination to give eclat to the opening of this campaign so promising of important results." The next day, the battle of Ebenezer Church, an engagement finely fought by the Unionists against superior numbers, took place, and was followed on the day succeeding by the attack on Selma and the capture of that strongly fortified place after a battle most remarkable for the enthusi astic bravery and tremendous energy exhibited by officers and men of the FIFTH CAVALRY. 455 assaulting forces. In both of these battles the Fifth fought with its accus tomed bravery. Speaking of the assault on the works of Selma, the cor respondent just quoted, says : " Such bravery and dash in charging breast works supported by bastions, ditches, and stockades, have been rarely equalled, never excelled, by infantry, or cavalry. It is said, that after sweeping across the broad bottom and over the diteh, our men were, for an instant, staggered at the high, sharp-pointed stockades before them. Those in front flung their shoulders against them, and tried to push them aside, pull them up, or break some weaker ones off. A bright idea struck a Yankee s mind. Seeing the difficulty as he came up, he never stopped, but leaped on to the shoulders of one straining at the posts, and over he went in a flirt. The thousands coming up then went over the works in the game of leap-frog. There was no rest for Wilson s troopers on this grand raid. Whilst many were engaged at Selma in destroying the prodigious quantities of spoils which fell into our hands, the regiment with which we now have to do was engaged in reconnoissances to a considerable distance north and northeast of the city. Thus, the troopers rode to Burnsville, to Summerville and to Plantersfield, being so engaged for four days. The line of march was again taken up on the 10th, and three days after wards the Fifth rode into Montgomery, which had surrendered to McCook, who on this expedition redeemed his reputation from the failure of the Atlanta raid of the year before. Thence the regiment joined in the march on Columbus, Georgia, and skirmished on the way. The night of the 16th, that city fell before the assault of the Union arms, Winslow s Brigade, in which were the Third and Fourth Iowa regiments of cavalry, gaining the brightest laurels of the fight. But three companies of the Fifth E, L, M joined in the assault. The regiment was engaged the next day in the work of destruction. Moving then eastward with the column marching on Macon, it had not reached the city when, on the 20th, intelligence was re ceived of the cessation of hostilities, which closed the fighting career of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry. 2 The regiment moved to Atlanta early in May, and there went into encamp ment with the division, the military roU now being of a quiet, uninteresting character in the main. However, a detachment of the regiment, with a de tachment of the Seventh Ohio Cavalry, Colonel Young commanding, moved on the 14th in escort of Jefferson Davis, family, and suite, to Augusta. The ex-president says "Globe Sight," " looked decidedly seedy, gloomy, 2 The losses of the regiment during the great raid were slight. They were: Killed, Company 7 Richard Porter. Wounded, Company A Moses Schofield. Company C Cor poral Stiles Molour ; Private Joseph Ewing. Company F John Kephart, Nicholas Weber. Com pany E C. M. Vangordon (missing). Company G Thomas Limbocker. Company I A. Griffin, John Ibaugh. Company L Thomas Kein. 456 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and peculiar especially out of that blink eye of his which seemed to hang unusually low." Before his return, Colonel Young captured the books and assets of the Bank of Tennessee and its branches, which had been pur loined by the rebel pretended Governor, Isham G. Harris. The assets amounted to about eight millions of federal money, including nearly a mil lion of bullion. Returning to Atlanta with this precious spoil, Colonel Young s command went into encampment again, and remained with the regiment, performing such duties as were required of troops in a country just emerging from a state of war. The command moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in July. The "Union" newspaper of that city, on the morning of the 27th, contained the following paragraph : "This noble regiment, commanded by Colonel J. Morris Young, came here a short time since to be mustered out of service ; but, having been paid off, were ordered to Macon, Georgia. The gallant boys were dreadfully disappointed, but promptly obeyed, as good soldiers ought ever to do. There were no symptoms of mutiny, and no desertions. The command went South, and have returned again all present. They arrived Tuesday night. This time they will be mustered out certain, and be sent on their way rejoicing. A country s blessing attend them." The prophecy of the "Union" was correct. The regiment was not long after this honorably discharged the service. Officers and men returned to their widely separated homes, and were received with that kindness which the true and the brave never fail in the long run to command. " Braver men," said General Alexander, "never drew sabre." The States of Min nesota, Missouri, and Iowa, and the Territory of Nebraska were all honored by this command, which belonged to them in common, and did as much to preserve the liberties of them all and of the whole country, as almost any regiment of troopers whose history is recorded in our annals. CHAPTER XXV. TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION A WINTER IN MISSOURI BJLTLLE OF HARTSVILLEDQVX THE MISSISSIPPI ASSIGNED TO THE THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS THE VICKS- BURG CAMPAIGN THE BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON IN RESERVE, AT THE BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILLS BATTLE OF THE BIG BLACK RIVER TUB ASSAULT ON THE WORKS OF VICKSBURG THE SIEGE THE SECOND CAMPAIGN OF JACKSON ORDERED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF CAMPAIGNING IN LOUISIANA IN TEXAS AGAIN IN LOUISIANA IN ARKANSAS TENNESSEE ONCE MORE IN LOUISIANA MOVE TO ALABAMA THE CAMPAIGN OF MOBILE- CONCLUSION. THE Twenty-first regiment of Iowa Volunteers was organized at " Camp Franklin," near the city of Dubuque in the latter part of August, 1862. One of the companies forming a part thereof, some two months before, and more, had been mustered into the service at Clinton, under that special authority of the Department of War, by which as we have seen, the Eighteenth regiment was authorized. But that regiment being filled by other companies, this was transferred to the Twenty-first, and became Com pany A therein. The other companies were mustered into the service on the 18th, 20th, 22d, and 23d days of August, Samuel Merrill, of Clayton county, having already been commissioned Colonel, Cornelius W. Dunlap, of Mitchell, Lieutenant-Colonel, and S. Gr. Van Anda, of Delaware, Major, the organization was complete at the date last mentioned. The regiment at this time had an aggregate of nine hundred and seventy-six men. That company which had been recruited by special leave of the authori ties was recruited in various counties, but a majority of its members were citizens of Mitchell, Black Hawk, and Worth. The other companies were from Dubuque, Clayton, and Delaware, each of which contributed gener ously to this gallant command Dubuque county giving no less than four companies, Clayton three, and Delaware two. So, though the regiment , was not entirely from the Third Congressional District, it was near enough so to be claimed as belonging thereto. But, happily, the claim was merged in the broader and better one of the State at large, and the country, for 58 457 458 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. both which, before the men returned to their homes they did most gallant service, and left behind them in honored graves many beloved comrades. The regiment remained at the rendezvous about three weeks after organi zation. It was a period of great enjoyment. Captain Perry M. Johnson, and Lieutenants Alfred R. Jones, and J. W. Brown, of Company A, had seen some service in camp at Clinton. Their uniforms and those of their men fitted to a hair s breadth all around, and they were anxious to drill. But Captain William D. Crooke, and Lieutenants Charles P. Heath, and Henry P. Howard, of Company B. were in no such haste. The regulation uniforms, having been made for regulars, were ill adapted to the robust volunteers from Clayton. The coats were too short by several inches. The line officers protested against their men going into drill presenting any such aspect as they must necessarily do in such coats. Captain Jesse M. Harrison, of Company C, had like objections, and was warmly seconded \)y his Lieutenants, Frank Dale, and John H. Alexander. So with Company D, Captain Elisha Boardman, Lieutenants William Grannis, and Homer Butler ; and with Company E, Captain Jacob Swivel, Lieutenants Samuel F. Osborne, and A. Y. McDonald, and F, Captain Leonard Horr, Lieu tenants Peter M. Brown, and T. A. Spottswood ; G, Captain Willard A. Benton, Lieutenants John Dolson, and John Craige ; H, Captain Joseph M. Watson, Lieutenants James B. Jordan, and James L. Noble ; I, Cap tain David Greaves, Lieutenants James Hill, Samuel Bates ; K, Captain Alexander Yoorhees, Lieutenants William A. Roberts, and Henry Harger with all, there was something the matter with tfye army clothing, so that drilling could not go on. Perhaps, if the real secret were known, the reason why the regiment did not drill would be found in the fact that the com panies had too much company. The rendezvous was so near the men s homes, that their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, sweethearts, and friends, were too often present to allow either drill or discipline to any great extent. But, whatever the cause, the main fact is, the regiment was not drilled at Camp Franklin. But the staff was fully organized, and con sisted of Horace M. Poole, Adjutant, Charles R. Morse, Quartermaster, William A. Hyde, Surgeon, Lucius Benham, R. A. Barnes, Assistants, and Reverend Samuel P. Sloan, Chaplain. On the 16th of September, the regiment embarked on the steamer Henry Clay for St. Louis. It was detained several days at Davenport by order of General Pope, who had not yet learned of the success against the Indians. But proceeding, it arrived in due time at the metropolis of Missouri. Here it remained but a short time, and the 23d day of the month found it at Rolla, fully armed and equipped for the field. It went into encampment at Rolla, and commenced drilling, fully making up by long-continued exercises daily for the time spent more pleasantly at Camp Franklin. Its stay here TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 459 was nearly one month. On the 18th of October it took up line of march for Salem, arriving on the 20th. Here it formed part of a brigade, Brig adier-General Fitz Henry Warren commanding, being associated therein with the Thirty-third Missouri, Ninety-ninth Illinois, and artillery and cavalry. The duties of drilling and the picket engaged the attention of the command. Early in November the force under Warren marched to Houston, and having there halted one week, moved to Hartsville. On the night of the 24th, the brigade train, moving from Rolla to Hartsville, was attacked by Campbell s band of roving troopers, numbering about one thousand riders going about seeking what they might destroy. There was but a small guard with the train. They were surprised, and most of them killed or captured, three of the former and fifteen of the latter being members of the Twenty- first. Intelligence of the affair reached Hartsville at 9 o clock at night. The regiment at once fell into line, and marched to the scene of action. When a march of sixteen miles had been made the burning ruins of the train appeared in sight, but the enemy had escaped. The regiment then returned to camp, reaching it early on the morning of the 25th, having made a night march of thirty- two miles in nine hours. Early in December the command marched to Houston, some thirty miles east by north of Hartsville. Here our regiment, for more than a month, spent several hours each day in drilling, and became highly efficient in the manual of arms and the evolutions of the line. It was a favorite regiment with General War ren, who was a strict and accomplished disciplinarian. Very early in 1863 the regiment had an opportunity to use its skill, and to try its mettle in a combat which put both to the test. This was at THE BATTLE OF HARTSV1LIE. On the evening of January 7th, General Brown, commanding at Spring field, learned that Marmaduke was advancing on that place with several thousand men, cavalry and artillery. He forthwith sent for reinforcements, and among these requisitions was one on General Warren, at Houston, eighty miles distant. General Warren did not, as a matter of fact, receive intelligence of the threatened attack on Springfield till after it had been made and repulsed. But, instantly upon learning of the peril qf his com rade in arms he pushed forward a column to his assistance. Not being him self in robust health, he placed Colonel Merrill, of the Twenty-first, in command of the force, which consisted of a detachment of that regiment, a detachment of the Ninety-ninth Illinois, with a portion of the Third Iowa Cavalry, Third Missouri Cavalry, and two pieces of artillery, with orders to make forced marches on Springfield and reenforce the garrison. Colonel Merrill left Houston about noon of January 9th, and encamped for the 460 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. night on Beaver Creek, twenty-two miles distant. But the night s rest was short. Not long after midnight the bugle sounded the advance, and the column put itself in motion toward Hartsville. But a delay was caused by intelligence that a considerable force of rebels had occupied that place on the evening before. A reconnoissance showing that they had evacuated, Colonel Merrill pushed on, and on the night of the 10th, encamped on Wood s Fork, eight miles west of Hartsville, and within one mile of the rebel encampment. On the morning of the llth, this fact was discovered, and the additional one that the enemy was advancing in heavy force from the direction of Springfield. Colonel Merrill immediately made dispositions for battle, and here brisk firing was kept up for an hour, when the enemy fell back in a southerly direction. Colonel Merrill now moved in the direction of Harts ville, for which place the enemy also moved, when he had reached the old Springfield road leading thither. The column under Merrill approached the town about eleven o clock, and found the enemy in possession. Colonel Merrill made his dispositions for fight forthwith, the artillery on a com manding position west of the Court-House, supported on the right by the Illinois Infantry, and on the left by the detachment of the Twenty-First, Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap. The cavalry was on the extreme left, and the whole line well covered by a dense growth of low brush. The enemy, twenty-five hundred strong, occupied the open field and town in Colonel Merrill s front, whilst as many more were posted on the Springfield road, on the Houston road, and on the bank of the Gasconade, south of town. Their artillery, five pieces, was in battery on a high bluff east of town. To oppose this strong force of rebels, commanded by Generals Marmaduke and McDonald, with the notorious Colonels Shelby, Thompson, Porter, Burbridge, Henkle, Jeffrey and Campbell, Colonel Merrill did not have one thousand men. The battle was opened by the artillery. It was soon followed by a charge of rebel cavalry, seven hundred strong, on our line. Our infantry, lying flat, held themselves with great coolness, till the troopers were in easy range, when they fired with great accuracy, and threw the whole force into utter confusion. Lieutenant Waldschmidt, in command of the artillery, also threw, in some well directed shots, and what was left of Jeffrey s Cavalry scampered off the field in hot haste. From this time until nearly sunset the firing was incessant, but the rebels made the mistake of moving up their attacking columns in small bodies, and were every time repulsed. They commenced retiring their forces at three o clock, and at dusk were in full retreat toward Houston, but soon turned to the right in the direction of Arkansas. They had lost General McDonald, Colonels Thompson and Henkle, and several other officers killed, and not less than three hundred TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 4G1 I killed and wounded. The Union loss was seven killed, sixty-four wounded, five captured, and two missing, who were supposed also to have been captured. What was remarkable about this battle was the fact that both the rebel and the Union forces retreated from the field. The rebels retreated, because, unable to gain any the least success in their attacks upon our position, they considered themselves defeated. Colonel Merrill retreated because his ammunition was about exhausted. He fell back on Lebanon, north of Hartsville. But the detachment of the Twenty-first which fought at Hartsville, not receiving the order to retreat, remained on the field till long after dark, sustaining alone three separate charges of the enemy and repulsing them in the most gallant style. Every rebel had left the place before it took up line of retreat. It then moved in the direction of Lebanon, arriving before noon of the next day. This engagement was the first battle for the Twenty-first. It won the highest praise. "I make special mention here," says Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap, in concluding his official report, "of no one as having distinguished himself more than another. Every 7 man was brave, cool, and active, and every one was a hero. Too much praise cannot be accorded the men for their conduct during the whole of this long and severe engagement." "The Twenty-first Iowa and Ninety-ninth Illinois," says General Warren, "were never before under fire, yet not a single man or officer flinched. Nothing could have been finer than their steadiness and discipline." "To Colonel Merrill, in command of the force, I am under high obligations for his prudent firmness and good dispositions. Lieutenant- Colonel Dunlap, Twenty-first Iowa, was conspicuous, much exposed, and wounded. He is worthy of high praise. Happily, the regiment fairly won these high encomiums without suffering severe loss. The position, well covered by undergrowth, and the fact that the men lay most of the time prone on the ground, will account for this fact. Of the two hundred and twenty engaged, twenty-one were killed, wounded and missing. 1 On the morning of the 12th, at three o clock, General Warren received the intelligence that his column sent out to reenforce Springfield had been attacked at Hartsville. The general forthwith moved thitherward with a force of five hundred men, two hundred and fifty of whom were from the 1 Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Dunlap his horse was shot under him. Company B Killed, Charles Pehsschl. Company C Wounded, Lieutenant Alexander; William Jones, John M. Miller, Richard Cook; Captured, Charles Dunham. Company D Wounded, Samuel W. Moore. Company E Wounded, Daniel Wolf. Company H Killed, Ira Carl ton. Company I Wounded, Jacob Hoops, John Q. Angell. Company K Killed, Harrison Hefner. Wounded, Freeman Fear, Ward White, Adam Lnchinger, Jacob B. Miller, Erastus Smith, David Hiner, James Jackson, George Simons, II. B. Stone. 462 IOWA AND THE KEBELLIOX. Twenty-first Iowa, under command of Major Van Anda. Approaching Hartsville, General Warren learned of the abandonment of the place by both the Union and rebel forces. He accordingly countermarched to Houston, reaching camp early on the morning of the 13th, having moved nearly seventy miles through mud and rain in a little more than twenty- four hours. But the rebels did not attack Houston. There all was quiet. The detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap returned to camp on the 17th. This was the era of addresses to soldiers, some of which, the country knows full well, were very loud cackles over very small eggs, and not always over good eggs. But the battle of Hartsville was one of the best fought engagements among the minor battles of the war, and in its direct and indirect effects upon the cause in Missouri was of very great import ance. Hence General Warren properly yielded to the prevailing custom, and issued an address to his troops. He said : "SOLDIERS: You have fought one of the fiercest battles of the war. You have, with eight hundred men actually engaged, met and repulsed six thousand of the enemy. Against their five pieces of artillery you had two. They had their choice of position, and planted their guns on a point which I had selected as being impregnable. With three thousand five hundred in full view, you knew the odds against you. Completely surrounded except on the line of retreat, you fought for six hours, and then only fell back because your artillery ammunition was failing, and your single outlet menaced. Not an article of property was captured, and your covering infantry held the field after the enemy had retired. "History, in the larger battles of this great rebellion, may make no full mention of your names, but the truth that a determined column, more than half of whom were never before under fire, stood like veterans, without faltering or flinching, before volley after volley, and charge after charge, will be a glorious memory to those who love you, and an honest pride in your own hearts. "But I must not fail to do justice to the five hundred, who, knowing that the enemy were still in force below, rushed with me to give them battle again, and when 1 learned of their flank movement toward Houston, countermarched, making some sixty-four miles through mud and rain in twenty-four hours, to defend your camp, and all this in perfect order and discipline, without a murmur or complaint. "Soldiers! Your endurance and your valor are beyond praise; your accomplishment worthy of the highest commendation. Beyond the hope of reinforcement, you have held your position ; fought the enemy, saved Lebanon and Holla, with your post, from burning and sack. "I give you my admiration of your heroism, and my thanks and grati- TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 463 tude that my name can be associated with this brigade as the proudest memory of my future life. "FiTZ HENRY WARREN, "Brigadier-General." During the winter a great deal of sickness prevailed in the regiment, and many of the men died. Disease contracted during these inclement months fastened itself upon the men with such relentless hold that the victims were at last only released by the angel of death. It might have been otherwise, perhaps, with many but for the severe campaign upon which the command entered about the close of January. On the 27th the regiment left Houston, and marching to West Plains, some thirty-five or forty miles distant, and about fifteen miles from the line separat ing Missouri from Arkansas, was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Army of Southeast Missouri. When this march was made the weather was cold, and the ground covered with snow. About ten thousand troops concentrated at West Plains, and were there completely weather-bound for several days. The men shivered in their tents on the bleak, dreary hills, and, with no enemy to fight, no shoes to wear, and no rations to eat, suffered intensely. It was the hardest, cruelest campaign in which our regiment was ever engaged. But when the first week of February had passed the encampment at West Plains was discovered to be a mistake. On the 8th, our regiment struck tents and took up line of march for Emi nence, a city of a single house and that originally built for a jail, about fifty miles northeast of West Plains ; but, marching by Thomasville, the column made nearly seventy miles on the route. The country was poor, the roads were bad, food was scarce. It was a slow march. Halting at Eminence two days, where our regiment was paid, the army moved on in the direction of Iron Mountain, arriving on the 25th. This march, from Houston to Iron Mountain by West Plains and Eminence, was simply horrible. On many days the column was able to move no more than five miles. Many of the troops were entirely without shoes, and marched through the bitter cold of morning and evening and the mud of noonday with their feet wrapped up in pieces of worn-out clothing. Food was so scarce that a dol lar was often offered and as often refused for a single hard cracker. When the column halted at Iron Mountain the fatigue, exposure, and hardships of the campaign might have been sadly read in the pale, haggard counte nances of the troops, and heard in their constant coughing. The Twenty-first halted nearly a fortnight at Iron Mountain, and then marched to St. Genevieve on the Mississippi, arriving at that post on the llth of March. Here many furloughs were granted to the sick, and to a number of officers. On the 26th, one wing of the regiment, under Major Van Anda, embarked on the steamer Groesbeck, and moved down the river. 464 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. It was soon followed by the other wing, and about the 1st of April the regi ment found itself at Milliken s Bend, Louisiana. Here, upon the organiza tion of the army for the campaign of Vicksburg, the Twenty-first Iowa was assigned to the Second Brigade, Fourteenth Division, Thirteenth Corps d Armee, Colonel Harris, Eleventh Wisconsin, commanding brigade, Gen eral E. A. Carr, the division, and General McClernand the corps. The line of March was taken up on the 12th, and that night the regi ment encamped at Richmond, Louisiana. But, without relating here par ticular incidents of this toilsome, laborious, amphibious march, let it suffice to state that on the last day of the month, the regiment landed from trans ports, which had run the batteries of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf, about fif teen miles below the latter place on the Mississippi shore, having since the 12th undergone labors of great severity, and witnessed spectacles which had never before passed before the visions of the men magnificent mansions, now in ruins, surrounded with shrubbery of a thousand kinds, whose deli cious fragrance sweetened the air with a singular delightfulness ; the terrific bombardment of Grand Gulf by the gun-boat fleet, responded to with equal spirit by the land batteries the repose, and beauty, and loveliness of Peace, by the side of grim, horrid War. But General Grant gave his troops no time to moralize on these contrasts. General McClernand s corps in the advance, taking time only for the men to place in their haversacks three days rations (which were to last a fortnight) pushed on from the landing at Bruinsburg for the bluffs some three miles back. Beaching the bluffs some time before sunset, McCler nand continued to advance rapidly, hoping to be able by a forced march to surprise the enemy if he should be found near Port Gibson, and prevent him from destroying the bridges over Bayou Pierre on the roads leading to Grand Gulf and Jackson. He did not succeed in surprising the enemy, but his movement very speedily resulted in the preliminary skirmishing of the first pitched battle of the campaign, namely, THE BATTLE OF PORT G IB SON. This was a treble engagement so far as the Twenty-first and some other Iowa regiments were concerned. The battle was brought on and fought in this manner : Colonel Harris brigade had the advance of the column, and the extreme vanguard was the Twenty-first Iowa regiment. While the column was in rapid motion toward Port Gibson, and at about ten o clock on the night of April 30th, Colonel W. M. Stone, Twenty-second Iowa, was ordered to take command of the brigade, Colonel Harris being sick. Colonel Stone was instructed to march on Port Gibson as rapidly as pos sible, and occupy the several bridges across Bayou Pierre at that place. Four companies of the Twenty-first Iowa, and one howitzer from the First TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 465 Iowa Battery, Captain Harry Griffiths, were sent forward as advance guard. Two of the advance companies, under Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap, were deployed as skirmishers, the other two, under Major Van Anda, moved in support of the howitzer. The remainder of the brigade, the Twenty- first leading, moved in supporting distance behind, formed in column. The road passed through a country much broken by gorges and ravines, and supporting a dense forest of tall timber, thick underbrush, and the cane peculiar to the southern country, the thoroughfare itself running on a narrow, elevated ridge, or a chain, rather, of ridges of this character, with deep and impenetrable ravines on either side. It was over such a road as this, that the Twenty-first Iowa formed the advance of the grand army, on this night march. The guide who pointed out the way was an old negro slave. About four miles from Port Gibson the road divides in two parts, one turning abruptly to the right the other to the left, but both leading to the town. Near this fork in the road was a house of worship Magnolia church. When our skirmishers came to within about three-fourths of a mile of this church they received the fire of the enemy s pickets, posted in an angle of the road. Colonel Stone promptly made the proper disposition of his brigade, and moved forward, ready to deploy into line at a moment s warning, and with a strong covering line of skirmishers. This was about midnight. The march continued. As the skirmishers approached Mag nolia church they received a heavy volley of musketry from the enemy, strongly posted both on the right and left of the church. The advance soon became engaged, and Colonel Stone ordered up the whole brigade to its support. The howitzer of the First Battery, in the advance, replied to the enemy, who had now opened with artillery, with great spirit and apparent accuracy, Sergeant William K. Leebert commanding the piece. The battery, and Klaus Indiana Battery, soon opened on the enemy from a ridge in rear of our advance, whereupon there ensued an artillery battle long to be remembered by those who witnessed it. The fire of the rebel batteries was quite accurate, and disabled many of our men and horses. The flashes of the discharges in the darkness of the night, the shells scream ing and bursting in the air, the rattle of grape shot through fences and timber, altogether formed a scene of more awe-inspiring power than almost any battle-field of the war. At about two o clock the firing ceased on both sides as if by mutual consent, and the weary soldiers laid themselves down upon their arms to sleep. Thus ended the first act in the tragedy of Port Gibson. The enemy commenced the battle early on the morning of May 1st, Colonel Stone s Brigade for some time receiving their fire of artillery, and responding thereto with great spirit and effect, before other troops were 59 466 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. deployed into line. Nevertheless, the sun had not rose high in the heavens, nor dispelled entirely the morning mist, before Osterhaus delivered a vigorous attack upon the enemy s right. The position of the enemy here was well chosen, and it required an hour s severe fighting to drive him from it. Meanwhile, General Carr, Stone s Brigade in reserve, attacked the enemy s left, moving over a rugged country, and through almost im penetrable cane-brakes, and presently Stone s Brigade, marching on and to the left of the main road by Magnolia church, gallantly delivered attack on the rebel left centre. The action now became general, except at the centre, where a continuation of fields extending to the front of McClerland s lines for more than a mile separated the antagonists. Hovey s Division had gone into the fight, and General A. J. Smith s was holding the centre, ready and eager to join in the combat. Osterhaus Division held his ground on the left, whilst Carr and Hovey steadily advanced on the right, captur ing many prisoners, two stands of colors, two twelve-pounder howitzers, three caissons, much ammunition, and placing large numbers of the enemy hors-de-combat. But just as we had fairly driven the rebels from their strong position, General Baldwin came up to the aid of Bowen, the rebel general command ing, with heavy reinforcements, causing loud shouts along the enemy s lines. Just about this time, however, General Osterhaus, who had been reenforced by Logan s Division, by a flank movement and a brilliant charge led by Osterhaus in person, had discomfited the enemy s right and taken three pieces of his artillery. Wherefore the rebels everywhere fell back, and the second act was closed, with loud shouts on the part of the Union troops, who continued to press forward for more decisive victory. The enemy was again found posted in a strong position more than a mile to the rear of his former lines. Here Hovey and Carr, with a brigade of General A. J. Smith s Division, and Stevenson s Brigade of Logan s Divi sion, had some difficulty in defeating the enemy ; for our troops had again to move over hills and through cane-brakes under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry. The battle raged with great fury, first on our right, where Hovey delivered a fine attack, at length succeeding in enfilading the rebel lines with his artillery. The combat then surged over to the centre, where Carr, and Smith, and Stevenson had a hot engagement, and in the fierce struggle beat back the enemy, and gained the day. It was now nearly dark, and as the shades of night closed upon the field which our troops had won, they took their first real repose since leaving D Schron s Landing, more than twenty-four hours before. The battle of Port Gibson, if not decisive, was a fine precursor of the brilliant successes which made the campaign of Vicksburg memorable. The Union loss, in killed and wounded, was eight hundred and forty-eight, TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 467 and five missing, all of which except about fifty, fell upon the Thirteenth Army Corps. We captured from the enemy five hundred and eighty pri soners, but his loss in killed and wounded was not ascertained. It must have been heavy. The rebel historian notes the battle as " the first mistake with which Pemberton had opened his chapter of disasters," but he is entirely reticent upon the subject of losses. Reflecting upon the duration and nature of the battle, I persuade myself that the enemy s losses in killed and wounded were equal to our own, whilst their losses in materiel and tro phies were considerable against absolutely nothing in these respects on our side. The Iowa regiments of infantry besides that whose histoiy is now under our immediate consideration which bore a prominent part in this engage ment were the Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty- eighth, whilst no artillery on the field performed better service than our First Battery. The Twenty-first, Twenty-second, and Twenty-third were in Colonel Stone s brigade, as was the battery. The other infantry regi ments named were in Hovey s Division. These commands all fought with as conspicuous gallantry as any men could have displayed with similar orders to obey. The Twenty-fourth was in support of artillery throughout the day and lost but few men. The Twenty-eighth, Colonel Connell, per formed similar service much of the time in this its first battle, but three of the companies supported an Indiana regiment in a charge on a rebel battery, which was taken, together with many prisoners. The regiment lost quite heavily in wounded. The Twenty-second, Major J. B. Atherton command ing, was in the thickest of the fight. Adjutant D. J. Davis, Lieutenants William M. De Camp, D. W. Henderson, and John Francisco, and many men were wounded, and two killed. The Twenty-third, Lieutenant-Colonel Glasgow, lost more heavily than any of our regiments engaged. Lieutenant D. P. Ballard was among the wounded. The First Battery was handled throughout with consummate skill, and suffered a loss of five men wounded. Colonel Stone in his official report of the operations of the brigade spe cially names Colonel Merrill, Lieutenant-Colonel Glasgow, Major Atherton, commanding regiments, and Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap and Major Van Anda, as entitled to praise. He also mentions Lieutenant Waterbury, of the Twenty-third, acting aid-de-camp, and states, generally, that the officers and men of the brigade behaved with the utmost coolness and exhibited a determined courage that would have done honor to any troops. General Carr, division commander, gratified with the fine conduct of his troops, bestowed praises upon them in no mincing manner. He spoke in the highest terms of Colonel Stone ; of the Twenty-first Iowa, " first in battle and one of the- last to leave the field ;" of the Twenty-third Iowa which, " with its gallant commander, behaved admirably;" he mentioned Lieut- 468 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. enant-Co.onel Dunlap, Major Yan Anda, Captain Crooke, and Sergeant Kirst, of the Twenty-first, and passed a glowing compliment upon Sergeant Leebert, in charge of the howitzer on the advance. In fine, the Iowa commands behaved finely at the battle of Port Gibson, according to the well established custom of the troops of the State, and received the just encomiums of their generals. As for the Twenty-first, though it was under fire as long as any regiment in the field, it lost none killed, but had seventeen wounded, and two missing, among the former Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap. 2 On the day after the battle, the regiment marched to Port Gibson and Bayou Pierre, where the right wing bivouacked, but the left wing, Major Van Anda, returned to Port Gibson. On the 6th line of march was re sumed. Moving nearly to Jackson, the course of the march was changed directly for Vicksburg. In the battle of Champion Hills, fought on the 16th, the regiment was posted with the reserve, and was not called into ac tion till near the close of the combat, when it moved with the command sent out to flank the enemy s right, but the enemy had put himself in re treat before it gained position, so that throughout the day it was but slightly engaged. General Grant pushed rapidly on in pursuit of the rebels, and on the 17th was fought the battle of Big Black River Bridge a short but terrible combat wherein the troops engaged, and especially the Twenty-first and Twenty-third Iowa, displayed a daring which amounted to heroism, accom plishing invaluable results by a dashing charge, but leaving many of their men dead and wounded on the field. I shall speak of this action in my account of the Twenty-third regiment. Let it suffice to state here that Colonel Merrill was there well nigh mortally wounded, and that the loss of the regiment, out of less than three hundred engaged, was thirteen killed and seventy wounded. On the 19th our regiment marched to the rear of Yicksburg and took its position in line, which very soon became a line of investment. During all the operations which followed the sharp-shooting of the 19th, 20th, and 21st; the terrible assault of the 22d ; the siege accompanied by so many la bors, discomforts, dangers the Twenty-first faithfully, gallantly, patiently performed the duties assigned it. In the assault its bravery and dash were conspicuous among all the regiments which on that bloody day so bravely and dashingly marched into the jaws of death. Lieutenant-Colonel Dun- lap still suffering from his wound received at Port Gibson, was unable to lead the regiment in the assault, and it was commanded by Major Yan Anda. 2 The others wounded were : C. E. George, C. D. Hewett, R. M. Cunningham, Charles Rhul, Daniel Shilling, A. B. Story, W. J. Comstock, John Lusby, S. Brenton, Robert Strain, Isaac M. Hughes, Edward Murray, John Van Kuran. Missing, John Love, I. C. Thompson. TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 469 Dunlap, however, came on to the field as fast as his wound would allow him to walk, and was killed after the charge had been made. Major Van Anda was wounded during the charge. Captain Harrison, Captain Greaves, Lieutenants Roberts, Adams, Childs, and Bates were also wounded, Roberts and Bates mortally, the latter dying in the hands of the enemy. Out of two hundred and eighty officers and men who took part in the assault, the regiment lost one hundred and thirteen in killed and wounded. From the assault until the 3d of July, the regiment remained in the trenches, often working night and day, advancing the parallels to the ene my s works. The siege was very fatiguing and confining to the men. The rebel sharp-shooters in front of this part of our line of investment com pletely commanded every portion thereof, so that no man dared to raise his finger above the works. The troops could hardly stand on their legs, with out making targets of their heads. On the day before the capitulation, the regiment marched toward Warrenton, but in the evening returned to its accustomed position. On the next day it rejoiced with unspeakable glad ness at the triumph of our arms, and because thereby it was relieved from duties more irksome than any it had ever been called upon to perform. The Twenty-first, at this time under command of Captain W. D. Crooke, joined in the movement against Johnston which immediately followed the victory of Vicksburg, and participated in the siege of Jackson and the destruction of railways and public property which followed the second cap ture of that capital. In the heavy skirmishing which accompanied this campaign before Johnston evacuated Jackson the regiment lost one man killed and fourteen wounded. The campaign over, it returned to Vicks burg and remained in encampment there until near the middle of August, diseases in many forms, the results of the siege, attacking the men and carrying numbers to the grave. The 13th of August, the regiment bade farewell to many comrades of the grand army, and moved to CarroUton, near New Orleans, arriving on the 16th. Here it went into a fine healthful encampment, where the men soon regained health. Thence the regiment moved, early in September, to Brashear City, going by car from Algiers. It halted at the former place till near the close of the month, when it crossed the bay to Berwick City, where it made another halt of about one week, and then moved up Bayou Teche to Vermillion Bayou, which is more than half the distance from New Orleans to the line separating Louisiana from Texas. Here the command remained about one month, guarding a bridge across the stream, and per forming heavy picket duty besides, "but perhaps the best result of ah 1 was, the regiment continued to gain health and strength, and seemed to have 470 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. entirely overcome the effects of the exposure and labors of the siege of Vicksburg. On the 7th of November, the regiment turned its front eastward, and moving by New Iberia, Berwick City, and Brashear, at each of which places it made a considerable halt, arrived at Algiers, opposite New Orleans, on the 21 st. The next day it embarked on the steamer Corinthian, and after a stormy voyage of four days disembarked on St. Joseph s Island, Texas. Captain Crooke had now been promoted Major, and was in command, at this time. The regiment remained in Texas about half a year. It marched up St. Joseph s Island, up Metagorda Island, crossed over to Metagorda Penin sula, and early in January 1864 moved to Old Town, a suburb of Indianola, but in a few days marched to Indianola proper and went into com fortable quarters there, the same being houses of the city which had been abandoned by their owners upon the approach of our forces. During the stay of the regiment at this place a detachment thereof, being on a scout in the interior, was attacked by a body of rebel cavalry, who captured fourteen of our men and sent them to Tyler, the Andersonville of the trans- Mississippi region. The 13th of March, the regiment moved to Metagorda Island, and remained there drilling, fortifying, and performing garrison duties generally till the departure of the command for New Orleans in June. During the long stay of the troops in Texas they had accomplished nothing of importance in a military point of view, save to recover heal thin this salubrious climate, and to make themselves well nigh perfect in field evolutions and in the manual of arms. The Twenty-first lost only two men by death during its six months sojourn in Texas, and when it sailed for New Orleans, the right wing, under Lieutenant-Colonel Van Anda on the 10th of June, the left under Major Crooke, on the 14th, scarcely a man was re ported on the sick list. The Thirteenth Corps being suspended, our regiment, upon reaching New Orleans, reported directly to General Banks. It remained here a short time, marched to Carrollton ; in a few days was ordered to report to General Cameron at Thibodeaux, and moving by steamer to Algiers, and thence by rail to Terre Bonne, near Thibodeaux, performed guard and provost duties for about a fortnight, when it returned to Algiers. Here it exchanged the arms with which it had been supplied at Camp Franklin for Springfield muskets, and on the 26th of July embarked for Morganza. It remained at this uninteresting and unhealthy place till the 3d of September, engaged in the inspiring duties of guarding rebel estates, and protecting cotton speculators, both Jew and Gentile. Here it was assigned to Colonel Slack s Brigade of the Nineteenth Army Corps. When the rebel estates had been sufficiently guarded, and the cotton shipped, our regiment moved to the mouth of White River. It shortly afterwards moved to St. Charles, TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 471 where it spent some weeks in comfortable winter quarters, and then, after see-sawing between Duvall s Bluff and mouth of White River, two or three times, proceeded to Memphis, where it was assigned to the First Brigade, Reserve Corps, Division of West Mississippi. The regiment had a comfortable time at Memphis for a few weeks, but in the latter part of December, marched into the interior of Tennessee in support of a column of cavalry under General Grierson, which march was tedious, wearisome, and without palpable results. Returning to camp on the last day of the year, on the 1st day of January, 1865, the command embarked on steamer for the South. Disembarked at Kennerville, and remained encamped in one of the swamps of that oozy locality till the 5th of February. Thence the regiment sailed for Dauphin Island, Alabama, where it had plenty of sand and oysters, for more than a month. Here it was assigned to the First Brigade, First Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, Brigadier-General James R. Slack, an excellent and popular officer, com manding the brigade. On the 17th of March, the regiment moved by steamer to Fort Morgan, whence, on the 19th, it joined in the line of march for Mobile. In the difficult, toilsome march, in the siege of Spanish Fort and of Blakely, the Twenty-first bore creditable part, but in the assaults of the 8th and 9th of April it was not directly engaged. Though it was many days under fire, its losses throughout the campaign were very trifling. On the 10th, the regiment marched a few miles toward Mobile, but on the next day returned to Stark s Landing, on the Bay below Spanish Fort, and embarking on the steamer "Warrior," moved to "Race Track Landing," where it disembarked. On the 12th, it marched into Mobile, and on the next day went into camp at Spring Hill, a few miles in rear of the city. And here the volume of its history against rebels in arms was closed. After a few months of uninteresting services, the command was mustered out of the service, and returned to Iowa for discharge, having as faithfully and bravely served the country as any regiment that bore the colors of the Union to the great triumph of the national arms. CHAPTEK XXVI. TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AT IOWA CITY MOVE TO ST. LOUIS TO ROLLA EMBARK AT ST. GENEVIEVE FOR THE FRONT JOIN THE THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS IN LOUISI ANABATTLE OF PORT GIBSON IN RESERVE DURING THE BATTLE OF CHAM PION HILLS BATTLE OF THE BIG BLACK RIVER THE ASSAULT UPON THE ENEMY S WORKS AT VI CKS BURG THE SIEGE THE JACKSON CAMPAIGN IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF CAMPAIGN IN LOUISIANA IN TEXAS-AGAIN IN LOUISIANA VOYAGE TO FORTRESS MONROE-IN THE TRENCHES BEFORE PETERSBURG MOVE TO WASHINGTON TO THE SHEN- ANDOAH VALLEY BATTLE OF WINCHESTER OF FISHER S HILL OF CEDAR CREEK MOVE TO SAVANNAH, GEORGIA TO NORTH CAROLINA CON CLUSION. THE Twenty-Second Infantry was for the most part recruited in the old capital county of the State, Johnson, which contributed to this noted com mand no less than seven companies. There was one company from Jasper County, one from Monroe, and one from Wapello, so that the whole was from the Fourth District, since represented in Congress by the Honorable Josiah B. Grinnell. The companies went into rendezvous at "Camp Pope," near Iowa City, during the month of August, 1862, and were there mustered into the service on the 9th of the following month. William M. Stone, who had been Major of the Third Infantry, and who was at this time a paroled prisoner of war, was appointed Colonel ; John A. G-arrett, Lieutenant-Colonel; Harvey Graham, Major; J. B. Atherton, Adjutant; C. F. Lovelace, Quartermaster ; William H. White, Surgeon, with Drs. 0. Peabody and Alfred B. Lee, Assistants; and Reverend K. B. AUender, Chaplain. 1 i The line officers were : Company .A Captain Charles N. Lee ; Lieutenants D. J. Davis, William Hughes. Company B Captain John H. Gearkee; Lieutenants John Remmick, J. A. Boarts. Company C Captain A. T. Ault ; Lieutenants N. Murray, Lafayette R. Mullin. Company D Cap tain Robert W. Wilson ; Lieutenants William Phinney, Matthew A. Robb. Company E Captain Hiram C. Humbert ; Lieutenants E. G. White, Benjamin D. Parks. Company F Captain Alfred B. Cree; Lieutenants John W. Porter, William G. Haddock. Company G Captain Isaac V. Deuuts; Lieutenants James 0. Hawkins, George H. Shockey. Company H Captain John C. Shrader; Lieu- 472 TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 473 Having remained at Camp Pope but a few days after organization, the regiment moved by rail to Davenport, and thence by steamer to St. Louis. Thoroughly equipped for service in the field, the command left Benton Barracks on the 22d for Holla, arriving on the next day. This post was garrisoned by the Twenty-second for about four months, the troops also at times escorting trains to the Army of Southwest Missouri. In the latter part of January, 1863, the regiment moved to West Plains, and joined the Army of Southeast Missouri, forming a part of the First Brigade, First Division thereof, Colonel Stone commanding the brigade, which consisted of his own regiment, the Twenty-first and Twenty-third Iowa, and the Eleventh Wisconsin. Halting at West Plains a few days, the army marched, with much hardship, to Iron Mountain, where another halt was made. The 9th of March, our regiment marched for St. Genevieve, and having encamped there about a fortnight, embarked for the south, under orders to join the forces under Grant, about to commence operations against Vicksburg. In the organization of the army for this campaign, the Twenty-second remained in brigade with the same regiments above noted, Colonel Harris commanding the brigade, General E. A. Carr the division, it being the Fourteenth of the Thirteenth Corps, General John A. McClernand. The brigade marched on the 12th of April, and going by Richmond and Car thage, encamped at Perkins Landing to await the rest of the Corps. tenants James L. Perry, Daniel W. Henderson. Company I Captain James Robertson ; Lieuten ants J. W. Sterling, W. W. Morsman. Company K Captain George W. Clark; Lieutenants John Francisco, Thomas Morrison. Inasmuch as there were several changes among the officers of the command before it met the enemy in battle, it may not be amiss here to subjoin the list of officers during the regiment s term of service, as shown by the Adjutant-General s Reports. Colonels, William M. Stone, Harvey Graham. Lieutenant- Colonels, John A. Garrett, (promoted Colonel of the Fortieth, before the Twenty-second left Iowa), Harvey Graham, E. G. White. Majors, Harvey Graham, E. G. White, J. B. Atherton, John H. Gearkee. Adjutants, J. B. Atherton, John W. Porter, Horace Poole, Oscar B. Lee, Samuel D. Pryce, Taylor Pierce. Quartermasters, G. F. Lovelace, James W. Stirling. Surgeons, William H. White, John C. Shrader. Assistant-Surgeons, Alfred B. Lee, Oren Peabody, William A. Dinwiddie. Chaplains, Reverend R. B. Allender, Reverend Martin Bowman. LINE OFFICERS: Company A Captains Charles N. Lee, David J. Davis, Samuel D. Pryce; Lieuten ants David J. Davis, William W. Hughes, Samuel C. Jones. Company # Captains John H. Gearkee, John Remick; Lieutenants James A. Boarts, Joseph S. Turnbull. Company C Captains A. T. Ault, Lafayette F. Mullin; Lieutenants Niel Murray, L. F. Mullin, Robert M. Davis, Samuel C. Fugard. Company D Captains Robert M. Wilson, N. B. Humphrey; Lieutenants William Phin- ney, Matthew A. Robb, William H. Needham. Company E Captains Hiram C. Humbert, Benjamin D. Parks, Edward J. Dudley; Lieutenants E. G. White, Benjamin D. Parks, Edward J. Dudley, George D. Ulrich. Company F Captain Alfred B. Cree ; Lieutenants John W. Porter, William G. Haddock, William J. Schell, George W. Handy, Theodore S. Loveland. Company G Captains Isaac V. Dennis, James 0. Hawkins, George H. Shockey ; Lieutenants James 0. Hawkins, George H. Shockey, William M. De Camp, John Smiley. Company If Captains John C. Shrader, Charles Y. Hartley ; Lieutenants James L. Perry, Daniel W. Henderson, Joseph R. Chandler. Company I Captains James Robertson, W. W. Morsman; Lieutenants James W. Sterling, W. W. Morsman, Joseph E. Griffith, Nicholas C. Messenger. Company .K Captain George W. Clark ; Lieutenants John Francisco, Thomas Morrison, Oliver P. Hull. 60 474 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Thence the troops moved by transports, which had run the blockade of Vicksburg, to Hard Times, a landing not far above Grand Gulf, but on the opposite side of the river. Here the troops witnessed the unsuccessful attack of the navy on the batteries of Grand Gulf, on the 29th. The corps marched down the river under cover of the levee, and on the morn ing of the 30th embarked on steamers and gunboats, and moved down to Bruinsburg, where a disembarkation was made about the middle of the afternoon. The advance did not tarry long at Bruinsburg. The line of march for "the interior" was speedily taken up, and the brigade to which the Twenty-second belonged being in the advance, Colonel Stone commanding, brought on the battle at Port Gibson, the first of the campaign, before midnight. This engagement, the first battle in which the regiment took part, was a fine victory for the Union arms. It has been already described. The Twenty-second took honorable part therein, and received the enco miums of the army for its good conduct. Major Atherton was here in com mand. The loss of the regiment was about twenty. The regiment remained at Bayou Pierre, with the brigade, a few days after the battle. Taking up line of march, it moved by Raymond to Mis- sisippi Springs, where it halted, in guard of trains. The city of Jackson having succumbed to our arms, McClernand about-faced and moved against Pemberton who had marched from behind the works of Vicksburg, with the hope of catching Grant s forces in air, and retrieving the disasters which the campaign had thus far inflicted upon the insurgent cause. The consequence of this manoeuvre was the Battle of Champion Hills, a splen did Union victory, gained by the divisions of Hovey, Crocker, and Logan. During this fine fight, the Twenty-second was posted with the reserves, but it joined in the pursuit of the beaten rebels, and captured many prisoners. The next day, in the battle of Black River Bridge, wherein the Twenty-third Iowa was most prominently engaged, our regiment took part, but, covered by the river bank from the enemy s fire, lost only two men wounded on the field made forever memorable in Iowa by the death of Colonel Kinsman of the Twenty-third. General Grant pushed on his columns without delay, and on the morn ing of the 19th, had his army in position around Vicksburg, Sherman on the right, McPherson in the centre, and McClernand on the left. There was an assault by part of the army on the afternoon of this day, ordered by General Grant in the hope that the enemy, demoralized and discouraged by recent defeats, might not defend his works with vigor. He was mis taken, and the attack, which was by no means a general assault, failed. Meantime, the troops continued to arrive, and by the evening of the 21st had Vicksburg regularly invested. The troops had been marching and fighting TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 475 battles every one a victory for twenty days on five days rations. They had begun to feel the want of bread. Though the communications were completely opened up on the 21st, General Grant, reflecting upon what his army had already accomplished, that Johnston was not far in his rear with a considerable power, which was being daily increased by reinforcements, which might soon be strong enough to raise the siege, determined upon trying to carry the enemy s works by assault. ASSAULT AND SIEGE OF VICKSBT7BG. The assault was ordered for ten o clock precisely on the morning of May 22d, the same to be rapid, by the heads of columns. In order that it might be simultaneous by all the assaulting columns, the corps commanders set their watches by General Grant s. They were ordered to precede the as sault by a heavy, constant cannonading of the rebel works. Undoubtedly those works were stronger than General Grant supposed. The defences of Vicksburg consisted of a system of detached fortifications on commanding points, with the usual profile of field works, connected by rifle-pits. The best engineering skill of the Confederacy had been lavished upon the works, till the place was compared to Sebastopol and Gibraltar. But it was not art alone which made it strong. It was by nature a formida ble position. The frowning bluffs on the river-side made it there impreg nable. To the rear, whence the assault was to come, the country was broken, so as to afford excellent defensive positions ridges and knolls with deep ravines intervening, covered with a tangled growth of vines, cane, and saplings, through which an army could not move in line. The ridges were natural parapets and the ravines natural ditches, so that, what with the works of nature and those of their own construction, the rebels had a series of strong lines, each one of which was formidable in the extreme. Early on the morning of the assault the cannonading began. The great guns from the fleet and all the guns which could be put in position on the investing lines ushered in the day with their awful thunder. They con tinued their work till nearly ten o clock, when they suddenly ceased. Par tial breaches of the enemy s works were effected, some of his guns silenced, and a number of his caissons exploded. Our sharp-shooters and skir mishers also annoyed him by a galling fire, picking off many of his gun ners, and compelling the garrison to keep well behind their cover. At ten o clock precisely, the bugles having sounded the charge, the as saulting columns moved forward at quick time, with bayonets fixed, and without firing a gun. Pressing forward over the rough ground, through the obstructions which nature and art had placed in the way, they ap proached within musket range of the works without receiving the fire of the enemy. Then every available gun was opened on the heads of the 476 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. columns, already somewhat disordered by the difficult advance, and the rebel infantry rising in the trenches, poured into our masses rapid volleys which had a fearful effect, covering the ground with our dead and wounded. Still the brave troops pressed on, to meet with the same fate, the columns of the various corps vying with each other in gallant emulation in their en deavors to carry the works. It was in vain. The terrible fire of the garri son checked the assault, stayed the advance, threw the assailants into disorder. They betook themselves to such covers as could be found, and by a common impulse abandoning the fight by bayonet, maintained their position, galling the garrison with musketry. Thus it was with Sherman and McPherson, who early saw and admitted the unsuccess of the assault so far as their columns were concerned. With McClernand it was somewhat different. The principal work in his front was Fort Beauregard a strong fortification, containing a heavy arma ment, well manned, covered by other works in flank and rear. The Twenty- second Iowa led the column which assaulted this work. It was accompanied by the Twenty-first Iowa, Major Van Anda, and the Eleventh Wisconsin, General Lawler being in command of the brigade. The Twenty-second had taken an advanced position on the right of the Twenty-first, where, under cover of a ridge, the order for the assault was awaited. Receiving it, Colonel Stone shouted "Forward!" and his gallant command leaped over the hill to the charge, and in an instant came in full view of the frowning fort. The column moved steadily, silently, to within fifty yards of the work, passing through a murderous fire, under which many fell in death and wounds, among the latter Colonel Stone. The line became disordered, but Lieutenant- Colonel Graham assuming command rallied his men around the flag, and himself pressed forward with about sixty officers and men. The fort was reached, the colors planted on the ramparts, Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith and a number of others, making ladders of themselves, escaladed the wall, entered the fort, and captured a number of prisoners. Colonel Stone, being borne from the field, conveyed this intelligence to General McClernand, and a renewed assault took place all along the lines, but with out success. Sergeant Griffith and private David Trine alone escaped from the fort, which, covered by works in rear, was entirely untenable. Lieu tenant-Colonel Graham and several men were captured in the ditch. As they were conducted within the rebel works, the troops engaged in the as sault retired behind friendly protections and the fearful slaughter was ended. The Union losses in this assault of Vicksburg were not far from three thou sand, being nearly three-fourths of the loss sustained by General Grant s forces during the entire siege from the 19th of May to the 4th of July. In this assault there were not less than sixteen regiments of Iowa infantry engaged the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth, Seventeenth, TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 477 Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-fifth whilst the First and Second Batteries were in position and performing well their duty on the line of investment. The Second Battery is specially mentioned by General Sherman in his oflicial report, there spoken of as Spoor s battery. Ah 1 our troops engaged behaved .most worthily, so that it is impossible to say one regiment was more meritorious than another. The Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first regiments were on the right, and did all that mortals could to carry the day. The Eighth, Twelfth, and Thirty-fifth, were in the division commanded by General James M. Tuttle, who fully sustained, throughout the entire campaign of Vicksburg, the reputation of a gallant commander which he had fairly gained on former fields. The Fifth and the Tenth were in the brigade of the heroic Boomer, of Missouri, who was slain on this field. The Seventeenth supported an assaulting column, and met with slight loss. The Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-eighth were in Hovey s Division, which, having suffered most severely at Champion Hills, here met with slight loss. The Twenty-first, the Twenty-second, and Twenty-third were in the same brigade, but the Twenty- third having but a few days be fore borne the brunt of the battle at Black River Bridge, was now absent in guard of prisoners, and the other Iowa regiments in the command took the leading part in this day s bloody work. General Grant, in his report of the Vicksburg campaign, speaking of the assault of the 22d of May, says: "No troops succeeded in entering any of the enemy s works with the exception of Sergeant Griffith, of the Twenty-second Iowa Volunteers, and some eleven privates of the same regiment ; of these none returned except the sergeant and possibly one man." Those who participated with Sergeant Griffith in this famous ex ploit were : John Robb, Munson L. Clemmons, Alvin Drummond, Heze- kiah Drummond, William H. Needham, Ezra L. Anderson, Hugh Sinclair, N. C. Messenger, David Trine, William Griffin, Allen Cloud, David Jor dan, and Richard Arthur. Of these, both the Drummonds, Anderson, Arthur and Griffin paid for their temerity with their lives, being slain within the fort. The total loss of the regiment in the assault was one hun dred and sixty-four, killed, wounded, and captured. The assault, though unsuccessful, was gallant in the extreme on the part of all the troops, and did not weaken their confidence, or that of the command ing general, in their ability to ultimately succeed. General Grant deter mined upon a regular siege. It was forthwith entered upon. The troops went to work with alacrity, and it was not long till they were an army of engineers. They labored day after day, night after night, creeping upon the enemy slowly but surely by lines of entrenchments, living pent-up, 478 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. enduring many hardships, uttering no word of complaint. They held on to their prey with the tenacity of Grant himself, who knew no such word as fail. Through the hot days and the sultry nights these devoted troops learned the great lesson of how to labor and to wait most thoroughly. Johnston threatened attack from the rear. Grant sent Sherman to watch him. He ordered reinforcements from the north, with whom came more Iowa troops, so that before the final victory there were about thirty of our regi ments, besides artillery, engaged in the reduction of the stronghold. To relate in detail the operations of the siege were a tedious and unnecessary labor. They were crowned with success on the anniversary of our national independence, when the garrison capitulated, and our troops entered the city in joyous triumph. Thus ended the great campaign, wherein the enemy had been signally defeated in five battles ; whereby he had lost thirty-seven thousand pri soners, among whom were fifteen general officers ; ten thousand men killed and wounded, among the slain three officers of the rank of general ; arms and munitions of war for an army of sixty thousand ; immense quantities of public property of other kinds. In achieving this splendid result, General Grant had lost less than nine thousand men, killed, wounded, and missing. But this fine result of a military nature was not half the victory. The taking of Vicksburg split the confederacy in twain ; gave to the Union the navigation of the most magnificent river of the world ; threw over the rebellion the gloom of irretrievable disaster ; gave to the nation bright pro mise of eventual success. When we consider what Grant accomplished here, and how, we shall have no difficulty in saying which of all his great campaigns is the greatest. It is gratifying to know that among the gallant troops who took part in the greatest campaign of the acknowledged captain of the age, those of Iowa won the most conspicuous renown. No troops bore a more prominent part at Port Gibson than Colonel Stone s Brigade. It was General M. M. Crocker who stormed the works of Jackson, where our Seventeenth regi ment surpassed all others in daring. No troops in Hovey s Division fought more bravely, or more tenaciously, than our Twenty-fourth and Twenty- eighth regiments at Champion Hills, where Crocker again rushed in to the aid of hard pressed friends, and like the black knight in Ivanhoe, saved the day by vigor almost superhuman. At the Black River Bridge, our Twenty-first regiment was only surpassed by our Twenty-third, whose bravery and sacrifices can never be forgotten while courage continues to be a virtue. What soldiers but those of Iowa entered the works of Vicksburg on the assault of the 22d ? When the battle was over, only our dead were found within those works. In this campaign, all the Iowa regiments engaged suffered less or more TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 479 480 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. severely, ana all those which took part in the assault had many slain and wounded. The Twenty-second lost during the campaign about two hundred. 2 Colonel Stone, as we have seen, was wounded during the assault, and Lieutenant-Colonel Graham captured. Captain Gearkee, and Lieutenants Reinick and Mullins were severely wounded in the same action. The regiment marched against Jackson immediately after the surrender of Vicksburg, and took honorable part in that campaign of great labors and of great results. Captain Cree, of Company F, was specially men tioned for gallant conduct on the skirmish line, on the 9th. Colonel Stone, who had been meanwhile nominated for Governor by the dominant party of the State, resumed command of the regiment in front of Jackson, and was soon placed in command of the brigade. His command reached Vicksburg on its return from the Jackson campaign in the latter part of July. He soon afterwards resigned, and returned to Iowa, and was elected Governor at the October election by a large majority. I should have stated before that Major Atherton had resigned during the siege of Vicksburg, and that, it afterwards coming to the knowledge of the War Department, that his letter of resignation was a tissue of falsehoods, the acceptance was revoked, and,he was dishonorably dismissed the service the only instance, says the generally accurate State Register, among all Iowa officers, upon whom such disgrace was cast. Captain E. G. White, a highly meritorious officer and excellent man, was promoted Major. The 13th of August, Lieutenant- Colonel Graham embarked on the trans port Baltic, and arrived at Carrollton on the 16th, where the regiment went into camp. Its next campaigning was on what has been called the "Bayou Teche Expedition," to the west of Berwick Bay. The regiment was en gaged on this expedition from early in September till the middle of No vember, and it participated in several skirmishes, near Iberia and beyond, but without mentionable loss. It reached Algiers November 18th. a AT THE BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON. Killed, David P. Robertson, J. T. Wittington. Wounded, Adju tant D. J. Davis; Lieutenants William M. De Camp, D. W. Henderson, John Francisco; Sergeant William Franklin; Thomas Harper, John L. Chiles, James A.Moore, S. S. Garrison, George A. Remley, E. L. Pardee, Alexander Zike, Jeremiah Daniels, Wenzel Zika. AT THE BIG BLACK. Wounded, George W. McCall, Patrick Monegan. ASSAULT OF VICKSBURG. I only have the names of those killed and mortally wounded. Kilted, Captain James Robertson; Corporals David Jordan, N. G. Teas, James A. Eshorn, James A. Rany; Privates John L. Green, Joseph T. Cushalt, J. R. Kennedy, Elvin Drummond, Hezekiah Drummond, John A. Robb, A. H. Green, Abner Magee, John Stallcup, Jerome Smart, Marshal D. Fry, William Griffin, E. W. Hamlin, John B. Lamb, William P. Marvin, John W. Williamson. Mortally Wounded, Lieutenant Matthew A. Robb ; Sergeant Samuel Lloyd ; Color-Guards, David H. Norris, James K. Mclntosh, William McKeever, George W. Campbell; Corporals William Johnson, Jackson F. Newell, G. Giltner; Privates C. H. Detwiler, S. Eister, Rufus J. Hoy, Ernest Haverstraw, Isaac Winterhalter, Samuel Story, John W. Jack, Emanuel Barr, Samuel Kester, C. W. Farrar, E. Brewer, M. M. Parkhurst, Junius Lawson, David Smith, Joseph Middleton, E. C. Peregoy, W. H. H. Rose- brugh, Joseph Jackson, Jacob II. Detwiler, Martin L. Kirk, John Hale, John McElree. SIEGE OF VICKSBURQ. Killed, Nicholas Russell, William Turner. TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 481 Five companies, Lieutenant-Colonel Graham, at once embarked for Texas, the others remaining at Algiers, under Major White, awaiting transportation. Lieutenant-Colonel Graham landed his command on Mus tang Island on the evening of the 27th, and on the 29th joined in the march on Fort Esperanza. The work having been abandoned by the enemy, the regiment went into camp at De Crou s Point, where it was joined by Major White .with the left wing. Early in January, 1864, Lieu tenant-Colonel Graham moved by steamer to Indianola, where the division went into winter quarters, the Twenty-second in the " Old Town" portion, after three weeks of quiet in the abandoned houses of the New Town. General Fitz Henry Warren was now in command of the brigade, desig nated the First, of the First Division, Thirteenth Corps. The regiment re mained in Texas until the latter part of April, at Indianola till March 13th, when it returned to Matagorda Island, the division being sent thither to lefend the coast. The men had good health and rapidly improved in dis cipline and military efficiency, General Warren carrying his strict discipli narian notions to the extreme of not allowing a single "ridiculous hat" to be seen on dress parade, and all the officers joining in the laudable ambition of bringing the command up to the standard of perfection. Hence the Texas expedition was of great value to the troops, but without noteworthy contests with the enemy, who only appeared in small bodies, called "Rangers." One of these bands, however, attacked a small reconnoiter- ing party, whilst the Twenty-second was at Indianola, and captured six of its men. Not long before its departure from Matagorda Island, the regi ment, under the command of General Warren in person, made an expedi tion to Port Lavaca, seventy miles from the island, and taking possession of the place, captured a large quantity of property, and returned in safety. The regiment reached New Orleans the first of May, moving on two ves sels, Major White commanding the right wing and Captain Gearkee the left during the voyage. Soon after its arrival, the left wing, Captain A. B. Crec, now commanding, moved up the Mississippi and the Red River to Fort De Russey, General Warren taking thither a considerable force to aid the army of Banks in its retreat. Captain Cree rejoined the regiment at Baton Rouge, on the 10th of June, whither the right wing had meanwhile proceeded. The commanding officer being now commissioned Colonel, Major White was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel and Captain John H. Gearkee, Major. Early in July Colonel Graham reported to General Reynolds at New Or leans. The Thirteenth Corps being discontinued, the Twenty-second was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Nineteenth Corps, Colonel E. L. Molineaux, One Hundred and Fifty-ninth New York, com manding brigade, General Grover the division, and General Emory the 6i 482 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. corps. On the 17th, the regiment embarked for Fortress Monroe, where it arrived on the 24th, without memorable incident, except a general convic tion that the writer of "Life on the Ocean Wave" ought to have been hanged for his execrable taste. The command proceeded up the James River to Bermuda Hundreds, and marching thence a few miles joined the Army of the James, General Butler. The regiment remained on duty in the trenches between the James and the Appomattox till the 31st, when Colonel Graham was ordered to report at Washington City. Arriving the next day, the regiment marched up Four-and-a-half street, down Pennsyl vania Avenue by the Capitol, and halted at the Soldiers Rest for the night, where the men enjoyed themselves heartily. The command re mained in the vicinity of Washington a fortnight. The 14th, the regiment took up line of march to join the forces under General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. Crossing the Potomac on the Chain Bridge near Georgetown, and marching by Drainsville, Leesburg, and Hamilton, over the Kittoctan Mountains, through Snicker s Gap in the Blue Ridge, and, fording the Shenandoah at midnight, reached Berry- ville on the morning of the 18th, there joining Sheridan s Army in retreat down the valley before the rebel Early. The retreat was continued to near the Potomac, and after no little manoeuvering, the Twenty-second found itself in position not far from Halltown, near the centre of the army, occupying a strong position, its left resting upon the Potomac, and the right at the foot of North Mountain by Martinsburg. From the time General Sheridan took command in the Shenandoah country till about the middle of September, the campaign was one of strategy only. Sheridan, the most fiery fighter of our armies, merely maneuvered for weeks, first marching up the valley, with considerable flourish of trumpets, and then down again, without apparent direct results. But he accomplished three things of importance : First, he detached a force from Lee ; second, he employed that force in the valley, so that not a musket could be sent to Hood at Atlanta, before whose gates Sherman was thundering with his magnificent army; third, he guarded the national capital and the border from attack. His work was done in the best manner possible. At length Atlanta fell, and, as it was Sheridan s object before to avoid a battle, so now it was his object to fight, the moment he could get his antagonist at a disadvantage. There was some marching and counter marching, with skirmishing, after the army took the position last noted, but the first great battle of the campaign was fought on the 19th of Sep tember, on the line of the Opequan Creek, and has therefore been called the Battle of Opequan, but it will, perhaps, continue to be popularly known as TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 483 THE BATTLE OF WINCHESTER. On the 13th, a heavy reconnoissance to Lock s Ford on the Opequan discovered the enemy there in force. Three days later, he was found to have disappeared from our left, on the Winchester and Berryville turnpike, and to have but a weak line opposed to our right. On Sunday, the 18th, the rebel Gordon was driven from Martinsburg by Averill, and it became evident that the enemy was in position near Bunker Hill. General Sheri dan determined to attack, and on this day ordered the whole army to be ready to move at a moment s notice. At two o clock of the following morn ing, the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps were in motion, on the Berryville and Winchester Pike, the former in advance. The Army of Western Virginia, under General Crook, was ordered to move from its position near Summit Point, in a southwesterly direction, and form a junction with the Nine teenth Corps, occupying the centre, where the turnpike crosses the Ope quan. Crook holding the reserve, moved at five o clock. The Sixth and Nineteenth Corps., marching down a narrow ravine, wind ing among steep and thickly wooded hills, debouched into an irregular valley, resembling a contracted rolling prairie, faced on the south by an amphi theatre of stony heights. Sheridan s object was, to amuse the enemy s right, attack his centre vigorously, turn and force his left. The head of the Sixth Corps emerged from the ravine about 10 o clock, and advancing rapidly to the left in two lines carried a line of works and wood that formed the outwork of the enemy s right. There was very little heavy fighting at this time or afterwards on this part of the line. The serious struggle was on the centre, and it was made the more severe because of a misunderstand ing of orders whereby the deployment of the Nineteenth Corps was de layed and the enemy thereby given time to make his dispositions against the attack. About noon, however, the Nineteenth Corps, and Rickett s Division of the Sixth Corps, advanced across the valley in a finely enthusiastic onset, which fairly swept before it the enemy s first line. But these gallant troops were met with a most stubborn resistance from a second and a stronger line which poured into them a withering fire. They were enfiladed too by bat teries on the right and batteries on the left. They suifered fearfully, but they fought on, with a tenacious courage never surpassed. They clung to their position with a desperate endeavour to win the victory then and there. In vain. The retreat was ordered. They fell back, at first in good order, but presently in confusion, so that brigade and regimental organizations be came undistinguishable. The rebels advanced steadily with yells of triumph, and a constant roll of murderous musketry. "It was the bloodiest, the darkest, the most picturesque, the most dramatic, the only desperate mo- 484 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. ment of the day, says an eye witness, who wrote an account of the battle for Harper s Monthly. " Through the midst of the confusion came a cap tain of infantry, Rigby of the Twenty-fourth Iowa, leading a sergeant and twelve men, all marching as composedly as if returning from drill. Cap tain, you are not going to retreat any further, I hope, said Captain Brad bury, of the first Maine Battery. Certainly not, was the reply. Halt ! Front! Three cheers, men ; hip, hip, hurrah! The little band cheered lustily. It was the first note of defiance that broke the desperate monotony of the panic ; it gave heart to every one who heard it, and made an end of retreat in that part of the field. In a few minutes the platoon swelled to a battalion composed of men from half a dozen regiments." The shattered line was reformed, the rebel advance checked. Presently the enemy was repulsed. Then our second line advanced, and regained the position which had before been lost, and amidst terrible slaughter, held it firmly. It was after 3 o clock when the Army of Virginia on the right, with a deafening shout of defiance rushed to the attack. Simultaneously the cavalry on the extreme right made a splendid charge, when the whole army, rising like a huge machine possessing soul and spirit advanced from one end of the line to the other and almost instantly put the enemy to rout. Shortly afterwards, in a disorganized mass, the rebel army was "whirling through Winchester up the Valley of the Shenandoah. The day was gloriously won, and all that was left to the army was to gather up the im mense spoils of victory and pick up prisoners. By the battle of Winchester the rebels lost not less than seven thousand men hors-de-combat, a number of guns, many battle-flags, and thousands of small arms. The Union loss was less than three thousand, the greater proportion of which fell upon the Nineteenth Corps. The soul-stirring victory aroused the whole country. The great cities illuminated their windows and fired their big guns in honor of it ; the rural districts shouted for joy. "Little Phil. Sheridan," as the great general was familiarly called, became the hero of the day, and never afterwards lost his strong hold on the hearts of the army and the people. In this engagement, the Twenty-fourth and the Twenty-eighth Iowa Regiments fought in Colonel Shunk s Brigade, the Fourth of Grover s Division. It will be remembered that these gallant regiments, fighting together on Champion Hills, there won proud distinction. Ever afterwards they maintained their admirable reputation, and on the field of Winchester were surpassed by none in dashing courage or obstinate tenacity. Lieuten ant-Colonel J. Q. Wilds, and Major Ed Wright, of the Twenty-fourth, Lieutenant-Colonel B. W. Wilson, and Major John Meyer, of the Twenty- eighth, all the staff and line officers and men of both regiments, fought on this field in the bravest manner possible. When our troops were compelled TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 485 to retire before the blasting fire of the enemy, they passed through the dreadful ordeal of retreat under such circumstances, with as little breaking of ranks as any regiments engaged, and, as we have seen, it was what was left of a company of the Twenty-fourth, whose cool courage and defiant manner first stayed the tide of disaster, and enabled the officers to bring order out of chaos. It might seem a small thing, but without it the sun might have set upon our army in retreat and rout. It propitiated fortune, without whose aid the best generals and the best troops must suffer defeat. Both the regiments now spoken of suffered severely in killed and wounded, and lost on this glorious field not a few of their most gallant officers. Molineaux s Brigade, in which was the Twenty-second, occupied the extreme left of the Nineteenth Corps. No brigade had more to do at Winchester, and none did more than Molineaux . All his troops, for the most part New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts men, fought long and well, in the most hotly contested part of the line; none longer or better than the Twenty-second Iowa. Its position was one of full as much exposure, perhaps, to the enemy s terrible fire, as that of any regiment on the field. Its endurance of such a fire for so long a time was a miracle of splendid tenacity. Not faltering for an instant, it stood like a wall, till D wight s Division on its left gave way, when it fell back. It was speedily rallied, at no time losing its oneness. It joined in the second charge, with its ranks already thinned by many mournful casualties, but with its colors proudly waving in the midst of an unbroken line, officers and men rushing to the attack with a grand enthusiasm, born of vengeance and patriotism. When the regiment went into bivouac that night near Winchester, it was proud of the glory it had won, sorrowful for the brave men it had lost. Its losses in the battle had been one hundred and nine, slain, wounded, and captured. Among the first to fall was Captain D. J. Davis, who, his temple pierced by a minie ball, fell dead at the head of his company. No more gallant officer or estimable man fell on the field of Opequan. Captain B. D. Parks, as brave as warm-hearted, fell near by. Sergeant-Major George A. Remley, pierced with three balls, gave up his noble life. Lieutenant James A. Boarts, a most promising young man, received a mortal wound. Lieutenant-Colonel White and Captain Cree were slightly wounded, Lieu tenants Jones and Hull, captured. Colonel Graham, Lieutenant-Colonel White, Major Gearkee, Captains Mullins, Humphrey, Cree, Clark, Shockey, Hartly, and Morsman, and Lieutenants Turnbull, Davis, Needham, Mes senger, and Chandler are all entitled to great praise," says Adjutant Samuel D. Pryce, in his account of the engagement, "for their gallantry throughout the battle." He also makes mention of Surgeon Shrader, Quartermaster Sterling, Hospital-Steward Ealy, and Commissary-Sergeant Brown for efficient services, accompanied by danger, in caring for the 486 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. wounded. And it is for me to say, on the authority of many eye-witnesses, that in this great battle, where not a man of the regiment faltered, no one quitted himself more handsomely than Adjutant Pryce himself. 8 On the morning of the 20th, the regiment joined in the pursuit of the retreating rebels, marching through Newtown and Middletown to the vici nity of Strasburg, beyond Cedar Creek, where the command went into encampment. The enemy made a stand at Fisher s Hill, a strong position not for behind Strasburg. The battle of Fisher s Hill, another fine victory, took place on the 22d. Our regiment participated in the fight, but, owing to the nature of the ground over which it advanced lost but four men wounded. The regiment joined in the pursuit by night, with the famous Eleventh Indiana, also of Molineaux Brigade, occupying the extreme advance till four o clock the next morning. It marched to Mount Craw ford, beyond Harrisonburg, in this pursuit, having frequent skirmishes with the enemy. At the close of the first week in October the army counter marched from Harrisonburg, and went into fortified encampment on the 3 LIST OF CASUALTIES: Field and Staff. Killed, Sergeant-Major George A. Remley. Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. White. Company A Killed, Captain David J. Davis. Wounded, Corporal Edmund II. Wilcox ; Privates Noel Morrison, (mortally), John E. Mead, Solomon McGue, James A. Smith, Chester Hunter, Jacob Erb, Jacob C. Switzer. Captured, Lieutenant Samuel C. Jones; Barney Tallman, Nicholas H. Bryce, Robert J. Smith. Company B Killed, First Sergeant John D. Bane; Private John McCarty. Wounded, Lieutenant James A. Boarts, (since died); Sergeant William Franklin; Privates Andrew Douglass, George Lunrion, Mark Thomas. Company C Wounded, Corporal John W. Dinsmore ; Privates Barney Worrell, Henry B. Jack, Jeremiah Adams, Adam Bennett, (mortally). Prisoners, Corporal George C. Nicholl; Private James T. Dailey. Company D Wounded, Privates Joseph H. Holbrook, (since dead), William C. W T ilson, George Lefever, James II. Van Pelt. Prisoners, Privates Henry C. Kritzer, Charles II. Stevenson. Company E Killed, Captain Benjamin D. Parks. Wounded, Sergeant Washington J. Warren; Privates William A. Mahon, James Porter, John W. McCoy, Shelby C. Byers, Samuel D. Lain, Nichols Motes, Angelo Macklin. Prisoners, Corporals Usher J. Stalcup, Benjamin F. Pickerel; Privates Thomas Anderson, James M. Anderson, Henry Webb, Horatio G. Stalcup ; Corporal Julius B. Gardner, (Color Guard). Company F Killed, Privates Joseph Knapp, Alvin W. Pinney. Wounded, Captain Alfred B. Cree; Sergeant James A. Pinney ; Corporal James M. Hopwood; Privates David II. Ealy, Jacob Hirt, Peter Shilling, Conrad Strickler, John Rafter, (mortally), John W. Kinsey, (mortally), Joseph Fox. Prisoner, Private Philip Burgy. Company G Killed, Sergeant Cyrus Wical ; Private Henry Sharp. Wounded, Sergeants John K. Duncan, David R. Shockey, John Grewell ; Corporal Hiram Toms; Private Nathaniel E. Eells. Company H Killed, Sergeant David H. Minor. Wounded, Corporals Henry F. Devault, George Flint; Privates Joseph Armstrong, Jacob F. Pfaff, Luther Ulum, Charles Parsen, John W. Car- inichael. Prisoners, First Sergeant John Walt; Corporals Elisha B. Judson, Edward H. Goodison; Privates Anthony Bower, Alexander Miller, James Stearns, Jared Strauser, Joseph Clure, Jeremiah Daniels, H. Caldwell. Company I Killed, Private Uriah M. Kimberly. Wounded, Sergeant Clement W. Baker, (mor tally); Corporal John W. Poland; Privates David W. Connelly, Thomas Carr, Francis McReynolds, Edward W. Mullen, (mortally). Company K Killed, Sergeant Jacob Frank. Wounded, Private Jacob Stover. Prisoners, Lieu tenant Oliver P. Hull; Corporal Simon Taylor; Privates Loren G. Cutler, Wenzel Zika. A few others, slightly wounded, were not reported. TWENTY-SECOND -INFANTRY. line of the Cedar Creek, where the last great battle of the camp. vi . place on the 19th, and resulted, after a hard day s fight, in a complete glorious victory for the Union arms. In this engagement the To- ments in Sheridan s army took a most honorable part, and lost many g officers and men. 4 The battle of Cedar Creek was the last in Tfhich ilt^ ,T.p::jK >-- engaged. It met the enemy in skirmishes afterwards ] the valley, but suffered no further loss at the hamf> )> men of the regiment made quarters for the winter twicj/i- Valley, but, nevertheless, bade farewell to tho locality i mand had fougut so nobly and suffered so severely early in January, 1865. The command proceeded by rail to Baltimore, whence it embarked for Savannah, Georgia, and arrived at the Forrest City on the 20th. Here the regiment remained on garrison duty about two months. About the middle of March, it left its beautiful encampment in a suburb of Savannah and sailed for Morehead City, where the men performed heavy duties in the way of assisting Brevet Brigadier- General Easton, Sherman s chief quartermaster, having also performed the journey to Newbern and return. Early in April the command returned to Savannah, where the brigade was reorganized. It consisted of the Twenty-second, Twenty-fourth, and * The wounded of the Twenty-second at Fisher s Hill were: Sergeant-Major David Higby, Fife- Major Paul Miller; Corporal John Hack, Jacob Bitner. The casualties at Cedar Creek were severe. They are thus officially reported: Company A Wounded, First Sergeant Calvin H. Bane; Sergeants Peter B. Boarts, Oscar B. Lee; Corporals Joshua B. Hughes, William H. Bechtel, Selva S. Street, El mer J. C. Bealer ; Private Andrew J. Hamilton. Company B Wounded, Privates Edward Mulhern, Christian Dodt. Company C Wounded, Captain Lafayette F. Mullins; Sergeants Taylor Pierce, George W.Cooney; Privates Jonathan Guthrie, Lewis W. Smithhart, Robert I. Beau, Jeremiah Adams, William F. Strater, Anthony McKeever. Prisoners, Lieutenant Robert W. Davis; Corporals Benjamin West, George S. Post. Company D Wounded, Privates Samuel Byerly (mortally), James Moore, William W. Cook, Samuel R. Conley. Prisoners, Joel Webb, Calvin II. Bray. Company E Wounded, Lieutenant Edward J. Dudley ; First Sergeant George D. Ulrich ; Sergeant Oscar J. Shoemaker; Corporal John Giltner; Privates Charles R. Kackly, John Motes, Jehial McDonald. Prisoners, Privates Edward C. Shoemaker, Elias W. Lively, Joseph W. Jennings, Abra ham Myers, James F. Wiley. Company F Killed, Amos M. Scott. Wounded, Captain Alfred B. Cree ; First Sergeant Theodore S. Loveland; Sergeant Richard H. Gabriel; Privates James M. Fernean, Edward Morgan, Isaac S. Struble, George Hibler. Prisoners, Privates George W. Bell, Isaac N. Halderman, Lewis Goben, Francis M. Payn. Company G Wounded, Privates John Loader, Albert T. Baker, Charles Kepford. Missing, Andrew L. Crain. Company H Wounded, Captain Charles Hartley; Sergeant George Reynolds; Corporal Caleb L. Eddy; Privates Marion Blaylock, James Holt, James K. P. Rowe. Prisoner, Drummer Francis C. Flint. Company T Wounded, Lieutenant Nicholas C. Messenger. Prisoners, Captain Westel W. Morsman ; Privates Frank Booth, Oliver Crocker, David Conriely. Missing, James M. Bonham. Company K Wounded, Captain George W. Clark. Prisoners, Sergeant William J. Oldacre; Private Charles Bowen. 488 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. ^enty-eighth Iowa regiments, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth and One ndred and Fifty-ninth New York, and Thirteenth Connecticut, and was jmanded by Colonel Harvey Graham. On the llth this command f6hed for Augusta, where it arrived on the 19th. And there our remained, performing garrison and provost duties till after the - JUjHp*. when it returned to Savannah to be mustered out of the steady which took place on the 20th of July, and elicited .)iu the .v spaper, edited by a former army correspondent ,1 the ISY Tribune, the following paragraph : " We felt a thrill of v o noble State which has sent these brave men to represent L seiples and unswerving fealty to the Union upon the bloody ti< Iowa has a glorious record, and having personally witnessed ; t cr honest, hardy sons of toil in the fiercest battles, we but do our duty as loyal journalists to add a few words of commendation for a State thai h. assed nearly every State in our Union in her positive proofs of loyally* The battle-torn flags that will grace the State archives of Iowa, will, in fature years, be gazed upon by admiring thousands with the proud satisfaction that, though the storms of heaven caused the silk to fade, yet the Colors never run when the enemies of our country swarmed in legions around the valiant lowans, and may God bless and protect them, and permit them to live long enough to reap the blessings of that rich harvest which their valor and patriotism have won." The following was the roster of the ,regiment at this time : Colonel Harvey Graham ; Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. White ; Major John H. Gearkee ; Adjutant Taylor Pierce ; Surgeon John C. Schrader : Acting Quartermaster W. H. Needham ; Chaplain Martin Bowman. Company A Captain Samuel D. Pryce ; First Lieutenant Samuel C. Jones. Com pany B First Lieutenant Joseph S. Turnbull. Company C Captain Lafay ette F. Mullins ; First Lieutenant Robert W. Davis. Company D Captain Napoleon B. Humphrey. Company E Captain Edward J. Dudley ; First Lieutenant George D. Ulrich. Company F Captain Alfred B. Cree. Company G Captain George H. Shockey. Company H Captain Charles Y. Hartley ; First Lieutenant Joseph R. Chandler. Company I Captain W. W. Morsman ; First Lieutenant Nicholas C. Messenger. Company K First Lieutenant Oliver P. Hull. The Twenty-second arrived at Davenport near the end of the month, and went into bivouac at Camp Kinsman. The original Colonel, now Governor Stone, soon arriving, tents were procured and the men made comfortable. August 3d, the regiment was disbanded, then being in charge of Lieutenant- Colonel White, and numbering four hundred and thirty-six officers and men. At Iowa City, a place remarkable for its warm-hearted citizens, the returning soldiers met with a grand reception, as did those from other parts TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. . 489 of the district, at their respective homes. During its long and honorable term of service the Twenty-second Iowa had been in nearly every State of the rebellion ; had traveled thirteen thousand miles ; had been engaged in many battles and skirmishes, always with honor, and almost always with conspicuous gallantry. If there was a single regiment in the service which made a prouder, brighter record in three years service, I am unacquainted with its history. 62 CHAPTER XXVII. TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AT DES MOINES MOVE TO THE " FRONT" CAMPAIGN IN MISSOURI JOIN GENERAL GRANT S ARMY BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON BATTLE OF BLACK RIVER BRIDGE COLONEL KINSMAN SLAIN BATTLE Of MILLIKEN S BEND SIEGE OF VICKSBURG JOIN THE TROOPS UNDER BANKS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF CAMPAIGN IN LOUISIANA VOY AGE TO TEXAS RETURN MOVE UP RED RIVER TO REENFORCE BANKS CAM PAIGN IN ARKANSAS GENERAL CANBY S CAMPAIGN OF MOBILE AGAIN IN TEXAS MUSTERED OUT DISBANDED AT DAVENPORT. THE Twenty- third Iowa Volunteers, by universal consent the heroes of the battle of the Black River Bridge, and the equal sharers with other troops of the honors of many battle-fields, were recruited from counties in no less than three of our Congressional Districts the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth though it is but just to state that Polk, the capital county, contributed more generously to the organization than any other county. It was decidedly just and proper, therefore, that the regimental rendezvous should have been, as it was, at Des Moines. Hither the different companies moved in the latter summer and early autumn of 1862, and were mustered into the service of the Union on the 19th of September. The field and commis sioned staff officers were : Colonel William Dewey, of Fremont county ; Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Kinsman, of Pottawattamie ; Major Samuel L. Glasgow of Wayne ; Adjutant Charles 0. Dewey ; Quartermaster Robert W. Cross ; Surgeon A. H. East, with Assistants S. Y. Campbell, C. B. Bosbyshell ; Chaplain Reverend Arthur J. Barton. It was a stout regi ment of hardy men, with an aggregate of nine hundred and sixty. 1 i Company A, from Polk, Story, and Dallas counties, was commanded by Captain Leonard B. Houston, whose Lieutenants were Devillo P. Ballard, Theodore G. Cree. Company B, from Polk, had for Captain Charles J. Clark, and Lieutenants Joel M. Walker, Stephen Waterbury. Company C, was also from Polk, Captain James C. Gregg, Lieutenants John A. T. Hull, Benjamin Jennings. Company D, Wayne county, Captain James W. Glasgow, Lieutenants Hiram Evans, James B. Ormsby. Company E, from Pottawattamie, Polk, Story, Harrison, and other counties, was com manded by Captain John C. Leininger, (who resigned in November, and was succeeded by William R. Henry), Lieutenants William E. Houston, William Merrill. Company F, enrolled in Page and Montgomery, Captain Charles G. George, Lieutenants Washington Rawlings, Isaac H. Walker. 490 TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 491 Not long after organization the regiment left " Camp Burnside." near Des Moines, for the front. Its first campaign was in Missouri, in which State it spent several months, performing guard, provost, and garrison duties, and engaging in a number of minor expeditions wherein the troops did considerable marching, suffered no little hardship, met the enemy in skirmish, and became enured to war. While at West Plains, small pox broke out in the regiment, but its ravages were happily stayed in a short time. The regiment performed heavy duties, especially by marching over the mountains of southeastern Missouri, and into the borders of Ar kansas, during the winter. But the campaign was more remarkable for the sufferings of the troops than for any great good accomplished. Colonel Dewey was among the first sufferers. He died of disease at Patterson, the last of November, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kinsman, promoted. Major Glasgow was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Charles J. Clark, major. Very early in 1863, Colonel Kins man was put in arrest by General Davidson, for refusing to obey an order. The order made by General Davidson, an unprincipled and tyrannical Vir ginian, was itself illegal. The Colonel was afterwards tried by court- martial, and acquitted of the principal charge, but nominally punished for using disrespectful language to a superior officer. I suppose very few officers who knew General Davidson, ever spoke of him in respectful language, except as required by regulations. The regiment took part in that march of suffering from West Plains by Eminence to Iron Mountain, elsewhere in this work described, and went into encampment at the last-named place in the latter part of February. Having made a halt of about a fortnight, the line of march was taken up for St. Genevieve. Thence the regiment moved down the Mississippi, but made a considerable halt at New Madrid and again at Memphis, so that it was the 1st of April when the command disembarked at Milliken s Bend, and joined the forces under General Grant, about to institute the grand campaign of Vicksburg. The brigade, in which were the Twenty-first, Colonel Samuel Merrill, the Twenty-second, Colonel W. M. Stone, and the First Battery, Captain Harry Griffiths, of Iowa troops besides the Twenty- third, was assigned to Carr s Division of McClernand s Thirteenth Corps. The regiment remained in camp near Milliken s Bend, engaged in drill and reviews, till the army started on the famous roundabout march for the stronghold. The details of the difficult, laborious march, need not be here set forth. Company G, Jasper county, was commanded by Captain James P. Roach, Lieutenants R. L. McCray, George F. Ingle. Company H, Madison county, Captain James F. Goolman, Lieutenants S. Q. Beckwith, William Mills. Company I, from Cass and other counties, was in charge of Captain James II. Coe, Lieutenants N. M. Whitted, John C. Brown. Company K, from Marshall county, came in with Captain Frederick J. Woodbury, Lieutenants N. S. Howard, George W. Raff. 492 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. A number of transports and gun-boats having run by the batteries of Vicksburg, the troops embarked, and moved down the river to a point not far above Grand Gulf, but on the opposite bank of the river. Here those first transported disembarked, while the vessels returned for others. The 29th of May, Admiral David D. Porter, with a fleet of seven gun boats, bombarded Grand Gulf in the presence of the army. The morning was clear and beautiful. There was not a cloud to be seen in the heavens. Not a breath of air was astir. The majestic river flowed by in sublime silence, with an unrippled surface, smooth as the polished face of a mirror. About eight o clock the fleet dropped down the river to begin the attack. Presently the remarkable silence was broken by the heavy boom of a single cannon, and directly the battle began in earnest. It was a grand sight the moving monsters in the water, belching forth flame, and smoke, and iron ; the im- moveable hills, wreathed with smoke, and sublimely vocal with the thunder of heavy ordnance ; the air filled with the flying, screaming missiles, the waters boiling like the waters of a great cauldron ; the transports and the levee crowded with troops, eager spectators of the noisy battle, and who rent the air with shouts when the gun-boats made successful shots or silenced the enemy s guns. The engagement lasted more than five hours, when the fleet, having silenced nearly all the hostile guns, withdrew from the contest. As the battle closed, the troops fell into line, and marched across the peninsula on a levee of the river. The army marched in ranks of four, and when all the troops had filed into line they were plainly visible on their elevated position from head to end of the column, and presented a scene of surpass ing interest. Reaching the river below Grand Gulf, they prepared a hasty supper, and went into bivouac on the green sward. Thousands had gone to sleep, when a tremendous sound of heavy guns shook the earth, and aroused the slumbering army. The cannonading continued thirty minutes, when a dark object with a mouth of flame appeared in the river toward Grand Gulf. Then another, and another. The transports had run by the batteries under cover of the fire of the gun-boats. Their arrival, w r ith the welcome intelligence of "no casualties," brought forth loud cheers from the whole army. Early on the following morning the troops embarked, and after a short voyage down the river landed at Bruinsburg. The Twenty-third joined in the march into the interior, which was at once commenced, and which very soon brought on, as is well known, the battle of Port Gibson. The brigade was at this time commanded by Colonel Stone, of the Twenty-second Iowa, and formed the van of the army. It was first in the battle of Port Gibson, and the last out of it. The Twenty-third, Lieutenant- Colonel Glasgow TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 493 commanding, fought with uncommon gallantry in this its first battle, and suffered more heavily than any regiment in the brigade. 2 The command took part in the subsequent movements of the division, which belonged to the corps that, having fought, almost alone, the first battle of the campaign, was not called into action in the two succeeding en gagements. A division of this corps, that of Hovey, stood the brunt of battle at Champion Hills, the other divisions being but slightly engaged or in reserve. Carr was among the latter. But the rebels having been thoroughly beaten, the troops of the reserve moved at once in pursuit, and, having captured many prisoners before sunset, continued to march on in the direction of Vicksburg, giving no rest to the wicked rebels. They at tempted to make a stand at Black River, but were driven by McClernand from that their last position outside the works of Vicksburg, by a sharp en gagement, fought on the 17th of May. This was called THE BATTLE OF BLACK RIVER BRIDGE. The pursuing Unionists, leaving their bivouacs at daylight on the morn ing of the 17th, pushed rapidly forward, McClernand s Corps in the advance, and Carr having the extreme front. The enemy was found strongly posted on both sides of the Black River. At this point the bank of the stream on the west side consists of high bluffs rising abruptly from the water s edge. On the east side there is an open, level bottom, about one mile in width, surrounded by a deep, miry bayou, from ten to twenty feet wide. Following the line of the bayou was a line of defences, consisting of a series of works for artillery, and a line of breastworks. The bayou served admi rably as a ditch in front of the enemy s outer line of works ; beyond which was another line, shorter than this, and about one-half mile in rear of it. Both extended from the river above the bridge to the river below. The position of the enemy, was, therefore, on an island, strongly fortified by the work of the engineer. McClernand immediately invested the place, Carr s division on the right, Osterhaus on the left. Brigadier-General Lawler, now commanding the brigade which Colonel Stone had commanded at the battle of Port Gibson, occupied the extreme right of the line. General Benton s Brigade extended from Lawler s left to the railroad. A few hours having been spent in skir mishing, General Lawler discovered that by moving a portion of his troops * The casualties were six slain, and twenty-seven wounded. Namely: Kitted, Calvin Johnson, J. G. Webb, C. C. Batterille, Mortimer W. Goss, W. H. Gumming, Henry Burns. Woundtd, Captain William R. Henry ; Lieutenant D. P. Ballard ; G. W. Smiley, J. E. Banning, H. J. Hiestand, W. Bissel, Henry Carr, G. W. McLaughlin, William Musgrove, William Woodward, James O Blennis, W. Hogue, Jacob A. Tabler, Marshall Craig, George T. Cavender, A. A. Brown, William Franks, D. H. Skidmore, E. A. Jones, N. W. Hiatt, Frank R. Howard, Peter Cocklin, Jacob Neth, Alvey Smith, Jamea Hoile, Harrison Hubbard, David Inman. 494 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. under cover of the river bank he could get a position from which the enemy s works could be successfully assaulted. A charge was accordingly ordered. The Twenty-second Iowa moved under cover of the river bank, but the other troops charged across the bottom, through the bayou, over the enemy s works, every foot passed being under a murderous fire, and in a very few minutes, eighteen guns and fifteen hundred prisoners were the trophies of this short, sharp battle. Those of the rebels who escaped set fire to the bridge, so that immediate pursuit was impracticable. The battle was ended. The charge had hardly occupied more time than it takes to tell of it. But along its track, the ground was covered with the dead, and the dying. The victims of this short combat numbered three hundred and seventy-three, most of whom belonged to the Twenty-first and Twenty- third regiments of Iowa Infantry. Among the slain was Colonel Kinsman of the Twenty-third. He had received two wounds through the body. He was as gallant an officer as ever drew a sword. Of an amiable disposition, brave almost to rashness, ever attentive to the wants of his troops and always prompt to insist upon their having all their rights, he was beloved by his command universally, as he was by all who knew him in the walks of private life. His death, heroic though it was, cast a gloom all over Iowa, which was deeply poignant in that part of the State where he had long lived. His regiment lost heavily in line officers, and in men. It went into the fight with most wonderful enthusiasm. The sutler of the regiment, seizing a gun, took part in the assault. He was slain. When the command came out of the fight, the companies scarcely averaging a score of men, General Lawler passed down the line, and with speechless emotion seized every man by the hand. Theji, completely overcome, the brave man lifted up his voice and wept. 3 The assault was called by General Grant, who never deals in injudicious praise, a brilliant and daring movement. It was "eminently brilliant," says McClernand, " and reflects the highest credit upon the officers and men who achieved the victory." Besides the Twenty-third, the Twenty-first Iowa was prominently engaged in this battle. It was on this field that Colonel Merrill, of that gallant command, was severely wounded, whilst bravely leading his regiment through a storm of bullets. The command then devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap. He speaks in the highest praise of the conduct of officers and men. "Major S. G. Van Anda," 8 So also did Iowa weep at the great immolation of the Twenty-third regiment at Black River Bridge. The loss of the regiment in killed and wounded was very heavy. Colonel Kinsman having been slain, and the regiment soon moving away in charge of prisoners, will, perhaps, account for the fact that no official report of the engagement, so far as the regiment is concerned, was ever published. I am indebted for my meagre account of the battle to reports of general officers. TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 495 says Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap, in this, his last official report, for in the next engagement of the regiment he was slain, "received the highest credit for the coolness and bravery with which he conducted the charge, the left being in front, through the storm of leaden hail. Much of the success of the charge is owing to his gallant conduct and daring example. Captain Harrison was one of the first officers on the enemy s works. Cap tains Swivel, Voorhees, Watson, Boardman, and Crooke behaved with great coolness. Lieutenants Roberts, Childs, and Dolson, received the praise of all who saw their bravery. Lieutenant Howard, acting adjutant, received a mortal wound while gallantly performing his part in this gallant charge. We lost many of our bravest men ; but it was a great under taking, and the object most important. All accounts agree in speaking of the conduct of officers and men of the Twenty-third in terms of unqualified praise. Captain McCray was mor tally wounded, as were Lieutenants S. G. Beckwith and J. D. Ewing. Of others who fell I cannot speak for want of official reports. I may state, however, as illustrative of the fearful ordeal through which the assaulting column passed, that of the thirty-seven members of Captain Gooiman s company who were engaged in the charge, twenty-two were hit. His two lieutenants and his orderly sergeant were slain, and a number more of his command received fatal wounds. He himself had a leave of absence in his pocket, which he had carried from Milliken s Bend. To the Twenty-third was awarded the duty of guarding the prisoners. It marched to the Yazoo, in guard of several thousand officers and men, the captured at Champion Hills and Black River Bridge, and embarked, after a most fatiguing march, for Memphis. The voyage was made, with some delays on the way. Returning, the regiment disembarked at Milli ken s Bend. This post was garrisoned for the most part by negro troops, who had but recently been received into the service, and were, consequently, raw and inexperienced. General Dennis was in command of the post, his forces numbering about fifteen hundred men. On the 6th and 7th of June, a considerable engagement took place. THE BATTLE OF MILLIKEN S SEND. The Union troops were encamped along the bank of the Mississippi, be tween the river and the levee which is here about one hundred and fifty yards from the stream. Breastworks had been thrown up on the right and left of the encampment. There were a few rifle-pits along the levee, which is at this place about eight feet high. These were the defensive works of Milliken s Bend. In the rear of the levee is a large plantation, abounding in fruit and ornamental trees and hedges. The colored troops occupying this encampment were, the Ninth Louisiana, Colonel Lieb, the Eleventh, 496 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Colonel Chamberlain, and part of the First Mississippi. The Twenty-third Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel Glasgow, was, except a small force of cavalry, the only command of white men present, and this had been so reduced by the casualties of its honorable service, that it numbered less than two hundred men fit for duty. Early on the morning of the 6th of June, Captain Anderson, command ing two companies of the 10th Elinois Cavalry, and Colonel Lieb, Ninth Louisiana, colored, made a reconnoissance in the direction of Richmond. Colonel Lieb marched on the main Richmond road to a railroad depot, about three miles from town, where he met and drove the enemy s advance, but in anticipation of an attack in force fell back slowly toward Milliken s Bend, directly after the first brush of the engagement. He had counter marched about half way to the Bend, when Captain Anderson, who had marched by a different road, came dashing up in his rear, hotly pursued by the rebels. Colonel Lieb instantly formed his blacks in line of battle, who delivered a volley into the advancing enemy, which turned him at once to the right-about. He retired precipitately, with considerable loss. This closed the contest for the day. Colonel Lieb returned to the Bend, where he was reenforced by the Twenty-third Iowa, reduced in strength as above stated. At three o clock of the following morning, the enemy appeared in strong force, advancing against our left in close column by division, with man} troopers on his right flank. The force now at the Bend consisted of the Twenty-third Iowa and the African brigade, and numbered less than eleven hundred combatants. They did not open on the enemy till he had got within point-blank musket range. They then let drive a well directed vol ley plump into the rebel columns, which caused them to waver and recoil. But only for a moment. T assault with great intrepid been drilled but a few days. rallied, and soon again moved to the colored troops were not well armed, and were not yet skilful in t General G their weapons, some of them having though they fought with acknow ledged gallantry, their execution was not first-rate, and the enemy gained our works. There ensued a fearful hand-to-hand contest. The rebels, rushing over the works with the savage cry of "no quarter," were met by the blacks with bayonets and clubbed muskets. The dreadful melee con tinued many minutes, black men and white mingling in the strange en counter, and falling together in the deadly strife. At length, our forces, receiving an enfilading fire, fell back to the defence of the river bank, when the gun-boats " Choctaw" and " Lexington" came to the rescue, and by a few broadsides soon sent the rebels tumbling over the works and the levee. They again essayed attack, now moving against our right, but were quickly repulsed. TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 497 The battle closed at noon, in the complete defeat of the rebels, who left more than an hundred of their dead upon the field, and who lost in others killed and in wounded probably not less than five hundred more. The loss of the Unionists was about six hundred. The Twenty-third Iowa lost in killed and wounded about fifty officers and men, among the former being Captain John C. Brown, a gallant officer and worthy man, one among the many representatives of the Iowa press who gave their lives in defence of the Union against rebellion. Adjutant Thomas Free, of the Eleventh Louisiana, who was here conspicuous, and who received several balls through his uniform, was a citizen of Iowa, But Colonel Chamberlain, of that regi ment, who had been Major of the First Iowa Cavalry, conducted himself. I regret to say, in a very unsoldierlike manner. All others, officers and men, so far as records show, behaved most handsomely, The Twenty-third fought with unsurpassed courage and tenacity. "The officers and men, who fought at Milliken s Bend, says General Dennis, deserve the highest praise for their gallant conduct, and especially Colonel Glasgow, of the Twenty-third Iowa, and his brave men. " It is undoubtedly true that this regiment won the proudest honors of the day on this "dark and bloodv field." The battle has become specially memorable from the fact that it was the first considerable engagement in which negro troops took part. Their con duct here was highly gallant and meritorious so much so that it received the warm encomiums of General Grant. It was regarded, therefore, as a justification of a policy which had met with much opposition, and had not been adopted by the general government without much misgiving and long hesitation. It was a marked coincidence, too, that an Iowa regiment fought with the African brigade in the battle, for it was an Iowa General, Hugh T. Reed, who did more, perhaps, than any other officer in the army, to bring into favor the employment of colored troops. He had advocated the policy with all the arguments which an acute and powerful mind could suggest, and had, before this battle, put it into practical operation at Lake Providence, of which post he was in command for several months, and though frequently attacked, invariably sent off his assailants thoroughly convinced that a battle there would be a useless waste of rebel blood and life. In another respect also, besides that of the gallantly of Lieutenant-Colonel Glasgow and his command, was the battle peculiarly interesting to the people of Iowa. Even that gallantry might not have saved the troops from utter de feat, perhaps general massacre, but for the timely aid of the gun-boats of the Navy. Those gun-boats were the fruits of Iowa statesmanship. It was James W. Grimes, a Senator of the United States from Iowa, who inaugurated and established the plan by which our rivers and our ocean coasts were protected 63 498 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. by iron-clad vessels. In the general dearth of statesmanship which prevailed in the early era of the rebellion, there was, nevertheless, vigorous growth in naval affairs. It is but the truth of history, that Mr. Grimes, the leading member of the naval committee, put flesh, and blood, and sinew, and muscle about the dry bones of the Navy Department, and breathed therein a living soul. To his statesmanship is due no little of the national glory which sprang from, the achievements of Foote, of Farragut, of Du Pont, of Winslow, to the common stock of which Porter might also have added, but for his unfortunate inability to distinguish between a matter of fact and a matter of imagination. Milliken s Bend was only one of an hundred en gagements made Union triumphs by the help of the navy. After this battle, the Twenty-third returned to its brigade and took posi tion in the investing lines around the works of Vicksburg. The regiment was not strong in numbers, but the officers and men who had escaped the ravages of battle and disease endured the severe labors and trials of the siege with as good spirit as was possible. The siege having been success fully concluded, the regiment marched with the expeditionary army against Jackson, and having taken full part in that campaign, returned to the vici nity of Vicksburg in the latter part of July. About the middle of August, the Thirteenth Corps, General Ord, was transferred to the Department of the Gulf. In this Department, the history of the Twenty-third Iowa was for nearly a year substantially the same as that of its gallant comrade regiment, the Twenty-second, the principal note worthy events of which have already been related. It will avoid boraceous repetition, then, here to state only in brief outline, that in the campaigning which has been described in Louisiana, in which the Twenty-second took part, the Twenty-third participated ; that in the fall it made the voyage to Texas, and joined in the march against Fort Esperanza, which fell into our hands without serious fighting ; that it spent the winter at Indianola, the spring on Metagorda Island, where Major Houston of the Twenty-third for some time commanded the Twenty-second, in the absence of its field officers ; and that, one of the best drilled and disciplined regiments that ever bore arms, it returned to New Orleans in the spring of 1864, to reen- force Banks, then retreating down the Red River to the Mississippi. It at once started up the river from New Orleans, General Fitz Henry Warren being in command of a considerable force, of which the Twenty- third, and a detachment of the Twenty-second, Captain Cree, formed the principal part. This force proceeded to Fort De Russey, but the naviga tion of the Red River above being obstructed, it returned to the mouth of Red River and went into encampment there. The 15th of May, the troops again embarked and proceeded to Semmsport on the Atchafalaya where TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 499 General Banks army had crossed on a bridge of transports. The regi ment arrived at Morganza on the 22d, and went into camp. Soon after this, the Thirteenth Corps was discontinued, and by the changes which were thus brought about the Twenty-third and the Twenty- second bade each other a final farewell. The Twenty-third, after a consi derable period of rest, moved into Arkansas. It was now in a brigade with the Twentieth, Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. Leake, a regiment from Wisconsin and one from Illinois. It belonged to the Third Division of the Nineteenth Corps, which was dispersed over the country, from the Shenandoah Valley to the Gulf of Mexico. The campaigning of the Twenty-third in Arkansas consisted rather of marches and countermarches through the mud about Duvall s Bluff and Brownsville, and hard labor on fortifications than of fighting. It did not here meet the enemy. Early in 1865, the command moved to the vicinity of New Orleans, and there awaited the general preparations for the last grand campaign of the war, that of Mobile. On this campaign, Lieutenant- Colonel Charles J. Clark was much of the time in command of the regiment, Colonel Glasgow being in command of the brigade. In the muddy marches, the siege labors, the assault of formidable works of the campaign, the regiment bore a con spicuous part, and in the various operations before the storming of Spanish Fort and in that brilliant charge, lost between thirty and forty wounded, one mortally. 4 The brilliant and memorable operations of the regiment in the campaign against Mobile ended its operations in the face of the enemy. It is a remarkable coincidence that at Spanish Fort it met and whipped the Twenty-third Alabama regiment, which it had met and whipped on the occasion of its first going under fire, at the battle of Port Gibson. But the regiment did not here end its campaigning. Remaining near the scene of its latest renown a little more than two months, it embarked again for Texas, arriving at Galveston on the 22d of June. Thence it moved by Houston to Columbus, and went into encampment. Colonel Glasgow and Lieutenant-Colonel Clark being necessarily absent in New Orleans, and Major Houston in command of the post, Captain J. J. Van Houten was in * Reverend A. J. Barton, Chaplain of the regiment, writing to the State Register, a short time after the capture of Spanish Fort, says : " The Twenty-third regiment was very fortunate. It had but thirty-five wounded, and but one of that number has died. The officers and men are enjoying fine health, and ready for any emergency the occasion may require. General Glasgow is in charge of the prisoners, and ordered to Ship Island with them." The only list of casualties, except that of Fort Gibson, of the Twenty-third regiment I have ever seen, either in manuscript or print, is a partial list sent by the correspondent just named to the Register, and which embraces only these names of wounded : Corporal Harrison H. Beighler ; John Love, Franklin Kridelbaugh, William Richmond, Elias Cottle, Richard Campbell, Seymour B. Williams, (mortally), Joseph C. Williams, John J. Rollings, N. E. Wilder, Lyman J. Jordan, John Hudson, John J. Harrison, Hamilton Roth. The letter embracing this list seems to have been written before the assault. 500 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. command of the regiment. A correspondent says, "we get all tlie chick ens, eggs, butter, watermelons, green corn, etc., we want, and don t have to pay much for them." After about a month spent rather agreeably in Texas, the regiment was honorably discharged the service, on the 26th of July, with the following officers : Colonel S. L. Glasgow, Brevet Brigadier-General; Lieutenant-Colonel Charles J. Clark; Major L. B. Houston; Surgeon 0. Peabody; Assistant Surgeon T. J. Caldwell; Adjutant E. B. Nelson; Quartermaster P. E. Grier. Company A, Captain D. P. Ballard; First Lieutenant John W. Mattox. Company B, Captain J. M. Walker; First Lieutenant M. C. Brown; Second Lieutenant Frank Weitman. Company C, Captain Ben jamin Jennings ; First Lieutenant L. A. Garrett. Company D, Captain William M. Littell; First Lieutenant Frank Crathorne. Company E, Captain William E. Houston. Company F, Captain I. H. Walker; First Lieutenant N. C. Ridenour; Second Lieutenant A. Van Eaton. Company G, Captain Thomas H. Miler. Company H, Captain R. W. Cross; First Lieutenant J. L. Shipley. Company I, Captain J. J. Van Houten; First Lieutenant E. P. Mills. Company K, Captain John McGowen; First Lieutenant H. C. Wilson. The regiment, numbering four hundred and seventeen, officers and men, proceeded to Davenport to be disbanded, and reached that city at a very early hour on the morning of August 8th. Not being expected at such a time of the night, it was not met with a public reception. "But they are, nevertheless," said the "Gazette," "most heartily welcomed back to the State they have made illustrious by their heroic deeds. A most palpable truth. Certainly there was no regiment of Iowa Volunteers more entitled to kind welcome home than the Twenty-third Infantry. It was a small matter that the inopportune hour of its return to the State prevented a formal reception. Its reception was in the hearts of the people, where it must forever retain a strong hold of kindly recollection mournful for its illustrious dead, grateful for its illustrious living. CHAPTER XXVIII. TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. CALLED THE TEMPERANCE REGIMENT RENDEZVOUS AT CAMP STRONG, NEAR MUS- CATINE EMBARK FOR HELENA, ARKANSAS MAKE SEVERAL MARCHES DURING THE WINTER OF 1862-3 HELENA INUNDATED A DARK PERIOD DAILY DRILL- JOIN THE THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS, MAJOR-GENERAL McCLERNAND THE CAM PAIGN AGAINST VICKSBURG BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON, OR THOMPSON S HILL- ACTIVE CAMPAIGNING BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILLS-SIEGE OF VICKSBURG TRANSFER TO THE ARMY OF THE GULF THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION BAT TLE OF SABINE CROSS ROADS A VOYAGE BY SEA TO FORTRESS MONROE, VIRGINIA BY STEAMER TO WASHINGTON CITY WITH GENERAL PHILIP SHER IDAN IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY BATTLE OF WINCHESTER BATTLE OF FISHER S HILL CEDAR CREEK AIRY WINTER QUARTERS AGAIN IN THE SOUTH HOME. SOON after the receipt of the President s Proclamation of July 2d, 1862, calling for three hundred thousand volunteers, Governor Kirk wood issued a commission to Eber C. By am, of Linn County, authorizing him to raise a regiment to be called the "The Iowa Temperance Regiment. " Circulars were accordingly distributed by By am through Linn and the adjoining counties. In a very short time more than double the requisite number of companies were organized and ready to march to the appointed rendezvous. They were composed of men of temperance principles and temperance habits that is to say, of men who touch not, taste not, handle not spiritu ous or malt liquor, wine or cider. If the men have since adopted other principles or other habits, it has only been at such times as they were under the overruling power of military necessity. Out of the companies reported as ready to join the regiment, choice was made as follows : three from Linn County, F, Gr, and H, under Captains Dirnmitt, Vinson, and Carbee ; two from Cedar, B and C, Captains Rathburn and Johnson; two from Jackson, A and I, Captains Henderson and Martin; Company D, from Johnson, Captain Casbeer; Company E, from Tama, Captain Clark; and Company 501 502 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. K from Jones, Captain Williams. E. C. Byam was duly commissioned colonel; John Q. Wilds, lieutenant-colonel; and Ed Wright, major. The rendezvous of the companies was at Camp Strong, near the city of Muscatine, where the Thirty-fifth was also rendezvousing at the same time. After medical inspection of the Twenty-fourth, some of the companies were more than full. Those making the excess were transferred to the Thirty- fifth. On the 18th of September the regiment was mustered into the service of the United States, and was henceforward officially known as the Twenty -fourth Iowa Infantry, though it was long called by the public and by newspaper correspondents the Temperance Regiment. The command remained at Camp Strong more than a month after muster in, having a great deal of fun, drill, parade, and bad water, and a good deal of measles in camp. Marching orders came on October 19th, and on the next day the regiment embarked for St. Louis. On reaching that city, orders were re ceived commanding the regiment to proceed forthwith to Helena. It reached that place on the 28th, disembarked, and went into camp about one mile south of town on the bank of the Mississippi River. In this its first encampment on the theatre of war the Twenty-fourth numbered nine hundred and fifty, officers and men, who at the time of landing were nearly all in apparent good health. In a short time, however, on account of ex posure during the late voyage, the steamers having been much crowded, and of the unhealthy locality, more than an hundred were on the sick-list. During the winter the regiment remained at Helena, except during three or four short periods in which it marched with certain expeditions, one or two of which had a military purpose in view, the others having no purpose whatever that has ever yet been discovered. This was the era when so many general officers had "expedition on the brain." On the 17th of November, Brigadier-General A. P. Hovey took some transports, and made an expedition. He took his command to the mouth of White River, and then back again, without having disembarked or seen an enemy. The Twenty-fourth was with him. The regiment, on the 28th, marched under the same general, in the direction of Cold Water, Mississippi. The com mand now had its first experience in marching, and found no difficulty in keeping up with veteran troops. Arrived at Cold Water, the brigade in which was our regiment halted, while another with a small force of cavalry, advanced to Oakland, some twenty miles further. On the afternoon of December 1st, artillery firing was heard in the direction of Oakland the first sound of actual battle that had yet reached the ears of the Twenty- fourth. The brigade at Cold Water was at once formed, and soon moved to the front on the double-quick. Having thus marched several miles, they heard of the retreat of the enemy, and themselves about-faced, and returned to Cold Water. They reached Helena again on the 7th of TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 503 December. On the morning of January llth, 1863, our regiment embarked with the troops who endured so much suffering during General Gorman s White River Expedition, of which I shall relate many particulars in my account of the Twenty-eighth regiment, Suffice it here, that the sufferings of all the regiments which went on this unfortunate and unprofitable expe dition were well nigh unendurable, and left marks in each organization which have never been effaced. When the regiment reached Helena on its return, the old encampment had to be abandoned on account of the rising waters. A new camp was made on the first range of hills in rear of the town and about a mile dis tant. Helena was soon inundated. It became a miserable burlesque of Venice. The citizens could go from house to house only in canoes or skiffs, which were constantly plying from place to place. All the streets and alleys were navigable. The government transports bringing supplies could with the greatest difficulty find places where the stores could be landed. Water, water everywhere. When the floods subsided, deep, unfathomable mud took the place of the waters. Sign-boards were everywhere stuck on poles, telling the unlucky teamsters of "No Bottom." It is impossible there can be a place in the world so utterly uninteresting, in the very air of which there are so many blue devils, as Helena in Arkansas. During this rainy winter the troops there quartered were unspeakably miserable. It was the darkest period of the war for them all. There could be no drills, no dress parades. The troops who were well enough to sit up at all sat in their cheerless quarters, ruminating on their own unhappiness, barely noting the drum-beat for the dead, beating evermore. General Fisk, com manding brigade, was so good a man and officer, so thoroughly appreciative of the situation, that he accomplished what mortal could accomplish toward driving off the clouds of despondency settling on the army. The expedi tion under General Washburne, which left Helena on February 15th, to open the Yazoo Pass to navigation aroused the army from its lethargy. It gave the troops who performed that heavy labor, change, which they greatly needed, and it gave all, hopes of active movements in the field. Of this expedition, General Fisk s Brigade formed a part. From its return till the commencement of the campaign against Vicksburg, our regiment had daily drill, and almost daily dress parade. The command, under the skilful and experienced instructions of Lieutenant-Colonel Wilds rapidly improved, and by the time the operations under General Grant commenced, was distinguished for its efficiency and discipline. When the army was reorganized for the active operations of spring, the Twenty-fourth was attached to the Thirteenth Corps. It was known to all that the taking of Vicksburg was to be the object of the campaign, and all looked forward to the hour of departure with joy. Nevertheless, when the 504 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. troops moved, their hearts were filled with deep and solemn feelings. Not one but had a brother or a favorite comrade sleeping the last sleep on the bluffs above or in the vale by the river s bank below. The Twenty-fourth had, I suppose, suffered neither less nor more than the other regiments. During the first three months of the year fifty of its members were buried near Helena. More were sent to the hospitals of Memphis, Cairo, and St. Louis. When the fleet was ready to sail on the llth of April, the regiment could muster but little more than six hundred, rank and file. The world knows how active was the grand campaign actually begun by the disembarking of the army at Milliken s Bend on the 14th of April, till after the assault of the 22d of May, and how hard were the duties of the investing army till the campaign was crowned with complete success on the 4th of July. The march, in Louisiana, from the point of debarking to a place named Perkins Landing, was made difficult and laborious by reason of the high waters. Bridges had to be built, corduroy roads made for the passage of trains. Here the army embarked on transports and barges, and proceeded on its way down the river to a point about four miles above Grand Gulf, and which is well named Hard Times, it having the appear ance of being able to maintain a very poor family in a very poor way during a favorable season. Here the army, without disembarking, witnessed the cannonading between the gun-boats and the rebel batteries at Grand Gulf. The batteries could not-all be silenced. The army accordingly disembarked, marched across to the levee below Grand Gulf, where the transports reached them, having run the batteries successfully. The Battle of Port Gibson, or Thompson s Hill as it is sometimes called, and with more geographical accuracy, was fought and won very soon after the Thirteenth Corps landed at Bruinsburg. In this engagement, the Twenty-fourth was almost all the time supporting artillery. Its loss was slight six wounded, one mortally. From this time until the Battle of Champion Hills, our regiment did much marching, skirmishing, and foraging, but was not engaged at Ray mond or at Jackson. On the 2d of May, the column marched into the beautiful town of Port Gibson, and bivouacked in the streets. The beauty and fashion of this place had made great preparations for a grand ball in honor of the victory over our fleet at Grand Gulf. The Battle of Port Gibson had altogether changed the programme. Many of our troops par took of the viands which had been prepared for guests of another sort. Here the column halted three days. The country roundabout Port Gibson is one of the richest cotton-growing regions of Mississippi. The white inhabitants were wealthy, cultivated after the Southern fashion, and aristo cratic according to Southern notions. The war had not hitherto been car ried into their door-yards. Their dwellings were magnificent mansions. They had fine carriages and blooded horses. Many of them had blooded TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 505 negroes, too, for coachmen. They fared sumptuously every day. Thus were they living till our troops landed, when the most of the wealthy planters suddenly decamped. Our foraging parties met with all the embar rassment of riches. They would return, loaded down with supplies beef, bacon, pork, poultry, vegetables. One might see gorgeous family carriages coining into Port Gibson from all directions, filled with geese, ducks, and chickens, or coming from the mills, laden with great bags of meal. Yet no man s property was destroyed, or even taken for the use of the army, without there being first obtained evidence of his disloyalty to the Union, which evidence very often consisted of the fact that he had run away from the Union army. No houses were burned, no cotton was destroyed. The Union troops simply did what the planters had done before them. They fared sumptuously every day. Having remained here long enough to get together a large quantity of supplies, the column moved on the 6th to Rocky Springs. On the next day, it moved to Big Sandy Creek, and was there reviewed by General Grant. On the 10th it moved still farther northward, halting near Cayuga, Here the grand army first came together, and marched forward in an unbroken line of several miles extent, making a grand sight. McClernand s Corps was on the left. On the morning of the 12th, his advance Division, being that of General Hovey, to which the Twenty-fourth belonged, moved to Fourteen Mile Creek, in the direction of Edwards Depot. Here he had a sharp skirmish with the enemy, and deployed his men in line of battle. The main rebel army from Vicksburg, twenty-five thousand strong, as reported, was drawn up two or three miles in advance. Meantime, while Hovey was here amusing the enemy, McPherson whipped the rebel force at Raymond. Hovey then withdrew, and taking a new road just made by his pioneers, passed through Raymond on the day after the battle, and reached Clinton on the 14th. On the next morning the Thirteenth Corps turned about, and marching west ward, reached Bolton Depot in the evening. In the battle of Champion Hills, fought on the 16th, and which was the most severe engagement of the campaign except the assault of Vicksburg itself, Hovey s Division bore the brunt of the contest for hours, fighting with a valor and obstinacy which conferred eternal honor upon the troops. The Twenty-fourth Iowa was second to no regiment in splendid fighting on this bloody field. Not an officer or a man engaged but did his duty meritoriously, yea, with special gallantry. At one time in the fight the regiment advanced, unsupported, to charge a battery of five guns whose grape and canister were rapidly thinning the Union ranks. The Twenty-fourth rushed to the charge with the greatest enthusiasm, trampled down the gunners, and by their own momentum the men pressed far beyond the battery, driving the infantry supports away in wild confusion. But they were in turn attacked by over- 64 506 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. whelming numbers, and compelled to give way. It was in this daring charge that Major Wright was severely wounded. Here were slain Cap tains Silas D. Johnson and William Carbee, and Lieutenant Chauncey Lawrence gallant officers as ever lived or died in the cause of American nationality and of man. The loss of the regiment was severe. Forty -three officers and men were slain, forty more were borne with mortal wounds from the field to the grave, nearly thirty were maimed for life, and the whole loss, killed, wounded and captured, out of the four hundred and seventeen who entered the fight, was one hundred and ninety-five. Such was the great sacrifice of the Temperance Regiment on the glorious field of Champion Hills. 3 The regiment, with the division to which it belonged, did not join in the rapid pursuit of the enemy which followed this great victory, and did not take part, consequently, in the battle of Black River Bridge, the next day, 3 Killed, Captains Silas D. Johnson, William Carbee ; Lieutenant Chauncey Lawrence ; Sergeants Michael Seeber, Anthony Mattaneu, James S. Carpenter, William C. Steward, Absalom Simes, John Miller; Corporals Daniel M. Caton, Martin Guering, George II. Stoddard; Privates Henry Brandlett, Ashel F. Gage, Edward Henry, Lorenzo Ross, George Williams, Joseph P. Gallins, Albert R. Huey, Wil liam C. Huey, Isaac Boyers, Silas Baily, James Hemingway, Simon Krouth, Thomas E. Langdon, John Cerbe, David Stainberger, Austin G. Spreague, Simon Bogenz, John Gross, George W. Goodman, Crute Anderson, Homer H. Fellow, Robert L. Hill, Mahlon B. Stream, Charles O Kelley, George W. Rollf, Isaac Hershberger, Wellington Mitchell, Henry H. Stephens, Samuel J. Noyes, Darius C. Hedge, Alexander Casselman. Wounded (mortally), Sergeants Alfred J. Scofield, Emor Ramsey; Corporals William A. Seeber, William P. Cochran, Frank Robinson ; Privates Daniel W. Vance, George W. Nelson, William Barber, William Aikman, James Hickson, Theodore Jacobson, Patrick Pendergast, Alfred J. Waddilow, James Ilakeman. William Peters, Frederick Mungessor, George Blackburn, Perry Burnett, John II. Hawkins, Albert G. Woore, Irenius Smith, Isaac P. Walker, Joseph Weddin, George Hillman, J. Christopher Clinack, Francis Y. Me Williams, Washington Turner, Andrew Doty, James A. Porter, John Hull, Jackson Boyer, Loren Sisson, James M. Taylor, Harrison W. Day, Hiram Gunter, Wil liam 0. Kelley, Delos Sweat, Jacob Umbarger, Caleb Archer, Samuel K. Powers. Wounded and permanently disabled, Sergeant John Vasser ; Corporals Robert Kneely, John R. Serrin; Privates David F. 0. Cattell, Stephen Depue. James Esmay, Cornelius M. Kenley, Benjamin Van Steenberg, Albert Walker, Hugh Murry, James V. Barnard, Isaac Newton, John Hastings, Henry Kuntz, James Stephenson, Addison W. Zwicher, Walter Gater, James Matthews, Francis Rosa, Jacob W. Hosier, Robert Brown, Wellington Carrant, James Green, John Lock, John E. Mason, Samuel E. Quick, James C. Smith, Charles Ingraham. Wounded, Major Ed. Wright; Captains Leander Clark, James W. Martin; Lieutenants S. J. McKinley, J. C. Gue, S. S. Dillmnan; Sergeants J. B. S \vaffird, Anson R. Hodgkins, Charles Davis, E. C. Miles, James G. Potter, Royal S. Williams ; Corporals William B. Davis, George M. Scott, Robert B. Steward, James Oxley. Samuel Correll, Farnsworth Cobb, Thomas B. Fawcett, John E. Jayne, James M. Gardner, Hardy Williams; Privates John Drown, Isaac N. Esmay, John Storm, C. T. Bumgardner, William P. Tansey, A. M. Gifford, Thomas Pendergast, Thomas Sims, L. L. Houtcn, John Miller, Salem L. Morse. William Myers, Rufus N. Rosenberger, Albert D. Carmichael, Oliver F. Glenn, L. Monroe Kepper, Eddie Kepper, John Renfro, Isaac R. Woodcock, David Boyd, John H. Hunter, John W. Hagg, Alexander S. Taylor, David C. Winans, Emmor Gregg, Hugh M. Blakely, James M. Carrington, Davis M. Leland, Tiberius Donaldson, Edgar Babcock, Thomas D. Lain, Wil liam White, Winfield S. Kellogg, Frederick Krumwiddie, Joseph Turner, Carl Beeze, Charles W. Tyson, Samuel Cozine, Lorin E. Grout, John V. Young, John W. Ferkins, Alfred Walton, Anthony Cooper, A. W. Noah, Francis N. Bever, Henry Wendell, Thomas Sennett, Leonard Gee. Missing (believed to be killed), Job Cuttell. Captured, Privates E. S. Huber, James Wingert, A. Y. Worthington, Axim J. Lamb, Frederick Verner, A. T. Waler, Anthony R. Betzer, James SI ife, James Wagner, Josiah Bundy, Benjamin Clendenan, James H. Potter, Franklin Sinkey. TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 507 where the Twenty-first and Twenty-third Iowa regiments won the first honors and suffered the saddest losses. It joined the beleaguering army soon, however, and bore its full share in the siege of the rebel stronghold. When Vicksburg surrendered, there were few regiments in all the army which had accomplished more, or suffered more, in bringing about the great victory than the Twenty-fourth. But it was not yet to have rest, for at once joining General Sherman s ex peditionary army, it took part in the campaign of Jackson a campaign of great labors and of great results, but without a general battle. Johnston having been driven far to the eastward, and central Mississippi laid waste, the army under Sherman returned to the vicinity of Vicksburg, and most of the troops which had been instrumental in the reduction of that place were granted rest. But the Thirteenth Corps, now commanded by General Ord, was transferred to the Department of the Gulf, having had only about a fortnight s repose after the Jackson campaign. The history of the Twenty-fourth in this department until it joined the army on the Red River Expedition is devoid of memorable events. It took part, in the fall and early winter of 1863, in one or two expeditions, but though the troops marched much, labored much, and sometimes met the enemy in small force, their marches, labors, and skirmishes, were barren of results. The first of the year 1864 found the regiment encamped at Algiers, weather very wet, the mud and water rendering the camp almost impassable to man or beast. Recollections of Helena came back forcibly to the men s minds, but the 14th of January, quarters were obtained in warehouses. The 21st, the command moved, and the next day encamped near the north ern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, by Madisonville. This was the most pleasant camp the regiment ever had, after leaving Camp Strong, near Muscatine. It was evacuated on the evening of February 26th. The regi ment was reviewed by General McClernand at Algiers on the 3d of March, and received the special commendations of that officer. From Algiers the Twenty-fourth moved by rail to Berwick Bay, and thence on the 13th joined the Red River Expedition under General Banks. The 1st of April, the command reached Natchitoches, after a march of nearly three hundred miles from Berwick Bay. Here it remained in camp till the morning of the 6th, when the army resumed the march for Shreveport. Encamped near Pleasant Hill on the evening of the 7th. On the next day was fought THE BATTLE OF SABINE CROSS ROADS. It was the intention of General Banks, when his forces moved from Grand Ecore on the morning of the 6th, that the advance should reach Spring- 508 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. field Landing on the 10th, and there effect a junction with Admiral Porter preparatory to the final combined movement against Shreveport. His army moved in unique fashion. The cavalry had the advance. It was fol lowed by prodigious trains, enough, one might suppose, to have formed the impedimenta of the army of Xerxes. The Thirteenth Corps came next after this prodigious train, but marching in disjointed manner, one division far in advance of the other. The Nineteenth Corps was several miles in rear. Now when it is considered that the roads in this part of Louisiana are narrow and bad, that the country is covered with a dense pine timber, rendering military operations on a large scale impracticable, except in a few localities, and cavalry absolutely useless, it might seem that common prudence should have dictated the most careful compression of the line of march, the ut most caution against surprise, the greatest care in the selection of a posi tion on which to deliver battle, and constant vigilance in keeping the troops in hand. On the contrary, the enemy having hitherto offered the merest show of resistance to our advance, it is not too much to say that General Banks had his army all the while in air. Thus his troops were moving recklessly, blindfold, as it were, when on the afternoon of the 8th, at Sabine Cross Roads, nesfr Mansfield, the mounted advance came upon the enemy in force, and, fighting on foot, was soon defeated. The enemy s line over lapped ours on both flanks. Embarrassed by their horses, astonished at the unexpected fury of an enemy whose heels only they expected to see, the cavalry melted away, and speedily became a rout of shrieking men on frightened horses. The Thirteenth Corps was hurried into action division at a time, but though each fought gallantly to stem the tide of defeat, each was compelled to give way. The troops fell back in confusion. The enemy pursued, and, flushed with victory, fell upon the Nineteenth Corps, in the very act of deploying into line of battle, but met with the first check of the day. But he was not repulsed, and the whole army was soon in retreat, having lost two thousand, killed, wounded, and prisoners, several batteries of artillery, and large quantities of property. Such was the disastrous battle of Sabine Cross Roads, in which the troops engaged fought with great valor, but which was lost to the Union arms by reason of unskilful generalship on the part of the commanding of ficer, and by that alone. Few troops ever fought more bravely than those who were compelled to pass under the yoke of this defeat, and it is impos sible that any could ever have been handled worse. The defeat, therefore, brought unmixed disgrace upon General Banks, but no discredit to his troops generally. Only half the Twenty-fourth regiment took part in this engagement, five of the companies being on guard duty with the train in the rear. To get into the fight, the command was marched several miles on the double- TWENTY-FOUKTH INFANTRY. 509 quick, and then pushed into battle with the division, after the other divi sion of the corps had been thoroughly defeated. The regiment fought for more than an hour, and then gave way with the division. Major Wright commanding says his officers and men behaved handsomely, standing firmly at their posts until ordered to retreat. The regiment lost thirty-four, wounded and captured. Captain Wilbur C. Dimmitt, a brave oificer and accomplished gentleman, was severely wounded. He fell into the hands of the enemy, and not long afterwards died. 4 General Ransom, an intrepid commander, beloved by his troops as Gene ral MePherson was by his, was wounded at Sabine Cross Roads. The de tachment of the Thirteenth Corps Third and Fourth Divisions which he commanded on this expedition took charge of the train after the battle, moving in guard thereof to Grand Ecore. In the retreat from Grand Ecore, the Twenty-fourth frequently met the enemy in skirmish, and lost several men wounded. After the army reached Morganza on the 22d of May, the regiment joined in a reconnoissance to the Atchafalaya, during which Captain B. G. Paul was slain and a number of men wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Wilds had rejoined the regiment at Alexandria, after a considerable absence in Iowa on recruiting service. About the middle of June the command left Morganza, and having en camped at Greenville, near New Orleans, a few days, and at Kennerville a few days more, hastened to Thibodeaux in the latter part of the month to repel an enemy who turned out to be imaginary. Having stayed here a few days the regiment returned to Algiers, whence on the 22d of July, it commenced the voyage by river, gulf, and ocean, to Alexandria, in Vir ginia, arriving on the evening of the 30th. Passed through Washington the next day, and moved right on by cars to Monocacy, Maryland. Soon afterwards, it moved to Harper s Ferry, and joined the forces under Gene ral Sheridan, to take part in that officer s campaign of the Shenandoah Valley. The first great engagement of the campaign was the battle of Winchester. * The following is the list of casualties : Surgeon J. M. Witherwax, captured ; Assistant Surgeon II. M. Lyons, captured; Captain Wilbur C. Dimmitt, Company F, wounded severely and captured. Privates Nathan Edmonson, Company S, John L. Kent, wounded, William Crisman, wounded, Henry W. W. Scott ; Corporal John B. Crisman. Sergeant John Hershey, Company F, wounded. Corporal Herman Bleucthner, Company G, wounded ; Privates Henry Hefielfinger, wounded, Jack son G. Hall. Corporal Charles H.Johnson, Company K, wounded; Privates James E. Gilmore, wounded. E. William Webb, Company B, wounded and captured, John E. Gardiner, wounded in arm severely and captured, James R. Collins, missing, Benjamin F. Jenkins, captured, Jesse Rigby, captured. Privates Stephen R. Rushton. Company E, wounded and captured, Rufus W. Rosenberger, cap tured, William L. Conant, captured. Amos Brenneman, Company F, captured. Corporal James H. Selby, Company G, captured ; Privates James H. Wagner, captured, William Netterhizer, captured, Nelson J. Potter, captured, Rufus R. Hall, captured, Justice L. Streeter, captured, Josiah Litchte- borger, wounded and captured ; John F. Rodgers, wounded and captured. Josiah A. Hanna, Com pany K, captured, Granville McC. Atkinson, captured, Daniel G. Zebo, captured. 510 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. In this long and severe contest the Twenty-fourth, as we have seen in the history of the Twenty-second regiment, fought with prominent gallantry, and lost many of its officers and men. Captain Joseph R. Gould and Lieutenant Sylvester S. Dillman were slain while leading their men in the hottest of the fight; Adjutant Daniel W. Camp, Lieutenants W. W. Edg- ington, and Royal S. Williams were wounded. The entire loss of the regi ment was seventy-four, killed, wounded, and captured, there being only three captured. Leaving the killed to be buried, and the wounded cared for by the proper details of men, the regiment pushed on up the valley with the army. THE JtATTLE OF FISHER S HILL. Immediately after the battle of "Winchester, Early withdrew to Fisher s Hill, a strong position just beyond Strasburg, and commanding the town. Here he made a stand, his right resting on the base of Massanutten Moun tain, his left on the Little North Mountain, his line thus extending across the Strasburg Valley. Notwithstanding the strength of the rebel position, General Sheridan determined to deliver battle. His army was in position early on Thursday morning, the 22d, Crook s Eighth Corps, the Army of Western Virginia on the right, the Sixth Corps in the centre, the Nine teenth Corps on the left. There was considerable manoeuvering until after noon. Emory demonstrated on the left. Ricketts Division of the Sixth Corps advanced directly in front, and Averill s Cavalry drove in the enemy s pickets. Under cover of these demonstrations Crook moved out to the extreme right, and by an arduous march gained the enemy s left and rear, and, charging with splendid impetuosity, drove him from his intrenchments in utter confusion. Wright and Emory at the same time moved against the enemy, who fled in disorder and rout before the dashing attacks of the whole Union army. It was a short fight, and a magnificent victory. Nearly twelve hundred prisoners of war, sixteen cannon, and immense spoils besides fell into our hands. The loss of the rebels was also great in killed and wounded, whilst that of the Unionists did not probably exceed five hundred, all told. The enemy s fire was wild. He was thrown into panic by the suddenness with which Sheridan dashed against him with his whole force. And hence the troops, looking at their small losses, not thinking that they won the battle by their legs and their enthusiasm, did not regard it as so great a victory as that of Winchester, which preceded it, or that of Cedar Creek, which followed it. In sober truth, there were but few so great victories during the war, gained with such little cost of life and blood. In this engagement, the Twenty-fourth took active part, but as it lost only five wounded, it was a matter of doubt for some time whether its ope- TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 511 rations should be reported ! So apt are even the most skilful and gallant officers to associate great victories with great losses, instead of results. The regiment moved from its position in the line to the extreme left, pass ing with almost miraculous safety, through a shower of shells. It went into position, in support of a Maine battery, and there remained under fire, but covered much by the nature of the ground, till Sheridan s signal ordered the charge along the whole line, when it dashed forward with yells that made the welkin ring. The quick, decisive battle over, the regiment at once took up the pursuit, and marching the livelong night close to the enemy s rear, reached Wood stock early on the morning of the 23d. During this march Captain McKinley was severely, and several men were slightly, wounded by the enemy s fire. Pursuing as far as Harrisonburg the regiment went into camp. Countermarching with the army it took position on the line of the Cedar Creek, which was soon well fortified on the left and centre. Early having been heavily reenforced, turned this position on the morning of the 19th of October, and came near ruining our army by a similar plan to that of Sheridan against him on the field of Winchester. Sheridan was at the time at Winchester, on his return from Washington. His wild ride to the field of battle, and his saving the day, can never be forgotten, for they have been made immortal by the genius of T. BUCHANAN READ, whose thrilling poem upon this subject is the most soul-stirring lyric of the war. In this the last and crowning victory of the campaign, the Twenty-Fourth bore a brilliant part, losing here its commanding officer, mortally wounded, and many others in death and wounds. Nearly an hundred of its officers and men were placed hors-de-combat on this bloody field, on which no regi ment in all the Union army fought more heroically, or more steadfastly than the Iowa Twenty-fourth. The same may be safely said, too, of its conduct at Winchester and Fisher s Hill. During the campaign its losses were nearly two hundred, officers and men. 5 6 The names of the wounded at Fisher s Hill, and on skirmish, have not been reported. The following is the official list of the killed, wounded, and captured, at Winchester and at Cedar Creek: BATTLE OF WINCHESTER. Company C Captain Joseph R. Gould ; Lieutenant S. S. Dillman ; Pri vate William II. Davis. Company EJohn W. Arbuckle, Woostor B. Bricker. Company F Albert D. Carmichael, Theodore Stinger, Ilenry M. Reed. Company G Q. F. Coleman, Charles II. Dean. Company H Sergeant Hardy Williams. Wounded, Officers, Adjutant Daniel W. Camp; Lieutenants Washington W. Edgington, Royal S. Williams. Company A Captain Seymour J. McKinley; Sergeant Winfield S. Kellogg; Corporals John Laing, Byron Cotton; Privates James H. Cottral, Ilenry Kain, Frederick Krumwide, Rudolph Smith, John Sturm. Company B Corporal Carlos F. Weeks ; Privates John Bardue, Ezra Goodrich, Robert Irwin, John S. Pitman, Samuel S. Rice, James D. Dickinson, James Fletcher. Company C Sergeant Francis L. Sheldon; Privates Daniel Trivetts, William 0. Miller, David C. Cole, Robinson Layport. Company D Corporal Cornelius F. Bumgardner; Privates Thomas R. Chandler, Samuel Godlove, 512 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. With the battle of Cedar Creek, the campaign of the Shcnandoali Valley was brought to an end. Our regiment did not afterwards meet the enemy. It performed heavy escort duty for a time, marching and countermarching between Cedar Creek and Martinsburg, and in the latter part of November went into cold, airy encampment on the Opequan. The men constructed huts, however, and got to be quite cozy, but near the close of the month Isaac Miller, Israel M. Hitter, Sooter Spillman, Cornelius M. Westfall, Arthur Y. Worthington, Thomas Pendergest ; Corporal William E. Berry. Company .E Privates Elias Brewer, Joseph Pass. Company F Sergeant John Hershey; Privates John F. Oldham, Anthony Betzer, Smith P. Cor nell, Christian Hummer. Company G Privates Walter Smithson, Thomas Croghan. Company H Sergeant George W. Martin ; Corporal William M. Giffen ; Privates Martin Ham mond, Daniel L. Post, Richard S. Hollingshead, John W. Carmichael. Company 7 Sergeant McCourtney B. Nichols; Corporal Abraru B. Stoner; Privates James H. Porter, Thomas Hood, Ira S. Miller, John Johnson. Company K Sergeant George L. Foote; Corporal George W. James; Privates David A. Mc- Daniels, Robert Garrett. Prisoners, (all since paroled), Corporal Warrington Dobson ; Privates Joseph Dougherty, James Adams. CEDAR CREKK. Company A Killed, Private Joseph Conway. Company B Corporal Charles F. Weeks. Company D Sergeant Chester F. Channell. Company F Corporal A. C. McCoy ; Private George S. Smith. Company G Peter Carney. Company K Sidney B. Diamond. Wounded, Offi cers, Lieutenant-Colonel John Q. Wilds, (mortally); Major Ed. Wright. Company C Captain Edwin H. Pound. Company If Captain Abraham R. Knott. Company K Captain Aaron M. Loomis. Company F First Lieutenant Christian H. Kurtz. Company A Sergeants Thomas E. Blanchard, Lewis A. Carman; Privates Forest M. Miles, Francis H. Calder. Company B Sergeants Martin F. Rigby, Elias Gabriel; Privates Sanford A. Crisman, Benjamin C. Zeitler. Company C First Sergeant Andrew Pierce ; Corporal Thomas B. Faucett. Company D Sergeant Jeremiah B. Swafford; Corporal William P. Tansey ; Privates Thomas Evans, Orrin B. Ford, John Knott. Company E Privates Andrew J. Roberts, Robert Filloon, Morris Mink. Company F Privates George W. McCoy, Milton T. McCoy, Christian Hummer, Matthias Kafer, John W. Firkins. Company G Corporal William Franks; Privates William H. Updike, Henry II. Fitz, William J. Giddings, David J. Forsyth, John W. Hagey. Company H Privates Samuel P. McCauley, Samuel P. White. Company 7 Sergeant McCourtney B. Nichols; Corporals Francis A. Dawes, Elias M. Cook ; Pri vate Thomas Ashkettle. Company K Sergeants James L. Hall, Farnsworth Cobb; Privates James E. Gilmore, James A. Gould. Prisoners, Officers, Company G Captain William W. Smith. Company A First Lieutenant Charles Davis. Company A Corporal Francis J. Esmay. Company B Sergeant John B. Crisman; Private James E. Crisman. Company C Privates David C. Cole, Western D. Norton, II. A. Downing, Wil liam H. Hunnicutt. Company D Sergeant Dewitt C. Holmes ; Privates David W. Parrott, David P. Hawthorne, Lymau Bartlett, Edmond C. C. Geary, William A. J. Hill. Company E Sergeants James Rokcs, Mefford Mitchell ; Corporal Richard T. Shelly ; Private William Delany. Company F Sergeant John Hershey; Privates James B. Nicholson, James T. Morford, Samuel H. Hallock, Christopher Kafer. Company G Privates Morris Hutton, William M. Coleman, Dehart C. Lucus. Company 77 Sergeants James Oxley, William C. Glover; Corporal Josiah Bundy; Private Francis Smith. Company 7 Sergeant Willis F. Hanson; Corporal Samuel Correll; Privates Robert Cod ling, William II. Koontz, George W. Palmer, Joseph Sheets. Company K Privates Henry Moore, II. F. Paul, Joseph Ruly, William White. TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 513 the command was ordered to Winchester, where it remained on post duty till ordered south in the early part of January, 1865. At this time the officers of the regiment were : Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding, Ed. Wright ; Major, Leander Clark ; Adjutant, William H. Smouse ; Surgeon, Doctor Henry M. Lyons, with S. S. Cook, J. M. Lanning, assistants; Quartermaster, A. B. Eshelman. Company A Captain Seymour J. McKinley; Lieutenants Charles E. Davis, William B. Davis. Company B Captain William T. Rigby ; Lieutenants William Kelly, W. W. Edging- ton. Company C Captain Edwin H. Pound ; Lieutenants A. J. Scott, Andrew Pierce. Company D Captain Charles A. Lucas ; Lieutenants J. B. Swafford, D. W. Ott. Company E Captain James Rokes ; Lieutenant William T. Holmes. Company F Captain C. B. Bradshaw ; Lieutenant Thaddeus L. Smith. Company Gr Captain William W. Smith; Lieu tenant J. M. Hord. Company H Captain A. R. Knott ; Lieutenants F. R. Jones, A. R. Hodgkins. Company I Captain James W. Martin; Lieutenant J. W. McMichael. Company K Captain Aaron W. Loomis ; Lieutenants Royal S. Williams, James L. Hall. The 6th of January, 1865, the Twenty-fourth bade farewell to the Shenandoah Valley. Moving by cars to Baltimore, the regiment was there quartered in stables ! an insult which could have been nowhere else offered to troops who had proudly borne the colors of the Union at Port Gibson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Jackson, Sabine Cross Roads, Winchester, Fisher s Hill, and Cedar Creek. Thence the regiment moved by steam ship to Savannah, Georgia, where it had quiet for some two months. It then moved to Morehead City, North Carolina, in which State it performed heavy duties for some time, helping on the transportation between G-olds- boro and Raleigh. After the capitulation of Johnston it returned to Savannah, and thence made the same movement to Augusta and back, which has been noted in the history of the Twenty-second regiment. It was mustered out of service at Savannah, and from there moved to Iowa, and was finally disbanded in the early part of August. The Twenty-fourth Iowa Infantry, sometimes called our "Temperance," sometimes our "Methodist" regiment was among the most distinguished of our commands. Colonel Byam, a clergyman of the Methodist Epis copal Church, was compelled to leave the service by reason of ill health in the summer of 1863. Lieutenant-Colonel Wilds, who succeeded in the command, took faithful, conscientious charge of his troops, till he gave up his life in the cause of his country. Wright, the last commanding officer, was one of our most successful soldiers as he had been one of our most noted men in the walks of civil life. All the officers, and the men gene rally, were remarkable for their bravery, their powers of endurance, their moral rectitude. Not the stern soldiery which, under the inspiration of 65 514 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Hampden and the leadership of Cromwell overturned the monarchy of England, ever fought more bravely, or suffered more patiently, than the Twenty-fourth Iowa Volunteers. It is impossible that men should have ever gone into war out of a higher sense of duty than did those of this command ; and it is to the praise of morality, of temperance, of Chris tianity, that throughout a long career of as gallant service as was ever per formed, they were as brave as they were virtuous. No troops left the ser vice with a cleaner record than did these Methodist Volunteers, when, the war ended, they laid aside the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. CHAPTER XXIX. TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AT "CAMP McKEAN," NEAR MOUNT PLEASANT MOVE TO HELENA, ARKANSAS GENERAL SHERMAN S UNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON VICKSBURG BY CHICKASAW BAYOU THE ARMY UNDER McCLERNAND MOVES AGAINST ARKAN SAS POST ITS CAPTURE THE CAMPAIGNS OF VICKSBURG AND JACKSON- QUIET GENERAL SHERMAN S MARCH TO CHATTANOOGA THE REGIMENT EN GAGED ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, MISSIONARY RIDGE, AND AT RINGGOLD A QUIET WINTER THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN THAT OF SAVANNAH THE MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS THE CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA MARCH ON NORTHWARD MUSTERED OUT HOME. THE city of Mount Pleasant, the seat of the Iowa Wesleyan University, and of several other institutions of learning, has been called the Athens of our State. Distinguished for the intelligence and high-toned morality of its population, for its men who have become eminent in politics and litera ture, it is one of the finest little cities in Christendom. It was hard by this pleasant town, that the Twenty-fifth Iowa Infantry was organized, in the month of September, 1862, under the command of Colonel George A. Stone, who had been a lieutenant in the First Infantry, and a Major in the Fourth Cavalry. He had associated with him Lieutenant-Colonel Fabian Brydolph, Major Calvin Taylor. His Adjutant was Samuel Kirkwood Clarke, of Iowa City. Doctor William S. Marsh was surgeon, with James D. Gray and Henry M. Farr, assistants; Frederick J. Clark, Quarter master ; Reverend Thomas E. Corkhill, Chaplain. The companies composing the Twenty-fifth were enrolled in four counties of the First Congressional Districts-four in Henry, three in Des Moines, two in Washington, and one in Louisa. They moved to the rendezvous the 1st of September, with the following organization: Company A, Cap tain David J. Palmer, Lieutenants James M. Dick, John A. Young; Com pany B, Captain John A. Smith, Lieutenants Jacob B. Ritner, Samuel L. Steele; Company C, Captain Joshua G. Newbold, Lieutenants A J. With- row, J. W. Brush; Company D, Captain John L. Perkins, Lieutenants 515 516 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Robert M. Seamans, Albert A. Perkins ; Company E, Captain John N. Bell, Lieutenants Samuel W. Snow, John W. Shafer; Company F, Cap tain William G. Allen, Lieutenants Elisha T. Williamson, Thomas G. Stark; Company Gr, Captain Joseph Utter, Lieutenants B. D. Harper, William I. Tizzard; Company H, Captain James D. Spearman, Lieu tenants Alexander Lee, Alfred Wilson; Company I, Captain Samuel A. Russell, Lieutenants John Orr, Thomas Y. Williams ; Company K, Captain Hugh Gilmore, Lieutenants John Thompson, Wesley C. Hobbs. The number of officers and men, at the time the regiment formally entered the service September 27th was nine hundred and seventy-two, and it was very soon increased to within five of an even thousand. The regiment remained at Camp McKean a little more than a month, undergoing a thorough course of instruction in discipline and the drill. There is little doubt that Colonel Stone was one of the very best disciplina rians who entered the service from Iowa, or, indeed, from any State. Herein he had not only fine talents, but absolute genius. His troops were always remarkable for those admirable qualities which spring from a com manding officer like Stone. His regiment had been but a short time in camp till it presented, on occasions of battalion drill or dress parade, the appearance of a command of veterans. Early in November, the Twenty-fifth shook hands with the hospitable people of Mount Pleasant and "High Henry" County, and moved for the front. Merely stopping at St. Louis, it proceeded down the river, and on the 17th made the port of Helena, after having undergone the many dis comforts and annoying delays incident to the navigation of even the Father of Waters at a period of unusual drought. It remained at Helena about four weeks, portions of the command, however, accompanying reconnoiter- ing expeditions to White River, westward, and the Coldwater, in Missis sippi. The 22d of December, being then attached to General C. E. Hovey s Second Brigade of Steele s First Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, the regiment embarked on transport, and moved down the Mississippi with the forces under General Sherman, who soon afterwards delivered unsuccessful attack against Vicksburg by Chickasaw Bayou. The battle of this name, a series of disconnected engagements, and a final heroic charge by a few troops, who were repulsed with great slaughter, was the first in which the Twenty-fifth Iowa took part. But it did not join in the main charge against the enemy s impregnable position, nor did it meet with serious loss. One man was slain and a few were wounded. The army withdrew, and a few days afterwards passed into the command of General McClernand, at Young s Point. That officer designated the troops under his command the Army of the Mississippi, and at once began TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 517 the campaign which resulted in the capture of Arkansas Post, on the llth of January, 1863. In this campaign, in the battle which crowned it with victory, and enriched it with the spoils of war, the Twenty-fifth performed its part most handsomely, winning the praises of superior officers, and suffering a loss of about sixty, killed and wounded, and a few captured. Among the mortally wounded was Adjutant Samuel Kirkwood Clarke, a most promising young officer, warmly esteemed by the whole command. 1 The regiment, returning to the vicinity of Vicksburg, disembarked at Young s Point, and went into encampment within less than one mile of the famous "Butler Canal." The army remained encamped about Young s Point several wet, weary, gloomy months. There are qualities of a com mander of troops less noticed by the crowd, but not less valuable to the troops, than the quality of dashing courage on the field of battle. The eminent talents of Colonel Stone, of which I have already spoken, were specially exercised during this era of general sickness and gloom. He inaugurated a system of drill and exercise which did much in the way of counteracting the evil effects of long confinement on transports, and of an unhealthy locality. The strict policing of camp and quarters was constantly enforced. To this rigid but wise government of his command by the colonel may fairly be attributed the fact, that during the regiment s three months stay in that region of pestilence and malaria, but four men died in the camp of the Twenty-fifth Iowa ; whilst in most other regiments the deaths were numbered by the scores, and in not a few by fifties and hundreds. During the encampment of the regiment near Young s Point there were several changes in the command. Captain Smith, of Company B, resigned, 1 The following is the official list of casualties. Adjutant S. K.Clarke,(mortally wounded). Company A Wounded, Captain Palmer ; Sergeant James G. Vincent ; Corporal Samuel McKee ; J. Clary, John A. Hammond, R. E. Wilkin. Company B Killed, George W. Calhoun. Wounded, Sergeant T. J. Tount; Private Hanrey Millhone. Company C Killed, Corporal James W. Thompson ; Privates Henry R. Boley, Andrew J. Stand- ley. Wounded, Privates W. M. Hufstedler, Caleb B. Rhode, A. Kimple. Company D Wounded, Corporal John A. Johnson; Privates John Q. Dennis, (now dead), A. M. Fox, H. H. Mitchell. Company E Killed, Swan F. Peterson. Wounded, Captain Bell ; Privates E. A. Holland, L. New- comb, C. L. Renz, William Bauman, F. Mester. Company F Wounded, Lieutenant Stark ; Sergeant H. L. Dcnham ; Privates A. S. Paschal, R. B. Hewett, A. S. Smith, E. M. Sargent, C. C. Bailey. Company G Killed, Privates Andrew McGuire, George A. Rouse. Wounded, Privates Jacob B. Barnhart, James M. Kelly. Missing, Corporal C. J. Lemen; Privates Robert Clark, John G. Reese, Richard Storer. Company H Kitted, Sergeant Henry C. Zickafoose. Wounded, Sergeant John S. Athearn; Pii- vates Joseph Hesler, Alois Brotzer, Lewis Lavenburg, John Cole. Missing, Silas F. Mabee, John W. Ray, Thomas Jeflfere. Company I Wounded, Lieutenant Orr; Privates J. G. Smith, M. C. Ogden, J. G. Rowan. Company K Killed, Corporal George W. Wilson. Wounded, Privates James M. Philpott, Charles F. See, C. C. Stanley, M. C. Prier, A. J. Virgin, J. H. Harmon. 518 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and was succeeded by Lieutenant Ritner. Captain Russell, of Company I, also resigned. Private Thomas H. Maxwell was promoted to the command. Private William F. Conrad, of Company G, succeeded to the Captaincy of Company K, in place of Gilmore who had resigned at Helena. Dr. Farr succeeded Surgeon Marsh, resigned. Chaplain Corkhill also here left the service by resigning his commission. Finally, Lieutenant Samuel W. Snow, succeeded the lamented Kirkwood Clarke, as Adjutant. The 2d of April, the regiment joined its division in that expedition made by General Steele, to Greenville, Mississippi, and into the interior of the State, which not only materially aided General Grant by the large captures of stores made thereby, but served also to attract the enemy s at tention from the principal movement of the campaign. The division re mained encamped near Greenville, making sundry excursions into the ad joining country, till the 24th, when, the purpose of the movement having been entirely accomplished, it returned to Milliken s Bend. Thence Colonel Stone, commanding his own and a Missouri regiment, marched to Richmond, where he remained a few days, and then marched to Grand Gulf, recently fallen into our possession. The main portion of the army had already moved on in the direction of Jackson, and the Twenty-fifth was ordered to escort the train. This was done, the regiment rejoining the division at Clinton, returning, victorious, from Jackson. The next day, the rebels were sorely defeated at Champion Hills, but the troops of the Fifteenth Corps did not take part in the engagement. Pushing on rapidly, they crossed the Black River at Messenger s Ferry, on the night after the battle at the railroad bridge, where Colonel Kinsman fell, and his and the Twenty-first Iowa regiments won the brightest laurels of that hard fight. Pushing on rapidly again, they opened up the communications by the Yazoo River, and on the evening of the 18th, began the investment of Vicksburg. The next day the investment was completed, and the siege of the strong hold fully instituted. In the memorable asssault of the 22d, in the dim- cult, wearing labors of the siege, from whose enervating influences it was impossible for even the strictest discipline and utmost skill to relieve the troops, the regiment well performed its part, and patiently bore its hard ships. In the assault, the command lost about thirty, killed and wounded, among the latter being Captain James D. Spearman, seriously hurt. The loss of the regiment during the entire siege, was about fifteen slain and four times as many wounded. It is well known that General Steele s Divi sion was on the right of the investment. Of his division, Colonel Stone s regiment held the right, and was therefore on the extreme right of the army. It is proper to observe that Colonel Stone speaks in the highest terms of the conduct of officers and men during the siege, and especially TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTKY. 519 notes a daring exploit by Private Isaac Mickey performed on the trying day of the assault. The regiment joined in the movement against Jackson, by which General Sherman followed up the surrender of Vicksburg, and in that its last cam paign in Mississippi lost one man slain and a few slightly wounded. Re turning it went into encampment on the banks of Black River, where, in quiet, the command spent several weeks, and measurably recovered from the effects of the long confinement in the trenches about Vicksburg. Nev ertheless, not a few of the men died from the effects of that confinement. The Twenty-fifth, being a part of the Fifteenth Army Corps, moved from its encampment near the Black River Bridge in September, and taking transport at Vicksburg for Memphis, thence entered upon the march across Tennessee to the relief of Chattanooga, which brought to General Sherman and his command so much renown. Near Cherokee Station, Alabama, the regiment participated in the sharp fight, in which Osterhaus defeated the rebels under Lee and Roddy, and in which Colonel Torrence, Thirtieth Iowa, was slain, whilst bravely leading his gallant command against the enemy. Having covered the army, crossing the Tennessee at Chickasaw, and East- port, Osterhaus returned from Tuscumbia, and also crossing the river at Chick asaw, joined the grand forward march to the relief of imperilled comrades. On the morning the Twenty-fifth Iowa reached Lookout Mountain, it pro ceeded at once into battle, General Osterhaus Division being temporarily at tached to the forces under Fighting Joe Hooker. In the battle above the clouds, the regiment was in support of a battery of New York artillery, and suffered no loss. The next morning the battle of Missionary Ridge was seen grandly raging from the regiment s position on Lookout Mountain. The Twenty-fifth hastened across the valley to Rossville Gap, and was there en gaged in picking up prisoners rather than taking an active part in the en gagement. Hence the command here, as at the battle of Lookout Mountain, had no casualties to report. But at the battle of Ringgold, or Taylor s Ridge, fought on the 27th, the regiment was heavily engaged. Colonel Stone reports a loss of twenty-nine wounded, and states that of twenty-one officers in the fight, seven were hit by the enemy s missiles. The day following the battle of Ringgold orders were issued reorganizing the division, whereby Colonel Stone came in command of the brigade, and that of the regiment devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Palmer, one of the most meritorious of Iowa officers. The command moved back to Chatta nooga, and in a few days to Bridgeport, Alabama. Encamping here until the 23d of December, the whole division moved to Woodville, on the Mem phis and Charleston Railroad, and went into winter quarters. The Third Brigade, Colonel Stone, made several expeditions, one of which was of 520 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. considerable importance. This was a march to the town of Lebanon, a small place near Sand Mountain. That part of Alabama about Lebanon contained many inhabitants who had remained true to the Union. Many of them joined Colonel Stone s column, and were organized into companies and armed. They afterwards did good service for their country. Return ing from Lebanon to Woodville, Colonel Stone was ordered to Cleveland, East Tennessee. Garrisoning that post till early in March, 1864, the com mand returned to Woodville, where it remained until it joined the forces under General Sherman, about to begin the campaign of Atlanta. The 1st of May, the regiment broke camp at Woodville and commenced the memorable march to the sea. It had meantime been assigned to the Second Brigade, which was composed entirely of Iowa troops, namely, the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth, and Thirty-first regiments of Infantry. It gained the name of the "Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps." It was commanded by Colonel James A. Williamson, of the Fourth, a brave and terribly energetic officer, who had long commanded a brigade with the utmost success, and who had been warmly recommended by General Sher man in the most public manner, for promotion to the rank which he actually filled. It was a blameworthy omission on the part of the authorities that his promotion was so long neglected. There was no brigade of the Fifteenth Corps which performed more eminent services in the grand campaign of Atlanta than Williamson s Iowa Brigade. It first met the enemy at Resaca on the llth of May, and from that time until the 5th of September, at Lovejoy Station, two marches beyond Atlanta, it was nearly every hour of the time within sound of the enemy s guns or under his fire. It met the foe in heavy skirmish and in battle on all the last five days of May, at Dallas. On the 28th, when the division on its right was about giving way before overwhelming numbers, it was Williamson s Iowa Brigade that saved that division and the day by a daring charge. It was engaged in the movements and heavy fighting which preceded the assault on Kenesaw Mountain and the evacuation of that strong position by the rebels. It was again most conspicuous in the corps at the great battle of Atlanta, on the 22d of July. Here again did Williamson s Iowa Brigade make a bold charge, under the eye of General Sherman himself, restored the line of the Fifteenth Corps which had been broken, drove the enemy from our works, actually kicking some rebels out of the way, and recaptured the guns which had been taken from us. Again at the battle of Ezra Church, it fought finely and suffered heavily. So also at Jonesboro, and at Lovejoy. Every where and at all times on the march by day or by night, in the trenches of a besieging army, or in battle, it faithfully, bravely, yea, nobly, did its part in that remarkable campaign. The regiments which composed the brigade all did so well throughout TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 521 th;it it would be impossible to decide that one was, upon the whole, more meritorious than another. The Twenty-fifth was in all the engagements which have been mentioned, and engaged with about equal prominence with the other regiments, except at the battle of Dallas, where its position was such that it did not fully take part in the charge. It was engaged, of course, in many skirmishes, which were all the time taking place with less or more loss on both sides, from the beginning to the end of the cam paign. It may be well to state, also, that when the town of Marietta fell into our possession, Colonel Stone was made commandant of that beautiful place, and his regiment detailed as Provost Guard. It rejoined the brigade and division on the Chattahoochee, after the Army of the Tennessee moved from the right to the left flank of General Sherman s power, and took posi tion near Roswell. The losses of the regiment during the campaign were considerable, but have never been fully reported in official form. 2 The 8th of September the regiment went into fortified camp at East Point, where it did not have quite a month s rest, for on the 4th of the following month, marching orders came. It joined forthwith in the rapid pursuit of Hood, marching by night as well as by day. On the 7th passed through Allatoona Pass, forever memorable as the scene of Corse s gallant battle, and Redfield s heroic death. The llth, the regiment was at Resaca and on the 16th encamped on the banks of Little River, Alabama, in sight of the grand heights of Lookout Mountains. Four days afterwards the command took part in a brisk skirmish with Wheeler s Cavalry in Turkey- But J. P. Wightman, regimental clerk, furnished the following list to the Daily Hawk-Eye, which is probably, making due allowance for typographical errors, correct : May 13th Kitted, John Laux, Cornelius A. Story, Isaac P. Mathews. Wounded, Sergeants Charles E. Barker, William A. Boyles, John Parent ; Corporal John W. McPherron ; Thomas F. Cochran, George W. Baker, James H. Scarff, Leroy Dorman, Hiram Rutt, Archibald H. Gabbert, Ivan P. Lee, William R. Miller. May 1-lth Wounded, Lieutenant John A. Young. May 21th Wounded, Thomas Murphy. Missing, George W. Gidley, E. P. Perry. May 28th Wounded, Corporal Henry M. Sears; William P. Gibbon, S. Clark, (mortally). June <Uh to July 2d Killed, George Calp. Wounded, Clark Sittler, George W. Riley. Missing, Sergeant Edward Hay ; Isaac N. Train. July 22d Killed, Calvin Robertson. Wounded, Sergeants Charles W. Payne, Ed. A. Baldwin; Cor porals Christian Hershey, Harry Cade (mortally); Privates Oscar A. Stout, James Groves, Legrand Kincaid, Walter Steingraber. July 28th Wounded, Lieutenant John C. Smith ; Francis M. Crawford, George W. Baker. August 6th to 21st Killed, William Mickey. Wounded, Adjutant Samuel W. Snow ; Sergeant John J. McClellan, James M. Duncan, William Hall, James W. Baker, Alexander Seeber, Charles F. Lee, John Paxson, Henry Granneman, Francis I. Jeffrey. August 31st Wounded, Lieutenant Adam Kimple ; Jasper Spencer, William F. Baily, Isaac House- worth, Thomas Craig; Sergeant James W. M. Allen. September 1st to 1th Killed, Sergeant John J. McClellan ; Corporal Lawrence M. Wilson. Wounded, George Porter, Henry L. Young, Henry Rausher, Nelson Bundy, Albert Lucky, Thomas Murphy. Captured by the enemy, James N. Barlow, Francis M. Lucas. Total loss during the campaign, sixty- eeven. 66 522 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. town Valley. The 26th, it began the countermarch, and on the 12th of November encamped near Atlanta. Three days afterwards, with its fine new colors, the gift of the Ladies Loyal Leagues of Burlington and Mount Pleasant, unfurled to the breeze, the Twenty-fifth departed from Atlanta, joining in the march to Savannah. In the labors and pleasantries of this campaign the regiment had its fair share. It was not called upon to fight much, but at Wright s Bridge, on the Ogeechee, two companies of the command whipped a regiment of rebel cavalry on December 6th, the companies not losing a man, the enemy two killed and a number wounded. The regiment entered the city of Savannah with the army on the 21st, and went into camp. There was considerable renovation at Savannah, where the command remained some time. Colonel Williamson" here commanded the division for a short period, as he also gave up the command of the Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, at Savannah, and sailed for New York on the Steamship Arago. Colonel Stone, Twenty-fifth Iowa, took command of the brigade, consisting of his own regiment, and the Fourth, Ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first regiments of Iowa Infantry. It was now called "Stone s Iowa Brigade." Lieutenant-Colonel Palmer was in command of the Twenty- fifth, and bravely, skilfully led it during the remainder of its history. The Campaign of the Carolinas, so far as Colonel Stone s command is concerned, began near Savannah on the 10th of January, 1865, and closed on the 26th of March two months and a-half of hard marching, great labor, and considerable fighting. The command fought in four general engagements at Little Congaree Creek, February 15th, at the city of Columbia, two days afterwards, at Cox s Bridge, March 20th, and at the Battle of Bentonsville, the next day. The Twenty-fifth took part in all these engagements, but the scene of the brigade s principal achievement was at Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, which was first occupied by Iowa troops. TBE CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. This achievement is fully described by Colonel Stone in his official report, of which I quote the main portions : "Early in the evening of February 16th, I had orders from Brevet Major- General Wood, commanding the Division, to be in readiness to cross Broad River during the night in pontoon boats, at a point to be designated by Colonel Freedale, of the Engineers, and so soon as crossed, to move on the city. The point determined upon was about one mile above the wreck of the bridge, and two miles above the city. It was expected to have effected a crossing by midnight, but the current of the river was so very strong, the TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 523 engineer did not succeed in getting a line across till three o clock of the morning of the 17th instant. " At ten minutes before four o clock, I sent over two boat-loads of sharp shooters, under Captain Bowman of my staff, with instructions to have them placed as skirmishers. He had particular instructions to keep his men quiet, and not to reply to any firing from the enemy unless satisfied they meant an attack before the column could cross. I went over with the advance of the first regiment the Thirty-first Iowa, and made a personal reconnoissance of the ground. It was discovered we had landed on a small island, crescent-shaped, about two hundred yards in length, and say twenty- five yards in width at the widest place. By the time four regiments had erected a line of works completely covering the island, day was just dawn ing, and the enemy but one hundred yards distant, discovering our proxi mity, became very active, and opened a very annoying fire from their sharp shooters. From a movement of troops towards his right, I was satisfied the enemy were making preparations to reenforce his line, and that to insure success with slight loss, I ought at once to attack without waiting for the remainder of the brigade part of the Fourth Iowa. " I accordingly made the following disposition of the different regiments for the attack : The Thirty-first Iowa, Lieutenant Colonel Jenkins, was moved across the island towards the mouth, nearly parallel to the river, until I found his left opposite the enemy s right ; Major Abernethy, commanding the Ninth Iowa, was placed on Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins left. "These dispositions being made to my satisfaction, I returned to the Island, and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts, Thirtieth Iowa, to assault immediately in front of it; the Twenty-fifth Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel Palmer, to follow as a reserve, and sent word to Lieutenant-Colonel Nichols, commanding the Fourth Iowa, to join Colonel Palmer as fast as his men " Everything now in readiness the signal was given and the assault made by all the regiments at the same time. The result proved no mistake either in planning or the execution. Before the enemy was hardly aware of it, we were right into the skirmish pits and scattering them in every direction. The Thirtieth Iowa here captured twenty-three prisoners. I accompanied this regiment in the charge, and can by personal observation testify to the gallant manner in which they made it. In front of the Island are a num ber of small bayous running parallel to the river, about twenty feet wide and waist deep ; few stopped to find logs on which to cross, but plunged in, holding guns and cartridge-boxes above the water. The enemy seeing his skirmish line destroyed, and the eagerness with which our success was being followed up, became confused and soon broke, leaving our way open to the city. From the prisoners I learned the crossing had been disputed 524 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. by Colonel Palmer s Brigade of Infantry and a regiment of Wheeler s Cavalry. "When within a mile of the city a carriage was discovered approaching, flying a flag of truce. It proved to contain Mr. Goodwin, Mayor of Colum bia, and the City Aldermen, who came to offer terms of capitulation. After some words had passed, they unconditionally surrendered to me the city of Columbia. " I joined the party in the carriage, accompanied by Major Anderson of the Fourth Iowa, and Captain Pratt of General Logan s staff, leaving the Brigade under the temporary charge of Lieutenant- Colonel Jenkins, and preceded the column about half a mile. Proceeding to the State House with Captain Pratt, I planted the first United States flag on that building. During the night the city was fired in a number of places by some of our released prisoners and negroes. A high wind was prevailing at the time, and although every thing was done that could be to prevent it, at least one- third of the city was destroyed. "I cannot at this writing give you an official invoice of the capture of this place, but it will consist in part as follows : five thousand stand of small arms ; forty pieces of artillery ; two hundred prisoners (including those in hospital) ; forty Federal officers released ; artillery and small arm ammuni tion in immense quantities, etc. To Iowa alone is credit to be given for capturing the Capital of the State that has been disloyal since the days of John C. Calhoun, and the contemplated Capital of the Confederacy, as none but Iowa troops were engaged. "During the engagement the regimental officers did their duty well Major Abernethy and Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins on the left and centre, and Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts on the right. Lieutenant-Colonel Palmer with the Twenty-fifth Iowa; followed up by Lieutenant-Colonel Nichols of the Fourth Iowa, supported the assault in a handsome manner. Lieu tenant-Colonel Roberts, of the Thirtieth Iowa, with his Adjutant, First Lieutenant James M. Smith, deserve notice for the gallant manner in which they pushed their line forward. My thanks are due all my Staff officers, Captains John N. Bell, A. Bowman, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General Samuel W. Snow, and Lieutenant Baron H. Crane, for doing their duty well." It seems there were two Capitol buildings at Columbia, the old and new. We have already seen, in our history of the Thirteenth regiment, that Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy of that command, with Lieutenants Goodrell and Me Arthur, of General Belkhap s Staff, first entered Columbia, and planted the flag on the Capitol. General Sherman s official report of the campaign also speaks of that exploit. But it is certain, that though Lieu- TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 525 tenant- Colonel Kennedy s small command was fired upon by the enemy, the Capital of South Carolina was surrendered to Colonel George A. Stone, Twenty-fifth Iowa, commanding the Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, whose gallant troops did the main fighting, and suffered all the casualties of the occasion. It makes no difference, therefore, whether the one party or the other, first raised the flag on the Capitol. It was an Iowa triumph in either event, and there probably would never have been any dispute about it at all, had there not been two Capitol Buildings. From Columbia, in melancholy ruins, the army soon recommenced its conquering march. Our regiment distinguished itself in the subsequent engagements of the campaign Cox s Bridge and Bentonsville different parts, in reality of the same general battle, the former fought on the 20th, the latter on the 21st of March. In the engagement of the 20th, the Twenty-fifth had a desperate fight, and maintained its reputation with most admirable success. It had between twenty and thirty killed and wounded in a short time, among the latter being Captain William G. Allen, acting Major, who lost his right leg. "The officers and men of the Twenty-fifth Iowa behaved handsomely, and fought desperately,** says Colonel Stone. "Lieutenant-Colonel Palmer, commanding the regiment, and Captain Allen, acting Major, deserve notice for exposing themselves freely, and for the gallant manner in which they cheered their men for ward. The brigade more generally participated in the battle of the next day, the last ever fought by Sherman s grand army. It is almost needless to add that the brigade received the commendations of superior officers for its meritorious conduct. The command, forming the rear of the army, reached Goldsboro on the 26th. "During the campaign just closed," says Colonel Stone, "this brigade has been in four engagements with the following loss: Killed, seven; wounded, sixty-four ; missing, twelve. We have captured and turned over to the Provost Marshal, one hundred and forty-five prisoners of war. In taking Columbia, South Carolina, we captured forty-three pieces of artil lery, about five thousand stand of arms, immense quantities of ammunition and ordnance stores, and released forty officers confined there. We have marched four hundred and eighty-five miles, built fifteen thousand and thirty-seven yards of corduroy roads, and destroyed three miles of railroad. The brigade is in excellent health and spirits, but very ragged. " My thanks are due all my staff officers, Captain John N. Bell, Twenty- fifth Iowa, Acting Assistant Quartermaster-General ; Lieutenant Samuel W. Snow, Twenty-fifth Iowa, Acting Assisting Adjutant-General ; Captain A. Bowman, Ninth Iowa; Lieutenant Baron H. Crane, Twenty-Fifth Iowa ; Lieutenant D. Rorick, Thirty-first Iowa now in the hands of the enemy and J. W. Gilman, Thirty-first Iowa, Acting Assistant Quarter- 526 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. master, for the zeal and earnestness with which they have discharged their whole duty in the campaign. From Goldsboro it moved with the army to Raleigh, and thence, after the surrender of Johnston, to Washington City, by Richmond. The whole division stopped at Mount Vernon, and made a respectful visit to the tomb of the Father of his country. In the grand review of the 23d and 24th of May, the Twenty-fifth regiment took part on the latter day. Among all those troops which participated in that sublime pageant, no single brigade surpassed Stone s Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, at the time com posed of his own regiment, the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Iowa Volunteers. The command went into camp near Crystal Springs, and the Twenty-fifth at once began preparations for muster-out, Colonel Stone about this time re ceiving the commission of a Brevet-Brigadier General. The officers of the regiment, besides him, now were : Lieutenant-Colonel David J. Palmer ; Major John L. Perkins: Adjutant Joseph P. Wightman; Quartermaster J. Whitfield Garner ; Surgeon Charles F. Marsh ; Chaplain Abraham Hol- lems. Company A Captain John A. Young ; First Lieutenant Marion B. Anderson. Company B Captain Jacob B. Ritner ; First Lieutenant Samuel L. Steele ; Second Lieutenant Baron H. Crane. Company C Captain Rob ert E. Stevens ; First Lieutenant Robert Davidson. Company D Captain Albert A. Perkins ; First Lieutenant John B. Fidlar. Company E Cap tain John N. Bell ; First Lieutenant John W. Shafer ; Second Lieutenant John G. Davidson. Company F Captain "William G. Allen ; First Lieu tenant John C. Smith ; Second Lieutenant William P. Miller. Company G Captain Joseph Utter; First Lieutenant William J. Tizzard. Com pany H Captain William A. Simons ; First Lieutenant Charles E. Barker. Company I Captain James W. Harper ; First Lieutenant Thomas Y. Wil liams. Company K Captain William F. Conrad ; First Lieutenant James M. Tibbetts ; Second Lieutenant George H. Bell. The regiment moved to Davenport in the early part of June, and was there disbanded after short delay. Thence three of the companies moved by rail to homes in Washington and Louisa counties, where they were joy fully received. The other seven companies moved to Burlington on the steamer Keithsburg, reaching the hospitable city late at night of the 15th. There was such a reception as the Hawk-Eye City knows so well how to give. Cannons fired till half the windows in the city were smashed ; drums beat ; flags waved ; men hurrahed ; women dittoed and waved handkerchiefs be sides. " No pen can describe the scene," says the Hawk-Eye newspaper "the cheering, the greetings, the shaking of hands, the beaming of faces of those too full for utterance." Moreover, there was a grand supper at Market Hall. In fine, Burlington did its best for the Twenty-fifth, and no TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 527 more can be said. The four companies from Henry county, also had a grand reception at Mount Pleasant, the next day. And it was most fitting that officers and men of this gallant command, who had constantly been in the field for nearly three years, should be so received that they themselves might know their good and valiant deeds had been clearly impressed upon the hearts and minds of their countrymen, never to be effaced therefrom. CHAPTER XXX. TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZED AT CLINTON MOVE TO ST, LOUIS TO HELENA-CAMPAIGNING IN ARKANSAS AND MISSISSIPPI THE BATTLE OP CHICKASAW BAYOU THE CAPTURE OF ARKANSAS POST THE CAMPAIGN OF TICKSBURG OF JACKSON MARCH UNDER SHERMAN TO THE RELIEF OF CHATTANOOGA- AFFAIR OF CHEROKEE ENGAGED IN THE BATTLES OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, MISSIONARY RIDGE, AND RINGGOLD WINTER IN ALABAMA CAMPAIGN OF ATLANTA MARCH TO SAVANNAH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA MARCH TO WASHINGTON CITY CONCLUSION. THE Twenty-sixth Regiment of Iowa Volunteers, Colonel Milo Smith, was organized at "Camp Kirkwood," near the beautiful and flourishing town of Clinton, on the 30th of September, 1862, eight of the ten com panies being then and there mustered into the service by Captain H. B. Hendershott, of the regular army, one having been previously mustered, and one being mustered the next day. The regiment has been called by correspondents the "Clinton Regiment," because all the companies were enrolled in the magnificent county of that name, celebrated for its many thriving towns, the beauty of its scenery, the intelligence and generosity of its people. It is, moreover, celebrated as the home of "Nat. Baker," Ex-Governor of the Old Granite State, Adjutant-General of Iowa, and of the eloquent Magill, with a voice like Jupiter Tonans. However, though the companies are all stated in the Adjutant-General s Report to have been enrolled in Clinton, it is but just to state that Jackson and Jones counties were liberally represented in this noted command. Several other counties also contributed of their patriotic citizens to the " Clinton Regi ment." Its roster of officers was as follows: Colonel Milo Smith; Lieutenant- Colonel Samuel G. Magill; Major Samuel Clark; Adjutant Thomas G. Ferreby ; Quartermaster Joseph H. Flint ; Surgeon A. T. Hudson ; Assist ant Surgeons William Mac Quigg, George F. Weatherell ; Chaplain Rev erend John M. Leish, Jr. ; Captains Sherman R. Williams, John W. Eckles, George W. Johnson, N. A. Merrell, John Lubbers, Joel B. 528 TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 529 Bishop, James H. Heavy, Charles M. Nye, Edwin A. Wemple, Nelson C. Roe ; First Lieutenants Asa Franklin, Alva Wilson, Peter L. Hyde, James H. llunyon, Edward Svendsen, William R. Ward, John Quinn, James S. Patterson, John L. Steele, Nathan I). Hubberd; Second Lieutenants A. D. Gaston, Thomas B. Harrison, James McDill, John F. Gilmore. Preben Hansen, Silas Freeman, Philip McCahill, John Barrett, E. W. Bennett, Lucius Pomeroy. The regiment was about nine hundred strong, officers and privates. Having had but little time for drill and discipline, the regiment was ordered to St. Louis, where it arrived on the 25th of October, but under orders from Major-General Curtis proceeded to Helena, arriving on the 28th. The command was here temporarily attached to the First Brigade, Fourth Division, Army of the Southwest. It went into encampment near Helena, whence it joined General Hovey s forces on the White River expe dition, and the march subsequently made into Mississippi, in support of Grant, whose well known unsuccessful attempt to take Vicksburg in rear occurred about this time. The regiment, after the Mississippi expedition, was assigned *o the Third Brigade, First Division, Fifteenth Army Corps. In this organiza tion it took part in the first of its campaigns accompanied by battle. This was the campaign which closed with the defeat of the Union army under General Sherman on the field of Chickasaw Bayou, made forever memo rable in Iowa by the unequalled gallantry and sad losses of the Fourth Infantry, Colonel James A. Williamson. In this battle, the Twenty-sixth, was under fire, but was not called into engagement, strictly so considered. It suffered no loss. The 2d of January, 1863, the regiment embarked on transport "Te- cumseh, and moved down to the mouth of the Yazoo River, where a halt was made, and where General John A. McClernand, the most voluminous commander who ever handled a sword or a goose-quill, took command of the army, thereby making General W. T. Sherman his subordinate. The fleet bore the army up to the mouth of White River, where a disembarka tion was made on the east bank of the Mississippi. Here the troops quietly remained until the 8th, when, the commanding general having fully in formed himself of General Sherman s preconceived plan of attack on the Post of Arkansas, put his troops again aboard transports to move against the enemy s works. The glorious result was THE CAPTURE OF ARKANSAS POST. Post Arkansas is a small village on the left bank, and about fifty miles from its mouth, of the principal river of the State of Arkansas. At the time of which we write it was defended by considerable field works, and a 67 530 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. strong, full-bastioned fort. It was, in truth, the key to central Arkansas, and was garrisoned by a force of well disciplined troops, chiefly Texans, numbering about seven thousand, under command of Brigadier-General Churchill. The works had a fine armament of heavy artillery Parrott guns and columbiads. General McClernand moved against this stronghold, transporting his army up the White River, by a bayou called the " Cut Off" to the Arkan sas, and thence to Notrib s Farm, a few miles below the Post, where the transports tied up " on the evening of the 9th. The voyage had been one of great gloom. This part of Arkansas is by nature uninteresting, and has been sparingly improved by the hand of man. The Arkansas River was found to be finely navigable, but its course ran through forests and swamps, with here and there only small patches of cultivation. It was decidedly the land of corn-dodgers and of fiddlers. The story of Tosso, the only man who ever lived that could make a violin talk, was found to be true. His Arkansas Traveler was a veritable reality, as was by this voyage fully dis covered. A few cabins relieved the dull monotony, and from nearly every one was heard the sound of rude music. Chickasaw Bayou could not be forgotten, in such a country, with such burlesques on divine melody. So the troops gloomily disembarked ; but the prospect of battle and of victory gave them renewed hope, and by noon of the 10th the army may truthfully be said to have been aga^n enthusiastic. Its confidence was sublime. John A. McClernand was its leader, and it confided in him. By this time, too, the disembarkation had been made, and an army on land, after a voyage on transports, is apt to be joyful. Dispositions for attack were immediately made. McClernand s army consisted of two divisions of the Thirteenth, and two of the Fifteenth Corps, General Morgan com manding the former, Sherman the latter. Sherman moved into position on the right of the line, Morgan on the left. On account of swamps, and bayous, and other obstructions, the investment was some time in being made complete, especially on our right. But it was at length effected. General Steele s Division was on the extreme right, of this command, Hovey s Brigade being next to the river, Thayer s next, and Blair s on the left of the division. Then came Stuart s Division of the same corps. The posi tion on the left was easily gained. Colonel Lindsay, commanding a brigade of General Morgan s Corps, had landed some distance below the post, on the right bank of the river, and before the army was in position on the left bank, had been well posted on the opposite side of the stream so as to both annoy the enemy and to prevent his escape in that direction. Admiral David D. Porter, with a considerable fleet of gun-boats, was in cooperation with the army. In the manoeuvres whereby the army gained its position around Arkansas TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 531 Post, from the river above to the river below, there were many difficulties of inarch overcome, and there was much fighting with the enemy, who kept up a constant fire of artillery from Fort Hindman, and of musketry from rifle-pits and breastworks. Not long before sunset, the fleet began a bombardment of the enemy s main work, which was continued with great vigor and considerable effect until after nightfall. The troops passed a cold night in swampy bivouac, without fires, but on the morning of the llth, the sun came up grandly in a cloudless sky. About ten o clock both corps were in position and ready to commence (he attack. But it was not commenced until three hours later. Then the gun-boats opened fire, which was immediately followed by the fire of artillery from Sherman s Corps on the right, with which the artillery of the Thirteenth Corps soon joined, the whole making a sublime cannnonade, under cover of which the infantry moved against the enemy. Within thirty minutes after the cannonading began, the brigades of Hovey, Thayer, Giles A. Smith, and T. K. Smith on the right, had crossed in double- quick time a narrow space of clear ground in their front, and gained posi tion in a belt of woods which extended quite to the enemy s rifle-pits. But, meeting with a terrible fire of musketry and artillery, these brave troops were checked for a time. Presently, they boldly resumed the advance, and passing under a severe fire, approached, supported by Blair s Brigade, within short musket-range of the rebel works, and found shelter from the enemy s missiles in some ravines lined by underbrush and fallen timber. Meantime, our artillery all along the lines continued its fire, damaging the enemy s works. The infantry of Morgan s Corps also advanced, and gained position close to the enemy s defences. The battle continued to rage with great fury. The enemy defended his position with the utmost bravery. The rebel Lieutenant-General Holmes, promising reinforcements, had ordered Churchill to hold the post until the last man was dead, and the garrison, inspired by the specious eloquence of traitors, fought with a valor which would have done men honor in an honest cause. Though the guns of Fort Hindman had been silenced by the artillery of the navy and army, the rebels continued the fight with desperate courage. It became evident that if Arkansas Post were to be taken quickly, it must be carried by storm. General McClernand ordered an assault. The brigade of General S. G. Burbridge, a former citizen of Iowa, of General A. J. Smith s Division on our left, and Colonel Sheldon s Brigade of Osterhaus Division, dashed forward under a deadly fire to the enemy s works, and regiments from these commands were the first to enter the intrenchments. About the same time Sherman s command stormed the rebel works in his front, in an equally brilliant and effective manner. The rebels forgot their promises to die to the last man, and exhibited white 532 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. flags along the ramparts. The victorious Unionists rushed in with loud huzzas, the gun-boats thundered a joyful salute, and before five o clock the flag of the Union floated in triumph from the citadel of Fort Hindman. The fruits of this victory were five thousand prisoners of war, including one general and many field and line officers ; seventeen pieces of artillery ; several thousand stands of small arms, with nearly fifty thousand rounds of ammunition therefor, and much ammunition for artillery ; nearly six hundred horses and mules, and considerable quantities of commissary and quartermaster stores, besides a number of wagons and other articles of property destroyed for want of means to carry them away. The moral fruits of the triumph were of even more value. Arkansas Post wiped out Chickasaw Bayou. The country was gratified, the army was reassured of its power. Even the grandiloquence of McClernand was valuable, and the inevitable victory, a perfect military necessity, figured before the people in the gorgeous coloring of a splendid stroke of military genius. So McCler nand rested on his honors, and poor Sherman, just at this time in one of his lunatic fits, passed under a cloud ! History has already lifted that cloud. Still, Arkansas Post must be accounted a fine victory. The fighting of the troops was gallant in the extreme. Those of Iowa were in the thickest of the fight. Our regiments, there engaged, were all in General Steele s First Division of Sherman s Corps. The Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first regiments were in General C. E. Hovey s Second Brigade. They both fought well and suffered heavily. The Twenty -Fifth here lost Adjutant Kirkwood Clarke, mortally wounded, and many other officers and men, hors- de-combat General Hovey, in his official report of the engagement, passes a hearty eulogium upon Colonel Stone, and his regiment generally. He also speaks kindly of the Thirty-First, Colonel William Smyth. Thayer s Third Brigade of Steele s Division, consisted entirely of Iowa troops the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-fourth regiments of infantry. The Fourth, which had won immortal honors at Pea Ridge, and the first laurels of Chickasaw Bayou, did not fail in duty at Arkansas Post. Nor was its comrade regiment, the Ninth, forgetful of former renown or present duty. The Thirtieth, here for the first time heavily engaged, gave promise of that daring which was afterwards universally conceded to it, and which sadly but gloriously lost one Colonel, Abbott, at Vicksburg, and another, Torrence, at Cherokee, Alabama. The Thirty-fourth had also fought at Chickasaw Bayou, but not as here, in the thickest of the contest. It was on this field that the chivalric, accomplished Captain Daniel H. Lyons fell, mortally wounded, whilst bravely leading his command to the charge. The star regiment, as the Thirty-fourth was called because its TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 533 number agreed with the number of stars on the flag of the Union, was behind none of its comrade regiments at the Post of Arkansas. I suppose there was no regiment in all the Army of the Mississippi which fought better, or suffered more than the Twenty-sixth Iowa. The regiment afterwards passed through many severe ordeals the campaigns of Vicks- burg, and of Jackson, of Chattanooga, and of Atlanta fighting in the hottest of several battles, and engaging in so many before closing its career that their names could scarcely be printed on its colors, and in all with credit, yet it nowhere behaved more meritoriously than at Arkansas Post, where it was for the first time actively engaged with the enemy. The official reports of superior officers, the narratives of intelligent correspond ents, are full of commendations of the Iowa regiments here engaged, and none receive more just encomiums than Colonel Milo Smith s Twenty-sixth Iowa Infantry. Colonel Smith was wounded. Lieutenants Peter L. Hyde, and James S. Patterson were slain. Lieutenant James McDill received a mortal wound. Adjutant Thomas Gr. Ferreby, Captain N. A. Merrill, Lieutenant Edward Svendsen were wounded. The total number of casual ties in the regiment was about one hundred and twenty. 1 1 The following is the list of casualties : Wounded, Colonel Milo Smith ; Adjutant Thomas G. Ferreby. Company A Wounded, Private John Sinkey, since died. Company B Wounded, Sergeant Hugh Snodgrass; Privates William E. Whiteside, George E. Fisher, John Kilrain, James Linn, Rudolph Hierschie. Company C Killed, First Lieutenant Peter L. Hyde ; Corporal Henry L. Shaffer; Private Michael Real. Wounded, Second Lieutenant James McDill ; Private Charles A. Thomas, since dead ; Color Sergeant, Herbert D. Sage; Privates Absalom Lacock, John C. Symonds, Adolphus Cone, George A. McDowell, Jesse Hedges, Joseph A. Savits, Peter Cunningham, August W. Schroder, Milton Jackson, Benjamin H. Greenlee, Oliver T. Bowen, John Dougherty, Charles Johnston, George N. Day. Company D Killed, Privates Joel Arthur, [? Austin], Matthew Costello. Wounded, Corporal Burt Harrington ; Privates William Maher, John McDonnel, William Stewart, [? Stnach], since died ; Captain N. A. Merrill; Privates Jacob D. Vanhorn, Michael Cavanaugh, Charles Corbin, Job Walrod. Company E Killed, Corporal Louis Pankow ; Privates Heninrich Krumwiede, Wilhelm Nyrop. Wounded, Lieutenant Edward Svendsen; Sergeant Jurgen Unrau; Privates August T. Hoffman, Paul A. Martensen, Anton Meier, Frederick Reisch, Paul Schmutz, Johann H. Schultz, George Steinhilbert, Detlef Schnack.- Company F Kitted, Corporal Albert J. Delong; Privates Daniel J. Campbell, Christian Bellinger, Omar H. Stanley. Wounded, First Lieutenant William R. Ward; Sergeants Louis Rider, Sylvester Markland ; Corporal Ahira P. Stevens ; Privates Alonzo D. Cady, Daniel Correll. Rufus M. Hudson, David Mahar, Edwin W. Preston, John W. Loof born, Myron J. Mullett. Company G Killed, Private William Farrel. Wounded, Sergeant Cornelius Cahill; Corporal John Gange; Privates Charles Beety, Fletcher Cheney, John Collins, Samuel McCauley, John McDonnell, John Owens, John Welsh. Company H Killed, First Lieutenant James S. Patterson ; Corporal John E. Stearns ; Privates Sylvester Ilumeston, Peter Bockholt, John Henderson, Sydenham W. Morgan, William Marks. Wounded, Corporal Job Trites, Archibald McAlister; Privates Charles H. Bloom, James Barnes, Moses Jenkins, since died; Sergeant William H. Hall; Privates Thomas Kyle, George Kinney, Marcus Yake, Amos R. Tuttle, Robert M. Howig, Samuel N. English, Byron Bunnell, Alanson McLaughlin, William H. Hide, Hollis Johnson, Thomas J. Leeper, Charles H. Ankeiiy, Horace S. Humeston, Edward P. Thomas, Naaman Barnes. 534 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The works of Arkansas Post having been destroyed, the army em barked on transports again, and moved down the river. The Twenty- sixth remained two days at Napoleon, but without debarking. The transport then moved on down the river to a point four miles above Vicksburg, where the command left the vessel and, marching across the peninsula to the river four miles below Vicksburg, went into encamp ment. It remained encamped on the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, but not in the same camp, about two months 4 and a half, most of the time fur nishing heavy details for work on the canal work valuable, no doubt, as giving the troops exercise, and to some extent withdrawing their minds from contemplation of the general sickness prevailing in the army, but en tirely without result in changing the course of the mighty river. April 2d, the command left this scene of many sufferings, and with Gen eral Steele s Division moved to Greenville, Mississippi, and took part in that expedition under his command, the principal events of which have already been noted in this work. The regiment met the enemy in skirmish on Deer Creek, on the 7th, and again, two days afterwards, on Black Bayou, but without loss. While the division was returning to Greenville, laden with rich spoils, a sergeant and four privates of the Twenty-sixth were cap tured by the enemy, while foraging. They were, however, soon afterwards exchanged. The regiment went into camp at Greenville on the 10th, and remained there in quiet till the 26th, when it embarked and moved to Young s Point, thence up the river to Milliken s Bend, and went into camp. But on the 1st of May the command was again in motion. Marching by Richmond, Perkins Plantation and Hard Times, Colonel Smith crossed the river into Mississippi at Grand Gulf, and having there made a short halt, marched by Cayuga, Raymond and Mississippi Springs, to Jackson, there joining the corps in time to take part in the capture of the Capital on the 14th. The 16th, the Twenty-sixth joined in the march on Vicks burg, and two days afterwards was skirmishing with the enemy on Walnut Hills, directly in rear of the stronghold, to gain position around which General Grant had already fought and gained five great battles. In the investment of Vicksburg, the Twenty- sixth had position on the left of General Thayer s Brigade of Steele s Division. It took part in the partial assault of the 19th, in the general assault of the 22d, in the long siege. In the assaults and the siege the regiment, at this time numbering Company I Wounded, George E. Jenkins, since died; Levi Benedict, James M. Riley. Company K Killed, Private James B. Ray. Wounded, Corporal Henry J. Beck ; Privates James P. Douglas, Richard Shields, William Blakely, since died; Sergeant C. J. Henle; Privates James Q. Moyses, Benjamin F. Baker, Francis Pomeroy, Langdon Morse, Ranson Hurlburt f? Ransomo Haubut]. TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 535 scarcely two hundred officers and men present on duty, lost nearly one-fourth its effective force in killed and wounded. Colonel Milo Smith was here again wounded. 2 Vicksburg in our possession, the Twenty-sixth regiment at once took up line of march against Jackson with the expeditionary army. Colonel Smith on this campaign was in command of the brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Fer- reby commanding the regiment. This officer, it will be recollected, was severely wounded, then Adjutant, at Arkansas Post. He had returned to duty during the siege of Vicksburg, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, the original Lieutenant-Colonel and Major having both been mustered out of the service in the latter part of 1862. He led the regiment through the campaign of Jackson, successfully. It took part in the siege, followed the enemy as far as Brandon, where there was a brisk skirmish, and returned to the Black River Railroad bridge in the latter part of July, without having suffered mentionable casualty during the whole campaign, which was, indeed, one rather of labor and of results than of fighting. On the bank of the Black River the regiment rested about two months. A number of the officers and men had the Mississippi ague, but it was a period in which the command, as a whole, gained greatly in health and strength. In the latter part of September, the command broke camp, and march ing to Vicksburg, took transports for Memphis. It thence moved by rail to Corinth, Mississippi, where a halt was made. The troops of General Osterhaus Division performed much hard work in the way of repairing the Memphis and Charleston Railroad east of Corinth, having done which they moved on to Cherokee, Alabama, and between that place and Tus- cumbia, had considerable heavy skirmishing with rebel troopers during the last week of October. General Sherman having crossed the river at Chickasaw about the 1st of November, Osterhaus brought up the rear of the column on the 4th, and pushed on toward Chattanooga. The regiment with which we now have to do arrived at the base of Lookout Mountain on the evening before the battle of that name. Colonel Smith and his gallant men, always in readi ness to fight, took part in the engagement. It is well known that though the enemy maintained a furious fire, both of artillery and musketry, the 2 The following is the official list of casualties reported during the Siege of Vicksburg : Colonel Milo Smith, wounded. Kitted, Sergeant Charles M. Butler ; Johann H. Schultz, John Clever, Loring Stearns, William Demuth, William H. Wilcox. Wounded, Captain A. D. Gaston ; Lieutenants John W. Mason, Louis Rider, William M. Magdcn, N. W. Wood; Sergeants Rosseau Barrows, Walter B. Goodrich, Fritz Horn, William H. Hall, Horace F. Dean, William Nickel, William Holmes; Corporals John L. Haskell, George Day, Patrick M. Cornwall, Daniel L. Wilson ; Privates Joseph Drey, Philip Burger, Mortimer M. Curtis, John W. Loofboro, James McDermont, Isaac Baird, John Monahan, John Butinghagan, James Bulger, War ren Calder, George Stapleton, Oliver B. Ray, Ambrose Cline, Henry Weed, Luke Weatherson, Matthew Caraher. 536 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. losses of our troops, even of those engaged in the hottest of the conflict, were remarkably small. The Twenty-sixth had only four wounded, but among them was the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Ferreby, who was for the second time seriously hurt. The regiment was also engaged in the second day s contest of the great Battle of Chattanooga, fought on Missionary Ridge. But, with the Twenty-Fifth Iowa, Colonel George A. Stone, it was sent to the left of Rossville Gap, to observe the movements of the enemy s cavalry, and was not relieved from that position in time to take active part in the battle. Hooker, with whom Osterhaus Division of the Fifteenth Corps was still serving, followed the enemy to Ringgold, Georgia, near which place, on Taylor s Ridge, he gave him the final defeat of the campaign on the 27th. In this sharp battle, at one time nearly a defeat by reason of panic and flight on the part of some of Hooker s own army, the Twenty-sixth was heavily engaged, at times fighting with that fine audacity, and at times with that fine obstinacy which had characterized its conduct at Arkansas Post. Happily, its losses were comparatively light, but Captain John L. Steele fell mortally wounded, and Lieutenants Nathan D. Hubbard and William Nickel were severely wounded. 3 Having encamped a few days on the Little Chickamauga, near Ringgold, the regiment marched thence with the division by Chattanooga to Bridge port, Alabama, arriving on the 5th or 6th of December. During the month it had marched about three hundred miles over a mountainous country, much of the time without tents, because moving more rapidly than the trains, and had been engaged in three battles. It was certainly entitled to rest. But before the year closed, it again moved, and marching by Stevenson, Bellefonte, and Larkinsville, arrived at Woodville the day after Christmas and went into winter quarters. Colonel Smith being in com mand of the Brigade the First of the First Division, Fifteenth Corps Captain N. C. Roe had command of the regiment. By the casualties of battle, and the wear and tear of its active service, it had been reduced to about half its original strength. The regiment remained in camp at Woodville till the 9th of March, 1864. A detachment thereof, with other troops, Colonel Smith commanding, made a reconnoissance of the river below Woodville, during the winter, and, having driven off the enemy returned in safety. At the date last mentioned, the regiment marched to Vienna, fourteen miles southwest of 3 The casualties of the regiment, since leaving luka, Mississippi, were : At Cherokee Killed, Johannes Moller. Wounded, Robert Ralston. Lookout Mountain Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas G. Ferreby; Corporal J. A. Mills; Privates William R. Oaks, Thomas Williams. Hinggold Killed, Privates William McDonnell, Cornelius Beddoon, John Phillips. Wounded, Captain John L. Steele, (mortally); First Lieutenant Nathan D. Hubbard ; Second Lieutenant William Nickel; Sergeant Fritz Horn ; Corporal James Farr ; Privates Charles H. Van Epps, Charles Hill, David G. Cranston, Norman P. Russell. TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 537 Woodville, and established an outpost. The regiment had a constant patrol along the Tennessee, between the mouths of Flint and Paint Rock Rivers. On the 21st of April, eight men of the command were captured while on patrol. The 30th, the regiment returned to Woodville, and on the next day commenced the march to Chattanooga, arriving May 6th. There joining General Sherman s grand army about moving on the cam paign against Johnston, the history of the regiment during the next four months is a record of constant labors, marches, skirmishes, battles, sieges. It belonged to the Fifteenth Corps, each man of whom carried his "car tridge-box and forty rounds, bejabers, and sixty in his pockets, sure," and knew well how to replenish the ample stock when that should be exhausted, as indeed, it very frequently was. Belonging to a fighting brigade, of a fighting division, of a fighting corps, of the unsurpassed fighting Army of the Tennessee the pupils of Grant, of Sherman, and of McPherson the "Clinton Regiment" did great honor to itself, the State, and the service, throughout this long campaign. At Resaca, at Dallas, at Kenesaw, in the engagements before Atlanta, near the left of our lines on the 22d, and near the right on the 28th, during the siege, at Jonesboro, and at Lovejoy in all these battles and operations and the grand manoeuvres accompanying, the Twenty-sixth Iowa was behind no other regiment in duty and valor. It lost about eighty of its members, including several officers slain and wounded, during the campaign. From Resaca to Lovejoy in Georgia, the dead of the gallant Clinton Regiment lie buried ; from Resaca to Lovejoy the blood of its wounded officers and men was spilled. The marches, the battles, the wounding and the dying, of the great cam paign being over, the regiment had nearly a month s repose at East Point. It joined in the march northward, in pursuit of Hood, early in October, and on the 16th lost one man killed and four wounded in an engagement on Taylor s Ridge. Returning, the regiment reached Atlanta on the 13th of November. Having halted there two days, it began the march to Savannah. It was not engaged with the enemy during this campaign. When the army entered Savannah, the regiment was on a foraging expedition, forty miles in the interior. It returned to the army on the 23d of December, and found it encamped in the beautiful city. 4 The regiment left Savannah in January, 1865, with the army on the * The author visited Savannah about this time, being temporarily attached to the staff of Gov ernor Stone, who braved the dangers of the deep, and, what is more, sea-sickness, to look after the interests of Iowa troops in General Sherman s Army. I remember that Colonel Milo Smith, of the Twenty-sixth, was in command of a brigade, as he had been for some time, and that Major John Lubbers was in command of the regiment, which had a fine encampment in the suburbs of the Forest City. Colonel Smith soon afterwards resigned his commission, to the great regret of hie brother officers, both superior and inferior in rank. A man of a fine head and warm heart, he was respected and beloved by all who knew him well. During this visit to the army I met many dis- 68 538 IOWA AND THE HEBELLION. march through the Carolinas. It took part in the great labors, and had its proportion of the hardships of that long march, but had a considerable engagement with the enemy, besides that at the capture of Columbia, only at Bentonsville, where the Army of the Tennessee for the last time met the rebels whom it had driven over half a continent. On the field of that victoiy the military career of the Clinton Regiment ended. Its movements afterwards were like the closing of a brilliant volume and the reflections which follow. It marched to Goldsboro, to Raleigh, to Washington City ; it was honor ably discharged the service ; was received by the thousands of swarming Clinton county with the earnest expression well done, good and faithful servants. The flag of the regiment inscribed in golden colors with Chicka- saw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Jackson, Assaults on Vicksburg, May 19th and 22d, Siege of Yicksburg, Siege of Jackson, Cherokee, Tuscumbia, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, Resaca, Dallas, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, July 22d, Ezra Church, Siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Savannah, Columbia, Bentonsville" the banner, thus inscribed with words telling of all the glorious victories of the Army of the Tennessee, was deposited with the State archives, where it should forever be preserved, the priceless memento of the memorable " Clinton County Regiment." tinguished officers, and but few who impressed me as having better military talents than Colonel Smith. The officers of the regiment at this time were : Milo Smith, Colonel ; Thomas Q. Ferreby, Lieutenant-Colonel ; John Lubbers, Major; Dennis G. Butterfield, Adjutant; Abijah T. Hudson, Surgeon ; George F. Weatherell. Assistant ; Joseph H. Flint, Quartermaster. Captains A. D. Gaston, Joseph D. Fegan, James G. Crozer, Wm. M. Magden, Edward Svendsen, Sylvester Markland, John Quinn, William H. Hall, William Nickel, Nathan D. Hubbard. First Lieutenants, Leander B. Sutton, Edward P. Sargent, William F. Bounds, Fritz Horn, Edson S. Bishop, Philip McCahill, William R. English, Robert Cummings, Edwin P. Watson, being thus set forth in the order of the companies, skipping Company B, which had no lieutenant. Only Companies C and G had second lieutenants Herbert D. Sage, John Kane. CHAPTER XXXI. TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. THE REGIMENT RECRUITED IN THE THIRD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT RENDEZVOUS AT DUBUQUE CAMPAIGN AMONG INDIANS IN MINNESOTA FROM MILLS LAC TO MEMPHIS THE CAMPAIGN UNDER GENERAL GRANT INTO MISSISSIPPI NEW YEAR S DAY CHASE OF FORREST A WINTER OF SUFFERING GUARDING LINES OF COMMUNICATION JOIN THE ARMY OF ARKANSAS UNDER GENERAL STEELE THE LITTLE ROCK CAMPAIGN RETURN TO MEMPHIS THE EXPEDITION TO MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI, UNDER GENERAL SHERMAN GENERAL BANKS RED RIVER EXPEDITION BATTLE OF PLEASANT HILL RETREAT BATTLE OF YEL LOW BAYOU RETURN TO MEMPHIS BY LAKE CHICOT, ARKANSAS GENERAL A. J. SMITH S CAMPAIGN AGAINST FORREST BATTLES OF TUPELO AND OLD TOWN CREEK MARCH TO OXFORD AGAIN AT MEMPHIS JOIN THE ARMY UNDER GENERAL THOMAS BATTLE OF NASHVILLE GENERAL CANBY S CAMPAIGN AGAINST MOBILE HOME AGAIN. THE Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteers had nearly as varied an experience in the matter of climate, as the distinguished explorer after the remains of Sir John Franklin, who received his orders to proceed to the Polar regions whilst bathing in the Gulf of Mexico. The Twenty-seventh performed its first active service in northern Minnesota, about on the latitude of Quebec, and before it closed its career of usefulness and honor its hardy troops had made a voyage on the gulf, from the Balize to Mobile Bay. They had seen the Mississippi River where it looked like an insignificant stream, and where, having received the waters of a continent for the liberties of whose mighty people they had taken up arms, it swept by many channels into " the far-resounding sea." The regiment which had the latitudinous experience here noted was recruited in the northern part of Iowa, for the most part in the counties of Alamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Chickasaw, Floyd, Mitchell, and Buchanan, all in the Third Congressional District. The different companies were ordered to rendezvous at Dubuque, and thither they all went in the latter part of August, 1862. They immediately went into camp of instruction at 539 540 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. " Camp Franklin " near the city, where they were engaged in taking the usual lessons in the military art till the 3d of October, when they were mustered into the service of the United States as the Twenty-Seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, the rolls at this time bearing nine hundred and fifty- two enlisted men and forty officers, making the aggregate of the regiment nearly one thousand. 1 The command thus fully organized and in the service, immediately com menced battalion drill, and thorough discipline was at once inaugurated, but the time for preliminary training did not long continue. Within a week after entering the service the regiment was ordered to report to Major- General Pope, commanding the Department of the Northwest, to take part in the campaign against hostile tribes of Indians, who were at that time threatening the frontier generally, and were especially waging their savage warfare, indiscriminately murdering men, women and children in Minnesota. Whether their hostility had been brought about by the cupidity and villainy of traders, or of agents of the government; or whether it was the result of fire-water, or of mere savage nature, or of Southern intrigue, it is certain that its effects had already been devastating and cruel, and that General Pope had a heavy job to suppress the outbreak. The Twenty-seventh regiment hastened to his assistance, moving by trans ports to St. Paul, and going into quarters at Fort Snelling, near that capital. Shortly afterwards Colonel Gilbert was ordered to Mille Lac, a village on the lake of that name, an hundred and twenty-five miles north of St. Paul, there to superintend a payment of annuity to certain Indians. Taking six companies of his regiment, Colonel Gilbert marched rapidly thitherward, performed the duties assigned him, and returned to St. Paul on the 4th of November. Colonel, soon afterwards Brigadier-General Sibley, had defeated the In- 1 ROSTER OF THE REGIMENT: Field and Staff. James I. Gilbert, Colonel; Jed. Lake, Lieutenant- Colonel; George W. Howard, Major; Charles A. Comstock, Adjutant; Solon M. Langworthy, Quar termaster; John E. Sanborn, Surgeon ; Albert Boomer, David C. Hastings, Assistants; Daniel N. Bordwell, Chaplain. Line Officers. Company A Captain Amos M. Haslip; Lieutenants J. W. Granger, James A. Lyons. Company B Captain Samuel W. Hemenway ; Lieutenants Theodore Groesinger, Samuel 0. Smith. Company C Captain Joseph D. Noble; Lieutenants Henry F. Sill, Herman C. Hemen way. Company D Captain Daniel E. Meyer ; Lieutenants Pilae Garber, John Andrick. Company E Captain Thomas G. Drips ; Lieutenants T. A. Olmsted, Samuel Benjamin. Company .F Captain William W. Bickford ; Lieutenants Joseph M. Holbrook, William N. Boynton. Company G Cap tain Charles A. Slocum ; Lieutenants Albert C. Ruper, Edward A. Reiniger. Company H Captain Jacob M. Miller; Lieutenants Otis Whitney, William G. Donnan. Company /Captain George R. Miller ; Lieutenants Edwin A. Sherburn, John E. Peck. Company K Captain Charles T. Granger; Lieutenants Frank A. Brush, Samuel M. Elliott. To make a statement of the localities in which the companies were recruited more particular than that of the text, it may be said that Companies A and B were from Alamakee county; E and I from Alamakee and Clay ton ; Gaud H from Buchanan; D from Clayton; F from Delaware; G from Chickasaw and Floyd, and K from Mitchell county. There were a few men in two or three of the companies from Winneshiek and Dubuque. TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 541 dians, who were now reported peaceable and quiet. While Colonel Gilbert was absent on the march to Mille Lac, Major Howard, commanding the four companies which had been left at Fort Snelling, received orders to re port with his detachment at Cairo, Illinois. Upon returning to St. Paul, Colonel Gilbert received similar orders, and immediately proceeded to Cairo, going to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, by river, and thence by cars by the way of Chicago. The united command remained but a few days at Cairo. Embarking on transports, it proceeded down the river to Memphis, where it reported to General Sherman, and on the 22d of November went into temporary camp in rear of the city. The regiment had been encamped but a short time, when orders were re ceived to march with the forces under General Sherman, about to move as the right wing of General Grant s army on the expedition into central Mis sissippi in an attempt to take the stronghold of Vicksburg in that way. Before our regiment started on this march, the men complained loudly of the quality of their arms, which were old Prussian muskets, poor at best, and many of the pieces absolutely unserviceable. They had been promised better arms, and, as they were about entering upon a campaign which they had a right to suppose would be both active and dangerous, they thought it high time that the promises should be fulfilled. Colonel Gilbert had the tact and nerve to satisfactorily silence all complaint, so that when the march began every officer and man able to go was in his place. In this campaign the regiment marched to the Tallahatchee River, and was as signed the duty of guarding the Mississippi Central Railway between that stream and the town of Waterford. Small bands of rebel cavalry were ho vering near the railroad, and on the 20th of December one of them made a chivalrous dash on the regimental hospital of the Twenty-seventh, and, having captured eleven men, hurried them off on the double-quick, some fifteen miles, and then seeing they were entirely unable to proceed fur ther, paroled them. When news of the capture of Holly Springs was re ceived, six companies of the regiment, with other forces, marched on that place. They returned almost immediately to the vicinity of the Talla hatchee, and soon afterwards joined the army on its march back to Ten nessee. The regiment went to Jackson, and on the last day of the year, being a part of the brigade under command of Colonel Lawler, marched in great haste eastward to reenforce General Sullivan, then fighting the rebel For rest beyond Lexington. The reenforcement marched rapidly through the cold and mud till midnight, and then bivouacked without shelter of any sort, or protection from the bitter weather. On the morning of the new year, the command was aroused by an early reveille, and, without even a hasty plate of soup for breakfast, started on the chase after the rebel 542 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. troopers who had been whipped the day before by Sullivan, and were now beating a retreat in the direction of Clifton, a town on the Tennessee River, about twenty-five miles south of west from Lexington. To that point the Union troops were moved in hot pursuit, but arrived too late to prevent the passage of the rebels. They then returned to Jackson by Bethel. The roads over which our regiment marched were horrible, the men were en tirely without tents, and many of them without blankets. The weather was most inclement. The command was without rations, except such as Quartermaster Sherburn procured, by buying corn of the inhabitants, and grinding it into meal at the mills, near the line of march. Thus the men were enabled to get a meal of " corn-dodger" a day, faring almost as mise rably, notwithstanding the best exertions of the staff in their behalf, as our prisoners at Libby, in Richmond. The consequences of this march of only about one hundred miles were suffering, sickness, and death. Our regi ment remained during the rest of the winter, and till beyond the middle of April, 1863, at Jackson. Until spring fairly opened, the camp was a scene of constant suffering and almost daily deaths. The surgeon s call was at tended much of the time by more men than that for dress parade. Every company lost men by the score, and several officers were compelled to resign in order to save their lives. In fine, the consequence of the march from Jackson to Clifton and return, of the exposures to which the men were compelled to submit, may truthfully be said to have been a greater loss to the regiment than the loss which it sustained in any one engagement with the enemy, not even excepting the bloody field of Pleasant Hill, where the command was among those "immortal few" regiments which formed the shield for the army under Banks, and saved it from inglorious defeat and destruction. About the 18th of April the command moved from Jackson to Corinth, and held that post during the temporary absence of General Dodge s forces till the close of the month, when it returned to Jackson. The campaign against Vicksburg under General Grant was now fully inaugurated. Whilst many Iowa regiments were acquiring renown in the active operations of that campaign, others were performing less brilliant but valuable and important seryices, in guarding our lines of communications and in prevent ing a rebel incursion across the frontier into the territory which had been wrenched from rebel authority by the victories of 1862. Among these latter was the Twentj T -seventh. The regiment was posted in detachments at various places on the railway not far from Jackson, Colonel Gilbert being in command of that post. The colonel here won the high compliments of General Oglesby, commanding left wing of the Sixteenth Corps, for his wise and energetic administration, which was specially commendable on account of the unrelenting system whereby rich rebel inhabitants were com- TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 543 pelled to contribute to the support of indigent Union people who had been driven from their homes and sought protection within our lines. On the 4th of June, the regiment moved by cars to La Grange, and thence by inarch to Moscow, where and near by, it remained for two months in the performance of duties similar to those which had been performed near Jackson. The monotony of camp life was frequently interrupted by the attacks of guerrilla-men, but upon the whole the period was one of general and uninteresting quiet. Officers and men all the while longed for more active life and earnestly wished to be taken directly against the enemy. It was not till the 20th of August that their wishes were gratified. At this time marching orders were received, when the regiment joyously broke camp and marched to Memphis, forming a part of Colonel True s detached brigade, which went to the support of General Steele, then mov ing on Little Rock, Arkansas. The command went by transports from Memphis to Helena, whence it marched by Clarendon to Duvall s Bluff, where it joined the army under Steele, and with it took part in the cam paign which resulted in the capture of Little Rock on the 10th of Sep tember. The campaign was highly creditable to General Steele and the troops under his command, but sandwiched in between that against Yicks- burg, and that which drove the rebels whirling out of Tennessee, it did not receive the eclat which otherwise it would have received. In the capture of Little Rock, our regiment, like most regiments of infantry, did not take an active part, the fighting of the occasion being principally done by cavalry and artillery. The regiment remained opposite the city about two months, on guard and picket duty, Colonel Gilbert the most of the time being in command of the brigade. On the 15th of November he moved his com mand by rail to Duvall s Bluff, and going thence by steamers down the White and up the Mississippi River, reported to General Hurlbut, com manding Sixteenth Corps, at Memphis, near which city our regiment went into quarters and there remained till near the close of January, 1864. It may be stated that, though the regiment did not actively take part in any battle during the year 1863, its losses were considerable, the great majority taking place during that period of suffering at the commencement of the year, of which I have already spoken. By death, discharge, and transfer to the Invalid Corps, since called the Veteran Reserve Corps, the command lost one hundred and eighty-eight men during the year. Before it left its quarters in Memphis, which was before its term of service was half expired, it had ceased to bear upon its rolls the names of two hundred and seventy officers and men which were on them at the organization of the regiment. Of these, sixty-four had died during the year 1863, one hundred and eight had been discharged for disability, and sixteen trans ferred to the Invalid Corps. 544 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. On the 26th of January, 1864, the regiment went aboard of transports and moved down the river to Vicbsburg. Here, with the Fourteenth and Thirty-second Iowa, Twenty-fourth Missouri, and Third Indiana Battery, it formed the Second Brigade, Third Division, Sixteenth Corps, Colonel W. T. Shaw, Fourteenth Iowa, commanding brigade. In this organization it took part in General Sherman s grand raid across the State of Mississippi to Meridian, often skirmishing with the enemy, never having an opportunity to fairly fight him, and returned to Vicksburg on the 4th of March. The regiment halted a few days at Vicksburg for much needed rest, and then moved by transport with General A. J. Smith s detachment of the Sixteenth Corps to take part in the Red River expedition under Major- General Banks. In many of the skirmishes and general engagements of this unfortunate campaign, the regiment took part. In the battle of Pleasant Hill, in especial, where a brigade composed almost exclusively of Iowa troops rolled back the tide of disaster which might otherwise have engulfed the whole army, the regiment was long and heavily engaged. "In looking at that battle from the stand-point of actual observation," says a corres pondent, "it would seem that General Banks, alarmed at the disaster of the preceding day, had concluded that some portion of -the army must be sacrificed for the preservation of the remainder, and as though the grim old Shaw with his Iowa brigade (for it was composed of Iowa troops except the Twenty-fourth Missouri, which was partly made up of Iowa men) was selected as the victims. The old hero, with a command of less than one- tenth of the forces in the field, met with fully one-half the entire loss of the day, losing nearly one-third in killed and wounded of his whole com mand, but saved the army, and covered its retreat that night and next day to Grand Ecore. Colonel Gilbert was wounded in the hand during the afternoon, but remained on the field throughout the engagement. Lieute nants Frank A. Brush and S. 0. Smith were severely wounded and taken prisoners. Lieutenant Granger was also wounded. Captain J. M. Hoi- brook, though twice severely wounded, led his men with great gallantry. He lost an arm from one of the wounds, but he will never lose the admira tion of his men and fellow-officers who fought with him on that day of carnage." 3 8 The casualties are officially stated as numbering eighty-eight four killed, seventy wounded, fourteen missing, namely : Company A Killed, Privates Alonzo Thornton. Company D John Tavis. Company F Curtis C. Peers. Company /William J. Pardee. Wounded, Colonel James I. Gilbert; Captain Joseph M. Holbrook; Lieutenants Jedediah W. Granger, Samuel 0. Smith (mortally), Frank A. Brush ; Sergeants George W. Griswold, William M. Allyn, Charles 0. Torry, Robert Beck, George C. Wood; Corporals Andrew J. Patterson, Lucius Dickens, Charles D. Kitcherer, John T. Benson, Harrison H. Love, Hans Johnson ; Privates James Y. Hawthorn, Milton D. Miller, Caleb J. Bishop, Lemuel Pratt, William J. Miller, James Osborn, Emil Roese, Richard Griffin, George B. Goble, William G. Coppenoll, Richard Roese, Calvin R. Dodds, Matthias Martte, John Sires, Frank Backman, John B. Henerts, Thomas Gordon, Henry Kuhlmann, TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 545 On the retreat from Grand Ecore to Alexandria, the Twenty- seventh Iowa, as a part of the forces under General Smith, covered the retreat of Banks all the way, during which time it had several brisk engagements with the enemy. On the last of April it moved to the rear of Alexandria, near Governor Moore s plantation, and was there engaged in continuous skirmishing with the enemy for some ten consecutive days. Alexandria was burned and evacuated on the 13th of May. The enemy constantly annoyed the retreating column, and at Marksville a sharp engagement, lasting two or three hours, took place, in which the Twenty-seventh was under fire, but suffered no loss. The battle of Bayou de Glaize, or Yellow Bayou, as it is more commonly called, was fought on the 18th of May. The engagement, which the rebels admitted resulted in the most severe defeat, for the numbers engaged, which had befallen them west of the Mississippi, continued nearly five hours, during the whole of which our regiment was actively engaged, and suffered a loss of four killed and thirteen wounded. 4 With the day after this combat closed a campaign as remarkable for its ill success as any of the war, but which exhibited the courage and indomi table obstinacy of our troops, fighting by detachments "on their own hook," without a general capable of manceuvering the whole army in the highest possible degree. On this day, our regiment fired its farewell volley at a few rebels hovering near the scene of the previous day s fight, and. crossing the Atchafalaya, moved to the mouth of the Red River. The command here embarked on steamers, went up the river to Vicksburg, and there went into camp, where it halted for rest and recuperation. The stay was only about ten days. Above and below Greenville, about one-third of the way between Vicksburg and Memphis, the rebel Marmaduke was now blockading the Mississippi. The situation of Greenville is not unlike that of Yicksburg, being opposite a narrow peninsula formed by a bend of the Frederick Sass, John Schimek, Frederick Winch, Fritz Duwe, Charles Hennrich, Frederick Schuor- man, Lorenzo W. Stevenson, George Storck, John Henry Schroeder, Silas W. Angier, Charles W. Budd, Edward F. Cram, William M. Horn, John W. Lelacheur, Edward A. Minkler, Charles L. Utley, Malon H. Scarbrough, William J. Mulvany, Harrison W. Perry, James Welsh, William C. Decker, March Olmsted, Stacey J. Purdy, James Noble, John Wright, Sylvester Bement, Edward E. Mulick, J. II. Booth, Alfred Cordcll, Michael Harrigan, James C. Haskins, James H. Coffman, Oscar Teman, Peter Crisper, Francis C. Coop, Carolus H. Davis. Missing, Privates John E. Randall, Hugh W. Andrews, John Boss, John P. Burr, Henry Heiller, William Heine, John F. Seimer, Gottfrkd Seeman, Adam Fisher, Herman Colvin, Seymour L. Barnes, Rollin Lewis, Samuel Craig, Arthur Slack. * LIST OF CASUALTIES : Company A Killed, Private William S. Connor. Wounded, Corporal Thomas B. McLennon; Leonard M. Shriber, William J. Savoy. Company B Wounded, Corporal S. W. Bates; Privates Nicholas Betsinger, Harrison Boteford. Company E Wounded, Privates Henry A. Bender, Charles W. Budd, D. A. Neli^s. Company F Wounded, Private Alpheus A. Morse (mor tally), Van Buren N. Sargent. Company G Wounded, Captain Charles A. Slocum. Company H- Killed, Private Charles Conlon, Charles Hoover (wounded). Company K Killed, Robert M. Childs, Timothy G. Adams (wounded). 69 546 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. river. This peninsula is called Point Chicot, and it gave Marmaduke the power of blockading the river at two different points close to each other by land, but many times as far apart by the course of the stream. He could thus attack a fleet passing up or down the river twice from nearly the same line, fronting in different directions. He was doing much damage. General A. J. Smith left Vicksburg on the 4th of June to dislodge the troublesome intruder. Disembarking his forces at Sunnyside Landing, on the Arkansas shore, on the 6th, he marched through a drenching rain and attacked Mar maduke, delivering his attack so suddenly and energetically that the noted trooper was soon routed, and the blockade of the river raised. In this spirited affair, in which the losses were about one hundred and twenty-five on each side, Colonel Gilbert commanded the brigade. His regiment, being on the left of the line, where there was but little firing, met with no loss. After the battle, General Smith went up the river to Memphis, where the regiment went into camp and there remained a fortnight. The latter part of June, the command moved from Memphis, joining in the Campaign of Tupelo, throughout which Colonel Gilbert commanded a brigade, and the regiment bore its full share of the labors, skirmishes, battles, and hard marches of the expedition. In the battle of Tupelo, fought from six o clock in the morning till about noon of July 14th a con test remarkable among the battles of the war for the disparity of losses to the contending forces, the Unionists suffering comparatively little whilst inflicting immense loss upon the enemy the Twenty-seventh was heavily engaged, as it was also at the Battle of Old Town Creek, the next day. The loss of the regiment in both engagements was one slain and twenty-five wounded. 5 Returning from this successful expedition, the regiment marched by La Grange to Colliersville, and moved thence by car to Memphis. Resting here not quite a fortnight, it joined in the Oxford Expedition under Gene ral A. J. Smith, therein having some skirmishes but no battle with the enemy. It returned to Memphis near the end of August. Early in the following month, the command moved with General Smith s army to Cairo, whence, after a short stay, it moved to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. The 25th, the regiment was ordered to Mineral Point, to meet the rebels under Price. There, after a slight skirmish, it was ordered to De Soto, toward St. Louis, and soon afterwards to Jefferson Barracks. 6 BATTLE OF TUPELO. Wounded, Lieutenant William S. Sims; Corporals Franklin B. Russell, Charles P. Tripp; Privates James Osborn, Leonard M. Shriber, Edward Conner, Mahlon H. Scar- brough, John W. Pratt, Nelson W. Eddy, James Conlon. BATTLE OF OLD TOWN CREEK. Killed, Private Henry L. Lewis. Wounded, Privates William S. Merrian, (mortally), D. S. Gardner, Charles Cole, Elijah Shaff, Gilbert R. Parish, Peter Wendell, Herman II. Mollering ; Sergeant John Everall ; Privates Daniel E. Fox, William H. Clark, Steward McKeney, William T. Rich, Charles Sweeny ; Corporal Peter Fritcher ; Private Peter Cyphers. TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 547 Thence it marched, with other forces in pursuit of Price, starting October 2d. Marching rapidly, it passed through Kirkwood, Union, Jefferson City, Otterville, Sedalia, Lexington, Independence, striking the Arkansas line at Little Santa Fe . General Grant has characterized the campaign, in so far as it was conducted by General Rosecrans, as a noteworthy illustration of how little can be done by many troops, if ill-disposed. Major-General Curtis, of our own State, was the commander who really defeated and demolished Price. Those who remember Rosecrans unjust treatment of the Seventeenth Iowa, Colonel John W. Rankin, at luka, will not fail to observe the poetic justice eliminated by this result. The Twenty-seventh returned by a different route to St. Louis, arriving on November 18th, having marched nearly seven hundred miles in forty-seven days. It was a campaign of forced marches. The 25th, the regiment moved again with General Smith s forces by transports to Cairo, and thence to Nashville, Tennessee, where the com mand disembarked on the first day of December, and was ordered to the front, three miles from the city, to oppose the rebels under Hood, defiantly moving against the capital. General Smith held the right of General Thomas power, and the Twenty-seventh was on the extreme left of Smith s forces. There was heavy skirmishing along the lines, but the rebels not delivering attack in force, our troops strengthened their position by field works. The rebels, it is well known, also constructed strong works, but declined to sally and attack General Thomas Army. The 15th, he moved from behind his works, and attacked the enemy in his chosen, fortified position, bringing on the Battle of Nashville, which, continuing two days, was one of the most remarkable and glorious victories which ever crowned the American arms. In this engagement, the Twenty-seventh, Lieutenant- Colonel Jed. Lake commanding, Colonel Gilbert being in command of the brigade, took a prominent part, entering the rebel works as soon as any troops on their part of the line, capturing guns and prisoners, and doing its whole duty with a bravery and efficiency unsurpassed. The regiment was the pivot of General Smith s Army, which, making a grand left wheel, swung round the enemy s left flank, fighting splendidly all the way, captur ing every fortification in its front, several lines of works, and large numbers of prisoners. Colonel Gilbert s Brigade was composed of his own regiment, the Thirty- second Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. Eberhart, the Fifty-eighth Illinois, Major R. W. Healy, the Tenth Kansas, Captain W. C. Jones, and the Third Indiana Battery, Lieutenant T. J. Gierre, numbering in all, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four infantry and artillery. The colonel commanding, and his troops won great eclat for their conduct on this field, 548 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and it was not long afterwards that Colonel Gilbert was promoted, without a particle of political influence, to the rank of brigadier-general. The losses of the Twenty-seventh at the battle of Nashville were very light, in comparison of the losses which it inflicted upon the enemy. Colonel Gilbert s Brigade met with casualties numbering only sixty-one, a most honorable and gratifying fact, which may be accounted for by the wild firing of the rebels, whose missiles for the most part passed harmlessly over the heads of the Unionists. This was the fact on all parts of the line, the rebels everywhere, though the party assailed, suffering more heavily than the attacking party. They seem to have lost their presence of mind, on account, perhaps, of the unexpected success of the assault, and the sub lime tenacity with which it was followed up. The regiment joined in the pursuit of Hood on the morning of the 17th, and marched southward as far as Pulaski. Thence it marched by Law- renceburg to Clifton, on the Tennessee, arriving on the 2d day of January, 1865. During the year just closed there had been many changes in the regi ment. A number of officers had resigned, whilst the command had lost by death, discharge, and transfer, more than eighty of its members. It had also received quite a large number of recruits, so that it had on its rolls the names of about eight hundred officers and men. Halting but two or three days at Clifton, the Twenty-seventh embarked on steamer and moved up the river to Eastport, where it debarked and went into encampment. During the stay of the regimental encampment at Eastport nothing of noteworthy importance occurred, save a march, on reconnoissance, to luka and return. The 9th of February, tents were again struck, and the troops embarked for New Orleans, the Thirty-second Iowa keeping company with the Twenty-seventh on the voyage. Moving down the Tennessee, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, the command disembarked at Chalniette, a short distance below the Crescent City, on the 21st. Having remained in camp a fortnight, it again embarked, and sailing down the river, and across part of the Gulf of Mexico to Dauphin Island, Ala bama, on the sands of which it went into encampment, March 8th, to await the concentration of troops, and other preparations for the campaign against Mobile under Major-General Canby. On the 20th, the regiment moved by transport across Mobile Bay, and ascending a river, flowing in from the east, some twenty-five miles, made a disembarkation. On the 25th, it was marching northward, with the troops composing the Thirteenth and Sixteenth Corps moving against Mobile. The march was all the while enlivened by skirmishes, and made laborious by what General Sherman would call villainous roads. Reaching Sibley s Mills, the regiment remained, guarding the flank of our army investing Forts Alexis and Spanish, till the 2d of April, when it was sent out with TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 549 the brigade, General Gilbert commanding, on a reconnoissance, with the object also of opening communication with Major-General Steele, about to invest the works of Blakely. It was on this march that General Gilbert narrowly escaped death from a torpedo, buried in the road, and which was exploded by his horse tramping over it. The incident is thus related by the correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette. " I had just crossed the brook, when a loud explosion on the opposite eminence and at the head of the column, attracted my attention. I sup posed the enemy had opened on us with artillery, and that Captain Rice would soon have an opportunity to try the range of his guns. Pushing for ward to the point where the explosion had taken place, I saw a group of excited officers and men collected around General Gilbert. Several mem bers of his staff were there, with faces scorched by heat and partially blackened with powder. Their hats and uniforms were covered with sand. One horse lay dead beside the road, his belly torn open, and his bowels frightfully protruding ; another standing by had one leg broken and mangled, and was quivering in agony ; two or three other animals were more or less in jured. Immediately in the road close by a pine stump, was a huge hole, from which had been scooped apparently a couple of bushels of sand. The cause of the noise I had heard was now evident. A torpedo had exploded in the very midst of the group composed of the General and his staff, just as they had commenced to move forward after the temporary halt upon the hill. The general s own animal had exploded the infernal machine with his hind foot. A stunning report followed; and the whole party were at once shocked, confused, confounded, and enveloped in a cloud of dust. The horse upon which Lieutenant L. G. Stevenson, Fifty-eighth Illinois, was riding, was almost instantly killed, and the Lieutenant extricated himself with some difficulty from beneath the dying animal. Lieutenant Eisenhart, Twenty-seventh Iowa, A. D. C. to General Gilbert, had his horse s leg broken, and was himself hurt and disfigured by sand and powder driven into his face. The horse of Lieutenant George Childs, Thirty-second Iowa, A. A. Q. M., was badly injured, and himself scorched and stunned. Others were slightly hurt, and others still (among whom your correspondent was conspicuous, although at a considerable distance when the explosion took place) were badly scared. General Gilbert, I am glad to say, was en tirely uninjured, although the sand was driven with such force against his horse as to start the blood all along his sides ! You may be certain that in our further movements that day, there was an air of caution and circum spection not frequently observed. General Gilbert moved with General Garrard s division to the left of General Steele, now besieging Blakely. The regiment did excellent service during the siege skirmishing by day, extending the parallels by night, all 550 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the while under the fire of the enemy. These operations lasted until April 9th , when, with one company on the skirmish line, the others in the main line of assault, the regiment, Major Howard commanding, joined in the charge before whose impetuous onset the rebel works and garrison fell into our hands, and the great rebellion crumbled into irretrievable ruins. In this fine success, General Gilbert s Brigade captured eight pieces of artillery, and six hundred prisoners, with a loss to itself of less than thirty men, killed and wounded. General Gilbert gives high praise to all the officers and men of his command, and specially mentions Company B, of the Twenty- seventh, engaged on the line of skirmishers. He also states that Major Hutchinson, Thirty-second Iowa, distinguished himself both in the assault and in the capture of prisoners. It is proper for me to add that General Gilbert, for his gallant, skilful conduct in this brilliant operation was again recommended for promotion, which, no doubt, he would have at once re ceived but for the cessation of hostilities. He was brevetted a Major-Gen eral soon afterwards. His brigade was assigned the duty of garrisoning the fort, and entered upon that service the day after the capture. In a few days, however, it was relieved, and joined the Sixteenth Corps, marching on Montgomery. This march, a distance of nearly two hundred miles, was rapidly performed, and the regiment went into camp at the old rebel capital on the 27th. Here the command remained, awaiting orders for muster-out. The field and staff officers at this time were : Lieutenant-Colonel Jed. Lake ; Major George W. Howard ; Adjutant Charles H. Lewis; Surgeon John E. Sanborn, Assistant David C. Hastings ; Quartermaster George P. Smith ; Chaplain Reverend F. P. Kiner. 5 The regiment remained at Montgomery more than two months. The 23d of June, General Gilbert issued an elo quent farewell order to his troops and departed for the North, bearing with him the benedictions of all his old comrades in arms. The regiment, having meanwhile transferred its recruits to the veteran Iowa Twelfth, departed on the 16th of July, and moving by Selma, Meridian, and Jackson, to Vicks- burg, there took steamer, homeward bound. It was disbanded at Clinton, Iowa, in the early part of August, Lieutenant-Colonel Lake s farewell ad dress being dated the 8th, as the members of the Twenty-seventh were 5 The line officers were : Company A Captain Amos M. Haslip ; Lieutenants J. W. Granger, John W. Pratt. Company B Captain John W. Hemenway; Lieutenants Samuel 0. Smith, William S. Sims. Company C Captain Henry F. Sill; Lieutenants James A. Poor, Herman C. Hemenway. Company D Captain Silas Garber; Lieutenants Alexander Bliedung, Charles Sydow. Co~npany E Captain T. A. Olmstead; Lieutenants G. C. Williams, D. II. Hutchings. Cr/mpany F Captain James M. Holbrook; Lieutenants William N. Boynton, Jacob S. Eisenhart. Company G Lieutenant John E. Butler, commanding. Company H Captain Otis N. Whitney; Lieutenants William G. Donnan, George W. Smyser. Company /Captain Edwin A. Sherburn ; Lieutenants John E. Peek, F. H. Bobbins. Company K Captain Charles T. Granger; Lieutenants George C. Babcock, Jesse P. Hatch. TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 551 about to separate, after journeys and marches of more than twelve thousand miles, guarding their ever unfurled colors through sunshine, and storm, and battle, never once furling the honored emblem of our nationality, till the power of that nationality had been everywhere restored by means of the valor and endurance of the patriot volunteers, such as composed this command. CHAPTER XXXII. TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION RENDEZVOUS AT IOWA CITY-FIRST ENCAMPMENT, NEAR HELENA, ARKANSAS A HARD MARCH EXPEDITION TO DUVALL S BLUFF REMOVING OBSTRUCTIONS FROM THE YAZOO PASS-THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON CHAMPION HILLS SIEGE DUTIES-JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI- TRANSFER TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF RED RIVER EXPEDITION AN OCEAN VOYAGE SHERIDAN S SHENANDOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGN BATTLE OF CEDAR CREEK ANOTHER SEA VOYAGE, TO SAVANNAH, GEORGIA- DISBANDED. THE Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry, composed of Company A, Captain W. C. Gaston, Benton county ; Company B, of Iowa and Tama counties, Captain B. W. Wilson; Company C, Captain J. W. Carr, Poweshiek county; Company D, Captain S. P. Yannatta, Benton ; Company E, Captain David Stewart, Johnson county ; Company F, Captain John A. Staley, Tama ; Company G, Captain Thomas Dillin, Iowa county ; Company H, Captain Aaron Wilson, Poweshiek; Company I, Captain John B. Kerr, Iowa county ; Company K, Captain John Meyer, Jasper, was organized during the autumn of 1862. William E. Miller, of Iowa City, was Colonel, John Connell, of Toledo, Lieutenant-Colonel, and H. B. Lynch, of Millersburg, Major. James E. Pritchard, of Iowa City, was chosen Adjutant, Thomas Hughes, Quartermaster, and the irrepressible Doctor John W. H. Vest, of Montezuma, Surgeon. The Reverend J. T. Simmons, of Marengo, a good man and an abolitionist, was appointed Chaplain. The rendezvous of the regiment was at Iowa City, where it had some weeks of drill and discipline. On the 10th of October, then numbering, rank and file, nine hundred and fifty-six men, it passed from the control of the State to the control of the general government, being mustered into the service by Captain H. B. Hendershott, of the regular army. 1 1 At the time of organization the following were the names of the first lieutenants: James H. Shutts, James T. Sargent, Daniel S. Dean, John H. Thompson, Daniel A. Shafer, Theodore Schaffer, Nathan C. Martin, George Phillips, Benjamin F. Kirby, Merritt W. Atwood ; second lieutenants, 552 TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 553 The command remained at Iowa City till November 2d, when it received orders to move to the theatre of war. Reaching Davenport, it there remained a week, awaiting transportation. The stay was neither long nor agreeable. Mumps and measles had their usual effect upon the faces and temper of the men. However, transportation soon came, and on the 20th, the regiment found itself at Helena, Arkansas, and immediately went into its first encampment of tents. In just a week, a detachment numbering three hundred men, under Major Lynch, joined the command of General Hovey and marched toward Oakland, Mississippi, to aid General Grant, then attempting to take Vicksburg in rear by Holly Springs, Grenada, and Jackson. The detachment was out some twelve days, marching rapidly all the time, through tempestuous weather, and being heavily laden with ammunition, rations, etc. William M. Hall, a private of Company C, was killed by guerrillas the only casualty which occurred during this toilsome, most disagreeable march. The weather at Helena, meantime, was no better. The camp was little better than a swamp, more suited to alligators than to men. A less watery locality was chosen about the middle of December, but not till after disease in complicated forms had taken liold of the men, making the encampment a hospital. It was intended that the regiment should take part in the movement against Vicksburg under Gen eral Sherman, ordered, with the practical wisdom which has always char acterized that theoretical warrior, by Major-General Halleck, but in addition to the ailments by which the command had hitherto been afflicted, small pox now broke out in camp, and kept it in the mud of Helena. Shortly after the commencement of the year 1863, however, this fearful disease abated, and the physical condition of the command rapidly improved. * On the llth of January, it embarked on steamer, and formed a part of Gen eral Gorman s Expedition which proceeded up White River as far as Duvall s Bluff. Whilst the fleet was going from the mouth of this river to Clarendon, the weather was excessively and painfully stormy. First, it rained for many hours in succession; then there came a blinding, driving storm of snow which covered the ground to the depth of a foot ; then the wind chopped round to the northwest, and blew great guns. The cold was piercing. The decks of the boats were covered with ice, and crowded with troops. The cold came so suddenly after the rain and snow that the clothing of the men was covered with ice, the nor wester, with an edge as sharp as a razor, cutting away bodily heat as fast as it was generated. The army was benumbed, nearly frozen. It suffered like the French army in Russia. General Gorman appeared to know very little of what he was John E. Palmer, Joseph B. Wilson, James H. Tilton, James R. Kennedy, (soon succeeded by Henry M. Wilson), Scott Houseworth, Joseph Myers, John P. Driver, John Buchanan, Henry W. Sailer, Mahlon C. Dean. 70 554 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. about. Part of the troops were ordered to disembark at St. Charles. The boats had hardly been unloaded when they were ordered to reembark. In this labor they spent many weary hours, over shoe-top in water, and in a storm from which wild beasts would have sought shelter. The fruits of this horrible expedition were two abandoned siege guns, the capture of a squad of prisoners, and the burning of an unfinished depot ! Even the cotton got away. Many men died of sheer exposure during the expedi tion, many more afterwards died from the effects of it. Our regiment returned to Helena on the 23d, reaching the former camp long after dark, and instead of tents, finding nothing but the black night, cold, and mud. The canvas had somehow been spirited away, but the men sank into bivouac with more sang froid than they could have mustered before their experience on White River an experience to which they cannot recur, to this day, without shivering. Rude winter quarters were now built by the men, in which they endured a gloomy, sickly existence, rather than lived. All imaginable forms of fever prevailed, the ravages of which the medical staff, though doing all that was within the power of man, were unable to stay. Daily, from the quar ters of every regiment at Helena, muffled drums were beating funeral marches to the grave. The winds seemed to moan solemn requiems through the huts, in almost all which lay the sick, attended by comrades sick at heart. There were many scenes which, if drawn by the pencil of Mayer, would call forth the grief of man and the tears of woman. Misfor tune attended our arms; the troops were unpaid; their bodies were covered with rags, and their feet not covered at all ; they wrote complain ing letters home, and received indignant responses. What with poor tents at first, what with the White River expedition, what with disease and death afterwards, what with the general want of comforts, it is not sur prising that the troops who passed this winter at Helena never even yet speak of that town without angry curses. On the 14th of February General Washburne left Helena with a consid erable army for the purpose of removing obstructions from the Yazoo Pass, preparatory to the movement soon afterwards made by this meandering route upon Fort Pemberton. Great trees had been felled into and across the Pass. These were removed by the troops dragging them from the Pass with cables. By incredible labor a navigable channel was secured. In this hard work the Twenty-eighth participated, the men making of themselves amphibious animals for a week. Soon after their return to camp, Colonel Miller resigned, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Connell. Captain B. W. Wilson was soon commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. On the llth of April, the Twenty-eighth, forming, with the Twenty- fourth Iowa, Forty-seventh Indiana, Fifty-sixth Ohio, and two batteries of TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 555 artillery, the Second Brigade, Colonel Slack, Forty-seventh Indiana, com manding, of the Twelfth Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, started on the campaign which in a little less than three months resulted in the capitula tion of Vicksburg. In this laborious and glorious campaign our regiment participated, cheerfully performing its share of the labors, and acquiring its share of the honors, in a brigade, and division, and corps, which lagged behind none either in hard work or hard fighting. The command was first under fire at the battle of Port Gibson, May 1st. Colonel Connell, in his official report, says, With regard to the conduct o.f the officers and men during the action, I can truly speak in terms of highest commendation. Although they had marched all the day and night previous to the engage ment, carrying three days rations and one hundred rounds of cartridge to the man, and had never been under fire before, they fought with that fear less spirit and determination which has always characterized the American soldier." The loss of the regiment was one killed and sixteen wounded. 2 From this time till the battle of Champion Hills, on the 16th, the Thir teenth Corps was constantly marching, maneuvering, or skirmishing with the enemy, deceiving him, holding him in check, and in every possible way rendering aid to Sherman and McPherson moving on Jackson, in all which movements the Twenty-eighth, of course, joined. In the battle which took place on the 16th, for some hours with varying success, but at last resulting in a signal victory, the officers and men of the regiment fought like veterans. General Hovey says, "Of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth Iowa, in what language shall I speak ! Scarcely more than six months in the service, and yet no troops ever showed more bravery, or fought with more valor. Of them and their commanders, the State of Iowa may well be proud. The truth may pardon the tautology. It is certain that in this fierce contest, all the Union troops fought with courage and tenacity, and that the troops of Iowa were among those most highly distinguished. The Twenty-eighth here lost one hundred, in killed, wounded, and missing twenty-two killed, sixty-five wounded, and thirteen missing. 3 Four companies came out of the fight without a commissioned 2 Killed, Jacob Sowerwine. Wounded, Corporals Peter Fitzgerald, George M. Walker, A. M. Hinsdale; Privates James B. Harris, John C. Dine, E. B. Felker, John H. Brannan, P. C. Dillon, J. Hibler, Philip H. Mason, John Myers, Joseph L. Fitzgerald, Charles A. Drake, Wesley Tinker, Wil liam M. Wallace, John Fobert. 8 Company A Killed, Lieutenant John J. Legan ; Privates Amos N. Brewster, Francis H. Moss- man, James B. Jimmerson. Wounded, Corporals William L. Parmeter, Samuel Taggart; Privates B. H. Beller, William H. Bowen, William N. Coder, Benjamin F. Ellis, Henry M. Worth, A. G. Lloyd, (missing), John II. Boyden. Company B Wmmded, Corporal Nathan W. Cook; Privates Henry Cronk, George T. Jainea, Abraham Felter, Hugh M. Dean. Company C Killed, Privates Benjamin F. Cassiday, Augustus Skeels. Wounded, Sergeant James B. Roach; Privates Thomas Neal, A. J. Myers, John D. Evans, James M. Johnson, Benjamin F. Swangle, David J. Diffendaffer. 556 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. officer. The regiment remained at Edwards Station till the 20th, when it moved to the Big Black River, remaining there in guard of the bridge un til the 24th, when it marched for Vicksburg. On the 25th it took position near the centre of the left wing of the investing army, where it remained, in the performance of the heavy duties of the siege till the capitulation. Here several were killed, and many wounded. Much sickness prevailed, and a number died. On the very day of the capitulation the regiment received orders to march with three days rations. On the morning of July 5th, it moved toward Jackson, marching that day to the Big Black River. Death, wounds and sickness had so reduced the command that only two hundred and fifty men were able to join in the march. Major Lynch had resigned on account of ill health, and had been succeeded by Captain John Meyer, a gallant and intelligent officer. Reduced in numbers, but not damaged in spirit, the command marched on Jackson, skirmishing once or twice with the enemy, till it reached its position in front of the works defending that capital. The army remained here laying irregular siege to Jackson, till the rebels evacuated the city, and our troops took possession of their works. On the morning of the 25th, our regiment took up its line of march for Vicksburg, and by a rapid, severe movement in broiling hot weather reached that place on the evening of the 27th. The regiment was soon afterwards transferred to the Department of the Gulf. It remained in Vicksburg two or three days, and then moved by steamer to Natchez. Here and near by it remained a few days, and, again embarking, passed down to Carrollton, a place but a short distance from New Orleans. Here it went into camp in a pleasant location, and remained Company J) Killed, Private William II. Summers. Wounded, Privates Samuel A. Crawford, James H. Wilford, William H. St. Clair, G. W. Ferguson, David C. Williams, Jacob Ilite, James Maxson, Levi E. Weaver, Joseph K. Shughart. Missing, Sergeant W. S. McDuff; Private Benjamin Honeywell. Company E Killed, Privates John W. Stonebraker, Hugh Bowman. Wounded, Privates John Weno, Daniel P. Roberts. Missing, Private John Omalia. Company F Killed, Privates David Shelton, John A. Snapf, George Williams, B. W. Russell, Thomas Southern, Samuel W. Hammett. Wounded, Corporals John W. Iliatt, William Nixon, John Myers; Privates Samuel W. Arbuthnot, Charles Godfrey, Henry M. Miller, John E. Rockenfield, George A. Moss. Missing, Captain John A. Staley; Privates B. T. Brannon, John Blair, Charles W. Lounsberry, John Wilson, Joseph Chess. Company G Killed, Drummer Robert Tester. Wounded, Privates D. A. Wood, John Gilroy, Amos Tullis. Missing, Private Rowland Davis. Company H Killed, Private Patrick Ilogan. Wounded. Lieutenant John Buchanan ; Privates L. Pflauin, A. P. Pflaum, Samuel P. Kent. Francis Murphy, L. P. Martin. Company I Killed, Captain Benjamin F. Kirby; Private Moses Osborn. Wounded, Corporal Clark Mahannah; Privates Peter Noel, John McLaughlin, S. C. Branton, H. J. Strong, Patrick Lovell, C. W. Statler. Wounded and Missing, Privates William M. Wallace, William T. Thomas, Ellet Bolin. Company K Killed, Privates J. P. Haskett, A. P. Callison, George Hutchinson. Wounded, Cor porals Charles Bodley, John C. Wilson ; Privates Henry Effnor, James S. Wilson, David A. Post, E. B. Moffit, Martin V. Saunders, J. F. W. Andreas. TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 557 nearly a month, the men gaining health and strength, and much needed clothing. The 13th of September, the Twenty-eighth joined a considerable force under General Franklin, and moved into Western Louisiana, on an expe dition which lasted until near the close of the year. After sundry halts the army encamped near Opelousas, and without having accomplished any beneficial results, visible to the naked eye, began a retrograde movement about the 1st of November. The countermarch had scarcely begun, when the enemy commenced to harass our lines, so that there was considerable skirmishing. The Unionists turned on their pursuers once or twice, mak ing considerable marches westward, but the whole expedition may be dis missed with the remark that it was of no value to our arms. Colonel Council s regiment, returning to New Orleans under orders to embark for Texas, arrived at Algiers on the evening of Christmas day. Awaiting transportation, the troops of the Twenty-eighth had a fine opportunity to make themselves miserable in the mud. Transportation not being forthcoming, the order for their movement to Texas was counter manded about the middle of January, 1864. They moved across Lake Pontchartrain, and went into encampment not far from its northern shore at Madisonville. Here several weeks of pleasant weather, in bright contrast to that which they had encountered in the Bayou Teche country, were heartily enjoyed, whilst the labors on fortifications rather gave wholesome exercise than disliked drudgery to the troops. The command remained at Madisonville till the latter part of February, during which period it was considerably strengthened by recruits and a number of men returning to duty from the hospital. "We began to feel," says Chaplain Simmons, that we were a regiment again. Colonel Connell arrived in New Orleans with his command on the 1st of March, and, crossing the Mississippi, went into encampment at Algiers. A few days thereafter he moved by train to Brashier, and crossing the bay of that name, encamped on its western shore, to await the arrival of the other troops who were to march by the same route on the Red River expe dition. The regiment now numbered five hundred and fifty men on duty, was in the finest spirits, and under the best discipline. Anticipating a successful campaign, the troops cheerfully left their encampments on the 12th, and marched up Bayou Teche. Passing through a beautiful country, by Franklin, Opelousas and Washington, the column reached Alexandria on the Red River, where it was joined by General A. J. Smith, with detachments of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, and Admiral David D. Porter, with a considerable fleet. The difficulties of navigation delaying the fleet, caused a halt of the forces under General Banks at Alexandria. Nor is it any more than simple 558 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. justice to General Banks to state that much of the disaster of the campaign was attributable to Admiral Porter, who, nevertheless, was constantly ful minating reports the most magnificent lies of which history hath any record but had to depend, after all, for the safety of his fleet, upon the energy and genius of a northwestern backwoods-man. Certain drunken generals did the rest of the business of bringing the expedition to its sad results. But this is to anticipate. The latter part of March the army left Alexandria. The division to which the Twenty-eighth was attached marched to Natchitoches, a distance of eighty-five miles, in less than four days. Here Quartermaster Thomas Hughes, an old printer, began the publication of a "live" daily journal from an office confiscated by our troops. It was continued for several days with great success. When General Banks advance was attacked by the enemy in the vicinity of Mansfield, our regiment was many miles in rear. It pressed on with other troops of the Thirteenth Corps to the front, and took part in the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads, losing in that engagement about eighty offi cers and men, killed, wounded, and missing. Colonel Conncll was himself severely wounded, and captured by the enemy, and, Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson and Major Meyer being absent on recruiting service, the command of the regiment devolved upon Captain Thomas Dillin. It was in this action also that Quartermaster Hughes was captured. Adjutant J. G. Strong, Lieutenants H. Weaver, and 0. F. Dorrence were among the wounded. The battle was a repulse, turned into a defeat by bad general ship on theUnion side. The troops fell back toward Pleasant Hill, leaving their dead and many of their wounded in the hands of the enemy. A retreat of a few miles brought them to the Nineteenth Corps, which checked the rebels, and, with the help of the troops retreating, ought to have gained a decisive victory. General A. J. Smith reenforcing Banks with a part of his command, the Battle of Pleasant Hill was fought the next day, wherein the brigade of Colonel Shaw, Fourteenth Iowa, and that of Colonel Hill of the Thirty- fifth, were conspicuous, the non-veterans of the Twelfth, the Fourteenth, the Twenty-seventh, the Thirty-second, and the Thirty-fifth regiments from our State suffering much more heavily than any other equal number of troops engaged. But in this bloody battle, made a victory by the valor of the troops, in spite of inebriated, and incompetent generals, neither the Twenty-fourth nor the Twenty-eighth Iowa took part. They were marching toward Grand Ecore in guard of trains, General Banks having really put his army in retreat, as though he had accepted Sabine Cross Roads as an irretrievable disaster. Our dead and wounded were, therefore, left upon a field which they and their comrades had fairly won, and from which the enemy retreated in disorder to and beyond the field of Mansfield. The TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 559 victorious Unionists, in sullen obedience to orders, retreated to Grand Ecore. Here the army halted, and fortified, awaiting the fleet which was in trou ble above. Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson now rejoined his regiment, bringing a number of recruits. I need not dwell upon the details of the regiment s further connection with this expedition. Marching by Alexandria, where the army again halted to get Porter out of difficulties by himself insur mountable he, of course, being engaged in the long-hand reporting busi ness and by Marksville, it reached Morganza on the 22d of May, after a retreat of many hardships and exposures, in the face of a harassing enemy. Through all the campaign the regiment maintained its discipline and its un conquerable spirit. It passed from the command of Banks to that of Canby, reduced indeed in strength by the losses it had sustained on the recent expedition, but animated by the same manly courage which had carried it proudly through the victories of Thompson s and of Champion s Hills. The greatest praise of the western troops who made the Red River Campaign is, that, under other generals, on no more equal fields, they always fought well, and were always victorious. The Twenty-eighth made a march to the Atchafalaya, in search of the enemy, and after four days returned to Morganza, whence it embarked for Carrollton, arriving about the middle of June. Colonel Connell soon re joined the regiment, and was greeted by his command with the most en thusiastic welcome. There were many wet eyes among his hardy troops, as he stepped from the cars, an armless sleeve hanging by his side. The com mand moved to Kennerville, but was soon ordered westward with forces moving thither against Dick Taylor, as was stated. The regiment went by cars to Thibodeaux, and encamped. Here the troops had an old-fashioned celebration of the 4th of July. Without having seen the enemy, they re turned to Algiers two days afterwards. The 22d of July, the Twenty-eighth embarked on the good ship "Arago," and after a discouraging delay caused by the vessel running aground, bade farewell to Louisiana on the 23d, and on the 2d of August landed at Alex andria, Virginia, after a voyage of great hardship on account of extremely hot weather and the crowded condition of the ship. Moving by ferry to Washington, the regiment halted one night not far from the National Capi tol, and next day, marching by Georgetown, went into beautiful encamp ment near the village of Tennallytown. The Twenty-eighth had been pre ceded in its arrival at Washington by the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-second, these three regiments being all the Iowa troops which ever passed through the national metropolis till General Sherman s troops passed through in review after the military power of the rebellion had been crushed. It is but to quote from the journals of the city, to say that the Iowa regiments 560 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. which marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in the summer of 1864, attracted marked attention and received the unmixed admiration of the immense crowds of citizens who saw their manly appearance and soldierly bearing. The regiment remained near Tennallytown about a fortnight, when it joined in the inarch of those troops who went thence to join the army un der General Sheridan, about to commence the brilliant offensive campaign of the Shcnandoah Valley. Not dwelling upon the movements which pre ceded the battle of Winchester, or Opequan as it is officially known, it will suffice here to state that in this engagement the Twenty-eighth fought in the thickest of the conflict, and lost nearly ninety of its officers and men killed and wounded. Captain John E. Palmer was slain on the field, Cap tain Scott Houseworth mortally wounded. Adjutant J. Gr. Strong was twice wounded, but did not leave the field. Captains J. B. Wilson and J. W. Carr, and Lieutenants Charles E. Haverly, D. S. Dean, J. C. Summers, and M. IIair were more or less severely wounded. "Too much cannot be said," says Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, "in praise of officers and men. Not an officer flinched, not a man gave way. 4 The victory gained, the regiment joined in the pursuit immediately after the battle, and slept that night in bivouac beyond Winchester. It was a cold night, but, thinking of their comrades lying stark and stiff on the field of battle, the men thought not of their own discomforts. General *Thc following is an official list of casualties in the Twenty-eighth Iowa, at the battle of Win chester : Field and Staff Wounded, Adjutant Joseph G. Strong. Company A Killed, Captain John E. Palmer, Sergeant Joseph White. Wounded, Corporal Henry M. Worth ; Private B. H. Beller. Missing, Amos G. Lloyd, J. A. Campbell. Company B Killed, William D. Headley. Wounded, Captain J. B. Wilson, Lieutenant Charles E. Haverly, Sergeant 0. Hoffman ; Privates G. W. Parks, D. S. Lanning, Mungo Young, F. M. Connelly, J. D. Smith, I. II. Mitchell. Missing, A. Felter. Company C Wounded, Captain J. W. Carr, Lieutenant D. S. Dean; Privates John A.Myers, James Hunter, W. N. Bowen, S. T. Farmer, C. C. Craver. Missing G. P. Howard, J. B. Hillhouse, W. B. Harris. Company D Wounded, Lieutenant J. C. Summers; Privates D. F. Bowe, T. F. Williams, John Brennen, P. A. Locke, A. L. Carrier, H. Stephens. Company E Wounded, Captain Scott Houseworth (mortally), Sergeant Charles E. Ky te, Corporal H. S. Eberly; Privates M. Campion, A. Manning, T. N. Roberts, J. C. Wilson. Missing, J. Dicus, John Andrews, A. Riley. Company F Wounded, Privates T. Shelton, J. B. M. Bishop, Sergeant John Crawford, Corporal William Hanna. Missing, Privates William Nixon, H. A. Read, William Grubbs, C. W. Sipes, E. S. Beckley. Company G Killed, Corporal Thomas Collingwood ; Privates Hiram L. Hartwell, George W. Smith, Alfred Macey, William 0. Jones. Wounded, Sergeant John Terrill, Sergeant Jacob N. Diiines. Corporals Robert Greenlee, D. II. Tracy ; Privates J. Hitchcock, II. W. Evans, John H. Zahrt, Missing J. Roberts. Company H Wounded, Corporal F. Brenaman. Company I Wounded, Lieutenant M. O Hair; Privates A. Holden, JohnFabert, William Murphy Missing, Sergeant P. Fitzgerald; Privates M. Hughs, H. Faulkner. Company K Killed, Corporal J. F. W. Andreas ; Private A. T. Beals. Wounded, Corporals Wil Ham T. Patterson, D. Gifford; Privates W. W. Baxter, Samuel Friend, J. B. Peer, A. Whitehead Missing, Privates H. McFarland, W. II. Ashley, William Northcut, John Graves. TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 561 Sheridan pressed on after the retreating foe, and on the 22d gained the victory of Fisher s Hill. In this battle, the Twenty-eighth was again pro minently engaged, and captured six of the enemy s guns in battery, a large quantity of ammunition, and many prisoners, but lost only four men wounded. 5 After this battle there was comparative quiet in the Shenandoah Valley till just a month had elapsed after the battle of Winchester. There were, indeed, reconnoissances, and on the 9th of October General Ouster, with his cavalry division gained a fine victory by one of his dashing exploits, in which he drove a superior force of troopers many miles up the valley, and captured all his artillery and many prisoners ; but both armies rested, and the rebels brought up reinforcements, for the period mentioned. The Union army was posted in a strong position, strengthened by works, along the hills of Cedar Creek, which empties into the north branch of the Shenandoah about two miles below Strasburg. Cavalry guarded the north branch down to its mouth, opposite Front Royal. The line extended in a northerly course, from left to right, Crook s Eighth Corps on the left, Emory s Nineteenth in the centre, and Wright s Sixth on the right, the whole being some five miles in length. Custer and Merritt, commanding cavalry divisions, were in reserve, at the time of the battle we are about to describe, nearly in the rear of the right. Powell s cavalry was extended in picket from Crook s left down to Front Royal. Our line, then, across the entire valley, ran thus : Custer, Merritt, Wright, Emory, Crook, Powell. General Sheridan being absent on important business at Washington, Wright was in command of the army, Rickette, of the Sixth Corps. The 17th of October, Custer on the right had a severe skirmish, and repulsed the enemy. The next day, a reconnoissance was made from the left toward Strasburg and Fisher s Hill, but no signs of the enemy s approach were discovered. Dispatches were captured, however, which made it cer tain that Early had been reenforced for the express purpose of " smashing up Sheridan." THE BATTLE OF CEDAR CREEK. Early, with a force of about twenty-five thousand men, consisting chiefly of the divisions of Kershaw, Ramseur, Gordon, Pegram, and Wharton, which had been arranged unperceived behind Fisher s Hill, moved forward to attack, about midnight of Tuesday, the 18th. In the foggy, chilly morn ing, Kershaw marched past Crook s left, and took position directly in his rear. Meanwhile, the rest of Early s command had marched to Cedar Creek with equal silence and celerity, and, like the flanking column, with out alarming our pickets or officers of the day. His positions being gained Namely : Sergeants John A. Yarick, L. Loupee; Privates J. Behouneck, C. L. Roberts. 71 562 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. close upon our picket lines, the enemy rushed to the attack just before daybreak. Advancing in columns of regiments, he fairly trampled down Crook s pickets, and dashed into his intrenchments, capturing many pri soners and a number of guns before the Unionists had returned a shot. Crook s whole corps was soon routed, the left flank of the army turned, and Powell s cavalry cut off. The Nineteenth Corps was not so completely sur prised, but its left gave way before the impetuous attack, and it was scarcely broad daylight before the enemy occupied the intrenchments both of the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps, and had compelled our whole army to retreat ; for the Sixth Corps, fighting at right angles with its original line, was essentially covering the retreat of the other forces. The rebels, with their own artillery, with twenty-four of our own guns turned on us, and with terrible musketry fire continued to inflict fearful casualty upon our forces. The Sixth Corps checked the impetuous rush of the enemy, but did not stop his advance. Ricketts services were most gallant and valuable, and by covering the retreat as he did he enabled the officers to rally the troops who had become disordered early in the day. Nevertheless, the exultant enemy continued to press on, with the seeming inflexible determination of carrying out his original object to the letter by actually smashing up Sher idan. It was not long after nine o clock, when the enemy gained Middletown, having driven our army five miles from its intrenchments on Cedar Creek. Shortly afterwards, the tide of battle turned. Wright had not despaired of the day, but the arrival of Sheridan, who had come from Winchester as fast as horse could carry him, dispelled the gloom which was settling upon the army. He rode on his foaming charger along the ranks, and was received everywhere with cheers. He said his troops must sleep that night in their tents on Cedar Creek. The army became hopeful, then enthu siastic. The very vigor of the enemy s attack and pursuit had fatigued him, and there was a lull in the battle. The Union army meantime was disposed near Newtown, the Sixth Corps in the centre, Emory on the right, Crook on the left. About one o clock the enemy again attacked with renewed vigor. But, after a long and despsrate struggle, he was repulsed. Sheridan then charged in turn. A tremendous fire of artillery and musketry greeted our troops. Their lines were broken and they fell back in momentary disorder. They were quickly re-formed, and the whole army again pressed forward in a splendid charge, resistless as the rising tide. Despite stout resistance, Middletown was carried, and the enemy driven in retreat before our victo rious legions. He left guns, clothing, haversacks, and other debris of a routed army, behind him. He did not stop till he had gained the line of the Cedar Creek, and from this he was quickly driven through Strasburg to Fisher s Hill. Our twenty-four captured guns were retaken, and as TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 563 many more of the enemy s fell into our hands. The cavalry vigorously pursued the enemy, and some of the infantry went to Strasburg, but the main army went into camp at nightfall on Cedar Creek, the defeat of the morning having been turned into a victory, decisive of the campaign. The rebels kept up their retreat through Woodstock to Mount Jackson, where they halted, and intrenched themselves. By this great victory immense materiel of war fell into our hands, but it is probable the losses in slain and wounded were greater on the side of the Unionists than on that of the rebels. We lost about one thousand and three hundred prisoners, whilst the rebels lost about one thousand and five hundred. Our killed and wounded numbered more than five thousand. But it was one of thq most inspiriting victories of the war, and most justly placed General Philip Sheridan among the great captains of the age. It was the magnetic power of his personal influence which turned a great defeat into a great victory, and made Cedar Creek forever memorable as the Marengo of the rebellion. In this engagement there were two regiments besides the Twenty-eighth from Iowa, the Twenty-second, Colonel Harvey Graham, and the Twenty- fourth, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Q. Wilds. These were prominent in the action, and lost many officers and men hors-de-combat. Lieutenant-Colonel Wilds on this field received the wound from which he soon afterwards died. It is a melancholy fact, that not long after his death, his wife and children died of disease, so that his name can only live in the grateful recollection of his countrymen, who can never forget his long career of usefulness and gallantry. Major Ed. Wright was also wounded on this field, as were Captains A. R. Knott, E. H. Pound, A. M. Loomis, and Lieutenant C. H. Kurtz. The total loss of the Twenty-fourth was more than ninety, officers and enlisted men. The Twenty-second fought in the same division with the Twenty-eighth, and with its accustomed gallantry. It lost during the battle between seventy and eighty officers and men, killed, wounded and missing. There were no officers slain, but Captain Alfred B. Cree, Cap tain George W. Clark, and Lieutenant Nicholas C. Messenger were severely wounded. Captain Lafayette F. Mullins, Captain Charles Hartley, and Lieutenant Edward J. Dudley, were wounded, and Lieutenant Robert W. Davis was captured by the enemy. The Twenty-eighth, fighting in the Fourth Brigade of Grover s Division, was engaged early and late in this severe contest. When the Eighth Corps gave way at the very commencement of the battle, Grover s Division, on the left of the Nineteenth Corps, changed front to the left, and the regi ment went into action at once. By the failure of a Maine Regiment to connect on its right, it was left in an exposed position, but it held it man fully till driven back by overwhelming numbers. Right here the command 564 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. lost nearly fifty men killed and wounded. Falling back about half a mile, the regiment was rallied, and again offered a stout resistance to the enemy. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson was severely wounded and borne from the field, and Captain Riemenschneidcr, slain. The command devolved upon Major John Meyer, who led the regiment through the rest of the battle with great skill and courage, and who declares in his official report that no officers or soldiers ever fought better or more bravely than those of his command on the field of Cedar Creek. As they had been among the last to retire, so they were among the first to press forward in the charge, and in the pursuit, when the tide of battle had been turned in favor of the Unionists. The loss of the regiment during the day s contest was nearly one hundred, killed, wounded, and prisoners. 6 The regiment joined in the pursuit of the enemy, returning to camp two days after the battle, to find its former snug quarters in a somewhat ruinous condition. The 27th, it marched to Martinsburg in guard of a train ; re turned to Cedar Creek ; and again to Martinsburg early in November. It moved still again to the front on the 10th, skirmishing with the enemy for several days. About the middle of the month, quiet being restored, the regiment went into winter quarters of its own construction, but remained in them only till the latter part of December, when it moved to Stephen s Depot, above Harper s Ferry, and in a terrible storm again built quarters 6 Field and Staff Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Bartholomew W. Wilson, commmanding. Company A Killed, Privates Tomizin Gulp, Clark Elder, Samuel Gingery. Wounded, Sergeants William II. Murlin, Samuel Taggart ; Corporals Ezra B. Felker, A. H. Doan, H. M. Worth ; Privates B. H. Beller, James H. Barnett, John A. Campbell, Charles J. Ford, Merritt S. Heath, James M. Murphy, F. F. Rice. Company B Wounded, Corporals T. J. Hindman, John Montgomery ; Privates I. II. Mitchell, Cassius M. C. Bateham, George D. Walton, J. H. Martin, Wright Elliott, Madison Haverly, J.Harp. Missing, B. F. Headley. Company C Killed, Private C. C. Bernard. Wounded, Corporals John H. Brannan, Thomas S. Applegate, S. N. Cross; Privates George W. Binegar, William Hilhouse, Martin Shelly Theodore G. McCune, George W. Burns, James A. Bowman. Missing, Jacob Mullet, James M. Johnston, George K. Satchell, Andrew J. Brown. Company D Killed, Benjamin Honeywell, Joseph R. Shughart. Wounded, Sergeant William S. McDuff; Corporals II. Stevens, E. M. Evans, W. W. Wilkinson, James R. Mitchell; Privates Joseph Barton, William H. Brown, Jacob Furnace, Budd Clark, James Ashbey, W. L. Hollingsworth. Missing, Private Thomas Pryor. Company E Wounded, Sergeant Philip Vanstine ; Privates Patrick H. Conroy, Jeremiah Wilson, William J. Huff, Joseph Frazee. Company F Wounded, Sergeant J. A. Davis; Corporal S. W. Myers; Privates Joel Wood, Jamea Young, James M. Hammitt, Henry D. Fuller. Missing, Edwin W. Bunco, Joseph Chess. Company G Wounded, Corporals D. II. Tracy, John Clements? Privates Gottlieb Schoettke, J. A. Brown, George Poppino, M. W. Cook, Daniel Murrey. Missing, E. D. Roberts. Company I Killed, Captain John W. Riemenschneider. Wounded, Lieutenant Charles P. N. Barker; Sergeant W. W. Watson; Privates S. A. Stiles, H. J. Strong, Michael Riley, Oscar L. Carter, John Snider. Missing, James Borin. Company K Killed, Sergeant John Hammock ; Corporal Daniel D. Conner. Wounded, Corporal John B. Elliott ; Privates William Elliott, Augustus L. Cannon, John Lloyd, Robert Doak, Sylvanua Oldfield, David C. Work. Missing, Solomon Wert. TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTKY. 565 on the supposition that the command was permanently located for the rest of the winter. The regiment was about this time transferred to the brigade of Brevet Brigadier-General Mollineaux, to which the Twenty-second had for many months been attached. The history of the two regiments was thereafter essentially the same, and both closed their fighting career in the valley of the Shenandoah. The conclusion of the history of the Twenty- eighth may therefore be briefly set forth. In January, 1865, it moved by sea to Savannah, Georgia, and for several weeks formed part of the garrison of that repossessed city. The middle of March, the command moved to Newbem, North Carolina, to reenforce General Schofield. Here the regiment was assigned to the Tenth Corps. It remained under General Schofield s command until the surrender of General Joe Johnston, when Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson was ordered back to Savannah. Thence he moved with his command to Augusta, but returning again to Savannah, in the latter part of June, the Twenty-eighth was there mustered out of the service, on the last day of July, then num bering about five hundred, with the following roster of officers : Lieutenant-Colonel, B. W. Wilson ; Major, John Meyer ; Surgeon, W. A. Daniels ; Assistant Surgeon, L. S. Groves ; Adjutant, J. W. Wilson. Company A Captain J. W. McGuire ; Lieutenant Samuel Taggart, Com pany B Captain J. B. Wilson; Lieutenants C. E. Haverly, S. J. Ketchum. Company C Captain J. W. Carr; Lieutenant 0. F. Dorrance. Com pany D Captain H. M. Wilson ; Lieutenant J. C. Summers. Company E Captain W. J. Huff; Lieutenant John D. Collony. Company F Captain Theodore Schaeffer ; Lieutenant John H. Davis. Company G Captain Thomas Dillin ; Lieutenant N. C. Martin. Company H Captain George Philips ; Lieutenant Robert L. Miles. Company I Captain J. G. Strong; Lieutenant C. P. N. Barker. Company K Captain M. W. Atwood ; Lieutenants M. C. Dean, J. R. Zollinger. From Savannah the regiment proceeded to Davenport, Iowa, where it was received by a large concourse of citizens, and where it was finally dis banded in the month of August. It had been engaged in a dozen battles, and many skirmishes during its term of service ; had traveled well nigh the entire circuit of the confederacy ; had always done its duty faithfully, bravely, conscientiously. Its officers and men were remarkable for their independent spirit and their modesty. They did not blow the trumpet of their own fame ; but on every battle-field, on every march, on every cam paign, they quitted themselves like men, so it can truthfully be said that, among all the volunteer regiments which composed the grand army that vanquished the rebellion and restored the Union, not one did its duty better than the Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry. CHAPTER XXXIII. TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZED AT COUNCIL BLUFFS MARCH TO ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI ST. LOUIS- COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY PROCEED TO HELENA, ARKANSAS ACCOMPANY THE WHITE RIVER EXPEDITION THE YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION THE BATTLE OF HELENA MARCH TO LITTLE ROCK CAMDEN EXPEDITION THE BATTLE OF TERHE NOIR RETREAT "CITY GUARDS "MOBILE CAMPAIGN MOVE TO TEXAS HOMEWARD BOUND. THAT part of Iowa which in common parlance is called the Missouri Slope," furnished the fighting material of the Twenty-ninth Infantry. It was organized in the latter part of 1862, under the auspices of Thomas H. Benton, Jr., who was appointed colonel August 10th. Long known throughout the State as a politician, more especially as an efficient friend of popular education, he had none of those dashing, flashing qualities which were so universally regarded during the earlier period of the war as the essentials of a successful soldier. He had no difficulty, however, in speedily raising a full regiment of ten companies, which were all mustered into the service by the 1st of December, at Council Bluffs. R F. Patter son, adjutant of the Fifth Iowa, was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and C. B. Shoemaker, major. Joseph Lyman, a non-commissioned officer of the Fourth Cavalry, was chosen adjutant, and W. W. Wilson, quartermaster. Doctor W. S. Grimes, assistant surgeon, Fourth Iowa, was appointed sur geon. Reverend John M. Conrad received the appointment of chaplain. 1 l Company A Pottawattamie county, was commanded by Captain John P. Williams ; Lieuten ants George A. Hayne, R. R. Kirkpatrick. Company B Mills county, Captain M. L. Andrews; Lieutenants Lewis M. Deupree, Edward T. Sheldon. Company C Harrison county, Captain Wil liam W. Fuller; Lieutenants George S. Bacon, Joseph H. Smith. Company D Adams and Adair counties, Captain Frank M. Davis ; Lieutenants John W. Stewart, M. E. Black. Company E Fre mont county, Captain Henry Bowen ; Lieutenants James L. Mitchell, Daniel G. Elifritz. Company F Taylor county, Captain James Brooks; Lieutenants Lucius B. Nash, Isaac Damewood. Com pany G Ringgold, Captain Alexander B. Huggins; Lieutenants Andrew Johnston, John McFar- land. Company H Union county, Captain James L. Hafer ; Lieutenants Lewis K. Myers, Ainos C. Cooper. Company / Guthrie, Captain Joseph Dyson ; Lieutenants Wells C. McCool, Peter II. Lenon. Company K from all the above named counties, Captain A. R. Wright; Lieutenants Bonaparte Dale, Allen I. Chantry. The assistant surgeons of the regiment were William L. Nicholson and David F. Eakins. 566 TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 567 It had been intended that this regiment should form a part of the com mand under General W. T. Sherman, which made the fruitless assault upon Vicksburg in December of this year. But before the regiment had formally entered the service of the United States, navigation of the Mis souri River was closed, and this design had to be abandoned. Proceeding by detachments between the 5th and 9th of December, the command marched to St. Joseph, Missouri, and reported to Major-General Samuel R. Curtis, then commanding the department. From here it went by rail to St. Louis, and entered Benton Barracks on the 20th, with over nine hundred men, every one in good health and spirits. The next morning it marched to Schofield Barracks in the city and was assigned the duty of guarding certain prisons. It had hardly entered upon the performance of this service, however, when it was ordered to repair to Helena, Arkansas. Accordingly, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson, the Colonel remaining at St. Louis on regimental business, it embarked for the South on Christmas day. Like all other regiments about that time passing down the river, it paid the tribute of a halt to Columbus, Kentucky, then daily frightened by imaginary butternut Forrests. It was assigned to the right wing, under command of Brigadier-General J. M. Tuttle, where it remained in camp till the 8th of January, 1863. On that anniversary it embarked, under orders to proceed to Helena, with the brigade of General Fisk. The brigade did not disembark at Helena, but at once joined an expedi tion which had been organized by General Gorman, and which was now ready to proceed up White River. This expedition was entirely fruitless, and more than entirely comfortless. It went up the river a distance of one hundred and eighty miles to Duvall s Bluff, and then returned without dis embarking the troops. No resistance from the enemy was met, but the sufferings of the men were intense. During the voyage, which has been described in the previous chapter, measles attacked the Twenty-ninth. When it reached Helena on the 26th, there were more than four hundred men on the sick list, and the command lost by the exposure of this voyage not less than three hundred. But after recovery from this shock, the health of the regiment was almost uniformly good. It formed a part of that wonderful expedition through the Yazoo Pass to Fort Pemberton at the head of the Yazoo River. It left Helena on board the Steamer " Emma No. 2," but when that vessel reached the Cold Water, it was found to be so broken and smashed up by the poundings of the navigation through forests, as to be little better than a wreck. The regiment was transferred to the "Key West," aboard of which it made the voyage to the fort and back to Helena. From this time until the Little Rock Expedition, the command remained at Helena on garrison duty, only 568 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. leaving the town to participate in the ordinary scouts. It bore a glorious part in the Battle of Helena, on the national anniversary, whipping an entire brigade, and capturing many prisoners. 2 The march of General Steele s Army from Helena to Little Rock took place between the llth of August and 10th of September. The weather was excessively hot and dry. The White River was crossed at Clarendon, where a week s halt was made. From this place the column matched up the river as far as Duvall s Bluifs, at the crossing of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad, where depots of supplies and hospitals were estab lished. The Twenty-ninth was in the division commanded by General Samuel A. Rice, the brigade being under the command of Colonel Benton. Nothing worthy of note occurred until after the column left Duvall s Bluffs. From there to Brownsville, the country is a grand prairie, and at this season of the year entirely without water. Each man carried his own supply in his canteen. It was so hot that many were sun-struck on the march. There were not enough ambulances to carry those who gave out, so that they would load up, travel ahead, leave the sick by the road-side, and return for others. By repeating this operation, the men unable to walk were by turn conveyed in the ambulances and left to suffer in the broiling sun through the greater part of two days. The column halted a few days at Brownsville, but during that time General Rice s Division made a rapid march to Bayou Metoe, eighteen miles distant, to cover a move ment of General Davidson s Cavalry Division in another direction. Both detachments, having skirmished sharpy with the enemy, soon returned to the main army. General Price, commanding at Little Rock, occupied a strong position four miles from the rebel capital, his right protected by the Arkansas, his left by an impenetrable cypress swamp. The roads leading to this position from the front pursued devious courses, and were in many places narrow causeways over bayous and through swamps. General Steele, therefore, turned from the direct road and struck the Arkansas about eight miles below Little Rock. Here a pontoon bridge was thrown across the river, and early on the morning of September 10th, Davidson s whole Cavalry Divisio n with its artillery passed over and moved rapidly along the sandy shore and through the woods against the enemy. General Steele moved up on the north side of the stream, his artillery all the time assisting his left wing, on the south side, against which alone the enemy 2 The regiment lost in this engagement thirty-one killed und wounded. Namely : Killed, Sergeant Isaac T. Lucas; Privates Edward Harl, John T. Cobb, James Conley, Andrew R. Jordan. Francis I. Husband, Lewis Schwanz. Wounded, Sergeant Hiram Atkinson; Corporals Jacob Bridenstine, Henry Edinger, (mortally) ; Privates Moses Nixon, Daniel D. Johnson, Ansen F. Belden, (mortally), P. D. Evans, M. L. Spire, J. W. Rodgers, Emory Jones, (mortally), L. L. Witty, (mortally), R. T. Reeves, (mortally), P. II. Huffman, Leonard Mavity, John Morris, John T. Hindman, John W. Hicks, (mortally), J. W. Smith, W. R. Moler, Isaac Runyon, George W. Smith, John H. Leo, J. W. Trent, John S. Burket. TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 569 made any serious demonstrations. Davidson was resisted with less or more obstinacy all the way to the town, and the right wing marched in light fighting order, momentarily expecting to have a general engagement. The cavalry entered Little Rock at dark, Price having retreated in such haste as to leave the arsenal and much public property unharmed. His army was superior in numbers to that from which he fled. The Union army encamped around the city on the morning of the llth, leaving the rebels to retreat quietly to Arkadelphia. In November, the rebel General Marmaduke attacked Pine Bluff, some sixty miles below Little Rock, and was repulsed with heavy losses. General Rice was sent out with the brigade to which the Twenty-ninth belonged, and a brigade of the Second Division to intercept the rebel trooper. The command marched as far as Rockport, on the Washita, but did not find Marmaduke. This ended the active campaigning of the regiment for the year. It remained at Little Rock during the winter of 1863-4, and till General Steele s column moved for the southwest on the morning of March 23d. In this campaign of hard marches through mud, and swamp and bayou ; of heavy skirmishing day after day and night after night skirmishing which more than once became severe enough to make it a battle to those engaged ; of burdensome labor in building causeways and bridges ; of stub born fighting, of stupendous losses in material, of short rations much of the time, and no rations at all many days, the Twenty-ninth Iowa bore laborious, faithful, honorable part. The country through which General Steele proposed to himself to march had been marched through by rebel armies, and much of it overrun by the troopers of both armies. There were many square miles of it which did not contain subsistence for a crow. It was necessary that the Union com mander should transport his supplies with his column. His train consisted of not less than four hundred wagons. Passing along an ordinary road in the ordinary way it was about four miles in length. April 2d, the column reached the bayou of Terre Noir, on the road from Arkadelphia to Wash ington. BATTLE OF TERRE NOIR. When the main body crossed the bayou, the train was two or three miles behind. Here was an opportunity to pounce upon the supplies by a sudden dash, which it was not to be supposed the rebel cavalry, who had been hovering near the column and watching the train with hawks eyes, would let pass by. Shelby s brigade made a rush for their coveted prey about eleven o clock in the morning. The Twenty-ninth with a section of artillery constituted the rear-guard for the day. They had met and repulsed this 72 570 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. rebel brigade at Helena the year before, and they now fought, unsupported, against fearful odds till the Fiftieth Indiana came up, having marched four miles, to their assistance. This reenforcement did not arrive a moment too soon. The Twenty-ninth had repelled their assailants three several times, but were now being roughly handled. The left wing was turned, and being confusedly rolled up along the line. General Rice rushed to the ground, and rallied the troops almost instantaneously, and they immediately charged with a shout, again driving off the enemy in confusion. Shortly afterwards, the rebel Cabell reenforced Shelby with his brigade of troopers, and another attack was made. Meantime, the Ninth Wisconsin reenforced the rear guard, and the rebels were again and again foiled of their object. The con flict continued, at short intervals, from eleven o clock in the morning till after dark. The train would close up and move on whilst our troops were repelling an attack. Having done that, the march in the fighting order would be resumed, and continued till the next attack. About dusk, the rebels made an impetuous charge, seemingly determined to capture our artillery at all hazards. Our men stood stock still till the galloping horde came within thirty yards of the line, when they let drive from musketry and artillery such a fearful hail of lead and iron, that the charging troopers seemed to have dashed against a wall of rock. Then the Union troops rushed forward with a yell, to which the throats of the Indiana boys added fearful power, and drove the enemy in much admired disorder from the field. This last combat was fought at the junction of the Elkin s Ferry road, eight miles from where the Twenty-ninth repelled the first assault in the morning. The Union loss during the day was about sixty in killed and wounded, of whom the Twenty-ninth lost twenty-seven. The men who had been engaged marched into Okolona, after nine o clock at night, with drums beating and. colors flying. Here they saw the train in park, not a wagon missing. The regiment was under fire for three hours during the battle of Little Missouri, at Elkin s Ferry, having been ordered to support McLean s Bri gade, sharply engaged, but it did not actively enter into the contest, because it was unnecessary. It was in the front during the day of the 15th, on the evening of which the army entered Camden, having had an excited race with the rebels ever since the magnificent parade on Prairie D Anne, on the 12th. It remained at Camden till the 26th, retreated with the army upon Little Rock, fought six hours at the severe engagement of Jenkins Ferry, making there one of the finest bayonet charges of the war, capturing a section of artillery, and reached the capital on the 3d of May. During this active campaign of six weeks the losses of the regiment in killed, wounded, and missing, were six officers and one hundred and thirty-six enlisted men. Of these, Captain George S. Bacon, of Company C, and fifty-nine men of TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 571 the command were left wounded on the field of Jenkins Ferry, and fell into the hands of the enemy. For this there was no excuse, except such as may be found in the haste of General Steele to protect Little Hock from the attack of Fagan, against whom he had already sent a force of cavalry sufficient for the purpose till the main body could come up. But this Gen eral seems to have been utterly "stampeded," after the capture of his train and the troops guarding it, at Mark s Mill, and to have thought thenceforth that if he could throw his army, with body and soul together, again behind the works of Little Rock, he would accomplish a great military achievement. That is precisely what he did accomplish. After the army reached Little Rock it was reorganized, the Twenty-ninth being assigned to the First Brigade of the First Division. Afterwards, however, it was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, in which command it remained to the close of the year. Except during one month, from the latter part of July to the latter part of August, when it was at Lewisburg, on the Arkansas, fifty miles above Little Rock, the regiment remained at the latter place after the retreat from Camden, for nearly a year. In November, it was ordered to move to Pine Bluff, but the order was countermanded, and it was assigned to duty as "City Guard" of the post of Little Rock. And there it remained until February 9th, 1865, when it left for active operations in another field. Meantime, General J. J. Reynolds had relieved Steele of the command of the Department of Arkansas, and reorganized the army. The Twenty- ninth regiment was assigned to an organization styled the Detached Bri gade of the Seventh Army Corps," General E. A. Carr commanding. About the 1st of February, Carr received orders to proceed to New Orleans. But on account of the want of transportation, the regiment with which we now have to do did not leave Little Rock until the 9th. After a tedious voyage, the regiment reached New Orleans, one wing on the 14th, the other two days afterwards. The united command was quartered in an old foundry, at Algiers, opposite the Crescent City. The 20th, the regiment moved by rail to Lakeport, on Lake Pontchartrain, and there embarked for Mobile Point, Alabama, The vessel unfortunately ran aground, and the command, transferred to another, disembarked on the 23d, and, without tents or bag gage, went into bivouac about three miles to the rear of Fort Morgan. The sands of Navy Cove were no luxuries, but the oysters were, and of these luscious fishes the troops had unlimited quantities by simply catching them. Preparations for the campaign of Mobile at once began. Colonel Ben- ton was attached to the Second Brigade, Colonel H. M. Day, Ninety-first Illinois, Third Division, Brigadier-General W. P. Benton, Thirteenth Corps, Major-General Gordon Granger. The 17th of March the army began the 572 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. march on Mobile. It was one of the utmost toil and difficulty. But on the 25th, the army found itself under the guns of Spanish Fort, the invest ment of which was immediately commenced. It need only be stated here that, as in the labors of the severe march the Twenty-ninth Iowa bore its part with unflagging patience, so in the operations directly against the works of Mobile it added to the unsurpassed reputation of Iowa soldiery. It was behind none of its comrade regiments. Its losses in the campaign were twenty-two, one killed, seventeen wounded, one missing in action, and three captured. April 12th, the regiment entered Mobile, and the next day left the city with the division under orders to proceed to Mount Vernon Arsenal, forty miles above Mobile on the Tombigbee River. A few miles from Mobile, the command encountered a body of rebels with whom a running fight took place, the last in which the regiment engaged, and one of the last combats of the war. Colonel Benton took command of the Arsenal on the 22d, his regiment forming the garrison. The public property had been scattered over the country. He restored much of it, and by great pains and labor again made Mount Vernon Arsenal a thing of beauty. The regiment remained here till the 12th of May, when it returned to Mobile. Thence, the 1st of June, part of the regiment sailed for Texas, and arrived at Brazos Santiago the 9th, where the rest of the regiment soon joined it. Major-General Sheridan having assumed command of the Mili tary Division, decided that the regiment was entitled to be mustered out under the order of the War Department discharging those troops who had entered the service before October 1, 1862. Though the regiment had not formally entered the service till two months after that time, it was the fault of the government in not sending out a mustering officer. So Sheridan sensibly and justly decided. Accordingly the command sailed to New Orleans in the latter part of July, and was there honorably discharged the service the 10th of the following month, and ordered to Davenport, Iowa, for final payment and disbandment. 3 The command reached Davenport the 19th, and then numbered seven hundred and sixty-five, officers and enlisted men, but of these only four 3 The roster of the regiment, when mustered out, was as follows : Colonel, Thomas H. Benton, Jr., Brevet Brigadier-General; Lieutenant-Colonel, R. F. Patterson ; Major, Joseph Lyman; Surgeon, W. L. Nicholson; Assistant Surgeon, J. H. Rice ; Quartermaster. C. W. Oden. Company A Captain C. V. Gardner; First Lieutenant R. R. Kirkpatrick. Company B Captain M. L. Andrews ; First Lieutenant I. M. Warren ; Second Lieutenant George A. Davis. Company C Captain George S. Bacon; First Lieutenant J. W. Stocker. Company I) Captain J.W.Stewart; First Lieutenant D. M. Hedrick. Company E Captain Hiram Atkinson ; First Lieutenant George B. Murray. Company F Captain L. B. Nash; First Lieutenant J. H. Turner; Second Lieutenant W. F. Evans. Company G Captain A. Johnston; First Lieutenant John McFarland; Second Lieu tenant C. W. Dake. Company H Captain L. K. Myers; First Lieutenant F. Sommer. Company I Captain P. H. Lennon ; First Lieutenant A. McClaren. Company K First Lieutenant A. J. Chan try; Second Lieutenant J. S. Miller. TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 573 hundred and fifteen were originally attached to the Twenty-ninth. The others were recruits of the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-third regi ments, who had been assigned to Colonel Benton s command when those regiments came home. In due time, the Twenty-ninth was resolved into its original elements. The returned soldiers, now citizens, sought their homes in the far west, and were everywhere along the journey and at their own hearth-stones met with heartiest welcome. The Twenty-ninth regiment was unfortunate in being so long kept in the Department of Arkansas, where the military operations were not on the grand scale exhibited on other parts of the theatre of war. But it was one of our best disciplined and bravest regiments. It was first trained by Cap tain S. D. Nichols, of the Fourth Iowa, afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel, long commanding that regiment, and one of the most accomplished of our soldiers. Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson was not surpassed, perhaps, as a skilful commander by any of our field officers. He drilled and disciplined the regiment almost to the degree of perfection. Colonel Benton, already spoken of as not among the dashing soldiers, had a fine influence over his troops. He was brave, just-minded, intelligent. The staff and line officers labored zealously to become accomplished in the profession of arms, and succeeded. And hence the regiment, at Helena, at Terre Noir, at Jenkins Ferry, at Mobile on every occasion when it was called upon to meet the enemy, responded with an alacrity, a degree of soldierly skill, and of courage, which would have given credit to any command of any army the world ever saw. CHAPTER XXXIV. THIRTIETH INFANTRY. RECRUITED IN THE FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, AND ORGANIZED AT KEO- KUK MOVE TO HELENA ENGAGED AT THE BATTLE OF CHICKASAW BAYOU- ARKANSAS POST ENCAMPMENT NEAR VICKSBURG THE GREENVILLE EXPEDI TIONCAMPAIGN OF VICKSBURG COLONEL ABBOTT SLAIN CAMPAIGN OF JACK SONA SUMMER S QUIET THE AFFAIR OF CHEROKEE COLONEL TORRENCE KILLED MARCH TO THE RELIEF OF THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND BAT TLE OF CHATTANOOGA BATTLE OF RINGGOLD WINTER QUARTERS CAM PAIGN OF ATLANTA MARCH IN PURSUIT OF HOOD THE MARCH TO THE SEA- THROUGH THE CAROLINAS A RAILROAD ACCIDENT DISBANDED. THE men of the Thirtieth regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry were recruited for the most part in six counties of the First Congressional District. Davis, Jefferson, Lee, and Washington contributed each two companies ; Des Moines and Van Buren one each. These companies, re cruited in the latter part of the summer of 1862, proceeded to the regi mental rendezvous at the city of Keokuk, where the regiment was formally organized, and where it entered the service of the United States on the 23d day of September. Charles H. Abbott was Colonel, William M. G. Tor- rence., who had been captain and major in the First Cavalry, Lieutenant- Colonel, and Lauren Dewey, a noted man among the politicians of the State, Major. The staff was soon appointed, and consisted of Edwin Reiner, Ad jutant, John C. Lockwood, Quartermaster, John W. Bond, Surgeon, Peter Walker and Charles G. Lewis, Assistants, and Reverend John Burgess, Chaplain. The regiment numbered about nine hundred and seventy, offi cers, non-commissioned officers, and privates. 1 The Thirtieth had a few weeks of instruction at " Camp Lincoln," near 1 The line officers were: Captains Rufus Goodenough, Charles Clarke, A. Roberts, Charles J. Ma- ginnis, William T. Burgess, Henry Mingee, Robert D. Creamer, John B. Drayer, Uley Burk, Samuel D.Cook; First Lieutenants William M. Stimson, David Letner, John P. Mathews, David D. Leach, Jo seph Smith, James P. Newell, Edward B. Heaton, Matthew Clark, William L. Alexander, Nestor A. J. Young ; Second Lieutenants Henry Montgomery, James P. Milliken, Hugh L. Creighton, William H. Randall, Isaac S. Drummond, John E. Ford, Simpson J. Chester, Jacob C. Fry, Edwin M. Dean, James B. Gallagher. 574 THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 575 Keokuk. during which period the officers and men, by the utmost endea vors of all, learned more of the practical duties of soldiers than might have been expected. But the demands, or seeming demands, of the field re quired their presence at the front, and embarking on steamer, they moved down the Mississippi. Disembarking at Helena, where there was already a considerable army, they went into encampment near that, the gloomiest of all towns within the bounds of civilization. The regiment remained at Helena some weeks. That is, regimental head-quarters remained there, and its encampment was the scene of its drills and parades, as well as sufferings from sickness, until it left on its first important campaign, that against Vicksburg, under General Sherman. Meantime, however, Colonel Abbott took part in one or two reconnois- sances to a considerable distance from Helena, but his command did not meet the enemy till on the campaign just mentioned. The regiment, attached to General John M. Thayer s Third Brigade, of Steele s Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, embarked with the troops at Helena who joined General Sherman s forces descending the river from Memphis, and moved down the river with the army. In the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou of the 28th and 29th of December, General Steele s Division bore, perhaps, the most prominent and laborious part. Thayer s Brigade, at this time composed of the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry regiments, took full part in the desultory fighting, which preceded the final heroic but disastrous charge, but it was only the Iowa Fourth, Colonel Williamson, of the brigade, which joined in that assault. This arose from a mistake which may well be considered fortunate, since it is probably true that had the whole brigade advanced with the Fourth, it would have met with similar slaughter, and all to no purpose. General Steele directed Colonel Abbott, at the time moving by the flank in rear of the Fourth, to change his course to the right. The other regiments naturally followed the Thirtieth, and the Fourth passed into the dreadful ordeal alone. During the engagement the Thirtieth lost four men wounded. General Sherman at length seeing that it was impossible to take Vicks burg by way of the Chickasaw Bluffs, embarked his army and moved down the Yazoo in sullen disappointment. The campaign under McClernand against Arkansas Post immediately followed. In this successful operation the Thirtieth participated. Colonel Abbott being seriously ill at the time of the battle, by the success of which Arkansas Post fell into our hands, Lieutenant-Colonel Torrence commanded the regiment. Officers and men, he says, fought admirably for new troops, exhibiting a number of instances of remarkable coolness and courage under the enemy s severe fire. It was the first occasion in which the regiment was actively engaged, face to face 576 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. with the enemy, and it is a gratifying fact that all reports agree that its conduct was highly meritorious and admirable. Captains R. D. Creamer and Uley Burk, and Lieutenants H. L. Creighton and W. L. Alexander were wounded. The entire loss of the regiment, in killed and wounded, was about forty-five. 2 I should not forget to add that Private James M. Smith of Company C acted as Adjutant of the regiment on this field, and received the special commendations of Lieutenant-Colonel Torrence com manding. The regiment moved with the army on its return to the vicinity of Vicks- burg, and went into encampment near Young s Point, where several weeks were spent in canal digging, in drills, in sickness, and in mud. Early in April the division started on the Greenville Expedition, in which the Thir tieth took part, and returned to Milliken s Bend in about one month. Thence it began the march to join the main army, which was fighting and marching on in the memorable campaign of Vicksburg. Colonel Abbott came up with the Corps near Jackson, and his regiment took part in the capture of that place, and especially in the destruction of the rail ways near the city, which work of destruction at this time was principally done by Steele s and Tuttle s Divisions. The 16th, Jackson was evacuated, and our regiment forthwith began the march to Vicksburg. Two days afterwards, the gallant Fourth Iowa Cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel Swan, occupied Haines Bluff, Captain Peters being the first to enter the works. Communications were open, and Grant s Army took position around the works of Vicksburg. In the assaults of the 19th and 22d of May, the regiment was fully engaged. Especially did it suffer, fighting most heroically, during the general assault of the 22d. It was on this bloody day that Colonel Abbott was slain, whilst bravely leading his command in the assault, through an atmosphere surcharged with bullets. He was a man of great courage, and of amiable dispositions, warmly esteemed and beloved by officers and men of his command, many of whom fell with him on this disastrous day. The troops went into the labors of the siege with saddened hearts, but unflag ging spirit. Throughout the whole period of investment, from the 18th 2 The wounded at Chickasaw Bayou were: Corporal T. Decamp Day; Privates William C. An drews, Alexander S. Perry, James McDonald. The casualties at Arkansas Post were : Killed, Privates Lafayette Edwards, William Henderson, James Mullen, Thomas J. Foster. Samuel C. Loomis. Wounded, Captains R. D. Creamer, Uley Burk ; Lieutenants H. L. Creighton, W. L. Alex ander; Sergeant-Major J. H. Clendenning; Sergeants H. M. York, I. W. Detwiler, H. Gregg; Cor poral C. W. Hamilton ; Privates James Junkins, James P. Dodson, D. Edwards, Tobias J. Lyons, Oliver H. Davis, Benjamin F. Hedges, John W. Howe, Webster M. King, Charles E. Archer, John Carnahan, James McCoy, A. Bigley, W. B. Wayland, A. Fox, R. W. Conaway, E. Await, J. H. Phelps, John S. Ballinger, F. Worthington, G. Tharp, C. H. Hill, Ed. E. Chapman, William Peck, Samuel Harress, Alvin W. Neal; Corporal Jacob Ash; Privates Eliaa McMullen, S. G. Maple, Isaac S. Edmunds un. THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 577 of May to the 4th of July, the Thirtieth Iowa performed well its onerous duties on the right of our lines. It also took part, immediately after Vicksburg fell into our possession, in the campaign of Jackson, assisting to capture that place, and participating in the pursuit of the enemy to Bran don and the engagement which there took place. After this the third great campaign in which it had taken part since the commencement of the year, it went into encampment on the Black River, where it had about two months repose. The latter part of September, the Thirtieth, Colonel Torrence, moved by Vicksburg and Memphis to Corinth, and thence, soon afterwards, to luka, in the vicinity of which renowned place Osterhaus division was engaged in repairing the Memphis and Charleston railway. It was from luka that Colonel Torrence returned to Iowa for safe keeping the colors of the regiment which had been worn out in the service. His letter was pro bably the last official communication he had with our authorities, and was as follows : " HEAD-QUARTERS, THIRTIETH REGIMENT IOWA VOLUNTEERS, i "luKA, MISSISSIPPI. Oct. 13^1863. } "N. B. BAKER, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF IOWA: "Accompanying this you will receive two flags, worn out in the service. They were carried by the Thirtieth Iowa during their marches, a distance of five thousand seven hundred miles, between October 26th, 1862, and October 10th, 1863. " They were carried in the following named battles, to-wit: Chickasaw Bayou, December 28th and 29th, 1862 ; Arkansas Post, January 10th and llth, 1863; Jackson, Mississippi, May 14th, 1863; Siege of Vicksburg, from May 18th to July 4th, 1863; Clinton, Mississippi, July llth, 1863; Jackson, Mississippi, July 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th, 1863; Brandon, Mississippi, July 18th, 1863. " It is the wish of the regiment that you forward them to the State Historical Society, there to be retained, subject to the order of the commanding officer of the regiment " Respectfully your obedient servant, "W. M. G. TORRENCE, Colonel Commanding. Five days afterwards Colonel Torrence marched to Cherokee, Alabama. On the 20th, General Osterhaus, moving in the direction of Tuscumbia, met with considerable opposition. The enemy, with a considerable force of mounted infantry, annoyed the advance constantly, and there was much sharp skirmishing. But the affair of Cherokee, in which there was any considerable combat, did not take place till the next day. The morning of Wednesday, October 21st, was dark and gloomy. A 73 578 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. dense fog prevailed. It was on this account that General Osterhaus, who had purposed moving against the enemy at six o clock in the morning did not move till some hours later. And when he did move, the mist was still so heavy as to make it almost impossible to distinguish friend from foe at a few yards distance. General Osterhaus had not proceeded far, when his advance, consisting of the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thir tieth, and Thirty-first Iowa regiments, met a large force of rebels, under command of Lee, Roddy, and Richardson. A heavy battle of musketry soon opened, and continued to rage furiously for an hour, when the rebels were driven back with severe loss. The casualties on the Union side were less than one hundred. The most serious loss of this combat was the death of Colonel Torrence. He was killed in the midst of the fight, being pierced by many bullets, arid the rebels just at that moment having the advantage, his body fell into their hands. Whereupon the Thirtieth, with a piercing yell of vengeance, rushed forward at a charge, dispersed the enemy, and recovered the Colonel s body, though it had been already robbed of money and valuables by the vandals of the cause of Southern chivalry. He was a brave, skilful, ex perienced officer. He had served in the Mexican war, and in the early part of the rebellion in the First Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Fitz Henry Warren. Tall and commanding in person, energetic, a good disciplinarian, kind of heart, he was held in affectionate esteem by all who knew him. "Iowa has lost in him," said the Memphis Bulletin, "one of her most worthy and gallant sons. But he fell not alone. Captain William H. Randall was also slain. Captains Henderson C. Hall, Joseph Smith, Matthew Clark, and Adjutant James H. Clendening were seriously wounded. Altogether, the regiment lost nearly thirty officers and men in this short combat, in which only Colonel Williamson s Iowa Brigade of Infantry participated, the Thirtieth bearing the brunt of the contest, and all the regiments doing their whole ^duty. There was considerable skirmishing for several days after the affair of Cherokee, and on the 27th Osterhaus entered Tuscumbia, driving the enemy before him. The last day of the month, the division marched to Chickasaw, and thence commenced very soon thereafter the march to the relief of the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga. When Osterhaus, after the long, laborious march, reached Lookout Valley, he was ordered to report to General Hooker. Already the manreuvres had commenced which resulted in the remarkable series of conflicts on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and which are together known as THE BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. Major-General Rosecrans had been defeated at the battle of Chickamauga. THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 579 His army was saved from complete disaster by the firmness of General Thomas, who stood like a mountain of granite between the victorious enemy and Chattanooga. And it was not long after the battle that Rosecrans was compelled to give up the command to the General who had stood between the army and destruction. Thomas assumed command of the Army of the Cumberland, but Grant was appointed to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, which embraced the departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and of the Tennessee. He proceeded in person to Chattanooga arriving on the 23d of October. It belongs to general history to relate the account of the movements whereby the Army of the Cumberland was reenforced by troops drawn from the Army of the Potomac, and by others from the Army of the Tennessee ; how these reinforcements, most skilfully placed, raised the blockade of the line of communications, and ended the era of gaunt famine ; how grandly they were all manoeuvred, deceiving the enemy, to make ready for the final combined attack. It will be sufficient, as illustrating the part taken by the volunteers of Iowa in the engagement, to speak directly of the battle. . The rebel army, under Braxton Bragg, occupied a strong position on Missionary Ridge, in front of Chattanooga to the eastward. There was also a considerable force of rebels strongly posted and fortified on Lookout Mountain, a bold, striking eminence, a few miles south of Chattanooga. The rebel lines were some six miles long, extending from South Chicka- niauga River on the right, along Missionary Ridge across Chattanooga Valley and Lookout Mountain to Lookout Creek on the left. The position was one of great natural strength, and was fortified on the tops and sides of the mountains by lines of rifle pits and more elaborate works. On the morning of November 23d, Thomas, with his Army of the Cum berland and Howard s Eleventh Corps, advanced against the enemy directly in front of Chattanooga, and in the most gallant style drove him from his first line of works, secured " Indian Hill " or " Orchard Knoll," and a range of hills south of it. These points were fortified during the night, and artillery put in position on them. During the night Sherman also commenced operations on our left. A fleet of pontoon boats, each carrying thirty armed men, was sent from the North Chickaniauga, which flows into the Tennessee from the west several miles above Chattanooga, to near the mouth of the South Chickamauga, flowing in, some two miles below, from the opposite direction. The enemy s pickets did not discover the quiet movement. The men in the pontoons secured a landing, threw up a stout tete-du-pont below the Chickamauga, and by daylight of the 24th, eight thousand men under Sherman, were on the east side of the Tennessee (for here the river runs south) and fortified behind rifle trenches. By noon, a pontoon bridge nearly one thousand four hundred feet long was 580 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. laid across the river; the remainder of Sherman s troops crossed over, and by four o clock in the afternoon all the northern extremity of Missionary Ridge, near the railroad tunnel, was in his possession. Meantime, Thomas was strengthening his position on the centre, and Hooker was fighting the famous battle above the clouds on Lookout Mountain. Hooker s force consisted of two brigades of the Fourth Corps, under General Charles Cruft, Geary s Division of the Twelfth Corps, and Osterhaus Division of the Fifteenth Corps. This battle has been immor talized by the genius of Mr. B. F. TAYLOR, of the Chicago Journal, whose poetical, but truthful description has been read by all men. It was indeed one of the most thrilling scenes of the whole war Hooker thundering up the mountain-side, covered with low hanging clouds, Cruft creeping along the base, and turning towards the foe, striking his camps and capturing many prisoners ; the clouds of mist and the clouds of smoke commingling, and the flashes of the artillery and muskets seeming to set all ablaze betimes. No troops but the volunteers of the Union could ever have carried Lookout Mountain as it was carried on that day. Fighting their way up foot by foot they overcame obstacles seemingly insurmountable. At four o clock in the afternoon direct communication with Chattanooga was established. Ammunition was sent over to the climbing warriors, and the battle went on. " Night was closing in," says Taylor, " and the scene was growing sublime. The battery at Moccasin Point was sweeping the road to the mountain. The brave little fort at its left was playing like a heart in a fever. The rebel cannon at the top of Lookout were pounding away at their lowest depression. The flash of the guns fairly burned through the clouds ; there was an instant of silence, here, there, yonder, and the tardy thunder leaped out after the swift light. For the first time, perhaps, since that mountain began to burn beneath the gold and crimson sandals of the sun, it was in eclipse. The cloud of the summit and the smoke of the battle had met half way and mingled. Here was Chatta nooga, but Lookout had vanished ! It was Sinai over again, with its thunderings and lightnings and thick darkness and the Lord was on our side. Then the storm ceased, and occasional dropping shots told off the evening till half-past nine then a crashing volley, a rebel yell, and a des perate charge. It was their good-night to our loyal boys ; good-night to the mountain. Lookout was ours. The Union forces maintained an unbroken line with open communications from the north end of Lookout Mountain through Chattanooga Valley to the north end of Mission Ridge. All along the lines our camp-fires blazed cheerfully, and when " Fighting Joe" gained Lookout, wild huzzas rang from one end of the line to the other. Presently, except the vigilant pickets, the army lay down to sleep till the morrow of battle. THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 581 CHATTANOOGA. REFERENCES. Sherman s first position, Oct. 23, 1863. ! Gen. Grant s H.-Quar., Nov. 23 & 24. Hooker s Corps at Lookout Mt., Nov. 24. Gen. " " Nov. 25. Sherman s Corps morning, Nov. 24.! Gen. " " Nov. 26. Sherman s Corps evening, NOTE. Sherman s Corps was floated down the Tennessee River to the mouth of the South Chickamauga River at midnight, Nov. 23. 582 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. November 25th was bright and clear. Sherman early moved against the enemy s right, and opened up the battle of Missionary Ridge, GeneralJohn M. Corse, of Iowa, being in command of the assaulting column. He soon was engaged in a desperate contest. Now losing ground, now gaining, he held his important position with characteristical tenacity. The brigade of General Mathies, of Iowa, and another brigade reenforced Corse, but, meet ing an enfilading fire, fell back in some confusion. Reforming, they re turned to the fight, and the battle continued to rage with the greatest fury on this part of the line. The enemy all the while pressed to his right, and used his utmost endeavors to break through Sherman s lines. Vain en deavor ! Corse was wounded and borne from the field. Mathies was also wounded seriously. Others commanding were struck down, but Sherman maintained his position, the vital part of our lines, with unyielding tenacity. Showers of grape, canister, and bullets swept through his lines, and laid many low, but the lines were held. It was more than two hours after noon, when Thomas advanced from the centre. Hooker on our right had been delayed by the necessity of building bridges across Chattanooga Creek. But between two and three o clock, Thomas moved up the ascent of Missionary Ridge. Driving the enemy from the rifle-pits at the base of the ridge, his troops pushed on up the mountain in a long, continuous line, and though met by a noisy fire of ar tillery and musketry pressed onward and upward in the grandest, most auda cious charge of which history gives any account. Hooker likewise moved against the enemy s left, and the victory on our right and centre was well assured by nightfall. There continued heavy fighting on our left, but before midnight the rebels were everywhere defeated, and were in full retreat. Thus was the great battle of Chattanooga fought and won. It was the most remarkable victory of the war, and among the most remarkable of history. It was the victory which broke the back-bone of the rebellion, and made the triumph of the Union cause a mere question of time. It should have persuaded the insurgents to lay down their arms and submit to the government. It doubtless did persuade every thoroughly intelligent military man of the confederacy that its cause was henceforth hopeless. Wherefore, the military leaders of that cause are justly held responsible for every life lost and every drop of blood shed by their further prosecution of a wicked rebellion and a hopeless war. In the battle of Chattanooga, the Fifth, Sixth, Tenth and Seventeenth regiments fought on the left under Sherman on that part of our lines where the most desperate fighting was required, where the victory was really won, but where the success was less apparent than elsewhere. It was Sherman s sublime steadiness against overwhelming numbers that enabled Thomas to sweep up the mountain so grandly, and Hooker to swing round THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 583 on the enemy s left, and drive many of his troops into a fatal cul-de-sac, In this severe fighting there were no regiments more conspicuous than those just named, nor were there any general officers more distinguished than Corse and Mathies. The Fifth Infantry, Colonel Jabez Banbury, fought in the brigade com manded by General Mathies, "the Iowa tiger" in battle, and formerly Colonel of the regiment. Mathies was one of those brigade commanders ordered to the reinforcement of Corse, and who were compelled to give way before overwhelming numbers. Nevertheless, the regiment fought with great gallantry, and lost more than an hundred officers and men, out of less than two hundred and fifty engaged. Among the wounded were Major Marshall and Adjutant S. H. M. Byers, the latter of whom is no less distinguished for his manly courage than his literary talents. He was captured ; and it was while he was a prisoner in the enemy s hands that he wrote the stirring song, "Sherman s March to the Sea," afterwards sung by the whole army and by almost everybody not given over to treason, stratagems, and spoils. The Tenth, Colonel Henderson, also fought in Mathies Brigade, and with a valor fully equal even to its own valor on the scarcely more fatal field of Champion Hills. Its losses were very heavy. The Seventeenth, Colonel Clark R. Wever, was in Raum s Brigade, which also was forced to give way before the enemy, at about the same time and in about the same manner as Mathies brigade. Raum and Mathies were both wounded, too, and the command of one brigade devolved upon Colonel Banbury, that of the other upon Colonel Wever. The broken lines were rallied, and both commands again went into the bloody work with a will. Lieutenant-Colonel Archer, of the Seventeenth, was captured. Colonel Wever speaks in the highest terms of Adjutant Woolsey, and Captain George W. Deal. The Sixth regiment fought under its old Colonel, now General Corse. It stood like a rock with the command which held the key of the position on our left, fighting the livelong day with an obstinate valor rarely witnessed. Its losses were heavy, and among the wounded was Major Ennis, a gallant officer, who survived this action to be slain in another. The other Iowa regiments here engaged the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty- fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-firstfought with Osterhaus under Hooker on the right. All these regiments, except the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth, were warmly engaged on Lookout Mountain, on the 24th, and on Missionary Ridge the next day. But the battle of each of these days was accompanied with remarkably small loss, except on the left. Hooker s entire loss on Lookout Mountain was only about two hun dred, and Thomas made his grand charge up the heights of Missionary Ridge with a singularly small list of casualties. 584 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The whole Union loss in the campaign of Chattanooga embracing the battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, and Knoxville was about five thousand five hundred, whilst we captured more than six thousand prisoners, and probably killed and wounded nearly as many more. There fell to the victors forty pieces of artillery, about seventy artillery car riages and caissons, seven thousand stand of small arms, and much property besides. But the great victory was, that the siege of Chattanooga as well as that of Knoxville was raised, the rebel army beaten and driven from Tennessee, and demonstration made that the military power of the insurgents was hopelessly shattered. It can probably be taken as true that the victory of Chattanooga meant more than any simple victory of the war. Added to his former achievements, it placed GRANT at the very head of the military profession. The Thirtieth Regiment of Iowa Infantry, like most of the regiments under Osterhaus, lost more heavily at the battle of Ringgold on the 27th, than at Lookout Mountain or Missionary Ridge. In that engagement, Colonel Williamson s Iowa Brigade was conspicuous, bringing victory to the Union arms when the battle had been well nigh lost by a panic which threw many other troops into disordered flight. Major S. D. Nichols, of the Fourth Iowa, was specially mentioned for coolness and gallantry on this trying occasion. After this engagement, our regiment halted a few days, and then marching by Chattanooga to Bridgeport went into encampment, but before the close of the year moved with the division to Woodville, Alabama, and rested from campaigning till the spring of 1864. Of the campaign of Atlanta, in which the regiment bore its part with great honor from first to last, I need not here speak. It will suffice to say that, in Williamson s Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, it marched and fought with the best of troops, and when it went into camp near East Point in the early part of September, it was with ranks much reduced by the honorable casualties of battle. 3 8 The casualties during the campaign are thus reported : AT RESACA. Kitted, Adolphus F. Larkin, James II. Russell, R. W. Macy. Wounded, Captain Alvin S. Taylor, (mortally) ; Sergeants Thomas Berry, John S. Ballinger, Lewis B. Keeler, Wade H. Fulton ; Corporals John N. Rector, David Horton, George M. Pope ; Privates Charles Gibbs, A. H. Goodnough, (musician, mortally), H. T. Fleenor, J. M. Fetterman, Joseph A. Loyd, Rankin Smith, J. F. Hannam, F. Becraft, Samuel Z. Murphy, E. W. Kerr, (mortally), Elijah Gardiner, William Gift, W. R. Brady, John Abraham, Samuel W. Southard, (mortally), Charles H. Davis, (mortally), John Carpenter, Fernando C. Robisson, (mortally), John W. Ilaigler, I. S. Edmondson, David M. Grier. AT DALLAS. Kitted, Corporal Augustus E. Cary. Wounded, James B. Noble. KENESAW, June 15</i to oOth. Killed, Corporal Alva H. Frazee, Philip Knauf. Wounded, Captain William Dixon; Sergeant Henry Hammond ; Privates N. II. Reed, (mortally), George M. Metzler, Joseph Horton, W. N. Sherman, E. G. Wood, Thomas F. Davis, T. M. Husted. J. W. Litton. ATLANTA, July 22d to August 20th. Killed, Lieutenant T. J. Stoner; Private Edward T. Ruling. Wounded, Captains Joseph Smith, P. H. Bence; Corporal H. H. Cross; Privates Frank Starr, David Carmean, George W. Gaudy, William Gift, E. G. Wood, H. G. Duncan, James Watson, David E. THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 585 It joined also in the pursuit of Hood, making a rapid march to north eastern Alabama. Countermarching, it returned to Atlanta, and thence began with Sherman s army the march to the sea, leaving the Gate City the middle of November. In this campaign, as well as in the march through the Carolinas, early in 1865, of which some notice has been made, and more will be hereafter, the Thirtieth made honorable record, and was distinguished at Columbia, as well as at the battle of Bentons- ville, where the army last crossed lances with the enemy. The battles of the Thirtieth were there finished, but it marched on to Washington, with Sherman s victorious and unequalled legions; took part in the grand review, and on that splendid occasion closed its marches with the Union army. Its officers at this time were: Lieutenant-Colonel Aurelius Roberts; Major Robert D. Creamer: Adjutant James M. Smith; Quartermaster John C. Lockwood; Surgeon Samuel C. Rogers; Chaplain Thomas W. Hyde. Company A, Captain Thomas Berry ; First Lieutenant Charles F. Rifley. Company B, Captain Ethan Milliken ; First Lieutenant James M. Penny. Company C, Captain Samuel B. Heizer; First Lieutenant James B. McCray. Company D, Captain George W. Elerick ; First Lieutenant Hanson H. Cross. Company E, Captain Joseph Smith; First Lieutenant John W. Middleton; Company F, Captain Shadrack J. Woodson; Second Lieutenant G-eorge A. Miller. Company G, Captain Edwin B. Kerr; First Lieutenant Thomas H. Ho well. Company H, Captain Samuel H. "NVatkins; First Lieutenant Charles D. Donaldson. Com pany I, Captain William L. Alexander; First Lieutenant Lewis B. Keeler. Company K, Captain James B. Galligher; First Lieutenant Frank Critz. The command left Washington City for Davenport, June 6th. It was ready for muster out, and left the national metropolis in great glee, and cheered by hundreds of spectators. Before reaching Pittsburg the regiment met with a misfortune unspeakably sad. The train on which the command was traveling was thrown from the track and Sergeant Charles C. Brad- shaw of Company H was killed. Captains Smith and Watkins, Lieutenant Middleton, and a number of enlisted men were severely injured. Without further accident, the regiment reached Davenport in due course, and was there honorably discharged the service. When the members of the dis banded regiment reached their homes in the First District they were received with the utmost kindness and respect by all classes of our citizens. Kendle, John W. Howe, Robert A. Salter, James Stewart, H. II. Honea. A. G. Wright, George W. Reed, A. J. Murphy. JONESBORO, September 1st to 5th. Killed, Jacob Vogt. Wounded, Sergeant J. R. Frame; Cor poral D. E. Bush; Privates W. T. Coffnian, J. R. Kirkham, (mortally), J. H. Freeman, James M. Gregg, R. E. Taylor, B. F. White, James Wood, William Peck, W. H. Gaudy. 74 586 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. It was not forgotten that two of its commanding officers had been slain in battle, and that the regiment, its ranks battle-worn and thin, had left its mark of valor and its honored dead on more than a score of fields made illustrious by the unsurpassed gallantry of the Fifteenth Army Corps, in all the fame of which the Thirtieth Iowa Infantry could justly claim a proud and lasting portion. CHAPTER XXXV. THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY. RECRUITED IN THE SECOND AND SIXTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS ORGANIZED AT DAVENPORT MOVE TO HELENA ENGAGED IN THE BATTLES OF CHICKASAW BAYOU AND ARKANSAS POST ENCAMPMENT NEAR YOUNG S POINT GREENVILLE EXPEDITION THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN SIEGE OF JACKSON AFFAIR OF CAN TONENCAMPMENT ON BLACK RIVER CAMPAIGN OF CHATTANOOGA WINTER QUARTERS CAMPAIGN OF ATLANTA BATTLE OF JtJSSACA BATTLE OF DALLAS SIEGE OF ATLANTA JONESBORO AND LOVEJOY PURSUIT OF HOOD- MARCH TO SAVANNAH FROM SAVANNAH TO WASHINGTON TO IOWA CONCLU SION. WILLIAM SMYTH, Esq. , of Linn, a noted lawyer and orator of the State, who had been one of the Commissioners to revise the statutes of Iowa, and in other ways prominently before the public, was commissioned Colonel of the Thirty-first Volunteer Infantry, August 10th, 1862, more than two months before the regiment was formally entered the service of the United States, but only about one month before the companies were ready and willing to go into regimental organization and thus to be mustered into the ranks of the Union army. The delay, however caused, was afterwards the means of keeping the command in service longer than it otherwise would have been kept a thing by no means agreeable to most of the officers and men of the regiment, who, like most of our volunteers, were desirous of becoming citizens as soon as the great rebellion had fallen in ruins before their arms and their valor. Seven of the ten companies forming the regiment were recruited in the second congressional district, the other three in Black Hawk county, of the sixth district. The rendezvous was at Davenport, where the companies came together for regimental organization in the early part of September, 1862. They were mustered into the service, as the Thirty-first Iowa Volun teer Infantry, on the 13th of the following month, the strength of the regiment then being nine hundred and seventy, officers and enlisted men. 587 588 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. Colonel Smyth s associate field officers were, Jeremiah W. Jenkins, Lieute nant-Colonel, Ezekiel Cutler, Major. 1 The regiment did not remain long at Davenport. Early in November, Colonel Smyth was ordered southward with his command, and the 20th found his regiment disembarking at Helena, Arkansas, to go into camp with the army near that place. A week afterwards, the command joined the "Hovey Expedition" to the Coldwater River, Mississippi, returning to Helena in about ten days. About two weeks afterwards it joined the army under General Sherman, moving against Vicksburg, and on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of December was engaged in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, during which engagement it fought with Hovey s Brigade, of Steele s Division, a brigade which only took part in the heavy skirmishing of the occasion, and not in the disastrous assault which closed the engagement. Its next operation was in the movement against Arkansas Post. The Post, with rich spoil, fell into our hands on the llth of January, 1863, after a desperate engagement, in which the Thirty-first took part, fighting credit ably, and receiving the friendly mention of General C. E. Hovey, who re marked, however, that the courage of the regiment lost much of its effec tiveness through lack of discipline. This fact is easily accounted for. The regiment was new. It had not sufficient time to accomplish much in the way of drill and discipline after regimental organization before it was ordered to the front. The voyage to Helena was long and disagreeable, and after that there was little opportunity. Moreover, Colonel Smyth, though a man of brilliant talents, was not what we call a "born soldier." He was industrious, conscientious, but did not, intuitively as it were, under stand how to discipline troops, as was the case with Colonel George A. Stone, of the Twenty-fifth regiment, S. D. Nichols, of the Fourth, after wards Lieutenant-Colonel of that noted regiment, and others who might be named, who, like Nichols, added to the finest skill in drill and discipline the highest degree of dashing bravery under fire. But by long continuance 1 Company A enrolled in Linn county, was commanded by Captain Robert Stinson; Lieutenants Dyer Usher, John II. Harvey. Company B from Black Hawk county, Captain Robert P. Speer; Lieutenants Theodore Stimming, Edward Townsend. Company C also from Black Hawk, Captain John Cook (who died during the month after muster, and was succeeded by Captain Chauncey J. Maynard); Lieutenants Joseph T. Hedinger, Milo P. Smith. Company D from Black Hawk, Captain George W. Dearth; Lieutenants F. M. Thompson, Henry B. Webster. Company E Jones county, Captain Edwin B. Alderman ; Lieutenants Edmund T. Mellet, George D. Hilton. Company F Jackson county, Captain William Vosburgh; Lieutenants A. G. Henderson, Adam Gebert. Company G Jones and Cedar counties, Captain Jeremiah C. Austin; Lieutenants Edward H. Handy, Hannibal C. Freeman. Company H Jones county, Captain S. S. Farwell ; Lieutenants Franklin Amos, James G. Dawson. Company /from Jackson county, Captain John Downing; Lieutenants Robert Anderson, Thomas B. Hazen. Company K also from Jackson, Captain John- sou G. Thompson; Lieutenants Augustus W. Bockins, Leonard K. Bell. The Lieutenants above named are mentioned in the order of their rank in tho different companies. Edwin C. Blackman, was appointed Adjutant; Albert J. Twogood, Quartermaster ; G. L. Carhart, Surgeon; L. French, C. I. Dawson, Assistants; Reverend D. S. Starr, Chaplain. THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 589 in well doing, the Thirty-first regiment became scarcely less remarkable for its proficiency in drill and its strict adherence to discipline, than it always was for courage and tenacity in battle. Its losses at Arkansas Post were considerable, but have never been officially published. 2 The general history of the Thirty-first regiment from the capture of Ar kansas Post to the capitulation of Vicksburg is essentially the same as that of the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Thirtieth regiments, already related. It need only be stated here, therefore, that, having en camped several weeks on the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, it moved with the division on the Greenville Expedition, and returning took part at once in the direct campaign against the stronghold ; was under fire while Mc- Pherson was whipping the enemy at Raymond, May 12th; took part in the capture of Jackson two days afterwards; marched with Sherman s column against V icksburg ; took part in the terrible assault on the 22d ; and en gaged in the siege until the final triumph of our arms. The conduct of the regiment in battle and siege was most admirable, and its losses during the campaign were severe. Among the wounded in the assault of the 22d, was Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins. It also joined the column which moved against Jackson, and took full part in that campaign. After the evacuation of Jackson the regiment marched against the enemy at Canton, and in the affair which there took place, was engaged in heavy skirmish. The 27th of July the command went into encampment on the Big Black River. The latter part of September the regiment moved with the division, now commanded by General Osterhaus, to engage in the Campaign of Chat tanooga. Having labored no little in Northern Mississippi, fought and skirmished in Northern Alabama, the column pushed across Tennessee, and November 24th found Osterhaus Division fighting the enemy above the clouds of Lookout Mountain. The next day, the command was engaged on Missionary Ridge. Two days afterwards, it wrenched victory out of defeat on the bloody field of Taylor s Ridge, hard by Ringgold, in Georgia. The enemy retreated toward the sea and the gulf, and the Union army went into winter quarters, Sherman, however, with the troops who had fought on our left under him, marching to the relief of Knoxville, and causing Longstrcet to raise the siege. In all the operations of Osterhaus in this campaign the Thirty-first Iowa bore honorable part, fighting bravely at Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold, losing heavily in all these engagements, and espe cially in the last named. Returning to Chattanooga about the 1st of Decem- * From the Adjutant-General s report, I take the following names of those put hors-de-combat at Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post, the list being incomplete : at Chickasaw Bayou Leonard Knowles, Jacob Glaser. Arkansas Post James R. Richardson, James H. Ackermau, Hezekiah Pearsant, Peter W. Frisbey, Isaac Lane, Jerrnan S. Wright, Charles Albertson, Charles Dickerson, John P. Gardner, Loren M. Doty. These are all reported wounded. 590 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. her, it marched by Bridgeport, Alabama, halting there a short time, to Woodville, where it went into cantonment for the winter. The regiment left Woodville the 1st of May, 1864, and marched to Northern Georgia, where it joined the forces composing General Sherman s grand Army for the invasion of the Confederacy, through and through. It belonged to Williamson s Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, and joined the main column at Snake Gap on the 9th. General Sherman s force moving against Johnston consisted of a few less than ninety-nine thousand men, and two hundred and fifty-four guns. Of this force, the Army of the Cumberland, General Thomas, was the largest power, num bering between sixty thousand and seventy thousand of all arms. General McPherson s Army of the Tennessee numbered more than twenty-four thousand, whilst General Schofield, commanding the Army of the Ohio, brought into the field more than thirteen thousand men. The rebel army, under General Joseph Johnston, was in the vicinity of Dalton. It con sisted of the three corps of Hardee, Hood, and Polk, and some four thou sand cavalry under Wheeler, and was probably between fifty and sixty thousand strong. The first conflict between these hostile armies was the running engagement, interspersed with many sharp combats, named on regimental colors, TELE BATTLE OF RESACA. Johnston s army at Dalton lay behind a lofty and rough spur of the Alleghanies, called Rocky-Faced Ridge, which, not far from Dalton, was cloven by what is called in the classical nomenclature of the South, Buz zard s Roost Gap, through which run the railway and a small stream called Mill Creek. On the 7th of May, the Army of the Cumberland occupied Tunnel Hill, directly in front of Buzzard s Roost Gap, and two days after wards Schofield moved down directly from the north close to Dalton. Heavy demonstrations were made by Hooker and Howard, and a consider able engagement took place, but meanwhile McPherson moved with the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Corps by Ship s Gap, Villanow, and Snake Gap, toward Resaca, some fifteen miles south of Dalton. Unable to reach the railway without exposing his flank to attack, he fell back to the mountain, and took up a strong position at Snake Gap. Leaving Howard s Fourth Corps to amuse the enemy in front of Buz zard s Roost, General Sherman sent Hooker s Twentieth, and Palmer s Fourteenth Corps, to Snake Gap, and ordered Schofield to follow. The whole army, except Howard s Corps, debouched from the pass into the more level country on the 12th, and moved in battle array on Resaca. But the country was difficult of passage, and when the army, having to break its way through dense forests and undergrowth, approached Resaca and THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 591 GENERAL SHERMAN S OPERATIONS AROUND RESACA. 592 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. not without opposition from the enemy Johnston was found strongly posted behind formidable works, extending from the Oostanaula above to the river below the town. Hood s Corps formed the rebel right wing, Folk s the left, and Hardee s the centre. McPherson held the Union right, Thomas the centre, Schofield the left. Heavy skirmishing began on the morning of the 14th, and continued throughout the day, varied at times with attempts to break the enemy s lines. The heaviest fighting of the day was on the left centre, where the gallant Palmer, with his Four teenth Corps, made a desperate attempt to force the enemy from his strong position. About the same time a division of Schofield s Corps made an attack further to the left, and assisted by Newton, and finally by Cox, suc ceeded in getting the better of the enemy, driving him from his outer line of works. Still further to the left there was a severe conflict, led by Scho- field in person, supported by Howard, who had followed the enemy from Dalton. But the enemy was successful here, and but for the timely arrival of Hooker, might have caused great disaster. He checked the advancing enemy, and finally caused him to retire. Logan s Fifteenth Corps, on our right, now made a bold charge, and crossing Camp Creek, drove the rebels from their rifle pits and took position on a commanding hill, from which the enemy s lines were swept by an enfilading fire. The rebels made a furious attempt to regain their works, but were repulsed with great slaughter. The next day, Hooker fiercely assaulted the enemy s right, and by a daring charge carried two important and commanding positions in the enemy s lines, from which he could not be dislodged. In this, the principal combat of the day, Hooker was supported by artillery and musketry firing all along the lines. Meantime, General Elliott W. Rice, commanding a brigade in Sweeny s Division of Dodge s Sixteenth Corps, had effected a passage of the Oostanaula at Lay s Ferry, below Resaca, and there whip ping a rebel division, had turned the enemy s position at Resaca an achievement which has been more fully mentioned in the history of the Seventh Regiment, and which has been erroneously accredited to General Sweeny, who had very little, if anything at all, to do with it. The enemy retreated during the night of the 15th. In this series of engagements whereby the rebels were driven beyond the Oostanaula, the Union losses were about eight hundred killed and five times as many wounded, but half the wounded were so slightly injured that they soon returned to duty. The enemy also lost heavily in killed and wounded, one thousand prisoners, and eight guns captured by Hooker. The losses of the Iowa regiments engaged were not severe, except in the Seventh, which had a severe combat at Lay s Ferry. Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins, of the Thirty-first, was for the second time severely wounded. THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 593 The army pushed on in pursuit, Thomas directly on the enemy s heels, McPherson by Lay s Ferry, and Schofield by obscure roads to the left. General Jeff. C. Davis, commanding a division in Palmer s Corps, moved west of the Oostanaula, and took possession of Rome, with valuable cap tures. The main column halted a few days in the vicinity of Kingston, where dispositions were made for a pitched battle, but the enemy retired by night beyond the Etowah, and took up strong position in Allatoona Pass. General Sherman determined to "flank" him out of Allatoona. Wherefore, providing his trains with twenty days rations, he left the line of the railway, and directed his columns on Dallas, a town far south of Allatoona, and east of the railway. On the 25th, General Hooker had a severe engagement near New Hope Church, about four miles north of Dallas. The country was mountainous and wooded, and the movements of the army were made with no little difficulty. The enemy was well nigh as active as Sherman, and had posted himself well across the road leading from Dallas to Marietta. Some time was required for Sherman to over come the difficulties of the country, and several sharp encounters occurred on different parts of the lines. All the while there was heavy skirmishing, as well by night as by day, so that the troops were required to test their powers of endurance to the utmost ; and their courage too, for there was scarcely a moment when a general battle did not seem imminent. The enemy s position, fortified by strong works, General Sherman did not propose to himself to assault. He determined rather to work gradually to the left and, turning the rebel works, to move directly on the railroad east of Allatoona which plan required a considerable march northward. It was while he was thus gradually moving to the left, that several engage ments took place, already referred to. The most severe of these engage ments, and which has been called the Battle of Dallas, took place on the 28th. General McPherson was on the point of closing up to the left, when he was suddenly assailed with the greatest impetuosity by the enemy, who hurled his army in mass against the Army of the Tennessee at Dallas. The suddenness and force of the blow might have bewildered almost any army. But the troops of the army of the Tennessee, most fortunately posted behind hastily constructed field works, received the attack with the utmost coolness not only, but repelled it with enthusiastic shouts of satis faction that for once the enemy had attacked them behind fortifications. "Ah! come on, you gray devils!" shouted the men; "butt your heads against these works if you think you ll get your money back !" And they loaded and fired their pieces in fine excitement. The ground in front of our lines was covered thick with the dead and dying. But there was a break in the lines. The enemy found it, and poured in a stream of men, 75 594 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. threatening destruction. It was at this crisis of the battle that William son s Iowa Brigade rushed to the rescue of the army, and by a dashing charge drove the enemy pell-mell from the field. The day was gained. The repulse of the enemy had been terrible and bloody. The enemy, defeated with fearful loss, retired to his intrenched position near by New Hope Church, and what of fighting afterwards took place in this vicinity was more in the nature of skirmish than of battle. Sherman left Johnston behind his works, and marched to the railroad, arriving at Ackworth on the 6th of June. Allatoona Pass having before been taken by troopers, a depot of supplies was there established, the railroad north repaired, and a short rest given to the army. Blair reenforced the Army of the Tennessee with the Seventeenth Corps at Ackworth, on the 8th. Sherman had now advanced through the mountain region of northern Georgia. Just before him were the outlying peaks of the Blue Ridge, and beyond the fertile plains of Central Georgia the granary of the Con federacy. Being necessarily compelled in this work to relate the history of regi ments without direct regard to the chronological order of the events of the war, I have already in accounts of other regiments set forth the principal occurrences of the remainder of the campaign of Atlanta. The Thirty-first regiment having well and bravely done its whole duty in all the movements and engagements of the campaign, thus far, continued in the same manner to perform its duty to the end. It was engaged with the enemy at Big Shanty on the 10th, and afterwards took position in rifle-pits nearer Kene- saw, and long remained under fire of both artillery and musketry. It moved with the Army of the Tennessee around the grand army to the Chat- tahoochee, and was again engaged in heavy skirmishing for several days on the Nickajack Creek. It joined in the march again around the army to 71 Roswell, and was there detailed on special duty. It did not join the brigade till the 2d of August, so that it took no part in the memorable battles of Atlanta and Ezra Church, on the 22d and 28th of July. It moved with the army in the final flanking movement of the campaign to Jonesboro, and fully participated in the series of engagements near that place, by the suc cess of which Atlanta fell into the hands of Sherman. The losses of the regiment during this long and active campaign were considerable, but have not been officially set forth in any published document. Resting about a month a few miles from Atlanta, the regiment took up line of march in the famous pursuit of Hood. It was more than a month, when, after the long march, the command returned to Atlanta. Halting near by the ruins, suggestive of mingled feelings of pride and sor row, of the city whose possession had cost so much blood and so many lives, the command joined in the march to the sea on the 15th of November. It THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 595 spent the following holidays in Savannah, and moved with the army north ward, in January, 1865, on the campaign of the Carolinas. Having done its fair share of the labors and fighting of that campaign, laboring almost daily making roads on which troops could march, and frequently meeting the enemy, especially at the capture of Columbia and the battle of Ben- tonsville, at both of which Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins commanding and the officers and men of his regiment received the warm encomiums of superior officers and the hearty congratulations of comrades it reached the capital of the nation in May, where it made an end of its marches on the great review of the 24th. The non-veteran regiments of the brigade, the Twenty-fifth, Twenty- sixth, and Thirtieth regiments were sent to Iowa directly from Washington, but the Thirty-first was not so ordered because it happened that it had not been mustered into the service before the 1st of October, 1862. Had it not been for this, the command would have come under the provisions of an order of the War Department, and been honorably discharged the ser vice at the National Capital. Instead, it moved with those troops of the Army of the Tennessee not coming under the provisions of that order, by Parkersburg, Virginia, to Louisville, Kentucky, and there remained in service some weeks before discharge. It was disbanded at Davenport. Its reception by the citizens of that city was an occasion never to be forgotten. The railroad depot, the plat forms, the space around, were crowded with people. "Arriving opposite the platform, says the Gazette, the boys were received with cheers and hurrahs, while a thousand flags were unfurled to the breeze, and the waving of white handkerchiefs, by fair hands, shone like bursting cotton- pods in Dixie. James T. Lane, Esq. , a prominent orator of the city, delivered an address, Colonel Jenkins responded, and there was a happy time generally. 3 But the reception at Davenport was not the only ovation received by the officers and men of the Thirty-first regiment. Jones, Linn, and Cedar Counties welcomed the returning braves with sincere demonstrations of cordiality. The beautiful town of Bellevue, nestling cosily under the pic turesque bluffs of the Mississippi, turned out en masse to receive the Jack- 8 The officers of the regiment by commissions of the Governor at this time were : Colonel, J. W. Jenkins; Lieutenant-Cokmd, Theodore Stimming; Major, S. S. Farwell; Adjutant, Joseph Rosen- baum ; Quartermaster, J. W. Oilman ; Surgeon, H. H. Gates. Company A Captain Jeremiah S. Alexander; First Lieutenant John H. Harvey. Company B Captain H. E. Williams; First Lieutenant Thomas G. Salisbury. Company C Captain Levi W. Herring; First Lieutenant T. C. Bird. Company D Captain R. McQuilkin ; First Lieutenant F. H. Lacey. Company # Captain G. D. Hilton ; First Lieutenant Richard McDaniel. Company F Captain Adam Gebert ; First Lieutenant A. J. McPeak. Company G Captain Joseph H. Evans ; First Lieutenant D. Rorick; Second Lieutenant S. N. Landon. Company .H" Captain 0. E. White. Company J Captain A. M. Philips; Second Lieutenant John S. Dunham. Company K Captain A. M. Bockins; First Lieutenant M. Maloney. 596 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. son County members of the regiment. It was a gala-day. So too, "Old Black Hawk County," noted for its hospitable people, shook its returning braves heartily by the hand, and made them truly joyful. But there was sadness mingled with the joy. The Thirty-first left Iowa for the wars, nearly one thousand strong. It returned with less than three hundred and seventy. Disease and battle had thus reduced its strength. It had won honor at Arkansas Post and at Vicksburg. So too it had there left its sacrifices. It had won the special commendations of General Hooker for a gallant charge by night on Lookout Mountain ; it was behind no regiment in all the fine Army of the Tennessee in carrying the enemy s works at Resaca; it was not surpassed by any in Williamson s charge at Dallas ; it was first to cross Broad River into Columbia, South Carolina, and it was the colors of the Thirty-first that Colonel Stone, commanding brigade, placed on the State House of that capital. In all its battles it fought gloriously, but, though it won the victory, it left its sacrifices on every field, and returned with but a little more than a third of its original strength. Wherefore its welcome was joyous ; but there were many fathers who missed their sons, many wives who looked in vain for the forms their fancy pictured, and thinking of the narrow houses of the regiment all over the South, turned sorrowfully away. Such welcome was fitting to regi ments which had done their duty faithfully and bravely. Had they not returned with thinned ranks, the rebellion had not been conquered, the Union had not been saved. CHAPTER XXXVL THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION RENDEZVOUS NEAR DUBUQUE THE REGIMENT SEPARATED IN DETACHMENTS HISTORY OF THE DETACHMENT UNDER MAJOR EBERHART ACTIVE SERVICE-SEVERE MARCHES WITH CAVALRY-HISTORY OF COMMAND UNDER COLONEL SCOTT GARRISON DUTY HIS EVACUATION OF NEW MADRID HIS TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL ORDERED TO THE FIELD CAMPAIGN IN MISSIS SIPPITHE WHOLE COMMAND AT LAST TOGETHER COLONEL SCOTT S CONGRA TULATORY ORDER ORDERED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF MAJOR-GENE RAL B. F. BUTLER MAJOR-GENERAL N. P. BANKS THE DISASTROUS RED RIVER EXPEDITION BATTLE OF PLEASANT HILL RETREAT SERVICES OF THE REGIMENT AFTER THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN. THE companies forming the Thirty-second Infantry, Iowa Volunteers, were recruited in the counties composing the Sixth Congressional District, during the latter part of the summer and early fall of 1862. They rendez voused at Camp Franklin, near Dubuque. Here, on October 6th, the regiment was sworn into the service of the United States for three years or during the war ; John Scott, of Story county, being Colonel, E. H. Mix, of Butler, Lieutenant- Colonel, Gr. A. Eberhart, of Black Hawk, Major, Charles Aldrich, of Hamilton, Adjutant. Here it remained under drill and discipline till about the middle of the following month. The barracks at Camp Franklin were uncomfortable in cold weather, of which, unhappily, there was much about this time. Measles of a malignant type broke out in camp, the exposed condition of which, the unfavorable weather, and the want of sufficient clothing, conspiring to make the disease unusually fatal. Many of the men died, though but few just at this time. From the 14th to the 18th of November, the regiment, numbering about nine hundred and twenty, embarked by detachments for St. Louis, reporting there on the 21st, and going into quarters at Benton Barracks. Here it remained a few days, when, under orders from Major-General Curtis, six companies under Colonel Scott proceeded to New Madrid, Missouri, and the remaining four companies under Major Eberhart, went no further down the river than Cape Girardeau. The companies at regimental head- 597 598 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. quarters were : Company B, Captain A. B. Miller. Company C, Captain H. F. Peebles. Company E, Captain J. R. Jones. Company H, Captain J. B. Reeve. Company I, Captain J. Hutchinson; and Company K, Captain Joseph Cadwalader. The companies under Major Eberhart were commanded by Captains L. H. Cutler, Theodore De Tar, Joseph Edging- ton, and C. A. L. Roszell. The separation of the regiment, thus effected on the last day of the autumn of 1862, continued till the spring of 1864. It was a prolific cause of annoyance, and extraordinary labor. The details required of a regiment were frequently demanded from each of these com mands ; stores sent to the regiment would sometimes go to the detachment, sometimes to head-quarters, when they should have gone just the other way ; the mails were in an interminable tangle. The history of the regiment, during this long period of separation, must necessarily be two-fold. It will not be improper to write, first, an account of the detachment under command of Major Eberhart : In obedience, then, to the order of General Curtis, Major Eberhart, with Companies A, D, F, and G, of the Thirty-second, proceeded to Cape Girar deau, and assumed command of that post, on the 1st of December, 1862. The garrison consisted of these companies and one company of the Second Missouri Heavy Artillery. The detachment remained at Cape Girardeau, performing prOvost and garrison duties during the winter. Toward the close of the year, however, Captain Roszell, with Lieutenants Airy and Shannon, and a detachment of fifty men went down the Mississippi in a ferry boat to Lane s Landing, there disembarked, and marched back to the post, through Mississippi and Scott counties, bringing in a number of pri soners and a quantity of supplies. On the 10th of March, the garrison was reenforced by the First Nebraska Volunteers, and preparations com menced for a march into the interior. In a few days Major Eberhart marched his detachment to Bloomfield, accompanying a regiment of Wis consin cavalry and a battery of Missouri artillery. The little army re mained at and near Bloomfield till the 21st of April, when it moved to Dallas, forty-six miles northward. The rebel General Marmaduke now threatened Cape Girardeau with a considerable army. He himself was at Fredericktown, northwest of Dallas, while another force was coming up on the Bloomfield road. General McNeil, commanding the Union forces, marched at once to Cape Girardeau by Jackson. The detachment of the Thirty-second, guarding the train, marched from Dallas to Jackson, twenty miles, in less than six hours, and reached Cape Girardeau on the morning of the 24th. The next day Marmaduke, with a force of eight thousand men, invested the place. At ten o clock at night, he sent in a flag of truce, with a demand of unconditional surrender, giving the Union com mander thirty minutes for decision. General McNeil, by Colonel Strachan, THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 599 who received the truce, sent back a flat refusal in one minute, and politely requested a credit of twenty-nine minutes by General Marmaduke. The attack, however, was not commenced till Sunday morning, the 26th, at ten o clock. The engagement, being little more than an artillery duel, con tinued till two o clock, when the rebels retired with considerable loss, just as General Vandever came down the river with reinforcements for the gar rison. In this combat Major Eberhart s command was posted on the right, in support of a section of Meltfly s battery. Its loss was but one man, cap tured on picket. General McNeil rapidly pursued Marmaduke. On the 28th, our detachment was ordered to Bloomfield. Leaving Cape Girar- deau at five o clock ;n the afternoon, it marched fifty miles by dark of the next evening, and went into camp near the Castor River. Completing the bridge over this stream, it returned to the Cape, reaching that post on the 5th of May. Here it remained on garrison duty till the llth of July, when it again marched for Bloomfield. Having remained there a few days, at work on the fortifications, it was attached to the Reserve Brigade, First Cavalry Division, Department of the Missouri, and on the 19th started on the memorable march, which ended with the capture of Little Rock, Ar kansas. The command reached Willsburg on the 28th, halted there a day or two, and then pushed forward to Clarendon, reaching there on the 8th of August Early on the morning of the 13th, our detachment started up .White River, Companies A and D, Captain De Tar commanding, on "Cricket" gun-boat, Companies F and G, Captain Roszell, on the "Mar mora," Major Eberhart aboard the flag-ship "Lexington," Captain Bache, United States Navy. The expedition lasted three days, and was quite a brilliant and successful affair. The fleet went up White River to the mouth of the Little Red River, and then proceeded up that stream to the town of Searcy, where two steamers were captured, and a pontoon bridge destroyed. When ten miles below Searcy on the return, the fleet was at tacked by three hundred rebels, who directed their principal fire on the prize "Kaskaskia," which was manned by half of Company D, under Lieutenant William D. Templin. The steamer was near the shore from which the attack was directed, but made a gallant defence. The rebels were driven off, with a loss of more than twenty killed. The loss in Com pany D was one killed, five wounded. Before reaching White River, the fleet was again attacked, but the assailants were quickly driven off with loss, and without any casualty on board. Large quantities of public prop erty were destroyed, and a number of prisoners captured during the expe dition. The Army of Arkansas under General Steele, marching on Little Rock, formed a junction with the forces under General Davidson at Claren don. In the heavy skirmish at Bayou Metoe, on the 27th, our detachment was engaged, losing there one killed and two wounded. It returned to 600 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Duvall s Bluff, and there had charge of the sick, of whom there were more than twelve hundred. The detachment itself was sorely afflicted, there be ing only forty able to be on duty. On the 10th and llth of September, it moved to Little Rock, in charge of more than a regiment of sick and wounded soldiers. Here the detachment remained till the middle of Octo ber, when it marched to Benton, twenty-five miles distant. It returned again to Little Rock in about a month, where it remained till the last of January, 1864, when it started for Memphis. Proceeding to Duvall s Bluff by rail, and thence by steamer down the White River and up the Mississippi, it reached Memphis on the 5th of February. Here it was or dered to proceed by steamer to Vicksburg and report to Brigadier- General A. J. Smith, Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. It reached Vicks burg on the 9th, and remained there till the 27th, when it marched out to Black River to await the return of the army from its great raid in the interior. Meanwhile Colonel Scott established his head-quarters at New Madrid, and assumed command of the post. The chief duty was to prevent contra band trade with Arkansas, which was done most effectually, but not without the disagreeable results to Colonel Scott which interested parties usually bring to bear against a firm administrator one who did not believe in con sulting armed rebels or their sympathizers touching the mode of carrying on the war. His administrative duties did not prevent him from giving much care to his command and attention to his surroundings. On the 17th of December, 1862, he sent out a detachment of one hundred men under Captain Peebles, who made a reconnoissance as far as the St. Francis River, bringing back several prisoners, much public property, and valuable infor mation. On the 28th of December, Colonel Scott destroyed the public property, and evacuated New Madrid. For this act, which was done in obedience to orders, but against his judgment and advice, he was afterwards tried by court-martial and honorably acquitted. In the performance of his duty to give what attention he could to the state of the country and trade between Cape Girardeau and New Madrid, the Colonel had made a voyage from the latter to the former place, stopping frequently on the way to acquire infor mation, and on his return ^reported personally to General T. A. Davies, at Columbus, Kentucky, then commanding the district. General Davies, as suming to have authority from General Curtis to command Colonel Scott, and proving his assumption correct by General Fisk, just from General Curtis head-quarters, handed the Colonel a written order, commanding him to "immediately proceed to New Madrid, burn the gun-carriages and wooden platforms, spike the guns, and destroy the ammunition totally." In this interview General Davies talked very heroically about a grand scheme THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 601 there was on foot, of which the evacuation of New Madrid formed a part, by which scheme a rebel movement was to be circumvented. As things happened, the heroics turned out to be nonsense. But Colonel Scott, with mental protest, obeyed the order. Having blown up the magazine, and destroyed the public property as ordered, he proceeded by steamer to Fort Pillow, there disembarking on the 29th of December. For the evacuation of New Madrid Colonel Scott was much blamed by the public press. The matter was at length brought before a military com mission, of which Brigadier-General W. K. Strong was President. Before this tribunal General Davies took upon himself the entire responsibility. The commission found that "Colonel Scott did right, under the circum stances, in obeying Brigadier-General Davies order ; not only did his duty, but is honorably acquitted of all blame. The command remained at Fort Pillow for nearly six months, in the per formance of garrison duties for the most part, but making, by detachments, several scouts into the interior and two or three voyages on the river. Drill was not neglected, but it is not to be denied that the surroundings were dis agreeable to the officers, and would have had a demoralizing effect upon the man but for constant resistance, and the labors and prayers of the chaplain, Rev. L. S. Coffin. For some weeks before the departure of the command for Columbus, Company B, Captain Miller, was at Fulton, three miles be low the fort. The command embarked for Columbus, Kentucky, on the 17th and 18th of June, 1863, in detachments, and went into camp there on the 19th; and there regimental head-quarters remained for more than seven months, Colonel Scott being most of the time in command of the post. On July 10th, Union City in Tennessee, some twenty-five miles south of Columbus, was captured by the rebels. Our command hastened to that place as rapidly . as possible, but arrived too late to find the enemy. They buried the dead, cared for the wounded, and returned. The command was soon afterwards again divided into fractions. Companies B and I, under command of Captain Miller, Lieutenant- Colonel Mix being president of a court-martial at Cairo, alone remained at regimental head-quarters. Company C was at tached to the Fourth Missouri Cavalry ; Company E was placed at Fort Quinby, not far from Columbus, whilst Companies H and K, Captain Ben- sen commanding, proceeded down the river to Island No. Ten. From this time forth until January 1864, the history of each of these detachments, except that of Company C, is devoid of remarkable events. This detach ment was most actively employed during most of the period. The labors of officers and men were arduous in the extreme. They scouted a wide ex tent of country, infested by guerrillas ; inarched oftentimes a considerable distance from Columbus, going out in all weather, by night as often as by 76 602 IOWA AND THE [REBELLION. day. They braved many perils and endured many hardships. The detach ment also accompanied General A. J. Smith s expedition to Jackson, being out twenty days of severe weather in December, 1863, and January, 1864. The detachment at Island No. Ten was engaged in guard duties and pro tecting the colony of freedmen established there. It also made short expe ditions on either side of the river against guerrillas. With the exception of an expedition, in August, to Hickman, Kentucky, under Lieutenant- Colonel Mix, the detachment at regimental head-quarters remained all the time at Columbus, while the company at Fort Quinby continued to perform the lazy duties of a garrison. In the month of January, 1864, these six companies were brought to gether, and soon embarked for Vicksburg, where they were assigned to the Second Brigade, Colonel W. T. Shaw, Fourteenth Iowa, commanding, of General A. J. Smith s Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, then commanded by Major-General Hurlbut. Perhaps there was not a single organization in the whole army under Major-General Sherman, which left Vicksburg on the 3d of February, that so gladly commenced that singular campaign as the command under Colonel Scott. Having marched more than three hundred miles, destroyed immense amounts of public property, very many miles of railroad included, the army returned to Vicksburg on the 4th of March. On this expedition our command made several hard marches both by day and night, and had some skirmishing with the enemy. Near Canton on the return Captain Peebles, whilst foraging with a detachment of twenty-five men from Company C, was attacked by nearly three hundred mounted rebels. The Captain made a gallant defence, but on account of a panic among the teamsters, lost eight out of twenty-one wagons. Private Edward Flood was killed. If the battalion left Vicksburg joyfully, its return was still more joyful, for here were found Major Eberhart and his four companies, and the whole regiment was together for the first time since November, 1862. The re union brought great satisfaction to officers and men. Colonel Scott issued a congratulatory order upon the subject, in which the long separation was referred to in befitting terms, but with the truthful announcement that it had in no degree destroyed the pride and spirit of officers or men. He made a part of the order the following words from a special order by Gene ral Davidson, on the occasion of the departure of Major Eberhart from Little Rock, namely : "In relieving this Detachment from duty with the Cavalry Division, the General commanding cannot forbear expressing his high appreciation of the soldierly qualities they have exhibited, and the valuable services they have rendered while under his command. Although Infantry they have accompanied the march of the Cavalry Division for a distance of over four hundred miles shared in its privations and toils THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 603 without a murmur and, finally, taken a noble part in its engagements and victories. The mission of the Detachment with the Cavalry Division is accomplished, and it is about to enter upon a new field of operations, but wherever it may go it will be followed by the best wishes and kindest regards of the troops with whom it has served so faithfully and well. " Colonel Scott closed his order with touching remembrance of deceased comrades, and bright anticipations for the future of the regiment. Shortly after the reunion of the regiment it was ordered to the Department of the Gulf, and there accompanied the disastrous Red River Expedition. Among the citizens of Massachusetts whom the war brought prominently before the public eye Major-General B. F. Butler and Major-General N. P. Banks were the most conspicuous. The powerful influence of circumstances upon minds of great firmness and independence was, never, perhaps, more clearly illustrated than in the careers of these two men. General Butler, up to the breaking out of the war, had been a Democrat of the most con servative school, especially upon the subject of slavery. To prevent, as he thought, his party from splitting on this rock, he had cooperated with the southern wing in the canvass of 1860, thereby putting himself in a helpless minority in his own State. But when traitors fired the southern heart by the attack on Fort Sumter, he zealously advDcated the national cause, and from that moment became one of the firmest, and perhaps the truest, representatives of our nationality. He astounded Lieutenant-General Scott, hardly less than the citizens of Baltimore, by his occupation of Federal Hill. Whilst the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, and other public men were scratching their heads in seemingly unending botheration on the practical difficulties of the new phases of the slavery question, he put an end to their perplexities and their fine-spun theories by three words con traband of war which have been in everybody s mouth ever since. He went to New Orleans. The city had always been noted for bad morals and nearly everything else which is condemned by Christian civilization. Its ruling classes were desperadoes, slave-drivers, gamblers, scurvy politicians without principle, and aristocrats without brains. The men of capital were all traitors or aliens ! The women were beautiful, and exceedingly ill-bred. The only persons loyal to the government were the laboring classes and the slaves. All others were hostile to General Butler, and by all means within their power attempted to thwart him in his designs. They were aided herein by the representatives of the principal European governments in the city. Nevertheless, he had not been long in New Orleans till it was the cleanest, the healthiest, the most orderly city in America. Trade revived. The city became prosperous again. Life and property were secure. He performed this miracle of administration without cost to the government, but not without giving offence to secessionists and foreign consuls. These 604 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. latter, in especial, were loud in complaint. Their complaints came to the ears of the Secretary of State at Washington, who was at that time con ducting our foreign affairs with great success and our domestic affairs as badly as possible. It was impossible that the iron rule of General Butler in the Gulf Department should meet the approval of a statesman without the courage to remain in a carriage when the horses are running away. So General Butler was relieved, but not till after he had revolutionized New Orleans, and made a large part of Louisiana nearly ready to come back into the Union. Major-General Banks, who succeeded Butler, was known to have good administrative abilities. Till the commencement of the war, his political principles had been antagonistic to those of General Butler. Whereas Butler, for the sake of the Union, had always been willing to ignore the slavery question, Banks had expressed a willingness to "let the Union slide rather than yield to the demands of slavery. For a time after he became a general, certain prominent men among those called Radicals had him in keeping for the presidency. His retreat down the Shenandoah Valley and the battle of Cedar Mountain caused him to spoil on their hands as an army candidate. But he went to New Orleans with their good wishes, and with the good wishes of most men in the Radical party. Trammeled, no doubt, by instructions, when he reached the city he imme diately inaugurated the policy which has been classed rose-water by some writers, and water-gruel by others. The effect of this policy was precisely the reverse of that of General Butler. His course had been wonderfully popular with the poor and the oppressed ; with all who had any heart in the cause of the Union. It had been as unpopular with all others. Gen eral Banks now thought to conciliate the elit6 of the city and of the State the "select few" who under the old regime controlled affairs, and were anxious to control affairs again on the old plan. The tenements of the laboring classes and the hovels of the blacks ceased to wear the cheerful aspect of happiness and of hope. Nevertheless, New Orleans was gay. Balls were of almost nightly occurrence, and many were characterized by a gorgeous magnificence which might have satisfied the royal taste of the Empress Josephine, and which certainly emptied the pockets of honest army officers who received their pay in a depreciated currency, and whom courtesy compelled to take part in these amusements. The newspapers teemed with accounts of these revelries by night, the commanding general coming in for a large share of the be-puffery. It was the reign of bon-ton. The secessionists and the representatives of foreign monarchies seemed to be delighted, and undoubtedly they actually were delighted, with the balls. The real friends of the country were indignant. They compared the state of affairs to the Vatican at Rome splendor within, and beggars, misery, THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 605 Discontent without. Many Hotspurs in the army boiled over with wrath, spoke in angry terms of the general commanding, and averred they must pass as seldom as possible betwixt the wind and his nobility. General Banks could not forever remain ignorant that he must ignore his instruc tions, or be the means of ruining our affairs in the Gulf Department. He changed his policy to one of vigor, but too late to secure the confidence of the army, or to shake off the speculators who brought terrible disaster to his principal campaign, and utter ruin to his reputation as a soldier. In the disastrous Red River campaign the Thirty-second Iowa took part, and suffered more severely, perhaps, than any other regiment in this expe dition. It formed a part of General A. J. Smith s command, consisting of ten thousand infantry and three batteries of artillery, which left Vicksburg on March 9th on transports, accompanied by gun-boats. At the mouth of Red River, this fleet was joined by Admiral D. D. Porter, with a large fleet, including several heavy iron-clads. Some miles from where the Red River empties into the Mississippi it separates into two streams which come together again very near the mouth. From the southern one of these two streams, the Achafalaya River flows. The fleet entered Red River by the southern stream, and passed thence into the Achafalaya, proceeding as far as Simmesport, where the troops disembarked on the night of the 13th, and immediately commenced a march on Fort De Russey. The halt was not ordered till the army marched some seven miles. It was twenty-eight miles from here to Fort De Russey. Nevertheless, the army marched that distance the next day, constantly harassed by rebel cavalry, delayed once two hours at a stream over which a bridge had to be made, attacked the fort and carried it by storm, before sundown, and before the gun-boats arrived. In this assault, the Thirty-second was on the right, and "the men on the right took the fort," said the prisoners. Colonel Shaw, com manding brigade, speaks in unqualified praise of all the officers and men in his command, engaged in this brilliant affair. The loss was slight on either side. Of the Thirty- second, one man was killed and two were wounded. At Fort De Russey the army reembarked and proceeded to Alexandria, where the troops again disembarked, and where they remained nearly two weeks. At this point the column under General Smith formed a junction with the column which had marched from New Orleans by Brashear and Franklin. The transports could not be taken over the rapids while laden, so the troops marched to Cotile Landing, some twenty-five miles up the river. Here our regiment had its first battalion drill, with all the compa nies in line, since leaving Dubuque in November, 1862. On April 3d, the command again embarked, and reached Grand Ecore on the next evening. Here it remained till the morning of the 7th, when it marched to the front. 606 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. BATTLE OF PLEASANT JHTii. This engagement, fought on the 9th of April, was an Union victory, of which no advantage was taken by the commanding general. Wherefore, it might as well have been, practically, a defeat. General Banks states in his official report, published in November, 1865, that the battle was desperate and sanguinary ; that it was the decisive battle of the campaign ; that the defeat of the enemy was complete, and his loss of officers and men more than double that sustained by our forces. Nevertheless, he put his army in retreat on the morning of the 10th, yielding our victory, our dead and our wounded to the enemy. It is on account of this great blunder, the criminations and recriminations which it produced, the contradictory state ments of reporters and puffers, that no man can yet write a full account of the engagement which shall not be liable to revision and correction. I shall, therefore, not attempt to give a detailed description of the battle, except so far as to represent the operations of the brigade commanded by Colonel William T. Shaw, Fourteenth Iowa, which consisted of his own regiment, the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-second Iowa, and the Twenty- fourth Missouri, which brigade stood the brunt of the fight, being the first in the battle, fighting longer than any others, in the hardest of the contest, the last to leave the field, and losing three times as many officers and men as any brigade engaged. Nevertheless, it may be stated, to show the utter unreliability of reports of this contest, that General Banks does not so much as mention Colonel Shaw s Brigade in his official report, born after a gestation of near eighteen months, a neglect which must be characterized by every candid mind as much more than ungrateful. It will be recollected that the Battle of Mansfield, or, more properly, Sabine Cross Roads, occurred on the 8th, and resulted in a defeat of the Union arms, with heavy loss of men and guns. The army retreated on Pleasant Hill, fifteen miles distant, and, General Smith coming up, Banks determined again to offer battle. A line was formed, says Banks, in the following order First Brigade, Nineteenth Corps on the right; Second Brigade in the centre, strengthened by a brigade of General Smith s forces (this means Shaw s Brigade) ; Third Brigade on the left. There was con siderable skirmishing during the morning, but the battle did not fairly open till after four o clock. At five o clock, it was raging heavily, the rebels moving at first against our right, but delivering their main attack against the centre, now held by Colonel Shaw, who was without support either on his right flank or his left ; in a short time after the contest became general. Nevertheless, he held his position, his four regiments pouring into the enemy the most destructive volleys which ever swept men into the valley of the shadow of death. At one time, the enemy made a bold cavalry THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. G07 OF IPH.IEAJS.VIVT OPERATIONS OF SHAW S "IRON BRIGADE. 608 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. charge along the Shreveport road. When within short range of our lines they were met by the unerring rifles of the Fourteenth, the Twenty-seventh, and the Thirty-second Iowa, when riders and steeds fell dead as though struck by a thousand thunderbolts. Horses and men were hurled into instant death by that fearful volley. Scarcely a man escaped. The battle continued till dark, when the rebels put themselves in retreat, leaving us the complete victors, and Shaw s brigade the heroes of the fight. However, other troops did their whole duty, and among those from Iowa, the Thirty-fifth Infantry was conspicuous on another part of the field, and lost during the engagement about seventy men hors-de-combat. The "bloody Fourteenth" well sustained on the field of Pleasant Hill the repu tation it had won in former battles. Lieutenant- Colonel Newbold, "a Christian gentleman, and a brave, industrious, conscientious officer," fell mortally wounded. "Here also fell," says Captain Warren C. Jones, who commanded the regiment after the fall of Lieutenant-Colonel Newbold, "Lieutenants Logan, McMillen, Shanklin, and Hazlett, officers beloved by all. " " The long list of casualties, he continues, clearly indicates the irresistible bravery and determined will of the regiment." The Twenty- seventh regiment, Colonel James I. Gilbert, in this its first pitched battle, gained a proud reputation. Colonel Gilbert was himself wounded, but con tinued in command throughout. He and his regiment received the un mixed praise of Colonel Shaw. Colonel Gilbert himself states his officers and soldiers all conducted themselves bravely and well, so that he only specially mentions Captain J. M. Holbrook, who led his company with dis tinguished gallantry after having received a severe wound, and until he was wounded the second time. Lieutenants J. W. Granger, Frank A. Brush, and Samuel 0. Smith were also wounded, the last mortally. The loss of the regiment was about ninety, killed, wounded, and missing. " Of Colonel John Scott, Thirty-second Iowa," says the brigade com mander, " it is sufficient to say that he showed himself worthy to command the Thirty- second Iowa Infantry a regiment which, after having been entirely surrounded, and cut off from the rest of the command, with nearly one half of its number killed or wounded, among them many of the best and prominent officers, forced its way through the enemy s lines, and was again in line ready and anxious to meet the foe in less than thirty minutes. It is certain no regiment ever fought with a sublimer courage than did the Thirty-second on the field of Pleasant Hill. Its heroism and its sacrifices were worthy of a better fate than a retreat from the scene of its splendid daring and its glory. The fame of its gallant conduct soon spread all over Iowa, as it would have spread all over the country had the commanding general accepted the victory which the troops had given him. But sad losses befell the regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel Mix, an admirable officer^ THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 609 4 was slain on the field. Captain Amos B. Miller, a man of many noble qualities, a heart ever overflowing with the milk of human kindness, an officer of approved skill and courage, was fatally wounded. With him fell Lieutenant Thomas 0. Howard, and Adjutant Charles H. Huntley. Cap tain Michael Ackerman, Captain H. F. Peebles, Lieutenants John Devine and John F. Wright were all severely wounded and fell into the hands of the enemy. "The painful circumstances," says Colonel Scott, " surround ing the abandonment of these and other wounded comrades, on a field we had so gallantly contested and won, must live only in our hearts. The honor of our country forbids their mention." "To Captain Jonathan Hutchin- son," says the Colonel in another place, "my special thanks are due, not only for his gallantry, but also for repressing reckless exposure among the men and thus saving valuable lives. His son, a youth of much promise, was killed by his side early in the action." The regiment lost in the action two hundred and ten officers and men, killed, wounded, and missing, the most of the missing being also wounded, and many so reported no doubt slain. 1 1 LIST OF CASUALTIES. Killed, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward H. Mix ; Missing, Adjutant Charles H. Huntley, supposed to have died of wounds. Company A Killed, Sergeant A. Hull ; Patrick Burns, William T. Crockett. Wounded, Captain Michael Ackerman ; Sergeants A. J. Ripley, John S. Quiggle ; Corporal William P. Hiserodt ; John Downs, Joshua McFarland, John M. Miller, Robert P. Mack, George M. Sweeden, John Talbott. Missing, Sergeant Amos Doane; Corporal Joseph A. Kent; Linas Betts, R. D. F aught, Henry Frank, Charles Gray, John Hoskins, Joseph T. Payne, I. A. Packard, Henry Smith, C. M. Townsend, Stephen Tjaden, Andrew Williams. Company B Killed, Captain Amos B. Miller; Lieutenant Thomas 0. Howard; John P. Ford, Wil liam F. Hoyt. Wounded, Sergeants Harvey N. Brockway, Harvey D. Barr, Peter R. Wood; Charles R. Bilanski, Allen T. Cole, John Crozier, Peter Cope, F. B. Florence, Amos Ingalls, Cyrus Morris, A. McConville, John Randall, William K. Spaulding, 0. A. Wilson, John Curran. Missing, Lieutenant Samuel W. Griffin ; Corporals Alonzo Frink, James Jenkinson ; Lewis B. Boomhawer, Jacob G. Brown, John Carroll, William Harris, Martin B. Parker, John Rozsell, F. J. Furmere, C. W. Tobin. Sergeant Milton P. Goodell was wounded. Company C Wounded, Captain Hubert F. Peebles ; Sergeant Cornelius Bennet ; Corporal Charles P. Hunt ; Allen T. Baldwin, Charles Cleveland, Zenas J. Duke, Thomas B. B. Doxy. Johnson B. Ilewett, Barnard McCormick, James F. McFarland, Sidney Palmer (mortally) Charles B. Shaw, Edgar W. Webster. Company D Killed, Corporal Malborn Pettibone ; Jacob M. Buffington, Peter Battin, William B. Lawton, William M. Peoples, J. L. Starr, John E. R. Wright. Wounded, Sergeant F. M. Spurrier; Corporals John Weston, James P. Williams ; John A. Atkinson, Samuel C. Blunk, Amos J. Blunk, Alouzo J. Barkley, Moses S. Copps, James A. Davis, Benjamin W. Hickman, John H. Merrick. Missing, Sergeants Joseph G. Miller, David S. Jewett ; Corporal David W. Robbins ; Nicholas Harter, Garret L. Joice, Gustus Linn, William T. Leonard, John W. Moriarty, Thomas B. Thompson. Company E Killed, John W. Bloss, F. J. Carter, Lyman James, Wilbur L. Lewis, Delos Patton, Julius Waters. Wounded, Lieutenant John F. Wright ; John Aspey, Albert Blackman, Dow Clayton, Elijah Rights, James Leverich, Roland P. Mead, Edward E. Needham, Robert L. Olmstead, Orrin P. Olmstead, Jasper Parriott, Daniel Plummer, F. C. Putnam, James Quiur, George H. Williams, Solomon Wheeler. Missing, Sergeant William H. Guy (soon rejoined the regiment); Oliver Codner, John Conner, Henry Jones, Isaac Ketterman, Charles Lewis, 0. S. Newcomb, W. W. Olmstead. Company F Killed, James Royal. Wounded, Lieutenant John Devine ; Sergeant Solon F. Benson ; Corporal A. M. Caldwell ; William R. Champlin, Luther Couch, William Nutt, Asher N. Parke. Missing, Nathan R. Modlin. Company G Killed, Sergeant Roszell W. Kane ; Corporal George H. Burton. Wounded, Lieuten- 77 610 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. I The fame of the Thirty-second, as I have said, soon spread all over Iowa. There was a feeling of sadness mingled with the satisfaction that the repu tation of the State had been so bravely sustained, which no one attempted to repress. Iowa gloried in the fame of her honored sons and wept for their dead comrades who fell on the stricken field. The following beautiful impromptu lines were written by Mrs. Caroline A. Soule*, the gifted writer of our state, upon hearing of the sad losses sustained by the Thirty-second at Pleasant Hill : Cold are the sleepers Wrapt in their shrouds- Pale are the weepers The battle has bowed; Softly they slumber, Our soldiers in death While heart* without number Cry, with hushed breath God, are they dead I Pale are the sleepers, Like marble they lie- Sad are the weepers, Tear-stained their eyes; Quiet they slumber, Soldiers entombed, While hearts without number, All shrouded in gloom, Cry 0, are they gonel Calm are the sleepers, Taking their rest Sad are the weepers, Joyless their breasts; Softly they slumber, Our soldiers to-day, While hearts without number Cry, only this way Can our battles be won I ant Charles A. Bannon; Corporals George L. Allen, Albert Boggs,T. W.Folger,De Witt C. Harrison ; William C. Bishop, J. R. Brown, Joseph Babcock, Henry Brooks, William Corastock, Michael Cline, Daniel N. Clark, N. W. Davis, Andrew Ellis, N. B. Gleason, Horace G. Hawks, Isaac N. Modlin, James M. Phillippi, Hiram Poisal, Adam Sturtz, Daniel D. Warner. Missing, Sylvester W. Bragg, John Phillippi, John Swim, Martin V. Walmsley. Company H Killed, Corporals Washington Ballou, George W. Ross ; Daniel W. Cole, George N. Demander, George W. Fry, A. J. Horsington, Ira McCord, Bartley M. Mechan. Wounded, Sergeant Benjamin H. Pound; Corporals Lewis P. Berry, E. B. Criley; Jesse Homer, A. E. Phinney, Henry W. Smith, John P. Underwood. Missing, Jacob Brooks, E. W. Crosby. Company J Killed, Mathias Hutchinson. Wounded, Corporal James A. Rowley, Hiram Hulsizer, John Mayberry. Missing, William J. Salisbury, John Vandevener. Company K Killed, Corporal Elias Modlin ; F. M. Anderson, Daniel J. Bloice, Charles Hurlbert. Wounded, Corporal Isaac N. Alderman, Lewis F. Brown, Frank Daniels, A. J. Frakes, Henry French, John Henderson, Francis Luellan, John S. Wood. Missing, Sergeant William A. Fallas, William C. Ballard, John F. Hilton, Joseph L. Harkness, Samuel Pearson. Colonel Scott, in his official report, expressed the fear that many of those marked " missing" were killed or wounded. THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY. Colonel Shaw s Brigade covered the retreat of the army to Grand Ecore, where the Thirty-second regiment, after a movement up Red River to aid the fleet in escaping from imminent peril, went into encampment. It joined in the retreat down the Red River on the 21st, and frequently met light bodies of the enemy in skirmish. The retreat from Alexandria to the Mississippi was also harassed by the enemy, and considerable engagements took place at Marksville and Bayou de Glaize, in both which the regiment took part. Colonel Shaw, in his official report of the latter battle says that to " Colonel Gilbert, Twenty-seventh Iowa, Major Eberhart, Thirty- second Iowa, Captain Crane, Fourteenth Iowa, and their commands is due the safety of the army. Had they failed to move into the position assigned them (although a difficult one, that of changing front under fire), with less celerity, or failed to hold it steadily after taking it, our left and rear would have been enveloped by overwhelming numbers, and nothing could have saved us not even the fighting qualities of the Sixteenth Army Corps. Lieutenant William D. Templin and four privates of the Thirty- second were wounded in this battle. 2 The regiment reached Memphis on the 10th of June, having meanwhile participated in the brilliant affair of Point Chicot, in which it suffered a loss of four slain and as many wounded. From Memphis, the command moved to Moscow, and thence to La Grange, in the latter part of June. From this point it marched with General Smith s forces on the Tupelo campaign, in the skirmishes and engagements thereof taking honorable part throughout, but with slight loss. It returned to Memphis, and having encamped there about ten days, joined in the Oxford Expedition. We find it again at Memphis in the latter part of August. The next active campaign in which the Thirty-second took part was in Missouri the pursuit of Price. It was a campaign of severe marching for the infantry, but not of battle. The regiment, not well provided for such a campaign, marched at least six hundred and fifty miles, averaging twenty miles a day, counting the time during which the command actually moved. It marched across the State and back agai% Halting a few days at St. Louis, it moved to Cairo by steamer, arriving November 27th. Hence it moved to Nashville, which was soon afterwards besieged by the rebel General Hood. In the battle of Nashville, December 15th and 16th, the Thirty-second, fighting in General Gilbert s Brigade, was warmly engaged, and won great credit for daring, efficient behaviour. It captured a battery of five guns and many prisoners, and lost about twenty-five, killed and wounded. With the pursuit of the defeated rebels, closed the campaigning of the regiment for the year 1864 in face of the enemy. 3 * Henry Marsh, Orrin Morris, John Myers, Ed. Fogerty. * It will not be amiss now to bring up the personnel of the regiment, by noting the names of 612 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Early in 1865, the regiment marched to Clifton, whence it moved by steamer to Eastport, Mississippi. Its next and last campaign was that of Mobile under Major-General E. R. S. Canby. It is not necessary to pursue it in its long journey with the forces under General A. J. Smith to the theatre of its operations against the enemy. Let it suffice, that throughout those laborious and difficult operations, the Thirty-second performed its part faithfully, skilfully, honorably, as we shall hereafter more particularly note. It remained in Alabama some months after the fall of Mobile, and was mustered out of the service during the summer following. Returning to Iowa, the Thirty-second Infantry was in due time disbanded, the officers and men left from the ravages of three years service receiving everywhere along the line of their journey from the Mississippi to their homes in the beautiful valleys of the Des Moines and the Cedar, the kind greetings which our people extended with generous profusion to their returning braves of all our regiments, and especially to those which, like this, had left so many of their number, fallen in the great struggle for liberty, reposing in death on the battle-fields whereby the Union was saved. officers as set forth in the Adjutant-General s Reports. And, first, those which we there find noted up to January, 1864 : Colonel, John Scott; Lieutenant-Colonel, Edward H. Mix; Major, G. A. Eberhart; Adjutants, Charles Aldrich, Charles H. Huntley; Quartermaster, Thomas C. McCall; Surgeon, Stephen B. Olney; Assistants, Jesse Wasson, William B. Waters, Philander Byam, William L.Huston; Chap lains, Reverends L. S. Coffin, Joseph Cadwalader. LINE OFFICERS. Company A Captains Lewis H. Cutler, Michael Ackerman ; Lieutenants Allen Greer, Joseph P. Airy, A. Hull. Company .B Captain A. B. Miller; Lieutenants William C. Stans- bury, C. S. Lane, Thomas 0. Howard, Samuel W. Griffin. Company C 1 Captain Hubert F. Peebles; Lieutenants H. C. Raymond, B. F. Thomas. Company D Captain Theodore De Tar ; Lieutenants William D. Templin, Robert J. Shannon. Company I? Captain John R. Jones; Lieutenants Alonzo Converse, John F. Wright. Company J 7 Captain Joseph Edgington ; Lieutenants John Devine, Lucius E. Campbell. Company G Captain Charles A. L. Roszell ; Lieutenants Charles A. Bannon, Daniel Haine, William L. Carpenter. Company H Captains James B. Reeve, Rufus S. Benson ; Lieutenants 0. A. Lesh, Rufus S. Benson, James H. Hall. Company /Captain Jonathan Hutchin- son; Lieutenants Amos S. Collins, Alexander Dowd. Company J^ Captains Joseph Cadwalader, Gideon Wheeler; Lieutenants Gideon Wheeler, George Child, Vincent Tomlinson. The regiment entered upon the year 1865, with Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. Eberhart (commissioned colonel), who had commanded the regiment for many months, as commanding officer ; Jonathan Hutchinson, Major; William L. Carpenter, Adjutant; Morrison Bailey, Quartermaster; Doctors Byam and Huston, above named, in the medical department. The officers commanding companies were, in their order: Captains Michael Ackerman, H. N. Brockway, H. C. Raymond, Theodore De Tar, John R. Jones, L. E. Campbell, C. A. L. Roszell, R. S. Benson, Alexander Dowd, Gideon Wheeler, the lieutenants being John H. Ford, Henry Keerl, S. W. Griffin, B. F. Thomas, Patrick Mclsaacs, William D. Templin, R. I. Shannon, Alonzo Converse, John F. Wright, Ezekiel Kilgore, Charles A. Bannon, James H. Hall, Ambrose Booth, James Lynn, George Child, Vincent Tomlinsoii. CHAPTER XXXVII. THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. SAMUEL A. RICE THE ORGANIZATION OF HIS REGIMENT RENDEZVOUS AT OSKA- LOOSA DEPARTURE FOR THE FRONT PROVOST GUARD AT ST. LOUIS PROCEED TO COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY-TO HELENA, ARKANSAS GO WITH THE EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT PEMBERTON RETREAT THE BATTLE OF HELENA TAKE PART IN THE LITTLE ROCK CAMPAIGN THE SOUTHWESTERN EXPEDITION- PRAIRIE D ANNE THE RACE FOR CAMDEN RETREAT BATTLE OF JENKINS FERRY DEATH OF GENERAL RICE REGIMENT AT LITTLE ROCK MARCH TO VAN BUREN AND RETURN CAMPAIGN OF MOBILE MUSTERED OUT. SAMUEL ALLEN RICE, the original colonel of the Thirty-third Iowa [nfantry, and the first general officer from the State who lost his life in the service, owed his first commission in the army to a defeat in the political arena. Had he been successful in the convention of his party which nomi nated a candidate for Congress in 1862, he would have remained in civil life. He had been for many years an active politician, favorably known in the magnificent central counties of the State. In 1856, he was the successful candidate for State s Attorney. In canvassing for that office he became well known to a great majority of the people. He was reflected in 1858. He filled the office with acknowledged ability. There was no man in the State, certainly not one no older than he, who had a more solid basis of popularity. He was specially liked by the people of Mahaska county in which he lived, and of the counties surrounding. Public confidence in him enabled him to recruit a regiment among his own neighbors and friends, so to say, in a very short time, though the general enthusiasm at the time exist ing was, of course, a valuable auxiliary. To his regiment his own "Proud Mahaska" furnished four companies, Keokuk on the east three, and Marion on the west the same number. The companies were all filled up and organized about the 20th of August, 1862, within ten days, that is, of the date of Colonel Rice s commission as commanding officer of the regiment. The rendezvous of the command was at Oskaloosa, the encampment be ing on the County Fair Grounds, and called Camp Tuttle in honor of the 613 614 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. gallant colonel of the Second Infantry, whose command had fought so no bly at Fort Donelson in the early part of the year, giving to him and the State universal praise. Here the companies all rendezvoused during the early part of September, each building for itself rude but not uncomforta ble barracks. On the 1st of October, it being one of those balmy days of Indian summer, more beautiful in Iowa, it seems to me, than they can be elsewhere on the wide earth, the companies were drawn up in line and solemly sworn into the service of the United States. The regiment num bered nine hundred and eighty men in the aggregate. Cyrus H. Mackay was lieutenant-colonel, Hiram D. Gibson, major. On the regimental staff were Arad Parks, surgeon, with John Y. Hopkins and William M. Scott, assistants; F. F. Burlock, adjutant; H. B. Myers, quartermaster; Rev. Robert A. McAyeal, chaplain. John F. Lacey, afterwards captain and assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Major-General F. Steele, was the first sergeant-major of the regiment. 1 The command left the rendezvous on the morning of November 20th, and on that day marched to Eddyville, there taking cars for Keokuk. Here it went aboard a steamer without delay, and reached St. Louis on the 22d. Part of the regiment was assigned to provost guard duty by General Curtis, who passed a high compliment upon the appearance of the command, and part to the guarding of prisons. At St. Louis, there were occasional drills and parades, but guard-mounting was usually the most important cere mony. The men were very quiet and orderly, and were especially praised by the citizens on that account. At midnight of December 21st, command was passed through the regiment to get ready to move, and early on the following morning it was on board a transport steaming down the Mississippi for Columbus, Kentucky. It reached that place on the morning of the 24th, piled overcoats and knapsacks, marched out to the bottom below town, rapidly formed in line of battle, remained in line, expecting attack, till the middle of the afternoon, then worked hard throwing up breastworks till far into the night, when, without shelter, the men tumbled down to sleep in the mud and rain. They remained in the trenches all day Christmas, still expecting attack, and continued in the same shelterless line for two or three days afterwards, when they procured tents. On New Year s day, 1863, the regiment moved by rail to Union City, Tennessee, to assist in repelling a threatened attack on that place. Considerable alarm existed here, and the iThe line officers were: Captains Cyrus B. Boydston, John P. Yerger, Andrew I. Comstock, John Lofland, John P. Walker, M. W. Forrest, L. W. Whipple, John Dillon, Paris T. Totten, Thorn ton Mclntosh. First Lieutenants Samuel S. Pierce, Joseph Bhawhan, Robert F. Burden, D. M. Gunn, Cheney Prouty, Anderson Davis, George R. Ledyard, Joseph L. Smith, John Henderson, George Gilchrist. Second Lieutenants E. K. Woodruff, William S. Parmley, Cyrus II. Talbott, Jeesup Riley, Theodore L. Seevers, Lycurgus McCoy, John C. Klyn, William H. Gore, John Richard, John M. Baugh. THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 615 troops were formed into line, but there was no attack. There was but one casualty happened during the expedition. A soldier of Company B acci dentally shot off a finger, and Dr. Scott amputated with a chisel and stick of wood. On the 3d, the regiment returned to Columbus. On the morning of the 8th, it started on a steamer for Helena, Arkansas, and reached that place on the 13th. A regular camp was pitched about one half mile south of the town. The regiment remained at this miserable locality for about a month of most miserable weather. On the 9th of Feb ruary, it proceeded, along with other troops, to the Yazoo Pass, and during two weeks in which it rained almost without cessation, assisted in clearing that devious and narrow channel of obstructions preparatory for the expe dition which soon afterwards made the Pass historical. On the 23d, the troops returned to Helena, and on the next day joined the main expedition, which moved down the Pass, and as far as Fort Pemberton, but which, failing to reduce that work, retraced its way again to Helena. The second camp of the Thirty-third near Helena was pitched on a hill side about half a mile northwest of the town, on April 9th. By this time, on account of exposure at Columbus, and the privations of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, the strength of the regiment had become considerably reduced. Several of the original line officers had resigned on account of sickness, and their places were filled by others. During the Pass Expedition the regiment was in the brigade of General Fisk. It continued under his command after reaching Helena till the llth of June, when Colonel Bice assumed command of the brigade, and never afterwards returned to his original command. Lieutenant-Colonel Mackay usually commanded the regiment from this time forth, and afterwards re ceived the appointment of colonel. The regiment was almost daily drilled while in camp at Helena. On the 1st of May a small body of rebel cavalry made a dash upon the lines, and the Thirty-third was sent out to cut them off. It marched about ten miles, but returned to camp the next day with out having seen any rebels. A few days after this, Colonel Bice, in com mand of his own regiment, the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin, a detachment of the Third Iowa Cavalry and the Third Iowa Battery, marched toward Cot ton Plant, Arkansas, and having destroyed a large quantity of corn returned in about a week. On the 18th, the regiment took part in its first brigade drill, and from this time till the battle of Helena, it was all the while occu pied with drilling, fatigue, and picket duties, except that, after about the middle of June, till the attack upon the post was actually made on the 4th of July, it was frequently marched to the front and formed into line to repel fancied attacks which were at this period as frequent as they had been the winter before at Columbus, Kentucky. 616 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. THE BATTLE OF HELENA. The constant alarm at Helena, however, was not unreasonable, and it re sulted in great good in the strictest watchfulness, and in the improvement of the defences of the post, so that a small body of troops by gallant fight ing were able to repel the assaults of an army five times as large as their own. The rebel Lieutenant-General Holmes, usually as unready, and always as fond of a good meal as Athelstane of Coningsburg, roused himself on this occasion from his customary indolence, and, declaring that he would take his Fourth-of-July dinner in Helena, made his dispositions for attack both with energy and skill. Under Holmes were Price, Marmaduke, Parsons, Shelby, and other noted general officers of the Confederacy, with forces numbering between fifteen and twenty thousand. The town of Helena is situated on flat ground, but to the westward, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, and running parallel to the river, is a rough ridge of hills, broken into several distinct heights by intervening ravines, which open toward the town. A little farther west there is a similar range of hills, higher than the first. Fort Curtis, a fortification of considerable strength, and mounting many heavy guns, commanded all approaches to the town by troops debouching from the ravines. This work, however, was commanded by the ridges beyond. Along this line were four batteries of light artillery, each planted on a commanding elevation, from which the guns could sweep in all directions, and connected by rifle-pits for infantry. The batteries were called A, B, C, D, A being on the right and D on the left of the line. The low ground on both flanks of this line of fortifications was protected by rifle and cavalry pits, and batteries of ten- pounder Parrotts, and six and twelve-pounder brass pieces. The principal roads leading to Helena had been obstructed by fallen timber. The effective force of the garrison was three thousand and eight hundred men. The gun-boat Tyler, always in fortunate position, now in the channel of the Mississippi in front of Helena, rendered most valuable assistance during the entire engagement, but not enough to justify the dispatch of the Gascon Porter, a hundred miles away from the enemy, that it had " saved the day." Reveille aroused the garrison at two o clock on the morning of the 4th. The troops were in the positions assigned them before four o clock. At this hour, our pickets were driven in, almost at the same moment, in front of our left, centre, and right, and it was not long till the action became general. Artillery opened upon both flanks of our army as early as half- past four, and both wings were soon spiritedly engaged. The design of the enemy, however, soon developed itself in determined attacks upon THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 617 Batteries C and D against which their troops were thrown in heavy masses, with the evident purpose of breaking through our centre and then falling upon both wings in reverse, or rolling them up toward the flanks in confu sion and defeat. Whilst, therefore, the fighting at all parts of the line was severe, it was most severe and bloody on our centre and left centre. Holmes himself directed the attack upon Battery D, whilst Price directed that upon C. A regiment advanced in four ranks upon D, but was quickly hurled back by the fire from both that battery and C. They were reenforced, and again moved to the attack, but were soon checked, and sought shelter in the ravines and fallen timber. At this time a dense mist enveloped hills and batteries, and hostilities here ceased for nearly an hour. When the fog was dispelled, the force in front of Battery D seemed to have been weakened, but between the position of that force and Battery C the bayonets of three distinct regiments moving on the latter work glistened in the sun, as the troops moved across the low ridges. As they approached the work, they came up neither in line nor column, but in dense mass, and were thus fired into by artillery and musketry, doing fearful execution. But their progress was not even checked. They came on, shouting like demons, and captured the battery, but not until one of the guns was spiked, and the primers all carried away, so that the pieces were useless to their captors. The artillerymen and infantry supports fell back in the direction of Fort Curtis, in some confusion, but rallied at the foot of the hill and henceforth acted as sharp-shooters to protect the gunners of the principal work. Against this, the enemy, flushed with success and confident of a speedy general victory, now directed the assault. As they had done against the captured battery, so now against the fort, the troops moved in swarms, yelling as they came. Five twenty-four-pounder siege guns and one thirty- two-pounder columbiad swept the hill up which they must advance, from base to crest. The guns of Batteries A, B, and D commanded the approach. The broadside guns of the Tyler sent their shells to the spot with wonderful accuracy. The irregular front of the advancing masses was fairly smashed to pieces. The vast mob for it may well be called such was struck with horror, turned round as by a common impulse, and retreated through a sickening sight of the heads, limbs, and mangled bodies of many comrades torn off and literally lifted into the air by the terrific storm of iron. This cannonading was heard beyond Little Rock. Meantime, all had been going well on the extremes of the line. In front of Fort Curtis the rebels attempted to form again, but annoyed by the bullets of our sharp-shooters and confused by the fire of our guns, they were compelled to acknowledge themselves defeated. Our infantry and dismounted cavalry crept over the steep hills, pressing back the enemy at every point, and capturing many prisoners. They would have driven them farther but for the shells from 78 618 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. the Tyler, which now fell among our own troops. At eleven o clock the battle was gained, and the rehel army in disordered retreat upon Little Rock. The Union loss in killed, wounded, and missing, was less than two hundred and fifty. The rebel loss was certainly more than two thousand. They lost in prisoners nearly twelve hundred, whilst we buried two hundred and seventy-five of their dead, and saw the graves of more than an hundred, buried by their own parties. This stout defence of Helena, which was a victory so important that it would have fairly received thb admiration of the country, but for the more grand achievements of our arms at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, was made by Brigadier-General Salomon, of Wisconsin. Under him, Colonel Rice, commanding a brigade, performed the most valuable services, and earned promotion which was bestowed with unusual promptness. The Iowa troops which fought here were the Third Battery, Twenty-ninth, Thirty- third, and Thirty-sixth Regiments of Infantry. Colonel Rice s Brigade consisted of these infantry regiments and the Thirty-third Missouri Infantry. The losses of his command embraced more than two-thirds of the entire casual ties of the day. The Twenty-ninth, Colonel Benton, took position on the bluffs in front of Battery A, and steadily drove back the enemy from early in the morning till about ten o clock. It was supported by the Thirty-sixth, Colonel Kittredge, and at this time relieved by that regiment, which con tinued the advance till a halt was ordered. The Thirty-third Missouri, Lieutenant-Colonel Heath, manned the guns of Fort Curtis, and of the four batteries. The Thirty-third Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel Mackay, supported both Batteries C and D, and was in the thickest of the fight from the com mencement to the close. It captured two stands of colors and as many prisoners as it had men in action. The Iowa Battery did good service on the extreme right. All the troops in this engagement behaved most handsomely. Colonel Rice in his official report of the battle, specially refers to Colonels Benton and Kittredge, Lieutenant-Colonels Mackay, Patterson, and Heath, Majors Gibson, Van Beck and Shoemaker, and Lieutenant Lacey, his Adjutant- General. Lieutenant-Colonel Mackay in his account of the operations of the Thirty-third, says the officers and men behaved splendidly without exception, and he particularly mentions Major Gibson, Captains Yerger, Lofland, and Whipple, and Lieutenants Prouty and Sharman. Colonel Benton, in a clear narrative of the battle, with special mention of the doings and losses of his own command, published in the Council Bluffs Nonpareil, names every officer of the regiment, awarding high praise to Lieutenant- Colonel Patterson and to Adjutant Lyman. Colonel Kittredge congratu lated his command, by a general order, for their gallant conduct in the engagement. Certain it is the thirty-eight hundred troops who whipped THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 619 the large army under Holmes, quitted themselves like men. As for the Thirty-third Iowa, it held position where it was more exposed than any other regiment, suffered more loss, and, perhaps, accomplished more toward achieving the victory. Ever afterwards things went better with the com mand. There was more harmony among the officers, and more kindness for each other among the men a fine esprit-de- corps which nothing but a severe battle could have given. Unless we except the celebration on the 8th, arranged by General Pren- tiss, in honor of the 4th and the victory, nothing occurred to tempt the regiment from its dull routine of garrison duties, till the departure of the column to operate against Little Rock. In this thirsty campaign Colonel Rice commanded a division, but he received his commission as Brigadier- General at Clarendon. After the capture of the place, on September 10th, the regiment remained at Little Rock, in rude barracks built of logs by the men themselves, until the southwestern expedition started in the latter part of March, 1864, except that it marched to Benton and back, being gone the last week of October. On the march to Camden, Major Gibson commanded the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mackay being left sick at Little Rock. Of the labor, exposure, hunger and fighting of this expedition the Thirty-third had its share. The regiment with the Twenty-ninth Iowa and Twenty-eighth Wis consin, composed General Rice s Brigade, numbering, when it left Little Rock, twenty-one hundred men, well drilled and disciplined, and distin guished in the corps for their soldierly appearance and conduct. The organization was called "Rice s Brigade" by the whole army, and during this campaign became well known and feared by the enemy. " You-uns," said a gaunt Arkansas captive to one of the men of the Thirty-third, "are the fellows who fought we-uns so like hell at Helena. The troops, espe cially the Twenty-ninth, were severely engaged throughout nearly the whole day of April 2d, and were under fire at the battle of Elkin s Ferry, where General Rice was slightly wounded. The column, still proceeding in a southwesterly course, with the apparent intention of striking the Red River at Fulton, with the town of Washing ton on the direct line, approached Prairie D Anne on the morning of the 10th of April. This prairie is an undulating field, fourteen miles long and eight miles wide, in the county of Hempstead. The position of our army at this time was equidistant from Fulton on the southwest and Camden on the southeast. Here General Steele received intelligence of the defeat of General Banks at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, and determined to change his course towards Camden. He manoeuvred on this prairie dur ing the 10th, llth, and 12th. General Price posted his army behind con siderable works of earth and logs, in the edge of the timber. During these ()20 IOWA AND THE EEBELLIOX. three days there was much skirmishing and artillery dueling on the prairie, which was dotted with groves of stunted undergrowth hazel and thorn bushes. Towards sundown on the evening of the 10th, the skirmishing had become quite heavy. The Thirty-third and the other regiments of Rice s Brigade were in line in the woods near the northern edge of the prairie. An aid from Colonel Engelmann, commanding a brigade, came up to General Rice with a message that the enemy was advancing in force. "Tell Colonel Engelmann," said Rice, "that I am advancing on the enemy." Cheered by the prospect of speedy aid, Colonel Engelmann s gal lant troops soon repulsed the rebels, who fell behind the cover of their works. The artillery duel during the early hours of the night was a sublime spectacle. The torches of the gunners, the flashes of the guns, the spark ling shells coursing through the air, could be plainly seen from all parts of the field. But the grandest spectacle was witnessed the next day, when the whole army deployed into the prairie and marched forward for miles in battle array skirmishers in front, batteries in position, cavalry covering the flanks, the infantry moving by battalion in double column, closed in mass flags waving, bands playing along the whole line. Night closed in upon this gorgeous scene without a battle, and the troops countermarched to their former position. The next morning General Steele flanked the rebel works, and found them entirely evacuated. His manoeuvres had convinced the enemy that he purposed moving toward the Red River, and he followed the rebels for some distance in that direction, skirmishing with their rear guard. His real intention was to march rapidly upon Camden and occupy that strongly fortified place before the enemy could regain possession of it. This object being soon discovered by the rebels, there was an animated race for the coveted place by the two armies. On the 14th Rice s Brigade, in light fighting order, marched in advance of the main column, and con tinued rapidly advancing till nine o clock at night. During the entire march from Prairie D Anne to within a few miles of Camden, there was less or more skirmishing. On the morning of the 15th, there was consider able resistance. About nine o clock the Thirty- third, holding the van, came directly under range of a masked battery which suddenly opened upon the column. The artillery being just at the time moving up, there was some little confusion in the regiment as it filed out of the road into the woods on the left. Order was soon restored, and it marched to a slight elevation on the right of the road, and there, under fire of artillery, sup ported a battery during the engagement. After an artillery duel of about an hour, General Rice asked permission to charge, but he had hardly com menced the movement, when the rebels withdrew. For the rest of the day, there was constant skirmishing on the picket lines. Near evening the enemy took a by-road to the west, and disputed our advance no further. THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 621 Our column entered Camden about sundown and took quiet possession of the strong works which had been constructed by the rebels. There was but one casualty in the Thirty-third this day Marion Woods of Company G had his leg broken by a shell. I believe it was on this day, too, that mis fortune came near the major commanding. As he was marching through a deep swamp on his gray scarecrow, the animal stumbled and gave the major, of Falstaffian proportions, an unceremonious baptism of mud. Until the arrival of the supply train under Lieutenant-Colonel Mackay, on the 20th, the army was entirely without regular rations. The destroying mania had seized the rebels, who for several days previous to our occupation of the town had been burning cotton and grain. Our troops, during the whole march from Prairie D Anne saw in all directions the clouds of smoke from these fires, whilst by night the whole heavens were illuminated by reflec tions of the devouring flames. There was little left to forage. Besides, a heavy forage train was captured on the 18th. The troops lived on four ears of corn apiece per day, which they ground in hand mills, and made into cakes. Here General Steele remained, and by a series of misfortunes, supplied the rebels with trains nearly as generously as General Banks ever did Stonewall Jackson, till the night of April 27th. Then he commenced his retreat. On the morning of the 26th, the men of the Thirty- third, by a common impulse which moved the whole army, rose with the sun, quietly folded their blankets, and made other preparations for a march. Knowledge of retreat seemed to be borne on the air. No man spoke of it ; all knew of it. During the day, subsistence was delivered to the troops. Each man had two crackers, a pint of meal, a small piece of meat, and some coffee. The troops remained quiet all day, lounging on the ground simply waiting for night to come. At sundown tattoo was beat as usual. Command was passed around that at the " taps" of the bass drum, the regiment should silently fall in ranks and move off. So after tattoo the men all sat together, talking only in whispers, for an hour which seemed like an age. At last the taps of the drum, sounding in the deep stillness of the night to the anxious troops, like the booming of cannon, announced the retreat, and the column moved through town, across the pontoon on the Washita, and several miles on the road to Princeton before stopping to rest. At the simple command "Halt!" the men fell upon the ground and went to sleep. The rebels came up with our rear guard at noon of the 29th, and there was skirmishing till dark, and on the following day the battle of Jenkins Ferry was fought on the muddy banks of the Saline River. It was during this engagement, principally directed on the Union side by him, that Gene ral Rice received a wound in his foot, from the effects of which, after se- 622 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. vere but patient suffering, he died on the 6th day of July. His loss was most sincerely lamented by the army, and especially by his old regiment. It was his command which suffered most at this battle, the loss of the Thirty-third regiment in killed, wounded, and missing being one hundred and twenty-nine. Colonel Mackay was here severely wounded, and the command of the regiment devolved upon Captain Boydston. Major Gib son had resigned at Camden, and returning with the command which was defeated at Mark s Mills, was there captured by the enemy. In their hands he suffered incredible hardships, but was released in a few months, afterwards returned to his home in Marion county, and was appointed by the President, Commissary of Subsistence. 2 The Thirty-third participated, of course, in the privations and hardships of the retreat to Little Rock. It remained there during the summer on garrison duty, but all the time daily drilling, under command of Lieuten- 2 In the campaign of Arkansas, the Thirty-third regiment lost more than an hundred and thirty officers and men. They are thus officially stated : March 23d to April 26th Killed, William P. Funk. Wounded, Enos M. Woods, William H. Anderson, John Burgess, William H. Withrow. April 26th (when Colonel Mackay assumed command) to May 3d, and mostly at the battle of Jen- kins Ferry commissioned officers wounded Colonel Cyrus H. Mackay ; Captains A. J. Comstock, Paris T. Totten (died of wounds); Lieutenants Thomas R.Connor (mortally), Wilson De Garmo, Oliver I. Kindig. ENLISTED MEN. Killed, Sergeants John N. Ewing, Jasper Skinner; Privates H. Hinkle, G. W. Shanafelt, J. M. Roland, Smith Banta, John M. Henderson, William A. Trowbridge. Wounded, Sergeant Major John R. Crawford. Company A Corporal John S. Johnston ; Privates James T. Duncan, Jonathan S. Tindall, Hiram P. Henry, Alfred Hagar. Company S Dennis Decker, John E. Nichols, Francis M. Wertz. Company C Sergeants Joshua B. Wells, John T. Gaunt ; Corporal Reuben Coomes ; Privates Mor timer Jackson, John Dove, William B. Walker, Owen Bartlett, William Osborn, R. W. B. Curry, Edward Graham. Company D Corporals John W. Jones, Samuel Doughman; Privates Samuel L. Deweese, Riley Mitchell, David Adams, William M. Thorp, Morris A. Quaintance. Company ^-Sergeant John M. Finney; Corporal David G. Wilson; Privates Willis S. Bird, Wil liam J. Bowers, Amos Corns, Wheeler Chadwick, Benjamin Cruzen, Lewis H. Cochran, Adam Eichelbarger, James W. Grover, John B. Harris, Anthony Hawk, Philander M. Miller, John H. Miller, Samuel S. Robertson, Joseph Redpath, Levi Shaw, Daniel Baun. Company J 51 Corporal S. B. Montgomery ; Private W. Gibson. Company G Corporals John K. Fidler, Lucien Reynolds; Privates William 0. Downs, John Henry, John Nurmeyer, Isaac N Ritner, Jacob Taylor, George W. Towne, Thomas D. Wallace, Stephanus Dekock. Company H Sergeants Philip L. Suiter, John Wightman, (mortally); Corporals T. J. Lawler, James Garrett, C. J. Goldthwait, David Hollaway ; Privates Hiner Dorman, John Shoff, William M. Rodman, William T. Disor, James D. Compton, Thomas Lantry, William J. Parke, (mortally), M. A. Peck, A. A. McNeil, William R. Hoyt, 0. P. McNeil. Company /Sergeants Oscar L. Jones, Peter K. Bonebrake; Corporal James W. Strong; Privates Joseph Brobst, Smith Dunlap, John M. McClelland, Eri Goodenough, Enoch Palmer, William G. Reed, John S. Snyder, James I. Welch, John Bruett. Company JL Corporals George B. Stratton, William R. Cowan ; Privates D. T. Evans, E. F. Hen derson, J. C. Roberts, John N. Martin, F. M. Playel, William H. Coulburn, Samuel Smith, Alexander Jones, H. C. Haskell, Ephraim S. Smith. Nathaniel H. Richardson, Company A, David Dunbar, Company E, Daniel A. Wisir, Company G t and Samuel M. Tennis, Company H, were taken prisoners with train near Mark s Mills, April 23d, 1864. THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 323 ant- Colonel Lofland, with the exception of such days, and they were not infrequent, as the command was required to perform fatigue and guard du ties so wholly as to make drill, and even dress parade, impracticable. Here the regiment remained till October 30th, when it marched for Fort Smith, guarding a supply train, and accompanied by a section of the Third Iowa Battery, the whole under the command of Colonel Mackay. The march was on the north side of the Arkansas River. At Lewisburg the command was reenforced by the Second Arkansas Infantry, some two hundred cavalry, and a company or two of colored troops. At Clarksville, it was again reenforced. It arrived at Van Buren, a few miles below Fort Smith, on the 15th of November, and, the Arkansas not being fordable, the train was there unloaded. The regiment started back on the 17th, and reached Little Rock on the 27th, where it remained in quiet during the rest of the year, and until about a month of the next had passed. At the close of 1864, the regiment numbered seven hundred and eighty- eight men. Having been nine hundred and eighty strong when mustered into the service, and having received two hundred and fourteen recruits its losses by sickness, by a few transfers, and by the casualties of battle had been more than four hundred. 3 In February, 1865, the Thirty-third bade good-bye to Arkansas, and moved to the Department of the Grulf to join in its last campaign, that against Mobile. Having taken honorable part in those brilliant operations, it was not many weeks afterwards mustered out of the service. Officers and men returned to Iowa to lay down their arms. They had everywhere well done their duty, and some of the finest achievements of the war must be forgotten before our people can cease to cherish grateful, admiring recol lections of the Thirty-third Iowa Volunteers. 3 The roster of the regiment at this time embraced the following named officers : Colonel, Cyrus II. Mackay ; Lieutenant-Colonel, John Lofland; Major, Cyrus B. Boydston; Surgeon, John Y. Hop kins; Assistant, William M. Scott; Quartermaster, Eugene W. Rice; Chaplain, Reverend Francis M. Slusser; Captains Samuel S. Pierce, William S. Parnilee, Joshua B. Wells, Riley Jessup, Cheny Prouty, John Bell, George R. Ledyard, William H. Gore, Levi Carrothers, William A. Rankin; First Lieutenants James M. Cooper, Joseph J. Harter, Oliver J. Kindig, Henry C. Leighton, T. L. Seevers, Frederick Sancheztereso, Charles H. Sharman, W. De Garno, Oscar L.Jones, James Loughridgo; Second Lieutenants Abijah W. Bishop, Norman B. Hook, Amos Hiatt, Lewis P. Cory, David 0. Holland, only half the companies at this time having second lieutenants. CHAPTEE XXXVIII. THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZED IN THE FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT RENDEZVOUS AT BUR LINGTONSICKNESS IN "CAMP LAUMAN" THE GOOD SAMARITANS OF BUR LINGTONVOYAGE TO HELENA GENERAL SHERMAN S UNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON VICKSBURG BY CHICKASAW BAYOU ARKANSAS POST GUARD OF PRISON ERS TO CHICAGO REST AT ST. LOUIS HAINES BLUFF IN LOUISIANA MOR- GANZA IN TEXAS PROFICIENCY IN DRILL BACK TO LOUISIANA ADMIRAL FARRAGUT CAPTURE OF FORTS GAINJSS AND MORGAN RETURN TO LOUISIANA THE REGIMENT CONSOLIDATED WITH THE THIRTY-EIGHTH GENERAL CANBY S SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN AGAINST MOBILE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE REGIMENT. FOUR counties, namely, Warren, Lucas, Decatur, and Wayne, in the Fifth Congressional District, furnished nearly all the nine hundred and thirty-four men who originally formed the Thirty-fourth regiment. They were recruited in response to the proclamation of the President of the United States, of July 2d, 1862, the companies being all organized, and ready to move to regimental rendezvous during the following month of August. The city of Burlington was designated as the rendezvous, and, though it was known there was no mustering officer of the regular service there to receive them, the companies were all present about the middle of September, where they remained at "Camp Lauman," under command of Colonel George W. Clark, of Warren county. Here the regiment was regularly entered the service of the United States, on the 15th of October. 1 i ROSTER OP FIELD, STAFF, AND LINE OFFICERS: Colonel, George W. Clark; Lieutenant-Colonel, War ren S. Dungan ; Major, R. D. Kellogg ; Adjutant, William M. Bryant ; Quartermaster, John D. Sar- ver; Surgeon, Charles W. Davis; Assistant Surgeons, Henry W. Jay and Victor H.Coffman; Chaplain, Reverend Uri P. Golliday. Company A From Decatur, Captain E. II. Alexander ; Lieutenants Jonathan R. Waters, R. T. Sloan. Company B From Warren, Captain William P. Guthrie; Lieutenants John C. S. Wosson, James A. Dunagan. Company C Warren, Captain D. H. Lyons ; Lieutenants H. C. Henderson, James S. Clark. Company D Warren, Captain James H. Knox ; Lieutenants E. W. Perry, John M. Lee. Company E Lucas, Captain N. B. Gardner; Lieutenants Francis Nolen, Jacob Swank. Company F Wayne, Captain J. N. McClanahan ; Lieutenants John B. Hatton, B. F. Jared. Com pany G mostly from Lucas county, but with some men from Clarke and Marion, Captain Stephen B. Low; Lieutenants William Goltrv. Milo L. Doty. Company .77 Warren, Captain John 624 THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 625 Before this time, however, the measles had broken out in camp, and it continued to keep many of the men unfit for duty during their entire stay at Burlington, and rendered them peculiarly liable to disease afterwards. There were not less than six hundred cases of measles in the regiment during its stay of about two months at Camp Lauman. The silver lining to this threatening cloud was found in the generous kindness with which the citizens of Burlington administered to the wants and alleviated the sufferings of the afflicted, many of the good Samaritans of that city visit ing camp daily, and giving their personal care to the sick. With the con stant attention of these good men and women, and that of the skilful surgeons, most of the patients recovered. As many of the soldiers as were able to endure the exercise, were daily drilled during all this time. Fully provided in all respects for the field, the men mostly recovered or recovering from the measles, they bade farewell to the hospitable city on the 22d of November, and steamed down the Mississippi, bound for Helena, Arkansas. The boat was crowded, and the voyage on that account some what disagreeable, but the command arrived without serious mishap at their place of destination on December 5th, and reported to General Steele, commanding the district. The regiment had been here but a few days, when the small-pox broke out among the men. Nevertheless, it joined the army under General Sherman, which soon afterwards made an attack on Yicksburg by Chickasaw Bayou. In the sufferings and bloody disaster of this seemingly hasty and ill-managed campaign the Thirty-fourth participated from beginning to end, being all the time with Thayer s Bri gade, Steele s Division a command which bore as brave and creditable a part as any other. With the terrible repulse from Chickasaw Bluffs closed the year 1862. What with the effects of this severe campaign and the sickness with which the regiment had been visited, and was at this time suffering, its short period of active service had mournfully thinned its ranks and cast a melancholy shadow over the spirits of all. But the fine success of Major-General McClernand in executing the plan of General Sherman for the reduction of Arkansas Post, which was accom plished early in the year 1863, our regiment bearing a brilliant part in the operations, brought to fresh life the drooping spirits of the men, and again aroused their martial enthusiasm to the highest pitch. After the capture of the post and garrison, Colonel Clark was ordered with his regiment to guard the prisoners to Camp Douglas, near the city of Chicago. The men commenced preparations for the performance of this duty with great alacrity and satisfaction. Their life on a ricketty old transport of late, especially Kern; Lieutenants Ebenezer Herring, Thomas G. Milligan. Company I Decatur, Captain Thomas Ward ; Lieutenants John R. Andrews, William K. Maxwell. Company K Lucas, Captain William Boyle ; Lieutenants John 0. Coles, John Chancy. 79 626 IOWA AXD THE REBELLION. on the horrible Yazoo River, had been enough, of itself, even without other cumulative evils, to have made any body of civilized men rejoice at the prospect of returning to "God s country." But their hopes of better times were doomed to most gloomy disappointment. Colonel Clark, as a guard for the prisoners had his own regiment, and five companies of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois. The prisoners numbered more than five thousand, so that he had under his charge not less than six thousand five hundred souls. For the transportation, in mid winter, the weather being colder than it had ever been known in that climate, of this large number of men, he had three of the poorest steamboats in the fleet. Fuel had to be collected along the river as it could be found. The voyage from Arkansas Post to St. Louis, made under these unfavorable circumstances, occupied two weeks a period every moment of which was miserable beyond expression to every man on the more than crowded boats. As if to bring our devoted command to the very depth of misery, small-pox in its most loathsome form, attacked the prisoners. When the little fleet at last reached St. Louis, the men had suffered all the horrors of the Middle Pas sage. General McClernand, responsible for thus crowding men together worse than a humane man would crowd cattle on a voyage to the shambles, was scarcely less blameworthy than the savages who tortured our prisoners at Andersonville, and had his cruelty been intentional it would have been equally atrocious. Colonel Clark, who had seen the sufferings on many battle-fields, declared that the human suffering during this trip exceeded anything he had ever witnessed. Leaving his sick at St. Louis, Colonel Clark proceeded to Chicago by rail, and having delivered his prisoners to the proper custodians, returned to Benton Barracks with the regiment, reaching there early in the month of February. When the command reached the Barracks, it was totally broken down. The officers and men were nearly all sick. "When we reached there," says the Colonel, " we were the most sickly, depressed, and melan choly set of soldiers I ever saw. During the following month the mortality in the regiment was frightful. " During the stay of the regiment at Ben- ton Barracks that is, from the 5th of February to the 20th of April many were discharged on account of ill health. 2 During this time a detach- 2 Colonel Clark, in speaking to this point, in his account of the regiment furnished to the Adju tant General, says, " at least one half of them were discharged without sufficient cause. I judge from their speedy recovery and healthy condition afterwards." This is unjust as well as illogical. Many a man has died in the army, simply because he was there, and not at home. Where men had such experience as the Thirty-fourth, home-sickness might amount to a positive disease not only, but prove fatal in its consequences. The men had become sick at heart, thoroughly depressed in spirit. Their minds were diseased, so to say, and kept their bodies diseased. Being discharged, their thoughts recurred no more to the horrors of the " River of Death" or of the prison boats. The speedy recovery of physical strength was but the natural result of the recovery of mental elasticity and vigor. THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 627 meni of seventy men, Captain Gardner, assisted by Lieutenants Dilley and Rockwell, escorted several hundred prisoners to City Point, Virginia, per forming the service in about sixteen days, and another detachment went to Memphis, as an escort of certain paymasters. From St. Louis the regiment went by rail to Pilot Knob, then threatened by Marniaduke and his troopers. Colonel Clark was placed in command of the post, and soon afterwards in command of the sub-district, Lieu tenant-Colonel Dungan commanding the regiment. The encampment here was in a pleasant, healthful locality, and the men soon recov ered their natural strength and spirits. Their number increased from three hundred to four hundred, fit for duty. Marmaduke did not come, and on the 3d of June the regiment received orders to march to St. Genevieve, on the Mississippi River, and join the army there under Major- General Herron, which was about to embark for Vicksburg to reenforce General Grant besieging that stronghold. Proceeding thither by steamer, it took position on the extreme left of the line of investment, and there re mained, in the performance of very heavy fatigue and picket duties, until the capitulation. It is well known that the army besieging Vicksburg suf fered great hardships, from onerous labors, crowded encampments, hot weather, bad water, from the combined effects of which resulted a vast amount of sickness. The experience of the Thirty-fourth previously, how ever, had been so much rougher than this, that the men endured it with comparative ease, and without complaint. It was, perhaps, impossible for any body of men to be cheerful under such circumstances, but if there were in all the army besieging Vicksburg a regiment in good spirits, it was the Thirty-Fourth Iowa, The casualties of the regiment during its eighteen days service here were four killed, and six wounded. 3 On the morning of July 10th, Major- General Herron received orders to reenforce General Banks, then, as it was supposed, laying siege to Port Hudson. Accordingly he embarked his division on transports, and was ready to move on the morning of the llth, when intelligence of the uncon ditional surrender of the stronghold was received. Whereupon General Herron s orders were countermanded, and he was ordered to proceed to, and up the Yazoo River. The change of destination made necessary a change of transports, on account of which the movement did not commence till noon of the 12th, when all got under way, convoyed by the iron-clad gun-boat De Kalb, and two other armored vessels. The objective point of the expedition was Yazoo City, about fifty miles from the mouth of the river on a direct line, but twice as far by the course of the stream. About noon of the 13th, General Herron arrived in the vicinity of the city. Dis- * Sergeant Finley, of Company E, " than whom," says Colonel Clark, " I never saw a better soldier," was killed by caup-df-soUd. 628 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. embarking a small body of cavalry on the west, and a considerable number of infantry on the east bank, he moved directly on the city, which had just been evacuated. General Herron himself proceeded up the river on the De Kalb, which, when nearly in front of the city, struck a torpedo, and almost immediately sank in fifteen feet water, but fortunately without loss of life. On the morning of the 16th, General Herron with a part of his command marched across the country in the direction of Canton, cross ing the Big Black River at Moore s Ferry, for the purpose of protecting the flank and rear of General Sherman besieging Jackson. That night, however, Johnston evacuated the place, and Herron returned through the heat and dust to Yazoo City, arriving there on the 19th. He reached Vicksburg again on the evening of the 21st, having during his absence captured three hundred prisoners, six pieces of heavy artillery, and large quantities of public property, including one steamer, nearly one thousand horses and mules, and two thousand bales of cotton. He had also com pelled the rebels to burn five steamers, to prevent their capture. In these important operations, the Thirty-fourth participated throughout, but with out casualties, except that on the rapid march from Yazoo City toward Canton and on the return, there were several cases of sun-stroke. The regiment remained at Vicksburg a few days and then proceeded down the river to Port Hudson, where it halted about three weeks in an unpleasant, unhealthy camp. Thence the command continued its course down the Mississippi to Carrollton, not far distant from New Orleans. Here were encamped the other divisions of the Thirteenth Corps, which the division under Herron now joined. It was a beautiful, healthful place, and the men who had become sick at Port Hudson rapidly recovered. The stay of the regiment was only ten days, however long enough for two reviews of the corps by General Banks and one by General Grant at the expiration of which period, it was again embarked on transports, bound for Morganza, a town on the west bank of the Mississippi, not many miles below the mouth of Red River, and some thirty-five miles above Port Hudson. The regiment disembarked at this insignificant place on the 7th of September, and remained there, without tents or baggage, in all the comforts of bivouac and dirt until the 9th of the following month. On the 29th of September, however, the advance of the Second Division, Thirteenth Corps, posted on the Atchafalaya, was attacked by the rebels, and the Nineteenth Iowa, Twenty-sixth Indiana, and detachments from several other regiments were cut off from the main body and captured. In this disaster, the Thirty-fourth lost Lieutenant Walton, and five men captured, and one mortally wounded. "Just about the time this disaster occurred," remarks Colonel Clark, with the most provoking coolness" " General Herron was relieved by General Dana, and I believe it has never THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 629 been determined who was responsible for the loss of those men. Leaving Morganza, our regiment returned to their fine encampment at Carrollton. On the 18th, Major-General N. J. T. Dana, commanding division, issued a General Order, commencing with the following brilliant prediction : "Sol diers of Pea Ridge, of Prairie Grove, and of Vicksburg ! Your record which is already written is not more glorious than the one you have to make. This was but the eloquent exordium to the announcement of the expedition to Texas, and if the sequel of results made somewhat of a lame and impotent conclusion to a campaign inaugurated with so sublime a manifesto, it was by no means the only occasion during the war wherein the pen was mightier than the sword. Of this expedition, the Thirty- fourth formed a part, and set sail from New Orleans on the afternoon of October 25th. The voyage was unusually long and rough. The debarka tion was made at Brazos Santiago, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, on the 4th of November. 4 * LIEUTENANT T. L. DILLEY, in a letter to Captain Knox, then editing the Indianola (Iowa) Visitor, thus describes the voyage across the gulf: " ON BOARD SHIP, BELVADIEB, ON GULF OF MEXICO, | " October 31*, 1863. J " DEAR CAPTAIN : As the sea is not very rough to-day, I embrace the opportunity to write you another prosy epistle, hoping the same may have a salutary effect upon the good people generally. We set sail from New Orleans on Sunday, 25th inst., at 3 P. M. A large concourse of citizens assembled upon the wharf to witness our departure; and as the vessel pushed off and headed down stream, a farewell salute was fired which made the welkin ring with everything but melody. After passing the city the first object which engaged our attention, was the battle ground upon which General Jackson defeated the British forces under command of Packingham. We saw the monu ment erected upon the battle-field, in honor of that patriot and hero, General Jackson ; we saw the house which Packingham used as his head-quarters ; we saw the green trees which now shade the grave of that ambitious general, and yet we experienced no unusual emotions ; we regarded them as things, events and facts which make and mark the advance and history of a great nation, and not as things of emotion or excitement. On Sunday night, we anchored at the head of the Balize, where we remained until Tuesday morning. At nine A. M., Tuesday, we passed over the bar and anchored near the delta of the southwest pass of the Mississippi River. After arranging the pre liminaries of the voyage and firing thirteen guns in honor of General Banks, we raised anchor and eet sail in a southwesterly direction. We soon found ourselves sailing on the bosom of the great briny substance, far from home, land, and everything pleasant or desirable. Nothing occurred to mar our joy, until after several hours sailing, when suddenly a score or more of men and officers, were seized with a violent upheaving of the great alimentary depository, which resulted in the summary ejection of all that had been deposited during the day. As we felt no disposition to up heave, we, of course, laughed at those who did, which, to them, was indeed, cold comfort. " On Wednesday morning we had but few upon board who were not prostrated by sea-sickness. Lieutenant Martin, Swank and myself, were, in fact, the only lieutenants who were able for duty. The sea during Wednesday and part of Thursday was rather rough, but not enough so to terrify the timid or unsophisticated. The barometer on Tuesday evening indicated that a change was going on in the elements above, and that a storm would probably overtake us ere we entered port of des tination. This proved to be no mistake ; for at five o clock on Friday morning, there was a sudden and heavy gale from the north, accompanied with rain. The sea began to move with great vio lence, the ship rolled to and fro as if in great agony, the inmates were awakened from their slum bers and arose from their beds, only to be dashed from one side of the ship to the other, or to wit ness the increased fury of an angry ocean. The waves loomed like mountains ; and as they lashed against the ship and swept over fore-castle, she trembled as if shaken by an earthquake. The heavens grew more dark, the wind raged with greater fury, the ocean groaned with greater anger, 630 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The regiment remained on the island of Brazos Santiago two days, then proceeded to the mainland by Boca Chica Bayou, and taking the general direction of the river, marched to Brownsville, opposite the city of Meta- moras, in Mexico. Having here, so near the extreme southwestern border and the waves lashed with greater violence; and as the deep, solemn roar of the sea greeted our ears, and the waves rolled on in whitened madness, as the ship quivered, rolled and plunged like a mountain in labor, as she rode on the top of a towering wave and then with quickened speed descended into the opening chasms below, we thought all would be lost that the next moment or the next wave might carry us down to a watery grave. Thoughts of the future, of home, of friends, of a watery grave far out at sea, rushed across our minds like an electric flash, and can you, dear Captain, imagine our feelings at that moment? Nay; they are beyond the description of an angel, and can only be comprehended by those who have witnessed a storm at sea. The storm continued unabated until in the afternoon, when the clouds became broken, the winds hushed and the sea calmed. As our terror and fright in the storm was great, so was our joy when the storm ceased and the sea resumed its former calmness. We have often heard and talked of a calm cerulean sea, a life on the ocean wave, a home on the roaring deep, but such poetic phrases are, with us, played out, and the sea has no charms for us except that of grandeur. We often thought, when we were young and had matrimony in our head, that when we became so fortunate as to get a wife, we would indulge in a wedding tour, across the ocean, but alas! for such boyish thoughts, they are gone ; gone to the moles and bats. With the light of age, wisdom and experience, we are prepared to say that when we marry, yes marry, we would prefer spending a fortnight, or even a month, in a lonely and deserted cabin in a western prairie, rather than cross the ocean with all the pomp and paraphernalia of an Emperor. We are heartily tired of that thing called a gulf, sea, or ocean, and long to plant our feet upon old mother earth. "The ships, being eighteen or twenty, kept together until separated by the storm, and up to this time, they have not all been gathered together; probably some have perished. We expect to land to-morrow at some point not far from the mouth of the Rio Grande River. " November 1st. The ships, during last night, wandered about as if lost, and of course, made but little head-way. We have been out at sea five days, and have not even seen land in the dim dis tance. How long we are to remain out of sight of land and rebels, Deity only knows. From the Delta of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Rio Grande, is a distance of five hundred miles, which ought to be sailed in forty-eight hours, but we are occupying three times as many hours. There is a strong gale blowing from the south to-day, which will keep us from landing, as we cannot ven ture in shallow water while the wind blows to the land. Before embarking upon this expedition, our Division was augmented by the addition of two Maine, one New York, and two Corps d Afrique (negro) regiments, and one Battalion of Texas Cavalry, which, no doubt, will add much to our effi ciency. The East, the West, and the Ethiopians are now united and fighting in one common cause. We do not feel, by this association, that we have made the negro our compeer, but only that we have availed ourselves of his services to accomplish certain ends, viz : the subjugation of their rebellious masters. " Six O CLOCK, P. M. At two and a-half P. M., the fleet came in sight of land, and if you possess a comprehensive imagination, and a vivid conception, you can, perhaps, realize to some extent, at least, the joy which filled our hearts and ravished our souls. Columbus, and his mutinous crew, could not, when he first discovered land on the Western Continent, have felt more joyous than we, when the sandy coast of Texas peered above the dashing waves. The ships are now at anchor near the west end of the Island of Patre. We will land, perhaps, on the Island of Brazos Santiago, being the Island on which General Taylor landed most of his forces during the Mexican War. " November Zd. We are still at anchor, but are preparing to disembark to-day. Four ships, viz: Pocahontas, Zephyr, Union, and Bagley, have not made their appearance. The Zephyr and Union are said to be lost, and others supposed to have suffered the same fate. How unfortunate 1 How dreadful 1 Those brave soldiers, who were upon the vessels, had often braved the cannon s mouth, had passed through the trying ordeal of heated battle, had confronted the enemy in the hour of peril with the sabre and bayonet; but alas! unfortunate souls! The enemy which rides the seas and rules in the heavens proved their deadliest foe, and with one mighty surge, he swept them down to the ocean s bed, never to rise to light and life. THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 631 of the Republic, taken a few days rest, our regiment was ordered to return to the gulf. In obedience to which it marched on Point Isabel. On the night of November 14th, it encamped on the battle-field of Resaca de la Palma, and on the next day marched over that of Palo Alto. Taking ship at Point Isabel the command made a coastwise voyage to Aranzas Pass, a narrow inlet between the islands of Mustang and St. Joseph, and more than an hundred miles distant from Point Isabel. A landing was made on St. Joseph Island, where Major-General Washburne soon arrived with a brigade of troops, when the whole marched in a northeasterly direction to the head of the island, and thence crossed Cedar Bayou to Metagorda Island, being the fourth of a series of long, low, sandy islands which stretch along the coast of Texas from its extreme southern point for a distance of nearly two hundred miles. At the head of Metagorda Island the rebels had a strong work, called Fort Esperanza, defended by about eight hundred men and ten heavy guns. General Washburne marched against this work, and at tacked it on the last day of November. Our regiment, in the advance, drove in the enemy s pickets, and the fort was soon afterwards warmly at tacked by our infantry in hastily made rifle-pits and by artillery. The attack was energetically continued through the remainder of the day, but the rebels spiked their guns, blew up the magazine, and evacuated the work on the approach of night. The garrison escaped, only because a gale prevented the gun-boats from cutting off their retreat. The regiment encamped near Fort Esperanza, at times on the Island, and at others on the peninsula of Metagorda nearly five months. The duties of the men during this long period of military quiet were light and pleasant. They had nothing to do, during most of it, but drill and catch oysters. For about a month after the middle of February they were at work building a line of heavy fortifications from one side of the island to the other, but as the right wing of the regiment worked six hours in the morning and the left the same time in the afternoon, the labor was easy and pleasant. Nothing occurred, during the whole period, to seriously in- " We sadly mourn, yea, sadly weep, That hearts so free, so true and brave, Should fall so soon, in death to sleep, And sink beneath the ocean wave. " We hope the lost may yet be found. There is now a French fleet of twenty-five or thirty vessels in sight, and lying near the mouth of the Rio Grande. They are there, we suppose, to protect the Mexicans, or to enforce obedience to French rule. Their force must be several thousand strong; but, of course, we will have nothing to do with them, except as friends. As we are now about to disembark, we must conclude for the present. "T. L. BILLET. " P. S. Navembrr 3d. The vessels supposed to have been lost, have just arrived all safe. Wo are now disembarkirg; have been on board since the 23d of October. T. L. D." 632 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. terfere with the men in the performance of a duty in which they all took a lively interest the drill. Whilst here, Company C competed in a prize drill, with five of the best companies in the division. The spectacle was witnessed by Generals McClernand, Warren, and Lawler, and a large crowd of troops. The company of the Thirty-fourth, Captain J. S. Clark, re ceived the second prize, a company of the Sixty-ninth Indiana carrying off the first honors. In many respects, the Iowa company was superior to that of Indiana, but the latter had the advantage of being dressed in uniform coats, the former wearing blouses the best their wardrobes just at that time afforded. The Indiana company stood number thirty five in grade, the Iowa number thirty-four. One of the competing companies was as low as seven, but they all did much better than is usual on regular drill, and the display elicited great praise from all the spectators. There were some particulars in which the Thirty-fourth Iowa was not surpassed by any regi ment ever organized, and its attainments in drill amounted almost to abso lute perfection. On the 20th of April, 1864, our regiment, with the other "soldiers of Pea Ridge, of Prairie Grove, and of Yicksburg," embarked for New Orleans, and reaching there by due course, at once reembarked on river steamers and moved to the reenforcement of General Banks, whose Red River expedition had just failed miserably. The reenforcing army reached Alexandria on the 27th, and there met the forces under Banks. It parti cipated in the skirmishing, and witnessed the panics, without being abso lutely unsympathetic spectators either, of the next three weeks, and then joined in the retreat which followed. The retreat at last came to an end, and the division to which our regi ment belonged proceeded to Baton Rouge, and there remained in great ease and comfort, for about six weeks. In July, Colonel Clarke received notice that his regiment would be among those which were to go to Vir ginia. The regiment accordingly went to Algiers, opposite New Orleans, to embark there on ocean steamer for Fortress Monroe. Whilst there, awaiting transportation, the expedition under General Gordon Granger, against the forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay was organized, and the Thirty-fourth made a part thereof, whereby it happened the regiment never made the voyage to Virginia. The forces under General Granger landed on the western end of Dauphin Island, on the evening of August 2d, and, marching to within two miles of Fort Gaines, bivouacked for the night on the sand, having first thrown up rude intrenchments, of more real than seeming efficacy against attack. In the operations which immediately followed, and which resulted in such valuable and glorious triumph to the Union powers, the navy bore the most important part. And this, not only because the scene of the conflict was THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 633 one where a naval force could operate with great power, but because Admi ral Farragut, in command of the fleet, had quite enough genius for warfare to prevent him, without thinking about it himself or any one else thinking about it, from performing any but a principal part. The object of the movement was to attack and capture the forts which commanded the entrance to Mobile Bay. This bay is about thirty miles long by an average width of twelve miles. The city of Mobile, near the head of the bay, was the principal metropolis of the South, after New Orleans came into our possession, and its blockade runners were of great service to the rebels. The forts on Dauphin Island and Mobile Point were of incalculable service to the blockade runners. Dauphin Island is situated at the mouth of the bay, extending westward, in little more than a strip of barren sand, several miles, but being wider at the eastern extre mity, where Fort Gaines is situated. Fort Morgan is about three miles east of Gaines, on the western extremity of Mobile Point, a peninsula stretching out into the gulf from the main land of Alabama. The two forts completely command the channel through which ships must pass on enter ing the bay. There is a channel for light draft vessels west of Dauphin Island, and this was commanded by Fort Powell, on the northwest point of Little Dauphin Island. There was a rebel fleet within the bay, under Admiral Buchanan, consisting of the famous iron-clad ram Tennessee, and the gun-boats Gaines, Morgan, and Selma. There was enough here, it will be seen, to require a considerable force, both naval and military, to defeat. Rear Admiral DAVID G. FARRAGUT, at this time commanding the "West Gulf .Squadron, cooperated most earnestly with Generals Canby and Gran ger. He was exceedingly popular with all the troops in the southwest, especially with those who had been with Admiral Porter. "Farragut," said the army, making a distinction with a marked difference, " is an iron man, and is satisfied with wooden ships, but Porter is a wooden man who can do nothing without iron-clads. Many more refined and studied con trasts have been drawn, but few in the main more just or philosophical. The most of the troops under General Granger had served in connexion with Porter. They had not served with Farragut, but they knew him by heart as well as they knew George Washington, and respected him as much as they revered the memory of the Father of his country. It was to them all a positive happiness to serve in an enterprise which should be made im mortal by his genius and his achievements, and there was, perhaps, not a man in the army who did not have unmixed pleasure in the thought that the navy, under Farragut, here won honors which eclipsed the renown of all former victories by ships. On the morning of the 5th of August, the Admiral, with a fleet of four teen wooden vessels and four iron-clad, ran by the forts and into Mobile 80 634 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Bay proper, where lie soon vanquished, in the most remarkable naval com bat of history, the ram Tennessee, captured the gun-boat Sclma, drove the Gaines ashore, where she was soon destroyed, and compelled the Morgan to show her heels in speedy and ignominious flight into waters where our vessels could not pursue her. The Admiral directed this splendid fight, lashed to the top-mast of his flag-ship. The army, meanwhile, investing Fort Gaines, took so deep an interest in the naval fight that the troops scarcely thought of their own labors, though they pursued them mechani cally, and with a vigor which afterwards seemed wonderful, forming a com plete line of breastworks across the island in rear of the fort and within short range of its guns. The siege was most handsomely conducted, but with scarcely any loss to the army. The Thirty-fourth lost but one man Corporal Gra} r , of Company H, shot through the head with a minie ball. The garrison surrendered on the morning of the 8th, and Fort Powell having been abandoned, all that was left to the army and navy to make a complete success of the expedition was THE CAPTURE OF FORT MORGAN. This was a strong work, of pentagonal form, built of brick, and had been constructed by the best engineering skill of the army, regardless of cost to the government, with the design of making it as nearly impregnable as any fortification could be. At this time, it mounted forty-six heavy guns, thirty-five smooth bores and eleven rifles, including three Blakely eight- inch rifles, two Brooks seven-inch rifles, six eight-inch columbiads, and two ten-inch columbiads the remaining guns being mostly thirty-two- pounders, some of which had been banded and rifled. This formidable complement of artillery, in position in one of the most formidable works which had ever been constructed, was manned by a garrison of between six hundred and seven hundred men, under command of General Page, who had boasted that he could hold the fort for six months against the armies and navies of the world. To invest it, the Union army moved from Dauphin Island, immediately after the disposition of the prisoners who had composed the garrison of Fort Gaines, and took position across the peninsula, some three miles in rear of Morgan. The comparatively easy capture of Fort Gaines and the consequent destruction of Fort Powell led to the belief that Fort Morgan would also speedily fall, on the exhibition of the strength of Farragut s vic torious fleet, aided by a show of investment by the forces under Granger. But Morgan proved to be a formidable and obstinate foe, and events soon revealed the necessity of a regular siege. General Granger accordingly sent to New Orleans for heavy artillery and a fair proportion of engineer troops. General Richard Arnold, Chief of Artillery of the Department of the Gulf, THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 635 came in charge of the siege artillery, and was placed in command of the investing forces. The siege material was landed at Pilot Town, three miles in rear of Fort Morgan, on the 17th of August, and during the following night the greater portion of it was floated by an immense barge up the beach to within eight hundred yards of the fort, and placed in depot, the sand hills on the peninsula affording excellent cover for that purpose. Meantime, batteries were in process of construction, and by the afternoon of the 20th, all our guns, thirty-four in number, were in position, maga zines constructed, and ammunition deposited for a bombardment of at least twenty-four hours. Meanwhile, the forces more directly under Granger gradually approached with their intrenchments and embrasures, most cheer fully assisting the besieging corps proper, all working with alacrity and cheerfulness until the line of investment was within five hundred yards of the fort. The fort occasionally sent shells among the besieging troops, but they accomplished very little damage. Lie down ! lie down ! Grab a root ! the boys would cry to each other when one of these screaming missiles was seen coming, and, though there were no roots to " grab," there were holes in the sand, and hills of sand also, which served a good purpose for pro tection. Only four men of the Thirty-fourth were wounded during the entire siege, and they but slightly. On Monday morning, August 22d, at daylight, the army and navy opened the bombardment. The earth never was the scene, perhaps, of a more terrible cannonading. The blockading squadron, three or four miles out in the gulf threw in solid shot and shell with wonderful accuracy, con sidering the distance. The fire from the ships and monitors, and the cap tured rani Tennessee within the bay, was constant, terrible ; whilst the mortars and heavy guns on land disgorged their fearful missiles with a rapidity and destructiveness which would not have permitted so much as a fly to live on any exposed part of the doomed fort. The firing was so effec tive that not a gun was fired from the fort. It was a fearful spectacle. It seemed," says a correspondent of the New York Tribune, "as if the earth and heavens had come together with a mighty noise. Solid shot went crashing through earth and masonry, followed by shells bursting open and tearing wide the fractures they made. Great mortars threw their heavy globes skyward, many exploding in mid air, and scattering their fragments through space like that mighty world that burst in pieces to form the Asteroids." The mighty work continued all day long, with unabated gran deur. The gunners seemed to perform their duties with a wild enthusiasm. Stripping themselves of all superfluous clothing, and blackened, begrimed with the smoke, and dirt, and sweat of battle, their eyes sparkling through the hazy air with the glare of enthusiasm amounting almost to frenzy. 636 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. they might well have been taken for so many Vulcans forging thunderbolts for the gods. At nightfall the fleet drew off, but the firing from the army continued with unabated fury. The darkness added to the sublimity of the scene, and when about ten o clock, the flames burst forth from the citadel, which had been set on fire by one of our shells, and the smoke of the conflagra tion ascended to heaven like the smoke of a furnace, it was grand beyond description. At this time, the besieged made signal of surrender to the navy, but being either unseen, or not understood, it was disregarded, and the bombardment continued throughout the night. At daylight on the morning of the 23d, the signal of surrender appeared, and our guns at once ceased firing. So great was the contrast for a moment, that the silence was such that it might almost have, been felt. It was suddenly broken by the cheers of our troops and sailors, whose thou sands of voices in long continued shoutings came near equaling the noise of the bombardment. There being some questions of etiquette to be settled, the formal sur render did not take place till two o clock in the afternoon. The Thirty- fourth had the honor of being selected as the regiment before which the garrison should surrender. "Precisely at the hour designated for the surrender, says Colonel Clark, I marched up in front of the fort, the band playing Hail Columbia. Formed line of battle in front of the sally-port, through which the prisoners soon commenced issuing. They formed line parallel and ten paces in front of mine. The scene was intensely interesting and imposing. Rebel officers were ordered to the front and centre ; men ordered to stack arms and officers to surrender their swords into the hands of a staff officer detailed for that purpose. During these ceremonies a national salute was being fired by army and navy, the band playing national airs, and just as the rebel officers began to surrender their swords, the rebel flag was hauled down and the stars and stripes again unfurled to the breeze where they had proudly waved for many years prior to this rebellion. These brilliant victories were received by the country with enthusiastic admiration. The fame of the battle of Atlanta, fought on the same day as the bombardment in no degree detracted from the fame of the great success in Mobile Bay. It was just three weeks from the time the army landed on Dauphin Island till the surrender of Fort Morgan. In that short period we had captured three forts, with their armaments of nearly an hundred heavy guns, one thousand five hundred prisoners, vast quanti ties of stores and ammunition, and destroyed the only formidable fleet of the enemy, including his vessel of boasted impregnability. We had inflicted a blow upon the rebel cause from which it was never able to recover. THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 637 The same number of troops and sailors never accomplished so much in so short a time. A few days after the surrender of Fort Morgan, the Thirty-fourth was ordered across the bay to Cedar Point, about fifteen miles distant from Mobile. It was found impracticable to occupy it, however, and the regi ment returned to the vicinity of the fort, and was there engaged about a fortnight in reducing the works which had been used by the army during the siege. On the 16th of September the regiment embarked for New Orleans, but upon reaching that city the next day was ordered to Mor- ganza, whither it immediately proceeded, and there disembarking, formed encampment, and for several weeks performed outpost duty on the Atcha- falaya River. Colonel Clark, and other officers of the regiment, soon after went to Iowa on recruiting service, and Lieutenant-Colonel Dungan being on duty at New Orleans, Major Kern was left in command of the regiment. There was a considerable force of rebels on the west bank of the Atcha- falaya, and there was occasional firing between the two armies. During one of these artillery duels, Lieutenant Walton, of Company A, was severely wounded the only casualty which occurred in the regiment. On the 1st of November, the regiment went up the Mississippi to the mouth of White River, and there went into camp. On the 12th, Major- General J. J. Reynolds promulgated an order, reducing the regiment, now numbering less than half the maximum, to a battalion of five companies. Ac cording to this order, Major John Kern ; Captains J. A. Dunagan, J. M. Lee, Thomas Ward, J. B. Hatton ; Adjutant W. M. Bryant ;. Lieutenants T. L. Dilley, C. F. Boyd, C. J. Comins, William Goltry, and W. P. Kelly, with a number of non-commissioned officers, were mustered out of service. Colonel Clark was also included in the order, but a consolidation of the regi ment with the Thirty-eighth having been soon afterwards agreed upon, the order for consolidation was issued by General Canby on the 12th of Decem ber, and fully carried into effect on the first of the following month. By that order the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-eighth Iowa regiments were consol idated into the Thirty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. 6 For the purpose of consolidation both regiments proceeded to Morganza, shortly after the 6 The roster of the Field, Staff, and Line officers of the consolidated regiment -was as follows : Colonel George W. Clark ; Lieutenant-Colonel Warren S. Dungan ; Major Hinckley F. Beebe ; Adjutant Charles F. Loshe ; Surgeon Victor H. Coffman (one of the best of surgeons and of men) ; Quartermaster Henry A. Maydole ; Captains William Boyle, J. S. Clarke, B. Rockwell, J. R.Waters, E. Hessing, 0. F. Avery, G. R. Humphrey, C. H. Miller, J. H. B. Harris, and T. R. Crandall ; First Lieutenants John Chancy, R. E. Martin, S. H. Clauson, Henry Walton, John McAndrew, E. Crosby, E. C. Dougherty, N. Richards, H. M. Shoemaker, L. M. Bunton, Benjamin F. Dora ; Second Lieu tenants M. F. Clark, R. G. Arnold, Albert S. Ellis, and A. R. Henry. The Colonel, by the order of consolidation was directed to recommend to the Governor a suffi cient number of names from the Thirty-eighth, for promotions to fill the vacancies in Second Lieu tenants. All supernumerary staff and non-commissioned officers were ordered to be mustered out. 638 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. promulgation of the order by General Reynolds which has been re ferred to, where the commands were formally merged into one about the close of the year. The regiment, as thus re-formed, numbered in the aggre gate nine hundred and fifty men, being, no doubt, the largest in the De partment of the Gulf. The men were nearly all present for duty, in fine health and spirits, so that Colonel Clark might well have said as in fact he did, that he was proud of the regiment, and should take great pride in com manding it. The consolidation being thus happily effected, had a happy effect. The two regiments, each of whose previous history had been honorable and useful, fused into one without a particle of difficulty, and officers and men ever served together as one man as though animated by one spirit. Not long after the consolidation, the regiment went by steamer to New Orleans and thence to the village of Kenner, some eight miles distant on the Jackson railroad. The encampment here was on ground considerably lower than the Mississippi River, and was by no means dry. The bank of the river, not far distant, was lined with troops for miles above and below our regiment. Since coming here, says " H. S. " in the State Register, " we have put on style enough to kill any body but an old soldier. We have inspection of arms once and sometimes twice a day, roll-call twice a day, target practice and company drill each once a day. Coming events cast their shadows before, and as we have learned some of the omens by which to judge of movements to be made, we infer from the pomp and pageantry displayed, that with the opening of spring you may reasonably hope to hear of a vigorous campaign of which Mobile will probably be the objective point. So far as we are concerned we make but little difference in putting down the rebellion by fighting and this endless style, though we believe the former to be the only sure and effective mode." The regiment embarked at Lakeport, a harbor of Lake Pontchartrain, on the 26th of January, 1865, and sailed thence to Pascagoula, Mississippi, where Colonel Clark reported for orders. Without disembarkation, the command sailed thence for Barrancas, Florida, and went into camp there on the evening of the 27th. It was a beautiful encampment, about one mile from the harbor, on the outskirts of a pine forest, "whose foliage never withers and whose verdancy is like one eternal spring. It was in plain view of Forts Pickens, Barrancas, and McRae. Here the command remained, in excellent health and spirits for more than a month, awaiting the complete preparations of the forces under Canby for the movement against Mobile. When that movement commenced the regiment marched on Blakeley, and though the distance, by a straight line, was only about sixty miles, a fortnight was consumed on the march, on account of the hor rible roads and considerable cautioa THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 639 In the siege which followed, and the assault of April 9th, the regiment bore its part well ; with becoming patience during the siege, and with con spicuous gallantry on the assault, but though it occupied a front position, it escaped with a loss throughout the whole operations of three killed and nine wounded. 6 With the assault on Blakeley, the fighting history of the regiment closed. But it afterwards marched to Selma, then to Mobile, whence it sailed to G-alveston, Texas, and from there marched to Houston, with the forces under Major-General Steele, and was there mustered out of service on the 15th of August, in obedience to orders from the Department of War. At this time, the roster of the regiment was the same as that I have already noted, when speaking of the consolidation, with the addition of Assistant Surgeon I. King, and subalterns B. D. Everingham, Edward Easton, E. W. Carson, J. M. Dennis, and Orland J. Clark. Colonel Clark had meantime been brevetted Brigadier- General for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field. The command at once proceeded homeward, and reached Davenport for final pay and discharge on the 29th of August, at that time numbering an aggregate of eleven hundred and thirty-one, nearly three hundred recruits of the Twenty-first and Thirty-third regiments having been transferred to the regiment, upon the muster-out of those organizations a short time before that of the Thirty-fourth. "The Thirty-fourth," said the Gazette, "is a noble regiment of soldiers. They have dealt powerful and telling blows to the confederacy and now, when their great work is done, covered with the scars of many battles, and possessed of undying laurels, they return to their homes with the satisfaction of having performed their whole duty toward their country. We bid them a hearty welcome. During its term of service the regiment had traveled fifteen thousand and thirty-five miles, but nowhere throughout their long journeying had they met with such grate ful reception as the bronzed men received as they passed from Davenport to their prairie homes. I bid them farewell with feelings akin to those with which we part forever from an old and valued friend. 8 H. C. Beltz and James C. Bell were severely wounded during the siege. In the assault, Milton Hutchinson, William A. Wise, and Burton Adkins were killed. I have not been able to find a list of the wounded. There were none severely hurt however, and all able to report for duty iu a very short time, as I learn from the correspondence of the Register. CHAPTER XXXIX. THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZED AT THE CITY OF MUSCATINE MOVE TO CAIRO SERVICES IN SOUTH- ERN ILLINOIS AND KENTUCKY CAMPAIGNS OF VICKSBURG AND JACKSON- QUIET OPERATIONS IN TENNESSEE RED RIVER EXPEDITION BRILLIANT SUC CESS AT HENDERSON S HILL BATTLE OF OLD RIVER LAKE MAJOR JOHN COM MANDING IS SLAIN CAMPAIGN OF TUPELO CAMPAIGN OF MISSOURI MOVE TO TENNESSEE BATTLE OF yrASHriLLE COLONEL HILL SLAIN WINTER QUARTERS IN NORTHERN ALABAMA CAMPAIGN OF MOBILE CONCLUSION. THE county of Muscatine, ever most generous in patriotic offerings to the government, contributed about eight companies to this regiment, afterwards so distinguished, and Cedar county filled up the rolls from her intelligent and thrifty population. The different companies were recruited during the latter part of the summer of 1862, and ordered into rendezvous at " Camp Strong," on Muscatine Island famous for its melons a short distance from the city of the many hills. There they were organized into the Thirty-fifth regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and sworn into the ser vice of the United States on the 18th of September. There were nine hundred and fifty-seven officers and men in the regiment. Colonel Sylves ter Gr. Hill was in command; James H. Rothrock was Lieutenant-Colonel ; Henry O Connor, Major. The staff had been before commissioned, and consisted of Frederick L. Dayton, Adjutant, Heiskell Lofland, Quarter master, Charles L. Chambers, Surgeon, Stephen M. Cobb, Emanuel C. Reigart, Assistants, and Reverend Francis W. Evans, Chaplain. 1 Having had a little more than a month for drill and discipline at Camp Strong, the regiment moved by rail to Cairo, Illinois, arriving November 24th. The regiment performed duty at Cairo, Mound City, Columbus, Ken- i The line officers were : Captains William B. Keeler, Abraham John, George C. Burmeister, Wil liam Dill, Felix W. Doran, Abraham N. Snyder, Simon H. Dixon, John Flanagan, William D. Conn, Hiram A. McKelvy; First Lieutenants Romulus Hawley, Charles S. Porter, Joseph Mayer, William A. Clark, William C. Kennedy, George W. Baxter, Lewis F. Creitz, George K. Spencer, Benjamin F Randall, William M. Dugan; Second Lieutenants John A. Kyrk, William M. Stewart, Conrad Kranz, Henry Hoover, Patrick F. Anson, George W. H. Lucas, Abram Shane, Philip Hyde. Jackson A. Evans, Cephas Park*er. 640 THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 641 % tucky, and Island No. Ten, during the winter. A detachment first moved to Columbus, to assist in repelling a threatened attack, and was soon fol lowed by the remainder of the regiment. The whole command remained at Columbus about one month, and then moved to Island No. Ten, but soon moved back to Cairo. In March, 1863, a heavy detachment went to Fort Heiman, on escort duty, and about the same time two companies proceeded to the interior of Southern Illinois in search of deserters. The winter and early spring having been thus spent in these uninterest ing operations but not without considerable improvement in soldierly du ties the regiment embarked on the 12th of April, and in due course of time joined the army under Grant in the vicinity of Vicksburg. Remain ing in an unspeakably disagreable encampment about a fortnight, the regi ment took up line of march in the grand campaign, being attached to General Mathies Third Brigade of Tuttle s Third Division, of Sherman s Corps. The regiment took part in the capture of Jackson, and on the 18th of May went into line in front of Vicksburg. It was in the line of reserves during the assault of the 22d. The command took direct part in the siege till the middle of June, when it retired from the trenches, and a few days afterwards joined the Army of Observation, and marched to Black River. Here the regiment was engaged on unusually heavy picket duty till the capitulation, whereupon it moved with the Expeditionary Army against Jackson. In the campaigns both of Vicksburg and of Jackson, Colonel Hill s command performed every duty assigned it with credit, but its casu alties were not heavy. They numbered less than a score, killed, wounded, and captured. From Jackson the regiment returned to the vicinity of Vicksburg in the latter part of July and went into camp on Bear Creek. Here it remained in perfect quiet about three months. There were, meanwhile, several changes among the officers of the command. Lieutenant-Colonel Rothrock and Major O Connor had resigned, and had been succeeded by Captains William B. Keeler and Abraham John respectively. There had been, also, several changes in the line officers. The latter part of October, the com mand joined in a reconnoissance to Brownsville, in which it had slight skir mishing with the enemy, but sustained no loss. Early in November the regiment broke camp near Vicksburg and moved up the river to Memphis. It marched thence to La Grange, whence the right wing, Major John commanding, moved to Middleton, and the left wing, Captain Burmeister, to Pocahontas, Colonel Hill at this time being absent on leave, and Lieutenant- Colonel Keeler on special duty at General Tuttle s head-quarters. The operations of the regiment in Tennessee, where it remained until the latter part of January, 1864, were unimportant, consisting rather of scouts made by small parties than of movements of 81 642 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. the command at large. The 25th of January Colonel Hill moved to Memphis, and thence at once began the voyage to Vicksburg, but did not arrive in time to take part in the Meridian Expedition. The command pitched tents on Black River and awaited the return of the army. On the 10th of March, the regiment embarked on the steamer "Baltic," at Vicksburg, and moved with the forces under General A. J. Smith to the Department of the Gulf to take part in the Red River Expedition. Colonel Hill commanding brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Keeler had command of the regiment. Colonel Hill s Brigade was in General Mower s Division, whict in the general disasters of the expedition, after the junction with Banks, did more, perhaps, than any other command to save the army from the in efficiency of the commander-in-chief, which inefficiency would have proved entirely fatal on at least one occasion during the campaign but for the skill and valor of "Smith s guerrillas" under Mower. The Thirty-fifth regi ment did not bear a prominent part in the capture of Fort de Russey, being in the reserve on that occasion, but in all the principal operations of the division after that, during the entire campaign, it was conspicuously engaged. It gained distinguished honor by the aifair at Henderson s Hill, on the 22d. This place, some forty miles from Alexandria, was held by a garrison of three hundred and fifty rebels, with four guns. The regiment, with its associate in the brigade the Thirty-third Missouri marched against the position. It was a cold, stormy day. First it rained, and then it hailed. But the troops trudged steadily on without a murmur. Night found them still at a distance from the enemy. The darkness became black as pitch, but still the troops felt their way toward Henderson s Hill. Approaching the enemy s position, the Thirty-fifth, Lieutenant-Colonel Keeler, made a detour around it, officers and men groping their way through the darkness and rain as best they could. They effected a complete surprise. There were a few random shots, a few confused orders, but in a short time, three hundred and fifty prisoners, four pieces of artillery, with carriages, caissons, horses, harness, everything complete, were the trophies of the Thirty-fifth. In honor of Lieutenant- Colonel Keeler commanding the regiment, the cap tured guns were henceforth called k The Keeler Battery. The command received the public encomiums of General Mower for its brilliant achieve ment. Returning to Alexandria, the regiment soon joined in the further move ment up Red River. It took part in one or two operations of no great importance in the vicinity of Comti, on the left bank of the river some dis tance above Grand Ecore, and on the 9th of April was heavily engaged at the battle of Pleasant Hill, where it lost many gallant officers and men. Captain Henry Blanck was here slain by the same ball which killed private THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 643 Peter Harrison. Lieutenant Dugan afterwards died of wounds received on the same field. The regiment fought with the greatest courage through out, and formed an honored part of those troops which gained a victory which the commander-in-chief did not know how to make valuable. In the many skirmishes of the retreat to Alexandria, in those about Governor Moore s plantation, the Thirty-fifth had its due share, but without loss ex cept a few men slightly wounded. But at the battle of Yellow Bayou, May 18th, the regiment was hotly engaged, and lost nearly forty, killed and wounded. It was here that Captain Burmeister received a mortal wound ; here that young Frederick Hill, the Colonel s son, a brave and generous youth, fell dead by his father s side, his head pierced with a ball. An ex pression of deep sorrow escaped the Colonel, and he continued in the per formance of his duties till the rebels had met with as thorough a defeat as ever befell an army. Five days afterwards the regiment went into camp at Vicksburg, having lost on the Red River Expedition nearly an hundred officers and men, killed and wounded. The 4th of June, General Smith put his troops aboard transports and moved up the Mississippi, one of his objects in view being the raising of Marmaduke s blockade of the river at Point Chicot. Two days afterwards the battle of Lake Chicot, or Old River Lake, as the engagement is more generally called by the troops, took place. It was a short but severe com bat, resulting in the complete defeat of the enemy. Perhaps no com mand ever exhibited more admirable gallantry than the Thirty-fifth Iowa at the combat of Old River Lake. Coming suddenly upon the enemy in force, it stood like a barrier of stone to its position. The combat lasted only a few minutes, during which the regiment lost about twenty killed and wounded. Major Abraham John, commanding, was mortally, and Captain William Dill, severely wounded. Major John died the same evening, deeply lamented by the whole command. The regiment proceeded to Memphis, and, after more exercise in repair ing the Memphis and Charleston railroad than was agreeable in hot weather, joined the column under Smith which defeated Forrest in the fine battle of Tupelo. In this engagement, the Thirty-fifth lost thirty-eight men Tiors-de- combat. The regiment returned to Memphis with the army, and in less than a fortnight was again on the move in Mississippi on what has been called the Oxford Expedition. It met the enemy in skirmish be yond the Tallahatchee, but had no loss. The last of August, it was again in Memphis. Early in September the regiment left Memphis for Brownsville, Arkansas. From this time until the middle of November it was engaged in most energetic marching after Price, first in Arkansas, and then in Missouri. During this period it marched several hundred miles, many of the men 644 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. much of the time without shoes, and all of them frequently without suffi- cient food. It was a campaign of great severity as to marching the com mand traversing nearly the whole length of Arkansas, and marching and countermarching across Missouri but not of fighting so far as foot soldiers were concerned. Hence, when the regiment returned to St. Louis, Novem ber 15th, there were no casualties to report. The 23d, the regiment em barked, and with General A. J. Smith s forces moved to the re enforcement of Major-General Thomas in Tennessee. THE BATTLE OF NASHVILLE. Major-General GEORGE H. THOMAS, if it can be so put with due respect, may be called the elephant of our army animals slow, ponderous, saga cious, not easily aroused to wrath, but when aroused terrible and invincible. When the rebel Hood crossed the Tennessee, Thomas was ill prepared to meet him. The Battle of Franklin, finely fought by Schofield on the 30th of November, was practically an Union victory, though the Unionists aban doned the field. It delayed the rebel army, and, above all, effectually destroyed the ardor with which the troops, inflamed by passionate promises of spoil, had entered upon the campaign. Their bright visions of easy victory, of plundering Kentucky, and of thundering through the gates of Cincinnati, vanished forever on the field of Franklin. They were most emphatically cowed. Nevertheless, Hood pushed on, and not only invested Nashville, but gave trouble to many garrisons over a wide extent of country. Thomas, meanwhile, with the utmost imperturbability unmoved even when Grant was alarmed prepared to hurl the invader from Tennessee. General A. J. Smith s Sixteenth Corps was brought up to his reenforce- ment. Troops from a number of garrisons in Tennessee and elsewhere were concentrated at Nashville. The troopers, who had been so actively engaged of late, that their horses were nearly all unfit for service, were remounted, many of them on blooded animals from noted studs of Kentucky. Everything yielded to the military necessity of the hour, and there was a " ruthless proscription" of horses in all the region roundabout Nashville for many leagues. There was great activity, even heavy skir mishing, all along the lines from a score of miles below Nashville to Chat tanooga on the Tennessee. In front of the capital there was continuous firing. At Nashville, the Cumberland makes a sharp bend north, and within the bend, on the south side of the river, the city is situated. South of the city, and distant some two or three miles therefrom, our forces were posted behind considerable works. Hood took position on a range of hills some two miles beyond, and extending from the river on his right to the river on his left. Instead of at once attacking, he contented himself with fortifying, THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 645 and merely feeling our lines, sending off his cavalry to cut our communica tions and harass our garrisons. Thomas would probably have delivered attack on the 5th or 6th of December, but for his lack of cavalry. Having mounted his troopers by means of the ruthless horse-proscription before mentioned, he was ready to move against the enemy on the 12th. But the weather had meantime made an insurmountable difficulty. It had turned suddenly cold, and the whole country was covered with ice. Neither man nor horse could stand on his feet. Both armies were ice-bound. But on the 14th there came a thaw. Thomas, who had been nursing his wrath to keep it warm, ordered the attack to begin early the next morning. And it was begun and carried out just as he ordered, or as nearly so, at any rate, as any order of the kind ever was carried out. The flanks of the Union line rested on the Cumberland, both covered by gun-boats. The right especially was also covered by a heavy cloud of cavalry. The Fourth Corps, General Wood temporarily commanding, joined on Smith s left. Next came Schofield, with the Twenty-third Corps, but held in reserve so as to operate on his right or left as circumstances might require. A provi sional organization, largely composed of colored troops, held the left, Gene ral Steedman commanding. General Thomas plan was to demonstrate boldly on the left, but to deliver his real attack from the right. Steedman accordingly moved a heavy force of white and black troops, under General Cruft, against the enemy early on the morning of the 15th. They were supported by a quasi military organization of the quartermaster s depart ment, Brevet Brigadier-General J. L. Donaldson, commanding.. They made an impetuous attack, causing Hood to heavily reenforce his left, where he doubtless supposed he was to be principally assailed. The assailants were repulsed with heavy loss. But the plan of General Thomas at once began to develop itself splen didly. Smith advanced on the right. Supported by Wood and covered by the cavalry under Wilson, the whole right wing made a grand left wheel, sweeping like an avalanche over the enemy s feeble left. The troops moved with enthusiastic spirits, and quickly crushed the enemy s first line, stormed and carried his batteries, flanked his positions, and had his whole line doubled up and rolling over on the centre in the greatest disorder. The troopers, dismounted, joined in the charges, and it was not long till the whole rebel left wing was substantially hors-de-combat. Hood saw the mistake he had made in sending his masses to his left, and he now hurried long lines of infantry and artillery from that part of his lines to support his centre. He still held a strong position, protected by breastworks, fringed with rifle-pits and abatis, and bristling with artillery, that swept all ap proaches. Smith prudently halted to reconnoitre. Wood came up on his left, and Schofield swung round to his right, the cavalry being still to the 646 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. right of him, and well on to the enemy s rear. The army made a further advance, feeling the enemy s position under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry, and about nightfall Wood made a splendid dash against a bat tery, and carrying it closed the battle for the day. Many guns, large num bers of prisoners had been captured. So far, the Unionists had been most gloriously successful. During the night both armies made dispositions for a renewal of the battle on the morrow. The rebel commander drew back his right centre and right, so as to straighten the new line he had been forced to assume. It was some two miles in rear of his original line, and only about half as long. He occupied the wooded crests of closely connecting hills, the line being about three miles in length, and admirably adapted for defence as well by nature as by the work of industrious troops. General Thomas pursued a plan similar to that which had proved so successful on the day before. Steedman on the left and Wood on the centre strongly demonstrated against the enemy, and the roar of battle was continuous all the morning on the left of our lines. On the right it was comparatively quiet. Wil son s Cavalry was seeking the enemy s rear, whilst Schofield s and Smith s impatient troops were lying perdu. About four o clock the sharp rattle of carbines rang lively behind the enemy s left. Schofield and Smith knew well what it meant. Simultaneously, with leveled bayonets and ringing cheers, their lines swept superbly forward, up to, and over, and around the rebel works, while Wood and Steedman on their left, catching up the inspiration, pressed gallantly forward, and almost in a twinkling our general movement carried all before it. For a moment there was hot work. The whole rebel line, from end to end, was ablaze with musketry and aroar with cannon. The hills shook, the earth trembled, and the whole field was like 1 the sulphurous and gaping mouth of hell. But in thirty minutes or so, the conflict was mainly over." The rebels were in disordered rout, flying southward as fast as their legs could carry them. Except a small rear guard, Hood s army was destroyed. Except that rear guard, it made no further resistance to our arms, but fled to and beyond the Tennessee, where our pursuit was stayed, rather by the exhaustion of our own troops than because of any resistance offered by Hood. The results of this great victory, one of the completest of the war, were eight thousand prisoners, including five generals, and a great many commis sioned officers, fifty-six guns, small arms by the acre, and a large number of flags. What the Union losses in the battle were it would be difficult to tell. The entire loss, during the whole campaign of Nashville, embracing all the operations of General Thomas forces for more than a month, was less than ten thousand killed, wounded, and missing. It is probable the loss at Nashville was about five thousand. The fierceness and duration of THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 647 the battle, and its tremendous results considered, the casualties were admitted to have been remarkably small on the side of the Unionists. The State of Iowa was represented in this battle by eight organizations actively engaged the Second Battery, the Second, Fifth, and Eighth Cavalry, and the Twelfth, Twenty-seventh, Thirty-second, and Thirty-fifth Infantry. The artillery and infantry fought under Smith, the cavalry under Wilson on the extreme right. Of the cavalry, General Edward Hatch commanded a division, which received the warm encomiums of General Thomas. It received no more than it deserved, for the cavalry at Nash ville exhibited the novel spectacle of moving, dismounted, in assault of heavy earth-works, and capturing battery after battery of artillery. Nor was there any regiment, whether of horse or foot, which won more dis tinguished honor on the field of Nashville than our Second Cavalry. Colonel Coon being in command of the brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Horton, commanding the regiment, highly commends officers and men for good conduct, and especially mentions Adjutant Sydenham, Major Schnitger, and Captains Foster and Bandy. The Fifth and Eighth Cavalry were less conspicuously, but honorably engaged. The Twenty-seventh and Thirty- second Infantry were in a brigade commanded by Colonel Gilbert of the former regiment, and which brigade did some of the most dauntlessly intrepid fighting of the battle. The Twelfth, Lieutenant-Colonel John H. Stibbs, and the Thirty-fifth, Major Dill commanding, were in the brigade commanded by Colonel Hill, of the former regiment. Chaplain Frederick Humphrey, of the Twelfth, after finely describing the operations of Hubbard s and McMillan s brigades, thus speaks of Hill s troops. " Meantime Hill s men, Third Brigade of the First Division, who had borne the brunt of the battle of Tupelo, and had now witnessed the splendid charges of their comrades, were eager to emu late their heroism and storm the formidable redoubts far in their front. As the corps continues wheeling to the left, an opportunity is soon presented to gratify their importunate demands. About six hundred yards in advance of the brigade, near the Hillsboro Pike on a high and bastion-like ridge is another strong redoubt whose rebel Napoleons redouble their fire and seem striving to make good the loss of the two first redoubts, and hurl back our advancing columns. Shot and the fragments of shell fill the air. The roar of artillery, like Niagara s, is incessant, and the flashes of exploding shells quickly follow each other like the vivid flashes of lightning. An oificer in another brigade says to me, Those guns are more annoying to our lines than any other rebel battery. The guns must be silenced and the redoubt captured without delay. Colonel Hill saw that it could only be carried by direct assault in front, and immediately ordered a charge. The boys wel comed the order with a battle-cheer fix bayonets, and under a terrific fire 648 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. of shot, minie-balls and bursting shell with uniform step and steady columns, they descend a gentle slope ; cross a ravine, and on the double- quick move, in front of the enemy s fire, up the hill to their works. Ser geants Clark and Grrannis of the Twelfth Iowa, in advance of the charging line, first plant the regimental banner and the national colors upon the rebel battlements. The brave Colonel Hill, mounted on horseback and gallantly leading his brigade to the assault, fell from his horse, shot through the head, just as his troops were carrying the breastworks of the enemy. The men rushed forward to avenge the death of their lamented commander. The enemy had hastily limbered up the guns of the fort, withdrawn them to a redoubt, distant about three hundred yards, and again opened with grape, cannister, and musketry upon our men just as they entered the first redoubt. Continuing to advance, without orders, the brigade charged across the Hills- boro Pike, in the face of another torrent of fire, up to the second redoubt, captured its guns, caissons, horses, one head-quarters, and thirteen baggage wagons, and two hundred and fifty prisoners. The wings of the brigade in storming the redoubts, had wheeled in towards the central point of attack, thus creating some confusion. Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs, of the Twelfth Iowa, mounting a captured artillery horse, quickly reformed the brigade in line of battle, and dispatched Sergeant-Major Burch forward to inform Colonel Marshall, of the Seventh Minnesota, of the death of Colonel Hill. Colonel Marshall, not stopping to look after captured property, nor even to receive the swords presented to him by rebel officers, and Adjutant Reed, of the Twelfth Iowa, with about one hundred men from each of their regi ments, had not stopped in the second redoubt, but pressed on after the flying fugitives to a third redoubt in front of the right of the Fourth Corps. Adjutant Reed entered it from the rear ; with him a few men of the Seventh and Twelfth, just as those of the Fourth, came over the works in front." 2 2 The Daily Journal of Muscatine thus speaks of the death of Colonel Hill. The following dispatch to S. G. Stein from Major Dill, conveying the painful intelligence of the death of Colonel Hill, was received Saturday : NASHVILLE, December 16, 1864. Colonel Hill was killed yesterday. Remains will start for Musca tine to-morrow. Eleven of the Thirty-fifth wounded and one killed Kennedy, of Co. F. Hard fighting to-day. Will write particulars. WILLIAM DILL. Our lamented fellow-townsman, Colonel Sylvester G. Hill, was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, on the 10th of June, 1820, and was left an orphan, at the age of four years, by the death of his father. He had from early life to struggle for himself, and literally fight his way through the world. He learned his trade, a cabinet maker, in his native village, and in 1839. when only nineteen years of age, emigrated to the West, and soon after settled in Cincinnati, where, with the exception of a year spent in California, he resided and did business, until the spring of 1851, when he re moved to Iowa and located in Muscatine. During his residence here of over thirteen years, his history is known to every citizen, and especially to every business man in the community. Upright and prompt in all his dealings, generous and public-spirited beyond the measure of his ability, he was justly esteemed one of our most valued citizens. As a patriot, Colonel Hill had few equals and none excelled him. Burning with indignation at the insult offered to the flag of the Republic when THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 649 The Thirty-fifth marched in pursuit of the rebels as far as Pulaski. There turning to the right, it marched to Clifton on the Tennessee and went into camp January 2d, 1865. Six days afterwards the command embarked for Eastport, Mississippi, where it encamped for about a month, the troops living on "shelled corn" part of the time, for which there was no good reason, communication being all the time open to Cairo. The encampment was in a pine forest, where the men constructed rude quarters for the rest of the winter as they supposed. There had been many changes among the officers of the regiment by this time. The roster of field, staff, and line officers now was as follows : William B. Keeler, Lieutenant-Colonel com manding ; Major William Dill ; Adjutant Frederick L. Dayton ; Surgeon Stephen M. Cobb, Assistants E. J. B. Statler, N. S. Smith ; Quartermas ter H. Lofland ; Chaplain Reverend William M. Bagley ; Captains Isaac B. Sloan, William M. Stewart, Joseph Mayer, William A. Clark, F. W. Doran, Abraham N. Snyder, Simon H. Dixson, George K. Spencer, William D. Conn, Hiram A. McKelvey ; First Lieutenants Charles Washburn, Charles S. Porter, F. S. Krehler, Henry Hoover, William C. Kennedy, George W. Baxter, Lewis F. Creitz, W. M. Wetherell, Jackson A. Evans ; Second Lieutenants Benjamin F. Hershe, Oscar F. Wright, George W. H. Lucas, Abram Shane, William T. Knight, Cephas Parker. The 5th of February, the regiment embarked on steamer "Magenta," and moved by the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi to Vicksburg. Having the rebellion raised its head in 1861, it was by the most urgent remonstrances of friends he was pre vented from joining the * Iowa First." In 1862, when the government called for troops, although his oldest son was then a prisoner in the hands of the rebels, he would wait no longer, but leaving a lucrative business, he recruited a company, was unanimously chosen its captain, and upon the or ganization of the Thirty-fifth regiment, without the solicitation of friends and against his own pro test, was assigned to the command of the regiment by Governor Kirkwood. How nobly and bravely he has discharged the duties in that responsible position, and the still higher one of brigade com mander, his brilliant history of two and a half years tells much better than it could be related here. Equally attentive to the humblest camp duty, and the severest requirements of the battle field, he was a soldier whom his superiors found could always be trusted and relied on. He has probably seen as much if not more active service than any field officer who went from Iowa, never having sought or enjoyed a single day s detail from active service. He went through the memor able campaign which resulted in the fall of Vicksburg, was in all the battles of the Red River campaign, and but a little over six months ago had to mourn the loss of his second son, who was killed by his side at the battle of Pleasant Hill. He marched his regiment over five hundred miles in the late Missouri campaign after Price, and at last, ended his brilliant and faithful career in help ing to achieve the glorious victory which has just crowned the national arms in front of Nashville. The private and social virtues of Colonel Hill are too tenderly cherished by the writer of this nrticle and by Colonel Hill s kindred to be made the subject of eulogy here. Amongst the many sacrifices which Muscatine has been called on to make for the country during the war, none has fallen more heavily on family or friends, or cast a deeper gloom over our whole community, than the loss of the brave and patriotic man who has just fallen in defence of his country. Esteemed and respected by all who knew him, and loved by those who had the happiness of a personal inti macy with him, his memory will be cherished as his loss will be felt, so long as friends and acquaint ances shall survive him. As a son, a brother, a husband, father, friend, patriot and soldier, he has left a character which all may well emulate, but none need hope to excel. Colonel Hill leaves a wife and nine children to mourn his loss his oldest son, now only twenty years of age, having just completed a service of three years, in the Seventeenth Iowa Infantry. 82 650 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. encamped near that city a few days it moved to New Orleans, and on the anniversary of Washington s birth-day pitched tents on the very field where Andrew Jackson had defeated the British Army a little more than fifty years before. From this historic ground the Thirty-fifth moved, early in March, to take part in the campaign of Mobile, the last in which the regiment joined, as it was the last important operation of the war. In this campaign the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Keeler commanding, bore honorable share throughout, but with remarkably small loss. After the occupation of Mobile, the regiment marched to Montgomery, where it remained about a fortnight, and then moved by steamer to Selma. Here the command remained till the 21st of July, when it received the welcome order to start for home. It was mustered out at Davenport, August 10th, but disbanded and finally paid at Muscatine six days afterwards, on which occasion there was a happy reunion of all the old soldiers of Muscatine county, and as hearty a reception as volunteers ever received anywhere. Thus the Thirty-fifth regiment, reduced greatly in numbers, closed its career of honor, in a blaze of joy and gladness. It had marched and traveled about ten thousand miles, had unflinchingly fought in a dozen engagements, and had always carried its banner in honorable victory. It was eminently fitting, therefore, that its reception at Muscatine should be in the highest degree patriotic and grateful. 3 8 By an unfortunate loss in the mails, I am unable to give lists of casualties suffered by the gallant Thirty-fifth in its various engagements. Such lists were most kindly directed to me by Lieutenant Frederick L. Dayton, long adjutant of the regiment, and a distinguished officer, to whom, by the way, I am indebted for much valuable information pertaining to the Thirtj -fifth. From his Manuscripts and Lieutenant Henry Hoover s well written history, published in the Musca tine Journal, I have mainly compiled the foregoing account of a regiment, whose services were second in value to none of our three-years regiments. Should this work be so generously received as to justify the publication of a second edition, I hope to be able to append full lists of casualties Buffered by the Thirty-fifth. CHAPTER XL. THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. SMALL-POX AND MEASLES RENDEZVOUS AT KEOKUK ORDERED SOUTH STOP TO ASSIST IN REPELLING THREATENED ATTACKS, AT COLUMBUS AND MEMPHIS- BARN QUARTERS HELENA THE YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION DISEASE FIRST UNDER FIRE AT FORT PEMBERTON RETURN TO HELENA CELEBRATE THE NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY IN BATTLE JOIN THE LITTLE ROCK EXPEDITION- GENERAL STEELE S " SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN" BA TTLE OF MARK S MILL- IRE REGIMENT CAPTURED ITS ORGANIZATION CONTINUED AT LITTLE ROCK. THE Thirty-sixth Infantry was not fully organized till sickness and death commenced melancholy havoc in its ranks. The regiment had its rendez vous at " Camp Lincoln," near Keokuk, where it was organized during the latter part of the summer of 1862, and where it remained several months. Here both small-pox and measles attacked the men, and prevailed to such an extent that about one hundred were lost from the command. It was a gloomy beginning, having a depressing effect upon the troops, from which only the best and long-continued sanitary regulations could relieve them. From the contagious diseases of the camp of Keokuk, the regiment passed rapidly into the malarial atmosphere of the Yazoo River, and from that into the fogs of Helena, reeking with all ailments. Before the command had entirely recovered physical tone and vigor, it was compelled to surrender to superior numbers, leaving but a remnant to continue the organization. Its field of operations was not where our arms achieved many brilliant suc cesses. Nevertheless, the history of this body of men will be found to be creditable, and not wanting in instances of courage, fortitude, and patient endurance of suffering. The field officers were Charles W. Kittredge, of Wapello county, colonel ; Francis M. Drake, of Appanoose, lieutenant-colonel; Thomas C. Wood ward, of Wapello, major; A. Gr. Hamilton, of Wapello, was appointed adjutant. 1 When the regiment went into camp it numbered nine hundred and thirty men, rank and file, but more than a score had died before it 1 Colonel Kittredge had been a captain in the Seventh Infantry. He was severely wounded at 651 652 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. embarked for Benton Barracks, Missouri, on November 24th. Having re mained there till the 19th of December, it embarked on two steamers for Helena, the right wing under the command of the Colonel, the left under that of the Lieutenant-Colonel. The voyage down the Mississippi was made during the period of rebel cavalry raids in the west, and when Columbus, in Kentucky, was suffering with a chronic fear of attack from confederate troopers. At that place the Thirty-sixth debarked, and stood under arms all night to assist in repelling one of these mythical attacks. The alarm speedily subsided, and as the sun came up on the morning of the 22d, he shone upon the men of our regiment comfortably sleeping on the decks of the steamers quietly cours ing down the river. When the command reached Memphis, on the after noon of the next day, there were rumors of an attack upon that post. Again the regiment debarked, formed line upon the wharf, and marched through the city to the public park, where the men laid on their arms all night through a drenching rain. The rebels did not come, and in the morn ing the regiment marched out to Fort Pickering, where the men were quar tered in a barn, or rather a stable which had recently been occupied by those "patient government soldiers of the mule persuasion," and which was none of the cleanest, though nearly as well ventilated as our grand prairies. Here it remained, a portion of the garrison of the fort, till the evening of the 30th, when orders came to embark again for Helena. Early on the following morning it bade good-bye to Memphis and the airy, aromatic stables, and reached Helena on the eve of the new year. A camp was pitched on the bank of the Mississippi, where the regiment remained, till General Gorman left on his fruitless but laborious White River Expedition, when the command moved to the barracks near Fort Curtis, to the rear of the town. For a time the Thirty-sixth was the only Belmont, November, 1861. His quartermaster was Stevens W. Merrill ; Surgeon Moses Cousins, with Colin G. Strong, Sylvester II. Sawyers, assistants ; Rev. Michael H. Hare, chaplain. Company A, from Monroe county, was commanded by Captain Martin J. Varner ; Lieutenants John Walker, John M. Porter. Company B, from Wapello county, was in command of Edmund L. Joy, with Samnel A. Swiggette, Josiah II. McVay, lieutenants. Company C, Appanoose county, Captain James G. Philips ; Lieutenants Allen W. Miller, K. P. Morrison. Company Z>, Wapello and Marion counties, Captain Thomas B. Hale ; Lieutenants Ripley Baylies, Charles Birnbaum. Com- pany E, Wapello county, Captain William Mahon; Lieutenants Richard II. Warden, Jacob Houk. The latter resigned before the regiment reached the theatre of war, and was succeeded by Second Lieutenant E. McLean B. Scott, promoted from First Sergeant. Company F, from Appanoose, Wayne, Monroe, and Lucas counties, Captain William P. Vermillion; Lieutenants Humphrey G. May, John N.Wright. Lieutenant May resigning early in 1863, was succeeded by First Sergeant John W. May, promoted to First Lieutenant. Company G, Appanoose county, Captain Thomas M. Fee ; Lieutenants William M. McCreary, Benjamin F. Pearson. Company IT, chiefly from Wapello and Mahaska counties, Captain John E. Wright ; Lieutenants W. H. Clifton, William P. Sharp. Company 7, Appanoose, Captain Joseph B. Gedney ; Lieutenants George R. Huston, Walter S. John- gon. Company K, Monroe county, Captain George W. Noble ; Lieutenants John Webb, Jr., John Lambert. THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 653 infantry remaining at the post, in consequence of which its garrison duties were constant and severe. This, added to the unhealthfulness of the locality, brought many to the hospital, so that when the regiment embarked, February 24th, 1864, on the Yazoo Pass Expedition, there were but six hundred and thirty, officers and men, fit for duty. This expedition was in all respects sui generis. There never has been anything like it. It was an amphibious expedition, and amphibious not only as to land and water, but sometimes as to water and air. The Twenty- ninth, Thirty- third, and Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry regiments, accom panied this wonderful expedition, seeing the same things, sharing very nearly the same privations, and performing very nearly the same duties. The fleet, consisting of thirty-six transports, two iron-clads, several gun boats for musketry, and mortar-rafts, left Helena on the evening of February 24th. The objective point of the expedition, so far as we are now concerned, was Fort Pemberton, a strong work, situated at the junc tion of the Tallahatchee and Yalobusha Rivers, whose mingled waters there form the Yazoo. There is a "Yazoo Pass" from the Mississippi to a crescent-shaped body of water not far distant, called Moon Lake, and thence to Cold Water River, which flows into the Tallahatchee. The pass is so narrow that the branches of the trees on the banks embrace each other above the channel. It had become so obstructed that troops had been engaged some time in preparing it for navigation before the expedi tion started. Being cleared out, the levee of the Mississippi was cut, and its waters rushed through to the lake with fearful rapidity. On the morn ing of the 26th, whilst a dense mist covered the lake, the advance was sounded, and the fleet commenced at once to cross along the main Pass toward the Cold Water. The channel is deep, but narrow, and unearthly crooked. It is, perhaps, the best representation of the life of an intriguing politician on the face of the eartfc, and it abounds with reptiles. At the time of the expedition, the waters were very high, and the rain continued to pour down in torrents almost constantly during the first two weeks. By means of steam, ropes, and poles, the fleet dragged Its slow length along, making but three or four miles a day. Sometimes, though this distance had actually been overcome, the winding of the stream had been such that the place of mooring (tying up to trees, that is) for the night was in plain view of the previous stopping-place. Thus for five days the boats nudged along, sometimes browsing among the trees, as it were, sometimes splurg ing through the rapid current, smashing the overhanging limbs, and tear ing off their own wood-work, when the Cold Water was reached, and the troops had an opportunity to go ashore and make coffee. The navigation of this stream was not so difficult as that of the Pass, whilst the browsing on the Tallahatchee was still a very little less difficult. The channel was 654 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. somewhat wider, but it was more crooked, if possible, than the Cold Water. The whole voyage was a desperate undertaking. The troops must have been utterly miserable. The country was flooded, so that landing-places were infrequent, the boats were densely crowded, the water was unwhole some and nauseating, the scenery lead-colored, dull, and monotonous. Such a voyage would have chilled and killed the enthusiasm of Christopher Columbus himself. It brought disease and death to hundreds of the brave men who made it. There were but few exciting incidents during the voy age. Guerrillas occasionally fired upon the transports, and a few men were wounded. The chase of the rebel steamer " Cotton-Plant," laden with the fibre of her namesake, which took place on the Tallahatchee, was a noted event. Seeing that she would be overtaken, she was set fire to and aban doned by the crew. The burning vessel and cotton floating down the stream in a dark night, the cotton falling off and burning as it floated, presented a magnificent spectacle, seeming to be nothing less than the river itself on fire. About noon of the llth of March, the transports reached Shell Mound, some two or three miles above Fort Pemberton. Here the troops at once disembarked. The Thirty- sixth was immediately formed in line of battle and marched to the support of a brigade skirmishing with the enemy. The men remained under fire from the fort more than two hours with the coolness of veterans, and were handsomely complimented for good conduct on their first experiment in actual engagement. They stayed at Shell Mound, doing picket duty, scouting the interminable canebrakes which there abound, and sadly burying their dead at the base of the little hill which this wonderful expedition has made historic, till the morning of the 20th, when the army embarked, baffled of its purpose, and commenced to retrace its winding way to the Mississippi. Meantime, however, General Quinby s Division, in which were the Fifth, Tenth, and Seventeenth Iowa regiments, had followed the original expedition and met it shortly after the retreat commenced. The whole returned to Shell Mound, debarking on the 22d, the gun-boats at once moving down and engaging the fort. It was here that one of the guns of the "De Kalb" was struck directly in the muzzle by a shell from the fort, causing the gun to burst, whereby four men were killed, ten wounded, and the boat itself so disabled as to be com pelled to withdraw from the combat. Cannon from the gun-boats and from batteries on shore hammered away at the fort till the morning of April 4th, the infantry meanwhile scouting and standing picket as before, when not in camp, or engaged during the night in assisting to plant the land bat teries, labor always done under fire of the guns from the rebel work. On the morning of the 5th, the whole expedition was returning. The retreat was much more pleasant to the troops than the advance. Navigation, on THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 655 account of a better knowledge of the channel and the removal of obstruc tions, was more easy and rapid. The scenery, besides, because of the advancing spring, was more agreeable. The forests had begun to look more cheerful, the bright green holly could be seen scattered profusely through the woods, whilst the fruit orchards of the plantations lent their buds -and blossoms to enliven the scene and perfume the air. The health and spirits of the men improved. As the fleet, all mangled and torn, reached the broad Mississippi on the afternoon of the 8th, an involuntary shout of gladness came from all the troops, and a general salute of fire arms instantly followed. The whole army was agitated by enthusiasm on seeing the magnificent river, after their cramped campaign of forty-two days, very much as were the Ten Thousand Greeks at sight of the sea in the olden time long ago. The Thirty-sixth at once fell into the old routine of garrison duty, with the variations of digging ditches and building breastworks. It celebrated the national anniversary in the battle of Helena, and remained at that place till the llth of August, when it accompanied the Arkansas Expedi tion under Major-General Steele. Major Woodward, on account of disease contracted during the expedition into Mississippi, had resigned ; Lieutenant- Colonel Drake was absent, sick ; Colonel Kittredge had command of the brigade. Captain Yarner, of Company A, commanded the regiment on its march toward Little Rock, till Lieutenant- Colonel Drake came up and assumed command, on Rock Rae Bayou, between the White and Arkansas Rivers. Major Hamilton, promoted from Adjutant, rejoined the regiment at Duvall s Bluff. Here, Captain Varner, Captain Webb, and Lieutenant Spooner, obtained leave to go home, on account of sickness, but they all died on the way. Shortly before reaching Little Rock, Colonel Kittredge resumed command of the regiment, which now marched in hourly expec tation of a battle, but entered the capital with the repossessing column without having been gratified with an engagement. The regiment soon went into camp on a beautiful hill not far from the arsenal, where winter quarters were erected. The cantonment was remark able for neatness and cleanliness. There never yet had been a time since the organization of the regiment when disease was not thinning its ranks and depressing its spirits. Almost all the time at unhealthy localities, the best skill and attention of the medical staff had been exerted in vain. Sickness and death had followed the devoted command everywhere. Now improvement came. Speaking of its encampment on the hill near the Lit tle Rock arsenal, Medical Inspector Allen said, "The camp of the Thirty- Sixth Regiment Iowa Infantry, Colonel Kittredge, is a model of order, cleanliness, and comfort." Doctor Joseph R. Smith, Medical Director of the Army of Arkansas, in a note to Assistant Surgeon Strong, quotes the 656 , IOWA AND THE REBELLION. above, and adds: "In a division where all the surgeons do their duty, it may be a source of pride to have acquired the preeminence." In this fine, healthy camp, the regiment remained during the fall and winter of 1863-4, regaining vigor and enthusiasm, and performing such garrison duties as were required. The regiment, numbering six hundred and thirteen, accompanied the column under Major-General Steele which left Little Kock toward the last of March, and which column was intended to co-operate with that under Major-General Banks in the entire destruction of the rebel forces westward of the Mississippi. The main army having been shamefully defeated, Gen eral Steele proceeded no further than Camden, nearly fifty miles north of the Louisiana line. In the campaign thus far, the Thirty-sixth bore an honorable part, and was engaged in some of the skirmishes and affairs which took place during the advance, and especially at the battle of the Little Missouri, where it repelled a rebel attack with great courage and with remarkable accuracy of fire. The regiment reached Camden / on the 15th of April, and remained there, inactive, except during one day of corn grinding at a mill six miles from the town, till the afternoon of the 22d. At this time a detachment consisting of the Thirty-Sixth Iowa, Major Hamilton, Seventy-seventh Ohio, Captain McCormick, Forty-third Indi ana, Major Norris, and two sections of the Second Missouri Light Artillery, all under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, of the Thirty-sixth, left Camden for Pine Bluff on the Arkansas, as escort to a train of about three hundred wagons in which it was purposed to bring back supplies for the army. The detachment was joined on the following morning by two hun dred and forty troopers under command of Major McCauley of the First In diana Cavalry. The road taken bore considerably north of west, crossing the Saline River near Mount Elba. A large and heavily-laden train had lately passed over it ; there had been recent rain, and it was in bad condition. Nevertheless, some eighteen miles were made on the 23d, and sixteen the next day. About sundown the Thirty-sixth went into camp on the western margin of what is called " Moro Bottom," low, marshy ground along either side of the bayou of the same name, a deep, narrow, sluggish stream. The bottom is from two to three miles wide, and the road across it was so bad that it had to be corduroyed and otherwise repaired for the passage of the train. This work was performed by negro recruits who were on their way to rendezvous at Little Rock, and was completed about midnight BATTLE OF MARK S On the evening of the 23d the little army escorting the train heard heavy cannonading in the direction of Camden. By that strange intuition which is often as correct as the deductions of demonstration, Lieutenant- Colonel THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 657 Drake and the officers of his command, concluded that it was a feint, the real attack being in preparation for them. Accordingly their march had been conducted with great circumspection and wariness, but not without rapidity. On the morning of the 25th, a body of one hundred cavalry was sent forward to reconnoitre the road. They pushed ahead five miles and reported no enemy in sight. Meantime, the Forty -third Indiana and one section of the battery was pushed forward across the bottom, and the train put in motion. Getting word from the cavalry in advance, Lieutenant- Colonel Drake immediately dispatched another body of cavalry to the rear, fearing the enemy might come in from the south on the Princeton road. The rest of the troops remained at the west side of the bottom till two- thirds of the train had passed, when they moved forward, taking the sides of the road so as not to be in the way of the train, to take position on the eastern side of the lowlands. Hardly had the advance reached this posi tion when a courier rushed from the front and announced that the enemy were in force about two miles ahead. The Thirty-sixth marched on double- quick step to the field, and hastily but coolly formed line of battle on the right of the artillery, the cavalry, now reenforced by about one hundred and fifty horse and one howitzer from Pine Bluff under command of Major Spellman, taking position on the left. The other troops were being hurried up as rapidly as possible. The troops in line were posted in a small, narrow clearing, with skirmishers thrown out about one hundred yards in advance. It was a rugged country, covered for the most part with dense woods and almost impenetrable undergrowth. Not less than five thousand rebels under command of Fagan, had here concealed themselves from the view of our cavalry scouts, and were now confronting our little front of one thou sand men. The Forty-third Indiana held the skirmish line, and fought manfully and pertinaciously till overpowered and driven back by superior numbers. They retired through the thick underbrush in considerable con fusion, but each man fighting bravely on his own account. The rebels now came on in heavy force against the main line, and the action became general. Our troops kept up a constant fire for two hours and a quarter, without falling back a foot. From some unaccountable cause the battery was de serted by its own men during the action, but two companies of the Thirty- sixth manned the guns with great effect during the rest of the fight. Utterly unable to make headway against our front, the rebels extended their lines, and surrounded the gallant little band. Having lost about twenty killed, more mortally and about ninety severely wounded, 2 and 2 LIST OF KlLLKD AND WOO DED: Killed, Sergeant Henry Dodge; Corporals George W. Nicely, Ezra Wade; Privates Benjamin Ben- net, Benjamin F. Custer, Obaiiion 0. Custer, Isaac N. Bells, Amos W. Kent, John W. Needham, Matthias McCoy, George E. H. Ward, Joel Curtis, Archibald S. Ewine, Andrew J. Brayman, Henry Cline, Smith V. Walker, Wesley Banister, Jordan Pike, Nathan Hannuel. 83 658 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. being hemmed in on all sides, the Thirty-sixth surrendered, with the others. The rebels immediately hastened to the rear, attacked the Ohio regiment, the other section of the battery, and two companies of the In diana Forty-third, who had not been in the action at the front, and after a short but spirited combat, compelled their surrender. Lieutenant-Colonel Drake was severely wounded early in the action. Major Hamilton exhibited the most intrepid courage. After he saw there was no hope for the command, he directed many to chances of escape, but himself shared the fate of the regiment, as did also the fighting parson, Chaplain M. H. Hare. Few, however, escaped, the number captured being three hundred and forty. The rebels were savagely exultant over their spoils and their success. They shot down in cold blood the negro servants of the officers before those officers eyes, and to all protests against these monstrous acts of inhumanity they replied only with sneers and threats of exercising the same treatment toward the officers themselves. The surrender occurred not long before noon. At five o clock, the prisoners were started southward, and marched the first fifty-two miles in twenty-four hours without food or rest. From Moro Landing they went by way of Camden to the prisoners corral at Tyler, Texas, reaching that sor rowful place on the 15th of May. From here, Major Hamilton and Cap tains Miller and Lambert escaped in July, and, after enduring great hardships, reached Little Rock on the 2d of September. The Major recovered from the effects of his imprisonment and the privations of his journey. Captain Miller received leave of absence and went home, to die. Wounded (mortally), Lieutenant John W. May ; Sergeant Thomas G. Robh, Sergeant Color-Bearer Lewis Myers; Corporal Peter Stuber ; Privates Peter Boyer, Isaac Belles, Robert Martin, William J. Barker, Daniel Kirkpatrick, John A. Stansberry, Cyrcnius Thomas, James A. Miller, Eli Cum- mings, Joseph Keger, David M. Wallace, James H. Ryckman, Wesley Perigo, Enos Hocket, Marcus Spurlack, William Stinson, Samuel E. Peugh, Byron Richmond, Abraham P. Waugh, George W. Brott. Wounded (severely), Lieutenant John A. Hurlburt; Corporals Michael E. Jackson, Henry A. Adcock, James C. Hartley; Privates Alexander Elder, Lucius Bond, Noyes Chrisman, James II. Finley, Poter Good, David E. Williams, Daniel W. Williams, Jesse Clark, John P. Goodwin, James H. Ilelverson, Samuel A. Hays, Uriah Link, George W. Philips, Thomas W. Wallace, Joseph Peden, John Harness, John A. Vermulen, George C. Carpenter, John Davis, John M. Elgin, Manoah Graham, Thomas Galbraith, Albert Gillman, Ephraim Nicholson, Greenberry Owen, David A. Stuart, John Standley, Barney S. Sullivan, William H. Atwell, Samuel T. McFall, Daniel C. Walfe. William Morrill, Martin J. Benge, Smith Bowen, Dillman Hutchison, John Kingsberry, William H. Thompson, Horace E. Park, Conrad G. Kerkendall. Wounded (slightly), Captain John M. Porter; Lieutenant John N. Wright; Sergeants Davison P. Bay, George W. Dean, Elias Parke, William R. Davenport, Benjamin S. Vierling, Josiah T. Young ; Corporals Albert Grimes, William L. Palmer, Isaac W. Powell, Truman E. Gilbert, James W. Taylor, Luther C. Bailey, Jonathan Witham ; Privates Joseph Meadon, Henry C. Brown, Levi Gates, Thomas J. McCormick, John Pence, John W. Ruble, Calvin Smith, Alexander Kenedy, Morris Flock, Isaac Smith, Peter Warner, Watson W. Coder, David How-ell, Eli Bryant, William R. Fisk, John Herring, Theodore S. Burns. William Hamilton, William H. Hudson, George W. Kitterman, Levi Overman, James W. Baker, Josephus Brown, David Conger, Benjamin F. Guy, Wallace M. Harvey, Cyrus B. Gibson, James M. Odell, Jackson Maxwell. THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 659 He became delirious on the way, reached his home, and died upon the threshold. Captain Lambert died some two months afterwards. On the evacuation of Camden, the little squad of the Thirty-sixth, con sisting of two officers and some sixty enlisted men, accompanied the retreat. At the battle of Jenkins Ferry, twenty-nine of these men, and Lieutenant Huston, of Company I, took arms and fought bravely. The Lieutenant and seven of the men were severely wounded. On their arrival at Little Rock, they found a number of recruits for the regiment, so that the rolls showed six officers and two hundred and fifty men present, including the sick in hospital, and the convalescents in camp. Colonel Kittredge soon afterwards assumed command of the post, and the regiment, thus reduced by capture, disease, and death, remained there during the rest of the year a melancholy relic of those stout thousand men who went so joyously into Keokuk during the autumn of two years before. The services of the regiment during the remainder of its term of enlist ment were of an uninteresting character. Post duty anywhere is usually monotonously dull, and in the State of Arkansas it must be simply horrible. The Thirty-sixth performed such duty at Little Rock, St. Charles, and at Duvall s Bluff till it was discharged the service. The men made several expeditions in the nature of scouts, in one of which a certain Morgan, a noted guerrilla, and the person who had wounded G-eneral Canby, when on his way southward, was captured. Before this time, Lieutenant-Colonel Drake had been brevetted a brigadier-general, out of considerations, no doubt, of a political nature, as well as those of "locality," for, though he was well enough entitled to this recognition, there were more than a score of Iowa colonels and lieutenant-colonels who had performed much greater service than he, and were not promoted brigadier-generals by brevet. In April, the survivors of those captured at Mark s Mill reported to the regiment at St. Charles. They had been released from imprisonment in Texas where they suffered incredible hardships in the latter part of February, but they had been allowed to return home on furlough, so that they did not join the regiment till several weeks after their release. It would be impossible to describe the joyous meeting of these old comrades. The command moved to Duvall s Bluff the 9th of June, and remained on duty there till honorably discharged, on the 24th of August. 3 Moving by 3 The officers at this time were : Colonel, C. W. Kittredge ; Lieutenant-Colonel, F. M. Drake, Brevet Brigadier -General ; Major, A. H. Hamilton; Adjutant, S. K. Mahon; Quartermaster, S. K. Merrill; Surgeon, G. G. Strong; Assistant Surgeon, P. A. Smyth; Chaplain, M. H. Hare. Company A Captain J. M. Porter : First Lieutenant M. Law. Company B Captain S. A. Swig- gette; First Lieutenant F. L. McNair. Company C Captain W. F. Vermilya; First Lieutenant C. B. Miller. Company D Captain C. Burnbaum ; First Lieutenant R. Baylies ; Second Lieutenant S. Leggett. Company E Captain William Mahon ; First Lieutenant E. M. B. Scott ; Second Lieu tenant A. A. Smith. Company F Captain W. F. Vermillion ; First Lieutenant J. N. Wright. Com pany G Captain T. M. Fee ; First Lieutenant N. Snedaker. Company H Captain W. H. Clifton ; 660 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. steamer to Davenport, the regiment was there heartily greeted back to Iowa on the 2d of September. Soon afterwards, the officers and men of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Volunteers sought their homes in the beautiful val ley of the Des Moines, whose beauty must pass away and whose waters cease to flow, ere the memory of the services or the sufferings in behalf of our nationality of the officers and men of this gallant regiment can pass away from the minds of our people. First Lieutenant J. H. Thompson ; Second Lieutenant W. II. Garlock. Company 7 Captain J. B. Geduey; First Lieutenant G. R. Huston; Second Lieutenant W. S. Johnson. Company K Captain J. A. Hurlburt; First Lieutenant George Ilickenloper. CHAPTER XLI. THE "GRAY-BEARD REGIMENT." THE THIRTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY COMPOSED OF MEN MORE THAN FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE ORGANIZED AT MUSCATINE BY SPECIAL ORDER OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ITS SERVICES MUSTERED OUT THE QUES TION OF BOUNTY. THE organization officially known as the Thirty-seventh Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, was universally known in Iowa, and largely over the country, as the " Gray-Beard Regiment." It was composed exclu sively of men over forty-five years of age, and who were, consequently, under no legal obligations to take upon themselves the duties of soldiers. It was the only regiment of the kind in the service. Iowa alone of all the States had its " Gray-Beards" in the field. The truth is, however, that though the men who composed this remark able and unique command had arrived at an age which common experience and the general law united in declaring them released from military obliga tions, yet were they stout, hardy soldiers, and would, no doubt, have been able to endure ordinary campaigning in the field. The most of them had lived many years in Iowa, whose healthful climate repels the ordinary effects of age and almost keeps old men young. But, to drop generalities, the spirit of patriotism burned so brightly and warmly among our citizens that many, excluded by reason of age, from the ranks of the ordinary regiments of volunteers, proposed to form a regiment of healthy old men, and go into the sendee to perform such duties as it might be supposed they could well perform. Accordingly, Secretary Stanton, at the head of the War Department, specially authorized the organization of such a regiment for the performance of post and garrison duties. This authority was given in the month of August, 1862, and it was not long till the various companies were recruited. They were ordered into rendezvous at " Camp Strong," near Muscatine, but the regiment was not mustered into the service until the middle of December. The field officers were G-eorge W. Kincaid, Colonel, George R. West, Lieutenant-Colonel, Lyman Allen, Major. The staff consisted of 661 662 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. David H. Goodno, Adjutant, Prentice Ransom, Quartermaster, John W. Finley, Surgeon, with George S. Dewitt, and Samuel C. Haynes, assistants, Reverend James H. White, Chaplain. Stephen B. Shellady, who had probably presided over more political conventions than any man in Iowa, was the first Sergeant-Major. 1 The fine old gentlemen composing this command were from a large num ber of counties. Every Congressional District of the State was represented in its ranks. They were farmers, mechanics, business men. Many of them were more than fifty years old, but when they marched through the streets of St. Louis, early in January, 1863, General Curtis, who had seen the volunteers of the Union in more than one war, declared he had never seen a finer-looking body of men. They attracted marked attention at St. Louis. They served at that city, in guard of military prisons till the latter part of May, when they moved out on the Pacific Railway, along the line of which they served about two months, when they were ordered to Alton, Illinois. They remained in that city, in guard of rebel prisoners, until about the middle of January, 1864, when they moved to Rock Island, where they per formed similar duties until the 5th of June. They then proceeded to Mem phis, Tennessee, in the vicinity of which post they were engaged on guard and picket duties for about three months of very hot weather. On the 5th of July, a detail of fifty men from the regiment, in guard of a supply train on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, was attacked by guerrillas. Cor poral Charles Young and Private Samuel Coburn were killed, and two others of the Regiment were slightly wounded. The guard promptly returned the fire, but with what effect was not known. From Memphis, the command moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, whence five companies, under Colonel Kincaid, went to Cincinnati, three, under Lieutenant-Colonel West, to Columbus, and the other two, Major Allen, to Gallipolis, Ohio. At these posts the different commands remained till the middle of May, 1865, when Lieutenant-Colonel West and Major Allen joined the regiment at Cincinnati. The 20th, the command left Cincinnati for Davenport, where it was mustered out of the service four days afterwards. When final pay-day came, the men were astonished to find they did not 1 The commanders of companies were : John Hogendobler, James G. Wells, E. A. M. Swasey, soon succeeded by Joel A. Hall, Josiah W. McCaddon, Resen Banks, Osmond Bailey, Joel Stover, William Henshan, Caleb Lamb, James G. Crane ; First Lieutenants E. II. Stedman, Samuel Tarr, Stephen B. Shellady, (succeeding Joel A, Hall, promoted early in 1863), C. S. Jennis, Edward Gerard, G. W. Cummins, Henry C. Markham, John W. Hillspaugh, Ezra Havens, Thomas G. Daniels ; Second Lieutenants J. C. Bubbard, Robert Mills, R. L. Barnum, John W. Barnes, Edwin Davis, Hezekiah Young, Henry Swan, John V. Myers, Thomas E. Belknap, John J. Duncan. There were not very many changes in the officers of the Gray-Beard regiment during its term of service. I find the field and staff officers remaining the same throughout so far as shown by the Adjutant-General s Reports except that Edward Doru and Joseph Orr became assistant surgeons. The following names also appear among the lieutenants : John C. Corielle, Charles H. King, James C. Stirlen, John Madden, Samuel B. Burge. THE GRAY-BEARD REGIMENT. 663 receive the bounty given to other three years men. They had received it in part, before ; the paymaster who had paid them had been credited with the amount, as a proper disbursement, by the accounting officers of the government ; they were deeply chagrined to find not only that they were not to receive the balance of the bounty due, but that the sums they had received on that account were to be deducted from their pay ! There were many expressions of indignation. The Honorable James F. Wilson, Representative in Congress, has introduced a bill on the subject, and the Gray-Beards will doubtless receive the bounty which never should have been withheld from them. Their services were not, indeed, rendered in the tented field, in the face of the enemy, except during the attack on Memphis. But they performed valuable, onerous, and oftentimes most disagreeable duties. They received many favorable expressions from commanding officers under whom they served. General Willich, the last general officer under whose command they served, thus wrote to the Adjutant-General of the army : " HEAD-QUARTERS, CINCINNATI, OHIO, May ISth, 1865. "BRIGADIER-GENERAL L. THOMAS, ADJUTANT-GENERAL U. S. ARMY GENERAL: I have the honor to Bxibmit to your consideration the following: "The Thirty-seventh Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, called the Gray-Beards, now on duty at this post, consists exclusively of old men none under forty-five, many over sixty years of age. After the men of this regiment had devoted their sons and grandsons, numbering thirteen hundred men, to the service of their country, their patriotism induced them to enlist themselves, for garrison duty, thus enabling the government to send the young men to the front. Officers and men would cheerfully remain in the service as long as they are wanted, though they are very badly needed at home to save the next harvest, most of them being farmers. I most respectfully submit to you whether there is any necessity now to hold these old men under such heavy sacrifices. " They have received the commendations of their former post commanders. At this post Ihey have performed very heavy duties, which to perform would even have been difficult for an equal number of young men. The high patriotism displayed by these men in devoting a few years of their old age to their country s service is unparalleled in history, and commands the respect of every true republican. "I therefore most respectfully recommend that the Thirty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry may be mustered out of the service immediately, with the honors and acknowledgements of their services due to the noble spirit with which they gave so glorious an example to the youths of their country. " Very respectfully, &c., " J. WILLICH, Brigadier-General commanding." General Willich s request was granted, and the regiment was accordingly mustered out as we have stated, being the first of our troops who had enlisted for three years to be discharged the service. The command was disbanded on the veiy day that the great review of the armies took place at Washington City, and all was joy that peace had again dawned upon the land. Then the venerable men who had come down to us from a former generation sought their quiet homes, to welcome back such of their sons as had not fallen in the great struggle. CHAPTER XLII. THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION AT DUBUQUE " CAMP FRANKLIN "-MOVE TO ST. LOUIS-TO KEN TUCKYGARRISON DUTY AT NEW MADRID SIEGE OF VICKSBURG EXPEDITION TO YAZOO CITY ENCAMPMENT AT PORT HUDSON SICKNESS DEATH OF COLONEL HUGHES THE TEXAS EXPEDITION SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF FORT MORGAN- RETURN OF THE REGIMENT TO LOUISIANA CONSOLIDATED WITH THE THIRTY- FOURTH. THE companies of the Thirty-eighth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry were enrolled in five counties of the Third Congressional District Fayette, Winneshiek, Bremer, Chickasaw, and Howard. Fayette county alone con tributed four full companies, Winneshiek two, and Bremer nearly two. The companies were recruited for the most part during the month of August, 1862, and were ordered to Dubuque for regimental organization. They went into rendezvous at "Camp Franklin," but on account of certain difficulties touching who should be the commanding officer of the regiment, and because of the delay in filling up one of the companies, the command was not mustered into the service for a considerable length of time. Meanwhile, it will be in order to speak of the camp, in which the men were learning the motions of "the awkward squads" and the virtue of patience. Any one who has visited the city of Dubuque must have admired the beauty of the surrounding scenery. There are many fine scenes on the Upper Mississippi, and few which surpass that which spreads before the vision from the heights of Dubuque. Immediately opposite is northern Illinois, here rough and tumbled like New England, unfolding in the dis tance into a landscape of unusual beauty. To the left is Wisconsin, Sinsin- awa Mound grandly lifting itself up in the distance like a pyramid of God s own building, rounded by the storms of ages. Below flows the Mississippi, up and down which the eye reaches for many miles. Right under one s feet lies the fine city, stretching down the river, on an elevated plateau, for more than a mile. One sees the steamers, the cars, the busy life of a pros perous city. There are few places where one can better see at a glance the 664 THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 66f5 industry of civilized man and the impressive majesty of God s handiwork than from the heights of Dubuque. It was there that "Camp Franklin" was situated. J. K. Graves, Esq., a banker of the city, was post quartermaster, with, I believe, the rank of captain. Before the companies of the Thirty-eighth arrived at Dubuque, the Twenty-first, Twenty-seventh, and Thirty-second regiments had been quartered in the same camp. The " Forty- second Infantry," before its consolidation with the Sixth Cavalry, was also for some time at Camp Franklin. Captain Graves duties, as post quartermaster, were heavy and varied. The barracks at the camp, which he had caused to be erected at a remarkably small expense, were probably second to none in the State, in point of comfort; but the providing of quarters was only a small part of his labors. He had to supply the troops coming in from all northern Iowa with rations, and to procure clothing, equipments, and I know not what all for the troops at a time when the people were rushing to the rescue of their imperilled country as ardently and numerously as they had done at the out break of the rebellion. Captain Graves fully mastered the situation, and provided for the patriotic soldiery of our northern counties as handsomely as was possible, whilst Major S. D. Brodtbeck, officiating as drill-master, gave them the rudiments of military learning. It is a noteworthy fact, speaking much in favor of the good management of Camp Franklin that of the thousands who there rendezvoused, only six or seven men died there. In these comfortable quarters, so finely situated, near a city as remarka ble for the genial hospitality of its people as for its grand surroundings, the companies of our Thirty-eighth regiment remained several weeks before the organization was completed. At length Governor Kirkwood settled the diffi culties which had arisen touching the commanding officer, and appointed David H. Hughes, a lawyer of considerable repute, colonel; Joseph 0. Hodnutt, lieutenant-colonel ; and Charles Chadwick, major. H. W. Pettit was commissioned adjutant; Mason R. Lyons, quartermaster; Henry W. Hart, surgeon; Robert McNutt and Edward A. Duncan, assistants; and Rev. John "Webb, chaplain. The regiment, about nine hundred strong, was mustered into the service on the 4th of November. 1 1 The line officers now were : Company A Captain James J. Welsh, Lieutenants J. J. Berkey, John Ilerriman. Company B Captain H. F. Beebe, Lieutenants Asbury Leverick, Orrin F. Avery. Company C Captain Henry A. Tinkham, Lieutenants Horace C. Baldwin, John A. Green. Company D Captain Edwin Kirkup, Lieutenants 0. M. Barrett, George R. Humphrey. Company ^Captain Henry A. Cleghorn, Lieutenants Aaron C. Ferren, Theodore R. Crandall. Company F Captain Jacob W. Rogers, Lieutenants Henry M. Shoemaker, David P. Campbell. Company G Captain Charles H. Millar, Lieutenants L. M. Bunton, Edmund Elwell. Company -H" Captain Eliphalet Follett, Lieutenants Elisha Hosmer, Lewis Armstrong. Company J Captain James H. B. Harris, Lieutenants W. H. Powell, William H. Patterson. Company K Captain Charles Allen, Lieutenants George H. Stephens, Platt R. Sanford. 84 666 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Having remained at Camp Franklin several weeks for drill and disci pline, Colonel Hughes moved by rail to St. Louis, and went into quarters at Benton Barracks. The regiment there remained a few days, during which Colonel Hughes procured complete equipments for the field. During the holidays he was ordered by General Curtis to report with his command at Helena, Arkansas. Arriving at Columbus, Kentucky, December 30th, Colonel Hughes was ordered to disembark and proceed by rail to Union Cit} 7 , threatened, as was said, by the enemy in force. No enemy was met, and the command returned to Columbus, whence it proceeded, under an order countermanding that received at St. Louis, to New Madrid, which had recently been evacuated, in obedience to something more than unneces sary orders, by Colonel John Scott, Thirty-second Iowa. The Thirty- eighth arrived January 2d, 1863, and proceeded at once to re-garrison the post, rebuild the barracks, unspike the guns, and in all ways to again put the place in a state of defence. Here Colonel Hughes remained entirely undisturbed by any enemy until June. The 7th of this month the regiment left New Madrid for Vicksburg, joining Major-General Herron s troops on the way thither. The 15th, the command took position on the left of the investing army, and from that time until the capitulation was engaged in the duties of the siege. The casualties in the regiment were slight one slain and two wounded, one mortally but its losses from the effects of its campaigning before Vicks burg were mournful in the extreme. The position of the regiment was on the border of a cypress swamp, whose baleful influences brought many offi cers and men to beds of sickness, and finally to the grave. On the 12th of July, the regiment embarked under orders, to move to Port Hudson, with General Herron s forces, but that officer made, instead, the expedition to Yazoo City, in the occupation of which place and the severe march which followed in the direction of Jackson, the Thirty-eighth took part. General Herron returned to Vicksburg the 21st, and a few days thereafter moved to Port Hudson. Here the Thirty-eighth regiment encamped about three weeks. It was during this period that the effects of the regiment s unfavorable position in the investment of Vicksburg, and its severe labors there, became most painfully evident. The command was almost entirely prostrate, there being at one time only eight officers and twenty enlisted men fit for duty ! There were many deaths. The encamp ment was a hospital, filled with the sick and dying. Colonel Hughes, who had shown himself a gallant and efficient officer, died here, as did Captain Henry A. Tinkham and Lieutenant George II. Stevens, valuable officers, whose untimely death the men of the Thirty-eighth never ceased to lament. Lieutenant-Colonel Hodnutt being absent, sick, the command of the regi ment devolved on Major Chadwick. THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. G67 The wasted regiment, the mere wreck of the stout command which had set forth from Camp Franklin not many months before, moved from Port Hudson the middle of August, and went into convalescent camp at Carroll- ton, Louisiana, on the 16th. Here the regiment remained, regaining health and strength for more than two months. Many convalescents re joined the command from the hospitals up the river, and when Banks started on his expedition to Texas, the Thirty-eighth joined Hcrron s Divi sion, now the Second of the Thirteenth Corps, and on the 23d of October sailed for Brazos Santiago. Thence it joined in the march on Brownsville, and arrived at that place November 9th. There it remained on garrison duty till the latter part of July, 1864, when the town was evacuated by the Unionists. It was on the last day of the month that the regiment embarked at Brazos Santiago for New Orleans, where it arrived in due time. In a few days it embarked for Fort Morgan, and went into camp on Mobile Point, in rear of that work, now besieged, on the 9th of August. Here the com mand remained, taking part in the siege, until the work fell into our hands, and afterwards for more than a fortnight of quiet. It then returned to New Orleans, whence Lieutenant-Colonel Hodnutt was ordered to Donald- sonville, Lafourche District, Louisiana. On the 12th of December, Major- General Canby issued an order for the consolidation of the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-eighth Iowa regiments into the Thirty-fourth Iowa Volunteers. This was consummated on the 1st of January, 1865, in the manner which has been heretofore related, when the Thirty-eighth Iowa regiment ceased to exist as a separate organization. Major H. F. Beebe, of the Thirty- eighth, who had been promoted to that rank in the month of April, 1864, was continued as Major of the Thirty-fourth. Lieutenant-Colonel Hodnutt was honorably discharged the service. Lieutenant Charles F. Losche, of the Thirty-eighth, was appointed Adjutant of the Thirty-fourth, and H. A. Maydole, Quartermaster. Captains 0. F. Avery, George R. Humphrey, Charles H. Millar, James H. B. Harris, and T. R. Crandall, and Lieuten ants Ezra Crosby, E. C. Dougherty, Newton Richards, Henry M. Shoe maker, L. M. Bunton, and Albert S. Ellis also continued to be officers in the consolidated command. Thus the Thirty-eighth Iowa Volunteers passed out of being. Its mem bers forming a goodly portion of the Thirty-fourth, Colonel George "W. Clark, helped to continue the brilliant record of that noted command, and were discharged the service at the same time. The history of the Thirty-eighth is the saddest of all our regiments. It- had not been in the service two years, when more than three hundred of its enlisted men, and a number of officers had died of disease. More than an hundred men and a score of officers during the same period had been 668 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. discharged, on account of ill health. There were long, weary weeks when there were not enough well men to take care of the sick, not even enough to bury the dead. After so many had passed through the valley of the shadow of death, the organization itself was given up. When its old members, returning home through Dubuque, saw no vestiges of Camp Franklin, but a few relics, they must have been painfully reminded of their own lot. Yet the Thirty-eighth was composed of as gallant men as any who went to the wars. If the regiment did not have an opportunity to achieve brilliant renown in the field, it did have an opportunity to fulfill a no less honored destiny than many whose banners were covered with the names of battles. It did all that men could do. It gave itself entirely up for the good of the service, and is fairly entitled to the honor of being called our Martyr Regiment. CHAPTER XLIII. FORTIETH INFANTRY. THE LAST OF THE THREE-YEARS INFANTRY REGIMENTS " COPPERHEADS "THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT ENCAMPMENT AT IOWA CITY DEPARTURE FOR CAIRO LONG STAY AT COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY AT PADUCAH JOIN THE " PRO VISIONAL DIVISION" OF THE SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS MARCH TO LITTLE ROCK THE CAMDEN EXPEDITION UNDER GENERAL STEELE THE RETREAT TO LITTLE ROCK BATTLE OF JENKINS -FjERKF HARD WORK AGAIN IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY HOME. OF those regiments from Iowa which volunteered for three years or during the war, the Fortieth Infantry was the highest in numerical order, but not the last to leave the State. Three or four other regimental organiza tions, too, were commenced, but not completed. Some three hundred men were enlisted for the Forty-first, who united with the three companies of the Fourteenth stationed at Fort Randall, Dacotah Territory ; another regi ment, to be called the Forty-second was attempted to be formed, with camp at Dubuque ; and another still to be called the Forty-third, at Ottumwa. These attempts, however, were unsuccessful in so far as the complete for mation of an infantry regiment after the Fortieth was concerned. It was because commissions had been issued to persons designated as officers of the regiments here spoken of, and because considerable had been done in the way of their formation before their members went into other organiza tions, that when the Hundred-days men were afterwards organized, the number of their regiments commenced with Forty-four. The Fortieth has been called "the Copperhead Regiment," and during times of high political excitement, some partizans, more distinguished for narrow views and dogmatic utterances, than for qualities which bring esteem, have less or more publicly attempted to cast a stigma upon the command because it did not happen to vote so overwhelmingly one way as most regiments from the State. There are not a few, indeed, who think that the regiment has given what they call a " copperhead" majority, and there were those in the command who thought this fact brought about a prejudice against it. The truth is, the regiment always cast a small 669 670 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. majority of its votes for the candidates of the Republican party. Upon this subject of the politics of the Fortieth, an active republican member of the regiment truthfully and somewhat indignantly writes : "In the sum mer of 1862 our party friends urged that the Democrats did not, but should, enlist and bear their portion of the burdens of the war. Under these circumstances the men of this Regiment Democrats as well as Repub licans left their homes, and responded to their country s call. And, with perhaps a few exceptions from both sides, they have endured every hard ship, braved every danger, performed every duty and obeyed every order, with a hearty and unselfish patriotism which might be beneficially emulated by those who denounce them as copperheads because they differ in the matter of politics. As between those who enter the army, and fight rebels whenever opportunity offers, and vote the democratic ticket, and those who stay at home and disparage those who fight because they cannot control their votes at the polls, it is not difficult for me to make choice. I hold the for mer in the highest possible esteem and have nothing but contempt for the latter. 1 The Fortieth regiment was organized of companies formed in the coun ties of Marion, Poweshiek, Mahaska, Jasper, Keokuk, and Benton, in the Fourth Congressional District. There were four companies principally from Marion, two from Jasper, and one each from the other counties named. They went into camp near Iowa City during the months of August, September, and October, 1862. The Captains were: Company A, M. V. B. Bennett; Company B, D. W. Robinson; Company C, John A. Carter; Company D, Felix W. Cozad; Company E, James W. Sennet; Company F, E. W. Ridlen ; Company Gr, Thomas Jenkins ; Company H, Peter M. Johnson; Company I, Elisha Sampson; Company K, George W. Sells. 1 Of these, Captain Bennett was the most noted as a politician. He had represented Marion county in the General Assembly, where he had gained considerable notoriety as a ready debater, and enthusiastic partisan of the most straightest sect of democracy. He had afterwards been a can didate for elector, in which capacity he had stumped a considerable portion of the State, haranguing the people with great vehemence of gesture, many good personal hits, and much looseness of expression. Of an ardent tem perament, as pugnacious in his disputations as Worcester s Dictionary, and with great capacity of tongue, he resigned before the regiment had been under fire, but not before he had done more than all the other officers toward giving the command its political reputation before spoken of. 1 The First Lieutenants were, Thomas J. Anderson, John Morrison, William B. Anderson, David Edmundson, Joseph Hewitt, 0. H. S. Kennedy, David C. Jordan, Caleb J. Amos, De Witt C. Baker, Jacob R. Christie. Second Lieutenants, William Blain, Simeon J. Dalbey, George Lieurance, John \V. Smith, Aaron Adams, Thomas H. Forsyth, Henry B. Reefer, E. J. Stamper, James W. Ward, William II. Harding. FORTIETH INFANTRY. 671 Captain Sells was another politician of the same kind. The other company commanders were more quiet. Captain Robinson was commissioned sur geon of the regiment, and Frank T. Campbell appointed in his place. In compliance with the wishes of the company, Captain Johnson retired, and Nathan Richards received the commission. John A. Garrett, of Newton, was appointed colonel, Samuel F. Cooper, of Grinnell, lieutenant-colonel, and Sherman G. Smith, of Newton, major. The regimental organization was completed about the middle of October, when L. A. Duncan, of Iowa City, was announced as adjutant, and A. B. Miller, of Knoxville, quarter master; David W. Robinson was surgeon, with A. S. Elwood, H. J. Scoles, assistants ; Reverend S. Hestwood, chaplain. On the 15th of November, the regiment, about nine hundred strong, was formally mustered into the service of the United States, but it remained at Camp Pope for a little more than a month, giving both officers and men an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the practical duties of soldiers, and to enjoy themselves with the hospitable, sociable people of the old capital of the State. On the 16th of December, the arms, being Enfield rifled muskets, were distributed to the men, and on the following morning, a cold but bright Iowa day, the regiment took the cars, and, by way of La Salle, went without change to Cairo, Illinois, reaching that damp city on the evening of the 18th, but stopping only long enough to go aboard a steamer. They immediately proceeded on their journey, and arrived at Columbus, Kentucky, the same night. This rebel stronghold, long their boasted Gibraltar of the West, had been in the quiet possession of Union troops for many months, but was now threatened, as was supposed, with attack from the rebel General For rest, a supposition far removed from the fact, this noted trooper being very much nearer Cincinnati than Columbus at the time, having captured Lex ington on the day before the Fortieth Iowa reached its destination. But Forrest had a reputation for ubiquity, and the camps at Columbus had daily alarms of attack for a fortnight after our regiment reached the place. No attack was made by Forrest or any one else. Here the regiment remained during the winter. It was a period of gloom for the command. The weather was most disagreeable to the men accustomed to the colder, but more dry and regular climate of Iowa, It was "mud yesterday and snow to-day, mud to-day and snow yesterday, with a probability of both to-morrow," and cold, wet, sleety nights sand wiched in between the days. Many of the men had but just recovered from the measles, and but few were inured to hardships and exposure. They had only such shelter as was offered by a few common and what the boys called "dog" tents. Many contracted disease, and many died. The duties to be performed were onerous, and were not relieved by any of that 672 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. fine excitement which accompanies an active campaign, or by any event which lightened the burden of dreary monotony. When orders came to move, they were received by the men with inexpressible delight. They went, on March 3d, 1863, to Paducah, seventy-five miles above Columbus, making the journey by steamer. Paducah is the most important commer cial point on the left bank of the rivers between Louisville and Memphis. No doubt many of its first families were now absent, but it had many of the blessings of civilization left good society, churches, trade, and billiard saloons. After Columbus it was like Elysium. Here the regiment had every comfort and convenience that soldiers could want, and they speedily recovered health and spirits. They remained at Paducah nearly three months, and, duty being light, every day saw the regiment more and more perfected in drill. Officers and non-commissioned officers schools, com pany, and battalion drills, were the daily programme. On the last day of May the regiment embarked on a steamer, under orders from General Grant, and moved down the river to join the army operating against Vicksburg, of which it formed a part of "Kimball s Provisional Division," Sixteenth Army Corps. The boat steamed down the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Yazoo River, up that river of death to the town of Satartia, where the troops disembarked. Hence, on June 4th, they marched in light fighting trim a few miles to the village of Mechanics- ville, where General Kiniball was engaging the rebels under Wirt Adams. The affair was over, however, and the enemy in retreat before the Fortieth came up. On the 6th and 7th they marched to Haines Bluff, where they remained a week, and then moved to Snyder s Bluff, three miles further. Here they tarried, facing the mythical army of one hundred thousand men under the rebel General Johnston, which was to relieve the beleagured garrison of Vicksburg, till the capitulation of that stronghold. They remained on the Yazoo, drinking its poisonous waters, and inhaling the miasma of that unhealthy region, till the 23d of July, when they embarked for pestilential Helena, Arkansas, reaching that place on the 26th. The unhealthfulness of the Yazoo country had fearfully reduced the strength of the regiment. The bad water and the damp bottoms had made havoc in the ranks equal to the losses of a hard-fought battle. For the larger part of the period during which the regiment was on the Yazoo, Lieutenant- Colonel Cooper was in command, Colonel Garrett being detailed on court- martial. During the latter part of July and early part of August, Major-General Steele organized, at Helena, the expedition against Little Rock. The strength of his command was about twelve thousand men of all arms. Of this army the Fortieth Iowa formed a part. The regiment left Helena on August 13th, and on the 10th of the following month entered Little Rock FORTIETH INFANTRY. 673 in triumph. On the day of the capture of that capital, the regiment had the advance in crossing the Arkansas River at a point below the town where the enemy was thought to be in force in the timber opposite. It supported our batteries during the laying of the pontoons, a part of the time under fire of the enemy s batteries, but it received no damage either here or at the crossing. The enemy fled, and Little Rock was almost bloodlessly repos sessed. The march of the regiment from Helena was conducted by Lieu tenant-Colonel Cooper, the Colonel being absent, sick. The commanding officer himself was hardly able to keep his saddle. Nevertheless, he re mained faithfully with the command, performing his duties with constancy and courage till all danger was over, when he fell into a fever from the effects of which he has hardly yet recovered. It was a trying period both for officers and men. At one time on the march, but two hundred and nineteen enlisted men, the regiment then numbering seven hundred and fifty, were able to take their places in line. Before he had marched half way from Helena to Little Rock, General Steele had to send more than one thousand men to hospitals at Duvall s Bluff, and of this sick list, more being constantly added, the troops lately from the Yazoo formed the greater proportion. The regiment remained at Little Rock a long time, except to make a march to Benton, twenty-five miles distant, during the winter of 1863 and 1864; during a short trip to Brownsville, Austin, and Searcy; and during the Camden Expedition. Of this expedition, important by reason of the hopes which it aroused and disappointed, its losses of men and pro perty, its principal engagement, and the sufferings of the troops upon their retreat, the Fortieth formed a part. The expedition was more important still in this, that, threatening a movement upon the flank or rear of the rebel force against which the army under General Banks was operating, it compelled a heavy detachment from that force to march away from sup porting distance of the main column, so that it probably saved from entire destruction the fleet and land forces in Louisiana. The cotemporaneous campaigns, however, of Lieutenant-General Grant against Richmond and General Sherman against Atlanta, so excited the attention of the country and of the powers that be, that the disasters in the southwest were almost lost sight of. Otherwise, I suppose, some of the general officers would have been shot for incompetency and drunkenness. The army under Major-General Steele moved from Little Rock, March 23d, 1864, the Fortieth Iowa forming a part of the Third Brigade, Third Division, commanded by Colonel A. Engelmann, Forty-third Illinois In fantry. On April 3d, the regiment participated in a heavy skirmish near Okolona, in which Lieutenant Roberts, of Company B, and Sergeant David A. Tanner, of Company C, were wounded. In the running engagement on 85 674 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. Prairie d Anne, during the day and night of April 10th, the regiment bore honorable part. The casualties were eight wounded, one, Corporal John J. Wade, of Company I, mortally. The army, intelligence of the defeat of General Banks in Louisiana having been received, bent its march to ward Camden on the Washita River, the advance reaching that place on the 15th of the month. Here General Steele remained about a fortnight a delay which resulted in the capture of his trains, a harassed and hungry retreat upon Little Rock, and the severe engagement of Jenkins Ferry. The Washita was quietly crossed during the night of the 2Gth, and the whole army in retreat by daylight of the 27th. The rebels immediately marched in pursuit, and their advance came up with our rear guard, Colonel Engelmann s Brigade, on the afternoon of the 29th, the main body of the Union force being encamped on the bottom lands of Saline River at Jenkins Ferry. Heavy skirmishing, both of artillery and infantry, ensued, and continued at intervals till nearly dark. ISATTLE OF JENKINS FEJtHT. From the Saline River to the first bluffs west of the ferry, the distance is something more than a mile. From the rich alluvial soil grows a forest of majestic trees. A small stream, called Cox s Creek, puts in, from the west, not far from the crossing. The whole bottom here, except two incon siderable fields, still containing many deadened trees, is densely wooded. The road is narrow, and in wet weather becomes an almost unfathomable slush. On Friday, the 29th, it rained steadily all afternoon, and the rain fell in torrents during the livelong night succeeding. Wet to the skin, the army helped the trains over the narrow bridge of pontoons, but saw the morning come before the passage was completed. The enemy was already moving to attack, A fight against vastly superior numbers, or surrender, was inevitable. On the morning of the 30th, the Thirty- third Iowa, Colonel Mackay, held the extreme rear, not far from the bluffs. As soon as it was light, this regiment was impetuously attacked. It was speedily reenforced by the Fiftieth Indiana, but the line was gradually pressed back by superior num bers. The Ninth Wisconsin and Twenty-ninth Iowa were posted in a strong position, about half a mile to the rear of the line first taken, their right resting on the creek, their left to some extent protected by a marsh, and in front of them being an open field. The Thirty-third Iowa and Fif tieth Indiana now fell back behind this line, and proceeded to make coffee, not far from where Colonel Engelmann s Brigade was similarly employed. But in a short time, the enemy again attacked, and a furious combat en sued, requiring all the troops stil! on the right bank of the river, and reen- forcements from those who had crossed to make the victory and the passage FORTIETH INFANTRY. 675 of the stream certain. Brigadier-General Samuel A. Rice commanded in person, and posted the troops as advantageously as possible as they came up. The rebels hurled successively three different divisions against our lit tle army, and were three times repulsed with great slaughter. At one time, a movement against our right flank was threatened, to repel which, the Forty-third Illinois and a detachment of the Fortieth Iowa, were or dered across the creek. Hesitating a moment as they came to the swollen and muddy creek, they plunged in with a shout, gained the opposite shore, and drove off the enemy. The last grand attack made by the rebels was against our left, and left centre. They succeeded in fact, in turning our left, then held by the Thirty-third Iowa, which had fought till its ammuni tion had been twice exhausted. Four companies of the Fortieth under Colonel Garrett marched rapidly by the left flank to the support of the Thirty-third, and forming under a cruel fire restored the line, which now advanced along its whole length, passing over the dead and wounded of the enemy. Within an hour, they advanced more than half a mile, driving the rebels entirely from the field. In this battle, the Union loss in killed, wounded, and missing was seven hundred. The rebels acknowledged a loss of two thousand three hundred, among them three generals. Our troops engaged were handled with con summate skill, and they fought with terrible tenacity and courage. It was a battle of musketry. A section of Vaughn s Battery was brought into the field, but was not engaged. A section of a rebel battery was also planted, and fired one round upon our lines, when the Twenty-ninth Iowa and Second Kansas, colored, charged across the field, and brought the guns back in triumph. It was principally, but not entirely, fought by the bri gades of General Rice and Colonel Engelmann, on the Union side, the whole force numbering but little more than the number of the enemy placed hors- de-combat. There were about as many rebel brigades as there were Union regiments engaged. At half-past twelve o clock there was not a rebel combatant left on the field. Presently, Kirby Smith sent in a flag of truce, but our forces having left the field, leaving only a burial party, these were captured, and a rebel victory proclaimed ! This bloody battle was fought in a field of mud. The men sank in the soft earth half way to their knees, and in many parts of the battle-ground they stood more than knee deep in mud and water. " Mud and mire, and sheets of water were everywhere." The troops had not been well subsisted for many days were hungry, wet, and tired. The fighting they did on this day, all things considered, must be pronounced wonderful. There was but a momentary wavering of the line during the entire contest, and this was on the extreme left, where order was so speedily restored by the Fortieth Iowa. All the rest of the time the line stood firmly at its place, belching a 676 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. constant sheet of flame into the rebel ranks, till it pressed forward and drove them from the field. The Fortieth did not fight in a body at any time during the engagement. Early in the morning two companies under Captain Campbell, had been sent out as skirmishers. Afterwards four companies under Major Smith crossed the creek on the right and remained there during the rest of the engagement. The remaining four companies H, E, K, G performed the principal part of the regiment s hard fighting, under command of the Colonel, and in this detachment the most of the losses occurred. Colonel Engelmann, commanding brigade, in his official report says: "The four companies of the Fortieth Iowa, holding the extreme left of our lines were hard pressed by the enemy but maintained their position with the most commendable bravery, suffering, however, in proportion to the number of men composing those companies, the most severe loss of any of our troops engaged at Jenkins Ferry. The general commanding division being informed of the desperate nature of the conflict on our extreme left, ordered the First Arkansas, a regiment of General Thayer s Division, which came up as reinforcements, to support them. The appearance of this regiment on our extreme left, immediately relieved the pressure on the Fortieth, without the First Arkansas sustaining any material loss. I must here express the high obligations under which I am to Colonel Garrett, and Lieutenant-Colonel Dengler (Forty- third Illinois) for the gallantry with which they led their commands, being conscious, however, that nothing I can say can afford them the satisfaction they must have experienced in witnessing the bravery of their men. " "I lost," says Colonel Garrett, " out of less than one hundred men, six killed, thirty-four wounded, some mortally, many severely, four captured, and one missing. One noble Sergeant Simmons of Company H shot in the breast, when his Lieutenant told him the enemy was beaten, waved his hand and died with a smile." 1 1 LIST OP CASUALTIES, FORTIETH IOWA, DURING CAMDEN EXPEDITION. Okolona, April 3d. Sergeant David A. Tanner, Samuel S. Roberts (wounded). J rairie D Anne, April IQth. Lieutenants Jamea W. Ward, Caleb J. Amos; Corporal John J. Wade; Privates A. J. Butin, Joseph S. Stone, Jesse L. Anderson, John Klinker. The other casualties occurred at Jenkins Ferry : Company C Wounded, Color-Sergeant Mortimer W. Nelson. Company D Wounded, Color-Corporal Thomas J. Davis. Company E Killed, Private Philip Mudgett. Wounded, Corporals William A. Thompson, Kyman S. Thurston ; Privates William S. Reagan, Joseph Kindle, Francis P. George, Joseph Runyon, Ebe- nezer B. Mother, Birchem W. Blackwood, Nehemiah Kitchen. Company G Killed, Sergeant Thomas Canady; Privates John G. Hunt, James M. Auld, Charles Schrader. Wounded, First Lieutenant William T. Baird; Privates Henry C. Smidt, Wilson F. Stradley, Henry C. Brown, John A. Seams, John T. Poison, William M. Dotson, Eugene L. Wines, Ernst Hartz. Company H Kitted, Sergeant Robert J. Simmons. Wounded, First Sergeant John H. Dawson ; Corporal Benjamin Ford (mortally); Privates Samuel P. Rees, John A. Mark, Peter Kesler, John V. Cole, Ashley S. Cody, Milton K. Walker. FORTIETH INFANTRY. 677 Notwithstanding the victory of Jenkins Ferry it was necessary that the army should continue its retreat, for two reasons first, supplies were almost entirely exhausted ; and, second, the rebel forces under Fagan were threatening Little Rock. Accordingly, the Union cavalry pressed rapidly forward, and was followed by infantry and artillery as soon as the issue on the Saline River had been decided. I think the retreat from Jenkins Ferry to Little Rock was one of the saddest of the war. Shortly after midnight on the morning of May 1st, orders were issued limiting transpor tation to one team for each brigade, and directing the destruction of all surplus wagons and baggage. This having been done the army took up its weary march. The horses had not had any grain, nor the men any bread, since leaving Princeton. Except a little foraged meat, the troops had lived on coffee ! Corduroy roads had to be made through the bottomless swamps, but before all the artillery could be borne over them they sank into the mire, and became useless. New roads had to be cut, new corduroys built. Horses gave out, and fell down by the road-side, unable to get up. The guns and caissons had to be dragged along by the men. They cut out roads, they built causeways, they performed the work of horses, and all this with famine gnawing at their vitals. Well might Colonel Engelmann say : The bravery and fortitude of the men, maintained under the most trying circumstances, not only in meeting and defeating an enemy far more numer ous than themselves, in suffering exposure to drenching rains and being compelled for nights in succession to lie in the swamps, but above all in bearing the attacks of gaunt hunger, and yet obeying every order of their officers with cheerfulness and alacrity, entitle them to the highest consider ation and gratitude of their country." A train of supplies, was sent out from Little Rock to meet them. As it came along, men in the wagons threw out the hard crackers along the muddy road-sides, and the troops scrambled after them, and ate them, Arkansas mud and all, with shouts of gratitude. After the Camden Expedition the regiment performed heavy duties, the labor and value of which are much better understood by the army than by civilians. In November, a small detachment, under command of Lieuten ant Fry, consisting of details from the different companies guarded the steamer "Alamo" up the Arkansas River. When near Dardanelle, they were attacked by some two hundred and fifty rebel cavalry on shore, whom they drove off after a spirited fight, killing two and wounding others, and having only one of their own number slightly wounded. Company K Wounded, Color-Corporals Robert C. Bare, Hiram Miner ; Privates Isaac Lee (mor tally), David Patrick, James Hogan, John W. Burkhead. Prisoners, Company A Samuel Bacon. Company E Isaac Koon. Company G William W. Adams. Company H Corporal William Williams. 678 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. About the middle of the first month of 1865, the regiment moved up the river to Dardanelle, the troops being fairly jammed into the old steam ferry " Davenport." The object of the movement was to raise the blockade of the river by rebel forces under one Brooks. He decamped with his raga muffins, and the Fortieth marched back to Little Rock. Lieutenant-Colonel Cooper commanded the regiment in this expedition, and returned by forced marches for which there was no necessity, and which caused no little suffer ing that would have been avoided by a skilful and humane commander. At this time Colonel Garrett was commanding a brigade, and Adjutant Duncan was serving at his head-quarters, as Acting Assistant Adjutant- General. Brigadier-General Cyrus Bussey having been assigned to the command of the District of Fort Smith, asked the departmental commander to send him "a first-rate regiment." The Fortieth was accordingly ordered to report to him, which Colonel Garrett did about the middle of Februarj r . Lieutenant-Colonel Cooper was at this time detailed for duty at General Reynolds head-quarters, and did not afterwards serve with the regiment. He procured the peremptory dismissal, however, of three most excellent line officers of the command, General Reynolds just about this time imagin ing himself a second Hercules, and the Department of Arkansas a second Augean stable, so that the least hint against an officer from one of his staff put him to work at his broom-sticks. Happily, the President of the United States patiently examined the case of these three officers, and promptly restored them to rank, so that Lieutenant-Colonel Cooper took nothing by his motion except an increase of unpopularity in the command. The unjust, yea, the outrageous dismissal of these officers was the only thing of interest which transpired in the command during its stay at Fort Smith. Colonel Garrett being some of the time in command of the brigade, the regiment was in command of Captain E. W. Ridlen, the oldest man in the regiment in years, but among the youngest in energy and willingness for duty. Adju tant Duncan was on duty at General Bussey s head-quarters, where much gallant fighting was done in the way of repelling the assaults of peculators. Herein General Bussey performed valuable service to the government. Major-General Blunt being relieved of the command of tfie District of South Kansas, Colonel Garrett was assigned to that command, head-quar ters at Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation. Colonel Garrett retained command of this district embracing part of Kansas, and all of the Indian Territory until his regiment was mustered out of the service. There was much for him and his staff to do, but the Fortieth saw no further warlike demonstra tions. The 2d of August, it was mustered out of the service at Fort Gibson, and the next day started for Iowa. Proceeding down the Grand and Arkansas Rivers to Little Rock, thence by rail to Duvall s Bluff, FOKTIETH INFANTRY. 679 thence down the White River and up the Mississippi to Cairo, and thence by rail, the command arrived at Davenport after this journey of fifteen hundred miles, on the 10th. The 16th, it was disbanded, and soon there after the officers and men who had made the Fortieth Iowa "one of the finest regiments ever seen, east or west, were at home by happy hearth stones. 3 The roster of officers when the regiment was honorably discharged the service, was : Colonel John A. Garrett ; Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel F. Cooper; Adjutant L. A. Duncan, (who had been commissioned Major, but not mustered, because the regiment was not entitled to three field officers) ; Quartermaster J. R. Broderick; Surgeon N. R. Corwell, James W.Morgan Assistant; Chaplain Reverend S. F. C. Garrison. Captains William Blain, William S. Guffy, M. M. Rice, M. S. Cox, J. W. Hewett, E. W. Ridlen, D. C. Jordan, C. J. Amos, I. II. Dempcy, S.. S. Arnold; First Lieutenants G. F. Burzette, J. W. Farmer, J. T. S. Fry, J. W. Taylor, J. L. Hunter, C. J. Coles, A. H. Paisley, H. F. O Neall, B. W. Seaman. Companies C and I only had Second Lieutenants D. A. Tanner, George Yule. CHAPTER XLIV. SIXTH CAVALRY. ORGANIZATION RENDEZVOUS AT DAVENPORT MARCH FROM THERE TO SIOUX CITY CAMPAIGNING AGAINST INDIANS THE BATTLE OF WHITE- STONE HILL THE REGIMENT REMAINS IN SERVICE ON THE FRONTIER- DISCHARGED. AMONG the prominent members of the Democratic party in Iowa who gave their services to the cause of the country in the field was DAVID S. WILSON, of Dubuque. For this purpose he quitted a lucrative practice at the bar, where he stood eminent among the lawyers of our State, and gave up anticipations of political advancement, or at any rate of greater political prominence, which were brighter, perhaps, than those of any other person of his party in northern Iowa. Though it is true that, outside of his own county, the people of that part of the State did not agree with his political views, it is also true that he was stronger than his party. A man of fine abilities and great goodness of heart, who had long been laughing and growing fat, he could have succeeded in getting almost any office in the gift of the people, who had the utmost confidence in him personally, in the event of a division, always liable to occur, in the party having the majority. The determination that he made of going into the army was all the more creditable to his patriotism because it was not in his nature to be a good hater. Perhaps he never did hate any body but a rebel against the Union, and his hatred of rebels was based rather upon his reason than his feelings. He hated them because he thought it was right to hate them. However this may be, he had a most earnest love of the Union, and determined to serve it where he thought he could serve it most in the army. The result of this determination was the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, of which he was the first colonel, and which contained many officers and men whose partizan views coincided with his, and who had like him done much for the Union cause before the organization of the regiment. The regiment was recruited in different parts of the State, in a wide belt of country extending from the northeastern to the southwestern parts of it. 680 SIXTH CAVALRY. 681 The regimental rendezvous was near the city of Davenport, where eight of the companies were mustered into the service of the United States on the last day of January, 1863. Three of the companies were mustered a very few days afterwards, and the twelfth company on the 5th of March. The regiment at this time had a few more than eleven hundred names on its rolls, but they were constantly being increased by additional enlistments, so that when it left the rendezvous for active service not long afterwards it was nearly up to the maximum standard of a cavalry regiment. The field and staff officers were: Colonel David S. Wilson; Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel M. Pollock; Majors Thomas H. Shepherd, E. P. Ten-Broeck, A. E. House; Adjutant Rufus L. Miller; Quartermaster Abram Williams; Commissary Morgan Reno; Surgeon Jacob H. Camburn; Assistants T. S. Bard well, S. C. Haynes; Chaplain Reverend David H. Mitchell. 1 The regiment took up line of march for Sioux City on the 16th day of the same month in which the last company had been mustered in. Most of the companies, however, had been in rendezvous since about the first of November, 1862, were well drilled and disciplined, so that when the com mand moved from the rendezvous, well mounted and armed, it presented a fine and imposing appearance, which long remained in the recollection of thousands of gratified spectators. It was the season of storms and bad roads, of both which the regiment had large experience during its march across the State. The regiment reached Sioux City on the 26th of April. Colonel Wilson reported to Brigadier-General John Cook, commanding district of Iowa and Dacota, and on the same day his regiment crossed the Sioux River, and pitched tents in " Camp Cook," Dacota Territory. For the purpose of punishing, and, perhaps, of exterminating the hostile Indians of the Northwest, the Department of War had directed two expe ditions to be fitted out one, to move up the east bank of the Missouri 1 The roster of Company officers was as follows : Company A Captain John Galligan ; First Lieu, tenant John M. Gates ; Second Lieutenant Simon J. Toll. Company B Captain De Witt C. Cram ; First Lieutenant Tyler P. Rood ; Second Lieutenant Thomas J. Leavitt. Company C Captain L. L. Ainsworth; First Lieutenant George E. Dayton; Second Lieutenant Henry Rickel. Company D Captain Theodore W. Burdick; First Lieutenant Sherman Page; Second Lieutenant Timothy Finn. Company E Captain Daniel F. Eicher; First Lieutenant Joseph C. De Haven; Second Lieutenant David Ellison. Company .F Captain Scott Shattuck ; First Lieutenant James Ruth ; Second Lieu tenant Lucius N. Beeman. Company G Captain Abraham B. Moreland ; First Lieutenant Wesley A. Heath ; Second Lieutenant Edward H. Gaylord. Company IT Captain Canfield J. Marsh ; First Lieutenant G. A. Hesselberger; Second Lieutenant Carter Berkley. Company /Captain Lewis. R. Wolfe; First Lieutenant Benjamin King; Second Lieutenant George W. McCall. Company K Captain John Logan; First Lieutenant Samuel M. Parker; Second Lieutenant Hiram F. Berst. Company L Captain Aaron S. Ames ; First Lieutenant Hiram F. Parks Second Lieutenant Alpheus Scott. Company M Captain V.J.Williams; First Lieutenant James Brown; Second Lieutenant Richard Berry. Many of these line officers were men of less or more local reputation in their neighborhoods, but Captain Ainsworth was quite well known throughout the State. He had been a democratic col league of Colonel Wilson in the Senate. He not a little resembled Abraham Lincoln in good nature, in the quantity and quality of his jokes, and in " human beauty." 86 682 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. River, the other, to move westward from Minnesota into the Indian coun try, the two forces to form a junction at some point on the upper Missouri. The expedition from Sioux City, under command of General Cook, was preparing for its part of the campaign, when intelligence was received that a large band of Indians were encamped near Fort Randall, and threatening that post garrisoned by a small force, under command of Major John Pattee. One battalion of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, Major Ten-Broeck, was ordered to proceed immediately to Fort Randall, and reenforce the garrison. This battalion was followed on the 22d of May by another, with Major Shepherd, but accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Pollock, who had orders to take command at Fort Randall, and forthwith drive all hostile Indians from the vicinity. Learning of the approach of troops, the Indians fled, but Colonel Pollock sent detachments to scour the country, some of which made quite extensive marches. Near the end of the month, the battalion under Major Ten-Broeck marched to Fort Pierre, distant, up the river, about two hundred miles from Fort Randall by the course of the stream. And here it was that the campaign closing with the battle of White Stone Hill, was inaugurated. In the month of June, General Cook was relieved of command by Bri gadier-General Alfred Sully, who at once made Fort Pierre his base of operations for a movement against the Indians. Active preparations went on from day to day for a campaign in that almost uninhabited region, where it was certain there now lurked many wily foes, whose mode of war fare was savage, dangerous, and not without its advantages over the more open mode of civilized peoples. The preparations having been completed so far as the nature of the case would allow, General Sully s little army left Fort Pierre on the 13th of August. His command was composed of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Wilson, Second Nebraska Cavalry, Colonel Furnas, Sioux City Cavalry (of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry) Captain Millard, and the " Prairie Battery" of four guns, in round numbers about two thou sand five hundred combatants, besides those necessary to take care of the supply train, which was of necessity large. The command marched rapidly, moving up the east bank of the Missouri more than one hundred miles, to the mouth of the Little Sheyenne River, where it awaited the arrival of a steamer with supplies, and then again went marching on. An account of the campaign henceforth, and of the battle of White Stone Hill, will be found in General Sully s full report, as follows : " CAMP AT MOUTH OF LITTLE SHEYENNE RIVER, "September II, 1863. J " Major : The last report I had the honor to send you was from the mouth of this Littlo Sheyenne River, bearing date August 16, 1863 ; since which time my movements have been too rapid and the SIXTH CAVALRY. 683 danger of sending any communication such that it has been impossible for me to do so. I therefore have the honor to report my movements from last report up to date. " On the morning of the 19th the steamer I was waiting for with supplies finally arrived. She was immediately unloaded, and all the baggage of the officers and men of the command was sent by her to the depot at Fort Pierre, together with every man who was in the least sick or not well mounted. " I succeeded in getting off the afternoon of the 21st, and marched up the Little Sheyenne about eleven miles, the road being very heavy. The next day we marched only seven miles, camping on a slough on the prairie without any wood. The next day we marched in a northwesterly direction to the outlet of Swan Lake. On the 24th we marched due north eighteen miles, and encamped on a small creok called Bois Cache. Here we came into the Buffalo country, and I formed a hunting party for the command, which I had soon to disband, as they disabled more horses than buffalo. We continued our march north about twenty-two miles, aud reached a small stream called Bird Arch Creek. This day the hunters succeeded in killing many buffalo, and reported that they saw Indians near the Missouri. " Early on the morning of the 26th I sent out a small scouting party, who captured two squaws and some children, and brought them in to me. These Indians reported that General Sibley had had a fight near the head of Long Lake, and that they were on their way to the agency at Crow Creek, but were lost, and were alone ; but the scouts found tracks of lodges going up the Missouri. "On the 27th I started late, having had some difficulty in crossing the river, making a march of five miles, still in a northerly direction and encamped on another branch of the same river. The next day we made the outlet of Long Lake, a march of about twenty miles. "This same day (29th) I sent two companies of the Sixth Iowa to the mouth of Apple Creek. They reported on their return that they found the fortified camp of General Sibley, his trail, and his return trail towards the east. This detachment was under command of Captain Cram, Sixth Iowa. On the 3d of September we reached a lake, where, on the plains near by, were the remains of a very large number of buffalo killed, some quite recently. Here I encamped to wait the reports of the commands I had out during the march, who every day discovered fresh signs of Indians, their lodge trails spread over the country, but all moving towards a point known to be a favorite haunt of the Indians. I had this day detailed one battalion of the Sixth Iowa, Major House commanding, and Mr. Frank La Fromboise as guide, to keep ahead of me five miles, and in case they saw a small band of Indians to attack them, or take them prisoners. If they should find a large band, too large to successfully cope with, to watch the camp at a distance, and send word back to me, my intention being to leave my train under charge of a heavy guard, move up in the night time so as to surround them, and attack them at daybreak. But for some reason satisfactory to the guide, he bore off much to my left, and came upon the Indians in an encampment of over four hundred lodges, some say six hundred, in ravines, where they felt perfectly secure, being fully persuaded that I was still on my way up the Missouri. " Major House, according to my instructions, endeavored to surround and keep in the Indians until word could be sent me ; but this was an impossibility with his three hundred men, as the en campment was very large, mustering at least one thousand two hundred warriors. This is what the Indians say they had ; but I, as well as everybody in the command, say over one thousand five hundred. These Indians were partly Santees from Minnesota, Cutheads from the Coteau, Yanktonais and some Blackfeet who belong on the other side of the Missouri, and, as I have since learned, Unkpa-pas, the same party who fought General Sibley and destroyed the Mackinaw boat. Of this I have unmistakable proof from letters and papers found in camp and on the persons of some of the Indians, beside relics of the late Minnesota massacre ; also from the fact that they told Mr. La Fromboise, the guide, when he was surrounded by about two hundred of them, that they had fought General Sibley, and they could not see why the whites wanted to come to fight them, unless they were tired of living and wanted to die. Mr. La Fromboise succeeded in getting away from them after some difficulty, and ran his horse a distance of more than ten miles to give me information, Major House, with his command, still remaining there. He reached me a little after 4 o clock. I immediately turned out my command. At the sound of the bugle the men rushed with a cheer, and, in a very few minutes saddled up and were in line. I left four companies and all the men who were poorly mounted in the camp, with orders to strike the tents and corral all the wagons, and starting off with the Second Nebraska on the right, the Sixth Iowa on the left, one company of the Seventh Iowa and the battery in the centre, at full gallop, we made this distance of over ten miles in much less than an hour. On reaching near the ground I found that the enemy were leaving, andcarrrying off what plunder 684 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. they could. Many lodges, however, were still standing. I ordered Colonel Furnas, Second Nebraska, to push his horses to the utmost, so as to reach the camp and assist Major House in keeping the Indians corraled. This order was obeyed with great alacrity, the regiment going over the plains at a full run. I was close upon the rear of the regiment with the Sixth Iowa. The Second Nebraska took to the right of the camp, and was soon lost in a cloud of dust over the hills. I ordered Colonel Wilson, Sixth Iowa, to take the left, while I with the battery, one company of the Seventh Iowa, Captain Millard, and two companies of the Sixth Iowa, Major Ten-Brocck commanding, charged through the centre of the encampment. I here found an Indian chief by the name of Little Soldier with some few of his people. This Indian has always had the reputation of being a 1 good Indian and friendly. I placed them under guard and moved on. Shortly after I met with the notorious chief Big-head and some of his men. They were dressed for a fight, but my men cut them off. These Indians, together with some of their warriors mustering about thirty, together with squaws, children, ponies, and dogs, gave themselves up, numbering human beings over one hundred and twenty. About the same time firing began about a half mile from me ahead, and was kept up, becoming more and more brisk until it was quite a respectable engagement. A report was brought to me (which proved to be false) that the Indians were driving back some of my com mand. I immediately took possession of the hillocks near by, forming line and placing the battery in the centre on a higher knoll. At this time night had about set in, but still the engagement was briskly kept up. and in the melee it was hard to distinguish my line from that of the enemy. The Indians made a very desperate resistance, but finally broke and fled, pursued in every direction by bodies of my troops. I would here state that the troops, though mounted, were armed with rifles, and, according to my orders, most of them dismounted and fought afoot until the enemy broke, when they remounted and went in pursuit. It is to be regretted that I could not have had an hour or two more of daylight, for I feel sure if I had I could have annihilated the enemy. As it was. I believe I can safely say I gave them one of the most severe punishments that the Indians have ever received. After night set in the engagement was of such a promiscuous nature that it was hard to tell what results would happen; I therefore ordered all the buglers to sound the "rally," and build ing large fires, remained under arms during the night collecting together my troops. "The next morning early (the 4th) I established my camp on the battle-field, the wagon train, under charge of Major Pearman, Second Nebraska, having in the night been ordered to join me, and sent out strong scouting parties in different directions to scour the country to overtake what Indians they could ; but in this they were not very successful, though some of them had some little skirmishes. " They found the dead and wounded in all directions, some of them miles from the battle-field ; also, immense quantities of provisions, baggage, &c., where they had apparently cut loose their ponies from " travies" and got on them ; also, large numbers of ponies and dogs harnessed to " travies" running all over the prairie. One party that I sent out went near to the James River, and found there eleven dead Indians. The deserted camp of the Indians, together with the country all around, was covered with their plunder. I devoted this day, together with the following (the 5th) to destroying all this property, still scouring the country. " I do not think I exaggerate in the least when I say that I burned up four or five hundred thou sand pounds of dried Buffalo meat as one item, besides three hundred lodges and a very large quantity of property of great value to the Indians. A very large number of ponies were found dead and wounded on the field ; besides, a large number were captured. The prisoners (some one hundred and thirty) I take with me below, and shall report to you more specially in regard to them. "During the engagement, for some time, the Second Nebraska, afoot and armed with rifles, (and there are among them probably some of the best shots in the world,) were engaged with the enemy at a distance of not over sixty paces, pouring on them a murderous fire in the ravine where the enemy were posted. The slaughter, therefore, must have been immense. My oflicers and the guides I have with me think one hundred and fifty will not cover their loss. The Indian reports make it over two hundred. ^ " That the General may know the exact locality of the battle-field, I would state that it was, as near as I could judge, about fifteen miles west of James River, and about half way between the latitudes of Bonebute and head waters of Elm River, as laid down on the government maps. The fight took place near a hill called by the Indians White Stone Hill. " In conclusion, I would state that the troops of my command conducted themselves well ; and though it was the first fight that nearly all of them had ever been in, they showed that they are of the right material, and that in time they will make worthy soldiers. It is to be regretted we lost so many valuable lives as we did, but this could not be helped ; the Indians had formed line SIXTH CAVALRY. 685 of battle with good judgment, from which they conld be dislodged only by a charge. I could not use my artillery without greatly endangering the lives of my own men. " Very respectfully, Ac., " ALFRED SULLY, Brigadier-General commanding." " P. S. By actual count, the number of my prisoners is one hundred and fifty-six men, thirty- two ; women and children, one hundred and twenty-four. I would also beg leave to say that in the action I had of my command between six hundred and seven hundred men actually engaged. My killed numbered, as far as ascertained, twenty; wounded, thirty-eight." The battle of White Stone Hill was " sharp, severe, and short." It did not continue more than about twenty minutes, in which time, according to the weight of opinion, about one hundred and fifty Indians were killed, and more than twice as many wounded. The savages were armed with rifles, shot-guns, and bows and arrows, the last being their most effective weapon at short range, and they fought with desperation and deafening war-whoops. What with their killed, wounded, and prisoners, however, they lost about half their warriors, and were glad to escape with a punishment little less, in its results, than extermination. For it is undoubtedly true that many more than those who fell on the battle-field afterwards became the prey of starvation. Colonel Wilson, in his report of the part taken by his regiment in this combat, says : I wish to call to your particular attention every one of the field and line officers of the regiment without enumerating them by name. From the highest to the lowest they deserve the most favorable considera tion ; and the same may be said of almost the entire command engaged. Being their first battle, this was their baptism of fire and steel, and most nobly did they behave. The high honor earned by the noble action of the Iowa troops upon other fields of battle has not been tarnished by the gal lant Iowa Sixth at White Stone Hill." Major A. E. House, who com manded the advance battalion of the day, it will be remembered, says : "Among those who distinguished themselves for personal bravery, I wish to mention Captain R. L. Wolf, who stood in front of his company, and killed an Indian every shot he made. The whole command did well." The loss of the Sixth Cavalry in the battle was twelve killed and ten wounded, among the former being Lieutenant T. J. Leavitt, who was dis tinguished for personal prowess on the field. 2 The bodies of the dead were buried side by side upon a knoll near the shore of a small lake at the foot of White Stone Hill, from which the battle takes its name, and which hill is about two hundred and twenty miles northeast of Fort Pierre. The command commenced the return march two days after the battle. * The names of the other killed were : Sergeants James N. Rogers, Company E; William W. Davis, Company H; Corporal Milo N. Higgins, Company I; Privates Avery Clark, Company C; William J. Armstrong, Casper Wagoner, Elijah McCallister, Company F& Charles Stephens, Company G; W. R. Dammett, Charles Uckerman, Company H. I regret that I have not a list of the wounded. Colonel Wilson s horse was shot under him, but he himself escaped unhurt. 686 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. At the mouth of the Little Sheyenne, the column was met by the little steamboat "Alone," which furnished the troops with rations of "hard tack," and enabled them the more cheerfully to continue the march to Fort Pierre, where they arrived on the llth of September. In obedience to orders commanding him to locate a military post and construct a fort at an eligible point near Fort Pierre, General Sully selected a site on the east bank of the Missouri about fifteen miles below the old fort, where work was at once commenced by the Sixth Cavalry. A fort of logs with capacity to contain a garrison of four companies, was erected, but before it had been completed General Sully, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Pollock with five companies of the regiment to finish the work, marched to Fort Randall and thence to Sioux City. About the middle of November the regiment went into winter quarters, but in detachments widely separated from each other. The work built below Fort Pierre in the fall of 1863 by our regiment was called Fort Sully. It was distant from Sioux City about three hundred miles, and thither came a brigade of troops in the spring and early summer of 1864, with the object of starting from that post on another campaign against the Indians. General Sully was in command. The command marched northward on the 26th of June. It consisted of eleven companies of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry (one company having been left at Fort Randall, as part of the garrison, Major Shephard, commanding post) Lieutenant-Colonel Pollock; 3 three companies Seventh Iowa Cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel John Pattee ; Brackett s Battalion of Minnesota Cavalry, Major A. B. Brackett; two companies Dakota Cavalry ; one company of Scouts, Captain Stuffts ; and a battery of four guns, mountain howitzers, Captain Nathaniel Pope, numbering in all about eighteen hundred men. The brigade reached a point on the Missouri River about two hundred miles above Fort Sully on the 8th of July, where General Sully located the military post of Fort Rice. Here a brigade of troops which had marched from Minnesota joined the expedi tion. Remaining a few days for further preparation, and more complete organization, during which period there was a review of all the troops by the general, the line of march westward was taken up on the morning of the 19th, a detachment of the Thirtieth Wisconsin Infantry being left to complete the fort. The campaign henceforth was singular. If my reader will look at a map of the field of operations, he will see emptying into the Missouri, between the forty-sixth and forty-seventh degrees of north latitude, the Big Cannon and the Heart Rivers. Between these streams the expedition was now Colonel Wilson had resigned some time before. After his resignation he paid a short visit to his friends in Iowa, and then, going to New York, sailed for California, where he ought to have a large share of " contentment, prosperity, and happiness." SIXTH CAVALRY. 687 moving. On Heart River General Sully established a corral for his trains, and an Idaho emigrant train traveling under his protection, and moved on to Knife River. From here, nearly to the Yellow Stone River, the surface of the country is remarkable for its rough and rugged nature. Were the sea to be agitated by winds blowing in all directions till it should become a confounded and dizzying mass of whirling, rolling, every-shaped, every- sized waves, and should be suddenly changed to earth, it would present a tolerable picture of the region we speak of. The Indians call it the Bad Lands, and it is as difficult of passage by an army as the mountains of Switzerland. General Sully found large numbers of Indians encamped on the border of this repulsive region, whom he defeated with heavy loss, and by dismounting his troops, drove them to its secret recesses, till he could himself proceed no farther, and then returned to the Heart River. There taking his trains again, he sought another route, and after incredible diffi culties, and daily fights with the savages, he placed his army on the banks of the Yellow Stone, about sixty miles from its mouth. The march through this rough region was very much after the Indian fashion. The men were dismounted most of the time, and for a considerable portion of the way, the column crept its way along the bed of a stream, now, fortunately, almost without water. The Indians appeared once or twice in large numbers, and were all the time hovering near by in less or greater force. They seemed to have a wholesome fear of our arms, and would not often allow themselves to be caught within range. But our troopers managed to kill quite a num ber of them, whilst large quantities of their property were captured and destroyed. Our losses were trifling, the most serious casualty, perhaps, being the severe wounding of General Sully s guide, an Indian boy of the Black-foot tribe, the only person in the expedition acquainted with the country. The Yellow Stone was reached on the 12th of August, and there, anchored in the middle of the stream were the little steamers "Alone" and "Chippeway," with the Union bunting gaily floating from their flag- staffs, and plenty of rations in their holds. With the assistance of the steamers, the army and trains crossed the river on the 13th, and moved up to Fort Union, a trading post on the Missouri, on the forty-eighth degree of north latitude, with the country of the Crow Indians on the west, and that of the Assiniboins on the east and north to the British Possessions. Having remained here a short time, the army crossed the Missouri, which here flows eastward, and on the 21st marched down the northern bank. In due time Fort Berthold was reached, where one company of our regiment was left to garrison the post, Captain Moreland commanding. Having marched down the river one day, General Sully wheeled to the left on the 1st of September, and marched northward in hopes to overtake 688 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. hostile savages of whom he had heard. On the next day the command reached the "Dog Buttes," a range of hills on the south bank of the Mouse River, whose waters flow northward into the Arctic Seas. No trace of Indians could be found, and the column retraced its steps, and marching on down the river reached Fort Rice on the 9th. Here our regiment received letters and papers from the States the first mail since their departure from the Fort, nearly two months before. The commingled feelings which this event created can be better imagined than described. The mail which brought intelligence from home also brought the promotions caused by the resignation of Colonel Wilson. Lieutenant- Colonel Pollock had been commissioned Colonel, Maj or Ten-Broeck, Lieu tenant-Colonel, and Captain Galligan, Company A, Major. The promotion of these officers was received with great enthusiam by the regiment, for they had one and all performed their duties bravely and well. The active campaigning of the regiment was now ended for the summer, except that a detachment therefrom, consisting of one hundred men, Captain D. F. Eicher, commanding, joined a larger force which marched westward from Fort Rice to the relief of a large emigrant train, stopped and harassed by the Indians. The Indians were driven off without an actual battle, and the detachment returned in about three weeks. The other forces under General Sully remained in camp near Fort Rice till the last day of September. During this period bands of Indians appeared near the camp from time to time, but their design appeared rather to be theft than war. They succeeded, by the exercise of Indian cunning, in capturing a number of horses and mules, and in one of the races after the thieves Sergeant Murray, of the Sixth Iowa, was killed. When the main army left Fort Rice, a battalion of five companies, Major House, remained there to garrison the post, and there stayed nearly a month. During the winter, the regiment was quartered in detachments at Fort Randall, Sioux City, Yankton, the Sioux and Winnebago Indian Agency, and at Fort Berthold. Major Shephard resigned before the close of the year, and was succeeded by Captain Cram, of Company B. Several changes in the officers took place during the winter, and a number returned to the State on recruiting service, whereby about one hundred and sixty men were added to the regiment. The winter was spent as comfortably as circumstances would allow, the monotony of garrison life, especially at Fort Sully, being happily broken by frequent "hops," the females of the dances being Indian maidens, and some who were not maidens, who were not very good-looking, pot very well dressed, and who could not speak a word of English, but by a sort of instinct, not unnatural, perhaps, to barbarians, could dance as gracefully as the belles of our cities. The lamented General Crocker, whose ill-health compelled him to seek the mild climate of New SIXTH CAVALRY. 689 Mexico, where he was thrown into Indian "society," observed that "we all know white women can dance, those of us who have been south know that black women can, and I have now learned that dancing with Indians is better than no dancing at all." Our boys in the solitudes of Dakota thought the Indian girls were remarkably apt in the art. The campaigning of the regiment, in 1865, was less active. The Indians had become comparatively quiet. So the authorities determined that the command should be honorably discharged. It was, accordingly, mustered out at Sioux City on the 17th of October, then numbering nine hundred and seventy-seven officers and men. They proceeded by wagon to Boons- boro, thence by rail to Clinton, and thence by steamer to Davenport, where the regiment was disbanded. 4 The following is a list of the commissioned officers at the time the regiment left the service : Colonel, S. M. Pollock ; Lieutenant-Colonel, Edward P. Ten-Broeck ; first Major, A. E. House ; Second Major, John Galligan ; Third Major, De Witt C. Cram ; Adjutant, B. E. Agard ; Quartermaster, C. W. Fogg; Commissary, Morgan Reno; Surgeon, J. H. Camburn; First Assistant Surgeon, Thomas S. Bardwell ; Second Assistant Surgeon, Samuel C. Haynes ; Chaplain, David H. Mitchell. Company -4 Captain John M. Gates; First Lieutenant Hugh A. McAllister; Second Lieutenant Henry Soedt. Company B Captain Dexter E. Bronson ; First Lieutenant Frank 0. Udell ; Second Lieutenant Horatio G. Forster. Company C Captain D. D. Ainsworth; First Lieutenant Freeman K. Fisk; Second Lieutenant Warren D. Stafford. Company D Captain T. W. Burdick; First Lieu tenant T. Finn ; Second Lieutenant William M. Fannon. Company .E Captain Daniel F. Eicher; First Lieutenant Joseph C. De Haven ; Second Lieutenant Sanford M. Smith. Company F Captain James Ruth ; First Lieutenant L. N. Beeman ; Second Lieutenant A. H. McKallor. Company G Captain A. B. Moreland ; First Lieutenant Wesley A. Heath ; Second Lieutenant Charles F. Hobbs. Company H Captain J. M. Van Meter; First Lieutenant John A. Patterson; Second Lieutenant Charles A. Reardon. Company /Captain Benjamin King; First Lieutenant George W. McCall ; Second Lieutenant Henry C. Nichols. Company JT Captain George E. Dayton ; First Lieutenant Samuel M. Parker; Second Lieutenant H. F. Berst. Company L Captain A. S. Ames; First Lieu tenant A. R. Fuller; Second Lieutenant A. W. Hunt. Company M Captain V. J. Williams; First Lieutenant James Brown; Second Lieutenant L. F. Williams. 87 CHAPTER XLV. SEVENTH CAVALRY. ORGANIZED AT DAVENPORT ITS FIELD OF OPERATIONS WEST OF THE MISSOURI RIVER ITS BATTLES AND SERVICES TO THE CLOSE OF 1865. THE formation of the Seventh Cavalry Regiment of Iowa Volunteers proceeded slowly, and it was finally organized at "Camp Hendershott," Davenport, in the summer of 1863, by a consolidation of companies which had been previously assigned to other organizations. It would be but to weary the reader with uninteresting details to relate the particulars of the process by which the regiment was at last brought to unity and organiza tion. Let it suffice, that Colonel Summers long labored energetically, but without complete success, to recruit companies for the regiment; that Major Heath was untiring and sagacious in his efforts to bring about the desired results ; that these labors were continued through many months ; having commenced in the year 1862, and that two companies were mus tered into the service April 27th, 1863, two more companies the day follow ing, two more June 3d, one on the 16th, and one on the 13th of July. Meanwhile, three companies of the Forty-first Infantry (being, in fact, Companies A, B, and C, as originally enrolled in the Fourteenth Infantry), and a company of Sioux City Independent Cavalry, were transferred to this regiment by order of the Department of War. The four companies trans ferred had already been long in the service on the western frontier. July 25th, Samuel W. Summers, who had been many months commissioned, was mustered as colonel, and the organization thereby completed. John Pattee, who had been appointed Major of the Forty-first Infantry, was lieutenant-colonel; H. H. Heath, George W. O Brien, John S. Wood, were majors; Eugene S. Sheffield was adjutant; William H. Northrop, quartermaster; Benjamin F. Giger, commissary; Andrew J. Willey, sur geon, with James W. La Force, and Stephen P. Yeomans, assistants. Nearly a month before the completion of the organization, Major Heath marched for Omaha, Nebraska Territory, under orders to report to Bri gadier-General McKean, with six companies of the regiment. General McKean, commanding the district of Nebraska, stationed the companies, 690 SEVENTH CAVALRY. G91 after their arrival, at different posts in the territory. In September, Colonel Summers, with the head-quarters of the regiment, and the two companies which had been left at Davenport, marched also to Omaha, at which place head-quarters remained until about the middle of July, 1864. But during the entire service of the regiment, from the time Major Heath reached Omaha, till the close of the year, 1865, the different com panies were scattered over a wide extent of territory, and each was actively engaged in the heavy duties required of troops at frontier posts, in a coun try constantly threatened, and frequently invaded by a savage enemy. They garrisoned posts, escorted trains, protected emigrants, guarded lines of travel and of telegraph, and had frequent combats with the Indians who had been induced by some means or other to unbury the tomahawk and wage savage warfare against the whites. Portions of the regiment were engaged in the battles of White Stone Hill, Tahkahokutah, Mauvais Ten- nes, or Bad Lands, Little Blue, Julesburg, Mud Springs, Rush Creek, Horse Creek, Cow Creek, and other engagements and skirmishes, in all which they fought gallantly, and in some of which they met with considerable losses. In Dakota, in Nebraska, in Colorado, in Kansas ; under Generals McKean, Mitchell, Curtis, and lastly under Heath ; they performed valuable services over a vast extent of country services which, to describe with par ticularity, would require many pages for every company of the regiment. Each company marched thousands of miles, from the time of organization till the close of the year 1865, though, of course, on account of circum stances, some of the companies were more actively employed than others. The command lost more heavily at the affair of Julesburg, Colorado Ter ritory, January 7th, 1865, than elsewhere. This engagement was fought by Company F of the Seventh Cavalry, Captain N. J. O Brien command ing the company. The Indians in large numbers attacked a train near Julesburg. Captain O Brien marched to the assistance of the train. Colonel Summers accompanied Captain O Brien s command, and directed the combat on the Union side. It continued during the day, Colonel Sum mers being at one time besieged in a ranche by the road-side. Captain O Brien having now brought up artillery fired amongst the Indians and soon dispersed them. Fifty-five warriors were killed dead on the field and many wounded. Colonel Summers himself shot the principal chief with his revolver, and secured his magnificent equipments. 1 i The killed of the Seventh Cavalry at Julesburg were : Sergeant A. Hanshett ; Corporals W. H. Gray, Anthony Koons, W. B. Talcott; Privates George Barnett, H. W. Brundridge, Henry II. Hall, Dftvid iBhman, Davis Lippincott, Amos McArthur, Joel Stebbins, Thomas Scott, Edson Moore. I find the following names reported of those killed in other actions, some of which took place before, some after the affair of Julesburg. Namely: John Anderson, William R. Hosier, William Stewart, William McVey, Thomas Turner, John W. Bower, Bluford Starkey, John A. Harris, Newton J. Grubb, Richard Groger, Edward McMahon, Philip Alder. Captain William D. Fouts was slain at the battle of Horse Creek, Dacota, June 14th, 1865, whilst gallantly leading his command. 692 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Colonel Summers was mustered out of the service not long after the battle of Julesburg, and returned to Iowa. Some months afterwards, Major Heath, always popular with the command, was commissioned, and was mustered colonel in the following May, and soon afterwards was brevetted brigadier-general. The Department of Missouri was now in command of Major-General G. M. Dodge, who devoted much of his ener gies to the protection of our western settlers and of the overland line of travel to the Pacific coast. General Heath went to Fort Kearney, and taking command of a sub-district succeeded in defeating the Indians in one or two engagements, and in making it safe for travelers to journey to the great gold-bearing regions of our country. Late in the fall, the savages attacked a train in the vicinity of Alcali. Heath s troopers were soon in pursuit, and by a march of incredible diffi culty over a sterile country, and a fine combat at midnight, in which the Indians were completely defeated, with heavy losses in killed and wounded, returned to head-quarters, not soon to be disturbed by the savage enemy. General Heath conducted hostilities against the Indians with great success, and won the encomiums of superior officers not only, but of the people who had been so long harassed that they had well nigh given up all hope of being soon relieved from the terrors of Indian warfare. "The citizens of Nebraska," says a leading journal of that territory, "and especially those living on and interested in the great overland road may congratulate themselves upon having a military commander who thoroughly understands the mode of Indian warfare, and who is willing to march against them, and to endure the same privations and fatigue that his men do, sharing his rations with them ; whose home in the field is in the saddle, and whose move ments are as rapid as those of his wily foe. These qualities are combined in General Heath, who stands head and shoulders above any officer who has been in command at Fort Kearney since the beginning of the Indian troubles." It is doubtless on account of the efficient services of General Heath and his command that the Seventh Cavalry is still retained in the service (Jan uary 1866) and will probably be so retained for some months to come. Its troopers, in whole or by detachments, have already taken part in every expedition against Indians in the Departments of the Missouri, Kansas, and the Northwest, from the middle of 1863 to the present time, and they have always done their duty manfully, skilfully, bravely. They have endured many privations, suffered many hardships, but they have suffered with patience, as they have fought ever gallantly, keeping from our borders a ruthless enemy, who, but for their sleepless vigilance and untiring energy would have carried fire, and massacre, and indescribable horrors over the new settlements of our frontier. There is a heavy debt of gratitude due SEVENTH CAVALRY. 693 from the county, and especially from the Northwest, to those troops who were denied the privilege of fighting rebels in the South, but who performed invaluable services on the less glorious field of the far west, and among all the troops who were there engaged none are entitled to a larger share of that gratitude than the Seventh Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Herman H. Heath. 2 2 The history of the Sixth and Seventh regiments of Iowa Cavalry, does not, strictly, come within the general plan of this work, which has to do with what our troops did in the war against the Southern Rebellion. These regiments, however, were recruited during the rebellion, and performed most of their services, the former nearly all, before it was conquered. Moreover, the Indian out break was probably the result of rebel machinations. It has been deemed but simple justice, there fore, to briefly relate the history of these gallant troopers. I may add, as of personal interest, the names of the officers of the Seventh, embracing the changes up to September, 1865. Colonels Samuel W. Summers, II. H. Heath. Lieutenant-Colond John Pattee. Majors H. II. Heath, George M. O Brien, James B. David, John S. Wood. Adjutants E. S. Sheffield, Edward K. Valentine. Kurgeon Andrew J. Willey, with Assistants James W. La Force, Stephen P. Yeoman. Quartermaster W. H. Northrop. Commissary B. F. Giger. Company A Captains John S. Wood, Edward B. Murphy; Lieutenants Ed ward B. Murphy, James G. Smith, Thomas J. Potter, Benjamin F. Roberts. Company B Captain John Wilcox ; Lieutenants John M. Philips, Thomas S. Parker, Jesse Aiken, Francis J. Comstock. Company C Captains H. W. Cremer, Jonathan C. Mitchell; Lieutenants H. W. Cremer, George M. Swain, Ira C. Schenck. Company D Captains Dudley L. Haywood, William D. Fouts; Lieutenants Dudley L. Haywood, Jacob B. De Lay, Jere. H. Twiggs, William N. Monroe, Daniel D. Moore. Company E Captain George P. Norris; Lieutenants John W. Robley, James B. David, George P. Norris, Edward F. Ormsby. Company F Captain Nicholas J. O Brien; Lieutenants John S. Brewer, E. F. Ward, Michael Towers. Company G Captain Elisha Hammer; Lieutenants Charles E. Everton, Joseph Bone, J. S. Beals, George W. Heath (accidentally killed in March, 1864). Company H Captains Curtis Clark, Daniel S. Malven ; Lieutenants H. W. Garfield, John H. Brooks, E. H. Hutchings, Allen Ellsworth. Company I Captain A. J. Millard ; Lieutenants Jacob T. Copelan, Samuel H. Cassidy. Company K Captain John Pattee (of the old organization); Lieutenants John C. Rutan, Wallis Pattee. Company L Captain Bradley Mahanna ; Lieutenants Marvin R. Luse, Joseph Schell. Company M Captains Anthony Courtwright, George W. Wolfe ; Lieutenants Lemuel G. Cunningham, Barton T. Ryan. CHAPTER XLVI. EIGHTH CAVALRY. RECRUITED UNDER SPECIAL AUTHORITY OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT ORGANIZA TION AT DAVENPORT MOVE TO NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE OPERATIONS DURING THE WINTER OP 1863-4 THE CAMPAIGN OF ATLANTA OF NASHVILLE THE CROXTON RAID DEATH OF COLONEL DORR THE REGIMENT S SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. EARLY in 1863, Lieutenant Joseph B. Dorr, Quartermaster of the fight ing Twelfth Iowa Infantry, received authority from Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, to recruit and organize a regiment of horse in our State. At this time, the Seventh Cavalry was being recruited, but enlistments for that command not proceeding rapidly, Colonel Dorr did not commence operations till the latter part of June. This officer had been a noted demo cratic editor and politician of the State, and stood well with all parties as a man of fine abilities and of upright character. He it was to whom Stephen A. Douglas, in the political campaign of 1860, wrote his famous "Dorr Letter." He had great energy. Troops flocked rapidly to his standard, and in a very short time after he made the announcement of his authority to raise a regiment, two thousand men were enlisted for the Eighth Cavalry ! Some three hundred were rejected, more than four hundred and fifty turned over to the Ninth Cavalry, and about seventy-five to the Fourth Battery. The troops composing Colonel Dorr s command were from all parts of the State. The regiment, twelve hundred and thirty-four strong, was mustered into the service on the last day of September, 1863, at Davenport. Colonel Dorr s associate field officers were, Horatio Gr. Barner, Lieutenant- Colonel ; John J. Brown, James D. Thompson, Alvalo J. Price Majors. John H. Isett had been commissioned Adjutant; John Q. A. Dawson Quartermaster ; James E. Pritchard Commissary ; William H. Finley Sur geon; A. S. Carnahan, Daniel H. Warren Assistants; and Reverend Thomas C. Clark, Chaplain. 1 i The line officers were : Captains, in the order of the companies George W. Burns, William H. Evans, Edgar Pickett, Lovene Hopkins, Richard Root, Ephraim Cummins, Philip C. Morhiser, 694 EIGHTH CAVALRY. 695 The principal field and staff, and many of the line officers having served before, Colonel Dorr was soon ready to take the field with one of the best regiments that Iowa sent forth against the enemies of the country. The 14th of October, before the equipment of the regiment had been completed, Colonel Dorr received orders to report at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three days afterwards his command was on the way. Moving by rail, through Illinois and Indiana, the regiment arrived at Louisville and went into camp on the 22d. Early in November the march for Nashville began, which was completed on the 16th. Here Colonel Dorr received orders to report to General Gillem, commanding troops on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. During the winter of 1863-4, Colonel Dorr and his command performed most valuable services, but without engaging in any battle. The head-quar ters of the regiment were at Waverly, a town near the Tennessee, nearly one hundred miles west of Nashville. There was one battalion of the regi ment at Waverly ; another was about half way between there and Nash ville, whilst the other was about thirty miles west of Nashville. Besides the duty of guarding this long line of communications. Colonel Dorr had other important duties to perform. The citizens of the region were gene rally traitors, so that the Colonel had a difficult civil administration, so to say, on his hands. He inaugurated the policy of placing rebels under bonds to keep the peace and support the Union. During his stay at Waverly he had property of disaffected persons to the value of nearly one million dollars pledged for their good behaviour. It worked admirably. Colonel Dorr s experience proved that the honor of the chivalry was of very little value in comparison of their money. They would violate solemn oaths with the utmost nonchalance, but when their bad conduct would bring about a loss of money, the case was entirely different. They put them selves on their good behaviour at once. But in addition to Colonel Dorr s quasi civil administration, he had enough to occupy the entire attention of an ordinary man with his military command. He had charge of a con siderable extent of country, embracing some eight counties, which were infested by small bands of rebel troops, thoroughly acquainted with the roads and by-paths of this wild region, well adapted to the operations of guerrilla-men. Nevertheless, Colonel Dorr captured during the winter nearly five hundred of these robbers, and his energetic troopers, scouring every part of the country, drove off or brought to head-quarters all enemies Madison M Walden, Elliott Shurtz, John Dance, Aaron Pinney, William H. Hoxie; First Lieuten ants Reuben W. Marvin, Rezin S. Hamilton, James W. Moore, Jacob D. Hardin, Eleazer B. Doane, James Ewing, Wilbur F. McCarron, William S. Ogle, Hamon A. Jones, James Horton, Thomas F. Fouts, Henry Moreland; Second Lieutenants Charles Linderman, Daniel Henshaw, Orson M. Marcum, John C. Power, Charles F. Anderson, Jackson Morrow, Henry H. Belfield, Benjamin Mor rison, Andrew F. Tiptou, Smith H. Beeson, Charles A. Crawford, James R. Eldridge. 696 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. found with arms in their hands, including Colonel Hawkins himself, the most noted bushwhacker of these parts, who was captured. The people of Tennessee can never forget that Colonel Dorr in three months brought a large portion of their State out of a condition of anarchy and bloodshed to good government and peace. The 13th of March, 1864, Colonel Dorr left Waverly, and taking up the detachments on the way, arrived at Nashville on the 17th. Here the com mand remained a fortnight, refitting for active operations in the field. The 1st of April it took up line of march for Chattanooga, but not halting long there, continued the march to Cleveland, some twenty-five miles further east, arriving on the 13th. The regiment was assigned to the First Brigade, Colonel Dorr commanding, of Brigadier-General E. M. McCook s First Cavalry Division, and remained quietly in camp at Cleveland till the Cam paign of Atlanta opened, on the 3d of May, so far as the troopers with which we now have to do are concerned, and of whom Lieutenant-Colonel Barner had command. On this campaign, the Eighth Iowa Cavalry began skirmishing with the enemy on the 7th, and from that time until the 30th of July, when Colonel Dorr and nearly all his officers and men fit for duty were captured at the disastrous Battle of Newnan, was engaged almost daily with the enemy either in skirmish or in battle. The command had a sharp skirmish on the 9th, in which Corporals Pease and Sharp of Company E particularly dis tinguished themselves. Having meanwhile been several times engaged, the regiment made a dashing charge on the enemy s flank, near Cassville, the 19th, when a considerable engagement took place. Major Root, Cap tain Hoxie, and Lieutenant McCarron received the special commendations of Colonel Dorr, for their gallant conduct. The command skirmished its way over the Etowah, and on the 24th met the enemy at Burnt Hickory, where Captain M. M. Walden routed a superior force by a daring charge. There was also a sharp skirmish the next day, in which Captain Hoxie was wounded. It was here that Lieutenant C. F. Anderson, commanding Com pany L, audaciously led his men right into the jaws of a rebel battery, and as audaciously held his position till ordered to retire. After this, the regi ment held a line one half mile in length till June 1st, skirmishing daily with the enemy. Its services were similar for nearly a fortnight after the army moved back to the line of the railroad. When the enemy gave up to Sherman all the country north of the Chattahoochee, the Union army had a short respite from its severe labors. But the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, hold ing a ford above the railway crossing, continued to have considerable skir mishing, and it was the first cavalry command whose troops crossed to the south bank of the river. On the 22d of July, on which day the most severe engagement of the EIGHTH CAVALRY. 697 campaign was fought before the walls of Atlanta, Colonel Dorr returned to the command of his regiment, now greatly reduced by the wear and tear of nearly three months hard service and the casualties of battle. Colonel Croxton took command of the brigade. The next day the rebel Armstrong attacked the camp, but was soon repulsed. A similar attack, two or three days afterwards, was also easily repulsed. The 27th, General McCook started on that raid which, at first promising fine success, turned out in the end to be most disastrous. Colonel Don* joined this expedition, his force consisting of less than three hundred enlisted men and twenty-four officers, being all that could be mounted, and considerably less than one-third the force of the regiment when it started on the campaign less than ninety days before. McCook, having reached the railroad near Lovejoy, and effected some destruction thereof on the 29th, began a retrogade movement toward the Chattahoochee. He was inter cepted by the enemy, and a severe engagement ensued, in which the Eighth Iowa Cavalry bore a most conspicuous part, losing between twenty and thirty, killed and wounded. Among the killed were Lieutenant James Horton, Company K, acting adjutant, and Lieutenant Joseph H. Cobb, Company G. "Both were as gallant young officers," says Colonel Dorr, " as ever drew sabre. Both fell at the head of the column, and if to die for one s country is glorious, theirs was a glorious death, for they met it boldly and unflinchingly in the very shock of battle. William Christy, sergeant- major, fell terribly wounded in four places, but, too brave to yield, coura geously made his way to the rear without assistance." Colonel Dorr was himself wounded. The next day, the battle of Newnan took place. About noon, the head of the column, upon entering Newnan, unexpectedly came upon Roddy s dismounted cavalry on their way to Atlanta, Wheeler s force soon coming up, the enemy barred our progress with a largely superior army. Croxton s Brigade, however, charged, and the Eighth Cavalry, one portion under Major Root, and another portion under Major Isett, forced the enemy to give way in confusion. General Hume, commanding a brigade, was captured by Lieutenant George M. Detwiler, of Company M, and the road was cleared, but the rest of the division not coming up, the rebels had time to rally, and again blockaded the passage. The fight continued for some time, being sustained by the first brigade alone, which was now com manded by Colonel Dorr, Croxton being missing, and which brigade had been reduced to little more than the maximum number of a company. And so the little band fought on, making itself a shield to protect the rest of our forces, the most of whom were thereby enabled to extricate themselves from the perilous position. They made their way back to the army, but Colonel Dorr and his regiment fell into the hands of the enemy. 698 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. " In this engagement," said he, in his report made months afterwards, "which was of the severest character, the men and officers of the Eighth behaved with a gallantry and steadiness which drew from General McCook a public compliment on the battle-field. As on the day before, there were but few exceptions to this, while there were many instances of great gal lantry displayed. Major John H. Isett, Captain P. C. Morhiser, Captain (now Major) Shurtz, who was desperately wounded, Captain James W. Moore, Captain E. B. Doane, Lieutenants Henry Moreland, W. F. McCar- ron, C. F. Anderson, Jackson Morrow, W. T. Ogle, G. M. Detwiler, Jacob T. Haight (wounded) and John B. Loomis (killed) are fairly entitled to mention for coolness and good conduct under very trying circumstances. Lieutenants H. H. Belfield, adjutant, Cornelius Bennett, quartermaster, and J. E. Pritchard, commissary, deserve special mention for their activity arid zeal in assisting the regimental commander, and for bravery under fire. Many instances of great gallantry on the part of the enlisted men came under my notice, but so long a period of time elapsed before I had the opportunity to prepare this paper that many of them have escaped my memory. It is a pleasure, however, to specially mention Orderly-Sergeant John H. Huff, Company D, whose gallant bearing particularly attracted my attention both at Lovejoy and Newnan. The Governor of the State has promoted him to a lieutenancy upon my recommendation. Sergeants Peter H. Seay, R. Hoffmaster, Noah Lantz, William Pulliam (since dead), J. D. Brown, Francis M. Thomas, Thomas M. Strange, George J. Jenks, James C. Rucker, Corporals Joseph Benson, George M. Snead, and privates L. F. Deselin, Morris Lyons, William Mitchell (killed) Albert G. Briley, John R. Dowlin, James M. Nye, William Wimberly, D. W. Wood, John Paisley, William H. Brown, W. W. Elliott, C. Mason, George Dalson, Joseph S. Johnson, William Hart, J. J. Roberts, William Blood, and Joseph B. Chamberlain, deserve special mention for courage arid good conduct. Of the three hundred and sixteen officers and men of the regiment who started on the McCook raid, but twenty returned to the Union lines. 2 2 CASUALTIES IN THE EIGHTH IOWA CAVALRY NEAR ATLANTA, FROM July 28th TO July Blst, 1864. Colonel Joseph B. Dorr (prisoner wounded); Major John H. Isett (prisoner); Adjutant II. II. Belfield (prisoner); Quartermaster Cornelius Bonnet (prisoner); James E. Pritchard (prisoner); Veterinary Sergeant John Coddington (prisoner) ; First Assistant Surgeon D. II. Warren, who devo tedly remained in charge of our wounded prisoners; Sergeant-Major William Christy (prisoner wounded); Quartermaster-Sergeant J. H. Guthrie (prisoner) ; Second Sergeant James M. English (prisoner); Hospital Steward Hiram T. Bird (prisoner); Bugler Thomas L. Myers (prisoner); Cap tain James W. Moore (prisoner); Lieutenant John B. Loomis (killed); Lieutenant George M. Det wiler (prisoner) ; Lieutenant John C. Power (prisoner) ; Captain E. B. Doane (prisoner) ; Lieutenant C. F. Anderson (prisoner); Lieutenant George W. Pease (prisoner, wounded); Lieutenant Jackson Morrow (missing); Captain P. C. Morhiser (prisoner); Lieutenant W. F. McCarron (prisoner); Lieu tenant Joseph H. Cobb (killed); Captain M. M. Walden (prisoner); Lieutenant W. T. Ogle (priso ner); Captain Elliot Shurtz (prisoner, wounded severely); Lieutenant Andrew F. Tipton (priso ner) ; Captain John Dance (missing) ; Lieutenant James Horton (killed) ; Lieutenant J. T. Haight (prisoner, wounded) ; Lieutenant Henry Moreland (prisoner). EIGHTH CAVALRY. 699 The unity of the regiment was continued, however, and concentrated for new equipment and mount at Kingston, Georgia. Major A. J. Price was at first in command, but resigning in September on account of ill health was succeeded by Captain Ephraim Cummins, Company F, Major Hoot being in command of a brigade of troops. The regiment was not mounted, however, at Kingston, but moved to Nashville, and thence to Franklin, Cbmpany A Wounded, Henry Loranz. 1 risoners, Sergeant Peter H. Seay; Corporal J. B. Cham- lain; Privates I. M. Shelton, John N. Miller, Alfred II. Leath, Francis M. Miller, John Edmosson, Isaac Griffith, William Fisher, Corporal Thomas J. Miller ; Joseph Burson ; Sergeants W. W. Russell, Joseph Burt. Cbmpany B Prisoners, Sergeant S. F. Craig ; Corporal J. C. McDole ; Privates J. M. Argabright, JR. L. Burton, T. C. Byrum, B. F. Jourdan, A. J. Graham, A. T. Sackett, Ransom Walters, S. S. Walkup, A. Wilson, A. J. Shears, L. D. Reno, J. C. Schooley, H. D. Wolf, N. Gerson, J. Q. Rhodes. Company C Prisoners, Sergeants F. M. Lyon, George A. Junk; Corporal Cyrus E. Hunter; Pri vates George S. Day, John T. Mefford, Charles Elliott, John Moore, Hugh Findlay, James H. Welker, Alexander Sample, D. H. Wills, George Worthington, William M. Patterson, Eli J. Lancaster, H. R. Hayden; Sergeant John F. Watkins ; Privates S. A. Foster. John McFarland, Perry II. Park, George II. Hoverstock, Eli Miller. Company D Wounded, Lyman Deselm, William Myers. Prisoners, Sergeants John II. Huff, Wil liam Culver, Joseph B. Downer, John F. Reed, Mordecai John ; Corporal Theodore W. Blake ; Pri vates H. C. Andrews, James A. Benson, Silas Beals, Elijah Conley, Martin Douglas, Thomas Gookin, James R. Fullerton, Orlando Kirkham, George W. Miller, Joel E. Miller, G. M. D. Morrison, William Stults, James W. Scott, T. W. Tilford, Robert Vance, Wesley G. S. Templetou. Cbmpany E Wounded, J. G. Moon, W. 0. Myers. Prisoners, Sergeant J. Hamilton; Corporal F. Schnittger; Privates A. H. Bohner, N. L. Ives, J. H. Reid, II. Allen, A. J. Bennett, G. II. Batchelor, J. A. Breach, I. J. Clark, S. A. Hilliard, W. H. Hart, J. J. Roberts, G. Smith; Orderly Sergeant W. P. Dunham; Privates J. Cresap, R. C. Johnston. Company F Prisoners, Sergeants J. B. Morrison, A. H. Welch, G. M. Bunton, J. P. Evans, R. K. Johnson, E. D. Stoner. J. H. Rucher; Corporals W. D. Kinser, C. W. Morrison, J. A. J. Thomas, J. M. Hays, James Hardy; Privates S. Thompson, J. N. Vance, S. W. Allen, Thomas A. Barker, W. T. Eggan, E. Johnson, E. C. Kells, J. R. N. Monroe, R. W. Porter (wounded), William Rhoads, F. Sterrett. Company G Killed, W T illiam Mitchell. Prisoners, Sergeants R. R. Dawson, E. F. Manning, A. Maley; Corporal Washington Tharp ; Privates Welcome Martin, Ralph Livingston, Joseph Kerr, Riley Miller, M. Wampach, John Kenney, Michael Goszman, D. S. Reed, Cebon Williams. Company H Killed, Private W. H. Brown. Wt/unded, Jeff. D. Brown, N. Lantz, George M. D. Snead. Prisoners, Privates Charles C. Ross, Martin Reed, T. II. B. Snedeker, H. M. Searcy, J. W. Wailes, E. B. Brayman, David Barratt, Daniel Campbell, Gaines Corporan, Isaiah Corbin, C. Danford, William F. Everman, W. W. Elliot, Eli Farusworth, William II. Frost, George W. Holshouser, W ashington Masters, E. R. Morrison, Thomas Mullins, George J. Reed, John McKern, Benjamin Verder, J. J. Walker, John W. Fuell, Joseph Delay, George W. Edgington, John Walter. Company I Killed, Privates Albert G. Briley, John R. Dowlin, James M. Nye. Wounded, Frank A.Thomas. Prisoners, Sergeants C. II. Brock, R. W. Brown; Corporals E. A. Morrill, James W. Parman; Privates B. B. Sutton, W. B. Beeson, Horace S. Beaman, Cyrus Garwood, M. V. B. Evans, John Fitzpatrick, Isaac McPheeters, John Stickney, David Woods, William Rahe, Herman W r indish, Frank Ball, William Holt, William E. Applegate, Patrick Davis, William Wimberly. Company K Prisoners, Privates Cyrus F. Macy, Morris Lyons, Warren H. Kerr, George W. Dol- een, Rudolph Hoffmaster, Joseph S. Johnson, V. Stevens, H. D. Gardner, Henry Haucus, William T. Wright, John Zimmerman. Company L Prisoners, Sergeant W. M. Lucas, W. Fuller, D. Netherrow, II. D. Owen ; Corporals M. D. Wescott, J. Clark ; Privates G. W. Borden, S. K. Mann, G. W. Bodenhifer, E. Frost, F. Meeker, B. F. Reece, B. Trimble ; Sergeants N. Doggett, A. Raser. Company M Killed, John Paisley. Prisoners, Sergeants Thomas 0. Strang, William Blood, Wil liam H. Pontzius, D. E. Bishard, Aaron Pugh, George B. Leonard, William W. Derickson, William A. Arel, Anderson All red, James D. Thompson, Scott Mahon, Martin Hayes, William T. Hudson, L. R. Foor, James W. Davis, Francis T. Paisley, Benjamin I. Jones, Wesley Mountain. 700 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. where it was slowly prepared for the field. The mounted portion of the command took part in the pursuit of Wheeler, and afterwards of Forrest, and met the enemy several times during these operations in the latter part of September and first of October. Meanwhile, part of the officers and men captured at Newnan were exchanged. Colonel Dorr resumed com mand of the regiment in the early part of November, near Florence, Ala bama, soon after the rebel Hood began his march of invasion. The cavalry, it is well known, fell back slowly before the enemy, heavily skirmishing with him at times, and all the while harassing his advance. In a sharp skirmish near Columbia, the Eighth lost a few men wounded and captured. During the battle of Franklin, the regiment was engaged on the Harpeth above the town. After the engagement, the Union army continued its retreat to Nashville, without further molestation. Decem ber 2d, Colonel Dorr crossed the Cumberland, and went into encampment at Edgefield. 3 Having supplied his dismounted men with horses from the fine stock of Kentucky, Colonel Dorr recrossed the Cumberland on the 13th, and on the 15th and 16th, took part in the battle of Nashville, but the regiment was not so conspicuously engaged as other Iowa troops. The command joined in the pursuit of the defeated enemy, and captured many prisoners. The last day of the year the regiment reached Waterloo, Alabama, and the pur suit being abandoned, Colonel Dorr put his troopers into winter quarters. " In summing up the history of the regiment for the year 1864," says the Colonel, "I may be permitted to say that it has seen about as hard and continuous service as has fallen to the lot of any command in the same time. It has, without including skirmishes, which are many, taken part in fifteen engagements, the casualties amounting to one hundred and sixty- eight, not including over two hundred men and officers taken prisoners." The troopers built for themselves fine quarters at Waterloo, and there remained most of the time till they joined the column under General Wil son which made the famous raid. About the middle of January, 1865, however, a considerable force of foot, horse, and artillery, made a heavy reconnoissance westward of Waterloo into Mississippi. The column pro ceeded to Corinth, and drove thence a heavy body of rebel cavalry. On this expedition Colonel Dorr had command of a cavalry brigade, consisting 8 The following names of killed and wounded during the pursuit of Wheeler in September are taken from the correspondence of the Burlington Hawk-Eye : Killed, Jacob Peterson, Lemuel W. Bennett. Wounded, Captain William II. Evans ; Lieutenants Rezin S. Hamilton, Henry C. Pickerd, William B. McCoid, Stephen Lewis, Franklin D. Hawley. And the following from the Dubuque Times, being those reported killed and wounded at the engagement on Shoal Creek, October 30th : Killed, Sergeant Christopher R. Kinkade, Samuel Sweaney, William H. Swords, William K. Jordan, Samuel P. Shaw. Wounded, Corporal Stephen A. Dobson, Samuel Hodgson. Albert Branham, Lewis W. Ellis, Virgil H. Wright. Missing, David J. Myers, Charles Rye, Joseph Overton, who was wounded. EIGHTH CAVALRY. 701 of two regiments besides his own. His regiment drove the enemy from Corinth, but lost only one man in the affair James P. Crow, of Company H, who was slain. The command returning, reached quarters on the 21st. From this time until the llth of March, the Eighth Cavalry remained in quiet. It then marched to Chickasaw and prepared for the Wilson raid. On this remarkable expedition, the Eighth Iowa Cavalry moved with Brigadier-General John T. Croxton s First Brigade of General Edward McCook s First Division. There were in the brigade three other regiments the Sixth Kentucky Cavalry, Fourth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, and Second Michigan Cavalry. On the first important stage of the route, that is to say, from Chickasaw to Elyton, this brigade moved with the main column. At Elyton, on the last of March, it separated therefrom, and from this time acted independently, so that its operations have well enough been called " CROXTON S RAID." When Croxton cut loose from the principal command, one of his objects being to decoy a portion of Forrest s force from Wilson s front, he marched in a southwesterly direction toward Tuscaloosa. Being attacked by Briga dier-General Jackson ("Red Jackson," as he was called) he withdrew to the northward, thereby persuading the rebel commander that he felt him self defeated. That general forthwith dispatched the following elegant communication to the commandant of the post of Tuscaloosa : " HEADQUARTERS JACKSON S CAVALRY DIVISION, IN THE FIELD, April 1st, 1865. 4 P. M. J "CAPTAIN HARDCASTLE, COMMANDING POST, TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA : Captain : I attacked and dis persed the Yankee General Croxton s force to-day. It ia scattered in the mountains, aud cannot again be collected. " Assure the fair ladies of Tuscaloosa, that the tread of the vandal hordes shall not pollute the streets of their beautiful city. " Respectfully, your obedient servant, " W. H. JACKSON, Brigadier-General Commanding." Croxton, entirely ignorant of his opponent s heroics, pushed on to the Black Warrior River, crossed it some forty miles above Tuscaloosa, marched rapidly down its western bank to Northport, opposite the city, captured the bridge, routed the cadets and militia on the other side, and took possession of Tuscaloosa, of which Colonel Dorr received the surrender. The city, when Croxton unexpectedly drew nigh, was in a state of joyful festivity, caused by the afore-quoted communication from " Red Jackson. " "But we vandal hordes," says a correspondent, "polluted the streets of the beautiful city just the same. From Tuscaloosa, after destroying the military school, iron works, facto ries, a number of guns, and other property, General Croxton recrossed the river, burned the bridge, and moved westward as though he would attack Columbus, in Mississippi. Returning for Croxton frequently doubled on 702 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. his track he recrossed the Warrior, and struck boldly forward in a north easterly direction. He was met by Wirt Adams Cavalry, but brushing them out of his way with sharp skirmishing, he kept on his course to Arka- delphia, north of the Sipsey branch of the Warrior River. Thence he turned toward the southeast, and at Mt. Pinson heard that Wilson had cap tured Montgomery. He continued his march on Talladega. Before reach ing that city, he was met by Gen. B. J. Hill, with a considerable force of cavalry. Croxton promptly charged them, put them to flight, and moved on to the city. Having destroyed large quantities of property and stores there, he moved on by Blue Mountain, Oxford, Carrollton and Newnan to Forsyth, Georgia, arriving on the 29th, having marched more than six hundred and fifty miles over a mountainous country, swam four large rivers, destroyed five large iron-works, numerous factories and mills, captured five hundred prisoners and many small arms, all done with a loss of about one hundred and seventy men, most of whom were captured while foraging. May 1st, Croxton joined the main body at Macon. The loss of the Eighth Cavalry on this raid was stated by a correspondent of the Dubuque Times to have been six killed, seven wounded, and a few missing. No regiment in the command did more work or more fighting. With the Croxton raid the career of the Eighth Iowa Cavalry in the face of the enemy closed. That raid was, in fact, the closing operation of the war in the south. Peace had been virtually inaugurated before the troop ers reached Forsyth. The regiment remained, however, at Macon about three months, in the performance of the duties of pacification. On the 28th of May, Colonel Dorr, who had for some time been suffering with rheumatism, was attacked by a congestive chill. In a few hours he was dead. The suddenness with which the dread destroyer brought his victim low was appalling to the command, with whom the Colonel was an almost universal favorite. Among all the gallant men whom Iowa sent into the field, there were but few who were the superiors of Colonel Joseph B. Dorr in soldierly qualities, and none who surpassed him in intelligence, in energy, in patriotic ardor. He had long been a leading member of the democratic party, and its most vigorous editor, unless an exception be made of Mr. Dennis A. Mahony, of Dubuque, or Doctor Harvey, of Burlington. Both Dorr and Harvey, when the war was forced upon the country, stood manfully by the constituted authorities. Dorr told the Governor that he might place him where he thought best, and Mr. Kirkwood commissioned him quartermaster of the Twelfth Infantry. The sturdy ex-editor must have thought this not the best sort of appreciation in the world, but he ac cepted the commission, performed his duties well, fought at Shiloh, and was captured. He escaped from rebel imprisonment. We have seen how quickly he raised the Eighth Cavalry, and how finely he led it through its EIGHTH CAVALRY. 703 career of great glory and usefulness. lie lived to see the great victory of our arms, and died in the midst of the general joy, willing to give the greatest gift that any man can offer upon the altar of his country his life. His ponderous mind, his greatness of heart, overflowing evermore with the milk of human kindness, his unswerving adherence to principle, his down right independence, were known and read of all men with whom he ever came in contact. His remains were taken to Dubuque by his trusted friend, Quartermaster Bennett, and were consigned to their last resting- place by thousands of sorrowful friends. Lieutenant-Colonel Earner at once took command of the regiment, and retained it during the remaining period of its service, and was soon pro moted Colonel. Near the close of July, orders came commanding the re giment to prepare for discharge. They were joyfully obeyed, and in the following month the command, having been mustered out at Macon on the 13th, proceeded to Iowa for final pay and disbandment. The term of ser vice of this regiment was shorter than that of any of our troops who were mustered for "three years, or during the war." But it was a period crowded full of great events in history, to bring about which to the glory of our arms and our country, but few, if any regiments of horse, did more or suffered more than the Eighth Iowa Cavalry. 4 * There were less changes among the officers of the Eighth Cavalry than in most of our regi ments. The roster of the regiment at muster out is thus given by the Clinton Herald : Colonel Horatio G. Earner; Lieutenant-Colonel Elliot Shurtz; Majors Richard Root, James W. Moore; Adjutant Henry H. Belfield; Quartermaster Cornelius Bennett; Commissary James E. Pritchard; Surgeon Daniel H. Warren; Assistant Surgeon Joseph P. Smith. Company A Captain George W. Burns ; Lieutenants Reuben W. Marvin, Charles Linderman. Company B Lieutenant John T. Ware. Company C Captain George M. Detwiler; Lieutenant John F. Watkins. Company D Captain William Christy; Lieutenant John H. Huff. Company E Lieutenant -Charles F. Ander son. Company F Captain Jackson Morrow; Lieutenants John B. Morrison, Charles R.Rogers. Company G Captain Philip C. Morhiser; Lieutenant William Wallace. Company H Captain William T. Ogle ; Lieutenants J. D. Brown, Jonathan Harris. Company /Lieutenant Josiah J. Cleaver. Company /iT Captain John Dance; Lieutenant John F. Robertson. Company L Captain Aaron Pinney; Lieutenant Charles A. Crawford. Company M Captain Henry Moreland; Lieuten ants Thomas B. Morris, Eli Keeler. CHAPTER XLYII. ARTILLERY. FOUR BATTERIES OF LIGHT ARTILLERY ORGANIZED IN THE STATE ACCOUNT OF THEIR ORGANIZATION-BRIEF MENTION OF THEIR HISTORY ROSTER OF THEIR OFFICERS. IOWA furnished four batteries to the artillery branch of the service, and three of them were formed in the early part of the war, and performed distinguished services in not a few of the most important campaigns, from early in 1862 till the final defeat of the insurgents. These have already had frequent mention in this work, and it will not be necessary, therefore, to dwell at length upon their history here. The First ^Battery was enrolled in different parts of the State, soon after the war commenced, and was mustered into the service of the United States at Burlington about the middle of August, 1861. It was distinguished in the Campaigns of Pea Ridge, Vicksburg, and Atlanta. Captain Harry Griffiths, who had won high honors as a captain in our Fourth Infantry, long commanded the battery, which from Pea Ridge to Atlanta, won the kind mention of generals, and the admiration of the armies with which it served. The Second Battery, often called "Spoor s Battery" in official reports, and accounts of campaigns, was enrolled in the counties of Polk, Dallas, Harrison, Fremont, and Pottawattamie, and organized at Council Bluffs about the time the First was organized at Burlington. It was among the most distinguished batteries in the Campaigns of Vicksburg, Atlanta, and Nashville. The Third Battery, more generally known, perhaps, as the "Dubuque Battery," was organized at the city of Dubuque in the month of August, 1861. Captain M. M. Hayden, a noted democratic politician, was in com mand. The battery, as was the case with the First, distinguished itself at Pea Ridge. Afterwards, its principal battle was that of Helena, where it won high praise. It was subsequently engaged in the campaigns of Arkansas. Our Fourth Battery was not organized till the latter part of November. 704 ARTILLERY. 705 1863 a t Davenport. Its members came from many parts of the State. It had many in its ranks who had previously served, and was a fine com mand in all respects, but it did not have the good fortune to particularly distinguish itself in the field. Its theatre of operations for the most part was in Louisiana. 1 i The officers of the First Battery, as shown by the Adjutant-General s Reports, were : Captains Charles H. Fletcher, J. A. Jones, H. H. Griffiths, William H. Gay; Lieutenants Virgil J. David, 0. W. Gam bell, James M. Williams, William H. Gay, Abram Harback, A. S. Curtis, Thomas J. Ijams, S. H. Titus, D. J. De Long. SECOND BATTERY. Captains Nelson T. Spoor, Joseph R. Reed; Lieutenants Joseph R. Reed, Daniel Walling, Charles T. Reed, John W. Coons, John Burke. THIRD BATTERY. Captains Mortimer M. Hayden, Melville C. Wright; Lieutenants William H. McClure, Melville C. Wright, Otis G. Day, William M. Crozier, Jerome Bradley, 0. H. Lyon, Daniel W. Lee, J. J. Dengl, H. H. Weaver, William H. Gilford. FOURTH BATTERY. Captain Philip H. Goode; Lieutenants James H. Beatty, Francis W. Mc- Clellan, John H. Alexander, Francis M. Ellsworth, Joseph Brown. CHAPTER XLVIII. THE IOWA REGIMENT OF COLORED TROOPS. ORGANIZATION OP THE REGIMENT AT KEOKUK ROSTER OF ITS OFFICERS BRIEF MENTION OF ITS SERVICES. THERE were only about one thousand persons of African descent in Iowa, according to the census of 1860. The rebellion added, no doubt, considerably to our colored population ; but it is probably true that when the policy of employing negro troops in the army was adopted by the government, there were less than two thousand persons of all ages in Iowa having a drop of African blood in their veins. It is most creditable, therefore, to the patriotism of the men of the oppressed race in our State, that they imitated the example of their brethren elsewhere, and liberally contributed of their number to the ranks of the Union army. The Sixtieth regiment of United States Colored Troops, was formed very largely, though not entirely, by men of Iowa. Six companies of this regiment went into regimental rendezvous at Keokuk, and were there mustered into the service of the United States, October 13th, 1863. The four companies which completed the regiment entered the service, at St. Louis, at different times during the two following months. The regiment, when fully organized, was about nine hundred strong. 1 The regiment was not called upon to fight, but for about a year and a-half it performed valuable guard and garrison duties at St. Louis and below in the valley of the Mississippi. It did what was assigned it to do faithfully and well. When it returned to Iowa for discharge, it was most kindly received by the city of Davenport, and the Gazette spoke of the 1 These were the officers: Colonel, John G. Hudson; Lieutenant-Colonel, Milton F. Collins; Major, John L. Murphy; Adjutant, Theodore W.Pratt; Quartermaster, William McQueen; Sur geon, Freeman Knowles; Chaplain, James H. Pile. Captains John A. Hart, G. A. A. Deane, Eli Ramsey, William A. Stewart, George F. Work, Henry C. Brown, Henry Sweeney. First Lieuten ants Joseph A. Goodnough, Moses L. Bradley, P. H. Young, Jonathan Anthony, G. H. Brock. C. E. Hoffman. Second Lieutenants William H. Williams, Charles S. Hussey, William A. E. Tisdale, William A. Bond, Alexander F. Rice, Perry A. Tietsort, Isaac Hester, Hugh Brady. These names are taken from the Adjutant-General s Report for 1864. The list is not full. 706 THE IOWA REGIMENT OF COLORED TROOPS. 707 fine soldierly appearance and the intelligence of the men in words of high praise. They addressed a memorial to the people of the State upon the subject of equal political rights, which was admirable in tone, and at least equal in literary merit to any effusion of the present executive of the United States, but of its merits in other respects opinions would widely differ. CHAPTER XLIX. NINTH CAVALRY. THE LAST THREE-YEARS REGIMENT RECRUITED IN IOWA RESUME OF THE STATE S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ARMIES OF THE UNION ORGANIZATION OF THE NINTH CAVALRY AT DAVENPORT LATE IN THE YEAR 1863 ITS FIELD OF OPERATIONS IN THE STATE OF ARKANSAS. THE Ninth Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Matthew M. Trumbull, was the last of the three-years regiments recruited in the State. Up to the time of its organization, the State had sent into the field one regiment of three months men, thirty-nine regiments of three years men, infantry volunteers, eight regiments of cavalry, and four batteries of light artillery, all of which were distinctively known as Iowa troops, and, except the Fifth Cavalry, composed almost entirely of Iowa citizens. The State had also contributed a large number of men and many officers to regiments in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and out of a population of less than a thousand arms-bearing colored citizens, had raised nearly a whole regiment of African troops. Iowa had not been satisfied with merely doing her duty under the law. She had of her patriotic generosity done more than was required. The Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Thirty-seventh regiments of Infantry, the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth regiments of cavalry, had all been enrolled, not to meet any call from the general government, but to enable citizens of the State to enlist under the banners of the Union, in excess of all demands which could lawfully be made. In this way also was the Ninth Cavalry enrolled, making seven full regiments to be placed to the generosity of the State. But besides the troops thus regularly enrolled within the State, and those who formed part of regiments in neighboring States, there were not a few of our citizens in the regular army, in the different staff departments of the volunteer army, and in commands belonging to far distant States. Captain John Gr. Read, of the Twelfth Regular Infantry, slain at the last Battle of Bull Run, was one of the many " railroad men" of Iowa who did gallant service in the army. Adjutant J. Ross Winterbotham, of Corcoran s distinguished One Hundred and Fifty-fifth New York regiment, was as gallant 708 NINTH CAVALRY. 709 an officer as served in that command. He is a citizen of Iowa, son of Mr. Winterbotham, of Fort Madison, well known among our prominent business men and politicians. I have an autograph letter from Mrs. Ann S. Ste phens, the celebrated writer, in which, speaking of this officer, she says : " But I will say here, a braver, more patriotic, or better young man never served or fought. He was a universal favorite in his regiment, and no soldier ever had higher testimonials than are on file for him at the War Department." He was twice severely wounded. Brevet Colonel C. W. Asmussen, at this writing assistant special provost marshal at the War De partment, was distinguished in the war. A patriot of Hungary, he first served, during the war of the Union, in the Fifth Missouri Cavalry ; then on the staff of General Sigel, and afterwards as inspector general, first of the Eleventh, and next of the Twentieth Corps. In this position, he served under Howard, Hooker, Slocum, Williams, and Mower. It is due to this officer, a citizen of Davenport, Iowa, to state that he probably did more than any other one man in gaining the great victory of Gettysburg. It is well known that " Cemetery Hill" was the key to the position, and that fresh troops there posted stayed the retreat of our army, checked, and at last repulsed the enemy. Colonel Asmussen selected that position, and persuaded Howard to leave a heavy force there. It may have been provi dential, but it was that very force on Cemetery Hill which gave to the Union arms the splendid victory. In according this great praise to Colonel Asmussen, I do not think of detracting from the just fame of Howard, no more distinguished as a soldier of genius than as a Christian gentleman. No general of the Union army is entitled to more unmixed praise than he, and his magnanimous nature will rejoice that I have thus made known the fact that Asmussen was his right arm at Gettysburg. And in this connexion, I may properly state that there was a company of Iowa Cavalry, attached to the Eleventh Pennsylvania, which served with the Army of the Potomac in all its memorable campaigns. This command was distinguished during the war. The company from Iowa was recruited in the Fifth Congressional District Captain Franklin A. Stratton, Lieute nants George S. Ringland and George W. Bassett, the last now a member of the State Senate and one of the most thoughtful, upright, and useful of our public men. I have already noted the services of the lamented Drummond in the Army of the Potomac. It was in that army that Colonel George B. Corkhill first served. He was long in the military family of the lamented Sedgwick, one of our best and bravest generals, and witnessed all the noted campaigns of the Potomac Army till about the time of the gene ral s death, when he was appointed paymaster. In the pay department, by the way, some of the most eminent citizens of Iowa served Major Hoyt Sherman, one of our best and wealthiest citizens, and brother of the 710 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. great general ; Major William Penn Clarke, a noted politician of the radical school, a prominent lawyer and writer, and one of the most generous of men ; Lieutenant-Colonel Thaddeus H. Stanton, the ablest writer of our many newspaper men who went into the army ; Major Jesse Bowen ; Major Saunders, of Davenport ; Major Joseph B. Young, of Linn these and other men of note from Iowa gratified our troops with many greenbacks. Nor should I omit to state that the Honorable Hiram Price, the first State paymaster, by his own personal credit obtained the funds for the payment of a large sum due the regiments first organized, and paid it to the troops in the field. The Honorable Elijah Sells, too, long our Secretary of State, served in the pay department, both of the army and navy. There was no finer exhibition of patriotism shown in the war than by this man s family. His son William served in the navy, his son David in the army, and became the colonel of a noted regiment of colored troops, the colonel s brother George having a captain s commission in the same command. Mr. Sells youngest son also volunteered, and was highly indignant because he was rejected on account of youth. There was scarcely a prominent public man in Iowa, having sons old enough to bear arms, whose children did not serve, and I believe all the sons of Ex-governor Lowe and of Chief Justice Wright were in the army, and I am sure that one of the sons of the latter fought and suffered bravely in the cause. The Honorable M. L. McPherson, one of our most distinguished orators and legislators, served during the whole war in the subsistence department. Colonel David Remick, chief commissary of the Army of the Tennessee through its most noted campaigns, is a citizen of Iowa. He was greatly aided by Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. Carpenter, a citizen of Fort Dodge. Captain Samuel L. Taggart, on the staff of Major-General Howard, is an lowan. Brigadier-General Samuel Ross, .wounded at Chancellorsville, then the colonel of a Connecticut regi ment, entered the service at Dubuque, of which place he was a citizen. But this mere muster-roll of names might be extended almost indefinitely. There was no branch of the service, there was no army, which, during the war of the Union became distinguished, in which there were not citizens of the State of Iowa. The Davenport Gazette, upon the subject of Iowa s patriotism during the war had the following just and truthful article : " Going the rounds of the press we notice statements of the number of men furnished by a number of States during the war. In the cases of Indiana and Ohio the summing up includes not only the men sent to the front, but those called upon for temporary purposes : for the protection of the State and adjoining States from raids, to preserve the internal peace of the State, etc. John Morgan s raid was rendered abortive by special levies, so also the premeditated attack on Cincinnati. The men who assisted at NINTH CAVALRY. 711 these important junctures are counted as so many furnished to the war ; and we are aware of no sound reason why they should not be. For Iowa we propose to make the same summing up : "In 1861, when northern Missouri was overrun by predatory bands, and the loyal citizens were being driven from their homes by hundreds and suf fering in life, person and estate, the border Iowa yeomanry, unskilled in anything pertaining to war, responded to the Macedonian cry of their neighbors and rushed over to help them. Colonel John Edwards (now Brigadier-General) states the number of Iowa men who helped the Missou- rians in that early distress, at fifteen hundred. They were armed with old fowling-pieces and antiquated militia gear but they proved effective nevertheless, their hearts being in the right place. " In the same year three expeditions were sent out to beat back the Claib. Jackson bushwhackers who were advancing on Iowa, driving out the Union men of their own State on the way. These expeditions were severally un der command of Colonels Edwards, Morledge, and Dodge (now Major- General), and numbered about thirteen hundred men. They performed valuable service in Missouri. The column under Colonel Edwards operated in the neighborhood of St. Joseph for some time, and held that place to loyalty until regular volunteer troops came forward to relieve them. " On the northern border, during the same year, the Sioux City cavalry, ninety-three men, and Captain Tripp s company, about fifty men, were em ployed to protect the borders against the Indians. "The General Assembly at the extra session, 1862, almost unanimously directed the organization of the Northern and Southern Border Brigades, the one for the protection of the State against guerrilla bands on the South along the entire border, the other to keep in check the disaffected Indians intent on mischief in the northwest. There were five companies of the Northern Border Brigade, two hundred and fifty men, and ten companies of the Southern Border Brigade, seven hundred and ninety-four men, judi ciously stationed at exposed points. For two years the State at her own expense supported these organizations. To be sure, the amount of money expended in this behalf was large, but in consideration of the great service done, that of staying murder, rapine, and arson, threatening to stalk through the State, it was inconsiderable. The next difficulty wherein troops were called into requisition by the authorities of the State was the celebrated Tally treason in Keokuk county. To suppress this, eleven companies of State militia were called out, and the expense borne by the State. The number of men on duty was perhaps about eight hundred. Subsequently were the disturbances in Poweshiek and Davies counties. The State troops employed in the first were paid by the United States, those employed in the latter by the State estimated 712 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. number of militia employed, five hundred. The State sent to the field thirty-nine regiments of Infantry, nine of Cavalry, and four batteries of Artillery all three years men, and the First, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth regiments of infantry, three months men. " General Baker s report up to January 1st, 1865, sums up as follows : Total enlistments up to January 1, 1864 57,708 Reenlisted veterans 7,202 Additional enlistments 6,664 One-hundred-days -men 3,901 75,475 " This does not include Iowa men who veteranized in regiments of other States, nor those who in 1864 enlisted in other States ; nor does it include the large number of men who went from Iowa to the regiments of Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois, etc. It is well known that large numbers of Germans went to Missouri at an early period of the war and served in the regiments of that State. We place the estimate of this class very low when we call it fifteen hundred. " The enlistments from Iowa since the 1st of January last up to August, as we learn from Colonel Duncan, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal- General of the State, is eight hundred and twelve. Summing up we find as follows : Engaged in service on the Border, 1861 2,943 Northern and Southern Brigades, 1862 1,044 Other service in State 1,300 Enlisted in other States 1,500 Sent to the field and credits allowed by War Department 76,287 Total 83,074 "The total population of Iowa, according to the census of 1860, was 674,913. "There are your figures. Cipher up a better record anybody in any State or nation, if you can." It was in view of the facts that Iowa had more than done her duty during the war, and that without incurring any considerable indebtedness, and that her troops had fought most gallantly on nearly every battle-field, that the Advertiser newspaper of Newark, New Jersey, and other promi nent journals called our State the " Model State of the Republic." I may now return to the regiment whose troops closed the generous record of our long-term enlistments. The Ninth Cavalry was organized at Davenport, on the last day of November, 1863, and consisted of nearly NINTH CAVALKY. 713 twelve hundred officers and men, many of whom had served in other re giments. Colonel Matthew M. Trumbull, Lieutenant-Colonel John P. Knight, had been distinguished in our Third Infantry ; Major Edgar T. Ensign was among the most gallant of the " bravest of the brave" at Don- elson, where he fought with the Second ; Major William Haddock had gained a fine reputation in our Twelfth regiment. A majority of the line officers, and of the non-commissioned officers had seen considerable service, so that Colonel Trumbull was able to take the field very soon after his regi ment was organized, with one of the finest commands which left our State. The field of the regiment s operations was in the State of Arkansas, where it performed heavy scouting, guard, and garrison duties, but the war closed before the regiment had an opportunity to show its mettle in a pitched battle, but detachments of the command, in skirmishes with detach ments of the enemy s forces, and in affairs with guerrilla-men, gave evi dence that the officers and men of the Iowa Ninth Cavalry were not behind their comrades of other regiments sent into the field by the most patriotic of all the patriotic States. 1 1 The Adjutant-General s Reports show the following officers in the Ninth Cavalry: Colonel, Matthew M. Trumbull; Lieutenant-Colonel, John P. Knight; Majors, Edgar T. Ensign, Willis Druru- mond, William Haddock, John Wayne; Adjutants, John Wayne, Ward B. Sherman; Surgeon, Jesse Wasson ; Assistant Surgeons, John Bell, Edward Kirkup ; Quartermasters, Jesse J. Grant, Benjamin F. Cheney; Commissaries, Ward B. Sherman, George W. Tilford; Chaplain, Reverend James W. Larimore. Captains, John G. Reed, John Flick, John L. Young, James F. McCutchan, George M. Dean, Benjamin Coutal, S. B. Cunningham, Richard W. Montague, Calvin R. Johnson, Cyrus C. Bitner, Joseph H. Shawhan, Orlando C. Howe, John Pumroy, B. C. P. Armstrong. Lieutenants, Samuel Pollock, Omer Robinson, Benjamin F. Jacobs, Hugh T. Holmes, Thomas J. Reigart, William H. Wood, Charles A. Frick, John F. Waters, Mark Gilbert, Henry W. Harmon, Albert H. Peek, George W. McKay, Samuel H. Davis, Richard W. Montague, Albert W. Prole, Elliott P. Rider, E. S. Bramhall, E. L. Cook, Thomas J. Lafferty, James Kerr, William H. H. Ogan, John J. Lambert, Jeremiah Lockwood, Jacob A. Lowe, William W. Moore, John G. Rockafellow, Richard Armstrong, B. C. P. Armstrong, William H. Crotzer, John F. Parker, Charles P. Buckner. 90 CHAPTER L. "ONE-HUNDRED DAYS MEN/ FOUR REGIMENTS AND FOUR COMPANIES RECRUITED FOR ONE HUNDRED DAYS IN THE SUMMER OF 1864 A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF THESE TROOPS PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ORDER OF THANKS. IN the summer of 1864, General Grant in Virginia and General Sherman in Georgia being actively engaged with large armies against the enemy, the Governors of the Northwestern States proposed to the General Govern ment to send into the field a considerable number of troops for a short term of service who might relieve others on guard and garrison duty at the rear, and thus be the means of adding largely to the force of drilled and disci plined men at the front. It was thought that of those who had served for some time in the army against rebellion, but had been discharged for good reason, and of others who would like to serve for a short period, a large army might speedily be raised to garrison our posts and take care of our communications in rear of the theatre of war, and who would enable veteran soldiers of equal number to reenforce the armies actively engaged in the field. The proposition at first met with considerable hostility from the authorities, but was at length adopted, the term of service being established at one hundred days. Governor Stone accordingly issued his proclamation, calling on the State to contribute of its citizens troops for the service proposed, and they responded by offering the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty- seventh regiments, and the Forty-eighth Battalion of Infantry ; in all three thousand nine hundred and one men. Of these, the Forty-fifth regiment, Colonel A. H. Bereman (who had served with credit as captain in the regular army) was the first organized. Numbering nine hundred and twelve, it was mustered into the service at Keokuk, the 25th of May. Colonel Stephen H. Henderson s Forty-fourth regiment, eight hundred and sixty-seven strong, was mustered at Davenport the 1st of June. The Forty-sixth regiment, Colonel David B. Henderson, was mustered at the same city ten days afterwards. It numbered eight hundred and ninety-two officers and men. The Forty-seventh regiment, Colonel James P. Sanford, 714 ONE-HUNDRED DAYS MEN. 715 which numbered eight hundred and eighty-four, had been mustered nearly a week before the Forty-sixth. The Forty-eighth Battalion, Lieutenant- Colonel 0. H. P. Scott, and which numbered three hundred and forty-six, was mustered in part on the 13th of June, and in part one month later. 1 These troops came from all parts of the State, and were the voluntary offering of our people who gave them for the special service contemplated, without expectation of any credit on the general calls for volunteers. The Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-sixth regiments performed their ser- 1 The field, staff, and line officers of the four regiments and battalion of one-hundred days men were as follows: FORTY-FOURTH REGIMENT. Colonel, Stephen H. Henderson; Lieutenant-Colonel, Henry Egbert; Major, Josiah Hopkins ; Adjutant, Evert F. Richinan ; Quartermaster, A. J. Van Duzee ; Surgeon, James Irwin; Assistant Surgeons, John H. Russell, 0. B. Thompson; Chaplain, Reverend Martin Bowman. Captains, Henry Markell, G. Bitzer, James W. McKean, Charles E. Borland, H. F. L. Burton, William Familton, Cyrus H. Shaw, John J. Adams, A. H. Brooks, Thomas Wilson. Lieu tenants, in the order of the companies, J. B. Howard, M. H. Beach, R. Hawley, F. B. McGill, Robert S. Alexander, (who soon was promoted to the command on account of the death of Captain McKean, so that the other lieutenants were) Richard McNary, James Spence, James L. Perry, Thomas L. Stephens, L. L. Smith, George W. Wood, Lamotte Stearns, D. A. Waterman, H. P. Williams, D. W. Dow, William Van Dorn, William F. Boggs, James A. Ryan, Henry W. Bennett, John Ackley, James H. C. Wilson. FORTY-FIFTH REGIMENT. Colonel, A. H. Bereman; Lieutenant-Colonel, Samuel A. Moore; Major, James B. Hope; Adjutant, A. W. Sheldon; Quartermaster, John P. Dawson; Surgeon, W. W. Easta- brook; Assistant Surgeons, S. H. Stutsman, John Hurley; Chaplain, Reverend Anson Skinner. Captains, George W. Edwards, William H. Allen, C. K. Peck, William Van Benthusen, R. D. Emer son, B. D. Harper, Thomas N. Crowder, E. H. Coddington, William K. Alexander, Isaac B. Thatcher. Lieutenants, Samuel L. Pickel, Edwin A. Vancise, S. E. Hawthorn, E. R. Eldridge, David B. Hainill, John L. Day, M. H. Jones, H. B. Kittleman, Albert C. Smith, Asa Culver, A. W. Roland, William S. Darling, 0. C. Shelton, James V. Chandler, J. N. Beatty, Thomas C. George, D. R. McCracken, L. J. Allen, A. C. Payne, C. Wood. FORTY-SIXTH REGIMENT. Colonel, David B. Henderson; Lieutenant-Colonel, L. D. Durbin; Major, George L. Torbert; Adjutant, John L. Harvey; Quartermaster, D. D. Holdridge; Surgeon, Joseph R. Duncan; Assistant Surgeons, W. H. Rosser, John D. McCleary; Chaplain, Reverend John Todd. Captains, E. A. Guilbert, James H. Tilton. Jacob R. Vanmeter, Leonard T. McCoun, John S. Har rison, James Hankins, Edward Mericle, William W. Thomas, William P. Wolf, 0. L. Palmer. Lieu tenants, S. D. Stokes, A. Hcerner, J. N. Main, J. W. Cummins, N. S. Harwood, Ira Harrington, J. T. Christian, George W. Bever, H. H. Dickerman, J. F. Merry, H. Miller, J. L. Duncan, A. S. Johnson, P. Allen, J. W. Bull, Thomas Godden, J. 0. Coles, H. D. St. John. I should have named L. F. Par ker and Charles Scott as the subalterns of Company B. FORTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT. Colonel, James P. Sanford ; Lieutenant-Colonel, John Williams ; Major, George J. North; Adjutant, George W. Devin; Quartermaster, Sanford Harned, (soon appointed Assistant Quartermaster of Volunteers, and succeeded by Emanuel Laffer) ; Surgeon, James D. Wright ; Assistant Surgeons, Samuel B. Cherry, John H. Fry; Chaplain, Reverend Enoch Hoffman. Captains, John L. McCormack, R. S. Morris, John H. Shields, Charles F. Herrick, John S. Goshorn, David J. Pattee, Benjamin Owen, II. E. Havens, Henry Batterton, William H. P. Norris. Lieutenants, L. H. Drake, Melvin Stone, Benjamin Morrison, C. A. Conger, John T. Wallin, James Hawley, Jr., Lewis S. Brooks, (soon promoted captain in place of Herrick, resigned, when the lieutenants were), A. E. McHugh, D. W. Hopkins, V. R. Rider, A. J. Stiffler, W. England, J. M. Vale, L. W. Talbott, J. M. Douglass, T. A. Morgan, William J. Gaston, D. L. Needham, William R. Roberts, C. L. Bailey, C. N. J. Reynolds. FORTY-EIGHTH (BATTALION). Lieutenant-Colonel, 0. H. P. Scott ; Adjutant, William T. Hayes ; Quar termaster, Lewis Todhunter; Surgeon, John A. Blanchard; Assistant Surgeon, Charles L. Wundt. Captains, Robert Longshore, Joseph R. Rodgers, James H. Summers, Theodore Waldschmidt. Lieutenants, A. Ward, S. B. Lindsay, Thomas Allum, Joshua I. Anderson, James Burrows, William H. Barnes, Aaron Colliver, Theodore Guelich. 716 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. vices in Tennessee, garrisoning posts and guarding lines of communication. The Forty-seventh was sent to Helena, Arkansas, where many contracted disease of which they died, there or soon after their return to Iowa. The Forty-eighth Battalion served its term in guard of rebel prisoners on Rock Island, in the Mississippi River, opposite Davenport. The services of the Hundred-days-men were of great value to the national cause. They were acknowledged by the President of the United States in the following handsome order, which may serve as a fitting conclusion to this chapter : ^ * i* ; * - "EXECUTIVE MANSION, ) " WASHINGTON CITY, October 1st, 1864. J " Special Executive order, returning thanks to the volunteers for one hundred days, from the States of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin : " The term of one hundred days for which volunteers from the States of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin volunteered under the last call of their respective governors in the months of May and June, to aid in the recent campaign of General Sherman having expired, the President directs an official acknowledgement of their patriotic services. It was their good fortune to render efficient service in the brilliant operations in the southwest and to contribute to the victories of the National arms over the rebel forces in Georgia under command of Johnston and Hood. On all occasions and in every service to which they were assigned, their duty as patriotic volunteers was performed with alacrity and courage for which they are entitled to, and are hereby tendered the National thanks through the governors of their respective States. " The Secretary of War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin and to cause a certificate of their honorable services to be delivered to the officers and soldiers of the States above mentioned who recently served in the military force of the United States as volunteers for one hundred days. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN." CHAPTER LI. THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT AT CAMP BURNSIDE, DBS MOINES MUSTERED AT DAVENPORT MOVE TO THE FRONT SERVE UNDER GENERAL DODGE IN TEN NESSEEBATTLE OF PARKER S CROSS ROADS ON GARRISON DUTY WINTER QUARTERS THE CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA UNDER SHERMAN THE REGIMENT HALTS AT ROME THE DEFENCE OF A LLA. TO ON A LIEUTENANT-COLONEL REDFIELD SLAIN CASUALTIES OF THE REGIMENT" SHERMAN S MARCH TO THE SEA" ADJUTANT BYERS LYRIC MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS THE GRAND REVIEW AT WASHINGTON CITY DISCHARGED. THE Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry Regiment had a partial organization at Camp Burnside, near the city of Des Moines, in the month of September, 1862. There nine companies which had been assigned to the regiment by the State authorities arrived about the 20th, and were at once so far organ ized as to begin "soldiering" by spending several hours a day in drill. The tenth company, enrolled in Des Moines county on the Mississippi River, did not go to the city of Des Moines at all. The organization of the regi ment was completed at Davenport, whither the companies moved in the latter part of October. Some two or three of the companies, however, were lacking in number, and there was considerable delay in mustering the regiment into the service. It lacked forty of the number required for a minimum regiment. At length Secretary Stanton specially ordered the muster, and it was accordingly entered the service in due form November 24th, then numbering eight hundred and two, officers and men. H. J. B. Cummings was colonel, James Redfield lieutenant-colonel, and Joseph M. Griffiths, major. George C. Tichenor, since distinguished as aid-de-camp on the staff of General Dodge, was appointed adjutant, Frederick Mott quartermaster, Peter N. Woods surgeon, with William L. Leonard and Ephraim P. Davis assistants, and Rev. Thomas J. Taylor chaplain. 1 1 Company A, enrolled in Madison county, was commanded by Captain George N. Elliott, Lieu tenants Oliver C. Ayer, Jonathan B. Rawls. Company B, Polk county, Captain John H. Dykeman, Lieutenants Andrew T. Blodgett, William A. Patterson. Company C, Dallas county, Captain Isaac D. Marsh, Lieutenants Joseph W. Price, Owen D. Russell. Company D, Clarke county, Captain 717 718 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The 13th of December, the regiment left Camp Herron, and moving by rail to Cairo reached that place the next day. It soon moved by crowded steamer to Columbus, Kentucky, where the men encamped a day or two in shelter tents. The 18th, Colonel Cummings received orders to report with his command to Brigadier-General G. M. Dodge, at Corinth, Mississippi. Moving thither by rail, the regiment was stopped at Jackson, Tennessee, by order of General Sullivan, commanding district. The rebel Forrest was at this time operating in these parts, and the Thirty-ninth was put in the trenches to defend Jackson against threatened attack. The attack was not made. Forrest amused Sullivan at Jackson whilst his troops destroyed the railway north of that place. The regiment made a severe march to Trenton, where two brigades were organized to move against the enemy who had now left the railway. At dark of the 27th, Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham, Fiftieth Indiana, marched eastward with a small force to which the Thirty-ninth was attached. General Sullivan had determined to punish Forrest for the trouble he had been causing. On the 31st, Colonel Dunham came suddenly upon Forrest s command, six to seven thousand strong, near Parker s Cross Roads, a few miles south of the town of Clarksville. A severe battle ensued. Colonel Dunham s forces numbered less than sixteen hundred. Nevertheless, he fought the enemy long and bravely. The contest had waged several hours, with varying success, when, about two o clock afternoon, Sullivan came up with his main body, and speedily put the rebels to rout. The Battle of Parker s Cross Roads, the first in which the Thirty-ninth engaged, was a considerable defeat to the rebels. Their losses were very heavy, but Forrest succeeded in crossing the Tennessee without further loss. Our regiment was under a heavy fire of both artillery and musketry for several hours, and behaved with the utmost coolness and bravery, except during a short time in which it retired in confusion, officers and men on the left misapprehending an order. The men were soon rallied " and returned, " says Colonel Dunham, "in good order, to, and resumed their place in the line, in its new position at Red Mound, with their confi dence in themselves and mine in them fully restored. Lieutenant- Colonel Redfield and Captain Cameron were especially conspicuous for their cool ness and energy. The former, although severely and dangerously wounded, Lloyd D. Bennett, Lieutenants William T. Matthews, Casper Carter. Company E, Greene county, Captain Robert M. Rippey, Lieutenants John N. Coulter, Jacob M. Toliver. Campay F, Madison county, Captain Joseph M. Browne, Lieutenants Adolphus Bradfield, Thomas W. Stiles. Company G, Des Moines county, Captain Charles A. Cameron, Lieutenants Jerry K. Wetzel, William C. Ghost. Company H, Dallas county, Captain James M. Loomis, Lieutenants Henry R. Benjamin, John N. Main. Company I, Polk county, Captain Augustus Yerger, Lieutenants Robert C. Hunter, J. W. Redfield. Company K, Decatur county, Captain William F. Bennett, Lieutenants Milligan J. Cain, C. S. Porter. In two of the companies the line officers were not full at first, but were appointed not long after organization. THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 719 seemed entirely forgetful of his own sufferings in his efforts to rally his men. Color-Corporal Armstrong also attracted particular attention, for although his companion had fallen at his side pierced by several balls, he was ready at every command to put down his flag as a rallying-point. Besides the Lieutenant-Colonel, Major Griffiths, Adjutant Tichenor, and Surgeon Woods were specially named by Colonel Cummings in his official report, as conspicuous for coolness and bravery, whilst he states that the company officers generally did their whole duty. The total number of officers and men of the regiment engaged in the battle was four hundred and five, of whom four were killed, thirty-three wounded, and eleven missing. Major Griffiths, Captain J. M. Browne and Lieutenant J. B. Rawls were among the wounded. But the loss of the regiment during this short campaign against Forrest was much more than that sustained in the battle. About one hundred men, worn out by the severe march, attempted to return to Trenton on the 29th, and were captured on the way, at Shady Grove. They suffered the hardships of rebel impri sonment for nearly ten months before rejoining the command. 2 The day after the battle the regiment began the retrograde march for Jackson. The 6th of January, 1863, Colonel Cummings moved by rail to Corinth, and as the shades of night were falling fast on that day reported to General Dodge, who assigned the regiment to the Third Brigade of his division, the Second of the Sixteenth Corps. The command served under General Dodge for the greater part of two years. During the first ten months of this period, regimental head-quarters were at Corinth, where the regiment remained also, excepting during a few days at different times, when it marched in guard of trains or against the enemy threatening to attack some other post. It also took part in the march into Alabama, in April, when Colonel Streight made his well-known raid in that region. The infantry moved to Town Creek, having several lively affairs with the enemy, and returned to Corinth, after an absence of more than a fortnight. A few days afterwards, Company H of the Thirty-ninth, being in guard of a 2 The casualties of the regiment at this battle were : Killed, Corporals Jacob Kooutz, J. C. Stearns, (color-guard) Dimic Lay ton, Aaron Lewis. Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel James Redfield; Major J. M. Griffiths ; Captain J. M. Browne; Lieutenant J. B. Rawls. Company A First Sergeant John P. Jones ; Corporal Jesse Williams ; Thomas Tucker, Edward Brown, Thomas Brown, L. F. Bates, Solomon Pontious (mortally). Company B John L. Albin, William H. Chamberlain, Benjamin Case (mortally). Company D Corporal Jerome Cook; R. Milliner, George Vaught, Joseph T. Palmer. Company E Corporal James F. Morris ; Amos Mohler. Company .F John J. Henager, William Thornburg, W. S. Wilkinson. Company G Charles Albright, John L. Baird, Samuel C. Bazel, Bartholomew Haffron. Company H James Moon, Josephus Smith, Nathan A. Russell, James P. Estes, Clifford B. Parker. Sergeant William L. Kaggy, and James 0. Evans, of Com pany K. Missing, Sergeant Thomas Ashton; Privates David Fleming, Henry M. Chase, Asher W. Holcomb, Joab Johnson, Benjamin Aydlott, George F. Armstrong, Alfred Warren, Thomas R. Nichols, William Farnes, and several more, not reported, for the reason, perhaps, that they were soon paroled. 720 IOWA AND THE EEBELLION. corral a few miles from Corinth, was surrounded by several hundred rebel cavalry, and the captain and most of his men were captured. The 2d of November, General Dodge with his entire command took up line of march for Pulaski, Tennessee. He halted a few days at luka, and by easy marches gained Pulaski about the 12th, and there established head-quarters. His troops were posted at different places in the vicinity, the Thirty-ninth Iowa at Reynolds, some seven miles north of Pulaski. At Reynolds were regimental head-quarters and five companies. The other companies were at mills and railroad bridges near by. The latter part of January, 1864, head-quarters and six companies moved to Culleoka, twenty miles further north, and from this time till the close of winter the regiment had twenty-five miles of railway to guard, and the adjacent coun try to keep quiet. The 12th of March the regiment marched southward, and three days afterwards went into camp at Athens, Alabama, where com fortable quarters were soon built by the men. At Athens the regiment remained some weeks, in quiet, and then moved with the left wing of the Sixteenth Corps, General Dodge commanding, to join the grand army under Sherman for the campaign of Georgia. Dodge joined Sherman at Gordon s Mills, and from this time until the army reached Kingston, the Thirty-ninth marched and fought on the right. It was the first through Snake Gap, and also led the army in the flanking movement by Calhoun, which caused the evacuation of Resaca by the enemy. The regiment here had a sharp fight with superior numbers, and was extricated from a perilous position to which it had finely fought its way, by the timely arrival of the rest of the division. From Kingston, the brigade to which the regiment was attached marched to Rome, and remained in garrison of that post till early in October, when the Thirty- ninth Iowa, having meanwhile made a long chase after Wheeler, was called upon to take part in General John M. Corse s remarkable and splendid DEFENCE OF ALLATOONA. The 1st of October, the rebel Hood began his march northward. Send ing his troopers in advance to move against Sherman s communications in the vicinity of Marietta, he crossed the Chattahoochee with three corps of infantry, and marched on Dallas. The rebel cavalry struck the railway at Big Shanty, and having destroyed it for miles, moved, with French s Division of Stewart s Corps, against Allatoona Pass, where there were immense stores of rations, under guard of the Ninety-third Illinois, Lieu tenant-Colonel Tourtellotte. Brigadier-General John M. Corse was at Rome, with his division. Sherman, from Kenesaw Mountain, signalled Corse to reenforce Allatoona Pass and hold it to the last extremity. An accident prevented Corse from marching his whole force to Allatoona, but THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 721 very early on the morning of the 5th he was there in person, with a garrison of about two thousand men, including the Thirty-ninth Iowa, Lieutenant- Colonel Redfield. His celerity of movement had been of the utmost impor tance, for soon after daylight French s whole Division had the works of Allatoona completely invested. French kept up a noisy cannonade, causing no great damage, for some time, and then sent in by flag of truce the follow ing demand : " AROUND ALLATOONA, October 5th, 8.15 A. M. " COMMANDING OFFICER, UNITED STATES FORCE, ALLATOONA SIR : I have placed the forces under my command in such positions that you are surrounded, and to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I call on you to surrender your forces at once, and unconditionally. Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. " Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war. I have the honor to be very respectfully yours, " S. G. FRENCH, Major-General " Commanding Forces Confederate States." To which Corse promptly and pithily responded : HEAD-QUARTERS FOURTH DIVISION, FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS, ) ALLATOONA, GEORGIA, October 5th, 8:30 A. M. J " MAJOR-GENTRAL S. G. FRENCH, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY: Your communication demanding surrender of my command I acknowledge receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for the needless effusion of blood whenever it is agreeable to you. "I am very respectfully, your obedient servant, " JOHN M. CORSE, Brigadier-General." Upon the reception of this note, so full of grim wit, French ordered an assault, which was made with great fury. His columns surged madly against our works, but were met with a stouter, more unflinching resistance by Corse and his little garrison than the great war elsewhere witnessed. The fight continued, waxing warmer and warmer, hotter and hotter, as the moments and the souls of the slain sped away. The rebels fought with desperate valor. The struggle over the rifle-pits, the outer works of the position was fearful. The enemy charged by regiment and brigade, and dashed against the works as though mad. But they were repulsed with great slaughter. The combat had been raging for some three hours, when the signal flags waved from mountain-top to mountain-top Hold on to Alla toona to the last. I will help you. W. T. Sherman." Corse sent back a brave reply, and the moment Sherman read his name he exclaimed joyfully, " If Corse is there he will hold out ; I know the man." The battle meantime increased in fury. The enemy, failing to break through our lines by charging by regiment and brigade, at length moved against them in mass. The most terrible combat in which American troops ever took part, and well nigh as terrible as any of which history speaks, ensued. Men bayonetted one another over the works, officers thrust their swords through the bodies of hostile officers. Corse received a severe 91 722 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. and most painful wound in the face, and fell to the ground, exclaiming, " Never give up Allatoona," when he became insensible. Colonel Richard Kowell, Seventh Illinois, assumed command, and directed the battle with the greatest skill and courage till he was himself severely wounded. Then Corse, still suffering acute pain from his ugly wound, resumed the command. The garrison was by this time confined to two forts, from which Allatoona was defended against its swarming assailants. The crisis of the battle did not come till more than two hours after noon. Corse and his little band had fought against fearful odds for many long and bloody hours. Many brave officers and men were already dead or wounded. The battle was trembling in the balance. The rebels again moved in compact bodies against the forts. Our gunners double-shotted their pieces, and waiting till they could almost shake hands with the enemy, let drive the canister and grape. The enemy staggered ; became confused ; fell back ; fled in disorder ; and the great victory was won. But it was a bloody victory. General Corse s command sustained a loss in killed and wounded of seven hundred and seven officers and men, being more than thirty-three per cent, of the garrison. Besides Corse and Rowell, Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtellotte was wounded, and Lieutenant- Colonel Redfield was slain. The rebel loss has never been ascertained, but it must have been severe. Our troops buried nearly two hundred and fifty of their dead. They also captured more than four hundred prisoners. I think it is not an unreasonable assertion that the entire loss of the enemy, in killed, wounded, and captured was nearly and perhaps quite as great as Corse s entire force. However that may be, it is certain that the defence of Allatoona by Brigadier-General John M. Corse was one of the finest military successes of the war not only, but of history. General Sherman, who never went off half-cocked in his life on any matter of practical warfare, issued a spe cial order, two days after the battle, in which he stated that General Corse s defence of Allatoona admirably illustrated "the most important principle in war, that fortified posts should be defended to the last, regardless of the relative numbers of the party attacking and attacked. " " The thanks of this Army are due," he continued, "and are hereby accorded to General Corse, Colonel Tourtellotte, officers and men for their gallant defence of Allatoona, and it is made an example to illustrate the importance of pre paring in time, and meeting the danger when present, boldly, manfully, and well." The country agreed with Sherman, and gave to Corse the highest meed of praise. Allatoona was by all men called the Thermopylae of the war. But the defence of Allatoona is especially interesting to citizens of Iowa for another reason besides that of the commanding officer there achieving THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 723 so fine a reputation for preeminent soldierly genius. No regiment at Alla- toona Pass fought more gallantly than the Thirty-ninth Iowa, none suffered so heavily. The regiment was posted, in the early part of the action, some three hundred yards from the principal fort which had been constructed for the defence of the place, and which was the very point against which the enemy made his most determined attacks. It repulsed several charges, but at length fell back slowly to the cover of the fort. It had fought with courage, and obstinacy, and effect, never surpassed by any troops on any battle-field. It continued the fight with undaunted spirit, and when French put his army in retreat, he had suffered his heaviest losses from the rifles of the Iowa Thirty-ninth. But the regiment had itself suffered severely. Its losses, in killed, wounded and captured, were about one hundred and sixty-five. Lieutenant- Colonel Redfield commanding was among the slain. He was in the first place wounded in the foot. But he dragged himself along the line wherever duty called him. A second shot shattered a leg ; but he still refused to leave the post of danger, and, seated on the ground, directed the fight, as though nothing unusual had happened. Exhorting his men to remem ber the brave old flag, a third ball pierced his heart, and the soul of as brave and generous a man as ever lived passed into the undiscovered country. Lieutenant-Colonel JAMES REDFIELD was one of nature s noblemen. He came of fighting stock. His great-grandfather, Captain Peleg Redfield, fought gallantly under Wolfe on the heights of Abraham. Four of his grand-uncles held commissions in the army under Washington, and two of them fell in battle. His father, Luther Redfield, performed valuable ser vice in the last war against Great Britain. He was himself a man of fine culture, a graduate of Yale College, where he was a classmate of the most thoughtful of American statesmen, Senator B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, and where he was noted for scholarly attainments and admirable social qualities. He came to Iowa in 1855, and settled in the fine county of Dallas, where he bought a considerable tract of land, on part of which the town of Redfield now stands. He was a Senator in the General Assembly when the war broke out. In that capacity he won the general respect, and the affectionate regards of all with whom he came in contact. In the army, he was exceedingly popular with the troops, and a most intelligent and gallant officer. His death was deeply deplored not only in Iowa but in a considerable part of New York, where he was well known. The press of our own and of that State lamented his death most deeply, whilst nearly the entire population of Iowa have never ceased to deplore it as a public calamity, nor his many acquaintances as a personal loss. It is unquestion- 724 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. able that the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Redfield, glorious though it was, was regarded all over Iowa as one of the State s most serious losses. But Redfield fell not alone. Lieutenants Oliver C. Ayers, Andrew T. Blodgett, Newton P. Wright, John P. Jones were slain, and Lieutenant Owen D. Russell was severely wounded. These were all gallant men, and Lieutenant Blodgett was among the best line officers which, the State of Iowa sent into the field. His untimely death caused a profound sensation at Des Mouies, where his remains were taken and buried more than a year after his heroic death. 8 LIST OF CASUALTIES, THIRTY-NINTH IOWA, AT AILATOONA PASS. Officers killed, Lieutenant-Colonel commanding James Redfield; Lieutenants Oliver C. Ayres, Andrew T. Blodgett, Newton P.Wright, John P. Jones. Enlisted men, Company .4 Corporal Martin B. Ruby, William B. Landis, William J. Kale. Company C Hamilton J. Tarr. Company .E Charles W. Beebe, William Carter, Hiram II. Hall. Company .FCorporal Amos Barker ; James H. Martin, John Griffin, Isaac Parker, Isaac Nickell, James Hillen. Company G Sergeant Amos L. McMichael ; Corporal Isaac N. Power ; Joseph Alteuaw, Henry C. Cockayne. Company 7 Corporal William B. Sanford ; Joshua Admonson. Company .K Sergeant Daniel D. Hedrick ; Andrew L. Blakesley, Charles Cline, John C. Bellford, Francis Gabler, William Fames, John H. King. Abraham Miller. Company A Wounded, Corporals John S. Tullis, Lorenzo W. Allcock, Albert A. Gatchel; Isaac Porter, Upton T. Large, Isaiah Oglesbee, Company J3 Wounded, First Sergeant Charles Van Gorder ; Fred Carder, Henry Manbeck, Franklin Lowell, James Shepherd, John E. Mills, William Patterson, David Womack (mortally), Louis 0. Miller. Company C Lieutenant Owen D. Russell; Sergeant Lemuel Worford; Corporals Calvin Hill, William C. Elder, William A. Mark ; Thomas Beal, Charles M. Graham, William A. Lewis, Robert V. Tolboys, Julius M. Baker, Wesley Krysher, John Kimrey, Thomas J. Wright, Sr., Thomas J. Wright, Jr. Company E Wounded, Sergeants Azor R. Mills, Joseph M. Shain, John E. Wright; Corporals James W. Smith, Eleazar Ilockett, Thomas Morgan ; Lemuel Tyler, Charles A. Tillittson, William Waldon, Levi B. Maulsby, John Carson, William I. Wright (mortally). Company F Wounded, Sergeant James Fosher, David N. Wasson; Corporals Alvin Bradford, James L. Parks, James M. Lee, John G. Hueglin, Joseph H. Miller, David Bradshaw, J. M. Mount, Edward Mount. Company G Corporal Elliott Lines ; Privates Lewis Lines, John E. Kynett, Alvin C. Moose, William McLaughlin, William G. Powers. Company I Wounded, Sergeant Charles Leftwick; Privates Joseph Smith, Lawson A. Smith, William Sharp. Company K Wounded, Private Henry Bright. Company A Missing, Sergeants Jonas F. Brock, Charles S. Armstrong; Corporals John W. Ratliff, Lewis F. Means, Brinton Lovelace ; Privates John S. Maggs, Clinton T. Mercer, John M. Duncan. Aaron McKinzie, Benjamin F. Bowlsby, Isaac N. Landis. Company B Sergeant William J. Harris ; Corporal William J. Vennamon ; Privates Jacob Holcomb, William P. Hurd, Thomas J. Keeney. Company C Corporal Matthias Mount ; Privates John Hathaway, John Ostler ; Second Lieutenant Harrison C. Crawford ; Corporals George W. Beebe, William L. Franklin, Henry Sifford ; Privates William Adamson, John C. Preston, David Reed, Charles II. Tietsort, Richard B. Morain, George W. Evans, William F. Benny, Norman Orchard. Company E Privates Albert M. Bills, Hiram Scott, Caleb A. Shreve. Company F Private George M. Young. Company G Sergeant Randel M. Hartzel ; Corporal Hugh W. Walkinshaw; Privates John B. Cunningham, Owen McCal- lon. Company 7 Sergeant Augustus Erickson ; Corporals Perry G. Murry, John A. Johnson ; Pri vates Samuel D. Cole, John Foster, Dennis Shea, Isaac V. Bradford. Company JiT Captain William F. Bennett; Sergeant Elisha B. Moad; Corporals James A. Garnett, Joseph A. Bales, Samuel L. Osborn, James E. Evans, John M. Stone, Aaron A. Cozad, Lorenzo D. Phelps ; Privates Bird Brown, Jesse D. Butts, J. D. Bearter, Isaac S. Doan, George W. Grow, William S. Harris, Wesley F. Lose, Jasper N. McJimpsey, Harvey B. Macklin, Oliver E. Purdun, Robert Stephens, John F. Snycler, Jamea Waddle, James A. Clark, Morgan S. Records. THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 725 The defence of Allatoona was the last grand fight of Sherman s cam paigning in central Georgia ; and, save the combat of Griswoldsville and the capture of Fort McCallister, the last final achievement of note in the State. A little more than a month after Corse s fine success, the army started on the famous march to the sea. This grand promenade was celebrated by the lyric of Adjutant S. H. M. Byers, of our Fifth Infantry, who was captured at Chattanooga, and whose song, since encored in all the theatres, was written in the prison of Columbia. 1 Our camp fires shone bright on the mountains, That frowned on the river below, While we stood by our guns in the evening, And eagerly watched for the foe, When a rider came out from the darkness, That hung over mountain and tree, And shouted, Boys, up and be ready, For Sherman will march to the sea. 4 Then cheer upon cheer, for bold Sherman, Went up from each valley and glen, And the bugles reechoed the music That came from the lips of the men; For we knew that the stars on our banner More bright in their splendor would be, And that blessings from Northland would greet When Sherman marched down to the sea. Then forward, boys, forward to battle We marched on our wearisome way, And we stormed the wild hills of Resaca God bless those who fell on that day: Then Kenesaw, dark in its glory, Frowned down on the flag of the free; But the East and the West bore our standards, And Sherman marched on to the sea. 4 Still onward we pressed, till our banner Swept out from Atlanta s grim walls, And the blood of the patriot dampened The soil where the traitor flag falls; But we paused not to weep for the fallen, Who slept by each river and tree, Yet we twined them a wreath of the laurel As Sherman marched down to the sea. Oh, proud was our army that morning, That stood where the pine proudly towers, When Sherman said, Boys, you are weary ; This day fair Savannah is ours! Then sang we a song for our chieftain, That echoed o er river and lea, And the stars in our banner shone brighter, When Sherman marched down to the sea." 726 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. This famous song was sung by the whole army under Sherman, but not until after it had finally accomplished the march to the sea. That march, as has been before noted, was begun near the middle of November. It was inaugurated in a singular manner. This was by sending the sick, as well as surplus stores and baggage, to Chattanooga. For this purpose eleven large trains were used. General Sherman was at Kingston. Between that point and Atlanta, he had directed the railway to be destroyed at a certain time. The time had nearly arrived, and the trains were still below. Every one knew that Sherman s order would have to be obeyed, let the consequences be what they might. The time to begin the work of destruc tion drew nigh, without sign of the trains. The men began to get ready for their labors. A little cloud, no bigger than a man s hand, appeared in the distance down the road; then another, and another, and another. They approached, with fearful screamings, and presently the eleven trains swept rapidly by, with noise much greater than that of a general battle, for all the engines whistled a parting salute, long continued, as they moved on to "America." I have heard the gallant and accomplished Colonel Dayton, of General Sherman s staff, say that this grand farewell by steam was one of the sublimest things he ever witnessed. The railway was at once destroyed, and the grand army on the way to the sea. It is well known that on this wonderful march, General Howard, the Havelock of our army, commanded the right wing, and General Slocum the left, Kilpatrick being in command of the cavalry ; that Sherman entirely deceived the en emy ; that his success in reaching and occupying Savannah, which he gave as a Christmas gift to the President, was regarded by the people of our country with the greatest admiration, and won for him the unmixed praise of French and British military writers; and that the campaign, to the troops engaged, was one of general enjoyment, to which they recur as to a period of pleasure. Corse s Division, in which was the Thirty-ninth regi ment, did about as much fighting as any, and the men thereof enjoyed themselves quite as heartily as troops ever did. The army spent the holidays, and more, at Savannah. There were many reviews of the troops in that beautiful city, and the time of the volunteers stay there went happily by. Governor Stone visited the troops of Iowa, at this time, and accomplished great good for them. There were at Savannah, the Iowa Second, Colonel Howard, the Fourth, Lieutenant-Colonel Nichols, the Sixth, Lieutenant-Colonel Clune, the Seventh, Lieutenant-Colonel Par- rott, the Ninth, Major Abernethy, the Tenth, Captain Silsby, the Eleventh, Lieutenant- Colonel Beach, the Thirteenth, Colonel Wilson, the Fifteenth, Lieutenant- Colonel Pomutz, the Sixteenth, Captain Smith, the Twenty- fifth, Colonel Stone, Twenty-sixth, Major Lubbers, Thirtieth, Lieutenant- Colonel Roberts, Thirty-first, Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins, and the Thirty- THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 727 ninth, Lieutenant-Colonel Griffiths. The remnant of the Seventeenth, Lieu tenant-Colonel Archer, arrived before the march through the Carolinaa began. The State was well represented, too, by general officers, and by those acting as such. Corse, Belknap, Vandever, E. W. Rice, Williamson, Wever, Milo Smith were there, the first in command of a division, the others commanding brigades. So the Governor not only accomplished great good as aforesaid, but had a most agreeable visit with the distin guished regiments and officers from Iowa. 4 General Sherman s march through the Carolinas was an astonishing illus tration of military genius a finer triumph thereof, I think, than almost anything of the war. The country traversed was coursed by many rivers and creeks. No small part of it was Dismal Swamp, as dark, as gloomy, as dreary, as men or fishes ever navigated. It is a historical fact that the best generals of the confederacy thought it utterly impossible for an army to march where Sherman moved his columns with seeming ease, and with wonderful celerity. He devastated the country. Houses, barns, fences were taken as of course, and used in building roads and bridges. The track which Sherman s army made through South Carolina was a wide ruin. Throughout the whole campaign, from Savannah to Goldsboro, the troops of Iowa labored hard on the march and fought conspicuously in the skirmishes and battles. One of the finest illustrations of Harper s Weekly was a representation of General Clark R. Wever s Brigade marching through a swamp waist deep against the enemy. Colonel Stone s Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps captured Savannah, as we have seen. Our army drank terribly at Cheraw, so that Iowa officers and men were not there conspic uous, except in smashing glass-ware. Elsewhere, they maintained the proud reputation of the State, and received the high praises of general officers and of intelligent correspondents. It is well known that General Sherman s operations in the Carolinas met with the highest approbation of the country and of criticism, except his famous * arrangement with the rebel authorities near Raleigh. This was a matter of diplomacy, and not of war. It is- not strange, therefore, that herein William T. Sherman failed. Diplomacy, falsely called an "art," for it is The officers of the Thirty-ninth regiment at the beginning of the year 1865, were, as officially stated by the Adjutant-General : Lieutenant- Colonel Joseph M. Griffiths commanding; Major George N.Elliott; Adjutant George C. Ticheuor, (in fact serving on General Dodge s staff, with the rank of Major) ; Surgeon Peter N. Woods, Assistants William L. Leonard, E. P. Davis ; Quartermaster Frederick Mott ; Chaplain Peter T. Russell. Captains Charles Van Gorder, Isaac D. Marsh, Lloyd D. Bennett, John N. Coulter, Adolphus Bradfield, Charles A. Cameron, Henry R. Benjamin, Robert C. Hunter, William F. Bennett; First Lieutenants Samuel S. Guiberson, (commanding Company A), Franklin R. Thurber, Joseph W. Price, William T. Mathews, William Anderson, Jerry K. Wetzel, Wesley Wright, Erastus Scott, Milligan J. Cain ; Second Lieutenants Owen D. Russell, Jasper Carter, H. C. Crawford, William C. Ghost, there being two subalterns iu Companies C, D, E, and G only. 728 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. simple rascality, originated in cowardice, and has been carried on ever since by falsehood. God be praised that Sherman failed in a matter where words are used to conceal ideas. It was because he had no particle of cowardice, no particle of falsehood in all his nature, that he was overreached by the diplomatic, or in other words, the villainous Breckinridge. The Secretary of War condemned the arrangement too harshly, and Halleck, in command at Richmond after the fighting had all been done, added insult to injury, besides violating military law, by coarsely commanding disobedience to Sherman s lawful authority. Lieutenant-General Grant proceeded in person to North Carolina, in an unexceptionable manner annulled the arrangement, and Johnston capitulated to Sherman, who had done more to crush the rebellion than any other person, except, perhaps, General Grant himself. The army marched with great rapidity from Raleigh to Alexandria, and there went into camp, in full view of the magnificent dome of the national capitol. It was soon announced that there would be a review of all the troops encamped near the city of Washington. The announcement brought to the capital large numbers of people. They came from nearly every northern State, so that on the morning of the first day s review the city was crowded with strangers. A booth had been erected in front of the Ex ecutive Mansion. There was the Lieutenant-General, the reviewing officer. Near by were the President, Andrew Johnson, and the members of his cabinet, among them the honorable JAMES HARLAN, of Iowa, who had recently been sworn into office as Secretary of the Interior. Not a few representatives of foreign governments were present, whilst many Ameri cans, distinguished in politics, in science, and in literature beheld the saviours of our country pass in final review before the Lieutenant-General. Among the noted persons present were Honorable James F. Wilson, and William B. Allison, representatives in Congress from our first and third districts. These, with many other lowans, stood near the Treasury Depart ment, where there was a vast concourse of citizens, for the grand display on Pennsylvania Avenue, from this point to the capitol (a distance of more than a mile) was in full review. There were no troops from Iowa in the first day of the review, but on the second day, the regiments which have already been noted in this chapter as present at Savannah at the commencement of the year, marched in the column. Brevet Major-General John M. Corse must have been gratified with the fine reception given him, as his division wheeled by the grand colonnade of the Treasury. That of Brigadier-General Elliott W. Rice, commanding a brigade in the same division, was no less enthusiastic. Not far apart in this portion of the line were the Second, Sixth, Seventh, Tenth, and Thirty-ninth regiments. Their torn banners gave evidence of long THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 729 service, and many a bloody battle. Belmont, Donelson, Champion Hills, Jackson, Missionary Ridge, and Allatoona shone brightly from the honored folds, and Corse s Division passed by the White House through a grand storm of cheers. Stone s Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps soon marched up. Here were the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first regiments, their banners blazing with the names of great battles from Pea Ridge to Bentonsville. It was about the largest brigade in the whole column, and its appearance on this great day was un surpassed by that of any brigade that passed by the Executive Mansion. Next came the thinned and honored Seventeenth regiment, and not far be hind, the Iowa Brigade commanded by the distinguished General W. W. Belknap, who inherited fine soldierly talents from his father and most admirably improved them throughout the war. Here was the Eleventh regiment, then the Thirteenth, the Fifteenth, and the Sixteenth men who had first met the enemy in the forest by Shiloh Church, and had gone through four years of as gallant warfare as any troops who ever fought. General Belknap and his command were cheered till the echoes rang again with huzzas for the Iowa Brigade. In all the display, it was only equaled by Stone s Iowa Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps. General Vandever, who has been libelled by some penny-a-liners, but who was nevertheless one of our best officers, commanded a brigade in Davis Fourteenth Corps. He, too, was heartily cheered by the lowans and the crowds generally. There were no men at Washington who felt prouder and better than the citizens of Iowa, when the grand display was over. They walked with erect bear ing and satisfied air that night, and, generally, behaved very much as the men of the "Old Bay State" behaved the night after Webster slew Hayne in the Senate. When the troops of Iowa went into encampment near Washington, they were visited by Mrs. ANNIE WITTENMYER, who here, at the close of the war, closed her labors of benevolence, which had begun near the commence ment of hostilities and had never ceased labors which won for her the gratitude of countless thousands and the admiration of the world. With the great review closed, essentially, the marchings of the Iowa regiments in Sherman s army. The Thirty-ninth marched to a fine encamp ment not many miles north of the city, and very soon began preparations for muster-out. These were completed in due time, and the regiment moved to Clinton, Iowa, where it was disbanded. The men were joyously received there, more joyously still at Des Moines, the warm-hearted capital of as warm-hearted people as benignant heaven ever blessed the earth withal. There were few regiments in the service which gained more con spicuous renown than the Thirty-ninth Iowa. It was not engaged nearly 92 730 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. BO frequently as many of our regiments, but it always behaved well, and at the Pass of Allatoona fought with a bravery and tenacity which may chal lenge comparison with the conduct in battle of any troops of whom histo rians have written. Leonidas and Thermopylae will be forgotten as soon as Corse and Allatoona, or the heroic REDFIELD and the Thirty-ninth Iowa Volunteers. CHAPTER LII. EIGHTH INFANTRY. ORGANIZED AT DAVENPORT IN THE SUMMER OF 1861 CAMPAIGNING UNDER FREMONT WINTER QUARTERS THE REGIMENT CAPTURED AT SHILOH REOR GANIZATION SHORT CAMPAIGN IN MISSOURI VICKSBURG SERVICES IN TENN ESSEETHE MERIDIAN EXPEDITION PROVOST GUARD OF MEMPHIS DEFENCE OF THE CITY AGAINST FORREST S ATTACK THE CAMPAIGN OF JfO- JilLETllE ASSAULT OF SPANISH FORT THE COLLAPSE OF THE REBEL LIONSUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE REGIMENT. THE Eighth Iowa Volunteers were recruited in the latter part of the summer of 1861, under the call of the President which followed the defeat of Bull Run. The regiment was composed of troops enrolled in the coun ties of Clinton, Scott, Washington, Benton, Linn, Marion, Keokuk, Iowa, Mahaska, Monroe, and Louisa, and was organized in the month of Septem ber at Davenport, where the different companies entered the service at various times during that month. Frederick Steele, of the regular army, since the distinguished major-general of volunteers, was appointed colonel. James L. G-eddes, a fighting Scotchman who had seen service abroad, was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and John C. Ferguson, major. The regi ment was about nine hundred and twenty strong at the time of organiza tion, when the staff officers consisted of George H. McLoughlin, adjutant; William McCullough, quartermaster; James Irwin, surgeon; George H. Noyes, Prentiss B. Clark, assistants ; and Reverend Cyrus G. Van Der- veer, chaplain. 1 1 The officers of this regiment, up to January, 1865, as shown by the Adjutant-General s Report, were: Colonels, Frederick Steele, James L. Geddes; Lieutenant-Colonels, James L. Geddes, John C. Ferguson, William B. Bell ; Majors, John C. Ferguson, Joseph Andrews, William Stubbs ; Adjutants, George H. McLoughlin, Samuel E. Rankin, Marion Campbell ; Quartermasters, William McCullough, William Downard; Surgeons, James Irwin, A. W. Hoffmeister, Samuel D. Cook; Assistant Surgeons, George H. Noyes, Prentiss B. Clark, A. W. Hoffmeister, Charles McGovern, Samuel D. Cook, Isaac M. Houston; Chaplains, Cyrus G. Vanderveer, William Poston. Captains, Charles Steams, Frank A. Cleaveland, William B. Bell, James L. Geddes, Andrew Geddes, John L. McCormick, Joseph Andrews, William F. Hogin, William Stubbs, Frederick S. Palmer, Henry C. Markham, Calvin Kel- ey, Henry H. Benson, Henry Muhs, James Moore, Samuel E. Rankin, David Ryan, John C. Ken- nan, Charles Scott, Jr., Charles S. Wells, Charles P. Searle, Lysander Wicks, Frederick P. Ketten- 731 732 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. The regiment left Davenport for St. Louis very soon after organization, and, being equipped for the field, in about a fortnight moved to Syracuse where it joined the forces under Fremont, about to march against Price s rebel army in Southwestern Missouri. The most of the volunteers who made this march were, like those of the Eighth Iowa, raw troops, and suf fered severely from the forced marches over the bad roads. Almost every camping ground became the grave-yard of soldiers who died from exhaus tion. The Eighth regiment lost heavily. It returned to Sedalia near the middle of November. From this time till it moved to join the forces under Grant in Tennessee, the regiment performed the usual duties of troops in "winter quarters" in Missouri, and which were without incident of import ance. Early in February, 1862, Colonel Steele was appointed a brigadier- general of volunteers. His career in the army as a general officer is well known. Some of his campaigns in Arkansas and his administration of affairs at Little Rock have been severely censured, and with justice. But it is certain that in the campaign of Vicksburg, and also that of Mobile, he did that which was given him to do and in each instance it was much with great skill and success. He was succeeded in the command of the Eighth Iowa by Lieutenant-Colonel Geddes, promoted. Major Ferguson received the lieutenant-colonelcy, and Captain Joseph Andrews of Com pany F, the majority. The 12th of March, the regiment embarked at St. Louis for Pittsburg Landing, and arrived five days afterwards, having lost three men killed and five wounded on the voyage up the Tennessee. The heroic part taken by the regiment in the battle of Shiloh, April 6th, has been already described. Late in the evening of that bloody day, Colonel Geddes surrendered his command to the enemy. He had fought for ten consecutive hours, the regiment all the while well in hand, all the while presenting an unbroken front to the enemy, and at last passing, in an organized body, under the yoke of captivity, with the heroic few who had saved the army. 2 ring. Lieutenants, Henry Muhs, II. Browning, De Witt C. Stearns, Spencer Smith, Miles P. Benton, Enos Tichenor, Jr., F. P. Kettenring, Samuel E. Rankin, Edward B. Plumb, James C. Maxwell, Alfred A. Rodman, Joseph A. Boyer, George W. Marsden, John C. Keenan, John W. McGuire, Alexander Harper, Jacob L. Tinkham, David Ryan, Henry B. Cooper, Alexander M. Clark, Solomon E. Start, A. S. Irwin, Rufus H. Law, William F. Hogin, John W. Ward, Peter L. Eckley, Charles Scott, Jr., William McCullough, Dewey Welch, Henry Vineyard, David J. Craigie, Charles S. Wells, John S. Lytle, John G. Harron, Charles P. Searle, Andrew Robb, George F. Dawson, John Haver, William T. Hayes, John N. Beatty, Samuel A. Thompson. 2 Besides the captured, the loss of the Eighth at Shiloh in killed and wounded was very severe. The following list is compiled from the Adjutant-General s Report: Colonel James L. Geddes, Major Joseph Andrews, wounded. Company A Killed, Privates Nelson Howard, Augustus Haun; Wounded, Sergeant John R. McDougall ; Jerome Lucas, Daniel Welch, R. F. Welker, A. J. Plummer ; George Heller, (died in captivity), A. H. Swearingen. Company B Killed, Zalmon W. Kelly, Robert D. Moody, William Penrose ; Wounded, Lieutenant Enos Tichenor ; Sergeant John D. Tichenor ; Corporal John S. Christian ; Privates Hiram Barber. EIGHTH INFANTRY. 733 The history of the regiment, during its captivity, was similar to that of the Twelfth and Fourteenth Infantry, which has been briefly related in my account of the former regiment. That part of the command not captured went into the "Union Brigade," and took part in the further campaigns of the summer and fall in Tennessee and Mississippi. The command was specially distinguished at the battle of Corinth. The regiment was reorganized at St. Louis early in 1863, and very shortly thereafter made a journey to Holla, but returned without having seen the enemy. The first week of April had not passed, when Colonel Geddes left St. Louis, to join the grand army under Grant in the splendid campaign of Nicholas Frylinger, William H. Goulder, Simon Guttrode, Whitaker Jayne, George E. Lacy, Chris tian Lemberg, W. B. Lockwood, William C. Logan, L. J. McCulloch, Amos Merritt, John Moody, Rudolph Murray, William Platts, John A. Rowan, A. H. Sauerman, S. A. Walker, Jacob Walker, John N. Purcell. Company C Killed, James H. Yonng. Wounded, Sergeant James G. Hight, (mortally); Corporal Daniel J^Palmer ; Privates James Marshal, (mortally) ; Michael McLancy, John McMurray, (died in captivity), David Parrish, (mortally), William T. Randall, Franklin H. Smith, Daniel W. Van Ormand. Company D Kitted, Corporal Samuel Smith. Wounded, Corporals Samuel B. Jones, R. H. Kirk- patrick, James Gardner, (mortally) ; Privates L. M. Blakely, Peter Forshee, (mortally), Julius C. Gardner, Mason Ogan, Henry N. Thompson, John A. Angle. Company E Killed, Corporals John H. Patterson, Joseph C. Finley, Albert Groom ; Privates Joseph Conwell, Francis McConnell, James Patterson, Wieger Vanderkolk, T. J. Woodward. Wounded, Corporals B. F. Wolfe, Lemuel Kinkead ; Privates Harlan Allen, B. F. Banta, Francis M. Boughman, (mortally), Melvin H. Deem, Zebina Fowler, Thomas Hughes, (mortally), William Law- head, (died in captivity), Henry B. May, (died in captivity), William M. McFarling, William Roe buck, William H. Wolfe. Company F Killed, Captain William F. Hogin ; Corporal George Johnson ; Privates Calvin L. Bland, James Carlile, Timothy Hensley, Thomas V. Lain, John D. Monicall, William M. Torrence. Wounded, Privates William H. Clark, William Conger, Augustus Crakaal, (died in prison), B. F. Cox, Robert D. Hagan, (mortally), George W. Hodson, William Kreger, John Kelley, (died in prison), William F. Konkright, Alvin T. Mathews, (died in prison), Samuel M. Shockley, Benjamin F. Ste venson, Adolph Seibel, Newton Sloan, (died), Is aac M. Williams. Company G Killed, Corporal William P. Bush ; Private James Patterson. Wounded, Corporals John Johnson, (mortally), Nathaniel Cloud, (mortally), Jonathan Sprague, Albert Stage (died in captivity) ; Privates William Fitzgerald, Levi Gaumer, Jacob J. Harr, A. D. Marvin, Michael Ma- loney, (mortally), George W. O Neil, Daniel E. Talbott, (died), H. B. Watterville, Richard Waltham, (mortally). Company H Killed, John Murphy, Jeremiah Patrie. Wounded, Captain Frederick S. Palmer; Lieutenants David J. Craigie, Charles S. Wells ; Sergeants II. W. H. Widows, (died in captivity), Charles Blanchard, Jacob Fredrick, (mortally); Corporals Jonathan Platz, George McDevitt ; Pri vates E. M. Blizzard, Jacob L. Billings, Luther Colvin, J. S. Davis, Morton D. Groves, Joseph F. Lyon, Henry H. Lower, Charles McDevitt, William Phillips, Stephen D. Rorer, William M. Wilcox, Marion F. Crull, William Kirkpatrick, Isaac Noel, (mortally), Isaac H. Zane, L. Colins, W. M. Wil- cup, J. Dann. Company I Killed, Sergeant Thomas R. Robb ; Corporal Henry C. Gordon ; Privates John W. Badger, Charles McClain, John Murphey. Wounded, Privates H. Applegate, Samuel R. Boyce, Charles E. Fox. Company K Killed, Abram C. Hunsicker, John McQueen, Abner W. Tompkins. Wounded, Cap tain Henry H. Benson ; Lieutenant William T. Hayes ; Corporals Thomas Mcllenry, Robert Ster- rett, (died), Samuel Reynolds, Edgar A. Brass, Lee Tharp, Jesse F. Stoneman, (died), Michael Ryan ; Privates John L. Guthrie, (mortally), Samuel Hulick, Francis A. Undervent, John Story. A number of the wounded were also captured with the regiment. About four hundred, embrac ing most of the officers and men at the time fit for duty, surrendered to the enemy. 734 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. Yicksburg. The regiment, in Tuttle s Division, took part in the battle of Jackson, and assisted in the destruction of rebel property which followed the capture of that city. It marched under Tuttle to Vicksburg, and took part in the assault of the 22d, in the siege for more than thirty days, when it moved to the Big Black with the army of observation. It moved with Sherman s army against Jackson, and took a very prominent part in the pursuit of the rebels to Brandon, in which movement Colonel Geddes com manded a brigade which did good service and good fighting. Returning to the vicinity of Vicksburg, the regiment had a considerable period of rest. Lieutenant-Colonel Ferguson here died of disease. He was an excellent man and a fine officer. A Pennsylvanian by birth, he came to Iowa several years before the war, and, locating at Knoxville, earned an honest livelihood as a practical carpenter. He afterwards studied law with the honorable James Matthews, and was admitted to the practice at Indianola, in 1859, when he passed an unusually fine examination. Attorney-General Rice was one of the examining committee. Ferguson always behaved handsomely in the army, where, as well as at home, his death was deeply deplored. About the middle of October, Colonel Geddes moved with the forces under McPherson to Brownsville, but returned without noteworthy incident. Early in November he moved to Memphis, soon afterwards to La Grange, and thence to Pocahontas where he remained till ordered to Vicksburg again, to take part in the Meridian Raid. Very shortly after the return of the regiment to Vicksburg, it went to Iowa on veteran furlough, a large proportion of the command having reenlisted. The veteran furlough hav ing expired, the Eighth proceeded to Memphis. There it remained, provost guard of the city during the rest of the year, and during the first two months of 1865. The most noted event of this long period of general quiet was the occasion of Forrest s attack on the city, on the 21st of August. That attack was repulsed, and Generals Washburne and Hurlbut saved from capture, and the city from sack, by Colonel Geddes and his command. The Iowa Gray -Beard regiment, Colonel Kincaid, was also honorably engaged. In this affair Lieutenant A. S. Irwin was slain, Captain C. P. Searle, Lieu tenants J. A. Boyer and J. L. Tinkham wounded, and Lieutenant John Haver captured. The loss of the regiment was more than forty. 3 The good conduct of the regiment at Memphis in repelling Forrest not only, but at all times, made it popular with commanding officers and the loyal citizens. It was presented with a fine stand of colors during the 3 The following are the names of the killed and wounded: Killed, Lieutenant A. S. Irwin. Wounded, Captain C. P. Searle, Lieutenant J. A. Boyer, Lieutenant J. L. Tinkham, Sergeant Wil liam Carris, Corporal John P. Dawson, Corporal S. W. Thornton, Corporal S. W. Reynolds ; Privates A. H. Lincoln, A. J. McCutcheon, W. H. Pripp, W. W. Bcardsley (mortally), J. M. York, Alfred Garrett. Between twenty-five and thirty were captured. EIGHTH INFANTRY. 735 summer, on an occasion warmly commemorated by the city papers. Colo nel Geddes received the honored emblem of the Union in a speech which might serve as a model of eloquence and of brevity. He is one of the few men who can both talk and fight admirably. Early in March, 1865, the regiment moved to New Orleans, but stopping there only a few days, proceeded by steamer "Guiding Star" to Dauphin Island, whence it soon joined in the last general campaign of the war, namely, THE CAMPAIGN OF MOBILE. This campaign, of which the Wilson raid was an essential part, began about the 20th of March, by the cavalry in Northern Alabama, and by the forces immediately under the command of Canby from Southern Alabama and Pensacola, in Florida. Generals Gordon Granger, and A. J. Smith, commanding respectively, the Thirteenth and Sixteenth Army Corps, marched up the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, whilst General Steele, with an independent column, marched from Pensacola by Pollard. Both columns had many difficulties to overcome on the march the enemy har assing in some force, and the worst roads, perhaps, that any troops ever saw. There were Iowa troops in both columns. The march having been buccessfully made, Mobile was invested near the close of the month. The defences of the city were very strong, but Spanish Fort on our left and Fort Blakeley on our right were the works which covered Mobile, and which it was necessary that our troops should carry. They were several miles apart, and between were ordinary earthworks and redoubts, so that when the army sat down in investment of Mobile, it was before works well nigh impregnable, had they been furnished with a sufficient garrison. On the 27th, the Thirteenth and Sixteenth Corps marched into position in investment of Spanish Fort, Smith on the right and Granger on the left. Our lines, overcoming great difficulties torpedoes, obstructions by wires, trees, ditches, etc., were advanced steadily, under a constant fire from many guns and from musketry. It was like the siege of Vicksburg. It so continued, our troops slowly gaining ground, from day to day, and from night to night. On the night of April 8th, an assault was ordered. Colo nel Geddes commanding a brigade, moved against the enemy s works, from north of Spanish Fort, and in a few hours, by as fine and skilful a move ment as the war exhibited, compelled the rebels to evacuate the fort, leav ing in our possession a large number of guns and many prisoners. The Eighth Iowa alone captured several hundred men, and the whole garrison would doubtless have fallen into our hands, then and there, had Colonel Geddes not been ordered to halt and intrench. Meanwhile Steele s column had invested Blakeley, on our extreme right. 736 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. When news of Colonel Geddes fine achievement passed cheeringly through the army on the morning of the 9th, Steele moved in assault of the strong works before him. No troops ever behaved more handsomely than those under Steele in the assault of Blakeley, and among those none were more conspicuous than those serving with Brigadier-General C. C. Andrews. The march against the works was made by the troops with the greatest en thusiasm, notwithstanding the obstructions which met them at almost every step, and they swept into the fort with cheers which made the wel kin ring. Garrison, guns, everything, fell into our possession, and Mobile became ours through the splendid charge of Steele at Blakeley. With the admirable campaign of Mobile by the troops under Canby, the rebellion collapsed. That campaign was of special interest to Iowa. Major- General Steele, the original colonel of our Eighth regiment, most justly won the admiration of the country for his brave, skilful, intensely energetic con duct throughout the campaign. His conduct here, as during the Vicks- burg campaign, merited the unmixed respect of all men. Nor was there any staff officer in the army who behaved more handsomely than his assist ant adjutant-general, Captain John F. Lacey, of Iowa. We had in the campaign, the Eighth, Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, the Twelfth, Major Knee, the Nineteenth, Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce, the Twentieth, Lieutenant- Colonel Leake, the Twenty-first, Lieutenant-Colonel Van Anda, the Twenty-third, Colonel Glasgow, the Twenty-seventh, Lieutenant- Colonel Lake, the Twenty-ninth, Colonel Benton, the Thirty-second; Lieutenant- Colonel Eberhart, the Thirty-third, Colonel Mackay, the Thirty-fourth. Colonel Clark, and the Thirty-fifth, Colonel Keeler. General Gilbert, Colonel Geddes, Colonel Glasgow commanded brigades. No troops fought more, worked more, or gained more honors than those from Iowa, whilst it is universally conceded that Colonel Geddes assault of Spanish Fort was the most gallant and brilliant performance of the campaign ; and in that performance his own regiment took the most prominent part. The Colonel, in his official report of the assault, speaks in terms of glowing praise of the conduct of his command, and especially mentions Lieutenant- Colonel Bell, and Lieutenant Henry Vineyard, for gallantry. The regiment moved to Montgomery shortly after the fall of Mobile, and has been serving in Alabama ever since. It will, doubtless, soon be mus tered out of the service. When it returns to Iowa, it should meet with a rousing reception, for amongst all the survivors of the republic, no regiment fairly earned more reputation than the Eighth Iowa Volunteers. CHAPTER LIIL REBEL PRISONS CHARITY. BRIEF NOTICE OF IOWA TROOPS WHO SUFFERED REBEL IMPRISONMENT PUBLIC BENEVOLENCE ORPHANS HOME. WE have seen in the preceding pages that considerable portions of the Eighth, Twelfth, and Fourteenth regiments were captured, after the most useful and persistent fighting of the day, at Shiloh ; that the Sixteenth was nearly all surrendered at Atlanta; the Seventeenth at Tilton; the Nineteenth at Sterling Farm ; the Thirty-sixth at Mark s Mill. Many of our troops besides, in the many battles in which our regiments fought, were captured. The captured of the Eighth, Twelfth, and Fourteenth regiments were not compelled to suffer the hardships and indignities which character ized the imprisonment of those taken later in the war ; after the rebels had reduced their cruelties to a degree which makes the mere contemplation of them a horror. The cruelties of Andersonville are well known, but they were no more terrible than those of the prison-pen at Tyler, Texas, where our Nineteenth and Thirty-sixth regiments suffered for many long months. There were many heroic escapes from rebel imprisonment, but none more remarkable than that of Lieutenant, afterwards Captain, John F. Skelton, Seventeenth Iowa, from the famous Libbey prison of Richmond. He was severely wounded at the storming of Jackson, Mississippi, June 14th, 1863. When the city was evacuated he fell into the hands of the enemy, and was carried to Libbey, where he suffered nameless indignities and cruelties for many months. By the exercise of the finest strategy, he escaped in December, and after incredible hardships and difficulties, reached our lines near Fortress Monroe, and was most warmly received by Major- General Butler. He was again captured at Tilton, in October, 1864, but he and Captain George W. Deal managed to elude the guard and escape. They went down the Chattahoochee in an old skiff, and reached one of our ships in Pensacola Bay. There is no more romantic story of the war than that of Captain Skelton s imprisonment and escapes, but many other Iowa officers had experience of a similar nature, and all of them, as well as all of the men captured, suffered the tortures of rebel infliction with a patience 93 737 738 IOWA AND THE KEBELLION. which would have won the admiration and the considerate care of men not wholly depraved by human slavery and by sin. Having now related, briefly and imperfectly I must confess, the part borne by the troops of Iowa in the great war for the establishment of Union and Freedom, and noted the sufferings of many of them who passed into captivity, it will be well to speak of what the men and women of the State did for those troops in the way of alleviating their sufferings when wounded, and providing for their families, when those sufferings ended in death. No single result of the war was more admirable than the charity (under stood in the noblest sense of the highest of Christian virtues) which accom panied it. The " sanitary fairs " which, beginning at Chicago, and followed in all the great cities of the country, called forth the praises of Christiana throughout Christendom, made up, after all, but a small part of the benig nant generosity of the American people. It was easy to attend these fairs and contribute to swell the aggregate of their receipts to fabulous amounts. This the wealthy and the refined could do without annoyance. It was harder to visit in person the battle-fields where the saviours of the Republic suffered the agonies of wounds and of death ; to care for them in hospitals of which those who had official charge belonged to a profession generally considered heartless and feelingless. The first step in the way of bringing about those grand general results of charity just noted, was this visiting of battle-fields, this care of sick and wounded at hospitals. Nor was it pos sible, perhaps, that these initiatory movements which brought about a marked advance in Christian philanthropy in our country, placing its sublime deeds of charity in bright contrast to those of all other countries it was not possible, I say, that these initiatory movements could have been made save by woman alone. They were above the capacity, the self-sacrifice, the devotion, the moral courage of the sterner sex. The qualities which make up an admirable father, husband, brother, are more useful to the world than the qualities which make up a great statesman, but they pale their ineffec tual fires before the qualities which form an admirable mother, wife, sister. Wherever good is to be done for the sake of the good the power of woman is supreme. Men in high station, as well generals who conduct cam paigns as rulers who control political affairs, bow before the majesty and might of her devotion, and even Red Tape loosens its stout grasp at her command. No man of woman born could have braved the insolence of Halleck, except by braining him on the spot. But women compelled him to pursue better courses and to put on an appearance at least of a knowledge of the rules of gentlemanly demeanor, as well as the adoption of ideas not based upon the ground that sick and wounded American soldiers were like the mere brutes which perish. Other generals, not insolent, but satisfied with "established regulations" (regulations well enough for an army of REBEL PRISONS CHARITY. 739 twenty thousand but utterly inadequate to the wants of an army becoming fifty times as large) were likewise taught the same valuable lessons. The heroic conduct of Florence Nightingale in the Crimean war has been most justly celebrated in many eulogiums of oratory, of history, and of song, but the American war against rebellion produced many Florence Nightingales ; many who were greater than she. If their names shall not all be blazoned on the pages of history, the neglect will in no degree militate against the fact Txill many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air." Every loyal State of the Union had many women who devoted much time and great labor toward relieving the wants of our sick and wounded soldiery. Miss Dix, of New York, sister to General John A. Dix, made the war a new field for the exercise of her broad philanthropy, which had for years before been exercised in other great and noble ways. Miss Anna Dickenson, of Philadelphia, the most eloquent public speaker of our coun try except Wendell Philips, was more eloquent upon this subject than any other. Nearly every State had one or more women who achieved national reputation by their benevolence. But I claim for the State of Iowa the honor of inaugurating the movements which at last culminated in making of the nation the greatest benevolent society which ever existed save that whose founder was God himself. Mrs. Harlan, wife of the honorable James Harlan, then United States Senator, now Secretary of the Interior, was the first woman of our country among those moving in what we call the high circles of society, and which in a free country should be based upon worth alone, who personally visited the army, and ministered to the wants of our suffering soldiery. She visited the army at Pittsburg Land ing, and thousands of men are alive to-day, who but for her ministering visits to the field of Shiloh, but for her energy, for her " out-ranking Hal- leek," might have been rudely buried on that bloody field. She had but recently lost a lovely, beautiful daughter Jessie Fre mont Harlan and it seemed that the stream of her wounded motherly affections ran ever in benignant care of our troops. She at first devoted her energies to caring for the volunteers from our own State, but afterwards gave her time and labors to the general cause, for the good of which she braved the storms of ocean, many journeys to the army, many sneers of upstart officers, but lived to see her efforts crowned with splendid success, and her name blessed in nearly every city, town, and hamlet in the land. In many of her visits to the army, Mrs. Harlan was accompanied by Mrs, Joseph T. Fales, wife of the first State Auditor of Iowa, himself one of our 740 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. most earnest patriots of the democratic party. I believe that Mrs. Fales is entitled to the praise of being the first lady in the United States to visit the camps of our soldiery and minister to the wants of the sick. I per sonally saw her on one of those visits early in June, 1861, near the city of Washington, where her husband has an honorable position in the govern ment. She has been constant, earnest ever since, and after the close of the war her irrepressible benevolence has continued in behalf of the oppressed and despised blacks oppressed and despised by those only who see not the difference between a mere fact and a right, and continue to keep true the assertion of the poet that man s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn. But it would require a volume to print even the names of the noble women of Iowa who devoted their time to the care of the soldiery. Every county, every city, every town, every neighborhood in the State had these true heroines, whose praises can never be fully known till the final render ing of all accounts of deeds done in the body. The contributions of the State to " Sanitary Fairs " during the war were enormous, amounting to many hundred thousand dollars. Highly successful fairs were held at Dubuque, Muscatine, Burlington, and Marshalltown, whilst all the towns contributed most generously to fairs of a less general nature. But the greatest achievement of charity, of Christian benevolence, of which any State can boast, is the Iowa Soldiers Orphans Home. In response to my inquiries, I received from one of our editors the following account of this institution : This is an institution of peculiar character, and of wider compass than any similar work of which there is any account given in history ; for it con templates in its organization all that is embraced in the name Home, and the system of common schools, with the design of reaching the grade of an academy of learning, and also the practical advantages of an agricul tural college. In this, Iowa has taken an early and bold step, and has already gained the demonstration of a grand success. Some of the greatest minds and best people of the State, anticipated, as early as December, 1863, the disastrous results of bereavements certain to be caused by the war, and at that time associated themselves in a body corporate for the purpose of meeting the coming calamity, by that high duty which is enjoined in being a father to the fatherless, and causing the widow s heart to sing for joy. These persons were thirty-one in number, and their names as follows: Caleb Baldwin, George Gr. Wright, Ralph P. Lowe, Samuel J. Kirkwood, William M. Stone, J. W. Cattell, N. H. Brainard, C. C. Cole, Oran Faville, John R. Needham, S. S. Deming, Mrs. Hancock, Mrs. New- comb, Isaac Pendleton, Mrs. L. B. Stephens, James Gr. Day, Mrs. S. Bagg, Mrs. Cadle, H. C. Henderson, Mrs. Andrews, Mrs. Crandall, Mrs. C. B. SOLDIERS ORPHANS HOME. 741 Darwin, E. H. Williams, J. B. Howell, Mrs. Shields, Mrs. Annie Witten- myer, Miss Mary Kibben, Miss Mary E. Shelton, Elijah Sells, Doctor Horton, and C. Dunham. One vice-president and two trustees were chosen from each of the six Congressional Districts in the State, and were all included in the names of the corporators given above, except one of the vice-presidents, Mrs. G. G. Wright, and one trustee, Professor T. S. Parvin. "The present officers of the association are Honorable C. C. Cole, President; Vice-Presidents Honorable R. P. Lowe, Honorable J. A. Parvin, General William Vandever, Mrs. J. Meyer, Honorable J. W. Cattell, P. Melendy, Esq. ; the Trustees Mrs. C. B. Darwin, Mrs. Annie Witten- myer, Honorable Hiram Price, Mrs. L. B. Stephens, Honorable J. A. Elliott, Reverend Z. B. Scoby, Honorable J. R. Needham, Mrs. N. H. Brainard, Honorable James Wright, General T. H. Benton, G. M. Wood- bury, Esq. , and Honorable Isaac Pendleton ; Treasurer B. F. Allen, Esq. ; Miss Mary Kibben, Recording Secretary ; and P. P. Ingalls, Corresponding Secretary and General Agent. In the origin and general success of this enterprise, the greater credit is due the women of Iowa. The first mention of this contemplated effort to any considerable number, was made in a convention of one hundred and twenty-eight ladies, which was called by the Soldiers Aid Societies, and held at Muscatine, in October, 1863. One of their number, Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer, secured the association of names in the incorporation, which was really the key to the rise and progress of this great work. But in their efforts throughout the State, by aid societies, committees, and as individuals, it is impossible to give due credit distinctively. "The influence of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State, and their devotion to this cause, has been a consideration of great potency in its becoming the pride and glory of our noble Iowa. Their counsel has been indispensable from the beginning. They have held meetings and made addresses to the people. Judge Cole has given to it much time, thought, and effort. He came to the presidency of the association at a time, and filled the office in a period, embracing the practical organization of the Home, the inaugurating of a system of management, defining the dis tinctive duties of the officers and employe s, and instituting plans which shall govern the education, industry, and health of the children. For ability, and for zeal and energy in this important position, his superior and probably his equal, could not be found. "The Christian ministry constituted a leading influence in establishing this enterprise and giving it high position and character. "Representative men and women of all classes of worthy society have led in efforts for this cause in the various localities. The work is eminently 742 IOWA AND THE REBELLION. characteristic of Iowa. Her best citizens were largely in the army. In the annals of the war she has made one of the brightest pages. For the purity and permanency of the Government the position of Iowa is the highest attainable among the States. How clear the sequence then from her real character to this holy work for orphan children. Her own warm pulse beats to its sacredness, and her great heart responds to all of its de mands. There never has been any one work in the State that has convened so many people in large and enthusiastic assemblies, filled so many churches and halls, thrilled so many hearts, awakened so much emotion, suffused with tears so many eyes, commanded such great liberality, elicited so many prayers, prompted so many praises, or enlisted so many great minds as the Soldiers Orphans Home. t( But the action of the Iowa Army is most worthy to be mentioned and had in remembrance. The magnanimity and benevolence of our soldiers afford a new sight to the world, showing that more men of high moral and intellectual worth were associated in our regiments than ever met in an army before. Their approval and influence were sought by the association, which they gave ; and by their own promptings contributed the astonishing sum of $45,226 62. The association has sustained the Home for eighteen months with great success, having at this time four hundred children, and providing in expectation of more than twice that number. The citizens be stow great attention upon them, and award them a position of credit and honor. The grounds and buildings now occupied are valued at $60,000, while there is an equal amount in the treasury, and a large outstanding subscription. And while the enterprise is yet young, the work, as already established and proven, enables Iowa to challenge the world and all history her sister States and all Christendom, to produce a similar institution, s<_ built on solemn obligation and pure justice, so raised up by intelligence and heart, and coming so near the mind and commands of God as the Home for the orphan children of her brave and noble dead. To the fidelity, energy and ability of Reverend Pearl P. Ingalls, th( General Agent of the Association, the great success it has attained, i& largely attributable. Himself, fully comprehending the magnitude, the patriotism and the holiness of the cause, with his large heart and remark able powers as a speaker, he entered upon the work with a purity and zeal, equalled only by the ready comprehension and generous response of the soldiers and people to his appeals. His name and memory will be grate fully cherished by every soldier s widow and orphan in Iowa. The Home is most fortunate in its location at Davenport and Cedar Falls. At the first-named place it is in possession of government buildings which have been remodeled and are found to be admirably adapted to this purpose. The grounds are high and rolling, with beautiful groves of SOLDIERS ORPHANS HOME. 743 thrifty oaks. The citizens of Davenport and Scott county are already proven to be among the best possible for the associations of the home. In gifts they have been liberal, individual subscriptions in the city reaching live hundred dollars. In attention to the children there is every influence of the cordial, and the elevating to character. This home now contains over three hundred children, and can be made to accommodate a thousand. The people of the north of Iowa are making available for the home at Cedar Falls all that enterprise and energy of character, so characteristic of them, can do. The citizens of that place prepared the building, and are now succeeding in making this Home a model for all such institutions." Colonel Thomas H. Benton, Jr. , of the Twenty-ninth regiment, summed up the fine conduct of our people, as shown especially by the establishment of the Soldiers Orphans Home, in as apt an expression as was ever made. The State of Iowa, said he, has shown itself to be "A FATHER IN JUSTICE, THE END. RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT "> Main Librar 649 SENT ON ILL ^.BERKELEY .General Library Uoivers^CalifJrnia 3^C