> 
 
 
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. 
 
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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. 
 
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